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margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;}} + +/* Images */ +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.divcenterimg60{margin: 0 20%;} /* for 60% width image */ + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; + text-align: center; +} + +p.drop-cap { /* for dropped caps without image */ + text-indent: 0em; +} +p.drop-cap:first-letter +{ + float: left; + margin: 0.25em 0.1em 0em 0em; + font-size: 200%; + line-height:0.85em; +} +.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter +{ + float: left; + margin: 0.15em 0.1em 0em 0em; + font-size: 200%; + line-height:0.85em; +} + +/* Tables */ +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + text-align: center; + border-spacing: 0; +} + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdc {text-align: center;} +.tdh {vertical-align: top; /* hanging indentx*/ + text-align: left; + text-indent: -1em; + margin-left: 3em; + padding: 0 0 0 1em;} + +.pad1 {padding: 0 0 0 1em;} /* used in TOC, extra pad left */ +.pad2 {padding: 0 0 0 2em;} +.vlt {vertical-align: top;} +.vlb {vertical-align: bottom;} + +table.a {text-decoration:none;} /* no UL of links inside table*/ + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: 50%; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; + color: #444;} + + +/* Footnotes and Anchors */ + +.footnote {margin-left: 21%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em; text-decoration: none;} +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 72%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; + white-space: nowrap; /* keeps footnote on same line as referenced text */ +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin: .25em 5% .25em 5%; + font-size:90%;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} +.poetry .indent0a {text-indent: -3.25em;} +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} +.poetry .indent22 {text-indent: 8em;} + +/* Unordered Lists */ +ul { list-style-type: none; } +ul.index { list-style-type: none; } +li { text-indent: -2em; + padding-left: 2em; } + +li.ifrst { + margin-top: 1em; + text-indent: 5em; + padding-left: 1em; +} +li.indx { + margin-top: .5em; + text-indent: -2em; + padding-left: 1em; +} +li.isub1 { + text-indent: -2em; + padding-left: 2em; +} + + </style> + </head> + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75543 ***</div> + +<p class="center">AN</p> + +<p class="p2 center ls larger"><span class="smcap">Illustrated Commentary</span></p> + +<p class="p2 center smaller">ON</p> + +<h1>THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO<br> + +<span class="muchlarger"><abbr title="Saint">ST.</abbr> JOHN.</span></h1> + +<p class="center tall allsmcap">FOR FAMILY USE AND REFERENCE, AND FOR THE GREAT BODY +OF CHRISTIAN WORKERS OF ALL DENOMINATIONS.</p> + +<p class="p2 byline x-ebookmaker-important"><span class="smcap">By</span> LYMAN ABBOTT, +<abbr title="Doctor of Divinity">D.D.</abbr>,</p> + +<p class="center allsmcap">AUTHOR OF A SERIES OF COMMENTARIES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT.</p> + +<p class="p4 center ls">A. S. BARNES & COMPANY,</p> + +<p class="center allsmcap">NEW YORK, CHICAGO, AND NEW ORLEANS.</p> + +<p class="center ls ">1879. +</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"> +<i>BY THE EDITOR OF THIS WORK.</i></p> +<hr class="medium"> +<p class="center"><span class="ls">A POPULAR COMMENTARY</span><br> + +<span class="muchsmaller">ON THE</span><br> + +<span class="ls">NEW TESTAMENT;</span><br> +<br> +<span class="allsmcap">WITH MAPS, ILLUSTRATIONS, AN INTRODUCTION +TO THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, +A CONDENSED LIFE OF CHRIST AND A TABULAR HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS, +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE AND GAZETTEER.</span><br> +<br> +<i>IN TWO SIZES.</i></p> +<hr class="longer"> + +<p class="center"><i>FIRST SERIES. FOUR VOLUMES. LARGE <abbr title="octavo">8vo.</abbr></i><br> +<br> +<span class="smaller">Very sumptuously printed and bound, on toned paper with wide margin.</span><br> +</p> +</div> + +<table class="smaller"> +<tr><td class="tdc">Volume</td> + <td class="tdr"> <abbr title="One">I.</abbr></td> + <td class="tdl pad1">MATTHEW AND MARK.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc">“</td> + <td class="tdr"> <abbr title="Two">II.</abbr></td> + <td class="tdl pad1">LUKE AND JOHN.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="allsmcap">(THE REMAINING VOLUMES OF THIS SERIES IN PREPARATION.)</span><br> +<br> +<br> +<i>SECOND SERIES. EIGHT VOLUMES. <abbr title="octavo">8vo.</abbr></i><br> +<br> +A handy edition for Christian workers.<br> +</p> + +<table class="smaller"> +<tr><td class="tdc">Volume</td> + <td class="tdr"> <abbr title="One">I.</abbr></td> + <td class="tdl pad1">MATTHEW.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc">“</td> + <td class="tdr"> <abbr title="Two">II.</abbr></td> + <td class="tdl pad1">MARK AND LUKE.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc">“</td> + <td class="tdr"> <abbr title="Three">III.</abbr></td> + <td class="tdl pad1">JOHN.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc">“</td> + <td class="tdr"> <abbr title="Four">IV.</abbr></td> + <td class="tdl pad1">THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="allsmcap">(THE REMAINING VOLUMES OF THIS SERIES IN PREPARATION.)</span><br> +<br> +<br> +<i>For Sale by Subscription. Persons owning any volume of either Series may obtain the +other volumes by addressing the Publishers.</i></p> + +<hr class="p4 longer"> +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1879, by A. S. Barnes & <abbr title="Company">Co.</abbr></i><br> +</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center tall"> +TO<br> +<br> +<span class="larger ls">JACOB ABBOTT,</span><br> +<br> +<span class="allsmcap">WHOSE WRITINGS HAVE INTERPRETED THE GOSPEL TO<br> +INNUMERABLE READERS;<br> +WHOSE LIFE HAS EVEN MORE ILLUSTRIOUSLY MANIFESTED ITS SPIRIT<br> +TO ALL WHO HAVE KNOWN HIM;<br> +AND WHO, BOTH BY EXAMPLE AND PRECEPT, HAS TAUGHT<br> +HIS CHILDREN TO VALUE THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST ABOVE ALL FORMS,<br> +AND CHRIST HIMSELF ABOVE ALL CREEDS,<br> +THIS EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL<br> +IS AFFECTIONATELY AND REVERENTLY DEDICATED BY<br> +HIS SON.</span><br> +</p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak ls" id="PREFACE">PREFACE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +TO ALL THE VOLUMES OF THIS SERIES OF COMMENTARIES. +</p> +<hr class="medium"> + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> object of this +Commentary is to aid in their Christian work those +who are endeavoring to promote the knowledge of the principles +which Jesus Christ came to propound and <span style="white-space:nowrap;">establish—clergymen,</span> Christian +parents, Sunday-School teachers, Bible-women, lay-preachers. Intended +for Christian workers, it aims to give the results rather than the processes +of scholarship, the conclusions rather than the controversies of scholars; +intended for laymen as well as for clergymen, it accompanies the English +version of the New Testament, in all references to the original Greek gives +the English equivalent, and translates all quotations from the French, +German, Latin and Greek authors.</p> + +<p>The introduction to Volume <abbr title="One">I</abbr> contains a statement of those principles +of interpretation which appear to me to be essential to the correct +understanding of the Word of God. This Commentary is the result of a +conscientious endeavor to apply those principles to the elucidation of the +New Testament.</p> + +<p>It is founded on a careful examination of the latest and best text; such +variations as are of practical or doctrinal importance are indicated in the +notes. It is founded on the original Greek; wherever that is inadequately +rendered in our English version, a new translation is afforded by the notes. +The general purpose of the writer or speaker, and the general scope of the +incident or teaching, is indicated in a Preliminary Note to the passage, or +in an analysis, a paraphrase, or a general summary at the close. Special +topics are treated in preliminary or supplementary notes. The results of recent +researches in Biblical archæology have been embodied, so as to make +the Commentary serve in part the purpose of a Bible Dictionary. A free +use is made of illustrations, from antiques, photographs, original drawings, +and other trustworthy sources. They are never employed for mere +ornament, but always to aid in depicting the life of Palestine, which +remains in many respects substantially unchanged by the lapse of time. +Since the Commentary is prepared, not for devotional reading, but for +practical workers, little space has been devoted to hortatory remarks or +practical or spiritual reflections. But I have uniformly sought to interpret +the letter by the spirit, and to suggest rather than to supply moral and +spiritual reflections, a paragraph of hints is affixed to each section or topic, +embodying what appears to me to be the essential religious lessons of the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</span> +incident or the teaching; sometimes a note is appended elucidating +them more fully. The best thoughts of the best thinkers, both exegetical +and homiletical, are freely quoted, especially such as are not likely to be +accessible to most American readers; in all such cases the thought is +credited to the author. Parallel and contrasted passages of Scripture are +brought together in the notes; in addition, full Scripture references are +appended to the text. These are taken substantially from Bagster’s large +edition of the English version of the Polyglot Bible, but they have been +carefully examined and verified in preparing for the press, and some +modifications have been made. For the convenience of that large class of +Christian workers who are limited in their means, I have endeavored to +make this Commentary, as far as practicable, a complete apparatus for the +study of the New Testament. When finished it will be fully furnished +with <span style="white-space:nowrap;">maps;—there</span> are four in this volume; a Gazetteer gives a condensed +account of all the principal places in Palestine, mentioned in our Lord’s +life; and an introduction traces the history of the New Testament from +the days of Christ to the present, giving some account of the evidence and +nature of inspiration, the growth of the canon, the character and history +of the manuscripts, the English version, the nature of the Gospels and +their relation to each other, a brief life of Christ, and a complete tabular +harmony of the four Gospels.</p> + +<p>The want of all who use the Bible in Christian work is the same. The +<em>wish</em> is often for a demonstration that the Scripture sustains the reader’s +peculiar theological tenets, but the <em>want</em> is always for a clearer and better +knowledge of Scripture teaching, whether it sanctions or overturns previous +opinions. I am not conscious that this work is written in the interest of +any theological or ecclesiastical system. In those cases in which the best +scholars are disagreed in their interpretation, the different views and the +reasons which lead me to my own conclusions have been given, I trust, in +no controversial spirit. For the sole object of this work is to ascertain +and make clear the meaning of the Word of God, irrespective of systems, +whether ecclesiastical or doctrinal.</p> + +<p>No work is more delightful than that which throws us into fellowship +with great minds; of all work the most delightful is that which brings us +into association with the mind of God. This is the fellowship to which the +student of the Bible aspires. I can have for those who use this work no +higher hope than that they may find in its employment some of the happiness +which I have found in its preparation, and that it may serve them as +it has served me, as a guide to the Word of God, and through that Word +to a better acquaintance with God himself.</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Cornwall-on-Hudson</span>, <i>May</i>, 1875. +<span class="righttext r2">LYMAN ABBOTT.</span><br><br> +</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS">TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="medium"> + +<h3> +THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.<br> +</h3> + +<table> +<colgroup> +<col style="width: 80%;"> +<col style="width: 19%;"> +</colgroup> + +<tr><td class="tdr" colspan="2"><span class="smcap small">Page</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Supplementary Notes</span>—</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">On the Introduction to John’s Gospel</span></td> + <td class="tdr vlb"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad1"><span class="smcap">The Incarnation</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#TOC21">21</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Lamb of God</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#TOC24">24</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">Christ’s Example in the Use of Wine</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#TOC32">32</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">Christ as a Conversationalist</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#TOC58">58</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">Christ’s Discourse on the Bread of Life</span></td> + <td class="tdr vlb"><a href="#Note6_22">83</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Woman Taken in Adultery</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Note_Ch8">105</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Parable of the Sheepfold</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#TOC125">125</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Resurrection of Lazarus</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Note_ch11">135</a>, <a href="#SuppNote_ch11">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Anointing of Jesus</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Note_ch12">150</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Lord’s Supper</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Note_ch13">162</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">Christ’s Last Discourse with his Disciples</span></td> + <td class="tdr vlb"><a href="#Note_ch14">171</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Parable of the Vine</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Note_ch15">185</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">Christ’s Intercessory Prayer</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Note_ch17">201</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Character of Pontius Pilate</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Note_ch19">221</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh pad2"><span class="smcap">The Character of John’s Gospel</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Note_ch21">240</a></td></tr> +</table> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="medium"> + +<p class="tall">Most of the engravings in this volume have been drawn and engraved expressly for this +work; some from original sketches by Mr. A. L. Rawson, others from careful study from the +best accessible authorities, by Mr. R. F. Zogbaum.</p> + +<table> +<colgroup> +<col style="width: 85%;"> +<col style="width: 14%;"> +</colgroup> +<tr><td class="tdr" colspan="2"><span class="smcap small">Page</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Cana of Galilee</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_029">29</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">An Oriental Wedding</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_028">29</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Water-pots and Ewers</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_031">31</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Substructures of the Temple</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_034">34</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Plan and Section of the Temple</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_036">36</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Expulsion of the Traders</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_037a">36</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Eastern Money-changer</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_037">37</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Modern Jewish Rabbi</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_041">41</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Traditional Site of Enon</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_048">48</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Jacob’s Well</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_052">52</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Jesus at the Well</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_054">54</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Samaritan Remains in Gerizim</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_060">60</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Church over the Pool of Bethesda</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_063">63</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Bethsaida</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_077">77</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Tiberias</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_085">85</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Booth on the Housetop</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_096">96</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Officers of the Chief Priest</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_104">104</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Mount of Olives</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_107">107</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Woman and her Accusers</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_108">108</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">An Eastern Sheepfold</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_126">126</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Fell at His Feet</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_142">142</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Resurrection of Lazarus</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_146">146</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Bethany</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_151">151</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Anointing of the Feet</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_152">152</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ancient Money-bag</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_153">153</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Washing of Feet</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_163">163</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dipping the Sop</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_168">168</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Torches</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_212">212</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ancient Fire Utensils</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_214">214</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Denials of Peter</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_215">215</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Jesus before Pilate</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_217">217</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Roman Judgment-seat</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_221">221</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">He Girt his Fisher’s Coat unto him</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_235">235</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Ancient Bread</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#i_236">236</a></td></tr> +</table> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_GOSPEL_ACCORDING_TO_JOHN">THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN.</h2> +</div> + + +<h3> +INTRODUCTION.<br> +</h3> + + +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> the beginning of the third century to +near the close of the seventeenth, the Fourth +Gospel was by a common and substantially a +unanimous consent attributed to the Apostle +John. This authorship was then questioned, at +first by an English critic by the name of Evanson. +The discussion was soon transferred to Germany, +where it waxed warm, and whence it was again +transferred to England and this country.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> It +may now be regarded as the most hotly contested +question in biblical criticism. The controversy +has been intensified by prejudices and +feeling on both sides. It is indeed impossible to +discuss it with cool indifference, as a mere matter +of curious literary interest. If this Gospel +was written by the Apostle John, we have the +testimony of an undoubted <span style="white-space:nowrap;">eye-witness—not</span> his +conclusions but his account of facts in respect +to which he could not well be <span style="white-space:nowrap;">deceived—certainly</span> +not, unless we are prepared to believe that Jesus +was himself a deliberate deceiver; testimony of +an eye-witness whose honesty not even the most +resolute skepticism would or could well call in +question. This testimony would establish beyond +question such facts as the miraculous feeding +of the five thousand, the healing of the man +born blind, the resurrection of Lazarus, and the +death and resurrection of Jesus himself. In +other words, it would establish beyond the possibility +of reasonable question, the truth of +historical Christianity. Accordingly, Renan, who +to a certain extent accepts the authenticity of +the Fourth Gospel, is compelled to maintain that +the pretended resurrection of Lazarus was a +pious fraud to which Jesus lent himself because +it was necessary to the success of his mission, +and because his growing religious enthusiasm +justified to his conscience this means, for the +sake of the end to be accomplished by it. Moreover, +we have in this Gospel a report of words of +Jesus, which leave to us no alternative but to +accept him as in a peculiar sense the Son of +God, or to regard him either as a religious +impostor or a religious enthusiast. The synoptics +leave some opportunity for discussion as to +the place which Jesus assumed to fill. The +Fourth Gospel does not. Thus the question of +the authorship of this Gospel is not merely a +question in literary criticism, but even more one +respecting the nature of Christianity. Accordingly +we find, on the one hand, the advocates +of its apostolic authorship more or less resting +their belief upon the inherent beauty of the +book, and the opponents more or less declaring +the true ground of their opposition to it, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, +that it presents what they call a mythological +view of Jesus, and a dogmatic view of his +teachings; in other words, that it presents +Jesus distinctively as the incarnate Son of God, +and represents the central truth in his teaching +to have been the necessity of faith in him. Both +these aspects of truth are indeed presented in +the other Gospels, but not with the same clearness, +nor with the same prominence, as in the +Fourth Gospel. Hence the latter is assailed +with peculiar vigor by the opponents of evangelical +Christianity, and is, for the same reason, +maintained with equal vigor by evangelical +believers. It does not come within the province +of this work to enter into the details of +this controversy. To give the arguments, pro +and con, would require a treatise, and for a +consideration of them the reader is of necessity +referred to the various works which have been +written on this subject. The student will find +the most vigorous assault on the authenticity +of the Fourth Gospel in the second volume +of “Supernatural Religion,” which, however, +must be read with considerable allowance for a +scholarship evidently warped by determined +prejudices, and which is certainly one-sided, +if not absolutely false in many particulars. +Among the many defences of the authenticity +of the Gospel, I have found nothing more comprehensive +or satisfactory than that contained in +the first volume of Godet’s Commentary on John. +With this, however, may be advantageously +compared Luthardt’s “<abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> John, the Author +of the Fourth Gospel,” <abbr title="Professor">Prof.</abbr> Fisher’s “Supernatural +Origin of Christianity,” and the introductions +to the commentaries, especially those +of Luthardt, Lange, Alford, Meyer and Tholuck. +Here I propose merely to set before the +reader briefly a compact statement of the more +important facts in the case, confining myself +mainly to those that are <span style="white-space:nowrap;">undisputed—facts</span> +which led the world for fifteen centuries to +attribute the Fourth Gospel to John without a + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> +doubt, and which on a more careful examination +have led the great majority of scholars to adhere +to that conclusion.</p> + +<p><b>The Apostle John.</b> The Apostle John was +probably a native, certainly a resident, of Galilee. +His mother, Salome,<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +early became a follower +of Jesus. She was probably one of the women +of Galilee who accompanied him on his missionary +tours, and ministered to him of their substance.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +She was with him on his last journey +to Jerusalem, and during the passion week, and +was one of those women who were last at the +cross and first at the sepulchre.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +Like the other +followers of Jesus, she anticipated the establishment +of a temporal kingdom, was ambitious for +her sons James and John, and made an application +for special favors for them when the kingdom +should be established. From a comparison +of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:56 with John +<a href="#ch19_25">19:25</a>, it would +appear that she was own sister to the Virgin +Mary, in which case John was own cousin to +Jesus. This opinion is not accepted by all +critics, but I believe it to be the correct one. +See note on John <a href="#ch19_25">19:25</a>. John’s father, Zebedee, +was a well-to-do fisherman on the shores of +the sea of Galilee. Of him we know very little. +He was sufficiently prosperous to own several +boats and to hire men to work for him. Tradition +makes him of noble birth; and this tradition +is perhaps confirmed by the fact that John had +some acquaintance with the high-priest.</p> + +<p>John has been characterized by those critics +who wish to make out that his character is inconsistent +with the idea of his authorship of the +Fourth Gospel, as ignorant and unlettered, on +the authority of Acts 4:13, and as a vehement +and bigoted Jew on the authority of Galatians, +<abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> <abbr title="Two">II</abbr>, +and of the peculiar Hebraic tone of the +Book of Revelation. Both characterizations are +quite gratuitous assumptions. In connection with +every Jewish synagogue was a parochial school, +in which the pupils were taught reading, writing, +and the rudiments of such natural sciences +as were then in existence. The Jewish children +of the common people were far better educated +than those of Greece or Rome. There is every +reason to believe that John received this common +education of the age and community in +which he lived, and there is absolutely no reason +whatever to suppose the contrary. It was only +by the Pharisees that John was considered as +ignorant and unlettered, and they affixed the +same stigma upon Jesus himself.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +To the Pharisees +the only learning worth the name was +learning in the traditional lore of the church. +Of this the Galilean fisherman was ignorant. In +the eyes of a Pharisee of Jerusalem, Plato himself +would have been ignorant and unlearned. +As little reason is there to believe that John was +a vehement and bigoted Jew. There is not the +slightest evidence that John was among the +Judaizing Christians to whom Paul so frequently +refers, and whom throughout his life he combated. +With one exception, Judas Iscariot, all +the twelve were taken from Galilee. This province +of Palestine was innocent of that formalism +and narrowness which characterized the southern +province of Judea. The people had lived in +amicable relations with their heathen neighbors, +and had intermarried with them ever since the +days of the treaty of amity between Solomon +and the King of Tyre.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +The line of commerce +between Damascus and the Mediterranean lay +directly across this province. Mineral springs of +real or fancied value near the southern coast of +the Sea of Gennesaret made it the summer resort +of the wealthy Romans of the entire land. Thus +history and location, commerce and social relations, +combined to make the inhabitants of +Galilee indifferent to the rigid formalism of the +Judeans, and comparatively free from their +narrow race and religious prejudices. Indeed, +the two assertions that John was ignorant and +unlearned, and at the same time a narrow and +bigoted Jew, contradict each other. Jewish +bigotry and reverence for the traditional lore of +the Jewish church always went together.</p> + +<p>The important facts in the history of John, so +far as known, are few and soon told. John the +Baptist was second cousin of Jesus, and John the +Apostle was probably, as we have seen, his own +cousin. The two Johns were, therefore, probably +acquainted. At all events, when the Baptist +began preaching the gospel of repentance for the +remission of sins, the Apostle was among his disciples; +and when the Baptist pointed out Jesus +as the one whom God had indicated to him as the +promised Messiah, John was among the first to +leave the old teacher to follow the new one. +This was, however, a temporary following only. +We next meet him fishing with his father at the +Sea of Galilee, where Jesus finds him and his +brother, and calls them to become permanent +followers of him. This summons, without hesitation +or delay, they obey. From this time onward +John is the constant companion of Jesus. +With Peter and James he belongs to an inner circle +of friends: the three are selected to be the +sole witnesses of the resurrection of Jairus’s +daughter; they alone go up into the Mount of +Transfiguration, and witness his glory there; +they alone accompany him to the Garden of +Gethsemane, and are invited to be the sharers of + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span> +his sorrow there; when the arrest takes place, +and all the disciples forsake their Master and +flee, John and Peter turn back and follow him to +the scene of his trial, and the former, with a +courage for which few critics give him credit, +goes without concealment, as a disciple, openly, +into the house of Caiaphas, follows the Master to +the trial before Pilate, and when the sentence of +crucifixion is pronounced, accompanies the procession +to the place of execution, to remain by +the cross till all is over. When the news of the +resurrection is brought to the disciples, he and +Peter are the first to reach the sepulchre. In the +subsequent history of the Church, as recorded in +the book of Acts, he does not take a prominent +part. To him was committed the care of Mary, +the mother of Jesus, and probably this sacred +charge prevented him from quitting Palestine +while she lived.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>For the subsequent history of John we are dependent +on tradition. This is, however, in his +case, less uncertain than in many other cases. +As Christianity spread over the heathen world, +Jerusalem ceased to be the centre of Christian +operations; but, while the Roman Empire continued +pagan and persecuting, Rome could not take +the place of Jerusalem, as subsequently it did. +Hence, for the first century, Asia Minor was the +great field of missionary work, and Ephesus, +which was the scene of Paul’s greatest triumphs +and most successful labors,<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +became the centre of +the Christian church. Here John became settled +in his later life. From this point he seems to +have exercised an apostolic supervision over the +churches of all Asia Minor. The few traditional +stories of his old age accord with what the Gospels +indicate of his character. When he could +no longer preach, it is said that he was accustomed +to be carried into the church, and to +repeat from the pulpit as the sum and substance +of Christian doctrine, “Little children, love one +another!” He was banished to the island of +Patmos, where, according to the book of Revelation, +he witnessed the vision therein recorded. +He subsequently returned to Ephesus, where it is +probable he died at an extremely advanced <span style="white-space:nowrap;">age—not</span> +much, if any, less than a hundred years old.</p> + +<p><b>The character of John</b> has been strangely +misconceived. He is with reason identified with +the unnamed “disciple whom Jesus loved,” and +who at the Last Supper rested his head on Jesus’ +bosom; the Epistles attributed to him breathe a +spirit of love; the Gospel attributed to him is of +all the Gospels the most spiritual in its tone. +From these premises, the character of John has +been constructed; it has been supposed that he +was by nature peculiarly tender, gentle, loving, +and spiritually-minded; that his was a woman’s +character. He is so portrayed in art, and to some +extent in literature; and the special friendship +which Christ has been supposed to have entertained +for him is attributed to a character by +nature peculiarly loveable.</p> + +<p>There are, however, other considerations which +any such view totally ignores. James and John +were by Jesus called Boanerges, “the sons of +thunder;” it was John who prohibited a strange +disciple from casting out devils in Jesus’ name, +because he followed not the Twelve; it was John +who desired to call down fire from Heaven upon +the Samaritan village which refused to entertain +his Master; it was James and John who, with +their mother, applied secretly to Jesus for the +highest offices for themselves in his anticipated +kingdom; it was John who followed Jesus into +the courtyard of the high-priest, when all the +other disciples forsook him and fled; John who +stood with the Galilean women near the cross at +the time of the crucifixion; John who with Peter +defied the edict of the Sanhedrim after the death +of Jesus, prohibiting them from teaching or +speaking in his name.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +These are not the acts +of one whose nature was characteristically timid, +gentle, or spiritually-minded. By nature John +was ardent, courageous, impetuous, and not +more broad-minded or spiritually-minded than +his co-disciples. Indications of these traits are +not wanting, as we shall presently see, in the +Gospel and the Epistles which bear his name.</p> + +<p>But he was of all the Twelve the most receptive. +When Christ foretold his passion, Peter +remonstrated with him. When Jesus spoke of +the heavenly mansions and of his departure to +prepare a place therein for his disciples, Thomas +expressed his doubt and his perplexity by the +question, “We know not whither thou goest, and +how can we know the way?” When Jesus +pointed to himself as the manifestation of the +Father, Philip, dissatisfied, asked for a direct +revelation of the Father. When Jesus promised +to his disciples a spiritual manifestation of himself, +Judas (not Iscariot), after the manner of +modern theology, desired to have that manifestation +explained to him before he could accept +the truth. When Jesus rebuked Judas Iscariot +for complaining of Mary’s act in anointing her +Lord, Judas was angered.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +But we look in vain +in the Gospels for any instance in which John +expressed any rebuke of Christ, or any opposition +to him, or any doubt of his teaching, or demanded +any other evidence of its truth than the +simple word of his Lord. Of all the disciples the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> +most receptive, he was the one whose character +underwent the greatest and most radical change. +The John that we know is the John transformed +by the renewing influence of the spirit of Christ; +he is the John that is a new creature in Christ +Jesus. He was, I believe, the beloved disciple, +because he was the one in whom the love of +Christ had the freest course and wrought the +fullest and the largest results. This simple fact +must be borne in mind in considering the question +of the internal evidences for and against the +Johannine authorship of the Gospel.</p> + +<p><b>The external evidence.</b> Those who expect +to find a demonstration of the Johannine authorship +of the Fourth Gospel in the external evidences, +will be disappointed. The literature of +the first three centuries does not afford a demonstration +of authorship of any ancient book. But +the authorship of John’s Gospel I believe to be +as well established, on a fair consideration of all +the evidence, external and internal, as that of any +work of the same era.</p> + +<p>It is not questioned by any one that at the beginning +of the third century the Fourth Gospel +was in general use in the churches, and universally +recognized as written by the Apostle John. +Eusebius, Origen, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, +are among those who bear testimony to +this fact. The Fourth Gospel is recognized as +John’s composition in the canon of Muratori, +<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 175; and by Irenæus, who died about 202, +and who was a pupil of Polycarp, himself a pupil +of John. References to sayings of Jesus reported +only by John are also found in the writings of +Tatian, <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 170, Justin +Martyr, <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 120-160, +and the various Gnostic writers of the second +century. These references do not conclusively +prove the Johannine authorship of the Fourth +Gospel, for these earliest writers are not accustomed +to give the names of authors from whom +they quote; but they do conclusively prove that +as early as the first part of the second century, +sayings of Christ, found only in the Fourth Gospel, +were attributed by the Church to Jesus. +The best report of these quotations which I have +seen is to be found in the second volume of +“Supernatural Religion,” and they are there the +more effective because the author in vain endeavors +to break their force, by what most +readers will consider an ingenious but ineffective +special pleading. Let the reader compare these +quotations with the parallel passages in the Fourth +Gospel; he will not doubt that the later writers +borrowed from the earlier one. The only alternative +is the irrational hypothesis that both borrowed +from the same source and one generally +recognized in the primitive Church; in other +words, that there was a Gospel containing the +same matter that is now found in the Fourth +Gospel, but that it has so entirely disappeared +that no tradition even of its existence has survived, +and that in its place a forgery has been +palmed off upon the Church so successfully, that +in the beginning of the third century it was universally +accepted as the original work of the +Apostle whose name it has ever since borne.</p> + +<p>Space does not allow me to give in detail these +quotations, which are numerous; it would be +still more out of the province of this introduction +to enter into the arguments by which the rationalistic +writers endeavor to reconcile these quotations +with their hypotheses. I can but briefly +indicate a few of them, referring the student to +the larger works for the examination in detail of +the parallelism between these early ecclesiastical +writers and the Fourth Gospel. Justin Martyr +thus refers to the testimony of John the Baptist: +“I am not the Christ ... for he cometh who is +stronger than I, whose shoes I am not meet to +bear” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John 1:19-27</span>). He cites Christ as saying, +“Unless ye be born again, ye shall not +enter into the kingdom of heaven,” and adds the +comment, “Now that it is impossible for those +who have been born to go into the matrices of +the mother is evident to all” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch3_3">3:3-5</a></span>). +Tatian refers to the sayings, “The darkness +comprehends not the light” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch1_5">1:5</a></span>), and +“All things were by him, and without him was +not anything made” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch1_5">1:5</a>, <a href="#ch1_3">3</a></span>). Hegessippus +(<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 125) refers to “that which is +spoken in the Gospels, ‘That was the true light +which lighteth every man who cometh into the +world’” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch1_9">1:9</a></span>). In the writings of the +Naaseni and Peratæ, Gnostic sects of the beginning +of the second century, we have several +unmistakable references to sayings that are peculiar +to the Fourth Gospel. “I am the door,” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> John +<a href="#ch10_7">10:7</a></span>); “As Moses lifted up the serpent +in the wilderness, even so must the Son be +lifted up,” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> John +<a href="#ch3_14">3:14</a></span>); “If thou hadst +known who it is that asketh thee, thou wouldest +have asked of him, and he would have given +thee living water, springing up,” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John 4:10</span>); +“The Saviour hath said, ‘That which is born +of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the +Spirit is spirit,’” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch3_6">3:6</a></span>); “Except ye +eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye shall not +enter the kingdom of heaven,” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch6_53">6:53</a></span>). +These are by no means all the citations from +the writers of the first two centuries which +appear to have been taken from the Fourth Gospel, +but they will suffice to give the reader an +idea of the nature of the evidence which is regarded +by most Christian writers, and by some +rationalistic <span style="white-space:nowrap;">critics—Matthew</span> Arnold, for <span style="white-space:nowrap;">example—as</span> +establishing the fact that the Fourth +Gospel was in existence and recognized as an +authority in the Church in the beginning of the +second century. If this is the fact, it is reasonably +certain that it was the work of the Apostle + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> +John, since if it had been written by any one else +as early as that date, that is, during the lifetime +of some of the contemporaries of John, the forgery +would certainly have been detected.</p> + +<p><b>The internal evidence.</b> The facts indicated +above are not questioned by any critic. But +though from the beginning of the third century +to the close of the eighteenth, the Fourth Gospel +was unanimously attributed to the Apostle John, +it is maintained by those critics who deny the +Johannine authorship that a fair consideration of +the external evidence now extant, leaves it uncertain +whether the unanimous opinion of the +Church in the first century was correct, and that +the internal evidence, <i>i. e.</i>, the character of the +Gospel itself, when contrasted (1) with the other +Gospels, (2) with the known character of John, +(3) with the other writings attributed to him, +makes it certain that he was not the author.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably the Fourth Gospel presents +very different matter and a very different aspect +of Christ’s life and character from that presented +by the other three Gospels. The three Gospels +give an impression almost exclusively Galilean; +the Fourth Gospel narrates almost exclusively a +ministry in Judea; the three Gospels indicate +one which might have been completed in a single +year; the fourth indicates three years as the +duration of Christ’s ministry; the three Gospels +report chiefly Christ’s ethical discourses; the +fourth reports chiefly his doctrinal discourses; +love to men’s neighbor is the predominate theme +in the three Gospels; faith in a divine Saviour is +the predominate theme in the fourth; the three +Gospels portray the work of Jesus Christ; the +fourth portrays his person and character; the +three Gospels repeat the same incidents and +instructions in slightly different language; the +fourth repeats scarcely anything found in the +other three; and when, as in its account of the +feeding of the five thousand, it does repeat, the +manifest object of the repetition is to introduce +a report of a discourse of Jesus omitted in the +other narratives.</p> + +<p>It is also true that there is a marked difference +between the style of John’s Gospel and the Book +of Revelations. This difference is so considerable +that it is vigorously maintained that the +same author could not have written both books. +“The difference,” says Lucke, “between the +language, way of expression and mode of +thought and doctrine of the Apocalypse and +the rest of the Johannine writings is so comprehensive +and intense, so individual and even so +radical; the affinity and agreement on the contrary +either so general, or in detail so fragmentary +and uncertain, that the Apostle John, if he really +is the author of the Gospel and of the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Epistles—which</span> +we here <span style="white-space:nowrap;">advance—cannot</span> have composed +the Apocalypse either before or after the Gospel +and the Epistles.” This difference is of two +kinds, a difference both of style and of spirit. +The language of the Apocalypse is comparatively +harsh and Hebraic, that of the Gospel a comparatively +fine and flowing Greek. The author of +the Apocalypse, it is claimed, is an intense Jew, +whose imagery is borrowed from the Hebrew +Scriptures, and whose object is the exaltation +of the Jewish people; who narrates the outpoured +punishment of God on the enemies of +God’s chosen people, and whose celestial capital +of the kingdom without end is the new Jerusalem. +The author of the Fourth Gospel, it is +claimed, could not have been a Jew or of Jewish +extraction; he makes no attempt to conceal his +enmity of the Jews; he stigmatizes them as the +enemies of Christ, and as the children of the +devil;<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +and he writes of them and of their +customs as no Jew would or could have written +of the customs of his own people.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>It is not my purpose here to enter upon a +discussion of these objections. It must suffice +to say that they are founded on a false conception +of the character of John and a false assumption +that what John was when he first met Jesus +by the banks of the Jordan, that he was after a +life-time spent as a disciple, learning of him and +undergoing that transformation of character +which has been the peculiar and glorious fruitage +of Christ’s husbandry. Instead of entering +into such a discussion, I shall ask the reader to +consider briefly what are some of the more notable +characteristics of the Fourth Gospel, and what +would be the conclusion as to its authorship +from an independent and original examination +of its pages.</p> + +<p>Imagine then that we have just discovered this +ancient manuscript, a manuscript which unquestionably +dates from the beginning of the third +century, probably from a still earlier period, and +which we have abundant evidence was then +unanimously attributed to the Apostle John. +We enter upon its examination that we may +form for ourselves a judgment who its real +author probably was. In this examination there +are three characteristics which force themselves +upon our attention as predominant: (1) the +claims which it presents; (2) its literary character; +(3) the indications which it affords as to +the personality of its author.</p> + +<p><b>1. Its claims.</b> It assumes to be written by an +eye-witness. In his introduction the writer says +distinctly of the subject of his biography: “We +beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten +of the Father.” In the Epistle attributed to him, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> +he reiterates this statement even more explicitly. +“That which was from the beginning, which we +have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, +which we have looked upon and our hands have +handled of the word of life ... that which we +have seen and heard declare we unto you.” In +his account of the crucifixion he emphasizes the +fact that he is an eye-witness of the events described. +“He that saw it bare record and the +record is true; and he knoweth that he saith +true that ye might believe.” And yet again in +the closing chapter, generally regarded as written +subsequent to the rest of the volume, and as +supplementary to it, the writer is identified with +the unnamed beloved disciple. “This is the +disciple who testified of these things and wrote +these things, and we know that his testimony is +true.”<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>In reading the book we constantly come upon +indications that the work is by an eye-witness or +by one who writes in order to give that impression. +No one of the Evangelist’s narratives more +abounds with graphic touches, slight but significant, +such as indicate the vivid remembrance of +one who was not only an eye and ear witness, +but also one who treasures up in a remarkably +retentive memory incidents which mere tradition +would not have preserved. John the Baptist +“looks upon Jesus,” and points him out +to his disciples, by his peculiar gaze; Jesus +“turns” and sees them follow; wearied with +the journey he sits “thus on the well;” there +is “much grass” where he feeds the five thousand; +when Mary anointed Jesus the “house +was filled with the odor of the ointment;” when +Judas went out to complete the betrayal “it was +night;” the night “was cold,” and Peter stands +with the servant of the high-priest warming +himself at a fire of coals in the court-yard.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> +These may serve as illustrations. Examples the +reader will find in great abundance, and references +to them in the notes. Of all the Gospels, +the Fourth Gospel is the one which reports most +fully the private conferences between Jesus and +the Twelve, and the only one which reports his +“asides” and his personal feelings in explanation +of his public acts.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +These features in the narrative +do not prove that it was written by an +eye-witness, but they indicate that it was written +either by an eye-witness, or by one who desired +to produce that impression; either by one of +the Twelve or by a deliberate and skilful forger.</p> + +<p><b>2. Its literary character.</b> The differences +between this Gospel and the other three which I +have already very briefly described, are very considerable. +They have led different minds to very +different conclusions respecting the authorship of +the Fourth Gospel. It is, however, safe to say +that they are just such as might be expected if +the Fourth Gospel was written after the other +three, and by some one familiar with them, or at +least with the traditions embodied in them. This +Gospel presents precisely the aspect which would +be presented by a book written for the purpose of +supplementing the accounts already possessed +by the primitive churches, and of portraying an +aspect of character not adequately portrayed by +the earlier writers. It presents, too, exactly +that aspect which would be presented by a +narrative written after the rapid growth of the +Church, and its prophetic incursions into heathenism +had given the writer a better conception +than his co-disciples possessed of the spiritual +character of the new religion. Matthew, Mark, +and Luke might perhaps have believed that the +privileges of Christianity were to be confined to +Jews and Jewish proselytes. Though many of +Christ’s words which they report indicate a +broader scope, it is by no means clear that they +comprehended them. But no one can doubt +that the author of John’s Gospel, when he +wrote, believed that the atonement of Jesus +Christ was for all humanity, his religion for all +classes, races, and conditions of mankind. It is +the Fourth Gospel which tells us that He was +the true Light which lighteth <em>every man</em> which +cometh into the world, that God so loved the +<em>world</em> that he gave his only beloved Son that +whosoever believeth in him should have everlasting +life, and that <em>whosoever</em> comes to him he +will in no wise cast out; it is the Fourth Gospel +which reports Christ’s interview with the woman +of Samaria and his subsequent preaching to the +Samaritans, which brings out more clearly than +either of the others the grounds of Christ’s +practical abrogation of the Pharisaic law of the +Sabbath, which dwells more than any other +Gospel on the spiritual aspects of his kingdom +and the divine nature of the king.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +All this +we might expect from one writing after more +than half a century of Catholic Christianity had +interpreted the nature, mission, and words of +Christ to his church.</p> + +<p>Let us add that a forger would not have suffered +his narrative to stand in such a marked +contrast with the previous and recognized narratives +already in the possession of the churches. +He would have commingled the ethical with the +doctrinal, the human with the divine. He would +have repeated in a modified form some of the +incidents and teachings already reported by the +other Evangelists, that he might thus give a +color of authenticity to his narrative. The very +contrast between the Fourth Gospel and the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> +other three, on which skeptic writers rely to +prove its untrustworthiness, is an indication +that it cannot be the work of fraud. If that +aspect of Christ’s character and teachings reported +by John’s Gospel was not recognized by +the primitive church as true, or if the author +was not himself known in the age in which the +narrative was produced, and so known that his +simple name was a sufficient guarantee of the +accuracy of his narrative, an account so dissimilar +from those already in the possession of the +churches would have received little credit and +no general, certainly no universal, acceptance.</p> + +<p><b>3. Indications of authorship.</b> A further +examination of this Gospel gives a definite impression +respecting the character of the author. +He is evidently thoroughly familiar with Jewish +manners and customs. He knows whereof he +writes. He has lived in the country and mingled +with the people. His knowledge is not that of +a student of books, nor that of a mere casual +traveler. But he writes for those who are not +familiar with Palestine or its social life. He +inserts parenthetical explications of Jewish customs. +He explains to his Gentile readers the +use of the firkins of water at the wedding-feast +“for purifying after the manner of the Jews;” +the wrapping of the body of Jesus, as the manner +of the “Jews is to bury;” the refusal of +the Pharisees to enter Pilate’s hall “lest they +should be defiled.” The feast of Tabernacles is +the Jews’ feast of Tabernacles, the Passover is +the Jews’ Passover, and the Preparation for it +is the Preparation of the Jews.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> +These references +are so incidental as to indicate a writer +thoroughly familiar with Jewish life; yet they +are so marked as to indicate equally clearly a +writer whose readers were not Jews but Gentiles.</p> + +<p>The indications are not less clear that the +writer, whoever he may have been, was not +himself a sharer in Jewish prejudices. Jew he +may have been; an intolerant Jew he certainly +was not. He is familiar with the Pharisees and +with the Pharisaic law, but he has no sympathy +with the one and no admiration for the other. +We can hardly be mistaken in thinking that his +native prejudices are adverse rather than favorable +to the inhabitants of Judea. More than any +of the other Evangelists his language respecting +them indicates his aversion to them. He is the +Evangelist who reports the mobs in Jerusalem +against Jesus, and the secret counsels for his +assassination, and the deliberate judgment of +Caiaphas that it is better for the rulers to kill +the Galilean Rabbi than to hazard their own +offices, and the persistent persecution of Jesus; +he it is who with delicate sarcasm stigmatizes +Caiaphas as high-priest for “that same year;” +the very language which he employs in describing +the religious festivals of Judea as “feasts of +the Jews,” indicates an author not in sympathy +with the religious formalism of Judea; the very +phraseology with which he characterizes the +reluctance of the Jews to enter into Pilate’s +judgment-hall, indicates a writer having little +sympathy for the formalism which was never a +characteristic of the Galilean Jews, and always +was a characteristic of the more intense and +bigoted Jews of the Syrian province of Judea.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Nor can we be mistaken in surmising that the +author was, by nature and temperament, ardent, +impulsive, vehement. The intensity of his nature +has been tamed by age, experience or grace, or +the three combined; but the indications of his +native character crop out in occasional utterances. +The records of Matthew, Mark, and +Luke are absolutely colorless. They are without +epithets. Their simple and artless narrative +is left to produce its own impression. This +is less true of the Fourth Gospel than of the +other three. The intense indignation which the +writer feels against Judas Iscariot, he is at no +pains to conceal. He it is who reports Jesus as +declaring early in his ministry, One of you is a +devil; he it is who characterizes Judas Iscariot +as a thief; he who twice declares that Satan +entered into Judas Iscariot.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +These are the +most notable exhibitions of his feelings; but one +can hardly read through the entire narrative +without realizing in its tone and spirit the evidence +that the author was a man of intense and +passionate earnestness, kept under marvelous +self-restraint.</p> + +<p>Finally, it is clear that the author is a man of +some native capacity for culture and of large +education. He is familiar with the Greek language +and with the Greco-Oriental philosophy. +He writes with a pure and flowing style. His +introduction could have been penned only by +one who had become habituated to those forms +of philosophic thought which some cities of +Greece, and notably Ephesus, had imported +from Alexandria and the further East. It could +only have been written for readers who were +familiar with that philosophy and could best be +approached by employing its phraseology.</p> + +<p>We find then in the direct claims and the incidental +allusions of the Fourth Gospel indications +that it was written by an eye and ear witness, +who was with Jesus from the commencement to +the close of his ministry; in the broad differences +between the Fourth Gospel and the other three +gospels, indications that it was written after the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> +others and by one who was familiar with them or +with the traditions embodied in them, and who +wrote to supplement their accounts; in the general +catholic and spiritual atmosphere of the +book, indications that it was written after history +had begun to interpret the words and work of +Christ, and to make clearer his transcendent and +incomparable character; and in the style and +phraseology of the book, indications that it was +written by one who was familiar with Jewish customs +but not sharing Jewish prejudices, who +possessed an ardent nature which had been +brought under the power of a strong self-control, +and who to a native capacity for culture added +that familiarity with Greek literature and philosophy +which only long residence in a thoroughly +Greek society could impart.</p> + +<p>Now, so far as our limited knowledge enables +us to judge, John’s life and character remarkably +correspond with these indications of the Gospel +which was so long unanimously attributed to his +pen. His parents were well-to-do Galileans, and +he probably received a fair education in his childhood; +his early education as a Galilean would +have given him familiarity with Jewish customs, +and yet would prejudice him against rather than +in favor of the inhabitants of Judea; his later +and prolonged residence in Ephesus, of all Greek +cities the most Oriental, would have made him +familiar with the best Greek culture, and with +the mystic philosophy of the Greco-Oriental +school; that he possessed a vehement nature is +evident from his original title of Son of Thunder; +his receptive disposition and his intense love for +Jesus might have been expected to tame that +nature, without eradicating from his writings all +indications of its existence; of all the disciples the +most courageous and the most sympathetically +intimate with the subject of his biography, he +was of them all the one to adhere to Jesus in his +dangerous ministry in Jerusalem, and the one +therefore to record what all the others have +omitted; he was also the one to interpret Christ’s +actions by his own suggestion of Christ’s unuttered +thoughts; writing after the other Gospels +had been written and were already being widely +circulated, his omission of events and teachings +which they had recorded is not only explicable, +but natural and to be anticipated; finally, writing +after the destruction of Jerusalem, after the dispersion +of the Jews had begun, after the descent +of the Holy Spirit had interpreted the mystical +promises of another Comforter, after churches +had been organized as far west as Rome in which +Gentile and Jew met on equal terms, after, in a +word, the history of the church had interpreted +the prophecies and instructions of its Lord, it +would have been strange indeed if he had not +given a deeper, truer, and more catholic exposition +of Christ’s Gospel than could have been +written during the first half-century in Palestine, +by those whose comprehension of Christ’s, +teaching had not been broadened by residence +in a foreign land and an observation of Christ’s +redeeming work in a pagan community.</p> + +<p><b>Other hypotheses.</b> The conclusion to which +a consideration of the external and internal evidence +brings the candid student is confirmed by +a consideration of the alternative hypotheses +presented to him. These are many in form; for +it is a significant fact that while those who believe +in the authenticity of the Fourth Gospel are +entirely agreed in respect to its authorship, and +the time and place of its composition, those who +disbelieve in its authenticity are not agreed +among themselves respecting either. But in general +their various opinions may be reduced to two +classes.</p> + +<p>The first is that the Fourth Gospel is the work +of a Gentile Christian writing in the third century. +Confessedly this Gospel purports to be +written by an eye and ear witness. Confessedly +it was unanimously attributed to the Apostle +John in the third century. Confessedly it is +without a peer in literature, ancient or modern, +sacred or secular, Christian or pagan, in the +purity of its doctrine, the moral elevation of its +style, and the spirituality of its atmosphere. +This hypothesis asks us to believe that it is the +work of a deliberate ecclesiastical forger, with +so little conscience that he neither hesitated to +assume the pen of an Apostle nor to attribute to +Jesus fictitious discourses and imaginary miracles, +yet with so much conscience that he would +not put an Apostle’s name to his composition, +but left its authorship to be inferred by a self-deluded +public; written too by a forger who was +so skillful that he deceived the whole contemporaneous +church, all sects and sections, Jewish +and Gentile, Greek, Roman, and African, orthodox +and heretic, and yet who was such a bungler +that the gross discrepancies of his account, contrasted +with that of the other three evangelists, +make his fraud palpable to the ecclesiastical and +literary critics of the nineteenth century. This +hypothesis demands so great an exercise of credulity +that sober critics of even the rationalistic +school are generally abandoning it, or have already +done so. This opinion may be already +characterized as a thing of the past.</p> + +<p>The other hypothesis is more plausible and +captivating. This is that the Fourth Gospel was +written by an amanuensis or a disciple of the +Apostle John, that its essential facts were derived +from him, that it was written in his old age, that +his recollection was already growing dim and his +reports of the words of Jesus are unconsciously +modified by his philosophy and experience, and +that these reports are still further modified by +the free pen of the amanuensis or the disciple + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> +who perfected the written record; and it is +urged that this hypothesis explains both verbal +peculiarities and the title given to it from early +ages, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, not the Gospel of John, but the Gospel +according to John.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>In support of this opinion there is quoted an +ancient legend found in the canon of Muratori +(<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 175), which runs as follows: “The fourth +of the Gospels is by the disciple John. He was +being pressed by his disciples and (fellow) bishops, +and he said, ‘Fast with me this day, and for +three days; and whatsoever shall have been revealed +to each one of us, let us relate it to the +rest.’ In the same night it was revealed to the +Apostle Andrew that John should write the +whole in his name, and that all the rest should +revise it.” It must suffice to say of this opinion +that in its most pronounced form it is wholly unsustained +by evidence. It is ingenious, but not +substantial. Doubtless the reports of Christ’s +disciples are not verbatim. Doubtless we have +in many instances the sentiments of Christ embodied +in the words of John. Possibly some +glosses and explanations added originally by an +amanuensis or scribe may have become incorporated +in the narrative.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> +But that the book is in no +sense a composite production, that it is the work +of one not of many minds, that we have essentially +the portrayal of the life and character of +Jesus by a single author, is evident on even a +casual perusal, and still more on a careful analysis +of the work.</p> + +<p><b>Discourses of Jesus.</b> The Gospel of John +abounds with reports of the discourses of Jesus; +it is more a report of his discourses (<span lang="el">λόγια</span>) than +of his works (<span lang="el">ἔργα</span>); the miracles reported are generally +only a text for a discourse which follows. +The student, passing from the Sermon on the +Mount in Matthew, or the parables in Perea, in +Luke, to the sermon on the Bread of life at Capernaum +(<span class="muchsmaller">John, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">6</a></span>), or on the Good Shepherd, at +Jerusalem (<span class="muchsmaller">John, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">10</a></span>), feels the difference between +them, a difference chiefly in the phraseology employed, +sometimes in the phases of truth taught, +but never amounting to a contradiction in the essential +teaching. The same doctrine respecting +the authority of Christ is conveyed by <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:27, +and John <a href="#ch5_19">5:19-30</a>; the same truth as to the +nature and necessity of a new and divine life in the +soul is expressed in Mark 4:26-29, and in John +<a href="#ch6_50">6:50-58</a>; similar parallels in essential truth may +be found in the synoptics to all that is taught in +the Fourth Gospel; but the form of expression is +strikingly different. Thus, in the study of the +Fourth Gospel, the question is constantly pressed +upon the student, how far the reports of Christ’s +addresses by John are to be regarded as reported +in the words of Christ.</p> + +<p>In answer to this we have, on the one hand, +Christ’s promise reported by John: “The Comforter +... shall bring all things to your remembrance +whatsoever I have said unto you” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a></span>); on the other, we have reason to believe +that the reports are not verbatim. (<i>a</i>) This +would require a supernatural exercise of memory +nowhere claimed by the Evangelists, and +therefore not to be claimed by the church for +them. (<i>b</i>) In some instances, <i>e. g.</i>, the case of +the conversation with Nicodemus and the woman +at the well, it is certain that John could not have +been present, and must have derived his information +either from Jesus or from the other +party to the conference. (<i>c</i>) The language in +which the discourse is reported is analogous +not only in words, but also in the forms of expression +to that of the narrator; the likeness is +so marked that in several instances the critics are +not fully agreed how much is to be regarded as +the discourse of Jesus, and how much as the accompanying +comment of John. (<i>d</i>) The thought +is sometimes, and the language is often, obscure. +And though this obscurity is increased by mistranslations, +and by the division into verses, which +hides from the reader the true unity of the discourse, +nevertheless it exists in the Greek original. +Such obscurity does not exist in the reports of +Christ’s discourses in the other Gospels. (<i>e</i>) The +largest public discourse as reported would not +have required over eight minutes in delivery. I +believe then that in the Fourth Gospel we have +the substantial thoughts of Christ, reproduced +generally in the words and with the phraseology +of John, whose mind, under the divine inspiration, +preserves the essential truth unimpaired, but represents +it, not as a mechanical repeater of words, +but as a disciple who freely reproduces the ideas +of his Master, but largely in language of his own.</p> + +<p><b>Object and character.</b> We are not left to +surmise the object of the author of the Fourth +Gospel. He himself tells us what it was: “These +are written that ye might believe that Jesus is +the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, +ye might have life through his name.”<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>According to John’s Gospel, true religion consists +not in obedience to an external law, but in a +new life in the soul, by which it is transformed, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> +and the soul, its habits and character, are brought +into conformity with the law of God, that is, the +law of love. This new and divine life is implanted +supernaturally from above; it is fed perpetually +by the influence of the divine Spirit; it +emancipates the soul from all bondage to sin and +the law; for it preparation is made by the life +and death of the Lord; in it God is manifested +in a peculiar manner to the soul and abides with +it, an indwelling Comforter. This life comes +through a vital faith in Jesus as in a peculiar +sense the Son of God, in whose life the believer +finds his ideal of true life, by whose death he is +redeemed from death, by whose spiritual power +he is raised a new creature in Christ Jesus, by +whose abiding presence he is guided, guarded, +strengthened, fed. Those incidents and discourses +in the life of Christ which illustrate and +enforce this aspect of Christian truth and experience +are those which John gives us in his Gospel. +The other Gospels represent the duties of +the disciples, John their privileges; the other +Gospels bid them what they ought to do, John +points them to what they can become; the other +Gospels represent Christ chiefly as a Saviour +coming to seek and to save that which is lost, +John as a Friend abiding with his own; in the +other Gospels he is a Shepherd in the wilderness, +in John the Shepherd in the fold; in the other +Gospels the Son is either still in the far country +or but just returning to his Father’s home, in +John he has returned and is abiding in his +Father’s love. In the other Gospels, therefore, +Jesus is chiefly represented as a divine teacher, +in John as a recognized Saviour; in the other +Gospels as the Son of man, in John as the Son of +God; in the other Gospels we have seen him as +he appears to the wanderer, in John as he is interpreted +by the heart of the saved; in the other +Gospels the bridegroom is coming for his bride +and is still the Unknown; in John he has taken +her to himself, and her love at least dimly recognizes +in him the One among ten thousand and +altogether lovely.</p> + +<p>These aspects of truth may be easily discerned +in even a brief survey of the Fourth Gospel.</p> + +<p>John opens his narrative by an introduction, in +which he borrows the mystical language of Oriental +philosophy to characterize Jesus, whom he +describes as the Life, the Light, the Word; he +reports John the Baptist, not as the preacher of +the baptism of repentance, but as a prophet of +the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of +the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></span>); in his account of the conversation +with Nicodemus (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">3</a></span>), he points out the +origin of the spiritual life which Christ imparts +to the believer, “Ye must be born from above;” +in his report of the conversation with the Samaritan +woman, and of the discourse at Capernaum +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">4</a>, <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">6</a></span>), he indicates the means by which +that life is sustained, by appropriating faith in +Christ; and in his record of the intermediate +discourse at Jerusalem (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">5</a></span>), the basis for that +faith in Christ’s own portrayal of himself as the +Son and manifestation of God the Father; in his +report of the discourses in the Temple, he sets +forth in a different form the same truths. +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">7</a></span>), +declares the emancipation from bondage which +faith in the Son achieves for the soul, contrasts +it with the life of bondage unto sin +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">8</a></span>), and +describes the safety and security of the disciples, +a security purchased by the death of their Lord +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">10</a></span>); he narrates the resurrection of Lazarus, +therein portraying Jesus as the resurrection and +the life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">11</a></span>); he reports those words of Jesus at +the Last Supper, the full meaning of which no +Christian experience has ever yet fully sounded, +in which is promised to the believing disciple a +spiritual manifestation of God to the soul, an +abiding life of God in the soul, and a joyful realization +of all spiritual fullness in God by the soul +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">14</a>, <a href="#CHAPTER_XV">15</a>, +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">16</a></span>); he records the only reported +intercessory prayer of the Lord for his disciples +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">17</a></span>), the burden of which is, “As thou +Father art in me and I in you, that they also +may be one in us;” in the account of the Passion +he alone gives the short dialogue between +Jesus and Pilate, in which the Lord declares +himself a king and his kingdom one of everlasting +truth; and in his account of the resurrection +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">20</a></span>), he tells the story of Thomas’s unbelief and +of Christ’s warm commendation of “those who +have not seen and yet have believed.” Life +through <span style="white-space:nowrap;">faith—this</span> is the burden of John’s +Evangel; Jesus Christ the Life-giver, the disciple +of Jesus Christ the recipient of a new <span style="white-space:nowrap;">life—this</span> +is the good news which constitutes the +Fourth Gospel.</p> + +<p><b>When and where and for whom written.</b> +A very ancient testimony, that of Irenæus, repeated +by Jerome and later writers, fixes the +place of publication at Ephesus. This accords +with the character of the Gospel itself. The +Oriental phraseology employed in the first chapter +especially, but also in less degree in other +portions of the Gospel, indicates that it was written +in a city where Oriental philosophy had a +strong hold; and of all Greek cities Ephesus was +the most Oriental. Moreover, an ancient and apparently +trustworthy tradition makes this city +the home of John in his later years. The time +of its composition is uncertain. Irenæus states +that it was the latest written of the four Gospels. +The character of the Gospel, as we have seen, +confirms this tradition. The book bears marks +of being written in old age; it is apparently +the production of a ripened Christian experience. +Alford fixes the date as between <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 70 and <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> +85; Macdonald, <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 85 or 86; Godet, between +<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 80 and 90; Tholuck, not far from <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 100.</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="p2 unindent"><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> + For same account in detail of these discussions, + see Godet’s Commentary on <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> John’s Gospel, <abbr title="Introduction">Intro.</abbr>, + <abbr title="Chapter">Chap.</abbr> <abbr title="Two">II</abbr>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> + <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:56 with Mark 15:40.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Luke 8:3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> + 20:20, 21; Mark 15:40; 16:1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> + John <a href="#ch7_15">7:15</a>, <a href="#ch7_48">48</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> + 1 Kings 9:10, 11. See Abbott’s <abbr title="Dictionary of Religious">Dict. of Rel.</abbr> + Knowledge, <abbr title="article">art.</abbr> <cite>Galilee.</cite></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> + See John <a href="#ch1_35">1:35-37</a>, notes; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:21; 10:2; + 17:1; 20:20; 26:37; Mark 5:37; John <a href="#ch13_23">13:23</a>; + <a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a>, <a href="#ch14_27">27</a>; <a href="#ch20_1">20:1-8</a>; Acts 3:1, etc.; 8:14-25; + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 2:9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> Acts, + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 19; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 20:17-38.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> + Mark 3:17; Luke 9:49-56; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:20; + John <a href="#ch18_15">18:15</a>; <a href="#ch19_26">19:26</a>; + Acts 4:19, 20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:22; John <a href="#ch14_5">14:5</a>, + <a href="#ch14_8">8</a>, <a href="#ch14_22">22</a>; John <a href="#ch12_4">12:4</a>, + with <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:14.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> + John <a href="#ch5_16">5:16</a>, <a href="#ch5_18">18</a>; + <a href="#ch7_13">7:13</a>, <a href="#ch7_19">19</a>; + <a href="#ch8_40">8:40</a>, <a href="#ch8_44">44</a>, + <a href="#ch8_59">59</a>; <a href="#ch9_22">9:22</a>, <a href="#ch9_28">28</a>; + <a href="#ch18_31">18:31</a>, etc.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> + See John <a href="#ch2_6">2:6</a>, <a href="#ch2_13">13</a>; + <a href="#ch5_1">5:1</a>; <a href="#ch6_4">6:4</a>; <a href="#ch7_2">7:2</a>; + <a href="#ch8_17">8:17</a>; <a href="#ch10_34">10:34</a>; + <a href="#ch15_25">15:25</a>; <a href="#ch19_40">19:40</a>, <a href="#ch19_42">42</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> + John <a href="#ch1_14">1:14</a>; <a href="#ch19_35">19:35</a>; + <a href="#ch21_24">21:24</a>; 1 John 1:1-3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> + John <a href="#ch1_36">1:36</a>, <a href="#ch1_38">38</a>; + <a href="#ch4_6">4:6</a>; <a href="#ch6_10">6:10</a>; <a href="#ch12_3">12:3</a>; + <a href="#ch13_30">13:30</a>; <a href="#ch18_18">18:18</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> + John <a href="#ch12_27">12:27</a>, <a href="#ch12_28">28</a>; + <a href="#ch13_3">13:3</a>; <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> + <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">14-16</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> + John <a href="#ch1_19">1:19</a>; <a href="#ch3_16">3:16</a>; + <a href="#ch6_37">6:37</a>; <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> + <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">4</a>, <a href="#CHAPTER_V">5</a>, + <a href="#CHAPTER_X">10</a>, <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">14</a>, <a href="#CHAPTER_XV">15</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> + John <a href="#ch2_6">2:6</a>; <a href="#ch5_1">5:1</a>; + <a href="#ch6_4">6:4</a>; <a href="#ch7_2">7:2</a>; <a href="#ch18_28">18:28</a>; + <a href="#ch19_40">19:40</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> + See John <a href="#ch7_1">7:1</a>, <a href="#ch7_19">19</a>, + <a href="#ch7_25">25</a>, <a href="#ch7_32">32</a>; <a href="#ch8_6">8:6</a>, + <a href="#ch8_59">59</a>; <a href="#ch9_22">9:22</a>; <a href="#ch10_31">10:31</a>; + <a href="#ch11_49">11:49</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> + John <a href="#ch6_70">6:70</a>, <a href="#ch6_71">71</a>; + <a href="#ch11_6">11:6</a>; <a href="#ch13_2">13:2</a>, <a href="#ch13_27">27</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> + The student will find this hypothesis urged with + great literary ingenuity by Matthew Arnold, in “God + and the Bible.”</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> + See John <a href="#ch5_4">5:4</a>, and note there.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> + John <a href="#ch20_31">20:31</a>. This declaration makes it unnecessary +to discuss the various theories which have been +proposed, such as that it was written to supplement the +other Gospels and supply their defects, or to refute certain +Gnostic heresies, or to commend Christianity to +the disciples of Oriental philosophy and the like. These +may, or may not, have been subordinate aims of the +writer: the main design he clearly indicates, and it is +the design here indicated which affords the key to the +true interpretation of the Gospel as a whole.</p> +</div> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p> +<p class="center ls"> +THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO<br> +<br> +<span class="muchlarger">JOHN.</span><br> +</p> +</div> + + +<p class="p2">1:1-18. THE CHRISTOLOGY OF JOHN.—​<span class="smcap">The pre-existence +of Christ.—​The creative power of +Christ.—​The regenerating work of Christ.—​The +illumination given by Christ.—​The divine manifestation +in Christ.—​The Word; the Light; the +Life; the Tabernacle; the Only-begotten Son.—​Contrasted +with John the Baptist; with Moses.—​The +gifts he confers; the welcome he receives.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—The ordinary English +reader will find no difficulty in comprehending +the truths which John expresses in this introduction +to his Gospel, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, the pre-existence, +divine attributes, and divine nature of that +Jesus, the Messiah, of whom his book is written. +John identifies him with the Word, which +was with God from eternity, and with the Light +which lighteth every man that cometh into the +world. But it is not so clear why he should use +the peculiar and somewhat mysterious language +here employed; for the full understanding of +this, some historical explanation is necessary. +My object in this note is to afford very briefly +this historical explanation, as a basis for more +detailed consideration of particular words and +phrases in the notes.</p> + +<p>From the earliest ages the ablest minds have +been perplexed by the problem how to reconcile +faith in an all-wise, all-powerful, and all-benevolent +Creator, with the fact of a creation full of +sin and suffering. One of the ablest thinkers of +modern times (John Stuart Mill) has declared +the problem insoluble, and from the facts of +creation has deduced the conclusion that the +Creator is neither all-wise, all-powerful, nor all-good; +to use his own words respecting the +Creator, “his wisdom is possibly, his power +certainly limited, and his goodness, though real, +is not likely to have been the only motive which +actuated him in the work of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">creation.”—(<cite>Three</cite></span> +<cite>Essays in Religion.</cite>) Oriental philosophy, pondering +this problem, proposed for its solution an +hypothesis which to a Western mind seems singularly +puerile and fantastic, and yet which, in +slightly different forms, gained, at one period in +the world’s history, an acceptance quite as widespread +as any form of philosophy or theology of +to-day. This hypothesis, however modified in +form, was in essence this, that the evil in the +world came not from the Creator, but from +some other and inferior Being. In the Persian +religion there were two deities, a good and an +evil god, Ormuzd and Ahriman, struggling with +each other for the supremacy. In the Chaldean +philosophy Light was the soul of the universe +and the Original First Cause; in the lower +realms, far below the space filled with pure and +unapproachable light, were darkness, night, and +all forth-springing evils, which either the Supreme +Light regarded it beneath his dignity to +contend with, or which were indestructible and +could only be confined within narrow limits, not +destroyed. In the Hindoo philosophy, the Great +First Cause, the beatific Brahm, lived in perpetual +repose, in a supreme and serene indifference to +all things. From him, by emanations, proceeded +lesser deities, and from these, by a process more +or less remote, a corrupt creation. At the +beginning of the Christian era, Alexandria, +founded by and named in honor of Alexander +the Great, was one of the intellectual centres of +the world. Here was gathered a library of over +700,000 volumes; here congregated Oriental +dreamers, Greek philosophers, and Jewish religionists. +Here, in the third century before +Christ, was translated into the Greek language +the Old Testament Scriptures. Here about 20 +<span class="allsmcap">B. C.</span>, was born Philo, a Jew, of a priestly +family, a philosopher and <i lang="fr">litterateur</i>, and a voluminous +writer. He was not an original thinker; +his works are therefore all the more valuable as +a reflection of the current mystical philosophy +of his age and school. This dreamy philosophy +it is difficult to translate into modern forms of +thought. So far as this can be done, it may be +said to have involved the following statements: +God is simply the absolute, unchangeable Existence, +incomprehensible, inconceivable, yet ever +to be the object of our thoughts and meditations. +He could not come directly into contact with +matter without losing something of his ineffable +excellence. Hence he gave forth certain divine +powers or influences, “incorporeal potencies,” +which surround God as the members of a court +surround an earthly monarch. The highest of +these is the divine Logos or Word of God. +Through this Word the world was created, +and to the influence of the inferior potencies +the evils of the world must be attributed. +Again, borrowing the imagery of the Chaldeans, +Philo conceives of God as the pure and absolute +Light, the original source of effulgence, the +Logos or Word as the nearest circle of light +proceeding from it, and each separate power as +a separate ray, fading more and more away into +darkness, as it becomes removed from the +original source and centre. From this philosophy +was later developed that peculiar and +incomprehensible form of thought known as + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> +Gnosticism. This Gnostic philosophy, which +reached its climax in the second century after +Christ, undertook to describe in detail all the +emanations from the original inconceivable deity; +Reason, the Word, practical Wisdom, theoretical +Wisdom, Power, Light, Life, were all lesser +deities. The God of the Jews was one of these +lower deities; Jesus Christ was a higher <span style="white-space:nowrap;">deity—the</span> +Reason according to some, the Word according +to others, who came to deliver the world +from its subjection to the inferior deity, and +who entered the body of Jesus at his baptism, +and departed from it just before his crucifixion. +Whether John was acquainted with the writings +of Philo we do not know; but he was certainly +familiar with this Gnostic philosophy. It had +already begun to enter into and corrupt the +Christian church during the lifetime of Paul, +whose writings contain frequent references to +different phases of it (<span class="muchsmaller">e. g., +Col. 2:18; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 4:1-4; +2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:16-18</span>); Ephesus, a city of + luxury, effeminacy +and superstition (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 19, + notes</span>), was a +centre of this philosophy; in Paul’s address to +the elders of the church at Ephesus (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 20:29, 30</span>), +and in his letter to Timothy, first bishop of that +church (<span class="muchsmaller">subs. to 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr></span>), +he especially warns against +it (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:16-18; 3:8, 9</span>); +and Ephesus was John’s +residence, and probably the city in which he +wrote his Gospel. (See <a href="#Page_3">Introduction</a>.)</p> + +<p>John, then, employs the language of this +mystical philosophy, in order more effectually +to refute its errors. He finds a certain substratum +of truth, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, that there is one God and one +Mediator between God and man, underlying +this superstructure of error; he begins his Gospel +by occupying this ground, and by his phraseology +brings himself into sympathy with his +Gnostic readers; then, from this common ground +he leads them on to the truth respecting the +incarnation. It is true, he says to them, that +there is a Word of God, but this Word was from +the beginning with God, and is indeed God himself, +who is not incommunicable, but a self-manifesting +God. It is true that there is a Life +and a Light; but the Life is God himself, not an +inferior and subordinate deity; and the Light is +not remote and unapproachable, but lighteth +every man that cometh into the world. For this +Mediator is not an emanation from God, but God +himself, the true Light shining in the darkness +(<span class="muchsmaller">verse <a href="#ch1_5">5</a></span>), +the true Life by whom we can not only +commune with Christ, but become the very +children of God (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch1_12">12</a>, <a href="#ch1_13">13</a></span>). And he has come +and tabernacled among men in the flesh, in the +earthly life of Jesus of Nazareth.</p> + +<p>It only remains to add that there is to be +found in the Old Testament (<span class="muchsmaller">see notes below</span>) a +Scriptural basis for John’s use of the language +here, particularly his phrase “the Word of +God,” and that there is not the least ground +for the claims of some rationalistic scholars that +John derived his doctrine here from Philo, or +from the Alexandrian or Gnostic schools. On +the contrary, his doctrine and theirs are radically +inconsistent. Philo holds that matter is inherently +defiling, that God cannot come into contact +with matter, even to fashion it in creation, without +defilement; John, that God “was made flesh +and dwelt among us,” and yet so far from being +defiled thereby, manifested his glory, “the glory +of the only-begotten of the Father.”</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER <abbr title="One">I.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">In</span><a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> + the beginning was the Word,<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> and the Word was + with<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> God, and the Word was<a id="FNanchor_26" + href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> + <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 8:22, 31; + <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:16, 17; + 1 John 1:1.</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 19:13.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_5">17:5</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> + <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:8-13; + 1 John 5:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1. In the beginning.</b> John begins the +Gospel where Moses began the Law. The employment +of and the reference to the language +of the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis +is unmistakable. In that beginning in which +God created the heavens and the earth was the +Word, and the Word was with God and was God +and was the One through whom the act of creation +was consummated. So in <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> 8, +Wisdom personified is represented as with God +in the creation and from the beginning (<span class="muchsmaller">see especially +verses 23-29</span>). For parallel passages teaching the +pre-existence of Christ, see John <a href="#ch8_58">8:58</a>; +<a href="#ch17_5">17:5</a>; +<abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:5, 6; 1 John 1:1. +In <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:14 he is +described as “the beginning of the creation of +God,” but this does not necessarily imply that +he was a created Being. See notes there.—​<b>Was +the Word.</b> There are several Greek words +meaning <dfn>word</dfn>; (1 and 2) <span lang="el">ῥῆμα</span> and <span lang="el">ἔπος</span>, word in +the grammatical sense, <i>i. e.</i>, that which is spoken; +(3) <span lang="el">μῦθος</span>, word in the rhetorical sense, that which +is delivered by words, the subject expressed; +(4) <span lang="el">ὄνομα</span>, word in a technical sense, strictly a +<dfn>name</dfn>, and only because words are names or appellations; +(5) <span lang="el">λόγος</span>, word in the philosophical sense, +the outward form by which the inward thought +is expressed. The latter term is employed here. +As the thoughts or experiences of the soul are +completely hidden from us till they are uttered, +so God is the Unknown and the Unknowable, +save as he utters himself, discloses his nature to +us, which he does chiefly if not solely through +him who is for that reason called the Word, <i>i. e.</i>, +the utterance of God. The metaphor which +underlies this phraseology is in part interpreted +by the saying of Wordsworth that language is +the incarnation of ideas. (2) In the Old Testament +we have a partial employment of the same +symbolism. In Moses’ account of the creation, +God is represented as calling the various powers +of nature into being by a <em>word</em>. “God said Light +be! Light was!” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> +1:3, see also 6, 9, 11, etc.</span>) In +the later Hebrew poetry this symbol is made more +prominent in the distinct declaration that “by +the word of the Lord were the heavens made.” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> +33:6; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> 107:20; Isaiah 55:10, 11; +see also <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:3.</span>) +The same symbol, in a slightly different form, reappears +in <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> +8, which is connected with +that employed here by the language of certain + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> +of the apocryphal books, <i>e. g.</i>, “I (Wisdom) +came out of the mouth of the Most High and +covered the earth as a cloud” (<span class="muchsmaller">Ecclesiasticus 24:3</span>). +“She (Wisdom) is the breath of the power +of God” (<span class="muchsmaller">Wisdom of Solomon 1:25</span>). +(3) The same +symbolism was employed as we have seen +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> +Note <a href="#Page_13">above</a></span>) in the +mystical philosophy of Alexandria +and of later Gnosticism, with which John +was familiar, and of which, Ephesus, his city, +was a centre, to represent an eon or emanation +for the deity. That the Word here does not +mean the Bible or the Gospel is evident both +from the connection, since it cannot be said that +the Bible became flesh (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_14">14</a></span>), and also from +John’s usage, who never employs the phrase +Word of God to designate the Bible, but usually +the term Scriptures or writings (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch2_22">2:22</a>; <a href="#ch5_39">5:39</a>; +<a href="#ch7_38">7:38</a>, <a href="#ch7_42">42</a>; +<a href="#ch19_24">19:24</a>, <a href="#ch19_28">28</a>, +<a href="#ch19_36">36</a>, <a href="#ch19_37">37</a>, etc.</span>). Moreover he does +employ this phraseology elsewhere to designate +Jesus Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:1; +<abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 19:13</span>). It cannot +mean <dfn>the Speaking One</dfn> nor <dfn>the Promised One</dfn>. +Though both these meanings have been attributed +to it, it is not grammatically capable of +either interpretation. There is classical authority +for rendering it <dfn>Reason</dfn> or <dfn>Order</dfn>, and this +meaning it still retains in words ending with +<em>ology</em>, such as <em>ge-ology</em> (ge-logos), the order, +<i>i. e.</i>, science of the earth; <em>path-ology</em> (pathos-logos), +the order, <i>i. e.</i>, science of disease. But +it is never used with this signification by John, +and is never but once so used in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 Peter 3:15</span>), if even there the translation is +strictly accurate, which is doubtful. Seeking, +then, to understand John as he would have been +understood by his contemporaries, I think it +clear that he declares, not that Reason or Wisdom +was in the beginning with God, nor Speech, +nor the Promised Messiah, but <em>the Word</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, +<em>the One by and through whom he was chiefly to be +manifested to the world</em>, as one soul is to another +by utterance.—​<b>And the Word was with God +and the Word was God.</b> Grammatically the +last clause of the sentence may be read, <em>and God +was the Word</em>. But the obvious connection calls +for the rendering of our English version, and it +is the rendering adopted by the best scholars. +There is a difference in the language of the first +and last clause of this sentence in the original +which is significant, but difficult, if not impossible, +to render in the English. In the first +clause, “<cite>the Word was with God</cite>,” the article +accompanies the word God; in the second +clause, “<cite>the Word was God</cite>,” it is wanting. We +should measurably reflect the meaning by reading +the passage, “the Word was with God and +the Word was divine;” or “the Word was with +the Father and the Word was God.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 The same was in the beginning with God.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>2. The same was in the beginning with +God.</b> John recurs to his first statement and +reiterates it, not merely for the sake of emphasis, +but also to mark a real distinction between +the Word and the unknown Father. For he +labors to express two conflicting and even +apparently contradictory ideas, the identity of +the Word with God and the individuality of the +Word, as distinct from the infinite and invisible +deity. This contradiction subsequent theology +has endeavored in vain to eliminate by drawing +distinctions between essence and substance, person +and being, etc., in such phraseologies as three +in substance and one in essence, or three persons +in one God. This <em>philosophy</em> of the Trinity is +extra-Scriptural, framed to harmonize teachings +respecting the divine nature, which are best +harmonized by the frank confession that the +knowledge of the divine nature is too wonderful +for us, we cannot attain unto it (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 139:6; Job +11:7</span>). So Chalmers, “The Father is God, the +Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. God is one. +If you ask me to reconcile the four (propositions), +I answer, I cannot. We require no one to reconcile +the personality of each with the unity of +God.” So Calvin, “I could wish them (the +extra-Scriptural phrases, person, hypostasis, +etc.) to be buried in oblivion, provided this +truth were universally received, that the Father, +Son, and the Holy Spirit are the one God; and +that nevertheless the Son is not the Father, +nor the Spirit the Son, but that they are distinguished +from each other by some peculiar +properties.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 All<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> + things were made by him; and without him + was not anything made that was made.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 33:6; + <abbr title="Ephesians">Eph.</abbr> 3:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3. All things were made by him.</b> To +interpret this language “All things” as meaning +simply the moral creation, is to distort plain +language in order to conform it to preconceived +ideas, a fault in exegesis of which no school of +theology is entirely innocent. The reference to +Genesis, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 1, is unmistakable. The declaration +is parallel to and interpreted by such passages as +<abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:16; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 8:6; +<abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:2. The Greek +student will observe, however, and the English +student should know, that the language here +implies that the Word was the <em>instrument</em> by +which God created the “all things,” not the +<em>original source of creative power</em>. There are two +Greek prepositions translated in English “<dfn>by</dfn>,” + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>one (<span lang="el">ἐκ</span>) signifying the source or origin from +which anything proceeds, or the power by which +it is produced; the other (<span lang="el">διά</span>) signifying the +means or instrument through which it is produced. +One indicates the original, the other the +proximate cause. The preposition here used is +the latter, and the exact meaning of the sentence +will be imparted by the rendering All +things were made <em>by means of him</em> or <em>through +him</em>. With this interpretation corresponds the +general teaching of the New Testament, which +represents Christ, both in his earthly life and +in his heavenly administration, as always the +executor of his Father’s will. This is in some +sense especially prominent in John’s Gospel (see +for example John <a href="#ch5_22">5:22</a>,<a href="#ch5_23"> 23</a>, +<a href="#ch5_27">27</a>; <a href="#ch6_37">6:37</a>, +<a href="#ch6_44">44</a>, <a href="#ch6_57">57</a>; +<a href="#ch8_28">8:28</a>, <a href="#ch8_42">42</a>; +<a href="#ch10_29">10:29</a>; <a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>; +<a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a>, <a href="#ch17_24">24</a>); but it is +equally clearly taught elsewhere (Luke 2:49; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:27, 28; +<abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:9; +<abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:19; +<abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +Mark 10:40, note and references there).—​<b>And +without him was not anything made +that was made.</b> Simply an emphatic and +exhaustive reiteration, such as is not infrequent +in fervid writing. For analogous rhetorical +repetition in John see verse <a href="#ch1_20">20</a>; 1 John 2:4, 27. +Some manuscripts and some few scholars put +a period at the close of the first clause of the +sentence, and connect the last clause with the +following verse, so that the passage reads: <cite>And +without him was not anything made. And what +originated in him was life.</cite> But while this reading +is grammatically possible, it is generally +repudiated by the best scholars, who accept the +punctuation and rendering of our English version +as correct.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 In him<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> + was life; and the life was the light<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> + of men.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_26">5:26</a>; + 1 John 5:11.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_12">8:12</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>4. In him was life.</b> There is probably a +reference here again to the language of Gnostic +philosophy (<span class="muchsmaller">See <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> <a href="#Page_13">Note</a></span>), +which supposed other +eons or emanations from God, besides the Word, +prominent among which was Light and Life. +Here, as throughout this introduction, John +employs the language of the Gnostics to correct +their errors. The general and practical teaching +for us of the declaration is that Christ is the +source of both physical or external life +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:17</span>), +and of intellectual and spiritual life +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_10">10:10</a></span>). +It is admirably interpreted by Kaulbach’s famous +cartoon of the Reformation, in which +Luther with the open Bible in his hand is represented +as the centre of the intellectual and +moral awakening which characterized that century. +Observe, since Christ is Life and Light, +that any religion which dwarfs man, represses +their life, belittles them, and any which shuts +them up in darkness and denies them intellectual +freedom and progress in any direction, is so +far anti-Christ. The cause of Christ has nothing +to fear from any intellectual life or any light of +scientific discovery.—​<b>And the life was the +light of men.</b> Not merely <em>shall be</em>, not merely +<em>is</em>, but <em>was</em>. The intimation is that all the light +of Old Testament prophecy and instruction, if +not all that dim religious light which has illuminated +even heathen nations, through special +instructors such as Buddha, Confucius and +Socrates, came through the Word, <i>i. e.</i>, through +the Mediator by whom the invisible God reveals +himself to man, of which revelation the incarnation +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_14">14</a></span>) is only a part, though a most important +part. Compare with the language here +1 John 1:5.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 And the light shineth in<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> darkness; and the darkness +comprehended<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> it not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_19">3:19</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>5. And the light shineth in the darkness.</b> +<em>Shines</em>, not merely appears; a real illumination +is indicated; <em>shines</em>, not shone; a present +and continuous illumination is indicated; <em>the</em> darkness, +not merely darkness; as, before God said +“Let there be light,” the earth is reported as enveloped +in darkness (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> +1:2</span>), so, before and apart +from this spiritual illumination, through the +Light of the world, the nations of the earth were +in gross darkness. Comp. Isaiah 42:6, 7; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +4:16, note; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:7, 8; +John <a href="#ch12_46">12:46</a>.—​<b>And +the darkness comprehended it not.</b> This +has been universally true in the world’s history; +the dim light of conscience has never been +apprehended, taken hold of by heathen nations. +The light afforded by special and signal moral +geniuses has never been comprehended aright +by the people, as witness the deterioration of +Buddhism and Confucianism; the teachings of +the Jewish prophets were not comprehended; +they shone in darkness which was not dispelled +by their instructors; and the clearer light of +Christ has never, even in the best ages, been +more than very imperfectly apprehended, even +in the church. Here the primary reference is +certainly to the constant closing of their eyes by +the Jews to the light of the Old Testament +teachings, concerning the spirit of true religion, +the nature of the kingdom of God, and the +character and appearance of the promised Messiah. +For the reason why the darkness does +not comprehend the light, see <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_19">3:19</a>; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:15, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 There was a man<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> + sent from God, whose name <em>was</em> John.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the +Light, that all <em>men</em> through him might believe.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> + Luke 3:2, 3.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>6, 7. There was a man sent from God.</b> +From a characterization of the light, John passes +to a description of the incarnation and its object, +and to a discrimination between the incarnate +Light and the prophet who foretold its coming. +From the Greek word here rendered <dfn>sent</dfn> (<span lang="el">ἀποστέλλω</span>, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> +<dfn>apostello</dfn>) comes our word <dfn>apostle</dfn>. The +apostle is a man sent from God; Christ is the +word or utterance, or manifestation of God. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:1-3.—​<b>John.</b> The Baptist.—<b>The +same came for a witness.</b> As one who +enters the witness-stand to testify what he knows, +so John the Baptist came to declare what had +been revealed to him concerning the coming +Messiah. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch5_32">5:32-35</a>.—​<b>To bear witness +of the Light.</b> Simply a repetition and +amplification of the previous clause of the sentence. +He was not a mere preacher of the law, +nor of the duty of repentance, though this is the +phase of his ministry most prominent in the reports +of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller">3:1-12</span>), and Luke +(<span class="muchsmaller">3:1-18</span>). He +was a forerunner of the great King, sent to bear +witness of his approach. And this phase of his +ministry, though indicated in the other Gospels +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +3:11; 11:9, Mark 1:7, 8; Luke 3:16, 17</span>), is most +clearly brought out in John (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch1_23">23</a>, <a href="#ch1_29">29-36</a></span>).—​<b>That +all through him might believe.</b> That is, +through John might believe in the Light. The +other construction, through the Light might believe, +<i>i. e.</i>, in God, is forced and unnatural, even +if grammatically admissible. The true office of +the Christian ministry is so to bear witness to the +Light which the preacher <em>knows</em> by his own experience +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +7:14; 8:28; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:12</span>), +that men may +believe in and accept that Light (<span class="muchsmaller">2 +<abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:5; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> +1:28.</span>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 He<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> was not that Light, but <em>was sent</em> to bear witness +of that Light.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 <em>That</em> was the true Light,<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> + which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> + Acts 19:4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> + Isa. 49:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>8, 9.</b> An early Gnostic sect (second century) +believed that John was the Messiah. The primary +reference here appears to be to this error, +which, in common with other Gnostic errors +(<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> <a href="#Page_13">Note</a></span>), +John aims to correct in this introduction +to his Gospel. Compare, with the declaration +here, Christ’s characterization of John, “He +was a burning and a shining light” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_35">5:35</a></span>). +The Greek scholar will observe that the English +word “<dfn>light</dfn>” represents different Greek words in +the two passages. Here the word is one signifying +original light (<span lang="el">φῶς</span>), there rather a borrowed or +reflected light (<span lang="el">λύχνος</span>), though the latter word is +once applied to Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 21:23</span>). We are to be +in a true sense the former kind of light (<span lang="el">φῶς</span>, +<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +5:14</span>), because Christ <em>in us</em> is our light, and +by his indwelling we are made partakers of his +nature (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:4</span>), and men seeing this light glorify, +not us, but Him who shines in and through +us.—<b>The true Light was that which lighteth +every man that cometh into the world.</b> +There is some difficulty about the construction +of this sentence; this appears to me to be the +best. For other constructions, see Alford and +Meyer. On the meaning of the declaration observe, +(1) That John’s use of the word <cite>true</cite> here +is interpreted by his use of the same word in +other and analogous passages, <i>e. g.</i>, “true worshippers” +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch4_23">4:23</a></span>); +“true bread” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_32">6:32</a></span>); +“true vine” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_1">15:1</a></span>). The light, the bread, the +vine of earth are regarded only as symbols of +the spiritual truths which they parabolically represent. +Christ is the original pattern, or source +of light; all prophets and teachers are only reflections +from him; all material light is a symbol +or parable of his illuminating grace. (2) The +phrase, “<cite>lighteth every man that cometh into the +world</cite>,” is not to be taken as an hyperbole. The +latter clause is added, not merely, as Meyer, “as +a solemn redundance,” “an epic fullness of +words,” but to emphasize and make clear the +declaration, and to show that “every man” +means not merely (<i>a</i>) the Jews, nor (<i>b</i>) those who +accept Christ as their light, nor (<i>c</i>) the Christian +nations, but literally <em>all men</em>. The <em>every</em> (<span lang="el">πᾶς</span>) +here is thus distinguished from the <em>all</em> (<span lang="el">πᾶς</span>) of +verse <a href="#ch1_7">7</a> above. Christ is the universal light; all +intellectual and political as well as moral illumination +has come through him; and this, not only +in Christendom, but also in heathendom. Such +light as struggles through the thick darkness, in +a partial disclosure of divine truth afforded by a +Buddha or a Confucius, or dimly recognized by a +Cornelius, comes from Him who, in larger or +smaller measure, lighteth <em>every</em> man that cometh +into the world. By this declaration we are to +interpret such passages as <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:11; Acts +10:35; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:9; whoever accepts even this +imperfect and dim light, mistakenly called the +light of Nature, in so far accepts Christ.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 He was in the world, and the world was made by +him, and<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> the world knew him not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> + verse <a href="#ch1_5">5</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_11"></a> +<p class="hanging"> 11 He<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> came unto his own, and his own received him +not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> + Acts 3:26; 13:46.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>10, 11.</b> Notice the rhetorical climax in these +verses; he <em>was in</em> the world; he <em>came</em> unto his +own; the world <em>knew</em> him not; his own <em>received</em> +him not. The <dfn>world</dfn> is here humanity in general, +Jew and Gentile, both of whom united in Christ’s +crucifixion; the Jew, represented in the high-priest +who deliberately rejected him +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch11_47">11:47-50</a></span>), +the Gentile, represented in Pilate and the soldiers, +who simply did not know him. <dfn>His own</dfn> are +the Jewish people, Jehovah’s peculiar possession +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 19:5; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 7:6; Psalm 135:4; Isaiah 31:9</span>), to whom +he first came and by whom he was rejected before +he was preached to the Gentiles (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 13:46; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +1:16</span>). It was only the world of <em>men</em> that knew +him not; nature knew and obeyed him whenever +he commanded her obedience, as in the turning +of water into wine, the stilling of the tempest, +etc. The verbs in this sentence are in the imperfect + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> +tense, and the reference is to the incarnation +of Christ and his earthly life. Observe that the +Jewish nation which rejected the Messiah is rejected +by God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:12</span>), and that the disciples +of Christ are not to know the world which knew +not their Lord and Master (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 2:15-17</span>).</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 But as many<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> + as received him, to them gave he + power to become the sons of God, <em>even</em> to + them<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> that + believe on his name:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 56:4, 5; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:14, 15; + 1 John 3:1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 3:26.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>12. But as many as received him.</b> Not +merely, as Alford, “recognized him as that which +he <span style="white-space:nowrap;">was—the</span> Word of God and Light of men,” +but <em>received him</em> as the Word to be implicitly +obeyed (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_21">14:21</a>; <a href="#ch15_10">15:10</a>, +<a href="#ch15_15">15</a></span>), and the Light in which +to walk (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:6</span>).—​<b>To them gave he power</b> +(<span lang="el">ἐξουσίαν</span>). Not <em>capability</em>, nor <em>privilege</em>, nor <em>claim</em>, +but <em>power and right</em>; the original word combines +the two ideas. He confers the <em>power</em> to become +the sons of God, and confers the <em>right</em> to claim +that privilege. Ryle is certainly correct in saying +that this verse “does not mean that Christ +confers on those who receive him a spiritual and +moral strength, by which they convert themselves, +change their own hearts, and make themselves +God’s children.” He is as certainly wrong +in saying, with Calvin and the marginal reading, +that the original Greek word means “right or +privilege.” The reader will best get its meaning +by comparing John’s use of it in other passages, +in no one of which could it be rendered either +“right” or “privilege.” See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_27">5:27</a>; <a href="#ch10_18">10:18</a>; +<a href="#ch17_2">17:2</a>; <a href="#ch19_10">19:10</a>, +<a href="#ch19_11">11</a>. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:18, note. +The plain implication here is that the <em>power</em> to +become a son of God is not natural and inherent, +but acquired, and is the especial gift of God. +See <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:12, 13; +Titus 3:4, 5.—​<b>To become +the sons of God.</b> Sons and therefore (1) partakers +of the divine nature (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 4:13; +<abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:10; +2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:4</span>); +(2) entitled to and walking in freedom +as children, not in bondage as servants +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_15">15:15</a>; +<abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 4:1-7</span>); (3) heirs of God and joint-heirs with +Christ, his only-begotten Son (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:16, 17</span>). But +the full conception of the meaning of this sonship +we cannot know, till in the other world we see +the Father as he is (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 3:1, 2</span>).—​<b>Even to them +that have faith in his name.</b> His name is +<dfn>Jesus</dfn>, <i>i. e.</i>, Saviour, given to him because he +saves his people from their sins (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 1:21</span>). To +have faith in that name is to have faith in him as +a personal Saviour from sin. Observe, then, that +this verse comprises the whole Gospel in a sentence. +It declares (1) the object of the Gospel: +that we who are by nature the children of disobedience +and of wrath (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:2, 3</span>) may become +the sons of God; (2) the source to which we are +to look for this prerogative of sonship: <em>power</em> +conferred by God; (3) the means by which we +are to attain it: personal faith in a personal +Saviour from sin. Observe too that John follows +his description of the rejection of Christ, +not by threatening punishment to them, but by +depicting the infinite gain of those that accept +Christ.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Which were born,<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> not of blood, nor of the will of +the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> + James 1:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>13. Not of blood, nor of the will of the +flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.</b> +That is, not by inheritance (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 3:8</span>); nor by resolution +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:5-8</span>); nor by human teaching (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +3:6, 7</span>); but by the direct personal influence and +contact of the Spirit of God on the heart (<span class="muchsmaller">Titus +3:5, 6</span>). Thus, John emphasizes the declaration +of the preceding verse, that <em>God gives the power to +become the sons of God</em>, by declaring that Christian +character is not the product of either good +parentage, a strong will, or a good education, but +directly of a divine recreative act. (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 6:15.</span>) +The Greek student will observe that the preposition +used is <em>of</em> (<span lang="el">ἐκ</span>), not <em>through</em> (<span lang="el">διά</span>); the writer +is speaking of the <em>origin</em> or <em>source</em> of Christian +character, not of the <em>instruments</em> by which it is +developed. Good parentage, will power, and +education, are all <em>means</em> for the development +of divine sonship; the original cause, without +which a true son of God is never produced, is the +creative act of God himself.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 And the Word<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> + was made flesh, and dwelt among + us, (and<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> + we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only + begotten of the Father,) full<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> + of grace and truth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> + Luke 1:35; + 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 3:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:17; + 1 John 1:1, 2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 45:2; + <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 2:3, 9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>14. And the Word.</b> The self-manifesting +God, as described in the first verse.—​<b>Became +flesh.</b> Not <em>a man</em> (<span lang="el">ἄνθρωπος</span>) nor <em>a body</em> (<span lang="el">σῶμα</span>), +but <em>flesh</em> (<span lang="el">σάρξ</span>). The word is one whose signification +would probably be best rendered to the +English reader by the phrase <cite>human nature</cite>. +Though occasionally used in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> of the literal +and material flesh (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 2:31</span>), it almost always +indicates man in his corporeal or earthly nature, +sometimes signifying the predominance of that +over the higher or spiritual nature, sometimes +simply signifying this aspect of his nature, without +any indication of its corrupt tendencies. +Here, then, the declaration is that the Word became +human nature; <em>how</em> is not indicated. The +language gives no sanction to either of the two +principal theories of the incarnation; the first, +that Christ <em>took on</em> human nature as something +superadded to the divine, so carrying through +life a double nature, both divine and human; the +second, that he simply entered a human body +and became subject to the limitations which it +imposed on him. <em>How the divine became human</em> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> +we must learn elsewhere in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, if the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +reveals it at all; but the declaration here is explicit +that the divine Word became human.—​<b>And +tabernacled among us.</b> <em>Pitched his tent +with us.</em> As God in the wilderness dwelt for a +time in the transitory tabernacle, so the Word +dwelt in the flesh, which is elsewhere in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +compared to a tabernacle (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:1, 4; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:13, 14</span>). +As God dwelt subsequently in the permanent +Temple at Jerusalem, so the Word makes its permanent +abode in the soul of the believer, which +is the <em>Temple</em>, not the Tabernacle of God +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_6">15:6</a>, +<a href="#ch15_7">7</a>; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:16; +<abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 21:3</span>). +That the reference here +is to the incarnation, not to the spiritual presence +of Christ with the believer, is evident from the +fact that the verb (<span lang="el">ἐσκίνωσεν</span>) is in the historical +tense. John says he <em>tabernacled</em>, not he <em>tabernacles</em>, +among us.—​<b>And we beheld his glory, +the glory as of the only begotten from the +Father.</b> We are made sons of God; but Christ +alone is the <em>only begotten Son</em>. For the meaning +of this phrase, see Luke 7:12; 8:42; 9:38. +John uses it only of Jesus Christ. The Greek +student should observe the use of the preposition +<em>from</em> (<span lang="el">παρά</span>). It designates the source from +which anything is derived, and here indicates +that in a peculiar sense Christ is from the Father, +directly and immediately; we are from him only +through Christ. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_29">7:29</a>. +In a peculiar +sense the Apostles beheld Christ’s glory +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_11">2:11</a>; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 17:1-4; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:16; 1 John 1:1</span>). But in Christ’s +life and character, and in their influence on the +world, we are all beholders of the true divine +glory, manifested in him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:3</span>); and his earthly +life is the brightness and glory of heaven (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> +21:23; 5:9, 10</span>). The language, <cite>as of the only begotten</cite>, +distinguishes the glory of Christ from +that of all previous revealers of the divine will +and nature. Since many of the prophets too +were glorified, as Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, the +one encircled by the fiery chariot, the other taken +up by it; and after them Daniel and the three +children, and the many others who showed forth +wonders; and angels who have appeared among +men, and partly disclosed to beholders the flashing +light of their proper nature; and since not +angels only, but even the cherubim were seen by +the prophet in great glory and the seraphim +also; the Evangelist, leading us away from all +these, and removing our thoughts from created +things, and from the brightness of our fellow-servants, +sets us at the very summit of good. +For, “not of prophets,” says he, “nor angel, nor +archangel, nor of the higher powers, nor of any +other created nature, if other there be, but of the +Master himself, the King himself, the true only +begotten Son himself, of the very Lord of all, did +we <em>behold the glory</em>.”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>)—​<b>Full of +grace and truth.</b> There is some doubt whether +this is said of the <em>glory</em> beheld, or of the <em>only +begotten Son</em> whose glory was beheld. The question +is not very important; the latter construction +is grammatically preferable. Thus rendered, the +clause “And we beheld, etc.,” is parenthetical, +John’s statement being: “The Word tabernacled +among us, full of grace and truth.” Observe +(1) that the <em>grace</em> here answers to the <em>Life</em> in +verse <a href="#ch1_4">4</a>, and the <em>truth</em> +to the <em>Light</em> in verse <a href="#ch1_9">9</a>. +Because of his grace Christ is Life to all who accept +him; because of his truth he is Light to all +who follow him; (2) that the declaration here is +explained by, and is possibly partially derived +from Exodus 33:18, 19, where Moses asks to see +God’s glory, and is promised a disclosure of the +divine <em>goodness</em>; in the goodness of God in Christ +Jesus we behold the divine glory; (3) that the +Christian is to be, like his Master, full of grace +<em>and</em> truth, and that to be at once perfectly truthful +and also gracious is one of the most difficult +practical problems of the Christian life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 12:9</span>). +It seems to me clear that John has in mind +throughout this verse the manifestation of the +glory of God, through the Shechinah, in the Tabernacle, +and subsequently in the Temple (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 40:34, +35; 1 Kings 8:10; see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 17:5, note</span>). As the Shechinah +made luminous and glorious these earthly +dwelling-places, so the Word, by his indwelling, +made glorious the flesh.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 John<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> bare witness of him, and cried, saying, +This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh +after me is preferred before me: for he was before +me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:11, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>15. John is testifying concerning him.</b> +John the Baptist was long since dead when these +words were written; but his testimony was not +dead; it was an ever-living testimony. The verb +is therefore put in the present tense, not, as in +our English version, in the past.—​<b>And he +cried, saying,</b> It is the echo of this cry which +still resounds and witnesses to Jesus Christ. The +language used implies a public testimony, and +one borne with confidence and joy. On seeing the +Christ of whom he had prophesied, John the Baptist +<em>cries out</em>, “This is he of whom I spoke.” For +illustration of John’s prophetic utterances concerning +the Messiah, previous to the baptism of +Jesus, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:11, 12; Mark 1:7, 8.—​<b>He +that cometh after me.</b> Christ did not begin +his public ministry till the imprisonment of John +the Baptist (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 1:14</span>). Thus as a public teacher +he came after John the Baptist.—​<b>Came forth +before me.</b> Not, <em>was before me</em> (<span lang="el">γίγνομαι</span> has not +the force of <span lang="el">εἰμί</span>), for then the sentence would be +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">tautological—that</span> Jesus <em>was</em> before John is in the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> +next clause given as the <em>reason</em> for the statement +in this, that he came forth before him; nor can +the meaning be <em>was preferred before me</em>, in the +sense of esteemed above me, for the mere fact of +Christ’s pre-existence would be no reason for +esteeming him more highly than <span style="white-space:nowrap;">John—the</span> devil +<em>existed</em> before John the Baptist; nor, <em>was preferred +before me</em>, in the sense of, was exalted in rank +above me, though some excellent scholars, <i>e. g.</i>, +Alford, Olshausen, De Wette, so interpret it; +but, as I have rendered it above, <em>came forth</em>, or, +<em>was set before me</em>. The reference is to the previous +manifestations of the Word, in the partial revelations +of God in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +All the disclosures +of the divine nature in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +were made +through the Word or utterance of God, through +whom alone he speaks to the human race. See +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_4">4</a>, note, and +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_56">8:56-58</a>. +John then says +“He who is coming after me is the One who has +already come forth before me; for he existed +before me.” Christ’s pre-existence would not explain +the preference, either in the divine love or +in rank, but it does in part explain precedence in +appearance or manifestation. So Hengstenberg, +“My successor is my predecessor.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 And of his fulness<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> have all we received, and +grace for grace.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_34">3:34</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>16. And of his fullness have we all received.</b> +The <em>fullness</em> is that of the divine nature, +of which we are made partakers through faith in +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> +1:19; 2:9, 10; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 3:19</span>). The <em>all</em> are +those who receive him and thus become the sons +of God (<span class="muchsmaller">verse <a href="#ch1_12">12</a></span>). +This and the two following +verses are the addition of the Evangelist, not the +continuance of John the Baptist’s discourse; this +is evident both from their style, which better +accords with that of the Evangelist, and because +the <em>fullness</em> of Christ’s nature was not received +by John the Baptist and his disciples, for it was +not disclosed till after the Baptist’s death. Observe, +(1) How inexhaustible the fountain. From +Christ’s fullness all spiritual life is supplied. +Chrysostom compares Christ to a fire from which +ten thousand lamps are kindled, but which burns +as brightly thereafter as before. “The sea is +diminished if you take a drop from it, though +the diminution be imperceptible; but how much +soever a man draw from the divine Fountain, it +continues undiminished.” (2) How free the supply; +we have <em>all</em> received. “None went empty +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">away.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>)</span> (3) The nature of Christian +experience. It is not a mere trust in a crucified +Saviour for pardon for the past; it is also a personal +and continuous receiving of divine life from +the fullness of a living Saviour.—​<b>And grace for +grace.</b> Of this expression there are two interpretations. +The ancient expositors understood +it to mean, For the lesser grace of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> we +have received the greater grace of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +So Chrysostom: “There was a righteousness +and there is a righteousness (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:17</span>); there +was a glory and there is a glory (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:11</span>); +there was a law and there is a law (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:2</span>); +there was a service and there is a service (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +9:4; 12:11</span>); there was a covenant and there is a +covenant (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 31:31, 32</span>); there was a sanctification +and there is a sanctification; there was a baptism +and there is a baptism; there was a sacrifice and +there is a sacrifice; there was a temple and there +is a temple; there was a circumcision and there is +a circumcision; and so too there was a grace and +there is a grace.” The modern commentators, +Alford, Meyer, Lange, etc., understand it to mean, +“For each new accessory of grace we receive a +still larger gift. Each grace, though, when given +large enough, is, as it were, overwhelmed by the +accumulation and fullness of that which <span style="white-space:nowrap;">follows.”—(<cite>Bengel.</cite>)</span> +“Grace for grace, grace <em>in the place</em> +of that which <span style="white-space:nowrap;">preceded—therefore</span> grace uninterrupted, +unceasingly <span style="white-space:nowrap;">renewed.”—(<cite>Winer.</cite>)</span> The +spiritual signification of the passage is substantially +the same on either interpretation. We have +nothing to give in exchange for the divine grace; +our only virtue is to receive. It is given to us in +exchange for the grace already imparted. “Unto +every one that hath shall be given;” but what +he already hath is God’s gift, which bestows +both the good and the purchase money, each +new gift superseding the old, as the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> gift of +grace and truth through Jesus Christ superseded +the lesser gift of law through Moses. With this +accords the teaching of both <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +and <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +See, for example, <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 7:7; +<abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 6:4; 23:3; +25:7; 31:16; 79:9; 115:1; Isaiah 55:1; +<abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:4; 1 John 4:8, 10.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 For the law was given by Moses, <em>but</em> grace<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> and +truth came by Jesus Christ.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 85:10; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:21.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>17. For the law was given by Moses.</b> +<em>Through</em> (<span lang="el">διὰ</span>) Moses as the instrument or mediator +of the old covenant.—​<b>Grace and truth +came by Jesus Christ.</b> <em>Through</em> (<span lang="el">διὰ</span>) Jesus +Christ as the mediator of the new covenant. The +<em>grace</em> is the favor of God (see below), the <em>truth</em> is +the clear revelation of the divine character and +will, seen only dimly under the old covenant. +(<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:13, 14.</span>) Observe the contrast between Christ +and Moses (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 3:5, 6</span>); and between the gifts +brought by the two. The law <em>was given</em>, a completed +thing, once for all; <em>grace and truth</em> came +and continually come, grace for grace, out of the +inexhaustible fullness of the giver.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">On the meaning of the word “grace.”</span> The +word here translated <dfn>grace</dfn> (<span lang="el">χάρις</span>) is also variously +translated in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +<dfn>acceptable</dfn>, <dfn>benefit</dfn>, <dfn>favor</dfn>, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> +<dfn>gift</dfn>, <dfn>joy</dfn>, <dfn>liberality</dfn>, +<dfn>pleasure</dfn>, <dfn>thanks</dfn>, and <dfn>thankworthy</dfn>. +This fact will of itself sufficiently indicate +that the word possesses various shades of +meaning. They are all, however, etymologically +derived from the same root idea. The noun is +derived from a verb meaning to rejoice, and primarily +signifies that which gives joy to another. +With the Greeks, beauty was one of the chief +joys; hence the first meaning of the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">word—grace</span> +of external form, manner, or language, a meaning +which it but rarely bears in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> (<span class="muchsmaller">see Luke +4:22; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 4:6</span>). Thence it derived a deeper meaning, +<abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, beauty in character, and this, according +to the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> teaching, is good-will, the disposition +to do a kindness to another, to make another +rejoice; hence the word is used to signify that +quality in God which leads him to confer freely +happiness on men, either on special individuals +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 2:40; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:10</span>), or on the whole human race +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 3:24; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 1:6; <abbr title="Titus">Tit.</abbr> 2:11</span>). Thence it was employed +to designate the kindness actually flowing +from and conferred by this disposition, hence an +alms, and in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> the spiritual gifts conferred +by the divine love on the soul (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 16:3; +2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 8:4; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:10; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:1; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 3:18</span>); in which +sense it is employed in the apostolic benediction +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:3; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:2; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 1:3, etc.</span>). Finally it was +used to designate the feeling awakened by favors +shown, the reflection in the human heart of the +divine grace imparted, and hence gratitude and +even its expression in thanks (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 6:32-34; 17:9; +1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:12; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:3</span>). Underlying its meaning in +all these uses is the radical idea that the gift is +conferred freely and finds its only motive in the +bounty and love of the giver, an idea which finds +expression in the Latin word <dfn>gratis</dfn> (for nothing), +now thoroughly Anglicized, a word which comes +from the same root as grace (<dfn>gratia</dfn>). By the +doctrine of grace, then, as it is variously expounded +in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, is meant that our own spiritual +life is the free gift of God, bestowed on us without +merit or desert on our part, purely from the +love and good-will of God. Our <em>graces</em> are God’s +<em>free gifts</em>. John here marks the contrast between +the law which <em>requires</em> obedience of man, and +grace and truth which <em>confers</em> spiritual power on +man. The one says, Do this and live; the other +says, Live, so that you can do this (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:3</span>). +Nowhere in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> is the doctrine of grace +more clearly set forth than in these 16th and 17th +verses, which may be paraphrased thus: From +the divine fullness in Jesus Christ we have all +received; the only condition which God attaches +to the free impartation of his spiritual gifts is +that we should have received willingly those +already proffered to us; by Moses it was revealed +to us what God would have us do and be; by +Christ it is clearly disclosed to us what God is, +and there is freely imparted to us power to become, +like him, sons of God.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 No man hath seen God<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> + at any time; the<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> only + begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he + hath declared <em>him</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> + <abbr title="Exodus">Ex.</abbr> 33:20; + 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 6:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> + 1 John 4:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18. No one hath seen God at any time.</b> +Not merely <em>no man</em>; no <span style="white-space:nowrap;"><em>one</em>—man,</span> angel, archangel. +The phrase here, <cite>seen God</cite>, is equivalent +to the phrase <cite>knowing God perfectly</cite>, in +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +11:27 (<span class="muchsmaller">see note there</span>). We know him but in part, +shall see him only when we awake in his likeness +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 17:15</span>); +Christ sees him because he is one with +him.—​<b>The only begotten Son.</b> Some manuscripts +have here, <cite>The only begotten God</cite>, and this +reading is adopted by Tregelles, but rejected by +Alford, Meyer, and Tischendorf. For examination +of the authorities on both sides, see Alford +(sixth edition) and Lange, critical note by Dr. +Schaff. The external authorities are not conclusive; +internal authority strongly favors the ordinary +reading. The only begotten God is a phrase +occurring nowhere else in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, and is unnatural +if not unmeaning. The change of a single +letter in the early copies would account for +the corruption of the text (<span lang="el">Ψ</span> to <span lang="el">Θ</span>).—​<b>Which +is in the bosom of the Father.</b> A metaphorical +expression, indicating the closeness of intimacy, +and drawn more probably from the relation +of a child with its parents, than from the not infrequent +reclining of one on the bosom of his +friend, at meal-time (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch13_25">13:25</a></span>).—​<b>He +hath declared +him.</b> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_46">6:46</a>; +<a href="#ch14_6">14:6</a>, <a href="#ch14_9">9</a>, <a href="#ch14_10">10</a>; +1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 3:16; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:3. +These and other kindred +passages indicate clearly <em>how</em> Christ declares +the Father, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, not merely by what he teaches +concerning the divine nature, but yet more by his +personal manifestation of the divine nature in his +own life and character. This verse thus interprets +the word <cite>truth</cite> in the preceding verse, as +the word grace has already been interpreted by +verses <a href="#ch1_11">11</a> and <a href="#ch1_12">12</a>. +Christ is the <em>truth</em> of God, +because he reveals the divine nature; he is the +<em>grace</em> of God because he imparts the divine nature +to such as trust in him.</p> + +<p><a id="TOC21"></a><span class="smcap">Note on the Incarnation.</span> A correct apprehension +of the character and place in history of +Jesus Christ is essential to a correct apprehension +of Christianity. Our conception of the system +will depend upon our conception of the Founder. +The other Evangelists give simply the story of +his life, leaving the readers to draw their own +deductions respecting him. John, writing at a +later date, and in a more philosophical atmosphere, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> +begins his Gospel with a characterization +of the One the story of whose earthly life he is +about to narrate. It is evident on even a cursory +examination of this preface that John believed +and intended to teach, (1) That Christ existed +prior to his earthly birth. He was the Light that +lighteth every man that cometh into the world; +was before John the Baptist, whom in his earthly +history and mission he succeeded; and he was +in the beginning with God +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_1">1</a>, <a href="#ch1_4">4</a>, <a href="#ch1_15">15</a></span>). (2) That +he possessed a superhuman character. He is +carefully distinguished from and placed above +John the Baptist, the last of the prophets and +more than a prophet (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +11:9</span>), and from Moses +the lawgiver and politically the founder of the +Jewish nation; and he is emphatically declared +not only to have been with God in the beginning, +but to have partaken of the divine nature +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_1">1</a>, +<a href="#ch1_6">6-8</a>, <a href="#ch1_17">17</a></span>). +(3) This superhuman character is further +illustrated by what is declared of his office or +work. He is the Creator, the Light and Life of +men, the regenerating power through whom men +are brought into divine sonship, the daily support +of the spiritual life of the children of God, the +disclosure of the divine nature to men + (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_3">3</a>, <a href="#ch1_4">4</a>, <a href="#ch1_12">12</a>, +<a href="#ch1_13">13</a>, <a href="#ch1_16">16</a>, <a href="#ch1_18">18</a></span>). +(4) This truth is incidentally, but all +the more effectively, enforced by John’s peculiar +language in describing Christ’s earthly state: he +“tabernacled among us and we beheld his glory, +the glory as of the only begotten from the Father” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_14">14</a></span>). (5) Finally, it is illustrated in the various +titles conferred upon him throughout this chapter, +which are ten in number: the Word; the +Light; the Life; the only begotten of the Father; +Jesus Christ, <i>i. e.</i>, the Saviour, the Messiah; the +only begotten Son; the Lamb of God; the Son of +God; Master; the Son of Man. It is not the +province of the commentator to construct a systematic +theology. But it is certain that these +elements must enter into any conception of Jesus +Christ which is founded on and accords with the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> There is probably no other single passage +of equal length in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> which contains so +much respecting the character and office of Jesus +Christ as this preface to John’s Gospel; with it, +however, should be examined Paul’s Christology +(<span class="muchsmaller">e. g., <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> +2:5-11</span>), and that of the unknown author +of the Epistle to the Hebrews (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 1, 2</span>).</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 1:19-51. INTRODUCTION OF CHRIST TO THE +WORLD. <span class="smcap">By John the Baptist</span> (<abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> 19-37); <span class="smcap">by +Himself</span> (<abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> 38-51). <span class="smcap">Christ the sin-bearer of +the world.—​The power of Christ; the abiding of +God’s Spirit on him.—​Christ our pattern in fishing +for men.—​The value of personal and private +work.—​The power of prejudice in good men.—​The +best answer to skepticism, “Come and see.”—​Christ +reveals himself when he reveals us to +ourselves.—​Christ’s first coming a prophecy and +foretaste of his second coming.</span></p> + +<p>The historical portion of the Fourth Gospel +begins here. The interview between the deputation +from the Sanhedrim and John the Baptist +here described probably took place after the +baptism of Jesus, and during the temptation, of +which latter event this Gospel makes no mention. +With the account of the Baptist’s ministry given +here the reader should compare <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr>, +<abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> 3, +and Luke, <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> 3.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 And this<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> +is the record of John, when the Jews +sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, +Who art thou?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> + Luke 3:15, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, +I am not the Christ.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>19, 20. And this is the witness of John.</b> +The writer goes back and gives a detailed history +of John’s first explicit testimony to the Messiah, +connecting it with his previous reference to that +testimony in verse <a href="#ch1_15">15</a>.—​<b>When the Jews sent +priests and Levites.</b> In John’s Gospel, the +term Jews generally signifies, not the residents of +Palestine, but those of Judea, and sometimes the +official heads of the people. This appears to be +the meaning here. It is clear from verse <a href="#ch1_22">22</a> that +this was an official deputation, probably sent by +the Sanhedrim. The Baptist’s preaching had +produced a profound sensation throughout that +part of Palestine; great crowds flocked to his +ministry; he was universally regarded as a +prophet, and by some as perhaps the Messiah; +some of the Pharisees themselves came to his +baptism, though his severe denunciation of their +formalism, and their own opposition to such a +personal reform as his preaching demanded, made +them, as a class, bitterly opposed to him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:5, +7; 21:25, 26; Luke 3:15</span>). It was therefore natural +and fit that the Sanhedrim should send to inquire +officially respecting his ministry. There is nothing +to indicate whether this inquiry was conducted +in a hostile spirit or otherwise.—​<b>Who art +thou?</b> Observe, throughout this interview, the +difference in the spirit of the inquirers and of +John. They persist in demanding to know <em>who</em> +he is; he replies only by pointing out <em>what</em> he +does. “They ever ask about his <em>person</em>; he ever +refers them to his <em>office</em>. He is no <span style="white-space:nowrap;">one—a</span> <em>voice</em> +merely; it is the work of God, the testimony to +Christ, which is everything. So the formalist +ever in the church asks, <em>Who</em> is he? while the +witness for Christ only exalts, only cares for +Christ’s <span style="white-space:nowrap;">work.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</span>—<b>And he publicly +acknowledged, and denied not.</b> We know +from Luke 3:15 that some thought he <em>might</em> be +the Messiah; and later, a Gnostic sect maintained +that he was the Messiah. This testimony, amplifying +the brief reference to it in verses <a href="#ch1_7">7</a>, +<a href="#ch1_8">8</a>, is +probably inserted in part to refute this error.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? +And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And +he answered, No.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>21. Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I +am not.</b> <abbr title="Malachi">Mal.</abbr> 4:5 declares that Elijah should +precede the Messiah. John the Baptist’s character, +and even his appearance (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:4 with +2 Kings 1:8</span>), resembled that of Elijah. Christ distinctly +declares that John the Baptist is the Elijah +foretold by the prophet and expected by the +people (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 17:12, 13; +<abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> Luke 1:17</span>). Here John +says he is not. The true explanation is, not that + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> +the people were expecting a literal resurrection +of Elijah from the dead, and John denied that he +fulfilled that expectation, but that, like many +another great but humble messenger of God, he +did not comprehend his own character and mission +and relation to ancient prophecy. He was +more than he knew.—​<b>Art thou that prophet?</b> +From <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr>, 8:15 +the Jews expected a prophet +to precede the Messiah +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch6_14">6:14</a>; +<a href="#ch7_40">7:40</a></span>). Not till +later was this prophecy correctly interpreted by +the Apostles as referring to Christ himself (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +3:22; 7:37</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we +may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest +thou of thyself?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 He<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> +said, I <em>am</em> the voice of one crying in the wilderness, +Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the +prophet<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Esaias.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_28">3:28</a>; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 40:3.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>22, 23.</b> See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:3 and Mark 1:3, and +notes. It is evident that the characterization of +John the Baptist there and the application to him +of the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 was derived from +John himself.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why +baptizeth thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor +Elias, neither that prophet?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: +but there standeth one<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> among you, whom ye know +not;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> + <abbr title="Malachi">Mal.</abbr> 3:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before +me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>24-27. And they which were sent were +of the Pharisees.</b> The Pharisees were scrupulous +ceremonialists, and ablutions were an important +part of their ceremonial. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 15:1-7; +Mark 7:2-5, notes. To them John’s employment +of baptism appeared irregular and unauthorized +if he were not invested with some special +divine authority.—​<b>John answered them.</b> This +answer is only indirectly responsive to their interrogatory. +He passes at once from his own +authority, which he disdains to defend, to testify +to the Messiah, whose forerunner he is. The +synoptical Evangelists (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:11, 12, note; Mark 1:7, 8; +Luke 3:16, 17</span>) report more fully John’s characterization +of his own baptism and its contrast with +that which the Messiah would inaugurate; one +in water, the other in fire and the Holy Ghost; +one a symbol, the other the thing symbolized; +one a prophecy, the other its fulfillment.—​<b>There +standeth one among you whom ye know +not.</b> That is, do not recognize as what he really +is, the Messiah. It is not necessarily implied +that Jesus Christ was present at this interview, +and verse <a href="#ch1_29">29</a> implies that he was not. The language +simply points to one apparently of the +common people and unknown.—​<b>Who cometh +after me, whose shoe-latchet I am unworthy +to unloose.</b> This is the true reading; the +words <cite>is preferred before me</cite> have been added by +some copyist from verse <a href="#ch1_15">15</a>. On the significance +of the expression, see notes on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:11 and +Luke 3:16. The latchet of the shoe is the leather +thong with which the sandal was bound on to +the foot or the shoe was laced. For illustration, +see Mark 6:7-13, <abbr title="Volume One, page">Vol. 1, p.</abbr> 362.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 These things were done in Bethabara<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> beyond +Jordan, where John was baptizing.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> + Judges 7:24.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>28. Bethabara.</b> The best reading here is +Bethany; the common reading, Bethabara, is +derived from Origen, who found such a place +about opposite Jericho. The Bethany intended +is certainly not the well-known town of that +name on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, +for this one was beyond Jordan. The site is unknown; +it has been fixed by Origen as far south +as Jericho; by Stanley, 30 miles north of Jericho, +near Succoth; by Lightfoot, north of the Sea of +Galilee. We can only say that it was probably +at one of the fords of the Jordan, in the great +eastern line of travel, and certainly at some point +between the sea of Galilee and the neighborhood +of Jericho. There are two traditional sites, one +Greek, the other Latin, and both historically +worthless.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, +and saith, Behold the Lamb<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> +of God, which taketh<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +away the sin of the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> + <abbr title="Exodus">Ex.</abbr> 12:3; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:7, 11; + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:6.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> + Acts 13:39; + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:24; + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>29. The next day.</b> Not merely, <em>some following +day</em>, for the original Greek word (<span lang="el">ἐπαύριον</span>) +never has this meaning in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> It has been +so rendered by some commentators here, in order +to introduce the Temptation between the testimony +of the Baptist to the delegation from Jerusalem +and his testimony here uttered to his own +disciples.—​<b>He seeth Jesus.</b> The word <cite>John</cite> +has been inserted by some copyists to make the +meaning clearer.—​<b>Coming toward him.</b> Not, +as in our English version, <em>unto him</em>. The preposition +employed (<span lang="el">πρός</span>) signifies simply direction. +Why he was coming toward him is not a matter +for profitable conjecture. Not, as some suppose, +for baptism, for the temptation followed the +baptism, and the order of events in John’s narrative +follow each other so closely up to and after +the marriage at Cana +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_35">35</a>, <a href="#ch1_43">43</a>; +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_1">2:1</a></span>), that no +time is afforded for the temptation, which was +forty days in duration, and which must have occurred +prior to the interview between the Baptist +and the Jewish delegation.—​<b>And said.</b> Publicly, +probably to his own disciples, perhaps to +the multitude. This first preaching of Christ +produced no observable effect. It was not till + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> +John repeated it on the following day (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_37">37</a></span>) that +any of his auditors followed Jesus.—​<a id="TOC24"></a><b>Behold +the Lamb of God.</b> Not <em>a</em> lamb of God. The +meaning cannot therefore be, Behold a pure and +innocent man; an interpretation which would +probably never have been conceived, but for the +purpose of escaping the doctrine of atonement +for sin, which can be escaped only by rejecting +both the Old and the New Testaments in their +entirety.—​<b>Which taketh away.</b> This exactly +represents the significance of the original verb +(<span lang="el">αἴρω</span>), which means, not bears, or suffers, or +releases from the penalty of, but <em>takes away</em>. For +its non-metaphorical use, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:12, <em>shall +be taken away</em>; 21:21, <em>be removed</em>; Luke 6:30, +<em>that taketh away</em> thy goods; John <a href="#ch11_39">11:39</a>, <em>take +away</em> the stone; <a href="#ch11_48">11:48</a>, the Romans shall <em>take +away</em> both our place, etc. It thus corresponds +almost exactly with the word (<span lang="el">ἁφίηγι</span>) ordinarily +translated forgive. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 6:12, note. Observe +that the verb is in the present tense, <em>is +taking away</em>. The sacrifice has been offered +once for all; but its effect is a continuous one. +Christ is ever engaged in lifting up and taking +away the sin of the world.—​<b>The sin of the +world.</b> Not <em>sins from the world</em>, which would +be a very different matter. The sin is represented +as <em>one burden</em>, which Christ <em>as a whole</em> lifts up and +carries away. His redemption is not a limited +redemption; it provides a finished salvation for +the entire human race. See +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_22">16:22</a>, note.</p> + +<p>Very unnecessary difficulty has been made +respecting the interpretation of the Baptist’s +simple metaphor here. The lamb was throughout +the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> times commonly used for sacrifice +as a sin-offering (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 4:32</span>); +in cleansing the leper +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 14:10</span>); +at the morning and evening sacrifice +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 29:38</span>); +at all the great feasts (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 28:11; +29:2, 13, 37; <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 23:19</span>); and in large numbers on +special occasions (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 29:21; +2 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 29:32; 35:7</span>). +The sacrifice of the paschal lamb at the Passover +connected the lamb as a sacrifice with the greatest +feast day of the nation, and with the national +redemption from bondage and deliverance from +death (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 12:21-27</span>). +The ceremony with the +scape-goat on the day of atonement, the only +fast-day in the Jewish calendar, interpreted +clearly, and by an annual symbol, the meaning +of these sacrifices. On that day two kids of +goats were chosen, closely resembling each +other; one was slain as a sin-offering; over the +other the high-priest confessed the sins of the +people, “putting them on the head of the goat,” +who was then led away into the wilderness, “to +bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not +inhabited” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> +16:5-10, 20-22</span>). Isaiah, with unmistakable +reference to these typical sacrifices, +declared that the Messiah should bear the sins +and sorrows of the world as a lamb slaughtered +(<span class="muchsmaller">Isaiah 53:1-7</span>); +and the Baptist, speaking to a +people whose national education had led them +to regard the lamb as the type of sacrifice, +through the shedding of whose blood there was +a redemption, a carrying away of sins, points to +Jesus with the declaration, Behold <em>the</em> Lamb +of God that taketh away the sin of the world, +that is, the true Sin-bearer, of whom all that +went before were but types and prophecies. +<em>How</em> he was to take away this load of sin the +Baptist does not say, and probably did not +know. That he did not realize that Christ was +to be a true sacrifice for sin is indicated by his +subsequent perplexity and message to Jesus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:2-6, note</span>). + Observe the analogy and the +contrast between the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> and the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> Under +the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> there were provided by the sinner +lambs, whose sacrifice took sin away from the +individual or the nation, but for the time only, +and therefore the sacrifice needed to be continually +repeated; under the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> <em>one</em> Lamb is +provided, the Lamb of God, <i>i. e.</i>, proceeding +from and <em>provided by God</em>, as intimated by +Abraham to Isaac (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 22:8</span>), +whose sacrifice +<em>once for all</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 10:10-12</span>) +takes away the sin of +the <em>whole world</em> (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 2:2</span>), and therefore never +needs to be repeated. It is worthy of note that +the word <cite>lamb</cite> is never used in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> except +in reference to Jesus Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch1_29">1:29</a>, <a href="#ch1_36">36</a>; Acts +8:32; 1 Peter 1:19; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:6, 8, 12, etc.</span>). The word +<cite>lambs</cite> in the plural form occurs twice, but both +times refer to the disciples of Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 10:3; +John <a href="#ch21_15">21:15</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a +man which is preferred before me: for he was before +me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made +manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with +water.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>30, 31. After me cometh</b>, etc. See on +verse <a href="#ch1_15">15</a>.—​<b>But that he should be made +manifest to Israel therefore am I come</b>, +etc. The object of the Baptist’s ministry was +not then merely to preach repentance, but to +preach repentance <em>as a preparation for the coming +of the kingdom of God in the incarnation of +the King</em>. And with this agrees his own definition +of his mission (<span class="muchsmaller">verse <a href="#ch1_23">23</a></span>) +and the other Evangelists’ +epitome of his ministry (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:2</span>). +The true office of the minister is always that Christ +may be made manifest.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit +descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to +baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon +whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> +on him, the same is he which baptizeth<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> +with the Holy Ghost.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_34">3:34</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> + Acts 1:5; 2:4.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of +God.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>32-34. And John witnessed.</b> Evidently +the Evangelist here speaks of his witness at +some period subsequent to the baptism, and +therefore subsequent to the temptation which +immediately succeeded the baptism.—​<b>I saw +the Spirit descending from heaven like +a dove.</b> That is, in the form of a dove. The +vision was seen only by Jesus and John. On it + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> +see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:16, note.—​<b>And it abode upon +him.</b> The Spirit of God, not the dove, abode. +That John in some way recognized the abiding +as a part of the sign of Christ’s Messiahship, is +evident from the next verse; how he recognized +it is not indicated.—​<b>I also knew him not.</b> +He connects himself with the people who knew +him not (<span class="muchsmaller">verse <a href="#ch1_26">26</a></span>). <b>I</b>, as well as you, knew him +not, till this sign was vouchsafed me. Why +then did he at first object to baptizing Jesus, if he +did not recognize in him the Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:14</span>). +He was second cousin of Jesus; knew him, +probably, as a pure and holy man; perhaps knew +the facts respecting Jesus’ birth, which were +certainly known to John’s mother; may even +have <em>suspected</em> that he was the promised Messiah; +and at all events may have believed that +he needed no baptism of repentance. He did +not, however, know him to be the Messiah, and +did not recognize him <em>as such</em>, till after the +promised sign, and this followed the baptism of +Jesus.—​<b>Saw and bare witness.</b> That is, at +that time. He refers the people to his witness-bearing +at the time of the baptism, a testimony +which was still fresh in their memory.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of +his disciples:</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 And looking upon Jesus as he walketh, he saith, +Behold the Lamb of God!</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they +followed Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>35-37. Again the next day.</b> That is, the +day following the apparent public discourse, so +briefly reported in the preceding verses +(<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_29">29-34</a></span>).—​<b>And +two of his disciples.</b> See on their +names verse <a href="#ch1_40">40</a> and note. As they were disciples +of the Baptist it is to be presumed that +they had been baptized, but by John’s baptism +which was unto repentance and not in the name +of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. See Acts +19:3-5.—​<b>As he walked.</b> Or, as we should +say, <cite>As he was taking a walk</cite>. One of the numerous +indications in the Gospels that Christ was a +lover of nature, and accustomed to meditate and +study in communion with nature.—​<b>Saith, Behold +the Lamb of God.</b> See on verse <a href="#ch1_29">29</a>. +Observe the practical value of line upon line. +John’s private message recalls and repeats his +public testimony. See <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> +3:1.—​<b>And the +two disciples heard him speak.</b> He spoke +possibly in soliloquy, more probably to them. +It is clear that it was not a public discourse +which is here reported. There is no ground for +the hypothesis that the two disciples had not +heard the discourse of the previous day. Rather +the implication is that they had heard it, and +these words uttered to them in private by their +teacher, enforced the public lesson, and led +them to seek further knowledge concerning the +one who was pointed out to them as the Messiah. +Observe how this passage teaches the +value of personal work and personal influence. +The first disciples are led to seek Christ, not by +the public discourse, but by the private words +of the Baptist; by private influence they bring +Peter (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_41">41</a></span>); by private invitation Philip is added +to the disciples (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_43">43</a></span>); and by his personal solicitation +Nathanael is brought to Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_45">45</a></span>).—​<b>And +they followed Jesus.</b> Not, in the religious +sense of the words, became followers of Jesus; +not till later did they leave all to follow him +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 5</span>). +The simplest is also the truest interpretation +of these words. They literally followed +him; drawn partly by curiosity, partly, perhaps, +by a real spiritual desire for closer acquaintance +with the one whom their teacher designated as +the Lamb of God.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and +saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, +Rabbi, (which is to say being interpreted, Master,) +where dwellest thou?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came +and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that +day: for it was about the tenth hour.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>38, 39. Jesus * * * saith unto them, +What seek ye?</b> Not because he was ignorant +of their purpose, for he knew what was in man +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch2_25">2:25</a>; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +Mark 2:8, etc.</span>); but because he would +draw them out. In a similar manner he opens +conversation with the woman at the well +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_10">4:10</a>, <a href="#ch4_16">16</a></span>), with the disciples fishing at the sea +of Galilee (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch21_5">21:5</a></span>), and with the disciples on +their way to Emmaus (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:17</span>). Christ <em>as a +conversationalist</em> is a study for the Christian. +Observe how he opens the way and leads on to +familiar acquaintance, first by his question, then +by his invitation, finally by his hospitality.—​<b>Rabbi +* * * Master.</b> Rather, <em>teacher</em>, or <em>doctor</em>. +Rabbi is a Hebrew word; <em>teacher</em> (<span lang="el">διδάσκαλος</span>) +is its Greek equivalent. John, writing +for the Gentile world, habitually translates the +Hebrew phrases into their Greek equivalents.—​<b>Where +dwellest thou?</b> They are timid and +dare not, or at least do not, express their whole +desire. Often in the spiritual reticence, so common +to the first experiences of the awakened +soul, its real aspirations after truth are concealed +beneath an assumed curiosity respecting some +indifferent matter. Christ meets this non-pertinent +if not impertinent curiosity with an +invitation which attaches the two inquirers + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> +to him for life.—​<b>Come and see.</b> Rather, +<em>Come and ye shall see</em>. This is the best reading, +and is given by Alford, Meyer, Tischendorf, +Tregelles, etc. (<span lang="el">ὄψεσθε</span> not <span lang="el">ἴδετε</span>).—​<b>And abode +with him that day.</b> For the rest of the day.—​<b>For +it was about the tenth hour.</b> Reckoning +from 6 <span class="allsmcap">A. M.</span>, according to Jewish fashion, +this would make it 4 <span class="allsmcap">P. M.</span> Observe, as indicative +of the Evangelist John’s character, and of +the force of the impression made on him from +the outset by Christ, that he remembered not +only the day, <em>but the very hour</em>, of his first +interview with his subsequent Lord. This, too, +is one of those minute touches which would not +be found in either a mythical tradition or an +ecclesiastical forgery.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 One of the two which heard John <em>speak</em>, and +followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and +saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which +is, being interpreted, the Christ.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus +beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: +thou<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, +A stone.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>40-42. One of the two * * * was Andrew.</b> +It is the almost universal belief of +scholars that the other was John the Evangelist, +an opinion which rests on the following considerations: +(1) John never mentions himself in his +Gospel; if he refers to himself at all it is never +by name (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_23">13:23</a>; <a href="#ch18_15">18:15</a>; +<a href="#ch19_26">19:26</a>; <a href="#ch20_3">20:3</a>; +<a href="#ch21_20">21:20</a></span>). (2) +The name of the other disciple would have been +mentioned if there had not been some special +reason for not mentioning it, and John’s habit +of suppressing his own name constitutes a sufficient +reason; no other plausible reason has been +suggested. (3) The minute accuracy of detail +in this narrative, extending to the specification +of the day and of the hour, justifies the belief +that it is the narrative of an eye and ear witness. +On the life and character of Andrew see note at +close of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 10, <abbr title="Volume">Vol.</abbr> 1.—​<b>He first findeth +his own brother.</b> Our English version is +ambiguous if not misleading. The meaning is +not, Before going to Jesus’ residence he found +his own brother, but of the two he was the first +to find Simon. The implication is that both +went in search of him; all three, John, Andrew, +and Simon were probably at the baptism of John +the Baptist, and were his disciples. There is no +evidence to sustain the hypothesis that John +brought his brother James to Jesus at this time, +or even that James was with John at the Jordan.—​<b>The +Messiah * * * the Christ.</b> One is a +Hebrew, the other a Greek word. The meaning +is the Anointed One. On the spiritual meaning +of the names of Jesus, see note at close of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 1, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>. +Andrew’s exclamation of delight +on finding the Messiah, <cite>eureka</cite> (<span lang="el">εὐρήκαμεν</span>, <cite>we +have found</cite>), is the same attributed to Archimedes +on his discovery of the adulteration of +Hiero’s crown. He detected the mixture of +silver in a crown which Hiero had ordered to be +made of gold, and determined the proportions +of the two metals by a method suggested to +him by the overflow of the water when he +stepped into a bath. When the thought struck +him, he is said to have been so pleased that, +forgetting to put on his clothes, he ran home +shouting <cite>Eureka, Eureka, I have found it, I have +found it</cite>. What is the grandest discovery compared +with that which the soul makes when it +finds its Messiah?—​<b>Thou shalt be called +Cephas, which is by interpretation +Peter.</b> Cephas is Hebrew; Peter is Greek; +both words mean a stone. On the significance +of this change of name, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:18, note. +At the interview there reported Christ refers to +the name here given, and confirms and interprets +it; at least this is the view of the best Evangelical +scholars, Meyer, Alford, Lange, Schaff; +and it is more reasonable, on the whole, than +the supposition that the Evangelist John anticipates +and reports the change of name out of its +place. The careful student will observe that +here Christ’s language is that of prophecy: +Thou <em>shalt be</em> called Peter; there it is the language +of fulfillment. Thou <em>art</em> Peter. The +apostle did not become Peter till he made the +inspired confession of Christ as the divine +Messiah, which is recorded in Matthew.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_43"></a> +<p class="hanging">43 The day following. Jesus would go forth into +Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow +me.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_44"></a> +<p class="hanging">44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew +and Peter.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_45"></a> +<p class="hanging">45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We +have found him, of whom Moses<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> +in the law, and the +prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of +Joseph.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> + Luke 24:27, 44.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>43-45. The day following.</b> That is, the +day following the bringing of Peter to Jesus, +which Meyer thinks occurred on the same day +in which Andrew and John accompanied Jesus +to his home, but which it appears to me, from +verse <a href="#ch1_39">39</a>, must have occurred on the following +day; and this is the view of the ancient and of +many of the modern expositors. In that case +the order would be as follows: first day, John’s +conference with the delegation from Jerusalem +(<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_19">19-28</a></span>); +second day, John’s public testimony to +Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_29">29-34</a></span>); +third day, John’s private testimony +to Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_35">35-39</a></span>); +fourth day, Peter brought to +Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_40">40-42</a></span>); +fifth day, Nathanael brought to +Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_43">43-51</a></span>); +seventh day, one day intervening, +the marriage at Cana in Galilee (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch2_1">2:1</a>, etc.</span>).—​<b>Findeth +Philip and saith unto him, Follow me.</b> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> +This is Christ’s first personal call of +a disciple to follow him. There is no evidence +that Philip ever withdrew from this personal +following of Christ as did John and Peter and +Andrew; they did not permanently attach themselves +to Jesus till his subsequent call to them +by the sea of Galilee (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 5:1-11</span>). On Philip’s +life, see note at close of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>. He is +not to be confounded with Philip the deacon, +mentioned in Acts 6:5; 8:5-12, etc.—​<b>Bethsaida.</b> +There is no good ground for the +hypothesis that there were two towns of this +name on or near the sea of Galilee. The city +was on the northern shore, near the entrance of +the Jordan into the sea. See Mark 6:45, note; +and for illustration of site, <a href="#i_077">John +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 6</a>.—​<b>Philip +findeth Nathanael.</b> Observe that the young +disciple does not wait, but as soon as he has +found Christ begins to declare his discovery to +others. So with Andrew above (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_41">41</a></span>), +with the +woman of Samaria (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +4:28, 29</span>), with Paul after +his conversion (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 9:20</span>). +Nathanael’s name +occurs in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +only here and in John <a href="#ch21_2">21:2</a>. +It is not among the list of apostles furnished by +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:2-5; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; +and Acts 1:13. But they all mention, in close +connection with Philip, a Bartholomew, which is +not properly a name but only a patronymic, its +meaning being Son of Tholmai. These facts +have led most scholars to adopt, as a reasonable +hypothesis, the opinion that Nathanael and Bartholomew +are different names for the same +person. The name Nathanael, like our Theodore, +means <dfn>gift of God</dfn>.—​<b>We have found +him of whom Moses in the law, and the +prophets, did write.</b> The reference is unmistakably +to the Messiah. For references in the +books of Moses to the promised Messiah, see +<abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 3:15 and 17:7, with <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 3:16, and <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> +18:15-19.—​<b>Jesus of Nazareth, the son of +Joseph.</b> This is the language, not of the Evangelist, +but of Philip. Unquestionably at that +time Philip knew nothing of the supposed birth +of Jesus; to him Jesus was, as to the Nazarenes +subsequently (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:54-56</span>), simply the son of +Joseph. The supposed inconsistency of this +language and the account of Christ’s supernatural +birth as given by Matthew, is therefore +purely imaginary.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_46"></a> +<p class="hanging">46 And Nathanael said unto him,<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> +Can there any +good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto +him, Come and see.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_41">7:41</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>46. Out of Nazareth is it possible that +anything good can come!</b> There is a scornful +emphasis on the word Nazareth not preserved +in our English version. That Nazareth was an +unimportant and insignificant town is indicated +by the fact that it is neither mentioned in the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> nor in Josephus; that the moral condition +of its inhabitants was below that of the +rest of Galilee is indicated by the declaration of +Mark 6:5, 6, and by the mob which threatened +the life of Christ at a time when he was just growing +into popularity elsewhere in Galilee (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 4:28-30</span>). +No other definite reason is known for the +evident odium which attached to Nazareth even +in the minds of Galileans. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 2:23, +note. The question of Nathanael furnishes a +striking illustration of the spirit of prejudice in +even good men. To Nathanael it seems impossible +that the promised Prophet can appear +elsewhere than in or near the city of the Great +King.—​<b>Come and see.</b> This is the best answer +to make to unbelief. Christ is his own best witness +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_34">5:34</a></span>). It is not merely true that “personal +experience is the best test of the truth of +Christianity, which, like the sun in heaven, can +only be seen in its own light” (<cite>Schaff</cite>), but it is +also true that Christ is a greater miracle than +any he ever wrought; and that the supreme +character of Christ carries in itself a moral +conviction to hearts which resist all arguments +drawn from nature. Of this truth John Stuart +Mill, in his Three Essays on Religion, affords a +striking illustration. After considering all the +arguments for the existence and perfection of +the Divine Being derived from nature, and declaring +that Natural Religion points to a Being +“of great but limited power,” “who desires +and pays some regard to the happiness of his +creatures, but who seems to have other motives +of action which he cares more for,” he comes to +the character of Christ, and not only pays a +tribute to it, eloquent and reverent, but adds +his conviction that it would not “even now be +easy, even for an unbeliever, to find a better +translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract +into the concrete, than to endeavor so to live +that Christ would approve our life.” Chrysostom +notices the gentleness and candor of +Philip’s reply; he furnishes a model to all +disputants in dealing with religious prejudice. +See 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:24.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_47"></a> +<p class="hanging">47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith +of him, Behold<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> +an Israelite indeed, in whom is no +guile!</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 32:2; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:28, 29.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_48"></a> +<p class="hanging">48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou +me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that +Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, +I saw<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> thee.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 139:1, 2.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_49"></a> +<p class="hanging">49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, +thou<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> +art the Son of God; thou art the King<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> of +Israel.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> <a href="#ch20_28">20:28</a>, <a href="#ch20_29">29</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:33.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:5; 27:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>47-49. An Israelite indeed.</b> Because in +faith and love a true child of God. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Luke + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> +19:9; Romans 2:28, 29; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 3:29; 6:15, 16. +For <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> description of such an Israelite, see +Psalm 15.—​<b>In whom is no guile.</b> Therefore, +characteristically unlike the Pharisees, whose +pride it was that they were children of Abraham +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 3:8; John +<a href="#ch8_33">8:33</a></span>), and who were full of hypocrisy +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 6:2, 5, 16; +23:14-33</span>).—​<b>Whence knowest thou +me?</b> As Saul of Tarsus (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 9:5, 6, notes</span>), so +Nathanael is surprised by the Lord’s reading of +his character and inward experience.—​<b>When +thou wast under the fig-tree.</b> The whole +course of the narrative indicates in this response +a supernatural sight, as in the previous characterization +of Nathanael a supernatural insight. +If Christ had merely chanced to see Nathanael +without being seen by him, this fact would afford, +surely, no basis for Nathanael’s faith, or Christ’s +commendation of it. It seems also clear that +something more is implied than the mere fact +that Christ saw Nathanael under a fig-tree, since +that would neither explain Christ’s commendation +of him as an Israelite without guile, nor +Nathanael’s astonishment. Hence the surmise +of the commentators that he had retired there +for purposes of prayer, and that Christ had +seen him there, like the Israel from whom he +descended (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 32:24-23</span>) +wrestling with God, +for the bestowal of the long-promised blessing +to his realm, in the gift of the Messiah. +It was probably this revelation of the secret +of his soul which caused Christ to characterize +him as a true Israelite, and Nathanael to recognize +in the One who read his inmost life so +perfectly, the King of Israel.—​<b>The Son of God +* * * the King of Israel.</b> The Messiah. See +<abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 2:7; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:16; +Luke 22:70; John +<a href="#ch1_34">1:34</a>; <a href="#ch11_27">11:27</a>. +Observe that Christ recognizes +and accepts this characterization of himself at +the outset of his ministry, a quite sufficient +refutation of the theory of Renan, that it was +the outgrowth of his followers’ later admiration, +and tacitly accepted by Christ at or near the +close of his earthly life. That Nathanael fully +comprehended the meaning of his own confession +is not, however, probable.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_50"></a> +<p class="hanging">50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I +said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest +thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch1_51"></a> +<p class="hanging"> 51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto +you. Hereafter ye shall see heaven<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> +open, and the +angels<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> +of God ascending and descending upon the +Son of man.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 1:1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 28:12; + <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 7:9, 10; + Acts 1:10, 11.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><b>50, 51.</b> There is some difficulty respecting +the proper interpretation of Christ’s promise +here. The word <cite>hereafter</cite> is rather <dfn>henceforth</dfn>; +but it is omitted by the best critics, <i>e. g.</i>, Alford, +Tischendorf, Lachmann. The figure is undoubtedly +drawn from the vision of Jacob (Israel) of +the ladder between heaven and earth, and the +angels ascending and descending on it (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 28:12</span>). +Some suppose the reference to the angelic appearances +to Christ, and the divine signs given in +attestation of his mission (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 32; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:11; Luke +2:13; 9:29-31; 22:43</span>), but the earlier of these had +already taken place, and Nathanael was neither +present at the temptation, at the transfiguration, +nor at the garden of Gethsemane. Chrysostom +refers in addition to the angelic appearances at +the resurrection, but they by no means furnish a +literal fulfillment of the promise. Some interpret +it spiritually, of the manifest opening of the +heavens and the intercommunication between +earth and heaven, through Jesus Christ. So +Maurice: “Faithful and true Israelite! the vision +to thy progenitor who first bore that name, shall +be substantiated for thee, and for those who +trust in me in lonely hours, through clouds and +darkness, as thou hast done. The ladder set +upon earth and reaching to <span style="white-space:nowrap;">heaven—the</span> ladder +upon which the angels of God ascended and +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">descended—is</span> a ladder for thee and for all. +For the Son of man, who joins earth to heaven, +the seen to the unseen, God and man in one, He +is with you; through Him your spirits may arise +to God; through Him God’s Spirit shall come +down upon you.” Similarly Luther, Calvin, +Tholuck, Alford, and others. But this interpretation +is not wholly satisfactory, since it +converts Christ’s words into an allegory, and +deprives them of all literal meaning. According +to this view the angels are but spiritual blessings, +the open heavens are not seen, and the +angelic appearances are not upon the Messiah, +but through him to mankind. A third interpretation +connects Christ’s words here with his +analogous declarations in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 25:31; 26:64, +etc., and refers it to his Second Coming. So +Ryle: “When He comes the second time to take +his great power and reign, the words of this +text shall be literally fulfilled. His believing +people shall see heaven open, and a constant +communication kept up between heaven and +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">earth—the</span> tabernacle of God with men, and the +angels visibly ministering to the King of Israel, +and King of all the earth.” I believe that these +three views are congruous and consistent, and +are all embraced in the promise. Christ opened +the communication between earth and heaven; +manifested that fact by the angelic appearances +which accompanied his coming, his presence, and +his departure; still manifests it, by the spiritual +blessings which he constantly confers in answer +to the prayers of his people; and will finally + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> +manifest it yet more gloriously when he comes +to take possession of his established kingdom, +with his holy angels with him. The past and +present fulfillments of this prophecy are but +fragmentary and imperfect. The final and +perfect fulfillment awaits us in the future.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_028"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_028.jpg" + alt="AN ORIENTAL WEDDING."> + <p class="caption">AN ORIENTAL WEDDING.<br> +“<cite>And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee</cite>”</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER <abbr title="Two">II.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 2:1-11. THE MARRIAGE AT CANA IN GALILEE. +<span class="smcap">Christianity not asceticism.</span></p> + +<p>This miracle is recounted only by the Evangelist +John. That fact does not discredit the account: +it incidentally confirms the view that he wrote to +supply what was lacking in the other Gospels.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_029"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_029.jpg" + alt="CANA OF GALILEE"> + <p class="caption">CANA OF GALILEE.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">And</span> the third day there was a marriage in +Cana<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> of +Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_46">4:46</a>; + Joshua 19:28.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the +<span class="lock">marriage.<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></span></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 13:4.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1, 2. The third day.</b> That is, probably, after +the interview with Nathanael described at the +close of the preceding chapter. Lightfoot says +that, according to Jewish custom, the weddings +of virgins took place on the fourth day of the +week, our Wednesday, and of widows on the fifth +day, our Thursday.—​<b>There was a marriage.</b> +For description of wedding ceremonies among +the Jews, with illustration of wedding procession, +see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 25:1-13, +<abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note.—​<b>In Cana +of Galilee.</b> The traditional site is Kefr Kenna, +four and one-half miles northwest of Nazareth. +The more probable site is about nine miles north +of Nazareth and six or eight hours from Capernaum. +See Map, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 50. Robinson describes +it as a fine situation, and once a considerable +village of well-built houses. They are now +uninhabited and the whole region is wild and desolate.—​<b>And +the mother of Jesus was there.</b> +Her name is never mentioned by John. The +fact that Joseph is not mentioned in either of +the Gospels, after Christ’s manhood, has led to +the universal opinion that he was dead. The +presence of Mary, and her apparent authority +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch2_5">5</a></span>), indicates that the bride or bridegroom +were connections or relatives. Different traditions +represent respectively Alphæus, one of his +sons, John the Apostle, and Simon the Canaanite + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> +as the bridegroom, but they are all equally untrustworthy. +The Mormons maintain that this +was the marriage of Jesus himself. The student +will observe that it is said of Mary that she <em>was +there</em>, of Jesus that he <em>was called</em>, an indication +that he came at a later period, and probably after +the marriage feast, which usually lasted for several +days, had begun.—​<b>And his disciples.</b> +Probably those who had already begun to follow +him, though not yet ordained as apostles, nor +summoned by him to leave their regular avocations +to become his constant companions. These +were Andrew, John, Simon Peter, Philip, and +Nathanael, and they were probably invited because +they were with Christ, and out of consideration +for him.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 And when<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> + they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus + saith unto him, They have no wine.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> + <abbr title="Eccclesiasticus">Eccles.</abbr> 10:19; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 24:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3. And the wine failing.</b> Not merely, as +in our English version, when they wanted wine. +The implication is that wine had been provided, +but the supply proved insufficient. Possibly the +unexpected addition of the five disciples of Christ +exhausted it.—​<b>The mother of Jesus saith +unto him, They have no wine.</b> <em>Why</em> did +she appeal to him? There is certainly no ground +for such an explanation as that of Bengel, that +she meant to give a hint to Jesus and his disciples +to go away! Nor is there any evidence that +she asked him to work a miracle, or even definitely +anticipated or desired it. If she were in +any way responsible for the success of the feast, +and the supply was falling short, the appeal for +help to her son was natural; and it was specially +so, if, as modern customs in the Orient indicate +(see Ellicott’s <cite>Life of Christ</cite>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 118), the +guests often contribute to the supplies at such +entertainments. Along with this desire to do +the bride and bridegroom a favor, there may +have been, as Chrysostom suggests, a desire +through her son to render herself conspicuous, +and a vague and inexpressible feeling that he +could, if he would, supply the want by a miracle, +as Elijah supplied the widow’s cruse (<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings 17:14-16</span>). +And his <i lang="la">quasi</i> rebuke, if rebuke it be, may +have been addressed to this mother’s vanity.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do +with thee? mine hour is not yet come.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>4. Woman, what have I to do with +thee? Mine hour is not yet come.</b> Some +question has been made respecting the meaning +of this language. It is clear (1) that <em>woman</em> is +not a harsh term, and involves no tone of rebuke +or reproof; for when Christ on the cross commends +his mother to John’s care, he uses the +same term, “<em>Woman</em>, behold thy son” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch19_26">19:26</a></span>); +(2) the Greek phrase (<span lang="el">τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοὶ</span>) is properly +rendered in our English version, <cite>What have I to +do with thee?</cite> Though literally capable of the +translation proposed by Dr. Adam Clarke, <cite>What +is this to thee and me?</cite> that is, <cite>What is this to us?</cite> +the uniform usage of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +forbids this translation. +The Greek is the same in the following +passages, where the translation cannot be other +than that given both there and here. +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:29, +note; Mark 1:24; 5:7; Luke 8:28. I can +only understand it as a disclaimer on Christ’s +part of any responsibility in the matter, and an +intimation that in his future mission he was not, +as he had heretofore been, subject unto his +mother. There may also be in it implied a gentle +rebuke of her endeavor to elicit from him some +display of his miraculous power, before the time +for the commencement of his public ministry. +Chrysostom interprets her spirit here by that of +Christ’s brethren (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_4">7:4</a></span>), and his reply by his +refusal, later, to turn aside from his work at her +solicitation (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +12:47, 48</span>). Evidently she did not +regard his language as that of refusal, for she +expects his aid, and bids the servants do his bidding. +“She read a <em>yes</em> latent in his apparent +<em>no</em>.”—(<cite>Trench.</cite>)—<b>Mine +hour is not yet come.</b> Not +mine hour to die, though that is usually the signification +of this oft-repeated phrase in John’s +Gospel (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_30">7:30</a>; <a href="#ch8_20">8:20</a>; +<a href="#ch12_23">12:23</a>, <a href="#ch12_27">27</a>; +<a href="#ch13_1">13:1</a></span>); but that +would be here meaningless; nor, The hour to +work this miracle, because the wine is not yet +wholly exhausted, or the guests are not conscious +of the lack, and have not asked for supply; but, +The hour for me to begin my public ministry, +accompanied as it is to be with the working of +miracles, the hour for my manifestation. The +Protestant commentaries see in the language +here a rebuke of the spirit of Mariolatry, in this +following the fathers; <i>e. g.</i>, Chrysostom: “The +answer was not that of one rejecting his mother, +but of One who would show her that having +borne him would have availed nothing, had she +not been very good and faithful;” and Augustine: +“As God he has no mother. And now that +he was about to perform a divine work, he +ignores, as it were, the human womb, and asks, +‘Woman, what have I to do with thee?’ as much +as to say, Thou art not the mother of that in me +which works miracles; thou art not the mother +of my Godhead.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 His mother saith unto the servants, +Whatsoever<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> +he saith unto you, do <em>it</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> + Luke 5:5, 6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>5. His mother saith onto the servants.</b> +The fact that there were servants, and more than +one, indicates that the family was in at least comfortable +if not opulent circumstances. Christ +associated with the rich as readily as with the +poor; but the rich did not, as readily as the +poor, associate with him. Her direction to the +servants and their unquestioning obedience indicates + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> +that in this marriage festival she had some +degree of authority.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 And there were set there six water-pots of stone, +after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing +two or three firkins apiece.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water-pots with +water. And they filled them up to the brim.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 And he saith unto them, + Draw<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> out now, and bear + unto the governor<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> + of the feast. And they bare <em>it</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> + <abbr title="Eccclesiasticus">Eccles.</abbr> 9:7.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 13:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>6-8.</b> The forms of the water-pot and of the +ewer, with which the water was drawn or dipped +out, are shown in the accompanying illustration. +The water-pots may have set in +the room; more probably in an +ante-room or in the courtyard of +the house. The fact that the water +was provided for purifying is +stated to account for the presence +of so much water; and the reference +to the manner of the Jews is +added for the Gentile readers, for +whom John especially wrote. On +these ceremonial washings, see +Mark 7:2-5, notes. The <dfn>firkin</dfn> +(<span lang="el">μετρητης</span>) is equivalent to 8⅞ gallons; +the whole amount of water, +therefore, was between 100 and +150 gallons. Since the jars were +filled to the brim, the water was +apparent <em>after</em> they were filled; +there was, therefore, no room for +fraud or mistake. The statement of the exact +number and proximate size indicates that we +have here the description of an eye-witness. It +also indicates that there were a large number of +guests.</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_031"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_031.jpg" + alt="Water pots and ewers"> + <p class="caption">WATER-POTS AND EWERS.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + +<p>The quantity of wine made by Christ on this +occasion has been the subject of some hostile +criticism, as though it were an invitation to excessive +drinking. But (1) there is no evidence +that any more wine was created than was used. +Whether it was changed in the stone jars, or as +it was carried to the guests, does not appear; +(2) in Palestine, a wine-growing and wine-consuming +country, where it is not merely <em>a</em> beverage, +but <em>the</em> beverage of the common people, +four or five barrels of wine would not seem so +extraordinary a supply as it would to us, nor +would it produce any such effect in the consumption +as an equal amount of the ordinary wines of +to-day; (3) it is God’s way to pour out his +bounty, not only in abundance, but in superabundance. +As Christ created, not merely barely +enough bread for the 5,000, but the disciples, +after all were fed, gathered up twelve baskets +full, so we may well believe that here he created +not barely sufficient for the hour, but a superabundance +which remained to bless the home +after the departure of the guests. On the probable +character of this wine, <a href="#TOC32">see below</a>, Note on +Christ’s example in the use of wine.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water +that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: +(but the servants<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> which drew the water knew;) the +governor of the feast called the bridegroom,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_17">7:17</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 119:100.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning + doth set forth good wine; and when men have well + drunk, then that which is worse: <em>but</em> thou hast kept + the good wine<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> + until now.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 104:15; + <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 9:2, 5.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>9, 10. The ruler of the feast.</b> The same +word as <dfn>governor of the feast</dfn>, in the preceding +verse. Among the Greeks and Romans, a ruler +of the feast (<dfn>symposiarch</dfn>) was commonly chosen, +usually by lot, who regulated the whole order of +the festivities, proposed the amusements, etc. +A reference in the Apocrypha (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Eccclesiasticus">Eccles.</abbr> +32:1, 2</span>) indicates +that the same practice prevailed among the +Jews. There is no ground for supposing the +ruler of the feast in this case to have been other +than a guest, who occupied this honorary office.—​<b>But +the servants knew, they having +drawn the water.</b> Not merely, <em>the servants +which drew, knew</em>; the reason of their knowledge +is indicated; they knew because they had themselves +filled the jars with the water, and drawn +it out.—​<b>Called the bridegroom.</b> Called out +to him, probably across the table. The language +which follows is sportive, and characteristic of +such an occasion of festivity.—​<b>Every man at +the beginning doth set forth good wine; +and when men are drunken, then that +which is worse.</b> The verb rendered in our +English version “have well drunk” is literally +<dfn>are drunken</dfn>. It is in the passive voice. This +does not necessarily imply that in the East men +counted on the inebriacy of their guests, and for + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> +that reason provided the best wine first, still less +that the guests here were intoxicated. “The +man says only in joke, as if it were a general experience, +what he certainly may have often observed.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) +The ancient commentators +have observed the difference between the feasts +of the world and the feasts of Christ; the world +gives its best wine at first, and when men have +become intoxicated with it, then the poor, as the +prodigal son experienced (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 15:13-16</span>); Christ +ever reserves the good wine to the last. See this +thought beautifully drawn out by Jeremy Taylor +in his <cite>Life of Christ</cite>. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> John <a href="#ch4_13">4:13</a>, +<a href="#ch4_14">14</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of + Galilee, and manifested<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> + forth his glory: and his disciples + believed<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> on him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> + ch <a href="#ch1_14">1:14</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> + 1 John 5:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>11. This beginning of miracles.</b> An incidental +and indirect testimony that the miracles +of Christ’s infancy, narrated in the apocryphal +Gospels, are spurious.—​<em>And manifested forth +his glory.</em> Observe <em>his</em> glory; the miracles of +the disciples did not manifest forth <em>their</em> glory, +but that of their Lord (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 3:8; 14:11-15</span>).—​<b>And +his disciples believed in him.</b> That is, the +five that had already begun to follow him. But +<em>what</em> or <em>how much</em> they believed is not indicated. +They began to have that confidence in him which +was not consummated till after his resurrection.</p> + +<p>In respect to this miracle, observe, (1) <em>The simplicity +of the narrative</em>. John does not directly +assert that the water was made wine, nor that a +miracle was performed, nor does he deduce any +conclusion from the event; he simply narrates +what he saw and <span style="white-space:nowrap;">heard—the</span> jars filled with +water, the contents drawn out, the testimony of +the governor of the feast to the excellence of the +wine carried to him; the reader is left to draw +his own conclusion. (2) <em>The utter failure of all +naturalistic explanations</em>, such as that Christ simply +accelerated the process of nature, or changed +the attributes of the water after the analogy of +mineral waters, so as to give it the taste and appearance +of wine, or that the taste and semblance +of wine was due to a state of spiritual exaltation +on the part of the company, all of which views +have had defenders even among orthodox critics. +See Lange’s and Meyer’s Commentaries for a +statement of these and kindred interpretations. +Meyer well says, respecting them all, “Instead +of a transmutation of water we have a frivolous +transmutation of history.” (3) <em>The impossibility +of deception or fraud.</em> The jars are those belonging +to the household; they are filled to the brim +with water; it is drawn out by the servants; the +judgment respecting the wine is pronounced by +the governor of the feast, who does not know of +the miracle. (4) <em>The analogy of nature.</em> “He +who made the wine at this wedding does the +same thing every year in the vines. As the water +which the servants put into the water-pots was +turned into wine by the Lord, so that which the +clouds pour down is turned into wine by the +same Lord. It excites no wonder in us, because +it occurs every year.”—(<cite>Augustine.</cite>) (5) <em>The +moral and spiritual significance of the miracle.</em> +Contrast Christ’s ready consent to convert water +into wine to add to the festivities of others, with +his refusal to convert stones into bread to supply +his own imperative needs (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:3, 4</span>); +his conversion +of water into wine, the symbol of inspiration +and life, with the first miracle of Moses, who +converted water into blood, an instrument and a +symbol of death (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 7:20, 21</span>)—​Christ +brings life +and power, Moses brings law and condemnation +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 7:8, 9</span>); +his entrance on his ministry by attendance +on a marriage festivity, and his miracle +to prolong its festivities, with the asceticism of +John the Baptist (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 1:15; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:4</span>). Compare +his inauguration of the new covenant by a miracle +at a marriage with God’s inauguration of the +old covenant by ordaining and creating the marriage +relation (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> +1:21-24</span>). Notice in this miracle +a type of Christ’s redeeming love, who converts +the water of the law into the wine of the Gospel, +and every soul which hears and obeys his creative +command into an inspiring life-giving spirit +(<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch5_21">5:21</a>; <a href="#ch6_33">6:33</a>; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:45</span>). Observe the fundamental +lesson, that Christ’s example bids us not to withdraw +from the world, nor abstain from its use, +but to use without abusing it +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 7:31</span>), and that +the assertion that Christianity bids men “make +this earth as unpleasant to themselves as possible +so as to secure hereafter the joys of heaven,” is +a monstrous perversion of the teaching and example +of Jesus Christ. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:9, 10; +11:19; Luke 7:36; 11:37; 14:1; John <a href="#ch12_1">12:1</a>, +<a href="#ch12_2">2</a>.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><a id="TOC32"></a><span class="smcap">Christ’s example in the use of wine.</span> +1. <i>The +facts.</i> These are that Christ inaugurated his +public ministry by attending a wedding feast, and +there by a miracle creating a large quantity of +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">wine—certainly</span> all that the guests could <span style="white-space:nowrap;">use—for</span> +the simple purpose of prolonging the festivities +of the occasion; that he was accustomed +throughout his life to attend social gatherings +where wine was freely used; that he used it +freely himself, notwithstanding the fact that it +subjected him to the reproaches and the misrepresentations +of his enemies (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:19; +Luke 7:34</span>); +that he never directly or indirectly condemns the +use of wine, though he does condemn drunkenness +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 24:49; +Luke 12:45</span>); and that he directs +its use by his church as a perpetual memorial of +his atoning love, and employs it as a symbol of +joy and fellowship in the world to come +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:26-29; +Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:18; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 10:16</span>). +The force +of this example is strengthened by the reflection +that drunkenness was common in the East before +Christ’s day (<span class="muchsmaller">Esther 1:10; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 5:22; 28:7; +<abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 5:2-4; +Hosea 4:11</span>), and in Palestine and the neighboring +countries during Christ’s lifetime, so that even +the church of Christ had need of constant admonition +against it (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 24:49; Luke 15:13; +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 13:13; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 11:21; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:21; +1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 4:3</span>); that a Jewish Sect + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> +existed, the Essenes (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:7, +note</span>), who were +total abstainers, with whom Christ never identified +himself; and that he directly contrasts his +life and example with that of John the Baptist +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:19</span>), +who, as a Nazarite, was pledged +against the use of wine and strong drink (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 1:15; +<abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 6:3</span>). Attempts have been made to show +that the wine which Christ made on this occasion +and used on other occasions was not fermented. +It is certain that there were in use in the Greek +and Roman world, and presumptively in Palestine, +three kinds of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">wine—fermented</span> wines, +which, however, were unlike our own fiery wines +and contained only a small percentage of alcohol, +and which were usually mixed in the use with +water, in the proportion of two or three parts of +water to one of wine; new wine, made of the +juice of the grape, and, like our new cider, not +fermented and not intoxicating; and wines in +which, by boiling the unfermented juice of the +grape, or by the addition of certain drugs, the +process of fermentation had been stopped, and +the formation of alcohol prevented. It is claimed +that fermented wine was not used at the Passover, +though I can find no other reason for this +opinion than the fact that leavened, <i>i. e.</i>, fermented +bread was prohibited—a prohibition the sole +object of which was to remind the Jews of the +haste of the original passover. Paul’s language +in 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 11:21 +(<span class="muchsmaller">see note there</span>) makes it evident that +fermented wine was used by the primitive church +in the administration of the Lord’s Supper; and +the Rabbinical rule, requiring water to be mixed +with the wine at the paschal feast (<span class="muchsmaller">see Lightfoot on +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:27</span>), lest drunkenness should disgrace it, +makes it equally evident that wine was used in +the original <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> festival. There is nothing in +the language of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> to indicate any discrimination +between fermented and unfermented +wines; Christ himself never directly or indirectly +discriminates between them; neither do any of +his apostles; and it is apparently indicated if +not necessarily implied in the account here, and +in other passages, that it was the ordinary fermented +wine which Christ employed; see especially +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:19, “Behold a glutton and a +wine-bibber,” and <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:17, “No man having +drunk old (<em>fermented</em>) wine, straightway desireth +new (<em>that of the last vintage and unfermented</em>), for +he saith the old is better.” The language of +Mark 14:25, “I will drink no more of the fruit +of the vine,” etc., plainly implies that he had +been accustomed to drink it freely and as a beverage +with his followers. I judge then that +Christ here made, and throughout his life ordinarily +used, fermented wine; and this is the +nearly unanimous judgment of the best unprejudiced +Biblical scholars. The opposite opinion +is of later origin, an after-thought, the product +not of impartial Biblical research, but of the temperance +reformation. (2) <i>Significance of these facts.</i> +It appears to me clear, in the light of these facts, +that neither Christ’s precept nor his example can +be cited in favor of the doctrine of total abstinence, +as a universal and permanent obligation +from all use of wine, even as a beverage; that it +rather indicates that he recognizes the right and +propriety of so using it; and that the doctrine +and practice of total abstinence must be maintained, +if at all, not by any specific precept, nor +by the general course of Christ’s life, but from +local and perhaps temporary considerations, and +solely on the ground that the Christian must +always be willing to surrender a lawful gratification +for the sake of a higher good, either to himself +or to others (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:29, 30; +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 14:21; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:12</span>). +It is equally clear that neither Christ’s precepts +nor his example justifies the ordinary drinking +usages of American society of to-day, with its +bars, its wine-shops, its beer-gardens, its fiery +wines and strong liquors, and all its attendant +evils. The ordinary wine of to-day is a very different +article from that in Christ’s day. The +<em>word</em> is the same, the <em>thing</em> is different. And the +usages are equally different. It is not my province +here to enter into a general discussion of the +temperance question, or even of the Bible teaching +on the subject; but for the convenience of +the student I add, from my <cite>Dictionary of Religious +Knowledge</cite>, a tabular view of the principal Bible +passages which bear on the subject, either for or +against the use of wines.</p> + +<table class="p2 small"> +<colgroup> +<col style="width: 45%;"> +<col style="width: 45%;"> +</colgroup> + +<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2">THE BIBLE</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Commends Wine</span>:</td> + <td class="tdc"><span class="smcap">Condemns Wine</span>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><i>As an offering to God with oil and wheat</i>:</td> + <td class="tdl vlt"><i>As a cause of violence and woe</i>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 18:12.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 4:17; 23:29-32.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 10:37-39.</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Of self-security and irreligion:</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><i>As a blessing to man</i>:</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 28:7; 56:12.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 27:28-37.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Habakkuk">Hab.</abbr> 2:5.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 7:13.</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>As a poison</i>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1">Judges 9:13.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 32:33.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 3:10.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 23:31.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 65:8.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1">Hosea 7:5.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1">Joel 3:18.</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>As an accompaniment of wickedness</i>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 104:15.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 5:22.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 9:17.</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>As an emblem of divine wrath</i>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><i>As an emblem of spiritual blessing</i>:</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 60:3; 75:8.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 55:1.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 51:17.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Solomon">Sol.</abbr> Song 7:9.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 25:15.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><i>As a perpetual memorial of Christ’s atoning sacrifice</i>:</td> + <td class="tdl pad1 vlt"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 14:10; 16:19.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:26-29.</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>By the example of priests on entering the tabernacle</i>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1">Mark 14:22-25.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 10:8-11.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 10:16.</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Of Rechabites</i>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><i>As a medicine</i>:</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 35:6.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 31:6, 7.</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Of Nazarites</i>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1">1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 5:23.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 6:2, 3.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl"><i>By the example of Jesus Christ</i>:</td> + <td class="tdl"><i>Of Daniel</i>:</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1">John 2:1-11.</td> + <td class="tdl pad1"><abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 1:8, 12.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdl pad1" colspan="2">Luke 7:34.</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> +<abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 2: 12-22. CHRIST CASTS THE TRADERS OUT OF +THE TEMPLE. <span class="smcap">An illustration of the character +of Christ.—​A symbol of the work of Christ.—​An +example to the followers of Christ.</span></p> + +<p>This incident is narrated only by John. It is +not to be confounded with the second casting +out narrated by the synoptists. See note on +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:12, 13. This occurred at the first +Passover in Christ’s public ministry; that at the +last. There is a significance in the repetition. +It indicates both the tendency of a corrupt +church to corruption in spite of cleanings, a +truth unhappily abundantly illustrated in history; +and the persistence of Christ’s zeal, a +quality imperfectly reflected in the zeal of his +disciples. The probable date of this event was +March, <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 28.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and +his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and +they continued there not many days.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>12. Went down to Capernaum.</b> From +Cana, which was the hill country, to Capernaum, +which was on the shore of the sea of Galilee. +For description of Capernaum, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:13. +It would be on the natural though not necessary +route from Cana to Jerusalem. This visit is not +to be confounded with Christ’s permanent change +of residence from Nazareth to Capernaum, which +resulted from the mob in the former city (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke +4:28-31</span>); this did not take place till after the +imprisonment of John the Baptist (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +4:12, 13</span>). +The statement that <cite>they continued not there many +days</cite>, distinguished this visit from that permanent +change of residence.—​<b>His mother and his +brethren and his disciples.</b> His public ministry +had not yet fully begun; he had not, +therefore, yet left his mother and brethren to +devote himself to his work. That these were +real brethren, not cousins or other relations, I +think is clear, though by many doubted. See +note on “Brethren of our Lord,” <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 187.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 And the Jews’ passover<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +was at hand, and Jesus<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> +went up to Jerusalem,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> + <abbr title="Exodus">Ex.</abbr> 12:14.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> + Verse <a href="#ch2_23">23</a>; + <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_1">5:1</a>; + <a href="#ch6_4">6:4</a>; <a href="#ch11_55">11:55</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>13. And the Jews’ Passover was at +hand.</b> For origin of Passover see Exodus, +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 12; for some account of its ceremonies see +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:26-30, <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note.—​<b>And Jesus went +up to Jerusalem.</b> Observe, that he was accustomed +to attend the Jewish feasts as well as the +synagogue services. The corruption of the +church did not cause his withdrawal from its +public services (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_25">10:25</a></span>).</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_034"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_034.jpg" + alt="Substructures of Temple"> + <p class="caption">SUBSTRUCTURES OF THE TEMPLE.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> + <a id="i_035"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_035.jpg" + alt="View of Jerusalem"> + <p class="caption">BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF JERUSALEM.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> + <a id="i_036"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_036.jpg" + alt="Title or description"> + <p class="caption">PLAN AND SECTION OF THE TEMPLE.<br> + <cite>From “Life of Jesus, the Christ,” by <abbr title="Reverend">Rev.</abbr> +Henry Ward Beecher.</cite></p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 And found<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +in the temple those that sold oxen +and sheep and doves, and the changers of money +sitting:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:12; Mark 11:15; Luke 19:45.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>14. In the temple.</b> Historically there were +three temples: Solomon’s (<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings, +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 6, 7; 2 Chron., +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 3, 4</span>), the temple of Zerubbabel, constructed at +the time of the restoration under Nehemiah (<span class="muchsmaller">Ezra +3:8-11; 6:3-5</span>), and Herod’s. The latter, named +for its builder, Herod the Great (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +2:1, note</span>), is +the one mentioned here and elsewhere in the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> Its site, established with as much certainty +as any in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, was a rock platform +in the southeast corner of Jerusalem, now occupied +by the Mohammedan Mosque of Omar. In +its erection ten thousand skilled workmen were +employed; among them one thousand priests +especially instructed in the arts of the stonecutter +and the carpenter. The result was a temple +whose architectural magnificence is thought +never to have been surpassed in ancient or modern +times. It was less a building than a collection +of buildings, and covered an area of over +nineteen acres. The stone was white marble, the +roof cedar, the architecture probably a combination +of the Greek and the Roman. On the east +it overlooked the valley of the Cedron, forming +an effective fortification. It also served as a defence +on the north, where adjoined the tower of +Antonia, the barracks of the Roman soldiery. +On the south a single gateway, on the west four +gateways, gave exit and entrance. On the east +it was connected by a bridge over the Tyrophœan +valley with Mount Zion, the site of Solomon’s +and later of Herod’s palace. The remains +of this bridge have been lately discovered. The +annexed ground plan, from Henry Ward Beecher’s +“Life of Christ,” will enable the reader to +understand the internal structure of the temple. +The illustration in <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 257, will give an idea + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span> +of its external appearance. The reader is there +supposed to be on the Mount of Olives looking +down upon the temple from the east; Mount +Zion with its palaces and towers is in the background; +the long-roofed structure on the left, +that is, the south, is the royal cloister or <i lang="la">Stoa +basilica</i>. This is minutely described by Josephus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Antiquities">Ant.</abbr> +15:11, 5</span>). It consisted of a nave and two +aisles, the side toward the country being closed +by a wall, that toward the temple proper being +open. It was 105 feet in breadth, 600 feet in +length; the centre aisle was 100 feet high, the +side aisles 50. The roof of cedar was supported +by 102 Corinthian columns of white marble, the +floor was a magnificent mosaic. Between this +cloister and the temple structure was the open +court of the Gentiles. It was open to all, heathen +and Jew alike, and was used for the purpose +of social and intellectual exchange, as well +as for religious processional services. Here +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:23</span>), +and subsequently his disciples +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:53; Acts 5:21, 42</span>), taught the people. Inscriptions +in Greek and Latin forbade the heathen +from passing beyond this court, under +penalty of death. For a supposed infringement +of this law Paul was mobbed (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 21:26-30</span>). Within +were the successive courts of the women, of +Israel, of the priests. In this latter was the +sacred furniture and utensils, the table of shewbread, +the altar, the laver, etc. In the heart of +this enclosure, investing all with a mysterious +sacredness, was the Holy of Holies, veiled from +even priestly gaze by the curtain, which was +subsequently rent in twain at the time of Christ’s +death (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:57</span>). +This Holy of Holies, 90 × 30 +feet, is seen in the illustration of the temple as +restored, in the centre of the building; it constituted +the most prominent feature. It was in +the outer court of the Gentiles that the sheep +and cattle and money-changers had gathered. +The scattered Israelites were unable to bring in +person the sacrifices for the altar. The Mosaic +law permitted them to sell their first-fruits, and +with the money purchase their gifts at Jerusalem +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 14:24-26</span>). +They were also required to +pay for the support of the temple service a half-shekel +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 3:11-16; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 17:24-27, notes</span>). This must +be paid in Jewish money, for Gentile coin would +pollute the sacred coffers. Thus, gradually, the +feast-days became great market-days, as they +still are among the nomadic tribes of the Mohammedan +religion. The priesthood, sharing in the +profits, suffered the traffickers gradually to intrude +into and occupy the outer court of the +temple. Thus, not only were the religious services +of the Jews disturbed by the bleating of +sheep, the lowing of cattle, the cooing of doves, +the clangor of the money-changers, and the hum +of a busy market, but the Gentiles were absolutely +driven from all participation in the religious +benefits of the temple. To their exclusion +Christ referred in the second expulsion (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark +11:15-19, note</span>). The priests winked not only at the +sacrilege, but also at the double defrauding of +God and man which accompanied it (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Malachi">Mal.</abbr> 1:7, 8</span>). +The court of the Gentiles was worse than a +market-place; it was a den of thieves. Thus +Christ’s act was not only a vehement protest +against the sacrilege which suffers business to +encroach on the house and worship of God, but +also a rebuke of the bigotry which is indifferent +to the religious wants and worship of men not of +our race, faith, or companionship.—​<b>Those that +sold cattle, sheep, and doves.</b> For sacrifices +under the Levitical law; sheep, rams, lambs, +goats, kids, bulls, cows, calves, doves, and sparrows +were offered for this purpose. All sacrifices +were required to be offered by the priesthood and +in the temple. On the great feast-days, when +the population of Jerusalem was increased to a +million or more, the traffic must have been both +large and profitable.—​<b>And the changers of +money.</b> Money-changers had in Greece and +Rome their stalls or tables in the streets and +market-places for the purpose of exchanging the +coin of one nation for another. They are still to +be found in Jerusalem, seated by their little glass +cases, in which are saucers of brass filled with +coins of silver and gold, of every size and value.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_037a"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_037a.jpg" + alt="Expulsion of traders"> + <p class="caption"> THE EXPULSION OF THE TRADERS.<br> +“<cite>He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen; and poured out +the changer’s money, and overthrew the tables.</cite>”</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, +he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and +the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and +overthrew the tables;</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these +things hence; make not my Father’s house an house +of merchandise.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>15, 16. And when he had made a scourge +of rushes.</b> The original indicates that the +scourge was made of the rushes which were used +to bed the cattle. Christ picked these up from +the floor and wove them together into a whip. + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> +Of course this fragile lash would not do much +real execution. It was used as one might use a +switch to alarm and so drive out the animals. +The original shows very clearly that it was used +for this purpose alone, and not to threaten the +men with physical chastisement.—​<b>He drove all +out of the temple, both the sheep and the +cattle.</b> This is the correct rendering; our +English version is ambiguous and so misleading.—​<b>And +poured out the changers’ money.</b> +Poured it out upon the floor. This prevented +their resisting, for it occupied their energies to +pick up and save the coin.—​<b>And said unto +them that sold doves.</b> It is noteworthy that +he drove out the sheep and cattle, which the +owners could reclaim in the streets, but did not +set the doves free, which would thus have been +lost to their owners. A true Christian indignation +never blinds to the true rights even of the most +flagrant wrong-doers.—​<b>Make not my Father’s +house a house of merchandise.</b> Compare +Christ’s language at the second expulsion, Mark +11:17, note.</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_037"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_037.jpg" + alt="Money changer"> + <p class="caption">EASTERN MONEY-CHANGER.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 And his disciples remembered +that it was <span class="lock">written,<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></span> +The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> + Psalm 69:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>17. And his disciples remembered</b>, etc. +At the time, not afterward; if this had been +meant it would have been expressed, as in +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch2_22">22</a>. It is not here stated that the utterance in +<abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 69:9 was a prophecy +which Christ fulfilled; +simply that his course recalled the language +there. The fact indicates the vigor and intensity +of Christ’s zeal in the manner and spirit of his +action, as well as in the act itself.</p> + +<p>This and the subsequent purification of the +temple during the Passion week, indicate in +Christ a vigor and intensity of character, and a +power of indignation, which modern thought +rarely attributes to him. They interpret the +suggestive description of Christ’s personal appearance +given by John in <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:13-16, the +only hint of his personal appearance afforded by +the New Testament. We can imagine that in +this expulsion his eyes were as flames of fire, his +feet firm in their tread like feet of brass, his +voice as the sound of the ocean, his words as a +two-edged sword. This indignation was aroused +by (<i>a</i>) the sacrilegious covetousness which made +God’s house a house of merchandise; (<i>b</i>) the +fraud which converted it into a den of thieves; +(<i>c</i>) the selfishness of the bigotry which excluded +the heathen from the only court reserved for +them. It should inspire in his disciples a like +spirit of indignation (<i>a</i>) against the sacrilegious +covetousness which converts the house of God +into a mart of merchandise, whether by the sale +of indulgences, masses, and prayers to others, or +by employing it not for the praise of God but +for the social and pecuniary profit of the pretended +worshipper; (<i>b</i>) against the bigotry which +permits us to look with indifference upon the +exclusion of the poor, the outcast, the despised +from the privileges of God’s house. It is a type +of (<i>a</i>) the cleansing which Christ comes to do for +every soul, which is a temple of God (<span class="muchsmaller">1 +<abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:16</span>), +and out of which all unclean things must be +driven by the power of God, before it is fit for +God’s indwelling; (<i>b</i>) the final cleansing when +he will come to cast out all things that defile +and work abomination (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 21:27</span>). +Observe that +in Revelation the world is represented as dreading +“the wrath of <em>the Lamb</em>.” Christ’s example +here does not justify the use of physical force +by the church to cleanse it from corruption; for +Christ did not employ physical force. His whip +was not a weapon; the power before which the +traders fled was the moral power of Christ, +strengthened by the concurring judgment of +their own consciences and the moral sense of +the mass of the people (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 11:15, note</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, +What sign<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> +showest thou unto us, seeing that thou +doest these things?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[80]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_30">6:30</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:38, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> +this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[81]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:61; 27:40.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18, 19. What sign showest thou unto +us?</b> What evidence of authority to expel from +the temple practices allowed by the priesthood. +They questioned not the right of an inspired +prophet to act thus, but the authority of Jesus +as a prophet. The moral power before which +all quailed was the greatest of signs; but to that +they were indifferent. “They required signs +to be proved by signs.”—(<cite>Bengel.</cite>) No other +authority for any reformation is ever required +than the power and grace to achieve it. The +same question was repeated at the second cleansing, +but it elicited a very different answer (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +21:23</span>).—​<b>Destroy this temple and in three +days I will raise it up.</b> In interpreting this +passage observe that (1) John himself explicitly +declares Christ’s meaning, “He spake of the +temple of his body” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch2_21">21</a></span>); (2) that not only +the Jews, who might have willfully perverted +Christ, misunderstood his meaning, but his own +followers did not, till after his death, understand +him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch2_22">22</a></span>); hence (3) the hypothesis that he +pointed to himself when he said, “Destroy this +temple,” is not only unnecessary but improbable. +The words are a prophecy, but are purposely left +enigmatical, to be interpreted by the event. The +temple is itself a type of man, who is intended +to be the temple of God, in which he will dwell; +and therefore a type perfectly fulfilled only in +Christ, in whom alone the Spirit of God dwelt +without measure, and with no periods of partial +or complete exclusion. The Jews in crucifying +Christ destroyed the divine reality of which the +building was only a symbol or prophecy; moreover + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> +they inaugurated that terrible drama of +passion which ended in the literal destruction +of the temple itself. For description of this +destruction see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 24, <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note. Some +objections to this passage have been suggested. +(1) <cite>The crucifixion of Christ and his resurrection +taking place three years later cannot be a sign of +his authority here.</cite> Ans. In fact Christ does not +comply with the Pharisees’ demand for a sign +but refuses it, as in the analogous passage in +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:34-40, where he also by a metaphor +refers to his resurrection. (2) <cite>The prophecy +would not be and in fact was not understood.</cite> Ans. +It was not intended to be understood then, but +to afford a basis for the faith of the disciples +when subsequent history had interpreted it. It +was an enigma more likely to be remembered +because enigmatical. “Many such sayings he +uttered which were not intelligible to his immediate +hearers, but which were to be so to those +who should come after. And wherefore doth +he do this? In order that when the accomplishment +of his predictions should have come to +pass, he might be seen to have foreknown from +the beginning what was to follow.”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>) +(3) <cite>The language is imperative and thus +involves a command by Christ to crucify him.</cite> Ans. +The imperative, <cite>Destroy this temple</cite>, is not equivalent +to the future, You will destroy this temple; +nor is it permissive merely, You may destroy +this temple; nor yet is it a command, You must +destroy this temple. It is a challenge. Destroy +this temple, and I will raise it up. “It springs +from painfully excited feelings, as he looks with +heart-searching gaze upon that implacable opposition +which was already beginning to show +itself, and which would not be satisfied till it +had put him to death.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) (4) <cite>The language, +I will raise it up, imputes to Christ the +power of the resurrection which is uniformly +attributed to the Father.</cite> Ans. This objection +is founded on a misapprehension. The <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +recognizes no such distinction between the +Father and the Son as this objection implies, +and Christ uses language elsewhere, as distinctly +implying his own act in the resurrection as that +used here (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_18">10:18</a>; <a href="#ch11_25">11:25</a>; +<abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_39">5:39</a>, +<a href="#ch5_40">40</a>, <a href="#ch5_44">44</a></span>). The +interpretation proposed by some writers, that +Christ here speaks of the decay of the Jewish +religion in its temple, and the building up of a +new spiritual theocracy, will not be accepted by +those who believe that John’s explicit declaration +of Christ’s meaning is inspired and authoritative. +Observe how the Jews intentionally +misrepresented Christ’s saying; they accused +him of threatening to destroy the temple (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +26:61, note</span>), when he had really prophesied that +they would destroy it.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this +temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three +days?</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 But he spake of the temple<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> of his body.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">[82]</a> + <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:21, 22; + <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 2:9; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 8:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>20. Forty and six years was this temple +in building.</b> The argument is a natural +one, and seemed conclusive. The temple was +commenced by Herod twenty years previous to +the birth of Christ, and had been forty-six years +in construction up to this time. It was not +finally completed, however, till <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 64, under +Herod Agrippa <abbr title="Two">II</abbr>; so that it was really over +eighty years in building. The workmen were at +this time still engaged upon it, and the language +of the people refers to the work up to this time.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his +disciples remembered that he<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> +had said this unto them: +and they believed the scripture, and the word which +Jesus had said.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[83]</a> + Luke 24:8.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>22. When therefore he was risen from +the dead.</b> Not merely after but at the time of +his resurrection and in the light of that fact, +the disciples interpreted both what he had said +and what the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> contained on this subject.—​<b>They +believed the Scripture.</b> Not the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, no part of which was written at the time +of the resurrection; and the “Scripture” is here +distinguished from the words which Jesus had +spoken. The <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> contained prophecies of the +resurrection which are enigmatical, and probably +were but imperfectly comprehended by even the +most devout Jews, but which were interpreted +by the event (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 16:4 + with Acts 3:15; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 17:15; 73:23, +24; Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 6:2</span>). For evidence that Christ, +and subsequently the apostles, recognized in the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> prophecies of the resurrection, see Luke +24:26, 27; John <a href="#ch20_9">20:9</a>; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:4.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, +in the feast <em>day</em>, many believed in his name when they +saw the miracles which he did.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, +because he<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> knew all <em>men</em>,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[84]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_30">16:30</a>; + 1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 16:7; + 1 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 28:9; 29:17; + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 17:9, 10; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:4; + Acts 1:24; + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 2:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch2_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 And needed not that any should testify of man: +for he knew what was in man.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>23-25. Many trusted in his name, seeing +the signs which he wrought, but +Christ did not entrust himself to them, +because he knew all men and needed +not</b>, etc. Compare with the English version +the translation here given which approximates +more nearly to the original; and observe respecting +this that (1) the term miracle has +acquired in modern theology a technical meaning +it does not possess in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> Christ may +have wrought miracles at this time not recorded +by the Evangelist (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +21, 25</span>), but the belief of the +Jewish disciples may have rested on such signs +of his moral power as the expulsion of the +traders from the temple; (2) their trust in his + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> +name was not necessarily a true spiritual acceptance +of him as a personal Saviour from sin; the +reverse is implied by the statement that they +trusted him <em>because they saw his miracles</em>; and +still more by the declaration respecting himself +that he did not entrust himself to them; (3) this +declaration would scarcely need interpretation +were it not for a common misinterpretation. It +does not imply that he held back from them his +doctrine, or refused to work miracles for their +benefit, but simply that he did not and could +not enter into that close and unreserved personal +intercourse with them which characterized +his Galilean life and companionships. He knew +them too well to do this; knew that when the +spiritual and universal nature of his kingdom of +love was revealed unto them, they would reject +and crucify him. The statement that he knew +what was <em>in man</em>, indicates a divine and supernatural +reading of the secrets of the human +heart, of which the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> affords many and +striking illustrations (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +9:4; Mark 2:8; Luke 7:39, +40</span>). The declaration that he knew <em>all men</em>, +indicates that this interior knowledge of the +heart was not occasional and exceptional, but +universal. Melancthon sees in the example of our +Lord here an admonition of caution in opening our +hearts unreservedly to strangers, even though +they may seem to receive our word with kindness. +Be friendly to all, be intimate with few.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER <abbr title="Three">III.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 3:1-21. CHRIST’S CONVERSATION WITH NICODEMUS.—​<span class="smcap">The +argument from miracles: its strength +and its weakness illustrated</span> (verse 2).—​<span class="smcap">Christ +more than a teacher, a Life-giver; Christianity +more than a system of truth, a new life.—​The +condition of spiritual knowledge, a new spiritual +life.—​The spirit of skepticism illustrated</span> +(verse 4).—​<span class="smcap">The true method of answering skepticism, +not by argument, but by personal assured +conviction</span> (verse 5).—​<span class="smcap">The two conditions of entering +Christ’s kingdom: a new spiritual life, +and a public confession of Christ</span> (verse 5).—​<span class="smcap">Like +begets like.—​The known and the unknown in +theology</span> (verses 8, 11): <span class="smcap">the known, what takes +place on earth; the unknown, what takes place +in heaven.—​The ignorance of the wise; he is no +master who has no personal knowledge of the +new birth.—​The power of salvation: a crucified +Christ; the condition of salvation: faith in +Him; the condemnation of sinners: their love +of darkness and rejection of the light.</span></p> + +<p>Christ’s interview with Nicodemus is described +only by John. It occurred immediately after the +events described in the preceding chapter, and +before Christ had inaugurated his missionary +labors, which he did not begin till the imprisonment +of John the Baptist (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 1:14</span>). In studying +this passage, the following considerations +will prevent the student from falling into the +perplexities and errors into which some learned +and orthodox commentators have fallen. (1) The +conversation was had at the commencement of +Christ’s ministry, before he had explained, even +to his own disciples, the principles of his kingdom; +we cannot therefore safely assume that +Nicodemus was familiar with those principles, +nor can we interpret Christ’s teachings here by +the later apostolic teaching, except in so far as +that was developed from this as from a germ. +(2) Nicodemus was a Pharisee, therefore a formalist, +and pre-eminently a Jew. We may safely +assume that Christ’s object was in part to correct +Jewish and Pharisaic errors, and our first object +must be to understand, if we can, Nicodemus’ +understanding of our Lord. (3) There is no evidence +that John was present at this interview; +and it is not probable that we have a full verbatim +report of it. The structure of the narrative +indicates that only so much of the conversation +is reported as was necessary to make clear Christ’s +discourse founded thereon.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">There</span> was a man of the Pharisees, +named Nicodemus,<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> +a ruler of the Jews:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[85]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_50">7:50</a>, + <a href="#ch7_51">51</a>; <a href="#ch19_39">19:39</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1. There was a man of the Pharisees +named Nicodemus.</b> Of Nicodemus nothing +is known except what John tells us. He is not +mentioned by the other Evangelists; and subsequent +traditions are untrustworthy. There is a +Nicodemus referred to in the Talmud; but there +is nothing to identify him with this one, for the +name was common among the Jews. The only +incidents related of him are this conference, his +protest against condemning Jesus unheard +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_50">7:50-52</a></span>), +and his participation with Joseph of Arimathea +in the burial of Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch19_39">19:39</a></span>). There is +a spurious Gospel of Nicodemus, the author of +which is, however, unknown. The designation +of him here as a <cite>ruler of the Jews</cite> indicates that he +was one of the Sanhedrim, and this indication is +confirmed by <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_50">7:50</a>. On the character of the +Pharisees, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:7, note. Among them +there were some pure and honest souls, sincere +but not courageous seekers after the truth (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark +12:28-34; 15:43; Acts 5:34-39; 15:5; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:5</span>); to this +class of the Pharisees Nicodemus seems to have +belonged.</p> + + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_041"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_041.jpg" + alt="Rabbi"> + <p class="caption">A MODERN JEWISH RABBI.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto +him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come +from God, for<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> +no man can do these miracles that thou +doest, except God<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> be with him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[86]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_16">9:16</a>, <a href="#ch9_33">33</a>; + Acts 2:22.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[87]</a> + Acts 10:38.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>2. The same came to Jesus by night.</b> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> +Why <em>by night</em>? The reason generally assumed is +fear of the Jews; but this is not asserted by the +Evangelist, and at this time there had not been +developed any pronounced hostility on the part +of the Judeans to Jesus. Nicodemus may have +had a natural reluctance to commit himself to an +unknown Rabbi, till he had learned more of his +doctrine; he may have simply sought a quiet and +personal conversation, such as he could not obtain +in the busy day-time.—​<b>Rabbi, we know +that thou art a teacher.</b> The plural is not +used here for the singular number; Nicodemus +expresses not merely his own personal conviction, +but that of the Pharisees as a class. That they +did, even much later, recognize Christ’s superhuman +character and mission is clear from such +passages as <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:23, 24; +John <a href="#ch9_29">9:29-34</a>; +<a href="#ch11_47">11:47</a>, and this even when they resisted him +most bitterly.—​<b>For no man can do these +miracles</b>, etc. This is the argument from miracles +put in the tersest possible form. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +Acts 4:16, 17. And this is all that miracles +prove, namely, the commission and authority of +Christ; they do not of themselves show his <em>character</em>. +Nicodemus then regards Christ as a +<em>prophet sent from God</em>; and John, who in +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_6">1:6</a>, +etc., has drawn clearly the distinction between +the prophet and the Light and Life, reports in +this conversation with Nicodemus a discourse of +Christ in which he emphasizes the same distinction. +Nicodemus impliedly asks to know what +<em>new doctrine</em> Christ has to teach; Christ replies +in substance that the world needs not new doctrine, +but <em>new life</em>. The key to the understanding +of this conversation is the contrast between +the two conceptions of religion, as a system of +doctrine, and as a new and spiritual life.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, +I say unto thee, Except<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +a man be born again, he cannot +see the kingdom of God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[88]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 1:13; + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 6:15; + <abbr title="Ephesians">Eph.</abbr> 2:1; + <abbr title="Titus">Tit.</abbr> 3:5; + James 1:18; + 1 Peter 1:23; + 1 John 2:29; <a href="#ch3_9">3:9</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3. Verily, verily.</b> With Christ these words +are a common precursor of any especially weighty +and solemn declaration (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:18, note</span>).—​<b>Except +a man be begotten anew, he cannot see +the kingdom of God.</b> On the meaning of this +sentence, it is to be observed that, (1) The word +(<span lang="el">γεννάω</span>) here rendered in our English version +<dfn>born</dfn>, more properly signifies the act of begetting. +Here therefore Christ’s language carries Nicodemus +back to the very beginning of life. (2) The +word (<span lang="el">ἄνωθεν</span>) rendered here in our English version +<dfn>again</dfn>, is certainly mistranslated. It means +either <dfn>anew, i. e., from the beginning</dfn> or <dfn>from above</dfn>. +Both meanings are attached to it here by the best +scholars. According to the first definition, Christ +simply implies that the life must begin anew, +that the character must be rebuilt from the foundation, +without however implying how; according +to the other idea, he indicates in the use of +this word not only a new but a spiritual and +divine birth. The word is used in the first sense +in Luke 1:3, where it is rendered <cite>from the very +first</cite>; in the second sense in James 1:17; 3:15, +17, where it is rendered <cite>from above</cite>. It is clear +that Nicodemus understood it in the former +sense merely, and therefore I have so rendered it +here. (3) The word rendered <cite>see</cite> (<span lang="el">ἰδεῖν</span>) is not +equivalent to <dfn>enter into</dfn> (<span lang="el">εἰσελθεῖν</span>), as Meyer interprets +it. The declaration is explicit that a +new spiritual life is necessary, not only to enter +into but even to form any correct conception of +the kingdom of God. And with this agrees the +teaching of Christ elsewhere (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:14, 15</span>), and +of Paul (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:9, 14, 15</span>). Christ thus declares to +Nicodemus that he cannot even understand the +spiritual teachings of the new religion without +first beginning a new life. In other words, <cite>a new +spiritual life is the condition precedent to a correct +spiritual apprehension of Christ’s teaching</cite>. It is +further to be observed that light is thrown on +the meaning of this declaration by a consideration +of previous Rabbinical and of later Apostolic +teaching. The new birth was a familiar metaphor +with the Rabbis. They held that a Gentile +in becoming a Jewish proselyte, and submitting +to circumcision and baptism, was born again. +Old things passed away; all things became new; +it was even maintained that the proselyte might +marry his nearest kin without offence, because +the old relationships were annulled by his new + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> +birth. Christ employs this metaphor, familiar +to the Jewish Rabbi, without interpreting it, +and declares that no man, <em>Jew or Gentile</em>, could +see the kingdom of God without undergoing a +change as radical. This truth, that a man may +bury his old life and begin a new one, with something +of the freshness and hope of youth, is also +foreshadowed in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 1:18, 19; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 31:33; +<abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 11:19, 20; 36:26</span>), and underlies the teaching of +the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +6:8; 8:3; 12:2; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:17; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 6:15; +<abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:1-8; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 3:9, 10; Titus 3:5</span>); and the metaphor +itself frequently occurs in the teaching of the +apostles (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:15; James 1:18; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> +1:3; 1 John 3:9</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be +born when he is old? can he enter the second time +into his mother’s womb, and be born?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>4. How can a man be born when he is +old?</b> It seems to me clear that this question is +asked in a spirit of irony. So Godet, Alford, +Luther, and others. Considering that the metaphor +was a common one, as Lightfoot has shown, +and that the doctrine of a new life inspired from +God could not have been unknown to any devout +student of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> (<span class="muchsmaller">see references above</span>), +it is hardly +possible to suppose that Nicodemus took Christ +literally. This is however Meyer’s interpretation +of the question; but it represents Nicodemus as +not only “a somewhat narrow-minded man,” but +also as a grossly ignorant and stupid one; and +so, in truth, Meyer represents him throughout.</p> + +<p>In the following verses (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch3_5">5-8</a></span>), +Christ answers +Nicodemus’ threefold question: <em>first</em>, by simply +reasserting his declaration that no man can see +the kingdom of God unless he is born anew; +<em>second</em>, by declaring the nature of this new birth, +as the commencement of a new spiritual life, not +of a new physical or fleshly life; and <em>third</em>, by +borrowing an illustration from nature to indicate +the degree of knowledge attainable by man on +this subject; he can perceive the results of the +operations of the spirit of God, but he cannot +trace them to their source nor comprehend their +laws.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, +Except a man be born of water<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> +and <em>of</em> the Spirit,<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> he +cannot enter into the kingdom of God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[89]</a> + Mark 16:16; + Acts 2:38.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[90]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:2; + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>5. Born of water and of Spirit.</b> Governing +ourselves by the cardinal canon, that we are +to understand Christ as Christ expected his +auditor to understand him, it cannot be difficult +to understand this declaration. The Jewish +proselyte, as a sign that he put off his old faiths, +was baptized on entering the Jewish church. +John the Baptist, employing the same symbolic +rite, baptized Jew as well as Gentile, as a sign of +purification by repentance from past sins. The +Sanhedrim were familiar with his baptism, and +had sent a delegation to inquire into it +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_19">1:19</a>, <a href="#ch1_25">25</a></span>), +and he had told them prophetically of the +baptism of the Spirit which Christ would inaugurate. +Nicodemus then would certainly have understood +by Christ’s expression, “born of water,” +a reference to this rite of baptism, and by the +expression, “born of the Spirit,” a reference to +a new spiritual life, which however he could +have only imperfectly apprehended. The declaration +then is that no man can enter the kingdom +of God except by (1) a <em>public</em> acknowledgment +and confession of sin, a <em>public</em> putting off of the +old man and entering into the new; and (2) a real +and vital change of life and character wrought +by the Spirit of God in the heart of the believer. +By the one act he enters into the visible and external +kingdom; by the other, into the spiritual +and invisible kingdom. That a <em>public</em> confession +and consecration is essential is clearly indicated +elsewhere in Christ’s teaching (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:32, 33</span>). +Observe the difference in phraseology here and +in verse 3. He cannot <em>see</em> the kingdom of God, +except his eyes are opened by the Spirit of God; +he cannot <em>enter</em> it, except by a public and complete +abandonment of the old and a spiritual +consecration to the new life (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:14-16</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 That<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> +which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that +which is born of the Spirit is spirit.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">[91]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:47, 49; + 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>6. That which is born of flesh is flesh.</b> +The connection is this: even if a man when he is +old could enter again his mother’s womb and be +born, it would avail nothing; that which is born +of flesh is always flesh; only that which is born +of the Spirit partakes of the Spirit of God. +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:5-9.</span>) The declaration here, +coupled with +John’s explicit declaration in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_14">1:14</a>, that the +Word was made flesh, implies that the birth of +Jesus was supernatural, though he narrates none +of the circumstances of that birth.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born +again.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye +must be born again.</b> The original, by its construction, +puts an emphasis on the word <em>ye</em>. And +it was this which surprised Nicodemus; not that +men must be born again, but that this necessity +was laid on him, a child of Abraham, and an honored +ruler and teacher among the Jews. Observe +too that he says <em>ye</em>, not <em>we</em>. “The Lord did not, +could not say this of Himself. Why? Because, +in the full sense in which the flesh is incapacitated +from entering the kingdom of God, He was +not born of the flesh. He inherited the weakness +of the flesh, but his spirit was not like that of +sinful man, alien from holiness and God, and +therefore on Him no sentence hath passed; when +the Holy Spirit descended on Him at His baptism, +the words spoken by the Father were indicative +of past approval, not of renewal. His obedience +was accepted as perfect, and the good pleasure +of the Father rested on Him. Therefore He includes + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> +not himself in this necessity for the new +birth.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou +hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it +cometh, and whither it goeth: so<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> is every one that is +born of the Spirit.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">[92]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>8.</b> It is very difficult to convey the exact meaning +of the original of this verse; for in the original +the same word signifies <dfn>wind</dfn> and <dfn>spirit</dfn>; there +is thus a verbal felicity in the metaphor, a certain +play upon the word itself, which cannot be transferred +from the Greek into another language. +As in nature we see the operation of the summer +breeze, that comes we know not whence, and +goes we know not whither, so in the kingdom of +grace we see the effects of the Spirit of God, in +changes wrought in the individual character and +in the community (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22</span>), but are unable to +comprehend the nature of the influence or the +laws according to which it operates. Christ +by this metaphor certainly indicates something +more than the mere incomprehensibleness of the +Spirit’s work (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Eccclesiasticus">Eccles.</abbr> 11:5</span>); he indicates also +the realm in which we are to conduct our investigations, +and that from which, by the nature of +the case, we are excluded. We can study to advantage +the <em>results</em> of the Spirit’s operations; but +all endeavors to know <em>how He</em> operates, what are +the occult laws of <em>His</em> being and work, are in +vain. A humble acceptance of this teaching +would eliminate many useless discussions from +theology. Alford notices that the Greek word +used for wind (<span lang="el">πνεῦμα</span>) indicates the gentle breath +of summer, not the violent gale. “It is one of +those sudden breezes springing up on a calm day, +which has no apparent direction, but we hear it +rustling in the leaves around.” Observe also in +the language, <em>where it listeth</em>, an indication of the +fact that the divine operations are free, unconstrained, +and not answerable to man, nor subject +to his control. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 9:15, 16.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can +these things be?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a +master of Israel, and knowest not these things?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>9, 10. Nicodemus answered, ... how +can these things be?</b> He is sobered by the +moral power and earnestness of the Lord, lays +aside cavilling, and asks seriously for clearer light. +For similar effect of Christ’s personal power on a +skeptical nature, compare his conference with +the Samaritan woman (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_11">4:11</a> with <a href="#ch4_25">25</a></span>), +and with +Pilate (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_33">18:33-38</a> with <a href="#ch19_9">19:9-12</a></span>); +compare also account +of Paul before Festus and Agrippa (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 26:31, +32</span>). Observe that Christ does not overcome +Nicodemus’ skepticism by arguing against his +objections, but by the mere power of his own +personal assurance of the truth.—​<b>Thou art the +teacher of Israel; and dost thou not know +these things?</b> There is certainly in this declaration +and question a touch of irony and of rebuke. +The necessity of a radical change of heart +and life, for Israelite as well as Gentile, is abundantly +taught by the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_3">3</a>, note, for references</span>); +Nicodemus, as a professional teacher of the religion +of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, ought not to have been surprised +at Christ’s reiteration of the truth; and +the less because the doctrine of a new birth and +a public baptism as a symbol of it were taught by +the Rabbis to the Gentiles. The language here, +<em>The</em> teacher of Israel (<span lang="el">ὁ διδάσκαλος</span>) indicates that +Nicodemus was a well-known teacher; perhaps +that he prided himself on his pre-eminence.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> speak that +we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye +receive not our witness.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">[93]</a> + 1 John 1:1-3.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe +not, how shall ye believe if I tell you <em>of</em> heavenly +things?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>11, 12. We speak that we do know</b>, etc. +Christ has spoken hitherto only of that which +is matter of common observation, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, man’s +need of a new and divine life, and the apparent +results of it in character and conduct. He now +speaks of that which is matter of personal experience +with Him, the new life in the soul. He +now becomes not merely an interpreter to facts +that are patent, but also a <em>witness</em> to facts that +are not. Christian teaching, to be effectual, +must always be founded on personal experience +of the truth taught (<span class="muchsmaller">1 +<abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:12, 13</span>).—​<b>Earthly +things ... heavenly things.</b> The connection +of these verses with the preceding interprets +the contrast which Christ here indicates. +Nicodemus has impliedly asked for an +exposition of Christ’s system of truth. Christ +has replied by saying that no man can understand +the truths that pertain to the kingdom of +God unless he is born again. This necessity of a +radical change in heart and life in order to appreciate +divine things is an earthly fact, easily tested +by an observation of men; a striking evidence +of it is afforded by the question of Nicodemus +in verse <a href="#ch3_4">4</a>. He then immediately goes on +to ask how such a change can be effected. But +this, the method of God’s work in anew creating +the heart, is a heavenly thing, not a matter of +observation; and Christ says, If you do not believe +me when I tell you a truth which you can +easily verify by studying the earthly life of men, +what use is there in my telling you the secrets of +God’s working, the truth of which disclosure +you have no means of verifying. Observe the +implication that the things which are earthly, +literally, <dfn>upon the earth</dfn> (<span lang="el">ἐπίγεία</span>), belong to us to +study and know, and the things which are heavenly, +literally, which take place <em>in the</em> heavens +(<span lang="el">ἐπουρανια</span>), belong to the secret counsels and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> +work of God, and do not belong to us to investigate +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 29:29</span>). And yet by far the largest +proportion of theological conflicts have taken +place respecting these hidden things, concerning +God’s eternal counsels not man’s present duty.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 And<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he +that came down from heaven, <em>even</em> the Son of man +which is in heaven.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">[94]</a> + <abbr title="Ephesians">Eph.</abbr> 4:9, 10.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>13.</b> The key to the interpretation of this verse +is to be found in its context and connection. +Christ says: How shall ye believe if I tell you of +things which take place in heaven; yet no one +else can tell you, for no one has ascended into +heaven, and no one therefore can report its secrets, +except he who has descended from heaven +and is in continual communion with heaven. So +interpreting it, observe, (1) The declaration, <dfn>No +one</dfn> (not merely no man) <dfn>hath ascended up to +heaven</dfn>, means no living person; it does not militate +against the doctrine of the resurrection of +the dead, nor imply an unconscious or even an +intermediate state. It is by the connection limited +to those living on the earth, for they alone +could reveal the secrets of heaven if acquainted +with them. (2) <dfn>He that came down from heaven</dfn> +plainly implies the pre-existence and supernatural +character and origin of Jesus Christ +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_58">8:58</a></span>). +He contrasts himself with other men, patriarchs, +prophets, apostles, as the <em>only one</em> who has +descended to earth from heaven. (3) <dfn>Which is +in heaven</dfn> indicates not merely, as Meyer apparently +interprets it, that Christ’s proper abode +and home were in heaven, but also that he maintained +a vital and continuous communion therewith, +dwelling in the Spirit in heaven, even while +in the flesh upon earth. The Christian’s experience +interprets, though it does not fully measure, +this mystery of the heavenly life in the flesh (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> +3:20; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:6; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:22</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 And as<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> Moses lifted up the serpent in the +wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted +up:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">[95]</a> + <abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 21:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 That whosoever<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> believeth in him should not +perish, but have eternal life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">[96]</a> + <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_36">36</a>; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 7:25.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>14, 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent +in the wilderness.</b> The reference here is to +the event recorded in <abbr title="Numbers">Num.</abbr> 21:4-9. The account +there should be carefully studied and compared +with the spiritual interpretation which +Christ affords here. What species are there indicated +by the description “fiery serpent” is not +very clear; probably the title was given from the +burning sensations produced by their bite. Travelers +describe a large serpent, said to abound in +the Arabian peninsula, full of fiery red spots and +undulating stripes, and regarded as one of the +most poisonous of the serpent kind. Excruciating +heat and a burning thirst are among the symptoms +produced by the bite of this serpent. The +brazen serpent described in Numbers is thought +to have been put upon a pole and carried throughout +the camp, so as to bring it within the sight +of all the people. It was carefully preserved and +carried into the Holy Land, where it became an +object of idolatry and was destroyed in the reformation +instituted under Hezekiah (<span class="muchsmaller">2 Kings 18:4</span>). +A Roman Catholic church at Milan, Italy, however, +still claims to possess the original brazen +serpent.—​<b>Must the Son of Man be lifted up.</b> +Why <em>must</em>? What is the necessity? That question +Christ does not answer here, nor, so far as I +can see, does the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> anywhere. It simply +represents the atoning sacrifice of Christ as a necessity, +without explaining the grounds of that +necessity (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> Luke 24:26</span>). That it is in the divine +economy of grace an inexorable necessity is indicated +even by the types of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 17:11; +<abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 9:22</span>). The phrase “Son of Man” was a +common Jewish designation for the Messiah. It +would have been so understood by Nicodemus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:23, note</span>).—​<b>Be lifted up.</b> Not only <em>on the +cross</em>, but <em>by the cross unto glory</em>. It is the cross +which lifts up Christ to be the object of adoration +for the whole creation (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:9; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> +5:9</span>).—​<b>Should +not perish.</b> These words are wanting +in the best manuscripts. But the doctrine implied, +that those who do not believe will perish, +is clearly taught in verse <a href="#ch3_16">16</a>, from which it was +probably borrowed and inserted here by some +early copyist.—​<b>Eternal life.</b> The same Greek +words are rendered everlasting life in the next +verse (<span lang="el">ζωὴν αἰώνιον</span>). <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_10">10:10</a>. Eternal +life is the life of the soul which disaster cannot +impair nor death destroy—a present possession, +not a future inheritance, except that it is a possession +which grows in value and importance in +the future.</p> + +<p>In studying Christ’s language in these two +verses observe (1) That we have Christ’s authority +for the doctrine that the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> history is +intended to indicate, by types or object-teaching, +the great truths of the Gospel. This he +assumes elsewhere in his ministry (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:15, 19, +20; John 6:49-51</span>), and it is directly asserted by Paul +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 10:11</span>), and underlies the Epistle to the +Hebrews. The history of the brazen serpent is +then a parable of the Gospel; parabolically it +points out the way of salvation. (2) The serpent +is throughout the Bible an emblem of Satan, and +its poison an emblem of the deadly and pervasive +effects of sin (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 3:1, 14, 15; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 32:33; Psalm +58:4, 5; 140:3; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 3:13; +2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 11:3; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 12:9</span>). It +is a fitting <span style="white-space:nowrap;">emblem—slight</span> in its first wound, +affecting the blood, the current and fountain of + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> +life, pervading the whole frame with its subtle +poison, a poison for which there is no human +remedy, and resulting in certain death. (3) For +the human soul, poisoned by sin, the end whereof +is death (<span class="muchsmaller">James 1:15</span>), there is lifted up One who, +though he knew no sin, was made in the likeness +of sinful flesh (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:21</span>), so that in him the +enemy himself was, as it were, nailed to the +cross (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 2:15</span>). Thus, as the brazen serpent +represented the fiery serpent, yet had in him +not poison but healing, so Christ represented +sinful flesh, but had in him no sin but redemption +from the poison of sin in others. (4) The +one only condition of healing to the poisoned +Israelite was that he <em>look on</em> the brazen serpent; +and this simply as an act of obedient faith. To +this fact Isaiah had reference in his interpretation +of the divine condition of salvation, “Look +unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the +earth; for I am God, and there is none else” +(<span class="muchsmaller">Isaiah 45:22</span>). So here to “believe in him” is not +to believe some doctrine about the Messiah, but +simply to trust in him, to look unto him (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +16:31; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:2</span>). (5) The work of heralding the +Gospel is the work of Moses in the wilderness. +It is a simple pointing to the Saviour, lifted up +that the sinner, by looking unto him, may be +saved. The work of instruction in the precepts +of Christ and the principles of his kingdom +comes after, not before, salvation (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:19, +20, note</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 For God<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> so loved the world, that he gave his +only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him +should not perish, but have everlasting life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">[97]</a> + 1 John 4:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>16.</b> Some scholars, including Olshausen and +Tholuck, suppose that Christ’s discourse ends +with the preceding verse, and that the remainder, +to verse <a href="#ch3_21">21</a>, are added by John; but the +grounds for such an hypothesis seem to me +quite insufficient, and the objections to it quite +conclusive. The grounds are (<i>a</i>) <em>That all allusion +to Nicodemus is henceforth dropped</em>. But +Nicodemus is only introduced as an interrogator, +because his questions elicit the instruction of +Jesus; and only so much of his share in the +conversation is recorded as is necessary to make +Christ’s language intelligible. (<i>b</i>) <em>Thenceforth +past tenses are used.</em> This might, however, well +be the case, even if the events were future, the +discourse being prophetic. But the events were +not future, but past. The love of God, the +sending his Son into the world, the opening of +the door of salvation through <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Him—all</span> this was +already accomplished; and the passion is not +described in detail as an event past. (<i>c</i>) <em>The +phrase “only begotten” is said to be peculiar to +John.</em> But Stier well replies that John probably +obtained the phrase from Christ. The objections +to the view which supposes that Christ ends the +discourse at verse <a href="#ch3_15">15</a>, and that the rest is John’s +are, (<i>a</i>) That the discourse breaks off abruptly, if +ended at verse <a href="#ch3_15">15</a>, leaving Nicodemus in entire +ignorance of the way of salvation. The same +necessity which, on this hypothesis, led John to +complete it, would much more have led Christ +to complete it. (<i>b</i>) There is nothing to indicate +a break at verse <a href="#ch3_15">15</a>; and to suppose John guilty +of adding to the discourse of our Lord his own +words, without indicating that it is an addition, +is to accuse him of imposture, if not forgery, and +casts discredit over his whole narrative. Lange, +Stier, Meyer, Alford, all hold the discourse to +be our Lord’s to the end, at verse <a href="#ch3_21">21</a>. The verse +itself has been well called by Luther “The little +gospel,” for it embodies the whole gospel in a +single sentence. It declares the divine <span style="white-space:nowrap;">nature—love</span> +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 3:9, 16</span>); the nature of that love, a +love unto self-sacrifice, the sacrifice of his Only +Son; the object of that <span style="white-space:nowrap;">love—the</span> whole world; +the result of that <span style="white-space:nowrap;">love—the</span> gift of the Messiah; +the divine nature of the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Messiah—God’s</span> only +begotten Son; the object of that <span style="white-space:nowrap;">gift—salvation;</span> +the sole condition of securing the benefits of that +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">gift—trust</span> in the Saviour; the proffer of that +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">salvation—to</span> all that believe in him; the effect +of rejecting <span style="white-space:nowrap;">it—perishing;</span> the effect of accepting +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">it—everlasting</span> life. Observe, (1) that all +attempts to limit the meaning of the word +<em>world</em> (<span lang="el">ὁ κόσμος</span>) to the elect, or the church, are +inconsistent with the original and with other +parallel passages of Scripture. See particularly +1 John 2:2, and <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:38, note; (2) the +cause of the atonement is traced here not to the +wrath but to the <em>love</em> of God, a fundamental fact +often lost sight of in presenting that doctrine; +(3) in the original an emphasis is put upon the +word <em>so</em>, which is not preserved in the English +version. The wonder of the Gospel is not that +God loved the world, but that he loved it with +such a love, a love which only the sacrifice of an +only begotten Son can interpret.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 For God<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> sent not his Son into the world to condemn +the world; but that the world through him +might be saved.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">[98]</a> + Luke 9:56.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>17. Not ... to condemn the world.</b> +The Jews believed (see <cite>Lightfoot</cite>) that the Messiah +would save Israel and judge the Gentile +nations. It was a Rabbinical interpretation of +Isaiah 21:12, “The morning cometh and also +the night.” “It will be the morning to Israel +(when the Messiah shall come), but night to the +(Gentile) nations of the world.” This error +Christ refutes, in this his first private preaching +of the Gospel, as subsequently in his first public +preaching (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 4:25-27</span>); he declares that he +brings salvation to the whole world. Alford +notices the peculiar construction of the close of +the verse, not, That he might save the world, +but, That the world through him might be +saved. “The free will of the world is by this +strikingly set forth in connection with verses +<a href="#ch3_19">19</a>, <a href="#ch3_20">20</a>. +Not that the Lord is not the Saviour of +the world, but that the peculiar cast of this +passage requires the other side of the truth to +be brought out.”</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 He<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> that believeth on him is not condemned: but +he that believeth not is condemned already, because he +hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son +of God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">[99]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_40">6:40</a>, + <a href="#ch6_47">47</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18.</b> The connection is this: Though God did + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> +not send his Son into the world to condemn the +world, yet he is even now judging it and condemning +its unbelief, though not in the way +Nicodemus had anticipated; his mere presence +is a judgment. His fan <em>is</em> in his hand +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:12</span>); +for he that trusts in Christ is thereby taken out +from judgment, while he that rejects Christ +condemns himself. The next verse states the +ground and the nature of this condemnation. +The Light has come into the world, and men by +refusing the Light attest their love of darkness; +and it is for this, not for the darkness but for +their <em>love</em> of it, that they are condemned.—​<b>Is not +condemned.</b> But “is passed from death unto +life” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_24">5:24</a></span>).—​<b>Is condemned already.</b> The +sinner is condemned, not by Christ but by his +own act; he is <em>self-condemned</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Titus">Tit.</abbr> 3:11</span>). Observe, +that throughout the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> both condemnation +and salvation are represented as <em>present</em> realities, +not as future possibilities. The last judgment +<em>decides</em> nothing; it simply announces publicly +the results of the judgment now forming. <cite>Life +is the true judgment-day.</cite>—<b>Because he hath +not believed.</b> Men are not condemned for +their deeds but for their desires. The way of +escape from the evil is provided and declined; and +for this the soul is condemned. Thus it is true +that the Lamb of God taketh away the sin of +the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_29">1:29</a></span>) and yet condemns the sinner +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_22">15:22</a></span>), because the condemnation is not for +the past sin, but for the present rejection of the +Saviour from sin.—​<b>In the name of the only +begotten Son of God.</b> The name is Jesus, +<i>i. e.</i>, Saviour, and was given to him because “he +shall save his people from their sins” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 1:21</span>). +To disbelieve in that name is to reject that salvation. +“The ‘only begotten’ also here sets +before us the hopelessness of such a man’s +state; he has no other Saviour.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 And this is the condemnation, that light<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> is come +into the world, and men loved darkness rather than +light, because their deeds were evil.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">[100]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_14">1:4</a>; + <a href="#ch9_11">9:11</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>19. And this is the condemnation.</b> Not +merely, This is the cause of the condemnation; +Christ has already stated that in the preceding +verse; he here states the nature of the condemnation. +He that loves darkness rather than +light is given over to his own choice; this is the +sentence pronounced against him (<span class="muchsmaller">Hosea 4:1-17; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +1:28; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 22:11</span>).—​<b>Men loved darkness rather +than light.</b> Not merely <em>more</em> than light; they +chose darkness. For illustration of this deliberate +choice of darkness see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:14, 15; +28:12-14; John <a href="#ch6_66">6:66</a>; <a href="#ch12_10">12:10</a>, +<a href="#ch12_11">11</a>; Acts 4:16, +17; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 4:10. This is not always, however, +a conscious and deliberate choice. See John <a href="#ch12_43">12:43</a>; +2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 3:4.—​<b>Because their deeds are +evil.</b> <dfn>Corrupting to others.</dfn> This is the force of +the Greek word (<span lang="el">πονηρὰ</span>), which is different from +that rendered <dfn>evil</dfn> in the next verse. The corrupting +power of sin lies in its secreting its evil +character and purpose; hence it avoids the +light; hence too it is called in Scripture the +power of darkness (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:53; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:13; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 16:10</span>). +Observe the secret cause of unbelief here indicated; +men are willfully ignorant of the truth. +It is not the intellect, but the will which is +perverse. “The source of unbelief is immorality.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, +neither<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be +reproved.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">[101]</a> + Job 24:13, 17; <abbr title="Proverbs">Pr.</abbr> 4:18, 19.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>20. Every one that practiseth evil.</b> +<dfn>Worthless things</dfn> (<span lang="el">φαῦλα</span>) not as in the preceding +verse, <dfn>things corrupting</dfn>. But corrupting include +worthless things, for they are not only worthless +but worse than worthless. The evil here characterized +is parallel to the idle words of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:36, +and it is opposed to the truth which is always +fruitful in goodness and love.—​<b>Hateth the +light.</b> It has been supposed by some that +there is in these words a covert rebuke of +Nicodemus for coming to Christ secretly by +night. This seems to me improbable. Christ +was not accustomed to conceal his rebukes so +deftly.—​<b>Lest his deeds should be reproved.</b> +Not necessarily by words of condemnation, but +by the mere exposure of their worthlessness +when brought to the light. See Luke 3:19, 20; +John <a href="#ch8_8">8:8</a>, <a href="#ch8_9">9</a>; +Compare <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:11-13.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 But he that doeth<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> truth cometh to the light, that +his deeds may be made manifest, that they are +wrought<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> in God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">[102]</a> + 1 John 1:6.</p> +</div> + +<a id="chg2"></a><div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">[103]</a> + John <a href="#ch3_21">3:21</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>21. But he that doeth the truth.</b> Man +<em>practises</em> the evil (<span lang="el">πράσσω</span>), he <em>does</em> the truth +(<span lang="el">ποιέω</span>). Compare <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_29">5:29</a>, where the same +distinction is observed: “they that have <em>done</em> +good (shall come forth) unto the resurrection +of life, they that have <em>practised</em> evil, unto the +resurrection of damnation.” “He that <em>practises</em> +(<span lang="el">πράσσω</span>) has nothing but his <em>practice</em>, which is +an event, a thing of the past, a source to him +only of condemnation, for he has nothing to +show for it, for it is also worthless (<span lang="el">φαῦλον</span>); +whereas he that <em>does</em> (<span lang="el">ποιέω</span>) has his <span style="white-space:nowrap;"><em>deed</em>—he</span> +has abiding fruit; his works do follow him.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)—<b>Cometh +to the light.</b> Not merely +is willing and desirous to come to the light, but +is also enabled to come to it, and to appreciate +and receive it (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> +4:18; John <a href="#ch7_17">7:17</a></span>). Observe that +throughout the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> truth is represented not +merely as an abstract philosophy to be intellectually +received, but as a <em>life</em> in harmony with + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> +the eternal verities of God’s law and character. +Thus the incarnation is the fundamental doctrine +of Christianity; as Christ is himself emphatically +the Truth, so every Christian must be +in a smaller measure an embodiment and incarnation +of divine truth, manifesting it less by +his words than by his life. So, on the other +hand, Paul catalogues the vices of life, as the +things which are contrary to “sound doctrine” +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:10</span>). For an exemplification of what it +is to do the truth, see Psalm 15.—​<b>That they +are wrought in God.</b> The Christian comes to +the light, not for self-glorification, but to glorify +God; his desire is not to manifest the goodness +in himself, but the goodness in God which has +triumphed over the evil in himself (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:16; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:10</span>).</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 3:22-36. FURTHER TESTIMONY FROM JOHN THE +BAPTIST TO JESUS.—​<span class="smcap">The office and the joy of the +ministry—​Christ contrasted with his herald—​The +human confirmation of divine truth—​The +conditions of salvation—​The ground of condemnation—​The +danger of and the defence from +envy.</span></p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples +into the land of Judæa; and there he tarried with +them, and <a href="#ix_B47"></a>baptized.<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">[104]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_2">4:2</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>22. After these things.</b> Not necessarily +immediately after. There is nothing to indicate +how much time elapsed between the conversation +with Nicodemus and the events recorded in +the latter part of this chapter, except the note +of time in verse <a href="#ch3_24">24</a>.—​<b>And baptized.</b> Christ +did not baptize (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 4:2</span>), and the baptism could +not have been in the name of the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the Holy Ghost +was not yet given (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch7_39">7:39</a></span>), that is, in such +measure as to be the common heritage of all +disciples. <a id="ix_B47"></a>The probable explanation of the +statement here and in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_1">4:1</a>, <a href="#ch4_2">2</a>, is that of +Chrysostom: “Both parties (John and the disciples +of Jesus) alike had one reason for baptizing, +and that was to lead the baptized to +Christ.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 And John also was baptizing in Ænon, near to +Salim,<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> because there was much water there: and +they<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> came, and were baptized.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">[105]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 9:4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">[106]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:5, 6.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 For John<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> was not yet cast into prison.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">[107]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:3.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>23, 24. In Enon near to Salim.</b> The site +of both places is uncertain. For different hypotheses +see <cite>Smith’s Bible Dictionary</cite>, article <cite>Ænon</cite>. +Jerome and Eusebius both affirm that Salim +existed in their day eight Roman miles south of +Scythopolis near the Jordan. Van der Velde +found a Mussulman oratory called Sheyk Salim +about six miles south of Scythopolis, and two +miles west of the Jordan. Dr. Hackett seems to +think this the more probable site. This places +it near the northern border of Samaria.—​<b>Because +there was much water there.</b> Rather +<em>many</em> waters, <i>i. e.</i>, many springs. Whether this +spot was chosen because the water afforded +conveniences for baptizing, or because the +springs afforded conveniences for the pilgrims +that flocked in such numbers (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:5</span>) to the +baptism of John, is uncertain. Nothing respecting +the form of baptism can be deduced from +this expression.—​<b>For John was not yet cast +into prison.</b> For chronology of this period, +see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:12, note. The events recorded in +John, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">2</a>, <a href="#CHAPTER_III">3</a>, +and <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">4</a>, seem to have occurred +between the temptation and the first preaching +of Jesus recorded in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:3-12; Mark 6:14-29. +See notes there.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 Then there arose a question between <em>some</em> of +John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, +Rabbi, he that was was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom +thou barest<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and +all <em>men</em><a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> come to him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">[108]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_7">1:7</a>, + <a href="#ch1_15">15</a>, etc.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">[109]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 65:2; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 45:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25, 26. Then there arose a question +between some of John’s disciples and a +Jew about purifying.</b> Not <em>the Jews</em>, but <em>a +Jew</em>, an indication that the difficulty, whatever +it was, started with him. Various conjectures +have been proposed respecting the nature of this +question. The discussion of them is unprofitable. +The fact of the question is merely stated +to explain how the instructions of John the +Baptist came to be given.—​<b>And they came.</b> +Some of the disciples of John came.—​<b>Said +unto him.</b> What they said was evidently in +the nature of a complaint. “He who also was +with thee,” said they, “as one of thy disciples, +has started off on a mission of his own, and is +eclipsing thee.” There was possibly a little +personal jealousy in this complaint. To their +minds Jesus was but a disciple of the Baptist +like themselves.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 John answered and said, A man<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> can receive +nothing, except it be given him from heaven.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">[110]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:12, 14; 4:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said,<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> I am +not the Christ, but that I<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> am sent before him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">[111]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_20">1:20</a>, <a href="#ch1_27">27</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">[112]</a> + Luke 1:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>27, 28. A man can receive nothing +except it be given him from heaven.</b> +Some, as Alford and Maurice, suppose that +John refers to himself, saying in effect: I cannot +take more than God has given me, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, the +mission of a herald; others, as Chrysostom, +that he refers to Jesus. This latter seems to +me clearly the true view, which has been abandoned, +perhaps, from a reluctance to apply the +principle involved in it to Christ, that whatever +power he possessed was not independent but +derived from the Father. The connection seems +to me to be this: “If he whom I baptized is +drawing all men unto him and is conferring on +them spiritual gifts greater than I conferred, it +is because his spiritual power, heaven bestowed, +is greater. For, in the spiritual realm no man + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> +can usurp; no man can receive what heaven +does not give.” In other words, spiritual results +are always an all-sufficient justification for any +spiritual work. No question of its regularity, or +of the authority or the right of the worker is to +be entertained.—​<b>Ye yourselves bear me out.</b> +He turns their words, “to whom thou barest +witness,” against themselves. See for his witness +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:11, 12; John +<a href="#ch1_20">1:20</a>, <a href="#ch1_25">25-27</a>.—​<b>I am +sent before him.</b> As a herald before a king +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 3:3-6</span>).</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_048"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_048.jpg" + alt="Enon"> + <p class="caption">TRADITIONAL SITE OF ENON.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 He that hath the bride<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> is the bridegroom: but +the friend<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> of the bridegroom, which standeth and +heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s +voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">[113]</a> + <abbr title="Canticles">Cant.</abbr> 4:8-12; + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 2:2; + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 16:8; + <abbr title="Hosea">Hos.</abbr> 2:19, 20; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 22:2; + 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 11:2; + <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:25, 27; + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 21:9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">[114]</a> + <abbr title="Canticles">Cant.</abbr> 5:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 He must increase, but I <em>must</em> decrease.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>29, 30. He that hath the bride is the +bridegroom</b>, etc. In the East, etiquette forbids +any meetings between the bride and groom +prior to marriage. Often they do not even see +each other. All communications between them +are carried on by one answering to our groomsman, +and who is designated as the friend of the +bridegroom. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +25:1-13, <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note. To +this custom John refers. The Church is the +bride (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +9:15; 25:1-13; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 21:9</span>); in a sense every +individual Christian is the bride +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> +3:14; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 54:5</span>); +Christ is the bridegroom; every one who brings +Christ to his Church, or to the individual soul, is +a “friend of the bridegroom.” The practical +lesson for us is that we are to rejoice to be lost in +the Master; to rejoice when our mission is ended +for the Church or the individual, and those whom +we have been teaching are able to say to us, as +the Samaritans to the woman (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch4_42">4:42</a></span>), “Now +we believe, not because of thy saying; for we +have heard him ourselves, and know that it is +indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” +“I know scarcely any words in all the Scriptures +which have a deeper and diviner music in them +than these, or which more express all that a +Christian minister and a Christian man should +wish to understand and feel; and should hope + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> +that some day he may understand and feel as he +who first spoke them did.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)—<b>Who +standeth and heareth him.</b> Stands ready to +do the bridegroom’s bidding.—​<b>He must increase, +but I must decrease.</b> This is with +John the Baptist a subject not for resignation, +but for rejoicing. His decrease in the increasing +of Christ is the evidence that his work and his +faith have not been in vain. For him to live is +Christ; hence the more Christ and the less John, +the greater his joy.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 He that cometh from above<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> is above all: he<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> +that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the +earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">[115]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_33">6:33</a>; + <a href="#ch8_23">8:23</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">[116]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:47.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; +and no man<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> receiveth his testimony.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">[117]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_11">1:11</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>31-32.</b> It has been supposed by some critics +that the discourse of John the Baptist ends with +the preceding verse, and that what follows is +a comment by the Evangelist, (so Bengel, Olshausen, +Tholuck); and by others that although +it is in form the Evangelist’s report of the Baptist’s +words, it has been so transformed in the +reporting that it is in effect the Evangelist’s, +(so Lucke and De Wette.) It must be confessed +that the style is far more like that of John the +Evangelist than like that of John the Baptist, so +far as we have reports from other quarters, of +the latter’s discourses; but there is no indication +of any transition here from a report to a +comment on it; and the closeness of the connection +in thought forbids the idea that any such +transition exists. I therefore (with Alford and +Meyer) regard the whole discourse as in substance +that of John the Baptist, though probably +in phraseology largely that of the Evangelist.—​<b>He +that cometh from above is above all.</b> +The Baptist emphasizes the contrast between +Christ and himself. Christ, from above and +above all, speaks what he knows and has seen +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch3_11">3:11</a></span>); John the Baptist from the earth, +and possessing the earthly nature, can, like all +other human teachers, only declare the truth as +it has come to him in his earthly condition and +as seen through the earthly atmosphere. The +teachings of Christ are the highest even in the +Bible, for they are free from that admixture of +earthiness which belongs essentially to all mere +earth-born teachers.—​<b>No man receiveth his +testimony.</b> A sorrowful comment (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_11">1:11</a></span>); but not literally true, nor is it intended to +be literally taken. This is evident from the next +verse.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 He that hath received his testimony hath set<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> to +his seal that God is true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">[118]</a> + 1 John 5:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 For he<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> whom God hath sent speaketh the words +of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> +<em>unto him</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">[119]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_16">7:16</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">[120]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_16">1:16</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 45:7; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 11:2; 59:21; + <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 The Father loveth the Son,<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> and hath given all +things into his hand.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">[121]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>33-35. He that hath received his testimony +hath sealed that God is true.</b>—​The +seal was in ancient times, as in modern, attached +to any document in confirmation and attestation +of it. John the Baptist declares that whoever +accepts heartily the testimony of Jesus Christ +becomes himself a confirmation of its truth to +others, by his own life. The meaning is interpreted +by <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:14; and 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:2. A pregnant +and suggestive metaphor; that we put the +seal to God’s testimony.—​<b>He whom God hath +sent.</b> The question of Christ’s relation to the +Father is not in issue here. John’s disciples complain +that Jesus teaches at all; John replies that +the divine effects of his teaching are the attestation +of his divine ministry; and that having been +divinely sent, he can speak no other than divine +words. Compare <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_16">7:16</a>.—​<b>For the Father +giveth not the Spirit by measure.</b> Alford +sustains the addition of the English translators, +<em>unto him</em>; to me it seems, as to Meyer, quite arbitrary. +The meaning is not, God has distinguished +Christ from all other teachers by his +unmeasured gifts of grace to him; but, when +God gives he does not stint, nor measure, nor +parley, but gives abundantly more than we can +ask or think (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 3:20</span>); therefore, when he +sends one into the world to reveal divine truth, +we are not to be afraid of his teaching, and to put +limitations upon and hindrances about him, lest +he go astray. The truth that God has given immeasurably +more into the hands of his only begotten +Son than to any created being appears in the +next verse, not in this. Our English version destroys +the climax, and makes <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_35">35</a> little more +than a repetition of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_34">34</a>.—​<b>And hath given +all things into his hands.</b> Observe that +throughout the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> the power and authority of +Christ is represented as derived from the Father, +not as original or independent of him. See for +example, John <a href="#ch5_26">5:26</a>; +<abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:9; +<abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:9.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch3_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 He<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> that believeth on the Son hath everlasting +life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see +life; but the wrath<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> of God abideth on him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">[122]</a> + <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_15">15</a>, + <a href="#ch3_16">16</a>; + <abbr title="Habakkuk">Hab.</abbr> 2:4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">[123]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>36. He that believeth on the Son hath +everlasting life.</b> An assertion, not a promise. +The declaration is not that everlasting life shall +be given to him in the future as a reward for his +act of faith, but that faith at once inducts him +into spiritual life, which is alone everlasting. +Compare <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_18">18</a> +above; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 6:23; 1 John 3:2. +Observe what faith confers is <em>life</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, the highest +development and activity of the whole being +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch10_10">10:10</a></span>), +the reverse being death.—​<b>He that +believeth not the Son.</b> Two different Greek +words are translated in the two clauses of this +verse by the English word <em>believe</em>. The force of + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> +the original is impaired, if not destroyed, by this +mistranslation; but it is not easy to find in English +the exact equivalent for the distinction which +is noted in the original. The passage may perhaps +be rendered, <cite>He that hath faith in</cite> (<span lang="el">πιστεύων +εἰς</span>) <cite>the Son hath everlasting life; but he that will +not be persuaded by</cite> <span lang="el">(ἀπειθων</span>) <cite>the Son shall not see +life</cite>. Beware of considering <em>Believe on the Son</em> as +equivalent to either <em>Believe correctly about the Son</em>, +or even <em>Believe the Son</em>. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 18:6, note.—​<b>Shall +not see life.</b> Not only shall not have it, +but cannot even comprehend it. Spiritual life is +only spiritually discerned, and faith is the first +condition of spiritual discernment. See +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_3">3</a> +and note.—​<b>The wrath of God abideth on +him.</b> Remains, as something previously resting +upon him and not removed. See <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:3.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_050"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_050.jpg" + alt="Sychar"> + <p class="caption">SYCHAR.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER <abbr title="Four">IV.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 4:1-26. CHRIST AND THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA.—​<span class="smcap">Christ +a preacher in season and out of season.—​His +example as a Christian conversationalist.—​The +divine spring; the human cistern.—​The +essential and the insignificant questions in worship +contrasted.</span></p> + +<p>This interview between Christ and the Samaritan +woman is reported alone by John. The time +is uncertain; the only definite indication is that of +verse <a href="#ch4_35">35</a>, and the interpretation +of that is uncertain. +With Ellicott and Andrews, I think December +of <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 27 the most probable date. Matthew +(<span class="muchsmaller">4:12</span>) explains Christ’s departure into Galilee by +saying that it took place when he heard that +John the Baptist was cast into prison; John here +attributes it to another cause, a fear of rivalry +and contention between his own and John’s disciples. +The probable explanation is that Christ +left Judea for the latter reason, but did not commence +his public ministry till the imprisonment +of the Baptist. See <a href="#CHAPTER_V"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 5</a>, +<abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">When</span> therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees +had heard that Jesus made and baptized<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> more +disciples than John,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">[124]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_22">3:22</a>, <a href="#ch3_26">26</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 He left Judæa, and departed again into Galilee.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 And he must needs<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> go through Samaria.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">[125]</a> + Luke 2:49.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1-4. Jesus made and baptized more disciples +than John.</b> The conversation between +Christ and Nicodemus took place at the Passover, +and therefore in the spring; if that between +Christ and the woman at the well occurred in +December, Jesus and John the Baptist baptized +together during the summer. The doctrine +which Christ preached at this time was substantially +the same as that of the Baptist. “Repent, +for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +3:2; 4:17</span>); for he had not yet begun to explain +publicly the spiritual and universal nature of his +kingdom. But differences between the ministries +of the two were from the first apparent; differences +chiefly respecting the ceremonials of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">religion—purifying,</span> +baptizing, fasting (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_25">3:25</a>, <a href="#ch3_26">26</a>; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:14</span>). The increasing popularity of Christ +threatened to awake the envy of the Baptist’s +disciples, his disregard of ceremonial to awaken +their suspicion; the Pharisees were alert to stimulate +both. So Christ withdrew, forestalling the +first danger of rupture and conflict, a lesson to all +Christian workers against all unchristian rivalries +and contentions about details in doctrine or +ceremony. Envy is the most common instigator +of denominational controversy.—​<b>Jesus himself +baptized not.</b> No instance is recorded of +any baptism administered by Christ, or of any +baptism commanded or authorized by Christ, till +after his resurrection and about the time of his +ascension. Baptism appears to have been adopted +by his disciples from John the Baptist, and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> +employed by them without express direction +from Christ, as a symbol of repentance and a +profession of a new life, and to have been subsequently +adopted in a modified form by their +Lord. That it was always regarded by the apostles +as subordinate to the preaching of the Word +is indicated by Acts 10:4, 8, with 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:16, +17, from which it appears to have been a ministerial +act not ordinarily performed by the apostles. +On the history of baptism, see note on the +baptism of Jesus by John, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 72, and on +Christian baptism, note on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +28:19.—​<b>And +he must needs go through Samaria.</b> Simply +because that province lay directly between +Judea and Galilee, and therefore on the direct +route. See map. Josephus tells us that it was +the custom of the Galileans, when they came to +the holy city to the festivals, to take their journey +through the country of the Samaritans. The +more bigoted Judeans may have sometimes +avoided it by going through Perea. The history +of Samaria explains, and in some measure justifies, +the odium attaching to it and its inhabitants +among the Jews. At the time of the secession of +the ten tribes under Rehoboam (<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 12</span>), Shechem +was adopted by him as the capital of the new +monarchy, and made the seat of an idolatrous +worship. Subsequently the city of Samaria was +built by Omri, king of Israel, as capital (<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings +16:24</span>), and so remained till the time of the captivity +of the ten tribes under Shalmaneser (<span class="muchsmaller">2 Kings +17:6</span>). A heathen colony was then sent in to take +the places of the exiled Israelites; these colonists +suffered from the devastations of wild +beasts, and acting on the common assumption of +that time that their own gods were not competent +to take care of them in a strange land, sent +for and received priests of Israel to teach them +the manner of the God of Palestine. The result +of this instruction was a mixed religion, partly +Jewish, partly heathen (<span class="muchsmaller">2 Kings 17:24-41</span>). In the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, the phrase “the cities of Samaria,” is +equivalent to the “kingdom of Israel;” it thus +included all of Palestine north of Judea. That +portion of Israel east of the Jordan which originally +belonged to it was subsequently taken away +the kings of Assyria (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 5:26</span>), Galilee +shared the same fate (<span class="muchsmaller">2 Kings 15:29</span>), and Samaria +was reduced to the dimensions which it possessed +in the time of Christ. The character and conduct +of the Samaritans increased the antagonism +between them and the Jews. They were refused +permission to participate in the rebuilding of the +temple at Jerusalem, at the time of the return +of Judah from captivity, and became open, and, +for a time, successful opponents of the rebuilding +(<span class="muchsmaller">Ezra, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 4 and 5; <abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 4 and 6</span>). Finally, an +exiled priest from Jerusalem obtained permission +from the Persian king of his day to build a rival +temple at Gerizim, and Samaria became the rival +of Jerusalem, and the rallying-point of its foes +and its outlaws (<span class="muchsmaller">Josephus’ <abbr title="Antiquities">Antiq.</abbr> 11:8, 6</span>). To a rival +temple and religion, they added a Samaritan +Pentateuch, for which they claimed a greater +antiquity and authority than for any copy of the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> possessed by the Jews. The bitter national +and religious antipathy between Jew and Samaritan, +consequent upon this history, is illustrated +in several passages in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_9">9</a>, note; <a href="#ch8_48">8:48</a>; +Luke 9:52-56; 10:30-37; 17:16</span>). If anything could justify +such an antipathy this would be justified, +since the Samaritans were renegades both to their +religion and to their nation; and Christ’s course +here and elsewhere implies a condemnation of all +rancor and bitterness, founded on race, national, +or religious differences. Of the Samaritans, one +hundred and fifty still worshipping in a little +synagogue at the foot of Gerizim are all that are +left, “the oldest and the smallest sect in the +world.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is +called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob +gave<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> to his son Joseph.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">[126]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 33:19; 48:22; + <abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 24:32.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>5. A city of Samaria called Sychar.</b> The +prevalent opinion is that Sychar is a corruption +of the name Shechem, that it means <dfn>drunken</dfn>, +and that this slight change was given by the Jews +to the rival capital in derision, and in possible +allusion to Isaiah 28:1. If this be so, it must +have become current at this time; for we can +hardly believe that John would otherwise embody +a mere term of derision in the Evangelical narrative. +Dr. Thomson (<cite>Land and Book</cite>, <abbr title="two">ii</abbr>:206, following +Hug, Luthardt, and Ewald) identifies the +ancient Sychar with a village about half a mile +north of the supposed site of Jacob’s well, called +Aschar; and as the corruption of Shechem into +Sychar is a mere hypothesis, framed to account +for the use of the word here, Dr. Thomson’s +opinion appears to me the more probable. Shechem +was two miles distant from Jacob’s well, +and apparently was abundantly supplied with +water.</p> + + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_052"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_052.jpg" + alt="Jacob’s Well"> + <p class="caption">JACOB’S WELL.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, +being wearied with <em>his</em> journey, sat thus on the well: +<em>and</em> it was about the sixth hour.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>6. Now Jacob’s spring was there.</b> There +are two Greek words translated <dfn>well</dfn> in this narrative: +the first means a spring or fountain, <i>i. e.</i>, +water-source; the second a well or cistern, <i>i. e.</i>, a +water-chamber. The first (<span lang="el">πηγή</span>) is used here, +indicating that the well was fed internally by +springs, not externally by rain. A well, now dry +and deserted, answering to all the conditions of + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> +the narrative here, is designated by an ancient +tradition as the one here described; and the case +is one of the very few in Palestine in which tradition +appears to be trustworthy. It is accepted +even by Dr. Robinson. The purchase of the +ground by Jacob is described in <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 33:18-20, +but for the digging of the well there is no other +authority than tradition, unless <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 49:22 is an +allusion to it. Whether Jacob himself dug it, or +whether his name was subsequently given to it +by tradition is not known, nor does the reference +here determine that question; it only designates +the well by its customary name. Why he should +have dug a well at all has been made matter of +question, since the whole valley abounds with +water. To this question Dr. Thomson replies: +“The well is a +very <em>positive</em> fact, +and it must have +been dug by +somebody, notwithstanding +this +abundance of +fountains, and +why not by Jacob?” +And he +suggests that +these fountains +may have been +already appropriated +by the native +population. The +site of the well +is in the valley +between Mts. Gerizim +and Ebal. +For a striking description +of this +valley, see Van +der Velde. The historical associations connected +with the site were many and sacred. There the +Lord first appeared to Abraham (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 12:6, 7</span>); Jacob +built his first altar (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 33:18-20</span>); Joseph sought his +brethren in vain (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 37:12</span>); Joshua rehearsed the +law, with its blessings and cursings, and amidst the +loud amens of the assembled people (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 8:30-35; +24:1-25</span>); and there Joseph was buried in the land +that belonged to his father Jacob (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 24:32</span>). +“At no other spot in Palestine, probably, could +Jesus have more fitly uttered his remarkable +doctrine, of the absolute liberty of conscience +from all thrall of place or tradition, than here in +Shechem, where the whole Jewish nation, in a +peculiar sense, had its beginning.”—(<cite>H. W. +Beecher’s Life of Christ.</cite>)—<b>Being wearied with +his journey.</b> The commentators call attention +to this weariness as an evidence of the reality of +his humanity. It seems to me, when coupled +with the prophecy of Isaiah 53:2, his apparent +sinking under the weight of the cross, and his +early death, while the two thieves survived +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +27:32; Mark 15:44; John <a href="#ch19_32">19:32</a>, +<a href="#ch19_33">33</a></span>), to be an indication +that his physical frame was not robust, +was not equal to the demands of the soul which it +contained, and that, as a part of his human experience, +he knew the peculiar sorrows which an +intense and active mind feels when hindered by a +weak bodily organization.—​<b>Sat thus at the +spring.</b> “What meaneth ‘thus’? Not upon a +throne; not upon a cushion; but simply and as +he was upon the ground.”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>)—<b>And +it was about the sixth hour.</b> That is, about +twelve o’clock. There appears to be no adequate +reason for the opinion that has been advanced, +that John employs a different kind of reckoning +from that common among the Jews, and means +here 6 <span class="allsmcap">P. M.</span> It +is true that the +evening was the +common hour of +resort to the wells +by the women, +but evidently this +conference was +with Christ <em>alone</em>, +an indication that +the hour was not +the evening hour, +for then others +would probably +have been present +also. Ryle suggests +that there +is a significance +in the fact that +while Christ +talked with Nicodemus +alone, and +at night, his ministry +to this sinful woman was at a public resort, +and at noon. “If a man will try to do good +to a person like the Samaritan woman, alone and +without witnesses, let him take heed that he +walk in his Master’s footsteps, as to the time of +his proceedings, as well as to the message he delivers.” +Compare the circumstances of Christ’s +Gospel message to the woman that was a sinner +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 7:37, etc.</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: +Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to +buy meat.)</p> +</div> + +<p><b>7, 8. A woman of Samaria.</b> That is, a +Samaritan woman.—​<b>To draw water.</b> In the +East the towns are not supplied, as with us, by +means of aqueducts and water-pipes, nor are individual +houses furnished each with its well. +The well itself is usually excavated from the solid +limestone rock, and provided with a low curb to +guard against accident (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 21:33</span>). On such a +curb Christ probably sat to rest. The well is +ordinarily not furnished with any apparatus for +drawing water. Each woman brings her own +bucket, most commonly made of the skin of some + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> +animal; sometimes the well is shallow, and she +descends by steps made for the purpose (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 24:16</span>), +and dips the water up from the surface; if it is +deep, she lets down her bucket with a rope. To +assist in the work, a wheel or pulley is sometimes +fixed over the well. A trough of wood or stone +usually provides a means for watering cattle and +sheep (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 24:20; <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 2:16</span>). In this case, Christ +had no bucket with him, and the well being deep, +so that he could not descend into it, he had no +means of obtaining water (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_11">11</a></span>).—​<b>Jesus saith +unto her, Give me to drink.</b> Observe how +insignificant a request he makes the occasion for +a deeply spiritual religious conversation; and +how natural the transition from the material to +the spiritual. Observe, too, that by asking a +favor he opens the way to the granting of one. +He thus verifies the truth that the way to gain +another’s good will is not at first by <em>doing</em>, but by +<em>receiving</em> a kindness.—​<b>His disciples were gone +... to buy meat.</b> They apparently carried +little or nothing to eat on their journeys (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:6, +7; 12:1</span>), but money to make the necessary purchases +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch12_6">12:6</a></span>). +The direction to depend on +hospitality (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +10:9, 10</span>) was not for their general +guidance and government.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How +is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which +am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> +with the Samaritans.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">[127]</a> + Acts 10:28.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>9. For the Jews have no dealings with +the Samaritans.</b> This is taken by some to be +said by the woman; more probably it was added +parenthetically by the Evangelist, to explain to +his Gentile readers the woman’s surprise. For +the reason of the fact, see on verse <a href="#ch4_4">4</a>. It seems +clear that the statement is not to be taken literally, +for the disciples, who were Jews, had just +gone into the Samaritan city to purchase food; +but that there was abundant ground for it is evident +from Rabbinical writings; <i>e. g.</i>, “Let no +Israelite eat one mouthful of anything that is a +Samaritan’s; for if he eat but a little mouthful, +he is as if he ate swine’s flesh.”</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest +the gift<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give +me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he +would have given thee living<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> water.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">[128]</a> + <abbr title="Ephesians">Eph.</abbr> 2:8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">[129]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 12:3; 41:17, 18; + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 2:13; + <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 13:1; 14:8; + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 22:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>10. If thou knewest the gift of God.</b> +Not, If thou knew that water is the gift of God; +this knowledge might indeed have prevented her +seemingly surly refusal, but it would not have led +her to ask living water of him. Nor, If thou +knewest the peace and joy which are the spiritual +gifts of God; these constitute the living water, +and if she already knew them, in her experience, +she would not need to ask to <em>receive</em> them. Christ +is the unspeakable gift of God; if she knew the +full importance of this gift, the office and work +of the Messiah, and that he who was asking her +for a drink of water was he, she would have +asked and received from him living water. The +objection that the woman would not have so +comprehended the reference, and therefore that +it cannot be the primary meaning (<cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>), +is not tenable, because by the very language itself +it is implied that the woman will not comprehend +it. Christ speaks of a mystery to provoke her to +further inquiry.—​<b>Living water.</b> This phrase +signifies primarily spring water, as opposed to +water in a cistern. In <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 26:19; +<abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 14:5; +<abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 2:13, the word rendered “springing,” “running,” +and “living,” is in the Septuagint the one +here rendered “living.” It is taken by Christ as +a symbol of the spiritual life which he imparts, +and so as a symbol of himself, for he gives himself +to the soul, and is, by his indwelling, the +bread and water of life. The spiritual meaning +then is not <em>life-giving</em>; for that a different Greek +word would be employed (<span lang="el">ζωοποιών</span> not <span lang="el">ζῶν</span>). +It is true that living water is life-giving, but that +is not the meaning conveyed by the phrase. The +meaning is water that has life in itself, as in John +<a href="#ch6_51">6:51</a>; “living bread” means the living Christ, in +contrast with the inert manna. The significance +of the metaphor here is explained by its connection. +Christ compares himself with water, not +because of its cleansing power, nor because of +its revivifying power on the soil, but because he +satisfies the soul’s thirst. A similar metaphorical +use of water is to be found in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> See +Psalm 23:2; Isaiah 55:1; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 2:13; but especially +<abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 20:8-11, an incident which it appears +to me probable Christ had in mind, and one +with which the woman was probably familiar, as +the Samaritans accepted and employed the Pentateuch. +Observe that salvation is the gift of +God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 6:23</span>), and that the only condition of receiving +it is asking (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:6; 7:7; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 22:17</span>). The +water’ is always ready; it is the thirst only that +is wanting (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 14:17-19</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing +to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then +hast thou that living water?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which +gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his +children, and his cattle?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>11, 12. Sire, Thou hast no bucket, and +the well is deep.</b> Not spring; the water +chamber, not the water source (<span lang="el">φρέαρ</span> not <span lang="el">πηγή</span>) +See on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_6">6</a>. +The language is that of badinage. +It is analogous to that of Nicodemus in +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_4">3:4</a>; +though here, commingled with irony, there may +well have been a real perplexity. The original + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> +indicates a change in the woman’s tone; she at +first says, How is it that thou being a <em>Jew</em>? she +now addresses him as “<cite>Sire</cite>” +(<span lang="el">kύριε</span>).—​<b>Our +father Jacob</b>, etc. The Samaritans traced +their origin back to the patriarchs, and her +language here implies a claim to an ancestry +superior to that of the Jews, among whom she +classed Jesus. Observe an illustration of the +spirit which says, What sufficed for our fathers +is good enough for us, no one can be greater +than they; a spirit which is fatal to all progress, +in either material or spiritual things.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_054"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_054.jpg" + alt="At the well"> + <p class="caption">AT THE WELL.<br> +“<cite>Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall +never thirst.</cite>”</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever +drinketh of this water shall thirst again:</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 But whosoever<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> drinketh of the water that I shall +give<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall +give him shall be in him<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> a well of water springing up +into everlasting life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">[130]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_35">6:35</a>, <a href="#ch6_58">58</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">[131]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_2">17:2</a>, <a href="#ch17_3">3</a>; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 6:23.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">[132]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_38">7:38</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>13, 14. Every one drinking of this +water</b>; accustomed to drink of it, and relying +upon it. “The ‘drinking’ sets forth the recurrence, +the interrupted seasons of the drinking +of earthly water.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)—<b>Shall thirst +again.</b> He appeals in this to the woman’s +experience, who comes daily to re-supply the +ever-recurring want.—​<b>But whosoever has +drunk</b>; once for all; the tense (aorist, <span lang="el">πίῃ</span>) +indicates an historical act once performed.—​<b>That +I shall give to him.</b> Observe the +representation throughout that the water is a +gift, and a gift not <em>received</em> by Christ in common +with humanity, but <em>given</em> by Christ to humanity. +The Bible may be searched in vain for similar +language from any prophet or apostle.—​<b>Shall +not thirst unto eternity.</b> That is, shall +never, even unto eternity, thirst. “The whole +verse is a strong argument in favor of the +doctrine of the perpetuity of grace, and the +consequent perseverance and the faith of believers.”—(<cite>Ryle.</cite>) +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_28">10:28</a>; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:35-39; +2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:12.—​<b>But the water which +I shall give him.</b> This Christ does by giving +his own life for the life of the world in his +sacrifice for sin (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_51">6:51</a></span>) and in his spiritual +indwelling in the soul of the believer +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_19">14:19</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a></span>).—​<b>Shall +become in him a fountain of +water.</b> Not a <em>well</em> (not <span lang="el">φρέαρ</span> but <span lang="el">πηγή</span>). The +reason he shall never thirst is that the water +which Christ gives becomes itself a water +source, a spring, a perpetual fountain of +supply.—​<b>Springing up unto eternal life.</b> +Not <em>into</em>; the preposition indicates not something +into which the fountain will be transformed, +but the duration of its existence; it +will forever spring up in the soul. The contrast +throughout these verses is between earthly and +spiritual supplies. The <dfn>well</dfn> (<span lang="el">φρέαρ</span>) is a symbol +of earthly supply. This appeases but never +satisfies; for it furnishes that which is external, +and which is consumed in the using, so that +the soul which relies on earthly cisterns for its +satisfaction thirsts again. The living water, the +spring (<span lang="el">πηγή</span>) which Christ gives, becomes a +fountain in the soul, it enters into and becomes +part of the character; using does not consume +but increases the supply. In Christ’s promise +here thirst is not equivalent to “desire,” nor is +the declaration “shall never thirst,” equivalent +to “shall never feel any spiritual want.” Thirst +is of all bodily cravings the most painful and +intolerable. Hence it is used in the Bible as a +metaphor, not merely of spiritual <em>desires</em>, but of +an urgent and intense desire, that cannot be +denied (<span class="muchsmaller">Psalm 42:2; 63:1; +143:6; Isaiah 55:1; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:6, +note</span>). Here then the declaration is that Christ +satisfies this painful longing, so that the soul +shall experience it no more. Of soul-thirst we +have striking illustrations in Psalms 41 and 42, +and in <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 7:17-24; +of soul-satisfaction in +Christ, illustrations in Psalm 46 and in +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:31-39. +Compare Christ’s promises in John <a href="#ch11_36">11:36</a>; +<a href="#ch16_32">16:32</a>, <a href="#ch6_32">33</a>. The continuance of earnest +spiritual desires is not inconsistent with a rich +spiritual experience. See <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:12-14.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me +this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither +to draw.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>15.</b> There is certainly a difference in tone +between this request and the answer of verses +<a href="#ch4_11">11</a>, <a href="#ch4_13">13</a>. +The woman now dimly recognizes and +vaguely appreciates Christ’s interpretation of +her own soul-want, and replies half in jest, half +in earnest. But her language “neither come +hither to draw,” shows that she still gives to +Christ’s words, as I think purposely misinterpreting +them, a prosaic and literal meaning. +Observe the implied misapprehension of the +office of Christ, as one who relieves the soul of +all further care and labor in the matter of +religion. “There are many like her who would +be glad of such a divine gift of religion as should +take away all the labor and trouble of Christian +life. ‘That I come not hither to draw’ is the +desire of thousands who want the results of +right living without the trouble of living +aright.”—(<cite>H. W. Beecher.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and +come hither.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>16. Go, call thy husband</b>, etc. This is +in appearance a break in the conversation; it is +in reality the first step toward granting the +woman’s request: “Give me this water;” for +the first step is to convince of sin. It is only if +we confess our sins that “He is faithful and just +to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> +all unrighteousness” (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:9</span>). Hence when +Christ came to bring this water of life to the +world he began by preaching the duty of repentance +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:17; Mark 1:15</span>). Other explanations, as +that a longer conversation with the woman alone +would be indecorous (<cite>Grotius</cite>), or that she was +unable to understand Christ’s meaning and so he +summoned her husband (<cite>Cyril</cite>, quoted in <cite>Alford</cite>), +or that he wished her husband to share with her +in the benefits of the conversation (<cite>Chrysostom</cite>), +singularly ignore the moral meaning and continuity +of the discourse. Observe Christ’s uniform +way of dealing with skepticism. Its root is in +sin; and he addresses not the reason, but +proceeds directly to convict the conscience. It +is only the sinner, conscious of sin, who ever +truly finds a divine Saviour.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. +Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have +no husband:</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom +thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou +truly.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>17, 18.</b> The word (<span lang="el">ἀνήρ</span>) in Christ’s reply, +rendered <em>husband</em>, is one of more general import +and is often translated <em>man</em>. But it is the +ordinary word used in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> for husband, +and I see no reason to doubt that she had lived +with five successive husbands.—​From these she +had been separated, from some perhaps by death, +from others by divorce; at all events the last +of these separations was unconcealedly illegal, +and her present life was one which her own +conscience condemned as licentious. Observe +the severity in fact and the gentleness in form +of Christ’s rebuke. It shows a full knowledge +of her sin; yet it is couched in the language not +of condemnation but of commendation.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> that +thou art a prophet.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">[133]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_48">1:48</a>, <a href="#ch1_49">49</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> and +ye say, that in Jerusalem<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> is the place where men +ought to worship.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">[134]</a> + Judges 9:7.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">[135]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 12:5-11; + 1 Kings 9:3.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>19, 20. The woman saith unto him.</b> +Her sentence is incomplete, either in the utterance +or in the report. It is the basis of a +question, implied, or perhaps expressed, but +not given by John, in which place should +worship be offered; which were right, Jew or +Samaritan. The question was one fiercely +debated between them (<span class="muchsmaller">See +on verse <a href="#ch4_5">5</a></span>).—​<b>I perceive +that thou art a prophet.</b> It was a +hasty conclusion; Christ might have known her +character and life by other than supernatural +means. Bigotry and vice are apt to be credulous +and superstitious. Observe, however, the difference +in tone between this declaration and the +language of verse <a href="#ch4_9">9</a>: “How is it that thou +being a Jew.”—​<b>Our fathers worshipped.</b> +“The argument of ‘our fathers’ has always +proved strong. Opinions, like electricity, are +supposed to descend more safely along an +unbroken chain. That which ‘our fathers’ or +our ancestors believed, is apt to seem necessarily +true; and the larger the roots of any belief, the +more flourishing, it is supposed, will be its top.”—(<cite>Beecher.</cite>) +Calvin’s comments are admirable +though too long to quote. He suggests four +errors into which men are apt to fall, from +blindly following the “<em>fathers</em>,” all illustrated +by the Samaritans: (1) When pride has created +a false custom or religion, the history of the +fathers is ransacked to find justification for it; +(2) when men imitate the example of the evil-doers, +because they are ancient, forgetful that +they only are worthy to be reckoned as fathers +who are true sons of God; (3) when we imitate +the conduct but not the spirit of the fathers, as +if one should defend human sacrifice from the +example of Abraham in <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 22:1-10; (4) when +we imitate the conduct of the fathers without +considering the change of circumstances, as +when the Christian church attempts to copy the +ceremonials of the Jewish. “None of these are +true imitators of the fathers; most of them are +apes.”—<b>In this mount</b>, Gerizim. According +to the Samaritan tradition it was here that +Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac; and here, not +on Ebal, as according to our Scripture (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 8:30; +<abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 27:4</span>), that the altar was erected by Joshua +on which the words of the law were inscribed. +The first view is sanctioned by some Christian +scholars, prominent among whom is Dean Stanley. +A temple was built on Gerizim by the +Samaritans, according to Josephus, during the +reign of Alexander, though the date is doubtful. +The two temples intensified the bitterness of the +feud between the Jews and the Samaritans, and +the Samaritan temple was deserted and destroyed, +<span class="allsmcap">B. C.</span> 129, by John Hyrcanus (<span class="muchsmaller">Josephus’ +Antiquities 13:9, 11</span>); but the Samaritans at Sechem +(Nablus) still call Gerizim the holy mountain, +and turn their faces toward it in prayer.—​<b>Ye +say.</b> She still treats Christ as a Jew.</p> + +<p>Some have regarded the question presented +by the woman here as a serious one; recognizing +Christ as a prophet, she asks his solution of what +was to her mind the great religious problem of +the day; others see in it an endeavor on her +part to evade the personal reference to her own +sins. Both seem to me true. She endeavors to +turn the conversation; recognizing the truth of +Christ’s allegation, “He whom thou now hast +is not thy husband,” not by confessing her sin +but by acknowledging him as a prophet; but +eludes the topic by opening a problem in controversial +theology. In all this she is honest + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> +and in earnest. She is not the first inquirer +who has deemed theoretical theology more +important than practical duty. The moment +her thoughts are turned to religious truth, they +tend to its external aspects, and she naturally +and honestly seeks a refuge from her conscience +in the question, Where ought men to worship? +The question, What ought <em>I</em> to do? is postponed. +Observe that Christ suffers her to change the +subject; leaves her conscience to press the sin +to which he has awakened it, and teaches his +followers how to deal with those who evade +practical duty by doctrinal or ceremonial questions +by his own response, No matter <em>where</em> or +<em>how</em> the soul seeks God, if it only seeks him in +spirit and in truth.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the +hour cometh, when ye<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> shall neither in this mountain, +nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">[136]</a> + <abbr title="Malachi">Mal.</abbr> 1:11; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 18:20.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Ye worship<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> ye know not what: we know what +we worship: for salvation<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> is of the Jews.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">[137]</a> + 2 Kings 17:29.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">[138]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 2:3; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 9:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true +worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> and in +truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">[139]</a> + <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:3.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 God<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> <em>is</em> a Spirit: and they that worship him must +worship <em>him</em> in spirit and in truth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">[140]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>21-24. Believe me.</b> This expression is +nowhere else used by our Lord. It answers to +his “Verily, verily, I say unto you” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:18, +note</span>), and to Paul’s “This is a faithful (<i>i. e.</i>, trustworthy) +saying” (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:15, 4:9; <abbr title="Titus">Tit.</abbr> 3:8</span>). He +employs it here because his declaration is partly +in the nature of a prophecy, which must be +accepted, if at all, upon simple trust in him.—​<b>The +hour cometh.</b> The word <dfn>hour</dfn> is here +equivalent to time or season; this use of +“hour” is not infrequent in John’s Gospel +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch2_4">2:4</a>; <a href="#ch5_25">5:25</a>, <a href="#ch5_28">28</a>, +<a href="#ch5_35">35</a>, “season;” <a href="#ch8_20">8:20</a>, etc.</span>).—​<b>When +ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet +at Jerusalem worship the Father.</b> A +prophecy which was speedily, perhaps in the +lifetime of this woman, fulfilled. The ravaging +of Palestine by the Roman armies, and the +destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of +the Jews, has scattered the worshippers throughout +the world. The Samaritan sect is indeed +extinct, except the few survivors at Nablus, +but the Jews continue their worship in exile in +every land (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Malachi">Mal.</abbr> +1:11</span>).—​<b>Ye worship ye know +not what.</b> Their ignorance concerning the +nature of the true God is indicated in their early +history (<span class="muchsmaller">2 Kings 17:24-34</span>). The woman was solicitous +concerning the <em>place</em> of worship; Christ +directs her thought toward the <em>person</em> to be +worshipped.—​<b>We know what we worship.</b> +This is the only instance in which Christ classes +himself with the Jews by the pronoun <em>we</em>. He +accepts, for the time, her estimate of him as a +Jewish prophet, and declares that it is in the +Jewish Scripture she is to look for a knowledge +of the true God. In fact, all correct knowledge +of the character, attributes, and dealings of God, +possessed by the world to-day, has come through +the Jewish people, by means of the Old and +New Testaments (<span class="muchsmaller">see Romans 3:1, 2; 9:4, 5</span>). At the +time of this conversation idolatry had entirely +disappeared from the Jewish nation; and +however inadequate, imperfect, and corrupt +their worship, they at least recognized the one +only true God. Notwithstanding some efforts +to prove the contrary, I think it is historically +demonstrable that Judaism is the source of all +monotheistic religion. It is reasonably certain +that the monotheism of Mohammedanism is due +to Mohammed’s early instruction in the principles +of Judaism.—​<b>For the salvation is of +the Jews.</b> The definite article in the original, +unfortunately omitted in our English version, +gives not only emphasis but significance to the +language. The Jews know what they worship, +because it is from them, as a nation, that there +comes forth the divine salvation, typified by the +sacrifices at Jerusalem, prophesied by Jewish +Scripture, and fulfilled by the Messiah born at +Bethlehem in Judea. It is therefore here equivalent +not merely to the Saviour, but also includes +all the preparations which preceded his personal +advent.—​<b>But the hour cometh and now is.</b> +The last clause is added parenthetically as a +suggestion that the woman is not to look to the +remote future for the fulfillment of this word. +Already the day has dawned, though it has not +fully arrived. Her language in verse <a href="#ch4_25">25</a> indicates +that a suspicion of Christ’s true nature was, +perhaps by this declaration, awakened in her.—​<b>When +the true worshippers.</b> Not merely +the sincere in opposition to consciously hypocritical +worshippers (<span class="muchsmaller">Isaiah 29:13</span>), but also the +true, inward worshippers, in opposition to those +whose worship was one of external form and +therefore not genuine. The word <dfn>true</dfn> is elsewhere +used thus by John to indicate the inward +and spiritual as contrasted with the external and +earthly, <i>e. g.</i>, the true light +(<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch1_9">1:9</a></span>), the true bread +(<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch6_32">6:32</a></span>), +the true vine (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch15_1">15:1</a></span>). +Compare Luke 16:11.—​<b>Shall +worship the Father</b>, and therefore +know what they worship; <b>in spirit and +in truth</b>. Not in the Holy Spirit, though it is +true that all spiritual worship is inspired and +directed by his influence (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:26; Zach. 12:10</span>); nor +with the breathing and aspirations of the heart, +in contrast to worship with outward forms and +symbols, for symbol is necessary in all public +worship, language is but an external symbol of +inward feeling; nor in holiness and righteousness +of life, for that is not the meaning of <dfn>spirit</dfn>; + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> +nor in soundness of faith, in contrast to heretical +worship, for the worship of the Jews was not +heretical, Christ has just said, “We know what +we worship.” <dfn>In</dfn> (<span lang="el">ἐν</span>) expresses not the instrument +with which the worship shall be conducted, +but the atmosphere in which it will live, an +atmosphere of spiritual life and truth; worship +<em>in spirit</em>, is in contrast with a worship in the +flesh, the essence of which consists in the rite, +the form, the language, the posture (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +12:1; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:3, 4; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 9:9, 24</span>); worship <em>in truth</em> is +one which in its character harmonizes with the +nature of him who is worshipped. The Lycaonians +would have worshipped Paul and Barnabas +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 14:11-13</span>) in sincerity, but not in truth. +Christ’s language condemns the spirit of ritualism, +but not the employment of rites.—​<b>For +the Father is seeking such to worship +him.</b> God is represented as in quest of such +worshippers, among the many who are worshippers +merely in form. Observe <em>work is not</em> worship; +God is seeking not merely workers (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:1</span>) +but also worshippers (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Luke 10:38-42, notes</span>).—​<b>God +is a Spirit.</b> This declaration is fundamental, +and radically inconsistent with (1) all +scientific theories which represent him as an +abstract impersonal force; (2) with all metaphysical +refinements which, ignoring his personality, +treat him as a “power that makes for +righteousness,” or as “the highest dream of +which the human soul is capable;” (3) with +much of the received theology, which often +assumes that God is like nature, and deduces +his attributes from such an imaginary likeness; +(4) with all idolatry, whether the idol be in the +imagination or in wood, stone, or canvas. But +it justifies us in looking to man’s spiritual nature +to interpret the divine nature to us. The spirituality +of God is abundantly taught in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, +but by implication only. The abstract statement +occurs only here and in 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +3:17.—​<b>Must +worship him in spirit and in truth.</b> Nothing +else is worship.</p> + +<p>Observe (1) Christ answers the woman’s question +not by pointing out the right place of worship, +but by inculcating such a conception of the +true nature of worship, that the controversy +respecting Gerizim and Jerusalem shrinks into +insignificance. The solution of many theological +problems is to be found, not in any answer, +but in a new, a higher, a more spiritual conception +of religion as a spiritual life. (2) The place, +and impliedly the forms and methods of worship, +are matters of no importance. (3) It is important +that we know what we worship, <i>i. e.</i>, that +our worship be intelligent, else it is superstitious. +“Unless there be knowledge, it is not God that +we worship, but a phantom or idol.”—(<cite>Calvin.</cite>) +(4) That knowledge includes three elements, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, +that God is a <em>spiritual being</em>, with the sympathies, +the flexibility, the <em>life</em> which belongs to spirit; +that he is a Father, and is therefore to be approached +with a filial, reverential, trusting affection +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:9, note</span>); that he is revealed to us +through the Jewish Scripture and the Jewish +Messiah. (5) He must be worshipped in spirit, +<i>i. e.</i>, with the heart, and in truth, <i>i. e.</i>, in accordance +with the realities of his nature as thus revealed +to us; nothing else is worship. (6) Worship +is essential to a religious life. God looks for +it, as well as for work, as an evidence of love. +The whole lesson is eloquently embodied by +Henry Ward Beecher in his <cite>Life of Christ</cite>: “It +expresses the renunciation of the senses in worship. +It throws back upon the heart and soul of +every one, whoever he may be, wherever he may +be, the whole office of worship. It is the first +gleam of the new morning. No longer in this +nest alone, or in that, shall religion be looked for, +but escaping from its shell, heard in all the earth, +in notes the same in every language, flying unrestrained +and free, the whole heavens shall be its +sphere and the whole earth its home.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah +cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he +will tell us all things.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 Jesus saith unto her, I<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> + that speak unto thee +am <em>he</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">[141]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_37">9:37</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25, 26. The woman saith unto him.</b> +Chrysostom well expresses her spirit: “The +woman was made dizzy by his discourse, and +fainted at the sublimity of what he said.” So +she turns away from the present revelation, procrastinating +its application with the expectation +of a better opportunity when the Messiah comes.—​<b>He +will tell us all things</b> is not to be interpreted +literally; it is the expression of a vague +hope of a clearer light by and by.—​<b>I that speak +unto thee am he.</b> Christ did not until a much +later period declare his Messiahship to his own +disciples; he never declared it more clearly than +to this sinful Samaritan woman. There is a reason +for it, in that this declaration took from her +all excuse of procrastination, and in fact made +her a missionary of the Messiah. Perhaps, too, +the very fact that she was an uninfluential woman +and a Samaritan may have made him more ready +to reveal himself; for it was certainly his general +purpose not to disclose his character and mission +to the public until his death (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 17:9</span>). We certainly +have no right to say, with some rationalizing +critics, that because we cannot fully understand +his reasons it is incredible. Such a method +of criticism would make havoc of all history. +Most scholars suppose that the words “which is + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> +called Christ” were spoken by the woman. It +seems to me more probable that they were added +by John, as an explanation to his Greek readers +of the Hebrew term Messiah. The word Christ +is its Greek equivalent.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<a id="TOC58"></a> +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Note on Christ as a conversationalist.</span>—​Christ +as a preacher has been studied; Christ as +a conversationalist is quite as worthy the Christian’s +study. Many of his so-called discourses +were simply conversations; this is notably the +case with the discourse to Nicodemus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_1">3:1-21</a></span>) +and the discourse here to the woman of Samaria. +Observe, <abbr title="One">I.</abbr> <i>The contrast.</i> In the first the conversation +is with a religious teacher, of honorable +position, of unexceptionable life; in the second, +with an abandoned woman, of licentious life; in +the first, conversation with Christ is sought, in +the second, repelled; in the first, Christ impresses +the truth that the moralist must be born again, +and without personal trust in a personal Saviour +is condemned; in the second, he impresses upon +the outcast the truth that for the lost there is +new life in him; the first he discourages, the +second encourages; to the first he proclaims +duty, to the second he preaches deliverance. +<abbr title="Two">II.</abbr> <i>The harmony.</i> Both are skeptical; both receive +his declaration with scoffs; both invite argument; +with both Christ refuses to argue; to +both he simply proclaims the truth, but without +strife or debate; with both he conquers cavilling +by patience, not by argument. <abbr title="Three">III.</abbr> <i>Christ’s +method.</i> (<i>a.</i>) Though wearied, he does not neglect +the occasion and opportunity afforded to him. +(<i>b.</i>) He commences the conversation by a natural +request. (<i>c.</i>) He opens the woman’s heart by requesting +from her a favor. (<i>d.</i>) He passes, by a +natural transition, from the physical to the spiritual +world, from nature to the truth which +nature typifies. (<i>e.</i>) He presents to her not ethical, +but spiritual truth; not the simple moralities, +but the deep things of the Gospel. (<i>f.</i>) Her badinage +does not affront him, nor does he reprove +her for it, or indicate surprise, astonishment, or +even objection. (<i>g.</i>) He answers it by a direct and +unanswerable appeal to her conscience, by convicting +her of sin. (<i>h.</i>) In this, while his rebuke is +sharp, his language is courteous, the language of +commendation clothing condemnation. (<i>i.</i>) Having +once awakened her conscience, he does not +pursue the rebuke; leaving conscience to do its +work, he suffers her to change the subject. (<i>j.</i>) He +answers her theological question not by direct +response, but by asserting a principle of worship +which lifts the soul above all controversies respecting +forms and methods of worship. (<i>k.</i>) Finally, +he makes his first and fullest disclosure of +his Messiahship to this Samaritan woman, showing +himself most a Saviour to her who most +needs his salvation. <abbr title="Four">IV.</abbr> <i>His example.</i> It illustrates +the enthusiasm (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 10:1; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 4:13; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> +4:2</span>), the skill (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 11:30</span>), the patience (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:24; +1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 2:7</span>), and the spirituality (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:13, 14</span>) needed +for the most efficient, direct, personal work +of soul-saving.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 4:27-42. CHRIST IN SAMARIA.—​<span class="smcap">The sustenance +of Christian laborers.—​The call for Christian +laborers.—​Their reward.—​Their success.</span></p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled +that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What +seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her +way into the city, and saith to the men,</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that +ever I did: is not this the Christ?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto +him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>27-30. And marvelled that he talked +with a woman.</b> There is no definite article in +the original. The disciples knew nothing of the +woman’s character except that she was a Samaritan. +What amazed them was that Christ should +descend to instruct a woman at all, and especially +a woman of Samaria. See above on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_4">4</a>.—​<b>No +man said, What seekest thou?</b> One of the +many indications in the Gospel of the awe in +which these life-companions of Christ stood +toward him (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 9:32; +10:32; 16:8; Luke 8:25; John +<a href="#ch21_12">21:12</a></span>).—​<b>Left her waterpot.</b> Lightfoot supposes +in kindness, for the Lord to use; Calvin, +with greater probability, in her haste forgetting +it. In her eagerness to carry to others the news +of the Messiah, she forgets her original errand, +which was to draw water for her home.—​<b>Come +see a man.</b> Compare <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_39">1:39</a>, <a href="#ch1_46">46</a>.—​<b>Which +told me all things that ever I did.</b> The +natural exaggeration of enthusiasm. Observe +the method of the spread of Christianity in its +earliest years. The new convert became a missionary, +propagating its faith. Compare Acts +8:4; 9:20. If ever a new convert might be +excused from evangelical labors, this one might—a +woman, living in an age when female preaching +was more obnoxious even than now, and a woman +of such ill-repute that she might well expect to +be received with scorn, not with respect. But +her strong convictions overbear all obstacles, secure +for her a hearing, and obtain for her mission +success (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_39">39</a></span>). Chrysostom dwells upon her +wisdom as well as her eagerness: “She said not, +Come, see the Christ, but, with the same condescension +with which Christ had netted her, she +draws the men to Him; Come, she saith, see a +man who told me all that ever I did. Is not +this the Christ? Observe again here the great +wisdom of the woman; she neither declared the +fact plainly, nor was she silent; for she desired +not to bring them in by her own assertion, but to +make them to share in this opinion by hearing + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> +him. * * * Nor did she say, Come, believe, but +Come, <em>see</em>, a gentler expression than the other, +and one which more attracted them.”—​<b>Then +they came out of the city.</b> Wisdom and tact +inspired by enthusiasm produced by a personal +and profound conviction of Christ’s person and +power, rarely fail in evangelical labor.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, +Master, eat.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye +know not of.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath +any man brought him <a id="chg3"></a><em>aught</em> to eat?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>31-33. Master, eat.</b> The disciples had +brought food from the city, to obtain which they +had originally left him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_8">8</a></span>).—​<b>I have meat to +eat that ye know not of.</b> The commentators +generally assume that the doing of his Father’s +will was this meat. This seems to me a false +interpretation not required by and not really +accordant with a correct reading of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_34">34</a> below +(see note there); inconsistent with other teachings +of Scripture, and practically misleading to +the disciple. It is inconsistent with the metaphor; +for in nature work is never a substitute for +food, but physiologically exhausts it. It is inconsistent +with other teachings of Scripture, +which never represent <em>work</em>, but always divine +sustaining grace, as the Christian food. It is practically +misleading, for it leads the disciple to suppose +that he can grow by simply doing the will of +his Father, whereas he is to acquire the power to +do that will by constantly receiving grace from +the Father. Christ’s language here is interpreted +by such passages as <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:4, “Man +shall not live by bread alone, but by every word +that proceedeth out of the mouth of God;” +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 25:4, “The wise took oil in their vessels +with their lamps.” Compare John, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">6</a>. That +Jesus lived by this divine food is evident from +his habit of prayer, and from such declarations +as John <a href="#ch5_19">5:19</a>, <a href="#ch5_26">26</a>, +<a href="#ch5_30">30</a>; <a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>, +<a href="#ch14_11">11</a>. This meat +then is the indwelling Spirit of God, conditioned +upon entire consecration to God. It was this +meat which fed Peter in prison (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 12:6</span>), Paul +and Silas at Philippi (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 16:25</span>), and Paul in the +shipwreck (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 27:23, etc.</span>); this too which sustained +Christ in the hour of Gethsemane and +throughout his Passion. A faint type of it is +afforded in earthly experiences by the strength +which seems often to be imparted to even a +feeble mother in the hour of her child’s sickness, +and which carries her through vigils which, but +for her love, it would be impossible for her to +sustain. Her work is not her food: her love +and faith are her food, and sustain her for her +work. No Christian can live by or on his work; +nor did Christ.—​<b>Hath any one brought him +aught to eat.</b> They thought, perhaps, that the +woman had done so. “It is very characteristic +of the first part of this Gospel to bring forward +instances of unreceptivity to spiritual meaning. +Compare <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr><a href="#ch4_11">11</a>; +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_20">2:20</a>; +<a href="#ch3_4">3:4</a>; <a href="#ch6_42">6:42</a>, +<a href="#ch6_52">52</a>.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> is to do the will +of him that sent me, and to finish<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> his work.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">[142]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_38">6:38</a>; Job 23:12.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">[143]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_4">17:4</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>34. For me meat is in order that I may +do the will of him that sent me.</b> The meaning +is not, as our English version seems to imply, +that meat and doing God’s work are synonymous. +The above is a literal translation of the original; +and the meaning is, The object of meat is that I +may do the will of him that sent me and may +finish his work. The expression is parallel to +and interpreted by Paul’s in Acts 20:24, “Neither +count I my life dear unto myself so that I might +finish my course;” or in <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 1:21, “For to me +to live is Christ.” The object of Christ was the +accomplishment of his mission; for this purpose +alone had meat any value to him; for this purpose +he both needed and possessed meat that his +disciples, in their then state of spiritual culture, +did not and could not understand; and in the +work which he had accomplished, by his conversation +with the woman, he had received greater +satisfaction than in any food which they could +have brought to him from the city.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and <em>then</em> +cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your +eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already +to harvest.<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">[144]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:37.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>35.</b> There is some uncertainty regarding the +proper interpretation of this verse. Alford, Tholuck, +De Wette, and some others, suppose that +Christ is quoting a proverbial expression; perhaps +referring to the time which elapsed between +seed-time and harvest, perhaps to some time intervening +between a local feast or a religious +anniversary and the harvest. Meyer, Andrews, +Ellicott, and others take it as a chronological indication +that it was then four months to harvest, +<i>i. e.</i>, the month of December, a fact to which +perhaps some reference had been made by the +disciples in the course of their walk. Chrysostom, +Meyer, and others, suppose moreover that +the approaching Samaritans were seen through +the corn-fields, and to them Christ pointed when +he said, “Lift up your eyes and look on the +fields.” “The approaching townspeople now +showed how greatly the doing of the Father’s +will was in process of accomplishment. They +were coming through the corn-field, now tinged +with green; thus they make the fields, which for +four months would not yield the harvest, in a +higher sense already white harvest fields. Jesus +directs the attention of his disciples to this; and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> +with the beautiful picture thus presented in nature +he connects further appropriate instructions.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) +The phrase “Say not ye” +seems to me clearly to indicate that Christ refers +to some proverbial saying (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:2</span>); the +direction, “Lift up your eyes and look on the +fields,” indicates some present appearance which +gave point to his declaration that they were +white already, a declaration which would have +no significance if the fields were literally ready +for the harvest. I therefore, with Tholuck, combine +the two views and suppose that Christ did +refer to a proverbial expression, probably indicating +the time between seed-time and harvest, +and appropriate then because it was then the +seed-time. The spiritual meaning is very clear. +Procrastination is a fault of the church as well as +of the world, of the disciple as well as of the impenitent +sinner. The Christian is constantly waiting +for an opportunity; he should wait <em>on</em>, he +never need wait <em>for</em> the Lord. Since Christ has +ascended, and the Holy Ghost has been given, +the field is always white for the harvest; we +never need wait for God to ripen the grain. The +message, “All things are now ready,” was given +by the Lord to his servants; it is only as the servant +understands and believes this that he can +make the guests believe it (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 14:17</span>).</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_060"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_060.jpg" + alt="Samaritan remains in Gerizim"> + <p class="caption">SAMARITAN REMAINS IN GERIZIM.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth +fruit<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> unto life eternal: that both<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> he that soweth +and he that reapeth may rejoice together.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">[145]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 6:22.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">[146]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:5-9.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 And herein is that saying true, One<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> soweth, and +another reapeth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">[147]</a> + Micah 6:15.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no +labour: other<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> men laboured, and ye are entered into +their labours.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">[148]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>36-38. And he that reapeth receiveth +wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.</b> +The Lord’s husbandman has both wages +and heaven. The earthly wages of the successful +evangelist is not in his salary, nor in his fame +or position, but in the affections which reward +him, and the personal present consciousness of +work achieved, the highest and grandest which +it is ever permitted man to do. To this is added +the joy inherent in bringing souls to Christ, and +through Christ into eternal life, a joy which will +not be consummated until the reaper enters into +glory, with an “abundant entrance,” and brings +his sheaves to his Lord.—​<b>That both * * * may +rejoice together.</b> The sowing is in tears; the +reaping is with rejoicing (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 126:5</span>); but in the +future life both will rejoice in the ingathering; +hearts that knew not whence they received the +seed will learn to thank the unknown or the unrecognized +benefactor; and the Lord of the harvest +will say to both, “Well done, good and +faithful servants.”—​<b>Herein is that saying +true.</b> Undoubtedly a reference to a proverbial +saying, to which Christ gives a new and spiritual +significance. Primarily, Christ is the sower, who +sowed in tears and reaped but little; the apostles +are the reapers, who gathered in a single day +more souls into the church of Christ than Jesus + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> +himself in his whole lifetime.—​But secondarily +the prophets were sowers and the apostles reapers, +a fact illustrated by their constantly quoting +of the prophets in attestation of the divine character +and mission of Christ. And finally, the +twofold work of sowing and reaping goes on +throughout all time, the same man sometimes +being both sower and reaper, sometimes sowing +all his life in tears that another may reap in joy. +The truth of Christ’s saying in verses 37, 38, is +illustrated, but as a prophecy it is not fulfilled, +by the successful mission of the apostles to Samaria, +where Christ sowed at this time and they +reaped subsequently (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 8:5-8, 14-17</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed +on him for the saying<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> of the woman, which testified, +He told me all that ever I did.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">[149]</a> + <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_29">29</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they +besought him that he would tarry with them: and he +abode there two days.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 And many more believed because of his own +word;</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not +because of thy saying: for<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> we have heard <em>him</em> ourselves, +and know that this is indeed the Christ, the +Saviour of the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">[150]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr><a href="#ch17_8">17:8</a>; + 1 John 4:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>39-42.</b> This mission of Christ to the Samaritans +is not inconsistent with his directions to his +apostles, when they were commissioned, not to +go into any Samaritan city, for the reason of that +prohibition was not his unwillingness to open the +Gospel to the heathen, but the fact that his +apostles did not yet comprehend its catholicity, +and could not therefore successfully preach it to +the heathen. That the opening of the doors to +others than Jews was neither an afterthought +with Christ, nor a supplemental act originating +with Paul, is evident from the incident recorded +here. Notice that the faith of the Samaritans +rested on Christ’s <span style="white-space:nowrap;">words—he</span> apparently wrought +no miracles; and that they recognized in him +the Saviour not of the nation but of the <em>world</em>. +“Universalism was more akin to the Messianic +faith of the Samaritans than to that of the Jews, +with their definite and energetic feeling of +nationality.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) Notice too, the forms +of Christian experience illustrated in this passage; +one (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_39">39</a></span>) rests on the testimony of +others, the other (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_42">42</a></span>) rests on a personal +communion with and experience of Christ as a +Messiah and Saviour.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 4:43-54. THE CURE OF THE CENTURION’S +SON.—​<span class="smcap">Two kinds of faith; a poor faith requires +miracles; a true faith accepts Christ’s word +simply.</span></p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_43"></a> +<p class="hanging">43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went +into Galilee.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_44"></a> +<p class="hanging">44 For Jesus himself testified, that<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> a prophet hath +no honour in his own country.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">[151]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_45"></a> +<p class="hanging">45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilæans +received him, having seen<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> all the things that he +did at Jerusalem at the feast: for<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> they also went unto +the feast.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">[152]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_23">2:23</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">[153]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 16:16.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>43-45. After two days.</b> Spent in preaching +the gospel to the Samaritans. The nature +of this ministry is left to conjecture. We must +presume, however, that it was of the same type +as Christ’s preaching in Galilee at this time, +where his theme was, “Repent, for the kingdom +of heaven is at hand” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:17</span>); the nature of +that kingdom, and the character of the Messianic +king, he probably made no attempt to explain. +It was preparative; he sowed only, leaving the +reaping to be done by others at a later day.—​<b>For +Jesus himself testified that a prophet +hath no honor in his own country.</b> The +rationalistic critics cite this as one of the +evidences that the Fourth Gospel is not the +product of one of the Twelve. Thus, “In the +Synoptics Jesus is reported as quoting against +the people of his own city, Nazareth, who +rejected him, the proverb, ‘A prophet has no +honor in his own country’ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:57; Mark 6:4; +Luke 4:24</span>). The appropriateness of the remark +here is obvious. The author of the Fourth +Gospel, however, shows clearly that he was +neither an eye-witness nor acquainted with the +subject or country when he introduces this +proverb in a different place. * * * * * He +(Christ) is made to go into Galilee, which is his +own country, because a prophet has no honor in +his country, and the Galileans are represented as +receiving him, which is a contradiction of the +proverb.”—(<cite>Supernatural Religion</cite>, <abbr title="Volume Two">Vol. II</abbr>, 447.) +I have cited this objection at length because it is +a not unfair illustration of the straits to which +rationalism is reduced in its efforts to discredit +this Gospel. Constructive dogmatism is bad +enough; destructive dogmatism is much worse. +The difficulties created by evangelical critics in +the interpretation of the passage are equally +curious as an illustration of forced and fanciful +exaggerations. The curious will find them +stated in Alford and Meyer. The English +reader, who simply takes the context, will +assuredly find no difficulty in the passage. +Christ was received in Samaria, notwithstanding +he was a Jew, with whom usually the +Samaritans had no dealings (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_9">9</a></span>), and this +though he wrought no miracles, and merely +because of his words, <i>i. e.</i>, the purity and +beauty and self-evident truth of his teaching +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_41">41</a></span>).—​In Galilee he was received only +because he was a Jew, and had wrought miracles +at Jerusalem (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_2">3:2</a></span>), and brought with +him a metropolitan reputation. He had no +honor in his own country as a prophet, until +he brought it back with him from the holy city; +it was honor, not indigenous but imported.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> +<a id="ch4_46"></a> +<p class="hanging">46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where +he made<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> +the water wine. And there was a certain +nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">[154]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_1">2:1</a>, <a href="#ch2_11">11</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_47"></a> +<p class="hanging">47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa +into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that +he would come down, and heal his son: for he was +at the point of death.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>46, 47. Into Cana.</b> For site see +<abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_1">2:1</a>, +note. The fact that he went at once to Cana, +gives color to the supposition that the marriage +there may have been that of John, according to +an ancient tradition; at all events it probably +was one of some intimate friend of Christ.—​<b>A +certain nobleman.</b> Probably an officer of +Herod Antipas who had a palace at Tiberias. +It has been conjectured that he may have been +the Chuza, whose wife became attached to +Jesus with other women of Galilee (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 8:3</span>). +That he was a Jew is probable, since the manifestation +of faith in a heathen is generally +especially noted by the historian or by Christ.—​<b>Was +sick at Capernaum.</b> About twenty +miles distant.—​<b>Was at the point of death.</b> +Literally <dfn>Was about to die</dfn>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_48"></a> +<p class="hanging">48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> +and wonders, ye will not believe.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">[155]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_49"></a> +<p class="hanging">49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere +my child die.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>48, 49. Except ye see signs and wonders.</b> +Rather a soliloquy applied to the entire +people, than a personal rebuke of the nobleman. +For there is certainly no evidence that his faith +was notably small; rather the reverse. He had +traveled twenty miles to apply to Christ for +assistance; his request that Christ should come +personally was certainly not unnatural, for he +could not be expected to assume that Christ +would or could heal by a word; when the word +was spoken he went away undoubtingly; and +he evidently made no great haste (<span class="muchsmaller">see note on verse +<a href="#ch4_51">51</a></span>), an indication of his restful assurance on +Christ’s mere word. Analogous to Christ’s +utterance here is that of Mark 9:19; see note +there. It is certainly a rebuke to the skepticism +which to-day demands signs and wonders +as a basis for faith, and to the church which +continually endeavors to satisfy this desire by +demonstrating the miracles as though they were +the evidences of Christianity. Christ himself +never, in public discourse with skeptics, based +his claims on his miracles; never performed a +miracle for the purpose of proving his claims to +an unbeliever (<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:4, 5 is not an exception; +see note there); and rebuked the demand made +on him for miracles as a basis of faith in his +mission.—​<b>Come down.</b> One of those geographical +and incidental evidences of accuracy +in the historian which demonstrate his familiarity +with the country. Capernaum was on the +shore of the sea of Galilee; Cana was in the +hill country.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_50"></a> +<p class="hanging">50 Jesus saith unto him, Go<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> thy way; thy son liveth. +And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken +unto him, and he went his way.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">[156]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:13; Mark 7:29, 30; Luke 17:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_51"></a> +<p class="hanging">51 And as he was now going down, his servants met +him, and told <em>him</em>, saying, Thy son liveth.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_52"></a> +<p class="hanging">52 Then inquired he of them the hour when he began +to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the +seventh hour the fever left him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_53"></a> +<p class="hanging">53 So the father knew that <em>it was</em> at the same<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> hour, +in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and +himself believed,<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> and his whole house.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">[157]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 107:20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">[158]</a> + Acts 16:34; 18:8.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch4_54"></a> +<p class="hanging">54 This <em>is</em> again the second miracle <em>that</em> Jesus did, +when he was come out of Judæa into Galilee.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>50-54. He went his way.</b> The course of +the nobleman was not that of one deficient in +faith. On the contrary, he did not wait to +see signs or wonders; he believed the simple +word. That he did not hasten is evident from +the next verse. Christ spoke the word of healing +at the seventh hour, <i>i. e.</i>, one in the afternoon. +The father could have reached home +that same night; but it was not until the next +day that his servants, coming to relieve his fears, +met him on the road. Faith neither worries nor +hurries.—​<b>Thy son is living.</b> He was so sick +before the father left home, that the mere +announcement that he was living demonstrated +that he was recovering. The case was one in +which life could not last long if a change for +the better did not take place.—​<b>Himself believed.</b> +Believed what? He had believed +before, when he came to Jesus, or he would +not have come; and again when he went away, +or he would not have been satisfied at the mere +word of Jesus. But he before simply believed +<em>about</em> Jesus, <i>e. g.</i>, that he was a prophet, possessing +certain healing powers, the extent of which he +had not measured. Now he believed <em>on</em> Jesus; +without as yet comprehending the Saviour’s +mission or character, he yet had faith in him; +that kind of faith which was ready to accept +him as all that he claimed, whatever that might +be. To <em>believe</em>, used absolutely, as here, always +indicates not believing a doctrine about Christ, +but personal belief in and allegiance to him.</p> + +<p>This miracle is certainly not the same with +the healing of the centurion’s servant, recorded +in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:5-13, with which it has +been sometimes confounded, but with which it +really has little in common. One is wrought at +Capernaum, the other at Cana; one at the petition +of a nobleman, an officer of the court, the +other at the request of a centurion; one probably +for a Jew, the other certainly for a Roman; +one in behalf of a son, the other in behalf of a +servant; one for a petitioner who entreats +Christ to come to his house, the other for one +who deprecates his doing so; one affording an +illustration of the largest faith in a heathen, the +other of the development of faith from a small +beginning in an Israelite. The resemblances are +superficial; the differences are radical. Accepting +the narrative as true, it is one of the many + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> +which utterly refute the rationalistic explanation +of miracles offered by such writers as Schenkel. +This cure could not have been due to any natural +means, as the inspiration of hope, or the infusion +of nervous power by personal contact, or the +like, for the sick man did not see Jesus nor even +know when the father saw him.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER <abbr title="Five">V.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 5:1-47. HEALING OF IMPOTENT MAN AND DISCOURSE +THEREON.—​<span class="smcap">A parable of redemption; the +nature and the condition of spiritual cure illustrated.—​The +Christian law of the Sabbath +illustrated.—​The authority of the Son of God: +he is with the Father; comes from the Father; +is to be honored and trusted as the Father; he +raises the dead and judges the living.—​The +evidences of Christianity; the testimony of +John; of Christ’s life and works; of the Scripture.—​The +cause of unbelief.</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_063"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_063.jpg" + alt="Church over pool of Bethesda"> + <p class="caption">CHURCH OVER THE POOL OF BETHESDA.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">After</span> this there was a feast<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> of the Jews; and +Jesus went up to Jerusalem.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">[159]</a> + <a href="#ch2_13"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 2:13</a>; <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 23:2, etc.; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 16:16.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep <em>market</em>, a +pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, +having five porches.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, +of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the +water.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 For an angel went down at a certain season into +the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then +first<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> after the troubling of the water stepped in, was +made whole<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> of whatsoever disease he had.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">[160]</a> + <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 8:17; <abbr title="Eccclesiasticus">Eccles.</abbr> 9:10; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:12.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">[161]</a> + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 47:8, 9; <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 13:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1-4. After this was a feast of the Jews.</b> +There were three great feasts of the Jewish +nation, the Passover in the spring, usually +March; the Pentecost, fifty days after, coming +therefore usually early in June; and the Tabernacles, +a feast in the Fall, usually October, analogous +to our Thanksgiving. To these must be +added the feast of Purim, which was kept in +celebration of the deliverance of Israel, in the +time of Esther, from massacre (<span class="muchsmaller">Esther 9:17-19</span>), and +the feast of Dedication, instituted subsequent to +the close of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> canon, to commemorate the +purging of the temple and the rebuilding of the +altar, after Judas Maccabeus had driven out the +Syrians, <span class="allsmcap">B. C.</span> 164. There is nothing in the language +of John to indicate which of these various +feasts is the one here intended. Some manuscripts +have indeed the words, <em>the</em> feast of the +Jews, and if this reading were correct it would +unquestionably designate the Passover; but the +weight of authority is against it. The question +is one which has provoked a vast deal of discussion, +but no general agreement. It is important +only in determining the chronology of the life of +Christ, and is itself so far undetermined that it +cannot be of great value even for that purpose. +I think it clear (<i>a</i>) that it could not be the feast +of Dedication, which took place in the winter, +when it is not probable that the sick would be +lying in the porches of Bethesda; (<i>b</i>) nor the +feast of Purim, though this has been maintained +by some eminent modern scholars, as Wieseler, +Godet, Olshausen, Ellicott, and Meyer; for +there is no evidence that the Jews generally went +up to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Purim, +and no reason to believe that our Lord would + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> +have gone there in honor of a festival which was +purely national, not directed by the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, +observed not in connection with the temple +service, but privately at home, and often, if not +generally, with rioting and excess, rather than +with religious services. I agree therefore with +Alford and Tholuck that we cannot gather with +any probability what feast it was.—​<b>And Jesus +went up to Jerusalem.</b> Presumptively to +attend the feast.—​<b>By the sheep-market.</b> +Rather <dfn>sheep-gate</dfn>. See <abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 3:1, 32; 12:39. +The site is unknown. The traditional site, +identical with the gate now known as <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> +Stephen’s, is pretty effectually disproved by +Robinson, who shows that no wall was existing +there at the time of Christ.—​<b>A pool.</b> Properly +<dfn>a swimming-place</dfn>. Pools for purposes of bathing +were in use in the great cities of the old world; +and recent excavations have brought to light the +fact that ancient Jerusalem was in a remarkable +degree supplied with water. See below.—​<b>Called +Bethesda.</b> The word means <dfn>House +of mercy</dfn>. The location is entirely uncertain. +Tradition places it near the modern <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Stephen’s +gate; but this tradition dates back only to the +12th century.—​<b>Having five porches.</b> Opening +upon the bath or tank. In these the sick could lie +and be partially protected from the weather.—​<b>In +these lay a great multitude of impotent, +blind, halt, withered.</b> Four classes intended +to embrace all forms of purely bodily disorder +of a chronic character, but not including those +possessed of evil spirits. The <em>impotent</em> are those +simply suffering from special weakness and infirmity +or from general debility; the <em>halt</em> are those +deprived from any reason of the full and free +use of their limbs; the <em>withered</em> are those +affected by paralysis or kindred disorders.—​<b>Waiting +for the moving of the water * * * * +was made whole of whatever +disease he had.</b> Whether this explanation, <i>i. e.</i>, +the last clause of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 3 and the whole of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 4, +is genuine or a later interpolation, is a question +of dispute among the critics; the weight of +authority is, on the whole, in favor of its omission; +the weight of reason is wholly so. (<i>a</i>) +The external evidence is, on the whole, against +its retention. It is wanting in the Vatican, +Cambridge, and Sinaitic manuscripts; in those +manuscripts in which it occurs, the verbal variations +are considerable. Tischendorf, Meyer, +Alford, and Tregelles all declare against it. +(<i>b</i>) The internal evidence is conclusive. If it +had been in the original, the early copyists +would not have omitted it; for in the first +centuries there was no such reluctance to accept +the supernatural, and no such discrimination +between wonders that are and wonders that are +not miracles, as would have induced its omission. +On the other hand, if no explanation of +the reason why the sick were gathered in the +porches of Bethesda were given in the original +account, it would have been very natural for +copyists to have supplied the omission by inserting +one. (<i>c</i>) The explanation offered by the +doubtful passage is itself incredible. It is a marvel, +but it is in no sense a miracle. The irregular +and fitful appearance of help by such an angelic +visitor, would have witnessed to no truth, would +have had no tendency to confer faith in God or +his grace. “That God would thus miraculously +interpose to throw down from time to time a +boon among a company of cripples, to be seized +by the most forward, selfish, and eager, leaving +the most helpless and miserable to be overwhelmed +again and again with bitter disappointment, +is a supposition not admissible.”—(<cite>Jacob +Abbott’s Notes on the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr></cite>) (<i>d</i>) These +considerations have led the latest and best +scholars, with substantial unanimity, to omit +the explanatory words of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 4, and latter clause +of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 3. So Alford, Tholuck, Ebrard, Trench, +Olshausen, Meyer, Tischendorf, and Tregelles. +But though it is no part of the sacred record, it +probably correctly states what was the popular +belief among the Jews, or at least among such +as resorted to this spring for cure. The real +basis of this belief is indicated by recent researches. +These have made it evident that the +pools in and about Jerusalem were connected +with each other by underground aqueducts. +Dr. Robinson gives an account of his exploration +of such an aqueduct connecting two pools, +the Fountain of the Virgin and the Pool of +Siloam. He satisfied himself that water flowed +from the one to the other reservoir, and he +witnessed the “troubling of the water” in the +Fountain of the Virgin. “We perceived the +water rapidly bubbling up from under the lower +step. In less than five minutes it had risen in +the basin nearly or quite a foot; and we could +hear it gurgling off through the interior passage. + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> +In ten minutes more it had ceased to flow; and +the water in the basin was again reduced to its +former level.” His observation has been since +confirmed by others. It is now difficult to see +how the Fountain of the Virgin could ever have +been surrounded by porches or made a resting-place +for the sick; and it is quite certain that +the Fountain of the Virgin cannot be asserted +with any positiveness to have been the Pool of +Bethesda. But these discoveries indicate the +probably true explanation of the troubling of +the water mentioned, not by John it will be +remembered, but by some subsequent copyist, +in the text. The Pool of Bethesda, probably, +was connected by an underground passage with +some intermittent spring, possibly possessing +healing virtues, and the bubbling of the water +from time to time gave rise to the legend of an +angelic visitant, which certain of the Jews accepted, +but which the Evangelist does not confirm, +and to which there is no reference in other +literature.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> +thirty and eight years.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 When Jesus saw him lie, and<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> knew that he had +been now a long time <em>in that case</em>, he saith unto him, +Wilt thou be made whole?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> no +man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the +pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down +before me.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise,<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> take up thy bed, and +walk.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 And immediately the man was made whole, and +took up his bed, and walked: and on<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> the same day +was the sabbath.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">[162]</a> + Luke 8:43; 13:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">[163]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 142:3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">[164]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 32:36; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 72:12; 142:4; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:6; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:9, 10.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">[165]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:6; Mark 2:11; Luke 5:24.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">[166]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_14">9:14</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>5-9. Which had an infirmity.</b> The original +implies rather a loss of power than a positive +disease; probably it was a nervous disease of +the paralytic type.—​<b>Thirty and eight years.</b> +The words “in that case,” are added by the +translator, but they correctly convey the meaning, +which is not that he had been at the Pool of +Bethesda, but that he had been diseased that +length of time.—​<b>Wilt thou be made whole?</b> +Why this question? Not necessarily because +there was any reasonable doubt whether the +man desired healing; nor because Christ required, +as a conditional preliminary, the man’s +assent to healing on the Sabbath; nor because +he would imply blame, as though the man’s +long infirmity were the result of his own weakness +of will; nor, surely, because he would +indicate that he was an impostor and desired to +use his apparent but exaggerated infirmity to +appeal to the compassion of others. All these +hypotheses have been suggested. But Christ +almost, if not quite, always requires on the part +of the healed some act of the will precedent to +and concurrent with his act of grace; the cured +are never merely receptive and quiescent. I +believe there is a deep religious meaning in this, +for every miracle is a parable of redemption, and +that our Lord would teach us that it is only as +we will to be made whole that any wholeness is +possible for us, even through omnipotent divine +grace. In this particular case it is certainly true +that the man might have traded on his infirmity +and not really desired to be cured; and though +Christ’s knowledge of character would have +rendered the question unnecessary for his own +information, it was not unnecessary to make it +clear to others that he was acting in sympathy +with the man, nor was it unimportant as a disclosure +to the man himself that he must rouse +himself from the lethargy of despair, and lay +hold, by hope, on the salvation brought to him.—​<b>I +have no man.</b> It is the friendless who +appeals peculiarly to the Friend of the sinful +and the suffering.—​<b>Rise, take up thy bed +and walk.</b> The original (<span lang="el">κράββατόν</span>) implies a +small, low bedstead. See for illustration Mark +2:4, note. Here, however, the term may be +used in a more general way, and may imply +simply a mattress which served as a couch by +day and a bed by night. Observe the command +to <cite>take up the bed</cite>. This apparently was not +necessary; I can conceive but two reasons +for it; one to emphasize the perfection of the +cure, the other to provoke the controversy with +the Pharisees respecting the Sabbath, and thus +make it the occasion for the discourse which +follows.—​<b>Immediately.</b> The instantaneousness +of the cure indicates its miraculous character; +so does its permanence. He was cured +instantly; he was cured so thoroughly that he +could not only walk, but could carry his bed; +and he remained cured.</p> + +<p>I have already said that the miracles are +parables of redemption. Of no one of the miracles +is this more strikingly true than of the +present one. The diseased man has been a long +time sick. He is helpless, friendless, in despair. +He waits for an imagined moving of the water, +an expected divine cure that is to come without +act or interposition on his part; and it never +comes. Christ calls first his will into exercise: +Wilt thou be made whole? then bids him do: +“Rise, take up thy bed;” and in the choice and +the <em>obedience</em>, by faith indeed, but by the faith +which chooses and obeys, he is made instantly +and permanently well.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, +It is the sabbath day:<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> it is not lawful for thee to +carry <em>thy</em> bed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="label">[167]</a> + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 17:21, etc.; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:2, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 He answered them. He that made me whole, the +same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 Then asked they him, What man is that which +said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 And he that was healed wist<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> not who it was: for +Jesus had conveyed<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> himself away, a multitude being +in <em>that</em> place.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="label">[168]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_9">14:9</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="label">[169]</a> + Luke 4:30.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>10-13. It is not lawful for thee to carry +thy bed.</b> The general Sabbath command was, +Thou shalt do no work. Nehemiah, enforcing +this command, forbade the carriage of commercial +burdens (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 13:19</span>). From this the Pharisees, +with their accustomed literalism, had +deduced the doctrine that nothing must be carried +on the Sabbath. To forbid this man from +carrying his bed was like forbidding a modern, +man to move a chair or a campstool. Either he + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> +must have left his bed at the pool, to be stolen, +or he must have stayed there to watch it, or he +must have been allowed to take it home with +him. For the Pharisaic regulations respecting +the Sabbath, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> + 12:2, note.—​<b>He that +made me whole said unto me.</b> The man +knew nothing about Christ or his authority. +His idea appears to have been that Christ +proved his right to give the command, Take up +thy bed and walk, by his miracle of healing.—​<b>What +man is it that said unto thee, Take +up thy bed.</b> Observe the spirit of the Pharisees. +Their question is not, Who healed thee? +but, Who said unto thee, Take up thy bed and +walk? They are blind to the miracle; they can +see only the Sabbath violation, as they regard it.—​<b>A +multitude being in that place.</b> Christ +had stopped a moment, spoken the word of +healing, and passed on into the crowd. All was +over in an instant, and because of the crowd +Christ escaped the man’s identification. This +was early in his ministry; he was not yet widely +known and thronged, as later in life. Observe +the indications of the nature of belief, an obedient +trust, not a correct intellectual apprehension. +This man had faith enough to be healed because +faith to obey Christ’s directions despite Pharisaic +criticism; yet he knew nothing of Christ’s +person, character, or work; did not even know +who he was. It is possible to have faith in even +an unknown Christ.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and +said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> no +more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="label">[170]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_11">8:11</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was +Jesus, which had made him whole.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and +sought to slay him, because he had done these things +on the sabbath day.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>14-16. In the temple.</b> Possibly an indication +that the divine grace of healing had already +acted as a means of spiritual quickening.—​<b>Sin +no more, lest</b>, etc. A plain indication that the +man’s disease, probably some form of paralysis, +was an effect of sin. See note on <a href="#ch9_1"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 9:1</a>. Here, +as almost everywhere, Christ makes the physical +healing minister to a spiritual cure.—​<b>And reported +to the Judeans that it was Jesus +which had made him whole.</b> They asked +who bade him carry his bed; he replied that it +was Jesus who healed him. They asked to condemn, +he answered so as to honor Christ.—​<b>And +therefore did the Judeans come in pursuit +of Jesus.</b> Here, as very generally throughout +his gospel, John uses the word Jews (<span lang="el">Ἰουδαῖος</span>) +to signify not generally the members of the Hebrew +race, but distinctly the inhabitants of the +province of Judea. I therefore render it here +and elsewhere by the more distinctive word Judeans. +His language indicates not a legal persecution, +but a malicious pursuit. Norton translates +as I have, Came in pursuit of Jesus. +This is the literal rendering of the original verb +(<span lang="el">διώκω</span>), which however generally, though not +always, indicates a pursuit with an evil intent. +Here the meaning is not that the general cause +of the persecution which Christ suffered in Judea +was his supposed Sabbath violation, but that in +this particular instance they pursued him to call +him to account for this particular act of Sabbath +breaking. It is always the nature of the ceremonialist +to care more for the ceremony than for +man.—​<b>And sought to slay him.</b> These words +do not belong here. They have been added to +explain and correspond with the expression in +<a href="#ch5_18">verse 18</a>, Sought the more to kill him. They are +omitted by Alford, Meyer, Norton, and all the +best critical authorities.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><b>17-47.</b> In the study of the discourse which +follows, beware of considering it simply verse by +verse. It is not a collection of incidental aphorisms, +but a connected address, the theme being +the character, mission, authority, and credentials +of the Son of God. The Pharisees call Christ to +account for healing on the Sabbath; he cites in +his defence the example of his heavenly Father. +They seize upon his language, deduce from it the +conclusion that he makes himself equal with God, +and charge him with blasphemy. This serves as +the text of the discourse which follows. He declares +that he comes not to draw allegiance from, +but to, the Father; that he acts under the +Father’s will; that to him the Father has committed +the whole work of grace on the earth; +that he is even now raising the spiritually dead +to life; that he is to raise the physically dead to +a new life; and that he will finally complete this +work entrusted to him, by declaring and executing +the divine judgment. The evidence of +his mission and authority is not in his own +words; he is testified to by John the Baptist; +by his own life and work; and by the Scriptures +of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> He closes by pointing out the +secret cause of the Jews’ rejection of him, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, +their personal ambition. Beware, too, of imputing +to the words a dogmatic meaning borrowed +from later ecclesiastical controversies, which +they did not bear in the minds of his hearers at + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> +the time. There is little or nothing here +respecting the relations of the Son to the +Father, except as the language throughout +implies that the Son is subordinate to and +dependent upon the Father; but the relation +of the Son to the human race is clearly revealed, +the relation of life-giver and judge, and is certainly +not that of any man, however endowed, +to his fellow-men. Nevertheless this address +contains the christology of Jesus Christ, his own +teaching concerning his own character and work; +and it clearly implies, on the one hand, that he +not only represents the Father, as an ambassador +might represent a king, that he is not only +clothed with divine authority, as Moses was +clothed, in the administration of the theocracy, +with the authority of God, but that he is a +partaker of the divine nature; nor less clearly, +on the other hand, does it imply that his authority +is derived from the Father, that his power is +conferred on him by the Father, that he executes +in all things the will of the Father, that he is to +be conceived of not as distinct from, but as one +with the Father, and that his object is in all +things to be a way unto the Father. Against +every form of tri-theism, against all substitution +of the Son in the place of the Father, this discourse +is a solemn and earnest admonition, no +less than against all belittling of either his character +to that of man or angel, or his mission to +that of mere messenger or teacher.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 But Jesus answered them, + My<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> Father worketh +hitherto, and I work.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="label">[171]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_4">9:4</a>, <a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>17. My Father worketh hitherto, and I +work.</b> The argument is very brief; it is based +on the premises that we are to be followers of +God as dear children (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:1</span>), that the Father’s +work is a pattern for our own working. It +gives color to the opinion that the days of creation +are long eons or periods; that the seventh +day, which God blessed and on which he rested, +is the present period in which the mere physical +work of creation has given place to the higher +work of redemption; thus the Sabbath of God +becomes both interpreted and an interpreter to +us of what our Sabbath should be. The divine +work does not cease; the grass grows, the buds +swell, the flowers bloom, the fruits ripen, the +rains fall, the winds <span style="white-space:nowrap;">blow,—but</span> all this is the +work of love; over all this work God’s tender +mercies brood (<span class="muchsmaller">Psalm 145:9</span>). The lesson of nature +interpreted here by Christ is that the work of +love is never a violation of the true Sabbath law. +This verse, with <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:8 and Mark 2:27, +give the three canons for the Christian observance +of the Sabbath. (1) The Son of man is +Lord also of the Sabbath. It is then a Christian +day, belongs to the Christian dispensation, is +under the Lordship of Christ and in his kingdom, +and is to be kept in that spirit of joyous +freedom with which Christ makes free. (2) The +Sabbath is made for man. It is therefore man’s +day; belongs to all men, Gentile and Jew, poor +and rich; a day to be used <em>for</em> man; so that +whatever work is necessary to the real abiding +welfare of the human race, is not foreign to this +day. (3) My Father worketh hitherto. The +Father’s work is the example and the law for +his children; the work of love, the work for +others, the work that has tender mercy for its +inspiration and its overseer, is Sabbath work. +It is to be our rest-day as it is our heavenly +Father’s rest-day, and only so; a prophecy of +that eternal rest which will be one of glorious +activity: a rest from care, from worldliness, +from the common temptations of life, but not +a day of mere dull cessation of labor.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> him, +because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said +also that God was his Father, making<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> himself equal +with God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="label">[172]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_19">7:19</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="label">[173]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_30">10:30</a>, <a href="#ch10_33">33</a>; + <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 13:7; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18. Because he had not only broken +the Sabbath.</b> Literally <dfn>relaxed</dfn> (<span lang="el">λύω</span>) the Sabbath. +See note on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:19 for meaning of +the word. The Pharisees then, as the literalists +now, believe that the sanctity of the Sabbath +could only be preserved by putting the soul +under bonds to a literal compliance with specific +regulations. Christ broke these bonds asunder, +gave the soul liberty, and preserved the Sabbath +by inspiring the souls of his disciples with allegiance +to himself, love for humanity, and sympathy +with the redeeming work of the Father. +He did relax what they supposed to be essential +to the preservation of the day, but what +was really destroying it. To keep this poor +man on his bed, or watching it to prevent it +from being stolen, would have destroyed for +him the rest of the day, in order that he might +comply with the letter of the Pharisaic regulations. +So he who rides in a horse-car rather +than remain away from church, or travels late +Saturday night or early Sunday morning rather +than destroy his Sabbath by spending it with +strangers, seems to the Sabbatarian of to-day to +be relaxing the Sabbath, while he may be in truth +preserving it.—​<b>But said also that God was +his own Father.</b> (<span lang="el">πατέρα ἴδιον</span>.) Norton +renders the sense accurately though freely, <cite>Had +spoken of God as particularly his Father</cite>. The +meaning of the original will be indicated to the +English reader by <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:32, “Spared not <em>his +own</em> Son;” 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:18, “Sinneth against <em>his +own</em> body;” 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 7:2, “Have <em>her own</em> husband.” +It is clear that the Jews either did +understand Christ by his language to claim + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> +peculiar relations with God, or pretended so +to do. In his mere reference to God as Father +there was no such claim, for he bids us +all call him our Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 6:6, 7</span>). True, in the +language “<em>my</em> Father,” most commentators see +a ground for the interpretation put upon his +language by the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Judeans:—thus</span> Meyer: “They +rightly interpreted ‘my Father’ as signifying +peculiar and personal fatherhood;” Bengel: +“The Only-begotten alone can say, ‘my Father’;” +similarly Alford, Tholuck, and others. +There is perhaps some ground for this view. +Yet I can hardly think that Christ’s mere +designation of God as “<em>my</em> Father” implies +more than Paul’s “Abba Father” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:15</span>), +which Luther renders “dear Father,” or the +frequent designation of God as <em>my</em> God by the patriarchs, +and especially by David. See for example, +<abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 15:2; 1 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 28:20; +2 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 18:13; +<abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 22:1, 10; 38:21; 71:12; +2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 12:21; +<abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:19. And in Psalm 89:26; +<abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 3:4, man +is directed by God to apply this very phrase +“my Father” in his address to God. I believe +then that the statement that Jesus said that +God was <em>in a peculiar sense</em> his Father, and the +deduction that he thus made himself equal to +God, are the malicious wresting of his words by +the Judeans, for the very purpose of finding an +occasion of offence. They manifested the same +spirit in John 10:31, etc., though there they +have better ground for the interpretation which +they put upon his words. In the discourse +which follows, Christ does not hold them to +their original charge respecting the Sabbath. +He follows them into the new ground which +they have entered on, and expounds his true +nature and mission.—​<b>Making himself equal +with God.</b> “On the same level with God” +(<cite>Meyer</cite>); “On an equality with God” (<cite>Norton</cite>); +“Of the same nature and condition” +(<cite>Robinson</cite>). The language of Jesus, his claim +of the right to work because the Father works, +and his language <em>My Father</em>, the Judeans regard +as embodying an assumption that he is of the +divine nature and possesses the divine prerogatives. +That they so interpreted his language +does not prove that it is to be so interpreted. +The Pharisees are not authorized interpreters of +the words of Christ. His claim we must interpret +for ourselves from the discourse which +follows. How far does he correct and how far +confirm their interpretation? It seems to me +clear that at the very outset he materially modifies +it, in his declaration of his obedience to and +dependence upon and work under the Father +(<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_19"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 19</a></span>), while he confirms the substantial idea +that he possesses the same nature as the Father, +is, so to speak, of kin to Him, by his declaration +that he does what the Father does (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_19"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 19</a></span>), shares +in all the counsels of the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_20"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 20</a></span>), gives +life to the dead as the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_21"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 21</a></span>), judges all +men for the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_22"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 22</a></span>), is to be honored as +the representative of the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_23"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 23</a></span>), is the +door through which all must enter into eternal +life in the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_24"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 24</a></span>), and is the final Resurrection +and Judge for the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_25"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 25-29</a></span>); yet +at the close he again emphasizes the truth that +in all this he is not a second or even subordinate +God, but the One through whom the Father +does all (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_30"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 30</a></span>), the one mediator between God +and man (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:5</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, +verily, I say unto you,<a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> The Son can do nothing of +himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what +things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son +likewise.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="label">[174]</a> + verse <a href="#ch5_30">30</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 For<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth +him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew +him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="label">[175]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_35">3:35</a>; <a href="#ch17_26">17:26</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>19, 20. Verily, verily.</b> A formula used +by Christ in cases of important and emphatic +affirmation.—​<b>The Son can do nothing of +himself</b>, <i>i. e.</i>, of his own will or authority. +“Of myself (<span lang="el">ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ</span>), <i>i. e.</i>, of one’s own will +or accord, without authority or command from +another.”—(<abbr title="Robinson"><cite>Rob.</cite></abbr> 24, art. <span lang="el">ἀπό</span>.) This declaration +cannot be limited, as by Calvin, to the power of +Christ in his human nature, without, adding to +the verse what is not in it, nor in its necessary +connection; nor can we read it, as Chrysostom +does, that Christ can do nothing contrary to his +Father’s will, because of the perfect union between +them, for this is clearly not the meaning +of the original. Christ says not, I can do +nothing contrary to my Father, but, I can do +nothing <em>of myself</em> by my own independent and +original power. The meaning of the original is +transparent, though the truth is transcendent. +This is that <em>the power of Christ is not an original +but a derived power</em>; that it comes from +the Father and is a power only to do those +things which carry out the Father’s will. As +the Christian can do nothing without Christ +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_5">15:5</a></span>), yet can do all things through Christ +strengthening him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:13</span>), so Christ can do +nothing without the Father, but does all things +by virtue of a divine power imparted to him by the +Father, and as a manifestation of the Father. +This is a partial answer to the charge that +Christ makes himself equal to the Father. He +show’s that so far from doing anything calculated +to draw away allegiance from the Father, +he draws allegiance to the Father, since in all +that he does he acts out only the Father’s will. +He is divine because of the divinity with which he +has, so to speak, been clothed by the Father’s + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> +love.—​<b>But what he seeth the Father do.</b> +“A familiar description, borrowed from the +attention which children give to their <span style="white-space:nowrap;">father—of</span> +the inner and immediate intention which the +Son perpetually has of the Father’s will, in the +perfect consciousness of fellowship of life with +Him.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>)—<b>Whatsoever things he +doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.</b> +<em>In like manner</em> (<span lang="el">ὁμοίως</span>), that is, with like power +and authority. This surely could be said of no +man, no angel. It indicates not only a superhuman +but also a super-angelic character. Thus +this verse puts in a very compact form the paradox +of Christ’s character—a paradox not to be +explained away by either modifications of the first +clause or denials of the second. The first clause +asserts that Christ’s power comes from the +Father, and thus, in a sense, is not equal to +that of the Father, which is uncreated and +underived. And with this declaration agree +many other passages of Scripture. See for +example, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_17">7:17</a>, +<a href="#ch7_18">18</a>; <a href="#ch8_42">8:42</a>; <a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> +2:9; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:9; 3:2. The second clause +asserts that this power, conferred upon the +Son, is that of the Father, who has put all +things into the hands of the Son that he may +be Lord of all. Acts 10:36; James 5:9; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> +1:16, 17; 3:11. It is noticeable that John, +who of all Evangelists makes most clear the +divine nature of Christ, as well as his divine mission, +is the one who more clearly than any other +of the evangelists asserts his dependence on the +Father.—​<b>For the Father loveth the Son</b>, etc. +This is stated as the reason why the Son is able to +do all things that the Father doeth. His power +is derived from the Father through the Father’s +love for him. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:9.—​<b>And showeth +him all things.</b> “He who loves hides nothing.”—(<cite>Bengel.</cite>)—<b>He +will show him greater works +than these.</b> Greater miracles than the healing +of the impotent man. Far greater works were +done later in Christ’s ministry in Jerusalem and +vicinity, the consummation being the raising of +Lazarus from the dead.—​<b>That ye may marvel.</b> +Here the verb <dfn>marvel</dfn> (<span lang="el">θαυμάζω</span>) is used with the +idea of praise as well as wonder. The object of +the wonderful works of God is not merely to +awaken the wonder of mankind, but, through +the wonder, the reverence and so the allegiance +of mankind to the Father through Christ his +Son.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth +<em>them</em>; even<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> so the Son quickeneth whom he +will.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="label">[176]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_25">11:25</a>; <a href="#ch17_2">17:2</a>; + Luke 8:54.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> +all judgment unto the Son;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="label">[177]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:27; Acts 17:31; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 That all <em>men</em> should honour the Son, even as they +honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth +not the Father which hath sent him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>21-23. For as the Father raiseth up the +dead and maketh them to live, even so +the Son, whom he will, makes to live.</b> +Observe, (1) that the verbs in this sentence are in +the present tense; Christ is therefore speaking +of a <em>present</em> resurrection, one now taking place. +(2) That this resurrection is one recognized +among men, not one taking place in the invisible +world (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_23"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 23</a></span>). (3) That as the result of this +resurrection, the raised pass from death unto +life (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_24"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 24</a></span>). (4) That a universal resurrection is +not indicated, but only of those whom <em>he wills</em> +to raise (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_21"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 21</a></span>). It is then not of a future resurrection +of all men at the last day, nor of a present +resurrection of the literally dead taking place as +they die, that Christ here speaks, but of a spiritual +resurrection, taking place on the earth, confined +to those whom the Saviour calls and who +hear and answer his call, and so manifest to men +that it is recognized as a sign of the Saviour’s +power. As Christ has power on earth to forgive +sins (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 2:10</span>), so also he has power to raise the +dead in trespasses and sins. Thus he is now, as +he will be in another sense in the last day, the +resurrection and the life (<span class="muchsmaller">John 11:25</span>). This theme +of a spiritual resurrection and life-giving occupies +verses 21-27; then by a natural transition Christ +passes to the future resurrection of the physical +dead. Be not surprised, he says in substance, at +my declarations respecting the spiritual resurrection; +for the final resurrection shall also be at +my voice. Be not surprised at my claim to be +now a judge, for the great day of judgment the +Father has also committed into my hands.—​<b>Whom +he will.</b> This phrase does not indicate +“that he specially confers this grace on none but +certain men, that is, on the elect” (<cite>Calvin</cite>); nor +can we say that “He will not quicken others because +they believe not” (<cite>Meyer</cite>), for though this +is true, it is neither asserted, nor even hinted at +here; nor is the meaning merely that “in every +instance where his will is to vivify, the result invariably +follows” (<cite>Alford</cite>). Clearly the indication +of the passage is that spiritual life has its +source, not in the will of the sinner but in that of +the Saviour (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_13">1:13</a>; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 9:16</span>); but the reason +why the divine will apparently chooses some +and not others, whether for reasons in human +character and choice, or for inscrutable reasons, +not explained nor indeed explicable, is not here +hinted at.—​<b>For the Father judgeth no man.</b> +The whole work of judgment, the whole moral +government of the world, the whole course of +divine Providence, as regards the nation, the +church, and the individual, is entrusted to the +Son. See Psalm 2; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:5.—​<b>That all men +should honor the Son even as they honor + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> +the Father.</b> There is some reasonable ground +for a difference of opinion as to the proper interpretation +of the preceding verses, which treat of +the relations of the Father to the Son; and +Christian critics are not wholly agreed respecting +their meaning. But there can be no room for +difference of opinion as to the meaning of this +verse, which gives the practical outcome of those +which precede. Whatever opinion the theologian +may entertain concerning the mystery of +Christ’s nature, the Christian can hardly doubt +the plain teaching of Scripture that the highest +allegiance that the soul can pay to its God, the +highest love it can offer, the highest reverence it +can experience, are all due to the Son. <em>Even as</em> +signifies the manner and the degree. So in +heaven the highest praises are paid to the Lamb +slain from the foundation of the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:12; +7:10</span>).—​<b>He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth +not the Father which hath sent +him.</b> Not because the failure to honor an ambassador +is a failure to honor the king whom he +represents, but because the honor paid to God +belongs to his character, and of that character +the Son is the manifestation; so that the soul +that does not honor the Son, who is the brightness +of the Father’s image, and who doeth all +things which the Father does, and as the Father +does them, does not really honor the Father. In +truth, he who does not recognize in Christ the +Son of the Father, the true image of the divine +glory, has either no true conception of the Son +or none of the Father; for the only way to the +Father is the Son. And in fact, those forms of +theological doctrine which have tended to belittle +Christ have also tended, in the history of the +church, to dwarf worship.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> that heareth +my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath +everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; +but is passed<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> from death unto life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="label">[178]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_40">6:40</a>, <a href="#ch6_47">47</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="label">[179]</a> + 1 John 3:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He +that heareth me and hath faith on him +that sent me, hath eternal life, and comes +not into judgment, but has passed out of +the death into the life.</b> The meaning of this +declaration is not obscure, though it has been +sometimes obscured by unbelief. To <em>hear the +word of Christ</em> is to hear it with the spiritual ear, +not merely with the physical ear. Thus those +may be included who have never heard of the +historic Christ; for as he is the Light of the +world, who lighteth <em>every man</em> who cometh into +the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_9">1:9</a>, note</span>), so those who, without the +literal hearing of his words, do hear and attend +to the message which he speaks to the soul, in +the inner experience, are to be included among +those who hear his words. To <em>have faith on him +that sent me</em>, is not merely to believe his written +word, nor to believe that he has sent Christ into +the world, nor to believe any specific dogma respecting +Christ, however important, but to have +faith in an unseen divinity, in contrast to faith in +either one’s self or in any human helper. It is to +direct faith toward this unseen God that Christ +came into the world; and to have faith in Christ +is to have faith in the Father who sent him, +in order that he might bring all unto the Father, +and present all to him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch17_8">17:8</a>, <a href="#ch17_21">21</a>, <a href="#ch17_24">24</a></span>). <em>Cometh not +into judgment</em> is mistranslated in our English version, +<em>Shall not come into condemnation</em>. The verb +is not future, and the noun is judgment, not condemnation. +“There can be no good reason why +the word (<span lang="el">κρίσις</span>, <dfn>krisis</dfn>) should be rendered <dfn>judgment</dfn> +in the 22d verse, and <dfn>condemnation</dfn> in the +24th. But from a fear, I suppose, lest the one +should seem to contradict the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">other—lest</span> the +Son should be thought not to execute the judgment +that had been committed to <span style="white-space:nowrap;">him—they</span> (the +translators) were unfaithful to the letter, perhaps +even more unfaithful to the spirit, of the +passage.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>) The promise is one fulfilled +in this life, a promise of present not merely +future deliverance, and of a deliverance not +merely from condemnation, but from judgment. +If the Christian comes into judgment, he would +also inevitably come into condemnation (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:8, +10</span>). The meaning of this verse then is, that +when the soul has accepted Christ as its Master, +hearing his words, and following him, for spiritual +hearing involves following (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch10_3">10:3</a>, <a href="#ch10_4">4</a></span>) so as +to live by faith in God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 2:20</span>), he is no longer +subject to divine judgment; there is no more +condemnation to them who are thus in Christ +Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:1</span>). With this is involved the further +truth that there will be no true judgment +for them in the last day. “The reckoning which +ends with ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’ +is not judgment; the reward is of free grace. +In this sense the believers in Christ will not be +judged according to their works; they are justified +before God by faith, and by God.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) +Finally, the last clause of the verse, <cite>but hath +passed out of death into life</cite>, indicates the true +condition of both the impenitent and the believer; +the one is already in death, from which +he can only be delivered by the Life-giver; the +other has already entered into eternal life. This +is not a future reward reserved for him; it begins +here and now, though it is to be consummated +hereafter. <em>The</em> life is spiritual life, <em>the</em> +death spiritual death. Of these great realities + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> +physical life and death are but tropes and +symbols.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 Verily, verily, I say unto you. The hour is coming, +and now is, when the dead<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> shall hear the voice +of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="label">[180]</a> + verse <a href="#ch5_28">28</a>; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he +given to the Son to have life<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> in himself;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="label">[181]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:45.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 And hath given him authority<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> to execute judgment +also, because he is the Son of man.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="label">[182]</a> + verse <a href="#ch5_22">22</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25-27. The hour is coming, and now is, +when</b>, etc. The resurrection here spoken of is +then one already taking place. In order to meet +this evident requirement of the verse, those +commentators who regard Christ as throughout +this passage speaking of the final resurrection +suppose here a reference to the cases of resurrection +which took place in connection with his +ministry. But none such had as yet taken place; +moreover, this construction requires us to suppose +that Christ used the word <em>life</em> in one sense +in the preceding verse and in another sense here, +without giving any indication of the change of +meaning. His reference then I believe to be +here, as throughout this passage up to verse 28, +to spiritual death and spiritual resurrection.—​<b>For +as the Father hath life in himself, so +he hath given to the Son to have life in +himself.</b> Norton renders this somewhat enigmatical +verse liberally, thus: “For as the Father +is the fountain of life, so hath he given to the +Son to be the fountain of life.” This must be +regarded rather as a paraphrase than as a translation; +but it embodies well the meaning of the +verse, as indicated by the context. No man is a +fountain of life to any other man. He may be a +conduit, but not a source. It is given to Christ +to be a source of life himself to others. We live +only as we draw continuously our life from God; +to the Son the Father has given life in such a +sense that he becomes himself the life of the +world, and thus the life-giver to the dead.—​<b>Because +he is a Son of man.</b> Not, as in the +English version, <em>the</em> Son of man. The omission +of the article is significant, for without the article +the phrase son of man means simply one of the +human race; with the article it always means +the Messiah. Here then the meaning is that +Christ is to be the judge of all the earth, because +he has taken on himself human nature. Why is +this any reason that he should be the judge of +the world? The answer is, I think, indicated by +<abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 5:15: “We have not an high-priest which +cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, +but was tempted in all points like as we +are, yet without sin.” Our judge is chosen, because +he knows our frame, he understands sympathetically +our temptations, is able to make +allowances for all infirmities and weaknesses of +humanity, and for all trials of life, and able, also, +to measure at their true worth the false excuses +with which we endeavor to excuse ourselves to +ourselves and to our fellows. Other explanations, +for which in detail see Meyer, as that judgment +is a necessary part of redemption, or that +it belongs to Christ as the Messiah, or that it is +given to him as a reward for accepting the humility +of human nature, seem to me to be inadmissible. +Judgment is not a part of redemption; +it is in no true sense redemptive; the +phrase <em>a</em> son of man never means the Messiah; +and it would be no reward to a tender and loving +nature to exercise judgment, except as it afforded +an opportunity for the exercise of mercy in +judgment.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the +which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 And shall come forth; they<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> that have done good, +unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done +evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="label">[183]</a> + <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 12:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="label">[184]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 25:46.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>28, 29. Marvel not at this.</b> Not only because +the greater wonder absorbs the less (<cite>Meyer</cite>), +but also because there is nothing strange in +the declaration that he who is to be the final +judge of all flesh should exercise judgment now +on men, and he who is to be the final resurrection +and the life should be the resurrection and the +life in the spiritual realm now.—​<b>For the hour +is coming.</b> He does not add <em>and now is</em>, for +now he is speaking not of a present resurrection, +but of one to take place only in the future.—​<b>All +that are in their graves shall hear his +voice, and shall come forth.</b> A voice like +the sound of a trumpet (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:10</span>), and like the +sound of many waters (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:15</span>), that is, like the +roar of the ocean for fullness and power. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:16. The entire language is highly +figurative. If literally interpreted it would +seem to imply a bodily resurrection, and it is +apparently so understood by some of the commentators, +<i>e. g.</i>, Alford and Olshausen; but it is +evident that it cannot be literally interpreted. +Thus the dead do not in a literal sense hear his +voice; their arousing is not that of literal sleepers +who have been awakened by a voice. The +doctrine that death is a sleep, that the soul remains +in an unconscious state till the resurrection, +and that the life is then anew given to the +soul simultaneously with the re-creation of the +body from the dust, is so inconsistent with the +plain teaching of Scripture in many passages (<span class="muchsmaller">see +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:36-38, 50, 51</span>), that it cannot be sustained by +doubtful interpretations of pictorial passages +like the present one. How little ground there is +for the opinion that the Bible supports a doctrine +of a literal and universal bodily resurrection, +will be evident to the student who considers the +force of the following passages, which are said +by Olshausen, and quoted with apparent approval +by Alford, both of whom seem to believe +in a literal resurrection of the body, to be the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> +only passages in Scripture which imply a resurrection +of the bodies of the impenitent: Acts +24:15; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:28; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 25:34, etc.; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> +20:5, 12; <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 12:2. No one of these directly +asserts the resurrection of the body, and some +of them can hardly be said even remotely to imply +it. The doctrine is directly inconsistent with +the teaching of Paul in 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 15. See notes +there.—​<b>They that have done good unto the +resurrection of life.</b> That is, unto a resurrection +the necessary result of which is life, life +in the Messiah’s kingdom.—​(<cite>Meyer.</cite>)—<b>And they +that have practised evil.</b> The righteous +have <em>done</em> <span style="white-space:nowrap;">good—their</span> fruit remains; the wicked +have only <em>practised</em> <span style="white-space:nowrap;">evil—their</span> works do not follow +them. The wheat is garnered into the storehouses; +the chaff is destroyed. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_20">3:20</a>, +<a href="#ch3_21">21</a>.—​<b>Unto the resurrection of judgment.</b> +Observe again that only they that have done evil +come into judgment (<span class="muchsmaller">verse <a href="#ch5_24">24</a>, note</span>). Observe too +that it is they that have done good to whom is +given the gift of eternal life, and they that have +practised evil that enter into judgment. The +test, and the only test of character which the +New Testament recognizes, is that of fruit in the +actual life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr>7:20; 12:33; 25:31-46; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:6; +1 John 3:7, 8</span>). The works of righteousness are the +fruits of the Spirit; his gracious influences are +received into the soul by faith, but the evidence +of the abiding of that Spirit consists in the manifestation +of these fruits in a righteous life (<span class="muchsmaller">John +15:1, 2, 6; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22-24; James 2:14-26</span>). Living a Christ-like +life is the only evidence of possessing a +Christ-like spirit.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 I<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I +judge: and my judgment is just: because I seek not +mine own will, but the will<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> of the Father which hath +sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="label">[185]</a> + <a href="#ch5_19">verse 19</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="label">[186]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_34">4:34</a>; + <a href="#ch6_38">6:38</a>; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 40:7, 8; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:39.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>30.</b> In this verse Christ returns to the statement +made in the beginning of the discourse, +<a href="#ch5_19"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 19</a> (<span class="muchsmaller">see note there</span>); he does all things as the +representative of the Father and the expression +of the Father’s will.—​<b>As I hear I judge.</b> As +Christ is the image of the Father, so his voice is +the echo of the Father’s voice.—​<b>My judgment +is just, because I seek not my own will, +but the will of the Father.</b> To the Father +there is no law superior to his own will; to the +Son the will of the Father is the law. In this +declaration our Lord gives us an example of the +way in which we may secure just judgments in +ourselves. It is self-seeking which obscures the +judgment. Unselfish seeking of the Father’s +will is the great clarifier of the moral judgments +of the disciple.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 If I bear witness<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> of myself, my witness is not +true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="label">[187]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_14">8:14</a>; <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 27:2; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>31.</b> This verse makes a transition from the +subject-matter of the discourse thus far to a new +subject. Christ has been speaking of his own +character and authority; he now passes to speak +of the evidences which attest it. The verse is to +be read not affirmatively, but interrogatively. +Do you say, if I bear witness of myself, my witness +is not true? I will then point you to other +testimony. That this is the true reading of the +verse is evident from <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_14">8:14</a>, where Christ declares +that though he bears witness of himself, +his witness is true. He here anticipates the objection +there made by the Pharisees (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch8_13">8:13</a></span>), and +replies to it. In his reply, which extends to +verse <a href="#ch5_39">39</a>, he cites in attestation of his mission +three witnesses: (1) the testimony of John the +Baptist (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_32">32-35</a></span>); (2) his own works, including, +but only incidentally, his miracles (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_36">36</a></span>); (3) the +personal testimony of the Father, speaking +chiefly through the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> Scripture (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_37">37-39</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 There is another<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> that beareth witness of me; and +I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is +true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="label">[188]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_18">8:18</a>; Acts 10:43; 1 John 5:7-9.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 Ye sent unto John, and<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> he bare witness unto the +truth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="label">[189]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_7">1:7</a>, <a href="#ch1_32">32</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>32, 33. There is another that beareth +witness of me.</b> Most of the modern commentators +consider this <em>another</em> to be the Father. So +Alford, Meyer, Bengel, Tholuck, and others. +They understand the connection to be this: The +Father testifies to me; John’s testimony I do not +receive, because it is human and fallible, but in +passing I refer to it, for your salvation. Thus +verses 33-35 are parenthetical. The other interpretation +seems to me the more natural and preferable. +Christ gives, in an ascending climax, a +threefold testimony to himself: first the testimony +of John, a prophet, rather the prophet and +forerunner of the Messiah; then his own works; +finally the testimony of the Father, in the heart +and through the written word.—​<b>And I know +that the witness which he witnesseth of +me is true.</b> Such language confirming the testimony +of John the Baptist is natural; such language +in confirmation of the testimony of the +Father seems to me strained and unnatural. +What significance can be given to the statement, +The Everlasting Father testifies of me, and I +know that his testimony of me is true? It is apt +if applied to John the Baptist, a human and fallible +witness, whose language might be attributed +by the Jews to extraordinary and mistaken +admiration.—​<b>Ye sent unto John.</b> The reference +is probably to the delegation which came +out from Jerusalem to inquire into John’s character +and work (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_19">1:19</a></span>).—​<b>He bare witness + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> +unto the truth.</b> That is, To the truth concerning +Jesus Christ. By this declaration Christ +makes the christology of John the Baptist his +own, and declares of himself that he is the Son +of God and the Lamb of God that taketh away +the sins of the world. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_29">1:29</a>, <a href="#ch1_34">34</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 But I receive not testimony from man: but<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> these +things I say, that ye might be saved.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="label">[190]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch20_31">20:31</a>; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 3:3.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye +were willing<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> for a season to rejoice in his light.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="label">[191]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:26; Mark 6:20.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>34, 35. But I receive not testimony +from man.</b> This is not equivalent to, I will not +avail myself of human witness in this matter +(<cite>Meyer</cite>); he does in fact avail himself of human +witness, cites it, and declares the reason why he +does so, that his auditors may by it be saved +from fatal error; nor does it merely mean, as +Calvin, that he cites this testimony out of regard +to them rather than to himself, though this is +true, and equally true of all his ministry, and of +all the testimony which he cites in support of his +divine claims. Here, as in so many other places +in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, especially in the reports of Christ’s +words, the careful study of the original clears up +obscurity which is felt in the translation, and +sometimes which any mere translation fails to +clear away. <dfn>From</dfn> (<span lang="el">παρά</span>), when joined to verbs +of inquiring, asking, and learning, indicates that +the matter to be learned is viewed as in the mental +possession of the person cited (see <cite>Winer</cite>, § 47, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 365), that is, as derived from him and dependent +on his testimony. So in common language +with us, “I know such a fact to be true, for I +learned it <em>from</em> Mr. A.,” indicates Mr. A. as the +<em>authority</em> for the statement. Christ’s declaration +here then is, not that he will not use human testimony, +but that his claims do not depend upon +it. Compare <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:27, “No man knoweth +the Son but the Father,” and <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:17, +“Flesh and blood hath not revealed it (the truth +respecting Jesus) unto thee, but my Father +which is in heaven.” The testimony of John the +Baptist, like that of all the prophets, is not in +truth testimony of or from man, but testimony +<em>from</em> God, <em>through</em> man, the man speaking as he +is moved by the Holy Ghost. And the moral for +us is that all mere human argument for and witness +to the character of Christ breaks down; it +is only as the divine character has been divinely +revealed to us, by the Spirit of God, that we can +hope to persuade others of the truth, a lesson +abundantly confirmed in the history of the church +by its dealings with infidelity. Unbelief is to +be vanquished by spiritual, not by mere intellectual +power. Alford represents the idea well by +a free translation, “I take not my testimony +from man.”—<b>These things I say that ye +might be saved.</b> Blind to the testimony of the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:14</span>), unspiritual, and therefore deaf +to the inner voice of God (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:14</span>), there is hope +that they may heed the recent testimony of John, +whom all men counted for a prophet (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:26</span>), +and whose baptism even the Pharisees and the +Sadducees had attended (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:7</span>). Therefore +he cites it to them, that he may by any means +save some. He seeks to outflank their prejudice.—​<b>He +was the lamp, kindled and shining.</b> +Observe the difference between this translation +and that of our English version. He was not <em>a +light</em>, but <em>the lamp</em>; not <em>burning</em>, but <em>kindled</em>. A +common title given to famous Rabbis was The +candle of the law; Christ borrows it, applies it +to John, and declares him to have been <em>the</em> lamp, +lighting not the law, but the way to Christ. <em>The</em> +lamp, because the one foretold in the prophets +to light the way of the Lord and prepare for his +coming. The <em>lamp</em>, not <em>light</em>. Two different +Greek words (<span lang="el">λύχνος</span> and <span lang="el">φῶς</span>) are erroneously +rendered by the same English word, <em>light</em>. Man +is but a <em>lamp</em>; Christ is <em>the light</em> which lighteth +every man that cometh into the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_9">1:9</a></span>); +and man (the lamp) can give light to others +only as he is himself filled with Christ (the true +and only light). This lamp is <em>kindled</em> (<span lang="el">καιόμενος</span>, +passive), <i>i. e.</i>, by the touch of God, as a lamp unable +to give light until it is filled and lighted by +the owner’s hand; and <em>shining</em>, as one of the +lights of the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:14</span>), shining with +divine light because kindled by a divine hand +and partaking of the divine nature (<i lang="la">lumen +illuminatum</i>, not <i lang="la">lumen illuminans</i>).—​<b>And ye +were willing for a season to rejoice in his +light.</b> The two marks of a spurious religious +enthusiasm. They were willing to <em>rejoice</em>, but +not to <em>repent</em>; they were ready to “enjoy religion,” +but not to “bring forth fruit meet for +repentance;” they flocked in great crowds to +John’s Baptism (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:5</span>), much as men now +flock to camp and tabernacle meetings; but they +were not ready to “do justly, love mercy, and +walk humbly before God.” And their enthusiasm +was but “for a season,” as all merely emotional +enthusiasm is. It made no practical and lifelong +change in their character or conduct.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 But I have greater witness than <em>that</em> of John; for +the works<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> which the Father hath given me to finish,<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> +the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the +Father hath sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="label">[192]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_25">10:25</a>; <a href="#ch15_24">15:24</a>; Acts 2:22.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="label">[193]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_4">17:4</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>36. But I have greater witness than that +of John; for the works which the Father +hath given me to finish.</b> From the testimony +of John the Baptist, Jesus passes to the second +authentication of his mission, the works +which he is doing. These <em>works</em> are not merely +nor primarily his miracles. Against this narrow +and unspiritual interpretation the church should +have been saved by even a careful study of the +words. For (<i>a</i>) the word here rendered <em>works</em> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> +(<span lang="el">ἔργον</span>) is never used by John as equivalent to a +miracle, but always, when in connection with +Christ, as significant of his whole course of beneficent +and redeeming activity; (<i>b</i>) in this very discourse +Christ uses it in connection with and in +reference to his work of spiritual life-giving to +the dead in trespasses and sins (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_20">20</a>, <a href="#ch5_21">21</a></span>); (<i>c</i>) the +phrase “hath given me to finish” points forward +to the time when he should be able to say in prayer +to his Father, “I have finished the work which +thou gavest me to do” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch17_5">17:5</a>; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_34">4:34</a></span>), and in +his last triumphant cry upon the cross, “It is +finished” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch19_30">19:30</a></span>). The matter is important +because the church needs to recognize that the +evidences of Christianity on which Christ relied +are not the miracles, which are purely historical +acts, the historic veracity of which must be +proved like that of any other past events, but +the whole work of redeeming love, the visible +and indubitable fruits of which are to be unceasingly +seen in the victories of Christianity over +the individual and over communities.—​<b>The +same works that I am doing.</b> Not <em>have +done</em>, which might have been said of miracles already +wrought, but <em>am now engaged in doing</em>, +which alone could be said of the unceasing work +of him who ever went about doing good. Observe +that the works which he is doing are those +which the Father <em>hath given him to do</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_19">19</a>, <a href="#ch6_20">20</a>, +notes</span>), and that whatever the Father hath given +him, that he does (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_11">18:11</a></span>).—​<b>Bear witness of +me, that the Father hath sent me.</b> Because +they are manifestations of the Father’s love. +The message which the Son has come to bring is +the message of the Father’s grace +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_14">1:14</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 And the Father<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> himself, which hath sent me, +hath borne witness of me. Ye<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> have neither heard his +voice at any time, nor seen his shape.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="label">[194]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:17; 17:5.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="label">[195]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 4:12; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 6:16.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 And ye have not his word<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> abiding in you: for +whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="label">[196]</a> + 1 John 2:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>37, 38. And he which hath sent me, the +Father himself, hath borne witness of +me.</b> The past tense of the verb indicates a completed +testimony, borne in past time, but accessible +to present hearers. The meaning therefore +cannot be the witness of the Spirit to Christ’s character +and mission, a continuously fresh testimony, +which is however borne only to those that are +already the sons of God, through a measurable +faith in Jesus as Saviour and Messiah. The reference +is possibly in part to the testimony which +the Father had borne at the baptism to Christ as +his well-beloved Son (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:17</span>), a testimony repeated +on other occasions (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 17:5; John 12:28</span>); +but the primary reference is to the testimony +borne to God in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> Scriptures, which were +to the Jewish nation witnesses to the Messiah, +whose coming they heralded, and whose work +they described (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:27-44; Acts 13:27</span>).—​<b>No +voice of his have ye ever heard, no appearance +of his have ye ever seen, and his +word ye have not abiding in you.</b> This +gives as nearly literally as is possible the meaning +of the original. Two interpretations are +possible. One is that indicated by our English +version. According to this interpretation Christ +declares the general philosophic truth, that the +Father is a Spirit, and therefore invisible and +inaudible, to be spiritually discerned; and since +the Jews have not spiritual discernment, since +they have not God’s word abiding in them, they +are without any knowledge of God or understanding +of his witness. The other interpretation +is that indicated by the more literal translation +given above. According to this translation it is +the language of “reproach for want of susceptibility +to this (divine) testimony” (<cite>Meyer</cite>). This +was the view of Calvin, who here, as in the interpretation +of so many other passages, anticipated +the results of later criticism. “When he says +that they had never heard the voice of God or +seen his shape, these are metaphorical expressions, +by which he intends to state generally that +they are utterly estranged from the knowledge +of God.” This last I believe to be the correct +interpretation, both because it more nearly accords +with the literal rendering of the original, +and because, according to the other interpretation, +Christ inserts in the midst of his discourse +an abstract statement of philosophic truth, in a +manner which, if not absolutely artificial, is at +least quite unlike his usual method. <cite>His word +abiding in you</cite> is the word of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> This +they had; but it was external to them. They +did not believe it “with the heart unto righteousness” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 10:10</span>). It was not an abiding force in +the shaping of their conduct or the formation of +their character. He only can truly comprehend +what the Scriptures teach concerning God, who +yields obedience to whatever they teach concerning +duty; for it is only as the divine attributes +are reproduced in us that we can approximate +an understanding of them in God.—​<b>For whom +he hath sent, in him ye have not faith.</b> +This may be regarded either as the reason why +they have not seen God nor heard his voice, because +they have not faith in his Son; or as the +evidence that they have not seen God, etc., since +if they had they would have faith in his Son. +The latter is the preferable interpretation, He +that is truly and spiritually familiar with the +Father will discern the Father’s lineaments in the +Son; he that does not recognize the divinity in + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> +the Son bears thereby witness that he does not +truly know in what divinity consists.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 Search<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye +have eternal life: and they are<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> they which testify of +me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="label">[197]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 8:20; 34:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="label">[198]</a> + Luke 24:27; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:10, 11.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 And ye will not come<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> to me, that ye might have +life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="label">[199]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_13">3:19</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>39, 40. Ye search the Scriptures because +in them ye think ye have eternal +life; and they are they which testify concerning +me; and still ye will not come +unto me that ye might have life.</b> The verb +<dfn>search</dfn> (<span lang="el">ερευνᾶτε</span>) may be rendered either as imperative +or as indicative. Alford and Tholuck +make it, as does the English version, imperative, +thus interpreting it as a direction to search the +Scriptures; Meyer, Bengel, Olshausen, and Godet +make it indicative, thus interpreting it as a +statement of a fact and a basis for the condemnation +which follows. Which interpretation is correct +is to be determined wholly by the context +and the circumstances; either is grammatically +correct. It appears to me clear, both from the +context and the audience, that Christ does not +give here a command or an exhortation, but +simply states a fact. For (1) he is addressing +men who did not need a direction to Scriptural +study; the great, almost the exclusive, study of +the Jewish Rabbis was either the Scriptures or +the commentaries thereon. It is true that their +search was not spiritual; they stopped with the +letter which killeth, and disregarded the spirit +which giveth life; but this was a reason, not for +an exhortation to more searching, but to a different +spirit in the searching. (2) The theme of +Christ’s discourse here would not naturally lead +to an exhortation to Bible study. He is pointing +them to himself; and their failure to find him +was not because they were not familiar with the +Scriptures, but because a veil was over their +hearts when they read it (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:15</span>). I understand +then that Christ in this verse notes a contrast +between the Scriptures and himself; the +Jews search the Scriptures because <em>in them</em> they +think to find eternal life. But eternal life is not +in the <em>Book</em>; it is in the <em>person</em> to whom the +Book bears witness. And they search in vain +who do not find in it the Christ to whom the +Book bears testimony. In contrast with their +searching, note the spirit and method of the +Bereans, who searched to see <cite>if these things were +so</cite> (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 17:10, 11</span>), that is, with a docile and inquiring, +not a predetermined mind.—​<b>Ye will not +come unto me.</b> Though the Scriptures which +they searched so diligently contained testimony +to a suffering and saving Messiah, they would +not come to him. They were as one who reads +a guide-board, but goes not whither it points.—​<b>That +ye might have life.</b> The object of +Christ’s coming was to give life; the object of +coming to Christ is to receive life +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_10">10:10</a></span>). The +kind of life imparted by him and to be received +by us is indicated in <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:10; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22, 23.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 I receive not honour from<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> men.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="label">[200]</a> + verse <a href="#ch5_34">34</a>; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 2:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God +in you.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>41, 42. I receive not honor from men.</b> +It is true that at his name every knee shall bow +and every tongue shall confess him to be Lord, +but <em>to the glory of God the Father</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:10, 11</span>). As +the Christian lets his light shine that men may +glorify Christ, so Christ’s light glorifies the +Father. Moreover, this honor is not derived +from men. What was said on the meaning of the +original on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_34">34</a> (<span class="muchsmaller">see note there</span>) is equally applicable +here. From men (<span lang="el">παρά</span>) indicates the original +source. Christ’s glory comes <em>from</em> the Father +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:9</span>); human voices do but echo the +divine voice.—​<b>I know you.</b> As no man ever +knows his fellow-men. For illustration of +Christ’s divine insight into the hearts of men, see +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:4; John 2:24; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 4:13.—​<b>That ye +have not the love of God in you.</b> They +who were condemning Christ for a violation of +the ceremonial law of the Sabbath were themselves +guilty of violating the first and great commandment +Of the law (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 6:5</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_43"></a> +<p class="hanging">43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive +me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye +will receive.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_44"></a> +<p class="hanging">44 How can ye believe, which<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> receive honour one +of another, and seek<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> not the honour that <em>cometh</em> from +God only?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="label">[201]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_43">12:43</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="label">[202]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>43, 44. In my Father’s name.</b> “The +name of God, of Christ, is a paraphrase for God +himself, Christ himself, in all their being, attributes, +relations, manifestations.”—(<cite><abbr title="Robinson's Lexicon">Rob. Lex.</abbr></cite>, +art. <span lang="el">ὄνομα</span>.) See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:19, note. Here, therefore, +Christ’s declaration is primarily, I have +come in the power of the Father, not in my own +power, or with my own authority; and secondarily, +I have come to manifest and glorify not myself, +but Him.—​<b>If another shall come in his +own name, him ye will receive.</b> The reference +is primarily to the false Christs, of whom +many have been at different times received by +Jews. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 24:5, note. But the declaration +has a wider application to all times and nations. +Wherever the minister is received, not as +a guide to God, but as an independent object of +hero-worship, he is received <em>in his own name</em>.—​<b>How +can ye have faith which receive +honor derived from</b> (<span lang="el">παρά</span>) <b>one another?</b> +Earthly ambition is inconsistent with spiritual +growth. He that seeks the perishable cannot at +the same time seek the imperishable crown.—​<b>And + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> +seek not the honor which cometh +from the only God.</b> Not, as in our English +version, from God only. The structure of the +sentence forbids that interpretation. The reference +is to such passages as <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 8:10; 9:14; +20:3; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 4:35, 39; 2 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 7:22; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 45:5, +6, etc. To those who seek from the one and +only true God glory and honor and immortality, +by patient continuance in well-doing, and to +them alone, is the gift of eternal life promised +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:6, 7</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_45"></a> +<p class="hanging">45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: +there is<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> <em>one</em> that accuseth you, <em>even</em> Moses, in whom +ye trust.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="label">[203]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_46"></a> +<p class="hanging">46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed +me: for he<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> wrote of me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="label">[204]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 3:15; 22:18; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 18:15, 18; Acts 26:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch5_47"></a> +<p class="hanging">47 But if ye<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> believe not his writings, how shall ye +believe my words?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="label">[205]</a> + Luke 16:31.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>45-47. Do not think that I will be your +accuser before the Father.</b> The imagery is +borrowed from the course of judicial proceedings. +In the last judgment Christ will be judge +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> + <a href="#ch5_37">37</a></span>), not public prosecutor.—​<b>There is one +that accuseth you.</b> Observe the present +tense, <em>who is accusing you</em>. The law is a perpetual +accusation against the sinner (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:15; 3:19, +20</span>), from whose indictments there is no escape +except in the pardon offered by the grace of +God through Jesus Christ. For prophetic and +specific accusations of the Jewish nation in the +Mosaic writings, see <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 31:21, 26.—​<b>Even +Moses.</b> The law-giver is put for the law.—​<b>In +whom ye have put your hopes.</b> (<span lang="el">εἰς ὃν</span>) For +the meaning of <em>in whom</em> (<span lang="el">εἰς ὅν</span>), see 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:10. +<em>In</em> (<span lang="el">εἰς</span>) signifies the end toward which any action +tends; with verbs indicating a mental action, +the object of that action. The hopes of the Jews +looked toward Moses, <i>i. e.</i>, toward an exact obedience +of the letter of the law given by Moses, +not toward a spiritual communion with the Father +whose children they were called to be. For +a portrayal, autobiographically, of this legal and +self-righteous hope, see <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:4-6.—​<b>Had ye +believed Moses.</b> Not believed <em>in</em> or <em>on</em> him; +the child of God believes the prophets, he believes +<em>in</em> or <em>on</em> Christ only. If the Jews had +really believed Moses, even as a teacher, they +would have believed <em>on</em> Christ; for Moses testified +of Christ.—​<b>For he wrote of me.</b> An +incidental testimony to the Mosaic authorship of +the books usually attributed by the Jews to +Moses, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, the first five books of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>; also +an indication of the prophetic and typical character +of the ceremonial law. Moses was a prophet +because the entire <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> ceremonial and <span style="white-space:nowrap;">service—temple</span> +sacrifices, ablutions, etc.—​were prophecies, +fulfilled in and by Christ. Thus Christ +himself incidentally confirms that view of the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> ceremonial which underlies and is most +fully expounded by the Epistle to the Hebrews.—​<b>But +if ye believe not his writings, how +shall ye believe my words?</b> “The meaning +is, Men give greater weight to what is written +and published, the letter of a book, than to mere +word of mouth; and ye in particular give greater +honor to Moses than to Me: if then ye believe +not what <em>he</em> has written, which comes down to +you hallowed by the reverence of ages, how can +you believe the words which are uttered by <em>Me</em>, +to whom ye are hostile? This however is not +all; Moses leads to Christ; is one of the witnesses +by which the Father hath testified of Him; ‘if +then ye have rejected the <em>means</em>, how shall ye +reach the <em>end</em>?’ If your unbelief has stopped +the path, how shall ye arrive at Him to whom it +leads?”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER <abbr title="Six">VI.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 6:1-15. FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND.—​<span class="smcap">The +grace, the bounty, the power, and the +method of Christ illustrated.</span></p> + +<p>Of this miracle accounts are given by the four +Evangelists (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:13-33; Mark 6:32-52; Luke 9:10-17</span>); +and it is the only miracle recorded by them all. +There are some differences in their records; for +details see notes below. In the main the three +Synoptics agree, while the differences between +them and the Fourth Gospel are more considerable. +According to the Synoptics Jesus and his +disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee to the east +side; the people, going round by land, outran +them, and apparently were waiting for them on +the shore (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark</span>); Christ therefore abandoned his +original design of rest, and devoted the day to +instruction (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark</span>) and healing (<span class="muchsmaller">Matthew and Luke</span>). +When evening was come the disciples asked him +to send the people away to the villages to get +necessary food; Jesus replied, Give ye them to +eat; the disciples answered that they had nothing +but five loaves and two small fishes to give; +and from these Jesus fed them. According to +John, Jesus crossed over the sea with his disciples, +went up into the hills, and there sat with +them; while sitting there he saw the people +coming round by land, proposed to feed them, +asked Philip where they should get the bread, +and apparently going down to the plain to feed +the people, took the five loaves and two small +fishes and distributed them among the people. +All agree, however, as to the main facts: the +feeding of five thousand on five loaves and two +small fishes, and the gathering of twelve baskets +of fragments, are narrated by all four Evangelists; +the subsequent departure of Christ into the +mountain for solitude and prayer, the embarkation +of the disciples by boat, and his walking to + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> +them upon the sea are recounted by all but Luke; +Matthew alone gives the account of Peter’s attempt +to walk upon the water to meet Jesus. +Harmonists have endeavored to combine these +accounts in one consistent narrative; this is the +work, however, rather of imagination than of +criticism; any such harmony is necessarily hypothetical. +The attempts have succeeded in so far +as to show that the accounts are capable of combination. +It may be added that the variations +are just such as we might expect in narratives +coming from independent eye-witnesses, and not +such as we might expect in different fictitious +accounts, or in different versions of a myth, derived +from the same tradition. The miracle +took place immediately on the return of the +twelve after executing the commissions given +to them in Matthew, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 10; the immediate object +of Christ in retiring to the eastern shore of +the Sea of Galilee was to secure quiet for a personal +conference with the twelve respecting their +work (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 6:30</span>). For further statement of the +chronology of the event, and the most probable +harmony of the four accounts, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:13-27, +note. A topographical difficulty is presented +by an apparent but not real inconsistency +between Luke 9:10 and Mark 6:45. According +to Luke, Christ took the twelve with him into a +desert place belonging to Bethsaida, whither the +multitude followed him; according to Mark, +after feeding the multitude he told the twelve +to sail across to the other side unto Bethsaida. +Thus Luke seems to place Bethsaida on the eastern, +and Mark on the western shore of the lake, +and this has led to the hypothesis that there +were two Bethsaidas, an hypothesis generally +adopted by the commentators, without, it seems +to me, sufficient inquiry. It has no historical +confirmation, was invented to harmonize Luke +and Mark, and is needless. Let the reader compare +the map of the Sea of Galilee (<abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> +342) with the accompanying illustration, in which +he looks down on the Sea of Galilee from the +north. The ruins in the foreground are those of +Bethsaida; the river is the Jordan. Probably in +ancient times the town of Bethsaida reached to +or near the shore of the lake. The mountains in +the distance are those on the eastern shore of +Galilee, and the plain at their foot is the plain of +Butaiha, where the five thousand were fed. +Christ was at or near Capernaum; sailed with +his disciples across the Sea of Galilee to the plain +of Butaiha, at the foot of the hills on the northeastern +shore of the lake, not far from Bethsaida. +After the attempt of the multitude to make +Jesus king, he bade them embark and row along +the shore toward (<span lang="el">πρός</span>) Bethsaida (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 6:45</span>), +where he proposed to meet them. A sudden +wind rising and blowing down the Jordan valley +from the Lebanon range (<span class="muchsmaller">see on verses 16-18</span>), drove +the disciples’ boat out into the lake; and it was +while they were rowing back, against the wind, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> +toward Bethsaida, where their Lord had promised +to meet them, that he came out upon the +waves for that purpose. Thus it is true that +when they left Capernaum for the plain of Butaiha +in the morning, they were going over to a +plain belonging to the city of Bethsaida, as Luke +reports; and also true that when they started +back in the evening in the direction of Capernaum, +as John reports (<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 17, <span lang="el">εἰς</span> indicating the +ultimate point they had in view), they were also +going toward Bethsaida, which lay on the northern +shore, and not far from midway between the +eastern and the western shores. See further, +Mark 6:45, note.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_077"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_077.jpg" + alt="Bethsaida"> + <p class="caption">BETHSAIDA.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">After</span><a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> these things Jesus went over the sea of +Galilee, which is <em>the sea</em> of Tiberias.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="label">[206]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:15, etc.; Mark 6:34, etc.; Luke 9:12, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 And a great multitude followed him, because they +saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>1, 2. After these things.</b> Not a definite +note of time. It was subsequent to the healing +of the impotent man at the foot of Bethesda. +But many and important events had intervened. +See Tabular Harmony of Gospels, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 44.—​<b>Which +is the Sea of Tiberias.</b> John, writing +for Gentile readers, gives the name by which +this body of water was best known in the Gentile +world. For map and description, see <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 342. The eastern shore was not populous; it +is to this day comparatively a solitude; Christ +went thither with his disciples partly for rest and +a quiet conference (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 6:30, 31</span>), and partly in +consequence of the death of John the Baptist, +perhaps to avoid the possibility of danger to himself +and to them from Herod. After the sermon +which followed this miracle of feeding, reported +in this chapter by John, he engaged no more in +any public ministry in Galilee. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 15:29-39, +note.—​<b>Because they saw his miracles +which he did.</b> John has not recorded +any miracles done at this time in Galilee, and +only two performed at any time in Galilee. This +is one of those incidental references which makes +it clear to my mind that John wrote not only +with a personal knowledge of the writings of the +other Evangelists or some of them, but with a +recognition of the fact that their writings would +be familiar to the readers of his own Gospel. +The miracles referred to here are those performed +in Christ’s Galilean ministry subsequent +to his return from the second Passover at Jerusalem. +They are recorded in Matthew, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +8-13; Mark, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 2-5; and Luke, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 5-8.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he +sat with his disciples.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>3, 4. And Jesus went up into the hill +country.</b> Up from the shore of the sea to the +quiet of the hills. These, on the eastern shore, +rise to a height of nearly 2,000 feet above the +level of the sea, which is however itself depressed +some 600 feet below the level of the Mediterranean.—​<b>The +Passover, a feast of the Jews, +was nigh.</b> This affords both a note of time +and an explanation of the multitude present. +The month was Nizan (our March). The grass +was green; the trees were in full leaf; the palm +trees were laden with blossoms; the orange and +lemon trees with fruit; the barley was ripening +in the fields. At such a season and in such a +climate, to spend a night without shelter is no +hardship, and is not unusual. The leisure of the +Oriental is partly a characteristic of the people, +partly an incident of a climate which compels +less labor than ours. The fifteen days preceding +the Passover were largely devoted to various +preparations for it; the roads, streets, and +bridges were repaired, and the caravans began +to move toward Jerusalem. The gathering at +such a time of a congregation of 5,000 men, besides +women and children, attracted by the fame +of such a prophet, is not at all incredible. The +reader must also remember that Galilee was then +the home of a large population. According to +Josephus, there were six cities of considerable +size on the thirteen miles of coast-line along the +northern and northeastern shores of the Lake +of Tiberias.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 When Jesus then lifted up <em>his</em> eyes, and saw a +great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, +Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew +what he would do.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>5, 6. When Jesus then lifted up his +eyes.</b> According to Mark the people going +round by the shore outran Jesus, and he found +them there upon his arrival (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 6:33</span>). There is +no irreconcilable inconsistency in the two statements. +It may be that Jesus found a few of his +disciples, those that knew his probable destination, +and took them up with him and the twelve +into the hills; for the term <em>disciples</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_3">3</a></span>) is not +in the Gospels confined to the twelve apostles; +that the larger multitude followed, looking for +the Lord; and that their gradual congregating +moved his compassion (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 6:34</span>) and led him to +descend from the retirement of the hills to teach +and to heal them.—​<b>He saith unto Philip.</b> +He spent the greater part of the day in teaching +and healing (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:14; Mark 6:34; Luke 9:11</span>). The +people, absorbed by their interest, took no note +of the passage of time. As the afternoon drew +on, the disciples proposed to Christ to send the +people away to procure food (<span class="muchsmaller">Matthew, Mark, Luke</span>); +it was probably as a result of this proposition + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> +that Christ addressed to Philip the question +here, Whence shall we buy? This question is +reported alone by John. Why did Jesus address +this inquiry to Philip? Some commentators have +supposed that he was the purveyor for Christ +and the apostles; others that his faith was especially +weak and needed strengthening; still +others that the question was addressed to him +because he belonged to Bethsaida (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_44">1:44</a></span>), and +therefore would be the one to know where food +could be procured; but there is no evidence to +support either hypothesis. Christ frequently +questioned his disciples in order to bring out to +their own consciousness the measure of their +faith (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:28; 16:13; 19:17; Luke 24:17, etc.</span>).—​<b>For +he himself knew what he would do.</b> A +statement made by the apostle to emphasize the +truth that Jesus himself was not in perplexity, +and taking counsel with his apostles for his own +guidance. This he is never recorded to have +done. According to Matthew the question of +providing for the multitude was not raised until +“it was evening” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:15</span>). Yet both Matthew +and John say that “when evening was come” +Jesus was left alone in the mountain (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 16; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +14:23</span>). The explanation of this discrepancy lies +in the fact that there were two evenings recognized +by the Hebrews, as by the Greeks, one beginning +with the declining sun at or about three +in the afternoon, the other with the setting sun. +It was during the first evening, <i>i. e.</i>, between +three and six, that the people were fed; at the +second evening, <i>i. e.</i>, about sunset, they had departed +and left Jesus alone.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Philip answered him, Two<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> hundred pennyworth +of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of +them may take a little.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="label">[207]</a> + <abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 11:21, 22; 2 Kings 4:43.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s +brother, saith unto him,</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, +and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>7-9. Two hundred pennyworth of bread.</b> +The penny, or denarius, was equal in value to +seventeen cents American coin; but it was the +day’s wages of a common laborer (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:2</span>); +two hundred pennyworth therefore would be +practically equivalent to $200 worth in our time.—​<b>One +of his disciples said unto him.</b> +Christ bade them ascertain how much they had +on hand for themselves (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 6:38</span>). Andrew ascertained +and reported in response to Christ’s +direction. The lad here mentioned was therefore +probably some one in attendance upon +Christ and the twelve, and carrying their simple +store for them. How much blessing the Lord +can impart to the service of a little child. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +2 Kings 5:2, 3. Here a <em>little boy</em> (<span lang="el">παιδάριον</span>) had +but five loaves, and they of barley, and yet when +given to the Lord, and blessed by Him, they +feed five thousand.—​<b>Five barley loaves.</b> The +loaves of the Jews were thin round cakes or +crackers; for illustration and description, see +Mark 8:3-5, note. Barley was the food only of +the lower classes. “One in the Talmud, speaking +of barley bread, says, ‘There is a fine crop +of barley.’ Another answers, ‘Tell this to the +horses and asses.’ A Roman soldier who had +quitted his ranks, had for part of his punishment +that he received barley bread instead of wheaten.”—(<cite>Geike’s +Life of Christ.</cite>) Thus we have +here (1) an indication of the simplicity of the +living of our Lord; without a place to lay his +head, <i>i. e.</i>, a permanent home, and with the +plainest possible food for his fare, the bread of +the peasant classes; (2) a suggestion of true benevolence; +he did not create wheaten bread for +the multitude; he gave such as he had. To +share what we have, not to aspire to give what +we have not, is true benevolence.—​<b>And two +small fishes.</b> The word here rendered <em>small +fishes</em> (<span lang="el">ὀψύριον</span>) denotes any relish eaten with +bread; hence, because fish was a common accompaniment, +the most common from the animal +kingdom, it came to be used for fish, generally +salt fish, prepared for and used as a relish.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now +there was much grass in the place. So the men sat +down, in number about five thousand.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 And Jesus took the loaves: and when he had +given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the +disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of +the fishes as much as they would.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>10, 11. Make the men sit down.</b> It requires +little imagination to picture to the mind +the wondering surprise with which the disciples +prepared to obey a direction the object of which +they could not conceive, and the perplexity of +the people as they prepared to take their places, +wondering what was to occur next. They sat +down; Mark tells us <em>in ranks</em>, literally <dfn>garden +plats</dfn> (<span lang="el">πρασιαὶ πρασιαὶ</span>; the repetition without +<span lang="el">καί</span> denotes distribution). With their bright-colored +Oriental dresses, these men sitting cross-legged +on the ground in groups of fifty each +(<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 6:40</span>), so that their number was afterward +easily estimated, presented an appearance which +recalled a brilliant garden in the early summer. +The picture thus presented by Mark, but lost in +our English translation, is one of the pictorial +characteristics of his Gospel, and is thought to +have been derived by him from Peter, the +most effective and therefore probably the most +pictorial of all the apostolic preachers.—​<b>There +was much grass in the place.</b> This is not +inconsistent with its description by the other +Evangelists as a <em>desert</em> place, the word desert +implying simply solitude, not an arid soil. The +location (<cite>Thompson’s Land and Book</cite>, <abbr title="Volume Two">Vol. II</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> +29) was probably the rich level plain of Butaiha, +forming a triangle, of which the Eastern mountains + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> +make one side and the lake shore and the +Jordan the other two. It was at the southeastern +angle of this plain, near the point where the +hills abut upon the lake, that the feeding took +place. “From the four narratives of this stupendous +miracle we gather: 1st, that the place +belonged to Bethsaida; 2d, that it was a desert +place; 3d, that it was near the shore of the lake, +for they came to it by boats; 4th, that there was +a mountain close at hand; 5th, that it was a +smooth, grassy spot, capable of seating many +thousand people. Now all these requisites are +found in this exact locality, and nowhere else, so +far as I can discover. This Butaiha belonged to +Bethsaida. At this extreme southeast corner of +it the mountain shuts down upon the lake, bleak +and barren. It was, doubtless, desert then as +now, for it is not capable of cultivation. In this +little cove the ships (boats) were anchored. On +this beautiful sward, at the base of the rocky +hill, the people were seated.”—(<cite>Andrews.</cite>)—<b>About +five thousand.</b> Besides women and +children (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:21</span>), who perhaps sat separately +from the men, as Oriental custom would require +them to do.—​<b>When he had given thanks.</b> +The same act is differently expressed by the +other Evangelists as blessing the bread. Asking +a blessing upon food before meals was a universal +custom among the Jews, and was practised +both by Christ and by the apostles (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:17, 19; +24:30; Acts 27:35</span>).—​<b>He gave [to the disciples +and the disciples] to them that were set +down.</b> The words which I have put in brackets +are not in the original according to the best manuscripts. +They have been added from <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +14:19. They undoubtedly represent the actual +fact, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, that the bread was distributed by the +hands of the twelve.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 When they were filled,<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> he said unto his disciples, +Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> be +lost.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="label">[208]</a> + <abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 9:25.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="label">[209]</a> + <abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 8:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Therefore they gathered <em>them</em> together, and filled +twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley +loaves, which remained over and above unto them that +had eaten.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle +that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> prophet that +should come into the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="label">[210]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 49:10; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 18:15-18.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would +come and take him by force, to make him a king, he +departed again into a mountain himself alone.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>12-15. Gather up the fragments that +remain, that nothing be lost.</b> “It was a +custom and a rule (among the Jews) that when +they ate together they should leave something +to those that served. ‘Every one leaves a little +portion in the dish, which is called the servitor’s +part.’”—(<cite>Lightfoot.</cite>) The fragments thus gathered +up by the apostles were probably preserved +for their own use. The practical lesson is important: +“He likewise exhorts his disciples to frugality +when he says, ‘Gather the fragments which +are left, that nothing be lost’; for the increase +of the bounty of God ought not to be an excitement +to luxury. Let those therefore who have +abundance remember that they will one day render +an account of their immoderate wealth, if +they do not carefully and faithfully apply their +superfluity to purposes which are good, and of +which God approves.”—(<cite>Calvin.</cite>) This gathering +up of the fragments demonstrates also the +reality of the miracle. See below.—​<b>They filled +twelve baskets</b> (<span lang="el">κοφίνος</span>). These baskets were +the common baskets used universally by the +Jews in traveling to carry their food. See for +description and illustration, <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:9, 10, note. +Christ there distinguishes between this miracle +and that of the feeding of the 4,000, which are evidently +not to be confounded as one event.—​<b>That +prophet that should come into the world.</b> +Foretold in <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 18:15, 16, and referred to by +the delegation sent from Jerusalem to inquire of +John the Baptist as to his character and authority +(<span class="muchsmaller">John 1:21</span>). By some Rabbis this prophet was +regarded as a forerunner of the Messiah; by +others as the Messiah himself. Here apparently +the people regarded the two as identical; this at +least is indicated by their desire to take Christ at +once and crown him as king.—​<b>Jesus knowing +that they were about to come and seize +him that they might make him king.</b> +Either by reading in their hearts the half-formed +design; or perceiving it in their whispered conference; +or informed of it by the apostles, who +doubtless shared the enthusiasm of the multitude, +and who may have been as eager as any for +the coronation of their Lord. This attempt of +the people to make Christ a temporal king was +a renewal of Satan’s endeavor to tempt him to +secure the kingdoms of the earth by Satanic +methods (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:8-10, note</span>). The Jews anticipated +a realm of material marvels and miracles with +the advent of the Messiah. “Drought and famine +should then be known no more. The prophecy +of Isaiah (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 65:13</span>), ‘My servants shall eat, +but ye shall be hungry,’ should be literally fulfilled. +Israel should be gathered together. The +young men should feed on bread, the old men on +honey, the children on oil. Every palate should +be pleased, every appetite satisfied, and the prolific +profusion of the Garden of Eden should repeat +itself in the land of the Messiah. These +prophecies of the scribes, with which constant + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> +repetition in the synagogue had made the common +people familiar, seemed to them about to be +fulfilled.”—(<cite>Abbott’s Jesus of Nazareth.</cite>)—<b>He departed +again into the mountain.</b> For solitude +and prayer (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:23; Mark 6:46</span>). He first +constrained his disciples to embark for Bethsaida, +a fact which Matthew and Mark state (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +14:22; Mark 6:45</span>) without giving the reason for +it; John alone tells of the purpose of the multitude +to make Christ a king. There is significance +for us in Christ’s refusal of their homage. +They desired to <em>make</em> him king, not to accept +him as king; to give him a sceptre, not to own +allegiance to the sceptre he possessed; to secure +his power and authority in aid of their designs, +not to recognize his royal authority and be obedient +to his will. When they found out what +that will involved, from his discourse on the +following Sabbath at Capernaum, they would +have him for their king no longer. It is one +thing to attempt to make Christ serve our wills; +it is a very different thing to make our wills obedient +to his.</p> + +<p>Various attempts have been made to explain +this miracle on rationalistic principles. The two +principal explanations offered are: (1) that the +people were so satisfied with Christ’s instruction +that they did not feel the claims of hunger +(<cite>Schenkel</cite>); (2) that they had their hearts opened +by the beneficence of Christ, so that those who +possessed food themselves provided for those +that had none, and thus all were furnished by a +miracle of love, operating not by the literal creation +of new supplies, but by the inspiration of a +new spirit of benevolence in the people themselves. +This, if I understand him aright, is +Lange’s explanation. See his <cite>Life of Christ</cite>, <abbr title="Volume Two">Vol. +II</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 140. For a more elaborate classification of +rationalistic theories, see <cite>Lange’s Commentary on +Matthew</cite>, <abbr title="American edition">Am. ed.</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 266. Neither interpretation +deserves serious refutation. The first is inconsistent +with the fact that twelve baskets of the +fragments were gathered up after the meal was +ended; the second is contradicted by the language +of the disciples, who plainly imply that +the people are without food (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:15; Mark 6:36; +Luke 9:12</span>), and by the enthusiasm of the people +after the miracle has been performed. They +were not of a kind to be ready to crown a prophet +as king, merely because he had opened their +hearts and inclined them to benevolence. It is, +however, to be noted that here as elsewhere the +Evangelists simply state the facts, leaving the +reader to make his own deductions. These facts +are that over 5,000 people were upon a plain, +without provisions; that all the food which +Christ had for them was five loaves and two +small fishes; that he distributed this to the +twelve, and they to the multitude; that all had +enough; and that when the meal was over there +were twelve baskets full of fragments remaining. +Assuming these to be the facts, the explanation +of a miraculous creation of bread is the only reasonable +explanation; any other hypothesis impugns +the historical verity of the four Gospels. +The attempt to explain the miracle as an acceleration +of the processes of nature (<cite>Olshausen</cite>), to +which, as Dr. Schaff well says, “must be added +an accelerated process of art, or the combined +labors of the reaper, miller, and baker,” gives no +help in understanding the process by which +Christ provided for all. We can accept the fact +without comprehending the method, which is +indeed as entirely incomprehensible as are God’s +methods in the ordinary phenomena of nature, +<i>e. g.</i>, the multiplication of a single kernel of corn +into the many kernels upon the stalk. The parallel +and contrast between this miracle and the +analogous but different multiplication of food +wrought by the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> prophets Elijah and Elisha +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings 17:16; 2 Kings 4:42-44</span>) are instructive. Like +all of Christ’s miracles, this multiplication is a +parable. (1) It illustrates Christ’s method: the +way to men’s hearts is often through ministering +to their bodies; in the recent famines in India +and China (1877), the missionaries have found the +way opened for the gospel in many districts by +their ability to provide the starving with food or +employment. (2) It manifests the miraculous +grace of God: “everything wastes in the hands +of men; but everything multiplies in those of +the Son of God.”—(<cite>Quesnel.</cite>) (3) It rebukes distrust: +“He who feeds here five thousand men +in an extraordinary manner and by a visible miracle, +cannot He find means to support this numerous +family, which raises in the mind of this +father and mother so many unceasing and distrustful +thoughts?”—(<cite>Quesnel.</cite>) (4) It is an +inspiration and a prophecy of Christian love. It +is “the brilliant inauguration of that fruitful +miracle of Christian charity which has ever since +gone on, multiplying bread to the hungry. The +heart of man once touched, like the rock in the +desert touched by the rod of Moses, has gone on +pouring over thirsty crowds the inexhaustible +stream of generosity.”—(<cite>Pressense.</cite>) (5) It is a +symbol of the inexhaustible love of Christ himself; +a symbol of that miraculous multiplying of +sacred influences which, from one brief life of +three active years, and one body pierced and +broken on the tree, feeds innumerable thousands, +a love which Christ imparts to his disciples, and +which they in turn convey throughout the ages +and to all lands.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 6:16-21. JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA.—​<span class="smcap">Christ +the Lord of nature: light in our darkness; +peace in our storms.—​He comes to those who are +toiling to come to him.—​His message to all his +disciples: Fear not.—​The ground of that message: +he is the I am.</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> +<span class="muchsmaller">Compare <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:22, 23; Mark 6:45-52, and see +<abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Note at beginning</a> of this chapter.</span></p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 And<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> when even was <em>now</em> come, his disciples +went down unto the sea,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="label">[211]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:23; Mark 6:47, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea +toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus +was not come to them.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 And the sea arose<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> by reason of a great wind that +blew.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="label">[212]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 107:25.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>16-18. And when even was come.</b> This +was the second evening, which began at sunset. +See on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_6">6</a>.—​<b>His disciples went down unto +the sea.</b> From the plain where the five thousand +had been fed. By the disciples here is +meant the apostles. They went reluctantly, +yielding to Christ. This is implied by the language +of Matthew and Mark, he “constrained +his disciples.” While they departed by sea Jesus +sent the multitude away.—​<b>And entered +into a ship.</b> A fishing-boat; large enough to +carry Christ and the twelve; not too large to be +propelled by oars. See for description, Mark 6:36, +note.—​<b>And went over the sea unto Capernaum</b> +(<span lang="el">εἰς Κ.</span>). Mark says <cite>toward Bethsaida</cite> +(<span lang="el">πρός β.</span>). John indicates the final aim of their +journey; Mark the direction in which the boat +was steered. They started <em>for</em> Capernaum <i lang="la">via</i> +Bethsaida. See <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">above</a>, and Mark 6:45, +note.—​<b>Jesus was not come to them.</b> +An evidence that they expected to meet him +along the shore; probably (this is implied upon +a comparison of the three gospel narratives) at +Bethsaida, <i>i. e.</i>, at or near the entrance of the +Jordan upon the lake.—​<b>The sea arose by reason +of a great wind that blew.</b> It is a common +occurrence for the winds to arise suddenly +upon this lake, drawing down the Jordan valley +from the Lebanon range in the north. See Mark +4:37, note. “My experience in this region enables +me to sympathize with the disciples in their +long night’s contest with the wind. I spent a +night in that wady Shukaiyif, some three miles +up it, to the left of us. The sun had scarcely +set when the wind began to rush down toward +the lake, and it continued all night long with +constantly increasing violence, so that when we +reached the shore the next morning the face of +the lake was like a huge boiling caldron. The wind +howled down every wady from the northeast and +east with such fury that no efforts of rowers +could have brought a boat to shore at any point +along that coast. In a wind like that the disciples +<em>must</em> have been driven quite across to Gennesaret, +as we know they were. To understand +the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, +we must remember that the lake lies <span style="white-space:nowrap;">low—six</span> +hundred feet lower than the ocean; that the +vast and naked plateaus of the Jordan rise to a +great height, spreading backward to the wilds +of the Hauran, and upward to snowy Hermon; +that the water-courses have cut out profound +ravines and wild gorges, converging to the head +of this lake, and that these act like gigantic <em>funnels</em> +to draw down the cold winds from the +mountains.”—(<cite>Thompson’s Land and Book</cite>, 2:32.) +Dr. Thompson adds a testimony to the suddenness +with which these winds arise: “I once went +in to swim near the hot baths, and before I was +aware a wind came rushing over the cliffs with +such force that it was with great difficulty I +could regain the shore.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty +or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, +and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 But he saith unto them, It is I;<a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> be not afraid.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213" class="label">[213]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 35:3; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 43:1, 2; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:17, 18.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Then they willingly received him into the ship; +and immediately the ship was at the land whither they +went.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>19-21. So when they had rowed about +five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs.</b> <dfn>Stadia</dfn>; +that is, a little over three miles. The lake +at this point is about six miles across; they had +therefore rowed about half way across the lake; +but they were unable to make head against the +wind, and could not reach the northern shore to +keep their appointment with Jesus. <em>It was while +they were endeavoring to come to Jesus that he came +out upon the sea to meet them.</em>—<b>They see Jesus +walking on the sea.</b> That he was really +walking on the sea, not standing on the land and +supposed to be on the sea because only dimly +discerned through the storm and darkness +(<cite>Bleek</cite>), is evident from the facts, (1) that Peter +went out to meet him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:28-31</span>); (2) that on +receiving him into the ship they were immediately +at the land “unto which they were going” +(<span lang="el">εἰς ἣν ὑπῆγον</span>). This was the plain of Gennesaret, +on which Capernaum was situated, and was +two or three miles away from the point where +they met Jesus; for they had as yet rowed only +about half the distance across the lake.—​<b>He +saith unto them, It is I.</b> Literally, <dfn>I am</dfn>. +The same language used by Jesus in Jerusalem +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_58">8:58</a></span>), for which the Pharisees would have +stoned him, and in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> to designate Jehovah +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 3:14</span>). Here I should prefer to give it +this meaning. Christ says not merely, “It is I, +your Friend and Master;” he says, at least implies, +It is the “I am” who is coming to you, +the Almighty One who rules winds and waves, +who made them, and whom they obey.—​<b>Be not +afraid.</b> This is the message of Christ to his people +in the hour of his advent (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 2:10</span>); of their tempest +experiences of temptation and struggle (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +14:27; Mark 6:50; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 3:14</span>); their sorrows (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:10; +Mark 5:36</span>); and their hour of dangerous duty (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +18:9</span>).—​<b>Then they willingly received him.</b> +Literally, <em>Thereupon they willed to receive him</em>. If + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> +this account stood alone we might perhaps +doubt whether he actually did enter the ship, as +some rationalistic commentators have done; but +Matthew and Mark are explicit in their statements +that he did so.—​<b>And immediately the +ship was at the land to which they were +going.</b> That is, the shore at Capernaum. This, +coupled with the statement of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_19">19</a> that they +had only rowed twenty-five or thirty furlongs, <i>i. e.</i>, +about half way, seems clearly to imply a further +miracle, unless indeed we give to the word <em>immediately</em> +(<span lang="el">εὐθέως</span>) a large latitude of expression, understanding +it merely to mean that since the wind +at once ceased (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:32</span>) they had no further +difficulty in reaching their destination. Matthew +adds that they that were in the ship came and +worshipped Jesus, saying, “Of a truth thou art +the Son of God;” and Mark that they were +amazed beyond measure, “for they considered +not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was +hardened,” rather <em>dull, stupid</em>. They had been +amazed at the miracle of the loaves, but they +had not deduced from it the natural conclusion +that Christ was the Lord of nature, so when a +new manifestation of his power was made they +were as much surprised as if they had never seen +any previous manifestation. In this they were +very typical of Christians in all ages of the +church.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 6:22-71. SERMON ON THE BREAD OF LIFE.—​<span class="smcap">The +condition of eternal life: feeding on +Christ.—​The true nature of faith symbolized.—​The +meaning of the Lord’s Supper.</span></p> + +<p><a id="Note6_22"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—Before entering upon this +discourse in detail, some preliminary considerations +are necessary. 1. <i>The report.</i> There is no reason +to believe that we have a verbatim report of +Christ’s discourse, but good reason to believe the +reverse. John makes no claim to give the sermon +in full. The language of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_59">59</a> implies that he +does not. The whole sermon occupies in deliberate +reading less than five minutes. We can +hardly suppose that an actual discourse delivered +in the synagogue would have been compressed +in so brief a space. We have then, +here, John’s subsequent report written out from +memory, though from memory quickened by +divine inspiration, of a discourse very much +longer than the report. It embodies in John’s +language the substance of Christ’s thoughts. +2. <i>The circumstances and connection.</i> After +the feeding of the 5,000, the apostles embark +in their boat; Christ goes up into the hills +to pray; the people linger a while for his return, +then conclude that he has returned to Capernaum, +and go back to Capernaum themselves; +on the following Sabbath morning he enters the +synagogue; their astonishment at his approach +is great; they break out in questioning, How did +you get here? His answer diverts them from +mere astonishment to a serious consideration of +spiritual truth: “Ye are seeking me, not because +of the evidence I have given of my divine +commission, but because ye did eat of the loaves +and were filled. Labor not for the meat that +perisheth, but for that meat which endureth +unto everlasting life.” Their response indicates +some seriousness of desire: “What is the work +which God would have us to do that we might +have this bread of life as our reward?” This is +the question of all religious aspiration, and +Christ’s answer is the response of Christianity to +the soul-hunger of the ages: “This is the work +of God, that ye have faith in him whom he hath +sent.” This I believe to be the text of the sermon +which follows; it gives the subject; it is +the key to its mysticism. The object of the discourse +is to give Christ’s definition and interpretation +of faith. This definition appears and reappears, +first in metaphor, then in interpretation: +My Father is giving you the true bread, which +is coming down from heaven. I am the bread of +life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; +he that believeth on me shall never thirst. This +coming is not a literal physical coming; it is a +coming of the spirit; a coming drawn by divine +influence; a coming of those who are taught of +God. To thus believe in me, to thus eat my +flesh and drink my blood, is to have everlasting +life; for to thus eat my flesh and +drink my blood is to dwell in me and have +in me an indwelling life. Finally, to guard +his followers against that literalism which has +since converted this metaphor into a stone of +stumbling and a rock of offence, Christ adds to +his discourse the decisive words of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_63">63</a>, “It +is the Spirit that quickeneth, <em>the flesh</em> profiteth +nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they +are spirit and they are life.” 3. <i>Meaning of the +metaphor.</i> I believe then that the key to the +metaphors of this sermon is to be found in the +question and answer of verses 28, 29; that it is +Christ’s metaphorical interpretation of the declaration +that faith is a condition of spiritual life; +that it is mystical, because experience is always +mystical except to those that know it experimentally; +that it is expressed in metaphor, because +a spiritual experience can never be expressed +in any other way; and that Christ has +emphasized the importance of the metaphor by +subsequently making it a permanent symbol in +the Lord’s Supper. To eat his flesh and drink his +blood is to have faith in him, to come unto him; +to partake of his character and imbibe his spirit +(<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch6_35">35</a>, <a href="#ch6_40">40</a>, <a href="#ch6_47">47</a>, <a href="#ch6_54">54</a>, <a href="#ch6_57">57</a></span>). Faith, according to Christ, +is not then merely believing what is revealed in +the Word (<cite>Westminster Confession</cite>); nor merely +receiving what God says to be true and resting +on it (<cite>George Muller</cite>); it is feeding on Christ. + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> +It is interpreted (<i>a</i>) by the physical phenomenon +of eating and drinking. The food enters into us, +becomes a part of us; builds us up; makes us +what we are; different food going to different +parts of the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">body—some</span> to brain, others to muscle, +etc.; different natures and different avocations +needing different food. It is Christ <em>in</em> us +who is the hope of glory. (<i>b</i>) By our own use of +the same metaphor. We recognize in common +language a higher than mere physical feeding; +other gateways to the nature than the mouth +and the stomach; other means that modify, develop, +and make the character. Men are made +by what they receive through interior faculties. +So Christ’s metaphor constantly reappears in the +language of our common life; we drink in a picture; +imbibe ideas; devour books; <i>e. g.</i>,</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="verse indent0a">“My ears have not yet <em>drunk</em> a hundred words</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of that tongue’s uttering.”—(<cite>Shakespeare.</cite>)</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="verse indent0a">“Longing they look, and gaping at the sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><em>Devour</em> her o’er and o’er with vast delight.”—(<cite>Dryden.</cite>)</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="unindent">(<i>c</i>) By the Rabbinical use of the metaphor, common +in Christ’s time, and well understood by the +Jews. “There is nothing more common in the +schools of the Jews than the phrases of eating +and drinking in a metaphorical sense.”—(<cite>Lightfoot.</cite>) +“To eat of my bread” was a phrase +equivalent to partake of my doctrine. Christ +borrows a common metaphor to emphasize a +deeper truth; to have faith in him is not to “eat +of my bread,” but to “eat of my flesh;” that +is, it is to receive not merely the influence of +Christ’s teaching, but yet more that of his life +and character itself, an influence which could be +imparted to the world only through his passion +and death, through the literal rending of his flesh +and shedding of his blood. (<i>d</i>) By the experience +of faith in a lower sphere, our faith in each +other. The highest faith of a child in his mother +is not believing something about her, nor merely +believing what she says; it includes an intellectual +belief that she is his mother, and a filial +trust in her, but it also includes such a reverence +for her, an uplooking to her, an admiration of +her, a feeding upon her, that all her best characteristics +are reproduced in the worshipping child. +So the character of the best teachers ever reproduces +itself in the character of their admiring +pupils. (<i>e</i>) By the actual record of the experience +of faith contained in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> and the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +(<i>e. g.</i>, <span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 42:5, 11; 63:5-8; 73:23-26; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:18; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr></span> +<span class="muchsmaller">2:20; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:8-14</span>). (<i>f</i>) By other metaphors in the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> in which Christ is compared to a way on +which we walk, a garment which we are to put +on, a vine on which we are to be engrafted, a +husband to whom we are to be married, a head +from which we as a body are to derive all our +life, the ground in which we are to be rooted, +the foundation on which we are to be built, and +the Spirit which is to dwell in us as in a temple. +Faith in Christ then, as defined by Christ himself, +if I have rightly interpreted this discourse, <em>is not +belief about him, nor trust in him, but appropriation +of him</em>. It is not mere belief in what the Bible +teaches respecting him, though it is certainly +founded on historical Christianity; it is not mere +trust in his word or power or grace, though it involves +the highest personal trust in him as a divine +and gracious Saviour. It is making him the soul’s +spiritual aliment, following after him, coming to +him, dwelling in him, so drinking in his words, +life, and spirit as to be conformed to his image. +The soul enters into eternal, that is spiritual life, +not by believing any teaching respecting Christ, +not by trusting that Christ will bestow that life, +but by so fastening its love and aspirations and +desires upon Christ that he becomes the All and +in all to the soul, and at once the model for and +modeler of its future and final character.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 The day following, when the people which stood +on the other side of the sea saw that there was none +other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples +were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples +into the boat, but <em>that</em> his disciples were gone +away alone;</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias, +nigh unto the <a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a>place where they did eat bread, after +that the Lord had given thanks;)</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214" class="label">[214]</a> + verse <a href="#ch6_11">11</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not +there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, +and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>22-24. The day following</b>, etc. A part +of the people undoubtedly had dispersed to the +villages about; others of them remained, hoping +for the reappearance of Jesus; when he did not +reappear they thought it possible that he had returned +to Capernaum, and went thither themselves. +<em>The other side of the sea</em> indicates the eastern +shore, <i>i. e.</i>, the opposite side from Capernaum. +In <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_25">25</a> the same phrase indicates the western +shore, <i>i. e.</i>, the opposite side from that on which +the multitude had left Christ. The construction +of these verses is complicated and involved, but +the original is fairly well rendered in our English +version. The facts here stated, together with +the surprise of the people +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_25">25</a></span>) at Christ’s appearance +at Capernaum, afford an additional +though incidental evidence of Christ’s miraculous +passing from the eastern to the western +shore.—​<b>Tiberias.</b> A town on the southwestern +shore of the Sea of Galilee; mentioned in the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> only by John; built by Herod Antipas, and +named in honor of the emperor Tiberius. The +present city, Tubanyeh, contains about two +thousand inhabitants.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> + <a id="i_085"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_085.jpg" + alt="Tiberias"> + <p class="caption">TIBERIAS.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 And when they had found him on the other side +of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest +thou hither?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>25. And when they had found him.</b> +The greater part of the discourse which follows +was apparently delivered in the synagogue +(<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_29">29</a>), +and presumptively on the Sabbath day. +Maurice supposes that “the conversation commences +on the borders of the lake of Tiberias, +with the people who had just crossed and found +Jesus there,” and is afterward continued in the +synagogue, and he makes the synagogue discourse +commence with <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_43">43</a>. This is certainly +possible, though I should think it more probable, +from the close connection between the beginning +and close of the colloquy as reported, that all +occurred at one time and in the synagogue. It +is not at all incredible that such interruptions as +are here reported should have occurred in the +synagogue service.—​<b>Rabbi, when camest +thou thither?</b> “The question <em>when</em> includes +<em>how</em>.”—(<cite>Bengel.</cite>) Wordsworth’s comment on the +mysterious manner in which Christ crossed the +sea and presented himself in the synagogue affords +a curious illustration of the allegorizing +method which he pursues throughout in dealing +with this chapter. “By walking on the sea, invisibly +to the eyes of the multitude, and suddenly +presenting himself to them in the synagogue +at Capernaum, in a manner unintelligible to +them, he instructs us that, though he does indeed +come by water in holy baptism, and is +verily and indeed present in the holy eucharist, +yet the <em>manner</em> of his presence is not to be scrutinized +by us. * * * * Let us not speculate +inquisitively into the <em>time</em> and <em>manner</em> in which +he is present in the holy eucharist, but let us +receive him joyfully in our hearts, as the disciples +received him into the ship; and then we +shall soon be at the haven of peace where we +would be.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I +say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the +miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and +were filled.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for +that<a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which +the Son of man shall give unto you: for him<a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> hath God +the Father sealed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215" class="label">[215]</a> + verses <a href="#ch6_54">54</a>, <a href="#ch6_58">58</a>; + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_14">4:14</a>; + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 15:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216" class="label">[216]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_18">8:18</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 2:7; 40:7; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 42:1; + Acts 2:22; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>26, 27. Verily, verily, I say unto you.</b> +See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:18, note.—​<b>Ye seek me, not because +ye saw the signs, but because ye ate +of the loaves and were satisfied.</b> Christ +leads the people from the lower to the higher, +from the earthly to the spiritual, making, as was +his wont, a simple incident the text of a deeply +spiritual discourse. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:7; 16:6; Luke +13:1; 14:7; John 4:10. The meaning here is +this: You are not seeking <em>me</em> because you have +seen and recognized the evidences of my divine +commission, and really desire to put yourselves +under me as your Lord and Master; you are seeking +my <em>gifts</em>, and because you have eaten and +been satisfied. He thus characterizes and impliedly +rebukes those who seek not Christ but +Christ’s, because they want not <em>him</em>, but something +external to himself, which they think he + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> +can give them.—​<b>Busy not yourselves about +the meat which perishes.</b> It is not literally +true that we are not to <em>labor</em> for the meat that +perishes (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 18:3; <abbr title="Ephesians">Eph.</abbr> 4:28; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:10-12</span>); it is +true that the meat which perishes is not to be +the object of our life-work (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:24</span>). “If any +be idle and gluttonous, and careth for luxury, +that man worketh for the <em>meat that perisheth</em>. +So, too, if a man by his labor should feed Christ, +and give him drink, and clothe him, who so +senseless and mad as to say that such an one labors +for the meat which perisheth, when there is +for this the promise of the kingdom that is to +come, and of those good things? This meat endureth +forever.”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>) <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> with +Christ’s language here <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 55:2, to which perhaps +he refers, and John 4:13, 14, where an +analogous metaphor is used to enforce the same +teaching.—​<b>But about the meat which +abides unto everlasting life.</b> <em>Unto</em> (<span lang="el">εἰς</span>) indicates +the purpose for which it remains, namely, +that it may nourish eternal life, <i>i. e.</i>, the life +which continues unto, not which begins in, eternity; +for eternal life is a present possession (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_47">47</a>, <a href="#ch6_54">54</a></span>). +This food abides in us. Chaps. <a href="#ch5_38">5:38</a>; +<a href="#ch6_56">6:56</a>; <a href="#ch8_31">8:31</a>; +<a href="#ch15_4">15:4</a>, <a href="#ch15_7">7</a>; 1 John 2:6, 27; 4:12, +15; 2 John 2 indicate both what is the meat and +what the abiding of which Christ speaks.—​<b>Which +the Son of man shall give to you.</b> +The phrase <cite>Son of man</cite> is here, as everywhere in +Christ’s use of it, equivalent to the Messiah (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +10:23, note</span>), and would be so understood by his +hearers. This food of the spiritual life is the <em>gift</em> +of God through the Messiah (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:17; 6:23</span>). We +might well wonder that Christ’s characterization +of it here as a gift should not have prevented the +question of the multitude in the following verse, +but for the fact that, despite the explicit teaching +of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> that eternal life is <em>given</em>, even the +disciples of Christ have ever been seeking to +earn it as wages by labor. Christ says <em>shall give</em> +(future) because the great sacrifice was not yet +offered, and so the unspeakable gift (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 9:15</span>) +was not yet perfected.—​<b>For Him hath God +the Father sealed.</b> In the East the method +of authenticating a document is not, as with us, +by a signature, but by the impression of a seal +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings 21:8; Esther 3:12; 8:8, 10; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 32:10</span>). The +meaning here then is that Jesus’ commission as +the Messiah of God is authenticated by the Father, +by the works given him to do (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch5_36">John 5:36</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that +we might work the works of God?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>28. What can we do that we may work +the works of God?</b> Observe <em>can</em>, not <em>shall</em>; +subjunctive, not future. <em>The works of God</em> are +not works wrought by God, but works pleasing +to God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 48:10; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:58</span>). The meaning is +not, What are the works of God which we shall +do? but, What can we do in order that we may +please God by our works? This is the question +which humanity has ever been asking, repeated +in the pilgrimages and the self-mutilations of the +Oriental religions, in the penances and appointed +prayers of the mediæval religions, and in much +of the so-called Christian activity of modern +Protestantism. This was the question which +Loyola asked by his vigils, and to which Luther +found an answer when, climbing Pilate’s staircase +on his knees, he heard the words, “The +just shall live by faith,” and fled from the religion +of works to that of faith. That the questioners +of Christ were seeking, not guidance to +devout activity, but to divine rewards, is clear +from the sequel (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_31">31</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This<a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> is the +work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath +sent.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217" class="label">[217]</a> + 1 John 3:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>29. This is the work of God, that ye +have faith in him whom he hath sent.</b> +They ask respecting the <em>works</em> of God (plural), +he replies concerning the <em>work</em> of God (singular); +they ask what they shall <em>do</em>, he replies <em>have faith</em>; +they ask respecting work to be done <em>for</em> God <em>by</em> +them, he replies that it is a work <em>of</em> God <em>in</em> them +that is required. The condition of eternal life is +not doing any work for God, it is having a work +of God done in ourselves. See <a href="#ch3_5">John 3:5</a>; Titus +3:5-7. The condition of this work is faith in +Christ. The nature of this faith it is the object +of the discourse which follows to explain; it is +certainly not equivalent to belief, and the use of +the word believe is an unfortunate necessity from +the poverty of the English language, which contains +no verb corresponding to the noun faith. +Of this faith I know no better nor more comprehensive +definition than that of Webster’s dictionary, +“That confiding and affectionate belief in +the person and work of Christ which affects the +character and life, and makes the man a true +Christian.” See <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:1, and notice that +it is there defined not only as the <em>evidence</em> of +things unseen, <i>i. e.</i>, the power of seeing and +realizing the invisible world, which would include +the imagination, but also as the <em>substance</em> +of things hoped for, which clearly includes the +activity of the desires and affections. The germ +of all Paul’s subsequent teaching of justification +by faith is contained in this one single sentence. +The Epistles are but an amplification of the gospel +as proclaimed by Christ himself. “I know +not where we can find any passage, even in the +writings of the apostles, which says more significantly + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span> +that all eternal life in men proceeds +from nothing else than faith in Christ.”—(<cite>Schleiermacher.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 They said therefore unto him, What sign<a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> shewest +thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what +dost thou work?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218" class="label">[218]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:38; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 Our fathers<a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> did eat manna in the desert; as it is +written,<a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> He gave them bread from heaven to eat.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219" class="label">[219]</a> + <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 16:15; <abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 11:7; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 10:3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220" class="label">[220]</a> + <abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 9:15; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 78:24, 25.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>30, 31. What therefore doest thou as a +sign that we may see and believe thee?</b> +This response of theirs brings out the contrast +between faith and belief. Christ has said, Believe +in him whom God hath sent; the people, +recognizing his reference to himself, reply, Why +should we believe you? or, as Norton renders it, +“give you credit.” He calls for an affectionate +and confiding belief in his person and work, they +decline to give him simple credence.—​<b>What +dost thou work?</b> This is not, as Maurice +seems to interpret it, the language of a spiritual +yearning, but, as Alford, Stier, Meyer, the language +of unbelief and opposition, a sarcastic retort +of his own words. “Thou commandest us,” +say they, “to work; what dost thou work thyself?” +This demand, coming so soon after the +feeding of the five thousand, has given rise to +some perplexity, and rationalistic commentators +cite it as an evidence that no such miraculous +feeding took place. If not, why should the people +refer to the manna? The fact is that, though +the five thousand were fed, no explanation was +made to them of the way in which the food was +provided; they were commanded to take their +seats; the barley cakes, the bread of the poorest +peasantry, were distributed among them; they +were doubtless astonished; but no conclusions +were drawn for them, and they were not in the +habit of drawing conclusions for themselves. +When, therefore, on the Sabbath, Christ met in +the synagogue some of those who had been fed, +together with others who had not been present, +nothing was more natural than this demand, impliedly +for both a repetition and an explanation +of the miracle. This is the significance of the +reference to the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> account of the miracle of +the manna, “He gave them bread from heaven +to eat” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 78:24</span>). It was as if they said, The +Psalmist has explicitly pointed out the way in +which the commission of Moses was confirmed; +leave us not in the dark respecting the feeding +of the multitude, which was, indeed, strange, +but which has not been interpreted.—​There is +also implied a contrast between the work of +Moses and the work of Christ; the manna came +down from heaven, the bread was distributed +upon the earth; the manna was given day by +day as needed for forty years, the bread had +been given but once; the manna was a sweet and +delicate food, “the taste of it like wafers with +honey” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 16:31</span>), and it was among the rabbinical +prophecies that the Messiah would cause +manna to descend which would please all tastes, +“bread for the young men, honey for the old, oil +for the children;” but the bread which Christ +had distributed was barley bread, the commonest +fare of the poorest people.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say +unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; +but my<a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> Father giveth you the true bread from +heaven.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221" class="label">[221]</a> + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 4:4.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 For the bread of God<a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> + is he which cometh down +from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222" class="label">[222]</a> + verses <a href="#ch6_48">48</a>, <a href="#ch6_58">58</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>32, 33. Verily, verily, I say unto you, +not Moses gave to you that bread from +heaven; but my Father is giving you that +which is the true bread from heaven.</b> +The people have referred to the manna as the +authentication of Moses; though they do not in +words refer to him, the spirit of their response +is analogous to that of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_12">4:12</a>, Art thou greater +than our father Jacob? Compare <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_53">8:53</a>. +To this Christ replies (1) that Moses did not give +the manna; it was given by God; Moses had +nothing to do with bestowing it; the Israelites +found it in the morning after the dew had dried +off the ground (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 16:4, 14</span>). (2) This manna +was not the true bread, but merely a type or +shadow of the spiritual antitype; so the Red +Sea, the rock, the brazen serpent, were mute +prophets of spiritual verities, to be fulfilled +through Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_14">4:14</a>, <a href="#ch4_15">15</a>; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 10:1-11</span>). (3) +Hence, the bread of God was not a past, historic +gift fulfilled in the days of the wilderness, but a +present and a perpetual gift, which the Father +is ever giving. The practical contrast suggested +is that between the faith which reveres only a +past religion, a providence and an inspiration in +the days of the patriarchs and prophets and +apostles, and that which holds fast to a present +providence, an ever-living Spirit, and a continuous +inspiration, a living bread ever given +throughout all ages.—​<b>For the bread of God +is that which comes down from the heaven +and gives life to the world.</b> Christ here lays +down a general principle in which he defines the +essential characteristics of God’s spiritual gift. +That alone is the true bread (1) which is evermore +descending from the heavens, a perpetual +bestowment; (2) which bestows life; (3) which +is for the world. The manna did not last over a +single day (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> +16:19, 20</span>), and finally ceased to +fall when the Israelites entered the Holy Land +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 5:12</span>); +they that ate it all died (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_49">49</a></span>); and +it was given only to a single nation. The type +was brief in its duration, limited in its effects, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> +confined to a few recipients. The antitype is for +all mankind, confers everlasting life, and is bestowed +evermore.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us +this bread.</p> +</div> + + +<p><b>34. Lord, evermore give to us this +bread.</b> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 4:15, note. Not spoken +ironically (<cite>Calvin</cite>), nor with a definite idea of +some miraculous kind of sustenance, a magic +food or means of life from heaven (<cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>), +nor with a serious comprehension of his spiritual +meaning and a sincere desire for his spiritual +gift (<cite>Maurice</cite>, <cite>Lucke</cite>). The people were shallow +and superficial; without comprehending the +meaning of Christ’s words, they yet saw in them +the offer of something desirable, they knew not +what, and asked for it. In the minds of some +there may have been a dim sense of the value of +the inner life, such as is sometimes borne in +upon sensual and superficial natures by the mere +power of the presence of a great soul. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +Luke 14:15. There, as here, Christ by his +teaching rebukes the superficial and ignorant +desire for an uncomprehended blessedness; +there, by showing parabolically how the spiritual +food is declined by those to whom it is +offered; here, by interpreting the nature of spiritual +food. The rejection of Christ by the people +here, illustrates the parable uttered by Christ +there.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: +he<a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he<a id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> +that believeth on me shall never thirst.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223" class="label">[223]</a> + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 7:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224" class="label">[224]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_14">4:14</a>; + <a href="#ch7_38">7:38</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 But I said unto you, That ye<a id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> also have seen me, +and believe not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225" class="label">[225]</a> + verse <a href="#ch6_64">64</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>35, 36. I am the bread of life.</b> They say, +Give us this bread. His reply is, The bread is +already given; it is for you to accept and feed +upon it. And this is always the answer of the +gospel to every soul that cries out for a Saviour +and a salvation. How the soul is to accept this +bread he then goes on to say.—​<b>He that cometh +to me shall not hunger, and he that +hath faith in me shall never thirst.</b> It is +clear that the “coming” and “believing in” +here are equivalent to the eating and drinking +of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_54">54</a>. See notes there. The coming is a +continuous coming (present participle with <span lang="el">πρός</span>); +a coming into Christ’s likeness, and therefore +into spiritual unity with him; a coming perfected +only by the process of feeding upon him, +drinking in his spiritual power so as to be transformed +by it. It is the coming which David describes +in Psalm 63:8, “My soul followeth hard +after thee,” and Paul in <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:13, 14, “Forgetting +those things which are behind, and reaching +forth unto those things which are before, I press +toward the mark for the prize of the high calling +of God in Christ Jesus.” <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> with the promise +here <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:6; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 7:16. All spiritual +hunger and thirst are not ended when Christian +experience begins, because in this life we are +ever coming toward Christ, we have never come +fully into him. This coming is consummated +when we are one with Christ as he is one with +the Father (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch17_21">17:21</a>, <a href="#ch17_22">22</a></span>); the promise of the +gospel is then fulfilled in the glorious satisfaction +of a perfected redemption (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 3:2; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 17:15</span>). +We are not <em>satisfied</em> till we awake in his likeness.—​<b>Ye +also have seen me and ye have not +had faith.</b> See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_29">20:29</a>. The reference here +may either be to words actually uttered in this +discourse, but not reported by John, or to what +he has said by implication though not by exact +words, or to rebukes uttered on some previous +occasion, <i>e. g.</i>, John <a href="#ch5_38">5:38</a>, +<a href="#ch5_40">40</a>, <a href="#ch5_43">43</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 All<a id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> + that the Father giveth me shall come to me; +and him<a id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> + that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226" class="label">[226]</a> + verse <a href="#ch6_45">45</a>, + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_6">17:6</a>, <a href="#ch17_8">8</a>, etc.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227" class="label">[227]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 102:17; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 1:18; 55:7; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:28; +Luke 23:42, 43; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:15, 16; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 22:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine +own will, but<a id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> the will of him that sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228" class="label">[228]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_30">5:30</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 40:7, 8.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>37, 38. The all which the Father has +given to me shall come toward me, and +he that comes toward me I will in no wise +cast out.</b> <em>Toward</em>, not <em>to</em> me. The original +(<span lang="el">πρὸς</span>) indicates the object toward which anything +is directed, not ordinarily the goal actually +reached. The promise then is that he who sets +out in the direction of Christ shall not be rejected +by him. He does not wait till we have come +to him; he receives us when we start toward +him. In this and the next verse <em>all</em> (<span lang="el">πᾶν</span>) is in +the neuter gender, indicating, not that the body +is included with the soul (<cite>Maurice</cite>), but that <em>the +whole</em> is given by the Father in its totality, but is +received by the Son separately and individually. +“In Jesus Christ’s discourses, that which the +Father hath given to the Son himself is termed, +in the singular number and neuter gender, <em>all</em>; +those who come to the Son himself are described +in the masculine gender, or even the plural number, +<em>every one</em>, or <em>they</em>. The Father has given to +the Son the whole mass, as it were, that all +whom he hath given may be one; that whole the +Son develops individually in the execution of the +divine plan.”—(<cite>Bengel.</cite>) Christ’s language here +indicates his dependence upon the Father’s will +and power, and is analogous to that in many of +his discourses, especially in those reported by +John. He has come to do his Father’s will; the +works which he does are those which his Father +has given him to do, and are done by his Father’s +power; the words which he speaks are his Father’s +words; his whole life is represented as the +incarnate expression of his Father’s will; and +those whom he saves are saved not by his own +independent power, they are those whom his +Father has given him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_28">10:28</a>, <a href="#ch10_29">29</a></span>). Here then I + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> +understand Christ neither to limit his salvation +nor to declare it to be without limit. He simply +asserts on the one hand that his saving power is +efficacious only over those whom the Father has +given unto him, and on the other that there is +nothing lacking in his grace or power which shall +cause those thus given to fail of a perfected salvation. +As a Saviour he is the representative of the +Father’s gracious love and power. Here there is +no indication who are the <em>all</em> thus given to him. +From other Scripture, however, it appears clear +that it includes many among the heathen nations +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 2:8 with <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:11</span>), and that it does not include +the entire human race (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_6">17:6</a>, <a href="#ch17_9">9</a>, <a href="#ch17_25">25</a></span>). This interpretation +is confirmed by the verse which follows, +which further expresses the subjection of +the Son in his mediatorial work to the Father.—​<b>Because +I came down from heaven, not +that I might do mine own will, but the +will of him that sent me.</b> The catholicity of +Christ’s love is a disclosure of the love of the +Father toward us. In these words Christ gives +us a suggestion of the reason of his receiving +sinners and making them companions and associates. +His own earthy inclinations, tastes, and +sensibilities, had he followed them, would all +have been against such society; but all were +subordinate to, and overridden by, his great controlling +purpose that the world through him +might be saved (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_17">3:17</a>; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:15</span>). For every +Christian disciple there is a practical lesson in +these words of Christ. We are all sent into the +world as Christ also was sent into the world +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a></span>); and it is ours to see to it that no pride, +or social taste, or moral irresolution, induce us to +cast out those who would otherwise come to us +for help; but we are also to remember that our +power to help does not extend beyond those +whom the Father in his own gracious wisdom +has seen fit to give to us as the seals to our apostleship +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 9:2</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 And this is the Father’s will<a id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> which hath sent me, +that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, +but should raise it up again at the last day.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that<a id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> +every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, +may have everlasting life: and I will<a id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> raise him up at +the last day.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229" class="label">[229]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_28">10:28</a>; + <a href="#ch17_12">17:12</a>; <a href="#ch18_10">18:9</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 18:14; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:19.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230" class="label">[230]</a> + verses <a href="#ch6_47">47</a>, <a href="#ch6_54">54</a>; + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_15">3:15</a>, + <a href="#ch3_16">16</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231" class="label">[231]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_25">11:25</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>39, 40. And this is the will of him that +sent me, that the all which he has given +me, from it I should lose nothing, but +shall raise it up in the last day.</b> In omitting +the word Father from verse 39 and inserting +it in verse 40 I follow the best <abbr title="Manuscripts">MSS.</abbr> See <cite>Alford</cite>. +The resurrection here spoken of is the resurrection +of life, <i>i. e.</i>, unto eternal life +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_29">5:29</a></span>), which +is given only through Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_25">11:25</a>; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:10, 11</span>).—​<b>For +this is the will of my Father, that +every one</b> (<span lang="el">πᾶς</span>, not <span lang="el">πᾶν</span>), masculine, not neuter; +the <em>whole</em> is given to the Son; but each one +must come by and for himself to the Son.—​<b>Seeing +the Son.</b> Looking unto him, as those +bitten in the wilderness looked unto the brazen +serpent (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_14">3:14</a>, <a href="#ch3_15">15</a>; +<abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 21:9; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 45:22</span>).—​<b>And +having faith in him.</b> Making Christ the substance +of his hope as well as the object of his +faith (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:1; +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_29">29</a>, note</span>).—​<b>May have eternal +life; and I will raise him up at the last +day.</b> These verses clearly imply (1) that there +is nothing in any secret decree or election of +God, or in the nature or extent of the provisions +of divine grace, to limit the gift of eternal life or +prevent any one from receiving it through faith +in the Son; (2) that the only condition required +is one inherent in the nature of the case, namely, +a sincere belief in, and desire for, that spiritual +life which alone is eternal and of which Christ +is the supreme manifestation; (3) that whoever +has once thus looked to Christ with living faith +has an absolute assurance of preservation from +the weakness of his own will, as well as from +external temptation, an assurance afforded by +Christ’s declaration, “Of all which he has given +me I shall lose nothing.” It does not imply a +literal bodily resurrection. The literalism which +so reads this promise is akin to that which misinterpreted +Christ’s language respecting eating +his flesh and drinking his blood. The whole +spirit and tone of this discourse is poetic and +metaphorical.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he +said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 And they said, Is<a id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, +whose father and mother we know? how is it +then that he saith, I came down from heaven?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232" class="label">[232]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:55; Mark 6:3; Luke 4:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>41, 42. The Jews then murmured at +him.</b> The <em>Jews</em> are in the usage of John the +<em>Judeans</em>; here, those who had come from Jerusalem, +or who, dwelling in Galilee, partook of +the character of the more bigoted and superstitious +dwellers in the southern province.—​<b>Because +he said, I am the bread</b>, etc. Their +reference is to what he has said in verses +<a href="#ch6_33">33</a>, <a href="#ch6_35">35</a>, +<a href="#ch6_38">38</a>. Envy was the real cause of their murmuring. +This claim to superiority offended their +pride.—​<b>Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph</b>, +etc. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_27">7:27</a>; Mark 6:3. The +Christ they knew was the Christ according to the +flesh, whom Paul declared he would not know +(<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:16</span>); the Christ who came down from +heaven, that is, the divine Spirit working in him +and manifesting itself through him, they did not +know. He is known and only can be known by +spiritual apprehension.—​<b>How then saith this + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> +fellow</b> (<span lang="el">λέγει οὗτος</span>). There is implied in the +original Greek a contempt which may fairly be +expressed by this translation. The same expression +is so translated in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:24; 26:61; +Luke 23:2; John <a href="#ch9_29">9:29</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_43"></a> +<p class="hanging">43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, +Murmur not among yourselves.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_44"></a> +<p class="hanging">44 No man can come to me, except the Father which +hath sent me draw<a id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> him: and I will raise him up at the +last day.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233" class="label">[233]</a> +<abbr title="Canticles">Cant.</abbr> 1:4.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_45"></a> +<p class="hanging">45 It is written<a id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> in the prophets, And they shall be all +taught of God. Every man<a id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> therefore that hath heard, +and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234" class="label">[234]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 54:13; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 31:34; Micah 4:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235" class="label">[235]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:27.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>43-45. Jesus therefore answered</b>, * * * * +<b>No one</b> (not, <em>no man</em>) <b>can come unto +me except the Father which has sent me +draw him</b>. Parallel to this declaration is that +of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:17; the true knowledge of Christ is +revealed to the soul by the Father. There has +been much theological discussion as to the proper +interpretation of this passage. On the one hand, +Calvin declares that “it is therefore a false and +profane assertion, that none are <em>drawn</em> but +those who are willing to be <em>drawn</em>, as if man +made himself obedient to God by his own efforts; +for the willingness with which men follow +God is what they already have from himself, +who has framed their hearts to obey him;” on +the other hand, Adam Clark, representing the +Arminian school of theology, thus interprets the +divine drawing: “A man is attracted by that +which he delights in. Show green herbage to a +sheep, he is drawn by it; show nuts to a child, +and he is drawn by them. They run wherever +the person runs who shows these things; they +run after him, but they are not forced to follow; +they run through the desire they feel to get the +things they delight in. So God draws man; he +shows him his <span style="white-space:nowrap;">wants—he</span> shows the Saviour +whom he has provided for him.” The true interpretation +of the declaration involves the long +disputed and yet unsettled problem of the psychology +of the will, what is the nature of and +what are the limits to its freedom of action, a +problem which belongs rather to the domain of +mental science than to that of theology or Biblical +interpretation. In interpreting this passage, +however, the student should consider: (1) the literal +meaning of the word draw (<span lang="el">ἕλκω</span>). This primarily +carries with it the idea of force, and is +used by Homer of carrying one away captive; by +Luke, of dragging persons before a court (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +16:19; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +James 2:6</span>); and by John himself of +dragging a net (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch21_6">21:6</a>, +<a href="#ch21_11">11</a></span>). Thus the metaphor +involved in the word implies at least a certain +resistance to the divine love and a certain difficulty +to be overcome by the divine drawing. (2) +Parallel teachings in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +and <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Solomon">Sol.</abbr> Song 4:1; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 31:3; +<abbr title="Hosea">Hos.</abbr> 11:4; Luke 14:23, note; John +<a href="#ch12_32">12:32</a>; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:9</span>), +where the word <em>called</em> is parallel +to the word <em>draw</em> here (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:12, 13</span>). +(3) Christ’s +own interpretation of the Father’s drawing, afforded +by <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 45. They that have learned of the +Father are they that are drawn by him. (4) The +nature of that coming to Christ which is the object +of the divine drawing. “We do not come +to Christ by walking, but by believing; not by +the movement of the body, but by the free will +of the heart. * * * * Think not that thou +art drawn against thy will, for the mind is drawn +by love.”—(<cite>Augustine.</cite>) Interpreting this passage +in the light of these considerations, I understand +not that God drags the unwilling by an +irresistible grace, nor merely the willing by placing +before the will in its natural condition such +objects—a sense of its needs and a revelation of +its <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Saviour—as</span> attract the unsatisfied heart to +himself; but that he makes the soul willing in +the day of his power, working in us both to will +and to do of his good pleasure +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 110:3; +<abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:13</span>).—​<b>It +is written in the prophets</b> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 54:13</span>), +<b>They shall be all taught of God</b>. The <em>all</em> +here appears clearly from the reference in Isaiah +to be all the children of God, not all humanity.—​<b>Every +one, therefore, hearing from the +Father and learning, comes unto me.</b> +Emphasis is placed by the structure of the sentence +in the original Greek on the word <em>learning</em>. +The Pharisees heard, but they did not learn. He +that does not reverently recognize the divine +glory in the life and character of Christ, who +sees no beauty in him that he should desire him, +does not possess true piety, has not heard and +learned of God.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_46"></a> +<p class="hanging">46 Not<a id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> that any man hath seen the Father, save he +which is of God,<a id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> he hath seen the Father.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236" class="label">[236]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_37">5:37</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237" class="label">[237]</a> + Luke 10:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>46. Not that any one has seen the Father.</b> +The object of this verse, which is parenthetical, +seems to be to guard the Jews against +an unspiritual interpretation of his words.—​<b>Save +he which is from God.</b> Evidently +Jesus refers to himself. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_35">35</a>, and observe +how habitually he distinguishes himself +from man, never classing himself with men. +“Imagine a human creature saying to the world, +‘I came forth from the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Father—ye</span> are from beneath, +I am from above;’ facing all the intelligence +and even the philosophy of the world, and +saying, in bold assurance, ‘Behold, a greater +than Solomon is here’—‘I am the light of the +world’—‘the way, the truth, and the life;’ publishing +to all peoples and religions, ‘No man +cometh to the Father, but by me;’ promising +openly in his death, ‘I will draw all men unto +me;’ addressing the Infinite Majesty, and testifying, +‘I have glorified thee on the earth;’ calling + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> +to the human race, ‘Come unto me’—‘follow +me;’ laying his hand upon all the dearest +and most intimate affections of life, and demanding +a precedent love: ‘He that loveth father or +mother more than me is not worthy of me.’”—(<cite>Bushnell.</cite>)</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_47"></a> +<p class="hanging">47 Verily, verily, I say unto you,<a id="FNanchor_238" href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> He that believeth +on me hath everlasting life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_238" href="#FNanchor_238" + class="label">[238]</a> + verse <a href="#ch6_40">40</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_48"></a> +<p class="hanging">48 I<a id="FNanchor_239" href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> am that bread of life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_239" href="#FNanchor_239" class="label">[239]</a> + verses <a href="#ch6_33">33</a>, <a href="#ch6_35">35</a>, <a href="#ch6_51">51</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>47, 48. Verily, verily, I say unto you, +He that hath faith hath eternal life.</b> The +words <em>on me</em> are wanting in the best manuscripts, +are omitted by Tischendorf and Alford, and are +queried by Schaff; internal evidence is against +them. The declaration is generic; faith in the +largest sense of that <span style="white-space:nowrap;">word—the</span> power which lays +hold upon the invisible and the hope which +reaches after it (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:1</span>), a faith which may be +and is exercised by those who have never known +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:7</span>), is the essential condition of +spiritual life. This life is not, as in our English +version, merely “everlasting life,” but life eternal, +<i>i. e.</i>, the spiritual life which is created in the +soul when it is born from above, which is nurtured +in the soul that follows after that it may +apprehend Christ Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:12</span>), the fruits of +which are love, joy, peace, etc. (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22, 23</span>). This +eternal life is a present possession; he that hath +faith already hath this life.—​<b>I am the bread +of that life.</b> Faith may exist without Christ, +as it did in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> prophets and patriarchs, +and as it does in greater or less measure in some +at least of those in heathen lands; but Christ is +the bread of that life; by him it is fed, strengthened, +and made to grow; by him faith in invisible +things is made rich and strong. The universal +effect of a pure Christianity has been to turn +the mind away from material things to unseen +realities (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:18</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_49"></a> +<p class="hanging">49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, +and<a id="FNanchor_240" href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> are dead.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_240" href="#FNanchor_240" class="label">[240]</a> + <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 1:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_50"></a> +<p class="hanging">50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, +that a man may eat thereof, and<a id="FNanchor_241" href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> not die.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_241" href="#FNanchor_241" class="label">[241]</a> + verse 58.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_51"></a> +<p class="hanging">51 I am the living bread which came down from +heaven: it any man eat of this bread, he shall live for +ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh,<a id="FNanchor_242" href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> which +I will give for the life<a id="FNanchor_243" href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> of the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_242" href="#FNanchor_242" class="label">[242]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 10:5, 10, 20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_243" href="#FNanchor_243" class="label">[243]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 3:16; 1 John 2:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>49-51.</b> In these verses Christ marks the contrast +between the bread given in the wilderness +through Moses, to which the people had referred +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_31">31</a></span>), and for a repetition of which they had +asked, and the spiritual bread of which this +material manna was but a type. That manna +was temporary in its effects, the fathers were +dead, of this spiritual bread if one eats he shall +<em>not</em> die, it is eternal in its effects; that bread was +material, dead, this is a living and immortal +bread; that was given to a few, the Jewish nation, +this descends from heaven, that any one +may eat of it, it is for universal humanity; that +bread was bestowed without suffering, this +bread is a divine sacrifice given for the sake of +saving others from suffering.—​<b>This</b> (fellow) <b>is +the bread</b>. They had said (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_42">42</a></span>), “How then +saith this fellow?” He replies, repeating their +language of contempt, This (fellow, <span lang="el">οὗτός</span>) is the +bread which descends from heaven. Observe +that his language here, as throughout this discourse, +implies his pre-existence, if not his supernatural +birth.—​<b>In order that any one +may eat of it and may not die.</b> Not merely +“that one may eat;” his language, “that any +one may eat,” implies the universality of divine +grace; the bread is for whosoever will.—​<b>I am +the living bread.</b> Not equivalent to life-giving, +for which another Greek word (not <span lang="el">ζόω</span>, but +<span lang="el">ζοωποιέω</span>) would have been used. Here, as in +John <a href="#ch4_10">4:10</a>, is signified the spiritual life of the +food itself which Christ affords by the bestowal +of himself. It is true that Christ is life-giving, +but he is so because he is ever-living. He <em>is</em> the +life, therefore he <em>gives</em> life.—​<b>If any one eat of +this bread.</b> Again the universality of divine +grace is implied. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Acts 2:38, 39, note and +refs. there.—​<b>He shall live unto eternity.</b> +Not merely <em>forever</em>. The idea here, as everywhere +throughout the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, is not merely an +endless existence, which might be no boon, but +an immortal, a divine life, the very life of God, +making the new-born soul a true son of God.—​<b>And +the bread which I will give.</b> Observe +the future tense. He speaks therefore of a gift +yet to be perfected by his passion and death.—​<b>Is +my flesh, which I will give for the sake +of</b> (<span lang="el">ὑπὲρ</span>) <b>the life of the world</b>. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_16">3:16</a>. It seems to me that these enigmatical +words are added to guard the church from falling +into the error of supposing that Christ’s <em>doctrine</em> +is the bread of life, and that to hear and +believe his words as a divine teacher is to secure +the life eternal of which he speaks. This bread is +not merely the teaching nor the example of Christ; +the sacrifice is an essential principle of that spiritual +food which he has provided for the world’s life.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_52"></a> +<p class="hanging">52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, +saying, How<a id="FNanchor_244" href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> can this man give us <em>his</em> flesh to eat?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_244" href="#FNanchor_244" class="label">[244]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_9">3:9</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>52. How can this</b> (fellow) <b>give us his +flesh to eat</b>? The Judeans here interpret +Christ’s words with precisely the literalism with +which the church of Rome has interpreted them +since. The rest of the discourse Christ devotes +to guarding his hearers against this misapprehension +of literal and prosaic natures, and to +emphasizing the mystical doctrine to the elucidation +of which the whole discourse is devoted. +Verses <a href="#ch6_53">53-55</a> reiterate and re-emphasize the +truth that the soul must feed on Christ, receive + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> +him, his life, his death, his character, as the +supply of its own spiritual life; verses <a href="#ch6_57">57-59</a> and +verses <a href="#ch6_61">61-63</a> interpret what he means by the +metaphor. In the interpretation of Christ’s +symbolic language here we are to guard ourselves +against simplifying it, either by a literal +rendering on the one hand, or, on the other, by +that process of rationalism which, under pretence +of interpreting a metaphor, does away with +it altogether. If there were nothing mystical in +the doctrine, we may be sure that Christ would +not have clothed it in language seemingly so full +of mysticism.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_53"></a> +<p class="hanging">53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say +unto you, Except<a id="FNanchor_245" href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> +ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, +and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_245" href="#FNanchor_245" class="label">[245]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:26, 28.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_54"></a> +<p class="hanging">54 Whoso<a id="FNanchor_246" href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, +hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_246" href="#FNanchor_246" class="label">[246]</a> + verse <a href="#ch6_40">40</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_55"></a> +<p class="hanging">55 For my flesh is meat indeed,<a id="FNanchor_247" href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> and my blood is +drink indeed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_247" href="#FNanchor_247" class="label">[247]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 4:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>53-55. Therefore Jesus said unto them.</b> +Therefore connects what follows with what has +preceded; he emphasizes and explains the eating +and drinking, in response to their interruption in +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 53.—​<b>Verily, verily, I say unto you.</b> +These words give a solemn emphasis to the declaration +which follows.—​<b>Except ye eat the +flesh of the Son of man.</b> That is, of the Messiah +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:23, note</span>).—​<b>And drink his blood.</b> +The use of animal blood in any form was prohibited +to the Israelites as food (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 9:4; + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 3:17; +7:26, 27; 17:10-14; 19:26; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 12:16, 23; 15:23</span>), and was +exceedingly odious to the Jewish thought. +Moreover, to touch even the corpse of a man +rendered the Jew unclean. It is not, therefore, +strange that Christ’s language here should have +offended many even of his disciples +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_60">60</a></span>).—​<b>Ye +have no life in you.</b> The mere physical life +is accounted in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> no life at all. The true +life is that of God in the soul, the absence of +which is death.—​<b>Whoso eateth my flesh.</b> +The Greek verb rendered in both places <em>eat</em> is +different from that used above. The word here +(<span lang="el">τρώγω</span>) signifies literally to <em>chew</em> or <em>masticate</em>, and +seems to me to have been substituted by Christ +for the more general one (<span lang="el">φαγεῖν</span>), in order to +add still further emphasis to the doctrine which +he is expounding.—​<b>And drinketh my blood, +hath eternal life.</b> A present possession. See +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_47">47</a>, +note.—​<b>And I will raise him up at +the last day.</b> This is one of the passages on +which the advocates of the doctrine of conditional +immortality base their belief. The promise +of resurrection here certainly is limited to those +who through faith have received the gift of eternal +life.—​<b>For my flesh is true meat and +my blood is true drink.</b> To Christ the material +universe was but a shadow, and the realities +were those things of which the material +universe is a type. “Food and drink are not +here mere metaphors; rather are our common +material food and drink mere shadows and imperfect +types of this only real reception of refreshment +and nourishment into the being.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) +In the interpretation of Christ’s language +here, the student must remember the +declaration respecting him, “Without a parable +spake he not unto them” (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 4:34</span>); unquestionably +the language here is parabolic. It is +also true that the phrases eating and drinking +were used among the Jews in a metaphorical +sense, and that bread especially was employed +among them as a symbol for doctrine (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 3:1; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> +15:16; Lightfoot on John 6:51; Geikie’s Life of Christ, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 44, +note c</span>). It seems to me, however, very clear not +only that Christ here means something more than +receiving his doctrines, but that he employs his +peculiar language for the express purpose of +emphasizing the truth that it is not merely +enough to receive him as a teacher. If this had +been his meaning, it would have been easy to correct +the misapprehension of his Jewish hearers, +and remove the offence which they felt at his discourse. +This he does not do. On the contrary, +he declares, not that they must eat the <em>bread</em> of +the Son of man, but that they must eat <em>his flesh</em> +and drink <em>his blood</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_53">53</a></span>); in a slightly different +form, he reiterates this declaration in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_54">54</a>; +and finally, to avoid the possibility of the misinterpretation +which substitutes his teaching for +his personal presence and influence, he adds the +emphatic declaration of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_55">55</a>. If something +more than accepting and following the teaching +of Christ is not meant by these verses, then it +would seem that Christ has embodied a very +simple truth in very unnecessarily mystical language. +That more than this is meant I take to +be declared unmistakably by verses <a href="#ch6_53">53-55</a>; what +more than this is meant it is the object of verses +<a href="#ch6_56">56-58</a> to show. The commentators have discussed +at great length the question what relation the +solemn assertions of these verses bear to the +Lord’s Supper. There are three general opinions: +(1) that no reference to the Lord’s Supper +is intended; (2) that the whole passage exclusively +relates to the Lord’s Supper prophetically; +(3) that the idea involved in the Lord’s Supper, +but not the ordinance itself, is referred to. For +discussion of these opinions, see Alford’s note. +To me it seems clear that Christ here teaches by +a word-parable the same truth which he subsequently +embodies in a parable in action in the +ordinance of the Supper; whether he prophetically +refers to it or not is a question of no great +importance.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> +<a id="ch6_56"></a> +<p class="hanging">56 He that eateth<a id="FNanchor_248" href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> +my flesh, and drinketh my blood, +dwelleth<a id="FNanchor_249" href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> +in me, and I in him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_248" href="#FNanchor_248" class="label">[248]</a> + <abbr title="Lamentations">Lam.</abbr> 3:24.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_249" href="#FNanchor_249" class="label">[249]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_4">15:4</a>; + 1 John 3:24; 4:15, 16.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_57"></a> +<p class="hanging">57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by +the Father: so<a id="FNanchor_250" href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> he that eateth me, even he shall live +by me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_250" href="#FNanchor_250" class="label">[250]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_58"></a> +<p class="hanging">58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: +not as your fathers<a id="FNanchor_251" href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> did eat manna, and are dead: he +that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_251" href="#FNanchor_251" class="label">[251]</a> + verses <a href="#ch6_49">49-51</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>56-58. He that eateth my flesh and +drinketh my blood abides</b> (<span lang="el">μένω</span>) <b>in me and +I in him</b>. This result of the eating and drinking +interprets the kind of eating and drinking +signified. The same truth is elsewhere interpreted +by other metaphors, ask by that of being +engrafted on Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch15_4">15:4</a>, <a href="#ch15_5">5</a></span>); being rooted in +him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 3:17</span>); being joined to him as the body +to the head (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 4:15, 16</span>); being married to him +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:23</span>); receiving him as a temple receives +and is made sacred by the Spirit of God (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +3:16</span>); being clothed with him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 13:14; +<abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 3:27</span>).—​<b>And +I in him.</b> As Christ is in the Father +and the Father in Christ, so the disciples are to +be one in them (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch17_21">17:21</a></span>).—​<b>As the living +Father hath sent me and I live by the +Father, so he that eateth me, even he +shall live by me.</b> This one verse should have +prevented the three current errors of interpretation +in this chapter: (1) that spiritual life is dependent +on a literal feeding on Christ’s body and +blood; (2) that it is dependent on a sacramental +feeding on the sacred symbols of his body; (3) +that it requires only a belief in him as a religious +teacher. How did Christ live by the Father? +Certainly not by any literal eating of the Father’s +flesh or drinking of the Father’s blood; nor by +any symbol or ceremonial whatever; nor yet by +any mere hearing and obeying of the Father’s +words. The Father was personally present in +Christ; Christ, by his words and his acts, manifested +the indwelling glory of the Father; so +Christ fed on the Father because the Father was +the source and supply of his spiritual life. In +like manner we feed on Christ, not when we +merely accept and endeavor to follow his precepts, +but when, under the direct personal influence +of his spiritual presence, we manifest his +glory unto the world, having not merely a spirit +like Christ, but having the very spirit of Christ +himself in us (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +8:9, 10</span>).—​<b>This is that bread +which came down from heaven.</b> Christ +thus interprets his own previous metaphor.—​<b>Not +as your fathers did eat and are dead.</b> +Again he guards the Jews against their literal +interpretation; the eating of which he has spoken +is not the physical eating for the supply of +the body; this can never give true life.</p> + +<p>After this chapter had gone to press a remarkable +article from the pen of Dean Stanley appeared +on “The Eucharist” in the Nineteenth +Century (May, 1878), in which he arrives at +substantially the same conclusions that I have +arrived at in these notes, and enforces them with +his usual eloquence and learning. He urges that +in all religious ordinances we ought to try to get +beneath the phrases we use, and not to rest satisfied +with the words, however excellent, till we +have ascertained their meaning; that Christ’s +words here and in the appointment of the last +supper as a permanent memorial ordinance are +evidently metaphorical; that the very strangeness +of the metaphor should turn our thoughts +from the outward form to the inward essence; +that the body and flesh signify the personality +and character of Christ; that we must incorporate +in ourselves, that is in our moral natures, +the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">substance—the</span> moral <span style="white-space:nowrap;">substance—of</span> the +teaching and character of Jesus Christ; that this +is the only true transubstantiation; that the blood +of Christ is his spirit, the inmost essence of his +character, the self of his self; and that to drink +his blood is to imbibe this inmost spirit; that +this spirit is love or charity, which is throughout +the New Testament represented as the fundamental +essence of the highest life of God, and +therefore of his children; and he interprets +verses <a href="#ch6_53">53-56</a> here, in accordance with these principles, +as follows: “This is one of those startling +expressions used by Christ to show us that he +intends to drive us from the letter to the spirit, +by which he shatters the crust and shell in order +to force us to the kernel. It is as if he said: ‘It +is not enough for you to see the outward face of +the Son of man, or hear his outward words, or +touch his outward vesture. That is not himself. +It is not enough that you walk by his side, or +hear others talk of him or use terms of affection +and endearment toward him. You must go +deeper than this; you must go to his very inmost +heart, to the very core and marrow of his +being. You must not only read and understand, +but you must mark, learn, and inwardly digest, +and make part of yourselves, that which alone +can be part of the human spirit and conscience.’ +It expresses, with regard to the life and death of +Jesus Christ, the same general truth as is expressed +when <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Paul says, ‘Put ye on the Lord +Jesus <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Christ’—that</span> is, clothe yourselves with his +spirit as with a garment; or again, ‘Let the +same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.’ +It is the same general truth as when our Lord +himself says, ‘I am the vine; ye are the +branches.’”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_59"></a> +<p class="hanging">59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he +taught in Capernaum.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_60"></a> +<p class="hanging">60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had +heard <em>this</em>, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear +it?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>59, 60. In the synagogue.</b> I believe the +whole discourse to have been delivered in the +synagogue. See <a href="#Note6_22"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> +Note above</a>.—​<b>Many of +his disciples.</b> Not of the twelve, but of those + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> +who had been theretofore inclined to accept him +as a teacher.—​<b>This is a hard saying.</b> Rather, +<em>an impious saying</em>, or at least hard in the sense of +harsh and repulsive, rather than in that of merely +difficult. To the Jews then, as to the world +ever since, a system of religion which proposes +an amelioration of condition only by a revolution +of moral character, by a new and divine life, +seemed not only not attractive, but repellent.—​<b>Who +can hear it?</b> That is, Who can stay and +listen to such teaching as this?</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_61"></a> +<p class="hanging">61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples +murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend +you?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_62"></a> +<p class="hanging">62 <em>What</em> and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend<a id="FNanchor_252" href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> +up where he was before?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_252" href="#FNanchor_252" class="label">[252]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_13">3:13</a>; + Mark 16:19; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 4:8-10.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_63"></a> +<p class="hanging">63 It<a id="FNanchor_253" href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth +nothing: the words that I speak unto you, <em>they</em> are +spirit, and <em>they</em> are life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_253" href="#FNanchor_253" class="label">[253]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>61-63. When Jesus knew in himself.</b> +Either miraculously or by a subtle sense which +the delicately organized often possess.—​<b>Doth +this offend you?</b> <em>Stumble you.</em> See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:29, +note; 11:6, note. The teaching of the disciple, +as the teaching of Christ, will sometimes +be to men a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence.—​<b>What +and if ye shall see the Son +of man ascend up where he was before?</b> +Another admonition that they are not to take +his words in a material sense, for in his glorified +body he is to ascend into heaven before their +sight. The language is a strong testimony to +the historical verity of the ascension.—​<b>The +spirit is the life-giver, the flesh profiteth +nothing whatsoever</b>; <i>i. e.</i>, It is my spirit in +your spirit which will give eternal life, not my +flesh in your flesh. This is the natural meaning +of these words, and they are to be taken in their +material sense, not with such qualifications as that +of Augustine, “The flesh alone and by itself +profiteth not,” <i>i. e.</i>, without the blessing of the +spirit; or such as that of Alford, “He does not +say <em>my</em> flesh profiteth nothing, but <em>the</em> flesh.” +<em>The</em> flesh is <em>my</em> flesh; for it is only of his own +flesh that he has spoken at all in this discourse. +The flesh of Christ, if it could be miraculously +reproduced by the benediction of a priest, would +still be of no profit.—​<b>The words which I have +spoken to you, they are spirit and they +are life.</b> The meaning is not that Christ’s +words are themselves life-giving, though this is +true; but that the words which he has just spoken +to them respecting his flesh and his blood +relate to the spiritual realm and the eternal life, +and are to be so interpreted.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_64"></a> +<p class="hanging">64 But there are some of you that believe not. For +Jesus knew<a id="FNanchor_254" href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> from the beginning who they were that +believed not, and who should betray him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_254" href="#FNanchor_254" class="label">[254]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:29; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_65"></a> +<p class="hanging">65 And he said, Therefore said I<a id="FNanchor_255" href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> unto you, that no +man can come unto me, except it were given unto him +of my Father.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_255" href="#FNanchor_255" class="label">[255]</a> + verses <a href="#ch6_44">44</a>, <a href="#ch6_45">45</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>64, 65. But there are some among you +who have not faith.</b> Such could not receive +the teaching of Christ, for it is true in spiritual +as in physical gifts, according to one’s faith, so +is Christ’s blessing (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:29</span>).—​<b>For Jesus +knew from the beginning</b>, etc. Compare +this distinct statement of Christ’s foreknowledge +with Christ’s own statement of the limitations +of his knowledge in Mark 13:32. The contrast +illustrates one of the inexplicable mysteries of +Christ’s nature, whose knowledge transcended +that of man, yet in his earthly condition was less +than that of omniscience. To the question, Why, +if he foreknew the betrayal of Judas, did he ordain +him as an apostle? there is no satisfactory +answer. The problem of divine foreknowledge +and human free-will, of that divine law the inflexibility +of which science has in these later days +so strikingly demonstrated, and that freedom of +moral action to which universal consciousness testifies, +is one which transcends the limits of the +human intellect.—​<b>Therefore said I unto you +that no one can come unto me except it +were given unto him of my Father.</b> Judas +and the withdrawing disciples had, in a sense, +come unto him; they had followed him, accepted +him as their Master, and had given him +for a time their allegiance. Yet they had not +really come to him, for no one truly comes except +he is drawn by a divine influence. <em>Therefore</em> +connects the declaration of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 44 with the fact +here stated that some of the disciples were without +true faith. The practical warning to us here +is this, that we have need to examine ourselves +that we may know whether our coming to Christ +has been merely that of a natural inclination or +that of obedience to the impulse of the Spirit of +God.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_66"></a> +<p class="hanging">66 From that <em>time</em> many of his disciples went back,<a id="FNanchor_256" href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> +and walked no more with him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_256" href="#FNanchor_256" class="label">[256]</a> + Zeph. 1:6; Luke 9:62; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 10:38.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_67"></a> +<p class="hanging">67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go +away?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>66, 67. From this many of his disciples +went back.</b> <em>From this</em> indicates both, as the +English version represents, the <em>time</em> from which +this withdrawal dated, and also the <em>cause</em> from +which it proceeded. Observe that faithful +preaching will drive some apparent disciples +away from Christ. The minister, like his Master, +will ever have the fan in his hand, and the +gospel which he preaches will in some measure +separate the chaff from the grain. This was illustrated +in the experience of the apostle Paul. +See Acts 13:44-46; 14:4; 17:12, 13, etc. “It +will never be possible for us to exercise such + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> +caution that the doctrine of Christ shall not be +the occasion of offence to many; because the +reprobate, who are devoted to destruction, suck +venom from the most wholesome food and gall +from honey. The Son of God undoubtedly knew +what was useful, and yet we see that he cannot +avoid offending many of his disciples.”—(<cite>Calvin.</cite>)—​<b>Then +said Jesus also to the twelve, Ye +do not also wish to go away?</b> The tone is +one of pathetic protest; the language that of one +who felt keenly the desertion, and yearned for +an expression of the fidelity of his immediate +friends, not as an assurance, for he knew from +the beginning who believed not, and therefore +who believed and would endure, but as an utterance +of loyalty and love. At the same time he +leads them to a confession which draws them +more closely and binds them more tenderly to +himself.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_68"></a> +<p class="hanging">68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom +shall we go? thou hast the<a id="FNanchor_257" href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> words of eternal life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_257" href="#FNanchor_257" class="label">[257]</a> + Acts 5:20; 7:38.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_69"></a> +<p class="hanging">69 And <a id="FNanchor_258" href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a>we believe and are sure that thou art that +Christ, the Son of the living God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_258" href="#FNanchor_258" class="label">[258]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 1:29; 11:27; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:16.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>68, 69. Then Simon Peter answered.</b> +As in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:16, he speaks quickly, for all.—​<b>Lord, +to whom shall we go?</b> To go away +from Christ is to go out even here into the darkness; +unto loneliness, hopelessness, despair.—​<b>Thou +hast the words of eternal life.</b> As +Martha’s utterance of her faith in John <a href="#ch11_27">11:27</a>, +so Peter’s declaration here is not wholly responsive +to the discourse that has preceded. He +does not fully comprehend the meaning of that +personal feeding on Christ of which the Lord has +been speaking; but he believes that Christ’s +words, though he does not fully understand +them, are words of, that is full of, eternal life, +and that he is the Messiah and the Son of God. +And in this faith he is content to await humbly +till the full meaning of Christ’s enigmatical discourse +shall be revealed to him, as it could not +be till Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, +and the descent of the Holy Spirit.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_70"></a> +<p class="hanging">70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you +twelve, and one of you is a<a id="FNanchor_259" href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> devil?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_259" href="#FNanchor_259" class="label">[259]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 13:27.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch6_71"></a> +<p class="hanging">71 He spake of Judas Iscariot <em>the son</em> of Simon: for +he it was that should betray him, being one of the +twelve.</p> +</div> + + +<p><b>70, 71. Have not I chosen you twelve?</b> +Chosen them, not to be heirs of eternal life, but +to be apostles; in the inner circle of his disciples; +receiving his most sacred influence and +intimate instruction. <b>And one of you is a +devil.</b> Not <em>the</em> devil; not merely <em>devilish</em>; but +belonging to the kingdom of the devil; one of +his ministers and agents. To Christ all men belong +to either the one or the other kingdom.He here, as it were, looks forward to the time +when Judas should have gone to his own place, +forecasts his future, and characterizes him in the +present by what he is to be when the germinal +sin, now in him, has brought forth its final fruit. +On the character of Judas Iscariot, see <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> +307, Note on character and career of Judas Iscariot.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Seven">VII</abbr>.</h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 7:1-52. JESUS AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. +<span class="smcap">The demand of the unbeliever for an exhibitory +Christ.—​The world never ready for its +reformers and regenerators; always ready for +those who have for it no message.—​The true authority +and ordination of the christian teacher.—​Lay +preaching sanctioned by the example of +Christ.—​The law of the Christian Sabbath and +the law of Christian judgment.—​Whence Christ +cometh; whither he goeth.—​The power of faith: +to receive; to impart.—​The moral power of Christ +illustrated.</span></p> + +<p><a id="Note_ch7"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—Between the close of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +6 and the beginning of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 7 occurred a period of +retirement, employed by Christ in giving to his +apostles especial instructions concerning the +kingdom of God. The fullest account of these +instructions is afforded in Matthew, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 15, +16, 17, 18. During this time occurred the healing +of the Syrophenician woman’s daughter and +the transfiguration. The public ministry of +Christ in Galilee was substantially brought to an +end by his sermon in the synagogue at Capernaum +and his consequent rejection by the people. +The ministry in Judea begins with this +chapter and continues to <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_39">39</a> of the tenth +chapter, verses <a href="#ch7_40">40-42</a> affording a concise statement +of that ministry in Perea, of which Luke +alone gives any extended account. The journey +to Jerusalem mentioned below +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_10">10</a></span>) is, I think +erroneously, identified by some harmonists with +that described by Luke, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 9:51, 52. That +journey was immediately before his passion, and +was notably public, messengers going before his +face to prepare the way for him; this was “as it +were in secret,” and six months of instruction in +Judea and Perea intervened between it and his +death. See Luke 9:51-56, <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note, and Tabular +Harmony, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 45.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">After</span> these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for +he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews +sought to kill him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_096"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_096.jpg" + alt="Booth on housetop"> + <p class="caption">BOOTH ON THE HOUSETOP.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 Now the Jews’ feast<a id="FNanchor_260" href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> of tabernacles was at hand.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_260" href="#FNanchor_260" class="label">[260]</a> + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 23:34.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart +hence, and go into Judæa, that thy disciples also may +see the works that thou doest.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 For <em>there is</em> no man <em>that</em> doeth anything in secret, +and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou +do these things, shew thyself to the world.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>2-4. Now the Jews’ feast of Tabernacles +was at hand.</b> This was one of the three +greater festivals to be observed by Israel. It +was also called the feast of Ingathering, from +the fact that it was held at the year’s end, when + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> +all the labors of the field were consummated. It +thus resembled nearly our own Thanksgiving +Day. It commenced on the fifteenth of the seventh +month, answering to our October, and lasted +seven days. It was instituted to commemorate +the dwelling in tents when in the desert; accordingly, +while the feast lasted the people dwelt in +booths or tents placed on the flat roofs of the +houses, in the courts of the temple, and in the +squares and open places, and the streets when +their width allowed. The particular sacrifices +to be offered are detailed in <abbr title="Numbers">Num.</abbr> 29:1-38, and +notices of the observance are to be found in <abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> +8:13-18; <abbr title="Hosea">Hos.</abbr> 12:9; <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 14:16-19.—​<b>His +brethren.</b> Their names are given in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:55. +I believe his half brothers, children of Joseph +and Mary, are intended. See Note on +Brethren of the Lord, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 187.—​<b>That thy +disciples also may see the works that +thou doest.</b> This was after the commission, +the missionary tour, and the return of the twelve +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 10</span>), through whose ministry probably +many had become in a certain loose sense disciples +of our Lord, regarding him as a Jewish +rabbi, and perhaps as an inspired prophet, who +had never seen him personally. The language +of Christ’s brothers is that of contempt. Leave +this province, said they, and go up into Judea, +the religious centre of the Holy Land, and show +yourself to those who have heard of you, and +exhibit to them what you can do. Additional +significance is given to this language if we remember +that it was used after a period of retirement +of more than six months. <a href="#Note_ch7">See above</a>.—​<b>For +no one does anything in secret, and +yet seeks himself to be frank and open</b> +(<span lang="el">ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ</span>). The intimation is that the reason +why Jesus does not make more public exhibition +of himself and his work is that he is deceiving +the people. His brothers attempt to compel him +to adopt their policy by imputing to him, because +of his course, a lack of frankness and fearlessness.—​<b>If +thou do these things, show +thyself to the world.</b> <em>If</em> implies a doubt. In +a worldly view the policy of these brothers +would seem wise; but it was really, in a more +subtle form, the policy suggested by Satan in the +second temptation (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:5-7</span>). Christ would be +accepted by faith and love, not by wonder and +fear; for the sake of his truth, not because of +his miracles. These he persistently refused to +show to the world as a means of compelling allegiance.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 For neither did his brethren<a id="FNanchor_261" href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> believe in him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_261" href="#FNanchor_261" class="label">[261]</a> + Mark 3:21.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>5. For neither had his brethren faith in +him.</b> This verse seems to me quite conclusive +that none of the brethren here mentioned were +among the twelve, and therefore that James, +Simon, and Judas, the brethren of the Lord, +cannot be the apostles who bore the same name. +They afterward became believers (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 1:14; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +9:5</span>). They may at this time have recognized +that Jesus possessed extraordinary powers, without +recognizing in him the Messiah, or even an +inspired teacher, whose instructions they were +willing to follow. “They expected him to make +a startling exhibition of his power to the eye. +They did not believe in <span class="smcap">Him</span>; for faith rests upon +that which is not seen; it confesses an inward +vital power.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 Then Jesus said unto them, My<a id="FNanchor_262" href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> time is not yet +come: but your time is alway ready.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_262" href="#FNanchor_262" class="label">[262]</a> + verses <a href="#ch7_8">8</a>, <a href="#ch7_30">30</a>; + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_4">2:4</a>; <a href="#ch8_20">8:20</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 The<a id="FNanchor_263" href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because +I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_263" href="#FNanchor_263" class="label">[263]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_19">15:19</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this +feast; for my time is not yet full come.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 When he had said these words unto them, he abode +<em>still</em> in Galilee.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>6-9. My time is not yet; but your time +is always prepared.</b> The context indicates +the meaning. They had urged him to show himself +to the world; his answer is, My time to show +myself to the world is not yet. This manifestation +of himself is gradual and successive; he +partially manifested himself in the discourse delivered +in Jerusalem at this very feast (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_16">16</a>, +<a href="#ch7_18">18</a>, <a href="#ch7_28">28</a>, +<a href="#ch7_29">29</a>, <a href="#ch7_37">37</a>, +<a href="#ch7_38">38</a></span>); more fully by his subsequent discourses +in the temple during the Passion week +(<span class="muchsmaller">Matthew, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 21, 22, 23</span>); still more fully by his crucifixion, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> +in which was disclosed that love which +is the wisdom and power of God unto salvation +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:24</span>), and in which, even at the time and by +the manner of his death, his divine Sonship was +revealed to the Roman centurion (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 15:39</span>); yet +again by his resurrection from the dead (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 2:32-36; +3:15</span>); increasingly in the ages since, by his +personal presence and power in the church (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +28:18, 20; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:3, 4</span>); a manifestation to be finally +consummated when he is revealed from heaven +in his second coming (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 24:27; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 3:4; 2 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> +1:7</span>). For this final coming the church is ever +preparing the world, casting up a highway for +him; and not till this highway is completed and +he comes again shall all flesh see the salvation of +God (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 3:4-6</span>). The time of his brothers was +always prepared; for the world is always ready +for him who has no message for it. “If I,” said +Luther, “would speak what the Papists like to +hear, I would be very glad, too, to take lodgings +with the Bishop of Magdeburg at Rome.” “The +Son of man feels all the difference between those +whose time was always ready, who could go up +to the feasts whenever it pleased them, merely +with the expectation of meeting friends and +mixing in a crowd, and him who had the straitening +consciousness of a message which he must +bear, of a baptism which he must be baptized +with.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)—​<b>The world cannot hate +you</b>, etc. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_18">15:18</a>; + <a href="#ch17_14">17:14</a>; 1 John +3:13; Luke 6:26. He that would preach the +gospel of salvation to the world must first testify +of it that its deeds are evil. The Holy Spirit +convinces the world of righteousness only after +convincing it of sin (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch16_8">16:8</a>, <a href="#ch16_9">9</a></span>). For illustrations +of Christ’s preaching against the works of the +world, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:20; 6:1, 2, 5, 16; 7:22; +11:16-24; 12:39-15; Luke 6:46; 10:12-16; +11:45-54; 12:54-57, etc. A study of the +preaching of Christ and the apostles, and of the +writings of Paul, will show that the divine +method is always to convince of sin as a preparation +for proclaiming the good news of salvation +from it.—​<b>I go not unto this feast.</b> The word +yet is not in the original, though it probably correctly +interprets the real meaning of Christ’s +answer. This was not, <b>I shall not go</b> (future), +but, <b>I am not now going</b> (present). Perhaps +Christ did not know whether he should go or +not; he who acted constantly under the guidance +of the Divine Spirit may not have received guidance +on this point. It would at all events have +defeated his purpose to have gone up with those +who were determined that he should make an +exhibition of himself and his work. There is no +ground for either the reproach that he deceived +his brethren, or that he acted in a fickle manner +in subsequently going up to the feast.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 But when his brethren were gone up, then went +he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in +secret.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 Then<a id="FNanchor_264" href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, +Where is he?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_264" href="#FNanchor_264" class="label">[264]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_56">11:56</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 And<a id="FNanchor_265" href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> there was much murmuring among the people +concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: +others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_265" href="#FNanchor_265" class="label">[265]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_16">9:16</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Howbeit, no man spake openly of him, for fear +of the Jews.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>10-13. Not openly, but as it were in +secret.</b> Not <em>secretly</em>, but <em>as if</em> in secret, that is, +quietly, unostentatiously, <em>incognito</em>, in contrast +to the way in which his brothers wished him to +go up. “Not in the company of a caravan of +pilgrims or in any other way of outward observation, +but so that the journey to that feast is +represented as made in secrecy, and consequently +quite differently from his last entry at the feast of +the Passover.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) The description of this +journey to Jerusalem renders it improbable that it +is to be identified with the journey described in +Luke 9:51, 52. See <a href="#Note_ch7"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a>.—​<b>Then the Jews +sought him.</b> By the <em>Jews</em> John generally if not +invariably means the inhabitants of Judea, in +contradistinction to the other inhabitants of the +Holy Land. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_41">6:41</a>, note.—​<b>Where is +that fellow</b> (<span lang="el">ἐκεῖνος</span>)? The language is derisive. +“Thus contemptuously can they speak of the +man, that they cannot name him.”—(<cite>Luther.</cite>)—​<b>And +there was much murmuring.</b> The +original (<span lang="el">γογγυσμός</span>) implies suppressed discourse.—​<b>Some +indeed said.</b> The Greek particle +which I have rendered <em>indeed</em> (<span lang="el">μέν</span>) implies a concession, +at the same time pointing forward to +something antithetic. The implication is that +among the Judeans the believers were a minority.—​<b>No! +but he deceiveth the people.</b> He +that is popular with the multitude is generally +looked upon with aversion by the hierarchy.—​<b>No +one spoke openly.</b> “Both mistrusted the +hierarchy; even those hostile in their judgment +were afraid, so long as they had not given their +official decision, that their verdict might be reversed. +A true indication of an utterly Jesuitical +domination of the people.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) Hostility +to Christianity fears nothing so much as +free discussion; and it quite accords with human +nature that the consideration of Christ’s claims +by the people at all should be dreaded by the +priesthood. The interpretation of Alford, Godet, +Tholuck, and others, that only the friends +of Christ feared to speak openly, is in direct conflict +with the explicit language of the narrative. + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> +Maurice pictures the scene well: “It is a hum +of voices. There is a fear of something, the people +do not well know of what. It is a fear of the +Jews; the apostle says each fears the other. +There is a concentrated Jewish feeling in the +Sanhedrim, among the rulers, which all tremble +at. Till that has been <span style="white-space:nowrap;">pronounced—above</span> all, +while there is a suspicion that it will come forth +in <span style="white-space:nowrap;">condemnation—it</span> is not wise for any to commit +themselves. Brethren, do we not know that +this is a true story? Must it not have happened +in Jerusalem then, for would it not happen in +London now?”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up +into the temple, and taught.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 And<a id="FNanchor_266" href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth +this man letters, having never learned?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_266" href="#FNanchor_266" class="label">[266]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:54.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>14, 15. About the midst of the feast.</b> +Bengel calculates that on this year the middle of +the feast would be the Sabbath; the temple would +in that case be especially crowded, and the day +would suggest the remarks respecting the Sabbath.—​<b>Jesus +went up into the temple and +taught.</b> He came to Judea privately, he went +into the temple publicly; he would not exhibit +himself, he would not conceal his doctrine.—​<b>And +the Judeans marvelled, saying.</b> The +form of the question which follows indicates a +hostile spirit; but it may have been raised, not +by the scribes or teachers (<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Alford</cite>), but +by the people (<cite>Tholuck</cite>).—​<b>How knoweth this +fellow learning, never having been +taught?</b> “A rule analogous to that which still +prevails in most church communions forbade +any rabbi to teach new truths except he was a +regular graduate of one of the theological +schools. He might catechise, but he could not +preach. This rule the Jews cited against Jesus. +‘How,’ said they contemptuously, ‘does this +man know anything of sacred literature, being +no graduate?’”—(<cite>Abbott’s Jesus of Nazareth.</cite>) +<em>Letters</em> (<span lang="el">γράμμα</span>) is here the sacred writings of +the Jews, <i>i. e.</i>, the sacred Scriptures and the +comments thereon. This question affords the +key to the interpretation of the discourse which +follows, which is upon the authority, primarily +of Christ, secondarily of every Christian teacher, +an authority derived, not from theological schools +or clerical ordination, but from the indwelling +Spirit of God. Christ was himself a “lay preacher;” +his example and his precept alike sanction +unordained preaching.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is +not<a id="FNanchor_267" href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> mine, but his that sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_267" href="#FNanchor_267" class="label">[267]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_28">8:28</a>; <a href="#ch12_49">12:49</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 If<a id="FNanchor_268" href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> any man will do his will, he shall know of the +doctrine, whether it be of God, or <em>whether</em> I speak of +myself.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_268" href="#FNanchor_268" class="label">[268]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_43">8:43</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>16, 17. My teaching is not mine, but his +that sent me.</b> For <em>doctrine</em> read <em>teaching</em>; for +not merely the subject-matter taught, but the +power with which it was presented, was divine. +<em>My teaching is not mine</em> is not a hyperbole. It is +not merely equivalent to “not acquired by any +labor on my part in learning” (<cite>Bengel</cite>), or “not +an invention of my own” (<cite>Geikie</cite>). Neither in +origin nor in aim was Christ’s teaching his own. +Ever about his Father’s business, he was ever +teaching his Father’s words and doing his Father’s +works (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_19">5:19</a>, <a href="#ch5_30">30</a></span>). In a sense every true +Christian teacher should be able to repeat this +saying of Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_16">14:26</a>; <a href="#ch16_13">16:13</a></span>). It does not +follow that the Christian teacher need not be a +Christian student; but it does follow that he +should be a student only of those things which +enable him better to understand and interpret +the Father’s will and nature. Only so far as +schools of theological thought help him to do +this are they truly Christian schools.—​<b>If any +one wills to do his will, he shall know +concerning the teaching, whether it be +of God or whether I speak of myself.</b> An +often misunderstood declaration. The promise +is not that if any man does God’s will all theology +shall be made clear to him, nor even that he +shall be brought to a correct apprehension of the +most important truths of the Christian system. +The last clause qualifies the first; the declaration +is that if any man purposes to do God’s will, +<em>makes that his ultimate and supreme choice</em> (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> +6:11-16</span>), he shall know respecting Christianity +<em>whether it is of divine or human origin</em>. The declaration +is both a promise and the enunciation of +a spiritual law. The purpose to do God’s will +itself clarifies the spiritual sight, so that the soul +recognizes the Spirit of God in the life, the character, +and the teachings of his Son. The degree +of advancement which one subsequently makes +in comprehending the full significance of those +teachings will depend partly upon the purity of +his spiritual purposes, but partly upon other +conditions. Not the mere outward obedience to +God’s commandments, but a true spiritual purpose, +is declared to be the condition of spiritual +light; and to that purpose is attached, not a +promise of <em>all</em> light, but only of so much as will +enable the soul to know the source from which +it may obtain constantly increasing illumination. +Nevertheless, the first step toward the solution +of any theological difficulty whatever, is repentance +of sin and practical obedience to the voice +of God in the soul. Except a man be born again +he cannot <em>see</em> the kingdom of God.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 He<a id="FNanchor_269" href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> that speaketh of himself seeketh his own +glory: but he that<a id="FNanchor_270" href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> seeketh his glory that sent him, the +same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_269" href="#FNanchor_269" class="label">[269]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_50">8:50</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_270" href="#FNanchor_270" class="label">[270]</a> + <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 25:27.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 Did not Moses<a id="FNanchor_271" href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> give you the law, and <em>yet</em> none<a id="FNanchor_272" href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> +of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill<a id="FNanchor_273" href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> +me?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_271" href="#FNanchor_271" class="label">[271]</a> + John <a href="#ch1_17">1:17</a>; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 3:19.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_272" href="#FNanchor_272" class="label">[272]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 3:10-19.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_273" href="#FNanchor_273" class="label">[273]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_16">5:16</a>, <a href="#ch5_18">18</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18, 19. He that speaketh from himself +seeketh his own glory.</b> <em>From</em> (<span lang="el">ἀπό</span>) represents +the remote cause; <em>out of</em> (<span lang="el">ἐκ</span>) represents +the more immediate cause. The former refers + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> +to what is general, the latter to what is special. +See <cite><abbr title="Robinson's Lexicon">Rob. Lex.</abbr></cite>, <span lang="el">ἀπό</span>. Every Christian teacher +must speak <em>out of</em> himself, <i>i. e.</i>, out of his own +experience of truth internally possessed and become +a part of his nature; but no Christian +teacher may speak, <em>from</em> himself, <i>i. e.</i>, of his own +notions and by his own authority. The inward +experience out of which he speaks is powerful +only as it is derived from the Spirit of God. +Egotism is the natural expression of him who +speaks from himself, and has not the rhetorical +skill to conceal the inherent weakness.—​<b>But he +that seeketh his glory that sent him, the +same is true, and no unrighteousness is in +him.</b> This is a general proposition. In so far +as any one seeks the divine glory he is preserved +both from error and from unrighteousness (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +8:1, 2; 1 John 1:5, 7; 3:6</span>). Christ is the only one who +is absolutely true, and in whom is no unrighteousness, +because he is the only one in whom +there is no self-seeking.—​<b>Did not Moses give +you the law</b>, etc. The connection is well given +by Alford: “There is a close connection with +the foregoing. The will to do his will was to be +the great key to a true appreciation of his teaching; +but of this there was no example among +<em>them</em>; and therefore it was that they were no +fair judges of the teaching, but bitter opponents +and persecutors of Jesus, of whom, had they +been anxious to fulfil the law, they would have +been earnest and humble disciples” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_46">5:46</a></span>).—​<b>Why +go ye about to kill me?</b> The reference +is to the purposed assassination at a previous +visit to Jerusalem (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_18">5:18</a></span>), a purpose from +which the Pharisees had evidently not relented +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_1">7:1</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 The people answered and said,<a id="FNanchor_274" href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> Thou hast a +devil: who goeth about to kill thee?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_274" href="#FNanchor_274" class="label">[274]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_48">8:48</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done +one work, and ye all marvel.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Moses<a id="FNanchor_275" href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> therefore gave unto you circumcision; +(not because it is of Moses, but<a id="FNanchor_276" href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> of the fathers;) and +ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_275" href="#FNanchor_275" class="label">[275]</a> + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 12:3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_276" href="#FNanchor_276" class="label">[276]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 17:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, +that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye +angry at me, because<a id="FNanchor_277" href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> I have made a man every whit +whole on the sabbath day?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_277" href="#FNanchor_277" class="label">[277]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_8">5:8</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Judge<a id="FNanchor_278" href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> not according to the appearance, but judge +righteous judgment.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_278" href="#FNanchor_278" class="label">[278]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 1:16, 17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>20-24. Thou hast a devil; who goeth +about to kill thee?</b> It is evident from +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_25">25</a> +that some of his auditors knew the secret design +which had been formed for Christ’s assassination. +Their language here is that of foulest +abuse. I judge then that they were startled by +Christ’s sudden revealing of the secret designs +against him; and with that inconsistency which +is common to the self-condemned, they in the +same sentence denied that his death had been +compassed, and implied that the fact that it was +compassed had been disclosed to him by an evil +spirit which possessed him.—​<b>Jesus answered +* * * * I have done one work, and ye +all marvel.</b> The work referred to is that described +in the fifth chapter of John, the only +miracle in Jerusalem up to this time which is +described in detail; not the only one which he +had wrought (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch2_23">2:23</a>; <a href="#ch3_2">3:2</a></span>), but presumptively +the last one. They wondered not at the miracle, +but at the fact that he had performed it on the +Sabbath day (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_16">5:16</a></span>). It is not necessary to give +to the word <em>wonder</em> here any accessory idea, as +of doubt (<cite>Bengel</cite>) or disquietude (<cite>Chrysostom</cite>); +Christ begins with the mildest characterization +of their sentiment as that of mere surprise. +Here, as habitually, he does not proceed to severe +language till milder language has proved +unavailing.—​<b>Moses therefore gave unto you +circumcision.</b> There is some doubt whether +the word <em>therefore</em> belongs to this or to the preceding +verse; <i>i. e.</i>, whether Christ says, <cite>I have +done one work, and ye all therefore marvel</cite>, or, <cite>Moses +therefore gave unto you circumcision, not because it +is of Moses, but of the fathers</cite>. The latter reading +is preferred by the later scholars, <i>e. g.</i>, Bengel, +Meyer, Alford, against Olshausen, Tholuck. +Either is grammatically possible; and the purely +grammatical considerations appear to me to +be about equally balanced. The latter interpretation +is preferable, because it gives a better +meaning to the sentence. Accepting this rendering, +the meaning appears to be, Moses gave +unto you circumcision for this reason, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, because +it was patriarchal, not because it originated +with him. And this statement of the reason of +the Mosaic law respecting circumcision affords a +basis for the argument which follows. It was a +saying of the rabbis “that circumcision drives +away the Sabbath,” and they held that the rite, +notwithstanding the work which it necessarily +entailed, might be performed on the Sabbath +day, because it was of patriarchal origin, and so +antedated the Mosaic institution of the Sabbath. +Christ, referring to this fact, convicts the Jews +of inconsistency in being angry with him for +placing the law of mercy above the law of the +Sabbath. For the law of mercy was older than +either; it belongs to the eternal law of God’s +nature.—​<b>That the law of Moses should not +be broken.</b> That law prescribed that circumcision +should be performed on the eighth day +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 12:3</span>); to allow that day to pass by, therefore, +without circumcision would be a breach of +the law.—​<b>Because I have made an entire + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> +man</b> (<span lang="el">ὅλον ἄνθρωπον</span>) <b>well on the Sabbath +day</b>. We can hardly suppose, with Bengel and +Olshausen, that the <em>entire man</em> here signifies the +healing of both soul and body; for there is no +evidence in the original account that the physical +was accompanied with a spiritual healing, and +no likelihood that Christ’s auditors would have +understood him here to refer to spiritual healing. +The contrast rather seems to be between circumcision +as an act of wounding, which brought +only ceremonial cleanness, and the miracle at the +pool of Bethesda, which gave relief from the +consequences of sin (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_14">5:14</a></span>), and gave health to +the whole body.—​<b>Judge not according to +appearance, but judge righteous judgment.</b> +See <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 7:9. One of Christ’s Sabbath +laws; we are ourselves to avoid, but we are not to +condemn in others, the appearance of evil. What +is Sabbath observance and what Sabbath transgression +is to be determined, not by the external +act, but by the inward motive and the ultimate +end.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this +he, whom they seek to kill?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing +unto him. Do<a id="FNanchor_279" href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> the rulers know indeed that this is the +very Christ?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_279" href="#FNanchor_279" class="label">[279]</a> + verse <a href="#ch7_48">48</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 Howbeit<a id="FNanchor_280" href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> we know this man whence he is: but +when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_280" href="#FNanchor_280" class="label">[280]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:55.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25-27. Then said some of them of Jerusalem.</b> +Residents of Jerusalem, who were +therefore more likely than the pilgrim strangers +to know the designs of the hierarchy.—​<b>Whom +they seek to kill.</b> See <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_18">5:18</a>; <a href="#ch7_19">7:19</a>, + <a href="#ch7_32">32</a>.—​<b>Surely</b> +(<span lang="el">μήποτε</span>) <b>the rulers do not know +that this is indeed the Messiah</b>? The form +of the sentence is an inquiry, strongly implying a +negative answer.—​<b>Howbeit as to this fellow, +we know whence he is; but when +the Messiah cometh, no man knoweth +whence he is.</b> It is true that prophecy foretold +that the Messiah should be born in Bethlehem +(<span class="muchsmaller">Micah 5:2; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 2:6</span>); but according to the +Rabbinical teaching he was straightway to be +snatched away by spirits and tempests, lie hidden +for a while, and unexpectedly and supernaturally +reappear to enter upon his miraculous +mission (<span class="muchsmaller">Lightfoot on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 2:1</span>). The people here +bore an unconscious testimony to the Messiahship +of Jesus; for they neither knew his earthly +nor his heavenly origin. They believed him who +was born in Bethlehem to be a native of Nazareth, +and the Son of God to be the son of a carpenter.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, +Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: +and<a id="FNanchor_281" href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> I am not come of myself, but he that sent me<a id="FNanchor_282" href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> is +true, whom<a id="FNanchor_283" href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> ye know not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_281" href="#FNanchor_281" class="label">[281]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_43">5:43</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_282" href="#FNanchor_282" class="label">[282]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 3:4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_283" href="#FNanchor_283" class="label">[283]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_18">1:18</a>; <a href="#ch8_55">8:55</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 But<a id="FNanchor_284" href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> I know him: for I am from him, and he hath +sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_284" href="#FNanchor_284" class="label">[284]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_15">10:15</a>; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:27.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>28, 29. Then Jesus cried aloud teaching +in the temple, and said, Ye do indeed +know me, and ye know whence I am; +and I am not come of myself, but it is the +True One who hath sent me; him ye do +not know. I know him, for I have come +from him, and he it is that hath sent me +forth.</b> As I read it, this is one of those outbursts +of indignation with which we occasionally +meet in the teachings of Christ. The obduracy +and resoluteness in evil of the Jews aroused his +indignation and elicited his stern rebuke. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_41">8:41</a>, +<a href="#ch8_44">44</a>; <a href="#ch9_41">9:41</a>; +Matthew, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 23. I understand +then his language to be neither ironical +nor interrogative, but affirmative, and not to +refer to his human nature and origin, but to his +divine character and mission. In his miracles +and his instructions they had seen and heard +enough to assure them that he was from God +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_2">3:2</a>; <a href="#ch11_47">11:47</a>, +<a href="#ch11_48">48</a></span>). Their contemptuous declaration, +<cite>We know this fellow</cite>, he transformed into +an indictment against them. They had whispered +it; he proclaimed it aloud. “Ye do know +me,” he says, “and ye know whence I am, for +the authentication of my divine mission is ample. +Ye do know that I am not come of myself, for +my whole life is a conclusive demonstration that +I am not a self-seeker.” The <em>True One</em> is not +equivalent to the Truthful One nor the Really +Existent One merely, but the One True God +(<span class="muchsmaller">2 Chron. 15:3; +<abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 10:10; John <a href="#ch17_3">17:3</a>; +1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 1:9; 1 John +5:20</span>). Him they did not and could not know, +because the knowledge of God is only for the +pure in heart (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:8</span>). Jesus knew him, for he +had been his companion from eternity. In a +sense we are all from God, but not in the sense +in which Christ here indicates that he is from +God. The preposition used (<span lang="el">παρά</span>) has the sense +of <dfn>from beside, from near</dfn>, French <dfn>de chez</dfn> (<abbr title="Robinson's Lexicon"><cite>Rob. Lex.</cite></abbr>). +The declaration is interpreted by <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_1">1:1</a>; +<abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6. The public exposure of their whispered +contempt, the equally public exposure of +the secret thought of their own hearts, which +they had not themselves read as clearly as Christ +read it for them, and the tone of fearless assumption +in which he at once claimed to be the +companion of the Only True God and declared +that they did not even know Him, whose peculiar +people it was their peculiar boast to be, angered +the Judeans, and especially the hierarchy, and +led to the unsuccessful attempt to arrest Jesus +recorded in the succeeding verse.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 Then<a id="FNanchor_285" href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> they sought to take him: but no man laid +hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_285" href="#FNanchor_285" class="label">[285]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_37">8:37</a>; Mark 11:18; Luke 20:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 And many<a id="FNanchor_286" href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> of the people believed on him, and +said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles +than these which this <i>man</i> hath done?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_286" href="#FNanchor_286" class="label">[286]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_39">4:39</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>30, 31. They sought therefore to arrest + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span> +him.</b> An arrest for the purpose of bringing +him before the authorities, not a mere lawless +act of a mob, is indicated by the original (<span lang="el">πιάζω</span>). +The attempt, however, was probably made by +some of the people, acting without special authority; +this is implied by the account of the +official action subsequently taken (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_32">32</a></span>).—​<b>Because +his hour was not yet come.</b> The +hour appointed in the divine counsel for his passion +and death. The immediate cause of the +failure to arrest may have been a fear of the +Galileans and others with whom Christ was popular; +but John passes this wholly by to speak of +the real reason in the divine counsels. Predestination +is quite as strongly marked in John as in +Paul.—​<b>But of the multitude many believed +on him.</b> The degree of faith is not indicated. +Its spirituality may have been very slight; yet +the rest of the sentence certainly indicates that +they were inclined to think that this might be +the promised Messiah.—​<b>More miracles than +these which this one hath done.</b> To those +which had been wrought in Jerusalem were +probably added, in their thought, those which +had been wrought in Galilee; some of these had +doubtless been witnessed by many of the Galileans +present.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured +such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the +chief priests sent officers to take him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet<a id="FNanchor_287" href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> a little while am +I with you, and <em>then</em> I go unto him that sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_287" href="#FNanchor_287" class="label">[287]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_33">13:33</a>; <a href="#ch16_16">16:16</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 Ye<a id="FNanchor_288" href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> + shall seek me, and shall not find <em>me</em>: and + where I am, <em>thither</em> ye cannot come.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_288" href="#FNanchor_288" class="label">[288]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_21">8:21</a>; <abbr title="Hosea">Hos.</abbr> 5:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>32-34. The Pharisees and the chief +priests sent officers to take him.</b> This was +an official act on the part of the Sanhedrim or +its officers, carrying out the design of certain of +the people, as indicated in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_30">30</a>; and it is the +first official endeavor to arrest him, the beginning +of a course of action consummated in his +final arrest, trial, and crucifixion.—​<b>Therefore +said Jesus unto them.</b> A break evidently +occurs between verses 31 and 32. The discourse +up to <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 31 is continuous, and took place +about the middle of the feast, that is, the third +or fourth day; the discourse in verses 37-39 was +on the last day of the feast; between the two +the orders for Christ’s arrest were given. Verses +33, 34 are founded on Christ’s knowledge of +those orders, and it is a reasonable surmise that +the presence of the officers suggested it to him +and interpreted its meaning to some at least of +his auditors.—​<b>Yet a little while am I with +you.</b> About six months after this address he +was crucified.—​<b>And I go unto him that sent +me.</b> With this explicit statement of his meaning, +interpreted as it was by the previous declaration +that it was the true God who had sent +him, it is difficult to understand how the Jews +could have been perplexed respecting his meaning. +De Wette’s explanation that they knew not +the One who had sent him, and therefore that +this saying was a dark one to them, is not wholly +satisfactory, for surely they did know who was +meant by the phrase, <dfn>he that sent me</dfn>, and as surely +they could not fail to understand that going +to God was equivalent to death. Meyer supposes +that the words <cite>him that sent me</cite> in this +verse were not a part of Christ’s discourse, but +added, perhaps by John himself; but they are +not wanting in any of the manuscripts; and that +is both a doubtful and a dangerous kind of criticism +which removes a difficulty by the summary +process of removing the difficult words, without +any external authority for so doing. I believe +therefore that Christ was explicit, that he was +understood, and that the assumed perplexity of +his hearers was a piece of hypocrisy. See on +verses <a href="#ch7_35">35</a>, +<a href="#ch7_36">36</a>.—​<b>Ye shall seek and shall not +find me; and where I am ye cannot come.</b> +The key to the true interpretation of this passage, +is afforded by Luke 17:22; John <a href="#ch8_21">8:21</a>; +<a href="#ch13_33">13:33</a>. Christ does not refer to an inimical seeking; +the <em>search</em> here is the same as the <em>desire</em> to +see one of the days of the Son of man in Luke +17:22; <i>i. e.</i> the Jewish desire for a manifestation +of the Messiah. He does not refer to a true +spiritual seeking, for in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_21"> 8:21</a> he declares, to +the same Jewish auditors, <cite>Ye shall seek me and ye +shall die in your sins</cite>. Eusebius declares that +many Jews in consequence of the judgments of +God on Jerusalem became believers; such did +indeed seek Christ, but they found him. The +meaning then is that in the coming days of travail +and sorrow, when many should go out after false +Christs (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 24:23, 24</span>), the Jews would earnestly +desire a Messiah for their deliverer, whom, however, +they could not have, because with their +own hands they had put him to death. They +would seek, but theirs would be a temporal, not +a spiritual seeking; the seeking of fear and self-interest, +not of repentance, faith, and love. This +verse affords no authority whatever for the +opinion that any earnest spiritual soul ever seeks +Christ in vain.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither +will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto +the dispersed<a id="FNanchor_289" href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_289" href="#FNanchor_289" class="label">[289]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 11:12; James 1:1; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 What <em>manner of</em> saying is this that he said, Ye +shall seek me, and shall not find <em>me</em>; and where I am, +<em>thither</em> ye cannot come?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>35, 36. Then said the Jews among themselves.</b> +Their utterance has been by some regarded +as the utterance of a genuine perplexity. +So apparently Maurice: “He had broken down +the barriers between different classes of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Israelites—between</span> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> +Galileans, Samaritans, and Jews. +Why might he not carry his designs further? +Why might he not go to the dispersed tribes in +heathen lands? Why might he not preach to +the heathen themselves?” By others it is regarded +as the language of scorn and contempt. +So Meyer: “An insolent and scornful supposition, +which they themselves, however, do not +deem probable (therefore the question is asked +with <span lang="el">μή</span>), regarding the meaning of words to +them so utterly enigmatical. The bolder mode +of teaching adopted by Jesus, his universalistic +declarations, his partial non-observance of the +law of the Sabbath, would lead them, perhaps, +to associate with the unintelligible statement a +mocking thought like this, and all the more because +much interest was felt among the heathen, +partly of an earnest kind, and partly (<abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> +Paul in Athens) arising from curiosity merely, +regarding the Oriental religions, especially Judaism.” +The latter view seems to me the more +probable, because (1) it is inconceivable that the +Jews should have misapprehended Christ’s +meaning (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_33">33, note</a></span>); (2) his analogous language +in the next chapter they clearly did understand +to refer to his death (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_22">8:22</a></span>); (3) the fact that +what was said was “among themselves” indicates +that it was not an honest perplexity, in +which case they would have asked Christ for an +explanation, but of the same quality as the murmuring +reported in verses <a href="#ch7_26">26</a>, <a href="#ch7_27">27</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 In the last<a id="FNanchor_290" href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> day, + that great <em>day</em> of the feast, Jesus + stood and cried, saying, If<a id="FNanchor_291" href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> + any man thirst, let him + come unto me, and drink.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_290" href="#FNanchor_290" class="label">[290]</a> + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 23:36.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_291" href="#FNanchor_291" class="label">[291]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 55:1; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 22:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>37. In the last day, that great day of the +feast.</b> The feast of the Tabernacles proper +lasted for seven days (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 23:34, 41, 42</span>), but on the +eighth day a solemn assembly kept as a feast-Sabbath +was directed to be held (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 23:36; <abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> +29:35; <abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 8:18</span>); and though the people dwelt +in the booths only the seven days, this eighth +day was reckoned by the Jews as a part of the +feast. Whether the seventh or the eighth is intended +here by the “last day of the feast” is a +little uncertain, as it also is whether the drawing +of water from the brook Siloah, which was a +characteristic ceremonial of the other days of +the feast, took place also on the eighth day. +This ceremonial recalled the miraculous supply +of water in the wilderness from the riven rock; +it was connected by the more superstitious of +the people with the notion that at this time God +determined the amount of rain which should +fall during the year; and the more spiritual saw +in it a symbol of the time when the promised +gift of the Holy Spirit should be bestowed upon +Israel (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 12:3</span>). Whether the words of Christ +were uttered, as Dr. Geikie supposes, during +this ceremonial, or, as Alford supposes, the day +after this service had come to an end, the reference +to it is unmistakable. Dr. Geikie’s supposition +certainly makes this reference more striking, +and gives, if not peculiar significance, at +least peculiar force, to Christ’s words. “The +last day of the feast, known as ‘the Hosanna +Rabba’ and the ‘Great Day,’ found him, as each +day before, doubtless, had done, in the temple +arcades. He had gone thither early, to meet +the crowds assembled for morning prayer. It +was a day of special rejoicing. A great procession +of pilgrims marched seven times round the +city, with their lulabs, music, and loud-voiced +choirs preceding, and the air was rent with +shouts of Hosanna, in commemoration of the +taking of Jericho, the first city in the Holy Land +that fell into the hands of their fathers. Other +multitudes streamed to the brook of Siloah, +after the priests and Levites, bearing the golden +vessels with which to draw some of the water. +As many as could get near the stream drank of +it amidst loud shouting of the words of Isaiah—‘Ho, +every one that thirsteth, come ye to the +waters,’ ‘With joy shall we draw water from the +wells of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">salvation’—rising</span> in jubilant chants on +every side. The water drawn by the priests was, +meanwhile, borne up to the temple, amidst the +boundless excitement of a vast throng. Such a +crowd was, apparently, passing at this moment. +Rising as the throng went by, his spirit was +moved at such honest enthusiasm, yet saddened +at the moral decay which mistook a mere ceremony +for religion. It was burning autumn +weather, when the sun had for months shone in +a cloudless sky, and the early rains were longed +for as the monsoons in India after the summer +heat. Water at all times is a magic word in a +sultry climate like Palestine, but at this moment +it had a double power. Standing, therefore, to +give his words more solemnity, his voice now +sounded far and near over the throng, with soft +clearness, which arrested all: If any man thirst, +let him come unto me and drink.”—(<cite>Geikie.</cite>)—<b>If +any man thirst.</b> This is not an unconditional +promise; it is conditioned, not merely on +desire, but on a fervent desire. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 55:1; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:6; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 22:17. “None are called to +obtain the riches of the Spirit but those who +burn with the desire of them. For we know +that the pain of thirst is most acute and tormenting, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> +so that the very strongest men, and those +who can endure any amount of toil, are overpowered +by thirst.”—(<cite>Calvin.</cite>) An illustration +of this spiritual thirst is afforded by David in +Psalms 42, 43, and by Paul in <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:8-14.—​<b>Let +him come unto me.</b> If one can imagine these +words spoken to the throng while the procession +is marching into the temple, or even just after +the solemn service is over and the minds of the +people are still full of it, he will form a faint +conception of the divine assumption implied in +them; and if he further considers the effect +produced, both on the multitude (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch7_40">40</a>, <a href="#ch7_41">41</a></span>) and +on the officers sent to arrest Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> + <a href="#ch7_46">46</a></span>), he +will form a faint conception of the divine dignity +with which those words were uttered.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath +said, out<a id="FNanchor_292" href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> + of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_292" href="#FNanchor_292" class="label">[292]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_14">4:14</a>; + <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 18:4; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 58:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>38. He that hath faith in me.</b> As in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 6 +to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is +to have faith in him and live by him, so here, to +come unto him and drink is to come with the +affections and receive him into the soul.—​<b>As +the Scripture hath said.</b> There is no passage +in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> which directly sustains this citation, +and no reason to suppose that Christ refers +to any lost book. Alford refers to <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 47:1-12, +where the river of the water of life is described +as flowing from under the temple, which Alford +regards as a symbol of the believer; similarly +Olshausen; but both this reference and that to +<abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 14:8 are remote and unnatural. We are +either to suppose that the phrase “as the Scripture +hath said” refers only to the preceding +clause, “he that believeth on me,” so that the +meaning is, He that according to the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> believeth +on me; or else we are to suppose that +John by the following verse (39) not only interprets +the meaning of Christ’s promise, but also the +meaning of his reference, and that we are to look +for the Scripture in those passages which refer +to and promise the gift of the Holy Ghost. The +former of these interpretations is that of Chrysostom, +the latter that of Meyer, who refers to +<abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 44:3; 55:1; 58:1; Joel 3:18; <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 13:1.—​<b>Shall +flow rivers of living water.</b> This +declaration is not to be limited so that it shall be +simply equivalent to the promise in John <a href="#ch4_14">4:14</a>, +“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall +give him shall never thirst.” The language <cite>out +of his belly</cite> clearly implies something received +that it may flow <em>from</em> the recipient unto others. +The water which he drinks becomes in him a +spring from which living waters flow, as the +light which illuminates him makes him in turn +one of the lights which illuminate the world +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:14; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:15</span>). That this is the meaning is +clear, not only from the language here, but from +John’s interpretation in the succeeding verse. +“The mutual and inspired intercourse of Christians +from Pentecost downwards, the speaking +in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, the mutual +edification in Christian assemblies by means +of the charismata even to the speaking with +tongues, the entire work of the apostles, of a +Stephen and so on, furnish an abundant historical +commentary upon this text.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 (But this spake he of the<a id="FNanchor_293" href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> Spirit, which they that +believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was +not yet <em>given</em>; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_293" href="#FNanchor_293" class="label">[293]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_7">16:7</a>; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 44:3; Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17, 33.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>39. But this spake he of the Spirit.</b> This +declaration of John makes the second chapter of +Acts and the succeeding history of the Church +of Christ the true commentary on Christ’s +promise.—​<b>For the Spirit was not yet.</b> The +meaning cannot of course be that the Holy +Spirit had no existence, for “this would be not +only in flat contradiction to <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_32">1:32</a>, <a href="#ch1_33">33</a>; +<a href="#ch3_5">3:5</a>, <a href="#ch3_8">8</a>, +<a href="#ch3_34">34</a>, but to the whole +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, in which the +agency of the Spirit in the <em>outward world</em> is recognized +even more vividly than in the N. T.” +(<cite>Alford.</cite>) And it is not only in the outward +world that the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> recognizes the Holy Spirit, +but also in the hearts of individual prophets, +who thus became the ministers of divine grace +to others (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 41:38; <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 4:11, 12; 31:3; 2 Chron. 15:1; +<abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 51:11; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 63:11, 14</span>). Nor does the addition by +the translators of the word <cite>given</cite> adequately represent +the meaning, for the Holy Ghost was +given before the glorification of Christ, but not +to all men; he was not a universal gift. The +meaning is that the dispensation of the Holy +Ghost had not yet begun; he had not yet been +so given that whoever had faith in the Son of +God received the gift of the Holy Ghost and became +one of the Lord’s prophets (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 2:38</span>). See +Acts 2:4, note.—​<b>Because Jesus was not yet +glorified.</b> The death and resurrection of Christ +were the conditions precedent of the outpouring +of the Holy Ghost +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_16">14:16</a>, <a href="#ch14_17">17</a>; +<a href="#ch16_7">16:7</a>; Acts 1:7-9</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard +this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.<a id="FNanchor_294" href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_294" href="#FNanchor_294" class="label">[294]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_14">6:14</a>; + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 18:15, 18.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 Others said, This is the<a id="FNanchor_295" href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> Christ. But some said, +Shall<a id="FNanchor_296" href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> Christ come out of Galilee?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_295" href="#FNanchor_295" class="label">[295]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_42">4:42</a>, + <a href="#ch6_69">6:69</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_296" href="#FNanchor_296" class="label">[296]</a> + verse <a href="#ch7_52">52</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_46">1:46.</a></p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ<a id="FNanchor_297" href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> cometh +of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem,<a id="FNanchor_298" href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> +where David<a id="FNanchor_299" href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> was?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_297" href="#FNanchor_297" class="label">[297]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 132:11; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 23:5.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_298" href="#FNanchor_298" class="label">[298]</a> + Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_299" href="#FNanchor_299" class="label">[299]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 16:1-4.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_43"></a> +<p class="hanging">43 So there was a division among the people because +of him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_44"></a> +<p class="hanging">44 And some of them would have taken him; but no +man laid hands on him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>40-44.</b> These verses give the impressions produced +on different auditors by Christ’s discourses +at the feast. The word <em>many</em> is wanting +in the best manuscripts, and is omitted by Lachmann, +Tischendorf, Meyer, Alford, Schaff; for it +read <em>some</em>. Some regarded Jesus as the prophet +foretold in <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 18:15 + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_21">1:21</a>; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:14</span>); +others thought that he might even be the Messiah. +See <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 31. The opponents of Christ +based their opposition not upon his character or +that of his teaching, but upon their Jewish prejudice +to his supposed Galilean origin. There +is no good ground for the conclusion, arrived at +by some rationalistic critics from John’s language +here, that he did not know that Jesus was +born in Bethlehem. Writing his Gospel many +years after the main facts of Christ’s birth, life, +and death were known throughout the church, +he here simply narrates as an historian the objections +which the Judeans made to the claim +that Jesus was the Messiah; to have pointed out +their mistake would have been a work of supererogation. +Alford’s note on this point is quite +conclusive: “De Wette’s ‘probability that John +knew nothing of the birth at Bethlehem’ reaches +much further than may appear at first. If John +knew nothing of it, and yet the mother of the Lord +lived with him, the inference must be that <em>she</em> +knew nothing of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">it—in</span> other words, that it never +happened.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_104"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_104.jpg" + alt="Chief Priests"> + <p class="caption">OFFICERS OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_45"></a> +<p class="hanging">45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and +Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not +brought him?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_46"></a> +<p class="hanging">46 The officers answered, Never<a id="FNanchor_300" href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> man spake like +this man.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_300" href="#FNanchor_300" class="label">[300]</a> + Luke 4:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>45, 46. Then came the officers.</b> Not Roman +soldiers, but temple police, answering to +the modern constable or the Roman lictor or the +English beadle. They had been directed by the +officers of the Sanhedrim to arrest Jesus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_32">32</a></span>). +Presumptively this return of the officers occurred +several days after their commission to make the +arrest. They had been watching him during the +feast.—​<b>Never man spake like this man.</b> +They were not overawed by the multitude, but +by the words of Christ himself. There is no +stronger testimony, even in the Gospels, to the +marvellous moral power of Christ’s personality +and words than this declaration of the temple +police, who were probably ignorant but also simple +men, without the culture, but also without +the religious prejudices, of the rulers. In the +life of Whitefield are several illustrations of +analogous moral power over roughs who had + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span> +come to the preaching to break it up, but who +remained spell-bound under its influence. To +have elicited such testimony as this from such +men as these, Jesus must have possessed the +power of a true oratory.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_47"></a> +<p class="hanging">47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also +deceived?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_48"></a> +<p class="hanging">48 Have any of the rulers<a id="FNanchor_301" href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> or of the Pharisees believed +on him?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_301" href="#FNanchor_301" class="label">[301]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_42">12:42</a>; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 5:4, 5; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:26.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_49"></a> +<p class="hanging">49 But this people, who knoweth not the law, are +cursed.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>47-49.</b> The language of the Pharisaic rulers +is that of unbounded scorn for Jesus and for the +multitude. The latter are declared to be under +divine wrath and cursed with moral blindness +because they have an admiration for such a Sabbath-breaker. +“All here is wonderfully living +and characteristic. The faint effort of the officers +to execute the command of their masters; +the awe which held them back; their simple +confession of the power which they found in the +words of Jesus; the surprise of the Sanhedrim +that the infection should have reached even +their servants; their terror lest there might be +traitors in the camp, lest any Pharisee or lawyer +(probably some eyes were turned on Nicodemus) +should have been carried away by the impulse to +which the crowd, naturally enough, had yielded; +their scorn of the people, as wretched, ‘accursed’ +men, utterly ignorant of the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">law—who</span> +does not feel as if he were present in that convocation +of doctors? as if he were looking at their +perplexed and angry faces? as if he were hearing +their contemptuous words?”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_50"></a> +<p class="hanging">50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he<a id="FNanchor_302" href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> that came to +Jesus by night, being one of them,)</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_302" href="#FNanchor_302" class="label">[302]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_2">3:2</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_51"></a> +<p class="hanging">51 Doth<a id="FNanchor_303" href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> + our law judge <em>any</em> man before it hear him, +and know what he doeth?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_303" href="#FNanchor_303" class="label">[303]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 17:8; <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 18:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_52"></a> +<p class="hanging">52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also +of Galilee? Search and look: for out of Galilee<a id="FNanchor_304" href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> ariseth +no prophet.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_304" href="#FNanchor_304" class="label">[304]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 9:1, 2.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>50-52.</b> On the character of Nicodemus, see +notes on <a href="#CHAPTER_III"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 3</a>. The impression which Jesus had +made upon him in that interview was an abiding +one. There is a covert sarcasm in his question +here, <cite>Doth our law judge the man except it first +hear him and know what he doeth?</cite> They themselves +knew not the law, and were openly disregarding +it. The Rabbinical laws explicitly required +that every accused person should have a +hearing, with an opportunity to confront the +witnesses against him and to cross-examine them. +See <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 298. That Nicodemus’ rebuke was +felt by the Pharisees is shown by the tone of +their answer. They replied, not by argument, +but by a sneer, <cite>Art thou also of Galilee?</cite> and by a +falsehood, <cite>Out of Galilee hath arisen</cite> (perfect, not +present) <cite>no prophet</cite>. Jonah was of Galilee +(<span class="muchsmaller">2 Kings 14:25</span>), Elijah +very probably so (<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings 17:1</span>;—<cite>Alford</cite>), +and Nahum either of Galilee or of Assyria, +a heathen land (<span class="muchsmaller">Nahum 1:1</span>). The prejudices +of the Pharisees led them to forget their +history as well as their law. In lieu of <cite>doth our +law judge any man?</cite> read <em>the man</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, this +man; Nicodemus refers specifically to Jesus. +In lieu of <cite>ariseth</cite> read <em>hath arisen</em>; though there +is some uncertainty. Alford gives the present +tense, <em>ariseth</em>; Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Meyer, +with greater probability, the past tense, <em>hath +arisen</em>. With either reading the meaning is +substantially the same; not, as Godet, The +promised prophet is not now arising, but, as +Meyer and Alford, No prophet ever ariseth from +Galilee.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch7_53"></a> +<p class="hanging">53 And every man went unto his own house.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>53.</b> This verse belongs with the next chapter.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Eight">VIII.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 7:53 to 8:11. THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY.—​<span class="smcap">Illustrates: +The tact of Christ—​The precept, +Judge not, that ye be not judged—​The power of +conscience—​The Christian treatment of the +fallen.</span></p> + +<p><a id="Note_Ch8"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—Verse +<a href="#ch7_53">53</a> of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 7 belongs +unquestionably with the first eleven verses of +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 8. Whether the whole passage is really a +part of John’s Gospel or no is one of the most +difficult and doubtful questions in Biblical criticism. +The weight of critical authority is against +it; the weight of internal evidence is in its favor. +For a complete discussion of the considerations +<em>pro</em> and <em>con</em>, the student must be referred to the +commentaries of Alford, Meyer, Luthardt, and +Godet, the last being, of the three, the most +comprehensive in its treatment. Here I give +briefly (1) the facts, (2) the different opinions, +(3) my own conclusion.</p> + +<p><abbr title="One">I.</abbr> <i>The facts.</i> (1) The passage in question is +wanting in many if not most of the best <abbr title="Manuscripts">MSS.</abbr>; +pre-eminently the Alexandrian, the Vatican, the +Ephraem, and the Sinaitic. Of the great manuscripts, +the Cambridge alone contains it. (2) It +is transposed in some documents; one places it +in John after <a href="#ch7_36">7:36</a>; ten at the end of John; +four in the Gospel of Luke, at the close of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 21. +(3) In those <abbr title="Manuscripts">MSS.</abbr> which contain it there are +great variations. Griesbach distinguishes three +entirely different texts; the ordinary text, that +of the Cambridge <abbr title="Manuscript">MS.</abbr>, and that resulting from a +collection of other <abbr title="Manuscripts">MSS.</abbr> Alford gives these +three in his Greek Testament. Sixty various +readings are found in these twelve verses. “No +genuine apostolic text has ever undergone such +alterations.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) (4) The style and character +of the narrative is strikingly unlike John. +These differences are partly verbal, and are apparent +only to the Greek scholar. Ten expressions +are given by Meyer as non-Johannean. +They are partly structural, and as easily recognized + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span> +by the English reader as by the Greek +scholar. Such are the propounding of a question +concerning the law to tempt Christ, and the departure +of Christ at night from the temple, both +of which agree rather with the Synoptics’ account +of the last sojourn in Jerusalem than with +John’s account of this period of Christ’s ministry. +If the account is omitted altogether, the +discourse in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 7 and that in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 8 appear to be +in close connection; the interruption of this incident +is not very clearly cognate to either discourse; +and it is not John’s habit to narrate +incidents that are not connected with and do not +lead to some discourse of the Lord. (5) Among +the fathers Origen, Chrysostom, Theophylact, +and Tertullian are altogether silent about the +passage; Jerome, Ambrose, and Augustine recognize +it as authentic; among critical scholars +Lucke, Tholuck, Olshausen, De Wette, Luthardt, +Hengstenberg, Schenkel, Godet, Lachmann, +Tischendorf, Alford, and Schaff apparently +agree in regarding it as an addition by some +other hand to John’s Gospel; Bengel and Hilgenfeld +are the only scholars of widely recognized +reputation who defend its Johannean authorship. +(6) But though the narrative is unlike +John, the act is very like Jesus. The whole +scene possesses an air of historic reality: the +arrest of the woman, the demand on Jesus, the +Pharisaic contempt for public morality in obtruding +the crime and the criminal on public +attention in the temple courts; the attempt to +entrap Jesus; the skill of his reply; the subtle +recognition of the woman’s shame and despair, +and the gentle avoidance of adding to it, in turning +the public gaze from her to himself by writing +on the ground; the final confusion of the +Pharisees and release of the woman. It is impossible +to believe that any monkish mind conceived +of this and added it to the narrative. The +deed is the deed of Christ, whether or no the +record is the record of John.</p> + +<p><abbr title="Two">II.</abbr> <i>Opinions.</i> These are three: (1) That the +narrative belongs here; was written by John, +and was expunged from the Gospel at an early +date because it was feared that an immoral use +would be made of it. This was Augustine’s +opinion. But this hypothesis does not account +for the variety of readings, nor for peculiarities +in character and diction which make it unlike +John’s Gospel. (2) That it is an interpolation of +a later age, for a purpose, by some early copyist. +But the copyist who could have conceived this +incident must have possessed the moral genius +of Christ himself. “It is eminently Christlike, +and full of comfort to penitent outcasts. It +breathes the Saviour’s spirit of holy mercy, +which condemns the sin and saves the sinner. +It is parallel to the parable of the prodigal, the +story of Mary Magdalene, and that of the Samaritan +woman, and agrees with many express +declarations of Christ that he came not to condemn, +but to save the lost (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch3_17">3:17</a>; +<a href="#ch12_47"> 12:47</a>; Luke +9:56; 19:10; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch5_14">5:14</a>; Luke 7:37, etc.</span>). His refusal +to act as judge in this case has a parallel in +a similar case related in Luke 12:13-15.”—(<cite>Schaff.</cite>) +(3) That it is a tradition of the apostolic +age, and was incorporated in the present +evangelical narratives, probably in the second or +third century, but in different forms and in different +places. It may have been originally part +of one of the lost Gospels. Eusebius relates that +the work of Papias contained “the history of a +woman accused before the Lord of numerous +sins, a history contained also in the Gospel of the +Hebrews.” This opinion, which is substantially +that of Godet, Meyer, Luthardt, and Alford, accounts +for the existence of the narrative, the +apparent truthfulness of it, the variations of +form, and the non-Johannean characteristics of +style. It seems to me inherently the most probable. +On internal grounds it seems to me clear +that the narrative is historical; on critical +grounds that it is not John’s; who was its author +and how it became incorporated in John’s +Gospel is a matter only of conjecture.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Jesus</span> went unto the mount of Olives.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 And early in the morning he came again into +the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he +sat down, and taught them.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>Ch. 7:53 to 8:1, 2. Every man went +unto his own house; Jesus went unto the +Mount of Olives.</b> The force of the contrast +is impaired by the unfortunate and unnatural +break between the two clauses of what should +be printed as a single sentence. The auditors +had homes; Jesus had no where to lay his +head; and if, as is probable, this incident belongs +to the Passion week, it was not safe for +him to spend a night within the city walls. He +either spent it on the mount or went beyond it +to Bethany, the home of his friends Martha and +Mary.—​<b>He sat down and taught them.</b> +One of the indications that this passage is not +from John; for “it is not in John’s manner to +relate that Jesus taught them, without relating +what he taught” (<cite>Alford</cite>).</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_107"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_107.jpg" + alt="Mount of Olives"> + <p class="caption">THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. (From the wall of Jerusalem.)</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a +woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her +in the midst,</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken +in adultery, in the very act.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 Now<a id="FNanchor_305" href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> Moses in the law commanded us that such +should be stoned: but what sayest thou?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_305" href="#FNanchor_305" class="label">[305]</a> + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 20:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3-5. Brought unto him a woman.</b> There +was no reason why they should have brought +her to him, except for the purpose of involving +him in difficulty.—​<b>When they had set her in +the midst.</b> This public exposure to shame was +itself a terrible punishment, and aroused the +pity, the shame, and the indignation of Jesus. + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span> +It was not done in the interest of public morals. +They were flagrantly disregarded in this obtrusion +of a public scandal into the midst of the +temple worship, by accusers who cared not for +her, nor for the general public, if they could but +involve in perplexity and bring into disrepute +the Rabbi whom they so bitterly hated.—​<b>In the +very act.</b> The man was equally amenable +under the Mosaic law to the death penalty (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> +20:10; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 22:22</span>). But the man they had let go; +for then, as now, society punished the guilty +woman, but not the guilty man.—​<b>That such +should be stoned.</b> Stoning was only commanded +by Moses for unfaithfulness in a betrothed +virgin (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 22:23, 24</span>). But infidelity in a +wife is made by the preceding verse punishable +with death, and perhaps, by implication, the +same form of death.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_108"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_108.jpg" + alt="Woman and accusers"> + <p class="caption">THE WOMAN AND HER ACCUSERS.<br> +“<cite>He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her.</cite>” +</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have +to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with <em>his</em> +finger wrote on the ground, <em>as though he heard them +not</em>.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>6. This they said tempting him.</b> The +commentators have been needlessly puzzled to +explain how Christ’s answer to this question +could have furnished matter for accusation. +The Pharisees would have accused him to the +people, not to the Roman government. The law +of Moses was a dead letter. There is no authentic +instance in post-Mosaic history of an execution +under it. Divorce was easy, and the injured +husband generally avoided public disgrace +by simply separating from his unfaithful wife. +Could Christ refuse to adjudge the case? He +had claimed to be King of Israel, in the Sermon +on the Mount, had put his own precepts above +those of Moses, and had proclaimed a far more +stringent law of purity than Moses ever enacted +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:27-32</span>). +Could he acquit her, and so set +aside the Mosaic law? He had declared that not +one jot or tittle of it should pass away till all +was fulfilled, and that whoever relaxed the least +of its precepts should be least in his kingdom. +Could he condemn her? He would thus revive +an obsolete statute, and enforce it against a hapless +and defenceless <span style="white-space:nowrap;">woman—he</span> who had come +to seek and to save the lost, who had received +the publican and harlot among his disciples, and +had accepted the homage of a notorious woman +of the town (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 7:36-39</span>). It often happens that +people are unwilling to have a teacher set aside in +theory a law which they are equally unwilling to +see enforced in practice. Only a small minority +is willing in our own day to abolish capital punishment; +but only rarely is a jury willing to inflict +it. There are comparatively few persons +who are willing to live according to the Sabbath +law which they wish their minister to preach.—​<b>But +Jesus stooped down and with his +finger wrote on the ground.</b> The words <cite>as +though he heard them not</cite> are an addition of the +translators, though at least one manuscript contains + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span> +the idea. What was the meaning of this +action? Various opinions have been suggested, +<i>e. g.</i>, a usual act signifying preoccupation of +mind (<cite>Alford</cite>); to hide his own confusion, the +shock to his own moral sensibility by the grossness +of the Pharisees’ public abuse of the woman +(<cite>Geikie</cite>); as a judge, for a judicial sentence is +not only pronounced, but written (<cite>Godet</cite>); as a +refusal to interfere, a sign that he paid no attention +to their question (<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Luthardt</cite>). His +object in this writing seems to me to be interpreted +by its result. It turned all eyes from the +wretched woman, in an anguish of shame and +terror, to himself. She stood alone and forgotten; +all eyes were then and have ever since been +fixed on the figure of Christ, wondering what +and why he wrote in the dust. It is not fanciful +to note the contrast between this writing and +that prescribed in case of the trial of a suspected +adulteress by the Mosaic law (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 5:23</span>). The +priest was to write certain curses in a book, +then wash them with bitter water, which the +accused was required to drink, that the curses +might enter into her if she were guilty. Christ, +on the contrary, writes his sentence on the sand, +where, in a moment, it will be effaced by the +pardon, “Neither do I condemn thee; go, and +sin no more.” What he wrote has been made a +matter of ingenious rather than profitable conjecture. +The most probable conjecture is that +he wrote the sentence, “He that is without sin +amongst you,” etc., thus enabling the Pharisees, +if they had not been too passionately intent +on their design, to avoid his public rebuke.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up +himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin +among you,<a id="FNanchor_306" href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> let him first cast a stone at her.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_306" href="#FNanchor_306" class="label">[306]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 17:7; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:1, 22.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the +ground.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 And they which heard <em>it</em>, being convicted by <em>their +own</em> conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the +eldest, <em>even</em> unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, +and the woman standing in the midst.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>7-9. So when they continued asking.</b> +They would not take the rebuke of his quiet +contempt. Had they stopped to think, conscience +would have answered their inquiry; but +they were too eager; they did not hear what it +had to say to them; Christ must interpret its +voice; and he did so with a poignant rebuke.—​<b>He +that is without sin among you, let +him first cast a stone at her.</b> Christ puts +on them the problem with which they had sought +to perplex him. In their vindictive haste they +had forgotten the provision of the law that the +witnesses on whose testimony the accused was +condemned should cast the first stone (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 17:5-7</span>). +They had also forgotten the provision of the +Rabbinical law that, in case of accusation, if the +husband was not guiltless, the wife could not be +condemned (<cite>Lightfoot</cite>). Christ recalls these two +principles, and leaves them to solve their own +problem. Go on, he says in effect, and try and +condemn the accused according to your own law. +Let the sinless cast the first stone. But a deeper +meaning is in his words. Unchastity was a universal +sin in the first century. Its extent in Palestine +is illustrated by the licentious lives of the +Herods, father and sons. Nowhere was this vice +more flagrant and unrestrained than among the +priests, whose licentiousness was no secret to +the common people (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:39; James 4:4</span>). It +was this revelation of their own guilt, implied in +the words and easily understood by the people, +which stung them, and drove them, self-condemned, +one by one, from the presence of both +the accused and the judge.—​<b>And again he +stooped down.</b> To give conscience in them +an opportunity to assert itself, with as little resistance +as possible from pride. He gave them +no opportunity to answer; he did not look to +see who was first to withdraw.—​<b>Beginning +with the elders.</b> The word rendered eldest +(<span lang="el">πρεσβυτέρων</span>) is almost universally rendered +<cite>elders</cite>, generally as an official designation, and +frequently in connection with the word <cite>ruler</cite> +(<i>e. g.</i>, <span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 15:2; 16:21; Mark 8:31; 15:1; Luke 7:3; +22:52</span>). Here it seems to me more probably to +designate rank (<cite>Lucke</cite>, <cite>De Wette</cite>) than age (<cite>Luthardt</cite>, +<cite>Godet</cite>). The leaders in the accusation +were the first to withdraw. The words “even +unto the last” are wanting in most <abbr title="Manuscripts">MSS.</abbr>—<b>Jesus +was left alone.</b> The circle of accusers had +all withdrawn. The people and the disciples +may have still remained; hence the woman is +described as “standing in the midst;” that is, +of the auditors who, before this interruption, +had been listening to the teaching of Jesus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_2">2</a></span>). The woman remains waiting, as if to receive +the sentence of Jesus. The people remain +waiting to hear the end of this strange episode.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none +but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are +those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto +her, Neither do I condemn<a id="FNanchor_307" href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> thee: go, and sin<a id="FNanchor_308" href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> no more.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_307" href="#FNanchor_307" class="label">[307]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_17">3:17</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_308" href="#FNanchor_308" class="label">[308]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_14">5:14</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>10, 11. Hath no man condemned thee?</b> +They had then <em>all</em> withdrawn?—​<b>Neither do I +condemn thee.</b> He contrasts himself with the +accusers; they could not, he will not. He does +not, however, pronounce her forgiven. There is +no evidence of repentance or of faith, as, for example, +in the case of the woman that was a sinner +in Luke 7:37. His language condemns the +sin, and it gives opportunity for repentance to +the sinner. “It is a declaration of sufferance, +not of justification.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>)—<b>Go, and sin +no more.</b> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_14">5:14</a>. The object of + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span> +divine forgiveness is a divine life in the forgiven.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 8:12-20. CHRIST’S DISCOURSE CONCERNING +HIMSELF.—​<span class="smcap">He is light, liberty, life.—​He gives +light to those that follow his example, liberty +to those that obey his word, life to those that +put their faith in him.—​He is attested by his +own character and by his Father’s witness.—​He +is made known in and by his passion and +death.—​His Father is the source of his teaching, +his works, and his character.—​His characterization +of wilful oppugners of the truth: +children of the world; children of the devil.—​Christ’s +short method with deists</span> (<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 46). See +note at end of chapter.</p> + +<p>The exact chronology of the events from this +point to the close of the tenth chapter is very +uncertain and quite unimportant. One characteristic +feature of the feast of the Tabernacles +was the illumination of the temple; the two +great candelabra of the Court of the Women +were lighted, and it is said in the Rabbinical +hooks that the light shone all over Jerusalem. +Since Christ was accustomed to take his text from +passing events, it is a not improbable surmise +that this illumination afforded the suggestion for +the discourse on the divine light which follows. +The illumination of the temple commemorated +the pillar of fire, as the ceremony of drawing +water (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_37">7:37</a>, etc., notes</span>) commemorated the +striking of the rock in Horeb and the gift of water +from it, and the dwelling in booths recalled the +time when Israel dwelt in tents and booths in the +wilderness. We may therefore see in Christ an antitype +of the fiery cloud that guided Israel in their +pilgrimage, and in the Shechinah filling the Tabernacle +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 40:34, 35</span>), +an illustration of the light +which Christ imparts to those that follow him.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I<a id="FNanchor_309" href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> am +the light of the world: he that<a id="FNanchor_310" href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> followeth me shall not +walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_309" href="#FNanchor_309" class="label">[309]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_4">1:4</a>; <a href="#ch9_5">9:5</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_310" href="#FNanchor_310" class="label">[310]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_35">12:35</a>, <a href="#ch12_46">46</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>12. I am the light of the world.</b> The +illumination of the temple lighted Jerusalem; +that of the fiery cloud, Israel. Christ is the +light, not merely of his disciples, or of the Jewish +nation, but of the <em>world</em>, a word which here, +as always in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, stands for the whole human +race. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_4">1:4</a>, <a href="#ch1_9">9</a>, notes. He is the +<em>light</em> as well as the life, coming to instruct as +well as to revive; a Saviour from ignorance as +well as from wilful sin. Therefore no ignorance +or doubt need keep the soul that desires light +away from Christ. He need not wait for instruction, +any more than for reformation, before he +comes to Christ.—​<b>He that follows me need +not walk in darkness.</b> The best reading is +subjunctive, not indicative. <em>Following Christ</em>, +not believing something about him, is the way +out of darkness into light. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_17">7:17</a>, and +note the fact that in no single instance did Christ +call on any one of his disciples to form correct +opinions about him before becoming his follower. +They followed first and learned afterward. Even +he who doubts whether Christ is not a myth can +still follow the ideal life.—​<b>But shall have the +light of life.</b> That is, the light which guides +and nourishes the true, the spiritual life. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_48">6:48</a>, “bread of life.” See <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 119:105, +where the Bible is compared to a lantern carried +to light the path on a dark night. He is a light +not for the illumination of doubtful questions in +science or metaphysics or abstract theology, but +for the solution of practical problems in the +moral and spiritual life.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou<a id="FNanchor_311" href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> +bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_311" href="#FNanchor_311" class="label">[311]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_31">5:31</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I +bear record of myself, <em>yet</em> my record is true: for I +know whence I came, and whither I go; but<a id="FNanchor_312" href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> ye cannot +tell whence I come, and whither I go.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_312" href="#FNanchor_312" class="label">[312]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_28">7:28</a>; <a href="#ch9_29">9:29</a>, + <a href="#ch9_30">30</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>13, 14. Thou bearest record of thyself; +thy record is not true.</b> See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_31">5:31</a>, note; +perhaps the Pharisees here refer to Christ’s declaration +there.—​<b>Though I bear record of +myself, yet my record is true; for I know +whence I have come</b> (my origin) <b>and whither +I go</b> (my destiny). In general no man can +bear testimony of himself, however truthful he +may be, for no man understands his own mission. +He may faithfully do from day to day the work +which God gives him to do, and yet not comprehend +the relation which that work bears to the +great problems of life and destiny which the +Eternal Spirit is working out in the race. But +Christ could bear record of himself, for he knew +himself; he knew the Father; he knew his own +origin and his own destiny; and he knew the +relation which his life and death sustained to the +world’s life.—​<b>Ye know not</b> (not merely cannot +tell) <b>whence I am coming and whither I +am going</b>. Christ knew whence he <em>had come</em> +(<span lang="el">ἠλθον</span>, past tense), <i>i. e.</i>, from the glory he had +with the Father from the beginning of the world +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_1">1:1</a>; <a href="#ch17_5">17:5</a></span>); the Pharisees did not know +whence he was ever <em>coming</em> (<span lang="el">ἔρχομαι</span>, present +tense), <i>i. e.</i>, they had no spiritual sense to perceive +and appreciate that divine grace of which +he was ever the recipient, and that constant +communion with the Father from which he was +ever bringing divine light and life wherewith to +bless his followers.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 Ye judge after the flesh; I<a id="FNanchor_313" href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> judge no man.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_313" href="#FNanchor_313" class="label">[313]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_17">3:17</a>; <a href="#ch12_47">12:47</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 And yet if I judge, my<a id="FNanchor_314" href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> judgment is true: for<a id="FNanchor_315" href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> I +am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_314" href="#FNanchor_314" class="label">[314]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 16:7; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 45:6, 7; 72:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_315" href="#FNanchor_315" class="label">[315]</a> + verse <a href="#ch8_29">29</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_32">16:32</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>15, 16. Ye judge according to the flesh.</b> +They therefore rejected Jesus Christ as the +Messiah, because he did not come with the +earthly pomp, or bring the earthly deliverance, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> +which they had expected.—​<b>I judge no one.</b> +Yet his fan is in his hand; and even while he +lived he was sifting the wheat from the tares. +He judges not; the world is self-judged and +self-condemned. Every soul that rejects the +light doth thereby write its own condemnation. +“Light is come into the world, and men loved +darkness rather than light, because their deeds +were evil” (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch3_19">3:19</a></span>).—​<b>Yet if I judge, my +judgment is true; for I am not alone, but +I and the Father that sent me.</b> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_30">5:30</a>. The Spirit of the Father, given without +measure to Christ, makes his spiritual judgments +absolutely without error. In the measure in +which this spirit is received and followed by the +disciple, it similarly makes the disciple’s judgments +true. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:19, note; +John <a href="#ch20_22">20:22</a>, <a href="#ch20_23">23</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 It is also written<a id="FNanchor_316" href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> in your law, that the testimony +of two men is true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_316" href="#FNanchor_316" class="label">[316]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 17:6; 19:15.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the +Father<a id="FNanchor_317" href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> that sent me beareth witness of me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_317" href="#FNanchor_317" class="label">[317]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_37">5:37</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? +Jesus answered, Ye<a id="FNanchor_318" href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> neither know me, nor my Father: +if<a id="FNanchor_319" href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> ye had known me, ye should have known my Father +also.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_318" href="#FNanchor_318" class="label">[318]</a> + verse <a href="#ch8_55">55</a>; <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> + <a href="#ch16_3">16:3</a>; <a href="#ch17_25">17:25</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_319" href="#FNanchor_319" class="label">[319]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_7">14:7</a>, <a href="#ch14_9">9</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury,<a id="FNanchor_320" href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> as he +taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; +for<a id="FNanchor_321" href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a>, his hour was not yet come.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_320" href="#FNanchor_320" class="label">[320]</a> + Mark 12:41.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_321" href="#FNanchor_321" class="label">[321]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_30">7:30</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>17-20. Also in your own law.</b> Not in <em>our</em> +law; Christ never classes himself with the Jews, +nor counts himself as under their law. He +obeys it, not because it is binding, but by a voluntary +subjection, for example’s sake (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:15; +17:27</span>). The reference here is to <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 17:6; +19:15.—​<b>I am one that bear witness concerning +myself.</b> Not merely nor mainly by +words; for Christ said comparatively little in +public concerning his character; but by his life +and works. See John <a href="#ch14_11">14:11</a>.—​<b>And the Father +that sent me beareth witness of me.</b> By +direct declarations to his divine character and +mission (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:17; +John <a href="#ch12_28">12:28</a></span>); by the testimony +of prophets and apostles, especially of John the +Baptist (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 2:28-32, 38; +John <a href="#ch1_32">1:32-34</a>, <a href="#ch1_36">36</a></span>); by the +voice of angels (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 2:9-14</span>); by the miracles +wrought (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch11_42">11:42</a></span>); but still more by that manifestation +of the divine presence which made +itself felt in many ways in Christ’s person, as in +his attraction of publicans and sinners to himself, +his expulsion of the traders from the temple, +his passing through the mob at Nazareth, +etc. Godet tells a story in illustration of the +power of this witness of the Spirit. About 1660, +Hedinger, chaplain to the Duke of Wurtemberg, +took the liberty of censuring his sovereign, at +first in private, but afterward in public, for a +serious fault. The latter, much enraged, sent +for him, resolved to punish him. Hedinger, +after seeking strength by prayer, repaired to the +prince, the expression of his countenance betokening +the peace and the presence of God. The +prince, after looking at him for a moment, asked, +in agitation, “Why did you not come alone?” +and dismissed him unharmed. The vital communion +of this servant of God with his God was +a sensible fact, even to one whom anger had exasperated. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Acts 4:13; 6:15.—​<b>Who is +your Father?</b> Asked, not in perplexity, for +Christ’s reference to God as his Father had been +so frequent at Jerusalem that they could not +have misunderstood his meaning, but in scorn. +Christ’s reply is adapted to the spirit of their +inquiry.—​<b>Ye neither know me nor my Father.</b> +They gloried in being the peculiar people +of God; but they as little apprehended him +as they did Christ his Son.—​<b>If ye had known +me ye would have known my Father also.</b> +For the Son is the way to the Father. The converse +of this proposition is also true, He that +knows the Father will know the Son. Both are +known by the spiritual sense; and the same faculty +which appreciates the divine qualities resplendent +in the Son will answer to and be ready +to receive and be impressed by the divine qualities +in the invisible Spirit, the Father whom no +one hath seen or can see.—​<b>In the treasury.</b> +See Luke 21:1, note. The thirteen trunks or +chests placed for the reception of the gifts of +the worshippers, and properly called the treasury, +were in the Court of the Women. Each +bore an inscription, indicating the use to which +the money placed therein was devoted. Probably +either that part of the Women’s Court where +these chests stood, or, more probably, an adjoining +apartment used in connection with them, +perhaps where the money was kept, was also +designated the treasury, and it is this apartment +that is indicated by the word here.—​<b>For his +hour was not yet come.</b> See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_30">7:30</a>, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, +and ye<a id="FNanchor_322" href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> shall seek me, and<a id="FNanchor_323" href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> shall die in your sins: +whither I go, ye<a id="FNanchor_324" href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> cannot come.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_322" href="#FNanchor_322" class="label">[322]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_34">7:34</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_323" href="#FNanchor_323" class="label">[323]</a> + Job 20:11; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 73:18-20; <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 14:32; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 65:20; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_324" href="#FNanchor_324" class="label">[324]</a> + Luke 16:28.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>21. I go away.</b> Not <em>my way</em>, a translation +for which there is no authority whatever in the +original.—​<b>And ye shall seek me, and shall +die in your sins.</b> <cite>In your sins</cite> means not, <em>by +reason of your sins</em>, but, <dfn>while continuing in a state +of sin</dfn>. This verse is not to be taken as an evidence +that a sincere and contrite seeking of +Christ as a pardoning and redeeming Saviour +will ever be in vain. It is interpreted by many a +so-called death-bed repentance, in which deliverance +from a future penalty is sought, without + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> +any real contrition of heart for past sins. But, +coupled with the next clause, it seems to me +strongly opposed to the doctrine of a universal +restitution.—​<b>Whither I go ye cannot come.</b> +Compare <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_34">7:34</a>, “Ye shall seek me and shall +not find me; and where I am, thither ye cannot +come,” and contrast <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_3">14:3</a>, “I will come +again and receive you unto myself, that where I +am, there ye may be also.” See also <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_24">17:24</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because +he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I +am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this +world.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 I said<a id="FNanchor_325" href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> therefore unto you, that ye shall die in +your sins: for<a id="FNanchor_326" href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> if ye believe not that I am <em>he</em>, ye shall +die in your sins.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_325" href="#FNanchor_325" class="label">[325]</a> + verse <a href="#ch8_21">21</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_326" href="#FNanchor_326" class="label">[326]</a> + Mark 16:16.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>22-24. Will he kill himself?</b> This they +said to each other, partly in perplexity, partly in +scorn. Contrast their different interpretation +but similar spirit in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_35">7:35</a>. Christ, in his +reply, repels the idea that he had referred to his +death; they cannot come where he is going, because +he is going to that heaven from which he +first came, and they are of the earth earthy. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:50, “Flesh and blood cannot +inherit the kingdom of God.”—​<b>Ye are from +beneath, I am from above.</b> This statement +is interpreted by the clause which follows.—​<b>Ye +are of</b> (<em>from</em>, <span lang="el">ἐκ</span>) <b>this world, I am not of</b> +(<em>from</em>, <span lang="el">ἐκ</span>) <b>this world</b>. Man is born of the flesh, +and therefore is flesh, needing to be born anew +and from above in order to enter into the kingdom +of heaven (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_5">3:5</a>, <a href="#ch3_6">6</a></span>). Christ was born, even +in his earthly nature, of the Spirit (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 1:35</span>), was +from his birth the Son of God, and therefore did +not need to experience the new birth. Though +John does not describe his supernatural birth, +he recognizes it. Christ’s language here would +be incomprehensible but for the interpretation +afforded by the narratives of his advent in Matthew +and Luke. The declaration “Ye are from +beneath” here is not equivalent to the declaration +of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_44">44</a>, “Ye are of your father the devil.” +Here he speaks only of the earthly nature inherited; +there of the wilful sin superadded.—​<b>If ye +believe not that I am, ye shall die in your +sins.</b> In the phrase “I am” there is a reference +to <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 3:14, and the language implies the +divinity of Christ, and would be so understood +by his Jewish auditors, and was so understood +by them. See <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_38">38</a> +and note. But it is not +equivalent to a general statement that belief in +the divinity of Jesus Christ is essential to salvation. +It was addressed to men who had abundant +reason to believe that Christ was the divine +Messiah of prophecy, and who were wilfully +ignorant of the truth. We must not give the +words any wider application than our Lord gave +to them himself. To reject Christ is fatal; to be +ignorant of him is not.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And +Jesus saith unto them, Even <em>the same</em> that I said unto +you from the beginning.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>25. Who art thou?</b> A question asked possibly +partly in perplexity and partly in scorn, +but more for the purpose of evoking an answer +which would give them a point for an attack +upon Christ.—​<b>Even the same that I said +unto you from the beginning.</b> The grammatical +difficulties in the correct rendition of this +passage are almost insuperable, and no two +scholars give exactly the same shade of meaning +to it, while none of the interpretations afforded +are altogether satisfactory, even to the interpreter. +The principal interpretations are: (1) +<cite>What I from the beginning am teaching you? do +you ask that?</cite> An interrogative expression of +surprise. According to this view Christ does not +answer the question at all. (2) <cite>Why indeed do I +still speak to you at all?</cite> A language of reproach. +(3) <cite>Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning</cite>, +the rendering of our English version. +(4) <cite>Essentially that which also I discourse to you</cite>; +<i>i. e.</i>, You are to ascertain my nature by a study +of my discourses. Neither one of these interpretations, +it will be seen, affords a direct answer to +the question.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: +but<a id="FNanchor_327" href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world +those things which I have heard of him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_327" href="#FNanchor_327" class="label">[327]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_28">7:28</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 They understood not that he spake to them of the +Father.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>26, 27. Many things I have which I +might say, and many sentences which I +might pronounce concerning you.</b> The +meaning and the connection is obscure, and the +translation which I have given is not so literal as +that of the English version. But Christ elsewhere +declares that he has not come to judge +the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_15">15</a>; <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_17">3:17</a>; <a href="#ch12_47">12:47</a></span>), and to understand +him here to assert the contrary makes his +utterances contradictory. Moreover, if we interpret +his declaration as the English version +does, it is difficult to see any connection with the +preceding or the subsequent clause. I understand +therefore that he means that he <em>has</em> many +things to say, and many judgments formed in +his own mind, which he might pronounce, but +that he will only speak those things which he has +been commissioned by the Father to speak; and +his commission at this time is not to judge, but +to save the world.—​<b>They understood not +that he spake to them of the Father.</b> +Strange! Less strange, perhaps, than it now +seems to us, for we read this discourse in the +light of eighteen centuries of Christianity. So +far, too, Christ had not designated by any title + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span> +the One who had sent him. He had veiled his +meaning, as he did in the parables, that he might +not be fully understood at once; for he could +hope to get lodgment for the truth only by gradually +unfolding it. “There is no accounting for +the <em>ignorance of unbelief</em> as any minister of Christ +knows by painful experience.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted +up<a id="FNanchor_328" href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am <em>he</em>, +and <em>that</em> I do nothing of myself; but as my Father +hath taught me, I speak these things.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_328" href="#FNanchor_328" class="label">[328]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_14">3:14</a>; <a href="#ch12_32">12:32</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath +not left me alone; for I do always those things that +please him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 As he spake these words, many<a id="FNanchor_329" href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> believed on him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_329" href="#FNanchor_329" class="label">[329]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_42">10:42</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>28-30. When ye have lifted up the Son +of man.</b> The phrase Son of man was used by +the rabbis, who borrowed it from David, for the +Messiah (<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:23, note</span>). The Greek verb here +rendered <dfn>lifted up</dfn> (<span lang="el">ὑψόω</span>) is used by John only +with reference to the crucifixion (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_14">3:14</a>; <a href="#ch8_28">8:28</a>; +<a href="#ch12_32">12:32</a>, <a href="#ch12_34">34</a></span>), +but everywhere else in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> is used +in the sense of <dfn>exalted</dfn>, and is so translated except +in James 4:10. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:23; Luke 1:52; +Acts 2:33; 5:31, etc. This fact is of itself an +indication that John’s Gospel was written after +the cross had been seen to be the means by +which Christ was himself exalted, his glory, not +his shame. It is the cross which has led to his +recognition among men as the Son of God (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark +15:39; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:23, 24</span>); to his exaltation by the Father +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:8-10</span>); to his adoration in heaven (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> +5:12</span>).—​<b>Ye shall know that I am.</b> See on +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_24">24</a>. The passion and death of Christ is the +attestation of his divinity (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 15:39</span>).—​<b>I do +nothing of myself; but as the Father hath +taught me I speak these things.</b> In Christ’s +time the things <em>done</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, the miracles, were +recognized as signs of divine presence and power; +more and more the <em>words spoken</em> are recognized +as still greater signs of the divine presence +and power. The word is more than the external +work, the truth is greater than the miracle.—​<b>He +that sent me is with me.</b> The Son is a +manifestation of the Father, because the Father +is ever in and working and speaking through the +Son. He is not merely an ambassador sent by, +he is a tabernacle in which dwells, the Eternal +King. So Christ, who sends forth his disciples +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a></span>), is ever with them +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_17">14:17</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a>; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:20</span>).—​<b>The +Father hath not left me alone; for +I do those things that please him always.</b> +<em>Always</em> is emphatic. In this uniformity of obedience +to the Father’s will is the secret of the +abiding of his presence; it is true for us, as for +Christ, that doing the Father’s pleasure secures +the divine fellowship (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_21">14:21</a>; <a href="#ch15_10">15:10</a></span>).—​<b>Many +believed on him.</b> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_42">12:42</a>. Faith, +like knowledge, is of different degrees, and the +quality of this faith is not indicated. It may +have been like the seed received on stony places +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:20, 21</span>). But beware of understanding +here, or anywhere, by this phrase a mere intellectual +belief in Christ as either Rabbi, Prophet, +or Messiah. To <em>believe on</em> always signifies an +emotion or heart action. “Our Lord’s words +did not appeal to the understanding; they were +not argumentative; we cannot account for their +influence by any processes of logic. So far as we +can judge from a very simple statement, they +went straight to the heart; the faith which they +called forth was a faith of the heart.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on +him, If ye continue<a id="FNanchor_330" href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> in my word, <em>then</em> are ye my disciples +indeed;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_330" href="#FNanchor_330" class="label">[330]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:7; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:23; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 10:38, 39.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 And ye shall know<a id="FNanchor_331" href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> the truth, and the truth shall +make you free.<a id="FNanchor_332" href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_331" href="#FNanchor_331" class="label">[331]</a> + <abbr title="Hosea">Hos.</abbr> 6:3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_332" href="#FNanchor_332" class="label">[332]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_17">17:17</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 119:45; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 6:14, 18, 22; + James 1:25; 2:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and +were never in<a id="FNanchor_333" href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> bondage to any man: how sayest thou, +Ye shall be made free?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_333" href="#FNanchor_333" class="label">[333]</a> + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 25:42.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>31-33. If ye continue in my word, then +are ye my disciples indeed.</b> A promise and +a condition. The thing promised is discipleship. +“They should <span style="white-space:nowrap;">be—what?</span> Saints? divines? doctors? +No; but what is much better than any of +the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">three—what</span> all the three should wish to be +raised into—<em>disciples</em>. They will then be learners, +learners sitting continually at the feet of the true +Teacher.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>) The theology of Christ is a +progressive theology; the promise to his followers +is not that they shall be learned, acquiring the +truth once for all, but learners, ever acquiring it +more and more. This promise is conditioned <span style="white-space:nowrap;">on—what?</span> +Receiving his word? defending his +word? No; but abiding in his word, <i>i. e.</i>, living, +moving, and having their being in it. The +word of Christ cannot be accepted once for all; +the soul, to be nourished on it, must abide in it, +as the body abides in and is nourished by the +atmosphere (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_38">5:38</a>; +<a href="#ch6_56">6:56</a>; <a href="#ch15_4">15:4-10</a>; 1 John +2:6, 10, 14, etc.; 3:6</span>). To be Christ’s disciples indeed, +we must <em>continue</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:20, 21; +John <a href="#ch6_66">6:66</a>; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> +1:23; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 10:38; +<abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 2:7-11, 17</span>) <em>in</em> +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch15_1">15:1-7</a>; +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +8:9; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 2:20; +<abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:27</span>) <em>the word of Christ</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:29, +30; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:11; +<abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 1:8</span>).—​<b>And ye shall know the +truth.</b> Living according to the word of Christ +is the condition precedent to a true apprehension +of the truth. Christ teaches that life precedes +creed; the church has too often reversed this, +making the creed precede life. But a creed that +does not grow out of spiritual experience is +dead. There is no virtue in the doctrine of native +depravity except as an outgrowth of personal +humility; nor in belief in a personal God, +except as it is rooted in a living experience of + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> +faith in him.—​<b>And the truth shall make +you free.</b> This, too, the church has often reversed, +bringing men into bondage unto a creed, +instead of using the creed as an instrument to +enlarge their intellectual independence.—​<b>We +be Abraham’s seed, and were never in +bondage to any one.</b> This is the language of +pride, and it is not more true than the language +of pride is ordinarily. Politically the nation had +been in bondage to Babylon, Persia, Greece, +Rome. Spiritually it had been in bondage to +idolatries in past times, <i>e. g.</i>, the reign of Manasseh, +and was now in bondage to the rabbis, literalists +in interpretation, and without spirituality +or sympathy (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 23:4</span>). Christ, however, rarely +enters into argument; he makes no attempt to +refute their statement, pays no heed to their interruption, +but goes on with his discourse.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto +you, Whosoever<a id="FNanchor_334" href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> committeth sin is the servant of sin.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_334" href="#FNanchor_334" class="label">[334]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 6:16, 20; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 And the servant<a id="FNanchor_335" href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> abideth not in the house for +ever: <em>but</em> the Son abideth ever.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_335" href="#FNanchor_335" class="label">[335]</a> + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 4:30.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 If<a id="FNanchor_336" href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> the Son therefore shall make you free, ye<a id="FNanchor_337" href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> +shall be free indeed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_336" href="#FNanchor_336" class="label">[336]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 61:1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_337" href="#FNanchor_337" class="label">[337]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:2; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>34-36. Whosoever committeth sin</b> (lives +in the commission of sin) <b>is the slave</b> (not servant) +<b>of sin</b>. He is in bondage to sin. For action +forms habit, and habit becomes second +nature. Thus every sinful act tends to bring the +soul into bondage to the law of evil habit. +Striking illustrations of this law of human nature +are afforded by self-indulgence in appetite; but +the same principle is involved in all <span style="white-space:nowrap;">evil-doing—it</span> +tends to fasten evil habits on the soul. See +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 6:16-18; 7:9-24. And this law belongs +to human nature; it is equally operative in Jew +and Gentile, in church-member and in man of +the world. Every sin helps to weld a chain.—​<b>The +slave abideth not in the house forever, +but the Son abideth ever.</b> The language +is parabolic; the meaning seems to me to +be this: The world is in bondage; it <em>seems</em> to be +under Satan; his promise to Christ, “All these +things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and +worship me,” appears not like a vain promise. +But this bondage is short-lived. The kingdoms +of the world are <em>in truth</em> the kingdoms of the +Lord and of his Christ. He shall reign forever +and forever (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 11:15</span>). He, therefore, who +yields to the yoke of bondage by conforming to +the world gets only a brief advantage, for the +period of bondage to sin and Satan will soon be +over. He that accepts Christ as his Lord, and +acknowledges allegiance to him, will have an +eternal freedom in the house which God has +built, and over which Christ is to have eternal +rule (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 3:2-6</span>). The world is God’s house, not +Satan’s.—​<b>If the Son therefore shall make +you free.</b> From past penalty, by himself bearing +it for us; from the bondage of sin, by giving +us power to become the sons of God; from the +law, by imparting to us a new spiritual life. +See Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, especially +<abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 4 and 5, which may be regarded as his sermon +on this text.—​<b>Ye shall be free indeed.</b> +Made free by the <em>truth</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_32">32</a></span>) as it is in Christ +Jesus. For freedom is not independence of all +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">law—that</span> never is and never can be; God himself +is not thus free; it is the comprehension +and the right use of law. We are free when we +perfectly comprehend the laws of nature, <i>i. e.</i>, of +God, perfectly and cheerfully comply with them, +and so know how to get the advantage and profit +of them. All progress in material civilization +has been attained by increasing knowledge of +the divine laws, and consequently an increased +use of them. We have yet to learn the gain that +there is in a similar comprehension of and obedience +to the intellectual and the spiritual laws +of the universe. Thus it is that the <em>truth</em> makes +<em>free</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_32">32</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed: but ye seek +to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 I<a id="FNanchor_338" href="#Footnote_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> + speak that which I have seen with my Father: +and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_338" href="#FNanchor_338" class="label">[338]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>, <a href="#ch14_24">24</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>37, 38. I know that ye are Abraham’s +seed.</b> Not equivalent to <em>I know that ye regard +yourselves as Abraham’s seed</em>. The reference is to +the covenant with Abraham (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 12:1-3; 17:4-8</span>), +which involved a promise of divine protection +and blessing to the nation. The Pharisees adhere +to the idea of political freedom. Christ +assents to their declaration that they are the +seed referred to in that covenant, but returns to +the spiritual idea which underlies his discourse, +and emphasizes the extent to which, in character, +they have wandered from the pattern set by +Abraham.—​<b>Nevertheless</b> (<span lang="el">ἀλλὰ</span>, notwithstanding +you are Abraham’s seed) <b>ye seek to kill +me</b> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_1">7:1</a>, <a href="#ch7_19">19</a>, +<a href="#ch7_32">32</a>; <a href="#ch8_59">8:59</a>; +<a href="#ch10_31">10:31</a>, <a href="#ch10_39">39</a></span>). To whom +were these words <span style="white-space:nowrap;">spoken?—to</span> the believing +Judeans mentioned in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_30">30</a>, or to enemies? +The true answer is that believers and unbelievers +were intermixed in the crowd, and that it is as +little possible for the reader now as it would +have been for the observer then to distinguish +between them.—​<b>Because my word makes no +progress in you.</b> They heard <span style="white-space:nowrap;">it—nay,</span> crowded +round him to hear it, were willing and interested +listeners. But the truth did not get entrance +into their hearts, nor permeate their character. +It was not like the leaven hid in three measures +of meal. They were thus a type of many +modern hearers who listen to the truth, but in +whom the truth does not work. The words rendered +<cite>hath no place</cite> (<span lang="el">οὐ χωρεῖ</span>) signify, literally, +does not <dfn>work, spread, go forward</dfn>.—​<b>I do that +which I have seen with my Father, and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> +ye do that which ye have heard with your +father</b> (<span lang="el">ἠκούσατε</span>, <em>heard</em>, not <span lang="el">ἑωράκατε</span>, <em>seen</em>, is the +better reading). Christ approaches a truth whose +depths, in our ignorance of the spirit world, we +cannot sound. This is that every soul draws its +inspiration from an invisible <span style="white-space:nowrap;">world—either</span> belongs +to the kingdom of light and is taught of +God, or belongs to the kingdom of darkness and +is taught of evil spirits. The unseen companions +of the soul are the most influential. Demoniacal +possession is only an exceptional fruitage +of a universal demoniacal inspiration. See below, +on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_44">44</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham<a id="FNanchor_339" href="#Footnote_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> is +our father. Jesus saith unto them, If<a id="FNanchor_340" href="#Footnote_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> ye were Abraham’s +children, ye would do the works of Abraham.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_339" href="#FNanchor_339" class="label">[339]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_340" href="#FNanchor_340" class="label">[340]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:28, 29; 9:7; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 3:7, 29.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told +you the truth, which I have heard of God: this<a id="FNanchor_341" href="#Footnote_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> did +not Abraham.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_341" href="#FNanchor_341" class="label">[341]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 4:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>39, 40. Abraham is our father.</b> They +recognize, as we all recognize, that there is a +source from which are drawn the ideas and the +influences which mould our character. This +fountain is, according to their conception, Abrahamic. +It is true that character is moulded by +national influences; but these are not the profoundest +nor the most potent.—​<b>If ye were +Abraham’s children ye would do the +works of Abraham.</b> Seed they are, children +they are not. Descendants? yes! disciples? no! +They do not do that which they have heard from +Abraham. We are the children of a noble ancestry, +the Reformers, the Puritans, and the like, +only as we show their spirit in dealing with the +men and the problems of our own time.—​<b>This +did not Abraham.</b> Called of God to leave his +country, and his kindred, and his father’s house, +he did not resist, but left all to go out, not +knowing whither he went. Abraham obeyed the +divine message; the seed of Abraham would kill +the divine messenger.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they +to him, We be not born of fornication; we<a id="FNanchor_342" href="#Footnote_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> have one +Father, <em>even</em> God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_342" href="#FNanchor_342" class="label">[342]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 63:16; 64:8.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 Jesus said unto them, If<a id="FNanchor_343" href="#Footnote_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> God were your Father, +ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came +from God; neither came I of myself, but<a id="FNanchor_344" href="#Footnote_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> he sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_343" href="#FNanchor_343" class="label">[343]</a> + <abbr title="Malachi">Mal.</abbr> 1:6; 1 John 5:1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_344" href="#FNanchor_344" class="label">[344]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_8">17:8</a>, <a href="#ch17_25">25</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>41, 42. Ye do the deeds of your father.</b> +A generic truth; the spiritual paternity of any +soul may be known by its deeds; the source of +its life is witnessed by the life itself.—​<b>We be +not born of fornication.</b> It is a Jewish +legend to this day that Jesus was born of adultery. +This is the Jewish explanation of his premarital +birth. I believe that this legend had +been invented in Christ’s own time to account +for his supernatural birth, and that the expression +here is a scornful allusion to this dishonoring +report. This, at least, though I do not find +it suggested by any of the commentaries, seems +to me the most natural explanation of the language +of the Pharisees, which has given the +scholars no little difficulty. Other explanations +suggested—<i>e. g.</i>, that Sarah was not an adulteress, +and therefore the Jews were certainly children +of Abraham (<cite>Meyer</cite>), or that, unlike the +Samaritans, there was no taint of heathen blood +in their veins (<cite>Alford</cite>, <span style="white-space:nowrap;"><cite>Godet</cite>)—seem</span> to me unnatural +and far-fetched, and are apparently not very +satisfactory even to those who suggest them.—​<b>We +have one Father, even God.</b> They +abandon their claim to have derived their life +from Abraham, and substitute a claim to derive +it from the God of Abraham. Or we may suppose +that, the first interlocutors being silenced, +others make this assertion.—​<b>If God were your +Father ye would love me.</b> The practical +and present application is that every soul whose +life is truly rooted in God will be drawn toward +Christ by spiritual sympathy.—​<b>For I came +forth and am here from God.</b> The first verb +(<span lang="el">ἐξῆλθον</span>) indicates Christ’s <em>coming forth</em> from the +glory which Christ had with the Father from the +beginning of the world (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch17_5">17:5</a></span>); the second +verb (<span lang="el">ἥκω</span>, present formed from a perfect) indicates +the <em>perpetual presence</em> of the Father with +Christ, and Christ’s continuous manifestation of +the Father to the world.—​<b>Neither came I +of myself.</b> Therefore that phase of theology +which represents the Son as interceding to make +a just God merciful, and thus induce him to forgive +the sinful, is thoroughly false. The mercy +of Christ originated with the Father; the mission +of Christ was wrought out by the Father. +Christ came not of his own will, but of the Father’s. +See <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_16">3:16</a>, +note; <a href="#ch6_38">6:38</a>, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_43"></a> +<p class="hanging">43 Why do ye not understand my speech? <em>even</em> because +ye cannot hear my<a id="FNanchor_345" href="#Footnote_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> word.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_345" href="#FNanchor_345" class="label">[345]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 6:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_44"></a> +<p class="hanging">44 Ye<a id="FNanchor_346" href="#Footnote_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> +are of <em>your</em> father the devil, and the lusts of +your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the +beginning, and abode<a id="FNanchor_347" href="#Footnote_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a> not in the truth, because there +is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh +of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_346" href="#FNanchor_346" class="label">[346]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:38; 1 John 3:8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_347" href="#FNanchor_347" class="label">[347]</a> + Jude 6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>43, 44. Why do ye not understand my +speech?</b> He has thus far spoken parabolically, +as though reluctant to characterize them openly +as children of the devil. He now abandons the +dark saying, and speaks plainly.—​<b>Even because +ye cannot hear my word.</b> <em>Word</em> is the doctrine +taught, <em>speech</em> is the form in which it is +clothed; to <em>hear</em> is to receive with the heart, as +in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:16, 20; +John <a href="#ch5_24">5:24</a>; <a href="#ch8_47">8:47</a>, etc.; to +<em>understand</em> is to comprehend intellectually. The +implication then is that he who is unwilling to +receive and act upon the doctrine of Christ in +his heart and life cannot comprehend the forms +in which it is couched. The declaration is thus +the converse of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_17">7:17</a>.—​<b>Ye are from your +father the devil.</b> God is the Father of Christ, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> +and of all those who through faith in Christ are +born again; they become by adoption his children +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:15-17</span>), are sent into the world by their +Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a></span>), and manifest their Father unto +the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:15</span>). In like manner they that +resist the truth are children, by their own choice, +of the devil, commissioned by him, serving him, +and manifesting his spirit, in their selfishness, +cupidity, malice, and all uncharitableness. In +each case the soul derives its spirit from its own +chosen father. The whole contrast would be +almost meaningless if by the devil Christ understood +only a poetic personification of evil in human +nature. There are two households, one of +God, the other of Satan; two churches, one of +truth and love, the other of falsehood and malignity. +“This verse is one of the most decisive +testimonies for the objective personality of the +devil. It is quite impossible to suppose an accommodation +to Jewish views, or a metaphorical +form of speech, in so solemn and direct an assertion +as this.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)—<b>The will</b> (lusts is too +narrow a word; the original signifies earnest desire, +but generally of a bad sort) <b>of your father +ye are determined to do</b>. Literally, <em>will to +do</em>. Resolute determination to evil is clearly +indicated by the form of the sentence (<span lang="el">θέλετε +ποιεῖν</span>). The language of Christ here, therefore, +does not apply to sins of ignorance and inattention. +He is speaking to wilful opposers of the +truth.—​<b>He was a murderer from the beginning.</b> +Not because he inspired Cain’s murder +of his brother Abel, but because, from the very +outset, he endeavored to seduce into disobedience, +and so to destroy, the human race. His declaration +“Ye shall not surely die” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 3:4</span>) was not +merely a lie, but a lie having for its object the +death of mankind.—​<b>Stood not in the truth.</b> +It seems to me that there is here a reference to +the fall of the devil. So Augustine and the Roman +Catholic commentators generally; <i lang="la">contra</i>, +Meyer, Alford, and the moderns. Satan was in +a high position, but he did not <em>stand</em>, because +truth was not his foundation, and—<b>Because +truth is not in him</b>. No definite article is +appended to <em>truth</em> here. Satan did not <em>stand</em> +on the truth of God, because in him, in his +inner character, truth found no place. We can +only stand <em>by</em> the truth when truth is in <em>our inward +parts</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 51:6</span>), <i>i. e.</i>, in our desires and our +affections. The truth must be <em>in</em> us to be <em>under</em> +us.—​<b>He speaketh of his own.</b> Out of (<span lang="el">ἐκ</span>) +his own treasury of evil things. So the evil man, +out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil +things (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:35</span>).—​<b>For he is a liar, and the +father of it.</b> Or <em>of him</em>; either the father of +<em>lying</em> or the father of the <em>liar</em>. Either rendering +is grammatically possible. The latter better fits +the context.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_45"></a> +<p class="hanging">45 And because<a id="FNanchor_348" href="#Footnote_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> I tell <em>you</em> the truth, ye believe me +not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_348" href="#FNanchor_348" class="label">[348]</a> + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 4:16; 2 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 2:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_46"></a> +<p class="hanging">46 Which of you convinceth<a id="FNanchor_349" href="#Footnote_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> me of sin? And if I +say the truth, why do ye not believe me?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_349" href="#FNanchor_349" class="label">[349]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 4:15.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_47"></a> +<p class="hanging">47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore +hear <em>them</em> not, because ye are not of God.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>45-47. But because I tell you the truth +ye believe me not.</b> “A thoroughly tragical +<em>because</em>; it has its ground in the alien character +of the relation between that which Jesus speaks +and their devilish nature, to which latter a lie +alone corresponds.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) Truth has not +always its evidence in human nature; for human +nature may be so warped as to be more ready to +believe a lie than the truth (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:21; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 4:18; +2 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 2:11</span>). If Christ had told a lie they would +have believed him, just as many of those who +now rejected him did subsequently believe the +false Christs of a later date.—​<b>Which of you +convinceth me of sin.</b> Not of <em>error</em> (<cite>Calvin</cite>), +but of <em>sin</em> (<cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Godet</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>). Indeed, <em>error</em> +in Christ’s teaching in this matter would be <em>sin</em>; +for if his declaration respecting himself, that he +came not from the earth but from above, from +the Father, and was the long-anticipated Messiah, +was not true, it would have been false and +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">fraudulent—not</span> merely a mistake, but a lie. By +this question he asserts, by implication, his sinlessness; +he defies his opponents to point out a +single sin in his life, a single flaw in his character. +And they were speechless, as scepticism +has been ever since, before his incomparable +character. The argument is this: If I am not +the Son of God, find out some human defect that +indicates a human origin and kinship. And this +has never been done. I imagine a pause, a moment’s +expressive silence, no answer from the +Pharisees, and then the crushing words that follow, +calmly uttered:—<b>If I say the truth, why +do ye not believe?</b>—​<b>He that is of God</b>—as +the Pharisees had claimed to be +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_41">41</a></span>)—<b>heareth</b> +(receiveth) <b>God’s words; ye therefore +hear them not, because ye are not of God</b>. +This is Christ’s method with deists. Point out a +single flaw in his stainless character. You cannot? +Then at least listen with reverent attention +to the words of the sinless man. To refuse +a hearing to such an one demonstrates hostility +to purity and truth, and so to God.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_48"></a> +<p class="hanging">48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say +we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and<a id="FNanchor_350" href="#Footnote_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> hast a +devil?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_350" href="#FNanchor_350" class="label">[350]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_20">7:20</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_49"></a> +<p class="hanging">49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour +my Father, and ye do dishonour me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_50"></a> +<p class="hanging">50 And I<a id="FNanchor_351" href="#Footnote_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> seek not mine own glory: there is one +that seeketh and judgeth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_351" href="#FNanchor_351" class="label">[351]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_41">5:41</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>48-50. Say we not well thou art a Samaritan +and hast an evil spirit?</b> The +Jews take to the common resort of men silenced +and convinced against their will; they reply to + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> +argument by calling names. <em>Devil</em> is an unfortunate +translation, giving the English reader the +impression that they use the same word which +Christ has used in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_44">44</a>. Their word is <dfn>demon</dfn> +(<span lang="el">δαιμόνιον</span>), and signifies primarily, in classic +usage, a tutelary demon or genius; in <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +usage, an evil spirit. These spirits are represented +as fallen angels (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:4; Jude 6</span>), subject to +Satan (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:34; 25:41; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 12:7; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 12:9</span>), possessing +the power of working miracles (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 16:14</span>), +dwelling in the idols of the heathen and uttering +the heathen responses and oracles (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 16:17; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +10:20; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 9:20</span>), and the authors of evil to mankind +(<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 12:7; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 4:1</span>). See <cite><abbr title="Robinson's Lexicon">Rob. Lex.</abbr></cite>, art. +<span lang="el">δαιμόνιον</span>. The charge had before been made by +the Pharisees that Christ cast out devils by +Beelzebub the prince of devils (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:24</span>). It is +not necessary to trace any connection between +the two epithets <cite>a Samaritan</cite> and <cite>possessing a +demon</cite>. Passion is never coherent. The language +is wild, bitter, passionate, but illogical +and inconsequential.—​<b>I have not a devil * * * * +ye do dishonor me.</b> He passes by +the charge of being a Samaritan in silence, for +the author of the parable of the Good Samaritan +refuses to recognize opprobrium in it; he calmly +denies the charge of having a demon, and declares +that by the discourses which they attribute +to a demon he honors the Father, while they +dishonor him. Peter’s declaration (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:23</span>), +“Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, +but committed himself to him that judgeth +righteously,” is illustrated by Christ’s response +here. Contrast his indignation at the wrong +done to others (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 23:14, 15, 23, etc.</span>) with his mildness +when wrong is done to himself. And the +next verse gives the secret reason of his calmness.—​<b>I +am not seeking my own glory.</b> +Therefore he is comparatively indifferent to +public abuse and dishonor.—​<b>There is one who +seeks and judges.</b> Because God cares for the +honor of his children, they can well be unconcerned +respecting it; because God judges them +righteously, they can well disregard the unrighteous +judgments of men.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_51"></a> +<p class="hanging">51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my +saying, he shall never see death.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>51. Verily, verily.</b> With Calvin and Godet, +I regard Christ’s discourse to his opponents +as ended with the preceding verse. Recognizing +the fact that some of his auditors have been +inclined toward him, though with but a feeble +faith, he addresses them in the words that follow, +that he may strengthen their faith. The connection +which Alford and Meyer endeavor to trace +between this and the preceding verse I cannot +perceive: <i>e. g.</i>, “Ye are now the children of the +devil; but if ye keep my word ye shall be rescued +from that murderer.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) The very +words with which Christ begins the sentence, +“Verily, verily” (<span lang="el">ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν</span>) indicate a new +topic.—​<b>If any one.</b> Emphasis is put on the +pronoun. The promise is universal; it embraces +Jew and Gentile.—​<b>Keep my word.</b> <em>Keep</em>, as +a guard his prisoner, with watchfulness (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +19:17, note</span>), against all seductions and assaults; +<em>Christ’s word</em>, that which he had taught, and therefore +pre-eminently that faith in him as a divine +Saviour which had been the pre-eminent theme of +his teaching. We are to keep not merely the <em>sayings</em> +in <em>memory</em>, or the <em>teaching</em> in the <em>heart</em>, but, +with sentiments of reverence and affection, the +<em>truth</em> in our <em>life</em>, both in the inward experience +and in the outward conduct.—​<b>Shall not see +death for ever.</b> Not, <em>Shall not see eternal death</em>, +but, <em>Shall never see death</em>. “The death of the +body is not reckoned as death, any more than +the life of the body is life, in our Lord’s discourses. +See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_25">11:25</a>, <a href="#ch11_26">26</a>.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) Christ +puts himself in contrast with the devil, whose +slaves, by evil-doing, the Jews have become (<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_34">34</a>). The devil is a murderer, a life-taker +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_44">44</a></span>); +Christ is a life-giver, even to those that are dead +in trespasses and sins (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:1</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_52"></a> +<p class="hanging">52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that +thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead,<a id="FNanchor_352" href="#Footnote_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> and the prophets; +and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he +shall never taste of death.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_352" href="#FNanchor_352" class="label">[352]</a> + <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 1:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_53"></a> +<p class="hanging">53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which +is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest +thou thyself?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>52, 53. The Judeans.</b> Not the believers +of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_30">30</a>. The opponents of Christ reply to +words which were not addressed to them.—​<b>Abraham +is dead.</b> * * * *—​<b>Art thou +greater than our father Abraham?</b> * * * +<b>Whom makest thou thyself?</b> Their argument +is, as Chrysostom interprets it: “They +who have heard the word of God are dead, and +shall they who have heard thee not die?” Their +perplexity was real, for the unspiritual never +comprehend either spiritual natures or spiritual +teaching. They are literalists, and understand +Jesus to speak of natural death. They are dull +and will not comprehend his declaration that he +is the Messiah in hope of whom Abraham and +the prophets had lived. Compare with their +question here that of the Samaritan woman +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_12">4:12</a></span>), “Art thou greater than our father Jacob?” +but contrast their spirit with hers. She +is in doubt; they are scornful. See also Christ’s +declaration in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:42, “Behold, a greater +than Solomon is here.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_54"></a> +<p class="hanging">54 Jesus answered, If<a id="FNanchor_353" href="#Footnote_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> I honour myself, my honour +is nothing: it is my Father<a id="FNanchor_354" href="#Footnote_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> that honoureth me; of +whom ye say, that he is your God:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_353" href="#FNanchor_353" class="label">[353]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_31">5:31</a>, <a href="#ch5_41">41</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_354" href="#FNanchor_354" class="label">[354]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_1">17:1</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_55"></a> +<p class="hanging">55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: +and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar +like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_56"></a> +<p class="hanging">56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: +and he<a id="FNanchor_355" href="#Footnote_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> + saw <em>it</em>, and was glad.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_355" href="#FNanchor_355" class="label">[355]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 22:13, 14; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> +<b>54-56. If I glorify myself my glory is +nothing.</b> To <dfn>honor</dfn> or <dfn>glorify</dfn> (<span lang="el">δοξάζω</span>) is to attribute +honor, generally by words. Christ’s reply +to the question, <cite>Whom makest thou thyself?</cite> is that +he makes nothing of himself; he leaves others +to interpret his character from his life and teachings. +And this is singularly true; Christ is to +each soul what its spiritual sight is able to discern +in him. He does not declare himself.—​<b>It is +my Father that glorifieth me.</b> He leaves +his reputation in the hands of his Father, an example +to his followers when belied and misrepresented. +See on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_18">18</a>.—​<b>Ye have never +learned him, but I know him.</b> There is a +double contrast in the two verbs (<span lang="el">γινώσκω</span> and +<span lang="el">οἶδα</span>), the one signifying acquired, the other +direct intuitive knowledge; and in the tenses, +the one signifying a past act, <em>never have known</em>, +the other a perpetually present possession, <em>I +always know</em>. The sense may be expressed: <cite>Ye +have never acquired any knowledge of God, but I +am always in fellowship with him.</cite>—<b>I should be +a liar like unto you.</b> To boast of one’s spiritual +experience is to glorify one’s self; such +glory is nothing. To deny it, under pretence of +humility, is to become a liar. There may be +hypocrisy in disavowing the sense of God’s presence +and love, as well as in falsely pretending to +it. The true method is that of Christ, who +showed it by his life, not by his professions.—​<b>Your +father Abraham exulted that he +might see my day</b> (<i>i. e.</i>, that it was promised +to him); <b>and he has seen it and was glad</b>. +There is some difficulty in the interpretation of +this passage, to which I have given a literal +translation. Some scholars regard it as wholly +prophetical, “Abraham rejoiced in anticipation +of Christ’s advent;” others as historical but +typical, “He rejoiced, seeing in the birth of Isaac +a type of the advent of the Messiah,” and they +even suppose that Christ refers to Abraham’s +laughter (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 17:17</span>); still others interpret it as +partly prophetic and partly historical, “He rejoiced +in anticipation of the promised advent; +he has since seen it from his home in paradise, +and was glad.” The latter view seems to me +best to accord with the original and with the +context. So Godet, Meyer, Alford. For a statement +of different views, see <cite>Meyer</cite>. The declaration +is responsive to the question, Art thou +greater than our father Abraham? The answer +is, Your father Abraham rejoiced because he was +promised that he should see my advent, and the +realization of his hope has given him new joy in +the heavenly kingdom. If this interpretation be +correct, the language incidentally confirms the +doctrine that the saints in heaven are cognizant +of what passes upon earth.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_57"></a> +<p class="hanging">57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet +fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_58"></a> +<p class="hanging">58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto +you. Before Abraham was, I<a id="FNanchor_356" href="#Footnote_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> am.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_356" href="#FNanchor_356" class="label">[356]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_1">1:1</a>, <a href="#ch1_2">2</a>; <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 3:14; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 43:13; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:17; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:8.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch8_59"></a> +<p class="hanging">59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but +Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going +through the midst of them, and so passed by.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>57-59. The Judeans therefore said to +him, Thou art not yet fifty years old.</b> +No indication of his actual age. The fifty years +was specified because this was the age of a perfected +maturity, according to Jewish notions +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 4:3, 39; 8:24—Lightfoot</span>).—​<b>And hast thou +seen Abraham?</b> He did not say that he had, +but that Abraham had seen him. They pervert +his words, partly through stupidity, partly +through wilfulness.—​<b>Verily, verily.</b> The precursor +of a specially solemn declaration.—​<b>Before +Abraham was born, I am</b> (<span lang="el">γίγνομαι-εἰμί</span>). +Two Socinian explanations are afforded of this +passage: (1) Before Abraham was born I (Christ) +existed in the divine counsels, <i>i. e.</i> I was purposed +by God and foretold by him; (2) Before +Abram can become Abraham, a spiritual father +of nations, I (Christ) must be sent forth as the +Messiah. They both seem to me to be shifts +devised to accommodate Scripture to a theological +preconception. All independent Greek +scholars (Meyer, Luthardt, Alford, Godet, Tholuck, +etc.) agree substantially in their interpretation +of the language. Its meaning is made clear +by a consideration of the original Greek, in which +the contrast is strongly marked between Abraham, +who began to be, and Christ, who eternally +is; by the context, in which the pre-eminence of +Christ above Abraham is clearly implied; by the +unexpressed but hardly doubtful reference to +the appellation given by the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> to Jehovah as +the <span class="smcap">I am</span> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 3:14; +<abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:27; +Mark 6:50; 14:62; +John <a href="#ch8_24">8:24</a>, <a href="#ch8_25">25</a></span>); and by the interpretation which was +put upon Christ’s words by his auditors, who +understood them as a claim of divinity, and took +up stones to stone him as a blasphemer. Christ, +then, by these words, as I understand him, identifies +himself, as the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> manifestation of the +unseen God, with the <span class="smcap">I am</span> of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, the One +who had manifested the Invisible to Israel in all +their history.—​<b>Then took they up stones to +cast at him.</b> The building of the temple was + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> +still going on, and stones were probably lying +about in the temple court. Stoning was the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> punishment for blasphemy, but it could +not be lawfully inflicted without trial and judgment.—​<b>Jesus +hid himself.</b> There is no good +ground to suppose any miraculous escape, either +here or in Luke 4:30. And there is good reason +to believe that there was not a miraculous interposition, +for Christ never availed himself of any +miracle for his own benefit. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:6, +note. The clause “going through the midst of +them, and so passed by,” is wanting in the best +<abbr title="Manuscripts">MSS.</abbr>, and is omitted by Alford, Meyer, Godet, +Luthardt. The latter traces a curious analogy +between this typical expulsion and the final crucifixion +of Christ. He hides himself from the +eyes of those whom the God of this world has +blinded; he leaves the Pharisees apparent victors +and in possession of the field; in taking up +stones to stone him they show themselves to be +murderers at heart, as they afterward became in +outward act.</p> + +<p>In this discourse, or these discourses, for it is +not quite clear whether it is one or more, the +connection is sometimes obscure, and the meaning +accordingly difficult. The student must remember +(1) that Christ addresses a very different +audience from that in Galilee. There he spoke +to willing but ignorant disciples; in Jerusalem +he speaks to obstinate and perverse enemies. +(2) Hence the difference in spirit. In Galilee +gentleness is predominant, in Jerusalem severity. +(3) The continuity of the discourse is affected +by the sudden transitions of feeling in +Christ, which are great, as in all natures of deep +and ready sympathy. He speaks now with great +pathos, as in the question, a semi-soliloquy, Why +do ye not understand my speech? +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_43">43</a></span>), then +with indignation, Ye are of your father the devil +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_44">44</a></span>); +now with self-abnegation, I judge no +man (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_15">15</a></span>), +If I honor myself my honor is nothing +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_54">54</a></span>), again with divine self-assertion and +the power of an unconcealed divinity, I am from +above (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_23">23</a></span>), + Before Abraham was I am (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_58">58</a></span>). +(4) The continuity of his speech is constantly +broken in upon by rude interruptions (<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch8_19">19</a>, <a href="#ch8_22">22</a>, +<a href="#ch8_39">39</a>, <a href="#ch8_41">41</a>, +<a href="#ch8_48">48</a>, <a href="#ch8_52">52</a>, +<a href="#ch8_53">53</a>, <a href="#ch8_57">57</a></span>), and by changes in the direction +of his discourse, which is sometimes addressed +to his disciples (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_31">31</a></span>), +and sometimes to his opponents +(<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch8_42">42</a>, <a href="#ch8_49">49</a>, +etc.</span>). (5) Nevertheless we may +say generally that the discourse embodies +Christ’s teaching respecting himself, and embraces +the following points: He is (<i>a</i>) the light, +<i>i. e.</i>, the moral and spiritual illuminator, of the +world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_12">12</a></span>); +(<i>b</i>) superhuman in his origin (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_23">23</a></span>); (<i>c</i>) the manifestation of the Father, because +the tabernacle (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_14">1:14</a></span>) +in which the Father +dwells (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_29">29</a></span>); (<i>d</i>) the emancipator of all those +that accept and obey the truth as manifested by +him (<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch8_31">31-36</a></span>); +(<i>e</i>) sinless (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_46">46</a></span>); +(<i>f</i>) the life-giver +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_51">51</a></span>); +(<i>g</i>) the great <span class="smcap">I am</span> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_58">58</a></span>). To receive +the benefit of the light which he confers, +we must follow his example (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_12">12</a></span>); +to receive +the benefit of the freedom he brings, we must +live habitually in the truth which he teaches +(<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch8_31">31</a>, +<a href="#ch8_32">32</a></span>); to receive the life which he bestows, +we must be born from above (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_3">3:3</a></span>) by faith in +him as our Messiah (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_24">24</a></span>).</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER <abbr title="Nine">IX.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 9:1-41. THE HEALING OF THE MAN BORN BLIND.—​<span class="smcap">A +miracle of Christ attested by a judicial investigation.—​A +parable of redemption.—​A lesson +in faith.</span> See note at <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 38.</p> + +<p><a id="Note_ch9"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—This miracle is reported +only by John. There is nothing peculiar in this, +since John alone reports Christ’s Judean ministry, +in which it occurred. The place was Jerusalem; +the time is uncertain; it was on a Sabbath +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_14">14</a></span>), in the fall of <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 29 +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 45</span>), between +the feast of Tabernacles in October +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_2">7:2</a></span>) and +the feast of Dedication in December +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_22">10:22</a></span>). +Some identify it with the last day of the former +feast (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_37">7:37</a></span>), which was a Sabbath, supposing +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_53">7:53</a> +to <a href="#ch8_11">8:11</a> to be an interpolation. It +is not probable that it occurred at the time +which seems to be indicated by its place in +the report furnished by the Evangelists. That +Christ stopped on escaping from a mob who +threatened to stone him, in order to work this +miracle, is not probable; that under such circumstances +his disciples should have asked him +the abstruse question of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_2">2</a> is still more improbable. +I put it therefore at some other time +in his Judean ministry, which lasted a little over +two months. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 7, +<a href="#Note_ch7"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a>. In studying +this chapter the student will do well to observe +its natural division into three parts: (1) the miracle +(<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch9_1">1-7</a></span>); +(2) the investigation (<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch9_8">8-33</a></span>); +(3) the result (<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch9_34">34-38</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">And</span> as <em>Jesus</em> passed by, he saw a man which was +blind from <em>his</em> birth.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>1. And passing by, he saw a man blind +from birth.</b> To the ordinary reader the connection +of this verse with the last verse of the +preceding chapter indicates that this miracle +was wrought as Jesus passed from the temple +driven by the mob. But the latter clause of +that verse is of doubtful authenticity. The + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> +phrase “passing by” appears to be used here +simply to indicate that the miracle of mercy was +called forth by the occasion, not by the blind +man’s petition nor by any previously formed +purpose. “It was he who saw the blind man, +not the blind man who came to him; and so earnestly +did he look upon him that even his disciples +perceived it.”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>) Compare this +case with that in Luke 18:35-43. There the +blind man appeals to Christ, here Christ heals +without being appealed to. There, in the stillness +of the country, the noise of the multitude +awakens the attention of the blind man. Here, +in the crowded city, there is nothing to announce +to the blind man a healer until Christ speaks to +him. There, therefore, he awaits the petition; +here he does not. Congenital blindness is incurable +by modern science. How it was known to +the Evangelist that this man was blind from his +birth has been questioned. The man appears, +from the following narrative, to have been a +well-known mendicant. Perhaps he proclaimed +the nature and extent of his misfortune as a +means of awakening charity.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who +did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>2. Who did sin?</b> It was not only a Jewish +opinion that such afflictions were a divine punishment +for sin, it is the teaching of experience +that special diseases are frequently the natural +consequence of sin either in the sufferer or in his +ancestry, and the teaching of Scripture that all +disease, and even death itself, is the fruit of sin. +This truth Christ had already recognized in at +least two instances (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 2:5; +John <a href="#ch5_14">5:14</a></span>), and it is +enforced both by warnings and by historical +illustrations in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 26:16; <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 28:22; +<abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 12:10; 2 Kings 5:27</span>). The Jewish error consisted +in believing that all special afflictions were +divine visitations for special sins (<span class="muchsmaller">Job 4:7; 8:6</span>), an +opinion which was not confined to the Jews (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +28:4</span>). This error Christ here corrects. The +form of the disciples’ question has given rise to +some needless perplexity. How could they, even +in imagination, attribute a blindness from birth +to the blind man’s own sin? All such explanations +as that some among the Jews believed in +the transmigration of souls and others in a pre-existent +state, and therefore in sins committed +in a previous life, and still others in the possibility +of sin committed by the unborn babe in the +womb, a doctrine deduced by the rabbis from +such passages as <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 25:22 and Psalm 51:5, +are inadmissible, because these refinements in +theology, even if actually entertained among the +Jewish rabbis, certainly were not accepted among +the common people, from whom Christ drew his +disciples. The question appears to be in spirit +this: What is the explanation of this man’s +blindness? his own sin? That cannot be, for he +was born blind. Is he then punished for his +parents’ sin?</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor +his parents: but that<a id="FNanchor_357" href="#Footnote_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> the works of God should be +made manifest in him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_357" href="#FNanchor_357" class="label">[357]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 11:4.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3. Neither hath this man sinned, nor +his parents.</b> That is, his blindness is not a +punishment for his or their sin.—​<b>But that the +works of God should be made manifest in +him.</b> Manifest to us by his miraculous cure; +but this is not all. The work of God is to believe +on him whom he hath sent (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch6_29">6:29</a></span>), and to +this belief the blind man was brought by his +cure (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> + <a href="#ch9_38">38</a></span>). Thus the work of God was made +manifest, not only through him to us, but <em>in</em> +him. Thus Christ gives the key to the Christian +doctrine of suffering. It is inflicted sometimes +as a special punishment for special sins (<span class="muchsmaller">see +references above</span>), but more frequently it is a means +of grace, inflicted either that by our endurance +we may manifest the grace of God to others +(<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 12:9</span>), or may be taught of God ourselves +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:6, 11</span>). Compare with Christ’s language +here his declaration concerning the sickness and +death of Lazarus (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch11_4">11:4</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while +it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 As long as I am in the world, I<a id="FNanchor_358" href="#Footnote_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> am the light of the +world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_358" href="#FNanchor_358" class="label">[358]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_5">1:5</a>, +<a href="#ch1_9">9</a>; <a href="#ch8_12">8:12</a>; +<a href="#ch12_35">12:35</a>, <a href="#ch12_46">46</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>4, 5. While it is day; the night cometh.</b> +The day is life; the night is death. Christ in +his human estate was subject to the law under +which all his disciples are placed. Death cut +short his human work. The day for work is +short, the night is at hand; therefore the greater +need of earnest and urgent labor. Sleep is a +parable of death (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 104:23</span>) that should perpetually +remind us that our day is short.—​<b>The +light of the world.</b> It was prophesied that +the Messiah should open the eyes of the blind +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 29:18; 35:5; 42:7</span>). The direct reference is to +Christ’s fulfilment of these prophecies (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 4:18, +21</span>). But it is true, in a larger sense, that just so +far as Christ is in the world, and accepted by the +world, he becomes its light, intellectual, moral, +and spiritual (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_9">1:9</a>, note</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 When he had thus spoken, he spat<a id="FNanchor_359" href="#Footnote_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> on the ground, +and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes +of the blind man with the clay,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_359" href="#FNanchor_359" class="label">[359]</a> + Mark 8:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,<a id="FNanchor_360" href="#Footnote_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> +(which is by interpretation, Sent.) He<a id="FNanchor_361" href="#Footnote_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> went +his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_360" href="#FNanchor_360" class="label">[360]</a> + <abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 3:15.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_361" href="#FNanchor_361" class="label">[361]</a> + 2 Kings 5:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>6, 7. Spat on the ground * * * * and +he anointed the eyes with the clay.</b> Clay +and spittle were both believed in ancient times +to possess curative properties. Why Christ used +them here is a matter only of conjecture. Certainly +not as remedies, for one blind from birth +could not be cured by a remedy so simple, and +he who healed the blind men at Jericho by a +touch (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:34</span>) had no need here to resort to +other means. Not to conceal the miracle, as +may have been the case in analogous instances + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> +(<span class="muchsmaller">see Mark 7:33; 8:23, notes</span>), for here his object was to +manifest the works of God, and the result was a +public and protracted investigation of his own +character. It is noticeable, however, that Christ +never cured without giving the healed something +to do, as a test of his faith and obedience. +Even in the three cases of raising from the dead +he called on the mourners, to indicate by their +obedience to his direction their faith in him +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:24, 25; +Luke 7:14; John <a href="#ch11_39">11:39</a>, <a href="#ch11_40">40</a></span>). When he was +asked to heal, the simple request served as an +indication of faith; when, as here, he volunteered +the cure, he seems always to have required +some act as an evidence of faith. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_6">5:6-8</a>.—​<b>Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.</b> +One of the pools in the vicinity of Jerusalem, +entitled also Siloah or Shiloah (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 3:15; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 8:6</span>). +It is identified with a pool or tank still found in the +vicinity of Jerusalem, which stands to the south +of the Temple mount, and consists of an oblong +tank, partly hewn out of the rock and partly +built of masonry, measuring about fifty-three +feet in length, eighteen feet in width, and nineteen +feet in depth, with a flight of steps leading +down to the bottom. Several columns stand out +of the side walls, extending from the top downward +into the reservoir, the design of which it is +now difficult to conjecture. The water passes +out of this reservoir through an open channel cut +in the rock, which is covered for a short distance, +and a few yards off is partly dammed up +by the people of the adjoining village of Siloam, +for the purpose of washing their clothes, and +then divided into small streams to irrigate the +gardens below. The water flows into this reservoir +from an artificial cave or basin under the +cliff. This cave is entered by a small archway +hewn in the rock. It is irregular in form, and +decreases in size as it proceeds from about fifteen +to three feet in height. It is connected +with what is known as the Fountain of the Virgin +by a remarkable conduit cut through the +very heart of the rock in a zigzag form, measuring +some seventeen hundred and fifty feet, while +the distance in a straight line is only eleven hundred +feet. This remarkable fact was discovered +by Dr. Edward Robinson, who had the hardihood +to crawl through the passage.—​<b>Which is by +interpretation Sent.</b> The meaning of this +addition has been doubted, but does not seem to +me to be doubtful. The pool, by its very name, +was a symbol of Him who was sent into the +world to work the works of God +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_4">4</a></span>), and who +gives light to the world by providing a fountain +in which not only all uncleanness is washed +away, but all ignorance and blindness of heart.—​<b>He +went therefore</b>, etc. Compare with the +cure of Naaman (<span class="muchsmaller">2 Kings 5:11, 13</span>), who was in like +manner bid to wash in Jordan, and only reluctantly +and after angry resistance consented. +Observe how great the trial to this blind man’s +faith, directed to take so considerable a walk, in +his blindness, as a condition of cure. Observe, +too, in the miracle a parable of redemption. The +whole world lieth in darkness from the beginning +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 107:10; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:16; 1 John 5:19</span>); Christ, the +light of the world, comes to call us out of darkness +into marvellous light (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 26:18; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:6; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> +1:13; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:9</span>); the condition of receiving that +light is faith, exemplified by obedience, without +which the soul remains in darkness (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_5">1:5</a>; +<a href="#ch3_19">3:19</a></span>); and he often calls us to prove our faith +by walking, in obedience to his direction, in the +darkness for a while, in order that we may come +into the light (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 8:22-26, notes</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before +had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he +that sat and begged?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 Some said, This is he: others <em>said</em>, He is like him: +<em>but</em> he said, I am <em>he</em>.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>8, 9. The neighbors therefore, and they +which before had seen him that he was a +beggar.</b> The best manuscripts have <em>beggar</em>, +not, as in our English version, <em>blind</em>. So Alford +and Tischendorf.—​<b>Is not this he that sat and +begged?</b> Apparently he was a well-known +beggar, like the one described in Acts 3:2, 10. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Luke 18:35. He is described as one that +<em>sat and begged</em>, in contrast with such as beg from +door to door. Beggars of this description having +a regular place, where they may always be +found soliciting alms, are a not uncommon sight in +the East.—​<b>Some said, This is he. Others, +No! but he is like him. He himself said, +I am he.</b> This is the correct rendering of the +best reading; it varies slightly from our English +version. His own response seems to have settled +the question of his identity among the common +people. That some should have at first doubted +is not strange, considering the alterations in appearance +made by the clear eye in place of the +sightless eyeballs, and the fact that he was no +longer to be found in his accustomed place, +begging.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine +eyes opened?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus +made clay,<a id="FNanchor_362" href="#Footnote_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, +Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash; and I went and +washed, and I received sight.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_362" href="#FNanchor_362" class="label">[362]</a> + verses <a href="#ch9_6">6</a>, <a href="#ch9_7">7</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, +I know not.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>10-12.</b> The first investigation is made informally, +and without prejudice, by the common +people. It is curiosity alone which inquires, and +it is easily convinced of the facts in the case.—​The man’s reply to his questioners is more laconic +in the original than in our English version. +It is literally, “<cite>And going and washing, I saw.</cite>” + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span> +It reminds one of Cæsar’s famous report, “I +came, I saw, I conquered.” The verb rendered +I saw or I received sight <span lang="el">(ἀναβλέπω</span>) is literally, +<cite>I saw again</cite>. Sight being the prerogative of humanity, +he speaks as though it were really once +his prerogative (though in fact he never possessed +it), had been lost, and was now recovered +to him again.—​The question, <cite>Where is he?</cite> appears +to be asked, not in a spirit of enmity, but +simply from a natural curiosity and interest to +see him who had wrought the cure. Christ’s +escape from the blind man and the multitude is +analogous to his course on other occasions (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_13">5:13</a></span>), +and is characteristic of one who ordinarily +avoided all occasions of public triumph and +enthusiasm (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_15">6:15</a>; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:4; 9:30; Mark 5:43</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime +was blind.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>13.</b> Verses 13-34 report a semi-official investigation +by the Pharisees, instigated not by a sincere +desire to ascertain the truth, nor by mere +curiosity, but by a determination to break the +force of the miracle that had been wrought. For +this purpose they first examine the man (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch9_15">15-17</a></span>) and his parents +(<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch9_18">18-21</a></span>), in hope to prove an +imposture; next they subject the man to a further +cross-examination in an unsuccessful endeavor +to break down his testimony (<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch9_24">24-33</a></span>); +failing in that, they do what they can to discredit +his testimony by excommunicating him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_34">34</a></span>).—​<b>The +Pharisees.</b> It is generally supposed that +this phrase indicates the Jewish court formally +assembled, either the Sanhedrim, <i>i. e.</i>, the supreme +court of the nation, or the lesser Sanhedrim, +<i>i. e.</i>, one of the local courts in Jerusalem. +But the passages cited to show that John uses +the term “Pharisees” to designate a court +rather indicate the opposite. In both John <a href="#ch7_32">7:32</a>, +<a href="#ch7_45">45-47</a> and John <a href="#ch11_46">11:46</a>, +<a href="#ch11_47">47</a>, he distinguishes between +the “chief-priests and Pharisees” who +constituted the council, and the Pharisees who +constituted not a body, but a party. I judge +then that the investigation which follows is an +informal one. It must be remembered that in +that age, and even to the present time in that +country, no such clear line was drawn as with us +between an official and an unofficial trial.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made +the clay, and opened his eyes.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he +had received his sight. He said unto them, He put +clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is +not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. +Others said, How<a id="FNanchor_363" href="#Footnote_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> can a man that is a sinner do such +miracles? And<a id="FNanchor_364" href="#Footnote_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> there was a division among them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_363" href="#FNanchor_363" class="label">[363]</a> + verse <a href="#ch9_31">31</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_2">3:2</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_364" href="#FNanchor_364" class="label">[364]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_12">7:12</a>, <a href="#ch7_43">43</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>14-16. The Sabbath day.</b> For analogous +case of Sabbath healing, see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_18">5</a>, notes.—​<b>Then +again the Pharisees also asked him.</b> Not +that they had asked him before; the “again” +refers to the question by the people in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_10">10</a>.—​<b>Some +said * * * * Others said.</b> It is a +mistake to suppose that all the Pharisees were +hypocrites. Among them were such men as +Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Gamaliel, Saul +of Tarsus. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:7, note. But the honest +Pharisees were timid, and were easily overborne +by their opponents. For account of a similar +conflict, see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_47">7:47-52</a>. Observe the inherent +vice of Pharisaism, ancient and modern; it puts +the ceremonial above humanity; it is of the +essence of Christianity that it regards all ceremonials +and observances as for humanity (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark +2:27; note on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:8</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest +thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, +He is a prophet.<a id="FNanchor_365" href="#Footnote_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_365" href="#FNanchor_365" class="label">[365]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_19">4:19</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 But the Jews did not believe<a id="FNanchor_366" href="#Footnote_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> concerning him, +that he had been blind, and received his sight, until +they called the parents of him that had received his +sight.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_366" href="#FNanchor_366" class="label">[366]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 26:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, +who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now +see?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 His parents answered them and said, We know +that this is our son, and that he was born blind:</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; +or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of +age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>17-21. What sayest thou of him because +he hath opened thine eyes?</b> They ask for the +man’s opinion, each party perhaps hoping to get +support for its own views.—​<b>He is a prophet.</b> +At first to the blind man Christ was only “a man +that is called Jesus” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_11">11</a></span>). The discussion has +not only deepened, it has clarified his convictions.—​<b>But +the Jews did not believe * * +* * until they had called the parents.</b> +The Pharisees make a twofold endeavor to break +the force of the miracle, first by questioning the +identity of the man, second by questioning the +method of his cure.—​So they ask the parents if +this is their son, and how he was cured.—​<b>His +parents answered them</b>, etc. The answer of +the parents was probably literally true, but it +was evasive.—​Their knowledge of the cure was +probably derived from their son; hence they justify +themselves in referring the inquirers to him. +But duty, both to truth and to their son, required +that they should have sustained his testimony by +their own expressed belief in the miraculous cure.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 These <em>words</em> spake his parents, because they<a id="FNanchor_367" href="#Footnote_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> +feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that +if any man did confess that he was Christ, he<a id="FNanchor_368" href="#Footnote_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> should +be put out of the synagogue.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_367" href="#FNanchor_367" class="label">[367]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_13">7:13</a>; + <a href="#ch12_42">12:42</a>; <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 29:25.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_368" href="#FNanchor_368" class="label">[368]</a> + verse <a href="#ch9_34">34</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_2">16:2</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>22, 23. Because they feared the Jews.</b> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> +The term “Jews,” as John uses it, generally +means the Judeans, <i>i. e.</i>, the inhabitants of Judea, +as distinguished from the Galileans or other dispersed +Israelites. Living in the vicinity of Jerusalem, +they were most attached to its ritual, and +most intolerant of any departure from Jewish +ceremonials or any fellowship with the Gentiles. +Through their influence the Sanhedrim had resolved +that any one who acknowledged Jesus as +the Messiah should be excommunicated. When +this resolution was arrived at does not appear. +It clearly indicates that even in Judea there was +growing a feeling, if not a faith, that Jesus of +Nazareth was the Promised One.—​<b>He should +be put out of the synagogue.</b> That is, +excommunicated. According to the Jewish +scholars, there were three kinds of discipline +known in the ancient synagogues, all of which are +entitled <cite>excommunication</cite> or <dfn>cutting off</dfn>. Excommunication +in the slightest degree involved separation +from the synagogue, and the suspension +of intercourse with all Jews whatever, even with +one’s wife and domestics. A person who had +exposed himself to excommunication was not +allowed to approach another nearer than a distance +of four cubits. This separation was continued +for thirty days; and in case the excommunicated +person did not repent, the time might be +doubled or tripled, even when the transgression, +by means of which it was incurred, was of small +consequence. The second degree of excommunication +is denominated <dfn>the curse</dfn>, and was more +severe in its effects. It was pronounced with +imprecations, in the presence of ten men, and so +thoroughly excluded the guilty person from all +communion whatever with his countrymen, that +they were not allowed to sell him anything, even +the necessaries of life. The <em>third degree of excommunication</em> +was more severe in its consequences +than either of the preceding. It was a solemn +and absolute exclusion from all intercourse and +communion with any other individuals of the +nation; and the criminal was left in the hands, +and to the justice of God. It is probable that in +the time of Christ the second degree of excommunication +was not distinguished from the third. +It is uncertain what degree of excommunication +was here threatened; but it is quite unimportant, +since the first was sure to be succeeded +by the others, unless the condemned repented, +and made confession of his wrong-doing; in +this case retracted his confession of Jesus as the +Messiah.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Then again called they the man that was blind, +and said unto him, Give God<a id="FNanchor_369" href="#Footnote_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> the praise: we know +that this man is a sinner.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_369" href="#FNanchor_369" class="label">[369]</a> + <abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 7:19; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 50:14, 15.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner <em>or +no</em>, I know not; one thing I know, that, whereas I was +blind, now I see.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>24, 25.</b> The Pharisees attempt to overawe the +blind man. The conference with his parents has +been held in his absence. They then summon +him into their presence with the declaration that +they have discovered the imposture, and call on +him to confess it.—​<b>Give God the praise</b> is +not equivalent to <em>Give to God the glory of your +cure</em>; they do not admit that any cure has been +wrought. It is a solemn form of adjuration to +confess the fraud which they pretend to have +discovered (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 7:19</span>).—​<b>We know that this +man is a sinner</b>, indicates that their investigation +has discovered the imposture. The +man’s reply is shrewd and wise. He will not +undertake to dispute the conclusion which these +doctors of the law pretend to have reached; but +neither will he abate in the slightest his testimony +to the miraculous cure.—​<b>One thing I +know, that being blind, now I see.</b> No +testimony to Christ is more pertinent or potent +than this personal experience of his grace. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 1:23; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:12-18.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 Then said they to him again, What did he to +thee? how opened he thine eyes?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 He answered them, I have told you already, and +ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear <em>it</em> again? +will ye also be his disciples?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>26, 27.</b> Defeated in an attempt to overawe +the blind man, the Pharisees resort to the common +artifice of cross-examination; they call on +him to repeat his story, in the hope of detecting +some real or imaginary discrepancy in his two +accounts, by which they may discredit him. He +refuses to be cross-examined; grows impatient +at their manifest injustice; answers defiantly.—​<b>Ye +will not hear.</b> Equivalent to, Ye will not +heed, will not accept. It is useless to repeat +testimony which they have resolved to reject. +He thus illustrates Christ’s precept, Neither cast +ye your pearls before swine (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 7:6</span>).—​<b>Will +ye also be his disciples?</b> Ironical. The +man affects to misunderstand their object, and +to think that they are inquiring for the purpose +of becoming Christ’s disciples. The mere +suggestion elicits an indignant disclaimer, and so +brings out clearly that they are not honestly +seeking to get at the truth respecting Jesus, but +are attempting to discredit him. The word <em>also</em> +scarcely indicates, as some suppose, that the +man is resolved to become Christ’s disciple. We +know too little concerning him, as yet, to come +to that conclusion (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_36">36</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Then they reviled<a id="FNanchor_370" href="#Footnote_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> him, and said. Thou art his +disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_370" href="#FNanchor_370" class="label">[370]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 We know<a id="FNanchor_371" href="#Footnote_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a> that God spake unto Moses: <em>as for</em> +this <em>fellow</em>, we<a id="FNanchor_372" href="#Footnote_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> know not from whence he is.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_371" href="#FNanchor_371" class="label">[371]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 103:7; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 3:5.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_372" href="#FNanchor_372" class="label">[372]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_14">8:14</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>28, 29.</b> A curious illustration of the inconsistency +of bigotry is afforded by a comparison + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> +of the language of the Pharisees here and in +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_27">7:27</a>. +There, because they suppose they +know the parentage of Jesus, they say he cannot +be the Messiah; here, the pretence that he is an +unknown, affords an equally satisfactory reason +for rejecting him.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 The man answered and said unto them, Why<a id="FNanchor_373" href="#Footnote_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> +herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from +whence he is, and <em>yet</em> he hath opened<a id="FNanchor_374" href="#Footnote_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> mine eyes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_373" href="#FNanchor_373" class="label">[373]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_10">3:10</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_374" href="#FNanchor_374" class="label">[374]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 119:18; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 29:18, 19; 35:5; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_31"></a> +<p>31 Now we know that God<a id="FNanchor_375" href="#Footnote_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a> heareth not sinners: +but if<a id="FNanchor_376" href="#Footnote_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a> any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his +will, him he heareth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_375" href="#FNanchor_375" class="label">[375]</a> + Job 27:9; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 66:18; <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 28:9; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 1:15; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 11:11; <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 8:18; Micah 3:4; <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 7:13.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_376" href="#FNanchor_376" class="label">[376]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 34:15; <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 15:29.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>30, 31.</b> The argument of these verses is, +(1) founded on the Pharisees’ doctrine that man +is made acceptable to God by his good works. +The Pharisees could furnish no reply to it, because +they believed that God only heard the +prayers of the pious (<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="Nehemiah">Neh.</abbr> 13:14, 22, 31; 2 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> +22:21</span>). The doctrine that he hears and answers +the prayers of the penitent, though abundantly +taught in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 25:11; 32:5; Isaiah 55:6, 7</span>), +they wholly ignored; (2) It is founded on the +Scriptural doctrine that God does not hear +the prayer of deliberate, willful and persistent +sinners, while continuing in their sins. If this +“man that is called Jesus” was the impostor +that the Pharisees declared him to be, God would +not accompany his ministry with such manifestations +of divine blessing (<span class="muchsmaller">Isaiah 1:11-15; 59:1, 2; +<abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 15:8, 29; 21:27; 28:9; +<abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 14:11, 12; Amos 5:21-23; +Micah 3:4</span>); (3) It accords in fact with the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +doctrine of prayer, which teaches us to pray in +the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, in +and through whom we are heard, though sinners +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_13">14:13</a>, <a href="#ch14_14">14</a>; +<a href="#ch15_16">15:16</a>; <a href="#ch16_23">16:23</a>, +<a href="#ch16_24">24</a></span>). Observe the +double condition of prayer, as indicated by this +man: (1) a true reverence of God, (2) a sincere +practical obedience to his will. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_17">15:17</a>; +<abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:6; James 5:16. In the failing of one +or the other of these conditions we may find one +principal reason why so many prayers are not +answered.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 Since the world began was it not heard that any +man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>32, 33.</b> It was prophesied of the Messiah that +he should restore sight to the blind +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_5">5</a>, note</span>). +This peculiar form of miraculous cure is not narrated +to have been performed by any one except +Christ, unless 2 Kings 6:18, 20 be regarded as +an instance; it was performed by Christ on +several occasions (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:27-30; 11:5; 12:22; 20:30-34; +Mark 8:22-25</span>); but this is the only case of the cure +of one blind from birth.—​<b>If this man was not +from God he could do nothing.</b> The man +now openly confesses his conviction, which in his +previous answer he has concealed. Observe that +he enunciated the same principle as Nicodemus, +and in almost the same words. The declaration is +spiritually true of Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_19">5:19-30</a></span>) and of every +one of Christ’s disciples (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_5">15:5</a>; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:13</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 They answered and said unto him, Thou<a id="FNanchor_377" href="#Footnote_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> wast +altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And +they cast him<a id="FNanchor_378" href="#Footnote_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> out.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_377" href="#FNanchor_377" class="label">[377]</a> + verse <a href="#ch9_2">2</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_378" href="#FNanchor_378" class="label">[378]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 66:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>34.</b> Failing in their attempt to break the force +of the man’s testimony, the Pharisees endeavored +to discredit it by excommunicating him. +Religious persecution is generally the last resort +of intellectual weakness and defeat. Their declaration +<cite>Thou wast altogether born in sins</cite> is a +reference to the fact that he was born blind. +Thus they become themselves unconscious witnesses +to the miracle; for their language here +shows their belief that he was born blind, and +the man himself affords ocular demonstration +of the cure. The declaration <cite>They cast him out</cite> +means, not they drove him out of the court-room, +as interpreted by Chrysostom, Tholuck and +others, but they excommunicated him, in conformity +to the resolution previously taken +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_22">22</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when +he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe<a id="FNanchor_379" href="#Footnote_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> +on the Son of God?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_379" href="#FNanchor_379" class="label">[379]</a> + 1 John 5:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I +might believe on him?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen +him, and<a id="FNanchor_380" href="#Footnote_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> it is he that talketh with thee.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_380" href="#FNanchor_380" class="label">[380]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_26">4:26</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped +him.<a id="FNanchor_381" href="#Footnote_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_381" href="#FNanchor_381" class="label">[381]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:33.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>35-38. When Jesus heard that they had +cast him out.</b> Perhaps he purposely waited, +that the man’s fidelity to the truth might be fully +tested. This trial of the blind man symbolizes +the trial to which Christ subjects his church +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:7</span>). When men cast the faithful witness +out, Christ comes to him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 27:10</span>). Thus the +man realizes the promise of Luke 6:22.—​<b>Dost +thou believe on the Son of God.</b> There +is an emphasis on <em>Thou</em> in the original, which +cannot well be repeated in the English. Christ +contrasts his belief with the disbelief of the +Pharisees. “Believest thou, whilst so many +others are disbelievers” (<cite>Trench</cite>).—​<b>Who is he, +Sire, that I might believe on him.</b> The +word translated lord (<span lang="el">κύριος</span>) is only a general +term of respect. It is sometimes translated <dfn>Sir</dfn> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:30; +<abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_11">4:11</a>, +<a href="#ch4_15">15</a>, <a href="#ch4_19">19</a>, <a href="#ch4_49">49</a>; +<a href="#ch5_7">5:7</a>; <a href="#ch12_20">12:20</a>; +<a href="#ch20_15">20:15</a></span>). +It does not imply here that the man recognized +in Jesus the Son of God. But his language, +<cite>That I might believe on him</cite>, indicates that he +was ready to believe when the Messiah should +be made known to him. This spirit of desire +always brings the answer of disclosure (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:6; +Acts, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 10</span>).—​<b>Thou hast both seen him.</b> A +reminder of the benefit which has been conferred + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> +upon the man.—​<b>And it is he that talketh +to thee.</b> To no one did Christ disclose his +divine nature more clearly than to this blind +man, whose fidelity to truth showed him worthy +to receive the disclosure of further truth, and +one which even the disciples but imperfectly +apprehended.—​<b>Sire, I believe. And he +reverenced him.</b> Not necessarily <em>worshipped</em>. +The original does not necessarily signify anything +more than a form of salutation paid by an +inferior to a superior, by falling upon the knees +and touching the forehead to the ground. For +meaning of both words, “lord” and “worshipped,” +see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:2, note. It is clear, however, +that the man accepted fully Christ’s declaration +respecting himself, though not so clear +that he fully comprehended his meaning.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">The cure of the man born blind.</span> It is +safe to assume that John has narrated no event +at such length as this miracle and its subsequent +investigation without a definite purpose. The +general lessons taught by this account, apart +from those incidentally conveyed in single utterances, +appear to me to be three. (1) This is the +only one of Christ’s miracles which was subjected +to a judicial or <i lang="la">quasi</i> judicial investigation. +That investigation originated not with the +disciples, but with the people, and was carried +on before a hostile tribunal. The identity of the +blind man was established by his own testimony +and corroborated by that of his parents. That +he was born blind was established by the same +indisputable evidence. That he was cured was +ocularly demonstrated. The cure necessarily +involved a miracle, since congenital blindness +is not curable by natural means. The value +of the evidence is increased by the facts that +the parents were reluctant witnesses; that the +man himself had no interest to further the cause +of Christ, since he did not even know who +he was; that the Pharisees themselves were +forced to the unconscious admission that a miracle +had been wrought (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_34">34</a>, note</span>); and that, +defeated in their attempt to browbeat the witness, +they endeavored to discredit his testimony +by excommunicating him. (2) There is an instructive +contrast in the characters so briefly but +graphically portrayed. (<i>a</i>) The people, moved +by mere wonder, investigate curiously but not +earnestly, reach no conclusion, and so learn +nothing of Christ; (<i>b</i>) The Pharisees, instigated +by malice and religious bigotry, investigate thoroughly, +and are compelled to adopt the conclusion +that a miracle has been wrought, but refuse +to accept the Worker as even a man sent from +God, and so learn nothing of Christ. (<i>c</i>) The +parents, honest but timid, accept the facts, but +are unwilling to risk persecution for truth’s sake, +and so learn nothing of Christ. (<i>d</i>) The man +himself, who is faithful to his convictions, and +whose convictions grow by reason of his fidelity, +is brought to a knowledge of Jesus as the Messiah, +the Son of God. Thus is illustrated the +principle that to find the truth as it is in Christ +Jesus it is not enough to investigate curiously, +earnestly, honestly; it is necessary also to confess +fearlessly the truth so far as it is apprehended. +(3) The history of the blind man illustrates +the growth of faith, as well as its conditions. +At first he knew nothing of Jesus; but +without knowledge or definite hope he obeys +Christ’s direction, goes to the pool of Siloam, +washes, sees. He still knows nothing of the +Healer but that he is “a man that is called +Jesus.” Despite the timidity of his parents, and +the threatening of the Pharisees, he maintains +the truth, defends the unknown, asserts him +to be a prophet, and a man of God. Finally, +he finds in him the Messiah, the Son of God. +Fidelity, in that which is least, is the condition +of receiving larger gifts in knowledge and faith.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 And Jesus said, For<a id="FNanchor_382" href="#Footnote_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> judgment I am come into +this world, that they which see not<a id="FNanchor_383" href="#Footnote_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a> might see; and +that they which see might be made blind.<a id="FNanchor_384" href="#Footnote_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_382" href="#FNanchor_382" class="label">[382]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_22">5:22</a>, <a href="#ch5_27">27</a>; + <a href="#ch12_47">12:47</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_383" href="#FNanchor_383" class="label">[383]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_384" href="#FNanchor_384" class="label">[384]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_19">3:19</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>39. For judgment am I come into this +world.</b> Contrast <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_15">8:15</a>; <a href="#ch12_47">12:47</a>. Christ +does not hesitate to state truths at different times +in forms which make his statements apparently +contradictory. He does not come to announce +judgment or condemnation, but to provide +mercy; nevertheless, he has come <em>for judgment</em>, +since he draws to himself all that love the divine +character and the divine life, and repels all that +are worldly and selfish. He does not condemn, +but they that reject him are self-condemned, +testifying that they love darkness rather than +light because their deeds are evil.—​<b>That they +which see not might see, and that they +which see might be made blind.</b> The +meaning is not, <em>That they which see not their own +blindness might be made to see it</em>; this interpretation +makes the second clause of the sentence +either a mere repetition of the first, <em>And that +they which think they see might be made aware that +they are blind</em>, or unmeaning. Nor is it to be rendered, +<em>That they which see not spiritual things might +be made to see them, and they which see the world +might be made blind to that as a preparation for seeing +Christ</em>; for though this would be in analogy +with Paul’s metaphor (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 6:11; 7:9</span>), it would not +interpret Christ’s declaration that he has come for + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> +judgment. The two clauses of the sentence are to +be interpreted alike. Christ’s coming gave moral +and spiritual sight to the publicans who were +without moral culture, but opened their hearts +to receive Christ’s instructions; and it darkened +such moral sense as the Pharisees already possessed, +since they closed their eyes to the clear +revelation which Christ brought. Thus Christ +is both savor of life unto life and of death unto +death (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:16</span>), both the corner-stone and the +stone of stumbling (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:6-8; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:12, note</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 And <em>some</em> of the Pharisees which were with him +heard these words, and said unto him, Are we<a id="FNanchor_385" href="#Footnote_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> blind +also?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_385" href="#FNanchor_385" class="label">[385]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:19; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch9_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 Jesus said unto them, If<a id="FNanchor_386" href="#Footnote_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> ye were blind, ye should +have no sin: but now ye say, We see: therefore<a id="FNanchor_387" href="#Footnote_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> your +sin remaineth?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_386" href="#FNanchor_386" class="label">[386]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_22">15:22</a>, <a href="#ch15_24">24</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_387" href="#FNanchor_387" class="label">[387]</a> + Is. 5:21; Luke 18:14; 1 John 1:8-10.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>40, 41. Some of the Pharisees which +were with him.</b> That is, who happened +to be present. But their presence as auditors, +coupled with their question, perhaps implies +that they were of that class which were inclined +to regard Jesus as a prophet (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_17">17</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_21">10:21</a></span>).—​<b>Are +we blind also?</b> The form of the original +implies a strong expectation of a negative reply. +It might be rendered, <em>Surely we are not blind +also</em>.—​<b>If ye were blind ye should have no +sin.</b> This is not to be interpreted away, as +equivalent to, Your sin would be less. It is +literally true, that sin is in the proportion of +knowledge, so that one who is, by no fault of +his own, absolutely ignorant of moral distinctions, +is absolutely free from moral responsibility.—​<b>Ye +say, We see; therefore your +sin remains.</b> They had the law and the +prophets which foretold the Messiah +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_39">5:39</a></span>), +and they had the knowledge of his works and +the moral capacity to judge them, and did adjudge +that God was with him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_2">3:2</a></span>), and that +he could not be a sinner (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_16">9:16</a></span>). This was +enough to render them guilty in not following +out their convictions by a public confession of +Christ as a prophet, which they really saw him +to be. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_24">15:24</a>; and with the entire +passage (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_39">39-41</a></span>), <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:17-24.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER <abbr title="Ten">X.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 10:1-21. THE PARABLE OF THE SHEEPFOLD +AND THE SHEPHERD.—​<span class="smcap">The church of Christ as +one flock.—​To this flock there is but one door, +Jesus Christ.—​This door is opened to the soul +by the Holy Spirit of God.—​Every one who +enters in by this door is saved.—​And becomes +a minister of grace (a shepherd) to others.—​The +pattern is Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.—​Every +true shepherd lives for the flock.—​He +who does not is a hireling, and is recreant in +time of danger.—​The life of the flock is assured +by the death of the Good Shepherd.—​That death +was not compelled; it was voluntary.</span></p> + +<p><a id="TOC125"></a>This parable was probably uttered in Judea, +and in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem. The +figure is drawn from the spectacle, likely at any +evening to be witnessed on the hillsides of Judea, +a flock of sheep gathered from the different fields +in which they had been wandering, and <em>following</em> +their shepherd, who conducts them to the sheepfold, +which they enter, one by one, for protection, +the shepherd going before and leading them +in. To understand aright its meaning, two facts, +often forgotten, must be borne in mind: (1) that +the metaphor is used in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, and for a +double purpose; sometimes the shepherd is the +religious teacher of Israel, whose unfaithfulness +is rebuked in the prophets (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 23:1-4; <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 34</span>); +sometimes the shepherd is the Lord, who leads, +defends, and feeds the soul which trusts in him +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 23; Isaiah 40:11</span>); (2) the parable is closely connected +with the discourse concerning blindness, +growing out of the cure of the blind man, and is +given for the purpose of emphasizing and carrying +out the warnings therein contained against +the Pharisees as blind leaders of the blind (<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +15:14). I understand, then, that it is a parable +with a double application. First, Christ compares +the Pharisees to shepherds, himself to the +door, and declares that they alone are true shepherds +who enter into Israel through, <i>i. e.</i>, under +command from, and with the authority of, +Christ as the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Messiah—all</span> others are thieves and +robbers (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_7">7-10</a></span>); he then changes the application, +retaining the figure, declares himself to be +the shepherd, whose praises David and Isaiah +sang, and indicates the nature of the service +which he will render to his sheep, namely, giving +his life for them. The parable itself embraces +verses <a href="#ch10_1">1-6</a>; the first application, a lesson against +the false Pharisaical teachers, verses <a href="#ch10_7">7-10</a>; the +second application, a lesson concerning himself +as the good shepherd, verses <a href="#ch10_11">11-18</a>. The first +application is interpreted by Ezekiel, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 34; the +second, by Psalm 23 and Isaiah 40:11. The +ordinary interpretation, which regards Christ as +referring to himself throughout as shepherd, +necessarily supposes that he employs a mixed +metaphor, in which, without any apparent reason, +he alternately represents himself as the door +and the shepherd.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Verily</span>, verily, I say unto you,<a id="FNanchor_388" href="#Footnote_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> He that entereth +not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth +up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_388" href="#FNanchor_388" class="label">[388]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 10:15; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 5:4.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1. He that entereth not by the door +into the sheepfold.</b> Sheepfolds, as usually +constructed in the East, are low, flat buildings, +erected on the sheltered side of the valleys, and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> +when the nights are cold, the flocks are shut up +in them, but in ordinary weather they are merely +kept within the yard. During the day, of course, +they are led forth to pasture by the shepherds. +The folds are defended by a wide stone wall, +crowned by sharp thorns which the wolf will +rarely attempt to scale. The leopard and panther, +however, when pressed with hunger, will +overleap the thorny hedge, and make havoc of +the flock. In Greece, folds are sometimes built +merely of a parapet of bushes or branches, placed +at the entrance of caves, natural or made for +the purpose, in the side of hills or rocky ledges. +A porter guards the door of the larger sheepfolds. +See <cite>Thompson’s Land and Book</cite>, <abbr title="One">I</abbr>, 299, +and <cite>Smith’s Bible Dict.</cite>, <abbr title="Article">Art.</abbr> <cite>Sheepfold</cite>. The +sheepfold, in this parable, answers primarily +to Israel, the then visible and organic church of +God, but secondarily to the church of Christ +in all ages, the visible and external organization, +in which the professed disciples of Christ, his +sheep, are gathered for better protection. He +that enters not by the door, but furtively climbs +up some other way, marks himself thereby as +evil disposed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_126"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_126.jpg" + alt="Sheepfold"> + <p class="caption">AN EASTERN SHEEPFOLD.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 But he that entereth in by the<a id="FNanchor_389" href="#Footnote_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> door is the shepherd +of the sheep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_389" href="#FNanchor_389" class="label">[389]</a> + Verse <a href="#ch10_7">7</a>, <a href="#ch10_9">9</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>2. He that entereth in by the door the +same is a shepherd of the sheep.</b> Not, +as in our English version, <em>the</em> shepherd. The +definite article is wanting. Christ does not declare +that the evidence that he is the Shepherd +consists in the fact that he entered through the +door, for he is himself the door. He declares to +the Pharisees, who reject him as their Messiah, +that there is a double test of the religious teacher: +(1) he must enter into the church by the way by +which he directs the sheep to enter. There is +not one salvation for the teacher and another for +the taught; the door is the same to all; and +(2) he must enter by the one only door, Jesus +Christ. Whoever comes in the name and with +the authority of Jesus Christ is a shepherd of +the sheep; whoever comes to preach any other +Gospel, comes to rob the sheep of their Saviour +and salvation (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> + 1:8, 9; 2 John, <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 10</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 To him<a id="FNanchor_390" href="#Footnote_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> the porter openeth; and the sheep hear +his voice: and he calleth<a id="FNanchor_391" href="#Footnote_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> his own sheep by name +and leadeth<a id="FNanchor_392" href="#Footnote_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> them out.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_390" href="#FNanchor_390" class="label">[390]</a> + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_391" href="#FNanchor_391" class="label">[391]</a> + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 34:11; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8: 30.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_392" href="#FNanchor_392" class="label">[392]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 40:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3. To him the porter openeth.</b> “The +Holy Spirit is especially He who opens the door +to the shepherds; see frequent uses of this symbolism +by the apostles (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 14:27; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 16:9; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +2:12; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 4:3</span>); and instances of the porter shutting +the door (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 16:6, 7</span>).”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) There is +the implication here of a truth elsewhere abundantly +taught in Scripture, +that the teacher has access to +the heart of the church only +through the influence of the +Spirit of God, who opens and +closes the heart of the hearer +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 1:5; 2:1</span>), and the door of +opportunity (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 4:7, 8; 16:9; 17:10, +11</span>).—​<b>And he calleth his +own sheep by name and +leadeth them out.</b> This +figure exactly corresponds with +the actual facts of shepherd +life in the East. “As +we eat and looked, almost +spell-bound, the silent hillsides +around us were in a moment +filled with life and +sound. The shepherds led +their flocks forth from the gates of the city. +They were in full view, and we watched them +and listened to them with no little interest. +Thousands of sheep and goats were there, +grouped in dense, confused masses. The shepherds +stood together until all came out. Then +they separated, each shepherd taking a different +path, and uttering, as he advanced, a shrill, +peculiar call. The sheep heard them. At first +the masses swayed and moved, as if shaken by +some internal convulsion; then points struck out +in the direction taken by the shepherds; these became +longer and longer, until the confused masses +were resolved into long, living streams, flowing +after their leaders. Such a sight was not new to +me, still it had lost none of its interest. It was, +perhaps, one of the most vivid illustrations which +human eyes could witness of that beautiful discourse +of our Lord recorded by John.”—(<cite>Porter.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth +before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know +his voice.<a id="FNanchor_393" href="#Footnote_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_393" href="#FNanchor_393" class="label">[393]</a> + <abbr title="Canticles">Cant.</abbr> 2:8; 5:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee<a id="FNanchor_394" href="#Footnote_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> +from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_394" href="#FNanchor_394" class="label">[394]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 3:5; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 2:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> +<b>4, 5. And when he putteth forth his +own sheep, he goeth before them, and +the sheep follow him.</b> The true pastor is +an example and leader as well as a teacher of his +people (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +11:1; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 4:12; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:17; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 1:6</span>).—​<b>A +stranger will they not follow.</b> The +stranger is not the shepherd of another flock, +but one who is a stranger and a foreigner, outside +the fold and separated from the great flock +of the Israel of God. The true Christian is +never a stranger to the disciples of Jesus Christ +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:19</span>).—​<b>They know not the voice of +strangers.</b> The shepherd knows his own sheep +by name, and they know his voice; but the +stranger’s voice they do not know. The figure +is all true to the life. “The shepherd calls +sharply to them from time to time to remind +them (the sheep) of his presence. They know +his voice and follow on; but if a stranger calls, +they stop short, lift up their heads in alarm, and +if it is repeated, they turn and flee, because they +know not the voice of a stranger. This is not +the fanciful costume of a parable; it is a simple +fact.”—(<cite>Thompson’s Land and Book</cite>, <abbr title="One">I</abbr>, 301.) +This personality of relation between the true +religious teacher and the taught, abundantly +illustrated by Christ’s personal love for his disciples, +and by Paul’s love for the converts gathered +under his ministry, is in strong contrast +to the distance which was maintained between +the Pharisees and the common people. It is not +then a fanciful deduction that, under ordinary +circumstances, the pastor should have a personal +acquaintance with his people, should not have +so large a charge that he cannot know his people +by name, and should ordinarily depend for his +influence upon his personal acquaintance with +them, and their personal confidence in him.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they +understood not what things they were which he spake +unto them.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>6. This parable spake Jesus unto them.</b> +Rather <dfn>allegory</dfn> or <dfn>obscure saying</dfn>. The original +word (<span lang="el">παροιμία</span>) is different from that in the +other Evangelists translated <dfn>parable</dfn>, and the +structure of the teaching is somewhat different +from that of the parables narrated by the other +Evangelists. See on the nature of the parable, +Matthew, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 13, <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note. This, however, +more nearly approximates a true parable than any +other of Christ’s instructions reported by John.—​<b>But +they understood not what things +they were which he spake unto them.</b> +That is, the Pharisees to whom he was speaking +did not understand the meaning and application +of his imagery. “They did not feel the application +of it; they did not see what shepherds and +sheepfolds had to do with them. They could +hardly have given a greater proof how little they +understood the things which were written in +the books they prized <span style="white-space:nowrap;">most—how</span> their worship +of the divine letter had destroyed all commerce +between their minds and the realities which it +set forth.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I +say unto you, I<a id="FNanchor_395" href="#Footnote_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a> am the door of the sheep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_395" href="#FNanchor_395" class="label">[395]</a> + <abbr title="Ephesians">Eph.</abbr> 2:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>7.</b> Verses 7-10 inclusive, contain the first application +of the parable, primarily to the Pharisees +as religious teachers of Israel, and secondarily +to all that claim to be shepherds of God’s +people, then or now.—​<b>I am the door.</b> “That +is, through me all the truths and blessings of +religion are to be communicated to the flock, or +people of God. Whoever addresses them as an +authorized teacher must enter through me.”—(<cite>Norton.</cite>) +It is the Holy Spirit (the porter, <span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_3">3</a></span>) +who opens Christ to the heart and the heart to +Christ, and makes it possible for either the sheep +(the learners) or the under-shepherd (the teacher) +to enter into the fold through him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_37">6:37</a>, <a href="#ch6_44">44</a>; +<a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a>; <a href="#ch15_26">15:26</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: +but the sheep did not hear them.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>8. All whosoever came before me are +thieves and robbers.</b> This verse is declared +by Tholuck to be “one of the most difficult +sentences in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>” +If <em>before</em> (<span lang="el">πρό</span>) be taken +as an adverb of time, as is generally done, then +Christ’s declaration is that all religious teachers +who preceded him were thieves and robbers, and +this would on its face include the long line of +prophets from Moses to Malachi; or if the sentence +is modified, as some propose, by the fact +that the verb is in the present tense, <em>are</em> thieves +and robbers, so that Christ embraces only the +then living teachers, still this would include +such instructors as Gamaliel and Nicodemus, if +not John the Baptist, who belonged to that +generation. The qualification of this, by the +supposition that Christ did not include true +teachers but only the false, not only falsifies his +declaration which points out the way in which +the true may be distinguished from the false, +but reduces the sentence to a truism, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, All +false religious teachers who came before me, are +thieves and robbers, <i>i. e.</i>, teachers of falsehood, +depriving men of the truth. The other proposed +qualification, All who have come claiming to be +Messiah, are thieves, etc., not only adds an important +qualification to Christ’s declaration, but +is historically an anachronism, inasmuch as there + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> +is no historical evidence that any false Messiah +preceded the time of Christ. I am inclined, +therefore, to take <em>before</em> (<span lang="el">πρό</span>) as an adverb signifying +precedence in rank or authority, as it does +in <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:17, James 5:12, and 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 4:8, and +to understand the passage, <cite>All whosoever come +claiming precedence above me are thieves and robbers</cite>. +The verb <dfn>come</dfn> (<span lang="el">ἦλθον</span>) is in the aorist tense, and +does not necessarily indicate a coming in the past +only, but would be properly used for the enunciation +of a general principle. The prophets of +the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> claimed no such precedence above +Christ; on the contrary, they were but his +heralds; and John the Baptist distinctly disavowed +such precedence (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:14; +<abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_26">1:26</a>, <a href="#ch1_27">27</a>; +<a href="#ch3_30">3:30</a></span>). The Pharisees, on the other hand, denied +Christ’s right to teach, because he did not belong +to their schools (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_15">7:15</a></span>), and in their conference +with the blind man had put themselves above +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_16">9:16</a>, <a href="#ch9_24">24</a></span>). Where there is no general +agreement among scholars, I hesitate to offer an +interpretation which differs from all, but this +appears to me on the whole more consistent with +the context, and with the teaching of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +elsewhere, than any other, and not inconsistent +with the original. If this be a correct interpretation, +Christ’s claim here is directly antagonistic +to those who would make an eclectic religion, +by selecting truth from all the world’s religious +teachers, including Christ among the rest. For +he declares all to be robbing the world of truth, +not imparting it, who deny him the pre-eminent +rank as a religious teacher. On the other hand, +he does not stigmatize genuine moral teachers, +such as Buddha or Socrates, as thieves and robbers, +for they had no knowledge of Christ, and +claimed no precedence above him.—​<b>But the +sheep did not hear them.</b> This has been +eminently true of all teachers in the church who +have put themselves above Christ; it is the +preachers of Christ who alone have secured the +world’s attention. This is illustrated by the +history of Paul (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:5</span>), Luther, Wesley, and +in our own times Spurgeon, Moody, and others.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall +be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>9. I am the door; by me if any enter +in, he shall be safe.</b> Christ is not only the +door by whom the shepherd (the teacher) can +alone enter in to feed the flock, he is also the +door by which alone the sheep (the disciples) +can enter into the church and into security (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +4:12</span>). The extent and assurance of this safety +is expressed below (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_28">28</a>, <a href="#ch10_29">29</a></span>). And observe, the +promise is not merely <em>shall be saved</em> in the future, +but <em>shall be safe</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, from the time of entering +the door (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_18">3:18</a>, <a href="#ch3_36">36</a>; +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:1, 28, 31, etc.</span>)—<b>And +shall go in and out and find pasture.</b> To +“go in and out” was a common Hebraistic +phrase to denote the whole life and action of +man (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> +28:6; Psalm 121:8</span>). Here, therefore, the +meaning is that he who thus enters the door, +shall be blessed in all his ways. His pasture is +the bread of life and water of life, promised in +<abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_14">4:14</a>; <a href="#ch6_48">6:48-51</a>. +So that Christ is at +once the door, the shepherd, and the pasture; +the entrance, the guardian and guide, and the +food of the disciple.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, +and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, +and that they might have <em>it</em> more abundantly.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>10. The thief cometh not but for to +steal * * * * I am come that they might +have life</b>, etc. A contrast between false religion +and the true, heathenism or Pharisaism and +Christianity. The false religion comes to deprive +men of their liberty, their property, their earthly +happiness, to kill their natural and free life, and +to destroy, finally, the soul. The true religion +comes first to give this present life more abundant +development, and then through that to give +eternal life. Hence, whatever form of religion +tends to deprive mankind of its free, natural, +and joyous life is anti-Christian; the constant +tendency of Christ’s teaching and influence is to +make the whole life, social, intellectual, moral, +and spiritual, more abundant.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 I<a id="FNanchor_396" href="#Footnote_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> am the good shepherd; the good shepherd +giveth his life for the sheep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_396" href="#FNanchor_396" class="label">[396]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 13:20; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:25.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, +whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, +and leaveth<a id="FNanchor_397" href="#Footnote_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf +catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_397" href="#FNanchor_397" class="label">[397]</a> + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 34:2-6; <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 11:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>11, 12.</b> With these verses Christ gives a new +direction to the preceding parable. He has thus +far spoken of religious teachers in general, and +of himself as the <em>door</em> by which they alone can +enter in to feed the flock, and by which alone +the flock can enter in to find safety. He now +speaks of himself as the Great Shepherd and +Bishop of souls (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:25</span>), under whom are all +the shepherds, and in contrast with whom are +the hirelings.—​<b>I am the Good Shepherd</b>, +more literally the <em>beautiful</em> Shepherd; but this +word (<span lang="el">καλός</span>), though strictly speaking esthetic, +was used by the Greeks to designate moral +beauty, and referred to the most symmetrical +and perfect goodness. Throughout the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> the +church of God is regarded as a fold, Israel as a +flock, and Jehovah himself as the Shepherd (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 23; +<abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 40:11; <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 34; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 23; Micah 5:3; <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 11</span>). +It is impossible but that Christ’s auditors should +have understood him as claiming to be this +Shepherd of Israel. Observe the difference between +the phraseology here and in verse <a href="#ch10_2">2</a>; here + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span> +<em>the</em> good Shepherd; there <em>a</em> Shepherd.—​<b>The +good shepherd layeth down his life for +the sheep.</b> This is not a prophecy, equivalent +to, I am about to die for my sheep; it is the +enunciation of a general principle by which every +good shepherd can be distinguished from the +hireling; for every good shepherd is ready to +sacrifice his life for his sheep because they are +his; the hireling flees when danger threatens, +because he is an hireling and has no real interest +in the sheep. Neither is the expression <cite>to lay +down the life</cite> a circumlocution for <dfn>die</dfn>. Christ +rarely uses circumlocution of any kind. The +good shepherd may or may not be called on to +die for his sheep; but he always lays down his +life for them. To lay down the life is to consecrate +it, devote it to the flock; as a mother, who +is always ready to die for her children, but who, +living or dying, belongs to her children and surrenders +herself to them. So we ought also to +lay down our lives for the brethren (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 3:16</span>), +though comparatively few are ever called on to +die for them. Wickliffe and Luther as truly laid +down their lives for the flock as Huss and Tyndale. +The sacrifice of Christ consisted not +merely in his <span style="white-space:nowrap;">death—which</span> was indeed in its +mere physical aspects the least part of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">it—but</span> +in his whole incarnation. His entire life from +his advent to the grave was laid down for his +sheep. This laying down of his life includes his +death; but it includes much more. The whole +thirty years was a living sacrifice for sinful +humanity (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> +2:5-8</span>).—​<b>But he that is an hireling, +not being a shepherd, whose own +the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, +and leaveth the sheep and fleeth.</b> Every +clause in this sentence must be carefully weighed +by the student; for every clause is full of +weighty significance. There is nothing in the +sentence, if the whole be considered, adverse to +a paid ministry. Not every one who is hired is +an hireling (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 5:18</span>); only he who <em>serves for +hire</em>, whether emoluments or reputation; who +accordingly is not a shepherd, <i>i. e.</i>, has none of +the shepherd’s instincts and none of the shepherd’s +love for his flock; <em>whose own the sheep are +not</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, who has none of that sense of ownership +in his flock which Paul experienced and +expressed (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:14, 15; +1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 2:11; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:2; +Titus 1:4; Philemon 10</span>); who, therefore, <em>careth not +for the sheep</em> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_13">13</a></span>), but only for himself. Here, +as everywhere in Christ’s instructions, it is the +evil spirit which he condemns and the right +spirit which he exalts. The hirelings of Christ’s +day were those among the chief rulers and the +priests, the religious teachers of Israel, who believed +on Jesus, but would not confess their +faith for fear of the hierarchy (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_22">9:22</a>; <a href="#ch12_42">12:42</a>, +<a href="#ch12_43"></a>43; +<a href="#ch19_38">19:38</a></span>). The hirelings ever since have been +those in the church, whether paid preachers or +no, who have feared to withstand falsehood and +danger, and have suffered popular sins to pass +unrebuked lest they should bring obloquy upon +themselves, or loss of friends, or personal peril, +or any martyrdom, large or small. The hireling, +too, does not merely <em>flee</em>; the true shepherd has +sometimes to do this (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:23</span>); Christ himself +did this repeatedly (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:13; Luke 4:30; John 8:59; +10:39</span>). It is characteristic of the hireling that +he <em>leaveth the sheep</em> and fleeth. Caution may lead +the true pastor to avoid a conflict which will +bring greater disaster on the flock than battle; +but his caution is always to be exercised for the +sheep, not for himself. It is caring for one’s +self more than for the church that marks the +hireling.—​<b>The wolf catcheth them and +scattereth the sheep.</b> Any and every willful +and determined opponent to truth and righteousness +is a wolf; whether he is a persecuting +power like that of pagan and papal Rome, or a +false teacher, a wolf in sheep’s clothing (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 7:15; +Acts 20:29</span>). The wolf at this particular juncture +was the Pharisaic party, which was ravaging the +church of God, and binding heavy burdens on +the people, whom Christ denounced, and in battle +with whom he suffered death.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and +careth not for the sheep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 I am the good shepherd, and<a id="FNanchor_398" href="#Footnote_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> know my <em>sheep</em>, +and am known<a id="FNanchor_399" href="#Footnote_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a> of mine.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_398" href="#FNanchor_398" class="label">[398]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:19.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_399" href="#FNanchor_399" class="label">[399]</a> + 1 John 5:20.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 As<a id="FNanchor_400" href="#Footnote_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> the Father knoweth me, even so know I the +Father: and<a id="FNanchor_401" href="#Footnote_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> I lay down my life for the sheep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_400" href="#FNanchor_400" class="label">[400]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:27.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_401" href="#FNanchor_401" class="label">[401]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_3">15:13</a>; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:4,5.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>13-15. The hireling * * * careth not for +the sheep * * *</b>—​<b>I know my sheep.</b> Christ +reiterates the contrast between the hireling and +the good shepherd; and indicates anew points +of distinction between the two. The hireling +careth not for the sheep; he cares only for his +wages; the good shepherd knows his sheep and +is known by them. In a limited way this is true +of the good pastor or shepherd; he knows his +flock personally and sympathizingly; he is not +merely a preacher to them; he is their best +friend and adviser (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_3">3</a>, note</span>). But this knowledge +is never perfect, and never can be, in the +under shepherd. His insight is imperfect; his +sympathy is partial. It is only Christ who can +say I <em>know</em> my sheep. “If you would think +rightly of the Son of Man, think of the Person +who knows thoroughly everything that each one +of you is feeling, and cannot utter to others or +to <span style="white-space:nowrap;">himself—every</span> temptation from riches, from +poverty, from solicitude, from society, from gifts +of intellect, from the want of them, from the +gladness of the spirit, from the barrenness and +dreariness of it, from the warmth of affection + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> +and from the drying up of affection, from the +anguish of doubt and the dulness of indifference, +from the whirlwind of passion and the calm +which succeeds it, from the vile thoughts which +spring out of fleshly appetites and indulgences, +from the darker, more terrible suggestions which +are presented to the inner will. Believe that he +knows all these, that he knows <em>you</em>. And then +believe this also, that all he knows is through +intense, inmost sympathy, not with the evil that +is assaulting you, but with you who are assaulted +by it. Believe that knowledge, in this the Scriptural +sense of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">it—the</span> human as well as the divine +sense of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">it—is</span> absolutely inseparable from sympathy.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)—<b>And +am known of mine.</b> +Christ’s knowledge of the Christian is the basis +of the Christian’s knowledge of Christ. Both are +sympathetic and personal, the knowledge of love. +It is because the Good Shepherd knows his sheep +that he is known of them. It is because by his +knowledge he is able to enter into our innermost +experience, and to give us comfort and strength +when all human helpers fail, that we come to +know him as our Helper and our Strength. We +know him as the Good Shepherd only as we follow +his guidance, accept the food and water he +gives us, are restored by him when wandering, +and delivered by him from danger and death.—​<b>As +the Father knoweth me, even so know +I the Father; and I lay down my life +for the sheep.</b> The connection is not very +clear between this sentence and the preceding +one, or between the different clauses of this sentence. +It seems to me, however, that Christ +refers to this knowledge between himself and the +Father, not merely to illustrate the knowledge +between himself and his disciples, but to turn +their thoughts from himself to the Father. +Christ has been accused of blasphemy by the +Jews; that is, of endeavoring to deflect the +reverence and allegiance of the people from God +to himself. It must be confessed that there has +often been a tendency in his disciples to substitute +the Saviour for the Father, to believe in +the sympathy of Christ, but not in the sympathy +of God, to believe in the love of the Redeemer, +but to attribute justice and wrath to Jehovah. +Christ guards against this tendency, and refutes +this accusation, by the declaration that he knows +perfectly every wish and will of the Father, and +in the whole course of his self-sacrifice, in all the +laying down of his life for humanity, he is carrying +out that will. Thus the declaration of this +verse leads one to that of verse <a href="#ch10_17">17</a>: “Therefore +doth my Father love me because I lay down my +life.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 And<a id="FNanchor_402" href="#Footnote_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a> other sheep I have, which are not of this +fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my +voice; and<a id="FNanchor_403" href="#Footnote_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a> there shall be one fold, <em>and</em> one shepherd.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_402" href="#FNanchor_402" class="label">[402]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 49:6; 56:8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_403" href="#FNanchor_403" class="label">[403]</a> + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 37:22; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because<a id="FNanchor_404" href="#Footnote_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a> I +lay down my life, that I might take it again.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_404" href="#FNanchor_404" class="label">[404]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:7-12; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 2:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 No man taketh it from me, but<a id="FNanchor_405" href="#Footnote_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> I lay it down +of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I<a id="FNanchor_406" href="#Footnote_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a> have +power to take it again. This<a id="FNanchor_407" href="#Footnote_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> commandment have I +received of my Father.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_405" href="#FNanchor_405" class="label">[405]</a> + <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6-8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_406" href="#FNanchor_406" class="label">[406]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_19">2:19</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_407" href="#FNanchor_407" class="label">[407]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_38">6:38</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>16-18. Other sheep I have which are not +from</b> (<span lang="el">ἐκ</span>) <b>this fold</b>. Not, Which are in other +worlds; for the Bible does not anywhere recognize +this world as the fold of God: nor, Others +from among the dispersed Jews scattered among +the Gentiles; for these were already in “this +fold,” none the less belonging to Israel because +they were geographically separated from their +brethren. The reference is to those whom +Christ has among the Gentiles, and, as I believe, +still has among the heathen (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 10:35; 18:10</span>). +They are not, however, in a flock or fold, but +scattered (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_52">11:52</a></span>). Observe, Christ does not say +<cite>I am to have</cite>—​the present is not used in lieu of +the future. He already has them; they are his +sheep; he recognizes as his own those whose +spirit is akin to his, though they do not recognize +him as theirs (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 25:37-40</span>).—​<b>Them also +I must lead.</b> Not <em>bring</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, to the Jewish +nation, but <em>lead</em> as a shepherd. He must be +leader to all who will follow him, whether Jew +or Gentile.—​<b>And there shall be one flock, +one Shepherd.</b> Not one <em>fold</em>, as unfortunately +translated in our English version (<span lang="el">μία ποίμνη</span>, not +<span lang="el">μία αὐλή</span>). “Not <em>one fold</em>, but <em>one flock</em>; no one +exclusive enclosure of an outward <span style="white-space:nowrap;">church—but</span> +one flock, all knowing the one Shepherd, and +known of Him.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) And one flock because +one Shepherd; one not in creed, or organization, +or method of worship, but one in Christ +Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 30</span>).—​<b>Therefore doth my Father +love me because I lay down my life.</b> Not +because I <em>have</em> laid it down, as though the love +of the Father were caused by the earthly love +and sacrifice of Christ, but because I <em>lay</em> it down. +That is, because Christ’s Spirit is one of self-sacrificing +love, manifested by, but not alone +embodied in the incarnation, he is loved by +the Father. See <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:9; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:9.—​<b>In +order that I may take it again.</b> Beware +of understanding this, as many of the commentators +seem to do, as equivalent to, <cite>I die in order +that I may rise from the dead</cite>. The meaning is +interpreted by Christ’s declaration to his disciples: +“He that loseth his life for my sake shall +find it.” Christ lays down his life by his humiliation, +his incarnation, his passion and his crucifixion, +that he may take it again in the life of the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> +myriads whom he has redeemed from death by +his own death. He takes it again when he sees +of the travail of his soul and is satisfied (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:11</span>), +which he does when those who have been washed +and made white in the blood of the Lamb stand +before him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 7:14, 15</span>). So every mother, laying +down her life in continued self-sacrifice for +her children, takes it again in their developed +manhood and womanhood.—​<b>No one taketh it +from me, but I lay it down of myself.</b> +<em>No one</em> is not equivalent to <em>no man</em>, a translation +which weakens if it does not destroy the sense. +The sacrifice of Christ, the whole experience of +humiliation and suffering, commencing with the +laying aside of the glory which he had with the +Father and culminating in the crucifixion, was +not imposed upon him by any one, neither by +man, nor by Satan, nor even by the Father; it +was self-assumed. This fact is the answer to all +those objections to the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> doctrine of the +atonement, which misrepresent it as portraying +a God who inflicts on an innocent victim the +punishment which was deserved by others.—​<b>I +have power to lay it down and I have +power to take it again. This commandment +have I received of my Father.</b> The +word rendered <em>power</em> (<span lang="el">ἐξουσία</span>), includes both +<em>power</em> and <em>right</em> (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_12">1:12</a>, note</span>); the word rendered +<em>commandment</em> (<span lang="el">ἐντολὴ</span>), is not equivalent to +authority; the original word always means <em>law</em> +or <em>command</em>. Christ’s disciples have no authority +to frame self-sacrifices for themselves; doing +this is always characteristic of a corrupt and +<i lang="la">quasi</i> pagan religion. They are to bear with +cheerful heroism whatever self-sacrifice the providence +of God may lay upon them. So also they +have never a right to seek death, but are always +to seek to <em>live</em> to the glory of God and for their +fellow-men. But Christ voluntarily chose his +life of humiliation and cross-bearing; voluntarily +sought its privations; and finally went, not to +an inevitable death, but to one which he might +easily have avoided by flight, if he had acted +according to the directions which he gave his +followers, and on which the apostle subsequently +acted. He might have fled from Jerusalem on +the fatal night of his arrest, as he had done +before, and this without leaving his sheep to be +seized or scattered by the wolf; or he might have +been protected by supernatural power (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:53</span>). +He did not because he had a peculiar authority +given to him, which his followers do not possess, +to lay down his own life, both in the self-assumed +humiliation of the incarnation, and in the final +tragedy of his death. And this peculiar authority +he possessed because in all his incarnation +and passion and death he was carrying out the +will and obeying the command of his Father. +To us the divine command is interpreted by +providence; Christ needed no such interpreter, +for he knew the Father’s will, knowing the +Father even as he was known by the Father.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 There was a division therefore again among the +Jews for these sayings.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 And many of them said, He<a id="FNanchor_408" href="#Footnote_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a> hath a devil, and is +mad; why hear ye him?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_408" href="#FNanchor_408" class="label">[408]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_20">7:20</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Others said, These are not the words of him that +hath a devil. Can a devil open<a id="FNanchor_409" href="#Footnote_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a> the eyes of the blind?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_409" href="#FNanchor_409" class="label">[409]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_6">9:6</a>, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>19-21. There was a division therefore +again among the Jews.</b>—​Christ’s fan was in +his hand. His teachings were tests of the character +of his auditors.—​<b>He hath a devil.</b> +Rather <em>an evil spirit</em> (<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_52">8:52</a>, note</span>).—​<b>Why hear +ye him?</b> Why listen to him at all? The words +were addressed by the opponents of Jesus to +those who were inclined to believe on him, and +indicate the uneasiness with which the Pharisees +observed the impression which Christ was making +on the less prejudiced and better disposed among +the people (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_46">7:46-49</a></span>).—​<b>These are not the +words of one possessed by an evil spirit.</b> +A pregnant saying. Infidelity must afford some +explanation of the teachings and life of Christ; +and they are not the teachings and life of either +a fanatic or a deceiver.—​<b>Can an evil spirit +open the eyes of the blind?</b> These words +show that the whole discourse of this chapter +was not distant in time from the healing of the +blind man narrated in <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Chapter <abbr title="Nine">IX</abbr></a>, and was +probably closely connected with it.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 10:22-42. DISCOURSE AT THE FEAST OF DEDICATION.—​<span class="smcap">The +gift of Christ: eternal life.—​The +power of Christ: the power of the Father.—​The +contrast between the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> prophets and +Christ.—​The evidence of Christ’s divinity; his +works.</span></p> + +<p>There is no reason to suppose that Christ +left Judea during the time which elapsed between +the feast of Tabernacles (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_2">7:2</a></span>) and +the feast of Dedication; on the contrary, the +intimate connection between the discourse here +reported and the preceding parable of the Good +Shepherd (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_26">26</a>, <a href="#ch10_27">27</a></span>), +indicates that this discourse +followed almost immediately after that +one; certainly while the latter was still fresh in +the minds of the people. I believe that the +ministry in Judea, reported in John, chapters 7, +8, 9 and 10, was a continuous one, unbroken by +any departure into Galilee or Perea.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, +and it was winter.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s +porch.<a id="FNanchor_410" href="#Footnote_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_410" href="#FNanchor_410" class="label">[410]</a> + Acts 3:11; 5:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said +unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If +thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>22-24. The feast of the Dedication.</b> A +Jewish feast instituted by Judas Maccabeus, in + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span> +commemoration of the cleansing of the second +temple and altar, after they had been polluted +by Antiochus Epiphanes. The profanation took +place <span class="allsmcap">B. C.</span> 167, the purification <span class="allsmcap">B. C.</span> 164. The +festival commenced on the 25th day of the ninth +month, Kislev, answering to our December, and +lasted eight days. It was also called the feast of +Lights, from the fact that the Jews illuminated +their houses as long as the feast lasted. Instituted +by the Maccabean dynasty, and observed +chiefly by the more rigid Judeans, it afforded to +Christ an audience only of the more narrow-minded +and bigoted of the Jews, a fact which +must be borne in mind in studying his teaching +on this occasion.—​<b>It was winter.</b>—​The fact +is stated to explain our Lord’s walking in Solomon’s +portico. For description and illustration +of this portico, see Acts 5:12, note. This minute +detail, the exact locality where he gave this +instruction, is one of the many indications which +this Gospel affords of being written by an +eye-witness.—​<b>The Judeans therefore surrounded +him.</b> The verb (<span lang="el">κυκλόω</span>) is generally +used in a hostile sense, <i>e. g.</i>, of armies encompassing +a city (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 21:20; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:30; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 20:9</span>). +This is the meaning here; an excited and threatening +crowd hedged about Jesus as he was quietly +walking in the porch. “Their fixed design was, +not to leave him at liberty till he should have +uttered the decisive word.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) This was +the earliest manifestation of that design which was +finally accomplished when the oath was administered +to Jesus by the High Priest, and he was +adjured to say whether he was the Son of God +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:63, note</span>).—​<b>How long dost thou keep +our souls in suspense?</b> This English idiom +almost literally answers to the Greek idiom (<span lang="el">τὴν</span> +<span lang="el">ψυκὴν αἴρεις</span>), which is still more exactly, <cite>How +long dost thou keep our souls lifted up?</cite> <i>i. e.</i>, with +expectation and uncertainty. Commingled and +contradictory feelings in the crowd were probably +represented by this question; some hoped +that Jesus was the Messiah and desired to compel +him to declare himself; others were enraged +with him, and desired to extort some utterance +which would give them the opportunity to condemn +him for blasphemy, or to excite the mob +against him.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed +not; the<a id="FNanchor_411" href="#Footnote_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a> works that I do in my Father’s name, they +bear witness of me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_411" href="#FNanchor_411" class="label">[411]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_36">5:36</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 But<a id="FNanchor_412" href="#Footnote_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a> ye believe not, because ye are not of my +sheep, as I said unto you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_412" href="#FNanchor_412" class="label">[412]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_47">8:47</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 My<a id="FNanchor_413" href="#Footnote_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a> sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and +they follow me:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_413" href="#FNanchor_413" class="label">[413]</a> + verse <a href="#ch10_4">4</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25-27. I told you * * * the works * * * +bear witness of me.</b> He had told them +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_19">5:19</a>; <a href="#ch8_36">8:36</a>, +<a href="#ch8_56">56</a>, <a href="#ch8_58">58</a>, etc.</span>), +not it is true as plainly as +he had told the Samaritan woman +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_26">4:26</a></span>), but +more plainly than he had told his own disciples +previous to Peter’s confession of faith, “Thou +art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +16:16</span>); and he now answers them as he answered +John the Baptist, who, in a very different spirit, +preferred the same request for a definite answer +to the question, “Art thou He that should +come?” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:2-6.</span>) He refers them to his +works. The evidence of Christ’s divinity is not in +his declaration about himself, nor in the declarations +made concerning him by others, but in his +life, his character, and the work which he has +done and is still doing in the world. Works (<span lang="el">ἔργα</span>) +includes his miracles but is not equivalent to +miracles. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_12">14:12</a>, note. The reason why +he did not answer more directly is well given by +Godet: “He could not answer ‘I am,’ for the +meaning which they attached to the word Christ +had, so to speak, nothing in common with that +in which he used it. Still less could he reply, ‘I +am not;’ for he was indeed the Christ provided +by God, and in that sense he whom they expected.”—​<b>Because +ye are not of my sheep, +as I said to you.</b> The reference is either to +the implied teaching of the parable of the Good +Shepherd, or to some specific statement not +reported by the Evangelist. The genuineness +of the words <cite>as I said to you</cite> is doubted by some, +but they are regarded as authentic by most +critics. What does he mean by <cite>ye are not of my +sheep</cite>. If we look back we shall see that the +sheep of Christ are those that hear (<i>i. e.</i>, accept +and obey) his voice, and follow him (<i>i. e.</i>, imitate +his life and example). See verses <a href="#ch10_3">3</a>, +<a href="#ch10_4">4</a>, <a href="#ch10_14">14</a>, +<a href="#ch10_16">16</a>, <a href="#ch10_27">27</a>. +The declaration, then, <cite>Ye believe not because ye +are not of my sheep</cite>, is that those who do not +spiritually recognize the beauty of Christ’s teaching, +and do not attempt to follow his incomparable +example, are not to be expected to be +convinced of his divinity by purely intellectual +arguments.—​The answer to the skeptic is generally, +You cannot believe in Christ as your personal +Saviour till you begin to recognize and to +follow his teaching and example as a prophet +and a man. The declaration is the converse of +John <a href="#ch7_17">7:17</a>. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> 2 Peter 1:5-8, where the +possession of the Christian virtues is declared to +be the efficient cause of a sound Christian knowledge. +The creed does not precede but follows +spiritual life.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they<a id="FNanchor_414" href="#Footnote_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a> shall +never perish, neither shall any <em>man</em> pluck them out of +my hand.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_414" href="#FNanchor_414" class="label">[414]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_12">17:12</a>; <a href="#ch18_9">18:9</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 My<a id="FNanchor_415" href="#Footnote_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a> Father, which gave<a id="FNanchor_416" href="#Footnote_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a> <em>them</em> me, is greater +than all; and no <em>man</em> is able to pluck <em>them</em> out of my +Father’s hand.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_415" href="#FNanchor_415" class="label">[415]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_28">14:28</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_416" href="#FNanchor_416" class="label">[416]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_2">17:2</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 I<a id="FNanchor_417" href="#Footnote_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a> and <em>my</em> Father are one.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_417" href="#FNanchor_417" class="label">[417]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_11">17:11</a>, <a href="#ch17_22">22</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> +<b>28-30. And I give unto them eternal +life.</b> Life is the <em>gift</em> of God through Jesus +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_12">1:12</a>; +<a href="#ch4_10">4:10</a>, <a href="#ch4_14">14</a>; <a href="#ch6_27">6:27</a>, +<a href="#ch6_32">32</a>, <a href="#ch6_51">51</a>; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:17; 6:23; +<abbr title="Ephesians">Eph.</abbr> 1:17</span>), but the necessary condition of receiving +it is faith in his Son, <i>i. e.</i>, the ability to appreciate +spiritual life in its highest and most perfect +manifestation, and a readiness to follow +after it, by leaving all things else to attain it, as +did Paul (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:13, 14</span>).—​<b>And they shall never +perish, neither shall any pluck them out +of my hand.</b> The word rendered <em>perish</em> is +literally <dfn>destroy themselves</dfn> (<span lang="el">ἀπόλωνται</span>, <em>middle +voice</em>); and this seems to me to be the meaning +here; otherwise there would be a repetition, the +second clause of the promise only reiterating the +first clause. The word <em>man</em> is not in the original; +<em>any</em> includes all powers, human and superhuman. +I, then, understand Christ’s declaration to be +that the souls which trust in him <cite>shall never +destroy themselves, and no one shall pluck them out +of his hand</cite>; <i>i. e.</i>, he promises to protect his disciples +both against their own weaknesses and +also against the strength of assailants; from +fears without and foes within; from treachery +in the soul, and from assaults on the soul. See +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 10:13; 15:10; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:19; +<abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:11, etc.—​<b>My +Father which gave them to me, is +greater than all.</b> There is some uncertainty +as to the reading, but the best critics agree in +sustaining the received text.—​<b>No one is able +to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. +I and my Father are one.</b> Without entering +into any doubtful disputations respecting +the relation of the Father and the Son, a problem +which I believe transcends human knowledge, +it is evident that the connection here requires us +to understand Christ as declaring himself one +with the Father, not merely in will or desire, as +the disciple is to be one with his Lord, but also +in spiritual power. The argument is, “My sheep +shall never perish, since my Father who gave +them into my hand is greater than all, and I who +hold them, am one with him.” This argument +would be without force if the meaning was not +that Christ’s <em>power</em> is equal to that of the Father. +His will might be perfectly in harmony with the +divine will, he still could not be trusted as a +divine Saviour unless his power was commensurate +with his will. So all the best expositors, +<cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Godet</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Luthardt</cite>, <cite>Tholuck</cite>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 Then<a id="FNanchor_418" href="#Footnote_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a> the Jews took up stones again to stone him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_418" href="#FNanchor_418" class="label">[418]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_59">8:59</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_32"></a> + +<p class="hanging">32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I +shewed you from my Father; for which of those works +do ye stone me?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work +we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because<a id="FNanchor_419" href="#Footnote_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a> +that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_419" href="#FNanchor_419" class="label">[419]</a> + verse <a href="#ch10_30">30</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_18">5:18</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 82:6; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 13:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>31-33.</b> The moral power of Christ is singularly +illustrated by the manner in which he restrains +the mob by his voice and compels them +to answer his question. That question implies +that punishment is due only to wrong actors, +and he asks them before they execute sentence, +to designate any wrong that he has done. The +question is thus analogous to that of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_46">8:46,</a> +“Which of you convinceth me of sin.”—​Blasphemy +was a regularly recognized crime under +Jewish law; it consisted in any endeavor to draw +away the allegiance of the people from the one +true God, and answered to treason with us, +Jehovah being under the theocracy, the Supreme +head of the nation (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +12:32, note</span>). The reply +of the Jews to Christ’s question plainly shows +how they regarded his declaration, “I and my +Father are one,” not as indicating mere unity in +spirit and purpose, but also in power and essential +being. This is not indeed conclusive, for the +Jews constantly misunderstood Christ; but it is +an indication of his meaning. One practical +lesson of the unity of the Godhead, of Christ and +the Spirit with the Father, is eloquently presented +by Maurice: “The unity of the Father +and the Son is the only ground of the unity between +the Shepherd and the sheep; undermine +one and you undermine both * * * *. Do you +think sects would last even for an hour, if there +was not in the heart of each of them a witness +for a fellowship which combinations and shibboleths +did not create, and which, thanks be to +God, they cannot destroy. The Shepherd makes +his voice to be heard through all the noise and +clatter of earthly shepherds; the sheep hear his +voice and know that it is calling them to follow +him into a common fold where all may rest and +dwell together; and when once they understand +the still deeper message which he is uttering +here, and which the old creeds are repeating to +us, ‘I and my Father are one;’ when they understand +that the unity of the church and the +unity of mankind depends on this eternal distinction +and unity in God himself, and not upon +authority or decrees of any mortal pastor, the +sects will crumble to pieces, and there will be in +very deed, one flock and one Shepherd.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your +law, I said, Ye are gods?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of +God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified,<a id="FNanchor_420" href="#Footnote_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a> +and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I +said, I am<a id="FNanchor_421" href="#Footnote_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a> the Son of God?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_420" href="#FNanchor_420" class="label">[420]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_27">6:27</a>; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 11:2, 3; 49:1, 3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_421" href="#FNanchor_421" class="label">[421]</a> + <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>34-36. Is it not written in your law.</b> +He does not say in <em>our</em> law, nor in <em>the</em> law, but in +<em>your</em> law. Christ does not identify himself with + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> +the Jews, nor regard himself as subject to the +law, though made under it, and yielding himself +to it for a season. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_19">7:19</a>; +<a href="#ch8_17">8:17</a>. The +reference is to Psalm 82:6. There is no passage +in the law, <i>i. e.</i>, in the Pentateuch, which corresponds +exactly to Christ’s words here, or to +those of the Psalmist; but in Exodus 22:28, the +title of “gods” is given to the judges. The +Psalm in question is believed to have been written +on the occasion of Jehosaphat’s reform of the +courts and re-establishment of the law (<span class="muchsmaller">2 Chron., +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 19</span>), and it contrasts the unjust judges of +Israel, who had been called gods in the law, +with God the Judge of all the earth.—​<b>Unto +whom the word of God came.</b> <cite>The word +of God</cite> is not the mere saying, “I have said ye +are gods” (<cite>Meyer</cite>); it is never used in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +in so limited a sense, to signify merely a particular +phrase or utterance. It is either, The Spirit +of God, <i>i. e.</i>, God revealing himself to and +through the prophet, as in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_1">1:1</a> (see note +there) and <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 4:12; or it is the word given to +the prophets by the Holy Spirit and by them +repeated to the nation, <i>i. e.</i>, nearly equivalent to +the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> Scripture, as in Mark 7:13; Luke 5:1, +etc.—​<b>And the Scripture cannot be broken.</b> +Literally <dfn>loosened</dfn> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:19, note</span>). This parenthetical +declaration is a very significant testimony +to the inspiration of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>—​<b>Whom +the Father hath sanctified.</b> The original +(<span lang="el">ἁγιάζω</span>) may be rendered either made holy, in +the sense of made clean and pure in character, +or made holy in the sense of set apart to a holy +use. It is evidently in the latter sense that it is +employed here.—​<b>And sent into the world.</b> +The sanctifying of Christ preceded the sending +into the world. Evidently, therefore, the reference +is not to any act recorded in the life of +Christ, as the descent of the Holy Spirit at the +baptism, but to a consecration in the will of God +to the work of redemption, and which preceded +the Advent.—​<b>Thou blasphemest.</b> That is, +art guilty of diverting the allegiance of the people +from God to thyself.—​<b>Because I said I +am a Son of God.</b> The article is wanting +in the Greek, and ought not to be added in the +translation.</p> + +<p>These verses (34-36) have been sometimes regarded +as a partial retraction, or at least a material +modification of the declaration, “I and my +Father are one;” as indicating that Jesus Christ +is a Son of God only as every obedient soul is a +child of God (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 3:1</span>). If this passage stood +alone, such an interpretation might possibly be +given to it; but if the audience, the circumstances, +the effect, and the other utterances of +the speaker be taken into account, it cannot be +fairly so understood. This sentence is spoken to +a mob for the purpose of checking their rage. +They have understood Christ to claim divinity. +He does not in terms explicitly disavow it. On +the contrary, when his explanation is ended, they +resume their design (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_39">39</a></span>), and he is obliged to +flee for his life. We should not look in such an +utterance for a disclosure of the profoundest +truths respecting Christ’s character, not because +Christ would conceal or modify the truth to save +his life, but because an angry mob is not the sort +of an audience to whom he would choose to +reveal it, or indeed could reveal it, a certain receptiveness +of soul being necessary to the comprehension +of spiritual truth. The argument of +these verses seems to me to be this: He to +whom the Spirit of God comes, and who receives +it and becomes in so far an exponent and manifestation +of God, is in a sense divine; he becomes +partaker of the divine nature; a sharer of the +divine life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +8:29; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:10; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:4</span>). This +is the testimony of the Scriptures which cannot +be set aside. He, then, who is not of this world +but from above (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_23">8:23</a></span>), and whom the Father +consecrated above and sent down into this world, +is not guilty of blasphemy in calling himself a +Son of God. In other words, Christ compares +himself with inspired men only to contrast himself +with them; he shows that, even according +to the principles of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> Scriptures, by +which the Jews pretended to condemn him, he +was not guilty of blasphemy, even if, being but +a man, he had made himself a son and so a representative +of God, while he, at the same time, +clearly claims to be other and higher than the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> prophets and judges. But for the full disclosure +of Christ’s character, we must look to +his quiet conferences with his own disciples, who +were at least willing, if not able, to understand +him.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 If<a id="FNanchor_422" href="#Footnote_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a> I do not the works of my Father, believe +me not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_422" href="#FNanchor_422" class="label">[422]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>, + <a href="#ch14_11">11</a>; <a href="#ch15_24">15:24</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the +works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father +<em>is</em> in me, and I in him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>37, 38. If I do not the works of my +Father, put no faith in me.</b> Works which +show forth his power and glory and are in accordance +with his will and character +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_4">17:4</a></span>).—​<b>But +if I do, though ye put no faith in me, +put faith in the works.</b> Beware of understanding +faith, rendered in our English version +by <em>believe</em>, as a mere intellectual act. The idea +is, If prejudice against the person of Christ prevents +an affectionate regard for him, the soul +may still have respect and reverence for the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> +work he has done, and is doing in the world. +<b>That ye may perceive and know</b> (<span lang="el">γνῶτε καὶ +γινώσκητε</span>) is the best reading.—​<cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>. To +<em>perceive</em>, or recognize, denotes the outward act; to +<em>know</em> denotes the permanent state.—​<b>That the +Father is in me and I in the Father.</b> A +spiritual unity, such as cannot be predicated of +any other son of God. The Father is in the +Son because he lives and moves in him; is the +spirit which animates and controls and makes +divine the man Jesus. The Son is in the Father +because his thoughts, wishes, purposes, desires, +all centre in Him. The argument of these verses +is substantially the same as that addressed by +Christ to the Jews in verse <a href="#ch10_25">25</a> (see note there), +and that addressed to his own disciples in +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_11">14:11</a>. +The best evidence of the divinity +of Christ is his own character; next is a consideration +of the divine work which he has done +and is doing in the world.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he +escaped out of their hand;</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the +place<a id="FNanchor_423" href="#Footnote_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a> where John at first baptized: and there he +abode.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_423" href="#FNanchor_423" class="label">[423]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_28">1:28</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did +no miracle: but all things that John spake<a id="FNanchor_424" href="#Footnote_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a> of this man +were true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_424" href="#FNanchor_424" class="label">[424]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_30">3:30-36</a>; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:11, 12.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch10_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 And many believed on him there.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>39-42. They sought again to take him.</b> +To arrest him. Their passion had time to cool, +and they abandoned the idea of mob violence, +which would have brought, as in Paul’s case +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 21:31, 32</span>), the interference of the Romans. +Instead, they endeavored to seize Christ and +bring him before the authorities for trial.—​<b>But +he escaped out of their hand.</b> There is no +reason to suppose a miracle. In the throng +were some at least who believed in him, and +under cover afforded by them he could have +escaped.—​<b>Where John at first baptized.</b> +See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_28">1:28</a>, +note.—​<b>All things that John +spake of this man were true.</b> Being dead +he yet spake. Gave his testimony to Christ. See +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_15">1:15-34</a>. This was the end of Christ’s Judean +ministry proper, which had lasted three months. +It had been one of continuous storm. Twice +during this period he had been mobbed +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_59">8:59</a>; +<a href="#ch10_31">10:31</a></span>); once an attempt was made to arrest him +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_32">7:32</a>, <a href="#ch7_45">45</a></span>); +secret plans for his assassination +were laid (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_19">7:19</a>, <a href="#ch7_25">25</a>; <a href="#ch8_37">8:37</a></span>). All that we know +of this ministry is contained in John, chapters 7, +8, 9 and 10; though it is not improbable that the +parables of the Good Samaritan and the Pharisee +and the Publican, and the incidents at the house +of Mary and Martha belong to the same era +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 10:25-42; +18:9-14</span>).—​<b>And many believed +on him there.</b> A period of a little over three +months, from some time in December to the +first of April, intervened between the retreat of +Christ from Judea and his final entry into Jerusalem +at the Passover week. I believe that this +time was devoted to his ministry in Perea, the +district beyond Jordan; a ministry of which +John here gives a hint, to which Matthew and +Mark also refer (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 19:1, 2, etc.; Mark 10:1, etc.</span>), +but of which Luke alone gives any full account. +See Luke, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 10, <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note. Many thronged his +ministry there (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 11:29; 12:1; 14:15, 25; 15:1</span>). +This ministry was broken in upon by the message +from the sisters of Lazarus, as recorded in the +next chapter. See <a href="#Note_ch11"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a> there.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER <abbr title="Eleven">XI.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 11:1-44. THE RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS.—​<span class="smcap">The +divine object in all seeming evil: not human +death but divine glory (4).—​The mystery of +the divine silence in our sorrow illustrated and +partially interpreted (6, 12).—​The conditions of +divine protection and the Christian’s safety +(9, 10).—​The Christian’s death a sleep (11).—​The +anguish of “if” (21, 32).—​The Pharisaic +creed and the Christian’s faith concerning +death and the resurrection contrasted (23-27).—​Christ’s +indignation at human falsehood (33, 38).—​Christ’s +sympathy with human sorrow (35).—​The +resistance of faithlessness; the obedience +of faith (39, 41).—​The prayer of assurance of +faith (42).—​The Resurrection and the Life (43, +44).—​A parable of human sorrow and divine +comfort.—​A parable of human sin and divine +redemption.</span> See <a href="#SuppNote_ch11">Supplementary Note</a>.</p> + +<p class="p2"><a id="Note_ch11"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—There is nothing in John +to indicate the time at which this miracle took +place; and there is no general agreement among +harmonists respecting it. Robinson places it immediately +at the close of Christ’s Judean ministry +and prior to his ministry in Perea; Andrews and +Ellicott place it at the close of the Perean ministry +and immediately preceding the Passion week. +The reasons for so doing are: (1) It seems the +immediate occasion both of the triumphal procession +accorded to Jesus by the spontaneous +action of the common people, and of the more +deliberate determination on the part of the ecclesiastics +of Jerusalem to put him to death. It +does not seem reasonable, therefore, to suppose +that a long period of active service in another +part of the Holy Land intervened between this +the greatest miracle wrought by Christ and +the effects which it produced, both upon the +church party and upon the common people. +(2) Immediately after this miracle, and in consequence +of the excitement produced by it, Christ +retired into the wilderness, and is said by John +to have continued there with his disciples; and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span> +the implication is that he remained in this retirement +until after the Passover (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_54">54</a>, <a href="#ch11_55">55</a></span>). To suppose +that the Perean ministry, which lasted +something like three months, was interjected +into this period of retirement, which is Robinson’s +supposition, breaks into the continuity of +John’s narrative, and does violence to its order +and symmetry, without any adequate reason. +(3) Jesus was at a considerable distance from +Bethany at the time when Lazarus was taken +sick. The sisters sent unto him at once; after +receiving their message, he remained where he +was two days; but when he reached Bethany, +Lazarus had been four days dead (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_6">6</a> and <a href="#ch11_39">39</a></span>). +Presumptively, therefore, he was at least one +day’s journey from Bethany, even if we assume +that Lazarus had died before the messengers had +reached Jesus; more probably he was two days’ +journey distant, for verse <a href="#ch11_11">11</a> indicates that the +death of Lazarus took place after Jesus had +received word of his sickness. Thus the narrative +of this miracle tallies with the supposition +that Christ was carrying on his ministry in the +region beyond the Jordan, rather than with the +supposition that he was anywhere in Judea; the +more so that we have no intimation in the Gospels +of any ministry in Judea except in and +about Jerusalem, of which Bethany was practically +a suburb. (4) In Luke 13:32, Christ uses +the following language: “Behold I cast out +devils and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and +the third day I shall be perfected.” This occurs +in the Perean ministry, and the “two days” here +referred to, have been hypothetically identified +with the “two days” during which, according to +John’s narrative here, Jesus tarried where he was +after receiving the message of Lazarus’s sickness. +The coincidence between the two passages is at +least curious, though it may be nothing more +than a coincidence. These reasons make the +chronology of Andrews and Ellicott more probable +than that of Robinson. I believe, then, that +the resurrection of Lazarus took place in the latter +part of February or the early part of March +A. D. 30, and that it was followed, after the brief +retirement at Ephraim, by the triumphal march of +Christ and his disciples up to Jerusalem, and by +his Passion and his death there. See <abbr title="Tabular Harmony"><cite>Tab. Har.</cite></abbr>, +<abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 45; for some general considerations +respecting this miracle, see <a href="#SuppNote_ch11">Sup. Note</a>, <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 44.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Now</span> a certain <em>man</em> was sick, <em>named</em> Lazarus, of +Bethany, the town of<a id="FNanchor_425" href="#Footnote_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a> Mary and her sister Martha.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_425" href="#FNanchor_425" class="label">[425]</a> + Luke 10:38, 39.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 (It was <em>that</em> Mary which<a id="FNanchor_426" href="#Footnote_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a> anointed the Lord with +ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose +brother Lazarus was sick.)</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_426" href="#FNanchor_426" class="label">[426]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_3">12:3</a>; Mark 14:3.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1, 2. Now a certain one was sick named +Lazarus.</b> The only historic person of this +name mentioned in the Bible; the indications +are that he was a younger brother. From the +incident in Luke 10:38-42, we judge that Martha +was the head of the household. Simon, probably +the father, though possibly the husband of +one of the sisters, was a leper; he had probably +died or been banished by the law, because of his +leprosy (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:6</span>). +The family appear to have +been one of wealth and social distinction; this +is indicated by the facts that they owned their +house, had their tomb in their garden, and were +able to give three hundred dollars worth of ointment +as a costly token of honor to Jesus (<span class="muchsmaller">John +1<a href="#ch2_5">2:5</a></span>). I say three hundred dollars worth because +the penny, or denarius, was a day’s wages, and +therefore equivalent to our dollar. How and +where the household first became acquainted +with Jesus, we do not know. An ingenious +writer in <cite>Smith’s Bible Dictionary</cite> endeavors to +identify Lazarus with the rich young ruler who +had great possessions, and went away from +Christ sorrowful because he was bid to sell all +that he had to give to the poor (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 19:16-22</span>); +but this ingenious hypothesis has only its ingenuity +to commend it. Of Lazarus’s life after his +resurrection, nothing whatever is known; there +are traditions respecting him, and his bones +were discovered by some of the credulous relic-worshippers +of the ninth century in the island of +Cyprus; but the traditions are as little to be +trusted as the relics.—​<b>Of Bethany.</b> This village +lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of +Olives, less than two miles (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_18">18</a>, note</span>) southeast +of Jerusalem. See for description and illustration, +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_1">12:1</a>, <a href="#ch12_2">2</a>, note. Its present name is +El-Azarieh, derived from, and memorializing the +resurrection of Lazarus. Of course, the house +of Simon and of Lazarus, and the tomb of the +latter are pointed out to the traveler by the +accommodating monks, and of course, nothing +is known about either of these sites, except that +the tomb cannot possibly be the real one. It is +a deep vault partly lined with masonry, entered +upon by a long, winding, half-ruined staircase; +the masonry is comparatively modern, and the +situation of the tomb in the centre of the village +is inconsistent with the Gospel narrative; the +genuineness of the site is repudiated by Porter, +Robinson, Thompson, and defended by no +scholar.—​<b>The town of Mary and her sister +Martha.</b> It is so characterized because their +home served as a retreat to Jesus during his +ministry in Jerusalem, and it is thus distinguished +from the Bethany beyond the Jordan mentioned + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span> +in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_28">1:28</a>, +note. There is no reason whatever +for identifying this Mary with Mary Magdalene +or with the “woman which was a sinner,” or +the anointing referred to here and described in +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_1">12:1-8</a> +with the anointing performed by that +unnamed woman and described in Luke 7:36-50; +see note there.—​The designation of Bethany as the +town of Mary and her sister Martha, whom John +has not before mentioned, as well as his incidental +reference in the parenthetical sentence following, +to the anointing of the Lord by Mary, are indications +that John wrote not only with a knowledge +of the other Gospels, or at least with the main +facts, incidents, and characters described in the +other Gospels, but also with the assurance that +they were familiar to most of his readers. The +fact that Mary’s name is mentioned first, would, +taken by itself, imply that she was the elder +sister, and the head of the household; but the +fact that Martha took the responsibility of providing +for the guests in the two instances recorded +in Luke 10:38-42 and John <a href="#ch12_1">12:1-8</a>, indicates +that Martha was the elder sister and the +housekeeper.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, +behold, he<a id="FNanchor_427" href="#Footnote_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a> whom thou lovest is sick.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_427" href="#FNanchor_427" class="label">[427]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:6; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 When Jesus heard <em>that</em>, he said, This sickness is +not unto death, but<a id="FNanchor_428" href="#Footnote_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a> for the glory of God, that the Son +of God might be glorified thereby.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_428" href="#FNanchor_428" class="label">[428]</a> + verse <a href="#ch11_40">40</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_3">9:3</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3, 4. Lord, behold whom thou lovest +is sick.</b> They have complete confidence in the +sympathy of their Lord; they do not urge him +to come; they do not present any petition; they +simply report their trouble to him.—​<b>He said, +This sickness is not unto death.</b> That is, +has not death for its object; (<span lang="el">πρὸς</span> with the +accusative, marks strictly the object towards +which anything is directed.) Christ does not +say that Lazarus will not die, but that death is +not the end for which this sickness is ordained of +God.—​<b>But for the glory of God, that the +Son of God might be glorified thereby.</b> +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_3">9:3</a>, note. He was glorified, (1) perhaps +by the development of a higher spiritual +life in Lazarus through his sickness, death and +resurrection (<cite>Trench</cite>), though of this the Evangelist +gives us no hint; (2) by the manifestation +of the divine power of Jesus Christ, as one whom +the Father always hears (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_42">42</a></span>); (3) by the Passion +and death of Jesus Christ, to which the +resurrection of Lazarus directly led (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_47">47-53</a></span>). +This saying of Christ seems to have been uttered +not merely to his disciples; it was apparently his +message to the sisters, and to it he refers in +verse <a href="#ch11_40">40</a> (see note there).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and +Lazarus.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he +abode two days still in the same place where he was.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Then after that saith he to <em>his</em> disciples, Let us go +into Judæa again.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>5-7. Now Jesus loved Martha</b>, etc. This +statement is made in explanation of verse 6, that +the reader may not fall into the error of supposing +that Christ’s delay was due to any indifference +or unconcern on his part.—​<b>He abode +two days in the same place where he +was.</b> Why? Either because this delay was +necessary to complete the work in which he was +engaged, and from which he would not suffer +himself to be drawn away even by considerations +of personal sympathy, he himself acting on the +principle “Let the dead bury their dead, but go +thou and preach the kingdom of God” (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 9:60</span>); +or because this delay was necessary to the consummation +of the miracle of the resurrection of +Lazarus in such form as to forever prohibit the +impression that death had not really taken place. +The former is the better hypothesis, since in no +case does Christ seem to have wrought a miracle +for the mere purpose of producing by it a profound +impression, and it is therefore hardly consistent +to believe that he would have delayed +merely for the purpose of making the miracle +more startling and marvelous.—​<b>Let us go into +Judea again.</b> This plainly implies that Jesus +and his disciples were not then in Judea, and +thus incidentally confirms the supposition (see +<a href="#Note_ch11"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a>) that the resurrection of Lazarus was +subsequent to the close of the ministry in Perea, +and that he was summoned from Perea.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 <em>His</em> disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of +late<a id="FNanchor_429" href="#Footnote_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a> sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither +again?<a id="FNanchor_430" href="#Footnote_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_429" href="#FNanchor_429" class="label">[429]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_31">10:31</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_430" href="#FNanchor_430" class="label">[430]</a> + Acts 20:24.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in +the day? If<a id="FNanchor_431" href="#Footnote_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a> any man walk in the day, he stumbleth +not, because he seeth the light of this world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_431" href="#FNanchor_431" class="label">[431]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_35">12:35</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 But if a man walk in the night,<a id="FNanchor_432" href="#Footnote_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a> he stumbleth, because +there is no light in him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_432" href="#FNanchor_432" class="label">[432]</a> + <abbr title="Eccclesiasticus">Eccles.</abbr> 2:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>8-10. The disciples say to him, Master, +the Judeans were just now seeking to +stone thee.</b> On the chronological hypothesis +adopted above, the mob in Jerusalem had threatened +the life of Jesus about three months previous. +But he had not been in Judea since. The +disciples attributed Christ’s remaining in Perea to +the fear of the Jews, and remonstrated against +his again braving them.—​<b>Jesus answered, +Are there not twelve hours in the day</b>, +etc. In interpreting Christ’s enigmatical saying +here, the student must remember that it was his +habit to speak in parables, and that he rarely +gave any interpretation of them. This is to be +regarded as a condensed and uninterpreted parable. +John has himself given us the key to its +interpretation by his use of the same metaphor +in his Epistle (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:5-7</span>). God is the light. As +he has appointed the hours of activity for the +human race, the twelve hours of the day, so he + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span> +has appointed the hours of service for each individual +man. What was true of Christ is true of +every one; he cannot die until his time has +come (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch7_6">7:6</a>, +<a href="#ch7_8">8</a>, <a href="#ch7_30">30</a>; +<a href="#ch8_20">8:20</a></span>). He therefore who +walks with God in the path of duty, fulfilling +the divine will, cannot stumble; no harm can +come to him; not a hair of his head can be injured +(<span class="muchsmaller">Psalm 91; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:29-31; Luke 10:19; 21:18</span>). He +may and must come to his death; but not until +his twelve hours have passed away.—​But if a +man work in darkness, <i>i. e.</i>, not with God, not +in the path of duty, not endeavoring to fulfil the +divine will, for him there is no assurance of protection; +he is always liable to stumble and fall. +This is the general principle which Christ parabolically +asserts; its immediate application here +is that to Christ there is no danger in going into +Judea, for he will not die until his appointed time +has fully come. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_4">9:4</a>, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto +them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth:<a id="FNanchor_433" href="#Footnote_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a> but I go, that I +may awake him out of sleep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_433" href="#FNanchor_433" class="label">[433]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 31:16; Acts 7:60; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:18, 51.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall +do well.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they +thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.</p> +</div> + + +<p><b>11-13. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth.</b> An +interval is indicated as having taken place between +the previous discourse and the present +declaration, by the words, <cite>after that he saith unto +them</cite>. <em>Our friend</em>, implies that Lazarus was loved +by the disciples as well as by their Lord. This +language, coupled with that of verse <a href="#ch11_3">3</a>, indicates +that he possessed a peculiarly lovable character. +<dfn>Sleep</dfn> is used both in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> and <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> as a +metaphor of death (<span class="muchsmaller">2 Chron. 14:1; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 13:3; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 51:57; +Job 14:12; <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 12:2; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:52; Acts 7:60; 13:36; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +7:39; 11:30; 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:13, 14, 15</span>). Some +of the rationalistic critics think that the disciples +were extraordinarily stupid, not to understand +Christ’s metaphor; and yet they are guilty of a +similar but greater stupidity. Thus, the author +of <cite>Supernatural Religion</cite> says (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Volume Two">Vol. II</abbr>, 460</span>): “The +disciples reply with the stupidity with which the +fourth Evangelist endows all those who hold +colloquy with Jesus: (Lord, if he has fallen asleep +he will recover;)” and yet, on the immediately +preceding page, he interprets Christ’s similar +declaration respecting the daughter of Jairus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:24</span>): “The maid is not dead but sleepeth,” +as “an express declaration” that the case is +“one of mere suspension of consciousness.” +The misapprehension of the apostles here was +not extraordinary; certainly not more so than +that afforded by some analogous instances in the +first three Gospels (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:7; Luke 22:38</span>). They +had understood from verse <a href="#ch11_4">4</a>, that Lazarus was +to be restored; they had interpreted Christ’s +words as a promise of healing; they had witnessed +cases of miraculous healing in at least +two instances, wrought by a word on an absent +patient (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 7:10; John 4:50-53</span>); so when Jesus said, +“Lazarus is sleeping,” they thought the crisis +of the disease had passed, and that there was +no reason why their Master should brave the +dangers of a Judean mob to go to the bedside of +a convalescent friend.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is +dead;</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, +to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go +unto him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto +his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die +with him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>14-16. Then Jesus said unto them +plainly</b> (<span lang="el">παῤῥησίᾳ</span>). That is, dropping all metaphor.—​<b>And +I am glad for your sakes that +I was not there.</b> He accompanies the declaration +of the friend’s death with words of consolation +and inspiration. Plain as those words are +to us, they must have been inexplicable to the +disciples. They did not forecast the resurrection; +how could they understand why Christ +should not have been present to prevent so great +a sorrow. The sympathy of Christ with us in +our sorrow does not prevent him, who sees the +end from the beginning, from rejoicing even when +he sees our tears. He sees the sheaves brought +home with joy even while the seed is sown in +tears, and rejoices at the tears because of the harvest. +To him, faith wrought in the soul is worth +immeasurably more than all the sorrow which +soul-culture involves (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:1-5; 8:18</span>).—​<b>Then +said Thomas which is called Didymus</b>, +that is, the twin.—​<b>Let us also go that we +may die with him.</b> With Christ, not with +Lazarus. The little that we know about Thomas +shows him to have been a man of strong passions +and of little faith and hope; to such a man life +is full of pathos. He could not believe that +Christ could with safety go into Judea again; +in this, indeed, he really forecast the result, +which was the crucifixion of his Lord; but +neither could he bear to be separated from him. +Chrysostom notes the power of Christ on this +timid nature: “The very man who dared not to +go in company with Christ to Bethany, afterwards +traveled with him through the inhabited +world, and dwelt in the midst of nations that +were full of murderers desirous to kill him.” On +the character of Thomas, see further, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 149; John <a href="#ch20_24">20:24</a>, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had <em>lain</em> +in the grave four days already.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about +fifteen furlongs off:</p> +</div> + +<p><b>17, 18. He had lain in the grave four +days already.</b> Various explanations are made + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> +respecting these four days; they are given in +detail in <cite>Andrews’ Life of Our Lord</cite>. Since, +however, we do not know definitely where Christ +was, except that it was some point apparently +beyond Jordan, and we do not know at all what +engagements and duties detained him there, +surmises as to the way in which these four +days were taken up are decidedly unprofitable. +The narrative seems to me clearly to imply that +Lazarus was not dead when the messengers first +reached Jesus. Probably of these four days, +two were occupied by Christ in completing his +ministry where he was when he received the +message, and two, or part of two days, in a +leisurely journey to the home of Lazarus.—​<b>Bethany +was nigh unto Jerusalem.</b> The +use of the past tense <em>was</em>, not <em>is</em>, indicates that +Bethany had ceased to exist at the time when +John wrote his Gospel; it thus incidentally confirms +the opinion that he wrote a considerable +time after the destruction of Jerusalem, and +when that city and its environs were lying waste.—​<b>About +fifteen furlongs off.</b> Literally, +<i lang="la">stadia</i>. The <dfn>stadium</dfn>, is about six hundred feet; +fifteen stadia or furlongs were, therefore, about +nine thousand feet, or a little less than two miles.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, +to<a id="FNanchor_434" href="#Footnote_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a> comfort them concerning their brother.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_434" href="#FNanchor_434" class="label">[434]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 7:22; Job 2:11; 42:11; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 12:15; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>19. And many of the Judeans came +to Martha and Mary.</b> The word <dfn>Jews</dfn>, as +used by John, indicates always the inhabitants +of Judea, as distinguished from those of other +provinces in the Holy Land, and therefore generally +those who were prejudiced against, if not +absolutely hostile to Jesus. The fact that most +of those who were present at the scene about +to be described were these Judeans, is an important +one, and must be borne in mind by the +student, for it gives a peculiar color and significance +to the entire narrative.—​<b>To comfort +them concerning their brother.</b> The Jewish +mourning rites were most carefully defined +by the Rabbinical law; they included rending the +clothes, dressing in sackcloth, sprinkling of ashes +or dust on the person, fasting, loud lamenting. +Professional mourners were employed to increase +the noisy demonstrations of grief (<span class="muchsmaller">see Mark +5:38, note</span>). The days of mourning were thirty, +which were divided into three for weeping, +seven for lamentation, and twenty for less demonstrative +mourning. During the first three days +the mourners were forbidden to wear their phylacteries +or to engage in any servile work, or to +bathe or anoint themselves; during the seven +days they fasted or ate nothing but an occasional +egg or some lentiles. After the funeral services +were over (for account of which see Luke 7:12, +note), friends and professional mourners came +and sat with the afflicted ones upon the ground, +no one speaking until the bereaved ones had +done so, but every sentence of theirs was followed +by some word of sympathy and comfort +or by the wail of the mourners. Everything +was done according to a prearranged system; +in Phariseeism there was no liberty, even in the +hour of grief.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was +coming, went and met him: but Mary sat <em>still</em> in the +house.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Then said Martha unto Jesus. Lord, if thou hadst +been here, my brother had not died.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever<a id="FNanchor_435" href="#Footnote_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a> thou +wilt ask of God, God will give <em>it</em> thee.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_435" href="#FNanchor_435" class="label">[435]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_31">9:31</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>20-22. Then Martha * * * went and +met him.</b> Jesus did not enter into the village, +but stopped without and sent some one to let +the sisters know that he had come. Geikie supposes +that he thus remained without from fear +of the Jews; but Christ never stopped in the +performance of a duty from considerations of +fear; his reply to the remonstrances of his disciples +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_8">8-10</a></span>) should have prevented this prosaic +interpretation of Christ’s action. To him +the conventional mourning customs of Oriental +society were exceedingly distasteful. He who +put all the noisy mourners out of the room in +which the daughter of Jairus lay dead (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 5:40</span>), +and who so gently rebuked the noisy and ostentatious +lamentations of the women of Jerusalem +at the time of his own crucifixion (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:27-31</span>), +might naturally be expected to decline to enter +into the circle of formal mourners, with the +alternative of either violating the precedents and +rules of good society, or of submitting himself +in such an hour to the bondage which they +imposed.—​<b>But Mary sat still in the house.</b> +It would appear from verse <a href="#ch11_29">29</a>, that she did not +know that Jesus had come; yet the contrast +between the two sisters, the one of whom with +bustling activity waited upon her Lord, the +other of whom, in the quieter offices of love, sat +at his feet to listen to his words, or anoint those +feet with precious ointment (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 10:38-42; John +12:1-8</span>), reappears here. Martha, who was probably +the head of the household, was naturally the +first to hear of Christ’s coming, and even in her +grief found comfort in activity; to Mary, in the +solitude of her sorrow, no one at first reported +Christ’s approach.—​<b>Lord, if thou hadst been +here, my brother had not died.</b> This is the +language both of reproach and of lamentation, +though the reproach is implied rather than +asserted. Her language expresses the very + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span> +essence of soul torture at such times. We are +slow to believe that our sorrow is “for the glory +of God that the Son of God may be glorified +thereby,” and in our affliction continually echo +Martha’s “if,” saying to ourselves, if we had +not done this, or if we had not done that, if +it had not been for our blunder or that of our +friends or our physician, our beloved would not +have died. Chance is the God of Atheism, and +is a comfortless God in the time of our trouble.—​<b>But +I know that even now whatsoever +thou shouldst ask of God, God will give +it thee.</b> This is interpreted by Meyer and +Godet as an expression of Martha’s faith that +Jesus is able to raise even the dead to life again; +but in order to sustain this interpretation, they +are obliged to depart from a natural and simple +interpretation of Christ’s declaration in <abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_25">25</a>, <a href="#ch11_26">26</a>, +to suppose that Martha desired or was anticipating +her brother’s resurrection, and yet was so +obtuse as to entirely miss the meaning of Christ +in that declaration, and, finally, to suppose that +the faith which she possessed when she first +beheld Christ disappeared when she reached the +tomb, where she remonstrated against opening it +that the resurrection might be accomplished. +I understand Martha’s utterance here to be that +simply of an undefined hope. She had counted +so much on Christ; he had not come in the hour +of her need; all was over now; and yet now that +he had come, although too late, she went out to +him with a vague, restless hope of some succor +or consolation, she knew not what. In our own +experience in the unreasonableness of grief, like +vague and delusive hopes are not uncommon. +Calvin’s interpretation of Martha’s experience +better accords both with what we elsewhere +know of her character and with the narrative +here, than does that of those who eulogize her +extraordinary faith: “When she assures herself +that her brother would not have died if Christ +had been present, what ground has she for +this confidence? certainly it did not arise from +any promise from Christ. The only conclusion, +therefore, is that she inconsiderately yields to +her own wishes, instead of subjecting herself to +Christ. When she ascribes to Christ power and +supreme goodness, this proceeds from faith; but +when she persuades herself of more than she +had heard Christ declare, that has nothing to do +with faith. * * * Martha’s faith, mixed up and +interwoven with ill-regulated desires, and even +not wholly free from superstition, could not +shine with full brightness; so that we perceive +but a few sparks of it in these words.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise +again in the<a id="FNanchor_436" href="#Footnote_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a> resurrection at the last day.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_436" href="#FNanchor_436" class="label">[436]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_29">5:29</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>23-24. Thy brother shall rise again.</b> +Evidently these words were not understood by +Martha to contain a promise of immediate resurrection, +and therefore we are not justified in +saying that they were so intended by Jesus. +They are vague, and are intended to be vague +and suggestive, in order to lead on the mind of +Martha, and to evoke an expression of her faith. +This method of calling out the experience of his +pupil was a customary one with Jesus in all his +instruction.—​<b>I know that he shall rise +again in the resurrection at the last day.</b> +This statement of Martha’s faith is to be interpreted +by the belief of the orthodox Jews. This +was that all the dead departed to Hades or the +Under-world, where they dwelt in a shadowy +prison-house; the righteous in Paradise; the +wicked in Hell; and awaited the coming of the +Messiah, who would call all the righteous from +the Under-world, while the wicked would be +thrust back into it again. Martha believed that +her brother had gone to this abode of the dead, +and there was awaiting a day of judgment and +of resurrection; but she found in this faith very +little consolation. Her brother, to her thought, +was as if he were not, and dwelt among the dead. +A vague hope of a far-distant revival did not +comfort her. It is in contrast to, and in correction +of this creed, that Christ utters the declaration +of verses <a href="#ch11_25">25</a>, <a href="#ch11_26">26</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 Jesus said unto her, I am the<a id="FNanchor_437" href="#Footnote_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a> resurrection, and +the life;<a id="FNanchor_438" href="#Footnote_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a> he that believeth in me, though<a id="FNanchor_439" href="#Footnote_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a> he were +dead, yet shall he live;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_437" href="#FNanchor_437" class="label">[437]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_40">6:40</a>, <a href="#ch6_44">44</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_438" href="#FNanchor_438" class="label">[438]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_6">14:6</a>; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 38:16; 1 John 1:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_439" href="#FNanchor_439" class="label">[439]</a> + Job 19:26; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 26:19; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 4:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 And whosoever<a id="FNanchor_440" href="#Footnote_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> liveth and believeth in me shall +never die. Believest thou this?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_440" href="#FNanchor_440" class="label">[440]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_15">3:15</a>; <a href="#ch4_14">4:14</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25, 26. I am the resurrection and the +life. He that believeth in me even if he +could die</b> (<span lang="el">κἄν ἀποθάνῃ</span>) <b>yet he should live, +and every one that liveth and believeth +in me never can die.</b> The various and conflicting +interpretations afforded by the commentators +of this declaration of Christ agree only in +being complicated and abstruse. It is essential +to comfort that it should be simple truth +simply expressed; and that Christ should offer +as a consolation to Martha a truth so subtle and +involved in so much mystery that skillful scholarship +can scarce unlock its meaning, seems to me +utterly incredible. I understand these words as +an embodiment of Christ’s creed respecting life +and immortality. Jesus is the source of the +resurrection, and the fountain of life. Whoever, +therefore, by faith in Christ, has Christ in him +the hope of glory, never knows death; to him +there is no Hades, no dark and dismal abode of +the dead, no long and weary waiting for a final + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> +great jail delivery—a judgment and an acquittal. +He passes at once from the lower to the higher +state; he has already come to the general assembly +and church of the first-born (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:22-24</span>). +What we call death summons him simply to +depart and be straightway with Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 1:23; +Luke 23:43</span>). The eternal life which Christ here +and now gives to those who are by faith united +to him (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch5_24">5:24</a></span>), +is never suspended. So immortal +and potent is this life principle which Christ +offers to those who have received him, that, if it +were possible that one having died should receive +it, he would by it be made to live again. Against +the conception, common now as then, of death +as a long sleep or a long and dreary waiting for +a final resurrection, is Christ’s teaching here that +“There is no death; what seems so is transition.” +In confirmation of this view, observe, (1) That +Christ’s declaration is present, not future: “<cite>I +am the resurrection</cite>,” not, <em>I shall by-and-by become +so</em>. (2) The conditional clause <em>though he were +dead</em>, is literally <em>even though he should die</em>, and is +fairly rendered by the phrase adopted above, +<em>even if he could die</em>. (3) Thus interpreted, Christ’s +declaration is responsive to Martha’s confession +of faith, and leads on to and agrees with the +event which follows, the restoration of Lazarus +to his earthly life. (4) It accords with the +general teaching of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, in which Christ is +represented as the source of eternal life, and the +death of the saints as a doorway into his immediate +presence (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 7:59; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 14:8; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:8; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> +5:10; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 4:8; 2 Peter 1:11, etc.</span>). It is not necessary +to give here other interpretations, for they are +complicated, incongruous, and almost impossible +to classify. They are the results of various and +unsuccessful endeavors to bring Christ’s declaration +into accord with the Pharisaic faith, which +still lingers in the Christian church, of a resurrection +and an eternal life postponed to the +future, and an abode in death, meanwhile, in +some sort of an intermediate state.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord; I believe that thou +art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into +the world.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>27. Yea, Lord; I have believed that +thou art the Messiah, the Son of God, he +who was to come unto the world.</b> <em>I have +believed</em> (<span lang="el">πεπίστευκα</span>), the perfect tense, indicates +the expression of a well-established faith; perhaps +of one which Christ well knew that she +had entertained. Martha still adheres to her +Pharisaic creed; we do not give up our religious +beliefs easily. At Christ’s question, “Believest +thou that I am the Resurrection and the Life, +and that they that believe in me shall never die?” +she replies in effect: “Yea, Lord; I believe +that thou art the Messiah of the prophets at +whose word all the dead shall come forth from +Hades unto judgment.” And in this faith she +does have some comfort, because she supposes +this day of general resurrection cannot, in the +nature of the case, be far distant.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and +called Mary her sister secretly,<a id="FNanchor_441" href="#Footnote_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> saying, The Master<a id="FNanchor_442" href="#Footnote_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a> +is come, and calleth<a id="FNanchor_443" href="#Footnote_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a> for thee.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_441" href="#FNanchor_441" class="label">[441]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch21_7">21:7</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_442" href="#FNanchor_442" class="label">[442]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_13">13:13</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_443" href="#FNanchor_443" class="label">[443]</a> + Mark 10:49.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 As soon as she heard <em>that</em>, she arose quickly, and +came unto him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but +was in that place where Martha met him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>28-30. She went her way and called +Mary her sister secretly.</b> Evidently, from +her words <cite>The Master calleth for thee</cite>, she did this +in obedience to Christ’s direction. She went +secretly because she did not desire the presence +of the Judeans at the quiet conference between +Jesus Christ and herself and sister.—​<b>The Master +is come and calleth for thee.</b> She +represses the name, perhaps because she does +not desire it to be overheard by those who +are present. The general designation, however, +<dfn>the Master</dfn> or <dfn>the Teacher</dfn> is enough. To Mary +there is no one else worthy to be called the +Teacher.—​<b>As soon as she heard that, she +rose quickly.</b> Therefore presumptively, Mary +had not before heard that Jesus had arrived.—​<b>Jesus +* * * was in that place where +Martha met him.</b> Not at the grave where +Lazarus was buried (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_34">34</a></span>), but at some point a +little outside the village.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 The Jews<a id="FNanchor_444" href="#Footnote_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a> then which were with her in the house, +and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose +up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She +goeth unto the grave to weep there.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_444" href="#FNanchor_444" class="label">[444]</a> + verse <a href="#ch11_19">19</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and +saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, +Lord, if<a id="FNanchor_445" href="#Footnote_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a> thou hadst been here, my brother had not +died.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_445" href="#FNanchor_445" class="label">[445]</a> + verses <a href="#ch11_21">21</a>, <a href="#ch11_37">37</a>; + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch4_49">4:49</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>31, 32. She goeth unto the grave to +weep there.</b> It was the custom of Jewish +women often to visit the graves of their dead, +especially during the first days of mourning. +These too obtrusive mourners could not comprehend +that Mary might desire solitude in her +sorrow. They would not allow her to retreat +from them. Thus the private interview which +Jesus desired with the two sisters was denied +him. Consequently there was no real conference +between Jesus and Mary; as soon as she came +he asked to be shown the grave.—​<b>She fell +down at his feet.</b> With a more passionate +nature than that of Martha, her action and her +attitude were both more strongly indicative of +her uncontrollable emotion. Possibly she threw +herself prostrate at his feet in the form of salutation +ordinarily paid by an inferior to a superior +in the East; yet, with her face upon the ground, +she could hardly have carried on any conference +whatever. More probably, therefore, she flung +herself at first at his feet, then partially raised + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> +herself again to break forth in her reproachful +complaint.—​<b>Lord, if thou hadst been here +my brother would not have died.</b> Her +language is nearly the same as that of Martha, +but she adds no expression of hope; her profounder +nature refuses to entertain a hope for +which she can give herself no reason.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_142"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_142.jpg" + alt="FELL AT HIS FEET"> + <p class="caption">FELL AT HIS FEET.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the +Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned +in the spirit, and was troubled,</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said +unto him, Lord, come and see.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 Jesus wept.<a id="FNanchor_446" href="#Footnote_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_446" href="#FNanchor_446" class="label">[446]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 63:9; Luke 19:41; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 2:16, 17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>33-35. When Jesus therefore saw her +lamenting and the Judeans also lamenting +which came with her.</b> The word translated +in the English version <dfn>weeping</dfn>, but which +I have rendered <dfn>lamenting</dfn>, is not the same as +that employed in the declaration of verse 35, +“Jesus wept.” It implies not only the shedding +of tears but also every external expression of +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">grief—the</span> loud outcries, the rending of garments, +and the whole vociferous and ostentatious manifestation +of mourning.—​<b>He groaned in the +spirit and was troubled.</b> There seems to +be no doubt that the Greek word rendered +<dfn>groaned</dfn>, necessarily involves in it the idea of +anger or indignation; it is so rendered in the +Vulgate and in Luther’s translation. “The +words <dfn>brimaomi</dfn> (<span lang="el">βριμάομαι</span>) and <dfn>embrimaomi</dfn> +(<span lang="el">εμβριμάομαι</span>) are never used otherwise than of +hot anger in the classics; the Septuagint and +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:30; +Mark 1:43; 14:5</span>), except where +they denote snorting or growling proper.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) +With this agree both the lexicons and +the critics generally. What was the cause of +this indignation? According to some of the older +commentaries, Christ was indignant with himself +for his weakness in yielding to his emotions; his +divinity was irritated at the emotion of his +humanity, and violently repressed it. This opinion +needs no refutation with those who believe +that Christianity tends to intensify, not to suppress +the natural <span style="white-space:nowrap;">affections—that</span> Christian sympathy +weeps with those that weep as well as +rejoices with those that rejoice; and who find in + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span> +the tears of Christ at the grave of Lazarus, not a +manifestation of human weakness, but an expression +of divine sympathy which draws God very +near to every sorrowing heart. Others suppose +that Christ saw in this scene a type of the woe +that sin has wrought in the world; seeing +its effects his indignation was aroused. Thus +Trench: “He beheld death in all its dread significance, +as the wages of sin; the needs of the +whole world, of which this was but a little +example, rose up before his eyes; all its mourners +and all its graves were present to him.” +We may certainly believe that this profound +sense of the significance of this scene of sorrow +affected Christ and intensified his sympathy; +that the tears that he shed were tears of sympathy, +not only with Mary and Martha, but also +with all sorrowing households. This, however, +interprets rather his sorrow than his indignation. +A simple and natural interpretation of this indignation +is afforded by a consideration of the circumstances +and surroundings. He was indignant +at the display of the affected grief of those who +were bitter enemies of the truth, and who would, +as he well knew, make use of this very miracle +to promote his death, and would even join with +those who would seek to put Lazarus himself +to death again (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_10">12:10</a></span>). He was indignant +<em>when he saw the Jews also lamenting</em>, and again +when he heard the sneer uttered by them (<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_37">37</a>, +note</span>). To this effect is Meyer: “He was +angered, then, at the <em>Judeans</em>, when he saw them +lamenting with the deep-feeling Mary, and professing +by their cries (of condolence) to share +her feelings, whilst at the same time aware that +they were full of bitter hostility to him who was +the beloved friend both of those who mourned +and of him whom they mourned.”—<b>And was +troubled.</b> Literally, <dfn>he troubled himself</dfn>. The +words “indicate a physical emotion, a bodily +trembling, which might be perceived by the +witnesses of this scene.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>)—​<b>Lord, come +and see.</b> They did not anticipate his purpose; +they simply invited him to come to the grave, as +would be natural in such circumstances.—​<b>Jesus +wept.</b> The Greek (<span lang="el">δακρύω</span>) signifies simply +shedding of tears, weeping silently. This silent +dropping of the tears from his eyes is in contrast +with the weeping over Jerusalem (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 19:41</span>, +<span lang="el">κλαίω</span>). That was a public lamentation of a +prophet; this was the expression of the personal +sympathy of a friend. Beware of that false +philosophy which represents Christ as weeping +only as a man. In this, as in every utterance of +his nature, he was God manifest in the flesh. +By his tears at the grave of Lazarus he interprets +to us the divine sympathy which shares all our +sorrows, however much the great Sympathizer, +with his clear view of final results, may, like +Christ, be glad of the brief experience of grief +that is soon to produce so much joy +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_15">15</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 Then said the Jews, Behold, how he loved him!</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 And some of them said, Could not this man, +which<a id="FNanchor_447" href="#Footnote_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a> opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that +even this man should not have died?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_447" href="#FNanchor_447" class="label">[447]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_6">9:6</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>36, 37. Then said the Judeans, Behold +how he loved him; but some of them +said, Could not this fellow who opened +the eyes of the blind have caused that +even this man should not have died?</b> +Some, touched by Christ’s genuine though silent +sorrow, in striking contrast with the noisier +demonstrations of grief of the less sincere mourners, +expressed their sense of the Rabbi’s love for +his friend; others replied with a sneer. This is +indicated in the original by the Greek particle +(<span lang="el">δέ</span>), which our English version renders <em>and</em>, but +which should be rendered <em>but</em>; and by the phrase +<cite>This fellow</cite>, which fairly represents the spirit of +the original (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_42">6:42</a>, note</span>). They referred, not to +previous resurrections, for these had taken place +in Galilee, and with them they were not familiar, +but to the healing of the blind man, which had +only a little previously taken place in Jerusalem, +and which had led to a formal investigation by +the Sanhedrim, and no little public excitement +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">7</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, cometh +to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>38. Jesus therefore, again indignant +in himself.</b> He is indignant at the sneer, and +his manner gives some expression to his indignation, +though it is not uttered in words.—​<b>Cometh +to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone +lay upon it.</b> The grave was sometimes cut +perpendicularly in the rock, but the declaration +that it was a cave implies that the tomb of +Lazarus was in a horizontal chamber. The +phrase <cite>A stone lay upon it</cite>, may as well mean +that a stone was laid against the open doorway +as upon a perpendicular opening. “The family +vaults of the Jews were sometimes natural (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> +23:9</span>), sometimes, as was this, artificial, and hollowed +out from a rock (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 22:16; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 22:60</span>), in +a garden (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch19_41">19:41</a></span>), or in some field, the possession +of the family (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 23:9, 17-20; 35:8; 1 Kings +2:34</span>), with a recess in the sides (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 14:15</span>), wherein +the bodies were laid, occasionally with chambers +one beyond another. Sometimes the entrance to +these tombs was on a level; sometimes, as most +probably here, there was a descent to it by steps. +The stone which blocked up the entrance and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span> +kept aloof the beasts of prey, above all the +numerous jackalls, which else might have found +their way into these receptacles of the dead and +torn the bodies.”—(<cite>Trench.</cite>) For further description +and illustration of Jewish tomb, and +the manner of closing it with a circular stone, see +Mark 16:2-4, note. Presumptively, in this case, +the stone was rolled away from the door of the +cave, and Jesus and the friends stood in the +doorway, while from the inner chamber or recess +where the body of Lazarus had been laid, he +issued forth at the word of the Lord. The +accompanying illustration <a href="#i_146">(<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 146)</a> better represents +the nature of the scene than it is possible +to do by description only.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 Jesus said, Take ye away<a id="FNanchor_448" href="#Footnote_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a> the stone. Martha, +the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, +by this time<a id="FNanchor_449" href="#Footnote_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a> he stinketh: for he hath been <em>dead</em> four +days.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_448" href="#FNanchor_448" class="label">[448]</a> + Mark 16:3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_449" href="#FNanchor_449" class="label">[449]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 49:7, 9; Acts 2:27.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 Jesus saith unto her, Said<a id="FNanchor_450" href="#Footnote_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a> I not unto thee, that, +if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory +of God?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_450" href="#FNanchor_450" class="label">[450]</a> + verses <a href="#ch11_3">4</a>, <a href="#ch11_23">23</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>39, 40. Martha * * * saith unto him, +Lord, already he stinketh.</b> This is taken +by Alford as the statement of the plain fact, and +he apparently believes that it was made sensible +by the ill odor which proceeded from the cave. +Trench objects that this supposition gives to the +miracle almost “a monstrous character.” The +text seems to me to determine the question. +Martha asserts the decomposition of the body, +not as a <em>fact known</em>, but as a <em>conclusion deduced</em> +from the length of time that had passed since +the death. With her it clearly was an <span style="white-space:nowrap;">opinion—whether</span> +correct or not is purely a matter of surmise. +Apparently the body had not been embalmed; +no explanation is offered of this singular +fact. In the East it was usual to embalm the +corpse at once.—​<b>For he hath been four days</b> +(dead). We may supply either the word <em>dead</em>, as +the translators have done, or the word <em>buried</em>; +it will make little difference, for burial in the +warm climate of the East usually took place on +the day of the death. It was a Jewish notion +that for three days the spirit wandered about the +sepulchre hoping that it might return unto the +body; but on the fourth day it abandoned this +expectation and left the body to itself. Thus +Martha’s expression involves the idea that all +hope of resuscitation was past, and negatives the +interpretation of Meyer that her language in +verse <a href="#ch11_22">22</a> implies her hope of a present resurrection.—​<b>Said +I not unto thee.</b> The reference +is probably to the message sent to the sisters as +reported in verse <a href="#ch11_4">4</a>.—​<b>If thou wouldst believe, +thou shouldst see the glory of God.</b> +The faith of the sisters was to be displayed, not +in any definite expectation of the work which +their Lord was about to accomplish, but in obedience +to his directions; and in fact Martha +tacitly withdraws her remonstrance, and the +stone is rolled away from the grave. The performance +of the miracle was itself dependent on +the fulfillment of the condition, If thou wouldst +believe. The New Testament throughout treats +faith as the power of moral and spiritual discernment, +and therefore the fundamental condition +of receiving the divine blessing. “To unbelieving +Martha, Jesus could no more have restored +the dead brother, than to the unbelieving +Jairus his child (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 8:50</span>), or to the widow of +Nain her son, if her attitude toward his compassion +and his injunction ‘Weep not’ (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke +7:13</span>), had been one of unbelief.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) Observe +the order in which Christ put seeing and +believing. Men are always desirous to see in +order to believe. Martha is called upon to give +an example of the contrary course: to believe +that she may see.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 Then they took away the stone <em>from the place</em> +where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up <em>his</em> +eyes, and said,<a id="FNanchor_451" href="#Footnote_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> Father, I thank thee that thou hast +heard me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_451" href="#FNanchor_451" class="label">[451]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_28">12:28-30</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but +because of the people which stand by I said <em>it</em>, that they +may believe that thou hast sent me.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>41, 42. They took away therefore the +stone.</b> The words <em>where the dead man was laid</em> +are wanting in the best manuscripts.—​<b>And +Jesus lifted up his eyes.</b> Toward heaven; +not because God is in heaven more truly than +upon earth (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 139:7-12</span>), but because the visible +heaven is ever suggestive to the human mind of +the invisible God; and Jesus thus quickened his +own faith in the Father, as we may well do. He +prayed toward the heavens as the devout Jew +prayed toward the temple (<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings 8:30; <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 6:10</span>).—​<b>Father, +I thank thee that thou hast +heard me.</b> It is not necessary to suppose, as +Alford does, a reference to some previously +uttered prayer, in Perea, for example, when the +message respecting Lazarus’s sickness was +brought to Jesus. The language is that of the +assurance of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">faith—faith</span> in a God who hears the +desire before it is expressed in prayer, who +teaches the believing soul how and for what to +pray, and who thus continually answers our +prayers by anticipation. Christ regards his +prayer as answered before it is presented.—​<b>And +I knew that thou hearest me always.</b> +Alike when the prayer is granted and when it is +denied; at the grave of Lazarus and in the agony +in Gethsemane. God hears us when his providence +says No to our petition none the less than +when it says Yes. The true Christian’s faith, +like Christ’s faith, rests not on the answer but on +the direct personal consciousness of spiritual +communion with God.—​<b>But because of the +people which stand by I said it.</b> Thus +Christ on occasion violates the letter of his own + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> +rule which prohibits men to pray “that they +may be seen of men” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 6:5, 6</span>), just as in +Gethsemane he seemed to violate the letter of +his rule against repetitions in prayer (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +6:7 with <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:44</span>). Here his prayer was public +in order that men might know that he did pray, +and that his resurrection power was not his +own but was given to him by his Father, and +thus might glorify not him, but the Father in +him.—​<b>That they may have faith that thou +hast sent me.</b> Not merely that they might +believe intellectually that he was a messenger or +representative sent by the Father, but that their +thoughts might be turned from him, who was +but the instrument, the voice of God, to the +invisible Father himself, who spoke in him and +wrought through him. This prayer of thanksgiving +is in instructive contrast with the prayer +of Elijah when he raised the dead (<span class="muchsmaller">1 Kings 17:20, 21</span>). +There was the earnestness of an anxious faith; +here is the assurance of a restful faith; there +the importunity of request intensified by a fear +of denial; here the calmness of thanksgiving +already assured of a favorable response. The +simple grandeur of this prayer has not prevented +it from being criticised as artificial (Supernatural +Religion), “a show prayer” (<cite>Weisse</cite>), “a sham +prayer” (<cite>Baur</cite>). If prayer were only petition +there would be ground for this criticism; but if +prayer is the frank and free communion of the +soul with its Father, there is none. It will seem +artificial only to those who are unable to comprehend +the filial relation between a Son and his +heavenly Father.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_43"></a> +<p class="hanging">43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a +loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_44"></a> +<p class="hanging">44 And<a id="FNanchor_452" href="#Footnote_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a> he that was dead came forth, bound hand +and foot with graveclothes; and his face<a id="FNanchor_453" href="#Footnote_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a> was bound +about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose +him, and let him go.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_452" href="#FNanchor_452" class="label">[452]</a> + 1 Kings 17:22; 2 Kings 4:34, 35; Luke 7:14, 15; Acts 20:9-12.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_453" href="#FNanchor_453" class="label">[453]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch20_7">20:7</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>43, 44. He cried with a loud voice.</b> +The previous prayer had been spoken in a subdued +voice; apparently, this is implied by the +suggested contrast, was only heard in Christ’s +immediate vicinity. The others knew that he +was praying, and thus recognized the miracle as +a result of his appeal to his Father; but they did +not hear the words of the prayer. The “loud +voice” was a type, a suggestion of that voice +like the sound of many waters (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:15</span>), at which +all who are in their graves shall come forth +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch5_28">5:28</a>; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:16</span>).—​<b>Lazarus, come forth.</b> +Literally <dfn>Here! out!</dfn> “The simplicity of these +two words, are in glorious contrast with their +efficacy.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>)—​<b>And he that had been +dead came forth, bound hand and foot +with grave-clothes.</b> Literally <dfn>swathing-bands</dfn> +(<span lang="el">χειρία</span>). The supposition of Chrysostom, Lightfoot +and others that this coming forth <em>bound</em> +necessitated a new miracle is entirely unnecessary. +It was the Jewish custom to wrap the +dead comparatively loosely in a winding sheet +or shroud, which would have impeded though +not prevented arising and walking. The exact +nature of the swathing-bands does not appear +to be known. The word occurs nowhere else in +the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> There is, however, no reason to suppose +that the limbs were so tightly bound that +motion would be impossible. The same word is +used in classic literature to signify a flounce +worn about the bottom of the dress of the living. +The accompanying cut, which in its representation +of the tomb and grave-clothes, is produced +from a careful study of the best archæological +authorities, illustrates the probable appearance of +Lazarus better than descriptive words could do. +—<b>His +face was bound about with a napkin.</b> +A handkerchief; probably, as sometimes with us, +to prevent the falling of the lower jaw.—​<b>Loose +him and let him go.</b> Christ gives them something +to do. This is partly to recall them from +their speechless and dazed astonishment, partly +to prevent the too great and dangerous revulsion +of feeling, partly because he has done his work +and would bid them to do what in them lies to +be sharers with him in the restoration of the loved +one to life and liberty. In this is a moral significance; +we cannot raise the spiritually dead; +but we can bring Christ to their grave by our +prayers, and we can aid in their perfect liberation +when the divine voice has called them from their +sleep of death.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><a id="SuppNote_ch11"></a><span class="smcap">Note on the Resurrection of Lazarus.</span>—​This +miracle is recorded only by John. Why? +It was not only the climax of all Christ’s wonderful +works, but it also led directly on the one +hand to the triumphal procession into Jerusalem, +which is recorded by all, and on the other +to the final plans for Christ’s arrest and crucifixion. +Several explanations have been suggested +for the silence of the synoptists: (1) That +the miracle aroused hostility to Lazarus and his +sisters, and involved them in danger +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_10">12:10</a></span>), +and that therefore all mention of it was omitted +(<cite>Godet</cite>, <cite>Olshausen</cite>). But this hostility could +hardly have continued to threaten any real danger +to Lazarus for twenty-five or thirty years; and if +it did, we can hardly think that he or his sisters +would have shrunk from being designated as +living witnesses to the resurrection power of +their Lord. They would rather have gloried in +being permitted to suffer for him. (2) That the +narration of the resurrection would have made +the household “the focus of an intense and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span> +irreverent curiosity” (<cite>Farrar</cite>). But it would also +have made them the focus of an intense and +reverent desire to know something with greater +certainty respecting Jesus and his work. And +if the miracle were wrought for the glory of God, +to keep silence respecting it was to weaken if +not to destroy its intended effect. (3) That the +Synoptists confine themselves to a narrative of +Christ’s Galilean ministry and exclude all the +events in Judea prior to the Passion week (<cite>Meyer</cite>). +But this does not explain the omission of this +miracle; it simply reiterates the fact, and leaves +the perplexing problem unsolved. Why should +the Synoptists avoid all mention of miracles and +teachings in Judea, especially one so notable as +this? I agree with Trench in saying that to this +question it is now difficult to find a satisfactory +answer. Possibly Peter, from whom Mark is +believed to have derived all his information, and +Matthew were not present, and each may have +limited himself to facts actually witnessed by +them. This still leaves Luke’s omission of the +miracle unexplained.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_146"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_146.jpg" + alt="RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS"> + <p class="caption">RESURRECTION OF LAZARUS.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + +<p>The significance of this miracle as an evidence +of Christ’s divine character, authority and mission +has always been felt, even by the more +resolute unbelievers in historic Christianity. +Thus Spinoza declared that “could he have +persuaded himself of the truth of the raising of +Lazarus, he would have broken in pieces his +whole system, and would have embraced without +repugnance the ordinary faith of Christians.” +Various rationalistic explanations have been attempted, +of which the chief are the following: +(1) The mythical (<cite>Strauss</cite>), <i>i. e.</i>, that the story is +a myth which grew up out of some slight foundation, +assumed its present form in the second or +third century, and then was embodied in this +narrative by an ecclesiastical forger, who used +John’s name to give sanction to his story. (2) +That the story was created by the writer for the +purpose of illustrating the truth that Christ is +the resurrection and the life, and that it was +developed by him out of some conversation of +Jesus, or perhaps out of the parable of Lazarus +and the rich man, or possibly out of some incident +in the life of Lazarus. It is even suggested +that Nain is an abbreviation of Bethany, and that +the narratives of the resurrection of Lazarus and +of the widow of Nain’s son have a common origin +(<cite>Schenkel</cite>). To such straits is naturalism reduced +in dealing with the miraculous. (3) That the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> +death of Lazarus was apparent, not real; that +the resurrection was a fraud contrived by the +friends of Jesus in order to give <i lang="fr">eclat</i> to his +anticipated entry into Jerusalem, and that to this +fraud he lent himself, in a moment of intense +fanatical enthusiasm (<cite>Renan</cite>). The various explanations +are stated more in detail by Meyer, +but may all be reduced to these three: a denial +that John wrote the account; a suggestion that +he invented it, building on a very slight foundation; +and a suspicion that it was a fraud perpetrated +by Lazarus and the sisters and acquiesced +in by Jesus. The only alternative is belief in the +miracle. The evidence of John’s authorship of +the Fourth Gospel (see <a href="#Page_3">Introduction</a>) refutes the +first hypothesis; the simplicity of the narrative +and the character of John, the second; the character +of Christ himself, the third. The narrative +itself is neither ideal nor dogmatic, neither an +artistic picture nor a concealed argument. It is a +perfectly colorless narrative of events concerning +which there was no possible room for mistake. +The writer does not draw from the narrative any +conclusion; he does not say that any miracle +was wrought or even that the dead was raised. +He simply tells his readers what he saw and +heard, and leaves them to draw their own conclusions. +He was with Jesus beyond Jordan; +word came to them that Lazarus was sick; +Jesus remained where he was two days; then +he told the disciples that Lazarus was dead; +when they reached Bethany they found a scene +of mourning; the friends had come according to +Jewish custom to console the sister’s family; +both sisters stated impliedly and reproachfully +that Lazarus was dead; when they arrived at +the grave, one of them said that he had been +dead four days, and that <span style="white-space:nowrap;">corruption—though</span> +this apparently was only her <span style="white-space:nowrap;">presumption—had</span> +already commenced; Christ directed the stone +to be rolled away, commanded in a loud voice, +“Lazarus, come forth,” and he came forth +bound in his grave-clothes. A scientific commission +could not have reported the facts with +more absolute impartiality. The writer expresses +no opinion whatever respecting the occurrence. +This is not the method of an idealist who has +invented the occurrence for the purpose of +glorifying his Master, or of a dogmatist who +has written it to prove a doctrine; it is the language +of a pre-eminently honest, fair-minded and +impartial witness. And upon this narrative the +great mass of readers and students have come +to but one <span style="white-space:nowrap;">conclusion—that</span> to which both friend +and foe came at the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">time—that</span> it was a genuine +resurrection of the dead, a great and notable +miracle.</p> + +<p>An instructive parallel may be traced between +the experience of these sisters in their sorrow +and that of many a Christian household since. +(1) <i>The burden of grief.</i> When the sisters first +sent for Christ to come, he delayed. Still he +often delays to answer our petitions. The house +of mourning is sometimes a Christless house, not +only because of our infirmity (<span class="muchsmaller">Psalm 77:10</span>), but +also because of his will. We, like our Master, +seem sometimes to be forsaken of our God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +27:46</span>). (2) <i>The aggravation of grief.</i> Both sisters +approach Christ with an “if”:—“If thou hadst +been here my brother had not died.” But his +death was not the result of an “if,” but for the +glory of God. There is no “if”; nothing ever +<em>happens</em>. Even the cup which Judas, Caiaphas, +Herod and Pilate mingle for Christ is the cup +which his Father gives him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_14">18:14</a>; Acts 2:23; +4:27, 28</span>). (3) <i>The sympathy of Christ.</i> The tears of +Jesus are a witness to the breadth and depth of +the divine sympathy. He feels the anguish of +our <em>present</em> sorrow though he stands by a grave +so soon to be opened, perceives prophetically the +resurrection so soon to take place, and knows +that weeping is but for the night and joy cometh +in the morning. See <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 4:15, 16. (4) <i>The true +and false conception of death.</i> We too often +imagine, as Martha, the believer awaiting in +Hades a future resurrection and a remote restoration +to life. Our hearts are dead because +buried in the grave of our loved ones. To us +Christ declares here that the believer never dies, +but steps at once from the lower to the higher +life, through the grave into heavenly companionship +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:43; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 1:23</span>). (5) <i>The power of +Christ.</i> This scene is a witness to the truth that +all the dead shall hear his voice and come forth +in resurrection. Death is but a sleep; from it +he will awaken all that sleep in him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 12:2; +John <a href="#ch5_21">5:21-29</a>; <a href="#ch6_39">6:39</a>; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:26, 54; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:14; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 3:4; +1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:14-17; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:18; 20:14</span>). (6) <i>A parable of +redemption.</i> Sin a spiritual death; Christ the +spiritual life-giver.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 11:45-57. THE EFFECT OF THE MIRACLE.—​<span class="smcap">It +produces faith in some; it intensifies enmity +in others.—​An unprincipled man an unconscious +prophet.—​Christ’s sacrifice: vicarious; for sinners; +for all people.—​Christ fears neither to +flee from nor to face danger.—​False seeking +for Christ illustrated.</span></p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_45"></a> +<p class="hanging">45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and +had seen<a id="FNanchor_454" href="#Footnote_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a> the things which Jesus did, believed on him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_454" href="#FNanchor_454" class="label">[454]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_23">2:23</a>; + <a href="#ch10_41">10:41</a>, <a href="#ch10_42">42</a>; + <a href="#ch12_11">12:11</a>, <a href="#ch12_18">18</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_46"></a> +<p class="hanging">46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, +and told them what things Jesus had done.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>45, 46. Many of the Jews * * * believed +on him.</b> Not necessarily were spiritually converted. + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> +They recognized in him a prophet, perhaps +even the Messiah.—​<b>But some of them +went to the Pharisees.</b> <em>But</em> (adversative) +marks the contrast between the two classes, and +indicates their hostile purpose. The term Pharisees +here, as frequently with John, indicates the +rulers of the Jews, the Jewish hierarchy.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_47"></a> +<p class="hanging">47 Then<a id="FNanchor_455" href="#Footnote_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a> gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees +a council, and said, What<a id="FNanchor_456" href="#Footnote_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> do we? for this man +doeth many miracles.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_455" href="#FNanchor_455" class="label">[455]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 2:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_456" href="#FNanchor_456" class="label">[456]</a> + Acts 4:16.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_48"></a> +<p class="hanging">48 If we let him thus alone, all<a id="FNanchor_457" href="#Footnote_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a> <em>men</em> will believe on +him: and the Romans shall come and take away both +our place and nation.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_457" href="#FNanchor_457" class="label">[457]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_19">12:19</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>47, 48. A council.</b> A meeting of the Sanhedrim. +On its constitutional character and +methods of procedure, see <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 298. Geikie +gives us no good reason for accepting his dogmatic +statement that the Sanhedrim had before +this time been broken up by Herod.—​<b>What do +we? for this man doeth many miracles.</b> +Not, What <em>shall</em> we do? but, What <em>are we</em> doing? +They reproach themselves for their inaction. +There is an ellipsis in the sentence; the meaning +is, Something must be done, for this man, etc. +For similar instance of perplexity see Acts 4:16. +It always exists where conscience gives a clear +command which ambition and selfishness refuse +to obey.—​<b>If we let him thus alone.</b> This +was a causeless self-reproach; for they had +already condemned him without trial +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_30">7:30</a>, +<a href="#ch7_50">50</a>, <a href="#ch7_51">51</a></span>), +and determined to excommunicate all his +followers (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_22">9:22</a></span>). It indicates a purpose which +the speaker dared not put in words, to proceed +to more extreme measures.—​<b>The Romans +shall come and take away both our place +and our nation.</b> Our <em>place</em>, it seems to me, +designates neither the city, the land, nor the +temple; but the office of these rulers. They +were placemen, and feared the loss of their dignities +and authority in the utter overthrow of +the nation, which did, indeed, subsequently take +place. But why should they fear this from any +increase of Christ’s popularity? Not, as Augustine +interprets, because he would persuade all +men to live peaceful lives, and so prevent any +successful revolt against the Roman government. +In common with all the Jews, they expected +in the Messiah a temporal king; the people +had already attempted to crown Christ as king +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_15">6:15</a></span>); the council did not believe that he was +the Messiah, did not believe that any attempt by +him to emancipate the nation would succeed; +and yet his popularity was such, and the popular +movement which they anticipated was likely to +be such, as to provoke from the Romans the +destruction of what little national life was left. +Their selfishness blinded them utterly to the +true nature of Christ’s mission.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_49"></a> +<p class="hanging">49 And one of them, <em>named</em><a id="FNanchor_458" href="#Footnote_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a> Caiaphas, being the +high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know +nothing at all,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_458" href="#FNanchor_458" class="label">[458]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch18_14">18:14</a>; Luke 3:2; Acts 4:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_50"></a> +<p class="hanging">50 Nor consider that it is<a id="FNanchor_459" href="#Footnote_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a> expedient for us, that one +man should die for the people, and that the whole +nation perish not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_459" href="#FNanchor_459" class="label">[459]</a> + Luke 24:46.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>49, 50.</b> Caiaphas puts boldly into words +thoughts which others less unscrupulous dared +not phrase. He overrules all scruples, whether +those of conscience against the murder of an +innocent man and evident prophet, or those of +the Pharisaic party against appealing to the +Roman government to put a prophet to death, +which was necessary to carry out their purpose +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:1, 2, note</span>).—​This he does by a Jesuitical +casuistry: It is better that one innocent man +should die than that the nation should be destroyed. +Thus a pretended patriotism is made +to cover a proposed judicial murder. The argument +is that of an unprincipled politician: the +end justifies the means. The signification here +and in verse <a href="#ch11_51">51</a> of the phrase “high priest <em>that +year</em>” is somewhat uncertain. Caiaphas, the +son-in-law of Annas, really held the office from +<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 27 to <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 36 or 37. The high priesthood +was originally a life office. It was now bestowed +and taken away by the Romans at their will. +In 107 years there were twenty-seven appointees. +I am inclined to think the language here a sarcastic +reference to the degenerate nature of the +office; John refuses to give to Caiaphas the +honor once but no longer due to the high priesthood. +Prof. Fisher (<cite>Beginnings of Christianity</cite>) +explains it “on account of the supreme importance +which ‘that year’ of the trial and crucifixion +of Jesus had in his (John’s) mind.” The +language of Caiaphas here agrees with his course +in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:62, 67. He was an unscrupulous, +vehement, and self-seeking ecclesiastical politician, +such a leader as is often produced by a +degenerate and turbulent era.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_51"></a> +<p class="hanging">51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high +priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die +for that nation;</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_52"></a> +<p class="hanging">52 And not<a id="FNanchor_460" href="#Footnote_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a> for that nation only, but that also he +should gather together in one the children of God that +were scattered<a id="FNanchor_461" href="#Footnote_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a> abroad.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_460" href="#FNanchor_460" class="label">[460]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 49:6; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 3:29; 1 John 2:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_461" href="#FNanchor_461" class="label">[461]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_16">10:16</a>; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:14-17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>51, 52.</b> The meaning of the Evangelist is +plain. It is not merely that by accommodation +a prophetic reference to Christ’s sacrifice can +be put upon the words of Caiaphas, but that, +unwittingly, he prophesied of that death and its +signification. So Balaam prophesied blessing to +Israel despite himself (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 23</span>). “He who +believed in no angel or spirit was compelled to +be the spokesman of the Divine Word, even +when he was plotting his death. Strange and +awful reflection! And yet so it must <span style="white-space:nowrap;">be—so</span> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> +experience shows us continually that it is. Our +words are not our own; we are no lords over +them whatever we may think.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>) Observe +the two truths connected with the atonement +here indicated: (1) that Jesus Christ dies +for the nation which by its constitutional rulers +is plotting his death; he dies for sinners, not for +the righteous (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +5:6-8</span>); (2) by his death he +gathers into <em>one</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, into one nation or kingdom +(<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +21:43, note</span>) the children of God from +every nation under the heavens (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:11; John +<a href="#ch10_16">10:16</a>; <a href="#ch17_20">17:20</a>, +<a href="#ch17_21">21</a>; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:16-18; +<abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 3:11; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:9</span>). +“The cross was emphatically a message to mankind, +to all tribes and races within the circle of +the empire that had appointed this punishment +for rebels and slaves. It is a thought which possessed +the minds of all the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">apostles—of</span> none +more than <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> John. The cross was to do what +the eagle had tried to do. It was to bind men +in one society.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_53"></a> +<p class="hanging">53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together<a id="FNanchor_462" href="#Footnote_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a> +for to put him to death.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_462" href="#FNanchor_462" class="label">[462]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 109:4, 5.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>53.</b> The speech of Caiaphas was successful; +it united Pharisee and Sadducee in an agreement +to do <em>whatever might be necessary</em> to compass the +death of Jesus. The effect of this agreement is +seen in their subsequent course (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 22:15, 16, 23; +27:1, 2</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_54"></a> +<p class="hanging">54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly<a id="FNanchor_463" href="#Footnote_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a> among +the Jews: but went thence unto a country near to the +wilderness, into a city called Ephraim,<a id="FNanchor_464" href="#Footnote_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> and there continued +with his disciples.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_463" href="#FNanchor_463" class="label">[463]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_1">7:1</a>; <a href="#ch18_10">18:20</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_464" href="#FNanchor_464" class="label">[464]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 13:23; 2 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 13:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>54.</b> The site of Ephraim is involved in some +uncertainty. The “wilderness” probably designates +the wild uncultivated hill country northeast +of Jerusalem, lying between the central +towns and the Jordan valley. Dr. Robinson +identifies Ephraim with the Ophrah referred to +in <abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 18:23; 1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 13:17, the Ephraim or +Ephram referred to in 2 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 13:19, and the +modern et-Taiyibeh, and Ewald supposes it to +be the same Ephraim near which occurred the +murder of Amnon (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 13:23</span>). Taiyibeh is four +or five miles east of Bethel and sixteen from +Jerusalem, is situated on a conspicuous conical +hill, and commands an extended view over the +whole eastern slope, the valley of the Jordan +and the Dead Sea. But the identification with +Taiyibeh is only hypothetical. See <cite>Andrews’ Life +of our Lord</cite>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 385. Christ must have returned +to this place immediately after the resurrection +of Lazarus, and his place of retirement was evidently +unknown to the public (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_57">57</a></span>). The “disciples” +who abode there with him undoubtedly +included the twelve, but may have also included +others. The length of his stay is uncertain. If +the chronology which I have adopted (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 11,</span> +<a href="#Note_ch11"><span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</span></a>), be the correct one, it could only have +been for two or three weeks, not five or six +weeks as supposed by Andrews and Ellicott. It +is not improbable that the special instructions +concerning prayer, reported by Luke, were given +during this period of retirement (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 11:1-8: 18:1-14</span>). +There is nothing in Luke to fix the time +or place of these instructions; but as Christ was +accustomed to draw his illustrations from circumstances +and events occurring about him, it +is probable that at least the parable of the Pharisee +and the publican was given in or near Judea. +From Ephraim Christ went up to Jerusalem to +attend the last Passover, and to his passion there. +See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 12, +<a href="#Note_ch12"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_55"></a> +<p class="hanging">55 And<a id="FNanchor_465" href="#Footnote_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a> the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and +many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before +the passover, to purify themselves.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_465" href="#FNanchor_465" class="label">[465]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_13">2:13</a>; + <a href="#ch5_1">5:1</a>; <a href="#ch6_4">6:4</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_56"></a> +<p class="hanging">56 Then<a id="FNanchor_466" href="#Footnote_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a> sought they for Jesus, and spake among +themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think +ye, that he will not come to the feast?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_466" href="#FNanchor_466" class="label">[466]</a> + <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_8">8</a>; + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_16">5:16</a>, + <a href="#ch5_18">18</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch11_57"></a> +<p class="hanging">57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had +given a commandment, that, if any man knew where +he were, he should shew <em>it</em>, that they might take him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>55-57. Out of the country.</b> From different +parts of the country: not only from Palestine, +but from remote provinces where the dispersed +Jews were scattered. (See Acts 2:9-11.)—<b>To +purify themselves.</b> No special purifications +were required by the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> before the +Passover, but the people were commanded to +purify themselves before any important event +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 35:2; <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 19:10, 11</span>), and were accustomed to +go through certain special rites of purification +prior to the Passover (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 30:13-20</span>).—​<b>Then +sought they for Jesus</b>, etc. “Verse 56 +graphically describes the restless curiosity of +these country people, who were collected in +groups in the temple and discussing the approaching +arrival of Jesus.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) His miracles +and teachings in Galilee and Perea, and above all +the resurrection of Lazarus, led his friends and +<i lang="la">quasi</i> disciples to expect his immediate revelation +of himself as the Messiah (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 19:11</span>); while +the fact that the Sanhedrim had pronounced +against him and given orders for his arrest +coupled with his sudden disappearance, led +others to think that he had fled from the country, +or at least would for the present conceal +himself (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch7_11">7:11</a>, <a href="#ch7_12">12</a></span>).—​<b>But the chief +priests and the Pharisees</b>, etc. (<span lang="el">δὲ οἱ ἀρχ</span>.; +the first <span lang="el">καὶ</span> is spurious). This is stated as an +explanation of the doubt of the people whether +Christ would appear or no. Godet’s suggestions +that the order was given to intimidate Christ +and his disciples is reasonable; for it could not +have been difficult to ascertain Christ’s place of +retreat, and when he emerged from it, and came +up with peculiar publicity to the feast, no attempt +was made to arrest him. According to a + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span> +Hebrew tradition, as reported by Lightfoot, an +officer of the Sanhedrim, during the forty days +preceding this Passover, “publicly proclaimed +that this man, who by his imposture had seduced +the people, ought to be stoned, and that any one +who could say aught in his defence was to come +forward and speak. But no one doing so, he was +hanged on the evening of the Passover.” To +some such public proclamation John here perhaps +refers.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Twelve">XII.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 12:1-11. ANOINTING OF JESUS BY MARY.—​<span class="smcap">A +costly expression of a fervent love is not +waste.—​Hypocrisy sets philanthropy and piety +in contrast.—​None are so deaf as they that will +not hear.</span></p> + + +<p><a id="Note_ch12"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—This anointing is not to +be confounded with that of which Luke (<span class="muchsmaller">7:36-50</span>) +gives an account. The reasons for distinguishing +it from that anointing I have stated in the +preliminary note there. This anointing is not +mentioned by Luke. It is reported by Matthew +(<span class="muchsmaller">26:6-13</span>) and Mark (<span class="muchsmaller">14:3-9</span>). It is true that some +harmonists have supposed two distinct anointings +in Bethany, but that opinion is entertained by +very few scholars and by none of the moderns, +and is not a reasonable hypothesis; the differences +between John’s account and those of +Matthew and Mark are not greater than might +have been expected in accounts given by independent +witnesses. Matthew and Mark say that +Mary anointed Jesus’ head, John that she +anointed Jesus’ feet; but certainly she may have +anointed both the head and the feet. The principal +difference lies in the fact that Matthew +and Mark impliedly place the anointing two days +before the Paschal feast (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:2; Mark 14:1</span>), +while John impliedly places it six days before +the feast (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_1">1</a></span>). The chronology is uncertain; +some scholars adopt that of Matthew and Mark +(<cite>Robinson</cite>, <cite>Geo. W. Clark</cite>, <cite>Hackett</cite>)—​others, that +of John (<cite>Townsend</cite>, <cite>Andrews</cite>, <cite>Alford</cite>). The former +of these opinions appears to me the more probable +for reasons stated in the note on Matthew +26:6-16. In such a case as this, where there +appears to be a conflict in the chronology of the +evangelists, neither of whom puts any emphasis +upon chronological data or gives what may +properly be called a date, we may reasonably +allow the order of events to be determined by a +consideration of the probable way in which one +event leads on to another. In this case the discourses +of Jesus in the temple and the overthrow +of the ambitious hopes of Judas Iscariot naturally +led to his complaint at this anointing, and Christ’s +sharp rebuke of his spirit here naturally led in +turn to his final act of treachery. The note of +time afforded by John in verses <a href="#ch12_1">1</a> +and <a href="#ch12_12">12</a>, though +they certainly indicate that the anointing took +place prior to the triumphal procession, are not +conclusive; for verses 2-9 may be regarded as +parenthetical. Thus Dr. Hackett: “John is the +only one of the evangelists who speaks of the +Saviour stopping at Bethany on the way between +Bethany and Jerusalem. Hence, this feast being +the principal event which John associates with +Bethany during these last days, he not unnaturally +inserts the account of the feast immediately +after the speaking of the arrival at Bethany. +But having (so to speak) discharged his mind of +that recollection, he then turns back and resumes +the historical order, namely, that on the +next day after coming to Bethany Jesus made +his public entry into Jerusalem as related by the +Synoptists.” We suppose, then, that after the +tarry in Ephraim Christ came up to the Passover; +stopped at Jericho, where occurred the healing +of the blind man, the conversion of Zaccheus, +and the parable of the ten pounds (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 18:35 to +19:28</span>); from Jericho proceeded to Jerusalem, +stopping on the way at Bethany, where, perhaps, +he spent the Sabbath; entered Jerusalem in +triumph on the following day, and drove from +the temple the traders (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 19:28-48</span>), and there +gave the instructions recorded more or less by +all the Synoptists, but most fully by Matthew +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 21:12 to 25:46</span>); and thence retreated to +Bethany, where this supper, made for him by +Martha and her sister Mary, led directly to the +conspiracy of Judas Iscariot for his betrayal +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +26:14-16</span>). See <cite>Tabular Harmony</cite>, page 45.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_151"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_151.jpg" + alt="Bethany"> + <p class="caption">BETHANY.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Then</span> Jesus, six days before the passover, came to +Bethany, where<a id="FNanchor_467" href="#Footnote_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a> Lazarus was which had been +dead, whom he raised from the dead.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_467" href="#FNanchor_467" class="label">[467]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_1">11:1</a>, <a href="#ch11_43">43</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 There they made him a supper, and Martha<a id="FNanchor_468" href="#Footnote_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a> served: +but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with +him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_468" href="#FNanchor_468" class="label">[468]</a> + Luke 10:38-42.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1, 2. Six days before the passover.</b> This +note of time is quite inconclusive, because it +is uncertain whether the day of Christ’s arrival +and the first day of the passover should be excluded +or included, or one should be excluded +and the other included, and also because it is +uncertain on which day of the month the passover +is to be considered as having begun. For +various chronological views, see <cite>Andrews’ Life +of our Lord</cite>, page 397. The most probable +hypothesis, and the one commonly accepted, +makes Christ arrive at Bethany on Friday night, +spending there the Sabbath and going on to + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span> +Jerusalem on the following day, the first day of +the week.—​<b>Came to Bethany.</b> A well known +village about fifteen stadia (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_18">11:18</a></span>), that is, +about a mile and a half, east of Jerusalem, on the +eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, not far from +the point at which the road to Jericho begins its +more sudden descent toward the valley. Fruit +and other trees growing <span style="white-space:nowrap;">around—olive,</span> almond, +and <span style="white-space:nowrap;">oak—give</span> the spot an air of seclusion and +repose. It is not mentioned in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, but is +intimately associated with the life of our Lord. +Here Lazarus was raised from the dead; here +Christ found a secluded retreat and the refreshment +of friendship during the stormy periods +of his ministry in Jerusalem; thence he ascended +when the cloud received him from the side of +his disciples. The present village, El-Azariyeh, +is a ruinous and wretched hamlet of some twenty +families, the inhabitants of which display even +less than the ordinary Eastern thrift and industry.—​<b>They +made him a supper.</b> The word +<dfn>supper</dfn> (<span lang="el">δεῖπνος</span>) represents the chief meal of the +Jews and also of the Greeks and Romans, taken +at evening after the labors of the day were over, +and sometimes prolonged into the night. The +same word is sometimes used to signify a banquet +or feast (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 23:6; Mark 6:21; Luke 14:12; +20:46; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 19:9</span>). Who made the supper is not +directly stated, by either John or the other +Evangelists. It was in the house of one Simon +the leper (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:6; Mark 14:3</span>). Godet supposes +that he was a leper who had been healed by +Jesus and who claimed the privilege of entertaining, +in the name of the rest of the inhabitants +of Bethany, Jesus, who had conferred on their +town so great a favor by raising Lazarus from +the dead. This seems to me a wild hypothesis +on the part of a very sober and cautious scholar. +The fact that Martha served is at least an indication +that the supper was given at the house of +Martha and Mary, who were certainly Christ’s +most intimate friends in the village. There is +nothing to indicate that Simon was present or +had been cured. The common hypothesis is +more reasonable, that he was the father of the +sisters, or possibly the husband of Martha, and +was either dead or through his leprosy exiled +from his home, and that the house is described +by the two Synoptists as his house because he +was a well-known resident, and also because they +wished to avoid concentrating the attention of +the Pharisees, who had already determined upon +the death of Lazarus, on him and his two sisters. +They are not mentioned by name in the Synoptical +narratives. The difference in character +between Martha and Mary, as indicated both by +their conduct here and the incident narrated in +Luke 10:38-42, is one of those incidental coincidences +which attest the historic truth of the +Gospels.</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_152"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_152.jpg" + alt="Anointing of feet"> + <p class="caption">ANOINTING OF FEET.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> +<a id="ch12_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Then<a id="FNanchor_469" href="#Footnote_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, +very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and +wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled +with the odour of the ointment.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_469" href="#FNanchor_469" class="label">[469]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_2">11:2</a>; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:6, etc.; Mark 14:3, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, +Simon’s <em>son</em>, which should betray him,</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred +pence, and given to the poor?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but +because he was a thief,<a id="FNanchor_470" href="#Footnote_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a> and had<a id="FNanchor_471" href="#Footnote_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a> the bag, and bare +what was put therein.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_470" href="#FNanchor_470" class="label">[470]</a> + 2 Kings 5:20-27; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 50:18.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_471" href="#FNanchor_471" class="label">[471]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_29">13:29</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3-6. A pound of ointment of spikenard.</b> +Mark and John both add a word characterizing +this ointment, which is not elsewhere found, in +either Biblical or classic Greek (<span lang="el">πιστικῆς</span>). Commentators +disagree in their translation of this +word, and the English translators seem to have +avoided the difficulty by omitting it altogether. +Some scholars derive it from a Greek verb (<span lang="el">πίνω</span>) +meaning <dfn>to drink</dfn>, and suppose it to indicate +that the ointment was liquid, perhaps drinkable. +By other scholars it is derived from the verb +(<span lang="el">πιστεύω</span>) <dfn>to believe</dfn>, and is supposed to signify a +trustworthy or a reliable ointment; that is, one +that was pure or unadulterated. This is the +more probable meaning. Spikenard was liable +to all kinds of adulteration. Pliny enumerates +nine plants with which it might be mixed in preparing +it for the market. The +spikenard appears to have been +procured from an Indian plant +of the family of <i lang="la">valeriana</i>, and +to have been imported from India +by way of Arabia. It was highly +prized among the ancients. +Horace, writing to Virgil, asks +his guests to bring as contribution +to the feast a little spikenard, +and by way of equivalent +he would match it with a cask of +wine. The use of fragrant oils +and ointments were very common +among the ancients, who +anointed themselves twice or +three times a day in order that the +delicious fragrance might not be +dissipated. The wealthier classes +carried their ointments and perfumes +in small boxes of costly +material and beautiful workmanship. +This ointment was contained +in an alabaster box (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +26:7; Mark 14:3</span>). This box Mary +broke, pouring the ointment first +on Christ’s head and then on his +feet. There is doubt as to the +meaning of the expression “she +brake the box;” some suppose +that she simply broke the seal; +others, that she broke off the +neck of the box with a sharp +blow, so pouring out the whole +ointment as an offering to Christ, +a very little of which would have +sufficed for the purpose of an ordinary anointing. +For an illustration of alabaster boxes see Luke +7:38, note.—​<b>Very costly.</b> A pound was an +enormous quantity to lavish on a single anointing.—​<b>Wiped +his feet with her hair.</b> So did the +woman who was a sinner (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 7:38</span>). But there +is this characteristic difference between the two +cases: the unknown woman in Luke washed his +feet with her tears, and it was the tears which +she wiped off with her hair. Here there are no +tears; all is joy and gladness.—​<b>And the house +was filled with the odor of the ointment.</b> +The service rendered to Christ did not stop with +him alone. Such service never does; it becomes +fragrant to all who are within the reach of its +influence.—​<b>One of his disciples.</b> The objection +was started by Judas Iscariot. The others, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> +however, shared this feeling; they too had indignation +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:8; Mark 18:4</span>), and regarded Mary’s +action as wasteful. To prosaic natures the expression +of love always seems a waste, but to +ardent natures nothing seems too costly to express +the enthusiasm of love.—​<b>For three hundred +denarii.</b> The denarius, or, as the word is +translated in the New Testament, <em>penny</em>, was a +coin of about seventeen cents in value, but at +that time was a day’s wages (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:10</span>). Thus, +this offering of Mary was practically equivalent +to an offering in our time of three hundred dollars.—​<b>And +given to the poor.</b> A pretended +regard for the poor is often made a cloak for an +attack upon the Christian church, and especially +upon Christian worship. In the case of Judas, +as in many other cases, it was but a cover for a +more sordid motive, but it served its purpose.—​<b>But +because he had the bag.</b> Possibly a <em>box</em>; +more probably a money bag or purse (Latin, <i lang="la">sacculus</i>), +in which the funds +of Jesus and his disciples +were carried. These funds +were doubtless small and +were made up of gifts from +other disciples (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 8:3</span>). +This is implied by the language +here, “what was put +therein,” signifying literally +what had been cast therein; that is, by +friends of Jesus.—​<b>And bare what was put +therein.</b> The original is capable of being translated +“<dfn>purloined</dfn> what was put therein.” This +is the significance given to it by most of the +scholars (<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>De Wette</cite>, <cite>Godet</cite>).</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_153"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_153.jpg" + alt="Money bag"> + <p class="caption">ANCIENT MONEY BAG.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of +my burying hath she kept this.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 For<a id="FNanchor_472" href="#Footnote_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a> the poor always ye have with you; but<a id="FNanchor_473" href="#Footnote_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a> me +ye have not always.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_472" href="#FNanchor_472" class="label">[472]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 15:11; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:11; Mark 14:7.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_473" href="#FNanchor_473" class="label">[473]</a> + verse <a href="#ch12_35">35</a>; <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> + <a href="#ch8_21">8:21</a>; <a href="#ch13_33">13:33</a>; + <a href="#ch16_5">16:5-7</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>7, 8.</b> If we combine the reports of the three +Evangelists, it will appear that Christ’s words +were substantially as follows: “Let her alone. +Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath +wrought a good work upon me; she hath +done what she could; against the day of my +burying hath she kept this, and is come beforehand +to anoint my body for the burial. The +poor always ye have with you, and whensoever +ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have +not always.” <em>Let her alone</em> is the language of +sharp rebuke. Christ was indignant at the +hypocrisy which made a pretended consideration +of the poor an excuse for attacking and condemning +an act of love towards himself. <em>Why +trouble ye the woman?</em> indicates that Mary was +herself abashed and downcast by the criticism of +the twelve. Perhaps, as Maurice says, “she could +not herself have answered Judas Iscariot’s complaining +question.” <cite>For she hath wrought a good +work upon me</cite>, is a strong expression of approbation +of an act which was service only as it was +an expression of love. The word rendered <cite>good</cite> +is literally <dfn>beautiful</dfn>; but with the Greeks, who +were an æsthetic race, the word expressive of +moral beauty was one of the highest commendation. +To express love to Christ is to render a +good work unto Christ. <cite>She hath done what she +could</cite>, commends Mary in the same spirit in which +the poor widow was commended (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 12:44</span>). +Whether her act was wise or not was not to be +questioned. It was the outpouring of a heart +full of love, and there is no condemnation to +those who are thus in Christ Jesus. There is +some question respecting the reading of the +phrase <cite>Against the day of my burying hath she +kept this</cite>. Some critics (<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Alford</cite>) understand +its meaning to be, <dfn>Against the day of my +burying let her preserve this</dfn>. And Meyer supposes +that only a part of the ointment was used in the +anointing, and that Christ expresses the idea +that the rest is not to be sold for the poor, but +to be preserved to complete Mary’s unfinished +act. But there is no question respecting the +reading of the text in Matthew. That the anointing +was treated by Christ as a prophetic act is +more in accordance both with the reports of the +other Evangelists and with the spirit of the +entire narrative. Christ’s declaration then is, +not that Mary should reserve the rest of the ointment +for the anointing of his corpse, nor that +she had deliberately and intentionally preserved +it for a prophetic anointing, but that it was in +accordance with a divine purpose that she had +poured it upon him while he lived. His body +was not anointed at the time of his death, the +completion of the funeral honors being prevented +by his resurrection (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 16:1, 2</span>).—​<cite>The +poor always ye have with you, and whensoever ye will +ye may do them good</cite>, is founded upon the great +principle that philanthropy needs no special emotion, +only opportunity, and that is never wanting; +while the expression of love can only be made +when the love itself burns ardently in the heart, +and that must of necessity be occasional and +exceptional; in other words, philanthropy may +always exhibit itself in acts of charity, but emotion +can only occasionally exhibit itself in acts +of reverence and love. Matthew and Mark add +the declaration by Christ, that <cite>Wheresoever this +Gospel shall be preached in the whole world over, +shall also this that this woman hath done be told for +a memorial for her</cite>. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:13, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he +was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but +that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised +from the dead.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 But the chief priests consulted that they might +put Lazarus also<a id="FNanchor_474" href="#Footnote_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a> to death;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_474" href="#FNanchor_474" class="label">[474]</a> + Luke 16:31.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 Because that<a id="FNanchor_475" href="#Footnote_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a> by reason of him many of the Jews +went away, and believed on Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_475" href="#FNanchor_475" class="label">[475]</a> + verse 18; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 11:45.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> +<b>9-11. Much people of the Jews therefore +knew that he was there.</b> This is an +indication that he tarried there at least over one +day, probably the Sabbath preceding the passion. +See <a href="#Note_ch12"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a>.—​<b>But that they might see +Lazarus also.</b> They were drawn together by +curiosity.—​<b>But the chief priests consulted +that they might put Lazarus to death.</b> +That is, they were at this time consulting. While +the people were drawn to Lazarus by curiosity, +and others were led by the story of his resurrection, +confirmed by himself, to believe that +Jesus was the Messiah, the chief priests in Jerusalem +were consulting how they might get rid +both of Jesus and of the witness to his divine +power. Thus they demonstrate the truth of +Christ’s saying, “Neither will they believe though +one rose from the dead” (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 16:31</span>).—​<b>Believed +on Jesus.</b> That is, they believed that he was +the Messiah. Nor was this a mere intellectual +opinion. It involved attachment to Christ and +hope in him; a looking forward to a revelation of +himself in some miraculous and decisive display +of divine power against the Romans. The period +was one of a brief but great popularity, which +accounts for the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, +and the Pharisees’ fear of the people which kept +them from openly arresting Christ during his +teaching in the temple on the eventful days that +immediately followed.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 On<a id="FNanchor_476" href="#Footnote_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a> the next day much people that were come to +the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to +Jerusalem,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_476" href="#FNanchor_476" class="label">[476]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:8, etc.; Mark 11:8, etc.; Luke 19:36, etc.</p> +</div></div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to +meet him, and cried,<a id="FNanchor_477" href="#Footnote_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a> Hosanna! Blessed <em>is</em> the King +of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_477" href="#FNanchor_477" class="label">[477]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 118:25, 26.</p> +</div></div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat +thereon; as it is<a id="FNanchor_478" href="#Footnote_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> written,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_478" href="#FNanchor_478" class="label">[478]</a> + <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 9:9.</p> +</div></div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold, thy King +cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 These things<a id="FNanchor_479" href="#Footnote_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a> understood not his disciples at the +first: but when Jesus was glorified,<a id="FNanchor_480" href="#Footnote_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a> then remembered<a id="FNanchor_481" href="#Footnote_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a> +they that these things were written of him, and <em>that</em> +they had done these things unto him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_479" href="#FNanchor_479" class="label">[479]</a> + Luke 18:34.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_480" href="#FNanchor_480" class="label">[480]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_39">7:39</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_481" href="#FNanchor_481" class="label">[481]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_26">14:26.</a></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 The people therefore that was with him when he +called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from +the dead, bare record.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 For<a id="FNanchor_482" href="#Footnote_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a> this cause the people also met him, for that +they heard that he had done this miracle.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_482" href="#FNanchor_482" class="label">[482]</a> + verse <a href="#ch12_11">11</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 12:12-18.</b> <span class="smcap">The triumphal entry +into Jerusalem.</span> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:1-17; Mark +11:1-11; Luke 19:29-44. The account is on +the whole the fullest in Luke. See notes there. +The statement that some from Jerusalem took +palm branches and came out to meet the procession +as it approached the city is peculiar to John. +So also is his account of the effect produced on +the Pharisees (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_19">19</a></span>). The statement in Luke +19:39, that some of the Pharisees called on +Jesus to rebuke his disciples is equally indicative +of their feeling, which was one of intense though +suppressed hostility. <em>The next day</em>, verse <a href="#ch12_12">12</a>, +might mean the day after the anointing, but I +believe means the day after the visit to Bethany, +the account of the anointing being parenthetical. +See <a href="#Note_ch12"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a>. Those who came out to meet +Jesus are not described as <em>Jews</em>, and may have +been, as Meyer surmises, unprejudiced pilgrims +who had come to the feast and had there heard +the fame of the Messiah. For account of how +the young ass was found, see Matthew 21:2-7.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 12:19-50. GREEKS VISIT JESUS—HIS DISCOURSE +THEREON.—​<span class="smcap">Death the condition of life +(24, 25).—​Following Christ the condition of companionship +with him (26).—​The soul conflicts of +Christ illustrated (27-30).—​The achievements of +the cross of Christ; it judges the world; defeats +of the world’s false prince; draws all +men to the true king (31-33).—​Disobedience of +the inner light of the soul quenches it; faith +in and following of that light nourishes and +perfects it (34-40).—​The crime of cowardice illustrated +(42, 43).—​Christ a guide to the Father +(44-46).—​Christ’s words man’s judge (47, 48).—​The +source of Christ’s authority and power (49, 50).</span></p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, +Perceive<a id="FNanchor_483" href="#Footnote_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a> ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the +world is gone after him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_483" href="#FNanchor_483" class="label">[483]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_47">11:47</a>, <a href="#ch11_48">48</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 And there were certain<a id="FNanchor_484" href="#Footnote_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a> Greeks among them that<a id="FNanchor_485" href="#Footnote_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a> +came up to worship at the feast:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_484" href="#FNanchor_484" class="label">[484]</a> + Acts 17:4; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_485" href="#FNanchor_485" class="label">[485]</a> + 1 Kings 8:41, 42.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 The same came therefore to<a id="FNanchor_486" href="#Footnote_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a> Philip, which was +of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, +we would see Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_486" href="#FNanchor_486" class="label">[486]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_44">1:44</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again +Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>19-22. The Pharisees therefore said +among themselves.</b> Some among the Pharisees +were friendly to Jesus, but dared not come +out openly in his favor. Of this number was +Nicodemus. To the same class belonged the +lawyer that answered Christ discreetly and the +ruler whom it is said Jesus loved (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 10:21; 12:34</span>). +Chrysostom supposes that the Pharisees here +referred to were of this sort, and that their language +is that of remonstrance against the endeavors +of the rest to destroy him. The language +seems to me rather that of approval of +Caiaphas’ counsel. They point to the fact that +the cautious methods have availed nothing. So +Bengel and most modern critics.—​<b>The world +is gone out after him.</b> Literally <dfn>are departing +after him</dfn>; that is, are leaving us, the old +and acknowledged teachers, to go after him, this +new and unordained rabbi. The <dfn>world</dfn> signifies + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span> +the multitude, not especially the wicked; but it +is a term of reproach.—​<b>But there were certain +Greeks.</b> <em>But</em>, not <em>and</em>. The particle (<span lang="el">δέ</span>) +is adversative, and indicates a contrast between +the persons mentioned in the previous sentence +and those here referred to. So do the terms +<em>Pharisees</em>, who were Hebrews of the Hebrews, +and <em>Greeks</em> who were, not Jews dispersed in +Greece and coming up thence to the feast, but +men who belonged to the Greek nationality and +had adopted the Hebrew religion, <i>i. e.</i>, Greek +proselytes. On the character of these proselytes +from foreign nations, see Matthew 23:15, note. +That these were Greeks, not Grecian Jews, is +evident from the word employed to describe the +Greeks (<span lang="el">Ἕλληνες</span>), which is one signifying nationality, +not location; that they were proselytes is +evident from the characterization as <em>among them +which were accustomed</em> (present participle signifying +habit—<cite>Meyer</cite>) <em>to come up to worship at the +feast</em>. They were of the same character as the +centurion whose son Christ healed, the Cornelius +who sent for Peter, and the Eunuch to whom +Philip preached (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:7-10; Acts 8:27-40; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 10</span>). +The pilgrims to Jerusalem were increased considerably +in the increasing decay of the polytheistic +worship of Greece and Rome, with such +converts to the simple and sublime monotheism +of Judea.—​<b>The same came therefore to +Philip.</b> Why to Philip is purely a matter of +conjecture. In fact, Philip and Andrew are both +Greek names, and the only names of Greek origin +among the twelve.—​<b>Sir</b> (<span lang="el">κύριε</span>). The term is the +same one translated <dfn>lord</dfn> when used in addressing +Christ. Its fair equivalent in the English language +is Sire. They address Philip with marked +respect.—​<b>We would see Jesus.</b> Rather, <cite>we +have desired</cite> to see him. They assume that a +private interview will be readily granted them. +That this is what they desire is evident, because +Christ was publicly teaching in the temple during +the four days preceding his arrest, and therefore +it was very easy for them to both see and hear +him in public. The motive of this request may +probably have been a mixed one; partly a curiosity +to see and hear more of this extraordinary +Rabbi, partly a real moral and spiritual appreciation +of and drawing to him; possibly a dim +and unconfessed wonder whether he might possibly +be the promised Messiah. Stier compares +this visit to that of the Magi at the birth, one a +coming to the cradle, the other to the cross. +Godet refers to the tradition narrated by Eusebius, +that an embassy was sent by the king of +Edessa, in Syria, to invite Jesus to take up his +abode with him, and to furnish him such a royal +welcome as should compensate him for the obstinacy +with which the Jews rejected him.—​<b>Andrew +and Philip tell Jesus.</b> The two were of +the same city (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_44">1:44</a></span>). The fact that Philip takes +Andrew with him is one of the not unfrequent +indications of the awe with which, despite the +fullness and even familiarity of his love, Christ +inspired his most intimate disciples (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 9:45; +Mark 9:32, etc.</span>). So Bengel: “Philip feared to +introduce the Greeks alone; with a friend he +ventured to do so.” It is to be remembered, +however, that the request would seem a doubtful +one to them, since the Rabbinical theology forbade +to teach the truth to a Gentile, who was +regarded as unworthy of it, and Jesus himself +had confined his ministry to the lost sheep of the +house of Israel (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:5; 15:24</span>).</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is<a id="FNanchor_487" href="#Footnote_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a> +come, that the Son of man should be glorified.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_487" href="#FNanchor_487" class="label">[487]</a> + chaps, <a href="#ch13_32">13:32</a>; <a href="#ch17_1">17:1</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Verily, verily, I say unto you,<a id="FNanchor_488" href="#Footnote_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a> Except a corn of +wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: +but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_488" href="#FNanchor_488" class="label">[488]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:36.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 He<a id="FNanchor_489" href="#Footnote_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> that loveth his life shall lose it: and he that +hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life +eternal.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_489" href="#FNanchor_489" class="label">[489]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 If<a id="FNanchor_490" href="#Footnote_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a> any man serve me, let him follow me; and +where<a id="FNanchor_491" href="#Footnote_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a> I am, there shall also my servant be: if<a id="FNanchor_492" href="#Footnote_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a> any +man serve me, him will <em>my</em> Father honour.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_490" href="#FNanchor_490" class="label">[490]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_15">14:15</a>; + Luke 16:46; 1 John 5:3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_491" href="#FNanchor_491" class="label">[491]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_3">14:3</a>; + <a href="#ch17_24">17:24</a>; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:17.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_492" href="#FNanchor_492" class="label">[492]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 2:30; <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 27:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>23-26. But Jesus answered them.</b> <em>But</em> +(<span lang="el">δέ</span>) not <em>and</em>; the adversative particle indicates +that the request was refused. So also does the +word (<span lang="el">ἀποκρίνομαι</span>) rendered <dfn>answered</dfn>, literally +to distinguish, then to reject after inquiry; then +to make response; but primarily a negative +response. So also, it appears to me, does the +discourse which follows. Neither, however, is +conclusive. Tholuck apparently thinks the request +granted; Meyer supposes that Christ intended +to grant the request, but was interrupted +by the voice from heaven; a quite improbable +conjecture. Whether the interview was granted +or refused, is a point on which John lays no +emphasis. He narrates the request only because +it leads to a brief utterance by Jesus, called out +by it, and which he could not intelligibly report +without reporting the incident which led to it.—​<b>The +hour is come that the Son of man +should be glorified.</b> <cite>Hour</cite> is here equivalent +to the more general word <dfn>time</dfn> or <dfn>era</dfn>. The +prophets of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> foretell the ingathering +of the Gentiles through the Messiah. This is +both his glory and the glory of the Jewish nation +in him (<span class="muchsmaller">Psalm 2:8; Isaiah 53:11</span>). In this application +of these Greek proselytes, Christ sees a prophetic +indication of the time when, with a profounder +meaning, the Gentile world will everywhere put +forth a request to see Jesus, when, being lifted +up, he will draw all men unto him, when they +will come from the north and the south, the east + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> +and the west, to sit down with Jesus in his kingdom +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 8:11</span>), when he will break down the +partition wall between Jew and Gentile (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> +2:14</span>), and gather into one nation the dispersed +children of God (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch11_52">11:52</a>; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 3:11; +<abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 7:9</span>). +The term <dfn>Son of man</dfn> is here, as always when +used by Christ in reference to himself, equivalent +to <dfn>the Messiah</dfn>.—​<b>Verily, verily, I say unto +you.</b> A customary prelude to an important +saying (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:18, note</span>). Here it is used by Christ +to emphasize a truth which the disciples had +already proved themselves so loth to receive that +they were practically unable to understand it +(<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 9:32; Luke 18:34</span>), namely, that the Messiah’s +death must precede this ingathering of the Gentiles +and prepare the way for it, and itself become +the instrument for its accomplishment. +He states this truth, first under a figure drawn +from nature (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_24">24</a></span>), then as a general law, alike +applicable to the Master and his disciples +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_25">25</a></span>).—​<b>Except +a kernel of wheat fall into the +ground and die, it abideth alone.</b> In the +granary it is <em>safe</em>, but <em>useless</em>. Its death is the +precursor of its usefulness. Paul employs the +same figure in a different connection in 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +15:36. Christ embodies it in the Lord’s Supper, +which reminds us of this law of self-sacrifice. +It is the wheat ground to powder that makes the +bread, and the body bruised that makes the +bread of life; it is the grape crushed that makes +the wine, and the blood poured out as a libation +that makes the wine of life. This truth of self-sacrifice +symbolized by nature is one of the universal +laws of spiritual life.—​<b>He that loveth +his life shall lose it.</b> The <dfn>life</dfn> or <dfn>soul</dfn> (the +same Greek word, <span lang="el">ψυχή</span>, is indiscriminately rendered +by both English words in our English version) +is the æsthetic and intellectual part of man +in contrast with the spiritual nature (<span lang="el">ὅ πνεῦμα</span>). +If one gives himself to the saving of this soul or +life he destroys it; for this is but the adjunct of +the spiritual nature, and perishes if that is left +to perish. “Lange points out that this saying +involved a condemnation of Hellenism. For +what was Greek civilization but human life cultivated +from the view-point of enjoyment, and +withdrawn from the law of sacrifice.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) +The same judgment Paul re-affirms in 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +1:18-21; and it is equally applicable as a judgment +of modern unreligious culture. Culture +without religion destroys what it would preserve.—​<b>He +that hateth his life in this +world shall guard it unto life eternal.</b> +Two different Greek words (<span lang="el">ψυχή</span> and <span lang="el">ζωή</span>) are +rendered by the same English word <dfn>life</dfn> in the +two clauses of this sentence. Yet if we were to +render it, <cite>He that hateth his soul shall guard it unto +life eternal</cite>, the rendering would be at least +equally liable to misapprehension. If the reader +understands <em>soul</em> to mean the earthy side of +human nature, in contrast with the spiritual, as +explained above (and this is the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> use of the +term), this substituted rendering will give him +the true meaning of the original. Beware of +understanding <em>hate</em> to mean merely does not +love, or <em>guard</em> as merely equivalent to <em>keep</em>, as it +is rendered in our English version. The meaning +is that he who finds no satisfaction in earthly +sources of enjoyment, who turns away from +them with a sense of satiety that, at least at times, +becomes a generous contempt and a noble loathing, +toward the higher spiritual life which mere +intellectual and æsthetic culture does nothing to +satisfy, is by that very hate protected from the +excesses and the demoralization which of necessity +inheres in a life contented with the provisions +for the earthly nature. The hate inspired +in a noble nature by every unworthy thing is the +best protection against subtle temptations.—​<b>If +any man would serve me, let him follow +me.</b> This is Christ’s answer to the request of +the Greeks. Service of Christ is to be sought, not +by secret interviews, not by sacred and saintly +communings, which he gives to whom he will, +but by practical following of him in a life of daily +self-sacrifice for others.—​<b>And where I am, +there shall my servant be.</b> This practical +following is the way that leads to intimate fellowship. +The sacred conversations of Christ with +the twelve, recorded in John, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_1">13-16</a>, did +not come till for three years they had followed +him, forsaking all things for the sake of his companionship. +This following has the promise both +of heavenly companionship with Christ on earth +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_21">14:21-23</a></span>), and eternal companionship with him +in heaven (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:17; +2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:11, 12</span>).—​<b>If any man +serve me, him will my Father honor.</b> For +it is with the Father, not with the Son, to determine +who shall sit at his right hand and his left +(<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 10:40</span>), who are to receive the honors, what +is to be the allotment of rank in the kingdom of +God. The Christian’s ambition, therefore, is to +be Christ-like in the life of earthly service, and +leave all else to the will of the Father concerning +him.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 Now<a id="FNanchor_493" href="#Footnote_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a> is my soul troubled: and what shall I say? +Father, save me from this hour: but<a id="FNanchor_494" href="#Footnote_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a> for this cause +came I unto this hour.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_493" href="#FNanchor_493" class="label">[493]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_21">13:21</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:38, 39; Luke 12:50.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_494" href="#FNanchor_494" class="label">[494]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch18_37">18:37</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a +voice<a id="FNanchor_495" href="#Footnote_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a> from heaven, <em>saying</em>, I have both glorified <em>it</em>, +and will glorify <em>it</em> again.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_495" href="#FNanchor_495" class="label">[495]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 The people therefore that stood by, and heard <em>it</em>, +said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to +him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>27-29. Now is my soul troubled.</b> Literally, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> +<dfn>stirred up, in conflict</dfn>. In <a href="#ch11_33">11:33</a> it is said +that Jesus was indignant in <em>spirit</em>, here that his +<em>soul</em> is in conflict. See note on <a href="#ch11_33">11:33</a>, and on this +contrast between soul and spirit, see above on +verse <a href="#ch12_25">25</a>; the one links man to God, the other +to the animal. At the grave of Lazarus the +higher spiritual nature was indignant at the exhibition +of formalism and false pretence; here +the lower and earthly nature was in conflict +between the instincts of self-preservation and the +impulse of love and duty. “A horror of death +and an ardor of obedience concurred.”—(<cite>Bengel.</cite>) +It was a real struggle; the narration of it refutes +the rationalistic hypothesis that John omitted +the agony at Gethsemane because he desired to +portray a Son of God superior to all trial and +conflict. It illustrates and is interpreted by +<abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 2:18; 4:15; 5:7; see Notes on Temptation +of Christ, <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:1-11; and on Lessons +of Gethsemane, <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:36-46.—​<b>And what +shall I say? Father, save me from this +hour?</b> This is to be taken not affirmatively +but interrogatively. Christ does not first pray +to be delivered from his passion and then +change his mind, recall the prayer and put up +another and a different one. Nor is it uttered +didactically, to teach his disciples. The contrast +between the two petitions is explained +by the precedent declaration, “Now is my soul +in conflict;” the nature of that conflict is hinted +at in the twofold prayer, the first hypothetical, +the second final: Shall I ask my Father to save +me from this hour? (That is the suggestion of +the natural instincts.) No! for this cause came +I unto this hour. Rather, Father, glorify thy +name. (That is the victory of the spiritual nature.) +“The struggle is like one of those fissures +in its crust, which enables science to fathom the +bowels of the earth. It lets us read the very +inmost depths of the Lord’s being.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) +Beware of understanding this conflict as one +between the God and the man in the God-man. +The <em>spirit</em> is in every child of God, increasingly +dominant, though in none absolutely, unquestionably +and always supreme as in Jesus Christ. +<em>This hour</em> is the hour of the passion toward +which Christ had steadfastly set his face (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke +9:51</span>) in coming up for the last time to Jerusalem.—​<b>For +this cause came I unto this hour.</b> +In order to be a sacrifice he had both come from +heaven to earth, and also, at this very moment, +from the safety and comparative popularity of +Perea to Jerusalem.—​<b>Father, glorify thy +name.</b> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Matthew 26:39. In both cases +there is not merely resignation to a superior will, +an invincible fate, but a real and supreme desire +to fulfil that will whatever it may entail.—​<b>Then +came there a voice from heaven.</b> The +critics since, as the people then, have discussed +whether this was really an articulate voice, +speaking words, or only a sound of thunder +which Christ interpreted as a divine response to +his prayer. The word <dfn>voice</dfn> (<span lang="el">φωνὴ</span>) is not conclusive, +because it signifies sometimes an inarticulate +sound, as of a trumpet, chariots, waters, +thunder, and the like (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 24:31; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 14:7, 8; John +<a href="#ch3_8">3:8</a>; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 9:9; 6:1; 14:2; 18:22, etc.</span>). But the plain +implication of the narrative is that this was an +articulate voice, the words of which were understood +by others than Jesus, though not by all. +So at Paul’s conversion his companions heard +the <em>sound</em>, but understood not the <em>words</em> of the +voice that spake to him (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 9:7 with 22:9, notes</span>). +This is the view of nearly all evangelical scholars, +<i>e. g.</i>, Alford, Meyer, Godet, etc. The latter’s +illustration is apt: “The whole multitude heard +a noise; but the meaning of the voice was only +perceived by each in proportion to his spiritual +intelligence. Thus the wild beast perceives only +a <em>sound</em> in the human voice; the trained animal +discovers a <em>meaning</em>, a command, for example, +which it immediately obeys; man alone discerns +therein a <em>thought</em>.”—​Here the multitude (<span lang="el">ὁ ὄχλος</span>, +<dfn>the people</dfn>) did not comprehend; but some (<span lang="el">ἄλλοι</span>, +<dfn>others</dfn>), a smaller number, did.—​<b>I have both +glorified it and will glorify it again.</b> The +Father had glorified his name by giving Jesus +daily and hourly the power to do and to bear all +that had been laid on him up to that moment; +and he would glorify it by continuing to give +him the power to do and to bear all that should +be laid on him to the end. The prayer and the +promise are both for us. In our passion-hour +true prayer will be the cry, not of the soul, but +of the spirit; a cry, not to be saved from our +Calvary, but to be enabled to glorify our Father’s +name in and through it. And the answer is +interpreted by our experience in the past (<span class="muchsmaller">Psalm +77:10-12</span>); the grace that has been sufficient will +be sufficient to the end.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not +because of me, but<a id="FNanchor_496" href="#Footnote_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a> for your sakes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_496" href="#FNanchor_496" class="label">[496]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_42">11:42</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall<a id="FNanchor_497" href="#Footnote_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a> +the prince of this world be cast out.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_497" href="#FNanchor_497" class="label">[497]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_11">16:11</a>; + Luke 10:18; Acts 26:18; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 And I, if I be lifted<a id="FNanchor_498" href="#Footnote_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a> + up from the earth, will draw +all<a id="FNanchor_499" href="#Footnote_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a> <em>men</em> unto me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_498" href="#FNanchor_498" class="label">[498]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_28">8:28</a>.</p> + +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_499" href="#FNanchor_499" class="label">[499]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:18.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 This he said, signifying<a id="FNanchor_500" href="#Footnote_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a> what death he should +die.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_500" href="#FNanchor_500" class="label">[500]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch18_32">18:32</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>30-33. Not for me but for you.</b> If there +were no articulate words, if Christ simply imputed +to the sound of thunder the meaning, +there would have been in it no value to the +bystanders. This declaration, therefore, seems +to me conclusive that a voice spoke comprehensible + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span> +words; and even to indicate that the hypothetical +explanation “It thundered,” was not +an honest one.—​<b>Now is the judgment of this +world.</b> The language is anticipative. Christ +speaks as though the passion on which he was +entering were already accomplished. That passion +he declares will be characterized by a threefold +result: the world will be judged, the devil +conquered and cast out, and the all-conquering +Christ brought in. The judgment of the world +has already begun. It “dates from Good Friday” +(<cite>Godet</cite>). While Christ came not to judge +the world but that the world through him might +be saved, his cross is in fact a judgment-seat, +and men are discriminated morally and spiritually +by their reception of the suffering, self-sacrificing +Redeemer.—​<b>Now the prince of +this world is cast out.</b> The Prince of this +world was a phrase much used by Jewish writers +to designate the spiritual monarch of the Gentiles +in opposition to the one true God whom +they regarded as in a peculiar sense the God of +Israel. Christ employs their language; he sees +in the application of the Greeks for an interview +with him a prophecy of the time when Satan +will be cast out and all the kingdoms of this +world will become the kingdoms of our Lord +and of his Christ. This he regards as accomplished +<em>now</em>, that is, by the sacrifice of Calvary. +The world’s battle was fought and the victory +won there. The second coming is not to redeem +the world, but to realize for the world the fruits +of redemption, in an established and eternal +kingdom of righteousness, after, by the cross, +humanity has been judged, the devil cast out, +and the redeemed race lifted up into oneness +with Christ Jesus. The passages of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, +which imply the continuing influence of the +devil (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 16:20; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:4; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:2; 6:12, etc.</span>) +are not inconsistent with Christ’s language here, +because it is prophetic; he speaks of that as +already accomplished which is absolutely certain +to be accomplished by the power of that divine +sacrifice so soon by him to be consummated.—​<b>And +I, if I be lifted up will draw all men +toward myself.</b> <em>If</em> is not to be rendered as +equivalent to <em>when</em>. The language is sympathetic +with that of verse <a href="#ch12_27">27</a>; it is the last trace +of that soul-storm. His crucifixion was contingent; +it was made, to the last, dependent on his +own voluntary submission. Even in the hour of +his arrest the way of deliverance was open to +him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:53</span>). He is still, as it were, arguing +with himself. The whole language is that of +<i lang="la">quasi</i> soliloquy. The phrase <em>lifted up +from the earth</em> certainly does not refer to his ascension, as +Meyer interprets it. John’s own interpretation +in the next verse is conclusive on that point. +Apart from inspiration, he, as a sympathetic ear-witness, +is to be trusted as a correct interpreter. +Nor does it refer to the mere physical elevation +from the ground of a foot or two in the crucifixion. +The <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> use of the original word rendered +<dfn>lifted up</dfn> (<span lang="el">ὑψόω</span>) as well as the added words +<cite>from the earth</cite>, is conclusive on that point. To +give a physical interpretation to the phrase is to +belittle and degrade it. The word here rendered +<dfn>lifted up</dfn> is generally rendered <dfn>exalted</dfn> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:23; +23:12; Luke 1:52; 14:11</span>), and is used in reference +to Christ’s divine exaltation in consequence of +his voluntary sacrifice (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 2:33; 5:31</span>). The +crucifixion is exaltation because self-sacrifice is +divine glory (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:23, 24</span>). <cite>From the earth</cite> is +added to mark the contrast between the kingdom +of the Prince of this world which is to be +overthrown and that of the Prince of Light which +takes its place. The one is of the earth earthy; +the other is not of this world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_36">18:36</a></span>), but <em>over</em> +it, a kingdom lifted up from the world but dominating +it. In each individual soul the kingdom +of God begins, as it began in the world of humanity, +in crucifixion. When we take up our cross +and follow Christ, we are lifted up from the +earth and in us the Prince of this world is cast +out (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 9:49, 50; Luke 14:27, notes</span>). The word <dfn>drawing</dfn> +here refers not primarily to the influence of +the Holy Spirit winning men to Christ +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_39">7:39</a>; +<a href="#ch14_18">14:18</a>, <a href="#ch14_19">19</a>; <a href="#ch16_7">16:7</a></span>), certainly not to what theologians +call effectual calling, but to the attractive +power of the cross itself. Self-sacrifice always +draws us toward the sacrificed one, the soldier, +the martyr, the mother; and has drawn all +hearts toward Christ as the pre-eminent martyr. +This is not, however, a promise that all men +shall be actually brought to Christlikeness of +disposition. The original does not imply this. +The preposition <cite>to</cite> (<span lang="el">ηρός</span>) should rather be rendered +<dfn>towards</dfn>; for it indicates <em>direction</em>, not +<em>result</em>, the place or person toward which anything +moves or an affection is directed, not that +to which anything comes or upon which an +affection is finally centered. <cite>All men</cite> must not +be rendered with Calvin as equivalent to “all the +children of God;” nor does it merely mean men +of both Gentile and Jewish origin, <i>i. e.</i>, all classes +of men. Christ’s words need no mending. All +men to whom the simple story of the cross is +told are drawn toward him who gave himself for +us; whether they <em>follow him</em> and become like +him through a like voluntary cross-bearing is +another question. Of that Christ says nothing +here. The whole sentence, then (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_31">31, 32</a></span>), may +be paraphrased thus: Already is the judgment +of this world beginning to take place; already +is the Prince of this world beginning to be cast +out; and I, if I am faithful to the end in enduring +that cross for which I came into this +hour, will draw all hearts toward me, even +as now these stranger hearts are drawn toward +me.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 The people answered him, We have heard<a id="FNanchor_501" href="#Footnote_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a> out +of the law<a id="FNanchor_502" href="#Footnote_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a> that Christ abideth for ever: and how +sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is +this Son of man?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_501" href="#FNanchor_501" class="label">[501]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 89:36, 37; 110:4; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 9:7.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_502" href="#FNanchor_502" class="label">[502]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:18; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 72:17-19.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is +the light<a id="FNanchor_503" href="#Footnote_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a> with you.<a id="FNanchor_504" href="#Footnote_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a> Walk while ye have the light, +lest darkness come upon you: for he<a id="FNanchor_505" href="#Footnote_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a> that walketh in +darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_503" href="#FNanchor_503" class="label">[503]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_12">8:12</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_504" href="#FNanchor_504" class="label">[504]</a> + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 13:6.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_505" href="#FNanchor_505" class="label">[505]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_10">11:10</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye +may be<a id="FNanchor_506" href="#Footnote_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a> the children of light. These things spake +Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_506" href="#FNanchor_506" class="label">[506]</a> + <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:8.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span> +<b>34-36. We have heard out of the law +that the Messiah abideth forever.</b> They +evidently understand Christ’s language to refer +to his death, at least to his departure from the +earth, and are really perplexed. For the idea +of an earthly Messianic kingdom was so firmly +fixed in the public mind that they were absolutely +incapable of receiving any other; and the +<abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> in many passages does describe that kingdom +as an everlasting one (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 89:36; 145:13; Isaiah +9:5, 7; <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 7:13, 14</span>).—​<b>Who is this Son of man?</b> +The language is that of sneer. What strange +sort of a Messiah is this, that must die in order +to draw all nations unto him, and enter into his +kingdom?—​<b>Then Jesus said unto them.</b> +His reply is not responsive to their question. He +rarely if ever replied to sneers.—​<b>Yet a little +while is the light with you.</b> The commentators +generally regard the phrase <cite>the Light</cite> +as Christ’s designation of himself. So Alford, +Godet, Meyer, among the moderns, and Chrysostom +and Calvin among the older commentators. +But this interpretation entangles the whole sentence. +Christ then bids his auditors to walk, +<i>i. e.</i>, “be not slothful but spiritually active” +(<cite>Meyer</cite>), for the two or three days that intervene +before his death; for his death will bring darkness +on them, and make it impossible for them +to walk intelligently thereafter. The direction +is thus deprived of all significance to us, and is +contradicted by history; for the death of Christ +brought light, not darkness, and was itself the +necessary precursor of highest spiritual activity +in all that believe on him. The <em>light</em> here, as in +Matthew 6:23, is the moral and spiritual nature +of man, that which links him to the divine and +makes it possible for him to become a child of +God. God is the Light of the world (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:5</span>) because +he is the fountain, the central sun which +supplies and keeps alive this moral and spiritual +nature in men. Christ is the Light of the world +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_5">9:5</a></span>), because in him this spiritual nature +shone out without any dimness from sin or +moral infirmity. Christians are lights in the +world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:14</span>), because this spiritual nature in +them is their guide, illuminating them and +through them others. If one follows this inner +light it grows brighter and brighter unto perfect +day (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 4:18</span>); if he disobeys it he quenches it +and goes into moral darkness, losing the very +power of moral and spiritual discrimination (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John +2:8-11</span>). I understand Christ’s meaning then to +be this: You have yet for a little while longer +the light of conscience; it is not utterly quenched. +Beware. Walk according to such light as you +possess, lest utter moral darkness come upon +you. And he who walks in such darkness knows +not the future fate that awaits him. <cite>Walk while +ye have the light</cite> should rather be rendered, <cite>Walk +as ye have the light</cite> (<span lang="el">ὡς</span> not <span lang="el">ἕως</span> is the best reading, +so <cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>, etc.); that is, <em>According to the +light ye possess</em>. The phrase <cite>Come upon you</cite> is +hardly forcible enough to express the meaning +of the original (<span lang="el">καταλαμβάνω</span>) which is literally +to <dfn>seize</dfn> or <dfn>take violent possession of</dfn>. See Mark +9:18; John 8:3; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 5:4. <cite>Knoweth not +whither he goeth</cite> indicates the awful mystery which +hangs about the final fate of those who refuse to +follow the light of their own better nature, and +so to accept the light which comes from God +through Jesus Christ his Son.—​<b>As ye have +the light, have faith in the light, that ye +may become the children of light.</b> Observe +the difference between this rendering, +which accurately follows the original, and that +of the English version, from which it differs in +three important particulars. Christ does not +say <em>while ye have the light</em>, but <cite>according as ye have +the light</cite>, that is, faith is to be exercised according +to the opportunity; he does not say <em>believe</em>, +a word which indicates an intellectual act, but +<cite>have faith</cite>, a word which indicates a spiritual +habit; he does not say <em>may be the children of light</em>, +as though a single act of belief perfected the +soul in sonship, but <cite>may become the children of +light</cite>, faith in such light as the soul possesses +being the way unto a final perfection in the +divine life. Faith is the evidence of things unseen +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:1</span>), that is, the power of the soul by +which it appreciates unseen moral qualities; +hence the divine qualities in Christ: hence, by +direct, immediate communion, the invisible spirit +of God. The direction here is the natural outcome +of the preceding warning, and may be paraphrased +thus: “As you have moral and spiritual +illumination, exercise faith toward it, apprehend, +appreciate, obey the sacred inner monitions +of your moral nature; so shall you be led constantly +into clearer light, and shall at last become +children of light, wholly possessed and +pervaded by it.” This of course includes the +exercise of faith in Christ according to the measure +in which he is revealed to the soul; but it +certainly is much more than a mere exhortation + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> +to the Jews to believe in Jesus as the Messiah +while he remained in the flesh among them. +Both the warning against quenching this inner +light by disobedience, and the exhortation to +nourish it by appreciating and following it are +applicable to all men and for all time.—​<b>And +departed and hid himself from them.</b> +The very fact that these were among Christ’s +last words, and that immediately on uttering +them he departed into a concealment from which +apparently he did not issue till the time for his +passion, should have sufficed to prevent the +common but unspiritual interpretation controverted +above. “This was the farewell of Jesus +to Israel. He then retired and did not reappear +on the morrow. This time it was no mere cloud +which obscured the sun; the sun itself had set.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) +This statement fixes the time of this +incident; it was concurrent with his farewell +to Jerusalem, that is, on the same day with, +and probably just subsequent to the discourse +recorded in Matthew, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 23. In the discourses +of which that was the culmination, Christ plainly +foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the +dispersion of the Jews, and indicated the calling +of the Gentiles (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:43; 23:37-39</span>). It may be +that those prophecies led to this application of +the Greeks for a more private interview with +the prophet who thus foretold the ingathering +of the Gentiles.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 But though he had done so many miracles before +them, yet they believed not on him:</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be +fulfilled, which he spake,<a id="FNanchor_507" href="#Footnote_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a> Lord, who hath believed our +report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been +revealed?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_507" href="#FNanchor_507" class="label">[507]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:1.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 Therefore they could not believe, because that +Esaias said<a id="FNanchor_508" href="#Footnote_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a> again,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_508" href="#FNanchor_508" class="label">[508]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 6:9, 10.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their +heart: that they should not see with <em>their</em> eyes, nor +understand with <em>their</em> heart, and be converted, and I +should heal them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 These things said Esaias, when<a id="FNanchor_509" href="#Footnote_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a> he saw his glory, +and spake of him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_509" href="#FNanchor_509" class="label">[509]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 6:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many +believed on him; but<a id="FNanchor_510" href="#Footnote_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a> because of the Pharisees they +did not confess <em>him</em>, lest they should be put out of the +synagogue:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_510" href="#FNanchor_510" class="label">[510]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_22">9:22</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_43"></a> +<p class="hanging">43 For<a id="FNanchor_511" href="#Footnote_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a> they loved the praise of men more than the +praise of God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_511" href="#FNanchor_511" class="label">[511]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_44">5:44</a>; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:29.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><b>37-43.</b> These words are John’s comments on +the whole incident and teaching. The passages +from Isaiah (<span class="muchsmaller">6:9, 10; Isaiah 53:1</span>) illustrate Christ’s +warning, and Christ’s warning interprets Isaiah’s +prophecy. The blinding and hardening are here +attributed to God because they take place in +accordance with the divine law which Christ has +enunciated, namely, that disobedience to the +light quenches and destroys it. In Matthew +13:13-15, the Jews are represented as blinding +their own eyes, etc., because they have done so +by their disobedience. See notes on Matthew. +To those who recognize the authority of John, +his language here is conclusive that Isaiah spoke +as a prophet, and under divine inspiration. +Observe that Isaiah, though living seven centuries +before Christ, <em>saw his glory</em>, which the blinded +eyes of the Pharisees, though they were his contemporaries, +could not see. <em>Putting out of the +synagogue</em>, that is, excommunication, was in those +days a very serious matter. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_22">9:22</a>, note. +I make no attempt to follow other commentators +in a discussion here respecting the relation of +divine decrees and human free agency; that +belongs not to the commentator but to the metaphysician +and theologian. Taking the whole +passage together with its context, it seems to me +clear (against <cite>Alford</cite>) that the statement of John +<cite>Therefore they could not believe</cite>, refers not backwards +to the precedent prophecy of Isaiah, so +that the meaning is that they could not believe +“because it was otherwise ordained in the divine +counsels,” but forward to the subsequent prophecy +of Isaiah, so that the meaning is that they +could not believe because their eyes were blinded +and their hearts hardened. Either interpretation +is grammatically possible; this one makes +John’s comment germane to Christ’s discourse +respecting the light, and the effect of refusing +obedience to it; the other does not. An interpretation +which represents God as blinding the +eyes and hardening the heart, so as to prevent +the exercise of faith, and this in order that a +prophecy may be fulfilled, cannot be reconciled +with the divine righteousness, much less with +the divine infinite mercy.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_44"></a> +<p class="hanging">44 Jesus cried and said, He<a id="FNanchor_512" href="#Footnote_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a> that believeth on me, +believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_512" href="#FNanchor_512" class="label">[512]</a> + Mark 9:37; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:21.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_45"></a> +<p class="hanging">45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_46"></a> +<p class="hanging">46 I<a id="FNanchor_513" href="#Footnote_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a> am come a light into the world, that whosoever +believeth on me should not abide in darkness.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_513" href="#FNanchor_513" class="label">[513]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_5">1:5</a>; + <a href="#ch3_19">3:19</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>44-46. But Jesus cried and said.</b> What +follows, to the end of the chapter, is not to be +regarded as a report of a further discourse by +Jesus, but as a summary furnished by John, of +his Lord’s previous discourses. This view is +required by the context, what follows being +closely connected with John’s previous comments, +by the structure of the discourse, which +is substantially a repetition of previously reported +discourses (see notes), and by the consideration +that, not only no time or place is indicated, +but that none is allowed, since it is expressly +asserted, immediately before, that Christ +departed and hid himself from the people +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_36">36</a></span>). +This view is taken by all the moderns (<cite>Alford</cite>, +<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Godet</cite>, <cite>Luthardt</cite>). Bengel is hardly self-consistent. +In his Grammar he characterizes +this as “the peroration and recapitulation, in + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> +John’s Gospel, of Christ’s public discourses;” +in his <cite>Harmony</cite> he suggests that Christ “spake +in the very act of departure, when he was now +at a considerable distance from the men; wherefore +he is said to have cried, in order, doubtless, +that those very persons with whom he had +spoken might hear;” an hypothesis which +Luthardt justly characterizes as artificial, unwarranted +by the Gospel account, and disagreeable.—​<b>He +that hath faith in me, hath +faith not in me but in him that sent me.</b> +<dfn>In</dfn> (<span lang="el">εἰς</span>) indicates the ultimate end or object of +the faith. The negative is not to be omitted or +reduced to a mere rhetorical expression, or read +as though it was equivalent to “hath not faith +in me alone.” True scriptural faith in Christ +does not <em>stop</em> with him, but finds in him the way +to the Father, the Spirit who is to be worshipped +in spirit as well as in truth, and whom no man +hath seen at any time. Hence Paul’s declaration, +“Yea, though we have seen Christ after the +flesh, yet now henceforth we know him no more.” +“Christ descended to us that he might unite us +to God. Until we have reached that point, we +are, as it were, in the middle of the course. We +imagine to ourselves but a half Christ, and a +mutilated Christ, if he do not lead us to God.”—(<cite>Calvin.</cite>) +For parallel teaching of Christ, see +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_24">5:24</a>, +<a href="#ch5_30">30</a>, <a href="#ch5_38">38</a>, +<a href="#ch5_43">43</a>; <a href="#ch8_19">8:19</a>, +<a href="#ch8_42">42</a>; <a href="#ch10_38">10:38</a>; +<a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>, <a href="#ch14_11">11</a>.—​<b>And he that seeth me seeth him +that sent me.</b> <em>See</em> is here used not of external +but of spiritual perception, as in <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_19">4:19</a>; +<a href="#ch6_40">6:40</a>; <a href="#ch14_19">14:19</a>; +<a href="#ch17_24">17:24</a>. He that has a spiritual +perception and appreciation of the glory of +Christ’s character has a perception and appreciation +of the divine glory; for the Son is the +express image of the Father’s person and the +brightness of his glory (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:3</span>). “Jesus’ essence +does not consist in his merely external appearance, +but in his internal relation to the Father.”—(<cite>Luthardt.</cite>) +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_9">14:9</a>, where the language +is almost precisely the same.—​<b>I am come +a light into the world.</b> A light to lead to +the Father, and to the divine life which is lived +only by communion with the Father through the +Spirit.—​<b>In order that whosoever believeth +in me should not abide in darkness.</b> The +object of Christ’s incarnation and atonement is +that through faith in him we may be delivered +from the power of darkness and translated into +the kingdom of God’s dear Son (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:13</span>), and +thus walk no longer in the darkness but in the +light, by walking in fellowship with God (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John +1:5-7; 2:8-11</span>). This light is the illumination and +inspiration of the moral and spiritual nature +afforded by faith in and a life of following after +Jesus Christ. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_12">8:12</a>; +<a href="#ch9_5">9:5</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_47"></a> +<p class="hanging">47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, +I judge him not: for I came<a id="FNanchor_514" href="#Footnote_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a> not to judge the world, +but to save the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_514" href="#FNanchor_514" class="label">[514]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_17">3:17</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_48"></a> +<p class="hanging">48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words,<a id="FNanchor_515" href="#Footnote_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a> +hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have +spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_515" href="#FNanchor_515" class="label">[515]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 18:19; Luke 9:26.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_49"></a> +<p class="hanging">49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father +which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I +should say, and what I should speak.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch12_50"></a> +<p class="hanging">50 And I know that his commandment<a id="FNanchor_516" href="#Footnote_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a> is life everlasting: +whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the +Father said unto me, so I speak.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_516" href="#FNanchor_516" class="label">[516]</a> + 1 John 3:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>47-50. I judge him not * * * * The +word that I have spoken the same shall +judge him.</b> This declaration is not inconsistent +with other passages of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> which +declare that Jesus Christ shall judge the world +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_25">5:25-27</a></span>); but it interprets them. That judgment +shall not be an arbitrary one; nor one pronounced +by a judge after trial, like a human +judgment, in which questions of law and fact +are involved. The book of each man’s life shall +be opened, and compared with the life of Christ +which is the pattern; and the life and teaching +of Christ will itself be the judgment; the comparison +will be conclusive; there will be no need +of investigation or of sentence. Hence every +man is judging and condemning himself, and +if unrepentant and unpardoned is condemned +already. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_18">3:18</a>, +<a href="#ch3_19">19</a>; <a href="#ch5_45">5:45</a>.—​<b>He +that rejecteth me</b> (<span lang="el">ἀθετέω</span>). Literally, <dfn>displaces +me</dfn>. To reject Christ does not necessarily +involve a deliberate decision against him. +Simply putting him one side as of no practical +importance is a rejection of him.—​<b>And receiveth +not my words.</b> We receive them +only by obeying them. See Matthew 13:23.—​<b>Because +I have not spoken out of myself.</b> +Christ is not the ultimate source of his own +authority. His words are divine because they +are God-given. The Father is the reservoir from +whom Christ draws. Compare <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_30">5:30</a>; <a href="#ch7_16">7:16-28</a>; +<a href="#ch8_26">8:26</a>, <a href="#ch8_28">28</a>, +<a href="#ch8_38">38</a>.—​<b>What I should say +and what I should speak.</b> “The former is +to be understood of the contents and the latter +of the external act of speaking.”—(<cite>Luthardt.</cite>) +To the same effect Meyer. The double expression +indicates that not only the <em>substance</em> but +also the <em>form</em> and <em>method of expression</em> of Christ’s +teaching are God-given.—​<b>And I know that +his commandment is life eternal.</b> It +has for its aim to produce life eternal; it has +for its subject-matter the conditions and nature +of life eternal; it is, in other words, the law of +the spiritual life. As science has to do with the +laws of the external, so Christianity with the +laws of the internal or spiritual world. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_63">6:63</a>, +<a href="#ch6_68">68</a>. There is a weighty significance in +the words “I know.” By his own acceptance + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span> +of and obedience to the Father’s commands Christ +made, as it were, trial of them, and spoke out of +his own personal experience of their value and +effect. It is only as the Christian thus knows +and speaks that his testimony is effective (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +4:13</span>).</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Thirteen">XIII.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 13:1-30. CHRIST WASHES HIS DISCIPLES’ FEET +AND FORETELLS HIS BETRAYAL.—​<span class="smcap">The nature of +humility illustrated: not self-abasement but +self-abnegation (3, 4).—​Trust and obedience here; +knowledge hereafter (7).—​The double cleansing +wrought by Christ: the washing of the whole +nature in regeneration; the washing away of +specific sins in sanctification (10).—​Christ’s +designation of himself: Master and Lord (13).—​The +utility and the inutility of ceremonial.—​Christ +our example in the spirit and in the +letter (14, 15).—​The office of prophecy (19).—​Christ +seen bearing the sin of the sinner (21).—​Christ’s +endeavor to reclaim the irreclaimable +(26-29).</span></p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><a id="Note_ch13"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—John alone of the Evangelists +gives no account of the institution of the +Lord’s Supper. But he alone gives us a report +of the last words of Christ, and his last prayer +with his disciples at the time of the institution +of the Supper. This report occupies chapters +13-17. This most sacred legacy which the Lord +has left to his disciples can never be interpreted +except by the heart which enters into the secret +place of the Most High. All that the commentator +can hope to do is to point out the significance +of the original, and the connection between +the various parts of this uninterpretable disclosure +of divine love. That the supper referred to +in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 2 here is the same described in Matthew +26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, and Luke 22:19, 20, +I think is beyond question, and is indeed questioned +by few if any of the scholars except Lightfoot, +who endeavors to identify it with the supper +at which Mary anointed the feet of Jesus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:1-16; John 12:2-8</span>). The time when the Last +Supper was celebrated, whether it was a true +Paschal feast or one which ante-dated and anticipated +it, is confessedly one of the most difficult +questions in Biblical chronology. If we had only +the Synoptical Gospels no one would doubt that +the Last Supper was the real Jewish Passover; +if we had only John, few would question that it +was previous to the Passover. This question I +have stated and discussed in the notes on Matthew +(note on Lord’s Supper, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 286), and +to the discussion there refer the student. I have +no doubt, on a careful comparison of the four +accounts, that the four Evangelists refer to the +same supper, and that it was taken at the time +of and was for them the true Passover Supper. +In that case Christ’s act here receives new significance +from a comparison with the events recorded +by Luke (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +22:24-30 and notes</span>). The disciples sat +down to the meal without washing their feet, +after a hot and dusty walk. There was no servant +to perform the menial act for them; and +no one would volunteer to do it for the rest. +They quarreled as to which should have the pre-eminence +at the table. Christ said nothing, +waited till the quarrel was over and they had +taken their seats, and then rose from the table, +and girding himself as a servant, performed the +slave’s office in washing their feet. This was his +answer to their unseemly strife for the post of +honor at the table.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Now</span><a id="FNanchor_517" href="#Footnote_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a> before the feast of the passover, when Jesus +knew that his hour<a id="FNanchor_518" href="#Footnote_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a> was come that he should +depart out of this world unto the Father, having<a id="FNanchor_519" href="#Footnote_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a> loved +his own which were in the world, he loved them unto +the end.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_517" href="#FNanchor_517" class="label">[517]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:2, etc.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_518" href="#FNanchor_518" class="label">[518]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_1">17:1</a>, <a href="#ch17_11">11</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_519" href="#FNanchor_519" class="label">[519]</a> + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 31:3; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:2; 1 John 4:19; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1. Now before the feast of the Passover.</b> +That is, immediately before; just as he +was about to sit down with his disciples to the +Paschal feast.—​<b>Jesus knew that his hour +was come.</b> In the full consciousness of his +approaching agony and passion. At the time +when above all others he needed that friends +should sustain him, he carried them in his heart; +their burdens were his own.—​<b>Having loved +his own which were in the world, he +loved them unto the end.</b> The end both in +time and in accomplishment; that is, he loved +them till death broke in on his life of love; he +loved them till love had finished its purpose in +them by their <span style="white-space:nowrap;">redemption—loved</span> them despite +their quarrels and contentions, that by love he +might brood and perfect the new life in them. +Properly the word (<span lang="el">τέλος, τελέω</span>) signifies not +merely <em>end</em> but also <em>completion</em>. So in 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> +2:16: “Wrath is come upon <i>them to the uttermost</i>” +(<span lang="el">εἰς τέλος</span>), <i>i. e.</i>, till it has accomplished its +purpose; and 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:5, “The end of the commandment +is love,” <i>i. e.</i>, love is the purpose +which the commandment is designed to accomplish. +The phrase <dfn>his own which were in the +world</dfn>, does not imply a limitation of love, as +though his love were for a limited number; but +it is only in his own that his love accomplishes + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> +its designs. The language does imply that he +has others who are his own who are not in this +world; either the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> saints who had died in +hope of him, or inhabitants of some other world +who belong to him by the purchase of his love, +who are his own because redeemed by his blood +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 20:28; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:9</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 And supper being ended, the<a id="FNanchor_520" href="#Footnote_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a> devil having now +put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s <em>son</em>, to +betray him;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_520" href="#FNanchor_520" class="label">[520]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_70">6:70</a>; Luke 22:3, 53.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Jesus knowing<a id="FNanchor_521" href="#Footnote_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a> that the Father had given all +things into his hands, and that<a id="FNanchor_522" href="#Footnote_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a> he was come from +God, and went to God;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_521" href="#FNanchor_521" class="label">[521]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:18; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 2:8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_522" href="#FNanchor_522" class="label">[522]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_11">17:11</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; +and took a towel, and girded himself.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began +to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe <em>them</em> with the +towel wherewith he was girded.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith +unto him, Lord, dost<a id="FNanchor_523" href="#Footnote_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a> thou wash my feet?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_523" href="#FNanchor_523" class="label">[523]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>2-6. And supper being in progress.</b> Not +<em>being ended</em>; for +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_12">12</a></span>) +he sat down to supper +again; nor does the +original require the +translation given to it +in our English version +(see <cite>Godet</cite>, <cite>Alford</cite>, +<cite>Meyer</cite>). Christ waited +till all contention was +over, all had taken +their seats and were +ready to begin the +meal, before he rose +to wash their feet.—​<b>The +devil having +already dropped +into the heart of +Judas Iscariot to +betray him.</b> The +devil was the sower, +but the soil was ready +to receive the seed. A +past suggestion is indicated. +The time +when and the way in +which this suggestion +was made is reported +by Matthew. It was at +the time when Christ +rebuked Judas for +complaining of the +anointing of her Lord +by Mary at Bethany +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch12_4">12:4-7</a> with <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +26:14</span>).—​<b>Jesus knowing +that the Father had given all things +into his hands.</b> See <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:16. He acted in +the full consciousness of his divine power and +majesty. Humility consists not in a low estimate +of one’s powers, but in a willingness to use them +in a lowly service.—​<b>That he was come from +God and went to God.</b> This divine sense +shone out in him, so that it was seen and felt by +the apostles, perhaps most of all by John, who +was the most susceptible to such spiritual impressions. +For illustration of other times in +which the divinity of our Lord thus shone out +upon men, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:12; Mark 9:15; 10:32; +Luke 4:20, 30; John <a href="#ch7_44">7:44-46</a>; <a href="#ch18_6">18:6</a>.—​<b>He laid +aside his garments</b> (<span lang="el">ἱμάτια</span>). His outer mantle +or cloak (<span class="muchsmaller">see note on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 24:18</span>). Then the inner +tunic was girded about the loins with a towel, +used partly in lieu of a girdle, partly to wipe the +feet. Thus Christ put +on the ordinary habit +of a servant for a servant’s +work. In this +feet-washing the feet +were not put into the +basin; the water was +poured over the feet +and then they were +wiped by the servant. +The accompanying cut, +from an original sketch +by Mr. A. L. Rawson, +shows the manner of +feet-washing, dress of +servant, etc., as observed +to-day in the +East.—​<b>And began +to wash the disciples’ +feet.</b> Some of +the commentators suppose +that he came first +to Simon Peter (<cite>Alford</cite>); +but I see no +ground in the narrative +for this supposition, +which indeed +seems to me to be negatived +by the natural +reading of the original. +The objection of +Peter was an unexpected +episode and interruption. +So <cite>Meyer</cite>, +<cite>Chrysostom</cite>, and others. +Feet-washing did not rise to the dignity of a +ritualistic observance, except in connection with +the service of the sanctuary (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 30:19-21</span>). It +held a high place, however, among the rites of +hospitality. “Immediately after a guest presented +himself at the tent door, it was usual to +offer the necessary materials for washing the +feet (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 18:4; 19:2; 24:32; 43:24; Judges 19:21</span>). It +was a yet more complimentary act betokening +equally humility and affection, if the host actually + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> +performed the office for his guest (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 25:41; +Luke 7:38-49; John 13:5-14; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 5:10</span>). Such a token +of hospitality is occasionally exhibited in the +East either by the host or by his deputy. The +feet were again washed (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Solomon">Sol.</abbr> Song 5:3</span>) before retiring +to bed.”—(<cite>Smith’s Bible Dictionary.</cite>)—​<b>Dost +thou wash my feet?</b> There is an emphasis +on the word <em>thou</em>. Dost thou, my Lord +and Master, act as my menial? “‘With those +hands,’ he saith, ‘with which thou hast opened +eyes, and cleansed lepers, and raised the dead!’”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>)</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_163"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_163.jpg" + alt="WASHING OF FEET"> + <p class="caption">WASHING OF FEET.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou +knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my +feet, Jesus answered him, If<a id="FNanchor_524" href="#Footnote_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a> I wash thee not, thou +hast no part with me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_524" href="#FNanchor_524" class="label">[524]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:11; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:26; Titus 3:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>7, 8. Thou knowest not now; but thou +shalt know hereafter.</b> The meaning is not +merely that he would explain to them the significance +of his act, nor that they would understand +it and him in the future kingdom, though +both may be indicated. But spiritual truth is +only spiritually discerned (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:14, 15</span>), and the +most significant acts and teachings of Christ can +be comprehended only as the character is conformed +to his character (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:5-8</span>). The meaning +for Peter was that he must submit to Christ’s +authority and wait till time and spiritual development +enabled him to understand it; the meaning +for us is that if Christ is our Master, we must +accept in his word, his life and his providence +much that is now incomprehensible, and wait for +the future to make it plain. But if this implies a +limit to our present knowledge, it also promises +revelation hereafter. “Thou shalt know” assures +that all will be made plain by-and-by.—​<b>Thou +shalt never wash my feet.</b> Literally, +<cite>Thou shall not wash my feet to eternity</cite>. Pride in +Peter could not comprehend humility in Christ. +He thought the act, which was a manifestation +of the true glory of the Lord, dishonored him. +The same spirit in our day accounts the declaration +of the incarnation and of the atonement dishonorable +to God; it sees no glory in the humiliation +of love.—​<b>If I wash thee not, thou hast +no part with me.</b> The phrase <cite>to have part +with another</cite> signifies to share in his riches and +glory (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Joshua">Josh.</abbr> 22:25; 2 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 20:1</span>). Here it includes +the idea of a partnership in the divine nature of +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:4</span>) as well as in the glory of Christ +which he has with the Father (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch17_22">17:22-26</a>; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> +20:6</span>). Washing was, it must be remembered, a +symbolical act, recognized so among the Jews, +and signifying purification from uncleanness. +Christ’s act in rising from the table and washing +the feet of the disciples was the severest rebuke +to their pride. See <a href="#Note_ch13"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a>. Peter’s refusal +to be washed was a resistance to this rebuke. +That Christ’s language was understood by Peter +to signify a spiritual cleansing is indicated by his +reply.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, +but also <em>my</em> hands and <em>my</em> head.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not +save to wash <em>his</em> feet, but is clean every whit: and ye +are clean, but not all.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 For<a id="FNanchor_525" href="#Footnote_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a> he knew who should betray him; therefore +said he, Ye are not all clean.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_525" href="#FNanchor_525" class="label">[525]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_64">6:64</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken +his garments, and was set down again, he said unto +them, Know ye what I have done to you?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>9-12. Not my feet only, but also the +hands and the head.</b> This is generally regarded +as the expression of an impulsive revulsion +of feeling in Peter. “We have here the +same Peter who one minute rushes into the water, +and the next calls out ‘I perish’; who now +smites with the sword and now flees; who goes +even into the high priest’s palace and who denies +his Lord.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) I should rather regard it +as the language of argument and remonstrance +still continued. “If,” he says in effect, “this is +the reason of your washing, why stop with the +feet? why not go on and wash the rest, the +hands and the head?” <i>i. e.</i>, the face and neck. +To this argument Christ replies—​<b>He that is +bathed needeth not save to wash the feet, +but is wholly clean.</b> In the original there is +a distinction between <em>bathing</em> of the whole person +and <em>washing</em> of the feet which our English translation +ignores, but which is important. The +meaning is, As he that has been once bathed, and +so cleansed, needs only to wash what has become +soiled in his walk, so he who by the washing of +regeneration has been once cleansed of his sins +(<span class="muchsmaller">Titus 3:5</span>), needs only to come to Christ hereafter +for partial cleansing, <i>i. e.</i>, for forgiveness and +redemption from those sins which are in some +sense the product of his daily walk and life. He +does not need to come again and again for the +washing of regeneration, but only for the cleansing +of special faults. But even he who has been +bathed still needs to be constantly washed by +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:8, 9</span>).—​<b>Ye are not all clean.</b> +Not all that seem to have come to Christ and to +have entered his service, are really cleansed by +him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 7:21-23</span>).—​<b>He knew who should +betray him.</b> Among those whose feet were +washed was Judas. No love can touch or change +the heart resolutely set to do evil.—​<b>Know ye +what I have done to you?</b> That is, do you +comprehend the reason why it is done, and the +meaning of the action. The disciples are silent. +In the following verses Christ goes on to explain +its significance.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Ye<a id="FNanchor_526" href="#Footnote_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a> call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; +for <em>so</em> I am.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_526" href="#FNanchor_526" class="label">[526]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 23:8-10; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 If I then, <em>your</em> Lord and Master, have washed +your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 For<a id="FNanchor_527" href="#Footnote_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a> I have given you an example, that ye should +do as I have done to you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_527" href="#FNanchor_527" class="label">[527]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:21.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not +greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater +than he that sent him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 If<a id="FNanchor_528" href="#Footnote_528" class="fnanchor">[528]</a> ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do +them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_528" href="#FNanchor_528" class="label">[528]</a> + James 1:25.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>13-17. Ye call me the Master</b> (literally + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> +<dfn>Teacher</dfn>) <b>and the Lord</b>. Observe the definite +article, not merely a teacher, or your teacher, +but <em>the</em> teacher and <em>the</em> Lord. For instances in +which they had done so, see <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_6">6</a>, <a href="#ch13_9">9</a>, +<a href="#ch13_25">25</a>, <a href="#ch13_36">36</a>, +<a href="#ch13_37">37</a>; +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_5">14:5</a>, +<a href="#ch14_8">8</a>, <a href="#ch14_22">22</a>. Stress is perhaps not to be laid +on the fact that the phrase <em>the Lord</em> (<span lang="el">ὁ κύριος</span>) is +used in the Septuagint (Greek <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>) for Jehovah; +but it certainly is here more than a mere +title of respectful address; and the declaration +of Christ here, coupled with the declaration of +Matthew 23:8, One is your Master (Teacher), and +all ye are brethren, distinguishes him clearly from +his disciples, as not merely the chosen leader +among them, but having a divine authority over +them.—​<b>Ye say well; for I am.</b> The humble +office of feet-washing had been done by one who +was not only fully conscious of his supremacy, +but who in the very act claimed that supremacy. +This divine authority Christ never abdicated; his +divine consciousness he never lost.—​<b>If I then, +the Lord and the Master.</b> <em>The</em>Lord, not +merely <em>your</em>Lord. He might have been their +Lord and teacher by their selection; he was <em>the</em> +Lord and teacher by divine appointment, and by +virtue of his own character.—​<b>Ye also ought +to wash one another’s feet.</b> If we are to +interpret literally the commands of Christ, the +command of feet-washing as a perpetual observance +is even more explicit than that for the +observance of the Lord’s Supper. That is in +form a simple request: “Do this in remembrance +of me;” this is a request thrice repeated: +“Ye ought also to wash one another’s feet;” +“I have given you an example that ye should +do as I have done to you;” “If ye know these +things, happy are ye if ye do them.” Nevertheless +feet-washing has never been generally practised +by the Christian church. There is no indication +of its introduction into the apostolic +church. The only reference to it in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> is +1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 5:10, and the probability is that the +reference there is to a rite of hospitality, not to +a religious or symbolical service. We first meet +with feet-washing in ecclesiastical history in the +fourth century. It was practised in connection +with baptism, on the catechumens in some parts +of the early church, especially in Gaul, possibly +in Africa and Spain. It is practised in some of +the Greek convents of to-day; by the <abbr title="Roman Catholic">R. C.</abbr> +church once a year on Maunday-Thursday, when +the Pope washes the feet of twelve pilgrims in +Rome; and by the Brethren (popularly known as +Dunkards), a sect of German Baptists chiefly +found in Pennsylvania; the Mennonites, a sect +of Dutch Anabaptists, chiefly confined also to +the eastern district of Pennsylvania in this country; +and possibly by some other minor sects. +With these exceptions, it has never been attempted +to maintain feet-washing as a religious +observance in the Christian church. This apparent +disregard of Christ’s seemingly explicit command +can be defended only on the general ground +that no ceremonial is of the essence of Christianity; +that the thing symbolized, not the symbol, +here the spirit of self-sacrifice and serving +love, not the form by which it is typified, is the +essential thing; that as eating the bread and +drinking the wine, not discerning the Lord’s +body (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 11:29</span>), is not a true observance of the +Lord’s Supper, so, on the other hand, the spirit +that is willing to serve others to their cleansing, +in humbleness of love, is a true observance of +the rite of feet-washing, though the rite itself is +disused. “It is not the act itself, but its moral +essence which, after his example, he enjoins upon +them to exercise. This moral essence, however, +consists not in lowly and ministering love generally, +in which Jesus by washing the feet of his +disciples desired to give them an example, but, +as <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_10">10</a> proves, in that ministering love which, +in all self-denial and humility, is active for the +moral purification and cleansing of others.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>)—​<b>I +have given you an example.</b> +It is the inward spirit of Christ, not the mere +outward act, that is an example for us to follow; +the cleansing love, not the girded garment and +the washing of feet, that is our pattern. For the +spiritual signification of this declaration, see +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a>; 1 John 3:16.—​<b>The servant is not +greater</b>, etc. The repetition of this seemingly +self-evident truth indicates that Christ apprehended +for his followers that spiritual pride +which has been in the history of the church +almost their greatest danger. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_20">15:20</a>; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:24; Luke 6:40.—​<b>If ye know these +things.</b> This language itself should have sufficed +to guard against the literalism which would +maintain feet-washing as a perpetual ceremonial. +Know what things? That he had washed their +feet? Of course they knew that. The meaning +clearly is, If ye understand the meaning of my +act, happy are ye if ye exemplify the same spirit +in your lives. <i lang="la">Per contra</i>, he that does not know, +that does not comprehend the spirit, is not + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> +blessed in going through the mere form, and this +is equally true respecting all ceremonials. He +only is blessed in them who comprehends their +spiritual significance.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have +chosen: but that the<a id="FNanchor_529" href="#Footnote_529" class="fnanchor">[529]</a> scripture may be fulfilled, He +that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel +against me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_529" href="#FNanchor_529" class="label">[529]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 41:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 Now I tell<a id="FNanchor_530" href="#Footnote_530" class="fnanchor">[530]</a> you before it come, that, when it is +come to pass, ye may believe that I am <em>he</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_530" href="#FNanchor_530" class="label">[530]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_29">14:29</a>; + <a href="#ch16_4">16:4</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Verily, verily, I say unto you,<a id="FNanchor_531" href="#Footnote_531" class="fnanchor">[531]</a> +He that receiveth +whomsoever I send receiveth me: and he that receiveth +me receiveth him that sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_531" href="#FNanchor_531" class="label">[531]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:40.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18-20. I speak not of you all.</b> The highest +service of Christ is serviceable only to those +who will receive it. The fact that Christ washed +the feet of Judas, and broke bread with him, +added to the blackness of his treachery and the +enormity of his guilt. The church, the Bible, +the Sabbath, the Lord’s Supper will rise up in +judgment against those who have participated +in them but have not imbibed the spirit of Christ +from them.—​<b>I know whom I have chosen.</b> +Couple this with the declaration of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_16">15:16</a>, +“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen +you.” The meaning is that Christ comprehended +the character of those whom he had selected for +his work; he was not deceived; and he is not +now deceived by false professions, however they +may deceive the church, the world, and even the +false professor himself. Why Christ should have +chosen Judas is one of the unsolved enigmas of +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> history. +We can see (1) that there was in +every apostle the same conflict between the +spiritual and the earthly nature which there was +in Judas Iscariot, though the final issue was so +different. (2) We cannot say that there was not +a possibility that it might have been different in +the case of Judas Iscariot. In other words, we +cannot say what are the limits to the freedom of +the will, what the possibility of good for the +evil soul, what the possibility of evil for him who +is preserved from it by accepting the grace of +God and so becoming his child. (3) The case of +Judas Iscariot has been full of warning to the +church in all ages; thus the development of his +character in the apostolate has been made a +means of service to mankind. His spirit was +that of the Pharisee; his position simply gave +that spirit an opportunity to exhibit itself.—​<b>But +that the Scripture might be fulfilled, +He that eateth bread with me hath lifted +up his heel against me, now I tell you +before it come.</b> Observe the difference in +the punctuation, from that of the English version. +The meaning is not, <em>I have chosen Judas +that the Scripture might be fulfilled</em>, for (1) this +interpretation, though that of Alford and Meyer, +requires us to supply or imagine a most important +hiatus in the text. Christ says nothing +about his choice of Judas; he lays emphasis on +the fact that all the twelve were chosen by him, +and therefore all were known to him. Nor is +the meaning, <em>I speak not of you all, in order that +the Scripture may be fulfilled</em>, which would make +Christ withhold a blessing for the purpose of +fulfilling a prophecy, an incredible interpretation. +But <em>that the Scripture</em>(which he parenthetically +quotes) <em>may be fulfilled</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, that the +disciples may recognize its fulfillment in the +events soon to take place, <cite>I now tell you before it +is come to pass</cite>. Thus the particle <em>but</em>(<span lang="el">ἀλλά</span>) connects +this sentence not with the declaration which +precedes, but with that which follows. The +Scripture is Psalm 41:9. The Psalm is clearly +not, in strictness of speech, a prophetic Psalm, +uttered as by the Messiah, for <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 4 contains a +confession of sin and a prayer for redemption. +“I said, Lord be merciful unto me and heal my +soul; for I have sinned against thee.” In that +Psalm, <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 9, “Yea mine own familiar friend +in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, +hath lifted up his heel against me,” primarily +refers to some treachery displayed towards the +Psalmist, perhaps that of Ahithophel to David +(<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 15:31; 16:23</span>). But events as well as words +are prophetic; and the treachery of Ahithophel +towards David was itself a prophecy of the +treachery of Judas towards David’s greater Son. +To eat bread with another is, in the East, the +highest possible confirmation of a sacred covenant +with him. To lift up the heel is a figure +taken from the kick of a horse, who turns suddenly +upon one who has been feeding him. This +seems to me a better interpretation than that of +Canon Cook, who sees in it a figure taken from +the act of a conqueror putting his heel on the +neck of a prostrate foe.—​<b>That when it is +come to pass ye may believe that I am.</b> +The office of prophecy is here intimated. It is +not designed to give us in the present a definite +knowledge of future events. The most spiritually +minded among the Jews did not comprehend +the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> prophecy of Christ, and did +not understand the nature of his advent. It is +rather so to depict the future as (1) to awaken +hope or serve as a warning; and (2) to serve as +an evidence of the inspiration of the writer of +the book after the fulfillment of the prophecy +has demonstrated the prescience of the author. +On the phrase <cite>I am</cite>, see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_58">8:58</a>, note.—​<b>He +that receiveth you</b>, etc. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:40, +note, where the same declaration is made in a +different connection. Here Christ, in order to encourage +the disciples, reiterates a principle with +which they were already familiar. Although, +he says, you are to serve in humble ways, as I + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> +have served you, and although you will meet +with many a discouraging rebuff from without +and with treachery from among your own number, +yet you are not to forget that you are sent +into the world as your Master was sent into the +world, so that to receive you will be to receive +me.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 When<a id="FNanchor_532" href="#Footnote_532" class="fnanchor">[532]</a> Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in +spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto +you, that one of you shall betray me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_532" href="#FNanchor_532" class="label">[532]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:21; Mark 14:18; Luke 22:21.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting +of whom he spake.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>21, 22.</b> An account of this prophecy of the +betrayal is given by all the Evangelists (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +26:21-25; Mark 14:18-21; Luke 22:21-23</span>). See notes on +Matthew. There is some difficulty in determining +the exact nature and order of the events, though +not more than we might expect in a comparison of +four independent accounts of circumstances involved +in so great confusion. The fullest account +is that of John. He alone mentions Judas’ departure +from the room. Matthew declares that +Christ replied directly in the affirmative to Judas’ +question, Is it I? John, on the other hand, +asserts that no one in the room knew why Judas +went out (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:25 with +<abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_28">28</a>, +<a href="#ch13_29">29</a> here</span>). The +differences are not irreconcilable. Comparing +the four accounts, it would appear that Christ’s +declaration, “One of you shall betray me,” produced +the utmost consternation and excitement; +that all the disciples eagerly asked, “Is it I?” +“Is it I?” that Peter asked John to tell him +who it was, assuming that John knew, or could +ascertain (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_24">24</a></span>); that at the same time Judas, +thunderstruck at the disclosure of his treachery, +which had been already planned (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:14-16</span>), +asked, perhaps somewhat tardily, the question, +“Is it I?” to hide his confusion; that Jesus +replied in an aside to him, “Thou hast said” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:25</span>), a reply that in the confusion either +was not heard or was not heeded; that John, +turning toward Jesus so as to rest upon his +bosom (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_25">25</a></span>), asked who the betrayer should +be; that Jesus seemed to give the information, +but really refused to do so, in his reply, “He it +is to whom I shall give a sop” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_26">26</a></span>), since he +gave a sop in turn to all; so that when a moment +or two later Judas went out angered by +what he erroneously believed to be a public disclosure +of his treachery before all the disciples, +no one, not even John, knew why he had gone. +The question whether Judas was at the Lord’s +Supper has been greatly discussed. The question +seems to me of no practical importance; +and it is one impossible to answer with positiveness, +for John, who alone mentions his going +out, gives no account of the institution of the +Lord’s Supper. I believe, however, on a comparison +of the four accounts, that he was not at +the Last Supper, but went out immediately before +its institution. According to Matthew, the +prophecy of the betrayal preceded the institution +of the Supper; according to John, Judas +went out <em>immediately</em>after receiving the sop +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:25, 26 with <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_30">30</a> here</span>). And the explanation +of Christ’s course, as described by John, +appears to me to be his desire to have, in this +last sacred conference, only those who were +really his friends, and measurably in spiritual +sympathy with him. This I believe to be the +explanation of the direction to Judas in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_27">27</a>. +For an elaborate discussion of this question, see +Andrews’ <cite>Life of our Lord</cite>; for a fuller harmonic +account of the events, Lyman Abbott’s <cite>Jesus of +Nazareth</cite>.—​<b>He was troubled in spirit.</b> Compare +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_33">11:33</a>; +<a href="#ch12_27">12:27</a>. Our own experience +helps to interpret this, which Alford calls a +“mysterious troubling of spirit.” The presence +of an uncongenial soul often suffices to destroy +the sympathy of a sacred circle; the presence +of a known traitor might well have prevented +Christ from an outpouring of his soul in confidential +converse which renders the 14th, 15th, 16th +and 17th chapters of John the most sacred in the +Bible to the disciples of Christ.—​<b>One of you +shall betray me.</b> Christ had before foretold +his betrayal, <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 17:22; 20:18; 26:2, etc., +but now for the first time he declares that he +should be betrayed by one of the twelve. No +wonder that they were startled.—​<b>The disciples +looked one on another doubting of +whom he spake.</b> And asking one another +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:23</span>) and eagerly asking Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:22; +Mark 14:19</span>). Not one of them ventures to question +the truth of the Lord’s prophecy, and each +asks the personal question, “Is it I?” No one +accuses, even by implication, his neighbor. Is +not this a pattern for us in that self-examination +which should always precede our seasons of +sacred communion with our Lord (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 11:28</span>)? +an examination which should look forward rather +than backward; prepare for the future rather +than attempt to measure the past; and always +be a <em>self</em>examination.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one<a id="FNanchor_533" href="#Footnote_533" class="fnanchor">[533]</a> of +his disciples, whom Jesus loved.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_533" href="#FNanchor_533" class="label">[533]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 20:2; 21:7, 20.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he +should ask who it should be of whom he spake.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, +Lord, who is it?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>23-25. There was leaning on Jesus’ +bosom.</b> The party were reclining at the table +according to the Greek and Roman fashion. +For illustration, which better than any description +shows the manner, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:20, note. +John was lying next to Jesus.—​<b>Whom Jesus +loved.</b> “Here, out of the recollection of that + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span> +sacred and by him never-to-be-forgotten moment, +there first breaks from his lips this nameless, +and yet so expressive designation of himself.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) +The phrase “whom Jesus loved” +occurs seven times in John’s Gospel; twice as a +designation of Martha, Mary and Lazarus (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch11_3">11:3</a>, <a href="#ch11_5">5</a></span>); five times as the designation of one of +the disciples (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch13_23">13:23</a>; +<a href="#ch19_26">19:26</a>; <a href="#ch20_2">20:2</a>; +<a href="#ch21_7">21:7</a>; <a href="#ch21_20">21:20</a></span>). +It has been almost universally regarded as a +designation of John, the author of the Fourth +Gospel, who is accordingly known in the church +as the “beloved disciple,” though this designation +is not found in the Gospels themselves. The +main reasons for this opinion are two. (1) John +is not once named in the Fourth Gospel, while +an unnamed disciple is frequently referred to +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch1_35">1:35</a>, +<a href="#ch1_40">40</a>; <a href="#ch18_15">18:15</a>; +<a href="#ch19_27">19:27</a>; <a href="#ch21_3">21:3</a>, +<a href="#ch21_4">4</a>, <a href="#ch21_8">8</a>; <a href="#ch21_23">21:23</a>; and see refs. +above</span>). It is not easy to conceive of any reason +why the author should leave unnamed any other +disciple, but it is not at all strange that he should +use a circumlocution to designate himself. +(2) His character, so far as we know it, corresponds +with his designation as the “beloved disciple.” +See <a href="#Page_3">Introduction</a>. It has been, indeed, +objected that there is a certain appearance of +egotism in his singling himself out as the disciple +whom Jesus loved, a designation never given +to him by either of the other Evangelists. The +reply to this is, or at least may be, that the +designation was employed by John, not because +he desired in any sense to claim or imply a +supremacy above the other disciples, but because +the wonder of his life was that Jesus should +love such an one as he, and by love should transform +him. All facts in his life sink into insignificance +in his thought by the side of this fact, +that he was beloved of Jesus, chosen to be the +witness of his transfiguration, his nearest companion +at the Last Supper, the sympathizing +sharer in his agony at Gethsemane, and the +guardian of his mother after the death of her +son (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 17:1; 26:37; +John <a href="#ch13_23">13:23</a>; +<a href="#ch19_26">19:26</a>, <a href="#ch19_27">27</a></span>).—​<b>Simon +Peter therefore beckoned to him and +said, Tell us who it is.</b> This is the true +reading, adopted by all critics, Alford, Meyer, +Lachmann, Tischendorf, etc. The expression +has been altered to that of the Received Text in +order to adapt Peter’s question to John’s account +as described in the next verse. The Sinaitic +manuscript has the Received Text, “That he +should ask who it should be,” as an explanatory +gloss or comment alongside the original expression, +“Tell who it is.” Peter seems to have +assumed that John would know. Possibly in +the general tumult the latter preserved his composure, +and conscious of his own supreme love +for his Lord, did not join in the general exclamation, +“Is it I?”—​<b>He then throwing himself +back on Jesus’ breast.</b> (See Robinson’s +<cite>Lexicon</cite>, <span lang="el">ἐπιπίπτω</span>.) The language of the English +version is inadequate and incorrect, since it +merely repeats the phrase used in verse <a href="#ch13_23">23</a>, as +though to identify the person; whereas the +original implies an action on John’s part, by +which he turned and rested more closely than +before on Christ’s bosom. He had before been +reclining next to Jesus in the manner indicated +in the illustration on page 282 of <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr> of this +Commentary. He now raises himself, and turns +so as to rest upon Jesus’ breast and whisper in +his ear. The graphic details of this entire narrative +are unmistakably those of an eye-witness.</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_168"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_168.jpg" + alt="DIPPING THE SOP"> + <p class="caption">DIPPING THE SOP.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a +sop, when I have dipped <em>it</em>. And when he had dipped +the sop, he gave <em>it</em>to Judas Iscariot, <em>the son</em>of +Simon.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>26. He it is to whom I shall give a sop.</b> +This reply, and Christ’s accompanying action, is +generally regarded as a designation, at least to +John, of the traitor. I think this is a mistake. +It is no uncommon act in an Eastern meal for +the host, as a special act of consideration, to dip +a piece of bread or meat in the sauce or gravy +and pass it to a special guest, or even put it into +his mouth. In the Passover feast, the head of +the house habitually took from the passover +cake a piece, dipped it in the sauce of bitter +herbs (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 12:8</span>), and passed it in turn to the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span> +persons at the table. Christ’s answer to John, +therefore, was simply a more solemn reiteration +of the declaration of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_18">18</a>, “He that eateth +bread with me hath lifted up the heel against +me.” He dipped the piece of bread in the +sauce, and passed it to the disciples in turn. +In doing so he gave it first to Judas. John may +have understood the significance of the act; but +it is plain from <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_28">28</a> that none of the others +at the table did so. I should rather regard the +act as a new endeavor on the part of Christ by +love to turn Judas from his evil purpose. He +has answered without designating him. He now +endeavors to draw him to himself by singling +him out for a manifestation of special love. In +the same spirit are the last words he addressed +to the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">apostate—words</span> not of angry rebuke, but +of pathetic remonstrance: “Friend, wherefore +art thou come? Betrayest thou the Son of man +with a kiss?” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:50; Luke 22:48.</span>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 And after the sop Satan<a id="FNanchor_534" href="#Footnote_534" class="fnanchor">[534]</a> entered into him. Then +said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_534" href="#FNanchor_534" class="label">[534]</a> + Luke 22:3.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he +spake this unto him.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 For some <em>of them</em> thought,<a id="FNanchor_535" href="#Footnote_535" class="fnanchor">[535]</a> because Judas had +the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy <em>those things</em> +that we have need of against the feast: or, that he +should give something to the poor.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_535" href="#FNanchor_535" class="label">[535]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">chap.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_6">12:6</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 He then, having received the sop, went immediately +out: and it was night.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>27-30. Satan entered into him.</b> It is a +mistaken literalism which interprets this phrase +as indicating that Judas was from this time +demoniacally possessed. Nor, on the other hand, +is it to be regarded as a merely figurative expression, +indicating that Judas gave himself up +wholly and unreservedly to evil. The <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +teaching assumes the existence of evil spirits +and their influence over human beings (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:19, +38; Luke 4:6; 22:31; John <a href="#ch14_30">14:30</a>; +Acts 5:3; 26:18; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +2:11; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:2; 4:27; +6:11; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:26; Jas. 4:7; +1 John 3:8; 5:18</span>), and the language here is in +accordance with its spiritual philosophy. It +simply indicates that Judas’ determined resistance +to the warning words and the winning love +of Christ gave to the Evil One a new advantage +and influence over him. The solemn lesson for +us is that, as every faithful performance of +known duty opens our heart to the incoming of +God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_23">14:23</a></span>), so every determined resistance of +sacred influences and every persistence in sin, +opens our nature to the incoming of unknown +but tremendous Satanic influences. It has before +been said of Judas that Satan entered into him +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:3</span>). There is growth in the kingdom of +darkness as in that of light. As God enters by +successive manifestations of himself into his +saints, so Satan into those that give themselves +up to him.—​<b>That thou doest, do quickly.</b> +Literally, <dfn>more quickly</dfn> (<span lang="el">τάχιον</span>); <i>i. e.</i>, hasten it. +This is not to be regarded as merely permission, +as Adam Clarke: “What thou art determined +to do, and I to permit, do directly; delay not; I +am ready;” nor yet as mandatory, and involving +the utterance of a divine decree, as Alford: +“The course of sinful action is presupposed, +and the command to go on is but the echo of +that mysterious appointment by which the sinner +in the exercise of his own corrupted will +becomes the instrument of the purposes of God;” +but as the expression of Christ’s desire to be rid +of the oppressive proximity of the traitor, as +Ambrose and Tholuck. He sees that the purpose +of Judas is fully fixed; he will not have +him remain there, contaminating the very atmosphere, +and increasing his own guilt by his dissembling. +We are apt to judge men by the +external act; no wonder then that Christ has +been accused of pushing Judas over the precipice. +But he who judged by the heart, and +accounted him already a murderer who has murder +in his heart (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:22</span>), would not have the +resolute apostate increase the guilt of betrayal +by that of hypocrisy. Moreover, Christ wishes +the few minutes that remain for sacred converse +with his faithful friends; and that he cannot +have in the presence of the hypocrite and traitor. +So he bids him begone. “Play the hypocrite +here no longer,” he says to him; “but since you +are determined on treason, go on and consummate +it.”—​<b>Now no one at the table knew +why he thus spake to him.</b> Perhaps the +writer himself, that is John, is to be excepted +from this general statement. This is the opinion +of most of the commentators. Yet it is not at +all impossible that not even John comprehended +the significance of Christ’s act in handing the +sop to Judas first of the disciples.—​<b>Because +Judas had the bag.</b> Being treasurer of the +little band. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_6">12:6</a>, note.—​<b>Buy those +things we have need of against the feast.</b> +From this phrase it is argued by Alford and +Meyer that the supper at which our Lord was +sitting with his disciples could not have been the +Passover Supper. “Had it been the night of +the Passover, the next day being hallowed as a +Sabbath, nothing could have been bought.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) +But Tholuck has shown that according +to Rabbinical rules a purchase could be made +on the Sabbath by leaving a pledge and afterwards +settling the account. The feast lasted for +the week; therefore the disciples may well have +supposed that a purchase for a later period of +the feast was contemplated. And the fact that +Christ hastened Judas would have been better +understood if the following day was the Sabbath, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span> +when the shops would be shut.—​<b>Or that he +should give something to the poor.</b> Evidently +this little band carried out the precepts +of Christian love which their Master inculcated. +Small as was their store, it is clear that out of it +they were accustomed to bestow alms on the more +needy.—​<b>Went out immediately.</b> There was +then, clearly, no opportunity for the institution +of the Lord’s Supper during his presence, unless +it was instituted either before the feet-washing, +which the order of the narrative and its probable +connection with the contest about places described +in Luke, makes exceedingly improbable, +or between verses <a href="#ch13_20">20</a> and <a href="#ch13_21">21</a>, which seems from +the connection to be also very improbable. I +believe it is to be regarded as occurring between +the departure of Judas and the beginning of +Christ’s discourse in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#Note_ch14">14</a>. Matthew and Mark +both put it immediately after the prophecy of +the betrayal; Luke before.—​<b>And it was +night.</b> A graphic addition to the picture; significant +of the fact that the narration is that of +an eye-witness in whose memory every detail +was indelibly impressed; and suggestive of the +darkness of the deed about to be consummated, +and of the traitor’s heart. It is always night +when a deed of determined sin is entered upon. +“The night which this miserable wretch has in +his heart is, without comparison, blacker and +darker than that which he chooses for his work +of darkness.”—(<cite>Quesnel.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said, +Now<a id="FNanchor_536" href="#Footnote_536" class="fnanchor">[536]</a> is the Son of man glorified, and God<a id="FNanchor_537" href="#Footnote_537" class="fnanchor">[537]</a> is glorified +in him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_536" href="#FNanchor_536" class="label">[536]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_23">12:23</a>; <a href="#ch17_1">17:1-6</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_537" href="#FNanchor_537" class="label">[537]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_13">14:13</a>; + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 4:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify +him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>31, 32. When he was gone out Jesus +said.</b> The departure of Judas is a relief. Now +for the first time Christ can speak freely, unoppressed +by the presence of a traitor and a hypocrite.—​<b>Now +has the Son of man been +glorified, and God has been glorified in +him</b> (<span lang="el">ὲδοξάσθη</span>, aorist). <b>If God has been +glorified in him, God also shall glorify +him in himself, and shall straightway +glorify him.</b> The significance of this utterance +has been, it seems to me, misapprehended by the +commentators, from a failure to consider the +mental attitude and expectation of the disciples. +The phrase <cite>Son of man</cite> was a common Jewish +designation of the Messiah, borrowed from +Daniel, and would have been so understood by +the disciples (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:23, note</span>). They had come +up to Jerusalem anticipating the coronation of +the Messiah as King of the Jews. They had entered +Jerusalem in triumph, hailing him as such +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:1-11</span>). Two of the disciples on the way +had come to him privately for the best offices +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:20, 21</span>). The twelve even had quarreled +for pre-eminence as they were sitting down at +the table (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:24</span>). The immediate object of +Christ in the discourse which follows is to prepare +them for the terrible revulsion of feeling, +the shock of disappointment and despair which +the morrow had in store for them. He begins, +therefore, with the declaration that the glory of +the Messiah is an already accomplished fact. He +has been glorified; by his incarnation, his life +of loving self-sacrifice, his patience, courage, +fidelity, love; and in his life and character, God +has been glorified. The disciples have beheld +already the glory of the only begotten of the +Father, full of grace and truth +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_14">1:14</a></span>). Then +he adds a prophecy of further glory; not that of +the death; not that of the resurrection; not that +of the ascension; but that of being again one +with the Father.—​The Father shall glorify him, +<em>in himself</em>. He foresees and foretells the answer +to be given to the prayer “Glorify thou me, <em>with +thine own self</em>, with the glory which I had with +thee before the world was” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_5">17:5</a></span>). And for +this there is to be no waiting; no delay for an +earthly coronation. There must be a long interval +of redeeming work before he can see of the +travail of his soul and be satisfied; before every +knee will bow and every tongue confess him +Lord; before he can reign King of kings and +Lord of lords; but for this the Father will not +wait. Immediately that his work of suffering +and self-sacrifice is over, he will return to the +bosom of the Father, to share with him the glory +which he had from the foundation of the world.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. +Ye shall seek me: and<a id="FNanchor_538" href="#Footnote_538" class="fnanchor">[538]</a> as I said unto the Jews, +Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_538" href="#FNanchor_538" class="label">[538]</a> + <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_34">7:34</a>; + <a href="#ch8_21">8:21</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 A new<a id="FNanchor_539" href="#Footnote_539" class="fnanchor">[539]</a> commandment I give unto you, That ye +love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also +love one another.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_539" href="#FNanchor_539" class="label">[539]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_12">15:12</a>, + <a href="#ch15_17">17</a>; + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 19:18; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:2; + 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:9; + Jas. 2:8; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:22; + 1 John 2:7, 8; 3:11, 23; 4:20, 21.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 By this shall all <em>men</em>know that ye are my disciples, +if ye have love one to another.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>33-35. Little children.</b> The only place +where this phrase is used by Christ in addressing +his disciples. But we find it more frequently in +the Epistles of Paul (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:14, 17; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:13; +1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:2; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:1</span>). It “affectingly expresses +his, not only brotherly, but fatherly love (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> +9:6</span>) for his own, and at the same time their +immature and weak state, now about to be left +without him.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)—<b>And as I said to +the Jews</b> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_21">8:21</a></span>), <b>Whither I go ye cannot +come, so now I say to you.</b> But though +they could not go to him, he would come to +them, and abide with them (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_18">14:18</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a></span>). The +longing to depart and be with Christ is to be +gratified only by our having Christ with us, until + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> +the time of final departure comes. It is one +thing to desire him here, willing to fill up the +measure of his suffering in our own life, if he is +in us and with us (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 12:10</span>); it is another and +very different thing to desire to depart and be +with him that we may escape the suffering. The +first is a Christian longing; not so the second.—​<b>A +new commandment I give unto you, +That ye love one another; as I have +loved you, that ye also love one another.</b> +The commandment to love is not new (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 19:18</span>). +But Christ’s life gives to it a new interpretation +and makes it new. Love has, ever since the life +and death of Christ, taken on a new signification. +To forgive is now to bless those that curse us, +and do good to those that despitefully use us. +The language here is parallel to and interpreted +by <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a>, +“As thou (Father) hast sent me +into the world, even so have I also sent them +into the world.” It is the interpretation of the +direction, “Follow me.” We are to be followers +of his spirit, especially of his love. This general +definition includes other special definitions that +have been given, <i>e. g.</i>, it is new because with +it there comes a new motive power, the love +of Christ experienced in the heart, which becomes +in turn the fountain of love to all others +(<cite>Meyer</cite>); a renewed commandment, rejuvenated, +cleansed of the overlay of ceremonialism which +Pharisaism had put upon it (<cite>Calvin</cite>); new to the +disciples, unexpected by them, who were looking +for a new disclosure of divine glory in a very +different direction (<cite>Semler</cite> quoted in <cite>Meyer</cite>); +new because love is ever new, never can grow +old (<cite>Olshausen</cite>); new because the law of the new +covenant, the firstfruits of the Spirit in the new +dispensation (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22</span>). +It is notable how this +one law of love runs through and colors all this +last sacred discourse of Jesus. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_15">14:15</a>, +<a href="#ch14_24">24</a>; <a href="#ch15_9">15:9</a>, +<a href="#ch15_10">10</a>, <a href="#ch15_17">17</a>. The last words of Jesus +are words full of the comfort and inspiration +and exaltation of love.—​<b>By this shall all men +know that ye are my disciples.</b> Not by +professions, or creeds, or ceremonials, or religious +services, but by love one towards another. +Love is the Christian water-mark, the Christian +uniform. The banner over Christ’s church is +love (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Solomon">Sol.</abbr> Song 2:4</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest +thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst +not follow me now; but<a id="FNanchor_540" href="#Footnote_540" class="fnanchor">[540]</a> thou shalt follow me afterwards.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_540" href="#FNanchor_540" class="label">[540]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch21_18">21:18</a>; + 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow +thee now? I will<a id="FNanchor_541" href="#Footnote_541" class="fnanchor">[541]</a> lay down my life for thy sake.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_541" href="#FNanchor_541" class="label">[541]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:33, etc.; Mark 14:29, etc.; Luke 22:33, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch13_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life +for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock +shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>36-38. Prophecy of Peter’s denial.</b> +This is probably identical with the prophecy of +Luke 22:31-38, see notes there; but distinct +from that of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:31-35; Mark 14:27-31. +<b>Thou canst not follow me now.</b> Because +it was not the divine will that the apostles +should share in their Master’s death.—​<b>But +thou shalt follow me afterwards.</b> Peter, +according to tradition, was crucified; thus he +followed Christ in death, and through death +into glory. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch21_18">21:18</a>.—​<b>The cock +shall not crow.</b> The second crowing at dawn +is intended. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:34, note.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER <abbr title="Fourteen">XIV.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 14:1-31. THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY—THE +DIVINE IMMANENCE.—​<span class="smcap">The promise of the Comforter: +invisible, indwelling, abiding.—​The condition +of the promise: the obedience of love.—​The +result: a fruitful, spiritual life, comfort, +instruction, peace, joy, love.</span></p> + + +<p><a id="Note_ch14"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—The 14th, 15th, 16th and +17th chapters of John are the Holy of Holies of +the Bible. Christ is about to depart from his +disciples; the cloud of the coming trouble casts +its shadow on their hearts; he sees clearly, they +feel vaguely the impending tragedy. They are +to behold their Master spit upon, abused, execrated; +they are to see him suffering the tortures +of a lingering death upon the cross; they are to +be utterly unable to interfere for his succor or +even for his relief; they are to see all the hopes +which they had built on him extinguished in his +death. It is that he may prepare them for this +experience, that he may prepare his disciples +throughout all time (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_20">17:20</a></span>) for similar experiences +of world-sorrow (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_33">16:33</a></span>), and that he +may point out to them and to the church universal +the source of their hope, their peace, their +joy, and their <span style="white-space:nowrap;">life—moral</span> and <span style="white-space:nowrap;">spiritual—that</span> +he speaks to the twelve, and through them to +his discipleship in all ages, in these chapters, +and finally offers for them and for us that prayer +which we may well accept as the disclosure of +his eternal intercession for his followers. The +discourse is sympathetic, not philosophical or +critical; it is addressed to sympathetic friends, +not to a cold or critical audience; and it is to be +interpreted rather by the sympathies and the spiritual +experience than by a philosophical analysis. +It sets forth the source of all comfort, strength, +guidance and spiritual well-being in the truth of +the direct personal presence of a seemingly absent +but really present, a seemingly slain but +really living, a seemingly defeated but really victorious +Lord and Master. This truth appears +and reappears in various forms in these chapters, +like the theme in a sublime symphony. Now it +is plainly stated, “I will come to you” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_18">14:18</a></span>); + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> +now it is interpreted by a metaphor, “Ye are the +vine, I am the branches” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_5">15:5</a></span>); now it is a +promise of the Spirit’s presence, now of Christ’s, +now of the Father’s (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_16">14:16</a>, <a href="#ch14_18">18</a>, +<a href="#ch14_21">21</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a></span>); now the +disciples are bid to turn their thoughts toward +this spiritual presence, this Divine Immanence, +for their own sake (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_7">16:7</a></span>), now they are appealed +to by the love they bear the Master +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_28">14:28</a></span>). The conditions of this personal experience +of the unseen spiritual presence of their +God and Saviour is declared to be obedience in +the daily life to the law of love (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_21">14:21</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a>; <a href="#ch15_10">15:10</a></span>); +the result is declared to be a constant growth in +the knowledge of divine truth (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a>; <a href="#ch16_12">16:12</a>, <a href="#ch16_13">13</a></span>); +a sacred peace and joy (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_27">14:27</a>; <a href="#ch15_11">15:11</a></span>); +a supernatural +strength in sorrow (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch16_20">16:20-22</a></span>). These +truths are not logically arranged; the structure +of the discourse is not that of a sermon, but that +of a confidential conversation, in which in different +forms the same essential truth is repeated +and re-repeated, because the heart is so full that +a single utterance does not suffice, and the truth +is so transcendent that no logical statement is +adequate. After the conversation is closed and +the disciples rise to depart, Christ recurs to the +theme in a new form, and continues the discourse, +while the disciples wait standing for a +new signal to go out (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_31">14:31</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 15, <a href="#Note_ch15"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a></span>); +and, finally, when for a second time he draws his +discourse to a close, he re-embodies the same +consolatory and inspiring truth in a prayer, +breathing the aspiration that the reward and +secret and source of his own power may be given +to his disciples, sent into the world to complete +the mission which he has but inaugurated (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a></span>). +Thus these chapters of John contain a disclosure +of the very heart of Christianity, the personal +knowledge of a living God by direct communion +with him, as a teacher, a comforter, an +inspirer, the one and only true source of faith, +hope, love. The commentator must point out +the connection of the verses and the meaning of +the words; his work must be in a measure critical +and cold; but only the devout heart, which +knows by experience that love of Christ which +passes the knowledge of the intellect, can interpret +the spiritual meaning of the truth, since +the condition of understanding it is not a critical +knowledge of words or an intellectual apprehension +of theology, but a love for Christ that keeps +Christ’s words, that recognizes Christ’s mission +to be also the mission of the Christian, and that +abides in Christ in the spirit that it may follow +Christ in the life. Without this spirit the student +in vain addresses himself to the study of +this “wisdom of God in a mystery,” hidden +except to the soul to whom God hath revealed +it by his Spirit (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:7-10</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Let</span><a id="FNanchor_542" href="#Footnote_542" class="fnanchor">[542]</a> not your heart be troubled: ye believe in +God, believe<a id="FNanchor_543" href="#Footnote_543" class="fnanchor">[543]</a> also in me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_542" href="#FNanchor_542" class="label">[542]</a> + verse <a href="#ch14_27">27</a>; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 43:1, 2; 2 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 2:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_543" href="#FNanchor_543" class="label">[543]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 12:2, 3; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 1:12, 13; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:21.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if <em>it were</em> +not <em>so</em>, I would have told you. I go<a id="FNanchor_544" href="#Footnote_544" class="fnanchor">[544]</a> to prepare a +place for you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_544" href="#FNanchor_544" class="label">[544]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 6:20; 9:8, 24; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 21:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will<a id="FNanchor_545" href="#Footnote_545" class="fnanchor">[545]</a> +come again, and receive you unto myself: that<a id="FNanchor_546" href="#Footnote_546" class="fnanchor">[546]</a> where +I am, <em>there</em>ye may be also.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_545" href="#FNanchor_545" class="label">[545]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 9:28.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_546" href="#FNanchor_546" class="label">[546]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_26">12:26</a>; + <a href="#ch17_24">17:24</a>; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1-3. Let not your heart be troubled.</b> +In this hour of unparalleled sorrow, with Gethsemane, +the betrayal, the denial, the mock trials +and the crucifixion full in view, Christ thinks not +of himself, but of his disciples. He does not +seek comfort, but imparts it. We may well +imagine a momentary silence after the prophecy +of the preceding verses. The disappointment of +the Judaic expectation of temporal and political +deliverance, the prophecy of treason, the sudden +and unexpected departure of Judas, the +prophecy of Peter’s denial, and of the abandonment +of their Lord by the other disciples, have +all tended to sober and sadden them.—​<b>Ye have +faith in God, have faith also in me.</b> The +forms of the indicative and the imperative are the +same (<span lang="el">πιστεύετε</span>). Some critics read both verbs +indicative, <cite>Ye have faith in God, ye have faith also +in me</cite>; some both imperative; treating both as +an exhortation, <cite>Have faith in God; have faith +also in me</cite>; and some, as our English version, +which makes the statement of the first clause +the ground of the exhortation of the second +clause, <cite>Ye have faith in God, have faith also in me</cite>. +Either rendering is grammatically legitimate; +the latter seems to me preferable. As Jews they +had faith in the one only true and living God; +a faith which, in the experience of patriarchs +and prophets, trial and trouble had not been able +to shake (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Habakkuk">Hab.</abbr> 3:17, 18</span>). Christ urges them to a +like faith in him, a faith strong enough to survive +the brief though terrible separation of death. +Theism is the foundation of Christianity; faith +in one only living and true God precedes and prepares +the way for faith in Christ his Son, the +living and true way to the Father. To believe +in him is not to believe anything about him, nor +merely to trust in him, but to have such a spiritual +apprehension of his character, that when he +is crucified the disciples shall not lose their confidence +in him as the Messiah. He warns them +against that doubt which augmented and intensified +their distress when they saw him whom +they had trusted should have redeemed Israel +put to an open shame and a cruel death (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:21</span>). +They were trusting in themselves. Peter’s + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span> +declaration, “I will lay down my life for thy +sake,” expressed the common confidence of all +(<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 14:31</span>). Christ first demolished this false +confidence, then seeks to build up a new and +better confidence in himself.—​<b>In my Father’s +house are many dwelling-places.</b> The +phrase “my Father’s house” is generally regarded +as a circumlocution for heaven; Christ’s +declaration as tantamount to the general statement +that in heaven there is room enough for +them all (<cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>, etc.); and in support of +this view such <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +passages as <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 23:13, 14; +Isaiah 63:15, are quoted, which refer to the +heavens as God’s habitation. I would rather +regard the universe as God’s house according to +the spirit of Isaiah 66:1, “Heaven is my throne, +and earth is my footstool,” and the declaration +that in it are many dwelling-places, as a new +light thrown upon the abode of the dead who +die in Christ Jesus. The ancients regarded +Hades, or the abode of the dead, a deep and +dark abode in the under-world, fastened with +gates and bars, a ghostly abode, a prison-house +of the disembodied (<span class="muchsmaller">Job 10:21, 22; 11:8; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 88:6; +89:48; <abbr title="Eccclesiasticus">Eccles.</abbr> 9:4; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 5:14; 14:9-20, 38:10; <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 31:17; +32:21</span>). The <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> thought of death and the +abode of the dead was hardly more hopeful than +that of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Homer +makes the dead Achilles declare:</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="verse indent22">“I would be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A laborer on earth and serve for hire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some man of mean estate, who makes scant cheer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rather than reign over all who have gone down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To death.”</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="unindent">Parallel to this, in some respects more gloomy, +were the ancient Hebrews’ thoughts of Hades. +Dying was bidding farewell to God. “Wilt thou +show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise +and praise thee? * * * Shall thy righteousness be +known in the land of forgetfulness?” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 88:10-12</span>). +“In death there is no remembrance of thee” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> +6:5</span>). <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Isaiah, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 38, and Job, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 14. The +hope of better things is but an occasional gleam +in a night of great darkness and almost despair. +See Job 10:21, 22; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 89:45-49; <abbr title="Eccclesiasticus">Eccles.</abbr> 9:4; +Isaiah 5:14, 15; 14:9-20; <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 31:16, 17; and +especially Isaiah, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 38, and Job, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 14. In +contrast with this gloomy view of death is that +of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, the germ of which is afforded by +Christ’s declaration here, which may be paraphrased +thus: “The earth is not the only abode +of God’s children; in my Father’s house (the +universe) are many dwelling-places for them; +and I, in leaving you, am not going to the dark +abode of the voiceless dead, but to prepare for +you a place, and to return again to take you to +myself, that you may witness and share the glory +which I have with the Father.” Out of this +declaration grows, as a fruitful tree out of a +seed, the whole of the discourse contained in this +and the two following chapters. Out of it grows, +too, the Christian’s conception of and experience +in death. See for example 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:1-4. It +should be added that the word <cite>house</cite> (<span lang="el">οἰκία</span>) is +never used in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> as a designation of +heaven, but with the analogous word (<span lang="el">οἷκος</span>) <dfn>household</dfn>, +is used of the world (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch8_35">8:35</a></span>), the temple +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch2_16">2:16</a></span>), and the whole kingdom of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> +3:2-6</span>); so that <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> usage confirms the interpretation +here given. The word rendered <em>mansions</em> +(<span lang="el">μονή</span>) occurs nowhere else in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, but is +derived from a verb (<span lang="el">μένω</span>) signifying to <dfn>abide</dfn>, +and here unquestionably indicates not a <em>mansion</em>, +but simply a permanent dwelling-place. This +was indeed the original meaning of the English +word mansion (<abbr title="French">Fr.</abbr> <i lang="fr">maison</i>).—​<b>If not, would I +have told you that I go to prepare a place +for you?</b> The reference is to some previous +statement not preserved in our Gospels. The +argument is this: I could not have assured you, +as I have done, that I am going to prepare a +place for you, if the place of the dead were the +dark abode which you have imagined it to be. +This, which is the interpretation of the French +translation, seems to me, notwithstanding the +objection of the modern writers (<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Godet</cite>, +<cite>Tholuck</cite>, etc.), better than the construction of +our English version, though either is grammatically +admissible. If we take the other construction, +the connection is as Godet gives it: “If +our separation was to be an eternal one, I would +have forewarned you; I would not have waited +for this last moment to declare it unto you.”—​<b>And +if I go and prepare a place for you.</b> +The implication of this entire passage is not +merely “heaven large enough for all,” but a +heaven with various provisions for various natures. +In the Father’s house is not merely a +large mansion, but <em>many</em>mansions; and there is +prepared a place not merely for all but for <em>you</em>, +a personal preparation in glory <em>for</em>each child as +by grace <em>in</em>each child; a room, a house for each +nature adapted to its needs. But how does +Christ <em>prepare</em>a place for us? To that question +revelation makes no answer. We can only say +that redemption did not end with Christ’s death, +that he is still carrying on his work of redeeming +love for us as well as in us. In every death of a +friend he lays up treasure in heaven for us; those +that have gone before and entered into their rest, +and await our coming, are a part of this divine +preparation. The sorrow here is a part of the +preparation of unmeasured joy hereafter.—​<b>I +will come again and receive you unto +myself.</b> In order to understand this, we must +bear in mind what Stier well calls the perspective +of prophecy. “The coming again of the Lord +is not one single <span style="white-space:nowrap;">act—as</span> his resurrection, or the +descent of the Spirit, or his second personal + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> +advent, or the final coming in <span style="white-space:nowrap;">judgment—but</span> +the combination of all these, the result of which +shall be his taking his people to himself to be +where he is. This coming is begun (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_18">18</a></span>) in his +resurrection; carried on (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_23">23</a></span>) in the spiritual +life (<span class="muchsmaller">see also <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_22">16:22</a>, etc.</span>), the making them ready +for the place prepared; further advanced when +each by death is fetched away to be with him +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 1:23</span>); fully completed at His coming in +glory when they shall be forever with Him +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:17</span>) in the perfected resurrection state.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)—<b>That.</b> +<em>In order that</em>(<span lang="el">ἵνα</span>). The +going, the preparing, the returning are all for +the sake of them, his disciples.—​<b>Where I am +there ye may be also.</b> Death is no longer +“farewell to God;” it is going home to be forever +with the Lord (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_24">17:24</a>; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 1:23; 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:17</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither +thou goest; and how can we know the way?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>4, 5. And whither I go</b> (ye know and) <b>the +way ye know</b>. There is some doubt as to the +reading; most critics (<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Tischendorf</cite>, +<cite>Lachmann</cite>) either omit or doubt the words +I put in brackets. But their omission obscures +without changing the sense; the meaning is undoubtedly +that conveyed by our Received Version. +While in form a statement, it is in fact an +inquiry; its object is to provoke questioning, as it +does from Thomas. Whither he goes is to the +Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_17">20:17</a></span>); the way he goes is the way of +death and resurrection, already foretold them +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +16:21; 17:22, 23; 20:17-19</span>).—​<b>Thomas saith +unto him, We know not</b>, etc. On the character +of Thomas, see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_26">20:26</a>. The few indications +of his character afforded by the Gospels +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch11_16">11:16</a>; +<a href="#ch20_24">20:24-29</a></span>) show him to have possessed +an affectionate but unimaginative nature, desiring +much, hoping little, and easily given to despair. +Such a nature takes nothing for granted; +it wants every statement explained, nothing left +to the imagination, nothing to the interpretation +of the future. “The heavenly <em>whither</em>, however +distinctly Jesus had already designated it, +Thomas did not yet know clearly how to combine +with his circle of Messianic ideas; but he +desired to arrive at clearness.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the<a id="FNanchor_547" href="#Footnote_547" class="fnanchor">[547]</a> way, and the truth,<a id="FNanchor_548" href="#Footnote_548" class="fnanchor">[548]</a> +and the life:<a id="FNanchor_549" href="#Footnote_549" class="fnanchor">[549]</a> no<a id="FNanchor_550" href="#Footnote_550" class="fnanchor">[550]</a> man cometh unto the Father, but +by me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_547" href="#FNanchor_547" class="label">[547]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr><a href="#ch10_9">10:9</a>; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 35:8, 9; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 10:19, 20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_548" href="#FNanchor_548" class="label">[548]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_17">1:17</a>; + <a href="#ch15_1">15:1</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_549" href="#FNanchor_549" class="label">[549]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_4">1:4</a>; + <a href="#ch11_25">11:25</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_550" href="#FNanchor_550" class="label">[550]</a> + Acts 4:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my +Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and +have seen him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>6, 7. Jesus saith unto him, I am the +way, the truth, and the life.</b> This is not +directly responsive to the implied question of +Thomas. That is theoretical; this is practical. +The disciples desire to understand the way by +which Christ is to depart, and the place to which +he is going; Christ’s answer points out the way in +and by which the disciple can follow his Lord and +be with him where he is. There is here, therefore, +not merely a play upon the word “way,” +though Christ uses it in one sense in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_4">4</a> and +in a different sense in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_6">6</a>; but the same word +is used to turn the thoughts of the inquirer from +a purely theoretical question about Christ to a +practical truth concerning himself. It was always +the habit of Christ to answer questions in +theoretical theology by directions helpful to the +spiritual life (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_22">22-24</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_4">3:4-6</a>; +<a href="#ch4_19">4:19-24</a></span>). The +phrase, <cite>I am the way, the truth, and the life</cite>, may +be interpreted, according to Lightfoot, as a Hebraism +equivalent to the true and living way; +but it is better to take the two latter phrases as +explanations of the former. Christ is the way +unto the Father, not because he points out the +way, but because he is the truth concerning the +Father, and possesses in himself the divine life, +and has power to impart it to us. He does not +merely reveal the truth; he <em>is</em> the truth; the +truth incarnated in a living form; the truth +of God, whom he manifests to the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +11:27; John <a href="#ch1_1">1:1</a>, <a href="#ch1_2">2</a>, +<a href="#ch1_14">14</a>; 10:30; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 2:9; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> +1:13</span>), and the truth of life, which he illustrates +more forcibly by his example than by his words, +so that all his precepts are summed up in the +one command, “Follow me.” He is the life, +having life in himself (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_26">5:26</a></span>), imparting it to +others (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_10">10:10</a></span>), and so giving them power to +become sons of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_12">1:12</a></span>) by the possession +of that divine life without which no man can +ever see God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_3">3:3</a>; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:14</span>). To come to the +Father by Christ as the way is not, then, merely +to accept him as an inspired teacher respecting +the Father, nor merely as an atoning sacrifice, +whose blood cleanses away the sins which intervene +between the soul and the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 10:20</span>); +it is to be conformed to him as to the truth, and +to be made partaker of his life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:8-14</span>).—​<b>No +one cometh to the Father but by me.</b> He +now says “to the Father,” not to the Father’s +house, because, as Godet well says, “It is not in +heaven that we are to find God, but in God that +we are to find heaven.” By <em>me</em> is equivalent to, +by me as the way, the truth, and the life. This +does not necessarily require a knowledge of, +still less a correct theological opinion concerning +Christ. The conception of God’s character may +be really derived from Christ’s teaching, the life +may be conformed to Christ’s example, and the +soul may be partaker of his spirit, and yet the +individual may be unconscious of the source +from which he has derived his knowledge of +God, his ideal of life, and his inspiration. This +declaration is inclusive rather than exclusive; it +is equivalent to that of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_9">1:9</a> (<span class="muchsmaller">see note there</span>), + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span> +“That was the true Light which lighteth every +man that cometh into the world.” All spiritual +life comes through Christ, but not necessarily +through a clear and correct knowledge about +Christ.—​<b>If ye had known me ye should +have known my Father also.</b> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_19">8:19</a>. The practical lesson for us clearly is that +the way to come to a true spiritual knowledge of +the Father is by a study of the life and character +of Christ, and above all by a sympathetic and +personal spiritual acquaintance with him. His +disciples had not known Christ. They had up to +this time believed in him as a temporal Messiah. +Of a Messiah crucified, the power of God +and the wisdom of God unto salvation to Gentile +as well as Jew (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:24</span>), they had known +nothing, and hence of God as their Father and +their Friend they knew nothing.—​<b>From henceforth +ye have known him and have seen +him.</b> From this time. He refers to what he +has already disclosed of the divine nature, in the +washing of the disciples’ feet, in the prophecy +of his own betrayal and death, and in what he is +about to tell them of the spiritual presence of +himself and the Father, through the Holy Spirit, +in their hearts. From the time of this disclosure +it will indeed be their own fault if they fail to +comprehend, at least in some measure, “the +breadth and length and depth and height, and +to know the love of Christ (and so the love of the +Father revealed in and through Christ), which +passeth knowledge” (<span class="muchsmaller">Ephes 3:18, 19</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father +and it sufficeth us.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 Jesus saith unto him. Have I been so long time +with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? +he<a id="FNanchor_551" href="#Footnote_551" class="fnanchor">[551]</a> that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how +sayest thou <em>then</em>, Shew us the Father?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_551" href="#FNanchor_551" class="label">[551]</a> + <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:15.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>8, 9. Philip saith unto him, Shew us the +Father and it sufficeth us.</b> On Philip’s life +and character, see <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 149. Compare the +request of Moses (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 33:18</span>). Philip has in mind +the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> appearances of God; he wants such a +manifestation of the Deity, <em>a seeing</em> of God. +“One such sight of God would set at rest all +these fears, and give him perfect confidence.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) +He wants to walk by sight, and not +by faith. He expresses the universal longing of +humanity for a vision of the unknown. This +request furnishes the text on which the following +discourse is founded. Christ replies that the +unknown Father is manifested to the world in +his Son (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_9">9-11</a></span>), and in the spiritual life, the inward +experience, of those that love him and keep +his commandments (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_15">15-21</a></span>); he points out the +way to secure this inward experience, namely, +by loving the Son and keeping his commandments +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_22">22-26</a></span>); he declares that this indwelling +of the Father in the soul of the believer brings +abundant peace (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_27">27-31</a></span>); it is more than a vision, +it is an abiding, by which the life of God +flows into the soul of man, making it partaker of +the divine nature and fruitful in works of divine +love (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_1">15:1-8</a></span>); this love, patterned after and +imbibed from Christ, extends to the world that +hates both the Lord and his disciples (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_9">15:9-27</a></span>); +this love, born and kept alive by the indwelling +of the unseen Father, is the illuminator, the instructor, +and the inspirer of him who possesses +it, and gives him assurance of the divine love +and intimacy of spiritual communion with the +divine Being (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_1">16</a></span>). See, further, +<a href="#Note_ch14"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note.</a> +There is a real connection in this discourse, though +not that of an oration; the unity is spiritual rather +than intellectual; but it all circles about a single +central truth, the provision which divine love +has made for satisfying the soul-hunger for a +vision of the unseen and invisible God. In a +sense Philip is right, though the <em>sight</em>, if the sight +of a spirit was possible, would not satisfy; but +we see God only as we become like him, and we +shall be satisfied when we awake in his likeness +and so see him as he is (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> +17:15; 1 John 1:2</span>).—​<b>Have +I been so much time with you, and +yet hast thou not known me, Philip?</b> +Not merely the length of time is indicated; it +had been but about three years, probably a little +less; but during that three years he had been constantly +with his disciples; they had eaten, slept, +journeyed, lived together; the companionship +was most intimate, the opportunity for familiar +acquaintance perfect.—​<b>He that hath seen me +hath seen the Father; and how sayest +thou then, Show us the Father?</b> There is +a physical and there is a spiritual sight. The +disciples had known Jesus after the flesh; but +Christ according to the spirit they did not know +till after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. +To admire the Son of man is one thing; +to receive the Spirit of God manifested in and +through him is quite different. He that has a +spiritual discernment of Christ will recognize +the spiritual character of the unknown Father, +the truth, mercy, love of God, shining in and +through the Son. There is and can be no physical +vision of God; he is a spirit, and is to be +spiritually known, to be worshipped in spirit as +well as in truth (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch4_24">4:24</a></span>). The language of +Christ here, and indeed throughout this whole +discourse, is utterly inconsistent with the conception +of him as a mere human or superhuman +<em>ambassador</em> of God. He represents not merely + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span> +the divine government, but the divine Being. +The Father is so in him that whoever looks +within the tabernacle beholds the glory as of the +only begotten of the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 1:14</span>). He is the +manifestation in the flesh, not of the divine government, +but of God (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 3:16</span>). It is impossible +to refer this answer to the mere union in +sympathy and purpose of Jesus with God. “No +Christian, even if perfected, could say, ‘He that +has seen me has seen Christ.’ How much less, +then, could a Jew, though perfect, have said, +‘He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.’”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and +the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I +speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in +me, he doeth the works.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 Believe me that I <em>am</em> in the Father, and the +Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ +sake.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>10, 11. Believest thou not that I am in +the Father, and the Father in me?</b> God +is in everything which he has made; the All and +in All (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 23:24; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:28</span>). We also are intended +to be temples in which he is to dwell (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 91:1; +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:11; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:16; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:14</span>). But sin, which +has been admitted to dwell in us (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 7:17</span>), has +driven out the Spirit of God, so that the temple +is destroyed by defilement (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:17, marg.</span>); it +ceases to be the temple of God. He dwells no +longer in it. In Christ Jesus there was no sin; +in Christ Jesus, therefore, dwells all the fullness +of the Godhead bodily (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 2:9</span>); and it is by +union with him, and a new life received in and +by and from him, that the fullness of the divine +indwelling is to be at length restored to all that +are his (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_21">17:21-23</a>; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 3:17</span>).—​<b>The words +that I speak to you I speak not of myself.</b> +<cite>From myself</cite> (<span lang="el">ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ</span>). <em>From</em> signifies the +fountain or source; the source of Christ’s authority +is not in himself, but in the Father, who +dwells in and speaks through him. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_19"> 5:19</a>, +note.—​<b>But the Father, he who abides +in me, he doeth the works.</b> Some read, +<cite>doeth his own works</cite>. So Tischendorf and Meyer. +The Received reading is preferable, but the +meaning is much the same. Whether we read, +He that dwelleth in me doeth his own works +(<span lang="el">ποιεῖ τὰ ἔργα ἀυτοῦ</span>), or, He that dwelleth in me, +he it is who doeth the works (<span lang="el">αὐτὸς ποιεῖ τὰ ἔργα</span>), +the emphasis is equally put upon the Father as +the One who, abiding in the Son, does all things +through him. The <em>works</em> are here, not merely +the miracles, but the whole range of beneficent +action of the Son, including certainly the miracles, +but those only as a part of the whole service +of love. This word <em>work</em> (<span lang="el">ἔργον</span>) is rarely, I +think never, used in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> as equivalent to +<em>miracle</em> (<span lang="el">σημεῖον</span>).—​<b>Have faith in me, that I +am in the Father.</b> Beware of understanding +this as equivalent to, Believe me, on my mere +personal assurance; this is apparently the interpretation +of our English version, and is sustained +by even so eminent an authority as Meyer. It is +grammatically possible; but it neither accords +with Jesus’ use of the word <cite>believe</cite> (<span lang="el">πιστεύω</span>), +which he habitually uses to signify a spiritual apprehension, +not merely an intellectual opinion; +nor with the spirit of this discourse, which, beginning +with <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_1">1</a>, +is throughout addressed, not to +the formation of correct opinions, but to the +building up of a right spiritual apprehension of +Christ, and through him of the eternal Father. +The meaning is, <em>Have faith in me that I am in the +Father, and the Father in me</em>; <i>i. e.</i>, Look beneath +the surface, the flesh; behold in the inward +grace, manifesting itself in the outward speech +and action, the lineaments of the divine character; +so have faith in me as one in whom the +Father dwells, and through whom the Father is +made manifest. But if this spiritual sense is +lacking, then—<b>Through</b> (<dfn>by reason of</dfn>, <span lang="el">διά</span>) <b>the +works themselves believe</b>. <span lang="el">Μοι</span> is omitted +by Godet, Meyer, Lachmann, and Tischendorf, +on the authority of the Sinaitic, Cambridge, and +Vatican manuscripts. Christ places his own +character in the front rank, as the principal evidence +of the divine origin and authority of +Christianity. He is his own best witness. But, +for those who cannot discern the divinity of his +life and character, he appeals to the works +wrought by him and by the religion of which he +is the founder, and which was more powerful after +his death than during his life. The evidence +from the miracles, and from the whole miraculous +history of Christianity, is secondary to the +evidence from the character and person of +Christ himself.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He<a id="FNanchor_552" href="#Footnote_552" class="fnanchor">[552]</a> that believeth +on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater +<em>works</em> than these shall he do; because I go unto my +Father.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_552" href="#FNanchor_552" class="label">[552]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:21.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<p><b>12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, * * * +greater works than these shall he do; +because I go to my Father.</b> If by <cite>works</cite> +was meant merely miracles, this declaration +would be difficult of interpretation; for none of +Christ’s disciples have ever wrought greater +miracles than the Master, nor is it easy to conceive +of a greater miracle than the resurrection +of the dead. But if by <cite>works</cite> was meant Christ’s +whole life of beneficent activity, then this promise +has been abundantly fulfilled. For Christ +worked in a very narrow sphere, both of time +and place; for three years, in a province no +larger than the State of Vermont. More souls +were converted at Peter’s preaching on the day + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span> +of Pentecost than during the whole of Christ’s +personal ministry. At Christ’s death the whole +number of Christian converts does not seem to +have exceeded five hundred, and Christianity +was utterly unknown outside of Palestine. At +John Wesley’s death Methodism had spread +over Great Britain, the Continent of Europe, the +United States, and the West Indies, and its communion +embraced over eighty thousand members. +Whitefield, Wesley, Spurgeon, Moody preached +during their lives to immensely greater numbers +than Christ ever personally taught; and probably +many Christian physicians have healed more +sick than Christ ever healed. Thus in <em>extent</em> the +disciples have already done greater works than +their Master. And this for the reason here assigned, +namely, because he has gone to the Father; +and because of that going the Comforter +has come to bless the labors of the disciples with +a wider and more powerful divine influence than +could, in the nature of the case, proceed from +God incarnate in a single human life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_7">16:7</a></span>). +But we have no right to say that this promise +does not await even further fulfillment. When +the fullness of time shall have come, and God +dwells in all his children in the fullness foreseen +in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_21">17:21</a>, +there may be in them a power over +nature of which modern science gives possibly a +foreshadowing, and which will be, in its effects, +much greater than that which Christ exercised +over it, because they that exercise it will have +the whole earth as their inheritance. Only thus +can I understand such promises as that here and +in Mark 11:23, etc.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 And<a id="FNanchor_553" href="#Footnote_553" class="fnanchor">[553]</a> whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that +will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_553" href="#FNanchor_553" class="label">[553]</a> + 1 John 5:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do <em>it</em>.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>13, 14. And whatsoever ye shall ask in +my name, that will I do.</b> For analogous +promises of answers to prayer, see <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 22:27; +<abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 4:29; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 34:15; 37:4, 5; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 29:12, +13; Joel 2:32; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 7:7, 8; Mark 11:24; +John 15:16; 16:23; James 1:5; 1 John 3:22; +5:14, 15. A comparison of these passages shows +clearly that God does not give an unconditional +promise of affirmative answer to every prayer. +This would be to place omnipotence at the command +of ignorance and selfishness; it would be +a curse, not a blessing. The condition here is +embodied in the words, <em>In my name</em>; the promise +is only to those petitions asked in the name +of <em>Jesus Christ</em>. To ask in the name of Christ is +not to introduce his name into the petition, as in +the familiar phrase, For Christ’s sake; nor is it +merely to approach the Father through the mediatorship +of Jesus; this, but much more than +this, is included. “In the name” of any one, as +used in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, generally, if not always, signifies +representing him, standing in his stead, fulfilling +his purposes, manifesting his will, and +imbued with and showing forth his life and +glory. With John it always has this signification. +Thus, “The works that I do in my Father’s +name” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_25">10:25</a></span>) is equivalent to, The +works that I do in my Father’s stead, for him +and by his power and authority; “Blessed is the +King of Israel that cometh in the name of the +Lord” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_13">12:13</a></span>) is equivalent to, That cometh +as the representative and manifestation of the +Lord; “The Holy Ghost whom the Father will +send in my name” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a></span>) is equivalent to, +The Holy Ghost who comes to represent me, +and teach the truths concerning me, and implant +and keep alive my life in the souls of my disciples; +“I kept them in thy name” is equivalent +to, I, as one with thee (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_29">10:29</a>, <a href="#ch10_30">30</a></span>), have kept +them within the circle of thine influence, because +within mine own, which is thine. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Acts +3:6; 4:7; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:10; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 3:17, and notes. +Here, then, the declaration is that whatsoever +we ask, speaking for Christ, seeking his will, +representing him and his interests, and his kingdom, +not merely our own special and personal +interests (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:21</span>), will be granted. So in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +6:9 (<span class="muchsmaller">see note there</span>) the Lord makes the petition, +“Hallowed be thy name,” the portico to every +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">prayer—so</span> teaching us that in every prayer the +desire for the glory of God should be supreme. +So again in <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:26 the apostle represents us +taught both how and for what to pray by the +Spirit of Christ within us. But every prayer +thus offered in the name of Christ and with a +supreme allegiance to him, representing his kingdom +and imbued by his spirit, will be in character, +like his prayer at Gethsemane. It will carry with +it the petition, “Not my will but thine be done,” +and thus, as Meyer says, “The <em>denial</em> of the +petition is the <em>fulfillment</em> of the prayer, only in +another way.” See 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 12:8, 9.—​<b>That the +Father may be glorified in the Son.</b> When +the church is a true representative of Christ, +filled with his spirit, manifesting his character +and life, so that it prays in his name, in his name +casts out devils (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 10:17</span>), and in his name suffers, +filling up what is behind of the Lord’s affliction +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:24</span>), and doing all in his stead, as his +representative, and because imbued with his +spirit, then the Father is glorified in the Son, +because he is glorified in humanity, whom he +hath redeemed; for then the glorified and redeemed +church is the body of Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 1:23</span>), + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> +the visible manifestation of his invisible presence, +his perpetual incarnation.—​<b>If ye shall ask +anything in my name, I will do it.</b> The +promise is specific; a promise not merely to provide +generally for the wants of the disciples, but +to hear and answer their specific requests. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 7:9, 10. Observe, too, the language, +<cite>I will do it</cite>, and compare the phraseology +here with that of the analogous promise in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_23">16:23</a>, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in +my name, <em>he</em> will give it you.” What inspired +prophet or angelic messenger could make such a +promise? “This <em>I</em> already indicates the glory” +(<cite>Bengel</cite>), the glory of him who is <em>one</em> with the +Father.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 If<a id="FNanchor_554" href="#Footnote_554" class="fnanchor">[554]</a> ye love me, keep my commandments.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_554" href="#FNanchor_554" class="label">[554]</a> + <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_21">21</a>, + <a href="#ch14_23">23</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch15_10">15:10</a>, <a href="#ch15_14">14</a>; 1 John 5:3.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you +another Comforter,<a id="FNanchor_555" href="#Footnote_555" class="fnanchor">[555]</a> that he may abide with you for +ever;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_555" href="#FNanchor_555" class="label">[555]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_26">15:26</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 <em>Even</em> the Spirit of truth; whom<a id="FNanchor_556" href="#Footnote_556" class="fnanchor">[556]</a> the world cannot +receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth +him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and<a id="FNanchor_557" href="#Footnote_557" class="fnanchor">[557]</a> +shall be in you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_556" href="#FNanchor_556" class="label">[556]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:14.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_557" href="#FNanchor_557" class="label">[557]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:9; 1 John 2:27.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>15-17. If ye love me keep my commandments.</b> +The object of the Gospel is the +inspiration of love, not mere obedience; but +obedience is the test because the manifestation +of love. The <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> recognizes no other test of +love to Christ than compliance in the daily life +with his will. See for striking illustration of this, +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch21_15">21:15-17</a>.—​<b>And I will pray the Father.</b> +The poverty of the English language has prevented +our translators from producing in the +English Bible the distinction between three Greek +verbs, which bear different significations, but are +all indiscriminately translated by the word <cite>pray</cite>. +These are <dfn>to request</dfn> (<span lang="el">προσεύχομαι</span>), <dfn>to ask</dfn> (<span lang="el">ἐρωτάω</span>), +and <dfn>to entreat</dfn> (<span lang="el">αἰτέω</span>). Christ is said in +the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> <em>to request</em> the Father +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:23; 26:36; +Mark 1:35, etc.</span>), and <em>to ask</em> of the Father +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_26">16:26</a>; +<a href="#ch17_9">17:9</a>; <a href="#ch15_20">15:20</a></span>), +but never <em>to entreat</em> the Father. +Here the second of these words is used. “Our +Lord never uses <em>entreat</em> (<dfn>aitein</dfn>, <dfn>aitesthai</dfn>, <span lang="el">αἰτεῖν</span> +or <span lang="el">αἰτεῖσθαι</span>) of Himself in respect of that +which he seeks on behalf of his disciples from +God; for his is not the <em>petition</em> of the creature to +the Creator, but the request of the Son to the +Father. The consciousness of his equal dignity, +of his potent and prevailing intercession, speaks +out in this, that as often as he asks or declares +that he will ask, anything of the Father, it is +always <em>requesting</em> or <em>inquiring</em> (<dfn>erotas</dfn>, <dfn>erotaso</dfn>, +<span lang="el">ἐρωτάω, ἐρωτήσω</span>), that is, as upon equal terms, +never <em>entreating</em> (<dfn>aiteo</dfn>, <dfn>aiteso</dfn>, <span lang="el">αἰτέω</span> or <span lang="el">αἰτήσω</span>).”—(<cite>Trench.</cite>) +See further <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_23">16:23</a>, <a href="#ch16_24">24</a>, note.—​<b>And +he shall give you another Paraclete.</b> +The original word, inadequately rendered in our +English version by the word <cite>Comforter</cite>, is simply +untranslateable. It is composed of two Greek +words (<span lang="el">παρά καλέω</span>), <dfn>to call to one’s side</dfn>, and signifies +one who is called to aid another. And this +etymological signification of the word indicates +the office of the Holy Spirit in his relations to +us; he is our present help in every time of need, +the one with whom we walk, our Consoler, our +Strength, our Guide, our Peace-giver, our ever +present God. The word <em>Comforter</em> must then be +taken in its etymological and old English sense, +as one who gives not mere consolation, but +strength (<i lang="la">con fortis</i>). He is here called another +Comforter; yet a little below, Christ seemingly +identifies him both with the Father and with +himself, in the declaration “I will manifest myself +to him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_21">21</a></span>), and we” (<i>i. e.</i>, the Father +and I,) “will make our abode with him” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_23">23</a></span>). +In the Comforter Christ himself is ever present +with his church (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:20</span>), for the Comforter +is one with Christ as both are one with the +Father, so that the presence of one is the presence +of all (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:9, 10; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 2:20; 4:6</span>). We know too +little of the interior nature of the Deity to be +able to draw any clear distinction between the +Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. We only +know that as God in the Father is manifested to +us as providing for us, and in the Son as making +atonement for us, so in the Spirit he is manifested +by being spiritually ever present with us. +The mystery of their diversity in unity defies +philosophical analysis. But Christ is speaking to +the experience, not to the intellect; and to the +spiritual experience the father, the Son and the +Holy Ghost, the Provider, the Atoning Saviour +and the Indwelling Spirit, God in nature, in the +flesh, and in our own souls, are one.—​<b>That he +may abide with you forever.</b> In contrast +with the Son, who came but for a time, and +because he was God <em>manifest in the flesh</em>, could +abide only with a few and only for a limited +period. To long for the laws of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, or +even for the visible presence of the limited and +earthly manifestation of God afforded by the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, is to desire to go back from the broader, +deeper, fuller manifestation, to one narrower +and more limited. To be governed by precedents +or rules of the past is to ignore the perpetually +abiding presence of the Comforter, the +promised guide into all truth. Of his office +Christ speaks more fully in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">26</a> and <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_7">16:7-15</a>.—​<b>The +Spirit of Truth.</b> So called, (1) +because it is by giving a spiritual knowledge of +the truth that he ministers to those that receive +him. The Comforter strengthens, guides, liberates, +Sanctifies by the truth (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_32">8:32</a>; <a href="#ch16_13">16:13</a>; +<a href="#ch17_17">17:17</a>, <a href="#ch17_19">19</a>; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:4; +1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 1:5</span>). +(2) Because his ministry + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> +is perfectly true without any admixture of +error. All teaching that is ministered through +human language, even that of Christ and the +apostles, is subject to the errors and the misapprehensions +of the human medium through +which it passes. The instruction of the Spirit, +ministered directly to our spirits, though still +liable to be misapprehended and perverted by us, +is not subject to error in the interpretation. It +is perfect truth; all other teaching is truth with +alloy, from which we must separate it, as best +we may.—​<b>Whom the world cannot receive.</b> +To be literally understood. <em>Cannot</em> is not here +equivalent to <em>will not</em>. He that is of the world, +living unto it, making it his end, cannot receive +spiritual truth or spiritual influences. His mind is +blinded by the god of this world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 6:9, 10; +2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +4:4</span>). The declaration here is analogous to that +of Christ in John 3:3, “Except a man be born +again he cannot <em>see</em> the kingdom of God,” and to +that of Paul in 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:14, “The natural man +receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for +they are foolishness unto him; neither can he +know them; because they are spiritually discerned.”—<b>Because +it seeth him not, +neither knoweth him.</b> There is no visible +manifestation of the Comforter; he is not and +cannot be discerned by the senses as Christ +could be and during his life was, by the manifestation +of his miraculous power; and the unspiritual +has no inward consciousness of his presence, +no spiritual experience of his comfort, strength, +or guidance. Hence, since the Comforter is not +discernible by the outward sense, and the unspiritual +have never had developed within them +the inward sense of faith, they cannot receive +him. In contrast with the world in this respect +is the disciple of Christ, in whom the spiritual +life has been awakened in the new birth.—​<b>But +ye know him because he abides with +you, and shall be in you.</b> There is no hint +here that the disciples can <em>see</em> the Comforter any +more than the world. This should have prevented +Godet’s misapprehension of this passage, +that “before receiving they must have <em>seen</em> and +known the Spirit.” To see (<span lang="el">θεωρέω</span>) is to recognize +with the senses, or to recognize intellectually +by deductions from what is perceived by the +senses. Neither by sight, nor by deduction from +sight can the Comforter be known. He is known +only by those with and in whom, as a conscious +Presence, he abides. Some texts read <cite>is in you</cite> +instead of <em>shall be in you</em>. The future is the +preferable reading, and the antithesis between +the first and last clauses of the verse indicates +a progressive development in the spiritual life. +The Comforter was even then <em>with</em> the disciples, +though they were not yet ready to receive him; +he was <em>in</em> them, inspiring and moulding their +life and character, after the day of Pentecost. +So he is ever with the church and the individual +Christian; but he is <em>in</em> the church and <em>in</em> the +Christian only when they wait and watch for his +appearing, as the apostles waited and watched +before the day of Pentecost.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 I will not leave you comfortless: + I<a id="FNanchor_558" href="#Footnote_558" class="fnanchor">[558]</a> will come +to you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_558" href="#FNanchor_558" class="label">[558]</a> + <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_28">3:28</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no +more: but ye see me: because<a id="FNanchor_559" href="#Footnote_559" class="fnanchor">[559]</a> I live, ye shall live +also.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_559" href="#FNanchor_559" class="label">[559]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 7:25.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 At that day ye shall know that I <em>am</em> in my Father, +and ye in me, and I in you.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>18-20. I will not leave you orphans.</b> +This, which is the marginal reading, exactly renders +the original. Our English version, <cite>I will not +leave you comfortless</cite>, though made sacred by +many an association, deprives the promise of the +singular significance involved in the original. +An orphan is not a person without parents, but +one who is separated from his parents by death; +memory looks back to them, hope looks forward +to them, but they are not personally present. +Christ declares that he will not thus leave his +disciples. Their Saviour shall be more than a +memory, more than a hope; he will be their personal +present God.—​<b>I will come to you.</b> He +refers here not to his reappearance in the resurrection, +for that was followed by his disappearance +in the ascension, so that if on this the disciples +alone depended they were left more than +ever before in orphanage. Nor did he then make +his abode with the disciples; he vouchsafed +them only brief and transient appearances of +himself. He does not refer to his second coming; +for the world, as well as his own disciples, +will then see him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:7; 6:15-17</span>). He refers to +that spiritual manifestation which he makes of +himself, and of the Father through him, by the +gift and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whom the +Father sends in his name. This is clear from +<abbr title="verses">vers.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_19">19</a>, +<a href="#ch14_20">20</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a>, +<a href="#ch14_26">26</a>, etc.—​<b>Yet a little while +and the world seeth me no more; but ye +see me, because I am living and ye shall +live also.</b> According to the punctuation of +our English version there is here a double promise, +first that the disciples shall again see their +Lord, secondly that they shall share his life. +According to the punctuation which I have +adopted, the second promise is implied rather +than asserted, and is made the basis of the first. +Either is grammatically possible; the second +rendering is preferable, because the whole of +Christ’s teaching here refers not to the life of + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span> +the disciple, but to the manifestation to him of +his Lord, and because thus the two clauses of +the sentence are brought into close connection. +The soul’s perception of the personal presence +of Christ is then dependent upon sharing his +spiritual life; and this is abundantly taught, both +here and elsewhere. We are changed into the +image of Christ by beholding him (<span class="muchsmaller">2 +<abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:18</span>), and +we behold him by conforming to his image (<span class="muchsmaller">2 +<abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> +1:5-9</span>). The promise is one of spiritual sight, dependent +upon spiritual life. Since the world +does not and cannot see him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_17">17</a></span>), arguments +based on visible phenomena to prove the reality +of that which is a spiritual experience are always +in vain. Hence the futility of the ordinary +methods of arguing with skeptics. They are +endeavors to prove to the blind; whereas the +blind must first <em>see</em>, then learn.—​<b>At that day +ye shall know that I am in the Father, +and ye in me and I in you.</b> <em>That day</em> was +in the history of the church the day of Pentecost, +when the Spirit was first revealed with +power to the entire body of believers. But each +believing soul has also its Pentecost, when it +first learns the meaning of Christ’s promises in +this chapter. This is to it <em>that day</em>, the one great +day of its existence. It is not said that the disciple +will understand <em>how</em> the Father, the Son, +and the disciples are in one another, but he will +know it <em>as a fact</em>; the unity of the Father and +the Son, and the indwelling of both in the believer, +will become a part of his experience. This +experience, promised here, is expressed as a +realized fact by Paul in <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 2:20: “I am crucified +with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not +I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I +now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the +Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for +me.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 He<a id="FNanchor_560" href="#Footnote_560" class="fnanchor">[560]</a> that hath my commandments, and keepeth +them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me +shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and +will manifest myself to him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_560" href="#FNanchor_560" class="label">[560]</a> + <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_15">15</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>21.</b> Having given expression to the mystical +truth of the spiritual manifestation of their Lord +to the believers, Christ next states the conditions +under which it is realized. These are +not <em>external</em>; this spiritual revelation is not made +dependent upon retiring from the world and +living a life of asceticism and artificial self-denial. +They are not <em>intellectual</em>; this revelation +and indwelling of Christ is not made dependent +upon the creed of the disciple. They are <em>moral</em>; +practical obedience to the words of Christ assures +spiritual enjoyment of his presence and +companionship.—​<b>He that hath my commandments +and keepeth them.</b> These +clauses are not to be read as repetitions of the +same idea, made for the sake of emphasis. To +<em>have</em> is not the same as to <em>keep</em>. He hath Christ’s +commandments <em>not</em> who has a knowledge of +them, so that the promise is conditional upon a +certain degree of Christian education, but who +has a <em>spiritual apprehension of them</em>, who appreciates +their spirit. Since all of Christ’s commands +are comprised in the one direction “Follow +me,” the first condition of receiving this +spiritual manifestation of Christ as a real and +living Presence in the daily life, is a spiritual +appreciation of his life and character as they are +disclosed in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, and therewith a like appreciation +of the precepts, principles, and spirit +of the life which he has inculcated. He <em>keeps</em> +Christ’s commandments who carefully guards +them in his daily life, regarding them as a possession +which he is in danger of losing. See +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 19:17, note.—​<b>That one is he that loveth +me.</b> The evidence of love which Christ +recognizes is not profession, or ceremonial, or +emotional experience, or intellectual opinion, but +spiritual appreciation of his precepts and practical +obedience to them. The good Samaritan is +a more acceptable lover than the priest or the +Levite.—​<b>He that loveth me shall be loved +of my Father, and I will love him.</b> Every +disciple may thus become a “beloved disciple.” +For the love here spoken of is not that love of +compassion which the Father and the Son have +for the whole world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_16">3:16</a></span>), even while it was +dead in trespasses and sins (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> + 2:4, 5</span>), but the +love of spiritual fellowship and personal friendship +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_14">15:14</a>, <a href="#ch15_15">15</a>; +<abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 4:7</span>). “There is between +these two feelings the same difference as between +a man’s compassion for his guilty and unhappy +neighbors and the affection of a father for his +child or of a husband for his wife.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) +Christ is here speaking not of the condition on +which men may become his disciples; he is instructing +his disciples, is pointing out the condition +on which each one of them may come into a +higher spiritual experience of their Master’s love +and spiritual presence. This is indicated not +only by the context and general character of the +discourse, but also by the peculiar language +here, <cite>That one it is who loveth me</cite>. <em>That one</em> +(<span lang="el">ἐκεῖνος</span>) indicates an exceptional individual, one +among many, who, by his course, becomes the +special friend of Jesus.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Judas<a id="FNanchor_561" href="#Footnote_561" class="fnanchor">[561]</a> saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is +it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto +the world?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_561" href="#FNanchor_561" class="label">[561]</a> + Luke 6:16.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love +me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love +him, and<a id="FNanchor_562" href="#Footnote_562" class="fnanchor">[562]</a> we will come unto him, and make our abode +with him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_562" href="#FNanchor_562" class="label">[562]</a> + 1 John 2:24; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:20.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>22, 23. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot.</b> +The same person called Lebbeus in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> +10:3 and Thaddeus in Mark 3:18. In Luke +6:16, etc., and Acts 1:13, he is called “Judas +(the brother) of James.” See Note on Twelve +Apostles, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 149.—​<b>Lord, and what +has happened that thou wilt manifest +thyself to us, but not at all</b> (<span lang="el">οὐχὶ</span>) <b>to the +world?</b> His question is not, as represented by +our English version, the expression of a mere +curiosity, In what way wilt thou make this manifestation +of thyself? it is the expression of +amazement and perplexity. All the disciples +were anticipating that Christ would manifest his +Messiahship in some unexpected manner, striking +terror into the hearts of all his opponents, +and becoming, by some miraculous forth-putting +of power, King of kings and Lord of lords. Judas, +hastily concluding that there is to be no +other manifestation than that of which Christ is +now speaking, expresses his amazement and perplexity. +What has happened to lead to the +abandonment of a world manifestation of the +Messiah? is the meaning of his question. But +Christ has not said that he will not at all be +manifested to the world; only that the world +cannot see that manifestation of him of which +he is now speaking.—​<b>Jesus answered and +said unto him.</b> He does not reply to the +question of Judas; enters into no explanation; +simply reiterates that the condition of receiving +the spiritual manifestation of Christ as a personal +Presence is obedience to his directions. +Christ never suffers himself to be turned aside +from practical instruction by inquiries in theoretical +theology.—​<b>If any one loves me, he +will keep my word.</b> <em>Word</em>, not <em>words</em>; singular, +not plural. His command is but one +word: love.—​<b>My Father will love him, and +we will come unto him and make our +abode with him.</b> This promise is more than +the preceding one (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_21">21</a></span>). There Christ promises +simply that the obedient disciple shall see +his Lord; here that he shall become a temple in +which his Lord will constantly dwell; there +that Christ shall manifest himself to the soul; +here that the Father and the Son shall dwell in +the soul. “They shall come like wanderers +from their home and lodge with him; will be +daily his guests, yea, house and table companions.”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) +Thus Christ by his commandments +knocks at the door of the heart; he that +hath those commandments hears the voice; he +that keeps them opens the door (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:20</span>). Thus, +too, the Christian’s experience on earth is a +foretaste of his experience in heaven. “Here +below it is God who dwells with the believer; +above, it will be the believer who will dwell with +God.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) By his language here, <cite>We will +come unto him</cite>, Christ identifies himself as the +companion of the Father in the spiritual experience +of the disciple. See <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_15">15-17</a>, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: +and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s +which sent me.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>24.</b> In contrast with the disciple who <em>has</em> and +<em>keeps</em> the word of Christ, our Lord portrays the +opposite character. He loves not Christ; he +makes no attempt to treasure and guard his instruction; +and in rejecting the word and its +Bearer he rejects the Father whom the Bearer +represents and by whom the word is given. +Beware of reading the negative, “The word is +not mine,” as equivalent to The word is not +merely mine. Christ here, as in many other +passages, disavows the paternity of his own instructions. +They are not his; they are the Father’s +who dwells in him, and inspires the words +and performs the works. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_49">12:49</a>, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 These things have I spoken unto you, being <em>yet</em> +present with you.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 But<a id="FNanchor_563" href="#Footnote_563" class="fnanchor">[563]</a> + the Comforter, <em>which is</em> the Holy Ghost, + whom the Father will send in my name, + he<a id="FNanchor_564" href="#Footnote_564" class="fnanchor">[564]</a> shall + teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, + whatsoever I have said unto you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_563" href="#FNanchor_563" class="label">[563]</a> + verse <a href="#ch14_16">16</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_564" href="#FNanchor_564" class="label">[564]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_13">16:13</a>; 1 John 2:20, 27.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25, 26. These things have I spoken unto +you, being yet present with you.</b> That is, +As far as this I am able to carry my instructions, +but no farther; the Spirit shall complete +them. Christ has already contrasted the work +of the Spirit with his own: his own dwelling +with his disciples is temporary, the abiding of +the Spirit is forever; he speaks <em>to</em> his disciples, +the Spirit speaks <em>in</em> them (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_16">16</a>, <a href="#ch14_17">17</a></span>). He now +indicates a further point in the contrast. His +own teaching was partial; for he had many +things to say which they could not bear (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch16_12">16:12</a></span>), and much which he did say they could +not understand till their experience, developed +by the indwelling of the Spirit of God, had prepared +them to comprehend it. But the promised +Spirit shall, as the Christian is able to bear the +truth, teach all things.—​<b>But the Comforter.</b> +See above on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_16">16</a>.—​<b>The Holy Spirit.</b> That +is, the Spirit of holiness. As he is the Spirit of +truth, because all experience of the higher spiritual +truth comes in and through him, so he is +the Spirit of holiness, because all holiness of life +and character is wrought out by the soul only as +the Holy Spirit works in and with us the good +pleasure of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:12, 13; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 13:20, 21</span>).—​<b>Whom +the Father will send in my name.</b> +As the disciple is to pray in Christ’s name (<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_13">13</a>, note</span>), so the Father will answer him in +Christ’s name. That name is Jesus, <i>i. e.</i>, Saviour, +because he saves his people from their +sins (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 1:21</span>), and Christ, <i>i. e.</i>, The Anointed + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span> +One, because he is the High Priest who makes +atonement for the sins of his people, and reconciles +them unto God. See <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 57, Note, +etc., on Names of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is, +then, sent in his name, not because he is sent in +his stead; he is not; the work of the Spirit and +of the Son are not the one in lieu of the other; +nor because he is sent in answer to the intercessory +prayer of the Son; the love of the Father is the +cause of the dispensation of the Spirit, as of the +incarnation and the atonement of the Son; but +because he is sent to complete the work of the +Son, to perfect that salvation which is represented +by the name Jesus, and that atonement and reconciliation +which is represented by the word +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">John 3:5, 6; 7:39; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:14-16, 26; 14:17; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> +5:16, 17; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:18, etc.</span>).—​<b>He shall teach you +all things.</b> That is, all things respecting the +divine life.—​<b>And bring to your remembrance +all things whatsoever I have said +unto you.</b> “He will teach new truths by +recalling the old, and will recall the old by teaching +the new.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) In its application to +the apostles, this is a promise of inspiration and +a guarantee of substantial accuracy, both in +their reports of events and of the instructions of +Jesus Christ, and in their interpretation of the +laws and principles of the spiritual life. “It is +in the fulfillment of this promise to the apostles +that their sufficiency as witnesses of all that the +Lord did and taught, and consequently the authenticity +of the Gospel narrative, is grounded.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) +But there is no reason to limit this +promise to the twelve to whom it was immediately +spoken. It occurs in the middle of a +discourse which by universal consent belongs to +the church universal. There is no consistency +in claiming the promise of the manifestation of +Christ in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_21">21</a>, the indwelling of the Father +and the Son in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_23">23</a>, and the peace of God in +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_27">27</a>, +and rejecting the promise of inspired +instruction in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">26</a>. This promise, then, like +that of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:20, is made to the church for +all time; it is a promise of a continually progressive +instruction in the spiritual life, adapted +to varying needs and exigencies, both of the +community and of the individual, carrying on to +its consummation the necessarily incomplete instruction +of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, as well as making clear to +the spiritual apprehension that which preceding +generations either imperfectly understood, +wholly failed to understand, or only partially +comprehended. The spiritual guide of the +church is not an official hierarchy, nor ecclesiastical +tradition, but the living experience of those +that love Christ, have his words and keep them. +This promise points to and assures the church +of a progressive Christian theology, and corresponds +with the apostle Paul’s declaration, “We +know in part and we prophesy in part” (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +13:9, 10</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 Peace<a id="FNanchor_565" href="#Footnote_565" class="fnanchor">[565]</a> I leave with you, my peace I give unto +you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let +not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_565" href="#FNanchor_565" class="label">[565]</a> + <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:14-17; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>27. Peace I leave with you; my peace +I give unto you.</b> As the peace of a child depends +on the presence of his mother, so the +peace of these disciples on the presence of their +Lord. He speaks to their unuttered forebodings, +and declares that he will leave this peace +in his departure as a legacy to them. But he +will do more than this. Thus far they have had +peace in his presence; he will henceforth impart +to them his own source of strength in sending to +them the indwelling Spirit of God, so that they +shall have, as he had, peace in themselves. “<cite>My +peace</cite>” implies the peace which belongs to himself, +is a characteristic of his own experience and +a part of his own nature. So in <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:7 the +“peace of God” is that peace which is characteristic +of the Divine Being. It was this +peace which enabled Christ to stand unmoved +and unperturbed in the court of Caiaphas and +the hall of Pilate. It was the fulfillment of this +promise which enabled the apostles to meet in +like manner, unfearing and untroubled, the +threats and persecutions of the authorities in +Jerusalem immediately after the day of Pentecost +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 4:8, 19, 31; 5:29, 41</span>); which gave Stephen +serenity in the storm of stones (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 6:15; 7:59, 60</span>); +enabled Peter to sleep in chains (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 12:6</span>); gave +to Paul and Silas their songs in the night (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +16:25</span>); kept Paul unmoved in the midst of the +mob at Jerusalem (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 21:31-40</span>), and in the peril +of shipwreck (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 27:21-26, 31-35</span>). Compare also, +for expressions of this peace of Christ in the +Christian’s experience, <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:1-5; 8:35-39; +2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:7-9; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:11-13; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 4. This +peace is a characteristic of the divine nature +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:7</span>), therefore a characteristic of Christ, +who is called Prince of Peace, because one of the +distinguishing characteristics of his kingdom is +peace (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 9:6; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 14:17</span>); therefore a fruit of +the Spirit in the experience of the followers of +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:6; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22</span>); therefore the privilege +and duty of every disciple, who because of +his peace and his power to bestow it upon others +is called a son of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:9</span>). It is therefore +not the peculiar luxury of a favored few, but + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> +the duty and privilege of all (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:10</span>); not dependent +on temperament or circumstances, but +on a faith which receives and recognizes an indwelling +God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:1; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:14; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:9</span>); not +the occasional siesta of the wearied worker, but +the abiding spirit and sacred power of his work +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> +4:7; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:11; 3:15</span>). It is not without Spiritual +significance that Christ’s last words, as of +“one who is about to go away and says goodnight +and leaves his blessing” (<cite>Luther</cite>), are a +promise of peace.—​<b>Not as the world giveth +give I unto you.</b> The wish of peace was a +customary leave-taking among the Jews +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> +1:17; Luke 7:50; Acts 16:36; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> +5:14; 3 John 14. Compare +<abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 43:23; Judges 6:23</span>). +Christ distinguishes his +promise here from the salutations, which were +often, as with us, mere empty formalities, and +which at best were but wishes or possibly prayers. +This salutation is more than a benediction, +it is the promise of an actual gift.—​<b>Let not +your heart be troubled, neither let it be +afraid.</b> He thus returns to the opening words +of his discourse, words of strength-giving and +reassurance (<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_1">1</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, +and come <em>again</em> unto you. If ye loved me, ye would +rejoice, because I said, I<a id="FNanchor_566" href="#Footnote_566" class="fnanchor">[566]</a> go unto the Father: for +my<a id="FNanchor_567" href="#Footnote_567" class="fnanchor">[567]</a> Father is greater than I.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_566" href="#FNanchor_566" class="label">[566]</a> + verse <a href="#ch14_12">12</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_567" href="#FNanchor_567" class="label">[567]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:27, 28.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>28. Ye have heard how I said unto you, +I go away</b> (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch14_2">2</a>, <a href="#ch14_3">3</a>, +<a href="#ch14_12">12</a></span>).—​<b>If ye loved me ye +would rejoice.</b> There is a gentle rebuke in +this language. It does not involve a denial or +even a doubt of their love, but it recalls them +from the selfish thoughts fixed wholly on their +own sorrow to their allegiance and love to him. +It may well be repeated to ourselves in the hour +of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">death—parting</span> from any Christian friend. +Their thought of their own future gives them +comfort (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_2">2</a> and <a href="#ch14_3">3</a></span>); their thought of Christ’s +love for and presence with them gives them +peace (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">26</a>, <a href="#ch14_27">27</a></span>); +their thought of his glory and +their love for him gives them joy. Thus in the +fruit of the Spirit joy and peace follow because +they grow out of love (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22</span>). We, as well as +they, should rejoice, not sorrow, because Christ +no longer dwells incarnate on the earth, but has +gone to the Father.—​<b>Because I said I go +unto the Father: for my Father is greater +than I.</b> His departure to be with the greater +Father was to be a cause of rejoicing, not merely +to the eleven, but to his church universal. This +is not because he is thus enabled to ensure his +disciples a more powerful and perfect protector, +for the protection of the Father is accorded +through the Son, and as a protector the Son is +one in power as well as in will with the Father +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch10_30">10:30</a>, note</span>). Moreover, it is our love for +Christ, not the thought of our own interest, not +even our spiritual interest, which is the secret of +the joy which the Christian should experience in +the exaltation of his Lord. Nor is the cause of that +joy the fact that Christ was about to enter into +glory and blessedness; for it is of the <em>greatness</em>, +not of the <em>blessedness</em> of the Father, nor of his own +heavenly condition, Christ speaks; the phrase, +“The Father is greater than I,” cannot, without +violation of the meaning, be rendered, The Father +is more blessed than I. It is true that +because the Father is <em>greater</em> than Christ, Christ +in going to the Father went to a condition of +greater power for his own redemptive work, for +the up-building of that kingdom to which he and +his followers are consecrated. Christ is more to +his followers, more powerful in his work of redeeming +love, in the Spirit than in the flesh, +absent from his disciples and with the Father +than absent from the Father and with the disciples. +But more than this, more than in our +ignorance of both the Father and Son we can +comprehend, is meant by the declaration that +Christ’s going to the Father was an exaltation, +and in that exaltation we, his followers, +ought to rejoice with and in him, if indeed we +love him. The declaration, “<cite>The Father is +greater than I</cite>,” is not inconsistent with the preceding +declaration, “He that hath seen me hath +seen the Father,” for that declaration is interpreted +by the one which immediately follows, +“I am in the Father and the Father in me;” +he that has a spiritual apprehension of Christ +has a spiritual apprehension of the Father, who +is manifested in and through him. Nor is it +inconsistent with Christ’s declaration, “I and +my Father are one,” for Christ as the protector +of his people may be one with the Father, and +yet the Father may be greater than the Son in +the eternal relation between the two. Nor is it +inconsistent with John’s declaration that “The +Word was God,” for the <em>Word</em> is not Jesus +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_1">1:1</a>, note</span>), but God as manifested to +the race, Jesus Christ being the Word <em>made flesh</em> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_14">1:14</a></span>). It is inconsistent with any view of +Christ’s character which denies the essential +divinity of his nature; for the creature cannot +say of God, without an extraordinarily irreverent +egotism, “My Father is greater than I.” +“The creature who should say, ‘God is greater +than I,’ would blaspheme no less than one who +should say, ‘I am equal with God.’ God alone +can compare himself with God.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) It +accords with Christ’s habitual teaching concerning +himself, as one who is sent forth the +Father, derives his authority from the Father, +does all things through the power of the Father, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> +in all things obeys the will of the Father, and +will return to the Father again (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 11:26, 27; +20:23; John <a href="#ch5_19">5:19</a>, <a href="#ch5_22">22</a>, +<a href="#ch5_26">26</a>, <a href="#ch5_27">27</a>; +<a href="#ch6_57">6:57</a>; <a href="#ch8_18">8:18</a>, +<a href="#ch8_29">29</a>; <a href="#ch10_18">10:18</a>, +<a href="#ch10_36">36</a>; <a href="#ch15_15">15:15</a>; +<a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a></span>); and with that of +the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> generally, +which constantly represents Christ as receiving +his divine power as Creator, Redeemer, and +Judge from the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> +1:20-22; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:9; +<abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:8, 9; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:28</span>). +Jesus Christ is God <em>manifest +in the flesh</em>, and God in his absolute essence +is greater than any manifestation of him is or +can be. As the artist is greater than his picture, +the architect than his house, the orator +than his oration, so God is greater than the +Word through which he utters himself to human +apprehension. In thus interpreting this much +debated passage, according to the plain and natural +meaning of the words, and, as it seems to +me, the teachings of Christ and his apostles, I +accept substantially the interpretation of Meyer, +who sees in this declaration an illustration of +“the absolute monotheism of Jesus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_3">17:3</a></span>), +and of the whole <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, according to which the +Son, although of divine essence, of one nature +with the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_1">1:1</a>; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6; +<abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:15-18</span>), nevertheless +was and is and remains subordinated +to the Father, the immutably higher one, since +the Son as Organ, as Commissioner of the Father, +as Intercessor with Him, etc., has received +his whole power in the kingly office from the +Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_5">17:5</a></span>), and, after the accomplishment +of the work committed to him, will restore it to +the Father (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:28</span>).” +To the same effect, +but more concisely, Edward H. Sears (<cite>Heart of +Christ</cite>): “God as absolute is more than God as +revealed.” Similarly Olshausen and Ellicott’s +Commentary. Observe, however, that Christ’s +language here involves only the relations between +the Son as incarnate and the Father; in saying that +the Son <em>was</em> and <em>remains</em> subordinated to the Father, +Meyer attributes to the words here a meaning +confessedly borrowed from other passages.</p> + +<p>Two other interpretations have been offered +from the orthodox point of view: (1) That Christ +speaks here of himself <em>as a man</em>. But this ancient +interpretation, invented in the early controversy +with the Arians, and revived recently by Ryle, has +not, I think, despite the authority of Augustine +in its favor, the sanction of a single modern exegetical +scholar of any eminence. It is repudiated +by Schaff, Godet, Luthardt, Meyer, Alford, Tholuck. +This easy method of solving the seeming +contradictions of Christ’s mysterious nature is +utterly untenable, for whatever opinion may be +entertained respecting his twofold nature as +both God and man, no reader is authorized to +say what acts and words were manifestations of +the human and what of the divine nature. It is +utterly inapplicable here, for “this interpretation +implies a mere platitude. Who needs to be +told that the human nature is inferior to the divine?”—(<cite>Schaff.</cite>) +(2) That Christ here compares +his present earthly condition with that to which +he will attain in going to the Father. This is +Calvin’s interpretation. “Christ does not here +make a comparison between the divinity of the +Father and his own, nor between his own human +nature and the divine essence of the Father, but +rather between his present state and the heavenly +glory to which he is afterwards to be received.” +To the same effect, substantially, are +Alford, Luthardt, and Tholuck. This is certainly +involved in the language; the return from +union with humanity to union with the Father +was a change from a lower and lesser to a higher +and greater condition. But much more is involved, +for Christ by his words institutes a comparison, +not between his earthly and his heavenly +condition, as does Paul in <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6-11, but between +himself and his Father.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, +that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the +prince<a id="FNanchor_568" href="#Footnote_568" class="fnanchor">[568]</a> of this world cometh, and hath nothing<a id="FNanchor_569" href="#Footnote_569" class="fnanchor">[569]</a> in me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_568" href="#FNanchor_568" class="label">[568]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_11">16:11</a>; + <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_569" href="#FNanchor_569" class="label">[569]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:21; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 4:15; 1 John 3:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch14_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 But that the world may know that I love the +Father; and as<a id="FNanchor_570" href="#Footnote_570" class="fnanchor">[570]</a> the Father gave me commandment, +even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_570" href="#FNanchor_570" class="label">[570]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 40:8; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:8.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>29-31. And now I have told you * * * +that when it is come to pass ye might +have faith.</b> That is, before the Passion he +foretells it and directs the thoughts and hopes +of his disciples to a point beyond, to the results +which are to be produced by the crucifixion, so +that when the night of darkness comes these +words may remain to keep alive their faith in +him as one not <em>dead</em>, but only gone to the companionship +of the Father, and coming again <em>with +the Father</em> to be the spiritual and indwelling +companion of his own. Indirectly the office of +prophecy is implied in these words; it is not to +give in the present a clear view of the future, +but to sustain faith and hope and courage, and +make it clear to the believer, when the events +themselves take place, that nothing is unexpected +and unprovided for by his Father and +Saviour.—​<b>The prince of this world is coming.</b> +See note on <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_31">12:31</a>. “Jesus sees the +devil himself in the agents and executors of his +designs (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_2">13:2</a>, <a href="#ch13_27">27</a>; +<a href="#ch6_70">6:70</a>; Luke 4:13</span>).”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) +And yet the cup which they presented to him he +accounts the cup which his Father giveth him +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_11">18:11</a></span>), for even the prince of this world is +not beyond the supreme control of God. The +language here, as in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_31">12:31</a>, plainly implies + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span> +Christ’s belief in a personal devil, and the devil’s +influence over and use of men as his instruments.—​<b>Hath +nothing in me.</b> Satan never +succeeds in the accomplishment of his evil designs +except when he finds <em>in</em> the tempted something +that recognizes him and pays allegiance to +him. He that is only <em>in</em> the world but not of +the world may be <em>under</em> the power of Satan, but +cannot be <em>in</em> his power. The declaration here is +confirmatory of that implied by <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_46">8:46.</a>—​<b>But +that the world may know that I love the +Father</b>, etc., * * * <b>arise, let us go +hence</b>. Our English version is erroneously +punctuated. There should be no break in the +verse. Christ knew that Judas had gone out to +perfect arrangements for the betrayal, knew the +shame and torture that were before him, knew +also the power of the Father to accomplish the +world’s redemption by that suffering if it was +endured to the end, and bade his disciples arise +that they might go forth with him, as he went +forth to show the world his love for and obedience +to the Father. Thus, as he has just told +his disciples that they are to show their love to +him by their obedience (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_21">21</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a></span>), he prepares to +show his love to the Father by his obedience. +But though they arose, they did not go immediately +out. See <a href="#Note_ch15"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note to next chapter</a>, and +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch18_1">18:1</a>.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER <abbr title="Fifteen">XV.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 15:1-27. CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH.—​<span class="smcap">Christ +abides in the soul.—​The soul is safe only as it +abides in Christ.—​This abiding is the condition +of successful prayer; of practical godliness; +of self-sacrificing love; of spiritual joy.—​Christ +a revealer, not a law-giver.—​The world +and the church.—​The persecution of the world; +the witnessing power of the church.</span></p> + +<p><a id="Note_ch15"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—Some scholars suppose +that Christ, at the close of the preceding discourse, +arose with his disciples and passed out +of the room where they had been at supper into +the valley of the Kedron, the vicinity of the garden +of Gethsemane, and that the discourse was +continued there, in or near one of the vineyards +which abound in the neighborhood of the city. +Others suppose that they arose to go; that, the +heart of the Master being surcharged with the +truth which he was endeavoring to express to +them, the Divine Immanence, he broke forth +afresh with the same truth in a new form, and +that the discourse recorded in this and the next +chapter, and the prayer recorded in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">17</a>, were +uttered in the same room in which the preceding +discourse was uttered. Both suppositions +are purely conjectural; the latter appears to me +the more rational, because: (1) The truths embodied +in this and the succeeding chapter are the +same as the one embodied in the preceding one; +the form alone varies. The structure and the fibre +of the discourse is that of one which flows from a +heart burdened with a profound truth which can +be expressed only by reiteration, and even then +only inadequately. (2) It is hardly credible that +such a conversation could have been uttered, as +some have imagined, while Jesus and his disciples +were on their way out of the city; and no +reason is offered for the hypothesis that it was +abruptly broken off and transferred to another +and apparently less convenient place. (3) <abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_1">18:1</a> plainly implies that Jesus did not <em>go forth</em>, +<i>i. e.</i>, from the room where they were gathered, +till the end of this conversation with them and +after the prayer with which it was closed. Various +hypotheses have also been proffered respecting +the probable circumstance that suggested +to Christ the metaphor which underlies +the first part of this chapter: Vineyards on the +way to Gethsemane (<cite>Lampe</cite>), the carved vine on +the great doors of the temple (<cite>Rosenmuller</cite>), a +vine trained about the window of the great +chamber (<cite>Knapp</cite>), the cup so lately partaken +(<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Stier</cite>), <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> symbolism of the vineyard +and the vine (<cite>Alford</cite>). These are also all conjectural; +it is enough to say that the parable +here must be studied in the light of the teachings +both of nature and of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> use of nature +in the passages below referred to. The use of +the vine as a symbol by <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> prophets was so +familiar that it could hardly have been absent +from the minds of both Christ and the apostles. +Examine with care <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 2:21; <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 15:2, 6; and +especially Psalm 80:8-19, and Isaiah 5:1-7. The +truth taught here by a metaphor is the same as +that taught in the preceding chapter unmetaphorically, +and in other passages by other metaphors. +(1) The vine and its branches are a perpetual +parable of Christ and his church. It is +not enough to learn of Christ as from a teacher, +to follow him as an example, or to accept forgiveness +through him as both priest and sacrifice; +we must be personally united to him, and +from him draw our spiritual life, and so grow +into his image. As the branch draws its sap by +a continuous flow from the vine, and becomes +identified with it in character, and bears its +fruit, and dies when separated from it, so we +must abide in a living Christ, draw our spiritual +sustenance from him, become more and more +Christlike in our nature, and bear his fruit in +our lives. See John <a href="#ch6_56">6:56-58</a>, note, and refs. +there cited. (2) In the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> imagery the vine +planted by the husbandman was the house of +Israel. But despite the divine cultivator it +brought forth wild grapes; it proved to be no +<em>true</em> vine. Wherefore it was broken down, laid +waste, burned, and a new vine was planted in its +place. This <em>true</em> vine is Christ; not the man +Christ Jesus, but the living, abiding Christ, the +Christ who is with his people alway, even unto +the end of the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:20</span>), the Christ + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span> +whose true body is his church (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 12:27</span>), who +is the head from which they all draw their life +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 4:15; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:18</span>), who reproduces himself in +every true disciple, since only they in whom is +the spirit of Christ are truly his (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:9</span>), and +who is thus far more widely and potently in the +earth to-day than he ever was or could be in the +flesh. This living and perpetually incarnate +Christ is in a sense identical with his living +church, as the vine is identical with its branches; +for as there could be no vine without branches, +so neither could this Christ be without the +church which he animates. This Christ incarnate, +not in the body of a single man, but in the +church universal which is now his body, is the +true Israel of God, the nation to whom the kingdom +of God has been given, that was taken from +the old Israel because it brought not forth the +fruits thereof (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:43</span>). This <em>true</em> vine is contrasted +with the old Israel which proved to be no +true vine. No longer is there any possibility +that the vine shall be broken down and destroyed +with fire as the old vine was (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 5:5; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> +80:16</span>); but each branch that abides not in this +everlasting vine, this living, perpetually incarnate +and ever extending Christ, is broken off +from the vine and destroyed. In brief, in studying +this parable, the student must not forget, +what the commentators have often forgotten, +that throughout this last discourse with his disciples +Christ speaks of himself not as a man +about to die, but as a living Christ, forever incarnate +in the hearts and lives of his own, living +on in the world with mightier and wider influence, +and in more intimate communion and companionship +with his disciples after his crucifixion +than before. It is this ever-living Christ, reproduced +in all his members, and spreading over +the whole earth, that is the true vine, in contrast +with the old Israel, which proved to be no true +vine; of this vine the Father is the husbandman; +in this vine each individual disciple is a +branch or shoot.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">I am</span> the true vine,<a id="FNanchor_571" href="#Footnote_571" class="fnanchor">[571]</a> + and my Father is the husbandman.<a id="FNanchor_572" href="#Footnote_572" class="fnanchor">[572]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_571" href="#FNanchor_571" class="label">[571]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 4:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_572" href="#FNanchor_572" class="label">[572]</a> + <abbr title="Canticles">Cant.</abbr> 8:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 Every branch<a id="FNanchor_573" href="#Footnote_573" class="fnanchor">[573]</a> in me that beareth not fruit he +taketh away: and every <em>branch</em> that beareth<a id="FNanchor_574" href="#Footnote_574" class="fnanchor">[574]</a> fruit, he +purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_573" href="#FNanchor_573" class="label">[573]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 15:13.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_574" href="#FNanchor_574" class="label">[574]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:15; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1, 2. I am the true vine.</b> So he is the <em>true</em> +light (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_9">1:9</a></span>) and <em>true</em> bread +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_32">6:32</a>, <a href="#ch6_33">33</a></span>), the spiritual +being the true, the external and material +being the shadows that are “figures of the +true” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 9:24</span>). The images of the Bible, especially +those employed by Christ, are not merely +poetic figures. The outward world is a real +symbol of the invisible world, physical growths +are a parable of spiritual growths, the kingdom +of nature a picture of the kingdom of grace, +because both come from the same creative hand, +are made subject to the same great laws, and +are under the same great King. The physical +vine is the shadow; Christ is the true, real vine, +whom the shadow symbolizes; and it will last +when the shadow has passed away; as he is the +true priest and sacrifice, outlasting the apparent +priest and sacrifice of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> dispensation.—​<b>My +Father is the husbandman.</b> Cultivating +the vine, and superintending its growth. +This cultivation has been going on through the +centuries, in all the growth of that invisible but +perpetually incarnated Christ whose body is the +church, and who dwells in and is therefore represented +by all his members. The language +shows clearly that it is not of the man Christ +Jesus about to die upon the cross, but of the +ever-living Christ, immanent in the Holy Catholic +Church, that he here speaks.—​<b>Every +branch in me that beareth not fruit.</b> +How can a branch be in Christ and bear no +fruit? Calvin’s explanation that <em>in me</em> is equivalent +to <em>supposed to be in me</em> is inadmissible. It +does not explain Christ’s words, but substitutes +others for them. Alford’s explanation is better, +but it labors under the serious disadvantage of +substituting for Christ’s declaration “I am the +vine,” the very different declaration, The visible +church is the vine. “The vine is the visible +church here, of which Christ is the <em>inclusive</em> +head; the vine <em>contains</em> the branches, hence the +unfruitful as well as the fruitful are <em>in me</em>.” +But to be in the visible church and to be in living +communion with Christ are very different +things. I should rather say that Christ here +lays down, in a simile, the general law that to +him that hath shall be given, and from him that +hath not shall be taken away even that which he +hath. If the soul, in the measure in which it +has knowledge of Christ, bears Christian fruit, +it will grow more and more into oneness with +and likeness of Christ; if, on the other hand, it +does not realize the fruits of its knowledge in a +life fruitful in Christian works, it will gradually +lose its knowledge and become separated from +Christ. Thus both the grafting into and the +separating from the vine are in the spiritual experience +gradual processes, and they depend on +the fidelity with which the conscious branch +avails itself of its privilege, and shows itself +worthy of larger privilege. Thus Christ gives +grace for grace (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_16">1:16</a></span>).—​<b>He taketh away.</b> +The same word (<span lang="el">αἴρω</span>) is used in 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 5:2 of + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span> +excommunication; that indicates the meaning +here. It is not declared that the fruitless +Christian shall be destroyed, though later, in +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_6">6</a>, +destruction is declared to be the final +result of cutting off from Christ. Fruitlessness +cuts off (excommunicates) the soul from communion +with and drawing life from Christ; this +ends in spiritual withering, death, and destruction +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_6">6</a></span>). Thus this declaration is the converse +of that of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_23">14:23</a>, “If a man love me +he will keep my words (bear my fruit), and my +Father will love him, and we will come unto +him and make our abode with him.” If he keep +not Christ’s words (bear not Christ’s fruit), he +will not have the abiding of the Father and the +Son. The fruit of Christ is the same as the fruit +of the Spirit (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22, 23</span>); and in the measure in +which this fruit is borne in the life, is the soul +enriched in the spiritual knowledge of Christ +which enables it to bear still more fruit. Thus +fruitfulness in the life develops the consciousness +of Christ’s indwelling, and the consciousness +of Christ’s indwelling in the soul develops +Christian fruitfulness in the life. The whole +truth is well illustrated by 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:5-9.—​<b>And +every branch that beareth fruit, he +cleanseth it that it may bring forth more +fruit.</b> The word rendered in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_2">2</a> <em>purgeth</em> and +that rendered in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_3">3</a> +<em>clean</em> are radically the same. +Christ cleanseth the soul (1) by the operation of +the law that right doing develops right feeling +and opens the heart to higher influences +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_17">7:17</a></span>); +(2) by the sanctifying influences of the Holy +Spirit, which is given to each soul in the measure +in which each proves itself worthy of and willing +to receive him; (3) by the discipline of life, which +is the manifestation of God’s special love to the +soul (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:6</span>). The object of all this redemptive +work is in order that (<span lang="el">ἵνα</span>) the soul may +bring forth more fruit. Thus Christian fruitfulness +in the life is both the condition and the final +result of the divine purifying process in the life +of the soul.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Now ye<a id="FNanchor_575" href="#Footnote_575" class="fnanchor">[575]</a> + are clean through the word which I have + spoken unto you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_575" href="#FNanchor_575" class="label">[575]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_17">17:17</a>; + <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:26; + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 Abide<a id="FNanchor_576" href="#Footnote_576" class="fnanchor">[576]</a> in me, and I in you. As<a id="FNanchor_577" href="#Footnote_577" class="fnanchor">[577]</a> the branch cannot +bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no +more can ye, except ye abide in me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_576" href="#FNanchor_576" class="label">[576]</a> + 1 John 2:6.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_577" href="#FNanchor_577" class="label">[577]</a> + Hosea 14:8; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 2:20; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 1:11.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>3, 4. Already ye are clean through the +word which I have spoken unto you.</b> +<abbr title="Verse">Ver.</abbr> 3 must be read in connection +with <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 4, +to which it is introductory. <dfn>Through</dfn> (<span lang="el">δὶα</span>) always +indicates the instrument, never the cause. +The spoken word is the instrument in God’s +hand for the cleansing of the soul +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_17">17:17</a></span>); +and when received by an obedient faith, becomes +the means of regeneration (<span class="muchsmaller">James 1:18; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:23</span>) +and the power of God unto salvation +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:16</span>). +This word is not any particular utterance of Christ, +but his whole ministry, both of promise and +teaching, including his gift of pardon and peace, +and his call to Christian activity. The meaning, +then, is this: You are already cleansed from +past sin through your acceptance of and obedience +to my word. But you are not to imagine +that my work is done when I depart and cease +to be visibly present with you. You are still to +abide in me spiritually; for without this spiritual +abiding all your past cleansing can accomplish +nothing; without me as a living and life-giving +Saviour you can bear no Christ-like fruit +in your lives. The lesson for us is that Christ’s +work was not finished (though his sacrifice was) +on the cross, that our work is not finished in +accepting forgiveness through him and consecrating +ourselves to obedience to his will, but +that the finished work of his death was only +preparatory for the entire work of his life in us +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:10</span>), and that our acceptance of pardon is +only a preparation for a life continually hid with +Christ in God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 2:20; +<abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 3:3</span>).—​<b>Abide in me +and I in you.</b> This is not a direction and a +promise, equivalent to, If you abide in me I will +abide in you; it is a twofold direction: Abide +in me; see to it that I abide in you. It thus +implies that Christ’s indwelling in us is dependent +upon ourselves. If any man hear Christ’s +voice and opens the door, Christ comes in to +him and sups with him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:20</span>). He that hungers +and thirsts after righteousness is filled (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +5:6</span>). By fidelity and obedience we abide in +Christ; by docility and spiritual obedience we +open the door that Christ may abide with us.—​<b>As +the branch cannot bear fruit of itself</b> +(<span lang="el">ἀφ ἑαυτοῦ</span>) <b>except it abide in the vine, no +more can ye except ye abide in me</b>. So +the Son can do nothing of <em>himself</em> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_19">5:19</a>, note</span>), +but does all things abiding in and through the +power of the Father. The disciple abiding in +Christ comes at last to abide with Christ in the +Father; and this is the consummation, when the +Father becomes all in all (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_21">17:21</a>, <a href="#ch17_24">24</a>; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:28</span>). +Thus all spiritual life comes from the Father by +Christ, through the instrumentality of the word, +to the soul that abides in and with Christ as +Christ abides in and with the Father.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 I am the vine, ye <em>are</em> the branches; He that abideth +in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much +fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 If a<a id="FNanchor_578" href="#Footnote_578" class="fnanchor">[578]</a> + man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a + branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and + cast <em>them</em> into the fire, and they are burned.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_578" href="#FNanchor_578" class="label">[578]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:10; 7:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>5, 6. I am the vine, ye are the branches.</b> +Note the contrast. No mere teacher or prophet +could have spoken thus to his fellow-creatures.—​<b>He +that abideth in me and I in him, the +same bringeth forth much fruit.</b> This +mystical dwelling with a living and present +Christ is the condition of a fruitful Christian + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span> +character.—​<b>Because apart from me ye can +do nothing.</b> Rather <em>severed</em>, as a branch from +the vine; and the negation is intense, a double +negative: <em>ye can by no means do anything</em>. All +Christless activity counts for nothing; it harvests +“nothing but leaves.” Thus moral excellence +is not the preparation for and the condition +of spiritual life; spiritual life is the preparation +for and the condition of moral excellence. +Though each promotes the other, the first step +for the reforming soul should be to seek union +with Christ, without whom we can do nothing. +Contrast with Christ’s declaration here Paul’s +in <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:13, “I can do all things through +Him (Christ) that strengtheneth me.” No conclusion +can be drawn from this utterance respecting +the vexed question of the natural ability +of the soul to repent of sin and accept Christ by +faith. For Christ is here speaking to those who +have thus accepted him, and he declares simply +the condition of fruitful Christian activity for +all those who are, at least in avowed purpose, +already his.—​<b>In case any one shall not have +abided in me he has been cast out like +the branch that is withered, and they +gather them together and they are burned.</b> +This translation is Meyer’s, who thus comments +on the significance of the change in the tenses: +“Jesus places himself at the point of time of +the execution of the last judgment, when those +who have fallen away from him are gathered +together and cast into the fire, after they have +been previously cast out of his communion and +become withered, having completely lost the +true life.” They that gather the withered +branches for the fire are not <em>men</em>, but the angels +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:49, 50</span>). The metaphorical language ought +not, however, to be too far pressed. The parable +ends in a tragic consummation, but Christ +pictures only the end of the fruitless and severed +branches, as a warning to the disciples; he does +not declare that this fate actually impends over +any truly new-born soul. Hence we cannot deduce +from his language the conclusion of Meyer +and Alford that the verse involves the possibility +of falling from grace. The whole teaching is +full of warning to every one to make his calling +and election sure, not to rest in a “finished salvation;” +and in this it corresponds with the +uniform teaching of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:12, 13; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> +4:11; 12:15; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:10</span>). The admonition is somewhat +analogous to and may be interpreted by +that of Paul in <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:6, 7, and <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 3:5, an +admonition pertinent to all who substitute a +supposed faith in Christ’s perfect work for practical +obedience, a faith that works by love. Alford’s +interpretation “<em>burneth</em>, not is burned in +any sense of being consumed,” is a striking illustration, +such as Alford does not often afford, of +modifying the text to escape an unwelcome conclusion. +The verb (<span lang="el">καίεται</span>) is in the passive +tense, and the figure is certainly one of destruction, +not of torment. But it is not to be taken +literally. The essential truth which underlies +the metaphor is simply this, that the soul which +is separated from Christ is separated from the +source of spiritual life, withers away, and is +eventually destroyed. What is soul destruction +is a question not here considered.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, +ye<a id="FNanchor_579" href="#Footnote_579" class="fnanchor">[579]</a> shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto +you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_579" href="#FNanchor_579" class="label">[579]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_23">16:23</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much +fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>7, 8. If ye abide in me and my words +abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, +and it shall be done unto you. Therein is +my Father glorified; so that ye shall +bear much fruit and shall become my +disciples.</b> The <em>words</em> of Christ are his whole +teaching, his commandments, revelations, promises; +to be accepted by obedience, faith, hope. +They are said to abide in the soul only as they +spring up and bear fruit in the life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:8, 23</span>). +Thus to have Christ’s words abiding in us is the +same as to bear Christian fruit. To him who +thus abides in Christ and bears his fruit this +promise is made, analogous to and interpreted +by that of <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_13">14:13</a>, <a href="#ch14_14">14</a>. The prayers of those +who are thus pervaded by the spirit of Christ +are, like their Master’s, those of not merely a +humble submission to, but a supreme desire for, +the will of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +6:9, 10; 26:39</span>).—​Hence in +answering them the Father is glorified. For the +prayer of him in whom Christ’s words abide will +always embrace a supreme desire for the Father’s +glory. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Christ’s prayer in +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">17</a>. Answer +to such prayers is given that the praying +Christian may both bear much fruit and become +a disciple; both fruit-bearing in the life and docility +of spirit, <i>i. e.</i>, both practical obedience to +Christ and the spiritual capacity to appreciate +Christ’s instructions, are the result of this life of +prayer, and are a divine answer to prayer. The +translation given in the English version, <cite>so shall +ye be my disciples</cite>, is possibly legitimate, but +it reverses the true order of the spiritual life, by +representing that fruit-bearing is the condition of +becoming a disciple of Christ; and the other +construction is both more in harmony with the +general teaching of the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> and also with the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span> +original here. <em>That</em> (<span lang="el">ἵνα</span> is <dfn>telic</dfn>) is equivalent to +<em>in order that</em>, but the meaning is not that God is +glorified for the purpose of perfecting Christian +character, but that prayer in the name and spirit +of Christ is answered for that purpose.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: +continue ye in my love.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 If ye<a id="FNanchor_580" href="#Footnote_580" class="fnanchor">[580]</a> keep my commandments, ye shall abide in +my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, +and abide in his love.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_580" href="#FNanchor_580" class="label">[580]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_21">14:21</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy +might remain in you, and <em>that</em> your<a id="FNanchor_581" href="#Footnote_581" class="fnanchor">[581]</a> joy might be full.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_581" href="#FNanchor_581" class="label">[581]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_24">16:24</a>; <a href="#ch17_13">17:13</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>9-11. As the Father hath loved me, so +have I loved you. Abide ye in my love.</b> +<em>As</em> indicates the quality and character of the +love. Christ’s love for the disciples is, like the +Father’s love for Christ, a love personal, warm, +strong; but one that does not shield from all +temptation, suffering, or even injustice. The +word rendered <em>continue</em> in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_9">9</a> is the same rendered +<em>abide</em> in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_7">7</a>. <em>My</em> love is Christ’s love +for us, not our love for him. The meaning then +is, I have loved you with the love which the +Father has for me; so live as to retain this love. +And the next sentence indicates how this is to +be done.—​<b>If ye keep my commandments ye +shall abide in my love, even as</b>, etc. On +the meaning of the word <dfn>keep</dfn>, see +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_21">14:21</a>, +note. The commandments are all summed up +in the one command, “Follow me,” and this +again is interpreted by the command, “That ye +love one another as I have loved you.” Love is +the key to Christ’s character; to love is to follow +Christ. A life of asceticism or of retirement +and meditation is not the way to this indwelling +with Christ. The condition is love in activity of +service; a love and life like that of Christ, +which was neither one of asceticism nor one of +repose.—​<b>These things have I spoken unto +you that my joy might remain in you, +and your joy might be full.</b> One object of +his address (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_17">17</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_1">16:1</a>, <a href="#ch16_4">4</a>, <a href="#ch16_33">33</a></span>) is that he may +perfect in them and in us that Christian joy +which is one of the fruits of the Spirit (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:22; +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 14:17</span>), joy in the Lord, <i>i. e.</i>, in his companionship, +in fulfilling his will, in suffering with +and for him, in doing his service (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 5:41; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> +2:17, 18; 4:4</span>); the joy which Christ sets before +himself, and for which he endured the cross, +despising the shame (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:26; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:2</span>). By +<dfn>my joy</dfn> is meant, not joy concerning Christ, nor +joy derived from Christ, nor joy of Christ himself +in us, his disciples, though this last is a possible +interpretation, but his own joy, <i>i. e.</i>, joy +like his, having the same source in God and the +same quality, enduring and invincible. And if +this joy is in the soul, the soul is <em>full</em>; it leaves +nothing to be desired. In words there is, in experience +there is not, a contradiction in the implication +that he who was a man of sorrows and +acquainted with grief was also one possessing +the most radiant joyfulness. This promise of +joy, uttered by Christ just before Gethsemane +and Calvary, is itself a song in the night, and a +promise of one to every Christian soul in its own +passion hour.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 This<a id="FNanchor_582" href="#Footnote_582" class="fnanchor">[582]</a> is my commandment, That ye love one +another, as I have loved you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_582" href="#FNanchor_582" class="label">[582]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_34">13:34</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Greater love<a id="FNanchor_583" href="#Footnote_583" class="fnanchor">[583]</a> hath no man than this, that a man +lay down his life for his friends.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_583" href="#FNanchor_583" class="label">[583]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:7, 8.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 Ye<a id="FNanchor_584" href="#Footnote_584" class="fnanchor">[584]</a> are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command +you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_584" href="#FNanchor_584" class="label">[584]</a> + verse <a href="#ch15_10">10</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>12-14. This is my commandment, that</b>, +etc. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_34">13:34</a>, note. Christ reiterates +the commandment which he has before given, +and points to his own life as the true interpreter +of that commandment, in order that he may +guard them and us against that Pharisaic obedience +of external rules which selfishness and +earthliness are continually substituting for a spiritual +obedience to the one interior law of Christian +character, self-sacrificing love.—​<b>Greater +love hath no one than this, that one lay +down his life for his friends.</b> Beware of +reading this as though laying down the life were +equivalent to dying. To die for a friend is not +the greatest manifestation of love; to live for +him, by consecrating the whole life to him, is +far greater. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch10_11">10:11</a>, +<a href="#ch10_17">17</a>, notes.—​As +Christ consecrates not only his earthly life, but, +in his intercession with us and for us, his eternal +life, to his friends, so, if we are his friends, we +shall lay down our lives for him, not necessarily +by dying for him, but by doing whatsoever he +commands us, that is, by living for him. Thus +Christ points out at once both the perfection of +his love for his disciples and the perfection of +that love which he desires from his disciples. +He does not here say, however, that to lay down +one’s life for one’s friends is the highest manifestation +of love; still higher is that manifestation +made by laying down the life for enemies. +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:8; 1 John 4:10.</span>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant +knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have +called you friends:<a id="FNanchor_585" href="#Footnote_585" class="fnanchor">[585]</a> for all things that I have heard +of my Father I have made known unto you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_585" href="#FNanchor_585" class="label">[585]</a> + James 2:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>15. Henceforth I call you not servants; +for the servant knoweth not what his lord +doeth; but I have called you friends; for +all things that I have heard of my Father +I have made known unto you.</b> There is a +verbal but not a spiritual inconsistency between +the language here and that of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_20">20</a>. The service +which Christ expects of his disciples is that +of love. His declaration here explains his previous +language, which is that of authority. He + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span> +has said, “I am your Lord and Master” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_13">13:13</a></span>), +and has reiterated again and again that the condition +of their spiritual life is obedience to his +commandments (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_15">14:15</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a>; +<a href="#ch15_10">15:10</a></span>). He now explains +the sense in which he is a lawgiver. He +does not issue an imperial ukase and demand of +his disciples a blind and unquestioning obedience; +he speaks as a divine friend, interpreting +to his disciples those laws of the spiritual life +which he has himself learned in the indwelling +of the Father.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 Ye<a id="FNanchor_586" href="#Footnote_586" class="fnanchor">[586]</a> have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, +and ordained<a id="FNanchor_587" href="#Footnote_587" class="fnanchor">[587]</a> you, that ye should go and bring forth +fruit, and <em>that</em> your fruit should remain: that whatsoever<a id="FNanchor_588" href="#Footnote_588" class="fnanchor">[588]</a> +ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may +give it you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_586" href="#FNanchor_586" class="label">[586]</a> + 1 John 4:10, 19.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_587" href="#FNanchor_587" class="label">[587]</a> + <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:10.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_588" href="#FNanchor_588" class="label">[588]</a> + verse <a href="#ch15_7">7</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch14_13">14:13</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have +chosen you and ordained you.</b> Primarily +the reference is to the choice of the twelve from +among the disciples of Christ to be witnesses +and apostles (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 6:13; +John <a href="#ch6_70">6:70</a>; Acts 9:15</span>); and +this choice did not prevent one of them from +becoming an apostate. It is Christ who chooses +for each one of us his place and work in life. +That this is the primary meaning is evident, not +only from the parallel language employed in the +passages above cited, but also from the second +clause of the verse here. The word rendered +<cite>ordained</cite> is literally <dfn>placed</dfn>; and that is the meaning +in this passage: I have chosen you and appointed +you your place in life. So in Acts 13:47; +20:28; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:12. But it is also clear +from the language of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_19">19</a>, <cite>I have chosen you +out of the world</cite>, that Christ refers not merely to +a choice of the twelve from among the whole +discipleship for a particular work, but also to a +choice of them from the world to be followers +of him. And as an historic fact, so far as we +know the history of the twelve, each one was +first called by Christ. See for example <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +9:9; Mark 1:16-20; John <a href="#ch1_43">1:43</a>. The vine +precedes the branches; the first life flows from +the vine into the branches; the first choice is the +choice of the dead soul by the living Christ, not +the choice of the living Christ by the dead soul. +We love him because he first loves us (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 4:10, +19; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:4, 5</span>), and choose him because he first +chooses us. And, however difficult it may be +for us to reconcile this truth with our <i lang="la">a priori</i> +conceptions of divine impartiality, rightly held +it is an inspiration to Christian activity and a +source of Christian humility. “Even when this +doctrine of election has taken a narrow <span style="white-space:nowrap;">form—even</span> +when it has been recognized chiefly as <span style="white-space:nowrap;">exclusive—it</span> +has had a mighty power over the +hearts of men. They have given themselves up, +as they never could do when they thought they +had selected their own destiny, or were going on +errands of their own. But when it takes the +form it has here * * * there cannot be any +principle which is at once so humbling and so +elevating, which so takes away all notion from +the disciple that there is any worth in his own +deeds or words, which gives him so confident an +assurance that God’s word, spoken through him +or through any man, will not return to Him +void.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)—<b>That you should go and +bring forth fruit, and that your fruit +should remain.</b> They were chosen that they +should go forth as apostles, everywhere carrying +the gospel of reconciliation, and bringing back +to their Master the fruits, in sinners converted +and saints edified. So every Christian is chosen +that he may go forth out of himself, out of a life +of mere personal enjoyment of religion, and +bring forth fruit that shall abide in other lives +after his life comes to its close. And he is +bound to take heed that both in his life (<span class="muchsmaller">2 John, +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 8</span>), and in other lives (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 14:13</span>), there is fruit +that abides unto life eternal.—​<b>That whatsoever +ye shall ask of the Father in my +name, he may give it you.</b> Both clauses of +the verse are dependent on the general declaration, +“I have chosen you.” For analogous construction, +see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_34">13:34</a>. +Christ chooses his +disciples that they may go out into the world +and bring forth much fruit, and also that they +may ask of the Father in his name what they +need; that is, both for a life of Christian activity +and of Christian devotion. And the one is necessary +to the other. The Christian brings forth +much fruit only as he has power in prayer, the +power of a faith that God is able to do much in +and through him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 4:13</span>); and he has power +in prayer only as he brings forth much fruit (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_31">9:31</a>; <a href="#ch14_7">14:7</a></span>). Besser notes an evidence of emphasis +which Christ lays upon prayer in the fact that +prayer in the name of Jesus is urged in all three +chapters of this farewell discourse.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 These things<a id="FNanchor_589" href="#Footnote_589" class="fnanchor">[589]</a> I command you, that ye love one +another.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_589" href="#FNanchor_589" class="label">[589]</a> + <a href="#ch15_12">verse 12</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>17. These things I command you that +ye love one another.</b> <em>These things</em> are all +the precepts which have preceded from the beginning +of this interview, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_12">13:12</a>. The whole +object of Christ’s precepts is to produce a loving +spirit and a loving life in his followers. See +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 22:37-40; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 13:8-10; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 5:14; +1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:5.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 If the world<a id="FNanchor_590" href="#Footnote_590" class="fnanchor">[590]</a> hate you, ye know that it hated me +before <em>it hated</em> you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_590" href="#FNanchor_590" class="label">[590]</a> + 1 John 3:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his +own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have +chosen you out of the world, therefore<a id="FNanchor_591" href="#Footnote_591" class="fnanchor">[591]</a> the world +hateth you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_591" href="#FNanchor_591" class="label">[591]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_14">17:14</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Remember<a id="FNanchor_592" href="#Footnote_592" class="fnanchor">[592]</a> the word that I said unto you, The +servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted +me, they will also persecute you; if they<a id="FNanchor_593" href="#Footnote_593" class="fnanchor">[593]</a> have +kept my saying, they will keep yours also.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_592" href="#FNanchor_592" class="label">[592]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_16">13:16</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:24; Luke 6:40.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_593" href="#FNanchor_593" class="label">[593]</a> + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 3:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 But all<a id="FNanchor_594" href="#Footnote_594" class="fnanchor">[594]</a> these things will they do unto you for +my name’s sake, because they know not him that +sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_594" href="#FNanchor_594" class="label">[594]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_3">16:3</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:22; 24:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18-21.</b> From this point to the end of the +chapter Christ passes to speak of the relation of +the disciples to the world, and continuing the +theme in the next chapter, points out +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_1">16:1-4</a></span>) + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span> +the particular manifestation of the world’s enmity +which the disciples may expect.—​<b>If the +world hates you, know that it hated me +before you.</b> <dfn>The world</dfn>, in John’s use of the +term, signifies the unspiritual portion of mankind, +those who have not been taken out of an +animal and sensual condition by being born +from above. See for illustration of his meaning +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_10">1:10</a>, +<a href="#ch1_29">29</a>; <a href="#ch3_16">3:16</a>; +<a href="#ch4_42">4:42</a>; <a href="#ch12_31">12:31</a>, etc. Many +in the visible church may be of the world; some +without the visible church may not be of the +world. It was the church which most bitterly +hated Christ; the publicans and sinners were +drawn to him, and their enthusiasm for him was +his protection against the machinations of the +hierarchy (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 12:12; Luke 20:19; 22:2</span>). Christ does +not assert that the world will necessarily hate the +disciples. The disciple’s life may be so ordered +of God that it is never brought into direct +collision with the self-interest, the pride, and the +ambition of the world. But if the collision does +arise, and the disciple suffers the world’s enmity, +he is to be strengthened and comforted by +the reflection that that has befallen him which +previously befel his Master. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_7">7:7</a>, +where Christ declares that the world cannot hate +those that act in accordance with worldly policies +and principles, and 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 4:12, 13; 1 John +3:13, 14; 4:4, 5, where the apostles employ the +same consideration employed by Christ here, +and for the same purpose. It is better to take +<em>know</em> as an imperative than as an indicative, as +an exhortation than as a mere statement of a +fact. It is thus analogous to <em>remember</em> in +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_20">20</a>.—​<b>If ye were of the world * * * because +ye are not of the world.</b> The Christian +is <em>in</em> but not <em>of</em> the world, because he is +born from above (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch3_3">3:3</a></span>), and so is made a +member of a kingdom which, like its king, is not +of this world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_23">8:23</a>; <a href="#ch18_36">18:36</a></span>).—​<b>Therefore the +world hateth you.</b> Not merely because the +disciple is chosen by Christ, but because he is +chosen out of the world, and by his life of nonconformity +bears a perpetual testimony against +the world. This enmity is illustrated by the +case of Daniel (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> +6:1-5</span>), Peter and John (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +4:21</span>), and Christ himself +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch11_49">11:49</a>, +<a href="#ch11_50">50</a></span>). It is +aroused whenever Christian principle comes into +collision with worldly interests.—​<b>Be mindful +of the word which I said unto you.</b> Bear +it in mind as a talisman in time of persecution. +See marg. ref. This truth, employed here and in +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:24 for encouragement, +is assigned in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_16">13:16</a> as a reason for humility.—​<b>If they have +kept my saying they will keep yours also.</b> +This is not to be regarded as ironical, as rendered +by Grotius, nor is the word <cite>keep</cite> to be rendered +<dfn>watch</dfn> with a hostile intent, a forced meaning +given to it by Bengel, nor is the language +merely general and hypothetical, which is apparently +Meyer’s interpretation. Some will +persecute, others will accept and carefully keep, +the gospel. The disciple must anticipate both +results, persecution and glad reception. So it +was in Paul’s experience (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 13:42, 45, 48, 50; 14:4; 17:4, +5, etc.</span>). The most popular preachers are also the +most reviled and persecuted, from the days of +Christ down through those of Luther and Whitefield, +to the present day.—​<b>They will do unto +you for my name’s sake.</b> As the name of +Christ inspires the Christian with peculiar courage +and devotion, so it incites in his enemies +peculiar hostility. The fact that this hostility is +directed against Christ, and that in enduring it +the disciples are suffering for Christ and in his +stead, gives them peculiar strength and joy in +their sufferings (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 5:41; 21:13; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:3; 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +11:23; 12:10, 11; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:17, 18; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 6:14; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 4:12, 13</span>). +Thus the declaration here interprets the promise +of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:11, 12.—​<b>Because they know not +him that sent me.</b> See <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_23">23</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_42">8:42</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 If I<a id="FNanchor_595" href="#Footnote_595" class="fnanchor">[595]</a> had not come and spoken unto them, they +had not had sin: but<a id="FNanchor_596" href="#Footnote_596" class="fnanchor">[596]</a> now they have no cloke for +their sin.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_595" href="#FNanchor_595" class="label">[595]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch9_41">9:41</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_596" href="#FNanchor_596" class="label">[596]</a> + James 4:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 If I had not done among them the works<a id="FNanchor_597" href="#Footnote_597" class="fnanchor">[597]</a> which +none other man did, they had not had sin: but now +have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_597" href="#FNanchor_597" class="label">[597]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_31">7:31</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 But <em>this cometh to pass</em>, that the word might be +fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated<a id="FNanchor_598" href="#Footnote_598" class="fnanchor">[598]</a> me +without a cause.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_598" href="#FNanchor_598" class="label">[598]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 35:19; 69:4.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>22-25. If I had not come * * * they +had not known sin.</b> The meaning is not, +They would not have had <em>the</em> sin of hating me +without a cause; there is no definite article +attached to the word <cite>sin</cite>; the declaration is +general, as it is rendered by our English version. +Moreover, to say that men would not have been +guilty of the sin of hating Christ if Christ had +never come to their knowledge is to utter the +merest truism. This, though it is the common +interpretation, and is adopted, though not defended, +by such scholars as Meyer and Alford, +seems to me utterly untenable. Nor is the +meaning, They would not have had so great sin; +Christ often uses metaphor, <em>but he never exaggerates</em>. +By his death the Lamb of God has taken +away, not some sins from the world, but <em>the sin +of the world</em>. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_29">1:29</a>, note. Hence the only +sin for which men are condemned is that of deliberately +rejecting the offer of free forgiveness +and a new life through Jesus Christ +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_18">3:18</a>, <a href="#ch3_19">19</a>, +notes</span>). Other sins are not reckoned against them +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 17:30; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 3:25</span>). They are judged by Christ, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span> +because they are judged worthy of life if they +accept his free offer of it, and unworthy of life +if they put it away when it is offered to them +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 13:46</span>). Hence those to whom Christ has +been offered are not condemned because of their +past sins, which are freely forgiven; they are +measured by their acceptance or rejection of +Him. “No man shall die in his sins, except him +who through unbelief thrusts from him the forgiveness +of sin, which in the name of Jesus is +offered to him. This is the real sin which contains +all others. For if the word of Christ was +received every sin would be forgiven and remitted; +but since men will not receive it, this constitutes +a sin which is not to be forgiven.”—(<cite>Luther.</cite>)—<b>But +now they have no cloak for +their sin.</b> No cover or excuse. Ignorance is +an excuse; but when the offer of pardon and a +new life is refused, the sin is shown to be deliberately +chosen. Every man naturally seeks an +excuse for his sin (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 3:12, 13</span>). Christ takes +away every excuse and leaves the sinner, at the +judgment day, to the sentence of condemnation. +“I would * * * but ye would not” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +23:37</span>).—​<b>He that hateth me hateth my Father +also.</b> Because Christ is the manifestation +of the Father, therefore anti-Christ is anti-God. +See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_42">8:42</a>.—​<b>If I had not done among +them works which none other did.</b> Not +merely <em>miracles</em>; the whole life-work of beneficent +activity is that which attested to the Jews +Christ’s character; and the whole work of beneficent +activity wrought by him in the church +universal is the ever-living testimony to the divine +nature and authority of Christianity. The evidence +of a divine redemption through Jesus +Christ is cumulative; and the sin of hating +Christ, as embodied in Christian principles, +truths, and lives, is consequently continually +enhanced.—​<b>They have both seen and hated +both me and my Father.</b> This was literally +true in respect to the hierarchy at Jerusalem, +who even as these words were spoken were plotting +with Judas for the arrest and execution of +Christ. They determined to slay him, because +in no other way could they countervail his wonderful +works (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch11_47">11:47-50</a></span>).—​<b>They hated me +without a cause.</b> See <abbr title="marginal reference">marg. ref.</abbr> +The language +was employed by the original <span style="white-space:nowrap;">author—whether</span> +David or not is not quite <span style="white-space:nowrap;">certain—not</span> +with any distinct understanding of its prophetic +significance. It is here applied by Christ to +himself, not by an accommodation, but because +all godly suffering in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> was itself a type +of the great sacrifice for God and man consummated +by the cross of Christ, as all suffering in +the Christian church fills up what is lacking of +that sacrifice to perfect the world’s redemption +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:24</span>). +“These (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch15_21">21-25</a></span>) are perhaps the +most terrible words in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> or the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +No descriptions of divine punishment which are +written anywhere can come the least into comparison +with them for awfulness and horror. +This gratuitous hatred, this hatred of Christ by +men because they hate God, this hatred of God +because he has manifested and proved himself +to be love, is something which passes all our +conception, and yet which would not mean anything +to us if our conscience did not bear witness +that the possibility of it lies in ourselves. +Do not let us put away that thought, brethren, +or the one which is closely akin to it, that such +hatred is only possible in a nation which, like +the Jewish, is full of religious knowledge and of +religious profession.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 But when the Comforter<a id="FNanchor_599" href="#Footnote_599" class="fnanchor">[599]</a> is come, whom I will +send unto you from the Father, <em>even</em> the Spirit of +truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he<a id="FNanchor_600" href="#Footnote_600" class="fnanchor">[600]</a> shall +testify of me:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_599" href="#FNanchor_599" class="label">[599]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_17">14:17</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_600" href="#FNanchor_600" class="label">[600]</a> + 1 John 5:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch15_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 And ye<a id="FNanchor_601" href="#Footnote_601" class="fnanchor">[601]</a> also shall bear witness, because ye<a id="FNanchor_602" href="#Footnote_602" class="fnanchor">[602]</a> +have been with me from the beginning.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_601" href="#FNanchor_601" class="label">[601]</a> + Luke 24:48; Acts 2:32; 4:20, 33; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_602" href="#FNanchor_602" class="label">[602]</a> + 1 John 1:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>26, 27. But when the Comforter is come +whom I will send unto you from the presence +of</b> (<span lang="el">παρὰ</span>) <b>the Father</b> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_16">14:16</a></span>), <b>even the +Spirit of truth</b> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_17">14:17</a>, note</span>), <b>which proceedeth +from the presence</b> (<span lang="el">παρὰ</span>) <b>of the Father</b>. +On the meaning of the particle here rendered +<em>from</em>, see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_34">5:34</a>, note. These two clauses +are not repetitions; the one defines the other. +The Comforter whom Jesus sent at the day of +Pentecost to the church is that Spirit of truth +who ever proceeds from the Father. Christ +attributes all blessed redemptive influences in +the last instance to his Father; as he is himself +from the Father, so the Spirit is from the +Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_29">7:29</a>; <a href="#ch8_26">8:26</a>, +<a href="#ch8_38">38</a>; <a href="#ch10_18">10:18</a>; +<abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 4:6</span>), and is +sometimes called his (Christ’s) Spirit (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:9; +<abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 4:6; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 1:19; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:11</span>). To trace out from +this verse the eternal relations between the Father, +Son, and Holy Ghost, is to import into this +spiritual converse the unspiritual metaphysics of +the scholastic period of theology.—​<b>He shall +testify of me</b> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_13">16:13-15</a></span>). <b>And ye also shall +bear witness, because ye have been with +me from the beginning</b> (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 1:2; Acts 1:22</span>). A +double testimony to the truth of Christianity, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span> +the spiritual and the historical. After Christ’s +death and resurrection the Spirit made clear to +the apostles the meaning of the enigma, interpreted +the prophets to them, and opened unto +them the true nature of Christ’s spiritual kingdom, +that they might testify unto others (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +1:8; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:9, 10; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:20; Mark 13:11</span>). The +apostles also testified to the facts which they +had themselves witnessed in the life, death, and +resurrection of Christ, as evidences of his Messiahship +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 1:22; 3:15</span>). But, secondarily, every +Christian is a witness of Christ by his own life +and conversation, testifying things which in his +own experience he has both seen and heard; and +the Spirit of truth bears witness both in him and +through him to the power of God in a devout +life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:16; 9:1; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 12:8-11; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:11; 1 John +3:24</span>).</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER <abbr title="Sixteen">XVI.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 16:1-33. CLOSE OF CHRIST’S DISCOURSE.—​<span class="smcap">The +presence, office, and work of the Holy +Spirit more fully described.</span></p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">These</span> things have I spoken unto you, that ye +should not be offended.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, +the time cometh, that whosoever<a id="FNanchor_603" href="#Footnote_603" class="fnanchor">[603]</a> killeth you will +think that he doeth God service.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_603" href="#FNanchor_603" class="label">[603]</a> + Acts 26:9-11.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1, 2. These things have I spoken unto +you that ye should not be offended.</b> Scandalized; +caused to fall into sin. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:29, +note; 15:12; 17:27; John <a href="#ch6_61">6:61</a>; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 8:13. +The object of Christ’s teaching in these chapters +is not merely to impart consolation to the apostles +in their impending sorrow in his death, but +to impart strength to his disciples throughout +all time in their experience of temptation.—​<b>They +shall put you out of the synagogues.</b> +Excommunicate you. This was not in that age +a mere ecclesiastical censure; it involved the +most serious consequences, in exclusion from all +business and secular relations with men. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch9_22">9:22</a>, note.—​<b>Yea, the hour cometh that +whosoever killeth you will think that he +is offering a sacrifice to God.</b> Illustrated +by Saul of Tarsus (<span class="muchsmaller">see Acts 25:9</span>), and by the proverb +found in the Rabbinical books, “Whoever +sheds the blood of the impious does the same as +if he had offered a sacrifice;” not less illustrated +by the history of religious persecutions, +in which the persecutor has very generally believed +that by slaying the heretic he was appeasing +God’s wrath against the community and the +church. Such an experience, if it came without +forewarning, would endanger their faith. “It +would be a strange result; fellowship with their +brethren destroyed because they proclaimed the +ground of fellowship; death inflicted upon them +because they preached that death was overcome. +Might not poor Galileans, conscious of folly and +sin, often say to themselves: ‘We must be +wrong; the rulers of the land must be wiser +than we are. Ought we to turn the world upside +down for an opinion of ours?’”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>) +This is always a temptation in times when Christian +principle seems counter to public sentiment, +a temptation not merely to abandon Christian +principle in order to conform to public sentiment, +but to think the principle which commends +itself to so few and arouses the hostility +of so many cannot be sound. [The Greek student +will find in Alford’s and Meyer’s interpretation +of <span lang="el">ἵνα</span>, <dfn>that</dfn>, a curious illustration of the +straits to which the commentator is put who +insists on giving it always its accurate (<dfn>telic</dfn>), +never its more popular (<dfn>ecbatic</dfn>) signification. +They are compelled, in order to be consistent, +to read this declaration, <cite>The hour cometh in order +that whosoever</cite>, etc., that is, that which shall happen +in the hour is regarded as the object of its +coming; it is ordained for that purpose.]</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 And these<a id="FNanchor_604" href="#Footnote_604" class="fnanchor">[604]</a> things will they do unto you, because +they<a id="FNanchor_605" href="#Footnote_605" class="fnanchor">[605]</a> have not known the Father, nor me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_604" href="#FNanchor_604" class="label">[604]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_21">15:21</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_605" href="#FNanchor_605" class="label">[605]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:8; 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 But these things have I told you, that when the +time shall come, ye may remember that I told you +of them. And these things I said not unto you at the +beginning, because I was with you.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>3, 4. And these things will they do unto +you because they have not known the +Father nor me.</b> The root of all religious +intolerance is a narrow, false, pagan conception +of God. Intolerance is impossible in a heart +which rightly appreciates God as manifested in +Christ Jesus, and sincerely seeks to please him +by imbibing his Spirit and imitating his example +and method. On the other hand, a conscience +uninstructed by a measurably correct conception +of God becomes itself an instigator of the most +remorseless cruelty. The cause of the wrong is +in not receiving as a little child the teaching of +Christ, and even of nature (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:45</span>), respecting +the comprehensiveness of the Divine love. All +intolerance is rooted in self-worship, making a +god of our own self-will.—​<b>But these things +have I told you that when the hour has +come ye may call to mind these things, +that I have told you them. But these +things I have not told you from the beginning, +because I was with you.</b> What +are <em>these things</em>? Most commentators understand +Christ to refer to his prophecies in verses <a href="#ch16_2">2</a> and +<a href="#ch16_3">3</a>, and they understand his meaning to be, <dfn>I have +forewarned you of those persecutions, that when +they come upon you you may remember that I did + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span> +forewarn you of them</dfn>. But this interpretation is +not consistent with the added words, <cite>These +things I have not told you from the beginning</cite>; +for the prophecies of future perils which threatened +them are quite as clear in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:17-22, +28; Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:12-17, as they +are here. Meyer and Godet even suppose that +Matthew has inserted the warnings in his Gospel +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 10</span>) out of their place, taking them from +Christ’s discourse here; and the explanations +given by other commentators, if they violate the +text less, violate its meaning more. Luthardt +gives them all briefly. <em>These things</em>, I think, are +not merely the prophecy of the persecutions +which are to fall upon the disciples; they are +the whole comforting and inspiring instructions +of this discourse respecting the person, advent, +presence, and indwelling grace and power of the +Spirit of Truth and Holiness. The phrase is +used here as in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_25">14:25</a>; <a href="#ch15_11">15:11</a>, +<a href="#ch15_17">17</a>; <a href="#ch16_1">16:1</a>, <a href="#ch16_6">6</a>. +Combining these verses, we get Christ’s object +in this whole instruction in the truth of the Divine +Immanence, namely, that the disciples may +be prepared for the progressive teaching of the +Spirit of Truth; that their Master’s joy in the +Holy Spirit may be theirs, and so their joy may +be full; that their lives may abound in the fruits +of a love that is nourished only by the indwelling +of the Spirit; that in trial and persecution they +may not be offended and induced to abandon +faith in him as their Master; and he urges them +when this trial hour comes upon them to recall +to mind this teaching respecting the indwelling +and ever-abiding Comforter, teaching not given +before except in hints and suggestions, rudimentary +and fragmentary, because while he was +yet with them in the flesh they could and notably +did depend upon him.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and +none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 But because I have said these things unto you, +sorrow<a id="FNanchor_606" href="#Footnote_606" class="fnanchor">[606]</a> hath filled your heart.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_606" href="#FNanchor_606" class="label">[606]</a> + <a href="#ch16_22">verse 22</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>5, 6. But now I go away.</b> Not <em>my way</em>; +the idea of departure simply is conveyed by the +original.—​<b>And no one of you asketh me, +Whither goest thou? but because I have +said these things unto you sorrow hath +filled your heart.</b> The first clause is not literally +true. Peter directly, Thomas indirectly, +had asked, Whither goest thou? (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_36">13:36</a>; <a href="#ch14_5">14:5</a></span>). +It is to be interpreted by the latter clause. The +meaning is, Instead of turning your thoughts +towards me and my future glory, and asking +after my Father and my home, which you would +do with rejoicing if you loved me supremely +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_28">14:28</a></span>), your thoughts are on your own loneliness +in the future when I shall have left you, +and because of it sorrow has completely filled +your heart, that is, to the exclusion of every +other thought. My words should bring you +comfort; they bring you pain. There is a pathetic +reproach in Christ’s language, easily comprehended +by every pastor who has attempted +to point sorrowing souls to the invisible world, +only to see their grief burst out afresh at the +awakened recollection of the earthly loss. Notice, +your <em>heart</em>, not hearts; the singular is used, +as in <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:21, because they are so thoroughly +a unit in their common feeling of sorrow. Stier +notices the contrast between the experience of +these same disciples now and at the subsequent +parting at the ascension: “These are the same disciples +who afterwards, when their risen Lord had +ascended to heaven, without any pang at parting +with him, returned with great joy to Jerusalem +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:52</span>).” A practical lesson to every mourner +here, as in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_28">14:28</a>, is that he should not allow +a selfish sorrow to fill his heart so completely +that he cannot follow in his thoughts the loved +one to his heavenly home.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient +for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter +will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will +send him unto you.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it +is for your benefit that I am going away.</b> +The original is stronger than our English version; +the implication is plainly, as Alford gives +it, “that the dispensation of the Spirit is a more +blessed manifestation of God than was even the +bodily presence of the risen Saviour,” and the +reasons why it is so are intimated in previous +parts of this discourse. See especially <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_16">14:16</a>, <a href="#ch14_17">17</a>, +notes.—​<b>For if I go not away the +Comforter will not come unto you.</b> He +does not say will not come, but will not come +<em>unto you</em>. Hitherto the Spirit had been given +only to men especially fitted by their spiritual +nature to receive its teachings and to become in +turn teachers to others. After the death and +resurrection of Christ the Spirit was given to the +church universal, to all believers. See Acts 2:8. +The language therefore does not prove, according +to Alford, that “the gift of the Spirit at and +since Pentecost was and is something totally distinct +from anything before that time.” The +difference consisted in its universal bestowal, +whereas before it was limited to a few. Why +could not the Spirit be sent until Christ had first +gone away? Because it is impossible for men to +live at the same time by faith and by sight. So +long as the disciples had a visible manifestation +of God with them, they would not and could not +turn their thoughts inward to that more sacred + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span> +but less easily recognized manifestation which +could not be seen, and therefore could be known +only by spiritual apprehension.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world +of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:</p> +</div> + +<p><b>8. And coming, that one shall convince +the world respecting sin and respecting +righteousness and respecting judgment.</b> +In this and the three succeeding verses Christ +describes briefly the office and work of the Holy +Spirit. As the advent of Christ was itself a +preparation for the dispensation of the Spirit, +and as in his departure he points his disciples to +the indwelling of that Spirit as the source of +their hope, their joy, their love, their entire +spiritual life, these verses, in which he points out +specifically the manner in which the Spirit will +develop this spiritual life, may be regarded as +the heart of this discourse. To attempt to give +the various opinions of conflicting commentators +on this passage would almost inevitably +entangle the mind of the student in a mesh +of contradictory interpretations, and would obscure +rather than clarify the meaning. I have +therefore, with Alford, “preferred giving pointedly +what I believe to be the sense of this most +important passage, to stringing together a multitude +of opinions on it, seeing that of even the +best commentators no two bring out exactly the +same shade of meaning, and thus classification +is next to impossible.” Much depends on the +right reading of the five words rendered in our +English version <em>reprove</em>, <em>world</em>, <em>sin</em>, <em>righteousness</em>, +and <em>judgment</em>, and I believe that very much of +the difficulty in interpretation has grown out of +imputing to these words a theological and scholastic +meaning instead of taking them according +to their most simple and natural meaning. (1) +The word <em>reprove</em>, which I have rendered <dfn>convince</dfn>, +properly signifies to convince one of truth in +such a way as to convict him of wrong-doing. +It is rendered <dfn>tell</dfn> him his <em>fault</em> +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 18:15</span>); <em>reprove</em> +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 3:19; +John <a href="#ch3_20">3:20</a></span>); <em>convict</em> +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch8_9">8:9</a></span>); <em>convince</em> +of sin (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch8_46">8:46</a>; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 14:24</span>); <em>rebuke</em> (<span class="muchsmaller">Titus +2:15; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 3:19</span>). Here, then, the meaning is that +the Holy Spirit will so bring to the world’s consciousness +the spiritual truths respecting sin, +righteousness, and judgment that the world will +stand self-convicted. (2) <em>The world</em> is here, as +always with John, the great mass of humanity, +not necessarily excluding believers, but in contrast +with the distinctive body of believers. +This world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth, +for it seeth him not, neither knoweth him +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_17">14:17</a></span>). Nevertheless it is this unseen and unknown +Spirit who can alone convince and convict +the world. The disciples “are to despair of its +ever coming from them; they are to be sure it +will come from the Spirit with which He will +endue them. Not they, but He, will convince the +world; because, though the world may not receive +Him neither know Him, it has been formed +to receive all quickening life from Him; it must +confess His presence, even if it would hide itself +from His presence.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>) (3) <dfn>Sin</dfn> is primarily +a miss or wandering, but in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +only in a moral sense, that is, a wandering or +turning away from the line of truth and righteousness. +It is the first office of the Holy Spirit to +show the world how this turning away from +righteousness is the great folly, the mistake in +comparison with which all other mistakes are as +nothing (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 1:32; 8:36</span>). (4) <dfn>Righteousness</dfn> is primarily +rectitude, uprightness, perfectitude of +character. John’s use of the term is indicated +by his employment of it in 1 John 2:29; 3:7, 10, +“He that doeth righteousness is righteous.” To +understand the language here to refer to any doctrine +of an imputed or transferred righteousness is +to import into the simple language of the Master +theological ideas born of scholasticism and belonging +to a later date. The meaning is that he +who convicts the world of having departed from +righteousness will also bring to the world’s consciousness +a realization of the elements of true +righteousness of character. (5) <dfn>Judgment</dfn> is primarily +moral discrimination, whether exercised +by God or man; its use, to signify a tribunal, +whether human (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:21, 22</span>) or divine, as in the +frequent use of it to signify the day of judgment +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:42; Luke 10:14; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 9:27</span>), is secondary. John +always uses it in the primary sense of moral and +spiritual discernment, except in 1 John 4:17, +where he defines his meaning by employing the +phrase <cite>day of judgment</cite>. The third truth of +which the Holy Spirit will convince the world +will be the true divine canons of moral judgment. +The general declaration, then, is that +the Holy Spirit when he comes will convict the +world, by bringing to its spiritual consciousness +the truth respecting sin, or wandering from +God and his law; righteousness, or the divine +ideal of character; and judgment, or the true +principles of spiritual discrimination.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 Of sin,<a id="FNanchor_607" href="#Footnote_607" class="fnanchor">[607]</a> because they believe not on me;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_607" href="#FNanchor_607" class="label">[607]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 3:20; 7:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Of righteousness,<a id="FNanchor_608" href="#Footnote_608" class="fnanchor">[608]</a> because I go to my Father, +and ye see me no more;</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_608" href="#FNanchor_608" class="label">[608]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 42:21; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 Of judgment,<a id="FNanchor_609" href="#Footnote_609" class="fnanchor">[609]</a> because<a id="FNanchor_610" href="#Footnote_610" class="fnanchor">[610]</a> the prince of this world +is judged.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_609" href="#FNanchor_609" class="label">[609]</a> + Acts 17:31; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 2:2; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 20:12, 13.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_610" href="#FNanchor_610" class="label">[610]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_31">12:31</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>9-11. Concerning sin, because they have +not had faith upon me.</b> <em>Because</em> indicates, +not the reason why the Spirit shall convince of +sin, but the nature and evidence of the sin itself. +It may be rendered <em>in that</em>. The meaning is not, +The Holy Spirit will convince of sin because they + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span> +have not had faith, but, That they have sinned +in that they have not had faith. The fact +that the character of Christ does not call forth +the moral and spiritual affections of the soul +is the strongest evidence of that soul’s insensibility; +and the fact that the offer of free +pardon and the impartation of a new spiritual +life is not accepted, demonstrates that continuance +under condemnation and in sin is the soul’s +free choice. Thus the sin of the world both consists +in and is demonstrated by its rejection of +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_18">3:18-21</a></span>); not by any intellectual opinion +entertained respecting him, but by the lack of +spiritual appreciation and the failure to give to +him and his teaching the welcome of an affectionate +and obedient faith.—​<b>Concerning righteousness, +because I go away to my Father +and ye see me no more.</b> Christ is himself +the ideal of human character, the divine righteousness +interpreted by a human life. But this +righteousness was not, and could not be, comprehended +while Christ still lived in the flesh +among men. The eyes of men were fastened +upon the apparent ignominy of his position and +circumstances, and the divine love which is interpreted +to us by his humiliation was to his +contemporaries obscured by it. It was necessary +that he should go away to his Father before +the world could begin to appreciate the sacred +meaning of a life which was so wholly laid down +for others. So, habitually, the world learns the +meaning of a life after it has ended, and honors +after death those whom it has despised while +living, and forgets after death those whom it has +honored while living. The Holy Spirit convinces +the world respecting true righteousness of character, +by spiritually interpreting to it, through +the ages, the glory of one who could only be understood +after he had gone away to the Father +and the world saw him no more. To appreciate +his righteousness they must look on him by faith +and not by sight. The more common explanation +(see <cite>Godet</cite> and <cite>Meyer</cite>) that he who was put +to death as a sinner was proved to be righteous +by his resurrection and ascension is inadmissible, +because Christ here says nothing of his resurrection +or his ascension; he uses the same phraseology +which he has previously employed in this +discourse in speaking of his death +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_33">13:33</a>, <a href="#ch13_36">36</a>; +<a href="#ch14_28">14:28</a>; <a href="#ch16_5">16:5</a></span>); +and because he adds emphasis to +the truth that it is his <em>departure from them</em>, not +his visible exaltation or ascension to which he +refers, by adding to the words “because I go to +my Father” the explanatory clause “and ye see +me no more.”—​<b>Concerning judgment, because +the prince of this world is judged.</b> +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> John <a href="#ch12_31">12:31</a>. +In the history of the race, +the methods, principles, and policies of the world +and its prince are being perpetually tried and +perpetually proved false by their results. Thus +the world and its prince are ever being judged, +and humanity, by the progressive teaching of the +Holy Spirit, interpreting the book of God’s Providence, +are being taught the divine canons of +moral and spiritual judgment. This work is +represented here, as in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_32">12:32</a>, as being completed +in the death of Christ (<span lang="el">κέκριται</span>, perf.), +because the crucifixion of Christ, the consummate +work of the Evil One, was at once his +apparent victory and his real defeat. In the +crucifixion he pre-eminently had his own way, +and by the crucifixion he is defeated throughout +the ages. Thus it is in and by the cross that he +is pre-eminently judged. On the phrase <cite>prince +of this world</cite>, see John <a href="#ch12_31">12:31</a>; +<a href="#ch14_30">14:30</a>; and <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:2. Interpreting it to mean Christ is +contrary to all <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> usage. In all this threefold +work the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_14">14</a></span>); it +convicts the world of sin, by showing what a +Saviour it has rejected; it teaches the world of +righteousness, by showing the world in Christ +the divine ideal of sanctified humanity; and it +educates the world in judgment, by the perpetual +contrast between the policies of the world +and the enduring and peace-bringing principles +of Christ, demonstrating in the cross that the +weakness of Christ is stronger than the strength +of Satan, and the defeat of Christ is a victory +over Satan. See 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:23-25.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye<a id="FNanchor_611" href="#Footnote_611" class="fnanchor">[611]</a> +cannot bear them now.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_611" href="#FNanchor_611" class="label">[611]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 5:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>12. I have yet many things to say unto +you, but ye cannot bear them now.</b> This +was Christ’s last conference with his disciples, +and in his interviews with them after the resurrection +he added very little to the instructions +previously given to them. Clearly, therefore, +he here implies a progressive teaching to be afforded +by him through the Spirit to the church +in the future ages. It is of this future teaching +he speaks in this and the next three verses. +These truths the disciples could not then bear, +that is, <em>lift up and take away with them</em> (<span lang="el">βαστάξω</span>), +because they had not yet the mental and spiritual +strength. Among the truths which were +thus too much for them, and which were mercifully +concealed from their knowledge, was the +long period which must intervene before the +spiritual work of the church could be completed +and the world be ready for the Second +Coming of its Lord. Christ’s language clearly +implies that he held back phases of truth for + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span> +which his disciples were not ready, and thus +affords a clear example and divine authority for +the religious teacher, who may never suppress +the truth because it is <span style="white-space:nowrap;">unpopular—this</span> Christ +never <span style="white-space:nowrap;">did—but</span> who may and should adapt his +teaching of the truth to the spiritual capacity of +his hearers.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, +he<a id="FNanchor_612" href="#Footnote_612" class="fnanchor">[612]</a> will guide you into all truth: for he shall not +speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, <em>that</em> +shall he speak: and he<a id="FNanchor_613" href="#Footnote_613" class="fnanchor">[613]</a> will shew you things to come.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_612" href="#FNanchor_612" class="label">[612]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_613" href="#FNanchor_613" class="label">[613]</a> + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:1, 19.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>13. Howbeit when that one</b> (<span lang="el">ἐκεῖνος</span>, emphatic), +<b>the Spirit, is come, he will guide +you into all the truth</b>. “The term guide +(<span lang="el">ὁδηγέω</span>, <dfn>to show the road</dfn>) presents the Spirit +under the image of a guide conducting a traveler +in an unknown country. This country is truth.”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) +This guidance is given to the church +throughout all ages, leading them by gradual +processes into ever higher and broader conceptions +of divine truth.—​<b>For he shall not speak +from himself.</b> <em>From</em> (<span lang="el">ἀπό</span>) marks the remote +or ultimate origin or cause. As Christ traces all +the source of his own authority back to the +Father, who dwelleth in him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch5_19">5:19</a>, <a href="#ch5_30">30</a>; <a href="#ch7_28">7:28</a>; +<a href="#ch14_20">14:20</a></span>), so he traces back to the same source the +authority of the Holy Spirit. Thus he guards +his disciples against that subtle tritheism which +regards the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit +as practically three deities. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_26">15:26</a>. Both +the Son and the Spirit take those things which +they receive of the Father and give to the believer, +and the object of their ministry is to bring +the believer into fellowship with the Father.—​<b>And +he will show you things to come.</b> +Rather <em>the coming things</em>. As the coming one +(<span lang="el">ὁ ἐρχόμενος</span>) (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +3:11; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:4</span>) is the Messiah, +and as the coming world (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 10:30</span>) is the Messiah’s +kingdom, so the coming things (<span lang="el">τὰ ἐρχόμενα</span>) +are those things which are connected with the +future advent and the final kingdom of the Messiah. +The Holy Spirit shall not merely bring all +things which their Lord has taught them to the +disciples’ remembrance +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a></span>), but shall also +teach them concerning the things of the future; +he shall inspire their hope as well as clarify their +memory. This promise of Christ was primarily +fulfilled in the prophetic hopes and anticipations +inspired in the early church, and in the prophetic +character given to many of the apostolic utterances, +<i>e. g.</i>, <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 11:25-32; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:50-53; +1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14. But this office +of the Spirit was not consummated in apostolic +times; those who submit themselves to his guidance +and instruction will still press forward +toward the mark for the prize of the high calling +of God in Christ Jesus, ever looking for that +blessed and glorious appearing of the great God +and our Saviour Jesus Christ. “He will not +allow us to be satisfied with our advanced knowledge +or great discoveries, but will always be +showing us things that are coming; giving us an +apprehension of truths that we have not yet +reached, though they be truths which are ‘the +same yesterday, to-day, and forever.’”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, +and shall shew <em>it</em> unto you.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore +said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew +<em>it</em> unto you.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>14, 15. He shall magnify me.</b> That is, +the office of the Spirit shall be to magnify +Christ, his character, his work. See above on +verses <a href="#ch16_9">9-11</a>. Any pretended dispensation of the +Spirit which draws the thought of the world +away from Christ to some other and independent +authority is spurious, whether it be that of ecclesiastical +tradition as of the Church of Rome, or +that of the mysticism which substitutes an inner +light for the word and authority of Christ, or that +of spiritism, introducing in lieu of that word +communications with the spirit world. That only +is the message of the Holy Spirit which tends to +magnify Christ.—​<b>He shall receive of mine, +and shall it show unto you.</b> To receive of +Christ (<span lang="el">λαμβάνω</span>) is to accept, acknowledge, and +follow his instructions as a teacher. This use of +the word is especially marked in John’s employment +of it in respect to Christ, <i>e. g.</i>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_12"> 1:12</a>; +<a href="#ch5_43">5:43</a>; <a href="#ch13_20">13:20</a>. The declaration, then, is that the +Holy Spirit comes not to gainsay or cancel, and +not even, in strictness of speech, to add to the +instructions of Christ, but to accept them, and +accepting, interpret them, giving to them in the +future apprehension of the church a profounder +significance than they had or could have in the +apprehension of his own contemporaries.—​<b>All +things that the Father hath are mine; +therefore said I</b>, etc. We are not, however, +to imagine that Christ’s teaching is confined to +the words uttered by him in the flesh and reported +to us in the Gospels. All things that the +Father hath are his; the book of nature and the +book of Providence are his as truly as the spoken +and reported word. And in receiving and spiritually +interpreting the testimony of nature and +life, the Holy Spirit is receiving from him and +showing to us. If we understand his teaching +aright, we shall always see in it Christ magnified.</p> + +<p>In these verses (<span class="muchsmaller">7-15</span>) Christ points out more +specifically than he has previously done to his +disciples, and through them to us, the office of +the Holy Spirit and the nature of his dispensation. +It is for our benefit that the manifestation + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span> +of God in the flesh and to the sense has ceased, +in order that the inward manifestation to the +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">faith—profounder</span>, broader, and more <span style="white-space:nowrap;">universal—may</span> +take its place. This invisible but indwelling +Spirit comes that he may teach the world +the reality and greatness of its sin, the true conception +of righteousness, and the canons of a +divine spiritual discernment. This work of the +Spirit is a perpetually progressive work, guiding, +by successive steps, the church into the +way of all truth. In it the Spirit speaks from +and by authority of the Father, and concerning +the future, turning the thoughts of the believer +ever toward a larger knowledge and a higher +and diviner life; albeit in all he acts not as a revealer +of a new Gospel, but as an interpreter of +the teachings of Christ, in the written word and +in all the things of God, in nature and life, +which are themselves the things of Christ; so +that the dispensation of the Spirit is not an addition +to but an essential part of Christianity, the +revealing in its fullness to the ever-growing +spiritual apprehension of the church the truth +of and from Christ.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, +a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the +Father.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>16. Yet a little while and ye shall not +see me</b> (<span lang="el">θεωρέω</span>), <b>and again a little while +and ye shall perceive me</b> (<span lang="el">ὁράω</span>), <b>because I +go away to the Father</b>. There is some +doubt respecting the last clause, <cite>because I go to +the Father</cite>; it is omitted by Alford, Meyer, +Luthardt, and Tischendorf, queried by Lachmann, +retained by Godet. But the fact that the +phrase reappears in the disciples’ expression of +their perplexity, in the next verse, seems to me +to furnish very nearly conclusive evidence that +it belongs here. Those who omit it here suppose +that the disciples put with what he has just now +said, what he had previously said in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_10">10</a>. Observe +the contrast between the first and second +seeing; two different verbs are both rendered <dfn>see</dfn>; +the one signifies properly an external perception +by the senses; the other is also used to indicate +a mental or spiritual perception, and that +appears to be its meaning here. In a little +while Christ should be no longer visibly present +with his disciples; a little while more, and, in the +dispensation of the Spirit inaugurated at Pentecost, +they should again perceive him by spiritual +apprehension. It is evident that Christ does not +refer to his Second Coming, both because he +changes the form of the verb, so indicating another +and unsensuous seeing, and because not a +little but a long while was to elapse between the +departure of the Lord and his Second Coming.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 Then said <em>some</em> of his disciples among themselves, +What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and +ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye +shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A +little while? we cannot tell what he saith.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 Now Jesus knew<a id="FNanchor_614" href="#Footnote_614" class="fnanchor">[614]</a> that they were desirous to ask +him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves +of that I said, A little<a id="FNanchor_615" href="#Footnote_615" class="fnanchor">[615]</a> while, and ye shall not +see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_614" href="#FNanchor_614" class="label">[614]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_24">2:24</a>, <a href="#ch2_25">25</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_615" href="#FNanchor_615" class="label">[615]</a> + verse <a href="#ch16_16">16</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch7_33">7:33</a>; <a href="#ch13_33">13:33</a>; <a href="#ch14_19">14:19</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>17-19.</b> The disciples, however, had no other +thought of any second advent of their Master +than that in which they should sensuously see +as well as spiritually perceive him. They therefore +ask among themselves what he means by +this distinction between <em>seeing</em> and <em>perceiving</em> +him. Their difficulty was the same as that previously +expressed by Judas, with the analogous +declaration of Christ that he would manifest +himself to them (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_22">14:22</a></span>). It was enhanced by +Christ’s statement that this new manifestation +to the spirit should be in a little while; for in +his discourse on the Last Day (<span class="muchsmaller">see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 24, notes</span>) +he had plainly implied that a long interval of +trial and persecution must intervene before his +Second Coming in power and glory. They therefore +inquire in whispers of one another what he +means by this, “<cite>Ye shall not see me, and ye +shall perceive me</cite>,” and what by “<cite>A little +while</cite>.” Their fear to ask Christ is one of the +many indications of the peculiar awe which his +presence inspired in them; their love was reverential, +not familiar; the love of a child for an +honored teacher, not that of an equal (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 9:32; +Luke 9:45</span>). See further, note on verses <a href="#ch16_29">29</a>, +<a href="#ch16_30">30</a>, +below.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye<a id="FNanchor_616" href="#Footnote_616" class="fnanchor">[616]</a> shall +weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye +shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned +into joy.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_616" href="#FNanchor_616" class="label">[616]</a> + Luke 24:17, 21.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>20. Ye shall weep and lament * * * +ye shall be sorrowful.</b> These three different +words are used to express the same substantial +idea; not to convey different shades of meaning, +but to give emphasis, and to indicate the largeness +and breadth of the impending anguish of +the disciples. <dfn>To weep</dfn> (<span lang="el">κλαίω</span>) is a general word +including every external expression of grief; <dfn>to +lament</dfn> (<span lang="el">θρηνέω</span>) is somewhat more specifically to +wail, and is used respecting the lamentation of +hired mourners (<span class="muchsmaller">see notes on Mark 5:38; Luke 23:27</span>); <dfn>to be +sorrowful</dfn> (<span lang="el">λυπέω</span>) is more spiritual, and expresses +the feeling of the heart rather than any outward +expression. The disciples lamented the death of +Christ at the time of his crucifixion, and their +lamentation was in striking contrast with the +malignant joy of the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:39-44 with +John <a href="#ch19_25">19:25-27</a></span>). They experienced in the apparent +shame of their Master’s ignominious death a +deep, heartfelt sorrow, but it was turned into joy +when later they saw in the cross the manifestation +of the wisdom and glory of God (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:23-25</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 A woman<a id="FNanchor_617" href="#Footnote_617" class="fnanchor">[617]</a> when she is in travail hath sorrow, +because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered +of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, +for joy that a man is born into the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_617" href="#FNanchor_617" class="label">[617]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 26:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 And ye<a id="FNanchor_618" href="#Footnote_618" class="fnanchor">[618]</a> now therefore have sorrow: but I will +see you again, and your<a id="FNanchor_619" href="#Footnote_619" class="fnanchor">[619]</a> heart shall rejoice, and your +joy<a id="FNanchor_620" href="#Footnote_620" class="fnanchor">[620]</a> no man taketh from you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_618" href="#FNanchor_618" class="label">[618]</a> + verse <a href="#ch16_6">6</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_619" href="#FNanchor_619" class="label">[619]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch20_20">20:20</a>; Luke 24:41, 52.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_620" href="#FNanchor_620" class="label">[620]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:8.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span> +<b>21, 22. A woman when she brings forth +hath sorrow.</b> The figure of a woman in travail +is used in the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> to illustrate sudden and +great anguish (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 21:3; 26:17; 66:7; <abbr title="Hosea">Hos.</abbr> 13:13; Micah +4:9, 10</span>). Christ lays hold upon this familiar +figure and gives it a new signification, indicating +that the pain is but a preparation for and a presage +of a greater joy. And this is generally the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> use of the figure (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 24:8, note; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:22</span>). +The contrast is an instructive illustration of the +difference between the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> and the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> We +are not mystically to interpret the figure here by +saying that the travail of the Son of God was +necessary in order to bring the Messiah forth as +a King and lawgiver. However true this may +be, it is not the truth here enforced. Christ +speaks not of his own suffering for sinners, but +of the suffering of the disciples in and because +of him; and this suffering he declares will be +forgotten when it has accomplished its purpose +and brought forth its fruits in and for them. +See the same general truth illustrated by <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> +5:3-5; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:11. Observe that, as above, +the sorrow is not merely displaced by joy, but is +<em>turned into joy</em>; the travail is not merely followed +by gladness, but brings forth that which +is the cause of the gladness. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:18, +where the glory is represented as revealed in us +because of the sufferings, and <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:11, +where the fruits of chastening are promised only +to those that are “exercised thereby.” <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 7:14.—​<b>I will see you again, and your +heart shall rejoice.</b> But he does not say, Ye +shall see me again. He is speaking not of his +second and visible coming, but of his spiritual +and invisible presence. His words are interpreted +to us by history, and the distinction between +the two is plain; to the apostles they +were not so interpreted, and upon the traditional +report of such words as these the apostolic +church may have built its hope of Christ’s +Second Coming in their own time. <cite>I will see you</cite> +expresses Christ’s sympathy for his church in +all their experiences, whether of joy or sorrow. +See <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:12, 13; 2:1. He weeps with those +that weep, and rejoices with those that rejoice; +not a hair of the head perishes, not a sparrow in +the church falls without his knowledge. <cite>Your +heart shall rejoice</cite> foretells such experiences as +those of Peter and other apostles (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 5:41</span>), Stephen +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 6:15</span>), Paul and Silas (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 16:25</span>), etc.—​<b>And +your joy no one taketh away from +you.</b> Because it is Christ’s joy (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_11">15:11</a></span>), a joy +in God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:1; 4:1</span>), which is <em>in</em> the new-born +soul, not merely given <em>to</em> it, and therefore cannot +be taken from it by any experience whatever +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:28, 37-39</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, +verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the +Father in my name, he will give <em>it</em> you.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; +ask,<a id="FNanchor_621" href="#Footnote_621" class="fnanchor">[621]</a> and ye shall receive, that your<a id="FNanchor_622" href="#Footnote_622" class="fnanchor">[622]</a> joy may be full.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_621" href="#FNanchor_621" class="label">[621]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 7:7, 8; James 4:2, 3.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_622" href="#FNanchor_622" class="label">[622]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_11">15:11</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>23, 24. And in that day ye shall inquire +nothing of me. Verily, verily I say unto +you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father +he will give it to you in my name.</b> In our +English version two different Greek words are +rendered by the word <em>ask</em> in this verse, suggesting +a contrast which does not exist in the original. +Christ does not distinguish between two +epochs in Christian experience; in the earlier and +more imperfect one prayer being offered to +Christ, in the later and perfected one prayer +being offered directly to the Father. He specifies +two distinct blessings which shall attend +upon the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The +disciples, perplexed by Christ’s enigmatical language, +had desired but feared to ask an explanation +(<span class="muchsmaller">verses <a href="#ch16_17">17</a>, +<a href="#ch16_18">18</a></span>). Christ tells them that when +the Holy Spirit shall have come with his illuminating +and quickening influences, they shall no +longer be perplexed by truths which now they +cannot understand. In that day they shall no +longer need to interrogate him for an interpretation. +Then he adds that this dispensation shall +be one of great power in prayer: Whatsoever ye +shall request the Father he will give it you. +“There is not in this verse a contrast drawn between +asking <em>the Son</em>, which shall cease, and +asking <em>the Father</em>, which shall begin; but the +first half of the verse closes the declaration of +one blessing, namely, that hereafter they shall +be so taught by the Spirit as to have nothing +further <em>to inquire</em>; the second half of the verse +begins the declaration of a new blessing, that +whatsoever they shall <em>seek</em> from the Father in +the Son’s name, he will give it them.”—(<cite>Trench.</cite>) +And in fact one of the first and most notable influences +of the descent of the Spirit was to +make clear to the minds of the apostles those +spiritual truths concerning the character of +Christ and his kingdom which had theretofore +been hidden from their eyes. And ever since, +growth in spiritual life has made clear sayings +which are dark and incomprehensible to the unspiritual. +The reading, <cite>He will give to you in my +name</cite>, is preferable to the reading of the Received + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span> +Text, <cite>Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name</cite>, +(<cite>Tischendorf</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Alford</cite>.) But the fact that +the Father gives in the name of Christ, by whom +He made, sustains, and governs the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> +1:16-20; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:1, 2</span>), and through whom all his +redeeming love is manifested to his earthly children, +presupposes that they present their requests +through him as their Mediator, that is, +in His name.—​<b>Until now ye have asked +nothing in my name; ask and ye shall +receive, that your joy may be full.</b> Not +until the descent of the Holy Spirit did the disciples +recognize Christ as a Divine Mediator and +Intercessor. Prayer out of Christ is offered to a +God from whom the soul is separated by a consciousness +of sin (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 59:2</span>). Such prayer is often +one of wrestling and of anguish; and the deeper +the consciousness of sin the greater the mental +and spiritual stress. Christ lays emphasis here +upon the fact that his disciples are to pray in his +name, that is, standing in his stead, the prophecies +of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> fulfilled and their sins and iniquities +blotted out as a thick cloud (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 44:22</span>), +and they themselves brought into filial relations +with the Father, reconciled unto God, and receiving +the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry +Abba Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:15</span>). Thus prayer, which in +the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> was often characterized by fear and +wrestling (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 18:27, 30, 32; <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 32:31, 32; Psalms 42, 43</span>), +is in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> almost always characterized by +joy and thanksgiving (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 3:14-21; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:9, 12; +2 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 1:11, 12</span>). In the reading of this direction +of Christ respecting prayer we are to interpret +the direction to ask in Christ’s name and the +declaration that the Father will give in Christ’s +name by the experience of the apostolic church, +who did all things in the name of the Lord Jesus +Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch20_31">20:31</a>; +Acts 2:38; 3:6; 5:28; 9:27; 10:43; +16:18; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:8; +1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:11; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 1:21; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:9, 10; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> +2:3, 13; 22:4</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: +but the time cometh, when I shall no more +speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you +plainly of the Father.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 At that day<a id="FNanchor_623" href="#Footnote_623" class="fnanchor">[623]</a> ye shall ask in my name: and I say +not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_623" href="#FNanchor_623" class="label">[623]</a> + verse <a href="#ch16_23">23</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 For the Father<a id="FNanchor_624" href="#Footnote_624" class="fnanchor">[624]</a> himself loveth you, because ye +have loved me, and have believed that I<a id="FNanchor_625" href="#Footnote_625" class="fnanchor">[625]</a> came out +from God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_624" href="#FNanchor_624" class="label">[624]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_21">14:21</a>, <a href="#ch14_23">23</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_625" href="#FNanchor_625" class="label">[625]</a> + verse <a href="#ch16_30">30</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_8">17:8</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25-27. These things have I spoken unto +you in figures; * * * but I shall show +you plainly of the Father.</b> In the imperfection +of human language all teaching respecting +spiritual things is of necessity in figures. +Christ’s teaching, not only to the multitude, but +to his own disciples, and in this last interview, +was figurative. See for example <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_2">14:2</a>, <a href="#ch14_16">16</a>, +<a href="#ch4_18">18</a>; <a href="#ch15_1">15:1</a>; +<a href="#ch16_21">16:21</a>. But he foretells a time in +which these spiritual truths shall be spiritually +revealed (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 2:9, 10</span>). “The entire human language +is a parable, as it does not admit of adequate +expression concerning some things. The +Lord therefore contrasts with the use of this +feeble medium of communication the employment +of one more internal and more real. By +the impartation of his Spirit, the Lord teaches +the knowledge of the nature of God freely and +openly (<span lang="el">παῤῥησίᾳ</span>), without +any fear of a misunderstanding.”—(<cite>Olshausen.</cite>)—​<b>At +that day ye +shall ask in my name; and I say not to +you that I will request the Father on your +behalf, for the Father himself loveth you, +because ye have loved me and have had +faith that I come from the presence of the +Father.</b> Or <em>from God</em>; there is some uncertainty +as to the reading. Christ does not say +that he will not request the Father on behalf of +his disciples; but if we take the whole sentence +in its connections he does clearly teach, not only +that no intercession is required to win the love +of the Father, but also that they who have loved +Christ, and have spiritually recognized the divine +life manifested in him, are thereby brought into +direct personal communion with the Father, and +need no intercessor. “While their hearts are +the temples of the Holy Ghost and they maintain +communion with the Father they will need no +other advocate; but ‘If any man sin we have an +advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous’ +(<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 2:1</span>).”—(<cite>Watkins.</cite>) Beware of supposing +that this passage impliedly teaches that +the Father’s love depends on the prior faith and +love of the disciple. The contrary doctrine is +abundantly taught in the Bible, and nowhere +more clearly than in the writings of John +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_16">3:16</a>; 1 John 4:9, 10, 19</span>). But love has many inflections, +and the fullness of the Divine love is possible +only to those who by love and faith enter +into the adoption of the children of God. The +love of the father to the prodigal in the far country +is not the same as the love to the same son, +clothed and in his right mind, sitting at his +father’s board.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into +the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the +Father.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>28.</b> “This verse,” says Bengel, “contains the +most important recapitulation;” “a simple and +grand summary of Christ’s entire life, his origin, +his incarnation, and his destiny,” Meyer calls it. +It is this, but also more than this. The disciples +have believed that Christ came from the Father; +Christ seizes on this belief that he may awaken +their hope by leading them to see that in going + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span> +from the world he must return to the Father. +Thus he leads back their minds to the declaration, +“If ye loved me ye would rejoice because +I go unto the Father” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_28">14:28</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest +thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, +and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this +we believe that thou camest forth from God.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>29, 30.</b> These verses clearly show a change +in the spirit of the disciples. They had begun +the supper by a contention for the first place at +the table. They had almost scouted at Christ’s +prophecy of their desertion (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:33-35</span>). The +questionings of Thomas, Philip, and Judas +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_5">14:5</a>, <a href="#ch14_8">8</a>, +<a href="#ch4_22">22</a></span>) indicate not only perplexity, but a +state of semi-skepticism, removed from absolute +disbelief on the one hand and from unquestioning +faith on the other. This spirit is abated as +the conference proceeds, and it is because the +disciples are ashamed to confess it that they +question with bated breath among themselves +the meaning of his words, “A little while and +ye shall not see me, and again a little while and +ye shall perceive me” (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch16_17">17-19</a></span>). Now they declare +their doubts allayed; there is no need to +question him further; they are convinced that +he knows all things; they are willing to take his +declarations without questioning; this absolute +credence they declare as the evidence of their +faith that he came forth from God. They do +not profess fully to understand their Master, only +fully to believe him. Augustine’s remark, therefore, +is more epigrammatic than just: “They so +little understand that they do not even understand +that they do not understand. For they +were babes.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 Behold,<a id="FNanchor_626" href="#Footnote_626" class="fnanchor">[626]</a> the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that +ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall +leave me alone: and yet I<a id="FNanchor_627" href="#Footnote_627" class="fnanchor">[627]</a> am not alone, because the +Father is with me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_626" href="#FNanchor_626" class="label">[626]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:31; Mark 14:27.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_627" href="#FNanchor_627" class="label">[627]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_29">8:29</a>; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 50:7, 9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>31, 32. Do ye now believe?</b> Most of the +commentators take this affirmatively, <em>Ye do now +believe</em>, and the original is capable of either construction. +Our English version seems to me +preferable. Christ does not indeed deny their +faith, but he questions it, that he may lead them +to question themselves. He cautions them that +their faith in his divine origin, sweet as it may +be to them in this hour of quiet conference, is +not sufficiently strong to stand in the hour of +treachery, peril, and death. So many a disciple +has had faith in divine principles and truths in +the hour of his quiet meditation upon them, +which he has deserted when holding fast to +them would involve suffering.—​<b>And ye shall +leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, +because the Father is with me.</b> This sentence +is one of those parenthetical asides which +give us a glimpse of the inmost heart of Christ: +his spiritual loneliness, and the temper of his +solitude. See Robertson’s Sermon on the <cite>Loneliness +of Christ</cite>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch16_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me<a id="FNanchor_628" href="#Footnote_628" class="fnanchor">[628]</a> +ye might have peace. In<a id="FNanchor_629" href="#Footnote_629" class="fnanchor">[629]</a> the world ye shall have +tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome +the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_628" href="#FNanchor_628" class="label">[628]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_27">14:27</a>; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:1; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:14.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_629" href="#FNanchor_629" class="label">[629]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_21">15:19-21</a>; + 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 3:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>33. These things I have spoken unto +you that in me ye might have peace.</b> By +<em>these things</em> is meant the whole discourse contained +in <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 14, 15, and 16. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_27">14:27</a>; +<a href="#ch16_4">16:4</a>, notes.—​<b>In the world ye shall +have tribulation; but be of good courage, +I have conquered the world.</b> Thus Christ +ends as he began this discourse, with encouragement. +In Christ we have peace, because in +Christ we are more than conquerors (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:37. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 4:7; 6:4-10</span>). Meyer well remarks that +Paul’s whole life is a commentary on this verse; +and Luther, whose life was a scarcely less eloquent +interpretation, thus paraphrases it: “The +game is already won. Do not be afraid that I +will send you thither to venture it at your own +risk. The victory is already there, only be undespairing +and hold fast to it.”</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Seventeen">XVII.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 17:1-26. CHRIST’S INTERCESSORY PRAYER.—​<span class="smcap">His +prayer of preparation for the Passion.—​His +prayer of intercession for his church.—​His +mission and its fulfillment.—​The mission of his +followers.—​His fourfold petition for them: +preservation; consecration; sanctification; +glorification.</span> See on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_24">24</a>.</p> + + +<p><a id="Note_ch17"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—We rightly hesitate to +analyze or criticise any prayer; the language of +devotion is too sacred. How much more when +the prayer is the intimate communing of the +only begotten Son with his Father, a prayer +which no soul can ever comprehend, and none +can therefore ever interpret. Nevertheless, it +would not have been recorded if it had not been +intended for our profit; and it can only be for +our profit as it is made the theme of our reverent +study. In this exposition of it I avoid as far as +possible verbal and textual criticism, giving results +rather than discussions. These the student +can find in other commentaries, especially Tholuck +and Meyer. For the same reason I eschew +theological polemics. Socinian, Arian, and +Trinitarian have fought over the words and +phrases of this sacred prayer, each, and perhaps +the one not more than the other, evolving from +it arguments for his philosophy of the character +of Christ, and of life here and hereafter. Into +such conflicts I have no heart to enter. The +student will find them indicated, and even illustrated, +in Alford. I have sought by meditation + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span> +to enter into the spirit of this, the most sacred +utterance of our Lord, and I seek with simplicity +to aid others in meditating upon it; if through +such meditation the spirit of the believer is +brought into unity with the Spirit of his Lord, it +is enough. The prayer is not didactic; certainly +not dogmatic. The office of public <span style="white-space:nowrap;">prayer—and</span> +by giving to his church a record of this prayer +our Lord has made it <span style="white-space:nowrap;">public—is</span> not to teach a +system of theology, but to deepen the springs of +spiritual life, by leading the sympathetic soul +into the presence of God. This prayer has a +twofold aspect. It is a revelation of the communings +of the only begotten Son with the Father; +it thus presents to the church Christ as +the Son and Intercessor, pleading for his church, +and shows us what are his most secret and sacred +desires for us. These are four: election +out of the world and preservation from its evil; +sanctification and consecration unto and in the +truth; the perfect unity of love, in God and +with one another; and spiritual appreciation of +and participation in the glory of the Father and +the Son in the eternal life. But since we are all +brought through Christ into the adoption of the +sons of God, this prayer is also an example and +inspiration for us. It is, in a sense, Christ’s second +and fuller answer to the request of his +church universal, “Lord, teach us how to pray.” +The Lord’s prayer is given at the outset of our +Lord’s ministry to those who are just learning +the Fatherhood of God. This prayer of intercession +is given at the close of our Lord’s ministry, +to those that had learned from him both +what were their own wants and what their +heavenly Father’s grace had provided for them. +The former is the model for the universal +church, young and old in Christian experience; +the latter is an inspiration to those who, through +the teachings of their Lord, have come into fellowship +with God and his Son Jesus Christ. It +is not without significance that it follows close +upon the teaching that Christ is the vine and we +are the branches, that we see the Father in seeing +the Son, that after Christ is gone and is seen +no more, he will yet be really present and spiritually +perceived, and that we are to ask in his +name of the Father, who has himself loved us. +It is thus the Holy of Holies to which the preceding +instructions have been as outer courts +conducting us. The key to its true interpretation +I believe will be found in two facts: (1) that +it immediately precedes and is a spiritual preparation +for the impending Passion, which in a +measure the disciples shared with their Master; +and (2) the only glory which the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> recognizes +is a glory of <em>character</em>, not of circumstance +or condition. Thus Christ’s prayer here is that +he may be sustained by divine grace in the hour +of trial, so that the character of the Father may +be manifested by him in his patient fidelity to the +end, and that, through his example and his Father’s +influence, his disciples may be made like +the Father and like the Son in the glory of their +love. See further on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_1">1</a>.</p> + +<p>There is some question whether we have the +exact words of the Lord or no. Alford goes +beyond the declaration or even clear implication +of the sacred narrative, in saying, in opposition +to Olshausen and the German commentators +generally, that we have here “the very words of +our Lord himself, faithfully rendered by the +beloved apostle, in the power of the Holy +Spirit.” We can only say that the Lord has just +promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit will +bring all things to their remembrance which he +has said to them (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a></span>); that on no heart +would these sacred words be more deeply impressed +than on that of the apostle who was +leaning on Jesus’ bosom at the supper; that we +cannot conceive any utterance in the rendering +of which that promised inspiration would be +more likely to be sought by John and vouchsafed +by the Lord; and that if we cannot be +sure that we have the very words of our Lord, +we can be sure that no modern commentator has +the right to sift out the prayer and tell us what +were Christ’s words and what were the Evangelist’s. +That the Holy Spirit did not consider +the very words essential to our profit is evident +from the fact that, while the prayer was almost +certainly in Hebrew, John’s record is in Greek, +and our version of it is in English; but that we +have in these words the very spirit of the prayer, +expressed as the Holy Spirit would have it expressed +for the guidance and inspiration of the +church universal, is as certain as the doctrine of +inspiration itself.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">These</span> words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to +heaven, and said, Father, the hour<a id="FNanchor_630" href="#Footnote_630" class="fnanchor">[630]</a> is come; glorify +thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_630" href="#FNanchor_630" class="label">[630]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_23">12:23</a>; <a href="#ch13_32">13:32</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that +he<a id="FNanchor_631" href="#Footnote_631" class="fnanchor">[631]</a> should give eternal life to as many as thou hast +given him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_631" href="#FNanchor_631" class="label">[631]</a> + verse <a href="#ch17_24">24</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_27">5:27</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 And this<a id="FNanchor_632" href="#Footnote_632" class="fnanchor">[632]</a> is life eternal, that they might know +thee<a id="FNanchor_633" href="#Footnote_633" class="fnanchor">[633]</a> the only<a id="FNanchor_634" href="#Footnote_634" class="fnanchor">[634]</a> true God, and Jesus Christ, whom +thou<a id="FNanchor_635" href="#Footnote_635" class="fnanchor">[635]</a> hast sent.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_632" href="#FNanchor_632" class="label">[632]</a> + 1 John 5:11.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_633" href="#FNanchor_633" class="label">[633]</a> + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 9:23, 24.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_634" href="#FNanchor_634" class="label">[634]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 1:9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_635" href="#FNanchor_635" class="label">[635]</a> + ch <a href="#ch10_36">10:36</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1-3. And lifted up his eyes to heaven.</b> +See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_41">11:41</a>, +note. This is not an indication +that he and his disciples had gone out from the +chamber and were now in the environs of the +city, though Godet even undertakes to fix the +exact location: “Jesus had spoken the preceding + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span> +words on the road from Jerusalem to Gethsemane; +he was therefore on the point of passing +the brook of Kedron.” In fact, these words +indicate nothing as to locality. “The eyes may +be lifted to heaven in as well as out of doors; +<em>heaven</em> is not the <em>sky</em>, but the upper region, +above our own being and thoughts, where we +all agree in believing God to be especially present, +and which we indicate when we direct our +eyes or our hands upward. The Lord, being in +all such things like as we are, lifted up his eyes +to heaven when addressing the Father.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)—<b>And +said, Father.</b> Not <em>our</em> Father, +for Christ never identifies himself with his disciples; +nor <em>my</em> Father, for that would too strongly +emphasize the separation between him and +them; without identifying himself with his disciples, +he yet uses language on which their +spirits too can ascend towards God.—​<b>The hour +is come.</b> The hour of the Passion, to which +all prophecy had pointed, for which all the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +dispensation had prepared, and from which all +redemptive influences proceed. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +26:45; Mark 14:41; John <a href="#ch7_30">7:30</a>; <a href="#ch8_20">8:20</a>, etc.—​<b>Manifest +thine own Son in his glory, that +thy Son also may manifest thee in thy +glory.</b> The changed position of the words, in +the two clauses, in the original (<span lang="el">σοι τὸν υἱὸν</span> in the +first clause, <span lang="el">υἱὸς σοι</span> in the second), justifies the +rendering <dfn>thine own Son</dfn>. <dfn>To glorify</dfn> (<span lang="el">δοξάζω</span>) in +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> usage nearly if not quite always signifies +to <em>manifest</em> glory. The authorities which Robinson +(<abbr title="Lexicon"><cite>Lex.</cite></abbr>, <span lang="el">δοξάζω</span>) cites in justification of the +definition to <em>make glorious</em> are at best of doubtful +interpretation. The glory of Christ is his self-sacrificing +love. The noblest manifestation of +this glory is his patient and peaceful endurance +of the Passion. In the cross of Christ alone +would Paul glory (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 6:14</span>); it is the Lamb slain +that is the glory of heaven (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:6</span>). Christ +here prays that the Father will so enable him to +endure the cross that it may become glorious, +and so a manifestation of the Father’s glory; it +is Jesus Christ “lifted up” who draws all men +unto him, and this in order that through him +they may be drawn to the Father. He prays +that every knee may bow and every tongue confess +him Lord, but only to the glory of God the +Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:11</span>). Throughout this prayer the +thought is always the same; glory is of character, +not condition; the glory of a divine love +manifested in self-sacrifice; making the Son +worthy to receive the peculiar love of the Father; +making all that, through Christ, become +partakers of the same divine nature, participators +also in the same divine love, sons of God, and +therefore one with the Father and with his Son.—​<b>Inasmuch +as thou hast given him power +over all flesh, in order that</b> (for the very +purpose that) <b>unto the all which thou hast +given to him, to them he should give +eternal life</b>. Maurice’s criticism on our English +version is just: “Our translators would +have appeared to themselves and to many of +their readers to be using an uncouth and strange +form of speech, if they had rendered the words +literally. But I think they were bound to encounter +any apparent difficulty of construction, +rather than to incur the risk of contracting or +perverting the sense.” Christ has authority (the +original implies both <em>power</em> and <em>authority</em>; see +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_12">1:12</a>, note) not merely over all mankind, but +over all terrestrial life and the earth itself, the +abode of flesh and the realm of his redemptive +work (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:14-18</span>); but this authority and power +is conferred upon him by the Father +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_19">5:19</a>, +<a href="#ch5_30">30</a></span>) +for a purpose, namely, that out of the world he +may gather a kingdom, receiving the entire body +which God has given to him, and conferring on +each individually, in that body, eternal life. +Thus here, as in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_37">6:37</a> (<span class="muchsmaller">see note there</span>), Christ +speaks of the <em>all</em> (<span lang="el">πᾶν</span>, neuter singular) as given +to him in a body by the Father, but of <em>each one</em> +as receiving individually (<span lang="el">αὐτοῖς</span>) +the special, personal gift of eternal life. +Observe on the one hand that Christ declares +himself, by implication, Lord of all, not of Jews, +or elect, or Christendom merely; but on the +other hand he also declares, by implication, that +not all will receive from him the gift of life eternal. +There is implied a redemption universal in +its offer, but not in its results. The <em>whole</em> is +given to him, but only that he may impart eternal +life to the <em>chosen</em>. Who are thus chosen is +indicated in <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_40">6:40</a>, namely, every one that +seeth (spiritually) the Son and hath faith in him. +Because the Father has thus conferred divine +authority on the Son, for the work of redemption, +the Son pleads with the Father to so carry +him through the Passion hour that this redemptive +work may be consummated and eternal life +imparted to the believer. Beware of reading +<em>eternal</em> life here as equivalent to <em>everlasting</em> life or +<em>age-abiding</em> life. The duration is merely incidental; +spiritual life <em>is</em> everlasting; but that which +is essential is its spirituality, not its endurance. +The nature of this life is indicated in the next +sentence.—​<b>But this is eternal life, that they +may know thee the only true God, and +him whom thou hast sent forth, Jesus the +Messiah.</b> <cite>That</cite> (<span lang="el">ἵνα</span>) cannot here be rendered +<dfn>in order that</dfn>, and curiously both Alford and +Meyer, who insist that it is always <em>telic</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, always +signifies intention, here render it without +that signification. “This knowledge of God +here desired <em>is</em> the eternal life” (<cite>Meyer</cite>); “<em>is</em>, +not is the way to” (<cite>Alford</cite>). Spiritual knowledge +and spiritual life are in so far the same that +neither is possible without the other. We become +like God only as we know him (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:18;</span> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span> +<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 3:2</span>); we know him only as, becoming like +him, we become sharers of his life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:8; John +<a href="#ch3_3">3:3</a>; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:14; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:5-9</span>). For this knowledge +(<span lang="el">γιγνώσκω</span>) is not intellectual understanding of +the truth about God, but a personal and spiritual +acquaintance with him; it is not psychological, +but sympathetic. See <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 9:24; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> +3:19; <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:10; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 8:2. The connecting +particles are important. Christ prays +that the Father will glorify him in the approaching +Passion, in order that he may be able to give +eternal life to those whom the Father has given +to him, for this life can be given only by giving +them a true apprehension of the one God, and +he can be made known to them only through +him whom he hath sent into the world, Jesus +the Messiah. The knowledge of the only true +God is in contrast with polytheistic paganism; +knowledge of Jesus as the Messiah is in contrast +with Jewish pride and prejudice. The first was +the burden of Paul’s preaching at Athens; the +second of Peter’s preaching at Jerusalem (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts +2:22-36; 17:22-34</span>). The use of the third person +here, and the phrase Jesus Christ, often found +together in the Epistles, but never in Christ’s +previous discourses, have been cited by rationalistic +critics as an evidence that this prayer was +the work of a later writer, who with doubtful +dramatic license put it into the mouth of Christ. +The answer is (1) that the time had now come +for Jesus to declare in unmistakable language +his Messiahship, and that no more natural or +suitable form could be employed than that of +such a prayer; (2) that the very fact that the +names appear so frequently in conjunction in +the Apostolic writings, and in the early church, +is itself a reason for believing that the apostles +derived them from their Master.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 I<a id="FNanchor_636" href="#Footnote_636" class="fnanchor">[636]</a> have glorified thee on the earth: I<a id="FNanchor_637" href="#Footnote_637" class="fnanchor">[637]</a> have finished +the work which thou gavest me to do.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_636" href="#FNanchor_636" class="label">[636]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch14_13">14:13</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_637" href="#FNanchor_637" class="label">[637]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch19_30">19:30</a>; 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 4:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me, with thine +own self, with the glory which I<a id="FNanchor_638" href="#Footnote_638" class="fnanchor">[638]</a> had with thee before +the world was.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_638" href="#FNanchor_638" class="label">[638]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch1_1">1:1</a>, <a href="#ch1_2">2</a>; + <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:6; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:3, 10.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>4, 5. I have manifested thy glory on the +earth: I have finished the work which +thou gavest me to do.</b> By anticipation Christ +regards that as consummated, the consummation +of which is so near at hand. In fact, not +the least part of his work was the endurance of +the Passion of the next twenty-four hours. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Paul in 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 4:7, “I have finished my +course,” etc.—​<b>And now glorify thou me, O +Father, with thyself, with that glory +which I have always had with thee before +the world was.</b> That is, <em>Manifest my +glory in and with thee, that glory which I have +always possessed</em>. The word <cite>glorify</cite> is used +throughout this prayer, I believe, always with +the one signification, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, to show forth glory, +not to confer it (<span class="muchsmaller">see on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_1">1</a></span>), and that the glory of +inherent character, not of circumstance or condition. +<cite>I have had</cite> (<span lang="el">εἶχον</span>, imperfect) is, as above +rendered, equivalent to <dfn>always</dfn> or <dfn>habitually had</dfn>. +The language <cite>before the world was</cite> clearly implies +Christ’s pre-existence with the Father +from the creation of the world. It is not, and +by no candid interpretation can be made, the +language of a merely human experience. God +is said to have chosen his saints (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 1:4</span>), but +not to have loved and glorified them, from before +the beginning of the world; but Christ’s +grace was prepared and his glory was manifested +before the foundation of the world (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:17; +2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:9; Titus 1:2</span>). Christ declares that he has +manifested the glory of the Father by the fulfilling +of the Father’s work thus far; and he +prays the Father to remember the glory of love +which bound the Son and the Father together +in the eternal life of the past, and to so sustain +him in the trying experiences of the present, +that this divine glory, which he has had with the +Father from before the beginning of the world, +may be made manifest.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 I<a id="FNanchor_639" href="#Footnote_639" class="fnanchor">[639]</a> have manifested thy name unto the men which +thou<a id="FNanchor_640" href="#Footnote_640" class="fnanchor">[640]</a> gavest me out of the world: thine they were, +and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy<a id="FNanchor_641" href="#Footnote_641" class="fnanchor">[641]</a> +word.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_639" href="#FNanchor_639" class="label">[639]</a> + verse <a href="#ch17_26">26</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 22:22.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_640" href="#FNanchor_640" class="label">[640]</a> + verses + <a href="#ch17_2">2</a>, <a href="#ch17_9">9</a>, <a href="#ch17_11">11</a>; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:30.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_641" href="#FNanchor_641" class="label">[641]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 3:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>6.</b> Christ here passes from the prayer for himself +to the intercessory prayer for his disciples, +with whom, by the request in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_20">20</a>, he includes +all who have faith in him, through all time.—​<b>I +have manifested thy name unto the men +whom thou entrusted to me out of the +world. Thine they were, and thou entrusted +them to me; and they have guarded +thy teaching.</b> To <dfn>manifest</dfn> is literally to +cause to shine (<span lang="el">φανερόω</span>, from <span lang="el">φαίνω</span>). The name +that was enveloped in darkness, of him whom no +one by searching can find out, who was, and +apart from Christ ever is, the unknown and unknowable, +Christ has made to shine forth out of +the darkness. The <em>name</em> represents all that +which lies back of and gives meaning to the +name, here the power and character of God. See +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:19, note. Especially his name of Father +Christ has made to shine out upon a before orphaned +world, both by manifesting in himself +the character of God the Father, and by his life, +and notably by this prayer, manifesting also the +relation which may and should subsist between +the children and the Father to whom Christ +gives access (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 5:2; +<abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 2:18; 3:12</span>). The verb +rendered <cite>gave</cite>, here and below (<span lang="el">δίδωμι</span>), is equally + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span> +capable of being rendered <dfn>entrusted</dfn> or <dfn>committed</dfn> +(<cite><abbr title="Robinson's Lexicon">Rob. Lex.</abbr></cite>). This is clearly its meaning in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +16:19; 25:15; John <a href="#ch5_22">5:22</a>; and I think represents +the meaning here and in John <a href="#ch10_9">10:29</a> better +than the word <em>gave</em>. The Father entrusts his +children to the guardian keeping of his Son, but +will at the end receive them again unto himself +when the Son delivers up the kingdom to God, +even the Father (<span class="muchsmaller">1 +<abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:24</span>). They were the +Father’s (<em>thine</em>) before they were entrusted to +the Son, not because they were Israelites; for +Christ includes all, Gentiles as well as Jews, in +this prayer, and elsewhere makes it clear that he +does not regard any one as of God because descended +from Abraham (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_37">8:37</a>, <a href="#ch8_39">39</a>, <a href="#ch8_40">40</a>; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> Luke +3:8</span>); nor because they were chosen by God from +the foundation of the world; for there is no +distinct declaration nor any necessary implication +of election, either absolute or conditional, here. +The disciple of Christ is the Father’s, because he +is born from above, by the Spirit of God, before +he can see the kingdom of God, certainly therefore +before by faith he can enter it. Thus he is +of the Father before he hears Christ’s voice; he +is given by the Father to the Son before he comes +to the Son (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch3_5">3:5</a>; +<a href="#ch6_37">6:37</a>, <a href="#ch6_44">44</a>; +<a href="#ch8_47">8:47</a></span>). <em>Teaching</em> or +<em>word</em> (<span lang="el">λόγος</span>), a different Greek word from that +rendered <cite>words</cite> in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_8">8</a>, indicates the whole +system of divine truth entrusted by the Father +to Christ and by him taught to his disciples, and +pre-eminently that truth of God which was embodied +in the Son’s life and death even more +than in his verbal instructions (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch7_16">7:16</a>; <a href="#ch12_48">12:48</a>, <a href="#ch12_49">49</a></span>). +It is called the Father’s <em>word</em> or <em>teaching</em> because +the words of Christ were not his, but the Father’s +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_24">14:24</a></span>). To <dfn>keep</dfn> (<span lang="el">τηρέω</span>) is to guard +watchfully, as one guards a prisoner; it therefore +includes the idea both of watchful attention +to the word and solicitude to preserve it by obedience +in the life and heart (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_51">8:51</a>, note</span>). Christ +then declares that he has made luminous the +name of God, by interpreting the divine Fatherhood, +not to the whole world, but to those selected +out of the world and entrusted to his +guardian keeping; and that those thus entrusted +to him by the Father, to whom they owe the +first impulse of divine life that sent them to +Christ for light, have been attentive to hear and +careful to preserve the instructions they have +received from him. In the succeeding two +verses he indicates what was the heart of this +divine instruction.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever +thou hast given me are of thee.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 For I have given unto them the words<a id="FNanchor_642" href="#Footnote_642" class="fnanchor">[642]</a> which +thou gavest me; and they have received <em>them</em>, and +have known surely that I came out from thee, and they +have believed that thou didst send me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_642" href="#FNanchor_642" class="label">[642]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch6_68">6:68</a>; <a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>7, 8. Now.</b> <em>Already</em>; the word is emphatic.—​<b>They +know.</b> <em>Assuredly know</em>; the perfect +tense has the present signification, but indicates +completed knowledge; not that the disciples +were perfect in knowledge of Christian truth, +but they were fully convinced of the fundamental +truth of Christianity, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, that it is a divine +revelation, not an earth-born and human philosophy.—​<b>That all +things whatsoever thou +hast entrusted to me are bestowed by +thee.</b> <cite>Are of thee</cite> (<span lang="el">παρὰ σοῦ ἐστεν</span>) signifies <dfn>bestowed +by thee</dfn>; the former is the more literal, +the latter is the truer translation, because it +renders the Greek idiom into its English equivalent +(see <cite><abbr title="Robinson's Lexicon">Rob. Lex.</abbr></cite>, <span lang="el">παρά</span>, I:2). Christianity is +a <em>gift</em> of the Father through Christ.—​<b>That the +words which thou hast entrusted to me I +have entrusted to them.</b> This clause, like +the preceding one, is dependent on the first +clause; the disciples have assuredly known that +whatsoever truths are possessed by Christ came +from the Father, and that whatsoever the Father +has entrusted to him he has in turn entrusted to +them, keeping nothing back for fear or favor. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Acts 20:20, 27. I see no reason for translating +the same Greek particle (<span lang="el">ὅτι</span>) <em>that</em> in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_7">7</a>, <em>for</em> or <em>because</em> +in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr><a href="#ch17_8">8</a>, first clause, and <em>that</em> +again in the last clause of the same verse. Christ +before spoke of <em>doctrine</em> or <em>teaching</em> (<span lang="el">λόγος</span>), <i>i. e.</i>, +the system as a whole; he now speaks of <em>words</em> +(<span lang="el">ῥήμα</span>), thus emphasizing the truth that each +specific word in his teaching, whether of promise, +commandment, or instruction, is from the +Father. These words were entrusted by the +Father to Christ, and now that Christ is about +to leave his disciples he entrusts these words in +turn to them, sending them forth, as he himself +was sent forth, to teach only what they are commanded. +See <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_18">18</a>; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:20. He does not +merely give these words to us for our own behoof; +he entrusts them to us to be used for +others.—​<b>And they have received</b> (not <em>them</em>, +an addition by the translators which the context +does not warrant), <b>and known assuredly +that from thee I came forth</b>. They have +just declared their reception of this central truth +of Christianity, that Jesus Christ came forth +from the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch16_29">16:29</a>, <a href="#ch16_30">30</a></span>). They not only +have known that Christ has taught only what the +Father imparted to him, <i>i. e.</i>, is a teacher sent +from God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_2">3:2</a>, note</span>), but they have gone on +from this <em>knowledge</em> to the spiritual reception <em>by +faith</em> of the truth that Christ himself has come +forth from the Father. Their faith has laid hold +on not only his divine teaching, but also his divine +character. Whosoever begins by accepting + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span> +Christ as a divine and authoritative teacher, and +holds fast to that faith, grows into the experience +of continuous acceptance of him in his person +and character as a manifestation of the +Father from whom not only the words, but he +himself, came forth.—​<b>And have had faith +that thou didst send me.</b> “<cite>That I came out +from thee</cite> is more a matter of conviction from +inference, hence <cite>they have known</cite>; whereas the +other side of the same truth, <cite>thou hast sent me +forth</cite>, the act of the Father unseen by us, is +more a matter of pure faith, hence <cite>they have had +faith</cite>.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world,<a id="FNanchor_643" href="#Footnote_643" class="fnanchor">[643]</a> but +for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_643" href="#FNanchor_643" class="label">[643]</a> + 1 John 5:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 And all mine<a id="FNanchor_644" href="#Footnote_644" class="fnanchor">[644]</a> are thine, and thine are mine; and +I<a id="FNanchor_645" href="#Footnote_645" class="fnanchor">[645]</a> am glorified in them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_644" href="#FNanchor_644" class="label">[644]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch16_15">16:15</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_645" href="#FNanchor_645" class="label">[645]</a> + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 1:24; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>9, 10. I am praying for them; I am not +praying for the world.</b> It is monstrous exegesis +to conclude from this that Christ never +prays for the world; he simply says, I am not +now praying for the world, but for my own disciples. +He enjoined on his followers to pray for +the unbelieving (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:44</span>); he prayed upon the +cross for them, “Father, forgive them, for they +know not what they do” (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:34</span>); in this very +prayer, in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 23, he prays “That the world +may know that thou hast sent me,” etc. The +tense here is present, and the above translation +accurately represents the original. In asking for +those who have accepted him as a manifestation +of the glory of the Father, that they may be kept +even unto the end, he is praying for his own. +“The most he asked for the world is that it may +be converted, not that it may be sanctified or +kept.”—(<cite>Luther.</cite>) To the same effect are Godet, +Alford, Meyer, and the modern commentators +generally.—​<b>But for those whom thou hast +entrusted to me; for they are thine; and +mine all are thine, and thine mine, and +my glory is manifested in them.</b> <em>All</em> is +emphatic; the only begotten Son has nothing in +reserve from the Father. What Luther says is +true: “Any man may say, What is mine is thine, +but only the Son can say, What is thine is mine;” +nevertheless there are few that can utter with +the whole heart, and without any reserve, even +the first clause, “Mine <em>all</em> are thine.” Christ +pleads for his own on two grounds: (1) They +are the Father’s in the ownership of love; thus +the covenant mercy of God for his own is plead +as one ground of intercession. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 51:1; +69:13, 16. (2) They are entrusted to the Son’s +safe-keeping, and their preservation and sanctification +will manifest the Son’s glory, <i>i. e.</i>, the +glory of his redeeming love and power; thus the +Father’s love for the Son is plead as a second +ground of intercession. Thus also his example +indicates what it is to pray to the Father in the +name of the Son, <abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, in order that his glory of +redeeming love may be manifested. While this +declaration, “Mine all are thine and thine mine,” +is to be taken in its more comprehensive sense, +as indicating the unity of the Son and the Father +in all things, yet the context gives a peculiar and +spiritual significance to it. All that come to +Christ by faith, so becoming his, are born from +above and are the children of God; and all that +are truly born from above and are the children +of God come to Christ by faith, and so become +his (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_44">6:44</a>, <a href="#ch6_45">45</a>; +<a href="#ch8_42">8:42</a>, <a href="#ch8_47">47</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 And now I am no more in the world, but these +are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, +keep<a id="FNanchor_646" href="#Footnote_646" class="fnanchor">[646]</a> through thine own name<a id="FNanchor_647" href="#Footnote_647" class="fnanchor">[647]</a> those whom thou hast +given me, that they may be one, as we <em>are</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_646" href="#FNanchor_646" class="label">[646]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:5; Jude 1:24.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_647" href="#FNanchor_647" class="label">[647]</a> + <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 18:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them +in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, +and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that +the scripture<a id="FNanchor_648" href="#Footnote_648" class="fnanchor">[648]</a> might be fulfilled.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_648" href="#FNanchor_648" class="label">[648]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 109:8; Acts 1:20.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>11, 12. And now I am no more in the +world, and these are in the world, and I +am coming to thee.</b> An additional plea for +those whom he is leaving behind. He can no +longer be with them, their guide and guardian; +therefore he pleads for the guidance and the +guardianship of the Father.—​<b>O Holy Father, +guard them in that name of thine which +thou hast entrusted to me, in order that +they may be one in like manner as we +are.</b> There is some uncertainty as to the reading; +(<span lang="el">ὅ</span>, and <span lang="el">οὕς</span> and <span lang="el">ῶ</span> are all found in <abbr title="Manuscripts">MSS.</abbr>) Some +manuscripts give authority for our English version, +<cite>Keep those whom thou hast entrusted to me</cite>; +others give as above, <cite>Keep those in thy name which +thou hast entrusted to me</cite>. The latter is sustained +by the best critics (<cite>Alford</cite>, <cite>Meyer</cite>, +<cite>Bengel</cite>, <cite>Groesback</cite>, +<cite>Tischendorf</cite>). Every word in this sentence +is weighty. The meaning of <dfn>holy</dfn> is pure, clean, +without blemish. The divine holiness is ever +going out of itself, imparting of itself to others, +aiming to make all other natures holy; thus by +the appellation <cite>Holy Father</cite> Christ appeals to the +cleansing nature of the Father. To <dfn>keep</dfn> is to +guard with watchful care. See above on +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_6">6</a>. +<em>In</em> (<span lang="el">ἐν</span>) is instrumental; as the life of the flower +is preserved <em>in</em> the sunshine, so the life of the +soul <em>in</em> the name of the Father, in whom we live +and move and have our being. The <em>name</em> stands +here, as above (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 6</span>), for all which that name +represents: the paternal God. This name was +not <em>given</em> to Christ, he does not bear it; but it +was <em>entrusted</em> to Christ, that he might manifest +it to his disciples, by teaching them the Fatherhood +of God; and it is to this name that Christ +commends his disciples, for it is by faith in this +name, <i>i. e.</i>, in the essential fatherly character of +God, that the disciple receives the spirit of adoption +whereby he becomes a child of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr></span> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span> +<span class="muchsmaller">8:15-17</span>), and it is this faith in his Father’s holy +keeping which is a shield to quench all the fiery +darts of the wicked (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> +6:16</span>). <cite>In order that</cite> +may grammatically express either the object for +which the Father’s name was entrusted to Christ, +or the object of the holy keeping which Christ +seeks for his disciples. In fact, the object of the +manifestation and of the fatherly guardianship +is the same, namely, that the disciples who have +by faith received that name, and are protected +by it, may become partakers of the divine nature, +and so become one with the Son and the +Father, not only in general purpose, but in all +essential elements of character (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 12:10; 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> +1:4</span>).—​<b>While I was with them I guarded +them in that name of thine which thou +didst entrust to me.</b> The reading here, as +above, is involved in some uncertainty, but this +is the better reading. The words <cite>in the world</cite> +are a gloss, and are needless.—​<b>And I preserved +them.</b> Our English version obscures +the meaning by rendering two different Greek +words (<span lang="el">τηρέω</span> and <span lang="el">φυλάσσω</span>) by the same English +word (<cite>keep</cite>) in this and the preceding verse. +Christ declares above that he has kept watch, +here that this watch has been successful, and +that he has <em>preserved</em> those over whom he has +watched.—​<b>And no one of them has destroyed +himself.</b> This, which is the sense of +the middle voice in Greek, it is important to preserve. +“Christ did not lose Judas, but he lost +himself.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) But the language implies +that every one might have destroyed himself but +for the guardian care of Christ.—​<b>Except the +son of destruction, that the Scripture +might be fulfilled.</b> See John <a href="#ch13_18">13:18</a>; Acts +1:20; <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 41:9. It was predetermined, not +that one who might have been saved should destroy +himself in order to fulfill prophecy, but +that one who would destroy himself should be +among the twelve. Judas was not lured to destruction +in order to fulfill prophecy, but prophecy +was fulfilled in his self-destruction. See +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch19_28">19:28</a>, note. “Judas fell that the Scripture +might be fulfilled. But it would be a most unfounded +argument if any one were to infer from +this that the revolt of Judas ought to be ascribed +to God rather than to himself, because the prediction +laid him under a necessity. * * * Nor +was it the design of Christ to transfer to Scripture +the cause of the ruin of Judas, but it was +only intended to take away the occasion of stumbling +by showing that the Spirit of God had long +ago testified that such an event would happen.”—(<cite>Calvin.</cite>) +It is a noticeable fact that the phrase +<cite>son of destruction</cite>, here employed to designate +Judas, is employed by Paul in 2 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 2:3 to +designate the Anti-Christ.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 And now come I to thee; and these things I +speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled +in themselves.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 I have given them thy word; and the world<a id="FNanchor_649" href="#Footnote_649" class="fnanchor">[649]</a> +hath hated them, because they are not of the world, +even as I am not of the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_649" href="#FNanchor_649" class="label">[649]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch15_18">15:18</a>, <a href="#ch15_19">19</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of +the world, but<a id="FNanchor_650" href="#Footnote_650" class="fnanchor">[650]</a> that thou shouldest keep them from +the evil.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_650" href="#FNanchor_650" class="label">[650]</a> + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 1:4.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of +the world.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>13-16. But now I am coming to thee.</b> +and therefore can no longer be an earthly guardian. +As a mother dying entrusts her children +to God, so Christ his disciples.—​<b>And these +things I speak in the world that they may +have my joy filled to overflowing in themselves.</b> +<cite>These things</cite> include not only the prayer +now offered for the disciples, but also the whole +course of instruction given to them and immediately +preceding the prayer. The object of +both instruction and prayer is the same, that his +disciples may be brought into that oneness with +the Father, that life in him, and that consequent +consecration to his will and service, which filled +the Son with an abiding peace and joy, and that +so they might be filled to the full with the same +joy. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_27">14:27</a>; <a href="#ch15_11">15:11</a>, notes.—​<b>I have entrusted +to them thy teaching.</b> Not <em>given</em>, +but <em>entrusted</em>. See above on +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_6">6</a>. The teaching +which the Father entrusted to the Son, the +Son in turn entrusted primarily to the apostles, +secondarily to his disciples throughout all time, +that they may become lights of the world as he +was the Light of the world, teachers of the truth +of God as he was the Great Teacher (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:14; +<abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:15</span>). That this is the meaning is indicated +by what follows. It is only as the disciples become, +by their life and words, teachers of the +truth, that the world hates them.—​<b>And the +world has hated them, because they are +not from</b> (<span lang="el">ἐκ</span>) <b>the world, in like manner as +I am not from the world</b>. The disciple of +Christ is born from above (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_3">3:3</a>; <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 6:15; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> +1:3</span>), and thus is spiritually like his Master +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_23">8:23</a></span>). The origin of the divine life in Christ and +his followers is the same; in both it proceeds +from the Father.—​<b>I pray not that thou +shouldest take them from the world, but +that thou shouldest guard them from the +Evil One.</b> Not as Norton renders it, and as +our English version implies, from what is evil, +though that is included by implication; but from +the Evil One, <i>i. e.</i>, Satan. The original is, indeed, +capable of either meaning; but the latter + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span> +interpretation agrees best with John’s usage +elsewhere. See 1 John 2:13, 14; 3:12; 5:18. +The Evil One is treated by Christ as the source, +or at least the representative, of all that is evil, +as the prince of the kingdom of darkness and +sin. Compare <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:25, 38, 39, where the +tares, <i>i. e.</i>, the children of the wicked, are represented +as sown by the enemy, <i>i. e.</i>, the devil.—​If Christ does not desire for us that we should +be taken out of the world, we are not to desire +it for ourselves. Temporary retreat from the +world, the better to prepare us for it, is legitimate; +so Christ sometimes retreated, seeking +strength in solitude and communion with his +Father. But Christianity is not asceticism. The +disciple is sent into the world that he may be a +light to the world, and the measure of his Christian +life is not his experience in hours of retirement +from it, but the fidelity of his life in it.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 Sanctify<a id="FNanchor_651" href="#Footnote_651" class="fnanchor">[651]</a> +them through thy truth: thy word<a id="FNanchor_652" href="#Footnote_652" class="fnanchor">[652]</a> is +truth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_651" href="#FNanchor_651" class="label">[651]</a> + Acts 15:9; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:26; 2 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 2:13.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_652" href="#FNanchor_652" class="label">[652]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 119:151.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>17. Consecrate them in thy truth; thy +teaching is truth.</b> The original (<span lang="el">ἀγιάζω</span>) may +be rendered either <dfn>consecrate</dfn> or <dfn>sanctify</dfn>. It +means both to set apart from a common to a +sacred use, and also to make holy for that use; +in other words, it may mean to make holy in +<em>mission</em> or in <em>character</em>. But the former is evidently +the meaning here; for it cannot be said +that Christ made himself holy in character for +the sake of his disciples (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_19">19</a></span>). Christ prays +that the Father will set apart his disciples to a +life of divine service, as priests unto God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> +20:6</span>). This consecration of the disciple involves +his sanctification; for the sinner cannot be set +apart to a holy work while yet in his sins. It +does not involve sanctification in the Son, because +he had no sins to be cleansed away. This consecration +of the disciple is effected both by imparting +to him through the Holy Spirit the truth +of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_26">14:26</a></span>), and by commissioning him to +serve that truth by bearing witness of it unto +others (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:20; Acts 1:8</span>). +<cite>In thy truth</cite> (<span lang="el">ἐν</span>, dative) +expresses the idea that the truth is both +the instrument by which and the service to +which the disciple is consecrated. We are consecrated +unto the truth as we live <em>in</em> the truth; +so Samuel was consecrated to the temple by +being brought while yet a child to live <em>in</em> the +temple. Christ designates the teaching or word +which he has imparted, and which the Holy +Spirit will further impart to his disciples, <em>thy +teaching</em>, because all that comes through the Son +and the Spirit comes from the Father +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_10">14:10</a>; <a href="#ch16_13">16:13</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have +I also sent them into the world.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 And<a id="FNanchor_653" href="#Footnote_653" class="fnanchor">[653]</a> for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they +also might be sanctified through the truth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_653" href="#FNanchor_653" class="label">[653]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:2, 30.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18, 19. In like manner as thou hast +sent me into the world, I also have sent +them into the world.</b> Full weight is to be +given to the phrase <em>as</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, <dfn>in like manner as</dfn> +(<span lang="el">καθὼς</span>). This is the most weighty and solemn +declaration of the mission of the disciple, I +think, in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, albeit it corresponds with +the universal teaching of both Gospel and Epistle, +<abbr title="namely">viz.</abbr>, that Christ is the first-born among +many brethren, and that those who are his disciples +are also to be <em>in all things</em> his followers; +like him <em>teachers of the truth</em>; like him <em>manifesting +the life and character of God</em> in the world, by the +divine life begotten in them from above; like +him <em>bearing the sins of others in their own person</em>, +and so filling up what is behind of the sufferings +Of Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 3:10; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:24; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 4:13</span>). Christ +does not merely <em>leave</em> his disciples in the world, +he <em>sends</em> them into it, as he was sent, each disciple +to be in his narrower sphere a saviour of +others, and the whole discipleship to be the +body of an ever living, ever incarnate, ever +teaching, and ever atoning Lord. Thus, too, +not only because they are <em>left alone</em>, but yet more +because they are <em>sent forth</em> to complete his work, +does the Son ask the Father to be to them what +he has been to their Lord in his earthly mission.—​<b>And +for their sakes I consecrate myself, +in order that they also might be consecrated +in the truth.</b> As above, both <em>in</em>, +<i>i. e.</i>, by means of, and <em>unto</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, to serve the +cause of the truth. The definite article is wanting, +and Meyer reads the phrase <cite>consecrated +in truth</cite>, as simply equivalent to “truly consecrated”; +but the other interpretation is warranted +by Greek usage, and better accords with +the context. While Christ identifies himself +with his disciples in his prayer that they may +become one with him, in his declaration that +they are in the spiritual life born of the same +divine Father, and in his commission to them to +carry out his work, he distinguishes between +himself and them; for he <em>consecrates himself</em>; +they must be consecrated by a higher power. +The consecration which the Lord made of himself +was not made, though it was consummated, +at Calvary. His death was a crowning act, not +the whole act. “Our Lord possessed a human +nature like our own, endowed with inclinations +and dislikes as our own is, though of such only +as are perfectly lawful. Of this nature he was +continually making a holy offering; he constrained +it to obedience; negatively by sacrificing + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span> +it when it was in contradiction with his mission; +positively by devoting to his divinely +appointed task all his powers, all his natural and +spiritual talents. It was thus that ‘He by the +Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto +God’ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 9:14</span>).”—(<cite>Godet.</cite>) So also substantially +Calvin, Alford, Hengstenberg. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch10_11">10:11</a>, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also +which shall believe on me through their word;</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 That they all may be one;<a id="FNanchor_654" href="#Footnote_654" class="fnanchor">[654]</a> as thou, Father, <em>art</em> +in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: +that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_654" href="#FNanchor_654" class="label">[654]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 12:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>20, 21. Not for these only am I praying, +but also for those who have faith upon +me through their teaching.</b> The statement +is not general, <em>I am accustomed to pray for believers</em>, +but special, <em>It is for all believers that I +am now praying</em>. His intercessory prayer is for +us no less than for them.—​<b>That all may be +one; in like manner as thou, Father, in +me, and I in thee, that also they in us one +may be; that the world may have faith +that thou hast sent me.</b> The emphasis of +the Greek is partially represented in this nearly +literal rendering. Observe the close connection +with what has gone before. The burden of +Christ’s prayer has been that his disciples may +be preserved in the world, and consecrated for +their mission as truth-bearers to the world; he +now adds, I ask this in order that they may be +one in us. His prayer is not merely that they +may be one, but that they <em>may be consecrated in +and to the truth, so that they may become one</em>. The +implication is that whenever Christians are thoroughly +consecrated to the service of Christ all +differences so disappear that they work together +in unity of the spirit and of faith; and this truth +history abundantly confirms. This unity is not +in creed, ceremonial, or ecclesiastical organization, +but in the <em>Father and the Son</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, the +unity of personal devotion to, and love for, and +spiritual communion and fellowship with the +Father and his Son Jesus Christ (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:3</span>). This +spiritual union in and with God will finally lead +to but it is not founded on unity in opinion. It +is a union that is apparent as well as real. The +world will see it, and seeing will be led to believe +that the Father has sent the Son, <i>i. e.</i>, that +Christianity is of divine origin, so marvellous +will seem to be the power of love uniting in one +kingdom elements, opinions, and nationalities so +diverse. This spiritual unity of the discipleship +of Christ is almost the consummation of Christ’s +prayer. He has only one higher request to prefer +for his church, namely, that through this unity +in him and the Father who has sent him, the +church may come to a true spiritual appreciation +of the Son’s eternal glory with and in the +Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_24">24</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 And the glory<a id="FNanchor_655" href="#Footnote_655" class="fnanchor">[655]</a> which thou gavest me I have +given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_655" href="#FNanchor_655" class="label">[655]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made +perfect in one; and that the world may know that +thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast +loved me.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>22, 23. And the glory which thou gavest +me I have given them, that they may +be one in like manner as we are one.</b> <em>I</em> +is emphatic. The Father has given glory to the +Son; the Son makes all his followers participators +in that glory. In what does this glory consist? +Not in the power of working miracles +(<cite>Chrysostom</cite>), for this he has not given to all +those that believe in his name. Not the glory +of the heavenly state (<cite>Meyer</cite>), for this he <em>will</em> +give, but had not given to his disciples when he +uttered this prayer. Not the glory of unity with +the Father and the Son (<cite>Hengstenberg</cite>), for the +glory is given in order that this unity may be +attained; this unity with the Godhead is not the +glory, but the result of it. The glory which the +Father gave the Son was the glory of being the Son +of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:17; +John <a href="#ch1_14">1:14</a>; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 1:5; 3:6</span>). This +glory Christ imparts to his followers, who +through him are received into the adoption of +God by faith, and become themselves sons of +God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch1_12">1:12</a>; 1 John 3:1</span>). And it is as we become +thus sons of God that we become one with each +other because one in him, one household of faith +only as we are united to one Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:29; +<abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 1:10; 2:19</span>). This glory of sonship involves +not only filial relations with the Father, but the +possession of a divine life begotten by the Father, +and therefore a nature akin to that of the +Father, who is love, and whose children we are +only as we dwell in love (<span class="muchsmaller">1 +John 3:9, 10; 4:8, 16</span>).—​<b>I +in them and thou in me.</b> And therefore +the Father in them through the Son, by whom +they have access to the Father.—​<b>That they +may be perfected unto unity.</b> This unity +of love with the Father and the Son, and therefore +with one another, is the culmination of the +divine life, as well as the disclosure of it. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 4:11-13: “Till we all come in the +unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son +of God, unto a perfect man.”—<b>In order that +the world may know that thou hast sent +me forth.</b> It shall no longer <em>have faith</em> merely; +it shall <em>know</em> assuredly the divine origin and authority +of the Christian religion, and this conviction +shall be compelled by the moral and spiritual +power of a spiritually united church.—​<b>And +that thou hast loved them in like manner +as thou hast loved me.</b> <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_27">16:27</a>. +With a love not merely of compassion, but now, +all quarrels with one another ended because all + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span> +separation and estrangement from God are at an +end, with a love of cordial approbation. Then +the voice shall speak to the universal discipleship, +Behold my beloved sons in whom I am well +pleased; and the whole world shall hear and +acknowledge him who has wrought this redemption +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 2:10; <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 14:11</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast +given me, be<a id="FNanchor_656" href="#Footnote_656" class="fnanchor">[656]</a> with me where I am; that they may behold +my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou +lovedst me before the foundation of the world.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_656" href="#FNanchor_656" class="label">[656]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 4:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>24. Father, whom thou hast entrusted +to me, I will that where I am they also +may be.</b> (The sense is the same whether the +reading <span lang="el">ὅ</span> or <span lang="el">οὕς</span> be adopted.) Christ changes his +expression; he no longer says <em>I pray</em>, but <cite>I will</cite>. +“He demands with confidence as a Son, not as a +servant.”—(<cite>Bengel.</cite>) There are two Greek verbs +which are capable of being rendered <em>I will</em>; the +one (<span lang="el">βούλομαι</span>) expresses an inclination, the other +(<span lang="el">θέλω</span>) a positive purpose. The latter is the +word used here. It might justly be rendered <dfn>It +is my will</dfn>. It is nowhere else used by Jesus. +With the close of his prayer there comes such +assurance of his own unity with the Father that +he no longer prefers a request; he declares his +purpose. In this declaration of his purpose he +recurs to the promise which he had made at the +opening of this most sacred interview, “I will +come again and receive you unto myself, that +where I am, there ye may be also” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_3">14:3</a></span>). In +this expression <cite>I will</cite>, Christ’s prayer can hardly +be a model for his followers. We may say to +our Father, I wish; but we can never be so sure +of his gracious purposes and of our union with +him in them, that we can safely say to him, <cite>Father, +I will</cite>.—​<b>That they may behold my glory, +which thou gavest me, because thou +lovedst me before founding a world.</b> Observe, +not <em>before the foundation of the world</em>, but +<em>before founding any world</em>; the definite article is +not in the original. On the significance of this +declaration as a testimony to the pre-existent +glory of Christ, see on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_5">5</a>. To <dfn>behold</dfn> (<span lang="el">θεωρέω</span>) +is primarily to be a spectator of, and in its +primary signification includes the idea of attention, +wonder, admiration. It is, however, here +used certainly of spiritual apprehension; we +shall be filled with wonder and surprise when +the veil drops from our eyes and we see him as +he is. The glory which Christ had with the +Father from the beginning is the glory of the +Lamb slain from the foundation of the world +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 13:8</span>), the glory of a character whose radiance +is infinite love, of which the sacrifice of +Christ, purposed from the remote past, is the +highest manifestation; and this is the glory +which the saints, redeemed by his blood, behold +in heaven (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:8; 7:9; 21:23</span>). Christ’s will, +then, for his disciples is that they may be so +spiritually exalted that they may be able to apprehend +the full glory of that self-sacrificing +love which now they look upon with so feeble +appreciation, and which to the unbelieving world +is inglorious (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 1:23</span>). This is the consummation +of his prayer; what a climax in what an +ascending scale! First that his disciples may be +guarded in his absence by the divine care in +which he himself has trusted (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch17_11">11-13</a></span>); then that, +guarded in the world, they may be consecrated +to their Christly mission, to teach, to manifest +God, to suffer (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch15_15">15-19</a></span>); then that, with all believers, +they may be brought into spiritual unity with +the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, being made +sons of God, and so sharers in the glory of him +whose greatest glory it was and is to be the well-beloved +Son of the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><a href="#ch20_23">20-23</a></span>); and finally +that, thus preserved, consecrated, adopted, they +may be able to realize the glory of that love of +self-sacrifice, to which we all sometimes find it +difficult even to submit without rebellion, and +in which only the most consecrated are ever +able to rejoice.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known +thee: but I have known thee, and these have known +that thou hast sent me.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch17_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and +will declare <em>it</em>: that the love wherewith thou hast +loved me may be in them, and I in them.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>25, 26. O righteous Father.</b> Christ first +appealed simply to the Fatherhood of God +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_1">1</a></span>), +then to his holiness +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_11">11</a></span>), now at last even to +his righteousness or justice. For since the Son +has finished the work which the Father gave +him to do, he may ask of righteousness itself to +complete it. Thus justice and purity compete +with love in pleading for the fulfillment of redemption. +So in 1 John 1:9 it is said that “he +is faithful and <em>just</em> to forgive us our sins.”—<b>Though</b> +(<span lang="el">καὶ</span>) <b>the world has not known +thee, I have known thee, and</b> (<span lang="el">καὶ</span>) <b>these +have known that thou hast sent me forth</b>. +The world, the Son, and the disciples stand here +in a triple contrast; to the world God is the +absolute unknown; to the Son he is known; to +the disciples God is manifested in the Son, who +comes forth from God and goes to God again.—​<b>And +I have made known thy name to +them, and will make it known.</b> And with +the name all that the name <span style="white-space:nowrap;">represents—the</span> justice, +the holiness, and pre-eminently the Fatherhood. +See on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_6">6</a>. +These words attest the +consciousness in Christ that an answer has been +vouchsafed to his prayer. He began by asking +the Father to glorify the Son, that the Son +might glorify the Father. He closes by declaring, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span> +not only that he has thus far made known +the name of the Father (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_5">5</a></span>), but that in the +impending hour of passion and death he will +make the Father known, and so will glorify him. +It is true that the whole work of the church ever +since, and of Christ in his church, has been making +known the name of the Father; but it has +been by interpreting the meaning of the cross of +Christ, by preaching Christ and him crucified, +as the wisdom and power of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 1:16; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +1:23, 24; 2:2</span>). Thus this prayer ends, as it began, +with an implied reference to the impending Passion; +but it begins with petition; it ends with +assurance of victory.—​<b>In order that the love +wherewith thou hast loved me may be in +them, and I in them.</b> That is, both that +they may possess an experience of the Father’s +love for them, and may possess a love like the +Father’s, being made perfect in love, even as +their Father in heaven is perfect (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:48</span>); so +also that the Spirit of Christ may dwell in them, +and that by this indwelling their own spirit may +be conformed unto his (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 3:18</span>). In this simple +and sublime sentence the Son embodies the object +of his mission as the Divine Teacher, the +Divine Revealer, and the Divine Sufferer. The +object of his teaching, incarnation, and atonement +is that he may make known the Father to +those that will learn of his Son; and this that he +may make them one with the Father and his +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">Son—one</span> in spiritual fellowship, because one in +spiritual character.</p> + +<p>It is a shallow criticism which imagines an incongruity +between this prayer recorded by John +and the prayer in Gethsemane which immediately +followed, and which John has not recorded. +Here Christ asks that he may be enabled to glorify +the Father’s name to the end; there he asks +that the same results may, <em>if it is possible</em>, be +accomplished without the terrible ordeal of the +betrayal, the desertion, the mock trials, the +mob, the crucifixion, the veiling of the Father’s +face. But in the agony of Gethsemane, as portrayed +by the other three Evangelists, the Son +never for a moment wavers from the supreme +wish that the Father’s will may be accomplished +and the Father’s name made manifest. The +power, not merely to resign himself to the Father’s +will, but affirmatively to pray, “Not my +will but thine be done,” was a part of that very +glory with which he besought the Father to invest +him. The devout student will recognize in +the prayer of Gethsemane a partial answer to the +prayer in the upper chamber; for in Gethsemane, +no less than in the court of Caiaphas, the judgment +hall of Pilate, and the death on Calvary, +the Father glorified the Son and the Son glorified +the Father.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER <abbr title="Eighteen">XVIII.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><b><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 18:1-11.</b> <span class="smcap">The Betrayal and Arrest +of Jesus.—​The Divine Majesty of Our Lord +Exemplified.</span>—​Narrated by all the Evangelists: +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53. +As usual where the four Evangelists narrate the +same events, John gives particulars omitted by +the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">others—the</span> falling back to the ground of the +guard, and Christ’s interposition for the disciples +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_6">6-9</a></span>)—​and omits events recorded by the +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">others—the</span> conference between Jesus and Judas, +and the traitor’s kiss (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:49, 50; Mark 14:44, +45</span>). That John wrote with the other accounts +before him, and to supply their omissions, is the +most reasonable explanation of these and like +variations in their accounts. He does not describe +the agony in Gethsemane, because he can +add nothing to what is already told; he narrates +of the arrest only what is not already known. +Even in describing the attempted resistance to +the arrest, this peculiarity is to be seen; for he +alone of the Evangelists mentions the name of +the disciple who drew the sword and of the servant +who was wounded by it. The discrepancies +in the four accounts of the arrest are such as we +should expect in four individual accounts of a +scene of such confusion. The probable order of +events, as indicated by a comparison of the accounts, +I have given in the notes on Matthew, +which consult throughout. Here I treat only +what is peculiar to John’s account.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">When</span> Jesus had spoken these words, he went +forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron,<a id="FNanchor_657" href="#Footnote_657" class="fnanchor">[657]</a> +where was a garden, into the which he entered, and +his disciples.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_657" href="#FNanchor_657" class="label">[657]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 15:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1. With his disciples.</b> That is, with the +eleven. Judas was with the priests, consummating +arrangements for the arrest of Jesus.—​<b>Beyond +the brook of the Cedars.</b> Or the <dfn>black +torrent</dfn>, which is the meaning of the Hebrew, from +which the Greek is derived. The word rendered +<cite>brook</cite> (<span lang="el">χείμαῤῥος</span>) indicates a winter torrent, flowing +in the rainy season, but dry in summer. It +flowed through a ravine to the east of Jerusalem, +and between it and the Mount of Olives.—​<b>Where +was a garden.</b> Rather an orchard. The original +signifies any place planted with herbs and trees. +This was called Gethsemane, and was a customary +resort of Christ and his disciples. See <a href="#ch18_2">next +verse</a>; and compare Luke 22:39. On its location, +see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:36 and illustration there. On +the agony in this garden, see notes on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span> +26:36-46. It occurred between Christ’s entering +the garden and the arrival of Judas and the +guard.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the +place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Judas<a id="FNanchor_658" href="#Footnote_658" class="fnanchor">[658]</a> +then, having received a band <em>of men</em> and +officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh +thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_658" href="#FNanchor_658" class="label">[658]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:47, etc.; Mark 14:43, etc; Luke 22:47, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>2, 3. Judas then, having received the +band, and, from the chief priests and +Pharisees, temple officers</b> (<span lang="el">ὑπηρέτης</span>), <b>cometh +thither</b>. The band was composed of Roman +soldiers; the officers were temple police; +the former were armed with swords, the latter +with staves. Servants of the priests, and some +of the priests themselves, accompanied the force. +See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:47, note; Luke 22:52.—​<b>With +lanterns and torches.</b> “The fact of its being +full moon did not make the lights unnecessary, +as in searching for a prisoner they might have to +enter dark places.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) They appear also +to have had a fear of attempted flight or rescue. +See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:48, note. I doubt whether any +definite distinction is intended between lanterns +and torches. The annexed cuts give illustrations +of two kinds of night torches used among +the Romans. The one (<em>fax</em>), (<abbr title="Richardson"><cite>Rich.</cite></abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 280) was +made out of a piece of resinous wood, cut into a +point and dipped in oil or pitch, or of inflammable +materials enclosed in a tube. The other +(<dfn>lampas</dfn>), (<abbr title="Richardson"><cite>Rich.</cite></abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 365) was in the nature of a +candlestick, with a handle beneath and a large +disk above, to protect the hand from the drippings +of the pitchy or resinous matter of which +the torch consisted. This <em>lampa</em> was carried by +the youth of Athens in a peculiar race, in which +the winner had to outstrip his competitors without +extinguishing his light. The ancient Oriental +lantern, like those still employed in Egypt +(see Lane’s <cite>Modern Egypt</cite>), consisted of a wax +cloth, strained over a sort of cylinder of iron +rings and a top and bottom of perforated copper. +Both the Roman torch and the Oriental lantern +may have been used on this occasion.</p> + + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_212"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_212.jpg" + alt="Torches"> + <p class="caption"><span class="justl">ROMAN TORCHES.</span> <span class="justr">ORIENTAL TORCH.</span></p> + <br> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 Jesus therefore, knowing<a id="FNanchor_659" href="#Footnote_659" class="fnanchor">[659]</a> all things that should +come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom +seek ye?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_659" href="#FNanchor_659" class="label">[659]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_17">10:17</a>, <a href="#ch10_18">18</a>; + Acts 2:28.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 They answered him, Jesus of<a id="FNanchor_660" href="#Footnote_660" class="fnanchor">[660]</a> Nazareth. Jesus +saith unto them, I am <em>he</em>. And Judas also, which betrayed +him, stood with them.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_660" href="#FNanchor_660" class="label">[660]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch19_19">19:19</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 2:23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>4, 5. Jesus, therefore, knowing all +things that should come upon him.</b> Not +merely knowing that the guard had come to +arrest him (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:45</span>), but with the full consciousness +of all the agony of the morrow (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +20:17-19; Luke 18:31-34</span>). Of his own will he submits +to the Passion (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:53; John 10:18</span>).—​<b>Went +forth.</b> Possibly from the shadow of the trees +into the moonlight, or from the garden walls, or +perhaps simply advanced to meet the guards. +His object in so doing is indicated by <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch18_8">8</a>. +He put himself between the guards and his disciples +to prevent the arrest of the latter. Judas +preceded the band (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:47</span>), and Christ’s questions +addressed to the apostate, and the traitor’s +kiss (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:49, 50; Luke 22:48</span>), seem to have taken +place before Christ spoke to the guard.—​<b>Jesus +the Nazarene.</b> Jesus, or <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Joshua—the</span> names are +the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">same—was</span> a common one among the Jews, +and the term “Nazarene” was a customary appellation, +especially by his foes, to designate our +Lord. Its tone, to the Judeans, was one of contempt +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 2:23; +John <a href="#ch19_19">19:19</a></span>).—​<b>And there stood +Judas, he that betrayed him, with them.</b> +If we suppose that Jesus hurried forth from the +garden, before the three disciples were well +awake, to the spot where the others had been +sleeping, then, not improbably, John did not see +the traitor’s kiss, but, arriving after, saw Judas +standing with the guard, who had meanwhile +come to the spot; thus he narrates only what he +personally witnessed. His language, by its very +simplicity, suggests to the imagination the contrast +between Jesus and Judas, the betrayed and +the betrayer.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am <em>he</em>, +they<a id="FNanchor_661" href="#Footnote_661" class="fnanchor">[661]</a> went backward, and fell to the ground.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_661" href="#FNanchor_661" class="label">[661]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 27:2; 40:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>6. They</b> (the guard) <b>went backward and +fell to the ground</b>. That this states a literal +fact will not be questioned by any who believe +in the historical trustworthiness of the Gospel +narratives. That it describes a miracle, that is, +a sign of the superhuman character of Christ, is +equally certain. Whether it is to be regarded +as an effect produced by the <em>will</em> of our Lord, or +by the mere <em>majesty</em> and <em>dignity</em> of his mien, and +his reply, is the only question which believers in +the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> have to consider. I think the latter. +The scene is interpreted, though not fully explained, +by similar instances of moral power +excited by noble over savage natures. History +records several analogous cases, as when before +Mark Antony, Marius, and Coligny, the murderers +recoiled panic-stricken. So Avidius Cassius, +“springing to the door of his tent in nightdress, + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span> +quelled a mutinous army by his mere +presence.”—(<cite>Farrar.</cite>) Lange cites <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:4; +Luke 4:30; John <a href="#ch7_44">7:44-46</a>; +<a href="#ch8_59">8:59</a>; <a href="#ch10_39">10:39</a>; Acts +5:5, 10, as partially parallel. The historical +cases above referred to illustrate the <em>human</em> +power of a noble soul; this case differs from +them in that it shows the <em>divine</em> power of Him +who not only spake as never man spake, but who +carried in his person the evidence that he was in +very deed the image of God and the brightness +of his glory. This view is confirmed by the +reflection that he came forth to meet the guard +from an hour of sacred and solemn communion +with God, of ecstasy unfathomable by us. “I +regard it,” says Alford, “rather as a miracle +<em>consequent upon</em> that which Christ said and did, +and the state of mind in which his enemies were, +than as one in the strict sense <em>wrought</em> by him; +bearing, however, always in mind, that to Him +nothing was unexpected or a <em>mere result</em>, but +everything foreknown.” Thus interpreted it is +a striking testimony, one of many, to the personal +glory of Him who was ever full of “grace +and truth,” and gives a solemn significance to +such passages as <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 25:31; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:7; 6:15-17. +“If he did this when about to be judged, +what shall he do when he shall sit in judgment? +If he did this on the eve of death, what shall he +do when reigning?”—(<cite>Augustine.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And +they said, Jesus of Nazareth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am <em>he</em>: if +therefore ye seek me,<a id="FNanchor_662" href="#Footnote_662" class="fnanchor">[662]</a> let these go their way:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_662" href="#FNanchor_662" class="label">[662]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:6; <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 5:25.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>7, 8.</b> I surmise that the attack on the guard +followed their sudden terror. The disciples +were eager to make it (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:49</span>), though Peter +was the only one who carried the will into action. +Only one other disciple was armed (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:38</span>). +The request of Christ, “<cite>Let these go their way</cite>,” +was interpreted by the disciples as a direction +for them to flee, which they did. That there +was anything cowardly or wrong in this flight is +by no means clear. To sanction it, both Christ’s +precept (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 10:23</span>) and his example (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 4:30; +John <a href="#ch8_59">8:59</a>; <a href="#ch10_39">10:39</a></span>) might be quoted. Nothing would +have been gained for Christ or his cause by the +disciples subjecting themselves to arrest.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 That the saying might be fulfilled which he spake,<a id="FNanchor_663" href="#Footnote_663" class="fnanchor">[663]</a> +Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_663" href="#FNanchor_663" class="label">[663]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_12">17:12</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>9. That the saying might be fulfilled.</b> +The saying is quoted from Christ’s prayer, John +<a href="#ch17_12">17:12</a>. The present deliverance of the eleven +from physical danger was not a final fulfillment +of the saying, but was itself a historical prophecy +of its further spiritual fulfillment, as God’s providential +care of us in respect to present and temporal +wants is a testimony of the love that provides +even more abundantly for every spiritual +want. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 2:15, note.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Then<a id="FNanchor_664" href="#Footnote_664" class="fnanchor">[664]</a> Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and +smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right +ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_664" href="#FNanchor_664" class="label">[664]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:51; Mark 14:47; Luke 22:49, 50.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword +into the sheath: the cup<a id="FNanchor_665" href="#Footnote_665" class="fnanchor">[665]</a> which my Father hath given +me, shall I not drink it?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_665" href="#FNanchor_665" class="label">[665]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:22; 26:39, 42.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>10, 11.</b> Christ follows his rebuke of Peter by +healing Malchus (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 22:51</span>). John alone gives +the name of either assailant or assailed. See for +reason, note on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:51. Compare Christ’s +language here with Matthew’s report.—​Observe +that the evils brought upon us by wicked men +are yet recognized here as given by God. The +sufferings inflicted by Judas, Caiaphas, and Pilate, +and rendered necessary by the sins of the +world, are yet to Christ’s faith the cup which +his Father hath given him.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><b>12-27.</b> <span class="smcap">The Preliminary Examination Of +Jesus before Caiaphas, and the Denials By +Peter.</span>—​This examination, narrated by John, is +distinctive from the trial reported by the Synoptists +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:63-71</span>). For +a general consideration of the harmony of the +Gospel narratives, and of their lessons, see notes +on Matthew. If John is the other disciple referred +to in verses <a href="#ch18_15">15</a>, <a href="#ch18_16">16</a>, he is the only one of the +Evangelists who was an eye and ear witness of +these events, and his order is presumptively the +correct one. For reasons appearing partly in the +notes on Matthew, partly in the notes below, I +believe that Jesus was sent at once from Annas +to Caiaphas, though the two may have occupied +different apartments in the same palace; that +the preliminary examination was conducted by +Caiaphas; that while it proceeded Peter was in +the adjoining courtyard, and there denied his +Lord; that at its conclusion Jesus was conducted +to the Sanhedrim, where the formal trial reported +by the Synoptists took place; and that this +trial is not described by John, perhaps because +he was not present, and wrote only of the events +which he personally witnessed.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the +Jews took Jesus, and bound him,</p> +</div> + +<p><b>12. Then the band * * * bound him.</b> +John alone describes the binding. This it was, +probably, which called forth the remonstrance +and rebuke of Christ recorded in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:55, +56; Luke 22:52, 53. “To apprehend and bind +One, all gave their help: the cohort, the chiliarch, +and the Jewish officers. This the Evangelist +brings prominently forward, to show how +deep the impression of that previous incident +still was: only <em>by the help of all</em> did they feel +themselves secure. And thus it was ordered +that the disciples might escape with the more +safety.”—(<cite>Luthardt.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 And led him away to Annas<a id="FNanchor_666" href="#Footnote_666" class="fnanchor">[666]</a> first; for he was +father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest +that same year.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_666" href="#FNanchor_666" class="label">[666]</a> + Luke 3:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel<a id="FNanchor_667" href="#Footnote_667" class="fnanchor">[667]</a> to +the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should +die for the people.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_667" href="#FNanchor_667" class="label">[667]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_49">11:49</a>, <a href="#ch11_50">50</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span> +<b>13, 14. Annas first.</b> Annas was appointed +High Priest of the Jews <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 7, but had been removed +by the Roman Procurator several years +previous, and Joseph Caiaphas, his son-in-law, +had been appointed in his stead. In Luke 3:2 +both are designated as high-priests, and in Acts +4:6; 23:2, the title is given to Annas. The +probable explanation is that while Caiaphas +held the office, he was really controlled by his +father-in-law, who may have been regarded by +the Jews as their true high-priest, notwithstanding +his deposition by the Romans. He seems to +have been one of that class of politicians who are +willing that others should possess the honors +and offices, provided they may wield the powers +of the state.—​<b>Caiaphas.</b> See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:57, +note.—​<b>That same year.</b> The high-priest was +originally appointed for life, but the office was +now filled by appointees of the Roman government. +There were no fewer than twenty-eight +high-priests from the reign of Herod to the destruction +of the temple by Titus. Of these, five +besides Caiaphas were sons of Annas. It is possible +that there is a delicate sarcasm in John’s +incidental allusion to the transitoriness of the +office. This, at least, seems to me better than +to render the original (<span lang="el">ενιατός</span>) <em>era</em> instead of +<em>year</em>, though that is a possible translation, or to +suppose, with <abbr title="Professor">Prof.</abbr> Fisher, that John thus simply +emphasizes the supreme importance which +that year, of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, +had in his mind.—​<b>Which gave counsel.</b> See +John <a href="#ch11_49">11:49-51</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 And<a id="FNanchor_668" href="#Footnote_668" class="fnanchor">[668]</a> Simon Peter followed Jesus, and <em>so did</em> another +disciple: that disciple was known unto the high +priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the +high priest.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_668" href="#FNanchor_668" class="label">[668]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:58, etc.; Mark 14:54; Luke 22:54.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>15. Another disciple.</b> Who this other +disciple was is not certainly known, though Alford +says “there is no reason to doubt the universal +persuasion that by this name John intends +<em>himself</em>, and refers to the mention in +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_23">13:23</a> +of a disciple whom Jesus loved.” The notion +that it was Judas Iscariot is refuted by the language +of this verse. Judas did not follow Jesus, +but accompanied the band; and that Peter should +have entered the palace under the protection of +Judas after the betrayal is incredible. Some +manuscripts have the reading <em>the</em> other disciple, +which would identify him with John (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_2">20:2</a>, <a href="#ch20_3">3</a>, <a href="#ch20_4">4</a></span>). +But it seems more probable that the article was +added by some copyist to give definiteness to the +expression, than that it was subsequently omitted.—​<b>Was +known unto the high-priest.</b> +How, we have no means of ascertaining. John +<a href="#ch19_27">19:27</a> is, however, thought to indicate that the +apostle John had a house in Jerusalem.—​<b>Into +the palace of the high-priest.</b> Since John +describes Caiaphas as high-priest, this verse +clearly indicates that Jesus was taken at once +from Annas to Caiaphas. See on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_24">24</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 But Peter stood at the door without. Then went +out that other disciple, which was known unto the high +priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and +brought in Peter.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto +Peter, Art not thou also <em>one</em> of this man’s disciples? +He saith, I am not.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>16, 17.</b> See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:69, note, and illustration +there. The doorkeeper was not unfrequently +a maid (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 12:13</span>). The language here, Art +not thou <em>also</em> one of his disciples? indicates that +John was known to her as a disciple, and that +Peter’s first denial was uttered on entering, and +for the purpose of gaining an entrance. Observe +that it is not being in bad company, but fellowship +in it, that is dangerous. Peter and John +were both in the same company, but one concealed +his discipleship, the other did not.</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_214"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_214.jpg" + alt="ANCIENT FIRE UTENSILS.<br>"> + <p class="caption">ANCIENT FIRE UTENSILS.<br> + 1, 2. Braziers. + 3. Fire-hod. + 4. Bellows. + 5. Tongs.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 And the servants and officers stood there, who +had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they +warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and +warmed himself.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>18. The servants * * * had made +a fire of coals.</b> Probably an open fire in a +portable stove or brazier, in the open courtyard +around which the Jewish house +was customarily built. It is doubtful +whether chimneys were known +to the ancients; they were certainly +very rare. Fires were built sometimes in a +little brazier or chafing-dish, sometimes in a +small portable stove or fireplace. The fire was +always carried from one room to another in a + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span> +fire-basket made of iron, with perforated sides, +to create a draft of air. Bellows and tongs were +also in use among them. The accompanying +illustrations, taken from ancient bronzes and +paintings, will give the reader an idea of these +articles. Peter, by joining the group around the +fire and concealing his true character, identified +himself with the persecutors of Christ.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, +and of his doctrine.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Jesus answered him, I spake<a id="FNanchor_669" href="#Footnote_669" class="fnanchor">[669]</a> openly to the +world. I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, +whither the Jews always resort; and<a id="FNanchor_670" href="#Footnote_670" class="fnanchor">[670]</a> in secret +have I said nothing.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_669" href="#FNanchor_669" class="label">[669]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_14">7:14</a>, + <a href="#ch7_26">26</a>, <a href="#ch7_28">28</a>; + <a href="#ch8_2">8:2</a>; Luke 4:15.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_670" href="#FNanchor_670" class="label">[670]</a> + Acts 26:26.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, +what I have said unto them: behold, they know what +I said.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>19-21. The high-priest then asked Jesus.</b> +It was customary among the Jews to subject an +accused person to an examination analogous to +that practised at a later day in the Inquisition. +Witnesses concealed behind a screen reduced his +replies to writing. To such an examination, preliminary +to his formal trial, Jesus Christ was +now subjected.—​<b>Of his disciples and of his +doctrine.</b> The object of the first question was +to get evidence against his adherents, the object +of the second to get evidence against Jesus himself. +To the first Jesus pays no attention; to +the second he interposes a calm and dignified +protest.—​<b>I spoke openly.</b> Rather freely, +boldly. The original (<span lang="el">παῤῥησία</span>) signifies literally +<cite>speaking out all</cite>, that is, free-spokenness. Observe +that boldness and frankness of utterance +are essential qualifications of the true preacher.—​<b>In +secret have I said nothing.</b> Some +truths he had reserved because they could not +be understood (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch16_12">16:12</a>, <a href="#ch16_25">25</a></span>), +and others which he +had taught were not understood (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:13; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +2:7, 8</span>); but there were no mysteries in his religious +teaching which he had sought to conceal +and for which he was amenable.—​<b>Ask them +which heard me.</b> Not improbably some of the +very officers so strangely affected by his preaching +were present. If so, this appeal to their own +subordinates would have incensed the priests, +by making manifest their own injustice.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers +which stood by struck<a id="FNanchor_671" href="#Footnote_671" class="fnanchor">[671]</a> Jesus with the palm of his +hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_671" href="#FNanchor_671" class="label">[671]</a> + Job 16:10; <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 20:2; Acts 23:2, 3.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear +witness of the evil: but<a id="FNanchor_672" href="#Footnote_672" class="fnanchor">[672]</a> if well, why smitest thou me?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_672" href="#FNanchor_672" class="label">[672]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:19-23.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span> +<b>22, 23. With the palm of his hand.</b> Or +<em>with a staff</em>; either meaning is admissible. Contrast +with Christ’s calm rejoinder Paul’s response +to similar maltreatment (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 23:3</span>).—​The commentators +note in Christ’s course here his own +interpretation of <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 5:39. “An angry man +may turn in sullenness the other cheek visibly to +the smiter; better is he who makes a true answer +with mildness, and prepares his heart in +peace to endure great sufferings.”—(<cite>Augustine.</cite>) +“Christ forbids self-defence with the hand, not +with the tongue.”—(<cite>Luther.</cite>) “Christ’s precept +does not exclude the remonstrance against unjust +oppression, provided it be done calmly and +patiently.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas +the high priest.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>24. Now Annas had sent him bound +unto Caiaphas.</b> Some scholars (so Alford, +Lange, and Meyer) render this verse, <cite>Sent him +bound</cite>, and suppose that Jesus was sent from +Annas to Caiaphas at this time; but Winer (<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> +275, § 40, 5<i>a</i>) and Buttman (<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 200, § 137) show +that the aorist is sometimes used for the pluperfect, +as rendered by our English version, and +that the sentence may be accordingly regarded +grammatically as parenthetical. I believe +(<span class="muchsmaller">see +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch18_15">15</a>, note</span>) +that this is the true construction, and +that the parenthesis is introduced at this place +for the purpose of showing that Jesus was still +bound when the indignity here described was +inflicted upon him.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_215"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_215.jpg" + alt="DENIALS OF PETER."> + <p class="caption">DENIALS OF PETER.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. +They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also <em>one</em> of +his disciples? He denied <em>it</em>, and said, I am not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 One of the servants of the high priest, being <em>his</em> +kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see +thee in the garden with him?</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 Peter then denied again: and<a id="FNanchor_673" href="#Footnote_673" class="fnanchor">[673]</a> immediately the +cock crew.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_673" href="#FNanchor_673" class="label">[673]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_38">13:38</a>; <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:74; Mark 14:72; Luke 22:60.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25-27. Peter stood and warmed himself.</b> +In apparent indifference to his Lord; concerned +only for his comfort, and absorbed in his +curiosity.—​<b>Did not I see thee?</b> This question +was apparently put to Peter after he had +retreated to the porch. It must be remembered +that Peter’s danger was real and imminent; for +his assault on Malchus had rendered him amenable +to legal penalty. On the denial and its lessons, +see notes on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:69-75.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_217"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_217.jpg" + alt="JESUS BEFORE PILATE."> + <p class="caption">JESUS BEFORE PILATE.<br> + “<cite>Art thou the king of the Jews.</cite>”</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2"><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 18:28 to <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 19:16. TRIAL OF JESUS BEFORE +PILATE.—​<span class="smcap">The conscience of the ceremonialist</span> (28).—​<span class="smcap">Jesus +a king; his kingdom truth; its defences +not worldly; it conquers only the willing</span> (33-38).—​<span class="smcap">In +Christ no fault</span> (38; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 19:4, 6).—​<span class="smcap">The world +chooses Barabbas and rejects Christ</span> (39, 40).—​<span class="smcap">Crowned +suffering</span> (<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 19:1-3).—​<span class="smcap">Behold the +man</span> (5).—​<span class="smcap">Behold your King</span> (14).—​<span class="smcap">The testimony +of the Jews to the divinity of Christ</span> (7).—​<span class="smcap">The +silence of Jesus</span> (9).—​<span class="smcap">The end of rejecting Christ +is rejecting God: We have no king but Cæsar</span> +(15).—​<span class="smcap">The crime of cowardice illustrated by +Pilate.</span></p> + +<p>This trial is reported also in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:11-31; +Mark 15:1-23; Luke 23:1-25. John’s account +is the fullest, and has indications of being by an +eye and ear witness; but he does not mention +Pilate’s wife’s dream and Pilate’s washing of his +hands in attestation of his innocence, recorded +only by Matthew, nor the accusation preferred +by the priests and the sending of Jesus to Herod, +recorded only by Luke. For chronological order +of events, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:11-31, <abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note. For +a consideration of the character of Pilate, the +reasons for his vacillating course, and the practical +lessons to be drawn from it, see note below, +<abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch19_16">16</a>. +The place of this trial I believe to have +been the tower of Antonia; the reason for the +trial is explained in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_31">31</a> (<span class="muchsmaller">see note there</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 Then<a id="FNanchor_674" href="#Footnote_674" class="fnanchor">[674]</a> led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall +of judgment; and it was early; and they themselves +went not into the judgment hall, lest<a id="FNanchor_675" href="#Footnote_675" class="fnanchor">[675]</a> they should be +defiled; but that they might eat the passover.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_674" href="#FNanchor_674" class="label">[674]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:2, etc.; Mark 15:1, etc.; Luke 23:1, etc.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_675" href="#FNanchor_675" class="label">[675]</a> + Acts 10:28.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What +accusation bring ye against this man?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>28, 29. Unto the hall of judgment.</b> Literally +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">Prætorium—the</span> name given among the Romans +to the headquarters of the Roman military +governor, wherever he happened to be; here it is +the residence which Pilate occupied in Jerusalem. +Whether that was the palace of King Herod, as +Farrar and others have supposed, or the tower of +Antonia, is uncertain; more probably the latter, +which was at the time and long afterwards the +citadel of Jerusalem, the headquarters of the +army, and the residence of the Roman governors. +It was built upon the same broad platform of +solid rock upon which the temple stood, and so +adjoined the walls of the latter that the Gentile +camp seemed a part of the Jewish sanctuary. +Four towers at its four corners gave it the appearance +of a castle and the strength of a fortress. +One of these towers looked down into the +broad courts of the temple, and thus subjected +all the gatherings there to the oversight of the +hated heathen, while its gates, opening directly +into those courts, rendered it easy, at a moment’s +notice, to quell any disturbance which might +occur there.—​<b>And it was early.</b> The original +(<span lang="el">πρωΐᾳ</span>) properly signifies the period between +daybreak and sunrise (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch20_1">20:1</a></span>), but it is also +used in a more general sense to signify the early +part of the forenoon (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:18</span>), and that must +be its meaning here, for this trial before Pilate +occurred certainly after the cock-crowing, and +probably the formal trial of Jesus before the +Sanhedrim and the subsequent deliberations of +the Sanhedrim to secure the execution of the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span> +death-sentence intervened between the cock-crowing +and their conducting Jesus to Pilate.—​<b>Lest +they should be defiled.</b> According to +the Pharisaic ideas they could not enter a Gentile +house without defilement, and this precluded +their participation in the passover, which in such +case must be postponed by those who were defiled +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 9:6-11</span>). A curious illustration of the +fallibility of conscience is this superstition of the +Pharisees, who feared defilement from entering +the house of a heathen, but none from the endeavor +to secure by fraud and violence the condemnation +of their Lord.—​<b>That they might +eat the Passover.</b> Here not the paschal supper, +but the festival which followed it, and +which lasted for seven days. See Note on the +Lord’s Supper, <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:30. The paschal supper +itself I believe to have been observed the +night before. An incidental confirmation of this +opinion is afforded by Wieseler, quoted in Lange, +who asserts that chronological calculations show +that in the year 30, the 14th of Nisan, on the evening +of which the supper proper took place, actually +fell on a Thursday; and it is certain that the +crucifixion of Christ occurred on Friday. If +Wieseler is correct, the Lord’s Supper must +have been the true paschal supper.—​<b>Pilate +went out unto them.</b> Pontius Pilate was the +Roman procurator or resident governor of Judea +at this time. On his authority, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:2, +note; on his character, career, and course here, +see note below, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch19_16">19:16</a>. His going out to +them was itself a concession.—​<b>Against this +man.</b> Probably he knew something of Jesus +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:18, 19</span>); for a guard had been furnished +from his headquarters for the arrest of Jesus +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch18_3">18:3</a>, note</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 They answered and said unto him, If he were not +a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up +unto thee.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>30. They answered</b>, etc. It seems to have +been their endeavor to secure the ratification of +the death-sentence without any hearing, partly +because they knew that the Roman governor +would be indifferent to the charge of blasphemy +(<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 18:14-17</span>), +and partly because their pride revolted +against submitting the decision of their +court to the hated Gentile.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and +judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore +said unto him, It is not lawful for us<a id="FNanchor_676" href="#Footnote_676" class="fnanchor">[676]</a> to put any man +to death:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_676" href="#FNanchor_676" class="label">[676]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 49:10; <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 21:27.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>31. Then said Pilate, Take ye him and +judge him. * * * It is not lawful for +us to put any man to death.</b> It seems to +have been the custom of the Romans to take +into their own hands in conquered provinces the +power of life and death, as one of the principal +attributes of sovereignty. There is no good reason +to doubt that this had been done in Palestine, +and that the Sanhedrim had no longer +power to execute the death-sentence. The execution +of Stephen, though in a certain sense +sanctioned by the Sanhedrim, was the act of a +mob (<span class="muchsmaller">Acts 7:57, 58</span>). +Pilate’s answer to the demand +of the priests is ironical, a bitter reminder to +them that they had no longer the power of sovereignty. +Other interpretations, such as that +they had no power to crucify, or none to execute +on the feast-day, or none to punish crimes against +the state, are both unnecessary and improbable.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which +he spake,<a id="FNanchor_677" href="#Footnote_677" class="fnanchor">[677]</a> signifying what death he should die.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_677" href="#FNanchor_677" class="label">[677]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:19; Luke 18:32, 33.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>32. That the saying of Jesus might be +fulfilled, signifying</b>, etc. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch12_32">12:32</a>, <a href="#ch12_33">33</a>; +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:18, 19, where Christ foretold his crucifixion. +It was also hinted at in <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> prophecy +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 21:8, 9, +with John <a href="#ch3_14">3:14</a>; +<abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 22:16, 18; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:8, 9</span>). +Death was inflicted under the Jewish law by +stoning (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 13:9, 10; 17:5-7</span>). Calvin observes the +indication in this that Christ’s death in all its +particulars fulfills the eternal purpose of God. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Acts 2:23.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, +and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King +of the Jews?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>33. Then Pilate entered into the judgment-hall +again.</b> Meantime the priests had +framed and presented their accusation of sedition +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:2</span>). This accusation may well have +perplexed Pilate. Christ had claimed to be +King; promulgated laws; organized in the heart +of Cæsar’s province the germ of an imperishable +kingdom; entered Jerusalem in triumph, hailed +by the throng as King of the Jews; and his arrest +had been forcibly resisted by one of his followers. +These facts a wily priesthood could +easily pervert and exaggerate so as to give color +to their accusation. How unscrupulous they +were is evident from a comparison of Luke 23:2 +with <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_22">20:22-25</a>.—​<b>And called Jesus.</b> For +a private examination apart from the priests and +the gathering mob.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, +or did others tell it thee of me?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own<a id="FNanchor_678" href="#Footnote_678" class="fnanchor">[678]</a> nation +and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: +what hast thou done?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_678" href="#FNanchor_678" class="label">[678]</a> + ch 19:11; Acts 3:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>34, 35. Jesus answered him</b>, etc.—​This +question is not asked for information as to the +nature of the charge preferred against him and +the character of his accusers, for evidently Jesus +was present when they preferred it; nor as a +means of ascertaining in what sense Pilate used +the title <em>king</em>, whether in the Jewish sense, to +signify the promised founder of the kingdom of +heaven, or in a Roman sense, to signify a political + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span> +kingdom antagonistic to Jewish authority. For +he who knew what was in man, understood Pilate’s +character and mind. It was the most +forcible possible reply to the accusation. Who, +he asks, has preferred this charge? The Jews. +Pilate’s mind instantly grasps the conclusion. +“If it had been preferred by a Roman centurion, +it would have been worthy of examination. +But when was it ever known that the Jewish +priesthood complained of one who sought the +political emancipation of the nation? None +knew better than Pilate how uneasy were the +people under the Roman yoke. The voices of +the mob before the judgment-seat crying out for +Jesus’ blood were unwitting witnesses of his +innocence.”—(<cite>Lyman Abbott’s Jesus of Nazareth.</cite>)—​The reply had the desired effect. Pilate’s response, +“Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and +the chief priests have delivered thee unto me,” +shows how quickly he filled out the argument +which Christ by a question suggested to his mind.—​<b>What +hast thou done?</b> An honest question. +He rejects the testimony of the priesthood +to the sedition of the prisoner (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:2</span>), and appeals +to Jesus himself to explain their enmity.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 Jesus<a id="FNanchor_679" href="#Footnote_679" class="fnanchor">[679]</a> answered, My<a id="FNanchor_680" href="#Footnote_680" class="fnanchor">[680]</a> kingdom is not of this +world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would +my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the +Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_679" href="#FNanchor_679" class="label">[679]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 6:13.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_680" href="#FNanchor_680" class="label">[680]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch6_15">6:15</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 45:3, 6; <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 9:6, 7; + <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 2:44; 7:14; <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> + 9:9; Luke 12:14; +<abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 14:17; <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 1:13.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>36. Jesus answered.</b> Honest perplexity +he would not refuse to answer. Contrast his +silence before Caiaphas (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:62</span>), Herod (Luke +23:9), and later before Pilate himself +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch19_9">19:9</a></span>).—​<b>My +kingdom is not of this world.</b> Its origin +is not from the earth. The preposition <em>of</em> +(<span lang="el">ἐκ</span>) signifies the source or origin from which +anything springs. Christ’s kingdom is <em>in</em> the +world and <em>over</em> the world, but not <em>from</em> the +world nor maintained by worldly means.—​<b>If my +kingdom were of this world, then would +my servants fight.</b> Not angels, of which Pilate +knew nothing; nor the twelve, of whom it +is doubtful whether he knew anything. The +argument was one which readily addressed itself +to Pilate’s understanding. If Jesus were an +earthly king, his followers would have defended +him from arrest by his enemies and theirs. It is +true Peter had done so (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_10">10</a></span>), but he had been +rebuked, and the wound he inflicted had been +miraculously healed, so that the priesthood +could not appeal to this resistance in support of +their charge, except by misrepresenting it.—​<b>That +I should not be delivered to the +Jews.</b> <em>Jews</em> generally in John means the Judeans, +the inhabitants of the southern province of +Palestine, who were Christ’s especial opponents.—​<b>But +now is my kingdom not from hence.</b> +<em>Now</em> is not here a particle of time, but of connection. +That is, the meaning is not, My kingdom +is not <em>now</em> of this world, as though its temporal +power and glory was to come by and by, +but, <em>Thus</em> you see my kingdom is not, etc. The +former meaning has been given to the word by +some Roman Catholic commentators, to break +the force of the declaration as a testimony against +the temporal power of the Pope and the priesthood. +For similar connective use of the particle +(<span lang="el">νῦν</span>) <em>now</em>, see Acts 12:11; 22:16; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 14:6. +Observe in this verse: (1) A distinct declaration +of the supernatural origin and character of +Christ’s kingdom. Christianity is not a development +of <em>human thought</em>, but a gift to man <em>from +God</em>. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +John <a href="#ch3_3">3:3</a>; <a href="#ch8_23">8:23</a>; +<a href="#ch13_3">13:3</a>; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 21:2. +(2) It is to be defended by spiritual, not by earthly +or physical means. With the spirit of this +declaration all attempts to maintain the church +or its truth by civil enactment or the power of +the sword are inconsistent. How little the spiritual +nature of Christ’s kingdom was understood +in the middle ages is indicated by the fact that +even Calvin, on this passage, argues that kings +and princes may “employ all the power they +possess in defending the church and maintaining +godliness.” (3) The strength and permanence of +Christ’s kingdom as compared with kingdoms +built up on or defended by might of arms. +“Here he sheweth the weakness of kingship +among us, that its strength lies in servants; but +that which is above is sufficient for itself, needing +nothing.”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king +then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. +To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into +the world, that I should bear<a id="FNanchor_681" href="#Footnote_681" class="fnanchor">[681]</a> witness unto the truth. +Every one<a id="FNanchor_682" href="#Footnote_682" class="fnanchor">[682]</a> that is of the truth heareth my voice.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_681" href="#FNanchor_681" class="label">[681]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 55:4; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:5; 3:14.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_682" href="#FNanchor_682" class="label">[682]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch8_47">8:47</a>; + 1 John 4:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>37. Art thou then not a king?</b> Or perhaps, +with a touch of irony, <cite>Thou art then a king</cite>. +Either rendering is admissible (see <cite>Winer</cite>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 512).—​<b>Jesus +said unto him, Thou sayest</b> (truly); +<b>for I am a king</b>. This is truer to the original +than our English version. The first clause of +the sentence, “<cite>Thou sayest</cite>,” is a common form +of Jewish affirmation, and was not confined to +the Jews (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:64, note</span>). The second clause +gives emphasis to this affirmation, and the reason +for it, <em>for I am a king</em>. Observe how the +solemn testimony of Christ to his divine Messiahship +before Caiaphas is here, in a different form, +reiterated before Pilate.—​<b>To this end was I +born, and for this cause came I into the +world.</b> The first clause does not necessarily +imply a pre-existence, because, in a sense, every +creature is born to fulfil a divine purpose; but + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span> +the second clause would be tautological, a mere +repetition of the first, if it did not indicate a +coming into the world from a pre-existent state +and for a particular purpose. And Pilate seems +to have partially, at least, so understood it +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch19_9">19:9</a>, note</span>).—​<b>Every one that is of the truth</b> +(<span lang="el">ἐκ τῆς ἀληθειάς</span>). <em>Proceeding from the truth</em>; that +is, who has so far come under the influence of +truth, is so far born anew by the power of the +truth on his own soul, as to be a sincere seeker +after truth, and hence, in a deeper sense, so far +under the influence of the Spirit of God, who is +the Truth, as to be seeking to know Him who is +the Truth incarnate in human life. Parallel to +this declaration are John <a href="#ch6_45">6:45</a>; +<a href="#ch8_47">8:47</a>. Observe, +(1) Jesus Christ is not only a teacher, an example, +and a Saviour, but a King; and we can accept +him as a Saviour only as we accept him as +our King (<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch15_10">15:10</a>; +1 John 3:22-24</span>); (2) the object +of his incarnation is to testify to the truth, which +he does by his words, and yet more by incarnating +the truth in living forms, perfectly in his +own life, imperfectly in the lives of his followers; +(3) they only hear (<em>receive</em>) him, in whom +the spirit of truth-seeking already exists. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 13:13-15.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when +he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and +saith unto them, I find in him no fault <em>at all</em>.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>38. What is truth?</b> This famous inquiry +of Pilate is certainly not the inquiry of an honest +seeker for truth (<cite>Chrysostom</cite>), for he does not +even wait for an answer; nor apparently the disconsolate +question of one who despaired of ever +arriving at a standard of truth (<cite>Olshausen</cite>), for +there is no evidence that he had ever sought +to know the truth, either in philosophy or in religion; +nor the scoffing question of one who believes +that truth can never be found (<cite>Alford</cite>), and +whose modern type is the positivist who believes +that all creeds are false, and God, immortality, +and the soul are unknowable, for there is nothing +to indicate that such problems had any interest +for him. It is rather asked, half in pity, half in +contempt, the question of the practical man of +the world, to whom this conception of a kingdom +built on truth and maintained without army +or exchequer seemed but the baseless phantom +of a harmless religious enthusiast (<cite>Ellicott</cite>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto +you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release +unto you the King of the Jews?</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch18_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, +but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>39, 40.</b> It is apparently at this point in the +trial that Pilate sends Jesus to Herod; on his +return the demand is made by the people for +the customary release of a prisoner (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 15:8</span>), +and in reply to this demand he makes the proposition, +reported by all the Evangelists, to release +Jesus.—​On the character of Barabbas, see note +on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:15-18. On the contrast between +Barabbas and Jesus, see Acts 3:14. The origin +of the custom here referred to is not known. +It is difficult to conceive why John should omit +the sending of Jesus to Herod (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:5-7</span>) and +Pilate’s wife’s dream and Pilate’s washing of his +hands (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:20-25</span>), unless he wrote with the +other Gospels before him, and therefore omitted +what they had sufficiently described.—​<b>At the +Passover.</b> Not necessarily on the day of the +paschal feast, but during the Passover week.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER <abbr title="Nineteen">XIX</abbr>.</h3> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Then</span><a id="FNanchor_683" href="#Footnote_683" class="fnanchor">[683]</a> Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged<a id="FNanchor_684" href="#Footnote_684" class="fnanchor">[684]</a> +<em>him</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_683" href="#FNanchor_683" class="label">[683]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:26, etc.; Mark 15:16, etc.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_684" href="#FNanchor_684" class="label">[684]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and +put <em>it</em> on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote +him with their hands.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto +them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may +know that<a id="FNanchor_685" href="#Footnote_685" class="fnanchor">[685]</a> I find no fault in him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_685" href="#FNanchor_685" class="label">[685]</a> + verse <a href="#ch19_6">6</a>; <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch18_38">18:38</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of +thorns, and the purple robe. And <em>Pilate</em> saith unto +them, Behold the man!</p> +</div> + +<p><b>1-5.</b> The scourging of Jesus is recounted +by all the Evangelists except Luke, and +the mockery more fully by Matthew than here. +See notes on Matthew. Scourging was a common +precursor of the death-sentence; here, +however, it appears to have been proposed by +Pilate as a compromise (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:16</span>).—​<b>And said, +Hail, King of the Jews.</b> Some manuscripts +insert the words <em>they came unto him</em>, and this +reading is approved by Tischendorf and Alford. +It indicates a mock reverential approach as to a +crowned king, with obeisances and pretended +homage.—​<b>Behold the man.</b> Pilate’s own +sympathies were awakened by the sight of this +patient sufferer, and he made one more attempt +to release him by appealing to the sympathies of +the people. In this act the commentators see an +unconscious symbolical teaching parallel to that +of Caiaphas (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch11_51">11:51</a>, <a href="#ch11_52">52</a></span>); +Jesus is <em>the</em> man, the +only perfect man, the ideal toward which all +aspiration is to strive (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 4:13</span>). The scene has +been a famous one in art, and the picture of +Christ thorn-crowned receives its customary title, +<cite>Ecce Homo</cite>, from two Latin words meaning Behold +the man.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw +him, they cried out, saying, Crucify <em>him</em>, crucify <em>him</em>. +Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify <em>him</em>: +for I find no fault in him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>6. When the chief priests, therefore, +and attendants.</b> The original here signifies + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span> +an officer answering to the modern constable or +policeman.—​<b>They cried out.</b> The priests +mingled in and joined their voices with those of +the crowd. The sight of blood, so far from appeasing, +only whetted their revengeful appetite.—​<b>Take +ye him and crucify him.</b> This was +not a sentence, but rather an endeavor to cast +the responsibility of its execution upon the +priesthood. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:24; Luke 23:25. +That they felt the reproach is indicated by their +reply.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 The Jews answered him, We<a id="FNanchor_686" href="#Footnote_686" class="fnanchor">[686]</a> have a law, and by +our law he ought to die, because<a id="FNanchor_687" href="#Footnote_687" class="fnanchor">[687]</a> he made himself the +Son of God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_686" href="#FNanchor_686" class="label">[686]</a> + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 24:16.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_687" href="#FNanchor_687" class="label">[687]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_18">5:18</a>; <a href="#ch10_33">10:33</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>7. The Jews answered him, We have a +law</b>, etc. Not because their previous accusation +had failed, and they wished to present a +new one (<cite>Lange</cite>); but because, the death-sentence +being already pronounced and ratified by +the act of scourging, they felt safe in disclosing +their real animus. The object of their reply is +to justify themselves to his rebuke.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was +the more afraid;</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith +unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But<a id="FNanchor_688" href="#Footnote_688" class="fnanchor">[688]</a> Jesus gave him +no answer.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_688" href="#FNanchor_688" class="label">[688]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 38:13; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:7; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:12, 14; + <abbr title="Philippians">Phil.</abbr> 1:28.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>8, 9. He was the more afraid, * * * +and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou?</b> +But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate’s was not +a superstitious fear, but a genuine awe produced +by the personal presence of Jesus, the power of +which was conspicuously manifested on other +occasions in his life (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 4:30; 5:8; +<a href="#ch7_45">John 7:45</a>, <a href="#ch7_46">46</a>; +<a href="#ch18_6">18:6</a></span>). It was doubtless +enhanced by the report +of his wife’s dream (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:19</span>). +His question, +<cite>Whence art thou?</cite> is to be interpreted by this +awe; not <em>from what province</em>, for he knew this +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:6, 7</span>), nor <em>of what parents</em>, for this was a +matter of indifference. The question indicates +that even skeptical Pilate vaguely felt that the +prisoner before <span style="white-space:nowrap;">him—the</span> King of a kingdom of +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">truth—was</span> no ordinary man. Christ’s silence +was a bitter rebuke. Pilate was no longer an +honest seeker after truth. Christ “kept silent, +in fine, because he knew as well when to hold +his peace as when to speak, and no word that he +ever uttered was fuller of inspiration than that +silence; no, not even does that lofty declaration +to Pilate, ‘Yes, I am a King, and every true man +is my subject,’ show a more regal dignity of +mind. From every feature, from his whole person, +it <span style="white-space:nowrap;">spoke—spoke</span> of a world of power in him, +power to rise above all personal considerations, +and, under the most terrible circumstances, to +find entire serenity in the perfect possession of +himself.”—(<cite>Furness.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not +unto me? knowest<a id="FNanchor_689" href="#Footnote_689" class="fnanchor">[689]</a> thou not that I have power to crucify +thee, and have power to release thee?</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_689" href="#FNanchor_689" class="label">[689]</a> + <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 3:14, 15.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>10. Then said Pilate unto him.</b> His +pride is piqued by the silence of the prisoner. +He boasts of his power, and so seeks to extort +an answer from the prisoner’s fears. Observe +that <em>power</em> he had, but right he had not. “This +very boast was a self-conviction of injustice. +No just judge has any such power as this to +punish or to loose (<span class="muchsmaller">see 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 13:8</span>), but only patiently +to inquire and give sentence according to +the truth.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 Jesus answered, Thou<a id="FNanchor_690" href="#Footnote_690" class="fnanchor">[690]</a> couldest have no power +<em>at all</em> against me, except it were given thee from +above:<a id="FNanchor_691" href="#Footnote_691" class="fnanchor">[691]</a> therefore he<a id="FNanchor_692" href="#Footnote_692" class="fnanchor">[692]</a> that delivered me unto thee +hath the greater<a id="FNanchor_693" href="#Footnote_693" class="fnanchor">[693]</a> sin.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_690" href="#FNanchor_690" class="label">[690]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch7_30">7:30</a>; + Luke 22:53.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_691" href="#FNanchor_691" class="label">[691]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 39:9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_692" href="#FNanchor_692" class="label">[692]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch18_3">18:3</a>; + Mark 14:44.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_693" href="#FNanchor_693" class="label">[693]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 6:4-8; James 4:17.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>11.</b> The connection of Christ’s answer here is +difficult. It appears to me to be as follows: +All civil and political power comes from God +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 13:1; <abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 75:6, 7; <abbr title="Daniel">Dan.</abbr> 2:21</span>). Even on earth +kings are recognized as the administrators of the +divine will (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 44:28; 45:1</span>). Caiaphas and the +priesthood, therefore, in delivering Jesus to Pilate, +are endeavoring not only to accomplish a +deed of injustice, but to induce a divinely appointed +minister of God to prove false to the +trust reposed in him. Therefore their sin is +greater than his; they are the instigators, he the +partially ignorant and unwilling instrument. +<abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> Luke 12:47, 48. Stier observes that Pilate’s +ignorance includes him in the Lord’s +prayer, “Father, forgive them, for they know +not what they do” (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:34</span>). That most wonderful +declaration of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, “He knoweth +our frame, he remembereth that we are dust” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 103:14</span>), receives its most wonderful illustration +in Christ’s compassion for the perplexed +but guilty Pilate.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release +him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this +man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend: whosoever<a id="FNanchor_694" href="#Footnote_694" class="fnanchor">[694]</a> +maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cæsar.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_694" href="#FNanchor_694" class="label">[694]</a> + Luke 23:2; Acts 17:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>12. From thenceforth.</b> Or rather, <em>on this +account</em>. The original is capable of either rendering; +but Pilate had already sought to release +Jesus; he now made a new effort, moved thereto +apparently in part by his awe for Christ, and +in part by Christ’s expression of compassion for +him.—​<b>Thou art not Cæsar’s friend.</b> Of all +the Cæsars, Tiberius was the most suspicious +and exacting; and of all crimes, that of indifference +to his interests was in his eyes the worst. +In these words of the priesthood there is implied +a threat of an accusation to Tiberius against Pilate +if he release Jesus.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 When<a id="FNanchor_695" href="#Footnote_695" class="fnanchor">[695]</a> Pilate therefore heard that saying, he +brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment +seat, in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the +Hebrew, Gabbatha.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_695" href="#FNanchor_695" class="label">[695]</a> + <abbr title="Proverbs">Prov.</abbr> 29:25; Acts 4:19.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span> +<b>13. Upon the judgment-seat in a place +called Pavement.</b> The judgment-seat was +probably a small elevated platform, such as was +used among the ancients, on which orators stood +to address a concourse, generals +to harangue their +troops, or magistrates to +hear causes. The accompanying +illustration from a +bas-relief represents Trajan +sitting on such a judgment-seat +to receive the submission +of a Parthian king. +The employment of a similar +platform both by Pilate +and by Florus is referred to +by Josephus (<cite>Wars of Jews</cite>, +Rom. II: 9, 3; 14, 8). The +Pavement was probably a +tessellated or mosaic square +in front of the tower of +Antonia, on which the judgment-seat or bema +was placed.</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_221"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_221.jpg" + alt="ROMAN JUDGMENT-SEAT"> + <p class="caption">ROMAN JUDGMENT-SEAT.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 And<a id="FNanchor_696" href="#Footnote_696" class="fnanchor">[696]</a> it was the preparation of the passover, and +about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold +your King!</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_696" href="#FNanchor_696" class="label">[696]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:62.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>14. It was the preparation of the passover.</b> +That is, the preparation for the Passover +Sabbath. The strictness of the Mosaic law respecting +the Sabbath necessitated special preparations +for it on the previous day, and in process +of time the whole day prior came to be known +as <em>the preparation</em> (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 15:42</span>). If we so understand +the passage, there is nothing in it inconsistent +with the fact indicated by the other +Evangelists that the paschal supper was taken +by Christ and his disciples, in common with the +rest of the nation, on the evening preceding.—​<b>About +the sixth hour.</b> But according to +Mark it was the <em>third hour</em> (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 15:25</span>); and this +is sustained by the whole course of the transactions +and the circumstances, as also by the statements +of Matthew (<span class="muchsmaller">27:45</span>), Luke (<span class="muchsmaller">23:44</span>), and Mark +(<span class="muchsmaller">15:33</span>), that the darkness commenced at the sixth +hour, after Jesus had for some time hung upon +the cross. Of this discrepancy many explanations +have been proposed, but only two are worthy +of any consideration. One that by an early +error in transcription the sixth was substituted +for the third hour here; the other that John +here only indicates that the sixth hour was approaching, +or, as Lange renders it, <cite>it was going +on towards the sixth hour</cite>; that is, the third hour, +which closed the preceding watch into which the +day was divided, had already passed, and that +Mark’s language simply implies that the third +hour had already passed before the crucifixion. +It is certain that the ancients did not fix the time +with as great precision as we do, and that in particular, +as Godet says, “the apostles did not count +with the watch in their hands.”—<b>Behold your +King.</b> The previous appeal +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch19_5">5</a></span>) had been to +the pity of the people; this was to their national +pride.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 But they cried out, Away with <em>him</em>, away with +<em>him</em>, crucify him! Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify +your King? The chief priests answered, We<a id="FNanchor_697" href="#Footnote_697" class="fnanchor">[697]</a> +have no king but Cæsar.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_697" href="#FNanchor_697" class="label">[697]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 49:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 Then<a id="FNanchor_698" href="#Footnote_698" class="fnanchor">[698]</a> delivered he him therefore unto them to be +crucified. And they took Jesus, and led <em>him</em> away.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_698" href="#FNanchor_698" class="label">[698]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:26, etc.; Mark 15:15, etc.; Luke 23:24, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>15, 16. We have no king but Cæsar.</b> +This was true. By this very act they disavowed +allegiance to Jehovah as their King (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 12:12</span>). +They were thus emphatically guilty themselves +of the crime of blasphemy, for which they had +condemned Jesus. Some of these very men subsequently +perished in rebellion against Cæsar, +thus by their death testifying to the hypocrisy +of their pretended zeal. He who refuses Christ +as his King subjects himself to the despotism of +worldly authority.—​<b>Then delivered he to +them to be crucified.</b> Giving them a guard +of soldiers to execute the decree. Thus Roman +and Jew shared in both decreeing and executing +the sentence.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><a id="Note_ch19"></a> +<span class="smcap">On the Character of Pontius <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Pilate.</span>—Concerning</span> +Pilate’s life before he became procurator +nothing is known, except that his name +indicates a probability that he was a freedman, +or the descendant of a freedman, connected with +the Pontian house. He succeeded Valerius Gratus +as procurator of Judea and Samaria, about the +year 26 <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span>, +and he held the appointment for a +period of ten years. Secular history shows him +to have been unscrupulous in the exercise of his +authority; and instances are recorded by Josephus +of his contempt of the Jews. His behavior +was equally tyrannical toward the Samaritans; +and on their complaint to Vitellius, president or +prefect of Syria, Pilate was ordered to go to +Rome to answer for his conduct before the emperor. +His deposition must have occurred in +<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 36, +most probably prior to the Passover. +Before he arrived in Rome, however, Tiberius +was dead. According to tradition, Pilate was +banished by Caligula to Vienne, in Gaul; according +to Eusebius, he died by his own hand.</p> + +<p>Though in the oldest Christian creed his name +is indissolubly linked with the crucifixion, in the +phrase “suffered under Pontius Pilate,” and +though he was directly responsible for it, since +it could not have been consummated without his +judicial approbation, yet that approbation was +wrested from him by a mob, and he yielded only +when further resistance would have hazarded + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span> +his office, if not his life. The story of the trial +of Christ before Pilate is the story of a conflict +between a judge who appealed in vain to the +moral sense of the priesthood, and a priesthood +who appealed not in vain to the fears of the +judge. First he scornfully bids the Jews try +Jesus according to their own law, knowing that +they cannot put their prisoner to death +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch18_31">18:31</a></span>); +then catches, in the clamor, the word “Galilee,” +and endeavors to rid himself of responsibility by +sending the prisoner to Herod (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:4-12</span>); on +the return of the prisoner to his custody, proposes +to release him, as a customary act of good-will, +to the populace (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +27:19-23; Mark 15:8-14</span>); +orders the scourging, in an idle hope so to satisfy +the clamor of the mob (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +27:26-30; Mark 15:15-19; +John <a href="#ch19_1">19:1-3</a></span>); having appealed in vain to their pity, +appeals, also in vain, to their patriotism (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch19_4">19:4-15</a></span>); and finally pronounces sentence of death +only under an implied threat of complaint to the +jealous Tiberius Cæsar (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch19_12">19:12</a>, <a href="#ch19_16">16</a></span>). But it +would be a mistake to suppose that in this pitiable +conflict with a mob, which it was Pilate’s +first duty to quell, he was influenced by considerations +of either humanity or justice. The contempt +which a Roman soldier would naturally +feel for the Jewish priesthood was intensified +into a bitter personal hate by the fact that their +cunning had twice overmatched his <span style="white-space:nowrap;">strength—once</span> +when, immediately after his inauguration, +they had compelled him to remove the hated +Roman standards from the city of Jerusalem to +the old-time Roman military headquarters at +Cæsarea Philippi; once when they had secured +orders from Tiberius Cæsar directing him to +take down the Roman shields from the vicinity +of the temple. The one sentiment which was +strong in a Roman soldier was that of justice; to +be compelled by a Jewish mob, instigated by the +Jewish priesthood, to assume the judicial robes +only to do flagrant injustice in them, and that in +executing the Jewish will, angered him. He +was a tool in the hands of an unscrupulous and +despised hierarchy; knew it, and fought against +the humiliation weakly, and therefore in vain. +He was also powerfully affected by the personal +bearing of Christ. “If there is any power in the +human countenance, in the eye, in the voice, in +the whole air and manner of a man, that power +must have been manifested in Jesus in the very +highest degree. * * * Not that he (Pilate) +had the slightest insight into the lofty nature of +that power. His very ignorance of it served, by +creating a feeling of mystery, only to heighten +the effect of it upon his mind.”—(<cite>Furness.</cite>) And +this effect was still further increased by the +dream of his wife; for skepticism and superstition +are twins, and the skeptical Pilate was not +above the universal superstitions of his times. +All these elements made Pilate angry with himself +and with the hierarchy, but they did not +serve in lieu of a noble resolution, which alone +could have enabled him to resist the threatening +danger of an emeute. So he dallied, argued, +appealed, yielded. The crime of Pontius Pilate +was the crime of moral cowardice. It was more +appalling in its results, but it was not different +in its nature, from the many manifestations of +that crime which we all often witness, and which +most of us sometimes have experienced.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 19:17-42. DEATH AND BURIAL OF JESUS.—​<span class="smcap">A +false judge writes a true epitaph (19).—​A weak +judge proves himself obstinate (22).—​The inhumanity +of man (24).—​The sympathy of Christ +illustrated (27).—​The fulfillment of all Scripture +(28).—​Redemption a finished work (30).—​The +hypocrisy of ceremonialism (31).—​The nature, +meaning, and certainty of Christ’s death +(34, 35).—​The power of that death to make cowards +courageous (38, 39).—​The sepulchre in the +garden; the tomb amid flowers (41, 42).</span></p> + +<p>The accounts of all Evangelists should be compared. +For chronological harmony and for full +notes on what is common to them all, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +27:32-56. Several incidents are peculiar to +Luke; some to John. The latter gives more +fully the division of Christ’s garments among +the soldiers (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch19_23">23</a>, <a href="#ch19_24">24</a></span>); alone speaks of Christ’s +parting words to his mother (<span class="muchsmaller">verses +<a href="#ch19_25">25-27</a></span>), and of +the piercing of his side (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch19_34">34</a></span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 And he bearing his cross went<a id="FNanchor_699" href="#Footnote_699" class="fnanchor">[699]</a> forth into a place +called <em>the place</em> of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, +Golgotha:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_699" href="#FNanchor_699" class="label">[699]</a> + <abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 15:36; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 13:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 Where they crucified him, and two other with +him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>17, 18.</b> The cross was usually borne by the +condemned. In this case it was transferred +from Christ to Simon the Cyrene. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +27:32, note. The Hebrew word Golgotha is the +same as the Latin word Calvary (<dfn>Calvaria</dfn>), and +means <dfn>a skull</dfn>. The location is uncertain. For +statement of different hypotheses and picture of +most probable site, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:33, note.—​The +two others crucified with Christ were brigands, +one of whom joined in the taunts of the multitude; +the other rebuked his companion, and +sought and obtained the blessing of the dying +Redeemer. See Luke 23:39-43, notes.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 And<a id="FNanchor_700" href="#Footnote_700" class="fnanchor">[700]</a> Pilate wrote a title, and put <em>it</em> on the cross. +And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE +KING OF THE JEWS.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_700" href="#FNanchor_700" class="label">[700]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:37; Mark 15:26; Luke 23:38.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the +place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: +and it was written in Hebrew, <em>and</em> Greek, <em>and</em> Latin.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, +Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I +am King of the Jews.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have +written.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>19-22. And Pilate wrote a title.</b> It was +customary to bear before the condemned an inscription +which designated his crime; this was +subsequently attached to the cross, as a warning +against similar offences.—​The inscription in this + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span> +case was written in the three languages of the +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">time—that</span> of the court (Latin), that of the Gentile +population (Greek), and that of the Jews +(Hebrew or Aramaic).—​It really affixed a stigma +rather upon the Jews than upon Jesus. Hence +their attempt to have it altered, and Pilate’s refusal. +The Jews were insulting Jesus; Pilate +took a petty revenge upon them for their victory +over him by insulting them. The inscription is +reported by the four Evangelists, in all of them +substantially, in none of them verbally, the same. +Thus:</p> + + +<ul><li>This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.—​(<cite>Matthew.</cite>)</li> +<li>The King of the Jews.—​(<cite>Mark.</cite>)</li> +<li>This is the King of the Jews.—​(<cite>Luke.</cite>)</li> +<li>Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.—​(<cite>John.</cite>)</li> +</ul> + +<p class="unindent">Apparently there were three inscriptions, in the +three different languages; some commentators +suppose that they differed slightly, and that the +variations in the language of the inscription indicate +the variations in the original. See this ingeniously +argued in Townsend’s <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> But the +better opinion is that the inscription was the +same in the three languages, and that the verbal +differences are such as we might expect from +individual narrators, who, in minor details, were +left to their own recollection. So Robinson, Alford, +Greenleaf, etc. Analogous verbal differences +are to be constantly met with in the Evangelists: +<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 3:11; Mark 1:7; Luke 3:16; +John <a href="#ch1_27">1:27</a>—<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:11; Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30—<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +15:27; Mark 7:28—<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:6-9; +Mark 8:17-19—<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 20:33; Mark 10:51; +Luke 18:41—<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 21:9; Mark 11:9; Luke +19:38—<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42—<abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +28:5, 6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:5, 6. +Pilate illustrates the difference between firmness +and obstinacy. In yielding the crucifixion of an +innocent man, Pilate showed a pitiable lack of +firmness; in insisting on retaining an insulting +inscription, he showed a petty obstinacy. In +this inscription he was an unconscious prophet +of the truth to all <span style="white-space:nowrap;">on-lookers—Greek,</span> Roman, +Jew. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> John +<a href="#ch11_51">11:51</a>, <a href="#ch11_52">52</a>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, +took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier +a part; and also <em>his</em> coat: now the coat was without +seam, woven<a id="FNanchor_701" href="#Footnote_701" class="fnanchor">[701]</a> from the top throughout.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_701" href="#FNanchor_701" class="label">[701]</a> + <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 39:22.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 They said therefore among themselves. Let us +not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that +the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith,<a id="FNanchor_702" href="#Footnote_702" class="fnanchor">[702]</a> They +parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture +they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers +did.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_702" href="#FNanchor_702" class="label">[702]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 22:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>23, 24.</b> The account of John of this incident +is fuller and more exact than those of the other +Evangelists. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:35; Mark 15:24; +Luke 23:34. There were four <span style="white-space:nowrap;">soldiers—a</span> <span style="white-space:nowrap;">quaternion—detailed</span> +to watch the execution of the +sentence of the procurator. The clothing of the +convicted was the perquisite of the soldiers. +The outer garments of Christ were divided +among them, one to each. The inner garment, +or tunic, was a seamless robe, woven in one +piece, probably of wool. There is no ground for +the fanciful comparison of this robe with those +worn by the priests, as though it indicated a +priestly function on Christ’s part. There is +more reason in the surmise that it was a gift to +him by some of the women who had followed +him from Galilee (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 8:1-3</span>).—​But +this is a mere +surmise, having no other support than the fact +that the soldiers seem to have recognized in it a +peculiar value, a garment which it were a pity +to destroy. Dice were in Rome what cards are +in modern life. One of the soldiers took a set +out of his pocket; the helmet would have served +as a dice-box; and thus, under the shadow of +the cross, they gambled for this seamless robe. +The incident affords a most striking illustration +of the inhumanity of man, and scarcely less +of the indurating influence of the passion for +gambling. “No earthly creatures but gamblers +could be so lost to all feeling as to sit +down coolly under a dying man to wrangle for +his garments, and arbitrate their avaricious differences +by casting dice for his tunic, with hands +spotted with his spattered blood, warm and yet +undried upon them.”—(<cite>H. W. Beecher.</cite>) The +twenty-second Psalm, to the prophecy of which +John refers, was regarded by the Jews, as it has +been universally regarded by all Christian critics, +as a Messianic Psalm. A curious illustration of +fanciful interpretation is afforded by Wordsworth’s +treatment of this scene, though he +quotes Augustine as his authority: The parted +garments is an emblem of the church in its universality, +to be sent out into the four quarters +of the globe; the unparted garment is emblematic +of the church in its unity, to be kept whole +and unparted; the gambling soldiers are an emblem +of those who treat the unity of the church +of Christ as a matter of indifference.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, +and his mother’s sister, Mary the <em>wife</em> of Cleophas,<a id="FNanchor_703" href="#Footnote_703" class="fnanchor">[703]</a> +and Mary Magdalene.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_703" href="#FNanchor_703" class="label">[703]</a> + Luke 24:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the +disciple standing by,<a id="FNanchor_704" href="#Footnote_704" class="fnanchor">[704]</a> whom he loved, he saith unto +his mother, Woman,<a id="FNanchor_705" href="#Footnote_705" class="fnanchor">[705]</a> behold thy son!</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_704" href="#FNanchor_704" class="label">[704]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_23">13:23</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_705" href="#FNanchor_705" class="label">[705]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch2_4">2:4</a>.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!<a id="FNanchor_706" href="#Footnote_706" class="fnanchor">[706]</a> +And from that hour that disciple took her unto his +own<a id="FNanchor_707" href="#Footnote_707" class="fnanchor">[707]</a> <em>home</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_706" href="#FNanchor_706" class="label">[706]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 5:2.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_707" href="#FNanchor_707" class="label">[707]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_32">16:32</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>25-27. Now there stood by the cross of +Jesus his mother</b>, etc. There is some question +whether we are to understand by this verse + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span> +that there were <em>four</em> women there, or only three. +Some scholars read the phrases “his mother’s +sister” and “Mary of Cleophas” as in apposition, +and suppose them to refer to the same person; +but the better opinion regards them as different +persons, the mother’s sister being identified +with Salome, the mother of James and John, +who, if this interpretation be correct, were own +cousins to Jesus. See Note on the Twelve +Apostles, Matthew, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 10, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 148, where +this question is more fully discussed. It is important +only in its bearing on the question of the +relationship of Jesus to James and John.—​<b>Woman, +behold thy son; * * * behold +thy mother.</b> Some doubt has been thrown on +this incident by rationalistic critics, who have +thought it improbable that these women could +have been standing near enough to the cross to +hear the words of Jesus; or that they could +have been willing to do so; or that the incident, +if it really occurred, could have escaped the +other Evangelists; for it is peculiar to John. +The answer to this criticism is admirably given by +Dr. Furness: “Unquestionably it must have been +agonizing to her to witness that awful sight. And +it would have been no less agonizing to her to +keep at a distance from him. May she not have +thought within herself, ‘It kills me to see him +suffer so, but I cannot lose a word that may fall +from his lips; perhaps he may speak to me’? The +women friends of Jesus stood looking on at a +distance; but if there were one among them who +stood nearer to the cross than the others, it must +have been his mother. Here again the words of +Jesus to his mother and the beloved disciple +lose the living truth of nature in our Common +Version, which gives them in the form of complete +sentences, ‘<cite>Woman, behold thy son</cite>,’ and to +John, ‘<cite>Behold thy mother</cite>.’ But in the original it +is ‘<cite>Woman! look! thy son!</cite>’ and to John, ‘<cite>Look! +thy mother!</cite>’ brief as possible, ejaculatory, broken, +and in the fullest accord with the physical +condition in which he then was—a state of extreme +torture, admitting only at the moment of +such imperfect utterance. His mother was not +very near the cross, but near enough to allow +Jesus, by a strong effort mastering his agony, to +gasp out these few words, leaving it to the keen +sense of his mother and John to make out his +meaning. Indeed, if I could suspect such an incident +as this to be an invention, I should not know +what limit to assign to the inventive power of the +authors of the Gospels.”—(<cite>Notes on Schenckel’s +Character of Jesus.</cite>)—<b>And from that hour +that disciple took her to his own.</b> The +words <cite>from that hour</cite> are not to be taken literally, +as though John and the mother of Jesus did +not remain till death had brought the lingering +tortures of the crucifixion to an end. The words +<em>his own</em> are more significant without the addition +of the word <em>home</em>, added by the translators. +John took the mother into his own circle, and as +his own mother, from that time. The language +does not imply that he had a fixed domicile in +Jerusalem. This is not inherently probable, for +he was a Galilean; and certainly nothing recorded +had occurred to make any of the disciples +prior to this time inclined to take up a permanent +residence in Jerusalem.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were +now accomplished, that the scripture<a id="FNanchor_708" href="#Footnote_708" class="fnanchor">[708]</a> might be fulfilled, +saith, I thirst.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_708" href="#FNanchor_708" class="label">[708]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 69:21.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and +they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put <em>it</em> upon hyssop, +and put <em>it</em> to his mouth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, +he said, It<a id="FNanchor_709" href="#Footnote_709" class="fnanchor">[709]</a> is finished: and he bowed his head, and +gave<a id="FNanchor_710" href="#Footnote_710" class="fnanchor">[710]</a> up the ghost.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_709" href="#FNanchor_709" class="label">[709]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_4">17:4</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_710" href="#FNanchor_710" class="label">[710]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:10, 12; <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 2:14, 15.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>28-30.</b> See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:47-49, notes. The incident +is common to all the Evangelists, but their +accounts are quite different. John alone repeats +the utterance, “It is finished,” which is to be +regarded not merely as a presage of death, equivalent +to, The era of suffering is ended, the era of +joy begins; but as triumphant and prophetic: +The work which thou gavest me to do is finished +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_4">17:4</a></span>); and this because Christ died once for +all, thus perfecting a sacrificing which needs +never to be repeated (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 9:28</span>), and because by +it he offers to the believer a redemption which +is finished, and which needs not to be supplemented +to make it efficacious. The cry of almost +despair, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken +me?” was followed by the cry of triumph, +uttered with a loud voice (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:50; Mark 15:37; +Luke 23:46</span>); and then, with the prayer, “Father, +into thy hands I commit my spirit” (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 23:46</span>), +he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Some +scholars (<cite>Chrysostom</cite>, <cite>Hengstenberg</cite>, <cite>Godet</cite>, etc.) +hold that the reference to prophecy here is +to Psalm 69:21, and that the meaning is that +Christ said “I thirst” in order to fulfill prophecy; +others (<cite>Meyer</cite>, <cite>Luthardt</cite>) make the phrase +“that the Scripture might be fulfilled” dependent +on the preceding clause, and the meaning to +be that all things were accomplished that the +Scripture might be fulfilled. This seems to me +to be the better interpretation. The other +makes Christ utter the expression of thirst for +the purpose of calling forth in others the fulfillment +of a prophecy. It may be remarked here +that the constant use of the phrase <cite>that the Scripture +might be fulfilled</cite> gives to a casual reader the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span> +impression that a multitude of minor incidents +were ordered by God, and unimportant acts +were performed by Christ, merely to fulfill <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +prophecy. The reader must, however, remember +that the Gospels were written primarily for +Jewish readers in large measure, and that the +test by which every Jew determined whether or +no Jesus was the Messiah was by asking the +question, Does he fulfill the ancient prophecies? +While, therefore, it is true that Christ’s life does +fulfill, even in marvellously minute details, the +prophecies of the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr>, it is also true that these +fulfillments are pointed out by the Evangelists +with an emphasis which in our time seems excessive, +but which was not so in their age and +for their immediate purpose. Compare the apostolic +speeches to Jewish audiences, as reported +in Acts, which are almost wholly devoted to +proving that Christ’s life and death were in accordance +with ancient Jewish prophecies.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation,<a id="FNanchor_711" href="#Footnote_711" class="fnanchor">[711]</a> +that the bodies should not remain<a id="FNanchor_712" href="#Footnote_712" class="fnanchor">[712]</a> upon the +cross on the sabbath day, (for<a id="FNanchor_713" href="#Footnote_713" class="fnanchor">[713]</a> that sabbath day was +an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be +broken, and <em>that</em> they might be taken away.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_711" href="#FNanchor_711" class="label">[711]</a> + verse <a href="#ch19_42">42</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_712" href="#FNanchor_712" class="label">[712]</a> + <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 21:23.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_713" href="#FNanchor_713" class="label">[713]</a> + <abbr title="Leviticus">Lev.</abbr> 23:7, 8.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_32"></a> +<p class="hanging">32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the +first, and of the other which was crucified with him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_33"></a> +<p class="hanging">33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he +was dead already, they brake not his legs:</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_34"></a> +<p class="hanging">34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his +side, and forthwith came thereout blood<a id="FNanchor_714" href="#Footnote_714" class="fnanchor">[714]</a> and water.<a id="FNanchor_715" href="#Footnote_715" class="fnanchor">[715]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_714" href="#FNanchor_714" class="label">[714]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 9:22, 23; 1 John 5:6, 8.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_715" href="#FNanchor_715" class="label">[715]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 3:21.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_35"></a> +<p class="hanging">35 And<a id="FNanchor_716" href="#Footnote_716" class="fnanchor">[716]</a> he that saw <em>it</em> bare record, and his record is +true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might +believe.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_716" href="#FNanchor_716" class="label">[716]</a> + 1 John 1:1-3.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_36"></a> +<p class="hanging">36 For these things were done, that the scripture<a id="FNanchor_717" href="#Footnote_717" class="fnanchor">[717]</a> +should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_717" href="#FNanchor_717" class="label">[717]</a> + <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 12:46; + <abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 9:12; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 34:20.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_37"></a> +<p class="hanging">37 And again another scripture<a id="FNanchor_718" href="#Footnote_718" class="fnanchor">[718]</a> saith, They shall +look on him whom they pierced.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_718" href="#FNanchor_718" class="label">[718]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 22:16; <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 12:10; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:7.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>31-37. Because it was the preparation.</b> +That is, for the Sabbath. At first the hours, +then the entire day, immediately preceding the +Sabbath, was called by the Jews the Preparation. +See on <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch19_14">14</a>, and more fully on Mark 15:42. +The Jews, who had no hesitation about compassing +by the most unscrupulous methods the +death of an innocent man, were scrupulous about +leaving his corpse to hang on the cross over the +Sabbath—a notable illustration of Sabbatical +ceremonialism. It was the Roman custom to +leave the corpse to putrefy; this was forbidden +by the Jewish law, which, partly as a sanitary, +partly as a ceremonial regulation, required immediate +burial. See <abbr title="Deuteronomy">Deut.</abbr> 21:23.—​<b>That their +legs might be broken.</b> A barbarous but not +uncommon method of accelerating death, adopted +in order to enhance rather than mitigate the +horrors of the execution.—​<b>Then came the +soldiers and brake the legs</b>, etc. The implication +is, of course, that this was done under +the orders of Pilate. Nor is there anything inconsistent +in this account with that in Mark (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark +15:44</span>), that Pilate was surprised to learn that +Jesus was dead, and inquired into the certainty +of the fact before giving permission to Joseph +of Arimathea to remove the body. For when the +death of Jesus was reported to him, the circumstances +would also have been reported; and thus +Pilate would have known that the soldiers found +him already dead when they came to break the +legs of the three.—​<b>But one of the soldiers +with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith +came thereout blood and water.</b> +On the physical significance of this fact, see below, +Note on the Physical Cause of Christ’s +Death. From it the spiritualizing commentators +have drawn many mystical lessons, most of them +of very doubtful profit; <i>e. g.</i>, the comparison of +the drawing of Eve from the side of Adam and +the drawing of the church from the side of +Christ; the necessity of both blood and water +to regeneration (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_5">3:5</a></span>); the use of both as emblems +of the sacraments, etc. All such uses of +this incident belong at best to the poet, not the +commentator, and its use even by the poet must +be cautious, or it becomes unprofitable. The +object of the spear-thrust was not to determine +whether death had actually taken place so much +as to ensure death, if there were any doubt. +The record is given partly to set at rest the ancient +Gnostic skeptical whim that the death took +place only in seeming; it equally does set at rest +the suggestion of more modern skepticism that +Christ merely fainted from exhaustion and was +subsequently restored by the disciples.—​<b>And +he that saw it bare record, and his record +is true</b>, etc. The use of this phraseology shows +the importance which John gave to this particular +fact; partly, perhaps, because it established +the all-important fact of the actual death of the +Lord, the culmination of his life of self-sacrifice, +and equally the foundation of that proof of his +divinity which is afforded by his resurrection +from the dead. But I believe that it also gives +emphasis to the real cause of the death of our +Lord—a broken heart, broken for the sins of the +world, which he bore on the tree. It is also a +water-mark of authorship. “The testimony thus +declared to be veracious is just the record itself +which the narrator was setting down; and, as +he says it comes from no other than the eye-witness, +he certainly gives us to understand that he, +the Evangelist, is also the disciple whom Jesus +loved.”—(<cite>James Martineau.</cite>)—​The prophetic +Scriptures referred to are <abbr title="Exodus">Exod.</abbr> 12:46 and + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span> +<abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 12:10. The first passage, “A bone of +him shall not be broken,” refers primarily to the +paschal lamb; but that lamb was regarded by +the Jews, and is treated both by the Old Testament +and the New, as a type of the Lamb of +God that taketh away the sins of the world. + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Note on the Physical Cause of Christ’s +Death.</span>—​The immediate cause of Christ’s death +is veiled in obscurity; for a brief statement of +various critical opinions on this subject, see +Meyer’s notes on this passage. I believe that +there is at least good reason for the opinion that +he died of a literally broken heart. Crucifixion +produced a very lingering death. No vital organ +was directly affected. The victim rarely died in +less than twenty-four hours. Instances are recorded +of his lingering a full week. It was customary +to dispatch the condemned after a few +hours of torture by speedier means. This was +done in the case of the thieves. Pilate was surprised +at the intelligence that Jesus was already +dead. The guard seems to have shared that +surprise. Up to the last moment there was no +sign of weakness, no decay of power or vitality. +Jesus conversed with the thief and spoke to his +friends. His last cry was not that of exhausted +nature; he cried with a <span style="white-space:nowrap;">loud—literally</span> great, +<i>i. e.</i>, <span style="white-space:nowrap;">strong—voice</span>. His death was instant. +There was something remarkable in <span style="white-space:nowrap;">it—something</span> +that attracted the attention of the centurion +and his band. It followed immediately +after the cry, “My God! my God! why hast +thou forsaken me?” This agony succeeded that +of Gethsemane. In that midnight struggle the +heart and blood-vessels were affected. The palpitation +of the heart was so intense as to cause +bloody sweat—a phenomenon rare, but not unknown, +and produced by intense mental excitement. +That this was a truly bloody sweat, see +Luke 22:44, note. The heart would probably +have been weakened by such an experience. A +repetition of the agony then endured might +truly rupture the membrane of the heart. Such +an experience has been known to produce such +a result. If it did, death would instantly ensue. +The blood would flow into the pericardium, an +outer sac in which the heart is enclosed; there +it would be liable to separate very rapidly into +clots of extravasated blood and water. When +the soldier thrust the spear into Jesus’ side, it +was probably with a double purpose: to ascertain +whether Jesus was dead; to ensure his +death if he were not. For this purpose he would +aim at the heart. The spear would pierce, of +course, the left, not the right side, as portrayed +in nearly all art representations of the crucifixion. +The water, followed and accompanied by +the clots of blood, would flow from the wound. +It is impossible to account for this phenomenon, +not only recorded by John, but evidently regarded +by him of considerable importance, except +upon the hypothesis of a broken heart, or +of some organic disease. Andrews’s hypothesis +that it was supernatural has nothing but a devout +surmise to sustain it. The reader who +desires to investigate this subject more thoroughly +will find by far the fullest and ablest discussion +of it in Stroud’s <cite>Physical Cause of the +Death of Christ</cite>, London, 1847, especially <abbr title="chapter four">ch. iv</abbr>, +<abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 73-156, and notes +<abbr title="four and five">iv and v</abbr>, <abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 389-420. If +this is not within his reach, he will find a brief +but adequate statement of the argument in +M’Clintock and Strong’s <cite>Biblical Cyclopædia</cite>, <abbr title="article">art.</abbr> +<cite>Crucifixion</cite>.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_38"></a> +<p class="hanging">38 And after this Joseph of Arimathæa, being a disciple +of Jesus, but secretly for<a id="FNanchor_719" href="#Footnote_719" class="fnanchor">[719]</a> fear of the Jews, besought +Pilate that he might take away the body of +Jesus: and Pilate gave <em>him</em> leave. He came therefore, +and took the body of Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_719" href="#FNanchor_719" class="label">[719]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 9:22; 12:42.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_39"></a> +<p class="hanging">39 And there came also<a id="FNanchor_720" href="#Footnote_720" class="fnanchor">[720]</a> Nicodemus, which at the +first came to Jesus by night, and<a id="FNanchor_721" href="#Footnote_721" class="fnanchor">[721]</a> brought a mixture +of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound <em>weight</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_720" href="#FNanchor_720" class="label">[720]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_1">3:1</a>, + <a href="#ch3_2">2</a>; <a href="#ch7_50">7:50</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_721" href="#FNanchor_721" class="label">[721]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 16:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_40"></a> +<p class="hanging">40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound<a id="FNanchor_722" href="#Footnote_722" class="fnanchor">[722]</a> it +in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the +Jews is to bury.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_722" href="#FNanchor_722" class="label">[722]</a> + Acts 5:6.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_41"></a> +<p class="hanging">41 Now in the place where he was crucified there +was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, +wherein was never man yet laid.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch19_42"></a> +<p class="hanging">42 There<a id="FNanchor_723" href="#Footnote_723" class="fnanchor">[723]</a> laid they Jesus therefore because<a id="FNanchor_724" href="#Footnote_724" class="fnanchor">[724]</a> of the +Jews’ preparation <em>day</em>; for the sepulchre was nigh at +hand.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_723" href="#FNanchor_723" class="label">[723]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 53:9; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_724" href="#FNanchor_724" class="label">[724]</a> + verse <a href="#ch19_31">31</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>38-42. After this came Joseph of Arimathea.</b> +Of him nothing is known except +what may be gathered from the accounts of the +Evangelists concerning him in this connection. +Mark implies that he was a member of the Sanhedrim +(<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 15:43</span>), and Luke that he had nothing +to do with the condemnation of Jesus; probably +was not present (<span class="muchsmaller">see Luke 23:51, note</span>), either because +he knew what was coming before them and that +his resistance would be in vain, or because the +others knew his character, and did not summon +him. Luke also describes him as a “good man +and just.” His act in requesting the body of +Christ after the crucifixion was one requiring +some courage. In later martyrdoms such a request +cost men their lives; in this case it must +at least have cost Joseph much obloquy. The +site of Arimathea is entirely uncertain. The +effect of Christ’s death to make the cowardly +strong is noticed by all commentators.—​<b>Pilate +gave him leave.</b> After making sure that +Christ was really dead (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark +15:44, 45</span>).—​<b>Took the +body of Jesus.</b> This taking down from the +cross was probably done by the loving hands of +the disciples; this is more probable than that it +was done by the Roman soldiers. Their last + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span> +duty was performed when they made sure of the +death of the condemned.—​<b>There came also +Nicodemus.</b> It was now even, that is, the +early evening, probably between four o’clock +and sunset. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:57, note. On the +character of Nicodemus, see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_1">3:1</a>, note.—​<b>Brought +a mixture of myrrh and aloes, +about a hundred pounds weight.</b> “Myrrh-resin +and aloe-wood; these fragrant materials +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 45:8</span>) were placed, in a pulverized condition, +between the bandages. But the surprising quantity +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_3">12:3</a></span>) is here explained from the fact +that superabundant reverence in its sorrowful excitement +does not easily satisfy itself; we may also +assume that a portion of the spices was designed +for the couch of the body in the grave” (<cite>Meyer</cite>); +or to be burned. See below.—​<b>As the manner of +the Jews is to bury.</b> There is no evidence +that the Hebrews ever practised systematic embalming, +as the Egyptians did. In the <abbr title="Old Testament">O. T.</abbr> +there is but one mention of any such practice, +that of the case of Asa, and he was not properly +embalmed, but laid in the bed which he had prepared +for himself “with perfumes and spices” +(<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Chronicles">Chron.</abbr> 16:14</span>). It appears to have been the custom +in the time of Christ to wash the body and +anoint it, then to wrap it in fine linen, with +spices and ointments enveloped in the folds, and +afterwards to pour more ointment upon it, and +sometimes to burn spices. In the case of Christ, +the approach of the Sabbath hurried the preparations +of the body, which were not yet completed +at sunset, and were left to be finished the +day after the Sabbath.—​Comparing the four +accounts of the burial, it appears that the body +was wrapped in fine linen, with some of the +spices, and laid hurriedly away in a rock-hewn +sepulchre in a garden near the place of the crucifixion, +one in which no previous burial had +ever taken place. According to Matthew, it +belonged to Joseph (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:59, 60; Mark 15:46; Luke +23:53, 54</span>). For illustration of the body prepared +for burial, see Acts 5:6, note; for illustration +of Jewish tomb, see Mark 16:2-4, notes. For a +striking sermon on the Significance of the Sepulchre +in the Garden, sorrow amid flowers, see +Harper’s edition of H. W. Beecher’s sermons.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER <abbr title="Twenty">XX.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 20:1-31. THE RISEN LORD.—​<span class="smcap">The testimony +of eye-witnesses to the resurrection.—​The intuitions +of love (8).—​The consolation of life to +grief at the empty tomb.—​The power of Christ’s +voice.—​The commission of Christ’s disciples: sent +as Christ; their endowment: the gift of the +Holy Ghost; their authority: to save, to +judge.—​Modern unbelief in an ancient experience.—​Christ’s +answer to the reluctant skeptic.—​The +object of the Fourth Gospel.</span></p> + +<p>The accounts of the resurrection and the incidents +in the life of our Lord between the resurrection +and the ascension given by the four +Evangelists are very different, and in some respects +seemingly inconsistent. The discrepancies +have been magnified, and dwelt upon by rationalizing +critics as a reason for regarding the accounts +as unhistorical. For a comparison of the +four narratives, a statement of the differences +between them, and a hypothetical harmony, see +Note on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Matthew, +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 28, <abbr title="Volume One">Vol. I</abbr>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 330. Alford goes too far +in saying that all attempts at harmony are fruitless, +though certainly all harmonies are hypothetical, +and perhaps at best only show that +there is no radical and essential inconsistency in +the four narratives.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span><a id="FNanchor_725" href="#Footnote_725" class="fnanchor">[725]</a> first <em>day</em> of the week cometh Mary Magdalene +early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, +and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_725" href="#FNanchor_725" class="label">[725]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:1, etc.; Mark 16:1, etc.; Luke 24:1, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, +and to the other disciple, whom<a id="FNanchor_726" href="#Footnote_726" class="fnanchor">[726]</a> Jesus loved, and +saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out +of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have +laid him.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_726" href="#FNanchor_726" class="label">[726]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_23">13:23</a>; + <a href="#ch19_26">19:26</a>; <a href="#ch21_7">21:7</a>, + <a href="#ch21_24">24</a>.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Peter<a id="FNanchor_727" href="#Footnote_727" class="fnanchor">[727]</a> therefore went forth, and that other disciple, +and came to the sepulchre.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_727" href="#FNanchor_727" class="label">[727]</a> + Luke 24:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>1-3.</b> Matthew says the women came “as it +began to dawn,” Mark “at the rising of the +sun.” John is the one most likely to have been +well informed, as he was the first one to whom +the women reported the facts; and his language, +therefore, is probably the most minutely accurate. +The time indicated by a comparison of the +three accounts is the early dawn, before the +sun was fairly up.—​With Mary Magdalene came Mary the mother of Joses, Salome, and apparently +Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1, 10</span>). That John recognized +that there were more than one is indicated +by the use of the plural here in the report +made to the other disciples of the disappearance +of the Lord’s body: “We know not where they +have laid him.” Meyer, indeed, argues that the +reason borrowed from <em>we</em> know, in verse <a href="#ch20_2">2</a>, for +the plurality of the women at the grave, is outweighed +by <em>I</em> know, in verse <a href="#ch20_13">13</a>; +but this is fallacious, +for the fact that Mary was alone at the +grave when Jesus spoke to her would not prove, +nor even indicate, that she was alone when she +first came to it. On the contrary, it is evident +that she, with the other women, returned to the +city when they found the grave empty (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> <a href="#ch20_2">2</a>; +<abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:8; Luke 24:9</span>), and it is probable that + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span> +she returned again to the tomb, following Peter +and John, to sorrow there. For illustration of +sepulchre and rolling stone door, see notes on +Mark 16:2-4. For account of the rolling away +of the stone, see <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:2 and note. The report +of the women, <cite>They have taken away the +Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where +they have laid him</cite>, shows that they had no expectation +of the resurrection of their Lord, such +as rationalism has imputed to them in explaining +their belief in the resurrection appearances as +freaks of a sanguine and excited imagination. +They supposed that the grave had been robbed +by Christ’s enemies, and the body hidden; and, +in fact, this method of accounting for the disappearance +of the Lord’s body is to be found in +some of the later Jewish writings, though it has +never gained credence even among rationalistic +critics.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple +did outrun<a id="FNanchor_728" href="#Footnote_728" class="fnanchor">[728]</a> Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_728" href="#FNanchor_728" class="label">[728]</a> + Luke 13:30.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 And he, stooping down, <em>and looking in</em>, saw the +linen clothes<a id="FNanchor_729" href="#Footnote_729" class="fnanchor">[729]</a> lying; yet went he not in.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_729" href="#FNanchor_729" class="label">[729]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch19_40">19:40</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went +into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 And the napkin,<a id="FNanchor_730" href="#Footnote_730" class="fnanchor">[730]</a> that was about his head, not lying +with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place +by itself.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_730" href="#FNanchor_730" class="label">[730]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_44">11:44</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came +first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 For as yet they knew not the<a id="FNanchor_731" href="#Footnote_731" class="fnanchor">[731]</a> scripture, that he +must rise again from the dead.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_731" href="#FNanchor_731" class="label">[731]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 16:10; Acts 2:25-31; 13:34, 35.</p> +</div></div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Then the disciples went away again unto their +own home.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>4-10.</b> This narrative bears the unmistakable +impress of coming from an eye-witness, and all the +commentators recognize its striking accordance +with the well-known characteristics of the two +disciples. The information, which from Matthew’s +and Luke’s accounts we should suppose +to have been given to all the disciples, appears +from John’s more minute narrative to have been +given only to Peter and John, for there is little +doubt that John refers to himself in the phrase +“the other disciple whom Jesus loved.” See +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_22">13:22</a>, note. They were both greatly excited +by the news of the supposed desecration +of the tomb, and hastened to the spot to see for +themselves. Mary Magdalene, as the sequel +shows, followed them more slowly.—​John, who +there is reason to believe was the younger, and +therefore not improbably the more agile of the +two, reached the sepulchre first, but was awed +at approaching the grave of his Lord, and waited +without, simply looking in through the open +door to assure himself that the tomb was really +empty.—​Peter, who was never hindered by his +sense of reverence, entered the sepulchre boldly +as soon as he arrived, and John followed him. +They found the tomb empty, but the winding-sheet +in which the body was wrapped +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch19_40">19:40</a>, +note</span>), and the napkin that was about the head, +were folded and laid in so orderly a manner as +to negative the opinion that the grave had been +rifled.—​The moment John saw the contents of +the tomb the truth flashed upon his mind. His +quick intuitions recalled and interpreted Christ’s +misunderstood prophecies of his own resurrection: +<em>he saw and believed</em>. To interpret this +phrase as meaning simply “he saw that the body +of Jesus was not there, and believed that it had +been removed, as Mary Magdalene had said” +(<cite>Bengel</cite>), is to do violence to the original, for +John habitually uses this word <cite>believed</cite> (<span lang="el">πιστεύω</span>) +of spiritual apprehension. Nor is there any +boast in the implication that he alone believed; +the fact is important, for we thus learn when the +faith in a risen Saviour first dawned on humanity; +and John could not state it more modestly.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: +and as she wept, she stooped down, <em>and looked</em><a id="FNanchor_732" href="#Footnote_732" class="fnanchor">[732]</a> +into the sepulchre,</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_732" href="#FNanchor_732" class="label">[732]</a> + Mark 16:5.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 And seeth two angels in white, sitting, the one at +the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of +Jesus had lain.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest +thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken +away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid +him.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>11-13.</b> Mary, who apparently had followed +Peter and John to the sepulchre, remained after +their departure, to weep. She also stooped and +looked into the sepulchre, but she was so preoccupied +with the conclusion which she had already +hastily formed, that the orderly arrangement +of the grave-clothes produced no effect +upon her mind.—​For her some further disclosure +of the truth was necessary; to her, therefore, +the angels appeared. Mary is not startled either +at their appearance or their words (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> Luke 1:29</span>); +perhaps she is too entirely absorbed in her grief +at the disappearance of the Lord’s body.—​In answer +to their question she repeats what she had +reported to the disciples: “They (the Lord’s +enemies) have taken away my Lord, and I know +not where they have laid him.” It is by a very +forced accommodation that this text is applied +to or used to illustrate that philosophy which +denies the divinity and atonement of Christ; for +here it was the outward crucified tabernacle +which had been taken away, that the victorious +Spirit might be more effectively imparted. The +objection of rationalistic critics that the angels +had not been seen by Peter and John is well answered +by Godet: “Angels are not visible and +immovable, like stone statues.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself +back, and<a id="FNanchor_733" href="#Footnote_733" class="fnanchor">[733]</a> saw Jesus standing, and knew not<a id="FNanchor_734" href="#Footnote_734" class="fnanchor">[734]</a> that it +was Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_733" href="#FNanchor_733" class="label">[733]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:9; Mark 16:9.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_734" href="#FNanchor_734" class="label">[734]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 21:4; Luke 24:16, 31.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? +whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the +gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him +hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and<a id="FNanchor_735" href="#Footnote_735" class="fnanchor">[735]</a> I will +take him away.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_735" href="#FNanchor_735" class="label">[735]</a> + <abbr title="Canticles">Cant.</abbr> 3:2.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>14, 15.</b> Mary turned back from looking into +the tomb, not attracted by any sound of Christ’s +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">approach—at</span> least of this there is no intimation + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span> +in the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">narrative—but</span> more probably in the very +restlessness of grief. Her failure to recognize +Jesus is best explained, not by any natural cause, +as the dimness of the morning light, or her inattention +to the person of the supposed stranger, +but by the analogous experience of the disciples +in their walk to Emmaus, when Christ appeared +to them “in another form” (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 16:12</span>), and +“their eyes were holden, that they should not +know him” (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:16</span>).—​Mary’s surmise that the +unknown was the gardener was a natural one. +“Who else could it be in the garden so early in +the morning?”—(<cite>Meyer.</cite>) The elaborate discussion +of the question whether he had on the +clothing of a gardener is a somewhat striking +illustration of the profitless and wholly fruitless +debate which is unhappily only too common in +Biblical interpretation. In the wildness of her +grief she surmised that the gardener might know +what had become of the body, might even have +taken part in its removal—a wild surmise, since +the tomb and the garden both belonged to a disciple +of Christ (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 27:60</span>). Her assurance, “I +will take him away,” is made in the strength of +a love which promises without reflecting whether +it can perform.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary.<a id="FNanchor_736" href="#Footnote_736" class="fnanchor">[736]</a> She turned<a id="FNanchor_737" href="#Footnote_737" class="fnanchor">[737]</a> herself, +and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, +Master.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_736" href="#FNanchor_736" class="label">[736]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch10_3">10:3</a>; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 43:1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_737" href="#FNanchor_737" class="label">[737]</a> + <abbr title="Canticles">Cant.</abbr> 3:4.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not +yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren,<a id="FNanchor_738" href="#Footnote_738" class="fnanchor">[738]</a> +and say unto them, I<a id="FNanchor_739" href="#Footnote_739" class="fnanchor">[739]</a> ascend unto my Father, and<a id="FNanchor_740" href="#Footnote_740" class="fnanchor">[740]</a> +your Father; and <em>to</em> my<a id="FNanchor_741" href="#Footnote_741" class="fnanchor">[741]</a> God, and your<a id="FNanchor_742" href="#Footnote_742" class="fnanchor">[742]</a> God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_738" href="#FNanchor_738" class="label">[738]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 22:22; + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:29; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 2:11.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_739" href="#FNanchor_739" class="label">[739]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_28">16:28</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_740" href="#FNanchor_740" class="label">[740]</a> + <abbr title="Romans">Rom.</abbr> 8:14, 15; + 2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:18; + <abbr title="Galatians">Gal.</abbr> 3:26; 4:6, 7.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_741" href="#FNanchor_741" class="label">[741]</a> + <abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 1:17.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_742" href="#FNanchor_742" class="label">[742]</a> + <abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 17:7, 8; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 43:4, 5; 48:14; + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 41:10; + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 31:33; + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 36:28; + <abbr title="Zechariah">Zech.</abbr> 13:9; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 11:16; + <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 21:3.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 Mary Magdalene came<a id="FNanchor_743" href="#Footnote_743" class="fnanchor">[743]</a> and told the disciples +that she had seen the Lord, and <em>that</em> he had spoken +these things unto her.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_743" href="#FNanchor_743" class="label">[743]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>16-18.</b> Christ’s utterance of her name in well-remembered +accents disclosed him to her. She +had before but listlessly regarded him; she now +turned fully toward him, instantly recognized +him, responded to her name with a word full of +reverential affection—“<cite>Rabboni, Master</cite>”—​and +would have thrown herself at his feet and embraced +him but for his prohibition. In an instant +she was translated from the profoundest grief +to the most exalted ecstasy of love, but her intended +expression of that love did not accord +with that spiritual communion which the risen +Lord proposed to vouchsafe to his disciples. +The original rendered <cite>touch</cite> (<span lang="el">ἃπτω</span>) signifies literally +to hang upon some one. “She desired to +seize, grasp, hold Jesus, in order to enjoy his +society and to satisfy her love +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> Luke 7:36</span>).”—(<cite>Luthardt.</cite>) +Or, perhaps, to convince herself +that she was not under an illusion, and to hold +fast to the Christ whom she had already twice +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">lost—once</span> in the crucifixion, once in the disappearance +of the body from the tomb. There +appears to be an inconsistency between Christ’s +prohibition here and the statement in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:9 +that the women “came and held him by the +feet.” I believe the account there to be an +imperfect report of the event more accurately +reported here. See note on <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:9, 10. +Why the fact that Christ had not yet ascended +to his Father should be assigned as a reason for +not embracing him has given rise to much discussion +among the commentators. An account +of the explanations which have been afforded, +some of which are fanciful to the verge of absurdity, +may be found both in Luthardt and +Meyer. The true interpretation seems to me to +be this: Christ had promised to his disciples +that after he had gone to his Father he would +return to be with them, that they might be in +him and he in them, as he was in the Father and +the Father in him. This interpretation of his +death as a departure to be with the Father, and +this accompanying promise to return and be +with them, form the burden of his discourse in +John, <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> 14-16. He restrained Mary from +embracing him by declaring that he had not yet +gone to the Father, that the time for the fulfillment +of this promise of his fellowship had not +yet come, and that she must yet look forward to +the future for that intimacy of intercourse which +he had foretold. He did not stop to enter into +fuller explanations, but his words point to that +spiritual acquaintance with Christ to which Paul +gives expression in the declaration, “Though we +have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth +know we him no more” (<span class="muchsmaller">2 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 6:16</span>). But +though refusing to allow Mary to embrace him, +he conferred upon her a far greater honor in +commissioning her to be the first preacher of the +resurrection. By characterizing his disciples as +his <em>brethren</em>, he indicated that he was still in the +flesh. The body with which he had risen was +the same in which he was crucified. See Luke +24:39, note. The language of his message, “I +ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to +my God and your God,” indicates certainly that +the sonship of the disciple is not the same as the +sonship of the only begotten Son of God. He +does not say <em>our Father</em>. Cyril’s interpretation, +“My Father by nature; your Father by adoption,” + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span> +is just, though attributed to rather than +found in the words. The Father is by Paul +called “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ephesians">Ephes.</abbr> 1:17</span>).</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 Then<a id="FNanchor_744" href="#Footnote_744" class="fnanchor">[744]</a> the same day at evening, being the first +<em>day</em> of the week, when the doors were shut where the +disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came +Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, +Peace <em>be</em> unto you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_744" href="#FNanchor_744" class="label">[744]</a> + Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 15:5.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them +<em>his</em> hands and his side. Then<a id="FNanchor_745" href="#Footnote_745" class="fnanchor">[745]</a> were the disciples glad, +when they saw the Lord.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_745" href="#FNanchor_745" class="label">[745]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_22">16:22</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>19, 20.</b> Of this interview Mark gives a briefer, +Luke a quite different report (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 16:14-16; Luke +24:36-49</span>). As John was the only one of the Evangelists +present who has given any account of the +interview, it may be assumed that his is the +more accurate. It is possible that Luke’s account +of Christ’s eating broiled fish and a honeycomb, +to convince them that he was in the flesh, +may have been derived from the subsequent +interview in Galilee, reported by John in +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch21_12">21:12-14</a>. The event here recorded took place +after the appearance of Christ to the two disciples +in their walk to Emmaus (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:13-35</span>). This +was the first appearance of Christ, after the resurrection, +to the apostles in a body. The doors +were probably not only shut, but locked, as a +protection; the fear of the Jews was natural, +for it was reasonable to expect that the crucifixion +of the Master would be followed by an attempt +to pursue and punish the disciples; and +this natural expectation was increased by the +prophecies of persecution which formed a part +of Christ’s final instructions. The fact that +Jesus entered through the closed door does not +indicate that the body was other than the natural +body which had been laid in the grave; +and Christ’s language at this very time, as reported +by Luke, “A spirit hath not flesh and +bones, as ye see me have,” appears to be conclusive +that his resurrection body was his physical +body. It is as futile to ask how, with a natural +body, he could enter through the closed door, +as to ask how he could walk upon the water. +Miracles defy explanation. It is to be observed, +however, that the Evangelist does not state that +Jesus entered <em>through</em> the closed door. He simply +states the two facts which came within his +own observation: the doors were closed, and +while so closed, suddenly Jesus was seen standing +in the midst of the disciples, within the +room. The greeting, “<cite>Peace be unto you</cite>,” was a +common Jewish salutation. Like the salutation +“It is I, be not afraid,” with which Christ +greeted the frightened disciples in the storm-tossed +boat on the Sea of Galilee (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch6_20">6:20</a></span>), it was +addressed to calm their natural perturbation at +the sudden apparition. This it must have done +the more effectually in that it recalled to their +minds the benediction of his final discourse, +“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto +you; not as the world giveth give I unto you” +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch14_27">14:27</a></span>). The showing of his hands and side +was further to convince them of his identity; +and it appears probable, from the language of +Thomas (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_25">25</a></span>), from the report of Luke (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke +24:39</span>), and from the language of John in his +Epistle (<span class="muchsmaller">1 John 1:1</span>), that the disciples handled as +well as looked upon the body of their Lord.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace<a id="FNanchor_746" href="#Footnote_746" class="fnanchor">[746]</a> <em>be</em> unto +you: as <em>my</em> Father hath sent me, even so<a id="FNanchor_747" href="#Footnote_747" class="fnanchor">[747]</a> send I +you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_746" href="#FNanchor_746" class="label">[746]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch14_27">14:27</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_747" href="#FNanchor_747" class="label">[747]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a>; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:19; + 2 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 2:2; + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 3:1.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>21.</b> This is John’s report of the commission +given by Christ to his disciples after the resurrection, +and should be compared with that of +Matthew (<span class="muchsmaller">28:18-20</span>), which, however, appears to +have been given later. Mark’s report of the +apostolic commission (<span class="muchsmaller">Mark 16:15-18</span>) is of doubtful +authenticity, and Luke’s account (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:45-49</span>) is +to be regarded rather as a summary of Christ’s +post-resurrection instructions than as the report +of any single commission. It is, as Meyer well +remarks, significant that the mission of the disciples +previously implied was formally and solemnly +ratified at the first meeting after the resurrection. +On the significance of this commission, +see <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a>, +note. It was his response to their +exhibition of gladness upon seeing him again, +and implied that their joy in their Lord was not +to be consummated until they had followed him +in his ministry of humiliation and sacrifice.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 And when he had said this, he breathed on <em>them</em>, +and saith unto them, Receive<a id="FNanchor_748" href="#Footnote_748" class="fnanchor">[748]</a> ye the Holy Ghost.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_748" href="#FNanchor_748" class="label">[748]</a> + Acts 2:4, 38.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Whose soever<a id="FNanchor_749" href="#Footnote_749" class="fnanchor">[749]</a> sins ye remit, they are remitted +unto them; <em>and</em> whose soever <em>sins</em> ye retain, they are +retained.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_749" href="#FNanchor_749" class="label">[749]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 16:19; 18:18.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>22, 23. He breathed on them and said, +Receive ye the Holy Ghost.</b> Breath is a +natural symbol of life; in the Bible it is used as +a symbol of the divine life. God breathes into +man the breath of life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Genesis">Gen.</abbr> 2:7</span>); in the vision of +Ezekiel the wind breathes on the dry bones and +clothes them with life (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 37:9, 10</span>); in Christ’s +conversation with Nicodemus the life-giving +power of God is compared to the breath of wind +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch3_8">3:8</a></span>); and it is significant of the extent to +which this symbol underlies Scripture that the +Greek word used for spirit is the one also used +for wind, which is poetically represented as the +breath of God. Here, by breathing on the apostles, +Christ symbolically imparted to them that +divine life which man never <em>acquires</em>, which God +alone can <em>give</em>. <cite>Receive ye the Holy Ghost</cite> is not +to be regarded as a promise to be fulfilled at +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">Pentecost—it</span> is not equivalent to, <cite>Ye shall receive +the Holy Ghost</cite>; nor as a full bestowal of the +power of the Spirit, which came not till Pentecost; + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span> +but as an <em>earnest</em> of the gift yet to be more +fully bestowed in successive endowments through +all the future ages of the church. This gift of +the Holy Ghost is to be connected with the commission +which precedes: “As my Father hath +sent me, even so I send you.” It is given to all +who accept this Christian commission, that is, +who believe in Christ through the word of the +apostles, and, believing, become true followers +of him. It is also to be connected with the authority +conferred in the verse which follows. +See below. There is a possible significance in +the omission of the definite article in the original, +which, if literally translated, would read, +Receive ye a holy spirit. We receive a spirit of +true holiness only as the divine life is breathed +upon us by the inspiration of God (<span class="muchsmaller">Titus 3:4-6</span>).—​<b>Whose +soever sins ye put away, they are +put away from them; whose soever sins +ye retain, they are retained.</b> This passage +is confessedly difficult of interpretation. In considering +it I endeavor, first, to put the English +reader in possession of the exact meaning of the +original; next, to suggest to him what seems to +me to be the true interpretation of the passage; +and finally to give him briefly other interpretations. +(1) The word rendered <cite>remit</cite> signifies primarily +and properly to <dfn>dismiss</dfn>, <dfn>put away</dfn>, <dfn>get rid +of</dfn>. As applied to sin in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, it indicates +not a mere release from the threatened penalty +of transgression, but redemption from the power +of the sin itself. See <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 6:12, note. The +divine forgiveness of sins is interpreted by such +promises as those of Micah 7:19: “He will subdue +our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their +sins into the depths of the sea;” and Isaiah 44:22: +“I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy +transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.” In the +first clause of this verse, therefore, there is no +hint of any power in apostle or apostolic successor +to forgive sins, or to declare with authority +sins forgiven, or to declare under the inspiration +of the Holy Ghost to what character and on what +terms sins shall be forgiven. There is simply +the declaration that when the disciple of Christ, +acting under his Master’s commission and with +the power given by the inbreathed gift of the +Holy Ghost, does in fact put away, dismiss, get +rid of sin, in the individual or the community, +the work shall not be in vain in the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">Lord—the</span> +devil so cast out shall not return to find the +house swept and garnished and take possession +of it again (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 12:44, 45</span>). The work shall abide. +Thus the first clause of this verse embodies a +promise like that of Isaiah 55:11, and is interpreted +by its fulfillment in Paul’s experience, as +in 1 <abbr title="Thessalonians">Thess.</abbr> 1:4-7. The second clause, <cite>Whose +soever sins ye retain shall be retained</cite>, is more difficult +of interpretation. The word rendered <cite>retain</cite> +primarily signifies to <dfn>possess power</dfn>, then to +<dfn>exercise</dfn> it. It is employed both in classic and +later Greek, with many derivative <span style="white-space:nowrap;">significations—to</span> +<dfn>rule</dfn>, <dfn>conquer</dfn>, <dfn>subdue</dfn>, <dfn>seize</dfn>, <dfn>keep</dfn>, <dfn>hold fast</dfn>. It +is translated in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> by the terms <dfn>hold</dfn> or +<dfn>hold fast</dfn>, <dfn>keep</dfn>, <dfn>lay hand on</dfn>, <dfn>obtain</dfn>, <dfn>take</dfn>, and, here +only, <dfn>retain</dfn>. It is sometimes used in a material +sense, that is, of the exercise of physical power, +as in <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:25, <cite>he took her by the hand</cite>, or <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> +26:48, <cite>hold him fast</cite> (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="compare">comp.</abbr> verses 50, 55, 57</span>); sometimes +it is used in an immaterial sense, that is, +of the exercise of a mental power, as in <abbr title="Colossians">Col.</abbr> 2:19 +of Christians who fall away from grace <em>not holding +the head</em>, or Mark 7:3 of the Pharisees who +<em>hold the traditions of the elders</em>. But it never loses +wholly its primary and germinant significance of +the possession and exercise of power. It cannot +therefore here be rendered, without a violation +of the original, <cite>Whose soever sins ye permit to retain +their hold on the sinner shall be allowed to be +retained</cite>; some real exercise of power on the +part of the person receiving the gift of the Holy +Ghost is indicated. There is also an antithesis +apparent in the original, as in our English version, +between the two clauses of the verse, <i>i. e.</i>, +between remitting or letting go and retaining or +not letting go. We have the same antithesis, +between the same words, though there used in a +physical sense, in Mark 12:12, They sought <em>to lay +hold</em> on him, * * * but they <em>left</em> him and went +their way. It seems to me that by this latter +clause a power is conferred, the more awful that +it is not clearly, and perhaps cannot be by any +possibility clearly defined—a power to fasten sin +on the sinner by sentence of condemnation, as +there is power to put away sin by the proclamation +of the salvation. This power is given upon +the conditions implied in the commission, <cite>As the +Father hath sent me, even so I send you</cite>, and in the +gift, <cite>Receive ye the gift of the Holy Ghost</cite>; that is, +it is conferred, not on the apostles merely, all of +whom were not present (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_24">24</a></span>); nor on them and +their successors, for of successors the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> furnishes +no limit; nor on an ordained priesthood +or ministry; but on all who accept Christ’s commission, +and in that commission seek and obtain +the gift of the Holy Ghost; and it is theirs just +in the measure in which they receive and act +under his divine influence. (2) I read, then, in +this language of Christ, the bestowal of a twofold +spiritual <span style="white-space:nowrap;">power—one</span> of salvation, the other +of judgment. The disciple is sent into the world +as his Master was sent into the world, like him +to become a teacher of divine truth, an example +to others, a manifestation of the divine character, +a bearer in his own person of the sins of +others. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a>, note. But also like him +he is to be a judge. The Master’s fan is to be in +his hand. He who has power to proclaim salvation +has also authority to pronounce condemnation, +and the one declaration no less than the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span> +other, when uttered under the influence of the +Holy Spirit of God, is uttered with divine authority. +Instances of this judgment against +wilful and determined sin are afforded by Christ’s +denunciation of the Pharisees; by Peter’s condemnation +of Ananias and Sapphira, and of Simon +Magus; by Paul’s judgment against the +offender in the church of Corinth. Illustrations +of perversions of this power are afforded by +the anathemas of the church of the middle ages, +and perhaps by some of the severe denunciations +of the Puritans. It has been variously illustrated +by preachers of judgment from the days +of Jeremiah to those of John Knox. Such a +sentence, when uttered, as it often has been, +under the influence of malign passion, or of +ecclesiastical ambition, is but an ill-spent breath; +but when it is the voice of a spirit of truth and +holiness, aroused to righteous indignation in the +presence of inveterate sin, and is uttered by a +soul acting under the conscious influence of the +Divine Spirit, the sentence becomes an awful +one, because it is an echo of the inaudible sentence +of God himself. I must add emphasis to +the statement that, as I read this passage, this +power belongs, not to a hierarchy, priesthood, +or ministry, but to the Christian soul, by virtue +of its direct life in and with God, and to such +soul only when acting in its highest moods and +with the direct and conscious influence of the +Spirit of God upon it. This authority, here bestowed +on all who are inspired by a divinely imparted +spirit of holiness, interprets and measurably +explains the power of a holy soul, before +which often, in the history of the race, the most +august personages have trembled, they knew +not why. Of course this interpretation will be +at once rejected by those who would abolish +judgment from eternity, much more from this +present life, and treat sin only as an immaturity +or a disease; but possibly the church would be +more efficient in its proclamation of the gospel +to penitent sinners, if its spirit of holiness were +sometimes aroused to pronounce the sentence of +God against persistent sin; perhaps it would call +to the Lord more of the publicans and sinners, if +it had more of his spirit of judgment against the +temple traders and the Pharisees. (3) The principal +other interpretations of this passage are the +following: (<i>a</i>) That the Lord gave power to the +apostles to absolve men from sin and fasten sin +upon them, but that this was a purely personal +power, belonging to the apostolic age, and ceasing +with the gifts of miracles, of tongues, etc. +But this interpretation dissociates the power +here conferred from the accompanying commission +and gift, or confines the latter to the apostles, +while the general teaching of the Scriptures +gives both to all believers. See <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch17_18">17:18</a>, <a href="#ch17_20">20</a>; +Acts 2:38, 39. It would exclude Thomas, who +was not present at this interview, and Paul, who +was not one of the eleven. (<i>b</i>) That a power of +infallibly absolving and anathematizing is here +conferred, but that it belongs exclusively to the +apostles and their successors, the self-perpetuating +hierarchy. This is the ecclesiastical view, +held very generally by the Roman Catholic +church, and in a modified form by many among +the hierarchical denominations generally. But +there is neither here nor anywhere else in the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> any hint of any power in the apostles to +appoint successors, nor any hint that they ever +did so. And indeed the very nature of their +office, which was to bear personal witness to the +facts of Christ’s life and death and resurrection, +was such that in the nature of the case no successors +were possible (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch15_27">15:27</a>; Acts 1:21, 22; 1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> +9:1; 15:8</span>). On this point the dictum of an English +dean is significant: “This gift belongs to the +church in all ages, and especially to those who +by legitimate appointment are set to minister in +the churches of Christ: not by successive delegation +from the apostles, <em>of which fiction I find in +the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> no trace</em>, but by their mission from +Christ, the bestower of the spirit for their office, +when orderly and legitimately conferred upon +them by the various churches. Not, however, +to them exclusively, though for decency and +order it is expedient that the outward and formal +declaration should be so; but in proportion +as <em>any disciple</em> shall have been filled with the +holy spirit of wisdom is the inner discernment +his.”—(<cite>Alford.</cite>) (<i>c</i>) The power here promised is +one which in a very general way accompanies the +preaching of the gospel; that it is a promise that +“they should be taught by the Holy Ghost to +declare on what terms, to what characters, and +to what temper of mind God would extend forgiveness +of sins.” This, which is Mr. Barnes’s +interpretation, seems to me entirely inadequate. +It reduces a definite and positive promise of divine +ratification of human judgment, under the +guidance of the Holy Spirit, to a mere enunciation +of the general principle that the ministers +of Christ shall be ministers of the truth. (<i>d</i>) +That the two clauses of the sentence are, the +one a promise, the other a warning; that Christians +<em>remit</em> sin when, by their influence, their +example, or their teaching, they induce sinners +to repent of sin and abandon it; that they <em>retain</em> +sin when, by their negligence, their acquiescence, +or their approval, they directly or indirectly +help to fasten sins on the individual or the community; +and that Christ promises his disciples +great results if they are faithful, and warns +them of equally great but terrible results if they +are remiss or culpable. The original does not +seem to me capable of this rendering, for it ignores +the fundamental meaning of the word rendered +<cite>retain</cite> (<span lang="el">κρῦέω</span>), which always indicates some + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span> +real <dfn>exercise of power</dfn>, never a failure or a neglect +to exercise it. See above. The view which I +have adopted is not very widely different from +that of Alford, Meyer, Ryle, Calvin, Watkins, +and the best of the Protestant commentators +generally, except that, with Godet, I regard the +promise as conferring on the moral judgments +of the disciple a real efficacy, while the commentators +generally regard it as simply a promise +of wisdom spiritually to perceive and declare +judgments which shall be in accordance with the +divine will. This interpretation is also adopted +by some of the more evangelical of the Roman +Catholic divines, <i>e. g.</i>, Quesnel in modern and +Chrysostom in ancient times, both of whom regard +the priest as an ambassador of God, and as +speaking by authority only in so far as he is filled +with the Holy Ghost. “But why speak I of +priests? Neither angel nor archangel can do +anything with regard to what is given him of +God; but the Father, the Son, and the Holy +Ghost dispenseth all, while the priest lends his +tongue and affords his hand.”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>) +“That such a judgment may be pronounced +upon sinners as is fit to be approved of God, and +to be confirmed in heaven, it must be such as is +according to the Spirit of God, who is given for +that purpose, and to the rules prescribed by +Christ to sinners, of which the priest is only the +minister.”—(<cite>Quesnel.</cite>)</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 But Thomas,<a id="FNanchor_750" href="#Footnote_750" class="fnanchor">[750]</a> one of the twelve, called Didymus, +was not with them when Jesus came.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_750" href="#FNanchor_750" class="label">[750]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch11_16">11:16</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We +have seen the Lord. But he<a id="FNanchor_751" href="#Footnote_751" class="fnanchor">[751]</a> said unto them, Except +I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put +my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my +hand into his side, I will not believe.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_751" href="#FNanchor_751" class="label">[751]</a> + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 78:11, 32.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>24, 25.</b> Didymus is the Greek equivalent of +Thomas, which is of Hebrew origin. Very little +of his life is known; but the two other occurrences +recorded in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch11_16">11:16</a>; +<a href="#ch14_5">14:5</a></span>) indicate +an affectionate spirit but a skeptical intellect, +a man who loved much, but believed and +hoped but little. He has been well called “the +rationalist” among the twelve; but he was a +rationalist with a warm heart. The incident +here recorded shows that the fact of the resurrection +was so attested that it was accepted by +one who could only be convinced by the clearest +and most convincing proof. The reason of +Thomas’s absence is not stated, nor even implied; +but the conjecture that he had abandoned hope, +and therefore the companionship of the disciples, +is not unreasonable.—​His language, <cite>Except +I thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe</cite>, is +that not merely of dejection, but also of defiance. +His position is that of modern positivism, +which refuses to believe anything not verified by +actual sensuous observation; his demand is that +of M. Renan, who, to substantiate the doctrine +of the resurrection, calls for the successful raising +of the dead before a commission composed of +physiologists, physicians, chemists, and skilled +critics. See <cite>Life of Jesus</cite>, <abbr title="Introduction">Intro.</abbr> But Thomas’s +spirit was very different.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_26"></a> +<p class="hanging">26 And after eight days, again his disciples were +within, and Thomas with them: <em>then</em> came Jesus, the +doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, +Peace<a id="FNanchor_752" href="#Footnote_752" class="fnanchor">[752]</a> <em>be</em> unto you.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_752" href="#FNanchor_752" class="label">[752]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 26:12.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_27"></a> +<p class="hanging">27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, +and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand,<a id="FNanchor_753" href="#Footnote_753" class="fnanchor">[753]</a> +and thrust <em>it</em> into my side: and be<a id="FNanchor_754" href="#Footnote_754" class="fnanchor">[754]</a> not faithless, but +believing.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_753" href="#FNanchor_753" class="label">[753]</a> + 1 John 1:1.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_754" href="#FNanchor_754" class="label">[754]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 1:14.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>26, 27.</b> This meeting after eight days, <i>i. e.</i>, +on the eighth day, is the first intimation in the +<abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> of a commemoration by the disciples of the +resurrection; and there is nothing to show that +the disciples had not kept together in a continuous +meeting during the entire week, which, it +will be remembered, was the Passover week. +But it is certainly significant that Christ chose +the first day of the week, on which he rose from +the dead, to make his second appearance to his +infant church, and thus gave an impulse to, if +not a suggestion of, that apostolic commemoration +of the day, which by insensible degrees led +to the transfer of the Christian’s weekly festival +from the seventh to the first day of the week.—​Christ appears as suddenly and mysteriously as +before, and in his address to Thomas echoes his +words, a severe yet a tender and loving rebuke. +The evidence which he would have refused to +the Pharisee he grants to the disciple; the inimical +demand of the determined skeptic he always +disregards; for the intellectual difficulties +of a reluctant skeptic he shows great compassion. +But he shows this compassion for unbelief +that he may rescue the unbeliever from it, and +bids him <em>become not unbelieving, but believing</em>. +Through his doubt of the actual occurrence of +the resurrection, Thomas was in danger of becoming +a disbeliever generally, and against this +danger of lapsing from a state of faith to one of +unfaith Jesus warned Thomas, and through him +warns the feeble and vacillating believers of all +ages.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_28"></a> +<p class="hanging">28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My<a id="FNanchor_755" href="#Footnote_755" class="fnanchor">[755]</a> +Lord and my God.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_755" href="#FNanchor_755" class="label">[755]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch5_23">5:23</a>; + <abbr title="Psalms">Ps.</abbr> 118:28; + 1 <abbr title="Timothy">Tim.</abbr> 3:16.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_29"></a> +<p class="hanging">29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast +seen me, thou hast believed: blessed<a id="FNanchor_756" href="#Footnote_756" class="fnanchor">[756]</a> <em>are</em> they that +have not seen, and <em>yet</em> have believed.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_756" href="#FNanchor_756" class="label">[756]</a> + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:8.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>28, 29.</b> Thomas was overpowered and convinced +by the grace of his Master, not by the +physical evidence which he had demanded, and +which was vouchsafed to him; not because he +handled, but because he <em>saw</em>, he believed +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_29">29</a></span>). +In this appears the difference of his spirit from +that of the modern rationalists; his faith finally +rested, not in the sensuous evidence, but in the +invisible love and mercy of his Lord. The mere + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span> +fact that Jesus rose from the dead did not demonstrate +his divinity, nor give ground for Thomas’s +appeal; for Lazarus, too, rose from the dead. +“It was an evidence addressing itself not to his +eyes, but to his heart, which forced him to cry, +My Lord and my God.”—(<cite>Maurice.</cite>) To interpret +this utterance as a mere expletory outcry +is the shallowest of criticism. It reduces a sublime +and exalted confession of faith to an irrelevant +and semi-profane exclamation. It is grammatically, +psychologically, and spiritually untenable; +grammatically, because it is expressly said +that Thomas addressed the words to Jesus—​<em>he said “unto him”</em>; psychologically, because it is +equally irrational to suppose that Thomas, just +convinced of the resurrection of his Lord and +Master, should break out into a mere meaningless +exclamation, or that John should have reported +it if it had been uttered; spiritually, because +Christ on the strength of this confession +of Thomas recognizes his faith: “Thou hast +believed.” Equally untenable is the suggestion +of Norton (<cite>Notes on the Gospels</cite>), that “the name +God was employed by him, not as the proper +name of the Deity, but as an appellation, according +to a common use of it in his day,” for no +such common use existed, and its existence +would have been utterly inconsistent with the +Hebrew laws against the use of God’s name in +vain. The fact that Thomas recognized Jesus as +both Lord and God might not of itself be conclusive; +there would be possible ground for +Norton’s argument: “Considering into how +great an error he had fallen in his previous obstinate +incredulity, there would be little reason +for relying upon his opinion as infallible”; but +Christ not only accepts, he distinctly approves +and ratifies Thomas’s confession, and the faith +of the church rests not on the words of the disciple, +but on their approbation by his Lord. +Thomas’s words here, then, are to be read in the +light of Christ’s words in <abbr title="chapters">chaps.</abbr> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">13-17</a>; the disciple +accepts in a single sentence Christ’s teaching +respecting himself as the one sent from and +manifesting to the world the eternal Father. It +is the answer of a suddenly awakened faith to +the before ill-comprehended declaration, He that +hath seen me hath seen the Father. In his response, +<cite>Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet +have believed</cite>, Jesus recognizes two kinds of belief, +one which rests on seeing or on the witness of +those that have seen, the other and higher that +which rests simply on spiritual apprehension. +Parallel to the implied contrast here is that in +John <a href="#ch14_11">14:11</a>, “Believe me that I am in the Father, +and the Father in me; or else believe me +for the very work’s sake.”</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_30"></a> +<p class="hanging">30 And<a id="FNanchor_757" href="#Footnote_757" class="fnanchor">[757]</a> many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence +of his disciples, which are not written in this book:</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_757" href="#FNanchor_757" class="label">[757]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch21_25">21:25</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch20_31"></a> +<p class="hanging">31 But<a id="FNanchor_758" href="#Footnote_758" class="fnanchor">[758]</a> these are written, that ye might believe that +Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and<a id="FNanchor_759" href="#Footnote_759" class="fnanchor">[759]</a> that, believing, +ye might have life through his name.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_758" href="#FNanchor_758" class="label">[758]</a> + Luke 1:4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_759" href="#FNanchor_759" class="label">[759]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch3_15">3:15</a>, + <a href="#ch3_16">16</a>; <a href="#ch5_24">5:24</a>; + <a href="#ch10_10">10:10</a>; + 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:9.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>30, 31.</b> These verses constitute the formal +close of John’s Gospel, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> 21 being an appendix. +See <a href="#Note_ch21"><abbr title="Preliminary">Prel.</abbr> Note</a> there. The “<cite>many other signs</cite>” +referred to are not necessarily only or chiefly +those wrought after the resurrection, but include +those recorded by the other Evangelists, +as well as such as have not been recorded.—​On +the object of John in his Gospel as here indicated, +see <abbr title="Introduction">Intro.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_11"><abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 11</a>. That object was threefold: +(1) That the readers might have faith that +Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of prophecy; +(2) that they might spiritually recognize in this +Messiah the well-beloved Son of God; (3) that, +believing in his Messiahship and divinity, they +might become partakers of his life. <cite>Life</cite> (<span lang="el">ζωή</span>) in +John’s usage always signifies <em>spiritual</em> life, and +the <em>name of Christ</em>, in which this life is to be attained, +stands for Christ himself in all the gracious +offices which his names indicate, as Jesus +or Saviour, Christ or Messiah, and Emmanuel or +God with us.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER <abbr title="Twenty-One">XXI.</abbr></h3> +</div> + + +<p><abbr title="Chapter">Ch.</abbr> 21:1-25. APPENDIX TO JOHN’S GOSPEL.—​<span class="smcap">Waiting +for Christ while we work (3).—​The power of +the Lord over nature (6).—​Love sees most quickly; +zeal acts most quickly (7).—​Christ provides +for our simplest wants; fire for the cold, food +for the hungry (9).—​A true proof of love for +Christ: shepherding his sheep (15-17).—​Service +and suffering are both following Christ (18).—​The +impertinence of curiosity rebuked (21-23).—​The +last word and the first word of Christ +the same, Follow Me.</span></p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><a id="Note_ch21"></a><span class="smcap">Preliminary Note.</span>—All modern critics agree +in regarding this chapter as in the nature of a +supplement, the original Gospel having been +brought to a close in the last verses of the preceding +chapter. This opinion is based chiefly +upon the formal close afforded by those verses. +That this supplemental chapter was written at a +very early period, and probably before the Gospel +itself was given to the public, is indicated +by the fact that it is found in all the manuscripts. +Whether it was written by John himself or by some +disciple or friend is not altogether clear, and certainly +not very important; but the evangelical +critics generally agree, from a careful consideration +of its internal characteristics, in attributing it +to John himself. Thus Alford: “The reader will +have perceived in the foregoing comment on the + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span> +chapter a manifest leaning to the belief that it was +written by John himself. <em>Of this I am fully convinced.</em> +In every part of it his hand is plain and +unmistakable; in every part of it his character +and spirit is manifested in a way which none but +the most biassed can fail to recognize. I believe +it to have been added some years probably after +the completion of the Gospel; partly, perhaps, +to record the important miracle of the second +draught of fishes, so full of spiritual instruction, +and the interesting account of the sayings of the +Lord to Peter; but principally to meet the error +which was becoming prevalent concerning himself.” +To the same effect Meyer: “In accordance +with all that has been advanced, the view +is justified that John, by way of authentic historical +explanation of the legend in <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch21_23">23</a>, some +time after finishing his Gospel, which he had +closed with <a href="#ch20_31">20:31</a>, wrote +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">21:1-24</a> as a complement +of the book, and that this appendix, +simply because its Johannean character was immediately +certain and recognized, already at a +very early period, whilst the Gospel had not yet +issued forth from the narrower circle of its first +readers, had become an inseparable part of the +Gospel.” Similarly, though somewhat more +doubtfully, Luthardt and Godet. See also +Ezra Abbot, in <cite>Smith’s <abbr title="Bible Dictionary">Bib. Dict.</abbr></cite>, <abbr title="Volume">Vol.</abbr> 2, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 1430, +note b.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_1"></a> +<p class="hanging drop-cap"><span class="smcap">After</span> these things Jesus shewed himself again to +the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this +wise shewed he <em>himself</em>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_2"></a> +<p class="hanging">2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas +called Didymus, and<a id="FNanchor_760" href="#Footnote_760" class="fnanchor">[760]</a> Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, +and the <em>sons</em><a id="FNanchor_761" href="#Footnote_761" class="fnanchor">[761]</a> of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_760" href="#FNanchor_760" class="label">[760]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch1_45">1:45</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_761" href="#FNanchor_761" class="label">[761]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 4:21.</p> +</div></div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_3"></a> +<p class="hanging">3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They +say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, +and entered into a ship immediately; and that night +they caught nothing.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>1-3.</b> The departure of the disciples into Galilee +is not to be regarded as an abandonment on +their part of hope; for Christ’s direction to his +disciples after his resurrection was to go into +Galilee and meet him there (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 28:7; Mark 16:7</span>). +We are rather to regard it, therefore, as an evidence +that they were convinced by his repeated +appearances of the resurrection of their Lord, +and went into Galilee in anticipation of meeting + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span> +him there. For the same reason we are not to +regard Peter’s declaration, <cite>I go a fishing</cite>, as an +indication that he had abandoned his sacred for +a secular calling. His restless temperament did +not allow him to wait in inactivity, and he sought +relief in work. The response of the other disciples, +<cite>We also go with thee</cite>, has been rightly used +by the homiletical commentators as an illustration +of the influence of example. John was one +of the sons of Zebedee. Assuming that the 21st +chapter is from his pen, we have in it the description +of an eye-witness. There is nothing to +indicate who were the two unnamed disciples, +but the fact that they are unnamed has been +regarded as an indication that they were not two +of the twelve. The <em>ship</em> was, of course, simply a +fisherman’s boat, probably not very different in +shape and size from those to be seen in the Sea +of Galilee at the present day, as represented in +the accompanying illustration.</p> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_4"></a> +<p class="hanging">4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood +on the shore: but the disciples knew<a id="FNanchor_762" href="#Footnote_762" class="fnanchor">[762]</a> not that it was +Jesus.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_762" href="#FNanchor_762" class="label">[762]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch20_14">20:14</a>.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_5"></a> +<p class="hanging">5 Then<a id="FNanchor_763" href="#Footnote_763" class="fnanchor">[763]</a> Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye +any meat? They answered him, No.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_763" href="#FNanchor_763" class="label">[763]</a> + Luke 24:41.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>4, 5.</b> The night of labor spent in vain might +naturally have recalled to the disciples that +other night of toil after which Christ first called +some of these disciples to be his followers (Luke +5:1-11). In the gray twilight they saw a stranger +on the shore; that they did not recognize +him may have been due in part to the dimness +of the early light, but more probably to the fact, +illustrated by other post-resurrection appearances, +that he was recognized only as he chose +to reveal himself (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_14">20:14</a>; Luke 24:16</span>). Certainly +it indicates that the disciples had no such expectation +of his appearance as would lead them, according +to the theory of M. Renan, to conjure +up a spectre. There is nothing in the words, +and we may presume there was nothing in the +tones of Jesus, to quicken their perception. His +language is that of a fisherman: <cite>Boys</cite> (<span lang="el">παιδία</span>), +<cite>have ye no fish?</cite> The word rendered <cite>meat</cite> (<span lang="el">προσφάγιον</span>) +is literally <dfn>what is eaten therewith</dfn>, <i>i. e.</i>, +with bread, and here is equivalent to <dfn>fish</dfn>, which +in Galilee was a common accompaniment of +bread in the peasant’s meal.</p> + +<div class="divcenterimg60"> + <a id="i_236"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_236.jpg" + alt="Bread"> + <p class="caption">ANCIENT BREAD.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_6"></a> +<p class="hanging">6 And he said unto them, Cast<a id="FNanchor_764" href="#Footnote_764" class="fnanchor">[764]</a> the net on the right +side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, +and now they were not able to draw it for the +multitude of fishes.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_764" href="#FNanchor_764" class="label">[764]</a> + Luke 5:4-7.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_7"></a> +<p class="hanging">7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith +unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter +heard that it was the Lord, he girt <em>his</em> fisher’s coat <em>unto +him</em>, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the +sea.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_8"></a> +<p class="hanging">8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for +they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred +cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.</p> +</div> + +<p><b>6-8.</b> There was nothing to the disciples especially +suggestive in the direction to <em>cast the net +on the right side of the ship</em>. They might naturally +suppose that he had perceived indications of +a school of fishes there.—​In the effect produced +on the two disciples, Peter and John, by the +miraculous draught of fishes which followed, +the character of each is strikingly illustrated. +John, with his quicker intuitions, recalling that +other fishing scene, recognized the Lord first; +Peter, with his greater boldness to act, leaped +into the water, and partly swam and partly +waded ashore. <abbr title="Compare">Comp.</abbr> +<abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch20_6">20:6</a>, <a href="#ch20_8">8</a>, +notes. The distance was about <em>two +hundred cubits</em>, that is, about three +hundred feet. The <cite>fisher’s coat</cite>, +which Peter girt unto him, appears +to have been a sort of loose +garment, like the workmen’s +blouse of to-day, which Peter had +laid off during his night’s work. +This he put on, counting it unseemly +to appear without it in the +presence of his Lord, at the same +time drawing it up and tucking it +in about the waist, that it might +not impede his swimming to the +shore.—​The <a href="#i_235">accompanying illustration</a> +shows the probable style of the fisher’s +coat, in contrast with the long robe worn by one +not engaged in manual labor. The net itself was +so full of fishes, and they so <em>great</em>, that the disciples +abandoned the attempt to bring them into +the boat, but dragged them in the net to the +land.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="i_235"></a> + <br> + <img src="images/i_235.jpg" + alt="HE GIRT HIS COAT."> + <p class="caption">HE GIRT HIS FISHER’S COAT UNTO HIM.</p> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_9"></a> +<p class="hanging">9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw +a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_10"></a> +<p class="hanging">10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye +have now caught.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_11"></a> +<p class="hanging">11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land +full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and +for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.</p> +</div> + + +<p><b>9-11.</b> On coming to the shore the disciples +found a fire of coals already kindled, and some +fish laid thereon, and some loaves of <span style="white-space:nowrap;">bread—in</span> +short, preparation for a simple meal. There has + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span> +been some unprofitable discussion among the +commentators respecting the manner in which +this provision had been made. It is attributed +by different commentators to the ministry of +angels, to the activity of Peter, to the forethought +of Jesus. Alford, following Stier and the older +commentators, insists that it was miraculously +provided. Trench rightly and briefly disposes +of this question: “By what ministry, natural or +miraculous, has been often inquired, but we +must leave this undetermined, as we find it.” +The provision apparently was not sufficient for +the company, for Christ bade Peter add to the +stock from the fish just caught. Peter went, +therefore, to aid the others in bringing the net +to shore. The fish were counted, and the exact +number is recorded by the Evangelist. The attempt +to draw some spiritual lessons from this +number affords a curious illustration of the absurdities +into which the allegorizing method is +liable to carry the student. The exact enumeration +is important only because it is an indication +of accuracy in the historian; in such an enumeration +there is no opportunity for the exaggeration +of imagination. To me Augustine’s allegorical +interpretation of the contrast between this and +the analogous yet widely different miracle recorded +in Luke 5:1-11 is scarcely more profitable +than the spiritualizing interpretation of the +meaning of the one hundred and fifty-three; the +curious in such matters will find it fully reported +in Trench on the Parables. It might be possible +to account for each single feature in this narrative +without assuming a miracle; but in a candid +consideration of all the features <span style="white-space:nowrap;">combined—the</span> +fruitless fishing all night, the sudden and extraordinary +success in the morning, the number of +fish, their size, the unbroken net, though dragged +full of fish to the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">shore—it</span> is impossible to doubt +that we have here, what evangelical critics have +always seen in the narrative, the account of a +miraculous manifestation of the Lord’s power.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_12"></a> +<p class="hanging">12 Jesus saith unto them, Come <em>and</em> dine. And none +of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing +that it was the Lord.</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_13"></a> +<p class="hanging">13 Jesus<a id="FNanchor_765" href="#Footnote_765" class="fnanchor">[765]</a> then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth +them, and fish likewise.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_765" href="#FNanchor_765" class="label">[765]</a> + Acts 10:41.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_14"></a> +<p class="hanging">14 This<a id="FNanchor_766" href="#Footnote_766" class="fnanchor">[766]</a> is now the third time that Jesus shewed +himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the +dead.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_766" href="#FNanchor_766" class="label">[766]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch20_19">20:19</a>, <a href="#ch20_26">26</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>12-14.</b> There is a verbal, but no real inconsistency +in the statement that <cite>none of the disciples +durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was +the Lord</cite>. “But seeing that His form was altered, +and full of much awfulness, they were +greatly amazed, and desired to ask somewhat +concerning It; but fear, and their knowledge +that He was not some other, but the same, +checked their inquiry.”—(<cite>Chrysostom.</cite>) The careful +student will observe that the Evangelist +does not characterize this as the third appearance +of Jesus, but as the third appearance <em>to his +disciples</em>, <i>i. e.</i>, the apostles. This excludes the +appearance to Mary (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_16">20:16</a></span>), and to the two +disciples on the walk to Emmaus (<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 24:13-35</span>); +the two preceding appearances referred to were +that to the ten on the evening of the day of the +resurrection (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_19">20:19</a></span>) and that to the eleven in +the week following (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch20_26">20:26</a></span>). Without following +the allegorizing commentators into any of +their extravagances, we may reasonably see, with +Alford, Trench, and others, a spiritual significance +in the fact that Christ provided a meal for +the apostles at the same time when, by this new +miraculous draught, he reminded them of their +first call to become fishers of men, thus suggesting +to them the spiritual truth involved in the +Lord’s Supper, and symbolically represented in +the feeding of the five thousand, that they who +minister in the things of Christ are themselves +dependent on Christ for their spiritual support; +perhaps also suggesting that when the labor of +life is over there will be for them that have +wrought for Christ a feast with him in the kingdom +of heaven. But certainly Trench goes too +far in saying that “the character of the meal was +sacramental, and it had nothing to do with the +stilling of their present hunger.” It is much +more reasonable to see in this provision for the +disciples’ commonest <span style="white-space:nowrap;">needs—food</span> and a fire at +the end of a night of sleepless toil—a new illustration +of the tenderness of Christ’s consideration +for his own.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_15"></a> +<p class="hanging">15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon +Peter, Simon, <em>son</em> of Jonas, lovest thou me more<a id="FNanchor_767" href="#Footnote_767" class="fnanchor">[767]</a> than +these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest +that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed<a id="FNanchor_768" href="#Footnote_768" class="fnanchor">[768]</a> my lambs.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_767" href="#FNanchor_767" class="label">[767]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 26:33, 35.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_768" href="#FNanchor_768" class="label">[768]</a> + <abbr title="Isaiah">Isa.</abbr> 40:11; + <abbr title="Jeremiah">Jer.</abbr> 3:15; + <abbr title="Ezekiel">Ezek.</abbr> 34:2-10; + Acts 20:28; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 5:2, 4.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_16"></a> +<p class="hanging">16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, <em>son</em> +of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, +Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto +him, Feed my sheep.<a id="FNanchor_769" href="#Footnote_769" class="fnanchor">[769]</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_769" href="#FNanchor_769" class="label">[769]</a> + <abbr title="Hebrews">Heb.</abbr> 13:20; 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 2:25.</p> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_17"></a> +<p class="hanging">17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, <em>son</em> of +Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved<a id="FNanchor_770" href="#Footnote_770" class="fnanchor">[770]</a> because +he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And +he said unto him, Lord, thou<a id="FNanchor_771" href="#Footnote_771" class="fnanchor">[771]</a> knowest all things; thou +knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed +my sheep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_770" href="#FNanchor_770" class="label">[770]</a> + <abbr title="Lamentations">Lam.</abbr> 3:33.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_771" href="#FNanchor_771" class="label">[771]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch16_30">16:30</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>15-17. So when they had dined, Jesus +saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, +lovest thou me more than these? +He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou +knowest that I have affection for thee. +He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He +saith to him again the second time, Simon, +son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He +saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest +that I have affection for thee. He saith +unto him, Shepherd my sheep. He saith + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span> +unto him the third time, Simon, son of +Jonas, hast thou affection for me? Peter +was grieved because he said unto him the +third time, Hast thou affection for me? +and he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest +all things; thou knowest that I have +affection for thee. Jesus saith unto him, +Feed my little sheep.</b> This translation will +suggest to the English reader, though inadequately, +points of difference in the original which +our English translation wholly fails to preserve, +possibly through the inattention of the translators, +but more probably through the inadequacy +of the English language to represent delicate +shades of meaning which are represented +by the Greek. (1) Two different Greek words +are rendered indiscriminately <dfn>love</dfn> (<span lang="el">φιλέω</span> and +<span lang="el">ἀγαπάω</span>). I have attempted to indicate the difference +by rendering the one to <dfn>love</dfn> and the +other to <dfn>have affection</dfn>, though this rather suggests +that there is a difference than indicates in +what it consists. The word which Christ uses in +his question, <cite>Lovest thou me?</cite> (<span lang="el">ἀγαπάω</span>), signifies, +if not the higher, at least the more thoughtful +and reverential affection, founded on an intelligent +estimate of character, and accompanied by +a deliberate and well-considered choice. Peter’s +<cite>I love thee</cite> represents rather the personal instinctive +love, the activity of feeling rather than of +will, the affection which, being spontaneous and +instinctive, gives no account of itself, and no +reason for its existence. We are bid in the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> +to exercise the first form of love (<span lang="el">ἀγαπάω</span>) towards +God, but never the second; while the Father +is said to exercise both forms towards his +own Son. Two different Greek words are also +rendered indiscriminately <dfn>feed</dfn>. To indicate the +difference I have rendered one by the rare but +indispensable verb <dfn>shepherd</dfn>. Finally, three +words are used to represent the flock which +Christ commends to Peter’s care—<dfn>lambs</dfn> (<span lang="el">ἀρνία</span>), +<dfn>sheep</dfn> (<span lang="el">πρόβατά</span>), and <dfn>little sheep</dfn> (<span lang="el">προβάτιά</span>). There +is some uncertainty as to the reading, but the +one I have followed is accepted by the best +<span style="white-space:nowrap;">critics—Alford,</span> Meyer, etc. To <dfn>feed</dfn> the sheep +is simply to nourish them; to <dfn>shepherd</dfn> them is +not in contrast the ruling activity (so <cite>Meyer</cite>), but +the whole shepherd care of the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">flock—watching</span>, +tending, <span style="white-space:nowrap;">leading—as</span> illustrated in Psalm 23 and +in John <a href="#ch10_1">10:1-18</a>. The term <cite>lamb</cite> is never used in +the <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr> except of Christ himself +(<span class="muchsmaller">John <a href="#ch1_29">1:29</a>; +1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> +1:19; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 5:6, 8, 12, etc.</span>), or of the followers of Christ +(<span class="muchsmaller">Luke 10:3</span>). By the <cite>lambs</cite> here, then, I understand +Christ to mean his professed followers; +Peter was to show his love for the Master by +teaching them. The term <cite>sheep</cite> is more general, +and includes in the figurative language of the +Bible those who have wandered away from the +fold of God (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 9:36; 12:11, 12; 15:24; Luke 15:4-6</span>). +Peter is to show his love for the Master, not only +by teaching the Lord’s disciples, but by shepherding +the sheep, whether in the fold or wandering +from it, as a good shepherd going before +them, going after them, giving his life, if need +be, for them (<span class="muchsmaller">John +<a href="#ch10_1">10:1-13</a></span>). The <dfn>little sheep</dfn> are +the young, who have not yet wandered away, +and whom he is to keep in the Master’s fold by +feeding them there with the herbage of life. +Christ calls them <em>my</em> lambs, <em>my</em> sheep, because +the Father has given all to him, and he is, as +Redeemer and Saviour, Lord of all. The most +superficial student will not fail to see in this +thrice-repeated question an indirect and implied +reference to and recall of the thrice-repeated +denial of his Lord by Peter. In his request for +permission to walk on the water, in his protest +against the feet-washing, in his assertion +“Though all men shall be offended because of +thee, yet will I never be offended” (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 14:28; +26:33; John <a href="#ch13_8">13:8</a></span>), there are indications of an overweening +self-confidence in his love for the Lord as +greater than that of the other disciples. It was +this self-confidence in the strength of his love +which had proved his danger. Christ addresses +him, not by his new name of Peter, but by the +old name which he bore before he knew the Lord, +and asks him, Hast thou for me a greater love +than these? Peter, saying nothing of the love of +the others, not even venturing to claim for himself +the intelligent and deliberate love which +rules the life and molds the character, answers +in humility: Thou knowest my affection for +thee. Show it then, says Jesus, not by assuming +pre-eminence over my flock, but by becoming +their shepherd (= <dfn>servant</dfn>, <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch13_12">13:12-17</a>). He then +repeats the question, Lovest thou me? Peter +answers as before: Thou knowest my affection +for thee. Show it then, says Christ, by shepherding +my sheep; by seeking the lost, restoring +the wanderer. A third time he asks the question, +now changing it and adopting Peter’s own +language: Art thou sure of thine affection for +me? Peter is grieved, at the <em>change</em> in the question +as well as at its repetition, “because he said +unto him the third time, <cite>Hast thou affection for +me?</cite>” and appeals to him as the Searcher of +hearts to witness for himself the depth and reality +of his affection. And Christ finally bids him + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span> +show his love by feeding the little <span style="white-space:nowrap;">sheep—the</span> +young, the feeble, those most needing care. +Meyer well notes the fact that Christ does not +question Peter’s <em>faith</em>, but the love which proceeds +from faith and shows itself by its work; +and Godet notes the curious resemblance between +the present situation and that of two +scenes in the previous life of Peter with which it +is related. He had been called to the ministry +by Jesus after a miraculous draught of fishes; +it is after a similar draught that the ministry is +restored to him. He had lost his office by his +denial beside a fire of coals; it is beside a fire of +coals that he recovers it.—​(<cite>Godet.</cite>) The ecclesiastical +commentators see in this scene a reinstatement +of Peter in his apostolic office, to which +Alford well replies that “there is no record of +his ever having lost it.” The R. C. divines find +in it a proof-text for their belief in the primacy +of Peter; to which Peter himself furnishes a +quite adequate reply in 1 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 5:1-3. The shepherd +is not a lord over God’s heritage, but one +who follows the Chief Shepherd, goes before the +flock, is their example and their leader, by his +own life showing them the way to live, and, if +need be, by his own death for their sakes showing +them how to die. It must strike one, too, +as curious that Peter should be grieved at words +which constitute him the head of the church +and the vicar of God upon earth. The true lesson +of this scene is for all the disciples of Christ. +We are all, through Peter’s experience, admonished +to show our love for our Master, not by +asking permission to do great things (as to walk +on the waves), not by refusing to accept his +humiliation for us (as by refusing to allow the +feet-washing), nor yet by professing what we +will do in the hour of difficulty and danger (as +by the assurance, “I will not deny thee”), nor +even by entering into fierce battle against his +foes (as by drawing the sword on Malchus), but +by laying down the life in quiet, humble, self-denying +service for the Master’s <span style="white-space:nowrap;">sheep—the</span> followers +of Christ, the wanderers from the fold, +and the weakest and feeblest in the fold.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_18"></a> +<p class="hanging">18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee,<a id="FNanchor_772" href="#Footnote_772" class="fnanchor">[772]</a> When thou wast +young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither +thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt +stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird<a id="FNanchor_773" href="#Footnote_773" class="fnanchor">[773]</a> thee, +and carry <em>thee</em> whither thou wouldest not.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_772" href="#FNanchor_772" class="label">[772]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch13_36">13:36</a>; Acts 12:3, 4.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_773" href="#FNanchor_773" class="label">[773]</a> + Acts 21:11.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_19"></a> +<p class="hanging">19 This spake he, signifying by what death<a id="FNanchor_774" href="#Footnote_774" class="fnanchor">[774]</a> he +should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he +saith unto him, Follow<a id="FNanchor_775" href="#Footnote_775" class="fnanchor">[775]</a> me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_774" href="#FNanchor_774" class="label">[774]</a> + 2 <abbr title="Peter">Pet.</abbr> 1:14.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_775" href="#FNanchor_775" class="label">[775]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch12_26">12:26</a>; + <abbr title="Numbers">Numb.</abbr> 14:24; + 1 <abbr title="Samuel">Sam.</abbr> 12:20; + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 19:28.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>18, 19.</b> In this language, <cite>when thou wast young +thou girdedst thyself</cite>, there is perhaps a reference +to Peter’s act in girding himself and casting himself +into the sea (<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> +<a href="#ch21_7">7</a></span>). The prophecy foretells +the manner of his death, which, according to an +early and apparently trustworthy tradition, was +by crucifixion at about the same time with Paul, +in the persecutions under Nero. According to +Origen, Peter was crucified with his head downwards, +either by his own request, because in his +humility he was unwilling to suffer the same +death as his Lord, or by order of Nero, as matter +of wanton and ingenious cruelty. The contrast +between Peter’s experience in his youth and in +his old age is one common in Christian experience, +a contrast between <em>doing</em> and <em>suffering</em>, between +active, energetic service of the Lord and +the patient endurance of his cross. Both are +involved in following Christ. To interpret this +command, <cite>Follow me</cite>, literally, as Godet: “Jesus +began to move off, and commanded Peter to follow +him in the literal sense, and John followed +them without any express invitation,” seems to +me a shallow interpretation, which is not helped +by supposing it to be a symbolical act, a sort of +childish object-teaching. Peter had gone back to +his fishing; in saying <cite>Follow me</cite>, Christ calls him +again to become a fisher of men, by the same +phrase which he had employed three years before +on the shore of the same sea and after a similar +miracle.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_20"></a> +<p class="hanging">20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple +whom Jesus loved, following; which also leaned on +his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that +betrayeth thee?</p> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_21"></a> +<p class="hanging">21 Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what +<em>shall</em> this man <em>do</em>?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>20, 21.</b> It is not necessary, and it is hardly +reasonable, to impute Peter’s question to a feeling +of jealousy; it is rather to be attributed to +the natural and almost universal tendency to +inquire into the duty and destiny of others. The +Lord’s reply indicates what is the answer which he +would make to us whenever we, following Peter’s +doubtful example, pry curiously into his purposes +respecting others.</p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_22"></a> +<p class="hanging">22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I +come,<a id="FNanchor_776" href="#Footnote_776" class="fnanchor">[776]</a> what <em>is that</em> to thee? Follow<a id="FNanchor_777" href="#Footnote_777" class="fnanchor">[777]</a> thou me.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_776" href="#FNanchor_776" class="label">[776]</a> + <abbr title="Matthew">Matt.</abbr> 25:31; <abbr title="Revelation">Rev.</abbr> 1:7; 22:20.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_777" href="#FNanchor_777" class="label">[777]</a> + verse <a href="#ch21_19">19</a>.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_23"></a> +<p class="hanging">23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, +that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said +not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he +tarry till I come, what <em>is that</em> to thee?</p> +</div> + +<p><b>22, 23.</b> It is curious to see how Christ’s language +here, notwithstanding John’s interpretation, +has been misconstrued, even down to the +latest time, as a promise, or a quasi-promise, +that John should tarry until the second coming +of Christ. Ancient legends report that after his +interment there were strange movements in the +earth that covered him, that when the tomb was +subsequently opened it was found empty, that +he was reserved to reappear again in conflict with +Anti-Christ; so late as the sixteenth century an +enthusiast was burned at Toulouse who gave +himself out as <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> John; and even so sober a + +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span> +commentator as Godet submits, though hesitatingly, +the hypothesis that, as the primitive epoch +of humanity had its Enoch, and the theocratic +epoch its Elijah, neither of whom knew death, +so also the Christian epoch may have had its +deathless representative. Two other interpretations +are: (1) That Christ refers here to his +coming to his own in their death, and that by +the phrase <cite>If I will that he tarry till I come</cite> he +means, If I will that he meet a natural death +instead of martyrdom. This interpretation Alford +justly characterizes as frigid and inapplicable +here, since martyrdom is as truly a coming +of the Lord as natural death. (2) That by his +Second Coming, Christ refers to the destruction +of Jerusalem, an interpretation strangely adopted +by Alford. That destruction was an historical +prophecy, but in no wise an historical fulfillment +of the promise of the Lord’s Second Coming. +There is no reason for regarding this language of +Christ as anything else than purely hypothetical, +equivalent to, <dfn>Suppose that I were to will that he +should remain upon the earth unto the end; what +would that be to thee?</dfn></p> + + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_24"></a> +<p class="hanging">24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, +and wrote these things: and<a id="FNanchor_778" href="#Footnote_778" class="fnanchor">[778]</a> we know that his testimony +is true.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_778" href="#FNanchor_778" class="label">[778]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> + <a href="#ch19_35">19:35</a>; 3 John 12.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="p2 blockquote"> +<a id="ch21_25"></a> +<p class="hanging">25 And<a id="FNanchor_779" href="#Footnote_779" class="fnanchor">[779]</a> there are also many other things which +Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every +one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain +the<a id="FNanchor_780" href="#Footnote_780" class="fnanchor">[780]</a> books that should be written. Amen.</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_779" href="#FNanchor_779" class="label">[779]</a> + <abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> <a href="#ch20_30">20:30</a>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p class="unindent"><a id="Footnote_780" href="#FNanchor_780" class="label">[780]</a> + Amos 7:10.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p><b>24, 25.</b> There is uncertainty respecting the +authorship and authenticity of these verses. For +discussion of this question, see <cite>Smith’s <abbr title="Bible Dictionary">Bib. Dict.</abbr></cite>, +<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 1430, note <i>b</i>; <cite>Godet’s Commentary</cite>, <abbr title="Volume Three">Vol. III</abbr>, +<abbr title="pages">pp.</abbr> 362, 363. The verses are found in all the +manuscripts, except that Tischendorf believes +that <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 25 was originally wanting in the Sinaitic +<abbr title="Manuscript">MS.</abbr>; he thinks that the color of the ink and a +slight difference in the handwriting show that it +did not proceed from the original scribe, but was +added by a contemporary reviser. But though +there is no external evidence for setting either +verse aside, the internal evidence seems to me decisive +against verse 25. “This inharmonious and +unspiritual exaggeration” (<cite>Meyer</cite>) is entirely inconsistent +with John’s scrupulously simple and +truthful narrative. The authorship of <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 24 is +more uncertain. Whether written by John, or +added almost immediately after by some companion, +it affords a very strong attestation of the +apostolic authorship of the Fourth Gospel. On a +careful examination of the different authorities, it +seems to me that Godet’s conclusion, though hypothetical, +is in accordance with probabilities, +and his deduction respecting the authenticity of +the Gospel as a whole is irresistible: “1st. That +the narrative (<span class="muchsmaller">verses 1-23</span>) is from the hand of the +Evangelist. <abbr title="second">2d.</abbr> That <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 24 is a declaration emanating +from the friends of John, who had called +forth the composition of his Gospel, and to +whom he had committed it after its completion. +<abbr title="third">3d.</abbr> That <abbr title="verse">ver.</abbr> 25 is written by one of them, with +whom the work was deposited, and who thought +himself bound to close it thus, to the glory, not +of the author, but of the subject of history. By +these last words the entire work becomes a +whole. Accordingly we are shut up to hold +either that John is the author of our Gospel, or +that the author is a forger, who, 1st, palmed +himself off on the world with all the characteristics +of the apostle; who, <abbr title="second">2d</abbr>, carried his shamefulness +so far that he got made out for him, by +an accomplice of his fraud, a certificate of identity +with the person of John; or who, more +simply still, to save himself the trouble of finding +a companion in falsehood, made out this +certificate for himself in the name of another, or +of several others. And he who had recourse to +such ways was the author of a writing in which +lying is blasted as the work of the devil +(<span class="muchsmaller"><abbr title="chapter">ch.</abbr> +<a href="#ch8_44">8:44</a></span>), +and truth glorified as one of the two essential +features of the divine character! If any one +will believe such a story, * * * let him believe +it” (<span class="muchsmaller">1 <abbr title="Corinthians">Cor.</abbr> 14:38</span>).</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span> + +<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Two</span> years have elapsed since the publication +of the preceding volume in this series of +Commentaries on the books of the New Testament. +A considerable part of the Commentary +on John was then already written; all that part +of it which was common to the Four Gospels was +substantially ready for the printer; little else +remained to be written except that portion which +dealt with the larger discourses of our Lord, and +not all of that; and a life-long study of the Four +Gospels, part of the results of which had been +given to the public in a Life of Christ, and others +of which were in manuscript notes, had made me +measurably familiar with the ground that lay +before me. But the discourses of Jesus, as recorded +by John, can be studied only meditatively. +A certain quiet restfulness of mind is essential to +any spiritual apprehension of their meaning. +And I have believed that those to whom this +volume had been earlier promised, and whose +impatience at the delay has reached me in letters +that have always been kindly and courteous and +full of encouragement, would easier pardon delay +than despoiling haste in preparation. I can ask +no leniency of any critic on the ground that time +was wanting to do adequately the needful work.</p> + +<p>I have stated in the introduction the reasons +which have led me, after a careful, and I believe +a measurably impartial, study of the question, to +believe that the Fourth Gospel is the work of the +apostle John, and that he is the one designated +in that Gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus +loved.” I wish to add here, emphatically, that +the meditative study of the discourses which +John has reported has strengthened that conviction. +Either we have here the truths which +Christ taught, reported by one who lived after +the spiritual and catholic character of Christianity +had begun to show itself by its actual development, +and who therefore comprehended his +profounder instructions as they were not comprehended +during his lifetime; or else we must +believe that the centuries immediately succeeding +the first of the Christian era produced a +spiritual genius whose insight into the profoundest +truths of human experience, when inflamed +into more than merely human life by the inbreathing +of God, makes him the equal if not the superior +of the Jesus portrayed in the three synoptic +Gospels, and yet one who has been utterly +unknown to fame, and who has left no other +monument to his memory than a document that +is a fraud if not a forgery. The skepticism that +asserts this lays too heavy a tax on human credulity. +It asks us to believe not only in a Socrates +who had no Plato to reveal his teachings and +his influence, but in one who did not hesitate to +employ a petty and useless fraud as a setting for +the most transcendent spiritual truth.</p> + +<p>This truth may be expressed in two words as +that of the Divine Immanence. Around this the +whole Gospel of John centres; to illustrate this +the whole Gospel was written. That there is in +man the possibility of a more than merely earthly +life; that in him has been planted the germ of a +divine life; that this life, when divinely developed, +brings with it a new light and power; that +God is in the soul and the soul may live in perpetual +consciousness of its God; that Christ is +not merely a Memory and a Hope, but a Presence; +that the Supernatural is not a past phenomenon, +but a present and a perpetual experience; +that <span style="white-space:nowrap;">miracles—that</span> is, signs of the divine, +All-mighty <span style="white-space:nowrap;">love—are</span> forever going on in human +experience, on a transcendently grander scale in +the nineteenth century than they did in the first; +that the evidence of Christianity is not to be +sought in dingy and doubtful records of past +events, but in the personal observation and witness +of present occurrences; that revelation was +not completed with the Apocalypse, but every +devout soul has the promise of an inner light, +and the invisible and Catholic brotherhood and +household of faith, which is the true church of +Christ, has in it an everlasting Shechinah, which +reveals with perpetually increasing clearness the +truth of God both to it and through it; and that +fidelity to the sacred and sweet duties of love is +at once the condition and the result of this living +experience of an ever-living God, in the spiritual +realm as in nature, every fruit being the seed +vessel of new growths for the <span style="white-space:nowrap;">future:—this</span> I +believe to be the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ +according to John. And I believe there is no +better protection against that skepticism of the +present age, whose vice is not that it demands a +reason for every faith, but that it denies the witness +of the spiritual sight to spiritual things, than +the patient, meditative study of this Gospel, except +the patient, persistent pursuit of the life to +which it invites. To those that have no faith in +such a life and such a light, to whom Christ is only +a mist-covered mountain seen across the intervening +eighteen centuries, and God only an hypothesis +made probable by the Paleyrian argument from +design, this Commentary will probably give no +aid, and this Gospel will even appear to be uninterpretable +in its mysticism. To those that have +this faith in a perpetually present Immanuel, a +Christ who is ever a God with us, however dim the +faith may be, these pages are commended in the +prayer and hope that they may help to make +the Gospel clearer, the faith stronger, and the +Christ nearer and dearer.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 id="INDEX">INDEX.</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—The abbreviations <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, and <abbr title="John">J.</abbr> refer respectively to the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, +and John; the figures refer to the pages.</p> + + +<ul class="index"> +<li class="ifrst">A.</li> + +<li class="indx">Adultery, Laws against, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 55.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anise, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 250.</li> + +<li class="indx">Almsgiving, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 98.</li> + +<li class="indx">Andrew, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 148.</li> + +<li class="indx">Angels:</li> + <li class="isub1">Bible doctrine of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 215, 323; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 7.</li> + <li class="isub1">Message to the Shepherds of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 19, 20, 21.</li> + +<li class="indx">Anointing at Bethany, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 58.</li> + +<li class="indx">Annunciation, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 11, 12.</li> + +<li class="indx">Antonia, tower of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Apostles:</li> + <li class="isub1">Call of the, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 14.</li> + <li class="isub1">Commission of the, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 27.</li> + <li class="isub1">Office of the, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 14.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">B.</li> + +<li class="indx">Baptism:</li> + <li class="isub1">Ceremony of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 72.</li> + <li class="isub1">Doctrine of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 327, 328; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Barabbas, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 310.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bartholomew, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 149.</li> + +<li class="indx">Baskets, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 198; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Beatitudes, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 85-87; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 41, 42.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bed, Old Jewish, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 10.</li> + +<li class="indx">Beelzebub, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 166.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bethabara, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bethany, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51, 280; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 122; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bethesda, Pool of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bethlehem, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52, 58.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bethphage, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 53; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 122.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bethsaida, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51, 157; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 30.</li> + +<li class="indx">Betrayal, Prophecy of the, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Blindness, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 131.</li> + +<li class="indx">Book, Old Jewish, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 32.</li> + +<li class="indx">Book-making, Ancient, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 25.</li> + +<li class="indx">Bread, Eastern, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 36; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Broker, Eastern, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 121.</li> + +<li class="indx">Burial customs, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">C.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cæsar, Concerning tribute of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 241, 242.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cæsarea Philippi, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51, 199.</li> + +<li class="indx">Caiaphas, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 280.</li> + +<li class="indx">Camel’s-hair, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 66.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cana, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Candle-stick, An Eastern, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 16.</li> + +<li class="indx">Canon, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 17-25.</li> + +<li class="indx">Capernaum, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51, 80; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 62; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Care, Christ’s teaching concerning, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 108.</li> + +<li class="indx">Centurion, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 117.</li> + +<li class="indx">Children, Christ’s blessing of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 46, 225; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 115.</li> + +<li class="indx">Chorazin, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51, 157.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="Christ"></a>Christ:</li> + <li class="isub1">Activity of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 6.</li> + <li class="isub1">Agony in Gethsemane, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 290-295; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 135.</li> + <li class="isub1">Anointed by Mary, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 280; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Anointed by the penitent woman, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 48, 49.</li> + <li class="isub1">Atonement by, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Authority questioned, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 53.</li> + <li class="isub1">Baptism of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 71-74; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 31.</li> + <li class="isub1">Betrayal of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 59, 295-297; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 136; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_211">211-213</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Birth of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 55, 56, 64; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 7; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Bloody sweat of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 135.</li> + <li class="isub1">Burial of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 171, 321; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 61; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_221">221-226</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Childhood of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 21-25.</li> + <li class="isub1">Church of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_185">185-190</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Consecration of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 22, 23.</li> + <li class="isub1">Conversation of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Crucifixion of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 279-281, 312-320; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 60; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_139">139-144</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Death, Cause of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_225">225-6</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Denial by Peter, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 301-304; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 59; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 136.</li> + <li class="isub1">Discourses of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Discourse on the end of the world, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 126-130.</li> + <li class="isub1">Divine nature of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 13, 226, 327; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, + <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Education of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 65.</li> + <li class="isub1">Enemies of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 131.</li> + <li class="isub1">Fame of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 117.</li> + <li class="isub1">First attack on, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 234.</li> + <li class="isub1">Galilean ministry of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 5; <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 79-83.</li> + <li class="isub1">Genealogy of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 53; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 31.</li> + <li class="isub1">Glory of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_203">203-4</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209-10</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Growth of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 25.</li> + <li class="isub1">Herod’s interview with, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 138.</li> + <li class="isub1">Home of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 59, 130.</li> + <li class="isub1">Human nature of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 118, 317; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 18, 71.</li> + <li class="isub1">Incarnation of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Intercessory prayer of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_201">201-2</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Interpreter of God’s law, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_189">189-90</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">King, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_218">218-220</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Life of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 40-43.</li> + <li class="isub1">Light of the world, The, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Limitations of his nature, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 56, 57.</li> + <li class="isub1">Living One, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 145.</li> + <li class="isub1">Lord of Nature, The, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 20.</li> + <li class="isub1">Manifestation of the Father, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_174">174-5</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Mission of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 128, 146, 160, 194, 216; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 35, + 49; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 92; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Mission in Perea, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 222; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 46.</li> + <li class="isub1">Names of, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 57.</li> + <li class="isub1">Personality of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Popularity of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 14; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 74, 91, 131.</li> + <li class="isub1">Power of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211-13</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Prayer of, defined, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Prayer in Gethsemane, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 292.</li> + <li class="isub1">Passion of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 47; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 56, 115.</li> + <li class="isub1">Resurrection of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 323-336, 330-333; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 43, 47, 62; + <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 115, 144-147; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_227">227-230</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Rejection at Nazareth of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 187; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 26.</li> + <li class="isub1">Royal nature of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 122.</li> + <li class="isub1">Sacrifice of, The, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Satire used by, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 84.</li> + <li class="isub1">Second coming of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 265, 266; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173-4</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Sepulchre of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 321, 322.</li> + <li class="isub1">Servant, A, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 133.</li> + <li class="isub1">Simplicity of His life, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Son of David, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 117.</li> + <li class="isub1">Son of God, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 159, 300, 320.</li> + <li class="isub1">Son of man, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 142, 143, 162, 200.</li> + <li class="isub1">Spiritual presence of (See <a href="#Ghost">Holy Ghost</a>), <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_179">179-181</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Subject to the Father, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_183">183-8</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Supremacy of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Sympathy of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 133, 155; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Synagogue, Preaches in the, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 31.</li> + <li class="isub1">Temple, Found in the, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 24.</li> + <li class="isub1">Temptation of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 74-79; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 31.</li> + <li class="isub1">Trial of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 297-301.</li> + <li class="isub1">Trial by Caiaphas, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 136; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_213">213-216</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Trial before Pilate, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 309-312; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 136; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_216">216-221</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Tribute demanded of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 211, 212.</li> + <li class="isub1">Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 232, 233; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 50; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 122; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Christian charity, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 67.</li> + +<li class="indx">Christian hate, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 89.</li> + +<li class="indx">Christian life:</li> + <li class="isub1">Conditions for, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s sermon on, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_84">84-93</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Source of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Suffering of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Christian, Mission of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="Christian"></a>Christian ministry, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 138, 329.</li> + +<li class="indx">Christian religion:</li> + <li class="isub1">Evidences of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176-7</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Not asceticism, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Power of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Christian spirit, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 140.</li> + +<li class="indx">Christian work, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 136.</li> + +<li class="indx">Christology, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Church:</li> + <li class="isub1">Authority of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 246.</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s commission to, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 326-329.</li> + <li class="isub1">Dangers of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 259.</li> + <li class="isub1">Foundation of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 201-203.</li> + <li class="isub1">Unity of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Circumcision, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 15.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cleophas, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 145.</li> + +<li class="indx">Clothes, Jewish, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 261.</li> + +<li class="indx">Coats, Jewish, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 28.</li> + +<li class="indx">Comforter, Nature of the (See <a href="#Ghost">Holy Ghost</a>), <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Commandment, The great, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 53, 54.</li> + +<li class="indx">Commerce, in the temple,</li> + +<li class="indx">Commission of the Seventy, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 60-63.</li> + +<li class="indx">Commission of the Twelve, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 133; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 55.</li> + +<li class="indx">Corban, Rabbinical law of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 33.</li> + +<li class="indx">Courage, Christian, source of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Courtyard, Oriental, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 303.</li> + +<li class="indx">Creeds, Necessity of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Crosses, Description of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 315.</li> + +<li class="indx">Cyrenius, governor of Syria, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 18.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">D.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dalmanutha, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 37.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dead Sea, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51.</li> + +<li class="indx">Death, Jewish conception of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Decapolis, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dedication, Feast of the, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Demoniacal possession, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 123-125; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 6.</li> + +<li class="indx">Denarius, Value of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 221, 242; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Devil, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 76.</li> + +<li class="indx">Dining customs in the East, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 86.</li> + +<li class="indx">Disciples, Call of the four, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 35, 36.</li> + +<li class="indx">Divine presence:</li> + <li class="isub1">Condition of enjoying, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Power of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_187">187-88</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Divorce, Christ’s law of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 222, 225; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 46.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">E.</li> + +<li class="indx">Elders, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 205.</li> + +<li class="indx">Election, Doctrine of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203-4</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Emmaus, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 145.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="End"></a>End of the world, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 258; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 127-130.</li> + +<li class="indx">Enemies, Christian treatment of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 96-98.</li> + +<li class="indx">Enon, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ephraim. <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Epistles, Nature of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 11.</li> + +<li class="indx">Espousals, Jewish, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 55.</li> + +<li class="indx">Essenes, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 69.</li> + +<li class="indx">Eternal life, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203-4</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ewers, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Excommunication, Jewish, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">F.</li> + +<li class="indx">Faith:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s exhortation to, Mk., <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Contrasted with right, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Falling from grace, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fasting, Laws for, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 109, 129.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fasts, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 114.</li> + +<li class="indx">Feeding of the five thousand (See under <a href="#Miracles">Miracles</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Feet-washing, Ceremony of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Feet-washing, Oriental, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fire:</li> + <li class="isub1">Biblical mention of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 183.</li> + <li class="isub1">Utensils, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Fishing, Oriental, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 37.</li> + +<li class="indx">Forgiveness, Nature of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 141.</li> + +<li class="indx">Frankincense, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 62.</li> + +<li class="indx">Free-will, Doctrine of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 95; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Funerals of the East, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 45.</li> + +<li class="indx">Future punishment, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 145, 277; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">G.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gabriel, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 10.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gadara, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51.</li> + +<li class="indx">Galilee:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s circuit of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 35, 52.</li> + <li class="isub1">Sea of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 57; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 8.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gambling at the cross, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Generation, Book of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 53.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gennesaret:</li> + <li class="isub1">Lake of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 8.</li> + <li class="isub1">Land of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 192.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gerizim, Mount of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gethsemane:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s agony in, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 58.</li> + <li class="isub1">Garden of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 291.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gnosticism, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">God:</li> + <li class="isub1">Kingdom of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 103, 225; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 57, 110-112.</li> + <li class="isub1">Knowledge of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Trinity of (See <a href="#Christ">Christ</a>, <a href="#Ghost">Holy Ghost</a>), <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_14">14-16</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Golgotha, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 314.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gospels:</li> + <li class="isub1">The four, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 11.</li> + <li class="isub1">Harmony of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 38-40, 44-66.</li> + <li class="isub1">Origin of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 36-38.</li> + <li class="isub1">Relations of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 34-36.</li> + +<li class="indx">Gospel of the Infancy, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 6.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="GospelJohn"></a>Gospel of John:</li> + <li class="isub1">Authenticity of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6-8</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Object of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Supplemental chapter to, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="GospelLuke"></a>Gospel of Luke, Authorship of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 3.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="GospelMark"></a>Gospel of Mark:</li> + <li class="isub1">Authorship of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 3.</li> + <li class="isub1">Characteristics of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 4.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="GospelMatthew"></a>Gospel of Matthew:</li> + <li class="isub1">Author of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 49.</li> + <li class="isub1">Characteristics of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 49.</li> + <li class="isub1">Language of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 49.</li> + <li class="isub1">Object of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 49.</li> + <li class="isub1">Origin of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 36-38.</li> + +<li class="indx">Grace, Meaning of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Grain, Oriental sale of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 43.</li> + +<li class="indx">Grave, Jewish, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">H.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hades, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 105.</li> + +<li class="indx">Heathen and the Gospel, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 33.</li> + +<li class="indx">Heaven:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s teaching concerning, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Discourse on, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 43, 44.</li> + <li class="isub1">Kingdom of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 66, 85, 90, 137, 154, 110-114.</li> + <li class="isub1">Place of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 102.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hell, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 91, 119.</li> + +<li class="indx">Herod the Great, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 7.</li> + +<li class="indx">Herods, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 58, 59.</li> + +<li class="indx">Herod, Death of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 63.</li> + +<li class="indx">Herod Archelaus, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 64.</li> + +<li class="indx">High-priest, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 280; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 27.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="Ghost"></a>Holy Ghost:</li> + <li class="isub1">Bestowal of on disciples, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Blasphemy against, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 169.</li> + <li class="isub1">Character and office of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_179">179-80</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195-197</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Manifestation of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Relation of to the Father, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Holy of Holies (See <a href="#Temple">Temple</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Housetop, Eastern, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 74.</li> + +<li class="indx">Humility, Commendation of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 214, 241.</li> + +<li class="indx">Husks, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Hypocrisy, Rebuke of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 109; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 73.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">I.</li> + +<li class="indx">Idumea, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 14.</li> + +<li class="indx">Incarnation (See <a href="#Christ">Christ</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Incense, Service of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 5.</li> + +<li class="indx">Infancy, Gospel of the, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 6.</li> + +<li class="indx">Inn, Jewish, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 19.</li> + +<li class="indx">Issue of blood, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 54</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">J.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jacob, Well of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jairus’ daughter, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 54.</li> + +<li class="indx">James, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 148.</li> + +<li class="indx">James the son of Alphæus, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 149.</li> + +<li class="indx">Joanna, wife of Chuza, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 53.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jericho, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 51; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 116.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jerusalem:</li> + <li class="isub1">Conquest of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 141.</li> + <li class="isub1">Desolation of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 123.</li> + <li class="isub1">Road from Jericho to, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 65.</li> + <li class="isub1">Siege of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 261.</li> + <li class="isub1">Site of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 278.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jesus (See <a href="#Christ">Christ</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">John:</li> + <li class="isub1">The Apostle, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 148; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Character of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Gospel of (See <a href="#GospelJohn">Gospel of John</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">John the Baptist:</li> + <li class="isub1">Character of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 65.</li> + <li class="isub1">Death of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 189; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 29; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 55.</li> + <li class="isub1">Embassy to Jesus, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 152.</li> + <li class="isub1">Father of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 7.</li> + <li class="isub1">Imprisonment of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 150.</li> + <li class="isub1">Message of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 47.</li> + <li class="isub1">Ministry of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 69; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 30; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Jordan, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52, 67.</li> + +<li class="indx">Joseph of Arimathea, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Joy, Christian, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Judas Iscariot:</li> + <li class="isub1">Character of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 150, 307.</li> + <li class="isub1">Destruction of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Death of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 307.</li> + <li class="isub1">Repentance of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 306.</li> + <li class="isub1">Treachery of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 58.</li> + +<li class="indx">Judea, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52, 65.</li> + +<li class="indx">Judgment:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s description of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 275-277.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of the, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Judgment seat, Roman, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">K.</li> + +<li class="indx">Key, Description of ancient, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 203.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">L.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lamps, ancient. <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 270.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lanterns, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Law and the Gospel, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 80.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lazarus, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lazarus, Resurrection of (See <a href="#Miracles">Miracles</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Lebbæus, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 149.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lepers, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 109.</li> + +<li class="indx">Leprosy, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 118.</li> + +<li class="indx">Levi (See <a href="#Matthew">Matthew</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Levite, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 66.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lilies, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 107; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 77.</li> + +<li class="indx">Locusts, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 67.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lord’s Prayer, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 101-105.</li> + +<li class="indx">Lord’s Supper, The:</li> + <li class="isub1">Ceremony of, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 131; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Institution of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 283-288; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 58; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Time of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 286; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Love:</li> + <li class="isub1">Commanded, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 244.</li> + <li class="isub1">Test of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 146.</li> + +<li class="indx">Luke, Gospel of (See <a href="#GospelLuke">Gospel of Luke</a>).</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">M.</li> + +<li class="indx">Magdala, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52.</li> + +<li class="indx">Magi, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 59, 60.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mammon, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 106.</li> + +<li class="indx">Manger, Eastern, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 19.</li> + +<li class="indx">Manuscripts, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 27, 28.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mariolatry, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 70.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mark, Gospel of (See <a href="#GospelMark">Gospel of Mark</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Marriage:</li> + <li class="isub1">Ancient form of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s law of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 222-225; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 46.</li> + <li class="isub1">Eastern ceremony of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 269, 272; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 77.</li> + <li class="isub1">Jewish ceremony of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 129.</li> + +<li class="indx">Martha and Mary, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 67, 68.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mary Magdalene, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 320; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 53; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mary’s hymn of praise, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 14.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="Matthew"></a>Matthew:</li> + <li class="isub1">Character of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 149.</li> + <li class="isub1">Call of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 125; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 38; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 125.</li> + <li class="isub1">Gospel of (See <a href="#GospelMatthew">Gospel of Matthew</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Meals, Jewish, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Medicine, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 22.</li> + +<li class="indx">Meekness, Nature of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 85.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mercy, Nature of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 86, 251.</li> + +<li class="indx">Messiah, The Jewish, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mill, Eastern, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 266.</li> + +<li class="indx">Minister, Meaning of the term, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 5.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mint, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 280.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="Miracles"></a>Miracles:</li> + <li class="isub1">Barren fig-tree cursed, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 50, 51.</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ stills the tempest, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 121; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 53.</li> + <li class="isub1">Cure of the infirm woman, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 81, 82.</li> + <li class="isub1">Cure of the issue of blood, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 21-23.</li> + <li class="isub1">Feeding of the five thousand, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 191; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 30; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 55; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_76">76-81</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Feeding of the four thousand, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 195; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 35.</li> + <li class="isub1">Blind Bartimeus healed, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 119.</li> + <li class="isub1">Draft of fishes—first, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 35, 36.</li> + <li class="isub1">Draft of fishes—second, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the blind man, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 38; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 115.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the centurion’s servant, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 117; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 44.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the centurion’s son, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of deaf and dumb, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 34.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the demoniac, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 121, 211; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 20; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 35, 53.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the leper, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 37.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the lunatic boy, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 40; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 56.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the man born blind, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the paralytic, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 125; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 9-12; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 37.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 119; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 35.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the ten lepers, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 108.</li> + <li class="isub1">Healing of the withered hand, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 163.</li> + <li class="isub1">Raising of Jairus’ daughter, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 22, 24, 25.</li> + <li class="isub1">Raising of the widow’s son, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 45.</li> + <li class="isub1">Resurrection of Lazarus, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145-147</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Water turned into wine, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_30">30-33</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Walking on the sea, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 191; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 30; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Miracles:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s use of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Truth of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 166.</li> + +<li class="indx">Money-changers, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 274; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mount of Olives, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 123.</li> + +<li class="indx">Mourning:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christian rites of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 85.</li> + <li class="isub1">Eastern ceremony of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 24.</li> + <li class="isub1">Rabbinical rites of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Murder, Laws against, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 91-93.</li> + +<li class="indx">Myrrh, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 62.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">N.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nain, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 45.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nathanael, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nazareth, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52, 64; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 11, 34; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">New Testament:</li> + <li class="isub1">Authority of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 13.</li> + <li class="isub1">Canon of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 17-25.</li> + <li class="isub1">Composition of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 11.</li> + <li class="isub1">English version of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 28-31.</li> + <li class="isub1">Inspiration of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 14-17.</li> + <li class="isub1">Interpretation of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 31-34.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 11, 12.</li> + <li class="isub1">Origin of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 13.</li> + <li class="isub1">Text of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 25-28.</li> + +<li class="indx">Nicodemus, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">O.</li> + +<li class="indx">Obedience, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 112.</li> + +<li class="indx">Oven, An Eastern, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 77.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">P.</li> + +<li class="indx">Palestine, Government of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 27.</li> + +<li class="indx">Palsy, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 10.</li> + +<li class="indx">Parables, The:</li> + <li class="isub1">Barren fig-tree, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 80, 81.</li> + <li class="isub1">Candle, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 53.</li> + <li class="isub1">Drag-net, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 185.</li> + <li class="isub1">Good Samaritan, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 64-66.</li> + <li class="isub1">Great supper, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 87.</li> + <li class="isub1">Hid treasures, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 184, 185.</li> + <li class="isub1">Householder, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 44.</li> + <li class="isub1">Laborers, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 230, 231.</li> + <li class="isub1">Leaven, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 181; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 82.</li> + <li class="isub1">Lost coin, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 94.</li> + <li class="isub1">Lost sheep, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 92, 93.</li> + <li class="isub1">Mustard seed, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 180; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 18; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 82.</li> + <li class="isub1">Pearl, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 184, 185.</li> + <li class="isub1">Prodigal son, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 95-99.</li> + <li class="isub1">Rich fool, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 75, 76.</li> + <li class="isub1">Rich man and Lazarus, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 103-106.</li> + <li class="isub1">Seed growing secretly, The, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 17.</li> + <li class="isub1">Sheepfold and shepherd, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_125">125-131</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Sower, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 175-179; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 16; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 53.</li> + <li class="isub1">Tares, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 179.</li> + <li class="isub1">Ten pounds, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 120.</li> + <li class="isub1">Ten talents, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 272-275.</li> + <li class="isub1">Ten virgins, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 268-272.</li> + <li class="isub1">Two debtors, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 50, 51.</li> + <li class="isub1">Two sons, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 235.</li> + <li class="isub1">Unclean spirit, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 172.</li> + <li class="isub1">Unjust steward, The, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 99-102.</li> + <li class="isub1">Unmerciful servant, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 219.</li> + <li class="isub1">Vine and branches, The, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_185">185-6</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Wedding feast, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 238-241.</li> + <li class="isub1">Wicked Husbandman, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 236-238; <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 53; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 125.</li> + +<li class="indx">Paradise, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 142, 143.</li> + +<li class="indx">Passover:</li> + <li class="isub1">Day of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 131.</li> + <li class="isub1">Feast of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Patience, Christian, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 58, 128.</li> + +<li class="indx">Peace, Christian, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Penitent thief, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 142, 143.</li> + +<li class="indx">Penny, Value of Jewish, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pentateuch, Authorship of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pentecost, Feast of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Perea, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 60.</li> + +<li class="indx">Persecution:</li> + <li class="isub1">Foretold, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">How to be borne, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_191">191-194</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Peter:</li> + <li class="isub1">Character of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 135, 148; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 7; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 133.</li> + <li class="isub1">Commission of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_238">238-9</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Confession of Christ by, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 39; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 55.</li> + <li class="isub1">Denial of Christ by, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 301-304; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 133.</li> + <li class="isub1">Founder of the Church, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 201-203.</li> + <li class="isub1">Name changed, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Walking on the sea, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 30; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pharisees, The:</li> + <li class="isub1">Sect of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 68.</li> + <li class="isub1">Baffled by Christ, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 245.</li> + <li class="isub1">Discourse against, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 71.</li> + +<li class="indx">Philip, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 149.</li> + +<li class="indx">Phylacteries, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 247.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pontius Pilate, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 305; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_221">221-2</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Poor of the East, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 88, 89.</li> + +<li class="indx">Porter of the East, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 72.</li> + +<li class="indx">Pound, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 121.</li> + +<li class="indx">Prayer:</li> + <li class="isub1">Bible doctrine of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 112-114; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">In the name of Christ, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Necessity of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 111, 99-105; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 130.</li> + <li class="isub1">Promises to, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_177">177-8</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199-200</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">True spirit of (See <a href="#Christ">Christ</a>), <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 68.</li> + +<li class="indx">Preachers (See <a href="#Christian">Christian Ministry</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Priesthood, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 61; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 7.</li> + +<li class="indx">Prophecy:</li> + <li class="isub1">Office of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Fulfillment of, in <abbr title="New Testament">N. T.</abbr>, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Proselytes, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 249.</li> + +<li class="indx">Publicans, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 97, 126; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 28, 91.</li> + +<li class="indx">Purification of the Jewish mother, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 22.</li> + +<li class="indx">Purple and fine linen, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 104.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">R.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rabbi, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 247.</li> + +<li class="indx">Rama, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 63.</li> + +<li class="indx">Religion:</li> + <li class="isub1">Fruits of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 113.</li> + <li class="isub1">Joyousness of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 239.</li> + <li class="isub1">Test of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 113.</li> + +<li class="indx">Repentance:</li> + <li class="isub1">Law of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 96.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 65.</li> + <li class="isub1">Necessity of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 80.</li> + +<li class="indx">Revelation, Book of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 11.</li> + +<li class="indx">Resurrection:</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 47, 64; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 144; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Prophecy of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 43, 47.</li> + +<li class="indx">Revenge, Laws against, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 94-96.</li> + +<li class="indx">Riches, Christ’s teachings concerning, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 228; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 47.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ritualism, Christ’s teachings concerning, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 31, 32.</li> + +<li class="indx">Roofs, Jewish, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 10.</li> + +<li class="indx">Ruler, The rich young, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 226; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 46; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 115.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">S.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sabbath:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christian use of the, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 84.</li> + <li class="isub1">Laws of the Christian, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 161-164; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 13; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 38.</li> + <li class="isub1">Pharisaic, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 120; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sacrifices, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sadducees, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 68, 69.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sadducees silenced, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 243; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 53.</li> + +<li class="indx">Salim, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Salutations of the Jews, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 61.</li> + +<li class="indx">Salvation, Conditions of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 276; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 83.</li> + +<li class="indx">Samaria:</li> + <li class="isub1">History of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Woman of, The, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Samaritans:</li> + <li class="isub1">Character of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 66.</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s visit to, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 57.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sanctification, means of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Satan:</li> + <li class="isub1">Fall of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 63.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Personality of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scorpions, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 69.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scourging, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 331.</li> + +<li class="indx">Scribes, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 61, 90.</li> + <li class="isub1">Denunciation of the, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 54; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 126.</li> + +<li class="indx">Self-righteousness, Christ’s dealings with, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 64.</li> + +<li class="indx">Self-sacrifice commanded, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 206.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sepulchre, Jewish, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sermon on the Mount, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 40.</li> + +<li class="indx">Servants of the East, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 107.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sheba, Queen of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 171.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sheep-fold, Eastern, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Shekel, Value of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 281.</li> + +<li class="indx">Shepherds of the East, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 19, 93; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Shoes, Jewish, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 70.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sidon, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sieve, Ancient, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 133.</li> + +<li class="indx">Siloam, Pool of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Simon the Canaanite, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 150.</li> + +<li class="indx">Simon Cyrene, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 314.</li> + +<li class="indx">Simon the leper, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 280.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sin:</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s laws for the prevention of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 45.</li> + <li class="isub1">Of rejecting Christ, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_191">191-92</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Power to remit and retain, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_231">231-32</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Skepticism, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 106.</li> + +<li class="indx">Skiff, Ancient, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 19.</li> + +<li class="indx">Son of Man (See <a href="#Christ">Christ</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Sorrow, ministry of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Soul:</li> + <li class="isub1">Distinction of the, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Nature of the, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sparrows in Market, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 75.</li> + +<li class="indx">Spikenard, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Star of the East, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 61.</li> + +<li class="indx">Steward, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 100.</li> + +<li class="indx">Swaddling-clothes, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 18.</li> + +<li class="indx">Swearing, Laws against, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 93.</li> + +<li class="indx">Swine, Flesh of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 122.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sycamore tree, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 107, 118.</li> + +<li class="indx">Sychar, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Synagogues, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 81.</li> + +<li class="indx">Synagogue, Uppermost seat of the, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 72.</li> + +<li class="indx">Syro-Phœnician woman, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 34.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">T.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tabernacles, Feast of the, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Talent, Value of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 220, 273.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tares, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 179.</li> + +<li class="indx">Taxation, Roman, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 126; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 17.</li> + +<li class="indx"><a id="Temple"></a>Temple:</li> + <li class="isub1">Description of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_34">34-37</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Site of, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 127.</li> + <li class="isub1">Pinnacle of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 77.</li> + <li class="isub1">Veil of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 319.</li> + +<li class="indx">Temple of Herod, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 256.</li> + +<li class="indx">Thomas, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 149; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Threshing in the East, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 71.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tiberias:</li> + <li class="isub1">City of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Sea of, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tithes, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 114.</li> + +<li class="indx">Title on the cross, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tombs, Jewish, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 122; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 21. 62, 63.</li> + +<li class="indx">Traders cast from the temple, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 51.</li> + +<li class="indx">Transfiguration, The, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 207-210; <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 40; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 55.</li> + +<li class="indx">Treasury, Jewish, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tribute, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 211.</li> + +<li class="indx">Triclinium, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 85.</li> + +<li class="indx">Trinity, Doctrine of the, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_14">14-16</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Twelve Apostles:</li> + <li class="isub1">Commission of the, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 134, 147-50.</li> + <li class="isub1">Inspiration of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 141.</li> + +<li class="indx">Tyre, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 52, 157.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">U.</li> + +<li class="indx">Unleavened bread, Day of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 282.</li> + +<li class="indx">Upper chamber, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 132.</li> + +<li class="indx">Usury, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 274.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">V.</li> + +<li class="indx">Vineyards of the East, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 236.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">W.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wailing place, Jewish, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 140.</li> + +<li class="indx">Water-pot, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Well, Ancient, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Well, Jacob’s, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Wine:</li> + <li class="isub1">Bible commands concerning, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li> + <li class="isub1">Christ’s teachings concerning, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Winnowing, Oriental, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 23.</li> + +<li class="indx">Woman, a Jewish, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 52.</li> + +<li class="indx">Word of God, <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">World, End of the (See <a href="#End">End of the World</a>).</li> + +<li class="indx">Worship, True nature of, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 116; <abbr title="John">J.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li> + +<li class="indx">Writing materials, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 15, 101.</li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Z.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zaccheus, <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 118.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zacharias, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 253; <abbr title="Luke">L.</abbr>, 7, 16.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zebedee, <abbr title="Matthew">M.</abbr>, 81.</li> + +<li class="indx">Zebedee, Sons of, <abbr title="Mark">Mk.</abbr>, 47.</li> +</ul> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/cover-back.jpg" + alt="back cover"> +</div><!--end figcenter--> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3>Transcriber’s Note:</h3> + +<p>Words may have multiple spelling +variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been +left unchanged, as were obsolete and alternative +spellings. Misspelled words were corrected.</p> + +<p>Footnotes were renumbered sequentially; those in the Preface were moved to the +end of the chapter; footnotes in lines of scripture follow immediately thereafter. Obvious printing errors, such as +backwards, upside down, or partially printed letters and punctuation, were corrected. +Final stops missing at the end of sentences and abbreviations were +added.</p> + +<p>The text was rearranged so that each line of scripture, its footnotes, +and its commentary are together as a unit. The index includes references to the author’s books on the +Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as well as those included in this book. +In the index, “Commerce, in the temple” has no page reference.</p> + +<p>The following items were changed:</p> + +<ul><li><a href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> “John 3:11” to “John <a href="#chg2">3:21</a>”</li> +<li>“ought” to “<a href="#chg3"><i>aught</i></a>” to eat ...</li> +</ul> +</div><!--end transcriber note--> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75543 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75543-h/images/cover-back.jpg b/75543-h/images/cover-back.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..06aa940 --- /dev/null +++ b/75543-h/images/cover-back.jpg diff --git a/75543-h/images/cover.jpg b/75543-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..78f2921 --- /dev/null +++ b/75543-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75543-h/images/i_028.jpg 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