Part 17
35. If thou be the Christ; ver. 37. If thou be the king - The priests deride the name of Messiah: the soldiers the name of king.
38. Matt. xxvii, 37; Mark xv, 26; John xix, 19. 39. And one of the malefactors reviled him - St. Matthew says, the robbers: St. Mark, they that were crucified with him, reviled him. Either therefore St. Matthew and Mark put the plural for the singular (as the best authors sometimes do) or both reviled him at the first, till one of them felt "the overwhelming power of saving grace."
40. The other rebuked him - What a surprising degree was here of repentance, faith, and other graces! And what abundance of good works, in his public confession of his sin, reproof of his fellow criminal, his honourable testimony to Christ, and profession of faith in him, while he was in so disgraceful circumstances as were stumbling even to his disciples! This shows the power of Divine grace. But it encourages none to put off their repentance to the last hour; since, as far as appears, this was the first time this criminal had an opportunity of knowing any thing of Christ, and his conversion was designed to put a peculiar glory on our saviour in his lowest state, while his enemies derided him, and his own disciples either denied or forsook him.
42. Remember me when thou comest - From heaven, in thy kingdom - He acknowledges him a king, and such a king, as after he is dead, can profit the dead. The apostles themselves had not then so clear conceptions of the kingdom of Christ.
43. In paradise - The place where the souls of the righteous remain from death till the resurrection. As if he had said, I will not only remember thee then, but this very day.
44. There was darkness over all the earth - The noon-tide darkness, covering the sun, obscured all the upper hemisphere. And the lower was equally darkened, the moon being in opposition to the sun, and so receiving no light from it. Matt. xxvii, 45.
45. Mark xv, 38. 46. Father, into thy hands - The Father receives the Spirit of Jesus: Jesus himself the spirits of the faithful.
47. Certainly this was a righteous man - Which implies an approbation of all he had done and taught.
48. All the people - Who had not been actors therein, returned smiting their breasts - In testimony of sorrow.
50. Matt. xxvii, 57; Mark xv, 43; John xix, 38.
1. Certain others with them - Who had not come from Galilee. Matt. xxviii, 1; Mark xvi, 1; John xx, 1.
4. Behold two - Angels in the form of men. Mary had seen them a little before. They had disappeared on these women's coming to the sepulchre, but now appeared again. St. Matthew and Mark mention only one of them, appearing like a young man.
6. Remember how he spake to you, saying, The Son of man must be delivered - This is only a repetition of the words which our Lord had spoken to them before his passion But it is observable, he never styles himself the Son of man after his resurrection.
13. Mark xvi, 12. 21. Today is the third day - The day he should have risen again, if at all. 25. O foolish - Not understanding the designs and works of God: And slow of heart - Unready to believe what the prophets have so largely spoken.
26. Ought not Christ - If he would redeem man, and fulfil the prophecies concerning him, to have suffered these things? - These very sufferings which occasion your doubts, are the proofs of his being the Messiah. And to enter into his glory - Which could be done no other way.
28. He made as though he would go farther - Walking forward, as if he was going on; and he would have done it, had they not pressed him to stay.
29. They constrained him - By their importunate entreaties. 30. He took the bread, and blessed, and brake - Just in the same manner as when ho instituted his last supper.
31. Their eyes were opened - That is, the supernatural cloud was removed: And he vanished - Went away insensibly.
32. Did not our heart burn within us - Did not we feel an unusual warmth of love! Was not our heart burning, &c.
33. The same hour - Late as it was.
34. The Lord hath appeared to Simon - Before he was seen of the twelve apostles, 1 Cor. xv, 5. He had, in his wonderful condescension and grace, taken an opportunity on the former part of that day (though where, or in what manner, is not recorded) to show himself to Peter, that he might early relieve his distresses and fears, on account of having so shamefully denied his Master.
35. In the breaking of bread - The Lord's Supper. 36. Jesus stood in the midst of them - It was just as easy to his Divine power to open a door undiscernibly, as it was to come in at a door opened by some other hand. Mark xvi, 14, 19; John xx, 19.
40. He showed them his hands and his feet - That they might either see or feel the prints of the nails.
41. While they believed not for joy - They did in some sense believe: otherwise they would not have rejoiced. But their excess of joy prevented a clear, rational belief.
43. He took it and ate before them - Not that he had any need of food; but to give them still farther evidence.
44. And he said - On the day of his ascension. In the law, and the prophets, and the psalms - The prophecies as well as types, relating to the Messiah, are contained either in the books of Moses (usually called the law) in the Psalms, or in the writings of the prophets; little being said directly concerning him in the historical books.
45. Then opened he their understanding, to understand the Scriptures - He had explained them before to the two as they went to Emmaus. But still they Understood them not, till he took off the veil from their hearts, by the illumination of his Spirit.
47. Beginning at Jerusalem - This was appointed most graciously and wisely: graciously, as it encouraged the, greatest sinners to repent, when they saw that even the murderers of Christ were not excepted from mercy: and wisely, as hereby Christianity was more abundantly attested; the facts being published first on the very spot where they happened.
49. Behold I send the promise - Emphatically so called; the Holy Ghost. 50. He led them out as far as Bethany - Not the town, but the district: to the mount of Olives, Acts i, 12, which stood within the boundaries of Bethany.
51. And while he was blessing them, he was parted from them - It was much more proper that our Lord should ascend into heaven, than that he should rise from the dead, in the sight of the apostles. For his resurrection was proved when they saw him alive after his passion: but they could not see him in heaven while they continued on earth. Please see Notes at Matt. i, 1
NOTES ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN
IN this book is set down the history of the Son of God dwelling among men; that, I. Of the first days, where the apostle, premising the sum of the whole Chap. i, 1-14 Mentions
the testimony given by John, after the baptism of Christ, and the first calling of some of the apostles. Here is noted what fell out, The first day 15-28 The day after 29-34
The day after 35-42 The day after 43-52 The third day ii, 1-11 After this 12 II. Of the two years between, spent chiefly in journeys to and from Jerusalem,
A. The first journey, to the passover 13
a. Transactions in the city,
1. Zeal for his Father's house 14-22 2. The power and wisdom of Jesus 23-25 3. The instruction of Nicodemus iii, 1-21 b. His abode in Judea; the rest of John's testimony 22-36 c. His journey through Samaria (where he confers with the Samaritan woman) into
Galilee, where he heals the nobleman's son iv, 1-54 B. The second journey to the feast of pentecost. Here may be observed transactions,
a. In the city, relating to the impotent man, healed at the pool of Bethesda v, 1-47 b. In Galilee, before the second passover and after. Here we may note,
1. His feeding the five thousand vi, 1-14 2. Walking upon the sea 15-21 3. Discourse of himself, as the bread of life 22-59 4. Reproof of those who objected to it 60-65 5. Apostasy of many, and steadiness of the apostles 66-71 6. His continuance in Galilee ` vii, 1 C. The third journey, to the feast of tabernacles 2-13 Here may be observed transactions,
a. In the city,
1. In the middle and end of the feast 14-53 viii; Where note, 1. The woman taken in adultery 2-12 2. Christ's preaching and vindicating his doctrine 13-30 3. His confuting the Jews and escape from them 31-59 4. His healing the man born blind ix, 1-7 5. Several discourses on that occasion 8-41 6. Christ the Door and the Shepherd of the sheepx, 1-18 7. Different opinions concerning him 19-21 2. At the feast of the dedication. here occur, 1. His disputes with the Jews Chap. x, 22-38 2. His escaping their fury 39 b. Beyond Jordan 40-42 III. Of the last days, which were,
A. Before the great week, where we may note,
a. The two days spent out of Judea, while Lazarus was sick and died xi, 1-6 b. The journey into Judea; the raising of Lazarus; the advice of Caiaphas; Jesus's
abode in Ephraim; the order given by his adversaries 7-57 c. The sixth day, before the passover; the supper at Bethany; the ointment poured
on Jesus xii, 1-11 B. In the great week, wherein was the third passover, occur,
a. On the three former days, his royal entry into the city; the desire of the Greeks;
the obstinacy of the Jews; the testimony given to Jesus from heaven 12-50 b. On the fourth day, the washing the feet of the disciples; the discovery of the traitor,
and his going out by night xiii, 1-30 c. On the fifth day,
1. His discourse 1. Before the paschal supper 31, xiv, 1-31 2. After it xv, and xvi. 2. His prayer xvii, 1-26 3. The beginning of his passion, 1. In the garden xviii, 1-11 2. In Caiaphas's house 12-27 d. On the sixth day,
1. His passion under Pilate, 1. In the palace of Pilate 28 xix, 1-16 2. On the cross 17-30 2. His death 30-37 3. His burial 38-42 C. After the great week,
a. On the day of the resurrection xx, 1-25 b. Eight days after 26-31 c. After that
1. He appears to his disciples at the sea of Tiberias. xxi, 1-14 2. Orders Peter to feed his sheep and lambs 15-17 3. Foretells the manner of Peter's death, and checks his curiosity about St John 18-23 4. The conclusion 24, 25
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
1. In the beginning - (Referring to Gen. i, 1, and Prov. viii, 23.) When all things began to be made by the Word: in the beginning of heaven and earth, and this whole frame of created beings, the Word existed, without any beginning. He was when all things began to be, whatsoever had a beginning. The Word - So termed Psalm xxxiii, 6, and frequently by the seventy, and in the Chaldee paraphrase. So that St. John did not borrow this expression from Philo, or any heathen writer. He was not yet named Jesus, or Christ. He is the Word whom the Father begat or spoke from eternity; by whom the Father speaking, maketh all things; who speaketh the Father to us. We have, in the 18th verse, both a real description of the Word, and the reason why he is so called. He is the only begotten Son of the Father, who is in the bosom of the Father, and hath declared him. And the Word
was with God - Therefore distinct from God the Father. The word rendered with, denotes a perpetual tendency as it were of the Son to the Father, in unity of essence. He was with God alone; because nothing beside God had then any being. And the Word was God - Supreme, eternal, independent. There was no creature, in respect of which he could be styled God in a relative sense. Therefore he is styled so in the absolute sense. The Godhead of the Messiah being clearly revealed in the Old Testament, (Jer. xxiii, 7; Hosea i, 6; Psalm xxiii, 1, ) the other evangelists aim at this, to prove that Jesus, a true man, was the Messiah. But when, at length, some from hence began to doubt of his Godhead, then St. John expressly asserted it, and wrote in this book as it were a supplement to the Gospels, as in the Revelation to the prophets.
2. The same was in the beginning with God - This verse repeats and contracts into one the three points mentioned before. As if he had said, This Word, who was God, was in the beginning, and was with God.
3. All things beside God were made, and all things which were made, were made by the Word. In the first and second verse is described the state of things before the creation: verse 3, In the creation: verse 4, In the time of man's innocency: verse 5, In the time of man's corruption.
4. In him was life - He was the foundation of life to every living thing, as well as of being to all that is. And the life was the light of men - He who is essential life, and the giver of life to all that liveth, was also the light of men; the fountain of wisdom, holiness, and happiness, to man in his original state.
5. And the light shineth in darkness - Shines even on fallen man; but the darkness - Dark, sinful man, perceiveth it not.
6. There was a man - The evangelist now proceeds to him who testified of the light, which he had spoken of in the five preceding verses.
7. The same came for (that is, in order to give) a testimony - The evangelist, with the most strong and tender affection, interweaves his own testimony with that of John, by noble digressions, wherein he explains the office of the Baptist; partly premises and partly subjoins a farther explication to his short sentences. What St. Matthew, Mark, and Luke term the Gospel, in respect of the promise going before, St. John usually terms the testimony, intimating the certain knowledge of the relator; to testify of the light - Of Christ.
9. Who lighteth every man - By what is vulgarly termed natural conscience, pointing out at least the general lines of good and evil. And this light, if man did not hinder, would shine more and more to the perfect day.
10. He was in the world - Even from the creation. 11. He came - In the fulness of time, to his own - Country, city, temple: And his own - People, received him not.
12. But as many as received him - Jews or Gentiles; that believe on his name - That is, on him. The moment they believe, they are sons; and because they are sons, God sendeth forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
13. Who were born - Who became the sons of God, not of blood - Not by descent from Abraham, nor by the will of the flesh - By natural generation, nor by the will of man - Adopting them, but of God - By his Spirit.
14. Flesh sometimes signifies corrupt nature; sometimes the body; sometimes, as here, the whole man. We beheld his glory - We his apostles, particularly Peter, James, and John, Luke ix, 32. Grace and truth - We are all by nature liars and children of wrath, to whom both grace and truth
are unknown. But we are made partakers of them, when we are accepted through the Beloved. The whole verse might be paraphrased thus: And in order to raise us to this dignity and happiness, the eternal Word, by a most amazing condescension, was made flesh, united himself to our miserable nature, with all its innocent infirmities. And he did not make us a transient visit, but tabernacled among us on earth, displaying his glory in a more eminent manner, than even of old in the tabernacle of Moses. And we who are now recording these things beheld his glory with so strict an attention, that we can testify, it was in every respect such a glory as became the only begotten of the Father. For it shone forth not only in his transfiguration, and in his continual miracles, but in all his tempers, ministrations, and conduct through the whole series of his life. In all he appeared full of grace and truth: he was himself most benevolent and upright; made those ample discoveries of pardon to sinners, which the Mosaic dispensation could not do: and really exhibited the most substantial blessings, whereas that was but a shadow of good things to come.
15. John cried - With joy and confidence; This is he of whom I said - John had said this before our Lord's baptism, although he then knew him not in person: he knew him first at his baptism, and afterward cried, This is he of whom I said. &c. He is preferred before me - in his office: for he was before me - in his nature.
16. And - Here the apostle confirms the Baptist's words: as if he had said, He is indeed preferred before thee: so we have experienced: We all - That believe: have received - All that we enjoy out of his fulness: and in the particular, grace upon grace - One blessing upon another, immeasurable grace and love.
17. The law - Working wrath and containing shadows: was given - No philosopher, poet, or orator, ever chose his words so accurately as St. John. The law, saith he, was given by Moses: grace was by Jesus Christ. Observe the reason for placing each word thus: The law of Moses was not his own. The grace of Christ was. His grace was opposite to the wrath, his truth to the shadowy ceremonies of the law. Jesus - St. John having once mentioned the incarnation (ver. 14,) no more uses that name, the Word, in all his book.
18. No man hath seen God - With bodily eyes: yet believers see him with the eye of faith. Who is in the bosom of the Father - The expression denotes the highest unity, and the most intimate knowledge.
19. The Jews - Probably the great council sent. 20. I am not the Christ - For many supposed he was. 21. Art thou Elijah? - He was not that Elijah (the Tishbite) of whom they spoke. Art thou the prophet - Of whom Moses speaks, Deut. xviii, 15.
23. He said - I am that forerunner of Christ of whom Isaiah speaks. I am the voice - As if he had said, Far from being Christ, or even Elijah, I am nothing but a voice: a sound that so soon as it has expressed the thought of which it is the sign, dies into air, and is known no more. Isaiah xl, 3. 24. They who were sent were of the Pharisees - Who were peculiarly tenacious of old customs, and jealous of any innovation (except those brought in by their own scribes) unless the innovator had unquestionable proofs of Divine authority.
25. They asked him, Why baptizest thou then? - Without any commission from the sanhedrim? And not only heathens (who were always baptized before they were admitted to circumcision) but Jews also?
26. John answered, I baptize - To prepare for the Messiah; and indeed to show that Jews, as well as Gentiles, must be proselytes to Christ, and that these as well as those stand in need of being washed from their sins.
28. Where John was baptizing - That is, used to baptize. 29. He seeth Jesus coming and saith, Behold the Lamb - Innocent; to be offered up; prophesied of by Isaiah, Isaiah liii, 7, typified by the paschal lamb, and by the daily sacrifice: The Lamb of God - Whom God gave, approves, accepts of; who taketh away - Atoneth for; the sin - That is, all the sins: of the world - Of all mankind. Sin and the world are of equal extent.
31. I knew him not - Till he came to be baptized. How surprising is this; considering how nearly they were related, and how remarkable the conception and birth of both had been. But there was a peculiar providence visible in our saviour's living, from his infancy to his baptism, at Nazareth: John all the time living the life of a hermit in the deserts of Judea, Luke i, 80, ninety or more miles from Nazareth: hereby that acquaintance was prevented which might have made John's testimony of Christ suspected.
34. I saw it - That is, the Spirit so descending and abiding on him. And testified - From that time.
37. They followed Jesus - They walked after him, but had not the courage to speak to him. 41. He first findeth his own brother Simon - Probably both of them sought him: Which is, being interpreted, the Christ - This the evangelist adds, as likewise those words in ver. 38, that is, being interpreted, Master.
42. Jesus said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah - As none had told our Lord these names, this could not but strike Peter. Cephas, which is Peter - Moaning the same in Syriac which Peter does in Greek, namely, a rock.
45. Jesus of Nazareth - So Philip thought, not knowing he was born in Bethlehem. Nathanael was probably the same with Bartholomew, that is, the son of Tholomew. St. Matthew joins Bartholomew with Philip, Matt. x, 3, and St. John places Nathanael in the midst of the apostles, immediately after Thomas, chap. xxi, 2, just as Bartholomew is placed, Acts i, 13.
46. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? - How cautiously should we guard against popular prejudices? When these had once possessed so honest a heart as that of Nathanael, they led him to suspect the blessed Jesus himself for an impostor, because he had been brought up at Nazareth. But his integrity prevailed over that foolish bias, and laid him open to the force of evidence, which a candid inquirer will always be glad to admit, even when it brings the most unexpected discoveries. Can any good thing - That is, have we ground from Scripture to expect the Messiah, or any eminent prophet from Nazareth? Philip saith, Come and see - The same answer which he had received himself from our Lord the day before.
48. Under the fig tree I saw thee - Perhaps at prayer. 49. Nathanael answered - Happy are they that are ready to believe, swift to receive the truth and grace of God. Thou art the Son of God - So he acknowledges now more than he had heard from Philip: The Son of God, the king of Israel - A confession both of the person and office of Christ.
51. Hereafter ye shall see - All of these, as well as thou, who believe on me now in my state of humiliation, shall hereafter see me come in my glory, and all the angels of God with me. This seems the most natural sense of the words, though they may also refer to his ascension.
1. And the third day - After he had said this. In Cana of Galilee - There were two other towns of the same name, one in the tribe of Ephraim, the other in Caelosyria.
2. Jesus and his disciples were invited to the marriage - Christ does not take away human society, but sanctifies it. Water might have quenched thirst; yet our Lord allows wine; especially at a festival solemnity. Such was his facility in drawing his disciples at first, who were afterward to go through rougher ways.
3. And wine falling short - How many days the solemnity had lasted, and on which day our Lord came, or how many disciples might follow him, does not appear. His mother saith to him, They have not wine - Either she might mean, supply them by miracle; or, Go away, that others may go also, before the want appears.
4. Jesus saith to her, Woman - So our Lord speaks also, chap. xix, 26. It is probable this was the constant appellation which he used to her. He regarded his Father above all, not knowing even his mother after the flesh. What is it to me and thee? A mild reproof of her inordinate concern and untimely interposal. Mine hour is not yet come - The time of my working this miracle, or of my going away. May we not learn hence, if his mother was rebuked for attempting to direct him in the days of his flesh, how absurd it is to address her as if she had a right to command him, on the throne of his glory? Likewise how indecent it is for us to direct his supreme wisdom, as to the time or manner in which he shall appear for us in any of the exigencies of life!
5. His mother saith to the servants - Gathering from his answer he was about to do something extraordinary.
6. The purifying of the Jews - Who purified themselves by frequent washings particularly before eating.
9. The governor of the feast - The bridegroom generally procured some friend to order all things at the entertainment.
10. And saith - St. John barely relates the words he spoke, which does not imply his approving them. When they have well drunk - does not mean any more than toward the close of the entertainment.
11. And his disciples believed - More steadfastly. 14. Oxen, and sheep, and doves - Used for sacrifice: And the changers of money - Those who changed foreign money for that which was current at Jerusalem, for the convenience of them that came from distant countries.
15. Having made a scourge of rushes - (Which were strewed on the ground, ) he drove all out of the temple, (that is, the court of it, ) both the sheep and the oxen - Though it does not appear that he struck even them; and much less, any of the men. But a terror from God, it is evident, fell upon them.
17. Psalm lxix, 9. 18. Then answered the Jews - Either some of those whom he had just driven out, or their friends: What sign showest thou? - So they require a miracle, to confirm a miracle!
19. This temple - Doubtless pointing, while he spoke, to his body, the temple and habitation of the Godhead.
20. Forty and six years - Just so many years before the time of this conversation, Herod the Great had begun his most magnificent reparation of the temple, (one part after another, ) which he
continued all his life, and which was now going on, and was continued thirty-six years longer, till within six or seven years of the destruction of the state, city, and temple by the Romans.
22. They believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said - Concerning his resurrection. 23. Many believed - That he was a teacher sent from God. 24. He did not trust himself to them - Let us learn hence not rashly to put ourselves into the power of others. Let us study a wise and happy medium between universal suspiciousness and that easiness which would make us the property of every pretender to kindness and respect.
25. He - To whom all things are naked, knew what was in man - Namely, a desperately deceitful heart.
1. A ruler - One of the great council. 2. The same came - Through desire; but by night - Through shame: We know - Even we rulers and Pharisees.
3. Jesus answered - That knowledge will not avail thee unless thou be born again - Otherwise thou canst not see, that is, experience and enjoy, either the inward or the glorious kingdom of God. In this solemn discourse our Lord shows, that no external profession, no ceremonial ordinances or privileges of birth, could entitle any to the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom: that an entire change of heart as well as of life was necessary for that purpose: that this could only be wrought in man by the almighty power of God: that every man born into the world was by nature in a state of sin, condemnation, and misery: that the free mercy of God had given his Son to deliver them from it, and to raise them to a blessed immortality: that all mankind, Gentiles as well as Jews, might share in these benefits, procured by his being lifted up on the cross, and to be received by faith in him: but that if they rejected him, their eternal, aggravated condemnation, would be the certain consequence. Except a man be born again - If our Lord by being born again means only reformation of life, instead of making any new discovery, he has only thrown a great deal of obscurity on what was before plain and obvious.
4. When he is old - As Nicodemus himself was. 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit - Except he experience that great inward change by the Spirit, and be baptized (wherever baptism can be had) as the outward sign and means of it.
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh - Mere flesh, void of the Spirit, yea, at enmity with it; And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit - Is spiritual, heavenly, divine, like its Author.
7. Ye must be born again - To be born again, is to be inwardly changed from all sinfulness to all holiness. It is fitly so called, because as great a change then passes on the soul as passes on the body when it is born into the world.
8. The wind bloweth - According to its own nature, not thy will, and thou hearest the sound thereof - Thou art sure it doth blow, but canst not explain the particular manner of its acting. So is every one that is born of the Spirit - The fact is plain, the manner of his operations inexplicable.
11. We speak what we know - I and all that believe in me.
12. Earthly things - Things done on earth; such as the new birth, and the present privileges of the children of God. Heavenly things - Such as the eternity of the Son, and the unity of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
13. For no one - For here you must rely on my single testimony, whereas there you have a cloud of witnesses: Hath gone up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Who is in heaven - Therefore he is omnipresent; else he could not be in heaven and on earth at once. This is a plain instance of what is usually termed the communication of properties between the Divine and human nature; whereby what is proper to the Divine nature is spoken concerning the human, and what is proper to the human is, as here, spoken of the Divine.
14. And as Moses - And even this single witness will soon be taken from you; yea, and in a most ignominious manner. Num. xxi, 8, 9.
15. That whosoever - He must be lifted up, that hereby he may purchase salvation for all believers: all those who look to him by faith recover spiritual health, even as all that looked at that serpent recovered bodily health.
16. Yea, and this was the very design of God's love in sending him into the world. Whosoever believeth on him - With that faith which worketh by love, and hold fast the beginning of his confidence steadfast to the end. God so loved the world - That is, all men under heaven; even those that despise his love, and will for that cause finally perish. Otherwise not to believe would be no sin to them. For what should they believe? Ought they to believe that Christ was given for them? Then he was given for them. He gave his only Son - Truly and seriously. And the Son of God gave himself, Gal. iv, 4, truly and seriously.
17. God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world - Although many accuse him of it.
18. He that believeth on him is not condemned - Is acquitted, is justified before God. The name of the only-begotten Son of God - The name of a person is often put for the person himself. But perhaps it is farther intimated in that expression, that the person spoken of is great and magnificent. And therefore it is generally used to express either God the Father or the Son.
19. This is the condemnation - That is, the cause of it. So God is clear. 21. He that practiceth the truth (that is, true religion) cometh to the light - So even Nicodemus, afterward did. Are wrought in God - That is, in the light, power, and love of God.
22. Jesus went - From the capital city, Jerusalem, into the land of Judea - That is, into the country. There he baptized - Not himself; but his disciples by his order, chap. iv, 2.
23. John also was baptizing - He did not repel them that offered, but he more willingly referred them to Jesus.
25. The Jews - Those men of Judea, who now went to be baptized by Jesus; and John's disciples, who were mostly of Galilee: about purifying - That is, baptism. They disputed, which they should be baptized by.
27. A man can receive nothing - Neither he nor I. Neither could he do this, unless God had sent him: nor can I receive the title of Christ, or any honour comparable to that which he hath received from heaven. They seem to have spoken with jealousy and resentment; John answers with sweet composure of spirit.
29. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom - He whom the bride follows. But all men now come to Jesus. Hence it is plain he is the bridegroom. The friend who heareth him - Talk with the bride; rejoiceth greatly - So far from envying or resenting it.
30. He must increase, but I must decrease - So they who are now, like John, burning and shining lights, must (if not suddenly eclipsed) like him gradually decrease, while others are increasing about them; as they in their turns grew up, amidst the decays of the former generation. Let us know how to set, as well as how to rise; and let it comfort our declining days to trace, in those who are likely to succeed us in our work, the openings of yet greater usefulness.
31. It is not improbable, that what is added, to the end of the chapter, are the words of the evangelist, not the Baptist. He that is of the earth - A mere man; of earthly original, has a spirit and speech answerable to it.
32. No man - None comparatively, exceeding few; receiveth his testimony - With true faith. 33. Hath set to his seal - It was customary among the Jews for the witness to set his seal to the testimony he had given. That God is true - Whose words the Messiah speaks.
34. God giveth not him the Spirit by measure - As he did to the prophets, but immeasurably. Hence he speaketh the words of God in the most perfect manner.
36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life - He hath it already. For he loves God. And love is the essence of heaven. He that obeyeth not - A consequence of not believing.
1. The Lord knew - Though none informed him of it. 3. He left Judea - To shun the effects of their resentment. 4. And he must needs go through Samaria - The road lying directly through it. 5. Sychar - Formerly called Sichem or Shechem. Jacob gave - On his death bed, Gen. xlviii, 22. 6. Jesus sat down - Weary as he was. It was the sixth hour - Noon; the heat of the day. 7. Give me to drink - In this one conversation he brought her to that knowledge which the apostles were so long in attaining.
8. For his disciples were gone - Else he needed not have asked her. 9. How dost thou - Her open simplicity appears from her very first words. The Jews have no dealings - None by way of friendship. They would receive no kind of favour from them.
10. If thou hadst known the gift - The living water; and who it is - He who alone is able to give it: thou wouldst have asked of him - On those words the stress lies. Water - In like manner he draws the allegory from bread, chap. vi, 27, and from light, viii, 12; the first, the most simple, necessary, common, and salutary things in nature. Living water - The Spirit and its fruits. But she might the more easily mistake his meaning, because living water was a common phrase among the Jews for spring water.
12. Our father Jacob - So they fancied he was; whereas they were, in truth, a mixture of many nations, placed there by the king of Assyria, in the room of the Israelites whom he had carried away captive, 2 Kings xvii, 24. Who gave us the well - In Joseph their supposed forefather: and drank thereof - So even he had no better water than this.
14. Will never thirst - Will never (provided he continue to drink thereof) be miserable, dissatisfied, without refreshment. If ever that thirst returns, it will be the fault of the man, not the water. But the water that I shall give him - The spirit of faith working by love, shall become in him
- An inward living principle, a fountain - Not barely a well, which is soon exhausted, springing up into everlasting life - Which is a confluence, or rather an ocean of streams arising from this fountain.
15. That I thirst not - She takes him still in a gross sense. 16. Jesus saith to her - He now clears the way that he might give her a better kind of water than she asked for. Go, call thy husband - He strikes directly at her bosom sin.
17. Thou hast well said - We may observe in all our Lord's discourses the utmost weightiness, and yet the utmost courtesy.
18. Thou hast had five husbands - Whether they were all dead or not, her own conscience now awakened would tell her.
19. Sir, I perceive - So soon was her heart touched. 20. The instant she perceived this, she proposes what she thought the most important of all questions. This mountain - Pointing to Mount Gerizim. Sanballat, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a temple upon Mount Gerizim, for Manasseh, who for marrying Sanballat's daughter had been expelled from the priesthood and from Jerusalem, Neh. xiii, 28. This was the place where the Samaritans used to worship in opposition to Jerusalem. And it was so near Sychar, that a man's voice might be heard from the one to the other. Our fathers worshipped - This plainly refers to Abraham and Jacob (from whom the Samaritans pretended to deduce their genealogy) who erected altars in this place: Gen. xii, 6, 7, and Gen. xxxiii, 18, 20. And possibly to the whole congregation, who were directed when they came into the land of Canaan to put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, Deut. xi, 29. Ye Jews say, In Jerusalem is the place - Namely, the temple.
21. Believe me - Our Lord uses this expression in this manner but once; and that to a Samaritan. To his own people, the Jews, his usual language is, I say unto you. The hour cometh when ye - Both Samaritans and Jews, shall worship neither in this mountain, nor at Jerusalem - As preferable to any other place. True worship shall be no longer confined to any one place or nation.
22. Ye worship ye know not what - Ye Samaritans are ignorant, not only of the place, but of the very object of worship. Indeed, they feared the Lord after a fashion; but at the same time served their own gods, 2 Kings xvii, 33. Salvation is from the Jews - So spake all the prophets, that the saviour should arise out of the Jewish nation: and that from thence the knowledge of him should spread to all nations under heaven.
23. The true worshippers shall worship the Father - Not here or there only, but at all times and in all places.
24. God is a Spirit - Not only remote from the body, and all the properties of it, but likewise full of all spiritual perfections, power, wisdom, love, holiness. And our worship should be suitable to his nature. We should worship him with the truly spiritual worship of faith, love, and holiness, animating all our tempers, thoughts, words, and actions.
25. The woman saith - With joy for what she had already learned, and desire of fuller instruction. 26. Jesus saith - Hasting to satisfy her desire before his disciples came. l am He - Our Lord did not speak this so plainly to the Jews who were so full of the Messiah's temporal kingdom. If he had, many would doubtless have taken up arms in his favour, and others have accused him to the Roman governor. Yet he did in effect declare the thing, though he denied the particular title. For in a multitude of places he represented himself, both as the Son of man, and as the Son of God: both which expressions were generally understood by the Jews as peculiarly applicable to the Messiah.
27. His disciples marvelled that he talked with a woman - Which the Jewish rabbis reckoned scandalous for a man of distinction to do. They marvelled likewise at his talking with a woman of that nation, which was so peculiarly hateful to the Jews. Yet none said - To the woman, What seekest thou? - Or to Christ, Why talkest thou with her?
28. The woman left her water pot - Forgetting smaller things. 29. A man who told me all things that ever I did - Our Lord had told her but a few things. But his words awakened her conscience, which soon told her all the rest. Is not this the Christ? - She does not doubt of it herself, but incites them to make the inquiry.
31. In the meantime - Before the people came. 34. My meat - That which satisfies the strongest appetite of my soul. 35. The fields are white already - As if he had said, The spiritual harvest is ripe already. The Samaritans, ripe for the Gospel, covered the ground round about them.
36. He that reapeth - Whoever saves souls, receiveth wages - A peculiar blessing to himself, and gathereth fruit - Many souls: that he that soweth - Christ the great sower of the seed, and he that reapeth may rejoice together - In heaven.
37. That saying - A common proverb; One soweth - The prophets and Christ; another reapeth - The apostles and succeeding ministers.
38. I - he Lord of the whole harvest, have sent you - He had employed them already in baptizing, ver. 2.
42. We know that this is the saviour of the world - And not of the Jews only. 43. He went into Galilee - That is, into the country of Galilee: but not to Nazareth. It was at that town only that he had no honour. Therefore he went to other towns.
44. Matt. xiii, 57. 47. To come down - For Cana stood much higher than Capernaum. 48. Unless ye see signs and wonders - Although the Samaritans believed without them. 52. He asked the hour when he amended - The more exactly the works of God are considered, the more faith is increased.
1. A feast - Pentecost. 2. There is in Jerusalem - Hence it appears, that St. John wrote his Gospel before Jerusalem was destroyed: it is supposed about thirty years after the ascension. Having five porticos - Built for the use of the sick. Probably the basin had five sides! Bethesda signifies the house of mercy.
4. An angel - Yet many undoubtedly thought the whole thing to be purely natural. At certain times - Perhaps at a certain hour of the day, during this paschal week, went down - The Greek word implies that he had ceased going down, before the time of St. John's writing this. God might design this to raise expectation of the acceptable time approaching, to add a greater lustre to his Son's miracles, and to show that his ancient people were not entirely forgotten of him. The first - Whereas the Son of God healed every day not one only, but whole multitudes that resorted to him.
7. The sick man answered - Giving the reason why he was not made whole, notwithstanding his desire.
14. Sin no more - It seems his former illness was the effect or punishment of sin. 15. The man went and told the Jews, that it was Jesus who had made him whole - One might have expected, that when he had published the name of his benefactor, crowds would have thronged about Jesus, to have heard the words of his mouth, and to have received the blessings of the Gospel. Instead of this, they surround him with a hostile intent: they even conspire against his life, and for an imagined transgression in point of ceremony, would have put out this light of Israel. Let us not wonder then, if our good be evil spoken of: if even candour, benevolence, and usefulness, do not disarm the enmity of those who have been taught to prefer sacrifice to mercy; and who, disrelishing the genuine Gospel, naturally seek to slander and persecute the professors, but especially the defenders of it.
17. My Father worketh until now, and I work - From the creation till now he hath been working without intermission. I do likewise. This is the proposition which is explained ver. 19-30, confirmed and vindicated in ver. 31 and following verses.
18. His own Father - The Greek word means his own Father in such a sense as no creature can speak. Making himself equal with God - It is evident all the hearers so understood him, and that our Lord never contradicted, but confirmed it.
19. The Son can do nothing of himself - This is not his imperfection, but his glory, resulting from his eternal, intimate, indissoluble unity with the Father. Hence it is absolutely impossible, that the Son should judge, will, testify, or teach any thing without the Father, ver. 30, &c.; chap. vi, 38; chap. vii, 16; or that he should be known or believed on, separately from the Father. And he here defends his doing good every day, without intermission, by the example of his Father, from which he cannot depart: these doth the Son likewise - All these, and only these; seeing he and the Father are one.
20. The Father showeth him all things that himself doth - A proof of the most intimate unity. And he will show him - By doing them. At the same time (not at different times) the Father showeth and doth, and the Son seeth and doth. Greater works - Jesus oftener terms them works, than signs or wonders, because they were not wonders in his eyes. Ye will marvel - So they did, when he raised Lazarus.
21. For - He declares which are those greater works, raising the dead, and judging the world. The power of quickening whom he will follows from the power of judging. These two, quickening and judging, are proposed ver. 21, 22. The acquittal of believers, which presupposes judgment, is treated of ver. 24; the quickening some of the dead, ver. 25; and the general resurrection, ver. 28.
22. For neither doth the Father judge - Not without the Son: but he doth judge by that man whom he hath ordained, Acts xvii, 31.
23. That all men may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father - Either willingly, and so escaping condemnation, by faith: or unwillingly, when feeling the wrath of the Judge. This demonstrates the EQUALITY of the Son with the Father. If our Lord were God only by office or investiture, and not in the unity of the Divine essence, and in all respects equal in Godhead with the Father, he could not be honoured even as, that is, with the same honour that they honoured the Father. He that honoureth not the Son - With the same equal honour, greatly dishonoureth the Father that sent him.
24. And cometh not into condemnation - Unless he make shipwreck of the faith. 25. The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God - So did Jairus's daughter, the widow's son, Lazarus.
26. He hath given to the Son - By eternal generation, to have life in himself - Absolute, independent.
27. Because he is the Son of man - He is appointed to judge mankind because he was made man.
28. The time is coming - When not two or three, but all shall rise. 29. The resurrection of life - That resurrection which leads to life everlasting. 30. I can do nothing of myself - It is impossible I should do any thing separately from my Father. As I hear - Of the Father, and see, so I judge and do; A because I am essentially united to him. See ver. 19.
31. If I testify of myself - That is, if I alone, (which indeed is impossible,) my testimony is not valid.
32. There is another - The Father, ver. 37, and I know that, even in your judgment, his testimony in beyond exception.
33. He bare testimony - That I am the Christ. 34. But I have no need to receive, &c. But these things - Concerning John, whom ye yourselves reverence, I say, that ye may be saved - So really and seriously did he will their salvation. Yet they were not saved. Most, if not all of them, died in their sins.
35. He was a burning and a shining light - Inwardly burning with love and zeal, outwardly shining in all holiness. And even ye were willing for a season - A short time only.
37. He hath testified of me - Namely at my baptism. I speak not of my supposed father Joseph. Ye are utter strangers to him of whom I speak.
38. Ye have not his word - All who believe have the word of the Father (the same with the word of the Son) abiding in them, that is, deeply ingrafted in their hearts.
39. Search the Scriptures - A plain command to all men. In them ye are assured ye have eternal life - Ye know they show you the way to eternal life. And these very Scriptures testify of me.
40. Yet ye will not come unto me - As they direct you. 41. I receive not honour from men - I need it not. I seek it not from you for my own sake. 42. But I know you - With this ray he pierces the hearts of the hearers. And this doubtless he spake with the tenderest compassion.
43. If another shall come - Any false Christ. 44. While ye receive honour - That is, while ye seek the praise of men rather than the praise of God. At the feast of pentecost, kept in commemoration of the giving the law from Mount Sinai, their sermons used to be full of the praises of the law, and of the people to whom it was given. How mortifying then must the following words of our Lord be to them, while they were thus exulting in Moses and his law!
45. There is one that accuseth you - By his writings. 46. He wrote of me - Every where; in all his writings; particularly Deut. xviii, 15, 18.
1. After these things - The history of between ten and eleven months is to be supplied here from the other evangelists. Matt. xiv, 13; Mark vi, 32; Luke ix, 10.
3. Jesus went up - Before the people overtook him. 5. Jesus saith to Philip - Perhaps he had the care of providing victuals for the family of the apostles.
15. He retired to the mountain alone - Having ordered his disciples to cross over the lake. 16. Matt. xiv, 22; Mark vi, 45. 22. Who had stood on the other side - They were forced to stay a while, because there were then no other vessels; and they stayed the less unwillingly, because they saw that Jesus was not embarked.
26. Our Lord does not satisfy their curiosity, but corrects the wrong motive they had in seeking him: because ye did eat - Merely for temporal advantage. Hitherto Christ had been gathering hearers: he now begins to try their sincerity, by a figurative discourse concerning his passion, and the fruit of it, to be received by faith.
27. labour not for the meat which perisheth - For bodily food: not for that only not chiefly: not at all, but in subordination to grace, faith, love, the meat which endureth to everlasting life. labour, work for this; for everlasting life. So our Lord expressly commands, work for life, as well as from life: from a principle of faith and love. Him hath the Father sealed - By this very miracle, as well as by his whole testimony concerning him. See chap. iii, 33. Sealing is a mark of the authenticity of a writing.
28. The works of God - Works pleasing to God. 29. This is the work of God - The work most pleasing to God, and the foundation of all others: that ye believe - He expresses it first properly, afterward figuratively.
30. What sign dost thou? - Amazing, after what they had just seen! 31. Our fathers ate manna - This sign Moses gave them. He gave them bread from heaven - From the lower sublunary heaven; to which Jesus opposes the highest heaven: in which sense he says seven times, ver. 32, 33, 38, 50, 58, 62, that he himself came down from heaven.
32. Moses gave you not bread from heaven - It was not Moses who gave the manna to your fathers; but my Father who now giveth the true bread from heaven. Psalm lxxviii, 24.
33. He that - giveth life to the world - Not (like the manna) to one people only: and that from generation to generation. Our Lord does not yet say, I am that bread; else the Jews would not have given him so respectful an answer, ver. 34.
34. Give us this bread - Meaning it still, in a literal sense: yet they seem now to be not far from believing.
35. I am the bread of life - Having and giving life: he that cometh -he that believeth - Equivalent expressions: shall never hunger, thirst - Shall be satisfied, happy, for ever.
36. I have told you - Namely, ver. 26. 37. All that the Father giveth me - All that feel themselves lost, and follow the drawings of the Father, he in a peculiar manner giveth to the Son: will come to me - By faith. And him that thus cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out - I will give him pardon, holiness, and heaven, if he endure to the end - to rejoice in his light.
39. Of all which he hath already given me - See chap. xvii, 6, 12. If they endure to the end. But Judas did not.
40. Here is the sum of the three foregoing verses. This is the will of him that sent me - This is the whole of what I have said: this is the eternal, unchangeable will of God. Every one who truly believeth, shall have everlasting life. Every one that seeth and believeth - The Jews saw, and yet
believed not. And I will raise him up - As this is the will of him that sent me, I will perform it effectually.
44. Christ having checked their murmuring, continues what he was saying, ver. 40. No man comes to me, unless my Father draw him - No man can believe in Christ, unless God give him power: he draws us first, by good desires. Not by compulsion, not by laying the will under any necessity; but by the strong and sweet, yet still resistible, motions of his heavenly grace.
45. Every man that hath heard - The secret voice of God, he, and he only believeth. Isaiah liv, 13. 46. Not that any one - Must expect him to appear in a visible shape. He who is from or with God - In a more eminent manner than any creature.
50. Not die - Not spiritually; not eternally. 51. If any eat of this bread - That is, believe in me: he shall live for ever - In other words, he that believeth to the end shall be saved. My flesh which I will give you - This whole discourse concerning his flesh and blood refers directly to his passion, and but remotely, if at all, to the Lord's Supper.
52. Observe the degrees: the Jews are tried here; the disciples, ver. 60-66, the apostles, ver. 67. 53. Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of man - Spiritually: unless ye draw continual virtue from him by faith. Eating his flesh is only another expression for believing.
55. Meat - drink indeed - With which the soul of a believer is as truly fed, as his body with meat and drink.
57. I live by the Father - Being one with him. He shall live by me -Being one with me. Amazing union!
58. This is - That is, I am the bread - Which is not like the manna your fathers ate, who died notwithstanding.
60. This is a hard saying - Hard to the children of the world, but sweet to the children of God. Scarce ever did our Lord speak more sublimely, even to the apostles in private. Who can hear - Endure it?
62. What if ye shall see the Son of man ascend where he was before? - How much more incredible will it then appear to you, that he should give you his flesh to eat?
63. It is the Spirit - The spiritual meaning of these words, by which God giveth life. The flesh - The bare, carnal, literal meaning, profiteth nothing. The words which I have spoken, they are spirit - Are to be taken in a spiritual sense and, when they are so understood, they are life - That is, a means of spiritual life to the hearers.
64. But there are some of you who believe not - And so receive no life by them, because you take them in a gross literal sense. For Jesus knew from the beginning - Of his ministry: who would betray him - Therefore it is plain, God does foresee future contingencies:- "But his foreknowledge causes not the fault, Which had no less proved certain unforeknown."
65. Unless it be given - And it is given to those only who will receive it on God's own terms. 66. From this time many of his disciples went back - So our Lord now began to purge his floor: the proud and careless were driven away, and those remained who were meet for the Master's use.
68. Thou hast the words of eternal life - Thou, and thou alone, speakest the words which show the way to life everlasting.
69. And we - Who have been with thee from the beginning, whatever others do, have known - Are absolutely assured, that thou art the Christ.
70. Jesus answered the - And yet even ye have not all acted suitable to this knowledge. Have I not chosen or elected you twelve? - But they might fall even from that election. Yet one of you - On this gracious warning, Judas ought to have repented; is a devil - Is now influenced by one.
1. After these things Jesus walked in Galilee - That is, continued there, for some months after the second passover. For he would not walk - Continue in Judea; because the Jews - Those of them who did not believe; and in particular the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, sought an opportunity to kill him.
2. The feast of tabernacles - The time, manner, and reason of this feast may be seen, Lev. xxiii, 34, &c. 3. His brethren - So called according to the Jewish way of speaking. They were his cousins, the sons of his mother's sister. Depart hence - From this obscure place.
4. For no man doth any thing - Of this kind, in secret; but rather desireth to be of public use. If thou really dost these things -These miracles which are reported; show thyself to the world - To all men.
6. Jesus saith, Your time is always ready - This or any time will suit you. 7. The world cannot hate you - Because ye are of the world. But me it hateth - And all that bear the same testimony.
10. He also went up to the feast - This was his last journey but one to Jerusalem. The next time he went up he suffered.
11. The Jews - The men of Judea, particularly of Jerusalem. 12. There was much murmuring among the multitude - Much whispering; many private debates with each other, among those who were come from distant parts.
13. However no man spake openly of him - Not in favour of him: for fear of the Jews - Those that were in authority.
14. Now at the middle of the feast - Which lasted eight days. It is probable this was on the Sabbath day. Jesus went up into the temple - Directly, without stopping any where else.
15. How does this man know letters, having never learned? - How comes he to be so well acquainted with sacred literature as to be able thus to expound the Scripture, with such propriety and gracefulness, seeing he has never learned this, at any place of education?
16. My doctrine is not mine - Acquired by any labour of learning; but his that sent me - Immediately infused by him.
17. If any man be willing to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God - This is a universal rule, with regard to all persons and doctrines. He that is thoroughly willing to do it, shall certainly know what the will of God is.
18. There is no unrighteousness in him - No deceit or falsehood. 19. But ye are unrighteous; for ye violate the very law which ye profess so much zeal for. 20. The people answered, Thou hast a devil - A lying spirit. Who seeketh to kill thee? - These, coming from distant parts, probably did not know the design of the priests and rulers.
21. I did - At the pool of Bethesda: one work - Out of many: and ye all marvelled at it - Are amazed, because I did it on the Sabbath day.
22. Moses gave you circumcision - The sense is, because Moses enjoined you circumcision (though indeed it was far more ancient than him) you think it no harm to circumcise a man on the Sabbath: and are ye angry at me (which anger had now continued sixteen months) for doing so much greater a good, for healing a man, body and soul, on the Sabbath?
27. When Christ cometh, none knoweth whence he is - This Jewish tradition was true, with regard to his Divine nature: in that respect none could declare his generation. But it was not true with regard to his human nature, for both his family and the place of his birth were plainly foretold.
28. Then cried Jesus - With a loud and earnest voice. Do ye both know me, and know whence I am? - Ye do indeed know whence I am as a man. But ye know not my Divine nature, nor that I am sent from God.
29. l am from him - By eternal generation: and he hath sent me - His mission follows from his generation. These two points answer those: Do ye know me? Do ye know whence I am?
30. His hour - The time of his suffering. 33. Then said Jesus - Continuing his discourse (from ver. 29) which they had interrupted. 34. Ye shall seek me - Whom ye now despise. These words are, as it were, the text which is commented upon in this and the following chapter. Where I am - Christ's so frequently saying while on earth, where I am, when he spake of his being in heaven, intimates his perpetual presence there in his Divine nature: though his going thither was a future thing, with regard to his human nature.
35. Will he go to the dispersed among the Greeks - The Jews scattered abroad in heathen nations, Greece particularly. Or, Will he teach the Greeks? - The heathens themselves.
37. On the last, the great day of the feast - On this day there was the greatest concourse of people, and they were then wont to fetch water from the fountain of Siloam, which the priests poured out on the great altar, singing one to an other, With joy shall ye draw water from the wells of salvation. On this day likewise they commemorated God's miraculously giving water out of the rock, and offered up solemn prayers for seasonable rains.
38. He that believeth - This answers to let him come to me. And whosoever doth come to him by faith, his inmost soul shall be filled with living water, with abundance of peace, joy, and love, which shall likewise flow from him to others. As the Scripture hath said - Not expressly in any one particular place. But here is a general reference to all those scriptures which speak of the effusion of the Spirit by the Messiah, under the similitude of pouring out water. Zech. xiv, 8.
39. The Holy Ghost was not yet given - That is, those fruits of the Spirit were not yet given even to true believers, in that full measure.
40. The prophet - Whom we expect to be the forerunner of the Messiah. 42. From Bethlehem - And how could they forget that Jesus was born there? Had not Herod given them terrible reason to remember it? Micah v, 2.
48. Hath any of the rulers - Men of rank or eminence, or of the Pharisees - Men of learning or religion, believed on him?
49. But this populace, who know not the law - This ignorant rabble; are accursed - Are by that ignorance exposed to the curse of being thus seduced.
50. Nicodemus, he that came to him by night - Having now a little more courage, being one of them - Being present as a member of the great council, saith to them - Do not we ourselves act as if we knew not the law, if we pass sentence on a man before we hear him?
52. They answered - By personal reflection; the argument they could not answer, and therefore did not attempt it. Art thou also a Galilean? - One of his party? Out of Galilee ariseth no prophet - They could not but know the contrary. They knew Jonah arose out of Gethhepher; and Nahum from another village in Galilee. Yea, and Thisbe, the town of Elijah, the Tishbite, was in Galilee also. They might likewise have known that Jesus was not born in Galilee, but at Bethlehem, even from the public register there, and from the genealogies of the family of David. They were conscious this poor answer would not bear examination, and so took care to prevent a reply.
53. And every man went to his own house - So that short plain question of Nicodemus spoiled all their measures, and broke up the council! A word spoken in season, how good it is! Especially when God gives it his blessing.
5. Moses hath commanded us to stone such - If they spoke accurately, this must have been a woman, who, having been betrothed to a husband, had been guilty of this crime before the marriage was completed; for such only Moses commanded to be stoned. He commanded indeed that other adulteresses should be put to death; but the manner of death was not specified. Deut. xxii, 23.
6. That they might have to accuse him - Either of usurping the office of a judge, if he condemned her, or of being an enemy to the law, if he acquitted her. Jesus stooping down, wrote with his finger on the ground - God wrote once in the Old Testament; Christ once in the New: perhaps the words which he afterward spoke, when they continued asking him. By this silent action, he, 1, fixed their wandering, hurrying thoughts, in order to awaken their consciences: and, 2, signified that he was not then come to condemn but to save the world.
7. He that is without sin - He that is not guilty: his own conscience being the judge) either of the same sin, or of some nearly resembling it; let him - as a witness, cast the first stone at her.
9. Beginning at the eldest - Or the elders. Jesus was left alone -By all those scribes and Pharisees who proposed the question. But many others remained, to whom our Lord directed his discourse presently after.
10. Hath no man condemned thee? - Hath no judicial sentence been passed upon thee? 11. Neither do I condemn thee - Neither do I take upon me to pass any such sentence. Let this deliverance lead thee to repentance.
12. He that followeth me shall in nowise walk in darkness - In ignorance, wickedness, misery: but shall have the light of life -He that closely, humbly, steadily follows me, shall have the Divine light continually shining upon him, diffusing over his soul knowledge, holiness, joy, till he is guided by it to life everlasting.