Chapter XXIV
Vor. 1-12. Angelic Announcement to the WoMEif THAX Christ is Risen—Peter's Visit to the Empty Sepulchre. See on Mark 16. 1-8, and Matthew 28, 1-5, 8«
Christ, Jppears to Tuo of His Disciples. LUKE XXIV. He Appears to the Assembled Disciples,
why, (tc.—Astonishing question ! not ' the risen,' but " the Living One" (cf. Revelation 1. 18); and the surprise expressed in it implies an inconyruity in His being thereat
for it: We could not understand the glow of self-evidencing light, love, glory that ravished our hearts; but now we do.' They cannot rest—liow could they?—they must go straight back and tell the news. They find the eleven, but ere they have time to tell their tale, their ears are saluted with the thrilling news, "The Lord is risen Indeed, and hath appeared to <S'«)io/t." Most touching and precious intelligence this. The oul.y one of the Eleven to whom He appeared alone was he, it seems, who had so shamefully denied Him. Wluit passed at that interview we shall never know here. Probaljly it was too sacred for disclosure. See on Mark 1(3. 7. The two from Emmaus now relate what had happened to them, and while thus comparing notes of their Lord's appearances, lo ! Himself stands in the midst of them. What encouragement to doubting, dark, true-hearted disciples!
all, as if, though he might *t(6mit to it, "il was impossible He should be holden of it" (Acts 2. 24). G. In Gnlllee—to which tliese women themselves belonged, cli. 23. 55. 7.
K«ylitff,<fec.—How remarkable it is to hear angels quoting
u whole sentence of Christ's to the disciples, mentioning where it was uttered, and wondering it was not fresh on
tiielr memory, as doubtless it was in theirs! (1 Timothy
8. Ifi, "seen of angels," and 1 Peter 1. 12.) 10. JoannaSee on ch. 8. 1-3. liJ. Peter, &c.—See on John 20. 1, &c.
13-35. Christ Appears to the Two Going to Emmaus.
13. Two of titcm—one was C'leopas (IH), who the other was is mere conjecture. Einmaws—about seven and a half miles from Jerusalem. They probably lived there, and were going home after the Passover. 14-16. communed and reasoned—exchanged views and feelings, weighing afresh all the facts, as detailed in i\ 18-21. drew near—coming up behind them as from Jerusalem, eyes holden—Partly He was " in another form" (Mark 16. 12), and partly tliere seems to have been an operation on their own vision ; though certainly, as thej' did not believe that
36-53. Jesus Appears to the A.sse.hhled Disciples— His Ascension. 36. Jesus stood—Sec on John 20. 19. 37, 38. a spirit—the ghost of their dead Lord, but not Himself in the body. (Acts 12. 15; Mattliew 14. 26.) thoughts —rather ' reasonings;' ('.e., whether He were risen or no, and whether this was His very self. 39-43. Belxold, &c. lovingl.v otfering them both ocular and tangible demonstration of the realit.v of His resurrection, a spirit liath not—an important statement regarding "spirits." flesh and bones—He says not " flesh and blood;" for the blood
}le was alive, His company as a fellow-traveller was the
last thing they would expect. 17-^4. communications, Ac—The words imply the earnest discussion that had appeared in their manner. 18. kuoweiit not, <Sc.—If he knew not the events of the last lew days in Jerusalem, he must be a mere sojourner; if lie did, how could he suppose tlioy would be talking of anything else? How art-
is the life of the animal and corruptible body (Genesis 9.
4), which "cannot inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Corinthians 15.50; but "flesh and bones," implying the tcie/i<//^, but with diversity of laws, of th* resurrection-body. See on John 20.24-28. believed not for joy, Ac-They did believe, else they had not rejoiced. [Bengel.] But it seemed too good to be true. (Psalm 126. 1, 2.) lioneycomb —common frugal fare, anciently, eat before them i. e., let them see Him doing it : not for His own necessity, but their conviction. 44-49. Tlvese are tl»c words, &c. q. d., "Now you will understand what seemed so dark to .you when I told you about " the Sou of man being put to death and rising again" (ch. 18.31-34). while yet with you— striking expression, implying that He was now, as the dead and risen Saviour, virtually dissevered from this scene of mortal it.v, and from all ordinary intercourse with His mortal disciples, law . . . prophets . . . psalms The three Jewish divisions of the Old Testament Scriptures, then opened he, &c.—a statement of unspeakable value; expressing, on the one hand, Christ's immediate access to the human spirit and absolute power oi^er it, to the adjustment of its vision, and permanent rectification for spiritual discernment (than which it is impossible to conceive a stronger evidence of His proper divinity); and, on the other hand, making it certain Umtthetnanner of interpreting the Old Testament ivhich the apostles afterwards em-
less all this! concerning Jesus, Ac—As if feeling it a
relief to have some one to unburden his thoughts and
feelings to, this disciple goes over the main facts in his own desponding style, and this was just what our Lord wished, we trusted, &c.—They expected the promised Deliverance at His hand, but in the current sense of it, not by His death, besides all this—not only did his death seem to give the fatal blow to their hopes, but He had been two days dead already, and this was the third. It is true, they add, some of our women gave us a surprise, telling us of a vision of angels they had at the empty grave this morning that said He was alive, and some of ourselves who went thither confirmed their statement; but then Himself they saw not. A doleful tale truly,
told out of the deepest despondency. 25-27. foolssenseless, without understanding, ought not Christ—
' the Christ,' ' the Messiali.' to suffer . . . and enter
f. e., through the gate of suflfering (and sntTering "these thm{/s," or such a dealh.) to enter into His glory. 'Ye believe in the glory; but these very suH'erings are the predicted gate of entrance into it.' Moses and all tlie prophets, Ac—Here our Lord l)oth teaches us the reverencedue toOld Testament Scripture, and the great burden of it^" Himself." 28-31. made as though, <tec.—Cf. Mark
ployed (see the Acts and Epistles), /tax the direct sanction of Christ Himself, behoved Clirist—See on v. 26. beginning at Jenisalem—(1. ) As the metropolis and heart of the then e-xisting kingdom of God:—"to the Jew first," Romans 1.16; Acts 13. 46; Isaiah 2. 3 (see on Matthew 10.
6. 18; Genesis 18. 3, 5; 32. 24-28. eonstrained, *c.—But for this, the whole design of the interview had been last; but U wfts not to be lost, for He who only wished to be constrained had kindled a longing in the hearts of His travelling companions which was not to be so eai^Iy put olt'. And <loes not this still repeat itself In the interviews of the Saviour with His loving, longing disciples? Else why do they say,
6). (2.) .\s the great reservoir and laborator.y of all the sin and crime of the nation, thus procdaiming for all titne that there is morc.v in Christ for the chief of sinners. (See on Matthew 23. 37.) witness—Cf. Acts 1. 8, 22. I send—the present tense, to intimate its nearness, promise of my Father1, e., ' what my Father hath promised ;' the Holy Ghost, of which Christ is the authoritative Dispenser. (John U. 7; Revelation 3.1; 5.6.) endued— ' invested,' or 'clothed with;' implying, as the parallels show (Romans
Abide with me from morn to eve, For without Tlu-e I cannot live;
Aliide with mc when night is nigh. For without Thec' I cannot die. Ki:ble.
13. 14; 1 Corinthians 15.53; Galatians 27; Colossians 3,
he look . , , and Idcsaied . . . and tlieir eyes wei-e opened—The stranger first startles tliem by taking the place of ma.ster at their own table, but on proceeding to that act which reproduced the whole scene of the last Supper, a rush of associations and recollections disclosed their guest, and He stood confessed before their itstoiilshed |{a/e—TUKiR KisEN Lokd! They were going to gaze on Hitn, perhaps embrace Him, but that moment He is gone!
9, 10), tlu'ir being so penetrated and acted upon by consciotti siipernoiiiral "power" (in the full sense of that word) a^s to stamp with Divine authority the whole exercise of their apos-
tot ic office, including, of course, their pc/i as well as their mouth. 50-53. to Betliaoiy-not to tlie village Itself, but on the descent to it from Mount Olivet, wliilc lie blessed
. . . parted, Ac. — Sweet intimation! Iiu^arnate Love, Crucified Love, Risen Love, now on the wing for heaven, waiting only tliose o<Ioro\is gales which were to waft Him to the skies, goes away in benedictions, that in the character of Glorified, Enthroned Love, He might continue
It w:ui enough. 32-34. They now toll each to the other how their heart* burned—were fired-within them at His talk and liia expoisUions of Scripture. 'Ah ! this accounts
irUtcdudion. JOHN. Inlrodiiclion.
His benedictions, out in yet higher form, until He come again ! And oh if angels were so transported at His birth into this scene of tears and death, what must have been their ecstasy as tliey welcomed and attended Him "far above all heavens" into the presence-chamber, and conducted Him to the right hand of the Majesty on High! Thou hast an everlasting right, O my Saviour, to that august place. The brightness of the Father's glory, enshrined in our natuie, hath won it well, for He poured out His soul unto death, and led captivity captive, receiving gifts for men, yea for the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell among them. 'Thou art the King of glory, O Christ.' Lift up your heads, O ye gates, be lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in !
Even so wilt thou change these Tile bodies of onrs, that they may be like unto thine own glorious body; and then witli gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought, they shall enter into the King's palace! -vronliipped Ulin—certainly in the strictest sense of adoration, returned to Jerusalem—as instructed to do: but not till after gazing, as if entranced, up into the bine vault in which he had disappeared, they were gently checked by two shining ones, wlio assured them He would come again to them in the like manner as He had gone into heaven. (.See on Acts 1. 10, 11.) This made them return, not with disappointment at His removal, but " with great joy." were continually 111 tlie temple i. e., every day at the regular hours of piuyer tiU the day of Pentecost.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
S. J 0 H N.
TnE author of the Fourth Gospel was the younger of the two sons of Zeoedee, a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee, who resided at Bethsaida, where were born Peter and Andrew his brother, and Philip also. His mother's name was Balome, who, though not wiyiout her imperfections (Mattliew 20. 20, &c.), was one of those dear and honoured women who accompanied the Lord on one of His preaching circuits through Galilee, ministering to his bodily wants; who followed Him to thecross, and bought, sweet spices to anoint Him after His burial, but, on bringing them to the grave, on the morning of the First Day of the week, found their loving services gloriously superseded by His resurrection ere they arrived. His father, Zebedee, appears to have been in good circumstances, owning a vessel of his own and having hired servants (Mark 1. 20). Our Evangelist, whose occupation was that of a fisherman with his father, was beyond doubt a disciple of the Bapdst, and one of the two who had the first interview with Jesus. He waa called while engaged at his secular occupation (Matthew 4. 21, 22), and again on a memorable occasion (Luke 5. 1-11), and finally chosen as one of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10. 2). He was the youngest of the Twelve—the " Benjamin," as Da Costa calls him—and he and James his brother were named in the native tongue by Him who knew the heart, "Boanerges," which the Evangelist Mark (3. 17) explains to mean "Sons of thunder;" no doubt from their natural vehemence of character. They and Peter constituted that select triumvirate of whom see on Luke 9. 2S. But the highest honour bestowed on this disciple was liis being admitted to the bosom-place with his Lord at the table, as "the d'»-
oiple whom Jesus loved" (John 13. '2;3; 20. 2; 21. 7, 20. 21), and to have committed to him by the dying Redeemer the care
of His mother (19. 26, 27). There can be no reasonable doubt that this distinction was due to a sympathy with His own
spirit and mind on the part of John which the all-penetrating Eye of their common Master beheld In none oJ the
rest; and although this was probably never seen either in his life or in his ministry by his fellow-apostles, it Is brought wonderfully out in his writings, which, in Christ-like spirituality, heavenliuess, and love, surpass, we may
freely say, all the other inspired writings.
After the efl'usion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, we find him in constant but silent company with Peter, the great spokesman and actor in the Infant Cliurch until the accession of Paul. While his love to the Lord Jesus drew him spontaneously to the side of His eminent servant, and his chastened vehemence made him ready to stand courageously by him, and suffer with him, In all that his testimony to Jesus might cost him, his motlest humility, as the youngest of all the apostles, made him an admiring listener and faithful supporter of his brother apostle rather than a speaker or separate actor. Ecclesiastical history is uniform in testifying that John went to Asia Minor; but
it is next to certain that this could not have been till after the death both of Peter and Paul; that he resided at Ephesus, wlience, as from a centre, he superintended the churches of that region, paying them occasional visits; and that he long survived the other apostles. Whether the motlicr of J^>sus died before this, or went with John to Ephesus, wliere slie died and was buried, is not agreed. One or two anecdotes of his later days have been handed down by tradition, one at least bearing marks of reasonable probability. But it is not necessary to give them liero. In the reigu of Domltian (A. D. 81-90) he was banished to "the isle that is called Patraos" (a small rocky and then almost uninhabited island in the iEgean Sea), " for the word of God and for tlie testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revela-
tion 1. 9). Irenieus and Euseblus say that this took place about the end of Domitian's reign. That he was thrown into a cauldron of lioiling oil, and miraculously delivered, is one of those legends which, though reported by Tertullian and Jerome, is entitled to no credit. His return from exile to<5k place during the brief but tolerant reign of Nerva' ne died at Ephesus in the reign of Trajan [Euskbius, Ecclesinxlical Ilislwn, 3. 23], at an age above 90, according to some; according to others, 100; and even 120, according to others still. The Intermediate number Is generally regarded o» probably the nearest to the truth. • * As to the dale of this Gospel, the arguments for Its having been composed before the destruction of Jerusalem (though relied on l>y some superior critics) are of the slenderc^st nalUJ'e; such as the expression in ch. 5. 2, " there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep-gate, a pool," &c. ; there being no allusion to Peter's martyrdom as having occurred accordlug to tlie prediction In ch. 21. 18—a thing too well known to require mention. Tliat It was composed long after the destruction of Jerusalem, and after the decease of all tlie other apostles, Is next to certain, though the precise tlmo cannot be determined. Probably it was before his banishment, however; and if we date It between the years 90 and
94, we shall i)robably be pretty near the truth. As to tlie readers for whom it was more Immediately designed, that they were Gentiles we might naturally presume
The Divinity, Humanity, JOHN L and 0£ice of Jesus Christ,
from the lateness of the date; bui the multitude of explanations of things familiar to every Jew puts this beyond all question.
No doubt was ever thrown upon the genuineness and authenticity of this Gospel till about the close of the last cenury, nor were these embodied in any formal attack upon it till Bretschneider, in 1820, issued liis famous treatise •Probabilia,' <S:c.), the conclusions of which he afterwards was candid enough to admit had been satisfactorily disproved. To advert to these would be as painful as unnecessary; consisting as tliey mostly do of assertions regarding the Discourses of our Lord recorded in tliis Gospel wliicli are revoltlug to every spiritual mind. The Tubingen school
lid their best, on their peculiar mode of reasoning, to galvanize into fresh life this theory of the post-Joauneun date
f the Fourth Gospel ; and some Unitarian critics in tliis country still cling to it. But to use the striking language of 'AK OSTERZEE regarding similar speculations on the Third Gospel, 'Behold, the feet of them that shall carry it out
idead are already at the door' (Acts 5. 9). Is there one mind of tlie least elevation of spiritual discernment that does not see in this Gospel marks of historical truth and a surpassing glory such as none of the other Gospels possess, brightly as they too attest their own verity; and who will not be ready to say that if not historically true, and true
Just as U stands, it never could have been by mortal man composed or conceived?
Of tlie peculiarities of this Gospel, we note here only two. The one is its reflective character. While the others are purely narrative, the Fourth Evangelist 'pauses, as it were, at every turn,' as Da Costa says (' Four Witnesses,' p.
234), 'at one time to give a reason, at another to fix the attention, to deduce consequences, or make applications, or to give utterance to the language of praise.' See chs. 2. 20, 21, 23-25 ; 4. 1, 2 ; 7. 37-;39 ; 11. 12, 13, 49-52 ; 21. 18, 19, 22, 23. The Other peculiarity of this Gospel is its supplementary character. By this, in the present instance, we mean something more than the studiousness with which he omits many most important particulars in our Lord's history, for no conceivable reason but that they were already familiar ^s household words to all his readers, through the tliree preceding Gospels, and liis substituting in place of these an immense quantity of the richest matter not found in the other Gos-
pels. We refer here more particularly to the nature of the additions which distinguish this Gospel ; particularly the notices of the different Passovers which occurred during our Lord's public ministry, and the record of His teaching at Jerusalem, without whicli it is not too much to say that we could have had but a most imperfect conception either of the duration of His ministry or of the plan of it. But another feature of these additions is quite as noticeable and ndt less important. * We find,' to use again the words of Da Costa (pp. 238, 239), sliglitly abridged, 'only six of our
Ijord's miracles recorded in tliis Gospel, but these are all of the most remarkable kind, and surpass the rest in depth, Bpeclalty of application, and fulness of meaning. Of these six we find only one in the other three Gospels—the multiplication of the loaves. That miracle chiefly, it would seem, on account of the important instructions of which it fiirnished the occasion (ch. 6.), is here recorded anew. The five other tokens of Divine power are distinguished from among the many recorded in the three other Gospels by their furnishing a still higher display of power and command over the ordinary laws and course of nature. Thus we find recorded here the first of all tlie miracles that Jesus wrought—the changing of water into wine (ch. 2.), the cure of the nobleman's son at a distance (ch. 4.) ; of the numerous cures of the lame and the paralytic by the word of Jesus, only one—of the man impotent for thirty and eight yeart
(cU.5.); of the many cures of the blind, one only—of the man born blind tlie restoration of Lazarus, not from a death-bed, like Jairus' daughter, nor from a bier, like the widow of Naln's son, but from the grave, and after lying there four days, and there sinking into corruption (ch. 11.); and lastly, after His resurrection, the miraculous draught of fishes on the Sea of Tiberias (eh. 21). But tliese are all recorded chiefly to give occasion for the record of those astonishing discourses and conversations, alike with friends and with foes, with His disciples and with the multitude Which tliey drew forth.'
Other illustrations of the peculiarities of this Gospel will occur, and other points connected with it be adverted to, In the course of the Commentary.
about certain mysterious distinctions in the Godhead,
but solely to let the reader know Wtwitwas that in the fulness of time " was made flesh." After each verse, then, the reader must say, " It was He who is thus, and thus, and thus described. Who was made flesh." it. The same, &c.—.See what property of the Word the stress is laid upon —His eternal distinctness, in unity, from God—the Father. (John 1. 2.) 3. all thiugs, &c.—all things absolutely, as is evident from u. 10; 1 Corinthians 8. 6; Colossians 1. Ifi, 17; but put beyond question by what follows. "Without Him was ?io< one thing made (brought into being) tliat was made." This is a denial of the eternity and non-creation of matter, which was held by the whole thinking world outside of Judaism and Christianity : or rather, its proper creation, was never so much as dreamt of save by the children of revealed religion. 4. In Hlni was life—essentially and originally, as the previous verses sliow to be tlie meaning. Thus He is the Living Word, or, as He is called in 1 John 1. 1, 2, "the Word of Life." the life the light of men-all that in men which is true light—knowledi^e. Integrity, intelligent, willing subjection to God, love to Him and to their fellow-creatures, wisdom, purity, holy Joy, rational happiness—all this "light of men" has its fountain In the essential original "life" of "the Word."
Ver. 1-14. The Word Made Flesh. 1. In the beginning—of all time and created existence, for this Word gave
It being (V. 3, 10); therefore, "before the world was" (ch.
17. 5, 24); or, from all eternity, was tlie Word—He ivho is
to God what man's word is to himself, the manifestnlion or
expression of himself to those without him. (See on v. 18.) On the origin of this most lofty and now for ever consecrated
title of Christ, this Is not tlie place to speak. It occurs only in tlie writings of this seraphic apostle, was with God—having a conscious personal existence distinct from
God ("as one is from tlie person he is "with"), but inseparable from Him and associated luilh Him {v. 18; ch. 17.
5; I John 1. 2), where "the Father" is used in the same sense as "God" here, was God—in substance and essence GOT); or was pf)S8esse<l of essential or proper div-
inity. Thus, each of these brief but pregnant statements Is the complement of the other, correcting any misapprehensions wliich the others miglitoccasion. Was the Word eternal f It was not the eternity of " the Father," but of a coii.3clous personal existence distinct from Him and associated tvith Him. Was the Word thus "with God?" It. was not the distinctness an<l the fellowship of another being, as If there were more Gods than one, but of One who was Himself God—in such sense that the «6«olule unity of the Godhead, the great principle of all religion, U only transferred from the region of shadowy aijstractlon to the region of essential life and love. But why all UtJa deflnltlon? Not to give us any abstract information
(1 John 1. .W; Psalm 36. 9.) 5. shiiieth lu dnrkiiexs, ir.— in this dark, fallen world, or in mankind " sitting in darkness and the shadow of death," with no ability to find the way either of truth or of holiness. In this thick darkness, and consequent intellectual and moral oblhiuity, "the light of the Word" ah'melh—by all the rays whether of naU
The Divinity, Humanity, JOHN I. and Office of Jenis Chrld,
\iral or revealed teaching vhich men (apart from the Incaruutioii oi the W'onl) are /nuoured Willi, tlie dnrkjtvsii eom|>rehriidc<l it not— ' did not take it in,' a liri«-!' siiiiil)i;uy of the effect of all the strivings of this uniiicarnate Word throughout this wide world from the beginning,
being made conscious of the vital capacities, perceptions, and emotions of a child of God, before unknown, not of blood, &c.—not of superior human descent, not of human generation at all, not of man in any manner of way. By this elaborate threefold denial of the human source of this sonship, immense force is given to what follows—" 'jui of God." llight royal gift, which Who confers must be absolutely Divine. For who would not worship Him who can bring him into the family, and evoke within liim the very lile, of the sons of God? 1*. And the Word, &c.—
ii"nd a hint of the necessity of His putting on fle.yh, if any recovery of men was to be effected. (1 Corintliians 1. 21.) 6-9. The Evangelist here approaches his grand thesis, so paving his way for the full statement of it in i^. It, tliat we may be able to bear the bright light of it, and lake in its length and breadth and depth and height, tliroiigli liim—John, not that Llglit—See on ch. 5. Si). What a testimony to John to have to explain tliat "he was not that Ijight !" Yet was he but a foil to set it off, his nighttaper dwindling before the Day-spring from on high (ch.
7'o raise tlie reader to the altitude of this climax wei-e the thirteen faregoiny verses written, •was made flesh—BECAME MAN, and in man's present frail, mortal condition, denoted by the word " flesh" (Isaiah 10. 6; 1 Peter 1. 24.) It is directed probably against the Docetce, wlio held that Christ was not really but only apparently man; against whom this gentle spirit is vehement in his Epistles, 1 John 1.3; 2 John 7. 10, U. [LUCKE, &c.] Xor could He be too much so, for with the verity of tho Incarnation all substantial Christianity vanishes. But now, married to our nature, henceforth He is as pei-- sonally conscious of all that is strictly human as of ull thai
3. ZO), liglitetli ev»ry man, Ac—rather, ' which, coining into the world, enligliteneth every man;' or, is "the Light of the world" (ch. "Coining into the world"
is a superfluous and quite unusual description of "every man ;
' but it is of all descriptions of Christ amongst the most familiar, especially in the writings of this Evangel-
ist (cli. 12. 46; 16. 28; 18.37; lJohn4.9; 1 Timotliy 1. 15, &c.). 10-13. He was in tlie world, Ac—The language here is nearly as wonderful as the thought. Observe its compact simplicity, its sonorousness— " the world" resounding in oacli of its three members—and the enigmatic form in which it is eouclied, startling the reader and setting liis ingenuity a-working to solve the stupendous enigma of Christ ignored in Mis own world. " The world," in the first two clauses, plainly means the ox-ated world, " Into which He came," says v. 9; "in it He was," says this verse. By His Incarnation, He became (in Inhabitcml of H, and bound up with it. Yet it " was made by Him" (v. 3, 4, 5;. Here,
is prbperly Divine; and our nature is in His Person redeemed and quickened, ennobled and transfigured, and dwelt—'tabernacled' or 'pitched his tent;' a word peculiar to John, who uses it four times, all in the sense of a permanent stay (Kevelation 7. 15; 12.12; 13.0;
21. 3). For ever wedded to our "flesh," He has entered this tabernacle to "go no more out." The allusion is to that Tabernacle vfhere dwelt the Shekinah (see on Matthew 23. ;i8, 39), or manifested " Glory of the Lokd," and with reference to GotVs permanent dwelling amongst His people (Leviticus 26. 11; Psalm 68. 18; 132. 13, 14; gzekiel 37. 27). This is put almost beyond doubt by what immediately follows, "And we beheld His glory." [LucKE, Meyer, De WBrrE, which last critic, rising higher than usual, says that thus were perfected all former partial manifestations of God in an e.twntiully Personal and histwically Human manifestation.] full of grace and tmtli—So it should read. " He dwelt anioug us full of grace and truth;" or, in Old Testament phrase, "Mercy and troth," denoting the whole fruit of God's purposes of love towards sinners of mankind, which until now existed only in promise, and the fulfilment at length of that promise in Christ; in one great word, "the sukb MEKCiES of David" (Isaiah SS-.S; Acts 13. :M; cf. 2 Samuel
tlien, it is merely alluded to, in contrast partly with His being in it, but still more with tlie reception He met with from it. "The world that knew Him not" (1 John 3. 1) is of course the intelligent world of mankind. (See on v. 11,
12.) Taking the flrst two clauses as one statement, we try to apprehend it by thinking of the infant Christ conceived in the womb and born in the arms of His own creature, and of the Man Christ Jesus breathing Ilis own
air, treading His own ground, supported by suljstances to which Himself gave being, and the Creator of the very men whom He came to save. But the most vivid commentary on this entire verse will be got by tracing (in His niatchless history) Him of whom it speaks walking amidst all the elements of nature, the diseases of men and death itself, the secrets of the human heart, and "the rulers of the darkness of this world" in all their number, subtlety, and malignity, not only with absolute ease, as their conscious Lord, but, as we might say, with
23. 5). In His Person all that Grace and Truth which had been floating so long in shadowy forms, and dart.ing into the .souls of the poor and needy its broken beams, took everlasting possession of human flesh and filleil it full. By this Incarnation of Grace and Truth, the leacliing of thousands of years was at once transcended and beggaretl, and the family of God sprang into Manhood, and we l)c-
full consciousness on their part of the presence of their Maker, whose will to one and all of them was law. And
helil Itisglory—not by the eye of sense, which saw in Him only "the carpenter." His glory was "spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2.7-15; 2 Corinthians 3;. 18; 4.4,6;
tills is He of whom it is added, "the world knew Him not!" Ills own—'His own' (property or possession), for
tlie wonl is in the neuter gender. It means His own land, city, temple, Messianic rights and possessions, and his own—' His own' (people); for now the word is mdsciiline.
5. 16)—the glory of surpassing grace, love, tenderness, wisdom, purity, spirituality; majesty and meekness, richness and povertj', power and weakness, meeting tojrether in unique contrast ; ever attracting and at times ravishing the "babes" that followed and forsook all for Him. the glory as of th« only iM gotten of tlie SVither—.See on Luke 1. 35—not like, but 'such as (belongs to\' such tis became or was befitting the only begotten of the Father [Chrysostom in Lucke, Calvin, Ac], acconling to a wellknown use of the wotd "as."
Jt means tlie Jews, as the " peculiar people." Both they and their land, with all that tliis included, were "His OWN," not so much as part of "the world which was made by Him," but as "thk heus" of the inheritance,
Luke 21). ll. (See also on Matthew 22. 1.) received htm tn>t—»ationa 111/, its God's chosen witnesses, biit as maity —individuals, of the " disobedient and gainsaying people." guve he power—The word signifies both mithm-il!/ and
15. A Saying oftiie Baptist Confiumatory of this. after nte—in oflicial manifestation, before me—m rank and dignity, for he was before me—In existene^; "Hisgoings forth being from of old, from everlasting" (iyii<'ah 5. 2). (Anything lower than this His words cannot mcanl ; q. d., 'My Successor is my Superior, for Ho was my Pre<leces-
iibility, and both are certainly meant here, to become Mark these words: Jesus Is the Son of Grixl ; He is never said to have bkcome such, the sons—or more simply "sons of God,' in name and In nature, toelleve on his name— ft phrase never used in Scripture of any mc^-e ci'ca-
,iire, to express the credit given to human testimony, even of prophets or apostles, inasmuch It carries with it
sor.' This enigmatic play upon the different senses of the words "before" and "after" was doubtless employeil ly the Baptist to arrest attention, and rivet the thought
flie idea of trust proper only towards.GoD. In this sense of siijn-eme faith, as due to Him who "gives those that be-
and the Evangelist introduces it Just tochuch his own statements.
lieve in Himsetf power to become sons of God," It is manifestly used here, wlilch were born—a sonship therefore not of mere title and privilege, but of nature, the soul 128
16-18. Same Subject Continued, of bis fuluesa—of
TTie Biiptist's Teilimony In Chr!xt. JOHN I. The First GalherinQ 3/ Diitciplea,
God." 3.5, 36. John stood—' was sianding,' at his nccustomed place, looiiing— ' having tixi-d his ej'es,' witli significant gaze, on Jesus, as he waiked—but not now <o him. To liave done this once (see on «. 2!l) was humility enough. [liKXOKl,. 1 IJehoid, &c.—Tlie repetition of tliat wonderful proclamation, in identical terms and witliout another word, could only liave been meant as a gentle hint to go after Him—as they did.
•'grace and trn(li," rosaming the tnreaa of v. II. grace
for grace—i. e., grace upon s^ace (as all the best intei pre-
ters), in successive oonnniinicutlons and larger nieiisures,
as eacn was able to take ii in. Observe, the word " truth"
Is here dropped. Gkack lieing t lie chosen New Testament word for the whole fulness of the new covenant, all that dwells in Christ for men. For, &c.—' The Law elicits the consciousness of sin and the need of redemption ;' it only
;f7-.51. KiK.sT Gathkiiing op Dr.scri'i>K.s — JonN, Andrew, .Simon, PniI^If, NatuaN.^EI.. 38. W'liat secli je —gentle, win ni iig ([Uestion, remarkableas tlie fledcemer's
typifies the reality. The (Jospel, on the contrary, actually conininnieates reality ami power from above (cf. Uonians
6.14), Hence I'aul terms the Old Testament "sliadow," while he calls the New Testament "substance," Colos-
first iHiOlic utterance. (Si-e on MattheAV 12. 1S-2(I.) Wliere dweliest thou— (7. cZ., 'That is a question we cannot answer ill a moment; hut liad we thy company for a calm hour ill private, gladly should we open our burden.' 39. Come and see—His second ulteranee, more winning still,
sians 2.17. [Olshauskn.] No man—'No one,' in the widest sense. Itatli seen God—by immediate gaze, or di-
rect iuluitiou—lu the bosom of the Father—A remark-
lible expression, here only used, presupposing t/u; iSoiis
teiitli hour—not HI A. M. (as some), according to Uoman, but 4 P.M., according to Jewis/t reckoning, which Jolm follows. Tlie hour is mentioned tosliow wliy they stayed out the with liim—liecau.se liltle of it remained, m. One was Andrew—The other was doubtless our Evangelist himself. ' His great 'sensiliveness is loucliingly shown in his n preseutation <if this first contact with the I^oul; tho circumstances are present to him in the minutestdetails; he still remembers the very hour.' But 'he reports no particulars of those discour.ses of the Lord by which he wa.s bound to Him for the wliole of His lile; he allows everything personal to retire.' [Olshausen.J Peter's brotlu-r—and the elder of the two. 4:1. Iiave found tite Messias—The previous preparation of tlieir sim|)le liearta under tlie Baptist's ministry, made quick work of this blessed conviction, while others liesitati'd till doubt settled into obduracy. So it is still. 42. brought hiiu to Jesus Happy brothers that thus do to each other! belield lilm —'fixed "nis eyes on him,' with significant gaze (as v. 'iO). Cephas . . . stone — (See on Matthew Ifi. IS.) 43, 41, wotild go into Galilee— for from His baptism He had sojourned in Judea (showing that the calling at the Sea of Galilee (M.itt!iew 4, LS) was a subsequent one, see on Luke
eoii»eiou.i erixfeitce distiiicl from the Father, and expressing His immediate mid moU endeared access to, and absolute oe-
guuintaiu-c with Him. He—Emphatic; q.d., 'He and He only hath declared liiin,' because He only can.
10-3(1. Thb Haiti.st's Te-stimoxy to CiiitisT. 19. record— ' testimony.' the Jews—i.e., the heads of the na-
tion, the members of the Sanhedrim. In this peoiliar
sense our Evangeti.sl seems always to use the term. 'iO. coii-
fesaed, <tc. q. d., ' While many were readj' to hail him as the Christ, he neither gave the slightest ground for such views, nor the least entertainment to them.' 21. Kliasi lnHis<nvn proper person, that proyhet—announced in Ueutenmoinj' 18. 1.5, <tc., about whom they seem not to have been agreed whether lie were the same with the Messiah or no. ',45. Why Impttzest thon, if not, &c. Thinking he disclaimed any special connection with Mes-
siah's ki ngdom, thoy demand his right to gatlier disciples by liaptisin. !4B. tliere standeth—This must have been spoken after the Baptism of Christ, and possibly .just after His Temptation (see on v. '29). 38. Bethabara llather ' Hethany' (with nearly all the best and most ancient MSS.); not the Bethany of Lazarus, but another of the same name, and distinguished from it tis lying " beyond .Jordan," on the east. !J9. seeth Jesus— fresh, probably, from the scene of the temptation, coming to him —as to congenial company (Acts 4. 23). and to receive from him His first greeting, and gnitli—catching a sublime Inspiration at the sight of Him approaching, tlie Lnmb of God—the one God-ordained, God-gifted sacrificial oiFering. ti>at taitetii a»i'ay taketh up and takcth away. The word signifies both, as does the corresponding Hebrew word. Applied to sin, it means to be charrjeable rvith
5. 1). follow me—the first express call given, the former three having come to Him spontaneously, the city of Andrew and Pliilip—of their birth probably, for they seem to have lived at Caperniium (Mark 1. 29). 45. Natlianael — (See on Matthew 10. o.) Moses—(See ch. 5. 46.) son of Joseph—the current way of speaking. (.See Luke
3. 2.3.) any good out of Naxaretlk—remembering Bethlehem, perhaps, as Messiah's predicted birth-place, and Nazareth liaviiig no express prophetic place at all, besides being in no repute. The question sprang from mere dread of mistake in a matter so vital. Come and see—Noble remedy against preconceived opinions. [Bengel.] Philip, though he could not perhaps solve his difiiculty, could show him how to get rid of it. (.S.eeou ch. 6. 68.) 47, 48. en ^prael-
tlie gaill of it (Exodus 28. 38; Leviticus 5. 1 ; Ezekiel 18. 20), and to hear it auay (as often). In the Levitical victims both ideas met, as they do in Christ, the people's guilt being viewed as transferred to them, avenged in their death, and so Iwrne away by them (Leviticus 4. 1.5; 10. 1.5,
Ite Indeed . . . no guile—not only no hypocrite, but with aguileless simplicity not always found even in God's own people, ready to follow wherever truth might lead him, saying, Samuel-like, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." Whence knowest thou me—conscious that his very heart ha<l been read, and at this critical moment more than ever before. Before PlUlip called thee showing He knew all that passed between Philip and him at a distance, wlxen under the fig tree, &c. where retirement for meditation and praj^er was not uncommon. [LiGHTFOOT.] Thither, probably—hearing that his tnaster's Master had at length appeared, and heaving with mingled eagerness to behold Him and dread of deception—he had retired to pour out his guileless heart for
21, 22; and cf: Isaiah .53. 6-12; 2 Corinthians .5. 21). the sin — singular number being used to mark tlie collective burden and all-embracing efficacy, of tlie world—not of Israel only, for whom the typical victims were exclusively ottered. Wherever there shall Uvea sinner throughout the wide world, sinking under that burden too heavy for him to bear, he shall find in this " Lamb of God," a slioulder equal to the weight. The right note was struck at the
first— balm, doubtless, to Christ's own spirit; nor was ever after, or ever will be, a more glorious utterance. 3134. laiew him not—Living mostly apart, the one at Nazareth, the other in the Judean desert—to prevent all appearance <»f collusion, John only knew that at a definite time after his own call, his Master would show Himself. As He drew near for baptism one day, the last of all the crowd, the spirit of the Baptist heaving under a Divine presentiment that the moment had at length arrived, and an air of unwonted serenity and dignity, not wfthout
liglit and guidance, ending with such a prayer as this, "Show me a token for good!" (See on Luke 2.8.) Now
lie lias it, 'Thou guileless one, that fig tree scene, with all
its heaving anxieties, deep pleadings and tremulous hopes—I saw it all.' The first words of Jesus had astonished, but this quite overpowered and won him. 49. Son of God . . . King of Israel—the one denoting Hi.'j peison, the other His ofHce. How much loftier this than anything Philip had said to him ! But ji-st as the earth's vital powers, the longer they are frost-bound, take the greater spring when at length set free, so souls, like
traits, probably, of the family features, appearing in this Stranger, the Bpirit said to him as to Samuel of his youth-
ful type, "Arise, anoint Him, for this Is He !" (1 Samuel l(i.
12). But the sign which he was told to expect was the visible descent of the Spirit upon Him as He emerged out of the baptismal water, r/ie/i. catching up the voice from deaveu, "he saw and bare record that this Is the Son of
Hie Miracle of the Water made Wine. JOHN II, III. Tlie Interview of Nicodemtis with Jem*.
lion to the Temple—as the seat of His Father's most nngn worship, and so the symbol of all that is due to Him o earth—dictating both speeches. Only, when but a youth with no authority , He was simply "a Son in His own house now He was " a Son over His own house" (Hebrews 3. 6 the proper Representative, and in fiesh " the Heir," of h Father's rights, house of merchandise—There was uoth Ing wrong in the merchandise; but to bring it, for thel own and others' convenience, into that most sacretl placeg was a high-handed profanation which the eye of Jesu could not endure, eaten me up—a glorious feature in th predicted character of the suffering Messiah (Psalm 69. 9 and rising high even in some not worthy to loose th latchet of his shoes. (ExoduK 82. 19 Ac.) 18-33. Who sign, &c.—Though the act and the words of Christ, take together, were sign enough, tliey were unconvinced: y they were awed, and though at His very next appearance at Jerusalem they "sought to kill him " for speaking of "His Father" just as He did now (ch. 5. 18), they, at this early stage, only ask a sign. Destroy this tem« pie, Ac.—(See on Mark 14. 58, 59.) forty-six years—From the eighteenth year of Herod till then was just forty-six years. [Josephus, Antiquities, xv. 11. 1.] temple of his body—in which was enshrined the glory of the eternal Word. (See on ch. 1. 14.) By its resurrection tl>e true Temple of God upon earth was reared up, of which the stone one was but a shadow; so that the allusion is not quite exclusively to Himself, but takes in that Temple of which He is the foundation, and all believers are the "lively stones." (1 Peter 2. 4, 5.) believed the Scriptures —on this subject, i. e., what was meant, which was hid from them till then. Mark(l.) Hie aclby which Christ siffnalized His first public appearance in the Temple. Taking " His fan in His hand. He purges His floor," not thoroughly indeed, but enough to foreshadow His last act towards that faithless people — to sweep them out of God's house,
Nathanael and Thomas (see on ch. 20. 28), the outgoings of xvhose faith are hindered for a time, take the start of tlieir more easy-going bretliren when loosed and let go. 50, 51. Because I said, Sic.—q. d., 'So quickly convinced, and on this evidence only?'—an expression of admiration. Hereafter, &c.—The key to this great saying is Jacob's vision (Genesis 28. 12, Ac), to which the allusion plainly
is. To show the patriarch that though alone and friendless on earth his interests were busying all heaven, he was made to see "heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon a" mystic " ladder reaching from heaven to earth." ' By and by,' says Jesus here, 'ye shall see this communication between heaven and earth thrown wide open, and the Son of man the real Ladder 0/ this intercourse.'
Ver. 1-12. First Miracle, Water Made Wine—Brief Visit to Capernaum. 1. third day—He would take two days to reach Galilee, and this was the third, mother there— it being probably some relative's marriage. JoJm never names her. [Bengel.] 3. no wine—evidently expecting some display of His glory, and hinting that now was His time. 4, 5. Woman—no term of disrespect in the language of that day (ch. 19. 28). what ... to do with thee—7. d., ' In my Father's business I have to do with Him only.' 'Twas a gentle rebuke lor offleioiis interference, entering a region from which all creatures were excluded
(cf. Acts -1. 19, 20). mine hour, (fcc—hinting that He wouhl do something, but at His own time; and so she understood it iv. 5). G. firkius—about seven and a half gallons in Jewish, or nine in x\ttic measure; eacli of lliese huge water jars, therefore, holding .some twenty or more gallons, for washings at such feasts. (Mark 7. 4.) 7, 8. Fill ...draw . . . bear, &c.—directing all, but Himself touching nothing, to prevent all appearance of collusion. 9, 10. well dmnk—'drunk abundantly' (as Song of Solomon 5. 1), speaking of the general practice, the gooti tin now—thus testifying, while ignorant of the source of supply, not only that it was real wine, but better than any at the feast. 11. manifest«l forth his glorj-—Nothing in the least like this is said of the miracles of prophet or apostle, nor could without manifest blasphemy be said of anj' mere creature. Observe, (1.) At a marriage Christ made His first public appearance in any company, and at a marriage He wrought His first miracle—the noblest sanction thatcould begiven to thai God-given institution.
(2.) The sign of His authority to do this is the announcement, at this first outset of His ministry, of that comlnf? death by their hands, and resurrection by His own, which were to pave the way for their judicial ejection. 23-33. tu the feast-day — the foregoing things occurring probably before the feast began, many believed—superfi-
cially, struck merely by "the miracles He did." . Of these we have no record, did not commit—'entrust,' or let himself down familiarly to them, as to His genuine dis-
ciples, linew what was In man—It is impossible for language more clearly to assert of Christ what in Jeremiah
17. 9, 10, and elsewhere, is denied of all mere creatures,
(2.) As the miracle did not make bud good, but good better, so Cliristianity only redeems, sanctifies, and ennobles the beneficent but abused institution of marriage; and Christ's whole work only turns the water of earth into the wine of heaven. Thus "this beginning of miracles" exhibited the character and " manifested forth the glory" of His entire Mission. (3.) As Christ countenanced our seasons of festivity, so also that greater /u/nera which befits such; so far was He from encouraging that asceticisin which has since been so often put for all religion. (4.) The character and authority ascribed by Romanists to the Virgin is directly in the teeth of this and other scriptures.
Ver. 1-21. Night-Interview of NicoDEsnrs with Jesus. 1, 3. NIcodemus—In this member of the Sanhedrim sincerity and timidity are seen struggling together. One of those superficial " believers " mentioned in ch. 2. Xi, 24, yet inwardly craving further satisfaction, he comes to Jesus in quest of it, but comes " by night" (seo ch. 19. 38, 39; 12. 42); he avows his conviction that He was "conie from God " an expression never ajyjilicd to a mere!v human messenger, and probably meaning more hero—but on I}' as ".1 teacher," in His miracles he sees a proof merely that "God is with him." Thus, while unable to repress his convictions, he is afraid of committing himself too far. 3. Except, Ac.—This blunt and curt reply was plainly meant to shako the whole edifice of the man's religion. In order to lay a deeper and more ertduring foundation. Nicoiieinus ifrc>l>ably thought he had gone a long way, and expected, perhaps, to be complimented on his candour. Instead of this, he is virtually told that he has raised a question which he is not in a capacity to solve, and that before approaching it, his spiritual iHsion required
1!4. Capernaiun—on the Sea of Galilee. (See on Matthew
9. 1.) his mother and brethren—See on Luke 2. 51, and Matthew 13. •Sl-'Vi.
13-25. Christ's First Passover—First Cleansing of the Temple. 14-17. In the temple—not the temple itself, as 1'. lit-21, but the temple-court, sold oxen, Ac.—for the convenience of those who had to offer tliem in sacrifice, changers of money—of Uonian into Jewish money, in which (lie lcnipl<!-dnes (see on Matthew 17. 21) had to bo paid, small cowls—likely some of the rushes spread for bedding, and wlien twisted used to tie up the cattle there t,olIected. 'Not by this slender whip but by Divine majesty was the ejection accomplished, the whip being btUa sign of the .scourge of Divine anger.' [Gkotius.] ponrcd out . . . overthrew, &c.—thus expressing the mingled Indignation and authority of the Impulse, my Father's lioiiKe—How close the resemblance of these remarkable iRorda If liUke 'i, 49; the same consciousness of intvinsie rela130
to be rectified by an entire rex'oluiion on his inner man. Had the man been less sincere, this would certainly have repelle<l him; but with persons In his mixed state of mind —to whicli Jesus was no stranger (ch. 2. 25)—such methods speed better than more honeyed words and gradual approaches, a man—not a Jeiv merely; the necessity Is a universal one. born again-or, afe It were, begin lije anew
FAC-SIMILES OP ANCIENT COINS IN USE ABOUT THE FIRST CENTURY. OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA.
KING OF SYRIA. COIN OF NERO (WITH THE HARBOR OF OSTIA.)
(Head of kiof; with diadem.) rnm the British Museum. (One of the largest brass coins of Nero's reign.)
COIN OF TARSUS.
(Struck under the Emperor Hadrian.)
Cfirisi Teacheth NicodeMua JOHN III. the Necentity of Regeneration,
Lord's proposition is universal, that no fallen man Is or can be spiritual without a regenerating operation of the Holy Ghost, and the necessity of a spiritual obedience under wliatever name, in opposition to mere mechanical services, is proclaimed throughout all the Old Testament. 11-13. We speak that we know, and . . . have seen
In relation to God; his manner of thinking, feeling, and
acting, with reference to spiritual things, undergoing a fundamental and permanent revolution, cannot see—can have no part In (just as one is said to "see life," "see
death," &c.). tlie kingdom of God—whether in its beginning; here (Luke 16. 16), or Its consummation hex-e-
after. (ilatthew 25. 34; Epheslans 5. 5.) 4. How, &c.— The figure of the new birth, if it had been meant only of
t. e., by absolute knowledge and immediate vision of God, which " the only-begotten Son in tlie bosom of the Father" claims as exclusively His own, ch. 1. 18. The "we" and "our" are here used, though Himself only ia Intended, in emphatic contrast, probably, with the opening words of Nicodemus, ' Rabl)i, we knoiv,' &c. ye receive not, &c.—referring to the class to which Nicodemus belonged, but from which lie was beginning to be separated inspirit. eartlUy things—such as regeneration, tlie gate of entrance to the kingdom of God un earth, and which Nicodemus should have understood bet ter, as a trutli even of tliat more eartlily economy to which he belonged, heavenly things—The things of the new and more heavenly evangelical economy, only to be fully understood after the eflusion of tlie Spirit, from heaven through the exalted Saviour, no man hath ascended, &c.—Tliero
Gentile proselytes to the Jewish religion, would have been
intelligible enough to Nicodemus, being quite in keeping with tbe language of that day; but that Jews themselves Should need a new birth was to him incomprehensible.
6. of water and of the Spirit—A twofold explanation of the "new birth," so startling to Nicodemus. To a Jewish
ecclesiastic, so familiar with the symbolical application
of water, in every variety of way and form of expression,
this language was fitted to show that the thing intended was no other than a thorough spiritual purification by the operation of the Holy Ghost. Indeed, element of water and operation of the Spirit are brought together in a glorious evangelical prediction of Ezekiel (36. 2.T-27), which Nicodemus might have been reminded of had such spiritual-
Is soiuolliing paradoxical in this language—'No one has gone up but He that came down, even He who is at onco both up and down.' Doubtless it was intended to startle and constrain His auditor to think that tliere must be mysterious elements in His Person. The old Socinians, to subvert tlie doctrine of the pre-e.'ci.stence of Christ, seized upon this passage as teacliiiig that the man Jesus was secretly caught up to heaven to receive His instructions, and then "came down from lii aveii
ities not been almost lost in the reigning formalism. Already had the symbol of water been embodied in an ini-
tiatory ordinance, in the baptism of the Jewish expectants of Messiah by the Baptist, not to speak of tlie baptism of Gentile proselytes before that; and in the Christian Church it was soon to become the great visible door of entrance into "the kingdom of God," <fte reality being
the sole work of the Holy Ghost. [Titus 3. 5.] 6-8. That which la born, &c. — A great universal proposition;
' to deliver them. But the sense manifestly is tlii.s: 'The perfect knowledge of God is not obtained by any man's going up from earlii to heaven to receive it—no man hutii so ascended—but He whose proper habitalion, in His essen-
'Tliat wliich is begotten carries within itself the nature of that which begat it.' [Olshausen.] flesh— Not the mere material body, but all that comes into the world by
birtli, the entire man; yet not humanity simply, but in its corrujited, depraved condition, in complete subjection to Hie law of Hie fall (Upmans 8. 1-9). So that tliough a man "could enter a second time into his mother's womb andbe born," he would be no nearer this "new birth" than before (Jol) 11. -4; Psalm 51. 5). Is gplrlt^ Partakes of and possesses His spiritual nature. Marvel not, &c.—If a spiritual nature only can see and enter the kingdom of God;
tial and eternal nature, is lieaven, hath, bytukiug human flesh, descended as the "Son of man" to disclose the Father, whom He knows by immediate gaze aiike in the flesh as before He assumed it, being essentially and unchangeably "in the bosom of the Father" ' (ch. 1. IS). Ht16. And as Moses, etc.—Here now we liave tiie " heavenly things," as liefore tlie "earthly," but under a veil, for tlie reason mentioned in v. 12. The crucitixion of Messiah is twice after this veiled under tlie same lively term "up-
if all we Ijring into the world with us be the reverse of spiritual; and if this spirituality be solely of the Holy Gliost, no wonder a new birth is indispensable, ye must —'Ve, saj-s Jesus, not tee.' [Bengel.] After those universal propositions, about what "a man" must be, to "enter the kingdom of God,"— tliis is remarkable, showing that our Lord meant to hold himself fortli as "separate from sinners." The wind, &c. Breath and spirit (one word Ijoth in Hebrew and Greek) are constantly brought togetlier in .Scripture as analogous (Job 27.3 ; ;i3.4; Ezekiel
lifting," ch. 8. 28; 12. 32, 33. Here it is still farther veiled— though to us who know what it means, rendered vastly more instructive—by reference to the brazen serpent. The venom of the ttery serpents, shooting tlirougli the veins of the rebellious Israelites, was spreading death through tlie camp—lively emblem of the perishing condition of men by reason of sin. In both cases the remedy was divinely provided. In both the way of cure strikingly resembled tliat of the disease. Stung by serpents, by a serpent they are healed. By " tiery serpents" bitten serpents, probably, with skin spotted fiery-red (Kuktz)— the instrument of cure is a serpent of brass or copper, having at a distance ^/le 4ame a^)pema>ictf. So in redemption, as by man came death, by Man also comes life Man, too, " in the likeness of sinful flesh," differing in nothing outward and apparent from those who, pervaded hy the poison of the serpent, were ready to perisli. But as the uplifted serpent had none of the venom of wliich the serpent-bitten people were dying, so while the whole human family were perishing of the deadly wound inflicted on it by the old serpent, "the .Second Man," who arose over humanity with healing in His wings, was without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. In both cases the remedy is conspicuously displayed; in the one case on a pole, in the otlier on the cross, to "draw all men unto Hiin" (ch. 12. 32). In both cases it is by directing tlie eye to the uplifted Remedy that the cure is effected ; in tlia one case the bodily eye, in tlie other the gaze of the soul by "believing in Him," as in that glorious ancient proclamation—"/.ooA; unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," &c. (Isaiah 45. 22). Both methods are stumbling to human reason. What, to any thinking Israelite, could seein more unlilcely than tlial a deadly poison should be dried up in his body by simply looking on a
87. 9-14). canst not tell, &o.—The laws which govern the motion Of the winds are even yet but partially discovered but the risings, fallings, and change in direction many times in a day, of those gentle breezes here referred to, will probably ever be a mystery to us : So of the operation of the Holy Ghost in the new biith. 9, 10. How, 5:e.— Though the subject still confounds him, the necesMlty and
;>ossibilily of the new birth is no longer the point witli him, but the nature of it and how it is brouglit al)out. [LuTiiARDT.] ' From this moment Nicodemus says noliiing more, but has sunk unto a disciple who hfts found his true teacher. Therefore tlie Saviour now graciously advances in his communications of truth, and once more solemnly brings to the mind of tliis teaclier in Israel, now become a learner, his own not guiltless ignorance, that He may then proceed to utter, out of the fulness of His Divine knowledge, such fartiicr testimonies both of eartlily and heavenly things as his docile scliolar may to his own profit receive.' [.Stiek.] master, 'teacher.' The question clearly implies that the doctrine of regeneration is so far disclosed in tlie Old Testament that JS'icodemut vjas culpable in being ignorant of it. Nor is it merely as something that should be experienced under the Gospel that the Old Testament holds it forth— as many distinguished critics allege, denying that there was fcuy such thing as regeneration before Christ. For our
GoiCs great Love tt the W(/rld. JOHN III. John Bapl'ul's Teslirnonxj to his Mas'er.
ment. 2.5. 20. between some of—rather, ' on the part of. and tiie .Jews—rather (according to the best M.SS.), "and a Jew." about purifying i.e., baptizing, the symbolical meaning of washing with water being put (as in ch. 2.0) for the act itself. As John and Jesus were the only teachers who baptized Jews, discussions mighteasily arise between the Baptist's disciples and such Jews as declined to submit to that rite. Rabbi, &c.—'Master, this mau tells us that He to whom thou barest such generous witness beyond Jordan is requiting thy generosity by drawing all the people away to Himself. At this rate, thou shall soon have no disciples at all.' The reply to this is one of the noljlest and most affecting utterances that ever came from tlie lips of man. S7-30. A man, Ac.-' I do my heaven-prescribed work, and that is enough for me. Would you have me mount into my Master's place? Said
repl leof bvass? Suoli a stumbling-block to tlie Jews and to tl e Greeks foolish iiess was faith in the crm-iflcd Nazarene as a way of Ueliveranee from eternal perdition. Yet was tlie warrant in both cases to expect a cure equally rational and well grounded. As the serpent was God's onliiKinoe for the cure of every bitten Israelite, so is Christ
for the salvation of every perishing sinner—the one however a purily arbilrary ordinance, the other divinely addpled to man's complicated maladies. In both cases the efficacy is the same. As one simple look at the serpent, however distant and however weak, brought an ln»;antaneous cure, even so, real faith in the Lord Jesus, however tremulous, liowever distant—be it l)ut r«i; faith —brings certain and instant healing to the perishing soul. In a word, tlie consequences of disobedience are the same in botli. Doubtless many bitten Israelites, galling as their case was, would reason rather than obey, would
I not unto you, I am not the Christ? The Bride is not mine, why shouhl the people stay with me? Mine it is to point the burdened to the -Lamb of God that taketh away
Rpeeulate on the absurdity of expecting the bite of a living serpent to be cured by looking at a piece of dead metal in the shape of one—speculate thus till they died. Alas! is not salvation by a crucilied Redeemer subjected to like treatment? Has "the otfeuce of tlie cross" yet ceased?
the sin of the world, to tell them there Is Balm in Gilead, and a Physician there. And shall I grudge to see tliein, in obedience to the call, flying as a cloud, and as doves to their windows? Whose is the Bride but the Bridegroom's? Enough for me to be the Bridegroom's friend, sent by Him to negotiate the match, privileged to bring together the Saviour and those He is come to .seek and to save, and rejoicing with joy unspeakable if I may but "stand and hear the Bridegroom's voice," witnessing the blessed espousals. Say ye, then, they go from me to Him? Ye bring me glad tidings of great joy. He must increase, but
(Cf. 2 Kings 5. 12.) For God so lovc«l, &c.—What proclamation of the Gospel has been so oft on the lipsol missionaries and preachers in every age sine* it was first ut-
tered ? what has sent such thrilling sensations tliriiugh millions of mankind? wliat lias been honoured to bring such multitudes to the leet of Christ? what to kindle in the cold and selfish breasts of mortals the fires of self-
6acriti;ung love to mankind, as these words of transparent
I must decrease; this, my joy, therefore is fulfilled.' A man can receive, Ac- ' can assume nothing,' i. e., lawfully and with any success ; (]. d.. Every man has his work and sphere appointed him from above. Even Christ Himself came under this law (Hebrews 5. 4). 31-34. He that, itc—Here is the reason why He must increase while
simpli'-ity, yet overpowering majesty ? The picture embraces several distinct compartments : "The Woklu"—
In its widest sense ready "to perish;" the immense "Love of God" to lluit perishiny world, measuraljle only, and conceivable only, iiy the gift which it drew fortli from Him; tme Gift itself—" He so loved the world that He (jave His only begotten Son," or, in the language of Paul, "spared not His own Son" (Romans S. 32), or in that addressed to Abraham when ready to offer Isaac on the
all human teachers must decrease. The Master " cometU from above"—descending from His proper element, the region of those " heavenly things" which He came to reveal, and so, although mingling with men and things on the earth, is not "of the eauth," either in Person or Word. The servants, on the contrary, springing of earth, are of the earth, and their testimony, even though Divine in authority, partakes necessarily of their own e.arthiness. (So strongly did the Baptist feel this contrast that the last clause just repeats the first.) It is impossible for a sharper line of distinction to be drawn between Christ and all human teachers, even when divinely commissioned and speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. And who does not perceive it? The words of prophets and apostles are undeniable and most precious truth ; but in the words of Christ we hear a voice as from the excellent Glory, the Eteinal Word making Himself heard in our own fiesh. w hat he hath seen and heard—(See on v. 11 and ch. 1. 18.) no man recelveth, itc.—John's disciples had said, "All come to Him" {v. 20). The Baptist here virtually saj'S, Would it were so, but alas! they are next to "none." [Bkngel.] They were far readier to receive himself, and obliged him to say, I am not the Christ, and he seems pained at this, hatli set to His seal, &c.—gives glory to God whose words Christ speaks, not .as prophets and apostles by a partial commuiiicjit ion of theSpirit to them, for God giveth-not the Spirit by measure—Here, again, the sharpest conceivable line of distinction is drawn between Christ and .all human-inspired teachers: 'They have the .Sjiirit in a limited degree; but God giveth notfto HimJ the .Spirit by measure.' It means the entire fulness of Divine life and Divine power. The present tense "giveth," very aptly points out the permanent communication of the Spirit by the Father to the Son, so that a constant flow and rellow of living power is to he understood,
altar, " withheld not His Son,. His only Son, wliora He loved" (Genesis 22. l(i) ; the Fruit of this stupendous gift not only deliverance from impending "perdition," but t/^e bestowal of exierlastintj life; and the mode in wiiicli all takes ell'ect—by " believing" on tlie Son. How would Nicodemus' narrow Judaism become invisible in the blaze of this Sun of righteousness seen rising on " the world" with healing in His wings! 17-;J1. not to con<Srinn, &c.—.\ statement of vast importance. Though "condemnation"
is to many the ismie of Christ's mission (v. 19), it is not the
object of His mission, wliich is purely a saving one. Is not condemntti—Having, immediately on liis believing, "passed fiom deatll unto life," eh. 5. 24. condemned already—Rejecting tlie one way of deliverance from tliat " condomiiation" which God gave His Son to remove, and BO willnlly remaining condemned. tUis Is the t-ondeiniiaCion, &c. — Emphatically so, revealing the condemnation already existing, and sealing tip under it those wlio will not be delivered from it. llfjJit Is come Into tl>e world—in the Person of Him to whom Nicodemus was listening, loved darkness, tic—This can only be known by the deliberate rejection of Christ, but that does fearfully reveal it. reproved—by detection, doetli Irntlt—whose only object in life is to be and do what will l)ear t he light. Therefore he loves and "comes
to the light," tli.at all he is and does, being thus thoroughly ti'Sted, may bo seen to have nothing in it but what is divinely wrought and divinely approved. This is the "Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile."
'2%-S(y. Jesus in the Nkiohbouhhood of the Raptist —His NoBtiK TicsTiMONV TO His Mastkk. 'M-'H. land of .Jn«lea-Tlie rural parts of that province, the foregoing :»nversation being held in the capital. l»aptl-/.ed— in the sense explained In cli. 4. 2. ^non . . . Sallm—on the west of Jordan. (Cf. i'. 28 with ch. 1.28.) .lolm not yet cast into prison—Hence it is plain that our Lord's ministry did not (-o/(»».cHce with the imprisonment of .Tohn, though, but for this, we should have drawn that Inference from Matthew 4. 12, &-c,„ and Mark's (1.11) express state132
(Cf. ch. 1. 51.) IOlshausen.] 3.1, 30. The Father lovetli, &c.—See on Matthew 11. 27, where we have the "delivering over of all things into the hands of the Son," while here we have the deep spring of that august act in the Father's inoll'able " love of the Son." hath cverlnstinju;llfe—already hath It. See on D. 18 and Chi 5. 24. shall not see life—The contrast here is strlkiut; : The ouc has already a life that
Christ a7i(I the Womam. (if Samaria. JOHN IV. He Eevealeth Himself to her.
nature, they are soon spent, and need to be anew supplied as much as if we had never experienced them before, while the deeper wants of our being are not reached by them at all; whereas the "water" that Christ gives spiritual life—is struck out of the very depths of our being, making the sou! not a cistern, for holding water poured into it from without, but a fountain (the word had been belter so rendered, to distinguish it from the word rendered "well" in u. II), springing, gushing, bubbling up and flowing forth within us, ever fresh, ever living. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Christ is the secret of this life wilh all its enduring energies and satisfactions, as is expressly said (ch. 7. 37-39). " Never thirsting," then, means simply that such souls ha ve the supplies at home. Into everlasting life—carrying the thouglils up from the eternal freshness and vitality of these waters to the great ocean in which they have their confluence. 'Tliither may I arrive!' [Bengel.] 15-18. give inc thU water, Ac-This is not obluseness— that is giving way— it expresses a wondering desire after she scarce knew what from this mysterious Stranger, call thy husbnnd—now proceeding to arouse her slumbering conscience by laying bare the guilty life she was leading, and by the minute det.ails which that life furnished, not only bringing her sin vividly up before her, but preparing her to receive in His true cliaracter that wonderful Stranger to whom her whole life, in its minutest particulars, evidently lay open. 19, 30. Sir, I perceive, &c.—Seeing hois(df all revealed, does she now break down and ask what hopes there might be for one so guilty? Nay, her conviclions have not reached that point yet. She ingeniously shifts the subject from a personal to a pu!)lic question. It is not, '.\las, what a wicked life am I leading !' but ' Lo, what a wonderful prophet I got into conversation with ! He will be able to settle that interminable dispute between us and the Jews. Sir, you must know all about such matters—our fathers hold to this mountain here,' pointing to Goizim in Samaria, ' as tlie divinely-consecrated place of worship, but ye Jews say that Jerusalem is the proper place—which of us is right?' How slowly does the human heart submit to thorough humiliation! (compare t\\ii prodigal ; see on Lulce 15. 15). Doubtless our Lord saw through the fetch; but does He say, 'That question is not tlie point Just now, but have you been living in tlie way d(«cribed, yea or nay? Till this is disposed of I cannot be drawn into theological controversies.' The Prince of preachers takes another method : He humours the poor woman, letting her take her own way, allowing her to lead while He follows—but thus only the more effectually gaining his object. He answers her question, pours light into her mind on the spirituality of all true worship, as of its glorious Object, and so brings her insensibly to the point at which He could disclose to her wondering mind Whom she was all the while speaking to. ai-a-t. Woman, &c. Here are three weighty pieces of information: (1.) 'The point raised will very soon cease to be of any moment, for a total change of dispensation is about to come over the Church.' (2.) 'The Samaritans are wrong, not only as to theptace, but the whole grounds and nature of their worship, while in all these respects the trutli lies with the Jews.' (3.) 'As God is a Spirit, so He both invites and demands a spiritual worship, and already all is in preparation for a spiritual economy, more in harmony with the true nature of acceptable service than the cerenioni.il worship by consecrated persons, place, and times, which God for a time has seen meet to keep up till fulness of the time should come.' neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem i.e., exclusively. (Malachi 1. 11; 1 Timothy 2. 8.) worship the Fattier—She had talked simply of "worship;" our Lord brings up before her the great Object of all acceptable worship "the Father." Ye worship ye know not what-without any revealed authority, and so very much in the dark. In this sense, the Jews knew what they were about.. But the most glorious thing here la the reason assigned, " For Salvation is of the Jews," Intimating to her that Salvation was not a thing left to bo reached by any one who might vaguely desire It of a God of mercy, but something that had been revealed, prepared,