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JOHN--HIS RECORD OF CHRIST
BY W. E. VINE
1948

JOHN
HIS RECORD OF CHRIST

BY W. E. VINE, M.A.
First Edition 1948

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION - 7
CHAPTER I - 9
THE PROLOGUE - 9
chapter 1 (continued) - 14

CHAPTERS II TO IX - 18
INTRODUCTION - 18
CHAPTER II - 19
CHAPTER III - 25
CHAPTER IV - 30
CHAPTER V - 36

THE FIRST PUBLIC DISCOURSE - 40
chapter v (continued) - 40
A REVIEW - 50
CHAPTER VI - 51

THE SECOND PUBLIC DISCOURSE - 54
CHAPTER VII - 72

THE THIRD PUBLIC DISCOURSE - 72
CHAPTER VIII - 80

THE FOURTH PUBLIC DISCOURSE - 82
CHAPTER IX - 95
CHAPTER X - 99

THE FIFTH PUBLIC DISCOURSE - 106
CHAPTER X CONTINUED - 106
CHAPTER XI - 109
CHAPTER XII - 112

CHAPTER XIII - 120
CHAPTER XIV - 128
CHAPTER XV - 139
CHAPTER XVI - 149
CHAPTER XVII - 158

CHAPTER XVIII - 170
A SUMMARY OF 18:28 to 19:16 - 173
chapter XVIII (continued) - 174

CHAPTER XIX - 176
CHAPTER XX - 181
CHAPTER XXI - 185

GREEK WORDS AND SYNONYMS - 191

(Editor's note: During the editing the "long e" for eta and "long
o" for omega in the transliteration were left as "e" and "o".)

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INTRODUCTION

Among the four Gospel writers two, Luke and John, mention the
purpose for which they wrote. The former mentions his in the opening
paragraph (1:4); the latter mentions his as he draws to a close. He
states as his object: "that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in His Name" (20:31).

The place of this is uniquely significant. No preface to the Gospel
is required to express its object and scope. The very nature of the
transcendent subject precludes such an opening. Here at the end, where
the details are retrospective, there are recalled to the reader's mind
the preceding unfoldings of the glories of the Person who constitutes
the great subject the Apostle has had before Him: (1) His Deity, He is
"the Son of God;" (2) His humanity, He is "Jesus;" (3) His Messiahship,
He is "Christ." Here, too, the Apostle recalls that which the Gospel
has repeatedly recorded in respect of human responsibility towards the
Person: "that ye may believe;" and the effect, "that believing ye may
have life."

The Great Subject

Each of these particulars is readily traceable throughout the
Gospel. The paramount subject is Christ's relationship with the Father
as the Son of God. In this respect the main parts of the Gospel present
Him as follows:

I. Pre-existent and manifested in the flesh (1:1 to 1:14);
II. Manifested as the Son revealing the Father in word and deed in
public testimony (1:15 to 12:50);
III. Manifested as such privately to His disciples (13:1 to 17:26);
IV. Manifested as such in His Betrayal, Trial and Death (18:1 to 19:42);

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V. Vindicated as the Son of God in His Resurrection, and the
subsequent revelation of Himself to His disciples (20:1 to 21:25).

The words and deeds of the Lord cannot be rightly appreciated,
nor can their significance be understood, apart from the disclosures in
the Prologue, of the facts relating to the Person. It has been well
said that "What Christ did and said becomes explicable only by knowing
what Christ is." The unfolding of the facts of His Deity and His
Incarnation in the Prologue throw light upon His ways as recorded in
the rest of the Gospel. What, from the point of view of His humanity,
might appear, in some of the incidents in the Gospel narrative, to be
contradictory to the fact of His Deity, becomes an evidence of a perfect
and indissociable combination of both. We may take, for example, the
statement, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt (or tabernacled) among
us." "Became," be it noted, not "was made," as the A.V. renders it. He
took upon Him the real and complete nature of man. This union of Godhood
with manhood remained indissoluble for ever.

This should prevent the unscriptural ideas that Christ did such
and such a thing as God, and such and such a thing as man. We do well
to remember that where His human qualities, characteristics and acts
are prominent, these never involved the abandonment of any of His
attributes of Deity.

The Revised Version has been used throughout, but is especially
noted in certain places.

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CHAPTER I

VERSES 1 TO 18

THE PROLOGUE

The gospel begins by speaking of Him as "the Word" (_Logos), and
the Apostle proceeds not only to declare facts of His Godhood in this
respect, but to identify Him thus as "the only begotten Son of the
Father" (v. 18). Doubtless this introductory presentation was designed
to counteract the erroneous teachings which had sprung up even in the
Apostle's times.

"In the beginning was the Word," He was uncreated and eternal:
this opposes the Gnostic teaching that the Logos was created and
temporal; "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He was
personal and Divine: this opposes the conception of the Platonic
philosophy that the Logos was ideal and abstract. Verse 2 repeats
the clauses of verse 1 "in the beginning" and "with God" for the sake
of emphasis.

"All things were made by Him;" He was Creator and Cause: this
opposes the Judaistic philosophy, of which Philo was the great exponent,
that "the Word" was the type and idea of God in creation; "and without Him was not anything made that hath been
made." He was unique and was universally Creative: one sect of the
Gnostics taught that the Word was dualistic and only partially
instrumental in creative acts.

LIFE

"In Him was life" (v. 4). This statement, the truth concerning
which is developed throughout the Gospel, predicates, not simply that
life existed in Him who is the Word, the Son of God, but that it was
unoriginated and eternal, in respect of, and by reason of, His
self-existence as One in the Godhead. In this sense life is the very
essence of Godhood. The implication of this is that He is the Author,
Source and Cause of life. The statement is retrospective, looking back
to the fact of creation (v. 3),

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and prospective, in that "the life was the light of men." Physically
life and light are distinct; light ministers to life. Spiritually the
principle of life and the principle of light are indissociable. Life
and Light, essential in the Son of God, are together communicated to those who believe upon Him.

The communication of life, spiritual and eternal, comes with the
new birth, and that by faith, so that those who believe on His Name
become there and then "children of God" (v. 12, R.V.). As the Light He
reveals to us the nature and the will of God. He discloses to us
ourselves, our sins and errors; He reveals the remedy for our fallen
condition and the salvation provided for us in Himself. He makes us
glad with His countenance. Through what He has undertaken for us as
the Son we are brought into relationship and union with Him as
children of God.

Accordingly, in the first three chapters we are shown (1) the
provision of life through the coming of the Light (1:9); (2) the means
of life through the acceptance of the Light (1:12); (3) the necessity
for life, in that without the Light men abide in darkness (3:15-19);
(4) the evidence of life, in coming to the Light (3:20, 21).

LIGHT

The facts that are predicated of Him in verses 1 and 2 as "the
Word" lead to the identification of Him as the Light that "shineth in
the darkness" (v. 5).

"and the darkness apprehended it not." The word might mean that
the darkness did not understand it (A.V., "comprehended"). Judging,
however, from 12:35 (where the same word in the Greek (_katelambano)
is rendered "overtake"), the meaning is 'did not seize upon it' (see
the R.V. margin). The darkness would thus signify the spiritual
condition of the world as influenced by the spiritual powers of
darkness.

The subject of witness-bearing is a characteristic of the writings
of this Apostle, and the paramount purpose in this respect is to testify
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (cp. John 3:31). There is first the
witness of John the Baptist. He was "a man sent from God" and "came for
witness, that he might bear witness of the Light, that all might believe
through him" (vv.6 to 8). This is introductory. It is followed by the
record of his actual testimony (vv. 15, 19, 29).

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"He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the
light. There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every
man, coming into the world."

Because of Christ's "coming into the world," He is a Light for
everyone. The R.V. of this verse is important, and the comma placed
after "every man" should be noted; it serves to attach the phrase
"coming into the world" to the mention of the light; the A.V. connects
it with "every man," which lends support to the erroneous view that
every one is possessed, from birth, of an inner light, which simply
requires development; moreover the clause "that cometh into the
world," if predicated of "every man," becomes meaningless, as
suggesting a distinction between those who come into the world and
another class of men that do not.

CHILDREN OF GOD

"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the
world knew Him not" (v. 10). The word _kosmos, world, has various
meanings in the N.T. Besides signifying an ornament (1 Pet. 3:3) and
the ordered universe (Rom. 1:20), and the inhabitants of the earth (v.
29; 4:42), it means the earth, as in the second statement in this
verse, and the world of men alienated from God, as in the last
statement. They ought to have known Him. The verb rendered "knew" is
_ginosko, to get to know, to recognize. The world did not acquire
knowledge of Him. "He came unto His own (neuter plural, His own
property) and His own (masculine plural, His own people) received Him
not." Men in general did not recognize Him, but the Jews, to whom He
was especially sent, did not receive Him (_paralambano, a strong word,
'did not give Him a welcome'). "But as many as received Him (_lambano,
a simple but spontaneous acceptance from individuals, whether Jews or
Gentiles, and so a simpler verb than that used before of the Jewish
nation), to them gave He the right to become children of God,"--not
_dunamis, power, but _exousia, a right (dunamis expresses the faculty,
the capacity, but the right is bestowed to those who receive Him),
"even to them that believe on His Name" (v. 12). Believers become
children of God by faith. Christ did not become the Son of God, He was
that in eternal pre-existence. The preposition _eis expresses more than
"on," it indicates motion towards, and rest upon, the object of

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belief. It therefore expresses the strongest belief, involving a union
with Him. His Name expresses His attributes, character and actings.

"which were born," or rather, 'begotten,' "not of blood," the
element which is the means of physical life (Lev. 17:11): the plural
"bloods" in the original is idiomatic and emphatic, it does not
indicate the two sexes: "nor of the will of the flesh," i.e., not from
a natural impulse: "nor of the will of man," the word stands for the
male sex, and stresses the human determination; "but of God." Three
times John declares that human generation has nothing to do with
Divine and spiritual generation.

From this the Prologue passes to the fact of the "Word" as
becoming Incarnate (v. 14). "The Word became flesh, and dwelt (Greek,
'tabernacled') among us." He was possessed of real and permanent
manhood: this was counteractive of the theory held by the Docetic sect
of the Gnostics, that "the Word" was intangible and visionary.

GRACE, TRUTH, GLORY

In contrast to all these heretical views the Prologue of this
Gospel proceeds step by step to demonstrate the identification of
"the Word" with "the Son of God." According to the A.V. and R.V.
rendering what follows is put in brackets and the clause "full of
grace and truth," at the end of the verse, is taken as in connection
with "dwelt among us." That fact is true indeed. There is, however, no
need to separate it from the immediately preceding words (in spite of
a certain grammatical irregularity); it would thus describe His
character and acts, i.e., His glory, as in the relationship mentioned.
Grace is seen in connection with Him as the life, and truth as the
light.

"and we beheld His glory,"--glory, when used of God, the Father,
or the Son, is the shining forth of nature and power, of character and
operation. So it was in all the ways of the Son of God. Here John
describes it as "glory as of the only begotten from the Father" (v.
13). The R.V. margin is to be noted. Literally the description is 'an
only begotten from a Father.' There are no definite articles in the
original, and their absence serves to lay stress upon what is
specified in the nouns.

"John beareth witness of Him, and crieth saying, This was he of
whom I said, He that cometh after me is come before me, for

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He was before me" (v. 15), i.e., 'He who comes after me as to date (in
His birth and ministry) has become before me (in dignity and
pre-eminence), for He was before me (in eternal pre-existence).' Here
the Baptist declares Christ's superiority both in position and time.
His pre-existence issued in His becoming before him (R.V.). The first
word "before" is _emprosthen, which here means superior in dignity;
the second word "before" is _protos, which refers to time; the phrase
is literally 'first of me,' which is an idiom. Not priority of birth
is indicated but uniqueness in the matter of time, and this double
superiority is confirmed by the explanation immediately given; "For of
His fulness we all received, and grace for grace." The fulness
signifies the totality of the attributes and powers of God. Out of
that fulness every believer is supplied (see Eph. 1:23 and Col. 1:19).
Here John the writer is speaking and not the Baptist. The phrase
"grace for grace" may be understood either as one grace leading on to
another or perhaps, rather, grace answering to the grace which is His
attribute.

"For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ." The Apostle adds truth to grace as in verse 14, for Christ
was the Revealer of all truth as well as the Minister of grace.

THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON

This statement, to the effect that the truth became known by
Jesus Christ, leads at once to the confirmatory double declaration,
first negative, that "No man hath seen God at any time," second
positive, that "the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father, He hath declared (or rather, interpreted) Him" (v. 18). This
closing statement of the introduction to the Gospel, as to the visible
manifestation of the invisible God, the way by which grace and truth
came, brings to a consummation the subject of the Incarnation of the
Word. (There is strong MS. evidence for the rendering "the only
begotten God".) [Many would disagree with this last statement on the
basis of Doctrinal evidence as well as grammatical evidence.--Ed.]

The phrase rendered "which is in the bosom of the Father" (lit.,
the One being in ...) describes a timeless state, an eternal condition
and relation of the fullest intimacy, affection and fellowship, and
implies the unbroken continuation of it in the days of His flesh. He
it is who has become the manifestation and representation of all that
the Father is. The clause sets forth the eternally pre-existent
Sonship of Christ.

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VERSES 19 TO 51

THE BAPTIST'S TESTIMONY

Following the introduction, or prologue, comes the first main
division of this Gospel, from 1:19 to the end of chapter 12. This
especially narrates the public testimony of Christ, by word and work.
The narrative begins by resuming the witness of John the Baptist, now
to priests and Levites sent by the Pharisees to Bethany beyond Jordan
where John was baptizing.

John had by this time drawn the attention of the Sanhedrin. He
had proclaimed the approach of a new era (Matt. 3. 2). Hence the
sending of the priests and Levites to enquire whether he himself was
the Messiah. These came from the Pharisees; the Sadducees were not so
interested, they were more submissive to the Roman power. For the
Baptist it was a time of crisis. Hence his emphatic declaration, that
he was neither the Messiah nor Elijah nor "that prophet" (Deut.
18:15) but "the voice of one crying in the wilderness (an intimation
of the spiritual state of the nation), Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet" (v. 23).

Then came the question as to the reason for his baptizing. It had
the appearance of treating Jews as if they were mere proselytes, and
of implying that they were defiled and needed cleansing. The answer he
gives reveals that to him the Lord Jesus is more than all his
credentials. He has no time to argue about himself; his answer is to
point them to Christ. "I baptize with water; in the midst of you
standeth One whom ye (emphatic) know not, even He that cometh after
me, the latchet of whose shoe (i.e., the thong of whose sandal) I am
not worthy to unloose" (vv. 26, 27), one of the most menial acts of slaves.

THE LAMB OF GOD

Verse 29 begins the Baptist's testimony to the people, by reason
of Christ's coming on the scene in Person on the following day.
And now He who has been described as the Word, the Creator, the Son of
God, is pointed out as "the Lamb of God," the One "who taketh away the
sin of the world." The "Behold" is an interjection, not a command. His
hearers would understand what the mention of a Lamb signified, and
might recall the language of Isaiah 53. But they must know that He is
the Lamb of God, and

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that as such, that is by the atoning efficacy of His sacrifice, He
takes away, not merely the sin of Israel (my people," Isa. 53:8), but
the sin of the world. Christ will restore the world's broken relation
with God. In this matter it has been necessary for God to take the
fact of sin into consideration, but Christ's sacrifice will be the
eternal foundation of the renewed relation.

It was given to John the Baptist for the first time to designate
Him as "the Lamb of God." The phrase is not found in the Old
Testament, though typical intimations and foreshadowings abound
therein. The nearest expression is in Genesis 22:8. The verb rendered
"taketh away" denotes either to lift and bear or to take away; here
both senses may be combined, for the word points to Christ's expiatory
sacrifice and its effects. This is here said of "the sin of the
world;" not the sins, but that which has existed from the time of the
Fall, and in regard to which God has had judicial dealings with the
world; hereafter the sin of the world will be replaced by everlasting
righteousness.

John recalls his testimony of the previous day (v. 15) and the
reason why he baptized with water (v. 31); it was that Christ was to
be manifested to Israel. But there was more than this. That which
would identify to the Baptist the Person in a twofold way was the
descent of the Holy Spirit upon Him.

THE SON OF GOD

This was the crowning point of his witness, namely, that the Lamb
of God is the Son of God: "And John bare witness, saying, I have
beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it (He)
abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He (God the Father) that sent
me to baptize with water, He said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt
see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, the same is He that
baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen, and have borne
witness that this is the Son of God" (1:31 to 34). The two facts
regarding Him were that He was the One who would baptize, not in
water, but with the Holy Ghost, and that was none other than the Son
of God. He says "I have seen," in contrast to "I knew Him not."

The three Persons in the Godhead combine in making John the
Baptist the instrument of this witness. The Father sent him as His
messenger (1:6); the Holy Spirit directed him by His

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supernatural demonstration; Christ Himself was the centre and object
of the testimony, as to (1) His Deity as the Son of God (v. 34), (2)
His humanity, "a Man which is become before me" (v. 30), (3) His
atoning death as the Lamb of God (v. 29), (4) His exaltation as "the
Baptizer with the Holy Spirit" (v. 33).

THE THIRD DAY

Now comes the third day (v. 35). On the first Christ was
proclaimed; on the second He was pointed out; on the third He was
followed by disciples. John still proclaimed Him as the Lamb. "He
looked (fastened his gaze) upon Jesus as He walked (not now coming to
him) and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God" (v. 36). Nothing is added
now. That was a sufficient intimation to the two who had been his
disciples that a greater than he must now become their Master.
Christ's first disciples were won by the testimony to His atoning
sacrifice. He is mentioned as the Lamb elsewhere only in 1 Peter 1:19
and in the Apocalypse. There, however, the word is always _arnion (not
_amnos as here), a diminutive term, but the diminutive idea is not to
be pressed; it lost its diminutive significance.! The difference
between amnos and arnion lies in this, the amnos points to the fact,
the nature and character of His sacrifice; arnion presents Him, on the
ground indeed of His sacrifice, but in His acquired majesty, dignity,
honour, authority and power.

THE CHOOSING OF DISCIPLES

The two disciples who "followed Jesus" were Andrew and, no doubt,
John (the writer). From the conversation that ensued (vv. 38, 39) two
things arise. Firstly, just as the disciples' knowledge of Christ only
gradually increased (they knew Him just as the Messiah, v. 41), so he
who receives Christ by faith receives Him in the fulness of His
Person, but the perception of His excellences, His power and glory is
gradual. Secondly, Christ's knowledge of them and His direction of
their lives give intimation of His authority and Headship. "And Jesus
turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?"
He did not ask "Whom seek ye?" That they were seeking Him was evident.
He asked them what they sought in Him. His invitation and their
acceptance, resulting in their abiding with Him for that

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day, must have meant a wonderful unfolding by Him of the truth
relating to Him.

That third day produces three, if not four, disciples, Andrew,
John, Peter, and perhaps James. Peter was not the first to become one.
Cephas (v. 43) is the Aramaic name. _Petros, Peter, denotes, not a mass
of rock, but a detached stone or boulder (easily thrown or moved); in
Matthew 16:18 the word _Petra, a mass of rock, is used of Christ,
figuratively of a sure foundation, not of Peter, who is spoken of as
Petros.

On the fourth day a new circumstance arises; for the Lord Himself
goes to seek a disciple. Hitherto they had come or had been brought to
Him. Now "He was minded (or as the word _thelo commonly means, He
willed) to go forth into Galilee." He finds Philip, who was of the
same city as Andrew and Peter and bids him follow Him. Philip finds
Nathanael (a name meaning gift of God) and gives a special testimony
to Christ, firstly, as the Subject of the Law and the prophets,
secondly as to His coming from Nazareth, thirdly as to the belief
about His being the son of Joseph.

nathanael's confession

To say the least, Galileans were the objects of contempt owing to
their lack of culture, their rude dialect and their association with
Gentiles. Hence Nathanael's surprised question, "Can any good thing
come out of Nazareth?" Philip does not stop to argue but bids him come
and see. At the interview the Lord immediately reveals His Divine
powers of knowledge, which at once elicits the confession, "Rabbi,
Thou art the Son of God; Thou art King of Israel." The absence of the
definite article before "King," while grammatically serving to stress
His Kingship, perhaps indicates Nathanael's hope of an earthly King.

The fig tree under which he was is doubtless figurative of the
nation of Israel, fruitless under the old Covenant, though Nathanael
himself is representative of the godly remnant in the nation. In this
connection the promise that he and other believers would see the
"Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon
the Son of man," points to the coming day when Christ will come in His
glory and manifest Himself as the King of Israel in a far higher
sphere than was in the mind of Nathanael. The Lord was thinking of
Millennial scenes.

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CHAPTERS II TO IX

INTBODUCTION

The following four events which took place as recorded in
chapters 2, 3, and 4 are significant in their order. There is first
the marriage in Cana; next the cleansing of the Temple; then the
testimony to Nicodemus; finally the conversation with the woman of
Samaria. The four events form a counterpart to the victories of Christ
over Satan's temptation in the wilderness. The first of these was the
suggestion to turn stones into bread to satisfy Himself (Matt. 4:3);
now He turns water into wine to satisfy others. The second temptation
was to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the Temple to declare to
the people below His supernatural power; now, instead of performing a
miracle outside the Temple for His own glory, He cleanses the inside
for the glory of His Father. The third temptation was an offer to have
all the Kingdoms of the world on the single condition that He should
fall down and do an act of worship to His tempter; now to Nicodemus
He is giving teaching concerning the Heavenly, Spiritual and eternal
Kingdom, a Kingdom of far wider scope and importance than the
Kingdom of this world. Finally in the fourth chapter He is occupying
the attention and interest of a Samaritan woman with the subject of
worship to the Father.

There is something very suggestive about all this as recorded in
the Fourth Gospel. In this Gospel Christ is revealed especially as the
Son of God; that is just the relationship concerning which the evil
one challenged Him in the wilderness, saying, "If Thou be the Son of
God." Again, this fourth Gospel marks the Lord especially as
delightedly fulfilling the will of His Father instead of fulfilling
Satan's suggestions that He should act according to His own will.

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CHAPTER II

VERSES 1 TO 11

THE GALILEE WEEK

The "third day" (2:1) was the third day of His stay in Galilee,
making a week altogether (1:29, 35, 43). There is much in the details
of the marriage feast in Cana that is indicative of things beyond the
actual circumstances. The third day is suggestive of the coming period
of resurrection life and Millennial glory. In a special sense in the
future celebration on earth of the spiritual and Heavenly marriage
between Christ and His saints, the water of purification for Israel
(i.e., the godly remnant of the nation) will be turned into the wine
of joy. Then indeed the nation will say "Thou hast kept the good wine
until now."

Again, the word to His mother, "Woman what have I to do with
thee? Mine hour is not yet come," can only be rightly understood in the
way it points to His relation to Israel. His mother was the natural
connection with the nation under the Law. His relation with Israel
will in a coming day be a matter of grace. But that could be brought
about only through His sacrificial and atoning Death. To that He
referred when He said "Mine hour is not yet come." That "hour" would
and will be the means of bringing about the new relationship of grace.
Figuratively and anticipatively therefore He indicates that which will
be greater and more blessed than the natural tie of kinship.

HIS SIGNS

That all this, and more, is indicated, is set forth in the
statement, "This beginning of His signs did Jesus ... and manifested
His glory" (v. 11). The word _semeion is rightly rendered "sign;" it
is more than a miracle; it is a miracle with a significance. Christ's
signs were (1) evidences of His combined Godhood and Manhood, (2)
evidences of the character of His mission, (3) symbolical of spiritual
truths. Eight are recorded by John. This at Cana was

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the first; and being a sign, its details conveyed the spiritual
teachings above mentioned. In this, too, He manifested His "glory."
The glory of the Lord is the shining forth of His character and His
power, the presentation of His nature and His actings. The
manifestation of His glory was at the same time the manifestation of
the glory of His Father.

He graces our gatherings with His Presence spiritually, not only
at the marriage of two of God's children, but wherever any are
gathered in His Name. He never fails to fulfil His promise to be "in
the midst." His sanctifying presence imparts the utmost blessedness at
every such gathering.

He gives His best to the lowly. They were a humble folk at the
Cana feast. There was no outstanding display. Cana itself was an
obscure village. It was in the rustic home that the Lord displayed
the glory of His power. He "came to minister." He loves "to revive the
spirit of the humble" (Isa. 57:15).

A FULL SUPPLY

His power is ready to meet our needs. The need was great. To run
short of wine, to be unable to provide adequate entertainment, was a
grievous predicament. Our lives are largely made up of needs. He knows
them all. They are designed to cast us upon Him. Nothing is too hard
for the Lord.

He gives a full supply. "Fill the waterpots with water." "They
filled them up to the brim." That was what He intended. There would be
enough for all. If our hearts and lives are empty of self, His fulness
will fill us.

He transmutes natural things, making them ministers of joy and
gladness. He makes water become wine. Our daily routine of work, so
often dull and even dreary in our poor estimate, our round of labour,
our "common task," can all become radiant with joy and gladness if we
live in the light of His countenance and enjoy true fellowship with
Him.

He uses home circumstances as a means of blessing to others. The
closing statement of the narrative is, "His disciples believed on Him"
(v. 11). They were guests at the wedding. What the Lord had wrought
had marked effect on them. It established their faith in Him. Thus the
union of the married pair was made by Him a means of blessing to
others than those of the family circle.

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VERSES 12 TO 22

THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

This was the public display of Christ's authority and power. His
glory had been exhibited privately at the marriage at Cana. Now He
comes forth in official manifestation to the place where God had set
His Name in the nation, the place where He would dwell among them,
where shone the glory of His own uncreated light. At Cana He had
manifested His grace; now He was about to manifest His truth.

THE OCCASION

The occasion was "the passover of the Jews" (v. 13). Three times
the Apostle (and he alone of the Gospel writers) designates the
passover feast thus (see 6:4 and 11:55, and cp. 5:1 and 7:2), a plain
reflection upon the deplorable condition of the people and their
religious rulers. What was by His own declaration "the Lord's
Passover" (Exod. 12:11), had become by national departure and the
desecration of the Temple, "the Passover of the Jews."

Pilgrims had assembled in Jerusalem in immense numbers for their
great national feast. On the eve of the occasion the head of every
family had assiduously collected all the leaven in the house and given
the dwelling-place a general cleansing. How vastly different was the
condition of God's House at this time! Again, the Divinely appointed
half-shekel atonement money would be paid into the Temple treasury.
The payment sealed to each his status as a member of the Divinely
chosen nation, and religious fervour reached its height. But now the
offering was desecrated by the jingling of the coins of the
money-changer swindlers. The glory of the Temple had been robbed of
its spiritual significance and power. How could a man bring his lamb
to God amidst the hindrances of such unholy confusion? Commerce,
supported by the priests, robbed the poor of their privileges.

This kind of corruption has been reproduced in Christendom.
Priest-craft, perhaps commercially the most paying concern in the
world, has perverted the cause of the humble believer, by striding
across the path of his free access to God through the One Mediator on
the ground of His expiatory sacrifice.

pp22

THE STARTLING INTERPOSITION

Now the Lord suddenly comes to His Temple. He finds in the Temple
those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money
sitting. The place of prayer for all nations resounds with the noisy
traffic of a cattle market, with all its filth and stench. The
covetous hearts of the dealers in small change gloat over their
ill-gotten gains. What a sickening sight for the devoted pilgrim as he
entered the court of the Temple! How he must have longed for the time
when the promise would be fulfilled, "there shall be no more a
Canaanite (a trafficker) in the House of the Lord of Hosts" (Zech.
14:21)! How much greater was the holy indignation of Him who thus
beheld the unutterable desecration of His Father's House!

In the midst of all the desecration He appears whose "eyes are as
a flame of fire," and whose heart burned with zeal for the glory of
His Father's House. He makes a scourge the instrument of the exercise
of His authority. Was it emblematic of a greater scourge destined to
chastise rulers and people, when the Romans would destroy both Temple
and city? Certainly the paramount significance of this cleansing
process, this Divine attack upon the vested interests of the
evil-doers, was the vindication of the Name of God and the honours of
His House, His hatred and condemnation of sin. And on this account the
Lord's act was the presage and pledge of God's mercy to men in the
eventual freedom of access into His presence on His conditions of
grace in and through Christ. While the actual cleansing was not that
of the inner sanctuary (the _naos) but of the precincts, the outer
Court, yet it stood for the reconsecration of the entire building for
the holy purposes designed of God.

EVIDENCE OF HIS DIVINE POWER

But there was a deeper significance in this supernatural act; for
such it was. The expulsion by a single Person of the hosts of
avaricious traffickers and their belongings, the overthrow of the
tables and scattering of their money piles, notwithstanding the fact
that their sordid business had the sanction and support of those who
had legal possession of the whole place, was proof of His Divine
power; this indeed was tacitly acknowledged by

pp23

the surprised religious authorities in their question recorded in
verse 18. And the deeper significance is this, that whatsoever is
consecrated to God for His service is to be freed from mere worldly
profit. The veneer of religion is often but a covering to hide the
selfish interests of those who promote it. Personal advantage can only
act as a defiling influence in any church or assembly. The sheep, the
oxen and the doves were sold for sacrificial purposes, but the motive
and methods of the business were an abomination in the eyes of the
Lord. Mere Conformity to religious rites and ceremonies may make their
appeal to the natural, the religious, the sentimental mind, but human
motives and ambitions are doomed to meet the exposure and judgment of
Him who searches the hearts.

A church is a temple of God, the dwelling-place of His Spirit (1
Cor. 3:16), and he who mars it will be marred of its Owner (v. 17). "For the temple of God is holy, which
temple ye are."

THE EFFECT OF THE SIGN

The Temple authorities dared not question the moral rectitude of
the Lord's action in cleansing it. Taken by surprise at the display of
His power and authority, they decided to ask Him for a sign in
confirmation thereof. For them the value of a sign would consist in
its being simply indicative of the triumph and greatness of the chosen
nation.

Their blindness, consequent upon their hardness of heart, is
evinced in their failure to recognize that He was, by the very
character of His dealings, the greatest possible sign Himself.
According to their request (He absolutely refused it later when their
persistent refusal to recognize His claims had reached its height,
Matt. 16:1 to 4), He gives them a sign, but not in accordance with
their expectations: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up" (naos is the word here, the inner sanctuary, not _hieron,
the entire building), and this was appropriate to His reference to
"the temple of His body." And such His body was. In it shone the
abiding Shechinah, the glory of the Lord. "In Him dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily."

Voluntarily He would hand over this holy Temple for them to
"destroy" (_luo, to loosen, was sometimes used with reference to a
structure; cp. Eph. 2:14, where it is used of the breaking down

pp24

of a wall). How constantly His impending death and what it involved
formed the subject of His utterances! Here also He mentions "the glory
that would follow," foretelling withal His own part in His
Resurrection. This, too, was a clear indication, for those to whom the
fact would be revealed, of His oneness with the Father in Godhood. For
in the act of His Resurrection the Father and the Son were, as ever,
inseparable. The Jews eagerly laid hold of what they considered a
discrepancy in His utterance. Conviction, however, eventually was
borne in upon them. That is recorded by Matthew (27:63).

THE EFFECT UPON THE DISCIPLES

The significance of His act of cleansing the Temple was realised
by the disciples immediately. They remembered that it was written,
"The zeal of Thine House shall eat Me up" (R.V.). The significance of
His reply to the Jews was realised after His Resurrection. The
disciples then remembered His utterance "and they believed the
Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said." As for the people, many
believed on Him, but with a shallow if sincere credence.

Here, then, we observe the contrasting effects which so
constantly marked the Lord's public ministry of work and word, and
still mark those of His faithful witnesses, namely, rejection and
reception. If by grace we have received Him, let us on our part follow
the path He trod.

There were more signs wrought by Him at that time in Jerusalem,
purposively unrecorded in this Gospel, and these caused many to
believe on His Name, by way of sincere conviction, a natural
recognition of facts; but this did not alter their spiritual
condition, and "Jesus did not trust Himself to them." "He knew all
men" and "He Himself knew what was in man." The same emphasis "He
Himself" should be expressed in both statements. The Lord knew the
state and character of every man. He knew man's moral nature.

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CHAPTER III

VERSES 1 TO 21

NICODEMUS

"But there was a man" who was an exception. Chapter 3 continues
the last paragraph of chapter 2 by this contrast. The connecting word
should be "But," not "Now," as in the R.V. (it should not be omitted
as the A.V. does). "Now" suggests a completely new subject.

The contrast was twofold. Nicodemus was not a case of mere
acknowledgement of the facts about Christ because of the signs He
wrought. His conscience was reached; he felt his soul's need. And
Christ on His part, in response to this need, opened His heart to meet
it, trusting Himself in this way to his enquirer.

Nicodemus begins by expressing an assurance concerning Jesus,
based upon the signs He did (v. 2). This utterance was an evidence of
exercise of heart which he dared not disclose to his fellows. It is
"night" with us when we fail to witness for fear of the world. The
Lord goes at once to the root of the matter. He did not stop to give
mere mental instruction to him. How can anyone be spiritually blessed
by patching up the "old man"? The old is carnal and cannot discern
spiritual things. Nicodemus doubtless thought the Lord's signs were
indications of the approaching earthly kingdom. Hence the reply,
"Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The
word _anothen may mean "from above" (R.V. margin), as in 19:11; Jas.
1:17; 3:15, 17 (a very probable meaning here), or "again," anew, as in
Gal. 4:9.

THE NATURAL AND THE SPIRITUAL

The thoughts of Nicodemus are occupied with the natural (v. 4).
The Lord points to the spiritual: "Except a man be born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." He first said "cannot
see," for Nicodemus was occupied with the visible. Now He goes deeper.
Water is a means of cleansing. Cleansing is

pp26

by the Word of God. "Ye are clean," says the Lord, "through the word
which I have spoken unto you." Christ sanctifies the Church by
cleansing it "through the washing of water by the Word." The Spirit of
God applies the Word of God to the heart. There is another possible
interpretation. The _kai, "and," may mean "even," as it does
sometimes. The effect of regeneration by the Holy Spirit is to produce
a corresponding spiritual life. What God creates may be material; but
what He begets partakes of His spiritual nature and likeness. "That
which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The origin determines the
nature. Accordingly baptism cannot produce the new birth and beget a
child of God. Baptism is first a sign of death. The Lord gives the
illustration of the wind (the R.V. and A.V. renderings are doubtless
right). How could "the teacher (the representative of such) of
Israel" grasp heavenly things, if notwithstanding his reading of the
prophets, he did not understand earthly things? Christ and those
associated with Him spoke what they knew (the "we" is not the plural
of majesty); they bore witness of that which they had seen,--a witness
rejected. The origin was Heavenly. No one had ascended into Heaven to
receive these Heavenly things and bear witness of them. The only One
possible was He who "descended out of Heaven," and who while still on
the earth, was "the Son of Man, which is in Heaven." He was the very
embodiment of the Heavenly and in His combined Godhood and Manhood was
the manifestation of the Heavenly to men. Therefore to understand
these things Nicodemus must be related to Christ by the new birth, and
that would involve a share in the witness.

THE MEANS OF LIFE

But the Lord has a further and still more explicit word to say
about the new life (imparted in the new birth), and gives "the teacher
of Israel" a fact from the Old Testament (which he had often read
without getting any further than the earthly circumstance), in order
that he may perceive the great foundation application and realize its
eternal importance: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever
believeth may in Him have eternal life" (vv. 14, 15). There is
something necessary then before the new birth can take place. Truly
the new birth brings

pp27

life eternal, and this comes by faith. But this can be brought about
only by the remission of sin. There could be no life without that. For
that purpose this very Person, the Son of Man, whom Nicodemus had
sought, "must be lifted up." He must be made sin to take sin away. He
must become a curse, the very antitype of the serpent in the
wilderness. For this purpose He had come down from Heaven. Whosoever
rejected Him, for such there could be no remission of sins, no removal
of the curse, no new birth, no eternal life, no entrance into the
Kingdom. The Son of God, the Son of Man, alone knew the character and
requirements of God against whom man had sinned and from whom he was
alienated.

The great fact of the means for this is immediately stated in
another way. To accomplish this, and meet the need of the new birth
for Nicodemus and for all who are brought to realize their need, "God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoeverr
believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Man's
sinful condition and God's holy character and requirement, and His
infinite love, all meet at the Cross. (The present writer regards the
passage from verse 16 to verse 21 as a continuation of the Lord's
discourse to Nicodemus, rather than remarks made by John the writer of
this Gospel.)

All this goes beyond the limits of His dealing with the Jewish
people: God sent His Son into the world "not to judge the world; but
that the world should be saved through Him" (v. 17).

The purpose of Christ's coming was not to pass sentence but to
bring salvation. As for the believer no sentence can be passed on him; as
for the unbeliever, he stands self-condemned, for he has refused to
accept the self-revelation, the Name, "of the only begotten Son of
God." His Name is the expression of His very Person (v. 18).

THE CAUSE OF REFUSAL

But it is more than a case of refusal to accept the Divine
testimony; "men loved the darkness rather than the light;" that is to
say, they hated the light; and that because their works were evil
(_ponera, a word which combines the ideas of base and baneful;
_poneros describes the character of Satan as "the evil one," 17:15;
1 John 2:13, 14; 3:12; 5:18, 19). "For every one that doeth (_prasso
means to practise, to do a thing by way of constant activity) ill
(here the word is _phaula, which signifies worthless things,
good-for-nothing) hateth the light, and cometh

pp28

not to the light (a hatred exhibited in a deliberate refusal to come),
lest his deeds (his works) should be reproved (or rather, convicted,
i.e., of being what they actually are, by being exposed in their true
character and so meeting with condemnation)."

The contrary is the case with the true believer. As to the nature
of his activity, he "doeth the truth" (the truth in its moral aspect).
As to the character of his walk, he "cometh to the light" (he loves
the presence and fellowship of Him who is the Light). As to the
purpose of his coming, "that his deeds may be made manifest (he is
attracted to that which marks the character of his doings), that they
have been wrought in God," that is, in fellowship with, in the
presence of, and by the power of, God.

VERSES 22 TO 36

THE BAPTIST'S FURTHER TESTIMONY

The next part of the chapter gives a beautiful picture of John
the Baptist, by reason of his
faithfulness and devotion to Christ, his delight in Christ's
superiority in antecedence, in position, and in purpose, and his joy
in the privilege appointed to him of being as near to Him as he was.
To him Jesus was everything; His exaltation and His interests were his
consuming object. When a question arose between John's disciples and a
Jew about purifying, and they reported that Christ was attracting
everybody, he presented with true humility and with manifest
satisfaction (1) the truth as to the source of any revelation (v. 27),
(2) the facts of his past witness (v. 28), and its present fulfilment
(v. 29), (3)_the contrast in position: he was simply a forerunner,
sent before the Messiah Himself, (4) the contrast in relationship:
Christ was the Bridegroom, John was but the friend of the Bridegroom,
His devoted attendant and listener, (5) his joy of heart in every word
spoken by the Bridegroom (v. 29), (6) the increase of the One for
whose sake he testified, (7) his own decrease in the very path of his
devotedness (v. 30).

In this lowliness and satisfaction John the Baptist is an example
to us. The intimacy of our relationship to the Bridegroom is no doubt
greater positionally than his. It should be so with us as it was with
him, the only thing that should matter should be that

pp29

Christ is glorified by us and in all our ways and circumstances. That
Christ may be magnified in our bodies,--if that dominates our desires,
aims and ambitions, all will be well with us, no matter how greatly we
may be despised, no matter how great may be our suffering and trial.

THREE FURTHER CONTRASTS

The closing part of the chapter continues the contrasts, first in
regard to Christ and John, then between the effects of the witness,
and finally between the eternal destinies of men. Firstly, Christ came
from above and bore witness of what He had seen and heard. John's
witness was that of one whose origin and condition were of the earth.
Secondly Christ's witness was generally rejected; whosoever received
His witness "hath set his seal to this, that God is true" (v. 33); he
solemnly confirms his acceptance of, and adherence to, the great fact.
And the evidence of the fact is seen in the testimony of the Lord
Jesus as the One whom God sent. "For He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God," not the testimony in general but each detail of
each statement of it; moreover this is the operation of the Holy
Spirit. Firstly, not only was He sent by God, there is deeper fuller
truth than this; He is the Son, to whom the Father "hath given all
things." This is introductory to the statement of the third contrast,
between destinies. For since all things are in the hands of the Son,
the destiny of every human being is under His control. But this,
again, depends upon the attitude of each towards Him. "He that
believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (v. 36).

All this from verse 22 to the end is introductory to the more
public testimony of the Lord. There was a special beginning of this
after John was cast into prison (3. 24). The introductory character of
that portion lies in this, that it has stated the way in which He
came, His position, His glory, the nature of His witness, the great
purpose of His coming, His being "lifted up," man's condition
regarding this, the Father's love for Him and His committal of all
things into His hands. The following chapters illustrate and amplify
the closing statement as to those who believe and have life and those
who refuse and endure Divine wrath.

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CHAPTER IV

VERSES 1 TO 42

THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA

The "therefore" in the first verse of chapter 4 connects this
chapter, not merely with 3:22 and the details of the baptizings by
John and by Christ's disciples, but with all the last part of chapter
3. There is another change of scene, but now Christ begins a ministry
outside the limits of the Jewish people. The jealousy of the Pharisees
leads to this, but whatever the Lord did always had a significance
beyond the actual doing. This visit to and ministry in Samaria recalls
the "whosoever" of 3:15, 16, and the wide sphere of the world, 3:17,
and gives a foreshadowing of the worldwide message after His Ascension
and the coming of the Spirit. Again, the fact that "He left Judaea,"
though only for a time, was suggestive of an attitude caused by the
hardened condition of the Jews. The word rendered "left" signifies
more than mere departure, it really means 'He let it go,' i.e., He
left it to itself.

Everything was by Divine counsel and appointing, each fact the
Son's fulfilment of the Father's will: the weariness, the thirst, the
locality (the plot of land bought by Abraham, given by Jacob to
Joseph, and Joseph's burying place, Gen. 33:19; 48:22; Josh. 24:32).
Christ's ministry of grace there was a particular fulfilment of Gen.
49:22, "a fruitful bough by a well" and a Branch running "over the
wall," i.e., of Judaism. The side of the well, the time of day,
everything was ready for the one who now becomes the object of God's
grace and mercy.

THE OPENING OF THE DIALOGUE

The beginning of the flowing forth of the fountain of grace was
by way of a request, "Give Me to drink." The blessed Saviour had a
spiritual thirst as well as the physical. His request had more than a
natural significance. How satisfying to the spirit is the salvation of
a soul!

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There is no discrepancy between the statement that "Jews have no
dealings with Samaritans" (there are no definite articles in the
original) and the fact that the disciples had gone into Samaria to buy
food. Even the Pharisees allowed fruit, vegetables, etc., to come from
Samaria. Moreover Galileans were less strict.

The surprise of the Samaritan woman meets with the response, "If
thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is (not who I am) that saith
to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He
would have given thee living water." This combines the glory of His
Godhood with the evidences of the reality of His Manhood, and the
lowliness of His stoop in that respect. The combination enhances the
grace by which the Lord seeks to meet her spiritual need. For the
"living water" compare with the following verses from the R.V.:
Gen. 26:19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found
there a well of springing water, (lit. living water)
Lev. 14:5 and the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds
in an earthen vessel over running water. (lit. living water)
Jer. 2:13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for
themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Jer. 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake thee shall be
put to shame; those who turn away from thee shall be written in the
earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.
Zech. 14:8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem,
half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea;
it shall continue in summer as in winter.

DIFFERENT WATERS

Her thoughts are occupied solely with her natural circumstances
and surroundings. "The natural man understandeth not the things of the
Spirit." That Jacob gave the well, as she said, was a Samaritan
tradition. In her opinion the well was good enough for him and his;
could this tired person provide a better one? "Art Thou greater ...?"
The "Thou" is very emphatic. He does not answer her question
concerning comparative greatness, He develops His subject, pressing
home the contrast between the natural and the spiritual, between that
which provides no permanent satisfaction and that which involves the
placing of the spiritual well within a person himself. "Every one that
drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of
the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that
I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto
eternal life." There is a noticeable change of tense: "every one that
drinketh" (v. 13) is in the present tense, drinketh habitually; but the
verb in the original in "whosoever drinketh" (v. 14) is in the perfect
tense, "whosoever hath drunk," an act with an abiding result. The
negative in "--shall never thirst" is very strong, and the rendering
might well be "shall certainly not thirst forever."

This would surely take her mind off the natural. But no! Whatever
it is He can provide let it provide an antidote to thirst

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and put an end to her daily toil and weariness, so that she does not
"come all the way hither to draw" (RV).

A TURN IN THE CONVERSATION

Now begins the second stage of His dealings. He will now deal
with her conscience. One word, and it leads to the tremendous
disclosure that her whole life lies open to His eye. Her limited
recognition, that He was a prophet, makes clear that she realized that
she had come face to face with a Messenger from God. Yet she shrinks
from anything further along this line and _turns to the subject of the
right place for worship.

The Samaritans claimed that on mount Gerizim Abraham offered up
Isaac and here he met Melchizedek. The Lord speaks no more of her
sinful life, but leads her thoughts again, and in another way, to the
spiritual realm, taking up the question to which she had turned. This
was grace indeed, and wisdom, too, for He would lead her to the
realities of His own Person, and it is this great revelation which
brings the blessings of salvation. Sufficient had been said to bring
home the sinfulness of her life. The Lord would not probe that
further.

He shows that it is not a question whether Jerusalem or Gerizim
is the appointed spot for worship. The Samaritans were ignorant even
of the Person to be worshipped. It was not so with the Jews; for
"salvation is from the Jews." They were God's people, and salvation
comes from them by reason of promises to Abraham and Isaac. True
worship must accord with the nature of Him who is to be worshipped.
"God is Spirit" and must be approached by means of that part of our
being which is spirit. There are no limitations of space and locality
with Him. He must be worshipped in truth, not in ignorance,
superstition, and sectarianism. There must be submission of thought,
feeling and desire to His
will; "spirit and truth" present two aspects of the one fact. "For
such (an emphatic word) doth the Father seek to be His worshippers,"
that is to say, true worship must answer to the nature of His being.
And how this is to be brought about has been made known by grace in
the Person and work of His Son.

It was not in any spirit of contradiction to the Lord's words "ye
know not" (v. 22) that the woman now said "I know." She was thoroughly
arrested in her ideas by the great truth which

pp33

Christ had just uttered. She was sure that all this and more would be
declared by the Messiah when He came. This instruction concerning
worship would be confirmed by Him and everything else would be made
clear.

THE GREAT REVELATION

Now comes the climax. For this the Lord had been preparing. It
is when Christ is revealed to the needy soul that the work of grace
accomplishes its end. So it had been in other ways with John the
Baptist, with Nathanael and other disciples, and with Nicodemus. So it
was now with the woman. "Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee
am He." There are immediate evidences that His saving work was done.
The water of life had been poured into her soul. She forgot her
waterpot and the temporal requirements. The customary toil gave place
to a quick step back to the city. She becomes a messenger to others.
An invitation had not long since been given to a very different
person, "Come and see." "Come, see," she says, "a man, which told me
all things that ever I did. Can this be the Christ?" (the R.V. is
correct). Her heart was occupied with Him and He became her satisfying
portion. She confessed Him with her mouth and thus confirmed her
faith. She attracted the men of the city to Him.

SPIRITUAL HARVEST

While they "were coming to Him" (v. 30), the disciples, who had
come upon the scene marvelling, were begging Him to allay His hunger.
He found His nourishment from another source. His food consisted in
doing the will of Him who sent Him and accomplishing His work. They
were occupied with mundane matters. Firstly, they wondered whether,
while they had come with food which they had gone to Samaria to buy,
someone else had supplied Him. Secondly, they were discussing the time
of the year and the prospect of harvest. They must wait four months
before bread became cheaper (perhaps they had paid a good price for
what they had brought from the city).

But there was reaping to be done that day, for the spiritual
fields were "white unto harvest." There were wages for labourers and
"fruit unto life eternal." Those who had prepared by sowing

pp34

and those who enjoyed the counterpart by reaping could "rejoice
together." The Baptist had sown, Christ had sown, and now the woman
had sown. The disciples could join in the reaping. That was better
than buying food. It is one thing to trade with folks, and quite
proper withal, but another thing to win their souls to Christ. The
woman's testimony produced abundant fruit. Many believed on Christ
(there must have been a large crowd from the city). They asked Him to
go back with them and stay, and He stayed two days. More reaping was
done. Many more believed, rejoicing in having the witness of the woman
confirmed by hearing Him themselves, and acknowledging Him as, more
than the Messiah, "the Saviour of the world" (v. 42).

VERSES 43 TO 54

THE SECOND SIGN

After the two days He goes to Galilee, where the people'received
Him because they had seen the things He did in Jerusalem. It did not
mean that they honoured Him. He knew they would not (v. 44), but He
did not go there to get that, He went to bear witness. And He bore
witness by another sign.

The "second sign" which Christ did in Galilee, the healing of the
"nobleman's" son, has at least this significance, that it marks a
striking difference between the ground upon which faith was now
exercised and that which created faith in the heart of the Samaritan
woman and her fellow townsfolk. This nobleman (or rather, King's
officer, R.V., margin, an official under Herod Antipas, a tetrarch who
held his father's title of king) urged Him to come and heal his dying
son. His faith rested upon the signs and wonders wrought by Christ,
news of which had reached him from Judaea (v. 47). That this was so is
clear from the Lord's remonstrance, "Except ye see signs and wonders
ye will not believe." A faith based on miracles was not of such value
as that manifested by the woman, which was the result, not of news of
His wonderworkings in Judaea, but of His own testimony and teaching.
She and the other Samaritans believed because of the truth He spoke;
the officer rested his hopes upon Christ's miraculous acts. The Lord
would not reject his faith, but He found less

pp35

pleasure in that which rested on His power to deliver from calamity
than in that which rested in His own Person, and was established by
His character and teaching.

Christ did not go to the sick bed to accomplish the healing and
receive acknowledgement as acting in the capacity of a healer. He
simply said, "Go thy way; thy son liveth," and the man departed
believing.

The different words used to describe the sick lad are
characteristic: the father speaks of him as his _paidion (v. 49), a
term of endearment; the servants use the word _pais, a boy, a term of
ordinary familiarity (v. 51); the Lord and the writer John call him
_huios, "son," a term of dignity.

THE CHIEF FACTOR

The important point in the discovery that the healing was
coincidental with the Lord's utterance, is the power of His word. That
which caused the man and his household to believe was not so much the
fact of the supernatural deed, but the Personal word of the Lord. The
Person Himself is ever greater than the deeds wrought by Him.

The two signs wrought in Galilee represent the twofold way in
which the Lord manifested His delivering power and grace when on
earth, and will yet manifest them in the restoration of His earthly
people. The one was by intervention in circumstances of difficulty,
the other by healing. The Jews will yet find in Him the One who can
remove their natural difficulties and can give them spiritual
recovery.

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CHAPTER V

VERSES 1 TO 9

THE HEALING OF THE IMPOTENT MAN

The occasion the Lord chose for this sign was "a feast of the
Jews." Various suggestions have been made as to which feast it was.
It could scarcely have been that of Purim, as there was no sabbath
connected with that feast. That of Pentecost, "the feast of weeks"
(Deut. 16:10 to 16), seems not unlikely, especially if the Lord used
in turn the three greatest feasts in the year for the fulfilment of
the witness which Moses bore to Him. The first was the Passover
(2:13); the third was the feast of Tabernacles (7:2).

The Apostle John, however, does not specify the time, simply
mentioning it as "a feast of the Jews," their religious functions
being observed with punctilious exactitude, as if all was right with
God. Yet their ways were not His ways, nor their thoughts His
thoughts.

"THE GLORY THAT EXCELLETH"

Perhaps they considered that the miraculous powers of the pool of
Bethesda in their city were a token of their enjoyment of the Divine
favour. Thither accordingly the Lord goes to give a sign that a
different kind of healing was necessary for "the daughter of Zion"
from that which the Bethesda waters indicated. The pool is to be
disregarded. The Healer Himself was in their midst. Their
sabbath-keeping would avail nothing for their salvation. As has been
well said, "The poverty of the pool is exposed. It is seen to be
nothing but a beggarly element. It has no glory by reason of the glory
that excelleth ... Jesus is there standing ... in contrast with all
that system of ordinances and observances which had gone before, and
He exposes them in all their impotency and poverty."

There among the multitude of the diseased and infirm in the five
porches or colonnades, He singles out the man who shall be

pp37

both the object of His compassion and the means of His witness. He is
touched with the feeling of his infirmity. He knew all about his past,
and his constant disappointments. There is no entreaty on the man's
part. Christ takes the initiative. He asks him "Wouldst thou be made
whole?" He knew what the answer would be, knew that the invalid's
thoughts would still be concentrated on the pool. It is futile
expectancy that looks for other resources than the Lord.

FAITH EXPRESSED IN ACTION

Most frequently Christ made some remark concerning the requisite
of faith. In this case He immediately bids him "Arise, take up thy
bed, and walk." Faith was indeed necessary, and faith was there. The
word was with power, power to heal, power likewise to elicit the
obedience of faith. "And straightway the man was made whole, and took
up his bed and walked." Here was faith without wavering, faith that
turned from the pool to the Person.

The carrying of his mat was a testimony to his miraculous
restoration. More than this, it declared the boldness of a faith that
ignored the startling spectacle of a Jew carrying a "burden" on a
sabbath! It bore eloquent testimony to his sense of indebtedness to
his Healer.

VERSES 10 TO 15

THE LORD OF THE SABBATH

The sabbath day! The Jews at once seized upon the breach of the
Law. It was enough for him that His Healer had bidden him carry his
mat. The Healer was in his eyes greater than the law of the sabbath,
and the Healer Himself testified on another occasion that He, the Son
of Man, was "Lord of the sabbath," a repudiation of the punctilious
observances of their traditional exactitudes, regarding the letter of
the Law to the neglect of the spirit of it (Matt. 12:8). They do not
ask the man as to who cured him, but as to who told him to break the
sabbath.

The Lord "conveyed Himself away," not to escape from danger, but
to avoid the applause of the crowd, and with the object of

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dealing further with the man in private. Augustine remarks that "it is
difficult in a crowd to see Christ; a certain solitude is necessary
for our mind."

WHY DID THE MAN TELL THE JEWS?

The Healer of his body finds him in the Temple to deal with his
soul. "Behold," He says, "thou art made whole: sin no more (continue
no longer in sin), lest a worse thing befall thee," He who "searcheth
the hearts" knew the past history of the man's life. The disclosure
involved in this command was more than a conclusion drawn simply from
the nature of the man's disease. "He knew what was in man." Upon this
"the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made
him whole."

The connection between this and the warning just given him by the
Lord does not afford sufficient ground for an assumption of any spirit
of retaliation on the man's part. He had probably come into the Temple
to fulfil the duty of thanksgiving. He may have felt himself under an
obligation to show obedience to the religious authorities.

There was, however, the danger of falling back into sin. Past
habits of evil have a way of reasserting themselves after deliverance.
Only the power of Christ and His word can give sufficient strength for
overcoming. Was not His warning given to the man with this very
design? And to us the Spirit of God has been imparted that we may heed
the injunction "Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust
of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that
ye may not do the things that ye would" (Gal. 5:16, 17).

VERSES 16 TO 47

That this miracle was wrought on a sabbath day roused the fierce
hostility of the Jews. They were "up in arms to defend their favourite
piece of legalism." "For this cause did the Jews persecute (imperfect
tense, continued to persecute) Jesus, because He did these things on
the sabbath." Their religious zeal utterly

pp39

outweighed any consideration of the marvellous deliverance granted to
the cripple and his joy and comfort in his healing. Religion is the
greatest persecuting force in the world. From the days of Cain onward
it is in religion that the innate enmity of the natural mind towards
God is particularly manifested, and as each sign disclosed something
of what God is in the Person of His Son there was a rising tide of
opposition to the One thus revealed and the great incomprehensible
depths of mercy and grace of God.

CHRIST'S REPLY TO HIS PERSECUTORS

With sublime dignity and calm the Lord, in response to their
antagonism, begins to disclose His great prerogatives as the Son of
God, His perfect oneness with the Father, the love of the Father for
Him, the uninterrupted communion existing between them, and His entire
and delighted submission to the Father's will.

He here makes no comment on the sabbath law, as on other
occasions. He had something more important to deal with, and His
testimony constitutes an essential feature of the fabric of this
Gospel. "My Father," He says, "worketh even until now, and I work" (v.
17). This reveals the character of the sign just accomplished. It was
one instance of the co-work of the Father and the Son. That God should
break the sabbath law was impossible. In censuring the Son they were
censuring the Father. The work of the Son was as indispensable as that
of the Father, and was the Father's work. The declaration exposed at
once the untenable character of their position.

LAW AND GRACE

But more than the one incident was involved. The co-work was
"even until now." God could not find rest where sin existed, save by
the atoning sacrifice of His Son. Had it not been so the race must
have perished entirely. Ever since sin entered, God had anticipatively
wrought in grace. Of this the miracle of healing just wrought was an
instance. So the work of the Son was the work of the Father with Him.
The obligation regarding the sabbath under the Law did not nullify the
actings of grace. Nay, the Law, by its inability to justify men and
give them true rest,

PP40

served to enhance the power of grace. The Jews' method of keeping the
sabbath must be exposed and set aside, to reveal the mercy of God in
Christ and the true nature of the mercy in the joint operation of the
Father and the Son.

The claim made in His statement is at once clear to them. It
intensifies their antagonism. They cannot deny the miracle. Ignoring
its significance, they resort to the additional charge of blasphemy
and endeavour to act accordingly. "For this cause the Jews sought the
more to kill Him, because He not only brake the sabbath, but also
called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God."

THE FIRST PUBLIC DISCOURSE

INTRODUCTION

The way is now open for the most comprehensive public witness
given by the Lord concerning the Father and Himself and Their dealings
with man, both now and hereafter.

The Lord's discourse consists of two parts: (A) verses 19 to 29,
(B) verses 30 to 47. In (A) He speaks of (1) His relation to the
Father in Their unity of counsel and action (vv. 19, 20), (2) His
resulting dealings with individuals as Life-Giver and Judge (vv. 21 to
27), (3) His position and power in the future resurrection of the dead
to life or judgment (vv. 28, 29).
(B) consists of (1) a restatement of His entire dependence on the
Father, involving, firstly, the righteousness of His judgment,
secondly, the fact that He does not bear witness from Himself (vv. 30
to 31), (2) a declaration of the witness borne to Him (vv. 32 to 39),
(3) a remonstrance against the unbelief of His hearers (vv. 40 to 47).

VERSES 19 TO 29

THE ONENESS OF THE FATHER AND THE SON

The first part, (A), is characterized by a threefold "Verily,
verily" (vv. 19, 24, 25). This is a translation of the Hebrew word
"Amen," which signifies "truth." The repeated word (used by the Lord
twenty-five times as recorded in this Gospel and not found thus
elsewhere in the New Testament) always introduces a solemn
pronouncement demanding the utmost attention.

pp41

The first of the three in this discourse is followed by
declarations which govern all that follows. They are foundation,
truths predicating (1) the impossibility of His acting independently
of the Father: "the Son can do nothing of Himself," (2) the intimacy
and unbroken continuity of their communion--"but what He seeth the
Father doing," (3) the coincidence and coextension of Their work:
"for what things soever He doeth, these the Son doeth in like manner,"
(4) the love of the Father for the Son as the causative element
characterizing this unity, communion, and co-operation: "For the
Father loveth the Son (note the connecting word, "For," gathering up
the preceding truths into the underlying cause), and sheweth Him all
things that Himself doeth:" as the Son does nothing without the
Father, so the Father keeps nothing secret from the Son; this, coupled
with the earlier statement as to the pre-existent co-operation, "My
Father worketh even until now, and I work," clearly establishes the
eternal pre-existence of the relationship; (5) the increasing nature
of the work as further revealing the intimacy now made known, and
challenging the acknowledgement of the beholders: "and greater works
than these will He show Him, that ye may marvel." These "greater
works" are mentioned in what follows.

RESURRECTION, SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL

Having made known that what He did represented the joint work of
the Father with Himself (as exemplified in the healing of the impotent
man on the sabbath), and that the great feature of this Divine
co-operation was the love of the Father for Him, a love which involved
the unbroken and most intimate communication to Him of all that the
Father did (5:19, 20), the Lord now confirms all this, for the
attention of His critics, by instancing the most transcendent
operations of God, those, namely, of resurrection, spiritual, and
physical; these He describes as "greater works" (i.e., than those of
healing the sick). This is dealt with in the first part of the
discourse (vv. 21 to 29), first as to spiritual resurrection (vv. 21
to 27), then as to the physical (vv. 28, 29).

"For as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, even so
the Son also quickeneth whom He will." This at once constitutes a
positive and explicit claim to Deity. Not only are the Father and the
Son conjointly engaged in the salvation of the

pp42

souls of men and the impartation to them of spiritual life from their
dead condition, but this impartation is the effect of the will of the
Son, not apart from the Father, but determined in equality of mind and
counsel with Him. This is the significance also in His "whom He will,"
that there is no limit to His life-bestowing power to those who accept
the condition of faith in Him, a condition which He is just about to
state.

HOW TO OBTAIN ETERNAL LITE

As the quickening involves the raising, there is a definite
connexion between His power as the Imparter of life and His capacity
as Judge, as is obvious from the "For" introducing verse 22: "For
neither doth the Father judge any man, but He hath given all judgment
unto the Son." And the connexion surely lies in this, that, as the
bestowment of spiritual life depends upon the will and act of the Son,
His knowledge as to who is to receive life from Him and who is to
remain without it, constitutes Him an infallible Judge in determining
the destiny of all. Hence He says (though not without a prior and very
important declaration, v. 23), "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that
heareth My Word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal life,
and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life"
(v. 24, R.V.). Note that it is not" believeth on Him," as in the A.V.,
but "believeth Him," that is to say, 'believeth God's Word respecting
His Son.'

Now this makes clear that the "whom He will" in verse 21 is not a
matter of arbitrary selection. Each one is responsible to decide
whether he will believe and thus receive life, or not. This is open to
all who hear. God's interposition in and through His Son has alone
made it possible. The case of the impotent man was illustrative of
this. His condition was the outcome of sin and was hopeless, but for
Christ's intervention. His "Wilt thou be made whole?" is typical of
the human responsibility to accept. Nevertheless salvation must be the
effect of His Word. The obligation rested with His hearers to see the
significance, and to place themselves among the recipients of life
from Him.

THE SON'S EQUALITY OF HONOUR

The Lord precedes this glorious truth of the Gospel by a
statement as to the great reason why the Father has committed all

pp43

judgment to Him. It is not simply that He may act as the Judge of men,
nor that He may give eternal life to all who believe, but "that all
may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father," and this He
substantiates by the declaration, "He that honoureth not the Son
honoureth not the Father which sent Him" (v. 23). This is of paramount
importance in view of the variety of tenets, arguments, and propaganda
which detract from the honour of the Son. He it is against whom the
arch-spiritual foe exerts his fiercest and unremitting antagonism.

"The obligation of honouring the Son is denned to be just as
stringent as the obligation of honouring the Father. Whatever form
that honour may take, be it thought, or language, or outward act, or
devotion of the affections or submission of the will, or that union of
thought and heart and will into one complex act of self-prostration
before Infinite Greatness, which we of the present day usually mean by
the term adoration, such honour is due to the Son no less than to the
Father. How fearful is such a claim if the Son be only human! how
natural, how moderate, how just, if He is in very deed Divine!" (Liddon).

Since the Father does nothing apart from the Son, and the Son
nothing apart from the Father (vv. 19, 20), this unity of operation
demands equality of honour. To this honour of the Son all will be
inevitably constrained, either in full and gladsome recognition by
those who have eternal life, or compulsorily in the case of all
rejectors, human and spiritual. It is the unthwartable determination
of God that every tongue shall "confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the
glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:11).

THE LIFE-GIVER AND JUDGE

The hour, of verse 25, is already 1900 years long. The authority
of "the voice of the Son of God" in the bestowment of life on dead
souls rests upon two great facts, (1) that "as the Father hath life in
Himself, even so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself,"
(2) that "He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the
Son of Man" (vv. 26, 27). The first does not imply that the Father had
imparted life to the Son, it declares that as the Father is the Source
of life, so the Son in Incarnation is the Source, by reason of the
appointment of the Father. Life stands here for the vivifying power.
The life, the Divine counsels

pp44

and operations, everything centres in Christ, and by reason of this
and of His Incarnation and what results from it, spiritual life
becomes communicable only through Him.

The second statement, that His authority to act as the Judge of
all men is based upon the fact that He is "the Son of Man" (not here
indicating His Messiahship but His humanity) receives especial stress
from the absence of the article in the original before both "Son" and
"Man." He will judge as being in full understanding experimentally of
human conditions, sin apart, and thus as sharing the nature of those
He judges. Being Son of God He knows, what only God knows, the
possibilities of man (Matt. 11:21). He who is Judge must be God and
Man.

THE TWO RESURRECTIONS

The astonishment of the Jews at such claims met with a still more
startling proclamation. "Marvel not at this," He says, "for the hour
cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and
shall come forth; they that have done (_poieo) good, unto the ('a')
resurrection of life; and they that have done (_prasso, have
practised) ill, unto ('a') resurrection of judgment." The two
resurrections, distinct in character (stressed by the absence of the
article in each case), are shown in other Scriptures to be separated
in time, e.g., Rev. 20:4 to 6. What the Lord had already taught
governs the statements as to doing good and ill. Doing good (plural)
is that which marks the lives of those who have believed and so have
passed from death unto life (v. 24); doing evil (plural) is that which
characterizes unbelievers, the unregenerate (Rom. 3:9; Gal. 3:10). The
distinction between "have done" (_poieo) and "have practised"
(_prasso) lies in this, that _poieo denotes an act complete in itself,
while _prasso denotes a habit. Cp. 3:20, 21, where the same
distinction is made.

VERSES 30 TO 38

Having declared His authority to execute judgment upon all men,
the Lord repudiates any idea that this is a matter simply of His own
will and doing, reiterating what He had said in v. 19. There, however,
He said, "What I see the Father doing I do;"

pp45

now He says, "As I hear, I judge." This is an additional attestation
of the essential unity of the Father and Himself. Nevertheless He was
here in entire and delighted subjection to the Father's will, which in
itself was the guarantee of the infallible equity of His judgment:
"and My judgment," He says, "is righteous; because I seek not Mine own
will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (v. 30). The judgment passed
by the Jews was perverted because they sought their own will. The
accuracy of our judgment in anything depends upon our entire
subservience to the will of God.

In the latter part of this discourse (vv. 31 to 47) the Lord
pointedly rebukes the unbelief of the Jews. The great force of His
rebuke lies, however, in the continuation of His claims to His oneness
with the Father, still answering the charge that He had made Himself
equal with God.

The chief point in this vindication is

THE WITNESS GIVEN HIM BY THE FATHER

"If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. It is
Another that beareth witness of Me: and I know that the witness which
He witnesseth of Me is true" (vv. 31, 32). As to the question who this
"other" is, the answer is provided in verse 37. He designedly
postpones the actual mention of the Person, so that it may come the
more forcefully by reason of the contrast to human witness,
particularly that of John the Baptist, concerning whom they had sent
making special inquiries (1:19). Moreover, the immediate necessity was
to rebut any imputation that He was the sole source of His testimony.
In that case, while the testimony would be true, it would be invalid.
So for the moment He speaks of "Another," and proceeds with "and I
know (_oida, I have perfect knowledge) that the witness which He
witnesseth of Me is true." The essence of His knowledge consisted in
His unity with Him to whose voice He listened and whose will was His
unremitting delight.

THE SOURCE OF THE BAPTIST'S LIGHT

He valued, as He alone could, and far more than they did, the
witness of the Baptist; "he hath borne witness (perfect tense,

pp46

expressing the enduring effect) unto the truth." "He was the lamp
(_luchnoa, not a torch, but a portable lamp) that burneth and shineth"
(v. 35). Christ Himself is the Light. From Him John, the human lamp,
derived his light. Their rejoicing in John's witness was ephemeral and
unproductive. If only they would realize and recognize that the Source
of his light was now testifying to them! "I say these things that ye
may be saved." How wonderfully this exhibits the tender compassion of
His heart, even towards the hard-hearted' and antagonistic! Verily
these are words of One who was "full of grace and truth."

And now the Lord leads up to the definite statement as to the
witness borne to Him by the Father, by speaking of the witness of His
works. They are not simply His own doing: "the works which the Father
hath given Me to accomplish, the very works that I do bear witness of
Me that the Father hath sent Me." This recalls verse 20, and, in the
light of that, the works clearly are comprehensive not only of those
of healing and similar signs but of the impartation of life, affecting
the character and conduct of His followers, works accomplished by His
teaching (as in the case of the conversion of the Samaritan woman, see
4:34). In His prayer in chapter 17 He sums up all, including the
sacrifice of the Cross, in the phrase "the work" ("the work which Thou
hast given Me to do," 17:4).

The comprehensive character of His reference to His works here is
intimated in His statement that they are those "which the Father hath
given Me to accomplish," lit., "in order that I may accomplish." This
being so, the way is now open for Him to make clear to whom He had
referred when He said, "It is another that beareth witness of Me" (v.
32). "And the Father which sent Me, He hath borne witness of Me."
There is the strongest emphasis both upon "the Father" and upon "He."
This is

THE KEYSTONE OF HIS DECLARATIONS

as to the various kinds of witness borne to Him. It manifests His keen
pleasure in glorifying the Father. The witness of the Father was given
not simply by the works which He wrought through Christ, it was
especially borne, for instance, on the occasion of His baptism, when
"a voice came out of heaven, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am
well pleased" (Luke 3:22).

pp47

Now, in His capacity as their Judge, He proceeds to pronounce His
judgment upon them. His remonstrances follow in solemn sequence. "Ye
have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. And ye
have not His word abiding in you: for whom He sent Him ye believe not"
(vv. 37, 38). This is all closely connected. That they had neither
heard the Father's voice nor seen His form, is reminiscent of God's
words concerning Moses in Numbers 12:8, Moses combining in himself the
promulgation of the Law and the function of the prophet. The Jews, who
had neither understood nor heeded the voice of God to their nation,
and especially that of Moses, on whom they had set their hope (v. 45),
failed now to apprehend that the Father was speaking to them in and
through the Son (cp. Heb. 1:2), and that the Son, whom they were
refusing, was Himself the manifestation of the Father (_eidos, the
visible form or representation).

The connection between the voice and the form is repeated in what
follows. As to the voice, "Ye have not His word abiding in you;" as to
the Person, "whom the Father sent ye believe not."

VERSES 39 TO 47

The Lord had spoken to His critical and unbelieving audience of
three kinds of witness which had been borne to Him, that of John the
Baptist, that of the Father, and that of His works. John's witness
they simply made the subject of an inquiry. To the witness of the
Father their unbelief blinded them. The witness of the works of Christ
met with their criticism of His Person and His claims, a criticism
fostered by the misconceptions and prejudices of human tradition.

AN ERRONEOUS USE OF SCRIPTURE

There was a further witness to Him, one with which they had been
longer and more intimately acquainted than those already mentioned. To
this He now draws attention. "Ye search the Scriptures," He says,
"because ye (emphatic) think that in them (emphatic) ye have eternal
life; and these (emphatic�the objects of your search) are they which
bear witness of Me; and ye will not (ye are not willing to) come to
Me, that ye may have life"

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(vv. 39, 40). Whether the opening verb be regarded as indicative, "Ye
search," or imperative, "Search" (and either is possible), the great
point is that, while the Scriptures were theirs for their guidance,
they were so out of touch with the mind of God therein revealed, that
they failed to grasp their purport, that, namely of witnessing to
Christ. They imagined that they had life simply by their possession of
the Word of God, by their devotion to the letter of the Law, and by a
formal perusal of the Scriptures, the real and Divine purpose of which
is to lead the reader to the Life-Giver. In this lies the connection
between His statements "these are they which bear witness of Me," and
"ye will not come to Me that ye may have life." The revelation and
ministry of Christ to the soul are ever the paramount objects and
power of the sacred page.

THE TRUE SOURCE OF GLORY

The Lord follows this with the statement, "I receive not glory
from men." As to the bearing of this upon the course of His remarks,
the preposition _para, "from," in this construction, indicates the
source or origin. This at once suggests that the source of any glory
He received was not human; it was Divine, it came from God (v. 44).
Even the Scriptures, the import of which the Jews grievously missed in
not finding them a means of coming to Him to obtain eternal life, were
not of human origin.

Now the true recognition of this and the consequent apprehension
and application of the Scriptures as pointing to Christ, would produce
the love of God in the heart, as they ever do when so applied. In all
this His hearers utterly failed. "But I know you," He says, "that ye
have not the love of God in yourselves" (v. 42). It was all very well
to boast in the Scriptures, but what did their use of them avail when
they had not the love of God and refused to receive His Son, to whom
the Scriptures bore witness? He had come in His Father's Name (as the
Personal presentation of, and with the authority of, the Father), and
they received Him not.

But there was more than this in His declaration that He received
not glory from men. That was just where the Jews erred. And their
error lay at the root of their unbelief. "How

pp49

can ye believe," He says, "which receive glory one of another, and the
glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?" It was not want of
proof that hindered faith on their part, it was pride, vanity and
earthly desires, alienating their heart from God. Their rejection of
Christ nationally would ultimately put them under the delusive power
of the Antichrist: "If another shall come in His own name, him ye will
receive." While that points on to the future national reception of the
man of sin, the evil principle was working in their own hearts, and
they were forerunners of the nation's final apostasy. To come in one's
own name is to attract honour to oneself and seek human applause, and
that is the very negation of the love of God. Christ had come to
manifest the Father and to do nothing but His will. Hence the Father's
glory ever shone transcendently in Him. With them there was neither
the love of God nor the faith which worketh by love (v. 44). There is
no neutral ground. Men must either receive Christ or suffer the
blinding delusions of the powers of darkness and stand on the side of
His foes.

THE GREAT SUBJECT OF THE PENTATEUCH

At the close of His discourse the Lord knocks away the very
foundation of their false confidence. He increases the force of His
blow by preceding it with the negative statement that He will not
Himself act as their Accuser to the Father (v. 45). Nay, His immediate
object was their salvation (v. 34). Their accuser was Moses, on whom
they had "set their hope." They imagined that in accusing Christ of
breaking the Sabbath they were defending the Law of Moses, which,
however, condemned them (cp. Deut. 31:21, 26; 32:28). Their rejection
of Christ was, in point of fact, a rejection of Moses. "For if," He
says, "ye believed Moses, ye would believe Me; for he wrote of Me."

In this He states the outstanding subject of the whole
Pentateuch, testifying at the same time to its authorship, authority
and Divine Inspiration. The emphasis may be brought out by the
rendering "It was of Me that he wrote." His statement (which recalls
His words as to all the Scriptures, v. 39) affords us the great guide
to a right understanding of the much-criticized and misunderstood
Pentateuch. Happy is he who, assured of a response, breathes the
prayer,

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Teach me to love the sacred page
And view my Saviour there.

With what solemn abruptness the Lord closes His discourse! "For
if ye believe not his writings how shall ye believe My words?" It is
virtually an exclamatory protest, and in it He puts the writings of
Moses in the same Divine category as His own words. He demands the
acceptance of each as a matter of faith. Refusal means the loss of
valid hope of salvation.

A review

Reviewing this discourse we may observe that it contains twelve
great subjects:
(1) The essential relation between the Father and the Son (vv. 19 to 21);
(2) The commission, authority and dignity of the Son (vv. 22, 23);
(3) The everlasting blessings of those who believe (v. 24);
(4] Spiritual resurrection (v. 25);
(5) Christ the Lawgiver (v. 26);
(6) Christ the Judge (v. 27);
(7) Universal physical resurrection (vv. 28, 29);
(8) The infallible judgment of Christ (v. 30);
(9) Witness to Christ, by the Father, John the Baptist, Christ's
works, the Scriptures (vv. 31, 39);
(10) Man's perverse will and consequent ruin (vv. 38, 40 to 43);
(11) The love of man's praise as the cause of unbelief (v. 44);
(12) The importance, claims and object of the writings of Moses (vv. 45, 46).

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CHAPTER VI

INTRODUCTION

In chapter 5 the Lord is seen as the Source of Life, and that in
respect of His relation to the Father. In chapter 6 He is seen as the
Supporter of Life, and that by reason of His relation to the believer.
In this chapter there is again, as in chapter 5, first a sign, or
miracle, and then a discourse arising from it, but now the results of
the discourse are narrated. In addition to the sign given in public,
that of the feeding of the five thousand, there is a sign privately to
the disciples, that of His walking on the water.

VERSES 1 TO 25

Again the Lord turns His back on Judaism and goes to Galilee. The
Lord had been doing signs continually (the verb rendered "He did," v.
2, is in the imperfect tense, "He was doing"), especially in the
healing of the sick. As a result of this "a great multitude" was
following Him. As the Passover, here called "the feast of the Jews,"
was drawing near, there would be large numbers of people going up to
Jerusalem, and it is just possible that the crowd would be augmented
thereby.

Now it seems evident from verse 1 that the Lord had gone away to
get rest and quiet, and to pray (see Matthew and Mark). When, however,
He saw the multitude toiling up the hill, whither He had gone with His
disciples, His heart, instead of being disturbed by the interruption,
was moved with compassion. He had known everything beforehand and His
many signs were wrought so as to lead up to this great act with all
its spiritual significance.

DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST

But the Lord had His eye on the disciples, and especially now
upon Philip. So He asks him, "Whence are we to buy loaves that these
may eat?" the object being to test his faith and turn his

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mind from mere material resources to Himself as the great Personal
means of meeting every need, and so lead him to be occupied more with
Himself, His power and grace, than with circumstances. That is just
what we all need. The heart must realize its dependence upon Christ
Himself and be occupied with Him more than with difficulties and
exigencies. He desired to make Philip and his fellow-disciples grasp
the fact that, though they had neither loaves nor money adequate for
the occasion, they had the Lord Himself.

Philip remarked that even about �8 would not buy enough loaves
for all that multitude. Andrew, like Philip, is occupied with material
things and their insufficiency. How meagre are such thoughts! And what
a majestic contrast is presented by the Lord as He says, "Make the
people sit down" (v. 10)! The word _anthropous is rightly rendered
"people," for it includes both sexes, whereas in the latter part of
the verse the word is _andres, men. That was His one preparation for
the manifestation of His powers of Godhood, and of His grace and
mercy.

DIVINE ECONOMY

As the people, now in orderly groups, witnessed how He gave
thanks and how their need was more than supplied, they were preparing
to make Him their Messianic King, regarding Him as the promised
Prophet, foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15. There was one thing that must
have impressed the disciples especially, if not the people themselves,
in that, while He could minister bountifully, it was not a case of
mere lavishness, this was economy: nor a case of mere wonder-work,
every detail had a Divine significance. The fragments must be gathered
up "that nothing be lost." What need was there for this, considering
that the Lord could multiply food at His will? There was the lesson to
be learnt, that there must be no waste. No idea must be entertained
that, considering what was possible as to further acts of bounty,
there must be no disregard for what might naturally be considered as
superfluous. For everything had a significance; no act was without its
meaning. The provision of such supplies of bread was introductory to
spiritual teaching of the utmost importance concerning the Bread of
Life.

In this connection John purposely omits reference to the
fragments of fish (whereas Mark mentions them, Mark 6:43), for the

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spiritual application to follow is a matter of that life of the
nourishment of which the bread was symbolical.

THE HIGH PRIEST OF HIS DISCIPLES

And now the great Provider has to withdraw from all this popular
excitement regarding Him. Instead of becoming the people's King, and
that in a way contrary to the Father's will and to Scripture
testimony, He takes a position which sets Him forth as the High Priest
of His people. He goes up into the mountain, from whence He can
consider the needs of His followers, pray for them, and come to their
assistance in a time of danger (v. 15).

Evening had come on; it had become dark; the disciples had
entered a boat and were well on their way across the sea to go to
Capernaum.

THE PURPOSE OF THE STORM

So now, having become the Object of their faith in the matter of
providing food, He makes Himself the Object of their faith amidst
peril. The Creator of bread was likewise the Creator of the waters,
and whether they were too tempestuous or calm His power was to be in
evidence in each respect. The trust of His followers must be
amplified.

He stills their fears with His "It is I; be not afraid," and
stills the storm. His will to pass them by (Mark 6:48), to deepen
their confidence in Him, issues in their will to receive Him into
their boat. "They were willing" to do so (R.V.). But there is an
additional act in the sign given to them. The boat immediately arrives
at its destination. Distance is nullified by His powers. His presence
is both protection and deliverance. So He bringeth them at once "to
their desired haven."

There follows the incident of the efforts of the multitude to
seek for Jesus. They had remained in the locality where the Lord had
provided the bread, and next day, finding that He and the disciples
had gone, the people took boats and came to Capernaum, astonished to
find that He was there already. All this, and their question as to
when He came across, is both the sequel to what had taken place on the
mountain slope, and introductory to His discourse concerning Himself
as the means of life.

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THE SECOND PUBLIC DISCOURSE

6:26 TO 59

INTRODUCTION

This discourse is divided into two parts: (1) verses 26 to 40 (2)
verses 43 to 59. The first answers the application of the multitude to
Him because of the miracle that He had wrought; the second is a reply
to the murmuring of the Jews.

Each part contains the same two leading truths, (1) that Christ
is the bread of life, (2) that as such He came from Heaven to earth to
give life to men. These subjects are conveyed in four distinct
statements in each section. They are as follows.

In the first part:

(1) "My Father giveth you the true bread out of Heaven" (v. 32);
(2) "The bread of God is that which cometh out of Heaven and
giveth life unto the world" (v. 33);
(3) "I am the bread of life" (v. 35);
(4) "I am come down from Heaven" (v. 38).

In the second part:

(1) "I am the bread of life" (v. 48);
(2) "This is the bread which cometh down out of Heaven, that a
man may eat thereof and not die" (v. 50);
(3) "I am the living bread which came down out of Heaven: if any
man eat of this bread he shall live for ever" (v. 51);
(4) "This is the bread which came down out of Heaven ... he that
eateth this bread shall live for ever" (v. 58).

Other Similar Details in each Part

In addition to these statements concerning Christ as the Bread
of Life,
(1) each division of the discourse contains "Verily, verily"
twice: those in the first part both introduce denials of the
suppositions entertained by the Lord's hearers (vv. 26, 32); those in
the second part introduce the conditions for the possession of eternal
life (vv. 47, 53).
(2) In each He speaks of the provision of life for the world
(vv. 33, 51).
(3) Each contains a twofold statement concerning coming to
Christ; they are as follows: "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise
cast out" (v. 37); in the second part: "No man can come to me, except
the Father

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which sent Me draw him" (v. 44); "everyone that hath heard from the
Father and hath learned, cometh unto Me" (v. 45).
(4) Again, in the first part there are two statements concerning
seeing the Father; the two in the first part form a contrast: "ye have
seen Me, and yet believe not" (v. 36); "everyone that beholdeth (a
different word from that in v. 36, which we notice later; the
difference is missed in the A.V.) the Son and believeth on Him ..."
(v. 40). The distinction is between unbelievers and believers. In the
second part the Lord speaks of Himself as the only One who has seen
the Father, "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is
from God, He hath seen the Father" (v. 46).
(5) Each of the divisions contains a reference to the provision
of the manna in the wilderness (vv. 32, 58).
(6) Each contains the assurance that the Lord Himself will raise
from the dead those who believe upon Him (vv. 40, 54).

Outstanding Facts and Contrasts

The whole discourse may be viewed under the following headings:

(i) The contrast between natural bread and Christ the Spiritual
Bread (vv. 26 to 35).

(ii) Christ the Spiritual Bread in relation to the Father
(vv. 32, 40).

(iii) The contrast between the manna and Christ the Spiritual
Bread, with an extended definition of the latter (vv. 43 to 51).

(iv) The flesh and blood of Christ (with reference to His Death),
the means of spiritual nourishment: a final contrast between the manna
and Christ the Spiritual Bread (vv. 53 to 58).

THE SECOND PUBLIC DISCOURSE IN DETAIL
VERSES 26, 27

Discarding the question of the multitude, the Lord replies by
exposing to themselves their actual motive for seeking Him, and
proceeds to urge upon them the deeper needs of their souls. He begins
with a "Verily, verily," lit., "Amen, Amen," a mode of arresting
attention which was frequently upon His lips. It

pp56

introduces a subject of pressing urgency by reason of its essential
importance, and usually because it runs counter to, or exceeds, the
ideas in the minds of His hearers.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek Me," He says, "not
because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were
filled. Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which
abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you:
for Him the Father, even God, hath sealed" (vv. 26, 27). His "Work
not" has a comparative force: the spiritual nourishment is a matter of
far greater concern than the material. And what toil they had given
themselves in endeavouring to find Him! With a view doubtless to
obtaining more bread! His injunction was certainly not against earning
their living; the R.V. rightly has "work" instead of "labour," as the
same word is used by His hearers in the next verse. Let their pursuits
be directed to obtaining the spiritual food. It abides. A hint perhaps
against their idea of getting continual supplies of material bread from
Him! The spiritual bread abides unto eternal life: it sustains for
ever. And there it was for the having. Let them do the real seeking
and they shall find. The Son of Man gives it. He is the Provider of
the vastly more important spiritual sustenance.

THE SEALING OF THE BREAD OF LIFE

The sealing here signifies the authentication, the commissioning
with authority, by God, of the Son of Man as the sole Giver of eternal
life. The allusion may be to the impress of a mark by bakers upon
their loaves, or, with a typical reference, to the testing and sealing
of lambs for sacrifice, foreshadowing Christ as the Passover Lamb
(other suggestions seem less satisfactory).

VERSES 28 TO 35

The Lord's admonition to the Jews to "work ... for the meat which
abideth unto eternal life," elicited from them the apparently
acquiescent inquiry (earnest enough, we may suppose), "What must we do
that we may work the works of God?" They perceived that His remarks
had a moral implication in contrast to their materialistic
conceptions. How then should they

pp57

act so as to do works pleasing to God and then obtain the imperishable
spiritual bread?

"and that not of yourselves"

His reply strikes immediately at the idea, so innate in the
hearts of men, that the favour and mercy of God are conditional upon
human merit and self-effort. Man's fallen condition should of itself
suffice to demolish such expectations. But that is just what men fail
to recognize. Man must be ruled out; God alone can meet the need. And
God has met it, and that in the Person and work of His Son, His Sent
One. But this requires a Divine revelation. God has given it. He has
"spoken unto us in His Son." But this again requires faith. And God
who bestowed upon man the faculty of faith, has given "assurance unto
all men (this word _pistis in Acts 17:31, which ordinarily denotes
faith, here signifies a ground for faith), in that He hath raised Him
from the dead."

Accordingly, the Lord states directly and specifically that "This
is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent" (v. 29).
The reply is anticipative of the great doctrine for which the Apostle
Paul contends in Romans and Galatians, justification by faith, in
contrast to the futility of works. It is not "do" but "trust."

The Jews, like many others, could not look upon things that way.
They must have tangible evidence, something for the natural vision.
Seeing is believing. Such is blind unbelief. "What then," they say,
"doest Thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe Thee? What
workest Thou?" Moreover, had not their fathers been granted through
Moses something for the natural sight, and bread for the natural man.
If then the One who addressed them was the Messiah and therein greater
than Moses, would He not demonstrate this by a confirmatory sign?

"the true bread"

Again, the Lord repudiates their ideas with a "Verily, verily, I
say unto you," and with a denial and a contrast: "It was not Moses
that gave you the bread out of Heaven: but My Father giveth you the
true bread out of Heaven." The word _alethinos

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denotes true, not in the sense of actual, or true to fact (alethes),
but of that which is ideal, as well as genuine; it is also used of
Christ in 1:9; 15:1; 1 John 2:8; 5:20 (thrice); Rev. 3:7, 14; 19:11.
Just as to the Samaritan woman He had contrasted the "living water"
with that of the well sacred to the name of Jacob, so now He contrasts
Himself, as the true Bread, with that which they attributed to the provision made by Moses.

Reserving for the moment the specific identification of Himself
as this "true Bread," He confirms its character as follows: "For the
bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life
unto the world" (v. 33). Two contrasts stand out in this:
(1) whereas the manna is spoken of as "bread from Heaven" (Psa,
78"24), and "the bread of Heaven" (Psa. 105:40), the Lord stresses His
"coming down out of Heaven," attesting the fact of His descent to
earth by His Incarnation as the Son of Man and as the One sent by the
Father (vv. 27, 29);
(2) whereas the manna could not prevent their "fathers" from dying
("their carcases fell in the wilderness"), the true Bread imparts an
imperishable life; and whereas the manna was the exclusive privilege
of Israel, the true Bread ministers life to the world, that is to all
who partake of it, racial distinctions being ruled out.

AN EARNEST REQUEST AND THE GREAT DISCLOSURE

This elicits from them the request, "Lord, (why was it not
rendered "Sir," as in the utterance of the Samaritan woman in 4:15?
They were not addressing Him as humble followers in willing submission
to His authority), evermore give us this bread." The request was
sincere enough; they believed in His power, though they disbelieved
His mission.

The Lord answers this by a climax of stupendous disclosures
concerning Himself, which constitute the remainder of the first part
of this discourse. As, again, to the Samaritan woman, He had turned
upon Himself the full light of His revelations, when He said, "I that
speak unto thee am He," so now He says to the people, "I am the bread
of life: he that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth
on Me shall never thirst." This claim, so unambiguous, so
authoritative, so imperative, could have but one of two effects upon
His hearers. Life abundant, unendingly sustained, would be theirs upon
believing on Him by

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coming to Him. Refusal, with its evidence of lack of appetite for the
bread He gives, involved the spiritual death of separation from Him.
Their choice is made clear in the rest of the chapter. The
alternatives still remain for all to whom the offer comes.

COMING AND BELIEVING

The Lord's two statements are in the couplet form of Hebrew
parallelisms. In the original each contains the same strong double
negative (ou me, "by no means"), and the combined declarations close
with the strongly stressed "never" (popote), which, standing in its
emphatic position at the end, governs both, as if to say, "He that
cometh to Me shall by no means hunger, and he that believeth on Me
shall by no means thirst, no never." As hungering and thirsting
express what can be met conjointly by natural supplies, so coming to
Christ and believing on Him are the indissociable means of the supply
of spiritual need.

The figure He uses is of paramount significance. Bread means
nourishment, sustenance, strength, the building up of the very tissues
of life. And this, spiritually, is what Christ becomes to the
believer. Communicating His life to us He becomes part of our very
selves, the strength of our soul. He is the adequate supply of every
spiritual need, the full satisfaction of every spiritual desire. We
cannot live the natural life without bread. We cannot live the
spiritual life without Christ. He who is thus sustained by Him can say
with the Apostle "Christ liveth in Me." And what possibilities this
holds for one who knows the joy and power of this holy union of life
and love! Such can truly say, "I can do all things in Him that
strengtheneth me."

VERSES 36 TO 40

The promises, conditional upon coming to Christ, of never
hungering or thirsting, were hindered of fulfilment in the case of the
Jews by their persistent unbelief. This He forcibly brought home to
them by His contrasting statement, "But I said unto you, that ye have
seen Me, and yet believe not" (6:36), the reference probably being to
their having seen Him as the miraculous Provider of bread, without
their having entered into any

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relation with Him by faith (vv. 26 to 29). Their hearts, naked and
open to Him, entirely lacked any appreciation of the real character of
His Person, His acts, and His ways. How many hear of Him and get no
farther than they did!

DIVINE ELECTION AND HUMAN FREE WILL

His next words make clear, however, that their unbelief did not
argue any frustration of His mission: "All that which the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me: and him that cometh to Me I will in no
wise cast out" (v. 37). This sublime utterance conveys _two
fundamental facts regarding God and man, (1) the eternal foreknowledge
and electing purpose of God in salvation, (2) the exercise of human
free will to accept God's conditions or to reject them. Human
experience confirms both verities. There is no inconsistency therein.
The twofold operation is expressed in the well known words, "the grace
of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and
working with us, when we have that good will."

Note the change from "all that which" to "him that." The former,
expressed in the neuter, views the whole body of believers as an
entity and unity foreseen and predetermined by the Father, stressing
this apart from the offer made to, and accepted or refused by,
individuals (see also v. 39, and cp. the same use of the neuter in
17:2, "whatsoever," and 17:24, "that which Thou hast given Me"). Then
follows the masculine, speaking of each individual who, exercising his
will to accept the offer, decides to come to Christ (cp. again the
same change to the personal in 17:2 and 24).

There is a change also in the verbs rendered "shall come" and
"cometh." The former (heko) stresses the arrival and the being
present, and here from the Father's point of view; the latter
(erchomai) presents the act of coming and marks the voluntary decision
of the comer.

The strong negative "in no wise" suggests that, so far from
casting out a believer, the Lord will embrace and protect him; it
conveys something more than the promise to receive, it carries with it
the assurance of eternal security, and intimates the delight of the
Lord in this grace towards what is given Him by the Father (for the
confirmation of the irreversible and unending security of the
believer, see also 11:25, 26).

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THE WILL OF THE FATHER

All this, with His assurances of resurrection, He now bases upon
(1) the fact of His having come from Heaven to do the Father's will,
(2) the design of His will. He says, "For I am come down from Heaven,
not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is
the will of Him that sent Me, that I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that
every one that beholdeth the Son and believeth on Him, should have
eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (vv. 38 to 40).

The significance of the connecting "For" lies in this, that His
having come from Heaven to carry out the will of the Father in the
eternal salvation of those who come to Him, rules out the possibility
of His casting out one such. Four times the Lord speaks of His coming
down from Heaven, here and verses 50, 51, 58. He thus precludes the
idea that He is expressing simply His own opinion or speaking for
Himself.

Again the neuter is used, signifying the complete company of
believers viewed as an entity. That He will not lose any implies His
guarding care. Cp. 17:12; 18:9. This negative is followed by the
positive declaration of His consummating act in their resurrection, an
act which confirms the assurance of their eternal security.

The statement as to resurrection is repeated, with the same
change as has been noted above. When He says, firstly, that it is the
Father's will that He should raise up at the last day all that which
He has given Him (the entire company), He is declaring the salvation
of believers from the Father's point of view. When He repeats His
assurance, and says "I will raise him (the individual believer) up at
the last day" He is regarding the matter from the point of view of the
believer himself, as one that "boholdeth the Son and believeth on
Him." In the first pronouncement He gives the assurance that He will
lose nothing, all is the gift of the Father; in the second each one
has eternal life, as the result of his faith.

NO OUTER DARKNESS FOR ANY BELIEVER

This pledge that everyone will be raised, as the result of having
been given Him irrevocably, utterly refutes the erroneous doctrine

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that certain believers will be cast into the outer darkness during the
Millennium on account of their state of unwatchfulness at the time of
His Second Coming.

The verb rendered "beholdeth" is _theoreo (not the simple verb
_horao, to see, as in the A.V.); it indicates a close contemplation or
careful perusal, and the meaning is, 'everyone who contemplates the
Son with the effect of believing on Him.' It was not so with the Jews.
They had seen Him (horao) and did not believe. A person cannot believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved without that measure of
consideration of His Person and work of redeeming grace which results
in faith in Him. No mere passing consideration is sufficient.

As to the phrase "at the last day," the word is used to mark the
time in which all who have part in the first resurrection will be
raised, both those at the Rapture (1 Thess. 4:16) and those who,
having suffered death during "the time of Jacob's trouble" or "the
great tribulation," will be raised subsequently (Rev. 20:4 to 6). The
Lord did not disclose such details to the Jews. Nor would they have
received it. And though He revealed the subject more fully to His
disciples later in the Upper Room, the full revelation was reserved
for Apostolic ministry after churches had been formed. This gradual
process of the unfolding of prophetic truth at different times in the
course of Divine revelation demands consideration in order for a right
perspective of the purposes of God.

VERSES 41 TO 46

The interruption in the Lord's remarks, by the murmuring of the
Jews, is suggestive of their dissatisfaction with His exposure of the
condition of their hearts. The immediate reason was His claim
involving their deprivation of eternal life through their refusal to
accept Him. They evidently felt this. As a matter of fact, His
guarantee of resurrection to life is the crowning point of the truth
that He is the Bread of Life.

UNBELIEF'S EXCUSES

Unbelief is ever ready to make excuses. Accordingly, ignoring
the implication of His assurances of life eternal and resurrection

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for those whom He contrasted with their own guilty attitude, they
support their self-complacency by the mutterings of their presumed
acquaintance With the circumstances of His birth: "Is not this Jesus,
the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How doth He now
say, I am come down out of Heaven?" Their plausible questioning,
virtually impugning His veracity, was simply an evasion of the chief
point of His testimony.

A LESSON FOR THE PREACHER

While briefly rebuking their grumbling, He does not answer their
objections, nor does He convey the facts of His Birth, or repudiate
the calumnies of the Jews concerning it. To do so would have but
plunged them deeper into their darkness. The matters of immediate and
paramount importance are their own spiritual need and danger, not the
mode of His coming into the world, but the means of their coming to
Him. What a lesson for the preacher of the gospel when confronted with
sceptical arguments on side issues of theology!

"Murmur not among yourselves," He says. "No man can come to Me,
except the Father draw him." This necessity of the drawing power of
the Father presses home again the sovereignty of God, while what
follows enforces the responsibility of man to come to, that is, to
believe on, His Son (vv. 45 to 51), just as the same two facts were
combined in verse 37. The power of the Father to draw is available for
those who are willing to come.

Then, for the third time, stressing the tremendous importance of
the fact for His hearers, He declares that He will raise up at the
last day him who comes. The Divine attracting begins the work of
salvation; resurrection will complete it.

HOW THE LORD APPEALED TO SCRIPTURE

He now directs them to the Scriptures, with a deeply significant
connection with, and continuance of, the subject of coming to Him: "It
is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God.
Everyone that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh
unto Me" (v. 45). Here the Lord uses the prophecy of Isaiah 54:13 (a
passage foretelling Millennial blessing)

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to show that God draws men by teaching, not by legal statutes, nor by
outward vision, nor by mere action on the emotions, but by gracious
instruction, and that His teaching has Christ Himself as its object.
His quotation does not imply that the Scripture provides Him with His
doctrine; nay, He confirms His doctrine by appealing to the Scripture.

THE NECESSITY OF COMING TO THE SON

Later on to the disciples He says, "No one cometh unto the
Father but by Me" (14:6). Now He says, No one cometh unto Me but by
the Father (v. 44). Yet it remains the responsibility of men to hear
and learn, and so, by the Father's instruction, to come to the Son, in
whom all the counsels of grace and glory centre.

But why does He now say, "Not that any man hath seen the Father,
save He which is from God; He hath seen the Father"? Firstly, to
prevent any idea that the Son is to be dissociated from the Father.
Their unity He stresses in a subsequent discourse (10:30). Secondly,
to show that the revelation of the Father is by the Son: "The only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him" (1:18): "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (14:9).
Thirdly, to show that any access to the Father is to be distinguished
absolutely from that open, immediate and uninterrupted vision enjoyed
alone by the Son. He thus puts Himself above Moses, whom the Lord knew
only "face to face" (Deut. 34:10). Fourthly, to enforce upon His
hearers not only the fact of His Deity as the Son, but the necessity
of coming to the Son as the One Who, in virtue of this, can alone be
the means of spiritual life and subsistence.

The preposition _para, "from," in the phrase "He which is from
God," signifies "from beside," "from (being) with;" it indicates
source of origin (cp. 15:26, of the Holy Spirit). While pondering over
such phraseology, we need to bear in mind the unity of the Three in
the One Godhead. As has been well said, They are "neither three Gods,
nor three parts of God. Rather they are God Threefoldly, God
Tri-personally. The personal distinction in the Godhead is a
distinction within, and of, unity; not a distinction which qualifies
unity, or usurps the place of it, or destroys it." All this remained
true and in continuity throughout the life of Christ on earth.

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VERSES 47 TO 51

In verse 47 we come to the Lord's third "Verily, verily," each
being, as we have noticed, designed to arrest the attention of His
hearers in a particular way. In what follows He declares still more
explicitly certain facts which He had before stated. Albeit His
teaching leads up to a point (concerning His "flesh") which, owing to
their unbelief and hardness of heart, becomes judicially more
difficult and unacceptable to their prejudiced minds. And this, as we
shall see, increases as He proceeds further towards the close of His
discourse. Persistent unbelief makes truth all the harder to grasp.

THE LIVING BREAD: THE PROVISION AND PURPOSE

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal
life. I am the bread of life." The first statement recalls more
definitely what He said in verse 40. It is now not "should have" but
"hath." His second statement reiterates what He said in verse 35. The
repetition is due to the fact that this was the special point of their
murmuring (v. 41). He then refers again to the subject of the marina.
When they had remarked that their fathers "ate the manna in the
wilderness," His reply presented the subject from the point of view of
gifts from God, both the manna and Himself, the true Bread as the gift
of the Father. Now He states the contrast in regard to the receivers.
Their fathers ate the manna and "died." Even the manna, the typical
bread, did not suffice to maintain physical life in perpetuity. He,
the Antitype, is "the bread which cometh down out of Heaven, that a
man (anyone) may eat thereof and not die (the Divine purpose, and the
unbounded provision)." "I am," He says, "the living Bread which came
down out of Heaven" (vv. 50, 51). It is important to notice the
difference between the present tense, "cometh down," and the aorist,
the past definite, "came down." The former does not signify a
continual coming down, it indicates the inherent characteristic of the
Bread, defining (as the article with the present participle does) that
which is essential to its nature and to the circumstances indicated.
The past tense denotes the historic fact of the descent, the act by
which He became incarnate (cp. v. 33). In verse 38 the perfect tense
is used, "I have come down,"

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expressing the fact with stress upon the abiding effects.

Again, in each part of this discourse the Lord couples with the
fact that the Father sent Him His own voluntary act in coming, in
delighted fulfilment of the Father's will. He "sent Me" (v. 44): "I
... came down" (v. 51). We must note, too, the change from "I am the
bread" (v. 48) to "This is the bread" (v. 50), and the change from
that again to "I am" in verse 51. The "This is" suggests a
demonstrative reference to their ignorant reasoning, "Is not this
Jesus, the son of Joseph?" (v. 42).

THE SENDING AND THE COMING

Further, He had hitherto said "I am the bread of life" (vv. 35,
48). Now He says "I am the living Bread," with special stress on
"living." There is a difference. The former statement stresses the
impartation of life by reason of the characteristic nature and
productive power of His Person: the latter stresses the essential
principle and quality of life which is inherent in Himself.

What a contrast to the lifeless manna, which, under certain
conditions, went to corruption! It sustained life just for the day.
For those who by faith receive Christ, the living Bread, He becomes in
them a veritable principle of imperishable life, causing them to live
for ever.

This confirms positively the preceding negative, "that a man may
live and not die." So that more than spiritual life is therein
assured. To live for ever involves the resurrection life hereafter,
the eternal life of the whole person, body, soul and spirit. With this
in view He had given the assurance, "I will raise him up at the last
day" (v. 40).

A CLIMAX AND A PARALLEL

His teaching now reaches a climax, in statements more difficult
of apprehension for His incredulous hearers than anything He had said
hitherto. And the difficulty increases as He proceeds after their
interruption. He says, "Yea, and the bread which I will give is My
flesh, for the life of the world." His "nosh"! In this addition lay a
staggering difficulty for them, and they are not alone in experiencing
it.

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The statement, coupled with what follows, is exhaustive and forms
the subject of the next chapter. We may now notice the parallelism
between verses 48 to 50 and 51.

(a) "I am the bread of life," v. 48:
(b) "I am the living bread," v. 51.

(a) "Your fathers did eat manna and died." v. 49:
(b) "If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever," v. 51.

(a) "which cometh down out of Heaven," v. 50:
(b) "which came down out of Heaven," v. 51.

(a) "that a man may eat thereof and not die," v. 50:
(b) "the bread which I will give is My flesh, for the life of the
world," v. 51.

FEASTING ON THE LIVING BREAD

How fully He is able to supply our spiritual needs! What an
infinite wealth of provision resides in Him for our growth and
development, our strength and refreshment, enabling us to "grow up
into Him," becoming conformed to His image (Rom. 8:29)! And all the
outcome of His going down into death that we, having been identified
with Him therein, and "becoming conformed unto His death," might here
and now, in the power of His resurrection, walk in newness of life.
May we ever feast upon the Living Bread. Only so can we in any measure
here and now "attain unto the resurrection from the dead" (Phil. 3:11).

A SUMMING UP

The Lord now sums up His discourse by reaffirming, with three
reminders, the main facts of His discourse:
(1) He is "the bread which came down from Heaven,"
(2) their fathers ate manna and yet died,
(3) "He that eateth this bread (Himself 'the true Bread,' v. 32,
'the living bread,' v. 51) shall live for ever." He thus makes a
closing appeal for faith in Him.

All this was said in the Capernaum synagogue. The congregation
included a considerable number of disciples (many more than

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the twelve), not a few of whom regarded His speech (logos would seem
to include the discourse as a whole), as "hard," i.e., difficult to
accept, an obstacle to their faith; who could listen to it? They were
talking to one another in a low tone.

"But Jesus, knowing in Himself (intuitively perceiving) that His
disciples murmured at this, said unto them, Doth this cause you to
stumble? What then if ye should behold the Son of Man ascending where
He was before?" He refers to His Ascension. He does not say that they
would see it. His rhetorical question did, however, apply to those in
the company who actually witnessed it.

His question carries with it the implication of His Resurrection
and the certainty of His Ascension. That event would be the complete
vindication and ratification of all His testimony.

Having conveyed the fact of the spiritual and vital import of
what He had stated regarding Himself as the bread of life and His
flesh and blood as the means of life, He reveals the separative effect
of His message, separative because of the faith of some and the
unbelief of others: "But there are some of you that believe not." He
"knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and," among
them, in contradistinction to the eleven of His inner circle of
disciples, "who it was that should betray Him." He knew in precise
detail the way in which His death would be accomplished. The shadow
of Calvary ever lay across His soul.

APOSTASY OR FIDELITY?

The separative power of His ministry is seen in regard not only
to believers but to professed followers. For, following upon His
repeated declaration that no one could come to Him "except it be given
of the Father (all who believe are known to God as such before and to
those it is given to come), many of His disciples went back and walked
no more with Him." Defection or devotion? The choice lies with us in
our day.

So it has ever been. The gospel is either the word of life to
those who accept it, or a ministry of death to those who refuse: it is
"the power of God" to those "who are being saved," but "foolishness"
to "them that are perishing."

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VERSES 52 TO 71

When the Lord said to His unbelieving hearers "the bread which I
will give is My flesh," He knew that this would meet with a stronger
objection on their part than anything He had said previously. Their
unbelief retributively made the unfolding of the mystery of His Person
and the purpose for which He had come into the world the more
difficult for them to understand. And the difficulty was enhanced
when, after their altercation with one another and the sceptical
nature of their question, "How can this man give His flesh to eat?" He
went further and said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have not life in
yourselves. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal
life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and My blood is drink indeed," an astonishing statement to
Jews in view of Leviticus 17:10 to 16!

What was a stumbling-block to them, and has been the subject of
much misinterpretation in Christendom, receives its true
interpretation, not from the bias of ecclesiastical tradition, but
from the Scriptures themselves, and indeed from the Lord's subsequent
remarks to His disciples. The Jews persistently took His statements to
refer to literal blood and flesh and to the physical acts of eating
and drinking. This erroneous view He repudiated in the explanation,
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the
words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. But there
are some of you that believe not."

HIS FLESH AND HIS BLOOD

His "flesh" stands here, not simply for His bodily frame, but
for the entire manhood, spirit, soul and body of the Son of Man, Who,
by giving Himself up to the death of the Cross, provided Himself
thereby as the means of eternal life and sustenance. His "blood"
represents, not simply the physical element, but the giving up of His
life by atoning sacrifice, in the shedding of His blood. The blood is
essential to life. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood ... for
it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of life" (Lev. 17:11,
R.V.). Thus the saving efficacy of the Death of Christ depends upon
the fact that by the shedding

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of His blood He gave His life (Matt. 20:28), that "He gave Himself up"
(Gal. 2:20).

NOT THE LORD'S SUPPER: A DISTINCTION

What He says in this sixth chapter has no reference to the Lord's
Supper. And for the following reasons:
(a) Had the Supper been in view, to eat of the bread of the Supper
would constitute the participant a partaker of eternal life apart from
the condition of faith in Christ;
(b) the paramount subject in this part of the discourse is eternal
life: that subject is never mentioned in connection with the Lord's
Supper;
(c) to take His teaching to refer to that, is to give a literal
application, whereas He plainly indicates that His words concerning
His flesh and blood were not so intended;
(d) He says that the giving of His flesh is "for the life of the
world;" the Lord's Supper was instituted not for the world but for His
disciples;
(e) in His instruction concerning the Supper He speaks of His body,
whereas here He speaks of His flesh.

FIVE RESULTING BENEFITS

The solemn warning in verse 53 of the consequences of not
partaking of His flesh and blood is followed by a series of gracious
assurances as to the blessedness of doing so:

(1) To eat His flesh and drink His blood, that is, to appropriate
to oneself the saving efficacy of His death, is to be in possession of
eternal life. In verse 54 the word for eating is changed from
the general term _phago, which was used previously, to _trogo, which
is used in the rest of the discourse. This verb, primarily signifying
to chew, lays stress upon the process of eating; it is thus more
intensive than _phago, and the change marks an increase in the
difficulty of His language for His sceptical audience.

(2) He will raise him up at the last day. For the third time,
and with evident joy in the repetition and in the assured prospect of
His mighty act, the Lord looks on to His final victory over death.

(3) "For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed"
-- or, closely to the original, "true food" and "true drink" (see R.V.
margin), cp. verse 32.

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(4) "He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in
Me, and I in him," a mutual indwelling of which the Lord speaks more
fully to the disciples later in the upper room, a permanent oneness of
life and the deepest intimacy of communion. The believer finds his
life in Christ, and Christ imparts His to the believer.

(5) "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the
Father; so he that eateth Me, he also shall live because of Me." The
phrase "the living Father" implies His self-existence and describes
Him as the One in whom life, unoriginated, resides essentially. He is
therefore also the Centre and Source of life. So with the Son, Who is
one with the Father (10:30). Here He testifies that, as the Son, the
sent One, who had become Man, He lives "because of (or by reason of,
not 'by,' as in the A.V.) the Father" (see 5:26). And since the Son
communicates life to the one who by faith appropriates Him to himself,
the believer lives and ever will live by reason of Him.

CHRIST AND THE TWELVE

In verses 67 to 71 there is a distinction between the twelve and
those disciples who ceased to walk with Christ. This is the first
mention of the twelve as such. Here Peter's fidelity becomes
conspicuous. When the Lord says "Would ye also go away?" (not "will
ye?" as if a future possibility), He means "Surely ye also do not
desire to go." He knew their loyalty. The whole passage marks His
omniscience.

Peter's answer has three reasons why they cannot leave Him, and
these in designed order:

(1) His uniqueness as the Master,
(2) His fulness as the Teacher,
(3) His Divine Personality:

(1) "to whom shall we go?" (no teacher remained since the Baptist
had gone);
(2) "Thou hast (the) words of eternal life;" He is sufficient to
meet all need;
(3) "And we have believed and know (have come to know, _ginosko)
that Thou art the Holy One of God;" He fulfilled His Messiahship
completely.

Christ's answer is to them all (v. 70): "Did not I choose you,
the twelve?" Both pronouns are emphatic. The question mark should come
here. He then reveals His Divine knowledge of the character and course
of Judas, by which he identified himself with the arch-spiritual foe.
The Apostle adds a striking confirmatory testimony, marking him as
"one of the twelve."

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CHAPTER VII

THE THIRD PUBLIC DISCOURSE

VERSES 1 TO 24

In chapter 7 the scene of Christ's controversy with the Jews
shifts from Galilee to Jerusalem. The crisis grows in intensity. The
circumstances are now connected with the Feast of Tabernacles, with
its immense concourse of the people, and, as we have already remarked,
the Jewish feasts in the Gospel of John in connection with the Lord's
testimony seem to occur in their chronological order. While in
Galilee, His brethren, who, in their worldly wisdom, did not believe
on Him, had bidden Him go into Judaea, that He might give an
exhibition of His works to His followers, manifest Himself to the
world, and so restore the national glory of Israel. To this He
pointedly replied that their ideas and ways were contrary to His. They
were yet on the side of the world (though that attitude was not to
continue indefinitely). He bade them go to the feast; He Himself would
be absent from its beginning. After they had gone He went up Himself,
"not publicly, but as it were in secret," fully cognizant of the trend
which the renewed controversy would take, and purposely ordering His
movements with the eventual issues in view leading to His death. He
knew that the Jews would be seeking Him at the feast, and so they did
(v. 11).

THE SOURCE OF TRUTH AND LIGHT

To the crowds, and particularly those who had come up from
Galilee, He was the subject of much discussion and of very divergent
ideas. There was "much murmuring among them." Some regarded Him as "a
good man," but they had to keep their discussions quiet through fear
of the religious leaders and their "Gestapo" agents. Others declaimed
Him as a deceiver and dangerous. The close of this part of the
controversy issues in an actual attempt, instigated by the hierarchy
through the said

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agents, to seize Him, an attempt in which some of the multitude
themselves were ready to take part (vv. 30, 32, 44, 45). At the
appointed time, the midst of the feast, the Lord goes right up into
the Temple and begins to preach. In what follows in this and the next
few chapters the Lord reveals Himself as the Source of Truth and
Light, just as in the preceding discourse He had revealed Himself as
the Source and Support of Life.

There are really four public discourses in chapter 7, the first
in reply to the Jews (vv. 14 to 24), the second in reply to some of
the people in Jerusalem (vv. 25 to 31), the third after the officials
from the Sanhedrin had come to take Him (vv. 32 to 36), the fourth, on
the last day of the feast (vv. 37 to 39).

I DELIGHT TO DO THY WILL

The teaching He gave in the Temple aroused the astonishment of
the Jews: "How knoweth this man letters," they said, "having never
learned?" "This man" was contemptuous, as in 6:42. Their astonishment
lay in the fact that He had manifested such learning without having
attended the Rabbinical schools, to receive the Usual instruction from
the recognized representatives of traditional religion. The Lord, ever
delighting to glorify the Father (see 17:4), at once replies, "My
teaching is not Mine, but His that sent Me" (cp. 5:19, as to His
deeds; 5:30, as to His judgment; 6:38, as to His will; 6:57, as to His
life; 8:26, 28, 38, as to His words).

How insignificant was the Rabbinical instruction compared with
this! Here was a source unique; for it lay in the absolute and
unbroken oneness of the Son with Him who had sent Him. Both the
evidence of His teaching and His own testimony concerning it should
have silenced all cavils.

THE WILL TO DO GOD'S WILL

He proceeds at once to bring home to them the responsibility to
receive His teaching and the condition upon which that responsibility
can be discharged: "If any man (anyone) willeth (not simply the future
"will," but the exercise of the human will, the definite intention) to
do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or
whether I speak from Myself" (v. 17).

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To know that He spoke from God was to realize that His teaching was
the voice of God to men. His teaching and our doing are to be
conjoint. And the condition for this lies in our willingness. The
doing of God's will is not merely a matter of faith, but of a heart in
harmony with Himself. It is neither mechanical nor compulsory, but
intelligent and voluntary. This was not to be obtained simply in the
Rabbinical schools; nor is it acquired merely by courses of
theological study.

The Lord now states the motival evidence of the source of His
teaching. The test of its validity lay in its motive. "He that
speaketh from (not 'of,' in the sense of 'concerning') himself seeketh
his own glory: but He that seeketh the glory of Him that sent Him, the
same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him." This was true only of
Christ. Human teachers who are possessors of the highest motives, are
not thereby free from error. Any ambassador who seeks the glory of his
master is "true," and carries out his commission righteously. But the
Lord alone perfectly fulfilled the criterion. His, and His only, was
undeviatingly Selfless obedience to the Father.

In the next verse He does not pass to a different subject, He
illustrates what He has just said by the utter contrast in their case.
They gloried in the Law as being distinctively their national
possession, and had they sought the glory of God they would have been
possessed of a will to fulfil His commandments. With them it was
otherwise. "Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you doeth
the Law? Why seek ye to kill Me?" (cp. Acts 7:53).

Once in seven years, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the whole Law
was publicly read daily (Deut. 31:10 to 13). Whether that took place
on this occasion or not (though it is quite possible), there was
doubtless a reference to it in the charge He made. The first part of
the Law as customarily read, namely, Deuteronomy 1:1 to 6:3, contained the command, "Thou shalt not kill," an
injunction they were breaking in their intention concerning Him.

"THE MEEKNESS AND GENTLENESS OF CHRIST"

At this, the multitude, whether ignorant of the fact, or under
the influence of their religious leaders, broke in with the insulting
rejoinder of His being demon-possessed. With what dignified

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meekness He meets it! Meekness under insult is the most potent weapon
to bring home the guilt of the offence. He simply recalls their
attitude on the occasion of His healing of the impotent man at the
pool of Bethesda, and their accusation against Him of
sabbath-breaking. "I did one work," He says, "and ye all marvel. For
this cause (the text is to be preferred to the R.V. margin) hath Moses
given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers;)"
perhaps a reference to the Rabbinical technicalities of
interpretation; the Rabbis had a saying that 'Circumcision gives away
the sabbath'; "and on the sabbath ye circumcise a man. If a man
receiveth circumcision on the sabbath, that the Law of Moses may not
be broken, are ye wroth with Me, because I made a man every whit whole
on the sabbath? Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous
judgment" (vv. 21 to 24).

If the sabbath yielded place to a ceremonial ordinance, how much
more a deed of mercy! (The word _cholao, here only in the New
Testament, signifies to be bitterly resentful; cp. Eng. "choler"). His
gracious act was a breach of the sabbath only in outward appearance.
Their view of the deed was the negation of righteous judgment.

VERSES 25 TO 38

The Lord's vindication of Himself and His work of healing (7:21
to 24) was again interrupted by a questioning on the part of some of
the Jerusalem residents (perhaps proud of their local connection, in
contrast to the numerous visitors) as to why the rulers (the
hierarchy) had not taken measures against Him. Surely they could not
"have come to know" (ginosko) that He was the Messiah (v. 26). "
Howbeit," they say, "we know (oida, we are perfectly aware of) this
man whence He is, but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence He
is." In their opinion that was a sufficient answer to their question.
They may have referred to His parentage. The belief had been
disseminated among the Jews that since the Messiah would appear in the
manner foretold, e.g., in Daniel 7:13 and Malachi 3:1, His origin
would be unknown.

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A SERIOUS LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

Taking up the words of their objection the Lord concedes to them
their knowledge as to the external facts concerning Himself, but they
lack the all important knowledge, the higher truths of His Being:
"Ye both know Me, and know whence I am; and (here a word of contrast,
as often in John's writings) I am not come of Myself, but He that sent
Me is true (i.e., He has fulfilled His Word in sending Me), whom ye
know not. I know Him (oida, I have absolute knowledge of Him), because
I am from Him and He sent Me" (cp. vv. 16, 17).

A CLIMAX IN HIS TESTIMONY

He declares His complete consciousness of His eternal Sonship,
His un-originated pre-existence with the Father, and His combined
Deity and humanity as the Father's sent One.

This aroused an intense enmity against Him on the part of the
fanatical Jews, who would have seized Him there and then, and were
only just not bold enough to do so, through force of circumstances.
Their action was impossible because "His hour was not yet come." The
attitude of the multitude was different. Many had been favourably
impressed and "believed on Him," admitting, that is to say, His claim
to be the Messiah (v. 31). This was too much for the hierarchy.
Christ's influence was clearly in the ascendant. Accordingly they
issued a warrant for His arrest and sent Temple officers to seize Him
(the chief priests are here mentioned for the first time by John).
This He calmly and boldly met with a declaration anticipative of His
death, at the same time continuing His testimony as to the Father and
intimating the terrible doom of His opponents: "Yet a little while am
I with you, and I go unto Him that sent Me. Ye shall seek Me, and
shall not find Me; and where I am ye cannot come." An impassable
barrier would be placed between Him and them, both as to any purpose
or desire regarding Him, whether hostile or otherwise, and as to any
possibility of their ever being in His presence in His Father's glory
(cp. 8:21; 13:33; and Luke 17:26).

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A SCOFF WITH AN UNINTENTIONAL REALITY

This met with scorn. Where would "this man" (a scoffing epithet)
go? Would He go to their Hellenistic fellow-nationals scattered among
Gentile peoples? Would He, forsooth, even teach the Gentiles? How
ignorantly their sarcasm anticipated the very thing He would do by the
mission of the Spirit through His gospel messengers after His
ascension!

The controversy died down till the last day, "the great day of
the Feast," the Hosanna Rabba. The eighth day was, like the first,
observed as a sabbath (Lev. 23:39); special sacrifices were offered
(Num. 29:36 to 38). During the seven days preceding, pilgrims, leaving
their booths, marched in procession seven times round the city,
shouting "Hosanna." Crowds followed the priests and Levites daily
bearing the golden vessels to the brook of Siloam to carry the water
thereof up to the Temple, where it would be poured into a silver
vessel on the eastern side of the altar of burnt offering, and all to
the chanting of Isaiah's words, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye
to the waters," and "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of
salvation."

This ritual was apparently not observed on the eighth day, for
whereas the preceding ritual symbolized the water from the rock in the
wilderness, the eighth day commemorated their entrance into the "land
of springs of water."

"RIVERS OF LIVING WATER"

This day therefore provided the occasion for the Giver of the
water of life to interpose His invitation to the spiritually needy.
Standing before the crowds with a solemn and authoritative dignity,
and with a kindly summons that rang out over the whole scene, He
cried, "If any man thirst, let Him come unto Me, and drink. He that
believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water" (v. 38).

The Lord thus promises a twofold source of refreshment and
satisfaction: He Himself satisfies the thirsty soul, and by the
indwelling Holy Spirit the believer is to be the means of satisfying
others. To the Samaritan woman He had spoken of the water bestowed by
Him as becoming in the recipient "a well of water springing up unto
eternal life;" now He enlarges the promise:

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the believer is to be a channel of the fulness of life-giving ministry
and enrichment to needy souls. He does not say "a river of living
water," but "rivers." What a contrast to the ewer of water poured out
each day of the Feast!

How great the possibilities of a Spirit-filled life! How
important that we should permit nothing to clog the channel! This
being "filled with the Spirit" is not an attainment securing a
condition of permanent freedom from any defect on our part, it
necessitates recourse to the efficacy of the cleansing blood of Christ
(1 John 1:7), and the renewing of our mind (Rom. 12:2). The purpose of
the Spirit is to glorify Christ (John 16:14) and this ministry He
fulfils in and through the believer who, seeking to refrain from
grieving the Spirit, presents his body to God as a living sacrifice.

So let us thirst, come, be filled, and be a channel of supply.
The "living waters" were figurative of the Holy Spirit (v. 38) and the
Lord was promising what would, and did, take place at Pentecost, and
from that time onward. The Spirit would not be given thus till the
Lord Jesus was glorified. There is no mention here of the Church; only
the individual believer is in view. Further, what is here mentioned is
not the Spirit's work of regeneration. He was to be a gift to those
who were already believers when Christ was on earth. What takes place
since Pentecost is that when we believe and are born of the Spirit, He
indwells us and becomes a river flowing through us in blessing to
others.

DIVISION OWING TO HIS TEACHING

The reasonings and discussions which follow concerning Christ on
the part of the multitude (vv. 40 to 44) are only samples of what has
occurred ever since. The world by its wisdom, religious or otherwise,
knows Him not.

The "multitude" are to be distinguished from "the Jews." The
latter desired to take His life. Some of the people would have
arrested Him. In another respect the effects of His testimony upon the
people afforded a sample of what has ever taken place since: "there
arose a division because of Him." Such divisions have been numerous.
Just as failure to understand His teaching produced such divisive
results, so failure to understand and accept the Scriptures concerning
Him have produced the numerous sects and parties of Christendom.

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The officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to arrest
Him failed in their purpose, apparently through timidity. His
testimony was such as to prevent His being taken before the Divinely
appointed time. "Never man so spake." True it was, and ever has been.
His words have ever had differing but decisive effects, either
winning the heart or hardening it.

The religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, condemned all who dared to
differ from them or who rejected their authority, a great
characteristic of the potentates of traditional ecclesiastical
systems. The multitude, regarded as ignorant of the law, were
accounted "accursed." Even Nicodemus, who could speak from a position
of equality and pointed out that while they were pleading for "the
law" they were themselves breaking it (v. 51), became the object of
their scorn. Was he, forsooth, of Galilee? No prophet, they said,
arose from Galilee. But Jonah came from Galilee, and probably Hosea
and Nahum, to say nothing of others.

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CHAPTER VIII

VERSES 1 TO 11

THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY

As to the narrative concerning the woman brought by the scribes
and Pharisees to the Lord because of adultery, whatever may be said
about the MSS. and Versions, the narrative bears its own witness to
the likelihood of the facts. The criticisms against its validity are
plainly futile. The enemies of the Lord were not bringing her before
Him as a judge to try a case involving the presence of witnesses;
their appeal was to one regarded as a prophet, who should know the
mind of God and speak accordingly. They were filled with madness
against Him. They had just failed to have Him seized openly (7:32 to
40). They therefore contrived an ingenious plan by which He either
would, by condemning the woman, give evidence of lack of grace and
failure to act as a Saviour the "Friend of publicans and sinners," and
thus bring condemnation upon Himself in this respect, or, by letting
her go, fail to uphold the Law. The people must choose Moses or Him,
and they would cling to Moses. If His foes entangled Him they could
have a pretext for bringing Him before the Sanhedrin.

They little knew that they were dealing with One who Himself
searches the heart, and who knew the secret history of their own
lives. The Lord makes no oral answer at first, thereby the more
forcibly to bring them to commit themselves. They could not have
considered Him embarrassed; at first they gave the appearance of
misunderstanding Him, and kept plying their question. Can they have
discerned what He wrote on the ground? If so they must have hardened
their hearts against His testimony.

A TEACHER, NOT A JUDGE

He lifts Himself up (not standing erect) therefore and addresses
them. He does not nullify the edict of the Law of Moses; let it

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be obeyed, but those who execute it must have unstained hands and pure
hearts. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone
at her." This is the voice of a Teacher, not a judge. Moreover a judge
has to deal with the accused, not with the executioner. This Teacher
deals with the accusers. He finds them out, and uses the Law to do it.
And as for the manifestation of grace, about which they sought to
expose Him, they were the very ones who needed it.

Again He stoops down and writes on the dust of the floor, the
very dust being a veritable suggestion of their physical doom.
Conviction is designed to lead to repentance. But their hearts know
nothing of this. They flee from the light; it is too much for them.
"The wicked shall be silenced in darkness." The elder ones go out
first, they would be the older in sin; the younger follow. The Lord is
left alone and the woman by Him where they had brought her. He says to
her, "Woman where are they? did no man condemn thee? And she said, No
man, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way;
from henceforth sin no more."

Here then was a notable example of His fulness of "grace and
truth;" truth in that instead of counteracting the Law He maintained
it: grace in that in the rights of His own prerogative He did not
condemn the woman but bade her sin no more.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Clearly, then, this passage is seen to be an integral part of
this Gospel. It is essentially connected both with what precedes and
with what follows. As to the former, it was the Pharisees who had
failed in their open attack upon Him (7:44 to 49), and it was the
Pharisees who, changing their tactics, adopted the subtle method of
attack. They failed again, and that because His holy light had shone
into their seared consciences, and into the woman's soul. In contrast
therefore to the darkness of His foes, who were under the Law, and
breakers of it, He immediately says to the people, "I am the light of
the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness, but
shall have the light of life" (8:12). This constituted a direct claim
to be the Messiah.

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THE FOURTH PUBLIC DISCOURSE

VERSES 12 TO 18

Not improbably this statement in verse 12 had reference to
another ceremony of the Feast of Tabernacles, just as His proclamation
concerning the "living water" had reference to the carrying of water
from the pool of Siloam. On the evenings of the Feast, except the
last, the Court of the Women was brilliantly illuminated, in
commemoration of the Pillar of Fire which guided Israel in the
trackless desert, and the night was given up to dancing and festivity.
Christ had appropriated to Himself the type of the Rock; now He does
the same with the Pillar of Fire. The city shone in the glow of the
ceremonial light; He declares Himself to be "the Light of the world."
The Fiery Pillar was Israel's guide for night journeying; to be a
follower of Jesus is to have "the Light of life."

LIGHT AND LIFE

Day by day, step by step, he who "follows His steps" (1 Pet.
2:21) will "see light in His light." Yea more, since Christ is Himself
the light of life, the light that dispenses life, he who lives in Him
and partakes of His life, himself becomes light, 'light in the Lord,'
walking as a 'child of light' (Eph. 5:8). And this is to love even as
He loves. "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there
is none occasion of stumbling in him." Christ taught, then, that He
was the Bread of life, for nourishment; the Water of life, for the
thirsty; the Light of life, for His followers.

"THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS"

And now there follows a whole series of interruptions in His
discourse. The controversy becomes keener. The claim to be the Light
of the world, and to minister the light of life, aroused a fierce
objection on the part of the Pharisees: "Thou bearest witness of
Thyself; Thy witness is not true." They were doubtless recalling His
words, "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness

PP83

is not true" (5:31). With that His present reply, "Even if I (the
pronoun is emphatic) bear witness of Myself, My witness is true," is
perfectly consistent. In 5:31 He had referred to their law of
evidence, and had declared His fulfilment of its requirements.

The evidence of one may be perfectly true, but is not valid
without corroboration which is afforded in the fuller way. The Lord's
testimony was never single: "I am One that beareth witness of Myself,"
He says, "and the Father that sent Me beareth witness." He shows that
His evidence is true, because of the unique character of His Being and
destiny. In 5:31 He appealed to the dual witness of His Father and His
own. Now, when He precedes the reaffirmation of this by saying that
even if he does bear witness of Himself His witness is true, He shows
that in the very essentials of His Being the knowledge of His critics
is deficient. For His own testimony is the outcome of His Divine
pre-existence, His Divine consciousness and futurity. Of all this they
were entirely ignorant. About it only He Himself could bear witness.
"My witness is true," He says, "for I know whence I came, and whither
I go; but ye know not whence I come, or whither I go." The change of
tense from "I came" to "I come" is to be noted. As to His own
knowledge He refers to His pre-existence and His Incarnation. In
regard to their ignorance He speaks of His coming as in the present.
Accordingly, though they could not know the former, they could
recognize the present evidences and acknowledge the authority of the
One who had sent Him.

They judged "after the flesh," treating Him as a mere man and so
rejecting His witness as invalid. "I judge no man," He says. He had
come not to judge but to save. "Yea, and if I judge, My judgment is
true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me." The
requirement as to the twofold witness was therefore fulfilled. But why
does He say "your law," and not "the Law," in the matter of the
validity of the witness of "two men"? (Deut. 19:15.) He was in no way
repudiating the Law; the point of the "your" lay in this, that they
were professed expounders of it and charged Him with failure to fulfil
it.

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VERSES 19 TO 25

EQUAL HONOUR TO THE FATHER AND THE SON

Christ's constant testimony to the fact that the Father had sent
Him elicits, in 8:19, the scornful question, "Where is Thy Father?" as
if to suggest 'Granted, then, that you are one witness; let us see the
other, Him of whom you speak as your Father. Thus you will
evidentially fulfil the requirements of the Law!' This is an instance
of the use of the Word of God to support erroneous ideas and
prejudices! How very differently, on a later occasion, one of His
disciples made the request, "Show us the Father" (14:8)!

The Lord replies, "Ye know neither Me, nor My Father; if ye knew
Me, ye would know My Father also." Their ideas of the dual witness to
which He had referred were utterly awry. His statement conveys a vital
truth. To ignore Him in the reality of His Person and work is to be
ignorant of God the Father. It is through the Son that the Father
reveals Himself. The Son is the one and only means of knowing the
Father. To claim God as Father while neglecting the Son is fatal
blindness. Men are largely ready to talk about God, and to appeal to
God, while failing to recognize and acknowledge His Son, Jesus Christ,
and His demand that all men should "honour the Son, even as they
honour the Father" (5:23).

DYING IN SIN

The dialogue was in public. The crowd could hear it. Christ was
speaking "in the Treasury," called so because of the bronze chests
placed for the reception of gifts in the Court of the Women, one of
the most frequented parts of the Temple. Close by, the Sanhedrin was
in session planning His arrest. Their object failed "because His hour
was not yet come" (v. 20).

Accordingly He continues His teaching, and now with solemn
denunciation of His detractors. "I go away," He says, "and ye shall
seek Me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come."
"Away" is the right rendering; there is no pronoun representing "My"
in the original. There is special stress on the

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"I," however. The feast was drawing to its close. Considerable numbers
of the people would be leaving for various destinations. So, in the
hearing of the crowd, He says to His critics, "I (I too) am going
away," not that He was leaving there and then. His words had another
significance, as is clear from His solemn declaration that whither He
was going they could not come.

They would die in their sin: the singular, the right rendering of
the original, points to the state of sin, not here to the acts, as in
verse 24. The singular is used again in verse 34 and presents sin as a
unity in essence though the effects are manifold.

They ignore His warning as to their sin, and ask, with malicious
scorn, indicative of increasing hardness of heart, "Will He kill
Himself, that He saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come?" The implication
in this was that by suicide He would utterly perish, and therefore of
course they, as Abraham's descendants bound for Paradise, could
certainly not go where He was going.

THE "I AM"

The Lord showed at once that He knew their hearts, and says "Ye
are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of
this world." These statements are not parallel, as if "from beneath"
is the same as "of this world." The first contrast presents extreme
opposites, and is to be understood in the light of His words, "Ye are
of your father the devil" (v. 44). Here in verse 23 the Lord passes,
for the moment, from the more solemn declaration of their evil
spiritual connection, to their identification with the world as
alienated from God. And having thus patiently met their scornful
remark, He impugns their refusal to believe, as the reason why they
would suffer eternal doom: "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall
die in your sins (plural now, expressing, not a condition, as in verse
21, but details of the life which mark conduct); for except ye believe
that I am He, ye shall die in your sins."

There is no word in the Greek representing "He." We must
therefore take the "I am" as it stands; and while there is perhaps a
connection with His word "I am from above," there is more in it than
this. He is disclosing the essential nature of His Being, as in the
Name Jehovah, the "I am" of Exodus 3:14. It conveys the thought, "I am
what I am," and carries with it the truth of

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His unoriginated pre-existence and immutability. See verse 58 and the
sequel. This acceptance of the fact of His Deity is essential to
salvation.

THE EMBODIMENT OF HIS TEACHING

The declaration is so stupendous that they ask, with malicious
violence, and with great emphasis on the "Thou," "Who art Thou?" or,
more expressively, "Thou, who art Thou?" Their ignorance was their
death. To know Him is "life eternal" (17:3).

His reply is rendered in the A.V., "Even the same that I said
unto you from the beginning," and in the R.V., "Even that which I have
spoken unto you from the beginning?" Certainly He did not mean that He
was what He had told them at first. In the clause "Even that which I
have spoken unto you," the tense is not the perfect but the present,
and the meaning, thus far, is that He is the embodiment, the Personal
expression, of what He speaks. His doctrine is Himself, it is
inseparable from His Being, His attributes and character. He says "I
am that which I speak." Now as to the phrase rendered "from the
beginning," in the clause in the original there is nothing
representing "from." The Lord is not referring to what He had said
from a special beginning, but to the essential character of what He
speaks to them. The phrase has the meaning "absolutely" or
"altogether."

Accordingly the meaning is "I am essentially and undeviatingly
what I speak to you." It stood in direct contrast to the character of
their religious leaders, and to all with whom principles are one thing
and practice another, to anyone who has the effrontery to intimate to
his hearers that they must do as he says but not as he does. But of
Christ alone could it be true that altogether what He spoke was the
expression of what He was. This is in keeping with the main trend of
all His testimony in these discourses (see especially the immediately
following verses, 26, 28, 29), and with His later declaration, "I am
the truth."

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VERSES 26 TO 35

THE COMING JUDGE

Had it not been for their hardness of heart, Christ might have
enlarged upon the matter of discipleship and explained more fully the
nature of His Being. Instead of this He has matters about which to
speak concerning themselves. Hence the apparent break in the
connection. They wanted to find out something by which they could
judge Him. He shows that there are things in their own life which He
has to reveal, and upon which He has to pronounce judgment: "I have
many things to speak and to judge concerning you" (v. 26). Let the
critic of Christ and the denier of His Deity beware. Such will yet
find Him to be their Judge.

The time for His judicial dealings with the Pharisees had not
come. His immediate object was to continue bearing witness concerning
the Father and His unity with Him. Accordingly He proceeds with
declarations to this end: "howbeit He that sent Me is true: and the
things which I heard from Him, these speak I unto the world." What
they needed was a right understanding of His ministry and of its
source. Had they apprehended this it would have adjusted their views
in conformity with the teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures. But
just here they failed, as many have done since: "They perceived not
that He spake to them of the Father" (v. 27). Their hearts were so
hardened that His words produced no awakening of their conscience.

Accordingly He at once points to the consummating act of their
iniquity, and its effects, declaring at the same time His power to
reveal the future: "Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the
Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am, and that I do nothing of
Myself, but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things." His
crucifixion (cp. 3:14; 12:32, 34) would issue in the manifest
vindication of the truth relating to His Person ("I am") and therefore
to His Messiahship as the One sent of the Father. It would issue, too,
in their recognition of what He had taught concerning His relationship
with the Father in regard both to His works ("I do") and His words ("I
speak"). All this was fulfilled at Pentecost and subsequently, and
will have its final accomplishment hereafter in the restored nation.

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A FURTHER CLAIM

To confirm it all He declares that He who had sent Him was with
Him, a fact utterly incomprehensible to minds occupied with merely
mundane expectations. Yet it expressed His own consolation and His joy
in the love of the Father amidst the sorrow of His pathway to Calvary:
"The Father hath not left Me alone (the aorist is perfective in
meaning, and should not be rendered 'did not leave'); for I do always
the things that are pleasing to Him." Here are two co-extensive and
simultaneous conditions, undeviating fulfilment of the Father's will,
and consequently uninterrupted enjoyment of His Presence. And the
principle holds good for those who are Christ's followers, though we
come far short of His perfect standard. Our realization and enjoyment
of the presence of the Lord is conditioned by our devoted obedience to
Him. Let us then make it our aim ever "to be wellpleasing unto Him"
(2 Cor. 5:9).

THE EFFECTS

The ministry of Christ had widely different effects, as has ever
since been the case with testimony concerning Him. A difference is
noted by the Apostle as he makes a break in the record of the
discourse in chapter 8. This is brought out in the R.V. of verses 30,
31. What Christ had said caused many to believe "on Him." It is
otherwise with those Jews mentioned in verse 31; they had merely
"believed Him." The former had full faith in Him; the latter were
simply disposed to believe what He said.

To these the Lord applies a test designed to raise their credence
to a higher level. One crucial point, one essential condition, and
their credence collapsed: "If ye abide in My word," He says, "then are
ye truly My disciples." Faith that saves produces discipleship.
Discipleship depends upon the permanent application of His teaching to
oneself. Passing impulses do not make disciples. The first "ye" and
the first "My" have special emphasis: "If you on your part abide in
the word that is Mine. ..."

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THE LIBEETY OF SUBJECT WILL

Now comes that part of the test that disclosed the actual state
of their hearts: "and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free." How true it is! Acceptance of, and adherence to, the
Word of God shake off the shackles not only of sin, but of human
tradition, ecclesiastical bondage, and mere religion. Every truth
received prepares for the unfolding of more truth, and each brings its
own liberating power. Behind the acceptance is the will to accept. Let
the will be unfettered, and we shall enjoy the liberty of devoted
subjection to His will.

The idea of being made free was too much for their pride. They
answered Him, "We be Abraham's seed, and have never yet been in
bondage to any man: how sayest Thou (emphatic), Ye shall be made
free?" Pride blinds the mind to facts. What about their times of
oppression, their captivity, and their then present subjugation to the
Roman yoke? The Lord, however, goes deeper than all this. The needs of
the soul outweigh material considerations: "Jesus answered them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Everyone that committeth sin is the
bondservant of sin. And the bondservant abideth not in the house for
ever: the Son abideth for ever" (vv. 34, 35).

The tense of the verb rendered "committeth" signifies not the
committal of an act, but a course of sin; the better rendering would
be, "Everyone who continueth to do sin." That is what constitutes
slavery to sin (so in 1 John 3:4, 6, 7, 9, which should be read in the
R.V.). True it is that the wilful committal of a sinful act indicates
a condition of heart which involves slavery to sin, but that differs
from being overtaken by temptation and the committal of an
unpremeditated act. Such bondage was the condition of His hearers,
despite their high national ancestry.

VERSES 36 TO 44

Just as a slave is not a member of a family and has no claim to
be in the house, so they, Jews though they were, were outside God's
spiritual family. To be sons of God we must be spiritually related
and united to the Son of God by faith. Thus it is that the Son makes
us free from bondage to sin. Whosoever is

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begotten of God does not continue the practice of sin (1 John 3:9). If
a person practises sin, whatever his profession may be, he has not
been born again.

Identification with the ever-abiding Son gives us ever-abiding
freedom. Hence He says, "If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye
shall be free indeed," in reality (v. 36). It is "the law (or
invigorating principle) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" that
makes us "free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).

Accordingly, the Lord exposes to them the entire inconsistency of
their illusory appeal to Abraham with their determination to kill Him.
And the secret of it all was that His word had "no free coarse" in
them (v. 37, R.V.).

A TREMENDOUS CONTRAST

He then applies a further test to them: "I speak the things which
I (emphatic: I on My part) have seen with My Father," and reveals
their actual and appalling spiritual parentage: "and ye (emphatic: you
on your part) also do the things which ye heard from your father."
Though the definite article is used for the possessive pronoun in each
part in the original, the English Versions are right in supplying the
possessive pronouns, as they are really involved in the emphatic words
"I" and "ye." The "also" is likewise to be noted. It stresses the
parallel in the principle involved in the relationships. Yet how great
are the contrasts! He, in the infinitely blessed, ineffable, and
eternal union as Son with the Father, representing Him here and
delighting in fulfilling with unclouded vision His will: they, in a
relationship consequent upon their sinful state and their wilful
persistence in evil, characterizing themselves, in their murderous
intent, with the characteristics of the evil one!

The change of the tense is to be noted: "I have seen" (perfect
tense), indicating Divine counsels in the timeless past, carried into
permanent effect in His teachings: "ye heard" (aorist or point tense),
a communication proceeding from the Devil, made when they became the
bondslaves of sin, and issuing in the foul act they were ready to
carry out and eventually accomplished!

They repeat their claim in respect of Abraham (v. 39), and
then make the higher claim of having "one Father, even God" (v. 41).
This indicates that their statement "We were not born

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of fornication" had a spiritual reference to idolatry, with perhaps a
hint as to the Samaritans (cp. v. 48). He repudiates both claims. They
did not the works of Abraham. The principle of like father like son had no
application in that respect. And as to the greater claim, He says: "If
God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I came forth and am come
from God; for neither have I come of Myself, but He sent Me" (v. 42).

OF WHOM IS GOD THE FATHER?

What a proof this gives of the falsity of the doctrine of the
universal Fatherhood of God! What a rebuke to the rationalist who
professes belief in the Fatherhood of God and yet sets Christ aside!
Such belief is pure assumption, void of any foundation of fact. The
relationship is dependent upon faith in Christ (Gal. 3:26), and is
evidentially established by devotion to Him, not in mere sentiment but
in true discipleship. To miss the object for which the Father sent
Him, and to fail in the response of love to Him, is to be void of any
claim to have God as one's Father. True children of God necessarily
love Him who is the Son of God.

The Lord's statement, "I came forth and am come from God," is
anticipative of His similar and still more comprehensive words later
to His disciples, "I came forth from the Father. I came out from the
Father, and am come into the world" (16:27, 28). The two passages show
that He was in eternally pre-existent relationship as the Son with
the Father, and that this relationship did not take inception at His
Birth.

His necessarily stern denunciation of these opposing Jews reveals
more even than previously their terrible spiritual condition. They
could not hear His word (logos, the matter or substance of His
speech), and hence could not understand His speech (lalia, the manner
of language of His speech), verse 43. Refusal to listen to the voice
of the Lord dulls the intelligence. 'They were of their father the
Devil, and the lusts of their father it was their will to do' (R.V.).
Compare 1 John 3:8, 10, which perhaps recalls Christ's words. Their
resemblance to the evil one as his spiritual offspring was twofold:
"He was a murderer from the beginning (i.e., from the time of his
jealous attack upon the human soul at the Fall, and permanently
since), and stood not in the truth;" the true reading is probably
"standeth not," as in the R.V.

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margin, which is confirmed by the next statement, "because there is no
truth in him." That is to say, he continues to be what he was at the
beginning referred to. "When he speaketh a lie (not that he ever
speaks the truth, for, as the Lord has just stated, it is not in him),
he speaketh of his own (the fallen nature and qualities which are
characteristically his); for he is a liar {e.g., Gen. 3:4) and the
father thereof" (or, rather, as it may be rendered, "of him," i.e.,
of the liar--that with which the Lord was charging them).

A DOUBLE GUILT EXPOSED

Of these two sins, then, they were guilty: they were murderers
because of their determination to do away with Him; they were liars
because they said God was their Father (see vv. 54, 55, where He marks
this as their lie). "But," He says, "because I say (lego, referring to
all His teaching) the truth, ye believe Me not" (v. 45). The "I" is
very strongly emphatic, as the order in the original brings out--"But
I (or, as for Me), because I say the truth." Just as the Devil does
not stand in the truth through his natural dissociation from it, so
they, by reason of their relationship to him, refused to accept the
truth from Christ's lips.

The absolute truth of His teaching was the effect of His
sinlessness. His sinless life gave proof of the truth of His doctrine.
Accordingly, untruthfulness being sin, He issues the challenge, "Which
of you convicteth Me of sin?" (not simply the sin of falsehood) and
waits (so we may gather) for an answer. Only Christ, the sinless One,
could utter such a challenge. And with what sublime majesty and
dignified patience He does so! What grace and humility to submit such
a question to such men!

No answer on their part is recorded. Accordingly He proceeds with
the cogent question, "If I say truth, why do ye (emphatic) not believe
Me." Since He was free from sin, He was free from falsehood. What then
was the reason for their unbelief? His question was not so much an
appeal for their faith as a preparation for the consummating proof
that they were not God's children: "He that is of God heareth the
words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of
God" (v. 47).

Instead of yielding to the gracious, though firm, humility by
which the Lord resisted their pride, they proceed further in evil

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and vilify and blaspheme, charging Him with being "a Samaritan"
(ignorant, that is to say, of the God of Israel and apostate from the
faith), and with being demon possessed.

THE MEEKNESS OF CHRIST

His reply was the essence of meekness and forbearance. He first
simply denies their foul second vilification and then passes to the
vindication of the Father's honour, and to words of warning and
virtual appeal. He does not reply to the accusation of being a
Samaritan; He refrains from any denial which would endorse their
contempt of the Samaritans. Had He not Himself carried on a
life-giving ministry among them (ch. 4)? We will quote His words, and
then Peter's comment upon His meekness. And let us seek to carry home
to our hearts the lesson of His example. He says "I have not a demon;
but I honour My Father, and ye dishonour Me (i.e., 'you dishonour My
Father in dishonouring Me'). But I seek not Mine own glory (i.e., 'My
saying that you dishonour Me does not imply that I am seeking My own
glory'): there is One that seeketh and judgeth (that is to say, 'He it
is who seeks glory for Me and pronounces judgment on you'). Verily,
verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My word, he shall never see
death." This last, which was still addressed to them, graciously held
out an offer of mercy.

Such a reply is one outstanding illustration of the testimony
afterwards borne by Peter to Him, in that "when He was reviled,
reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not" (1 Pet. 2:23).
In this the Apostle exhorts us to "follow His steps," that the example
He left us may have its character-shaping effects upon us.

THE DEATHLESSNESS OF THE BELIEVER

To keep His word is not merely to bear it in mind, but to pay
such regard to it as diligently to obey and fulfil it. The combined
phrases in the original, rendered "never," are very strong and the
statement more fully rendered would be "shall certainly not see death
for ever," i.e., shall not know the experience of death. The negation
is a way of expressing the positive assurance of eternal life. For in
11:26 the Lord makes clear that it is solely conditional upon
believing upon Him (cp. 5:24 and 6:40).

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He who thus receives Christ enters upon a life which is essentially
characterized by keeping His word. This was what He now held out to
His hearers. He referred, not to physical death, but to a life in
which physical death, so far from causing a cessation, "issues
immediately in a fuller realization of life.

The Jews construed His words as if they signified physical death,
and exaggerated His language accordingly, changing His "see" into
"taste of." Then, repeating their blasphemous calumny, they charged
Him with vainglory. This He repudiates, declaring its worthlessness,
and the fact that it is the Father who glorifies Him, whom they
claimed as their God (v. 54). The Father glorified His Son by His
double testimony, at His Baptism and His Transfiguration, "This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17 and 17:5), and by
the signs and wonders which He wrought (Acts 2:22), and by His
resurrection and exaltation (1 Pet. 1:21).

A DIFFERENCE IN KNOWLEDGE

In His next statement there is a noticeable difference in the
verbs rendered to know, a difference which makes an immeasurable
distance between Him and them. He says "and ye have not known Him
(ginosko, to get to know: they had not even begun to know Him): but I
know Him (oida, here, of Christ, to have full knowledge; (cp. 6:6,
64), i.e., 'I know Him absolutely;' a knowledge not progressive but
essential)." To deny this (and it made Him greater than Abraham and
the prophets) would, He says, have made Him, like them, a liar. So He
says again "but I know Him," and adds "and keep His word," the very
condition (perfectly fulfilled in Him) which He had laid down as
essential for the relation of His followers to Himself.

And as to Abraham, he exulted (that is the force of the word
rendered "rejoiced") in the anticipation of the Coming of the Christ
("My Day," the day when Christ in Person would fulfil in both His
Advents the promises made by God). That was the goal towards which
Abraham's life was set (cp. Heb. 11:10).

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CHAPTER IX

INTRODUCTION

The opening words of chapter 9 shows that the healing of the man
who had been blind from his birth took place immediately after the
Lord's controversy with the Jews in the Temple, as recorded in the
preceding chapter, and therefore at the close of the Feast of the
Tabernacles. His opponents had been just about to stone Him. But He
"hid Himself, and went out of the Temple." This was a judicial
blindness inflicted upon them, and indicative of their spiritual
blindness, which refused to recognize His claims and the evidences He
gave of their validity.

VERSES 1 TO 41

He had claimed to be the Light of the world (8:12). They had
refused this testimony, and accordingly the Lord, seeing a blind man
as He passed by, decided to use his case both as illustrative of the
condition of the Jews and as a means of vindicating His claim. This
would confirm the faith of the many who had believed and might be the
means of carrying home the truth to the heart of sceptics.

A CURIOUS QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER

Previous to the act of healing, the disciples asked Him who had
sinned, as the cause of his blindness. Repudiating the thought that
the man's condition was the outcome of some special sin, the Lord
reveals the Divine purpose of it all, namely, "that the works of God
should be made manifest in him."

There is a lesson for us in this. There may be a lurking tendency
to seek to find some reprehensible cause for another person's
suffering, to say nothing of the possibility of a natural feeling of
self-satisfaction with the case. The Lord's reply is a rebuke to all
that kind of thing, and points the way to finding a means of dealing
effectually with sorrow and misery.

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THE TIME APPOINTED FOR SERVICE

There is something suggestive in this connection in the Lord's
remark, as rendered in the R.V., "We must work the works of Him that
sent Me." The most authentic texts have the plural of the pronoun (not
infrequently the more difficult reading has the better MS. evidence).
While He here refrains from identifying His disciples with His mission
from the Father, He does associate them (and ourselves too) with
Himself in fulfilling the works of God. He was sent by the Father, but
He Himself sent His disciples (20:21). There lay the distinction.

The work must be done "while it is day," not merely the natural
period as distinct from the night, but the period of opportunity
afforded during the lifetime. The Lord applies this to Himself in
regard to His life here in the days of His flesh, and connects it with
the immediate act He was about to perform, in relation to the great
subject of His testimony to Himself as the Light: "When (different
from 'while' or 'so long as,' as in verse 4) I am in the world, I am
the light of the world." The absence of the emphatic personal pronoun
in the original stresses the fact and effects of His presence in the
world rather than His Person.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LORD'S ACTS

The facts that the Lord, instead of restoring the man's sight by
a word, spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed
the man's eyes with the clay, telling him to go and wash in the Pool
of Siloam, have a special significance. Doubtless all would help the
man's faith. At the same time the process adopted by the Lord suggests
the character of the spiritual condition of the Jews, to whom light
must come by a process, granted that they were willing even yet to
receive His testimony. The man must needs grope his way to get to the
pool, a circumstance illustrative of the darkness that blinded the
eyes of the Jews. Moreover, that the meaning of the name Siloam (sent)
is given in the Gospel narrative, is undoubtedly purposive. The
meaning is evidently to be connected with Christ's valid claim to be
the Sent One.

Again, as to the man himself, the method the Lord chose to use
must have brought home to his heart his need of cleansing,

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as he went on his way to the water. Here then were the great
requisites for salvation, a Saviour to save, the realization of need,
and the obedience of faith. The sequel introduces us to the next great
controversy between Christ and the Pharisees. The Lord had given a
practical demonstration of His power to heal, and with it a vivid
parable of His power to give the light of life to men, as well as a
testimony to His authority as Lord of the sabbath.

THE CONTROVERSY

The curiosity, not to say perplexity, of the neighbours is
aroused. Their question is twofold. How was the healing done? and
where was the Healer? The man can answer the first but not the second.
So now he is brought to the Pharisees. The consequent discussion is
full of interest. They first affirm that a sabbath-breaker cannot be
from God. Some of them argue, however, that the accomplishment of such
signs was impossible on the part of a sinner. Hence a division among
them. And this is by no means unique. The Person and work of Christ
have constantly been matters of controversy and of divided opinions.
Happy are those who have the confidence of faith and the experience of
Christ's power to deliver, and are able to bear such a courageous
testimony as was given by this subject of the Lord's healing mercy.

The man's parents did not share that courage, fearing
excommunication by their religious leaders. Their son shall answer for
himself. So the man is called again, and receives a command and a
confident statement about his Healer: "Give glory to God. We know that
this man is a sinner." The man knew better than to give glory to God
by agreeing to this. Regardless of scorn, and altogether independent
of the opinions of his examiners, he meets their bullyings with
trenchant argument and even sarcasm. The facts of his healing were
incontrovertible. How futile and foolish to deny them! Yet the only
answer of these "blind leaders of the blind" was to denounce him as
"altogether born in sins" (as if forsooth their own state was quite
otherwise), and scornfully to repudiate the very idea of his teaching
them. Accordingly they excommunicate him from all attendance in the
Temple and synagogues, and from participation in all religious
privileges.

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THE SPIRITUAL HEALING AND ITS LESSONS

The Lord makes a special point of finding him after this, so as
to reveal to him more fully who He Himself was. He would more than
make up to him for what he had lost. To know Him is life eternal, and
to enjoy the secret of His friendship outweighs everything else that
the natural mind deems valuable.

This spiritual opening of his eyes made him at once a worshipper,
and upon this the Lord issues a declaration in the very hearing of the
Pharisees who were present, which introduces the discourse recorded in
chapter 10. "For judgment," He says, "came I into this world, that
they which see not may see; and that they which see may become blind"
(v. 39). These are the two companies formed by contact with Christ,
the seeing and the blind. Christ is the great Divider as well as the
great Uniter. This is the twofold effect of testimony concerning Him.
The self-satisfied, whether religious or otherwise, confident in their
complacent imaginings that they have true sight, remain in their
blindness; the humble souls who realize their actual spiritual
condition and, exercising their simple faith, become His followers,
have their eyes opened.

FOUR LESSONS

Obedience to Christ's call to come for cleansing, life and light,
leads to personal acquaintance and relationship with Him. Refusal to
accept the call means death and darkness. That is the first great
lesson of the miracle.

Mere religion and the traditions of men blind their adherents
to true spiritual conception. Mere ritualistic ordinances are as
futile as the clay on the blind man's eyes would have been if he had
never washed. That is the next [or second] great lesson.

Thirdly, we cannot but marvel at the gracious desire and loving
care shown by the Lord to beget faith in the heart. His patience,
forbearance and long-suffering render the state of the impenitent all
the more terrible.

Fourthly, the design of the grace that enlightens the soul is to
make the recipient a simple but effective witness to Christ. Such a
one finds no place or time for discussions with rationalistic
quibblers. He has no place for the wisdom of words as a means of
dealing with sceptics. Christ is made to him "wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption."

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CHAPTER X

VERSES 1 TO 10

The tenth chapter is a direct continuation of the Lord's
controversy with the Jews arising from His healing of the man born
blind, but in this chapter the Lord goes more deeply than before into
the joy of the relationship between Himself and those who have been
brought from nature's darkness to become His followers. He expresses
His delight in having them as His own and in what He becomes to them,
and what will issue similarly in the case of others as the result of
the laying down of His life for them. All this He sets forth in what
is really an allegory (or an enlarged metaphor, called in our Versions
a "parable," margin "proverb"), under the figure of the shepherd and
the sheep. *1

(*1 A parable literally denotes "a placing alongside," and
consists of putting one thing beside another by way of comparison. It
is generally, as in the present instance, a narrative drawn from
nature or human circumstances, in order to convey a spiritual lesson.
We must carefully enter into the analogy if we are to gather the
instruction. Two dangers are to be avoided in regard to the
interpretation, firstly, that of ignoring the important features, and
secondly, that of seeking to make every detail mean something.)

THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND THE BAD SHEPHERDS

In His collision with His critics, whom He has just charged with
abiding in a state of sin (the very thing that they had imputed to the
man to whom the Lord had given sight, 9:34), the Lord introduces His
allegory by a clear intimation that spiritually they belong to the
class of the thief and the robber. He begins with His characteristic
"Verily, verily, I say unto you." The Pharisees were bad shepherds;
the blind man had found the good Shepherd. They had not entered by the
door into the fold of the sheep, but, like the thief and the robber,
had climbed up some other way.

The Lord applies two details in the allegory to Himself, in
unfolding its meaning. He first says "I am the door" (vv. 7, 9), and
then "I am the good Shepherd" (vv. 11, 14). If it is necessary to
obtain an interpretation as to the porter (v. 3), it seems best

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to regard the figure as signifying the Holy Spirit, for it is His work
to introduce sheep into the fold. In the East the intimacy between a
shepherd and his sheep is very close, and the practice of the naming
of the sheep is quite ancient. With the Lord's word, "He calleth His
own sheep by name," we may compare Isaiah 43:1; 45:3; 49:1; and
Revelation 3:5.

Two words are used to express the act of the Shepherd in regard
to the going forth of the sheep. "He leadeth them out" (v. 3) by going
before them, but he first "putteth them forth" (v. 4). There is a
striking significance in the latter expression. The verb in the
original is the same as that rendered "they cast him out" (9:34, 35).
False shepherds put them out to lighten the burden of caring for them;
true shepherds put them forth to see that they are well fed. The
intimacy just referred to is beautifully set forth further, first, by
the fact that the shepherd goes before the sheep and they follow him
(just as Paul, the faithful under-shepherd, could say "Be ye imitators
of me even as I am of Christ," 1 Cor. 11:1; cp. Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess.
1:6; 2 Thess. 3:7, 9); secondly, in that they know the voice of their
shepherd in contrast to that of strangers, from whom they flee. A
Scottish traveller once changed clothes with a Jerusalem shepherd and
endeavoured to lead the sheep; they refused however to follow the
shepherd's clothes on the stranger, in spite of all that he did to
draw them, but they readily followed the voice of their own shepherd,
in spite of the change of his garment.

THIEVES AND ROBBERS

The Pharisees failed to understand what the Lord had been talking
about (v. 6). Their treatment of the man whose sight was restored made
clear that their characteristics were entirely foreign to those of
true shepherds. Accordingly the Lord now repeats the allegory,
unfolding the special details and applying them to Himself. "Jesus
therefore said unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am
the door of the sheep." The "I" bears special emphasis, just as in
4:26; 6:35, 41, 48, 51, etc. In each case what the Lord implies is, "I
and no other." Here He declares that He is the one and only Door
through which both sheep and shepherds enter. His next statement, "All
that came before Me are thieves and robbers," refers not, of course,
to those who had

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previously been sent of God, but to those who had misled the people, serving their own ends instead of God and
His truth, false prophets who had come in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly were ravening wolves (Matt. 7:15), men who had shut the
Kingdom of Heaven, neither entering themselves, nor suffering others
to enter (23:13), who took away the key of knowledge and hindered
people from possessing it (Luke 11:52). The present tense, "are,"
indicates that they were the men of the time when He was upon earth;
compare however Ezekiel 34. "But the sheep did not hear them." There
were many who listened to them, but His own followers, the remnant in
Israel, found nothing to benefit in what these ecclesiastical
authorities taught.

THE HAPPINESS OF ENTERING

Now He states the blessedness of those who do enter in, and
precedes it with an emphatic repetition of the fact that He is the one
and only Door. "By Me," He says, "if any man enter in, he shall be
saved, and shall go in and go out, and find pasture." He does not say
"If any man enter in by Me," but puts the "by Me" first, placing the
greatest stress upon the uniqueness and absoluteness of His own
Person. How comprehensive is His word, "If any man (or, rather,
anyone)!" His mind goes beyond Jews to Gentiles. There are not
limitations either of sex or nationality.

He who enters in "shall be saved." This is more than being
delivered from perdition; it points to the state of salvation
consequent upon the step of entering. To go in and to go out is
suggestive both of security and liberty. The double expression is used
frequently in the Old Testament for describing the free activity of
daily life. See, e.g., Deuteronomy 28:6, 19; 31:2; 1 Samuel 18:16;
Psalm 121:8; Jeremiah 37:4. The same Hebraistic phrase is used in Acts
1:21; 9:28. The finding of pasture is descriptive of the feeding upon
Christ, both by means of the Scriptures and in the daily appropriation
of Christ in the life of communion with Him. The benefits are
threefold: deliverance, freedom, and nourishment.

RADICAL DIFFERENCES

All this is followed by one of the most striking contrasts in
Scripture. It lies between the motives and acts of the thief and

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those of the good Shepherd. The former are described by way of a
climax of selfish cruelty--stealing, killing, destroying--selfishness,
bloodlust, brutality. The killing is not for sacrificial purposes, as
some suggest, but for murderous intent. The destroying is more than
the killing, it means the utter ruin of the flock.

The twofold motive of the good Shepherd is in inverse antithesis
to all that. He came (1) that they might have life; that stands in
contrast to the killing and destroying; He does not take life, He
gives it; (2) that they might have it "abundantly" (not "more
abundantly," as in the A.V.: the word "more" has no MS. authority: it
is not a matter of greater instead of less, but of a full supply of
all that sustains life); instead of stealing He imparts abundance.

But there are two more contrasts. There is that of the emphatic
"I," purposely set in contrast to "the thief." Then there are the
different tenses. The thief "cometh;" he pays his visits, whensoever
he finds possibility of attempting his fell design; "I came," says the
good Shepherd; He had come by one great voluntary act of grace and
compassionate love.

VERSES 11 TO 21

"I am the good Shepherd." The word _kalos, "good," conveys all
the attributes and characteristics of what is ideal, or of what is
well adapted to its purposes because it is intrinsically good. Christ
is the "good" Shepherd in each respect. His character is manifested,
and His purpose fulfilled, in laying down His life for the sheep. His
description of Himself, as more fully rendered, is strikingly
expressive: "I am the Shepherd, the good one;" this stands out in
contrast to the hireling.

At the same time it breathes His delight in, and tender thought
and care for, His flock. They are "His own," as intimated in His
negative descriptions of the hireling who is "not a shepherd" and
"whose own the sheep are not."

THE HIRELING

The hireling acts simply in his own interests. He saves his life
by leaving the sheep to their destroyer. The good Shepherd lays

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down His life that His sheep may not perish. The one saves himself by
sacrificing his charge; the Other sacrifices Himself to save His
charge. Just there lay the difference between the religious
authorities and Christ, in their respective treatment of the blind
man.

A TWOFOLD MUTUAL INTIMACY

In verse 14 He repeats His statement, "I am the good Shepherd,"
but now to introduce the subject of the intimacy between Himself and
His sheep. There should be no break between verses 14 and 15, the one
runs on into the other: "I know Mine own, and Mine own know Me, even
as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father." The mutual "knowing"
is thus twofold, and the former has its source in the latter. The
mutual intimacy between Christ and His followers is but the overflow
and extension of the unoriginated and infinite mutual intimacy between
the Father and the Son.

The verb in each of the four statements is _ginosko, expressing
knowledge existent through constant experience (and here involving
mutual appreciation), as distinct from _oida, which conveys the idea
of complete or absolute knowledge. As the Father delights in the full
recognition and appreciation of all that the Son is to Him, and the
Son in all that the Father is to Him, so the Son, as the good
Shepherd, delights in the full recognition and appreciation of all
that His sheep are to Him, and the sheep in their recognition and
appreciation of what He is to them. This latter mutuality finds its
basis in the great sacrificial act of the Shepherd, and for this
reason He says again, "I lay down My life for the sheep."

THE "OTHER SHEEP" AND THE "ONE FLOCK"

In view of His death His thoughts and tender affections go out to
those "other sheep," other than Jewish believers. They were already
His own though they had not come into being. They had been given to
Him by the Father (17:7). Hence He says "Other sheep I have" (cp. Acts
18:10; 28:28). The Jews had derisively asked, "Will He go ... and
teach the Greeks?" (7:35). He affirms that there are His own among the
despised Gentiles. As Bengel remarks, "He does not say, who are out of
or in another fold." And in His statement "which are not of this
fold," the

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emphasis is upon "fold," not upon "this" (which readers frequently
stress). There is not a Gentile fold.

"Them also," He says, "I must bring (or rather, 'lead'), and they
shall hear My voice (see v. 3), and they shall become one flock, one
Shepherd." Not "one fold," but "one flock." The oneness is not to be
brought about by an external union of the sects and systems of
Christendom (described in mistaken religious parlance as The Church).
Scripture never speaks of "the Church on earth," consisting of all the
believers in the world. The phrase "the Church on earth" is utterly
unscriptural, and is responsible for many a mistaken idea. The Church
has never been on earth; Heaven is its destiny and dwelling-place. For
its true unity and destination, see 17:22 to 24. This is the will of
the "One Shepherd," that "where I am, they also may be with Me; that
they may behold My glory." That is the destiny.

HIS RAISING OF THE TEMPLE OF HIS BODY

Therefore, in repeating the fact of the laying down of His life,
He adds that of His resurrection, and that by His own power: "That I
may take it again," assigning this as a special reason for the
Father's love: "Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down
My life, that I may take it again." Speaking of the temple of His body
He had said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up" (2:19, 21). This power in His resurrection He shares with the
Father: "No one taketh it away from Me, but I (with special emphasis)
lay it down of Myself. I have power (or authority) to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from My
Father." His resurrection was therefore an essential act in fulfilment
of the Father's will, which He had come to accomplish (6:38).

For this reason He is "the Good Shepherd," "the Great Shepherd,"
"the Chief Shepherd," and will be the "One Shepherd," with His one
complete "flock."

NEVER PERISH

So in the next statement, "My sheep ('the sheep which are Mine')
hear My voice (cp. 10:4) and I know them, and they follow Me: and I
give unto them eternal life." Not "I will give,"

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as if the bestowment of life was a promise conditional upon following
Him. That interpretation has been put forward by some, but it is
contradictory to 5:24, where the Lord declared that eternal life was
imparted upon hearing His word and believing. The present tense
indicates the possession of life already enjoyed. The enjoyment of
life hereafter is a continuation of present spiritual life: "And they
shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand." The
negative is very emphatic: "they shall never by any means perish" (so
in 8:51 and 11:26). There are, in two respects,

THREE SUCCESSIVE FACTS

As to the sheep:
(a) they hear His voice,
(b) they follow Him,
(c) they shall never perish;

and as to the Shepherd:
(a) He knows them,
(b) He gives them eternal life,
(c) He holds them securely in His hand.

Then, as usual, the Lord leads up to teaching concerning the
Father, whom He ever glorified: "My Father, which hath given them unto
Me, is greater than all;" not here with reference to the Son (as in
14:28), for see the next verse, but as having complete control over
all adverse powers. That His sheep are the gift of the Father ensures
their eternal safety. Note the perfect tense, "hath given," denoting
an accomplished act with permanent results.

"And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I
and the Father are one" (vv. 29, 30). Those who are in the hands of
the Son, having been given to Him by the Father, remain likewise in
the hands of the Father, and this is a potent demonstration of the
unity of the Two. The Father and the Son, being one in Godhood, are
therein one in the infinitude of power, a power exerted against all
adversaries. As Liddon says, "a unity like this must be a dynamic
unity, as distinct from any mere moral and intellectual union, such as
might exist in a real sense between a creature and its God. Deny this
dynamic unity, and you destroy the internal connection of the passage.
Admit this dynamic unity, and you admit, by necessary implication, a
unity of essence. The power of the Son, which shields the redeemed
from the foes of their salvation is the very power of the Father: and
this identity of power is itself the outflow and the manifestation of
a oneness of nature."

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THE FIFTH PUBLIC DISCOURSE

CHAPTER X (Continued)

VERSES 22 TO 39

The preceding discourse produced a division among the Jews. Some
blasphemously accused the Lord of being demon-possessed and mad;
others repudiated the idea, on two grounds, His teaching, and His cure
of the blind man. This was the third division resulting from His
testimony. The first was among the multitude at the Feast of
Tabernacles (7:43); the second was among the Pharisees, consequent
upon His act of imparting sight on the sabbath day (9:16); the third
was among the Jews, for the reasons just mentioned (10:19 to 21).

It was now "the feast of the dedication," a feast observed to
commemorate the purification and restoration of the Temple after its
defilement by Antiochus Epiphanes. It lasted eight days, from December
20th. The mention of its being winter (v. 22) seems to be connected
with the fact that "Jesus was walking in Solomon's porch," a cloister
on the east side of the Temple.

THE INCREASE OF ANTAGONISM TO CHRIST

The occasions of the Feasts mark a progress of hostility to Hfm
till the climax is reached. At the first Feast they prosecuted Him and
sought to kill Him (5:1, 16, 18). At the next the chief priests and
Pharisees took the step of sending officers to take Him (7:2, 14, 32).
On the present occasion the Jews prepared to stone Him, and attempted
to lay hands on Him (10:31, 39). At the last they accomplished His
death. The occasions, therefore, which had been designed for the glory
of God and the blessing of His people, were turned by their hardness
of heart into occasions for the utter rejection of His Son.

So now they come round about Him and say, "How long dost Thou
hold us in suspense? If Thou (with special stress on the

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word) art the Christ, tell us plainly." To this He replies, "I told
you, and ye believe not"--a completed testimony, a continued
unbelief--"the works that I (with stress on the pronoun) do in My
Father's Name, these bear witness of Me" (v. 25). Cp. 5:36. The clause
"in My Father's Name" has this significance, that, contrary to their
ideas and expectations concerning the Christ, He had come as His
Father's Representative, and His works, wrought in this capacity,
revealed His true character as the Christ, that is to say, what kind
of a Christ the Father had actually sent.

WHAT CHARACTERISES THE TRUE SHEEP

He now resumes the subject about which He had spoken to them
before concerning His sheep. This and the preceding discourse are
therefore closely connected. "But ye (with stress on the word) believe
not, because ye are not of My sheep," an emphatic phrase, more
literally, "the sheep which are Mine."

There are no persons so obdurate as religious fanatics. The Jews
prepare to stone Him. To this He replies, with calm dignity: "Many
good works have I showed you from the Father: for which of these works
do ye stone Me?" They base their act on what they regard as His one
claim to Deity. The Lord knew all their arguments. They failed to
discern that His works were part and parcel of His Divine Nature
itself, and were not the acts of a kindly man. They were essentially
a witness to His Deity. To prove the validity of their charge they
ought to have prepared to stone Him on the ground of His works as much
as on the ground of His statement.

A FINAL WORD

He has one word more for them before leaving them. The manner in
which He absolutely rebuts the charge of blasphemy evinces His Divine
wisdom. He refers them to Psalm 82:6, speaking of the quotation as
part of "your law." They prided themselves in their knowledge of
Scripture. How little they really apprehended its truth! From their
own principles and from the Scriptures they were wrong: "If He (God)
called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came (and the Scripture
cannot be broken),

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say ye of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou
blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?" It is abundantly
clear that the Jews did not expect the Messiah to be possessed of
Deity. The whole controversy between Christ and them shows that.

Accordingly, the Lord, in closing, makes His claim as clear as it
could be made: "If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not.
But if I do them, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye
may know and understand, that the Father is in Me, and I in the
Father." That statement brought the matter to a climax. It was both
retrospective and anticipative: retrospective regarding all His
"signs," and especially that of giving the blind man sight:
anticipative regarding the next and last sign, the raising of a man
from the tomb. See 11:42.

They made one more effort to take Him, but it was true for some
days that His "time had not yet come." Escaping therefore from their
grasp, He went beyond Jordan, where John had baptized, and abode
there. Many came to Him and believed on Him.

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CHAPTER XI

THE RAISING OF LAZARUS

This was the consummating act of the Lord's signs recorded in
this Gospel, as a testimony to His Deity as the Son of God (v. 4). The
narrative exhibits both His tender compassion and His almighty power,
evidences at once of His veritable Godhood and His true Manhood.

faith's testing

This crown of His miracles was both a witness to His critics and
a means of establishing the faith of His followers. True faith is
tested faith. Hearing that Lazarus was sick, Jesus "abode at that time
two days in the place where he was" (R.V.). The Lord's testings are
always proofs of His love. "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and
Lazarus ... Therefore He abode ... where He was." But beyond His love
for them He honoured them by putting them in the furnace of affliction
for the completion of His final witness to the people.

The case with His disciples was different. Upon His decision to
go, they would have stayed Him so as to deliver Him from danger. The
Lord uses their devoted representations to give them a lesson
concerning the highest motive of service. To be faithful to God is to
walk in the light. To be governed by mere expediency is to walk in the
darkness and to stumble.

THE HIGHEST MOTIVE

But everything must be the outcome of faith and, as with the
sisters, that was the immediate need of the disciples. So, after an
explanation of the actual meaning of His statement "Our friend Lazarus
is fallen asleep," He says, "I am glad for your sakes that I was not
there, to the intent ye may believe." Thomas was anxious to believe.
His "Let us also go, that we may die with Him," evoked by Christ's
decision to go, was not a case of melancholy foreboding, but of
downright and cheerful loyalty.

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Jesus was more to Him than life itself. What a lesson for us! Activity
in His cause is valueless if it is not subordinated to love for Christ
Himself. Let the preciousness of His person ever be the dominating
motive of our service for Him.

JESUS WEPT

This intense attachment to Him is touchingly evinced in both
Martha and Mary. The one goes to meet Him, the other stays to receive
Him. Martha's attitude is that of reverent confidence and entire
submission. She combines the recognition of His power with that of His
love: "And even now I know that whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God
will give it Thee." His question, "Where have ye laid him?" betokened,
not a lack of knowledge, but a kindly design to kindle their
expectations. "They say unto Him, Lord, come and see,"--a combination
of expectancy and earnest desire, but withal a natural ignorance of
the actual power possessed by Him. "Jesus wept." There was more than
the sight of human sorrow in this, more even than sympathy with the
sorrowing. Sympathy there was indeed. He knew the feelings and
emotions of every heart in the company, but He knew more than this. He
knew all the circumstances of fallen humanity that brought about death
and all its woe. The sin and ignorance of all were laid open to His
infinite mind. The touching detail, so briefly told, discloses His
combined Deity and humanity.

The Jews regarded His tears merely as the evidence of His love
for Lazarus. Others were sceptical. One who had given sight to a man
born blind could surely have prevented Lazarus from death. Since He
let him die, how could He really love him so much? "Jesus therefore
again groaning in Himself (a preferable rendering to the R.V. margin)
cometh to the tomb."

THE GLORY OF GOD

His command to take away the stone would have two different
effects. It would encourage faith, for it was clear that something was
about to be done. At the same time, to touch a grave would be running
the risk of defilement, so faith might be tested. Yet the act of
obedience indicated that He had drawn them into harmony with His will.

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Martha's shrinking from the effects draws forth His gentle rebuke
to her unbelief: "Said I not unto thee that, if thou believedst, thou
shouldst see the glory of God?" This gathers up what He had said in
the course of His conversation, concerning the glory of God (v. 4) and
of the assurance of resurrection (vv. 25, 26). To know that they were
going to see the act which would exhibit the glory of God, must have
banished all misgivings.

The stone having been removed, the Lord lifts up His eyes and
says, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me, and I (with
special stress on the pronoun) knew that Thou hearest Me always; but
because of the multitude which standeth around I said it, that they
may believe that Thou (with stress also) didst send Me." By this the
Lord intended that all around should know that what He was about to do
was combined work of the Father and Himself, and that the impending
event was of such importance, that it would finally substantiate His
claims for the acceptance of faith. He had never preceded a miracle by
any such utterance.

THE GREATEST Or HIS SIGNS

And now the mighty deed is done. He cries with a loud voice,
"Lazarus, come forth." The spirit returns to the body. The resurrected
brother comes forth, the grave cloths still around him. This and the
command to loose him were designed to give directions and force to the
testimony. That he was still bound with the cloths was convincing
proof to any sceptical and hostile Jews that he had actually been
dead. He is to be "let go," suggesting his retirement from immediate
and idle curiosity.

The miracle foreshadowed the Death and Resurrection of Christ,
which would effect both the present spiritual resurrection of
believers with their loosening from the binding power of sin, and
their coming physical resurrection, when with His mighty shout He
brings all together to meet Him in the air.

But the immediate effect was decisive. It was the crisis which
finally gave rise to the greatest crime in the nation's history. Many
of the Jews believed on Him. But some went their way to report it all
to the Pharisees. Thus did Christ become, as He has ever been, the
dividing line among men.

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CHAPTER XII

VERSES 1 TO 25

The 12th chapter forms an interlude between the last great sign
accomplished by the Lord in the resurrection of Lazarus and His
private discourses to His disciples in the upper room.

All the details in this chapter have a bearing in one way or
another upon the subject of His Death. These details with their
accompanying circumstances we will now consider.

SERVICE, REST, AFFECTION

The first is the scene in the house in Bethany six days before
the Passover, the last of these great feasts before Christ Himself
became our Passover. At the supper which was made for Him, Martha
served, Lazarus sat (i.e., reclined) at the table (R.V., "at meat").
Mary took the opportunity of using her pound of ointment of very
precious spikenard to anoint the feet of Jesus and wipe them with her
hair--three positions, serving, reclining and affectionate devotion,
the last of the three being the greatest.

They all have lessons for us. Each has its place in our Christian
life, whether of service or of rest or of intimate devotion to His
Person. It was this last by which "the house was filled with the odour
of the ointment." So in the spiritual house, an assembly of God's
people, occupation with Christ Himself in heart devotion is that which
lends its fragrance to the whole gathering. Where each believer is in
the enjoyment of being occupied with Christ in loving devotion during
the week the effect cannot but be felt when we gather together to meet
Him and worship in spirit and truth, while "at His table sits the
Lord."

THE GRUMBLING TRAITOR

Now comes the Lord's own reference to His Death, and this is the
outcome of the murmuring of covetous, treacherous Judas.

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Of the four Gospel writers John alone points out Judas as the
grumbler. His complaint that the ointment had not been sold for three
hundred pence (about �10 12s. 6d.) and given to the poor, was sheer
hypocrisy; he had no care for the poor, but was a thief and robbed the
common purse of Christ and His disciples of some of the contents from
time to time. The Lord did not expose Him but simply remonstrated
saying "suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying" (R.V.,
margin, "let her alone: it was that she might keep it against the
day"). "For the poor ye have always with you; but Me ye have not
always."

This does not imply, of course, that Mary did not use the whole
of the ointment at that time. She poured it all out upon Him. Her
spending was keeping. Her devotion was deeper than to hold the
ointment for His embalming. Her discerning mind knew what the issue of
the hatred of the Jews would be. She would manifest her affection
while her Lord was living and able to appreciate it. He was everything
to her. Should He not be so to us?

DIFFERENT PUBLIC ATTITUDES

The rest of the narrative reveals a variety of attitudes towards
Him. There was the curiosity of "the common people;" there was the
murderous envy of the chief priests; and now the excited enthusiasm of
the multitude. There were often, it is said, some three million
persons at Jerusalem at Passover time. His great miracle of the
raising of Lazarus must be celebrated by a procession into the city.
That would be quite to their liking. Moreover, who could this great
Person be but the King of Israel?

The Lord, fully knowing the issue, was willing to offer Himself
as their King-Messiah, and thus fulfil the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9.
The people would have the opportunity of receiving Him, though His
thoughts were not their thoughts. His arrangements were not made by
the suggestion of the disciples. They, for the time being, did not
understand why He chose this manner of declaring His Messiahship.

GREEK ASPIRATIONS

The issues would involve the bringing in of Gentiles. There were
certain Greeks who had come to worship in Jerusalem. They

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were proselytes, Gentiles by birth, and had adopted the Jewish
religion. They wanted to see Jesus, not simply to get a view of Him,
that was easy enough, but to have an interview with Him, probably as
to whether He could satisfy their aspirations. Now Philip had a Greek
name, and being "of Bethsaida, of Galilee" ("Galilee of the nations"),
he knew their language well, so they approached him; he saw the
meaning of their request sufficiently to associate Andrew with himself
in applying to Christ. Moreover, would the Lord be willing,
considering that on a recent occasion He had bidden His disciples not
to go among Gentiles?

Gentile wise men from the east came to Christ's cradle; Gentile
men from the west came to His Cross. His reply to Philip and Andrew
was not a refusal. The Cross was occupying His heart. It was the only
means of securing for Gentiles far greater benefits than these Greeks
were seeking, the blessings of their salvation; and to secure this
would be His very glory. Accordingly He immediately says, "The hour is
come, that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it
abideth alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit." The enquiring
Greeks would get to know Him, and to realise His power, and thus would
have the fulfilment of more than their aspirations, and that not by
His miracles but by His death.

The Lord gives two lessons in His reply. His death provides the
productive power of the life that is in Him, risen and exalted. That
is His first lesson. But while His falling into the ground, with the
consequent fruitfulness of His act, was unique and absolute, it
provided an illustrative principle, to be realised in the lives of His
faithful followers. That is His second lesson. In this respect He says
"He that loveth his life, loseth it; and he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eternal." If the "seed grain is
eaten instead of being sown, it produces no' fruit. If we consume our
lives for our self-gratification, neither are we fruitful here, nor
shall we reap the reward in the life beyond. He who sows his life for
Christ on behalf of others loses much worldly advantage but keeps it
in the fruit it produces unto eternal life, the effect and power of
which he himself will enjoy for ever.

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VERSES 26 TO 36

The occasion of the desire of some Greeks to make Christ's
acquaintance leads to His last two testimonies in public. This, the
last but one (vv. 26 to 36), contains constant references to His
impending death.

A HIGH CALLING

Following His promise that he who hates his life shall keep it
unto life eternal, a promise which He had illustrated by fruitfulness,
He shows, firstly, what this means in practical experience, what kind
of life we are called upon to live, and, secondly, what is the special
feature of the life beyond. "If any man serve Me, let Him follow Me."
There is emphasis on the "Me" in both clauses. It is He who is the
object of the heart's true devotion and it is He Who has trod the path
before. His example has been set. True service means hating one's life
instead of loving it. Self-love is self-destruction. He has given up
His life for us; let us give up our lives to Him, cost what it may.
This estimate of our life does not mean carelessness in the matter of
our body and health, but it does mean absolute self-denial. It means
taking up our cross and following Him, and that daily. See Luke 9:23
and 14:27. If we follow not the path He has trod we walk in darkness.

As to the future, He says, "where I am, there shall also My
servant be." That is not merely future. It is the height of present
privilege, honour and bliss. "'Tis heaven where Jesus is." That is so
now. It will be so in eternity. It is Christ Himself Who will make
Heaven our delightful Paradise.

He then says, "If any man serve Me, Him will the Father honour."
Here the emphasis is on the verbs "serve" and "honour." It is the
Father's will ever to glorify His Son; therefore service for the Son
will receive honour from the Father. We should ever seek to realise
what the apostle Paul calls "the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus."

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THE PRELUDE TO THE SACRIFICE

The Lord's mention of His approaching death leads to an utterance
which has been described as the prelude of the conflict in Gethsemane.
It marvellously combines the deepest trouble with the highest desire.
He says "Now is My soul troubled (lit., has been and is troubled); and
what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour. But for this cause
came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy Name" (vv. 27, 28).

Some would put a question mark after "hour," as if the Lord meant
'Shall I say, Father save Me from this hour?' While this is possible,
the rendering as it stands in our Versions seems right. The hour was
the time of the impending sufferings of His atoning sacrifice, and of
the Divine judgment for sin upon His sinless soul. He knew all that
was coming upon Him. That was sufficient to elicit the prayer "Father,
save Me from this hour." It was an expression of the utmost stirring
of His soul. It seems inappropriate to regard it as a question, as if
the Lord was deliberating as to what He should say. He similarly
prayed in Gethsemane, "If it be possible, let this cup pass away from
Me" (Matt. 26:39). There too He said immediately "Nevertheless, not as
I will, but as Thou wilt." That prayer conveyed no deviation from
submission to the Fathers will. So in the present instance He at once
asserts the reason for His coming to that hour: "But for this cause
came I unto this hour." Is not the cause the laying down of His life
that the Father's Name might be glorified (combining what He had
taught in verse 25 with what immediately now follows in verse 28)? Not
simply in submission to the will of the Father, but in His heart's
perfect devotion to Him He says, "Father, glorify Thy name."

HIS GREATEST DESIRE

That was ever His undeviating motive, and His prayer meets with
an immediate double response: "I have both glorified it, and will
glorify it again." The Father had glorified it in the past life of the
obedience of His Son, reaching its climax in His death, which seems to
be included in that statement as an accomplished fact. It covers both
His life and His death. He would also glorify it in raising Him from
the dead and seating Him at His right hand.

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The crowd around imagined there had been a clap of thunder. Some
thought an angel had spoken to Him. He declared that the Voice had
come especially for their sakes, with the object that they might
believe (see v. 36). His thoughts centre again in His death. "Now is
the judgment of this world." The "now" vividly points to that which is
impending. The judgment of this world means the sentence to be passed
upon it, not the opinion expressed by it. While in God's love and
mercy He gave His only-begotten Son to die for the world, there could
be nothing else than condemnation for all rejecters, both those who
actually determined upon His death, and all since who by unbelief have
taken sides with them.

VERSES 37 TO 50

The closing portion of chapter 12 consists of two parts:
(1) verses 37 to 43, describing, as a climax, the persistent unbelief
of the Jews,
(2) verses 44 to 50, giving as a consummation the Lord's public
testimony to them. These form the two great subjects of all the
preceding part of this Gospel from 5:10 to 12:36, and they are
mentioned here by way of bringing the record of these circumstances to
a head. The crisis had been reached.
(1) The Christ-rejecting Jews must go on in their darkness.
(2) Yet He holds out hope for any who would even now believe and
turn to Him. His testimony is the very height of long-suffering and
merciful warning.

As to the multitude, "though He had done so many signs before
them, yet they believed not on Him." The Apostle declares that this
unbelief was in order that two prophecies of Isaiah might be
fulfilled, 53:1, and 6:10 (so, by the way, Isaiah wrote both parts of
that book!).

HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY

Now this seems, at a cursory glance, as if the Jews were helpless
in the matter; Isaiah had foretold their state, so it must be! Such an
idea loses sight of the great foundation fact of the absolute
foreknowledge of God. God foreknew that the Jews would harden
themselves, spurning His long-suffering and mercy, despising their

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privileges and forgoing their responsibility. God, foreseeing their
perverseness and the consequent necessity of His retributive dealings
in blinding their eyes and hardening their heart, caused Isaiah to put
it all on record centuries before. That was the infallible Word of
God. It could not "be broken." Being His Word it must be fulfilled.
The foreknown and foretold issue was inevitable, not because God had
determined their condition, but because of their sinful self-will and
their own determination to reject His overtures and offers. Their
unbelief was their own act.

There is a limit to God's long-suffering, a limit consistent with
His perfect character and attributes. When a man oversteps that limit
he comes under judicial hardening by God. The most striking instance
of this is the case of Pharaoh. See the R.V. in Exodus 7:13 (the
correctness of which is confirmed by V. 14); 7:22; 8:15, 19; 9:7. At
that juncture he overstepped the limit and 9:12 declares that God
hardened his heart (see also 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4).

That Isaiah spoke of the blindness and hardening of Israel in his
own time, after the death of Uzziah, is clear in the passage in
chapter 6. That John applies it to the Jews in the time of Christ and
declares that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ and spake of Him, shows
that, as with many other prophecies of the Old Testament, there is a
double application, one immediate, the other remote, to be fulfilled
in a later period.

THE FEAR OF MAN

Amidst the general apostasy many even of the rulers believed in
Christ, but feared to confess Him lest the religious leaders should
excommunicate them: "they loved the glory of men (R.V.) more than the
glory of God." This snare is easy to fall into. Let us guard against
allowing our attitude to God to be governed by human considerations.
To set a greater value upon the esteem of men than upon the glory of
God blights the spiritual life. Let Christ's love dominate our
affections and we shall not fear man, but shall esteem reproach for
His sake our highest honour.

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AN EPITOME

Verses 44 to 50 give the Lord's testimony in the form of an
epitome of all that He had taught, every word as He spoke it, but not
necessarily after the occasion in verse 36 when He hid Himself from
the multitude. The great points in the epitome are as follows:

Firstly, the true believer He directs to the Father (vv. 44, 45).
He ever sought to glorify Him. The glory of the Father is the great
theme of the whole passage.

Secondly, as to the believer's own condition, His having come as
a Light safeguards him against abiding in darkness (v. 46). "I am come
a light into the world." There is great emphasis on the "I."

Thirdly, as to the unbeliever, the rejecter of His sayings, let
none "be surprised at His refraining from passing sentence of
condemnation upon such; He had come, not as Judge but as Saviour (v.
47). Judgment will come in the last day, and then everything will
depend upon the way His word has been treated (v. 48). His "word" is
the sum and substance of all His teaching. To reject that must bring
sentence of condemnation. So it is with the gospel, which ever since
has, in its fulness, proclaimed all that He taught.

Fourthly, the gravity of the rejection lies in this, that all
that He uttered was by commandment of the Father, both the doctrine
("what I should say") and the phraseology in which it was expressed
("what I should speak"), verse 49. The R.V. "from myself" is
preferable to the A.V., "of Myself," which might mean "about Myself."
Christ was not Himself the source of His teaching.

Fifthly, the Father's commandment, here signifying, not a
specific command, but all that Christ had been given to speak, has as
its object the bestowment of life eternal (v. 50). That is the
gracious purpose of the Father's commission to the Son and of the
Son's faithful ministry.

This brings to a close the first part of this Gospel. The public
witness has been given, the works have been accomplished, the judgment
has been pronounced. All must now be concentrated privately upon the
disciples.

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CHAPTER XIII

VERSES 1 TO 17

The first verse of chapter 13 contains, by way of introduction,
the prominent ideas found in the five chapters 13 to 17. There are
five particulars:
(1) the time: "Now before the feast of the Passover,"
(2) the Person: "Jesus,"
(3) His foreknowledge, "knowing that His hour was come that He
should depart out of this world unto the Father,"
(4) the objects of His love, "having loved His own which were in the
world,"
(5) the continuity and degree of His love: "He loved them unto the
end."

His thoughts centre, not in His impending sufferings, but in the
Father and "His own." This latter phrase refers to different objects
from "His own" in 1:11; there it spoke of His natural property and
kin, here it speaks of those who were the Father's spiritual gift to
Him. The great key word here is "love."

As to the immediate circumstances, the A.V., "supper being ended"
does not represent the original. There are only two possible
renderings, either "when supper was come" or "when supper was taking
place." The R.V. "during supper," is probably right. The indication is
that it was the early part of the meal. The opening words of the
chapter point to the supper as being that of the paschal feast. The
scene is full of preparations. The Lord, who knew all that was coming
upon Him, and who had, only a day or two before, told the disciples
that in this Passover period He would be delivered up to be crucified
(Matt. 26:1), had prepared all the arrangements for this upper room
occasion. Satan had been preparing. He had already put it into the
heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Him. Other human agents of the evil
one were busy making preparations, and holding a council of death.

"JESUS KNOWING"

What is said about the Devil and Judas is followed by a statement
for the second time as to the Lord's knowledge, and the

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two very different subjects are combined as an introduction to the
washing of the disciples' feet; "Jesus, knowing that the Father had
given all things into His hands, and that He came forth from God, and
goeth unto God, riseth from supper, and layeth aside His garments; and
He took a towel, and girded Himself." This was another preparation, a
preparation, first by act and then by teaching, for the life the
eleven were to live after He had gone, and the testimony they were to
give in their service after the coming of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost. Hence the three statements as to the Lord's knowledge.

The vivid present tense is used, almost entirely, to depict the
circumstances. Every act had its special significance. His laying
aside His garments spoke of the fact that He who ever was "in the form
of God" took "the form of a servant" (Phil. 2:6, 7). It does not seem
to have entered the minds of the disciples that they might wash one
another's feet. Indeed they do not appear to have been in a mood for
it (see Luke 22:24). If, as Edersheim thinks, Judas, as the manager
for the company, took the first place, the Lord may have washed his
feet first. In any case here was malice met with kindness. Here was
long-suffering manifested with grace and dignity. It has been well
remarked, "Jesus at the feet of the traitor--what a picture! What
lessons for us!"

CLEANSED TO SENDEE SERVICE

The feet-washing was designed to teach two distinct things in the
Christian life, first the need of cleansing from sin, second the need
of serving one another with humility. The first is brought out by
Peter's exclamatory question, "Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?" by his
impetuous remonstrance, "Thou shalt never wash my feet;" and (on
hearing that without this he can have no part with Him) by his
impulsive desire, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my
head."

In answer to the question, the Lord says, "What I do thou knowest
not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter." The "I" and the "thou"
are emphatic. The R.V. brings out the distinction between the verbs,
_oida, to perceive intuitively, and _ginosko, to understand by
learning. In the reply to the remonstrance the Lord reveals the deep
significance of the washing. To have no part with Him means the lack
of more than the external

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washing of the feet. The answer to the impulsive desire makes clear
the difference between the initial removal of the defilement of sin at
the time of the new birth, and the need of renewed cleansing
consequent upon the committal of an act.

The Lord immediately distinguishes between the condition of the
eleven, who had all been bathed and were thus "clean every whit," and
the one who, because his heart was defiled, had not been bathed. So,
knowing who would betray Him, He said, "Ye are not all clean" (v. 11).
After resuming His place at the table He gives the second explanation
of His act. "Ye call Me," He says, "Master (Teacher, a term of respect
and recognition of instruction) and Lord (a term of honour and
recognition of authority)." If He, with all that these titles meant,
did what He had now done, there rests upon them, as upon us all, a
sacred obligation, consequent both upon His example and upon the
claims of nature common to all ("one another").

TRUE BLESSEDNESS

The Apostle Peter recalls this scene, when he says, "Yea, all of
you, gird yourselves with humility to serve one another" (1 Pet. 5:5).
It speaks of freedom from high-mindedness, of self-forgetting love, of
submitting to one another in the fear of God, of putting on "a heart
of compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering.
"For a servant is not greater than his lord, nor one that is sent
greater than he that sent him." "ye know these things," He says (and
they did, and we do), "blessed are ye (a better rendering than
'happy,' as it conveys not mere joy but the sense of Divine favour
that carries its reward) if ye do them."

VERSES 18 TO 30

There was now to be another kind of purification. The spiritual
atmosphere must be cleansed before the Lord's Supper could be
instituted, and the eleven prepared for that ministry for which they
were to be sent into the world. How could one be so prepared who had
definitely identified himself with the world? The statement "I speak
not of you all" seems to be connected with

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what He had just said about sending. Judas was not to be "one that is
sent." Moreover, Christ was going to say something further about
sending (v. 20).

Judas could not deceive Him: "I (emphatic) know whom (plural) I
have chosen" (or, as it should be, I chose), He says. He knew them
all, each one, and as for Judas see 6:70, 71. He chose them to be His
immediate companions and followers. He chose Judas by a Divine
deliberation in the fulfilment of His Father's will, and, consistently
with it, in fulfilment of Psalm 41:9. His object in telling them
beforehand was for their best interests, and their best interests lay
in their faith in Him. "I tell you ... that, when it is come to pass,
ye may believe that I am." There is no pronoun "He" after "I am." They
would find both that He was all that he had declared concerning His
essential attributes, and that He was to them all that He had promised
to be, as the One who would send them. They would know Him in their
experiences in this respect. And this was so important that He
attaches a "Verily, verily" to it: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He
that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Him that sent Me" (v. 20).
They could not enjoy a more intimate union with Him and with the
Father.

THE DISCLOSURES OF THE BETRAYAL

It cost the Lord much to make the disclosure as to who would be
the instrument of His betrayal: "He was troubled in spirit (in 11:33,
in seeing the sorrows of others, 'He troubled Himself'), and
testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you
shall betray Me." The statement evinces His sorrow more than the guilt
of the act. More than this, it shows the voluntary nature of His
suffering. He could have suggested a way of escape, or some mode of
prevention or resistance; but there is nothing of all this. It was
part of the pre-determined path towards the accomplishment of that for
which He came into the world.

The disciples are stirred to sorrowful and bewildered anxiety (an
emotion absent from Judas) as to which of them would be the cause.
Peter makes a sign to John (who was leaning on the bosom of the Lord)
to find out, and says "Tell us who it is of whom He speaketh." So
John, " leaning back (a different word from that in verse 23,
'reclining'), as he was, on Jesus' breast,

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[the R.V. 'as he was' represents the single word, _houtos, 'thus,'
(which the A.V. omits), but this adverb would rather indicate that
John, having paid attention to Peter's request, did what he wished
(the 'thus' referring to his so doing as Peter had desired), and,
leaning back again (the change in the tense, to the aorist, points to
this)] saith unto Him, Lord, who is it?"

"Jesus therefore answereth (and the narratives in Matthew and
Mark show that the answer was not given privately to John alone), He
it is, for whom I shall dip the sop, and give it to him." The definite
article "the" is to be noticed. It specifies the regular act at the
feast of the Passover (the A.V. "a sop" misses this, and gives the
idea of a passing act). According to custom, the sop, prepared by the
head of the household, was delivered at the proper moment to the
person chosen by him. Apparently Judas had dipped his hand in the dish
(Matt 26:23, R.V.). The Lord dips the sop and hands it to him. Quite
possibly Judas had chosen the chief couch for himself, and acted
accordingly.

"THAT THOU DOEST"

Thereupon Satan enters into him. He had prepared himself for this
climax. The Lord was fully cognisant of this act on the part of the
spiritual foe: "Jesus therefore (i.e., because of Satan's entry) saith
unto him, That thou doest, do quickly." All that was required for the
removal of the traitor was said; nothing more, nothing less. All is
known between Christ and Judas. Judas sees both that the Master is not
deceived and that he himself is discovered. Yes, discovered, but not
exposed; he has admonition, but freedom to act; separation, but not
expulsion. Much was prevented which would have deprived the disciples
of that ministry which they were about to receive. Self-humbled, they
are not roused to animosity against the culprit. He allows their ideas
to be mistaken (vv. 28, 29).

What an example (an additional example) the Lord set us! What
self-restraint, what forbearance, what freedom from severity of
judgment and strong judicial action! Much would never have happened in
the past, much would not be taking place now, if the spirit the Lord
manifested had characterised believers.

The language of the original in Christ's command "That thou
doest, do quickly" is striking. Firstly, there is a change of

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tenses in the verb: the first is the present continuous, i.e., 'What
thou art doing' (what thou art engaged in doing); the second is the
aorist tense, the tense of definite act, i.e., 'go and do it.' The
first views the doing, the process of betrayal, as a whole; the second
views it as a single deed. Again, the word "quickly" is in the
comparative degree (lit., 'more quickly'), suggesting the possibility
of interruptions or hindrances, which might arise from Christ's
intervention. But He will not so interfere. He is the Controller of
the whole situation.

"IT WAS NIGHT"

Judas, "having received the sop went out straightway: and it was
night:"--nature's night around him, moral and spiritual, night in his
soul, the precursor of a darker night to follow, and all to do with
the darkest and greatest crime in human history.

And now the atmosphere is cleansed. The immediate burden is
lightened. The reserve, hitherto necessary, can yield place to the
outflow of affection, to the unfolding of the deepest truths, and,
almost at the beginning of it all, the institution of that love-feast,
"the Lord's Supper."

The opening statements disclose the highest truths, truths that
are basic to all that follows to the end of the seventeenth chapter:
"Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." In the
original the verbs are in the aorist tense, which gives the literal
rendering "Now was the Son of man glorified, and God was glorified in
Him" (see the R.V. margin). But they are not simply statements of past
events. What is indicated is that the events that are to follow, both
the immediate events in connection with the Cross, and the succeeding
events in both the near and the distant future are regarded and spoken
of as assured and accomplished facts. The Lord was looking through all
that was then actually in course of preparation for His Death, and the
circumstances and effects of His Death. And having used this
comprehensive form of expression, He proceeds to a direct statement of
the future: "and God shall glorify Him in Himself, and straightway
shall he glorify Him." In all that the Father is essentially, in His
own Being, the Son will ever be glorified in perfect oneness with Him.
He straightway glorified Him in that 'He raised Him from the dead and
gave Him glory."

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THE LORD'S SUPPER

Taking into consideration the Synoptic narratives of the
Institution of the Lord's Supper, and the circumstances recorded by
John in chapter 13, it seems probable that this institution took place
just after Judas had gone out, and Christ had made the immediately
consequent remarks mentioned in verse 32, and previously to His
addressing the disciples as mentioned in verse 33. This is more
probable than after what He says in verse 35, as verse 36 is linked
with verse 33.

The omission is purposive. The teachings of the Lord in that room
do not refer to sacrifice for sin, the body and the blood of Christ,
and the new covenant. The leading subjects are our immediate relations
with Him. There are manifest correspondences and connections between
the Institution and the Lord's discourses, as, for instance, in the
instruction concerning His Coming again.

A NEW COMMANDMENT

How suitably, after they had partaken from His hands the emblems
of His body and His blood, the symbols of His death, and had heard His
promise to return, come the words, "Little children, yet a little
while I am with you.... A new commandment I give unto you, that ye
love one another; even as I have loved you,... I go to prepare a place
for you, And ... I come again, and will receive you unto Myself !"

He had announced to His enemies His going, but had forewarned
them of eternal separation from Him (8:21); His announcement here to
His disciples of His going is accompanied by the assurance of eternal
reunion. He addresses them as "Little children" for the first time.
John uses it seven times in his First Epistle. It conveys four ideas,
(1) affection,
(2) parental care.
(3) compassion,
(4) family intimacy.

He gives a "new commandment" to love one another according to the
standard of His own love (v. 34). Seven times in the whole discourse
He speaks of His commandments, and in each place associates them with
the subject of love (here; 14:15; 14:21; 14:23; 15:10; 15:12; 15:14
with 13). His love provides both the motive and the measure of our
love. As exhibited in us it both displays the character of real
discipleship and gives the testimony

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of it to the world: "By this shall all men know that ye are My
disciples, if ye have love one to another." In this we are to be His
representatives here.

The word _kainos, "new," signifies not newness in time, recent
(neos), but newness of nature and quality, superior to the old. The
love of which the Lord speaks is therefore not obedience to the letter
of the Law but the very spring and power of the new life, "the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus."

Peter is occupied especially with the staggering fact that the
Lord was going away. His answer elicits that disciple's impetuous but
faithful assurance of the utmost loyalty. This, in turn, produces
another revelation of the Lord's complete foreknowledge, and now of
all that would affect the circumstances of them all.

The Lord checks mere impulse and self-confidence. His prediction
of Peter's threefold denial does this. But both this prediction and
other details of His disclosures produce foreboding in the hearts of
all. It was all purposively preparatory on His part to the words of
consolation and blessed assurance He would minister to them and to all
His own ever since, and the revelation of Himself, His character, His
ways and doings, which form the great essence of the following
discourse.

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CHAPTER XIV

VERSES 1 TO 11

UNITY OF THE GODHEAD

Consolation and revelation: this is His double ministry
throughout. They are the features of His twofold message which opens
that part of His discourse at the beginning of chapter 14: "Let not
your heart be troubled;" that is the consolation; "ye believe in God,
believe also in Me:" that is revelation. Consolation to the hearts of
His followers, revelation of His own heart! Since, however, the verb
rendered "Ye believe" has also the form of the imperative, and since
His ministry is that of consolation to troubled hearts, it is better
to regard each part as a command: "Believe in God, believe also in
Me." It is a faith that goes much further than an acceptance of a
truth, it cleaves to the Speaker. And what the Lord reveals is the
unity between the Father and the Son. Faith in Both is a necessity.
Without this there is no salvation in any sense of the term.

The unity of the Persons and yet their distinctive Personalities
are further declared: "In My Father's House" means that what is the
Father's is likewise the Son's, and it is the prerogative of the Son
both to prepare the abode and to come and convey thither those for
whom it is prepared: "I go to prepare a place for you ... I come again
(vivid present tense in both parts, giving assurance of the future
facts), and will receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye
may be also." This is more than a reception to meet Him in the air (1
Thess. 4. 17). That will be so, but He takes us, surely, from the
place of meeting in the air, into the Father's House, to be with Him.
He says, "where I am;" this is "within the veil, whither as Forerunner
Jesus entered for us" (Heb. 6:20). That place is "the Father's House."
See also 17:24.

HIS COMING AGAIN

The Lord is not referring to the falling asleep of the individual
believer. He is speaking of the time of the Rapture of all believers
at the completion of the Church. He thus, at the beginning

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of His discourse, carries the thoughts of the disciples right on to
the time of consummation, so that this promise may cast its rays upon
all that intervenes, as dealt with in the remainder of His teachings.

In His wisdom the Lord states the assumption that they know the
way He is going: the R.V. is right, "And whither I go, ye know the
way." He knew that this would cause Thomas to demur (v. 5). Christ had
ready His Self-revelation, so Personal, so comprehensive: not, "I make
the way, I reveal the truth, I give the life," but "I am the way, and
the truth, and the life." And the fact that He is the truth and the
life because He is the way, is confirmed by His additional statement,
"No one cometh unto the Father, but by Me;" that has to do with the
way alone, it is the way to the Father, and means the consequent
experience of Christ as the truth and the life.

He thus goes further than the way to the Father's House. He
occupies our thoughts with the Father Himself and the present
experience of coming voluntarily and by faith to Him, through Christ.
"By Me" conveys the twofold thought both of His immediate Personal
Mediation and of what He has wrought so as to bring this about, that
is, His Incarnation, Life, Atoning Death, Resurrection and Ascension
(see Rom. 5:2; Eph. 2:13, 15, 18; Heb. 7:25; 10:19 to 21). Accordingly
this statement goes far beyond what it had meant for Old Testament
saints to come to God.

KNOWING THE TWO IN ONE

The Lord now presses home the profound truth He had uttered in
public (8:19), but with a difference. Here He says, "If ye had known
(ginosko) Me, ye would have known (oida) My Father also. The first
verb expresses a knowledge progressive and gained, the second a
knowledge immediate and perceptive. In 8:19 the verb is _oida in both
parts. With the opposing Pharisees the very idea of getting to know
Him is altogether set aside. No knowledge whatever was possible to
them. To the disciples He can and does say, "from henceforth ye know
Him" (ginoskete, ye are getting to know); they had entered upon the
process and would increase in the acquisition. Moreover they had "seen
Him." Christ, as the Son, was the Personal manifestation of the
Father, and in reply to Philip's earnest request that Christ would
show Him He says, "he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (v. 9).

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Here again a different verb, _horao, is used from that in 12:45
(theoreo). _Theoreo denotes to be a spectator of; it stresses the
action of the beholder, _horao lays more emphasis on the object
beheld, upon the direction in which the vision goes. This is
especially exemplified in the Lord's word here to the disciples, that
the Father manifests Himself in the Son (cp. 1:17, 18). It must be so
by reason of the mutual indwelling, "I am in the Father, and the
Father in Me," repeated here and again in 17:23, in the prayer. The
essential unity of Their nature in the Godhead, involving unity of
mind, will and action, is conveyed in this great foundation statement
by the Lord.

OUR HIGHEST OCCUPATION

True, this unity, this mutual indwelling, exceeds the limits of
natural comprehension, and for this very reason He adds "believe Me
for the very works' sake." This He had said in public (10:37, 38), but
here there is more to follow. First the Person, then the works,--these
are the combined motives for faith. To the Jews they had been
presented as alternatives; to the disciples the works provide a
supplementary motive to the faith: "believe Me on account of {i.e., by
reason of, not for the sake of, as in the Versions) the very works."
Nicodemus draws a conclusion from the works (3:2), and that by way of
observation and reasoning. The disciples acknowledge Him apart from
His works (1:41 to 48). Our highest occupation is with Christ Himself
and our personal and increasing knowledge of Him. This is strengthened
by the experience of His dealings with us.

VERSES 12 TO 31

GREATER WORKS

From the mention of His works He opens their minds again to the
future, but now concerning their service. He passes from Himself as
the Object of faith to their life of faith in dependence upon His
presence with the Father. And again the greatness and newness of the
theme is marked by His "Verily, verily, I say unto you." His
Self-revelation continues: "he that believeth on Me, the works that I
do shall He do also; and greater works than

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these shall he do; because I go unto the Father" (v. 12). There is
continuity and increase, but He is the Author and Means of both. The
fact that the works will be greater is due to His exaltation. They
also become greater because of their extent in the world and because
by them the Church, the Body of Christ, is in process of formation,
the greatest of all the creative works of God.

ASKING IN HIS NAME

In this connection the Lord associates prayer with works,
indicating the necessity of the former for the effectiveness of the
latter. There are three factors essential in this respect:
(1) requests are to be made in His name;
(2) He will Himself fulfil them;
(3) the Father is thus to be glorified in the Son.
In this repetition of the first two He says, "If ye shall ask Me
anything in My Name" (v. 14, R.V.), expressing in another way His
unity with the Father in the Godhead.

To make a request in His Name does not mean simply appending the
phrase to a petition or prayer, it involves the experience of that
relationship to, and fellowship with, Him, that resemblance to His
character and delight in His will which His Name implies; it means the
appropriation of His merits, His rights, His claims. This imparted a
new character and power and sweetness to prayer which they had not
experienced hitherto.

With this His next statement is not disconnected, "If ye love Me,
ye will keep My commandments." Asking in His Name is a mere shibboleth
if we do not keep His commandments. For in departing from them we fail
to represent Him and therefore fail to do anything in His Name.

THE TRINITY

But for this we cannot rely upon our own wills, however
determined we may be to be obedient. Accordingly it is just here that
the Lord introduces the subject of the promised presence and power of
the Holy Spirit: "Ye will keep My commandments, and I will pray the
Father ('make request of'--a different word from "ask" in verses 13
and 14: _aiteo, there, suggests the petition of an inferior to a
superior; _erotao, here, suggests a right to expect the fulfilment),
and He shall give you another Comforter (not _heteros,

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another of a different kind, but _allos, another of similar nature),
that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth."

Obedience, then, is the obedience of love, love that expresses
itself in act that fulfils His will. The authority of His will and the
affections of the heart are as cause and effect in those who are "in
law (ennomos, the literal word in 1 Cor. 9:21) to Christ." For this He
promises the Holy Spirit. In this matter again He reveals His oneness
and equality with the Father. For in verse 26 He says, as here, "Whom
the Father will send in My Name." In 15:26 and 16:7 He says, "Whom I
will send." What is this but the Trinity, the Three acting in One? For
what He is going to reveal concerning the Holy Spirit is nothing short
of a predication of His Deity. The Father acts in and through the Son,
the Son acts as in the Father, and the Spirit acts in perfect unison
of Being and action with the Father and the Son.

THE PARACLETE

The Name given to the Spirit is "the Paraclete," lit., one
called to the side (of another); but the word expresses the purpose
for which He comes, the kindly act He does. There are two meanings,
the one signifying, as it does in the four occurrences in this part of
the Gospel, one who by His presence and companionship imparts
encouragement, strength and support. "Comforter" is the right
rendering, only it means more than merely giving comfort. The other
meaning is Advocate, one who undertakes our cause and pleads for us;
that is its meaning in 1 John 2:1.

When He says "another Comforter" (using "the word which means
another of like nature), He is recalling the fact that He has been to
them all that the word signifies in the first of the two meanings just
mentioned. The same ministry will be continued by the Spirit, and that
"for ever," both here and hereafter. He is "the Spirit of truth;" that
is to say, He will be the Power in their testimony to the truth, thus
fulfilling both the Divine counsels and human needs. For in a world of
darkness, Devilry and deception, man's great need is the truth. For
this Christ came into the world (8:32) and He is Himself, as He has
just said, "the Truth." "The Spirit beareth witness," witness to
Christ and all that this means, "because the Spirit is truth" (1 John
5:7).

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THE WORLD--A CONTRAST

Just here it is that the Lord contrasts them and the world. The
world "cannot receive" the Spirit; "for it beholdeth Him not, neither
knoweth Him." The very condition of the world rendered impossible any
recognition of Him. The disciples did behold in Christ and His ways
and works the manifestation of the Holy Spirit's Person and power.
Instead of knowing Him, the world charged Christ with being
demon-possessed (8:52). The disciples knew the Spirit, for they had
already experienced His power, as well as seeing His works in their
Master: "He abideth with you," that was already true, "and shall be in
you," that would be true from Pentecost onward. They would realise Him
as the Comforter, empowering their witness and operating in the
written testimony of such as would take part in the completion of the
Scriptures of truth. "With" and "in!" What a power for every
experience in life!

But that did not mean that He would take the place of Christ
Himself. He assures them of this immediately, and says, "I will not
leave you desolate (lit., orphans): I come unto you." The Spirit
Himself is the very Minister of Christ. If the Spirit of Christ
indwells us, Christ Himself does. This means a vision of Christ; not
physical, but very real. The spiritual would replace the physical for
the disciples. "Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth Me no
more; but ye behold Me." The world had seen Him only to mistake Him,
because of their sinful state. The disciples, and we like them, have
a different faculty of sight, the sight of faith.

LIFE INDEED

But His Presence with us and in us, according to His promise, is
just the very essence and vitality of life, spiritual life: "because
I live, ye shall live also." That means, in the later words of the
Apostle Paul, "To me to live is Christ." It carries with it more than
mere spiritual life. It is the constant personal experience of the
risen and living Christ, producing His living power within our daily
life. In the present enjoyment of this it is given to us to enjoy
the blessed promise, "Ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in
Me, and I in you" (v. 20). For the further experience of this mutual
indwelling see 15:4 to 7.

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All this is a matter of carrying out His commandments; not mere
sentiment, but the enjoyment of love as the spring of obedience, and
obedience as the proof of love. So the Lord says, "He that loveth Me
shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest
Myself unto Him" (v. 21). This practical love on the part of a
believer brings a special manifestation of the love of the Father and
the Son, and not only of their love but of their very nature and
character as revealed in the Son. "In the keeping of His commandments
there is great reward," and there can be no greater reward than the
communion enjoyed in the fulfilment of this promise. There comes a
wonderful disclosure to the true heart. The verb rendered "I will
manifest" is not the ordinary word _phaneroo, it is _emphanizo, which
suggests more than an appearance, it carries the thought of a
disclosure of what the Person is in His own nature, character, counsel
and work.

THE RELIGIOUS WORLD

This drew forth an enquiry from Judas (not Iscariot) as to what
had happened to bring about this distinction between themselves and
the world (v. 22). Publicity, self-advertisement to gain applause, is
characteristic of mere religion, it is the negation of the character
and way of Christ. Accordingly His reply shows how utterly impossible
what He had in mind for them is for the world. The world has no room
for Christ all through this period, any more than it had for Him when
He was on earth. It has its religious ideas of Him, but their
conception of Him is radically distinct from what He is Himself. Jesus
answered him, "If a man love Me, He will keep My word (not My words,
but the whole word as an entity); and My Father will love him, and We
will come unto him, and make Our abode with him" (v. 23). There is now
a dwelling place on earth both for Father and Son. It is in the heart
and life of anyone who carries the whole truth of the Word of God, not
some particular doctrine or practice, nor a special set of doctrines,
attaching importance to some while making little or nothing of others.
The "word" is the whole teaching.

This brings from the Father and the Son, not an external display
of power and attractive activity, but the inward disclosure of Their
love, producing likeness to the character of Him

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who is "meek and lowly in heart," and the real power of the Spirit of
God. The idea of an "abode" is not something ephemeral, but habitual
and permanent. So John wrote later, "He that abideth in the teaching,
the same hath both the Father and the Son" (2 John 9, R.V.). And the
Lord finished His reply by combining, in a negative statement, the
love and the obedience: "He that loveth Me not keepeth not My words
(plural now, the various parts which make up the whole): and the word
which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me." It was
indeed Christ's word but only as it was that of the Father, in their
perfect unity.

THE HOLY SPIEIT--A PERSON

What He had told them was only a beginning. They themselves must
have felt the need of more, and He assures them that the need would be
met. His teaching would not end with His being here with them: "But
the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all
that I have said unto you" (vv. 25, 26). This makes clear that the
Spirit is not a mere influence, He is a Person, who Himself acts as
the Minister of comfort and instruction. The two are inseparable.
Instruction imparts all that is conveyed by the comprehensive term
"comforter." He would teach all things, that is, the truth of
Scripture in its entirety, and would recall all that Christ taught.
This latter contains the basis of all the truth that was to follow,
from the Acts to the Apocalypse (cp. Heb. 2:3). All the rest of the
N.T. serves to confirm the authenticity of the Gospels.

This promise pointed to the responsibility of the disciples to
recollect what Christ had taught, but this as being under the
superintending control of the Holy Spirit (cp. 12:16). This places the
writings of the Apostles beyond the scope of mere recollection and
contemplation.

THE PEACE OF CHRIST

Following this assurance the Lord ministers a word of strong
comfort to them. When He says "Peace I leave with you" (v. 27), He is
not giving them simply a farewell message. The word rendered "I leave"
is the same in the original as when He said

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"I will not leave you desolate." The peace is a bequest, and that not
merely of freedom from anxiety as to circumstances, but of all that
makes for mental and spiritual welfare.

But there is a special character about the peace. When He further
says, "My peace I give unto you," He uses a phrase the force of which
is not expressed in our Versions. Literally it is 'the peace, the
Mine,' a very emphatic way of speaking of His peace as that which
characterises Him in a special manner and to a special degree, an
inward peace which is His own possession, a peace not to be upset by
foes or by the world. More than this, it is that which He imparts as
being in accordance with His own nature. It has been described as
consisting of "the composure of a holy affection, the sunshine of a
settled purpose, and the sunshine of unclouded communion with God." He
describes His love and His joy in the same phraseology (15:10, 12).

"Not as the world giveth," He says, "give I unto you." There is
more than one contrast. As to the mode of giving, the world gives it
conventionally, and often merely superficially. As to the means, it
does not possess real, lasting peace, and it cannot give what it has
not got. As to the source, the peace the Lord gives has been procured
for us at the cost of His atoning sacrifice; this provides the right
for believers to receive it from Him. As to the nature, it is not only
a peace of conscience, it is a peace of rest in the will of God, not
merely resignation to it, but delight in it, rest in all His dealings.

FEARFULNESS OR LOVE

He then adds an exhortation against that which is the very
negation of peace, namely, a troubled or a fearful heart. He here
repeats what He said at the beginning (there in a different
connection) and adds the words, "neither let it be afraid." The verb
is _deiliao (here only in the N.T.), not a passing fear, but a
condition of fearfulness. Cp. 2 Timothy 1:7.

All fearfulness should yield place to love, for two reasons,
(1) because Christ has gone to the Father,
(2) because He is coming again (cp. 14:3).
"Ye heard how I said unto you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye
loved Me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for
the Father is greater than I" (v. 28). This last statement gives the consummating

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reason for love to, and joy in, Christ, as powers that banish anxiety
and fear. That the Father is "greater" is not said with regard to the
relations in the Persons of the Trinity. The Lord has been speaking of
Himself as the One sent by the Father, and who fulfils His
commandments, the Way that leads to the Father, and the One who
reveals the Father. Of all this the Father is the Authority and the
Object. In all these respects the Father is greater than the Son, but
not greater in essence and Godhood.

That these assurances actually created the love and rejoicing to
which the Lord exhorted them is told out in Luke 24:53 and in the
opening chapters of the Acts. We should so live, too, that these
blessings may operate in our hearts continually and give effect to our
testimony.

But all is a matter of faith, faith that realises and
appropriates the Unseen: "And now I have told you before it come to
pass, that when it is come to pass ye may believe" (v. 29).

THE POWER OF DARKNESS

For the disciples the scene was about to change; this
companionship and intimate converse were about to terminate for the
time. The powers of darkness were mustering for the attack. "The
prince of the world" was coming; he had come to Him with a claim to
this title in the wilderness at the beginning of His public testimony.
The claim was not then denied by the victorious Lord. And now with his
permitted authority over rebellious man, over the world in its
persistent hardness of heart against all Divine revelation and
command, Satan was hastening to the crucial attack, and using the
leading human powers among the Jews as his instruments.

Yet if this prince of the world had claims upon men, he had none
upon the Son of God: "and he hath nothing in Me," He says; he could
not find, as he did in the world, something that would answer morally
to his own nature; the very fact that men are sinners makes them
partakers with the evil one, who "sinneth from the beginning." So it
was with the first human sin, and men have ever since thrown open the
avenues of their being to him. But he found no means of ingress in Him
in whom "is no sin." Therefore while Satan could make an attempt,
subject to the permissive will of God, he had no right to do so.

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THE GREAT ISSUE

That he should do so at this time was, by such permission,
voluntarily granted. Therefore there must be a Divine purpose in it.
This is seen in the Lord's next words, "but that the world may know
that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I
do" (v. 31). Therefore the doing was not merely by voluntary consent,
but by loving obedience. Here was a display of grace indeed. This is
something more than the fact that God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son for the salvation of anyone who would believe.
The world was to know that, in giving up His life that men might be
saved, He was giving evidence of His love to the Father. Here then was
a proof of the grace of Father and Son towards a guilty world.

That the Lord now said "Arise, let us go hence," does not
necessitate the idea that the company immediately left the room. The
greater likelihood is that they lingered there or at least in the
premises while He continued His discourse and praved His prayer.
Perhaps at this point they sang the Hallel. If after they rose they
stayed in the recesses of the house, there would very likely be a vine
growing on the sides, and this may have led to His remarks at the
beginning of chapter 15. What is noticeable is that immediately upon
His mentioning that "the prince of the world was coming," He says,
"Arise, let us go hence," suggesting His readiness to meet the attack
and fulfil all that was now to be accomplished.

The purpose in the narrative, however, is clearly the continuity
of the discourse; there is so much in what follows that recalls and
expands what He had previously spoken of, and this He now applies by
way of practical exhortation, and that not only for the eleven but for
all believers.

The great subject of the next two chapters is the relation of
believers to the Lord Himself as the One by whose power their lives
are to be lived. The relationship is fivefold; they are sharers in His
life and fruitfulness as His members (vv. 1 to 8), in His love and joy
as His friends (vv. 9, 19), in His work and ways as His associates (v.
20 to 16:3), in His ministry and spirit as His disciples (16:4 to 15),
in His conflict and victory as His adherents (16:16 to 33).

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CHAPTER XV

VERSES 1 TO 8

LIFE AND FRUITFULNESS

In speaking of Himself as "the true vine" (lit., the vine, the
true one) He signifies that He is the One who is the very essence of
spiritual life and fruitfulness, and from whom alone these can be
possessed and produced. The nation had become barren and dead. He was
the twig out of the stump (Isa. 11:1, 2). But He changes the
metaphors, because now He includes all those who, as His members,
partake of His life and its products, showing that there is a vital
union between Himself and them.

But this union and fruitfulness must be maintained in practical
apprehension by their abiding in Him. Yet fruitfulness does not lie
merely within their own power. They are entirely dependent on the
Vine. Hence, He says, "My Father is the Husbandman." There are two
sorts of branches, the non-fruitbearing and the fruitbearing. The
former He takes away, the latter He cleanses. There is no thought here
of the loss of eternal life. The Lord is picturing the use of the
pruning-knife, in the one case, and the removal of such things as
parasites and mildew, in the case of the other. "He shows the
disciples that, walking on earth, they should be pruned by the Father,
and be cut off if they bore no fruit; for the subject here is not that
relationship with Christ in Heaven by the Holy Ghost, which cannot be
broken, but of that link which even then was formed here below, which
might be vital and eternal, or which might not. Fruit should be the
proof" (J.N.D.).

ABIDING IN HIM

The eleven disciples were already clean; their faith in Christ
had made them branches in the Vine. They had become clean because of
the word He had spoken to them. They would yet need cleansing to bear
"more fruit." The secret of all this lay in His command "Abide in Me."
This implies the exercise.-of

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the will, a voluntary and conscious perseverance, and makes clear the
possibility of spiritual dangers, lest anything should be allowed to
interrupt or hinder the continual experience of this union. Moreover
the relation is mutual. There is a promise conditional upon fulfilment
of the command. He says, "Abide in Me, and I in you." This is a
condition, not of sentiment but of activity. In 14:20, "ye in Me, and
I in you" signified a state. Here the relation is that which expresses
itself in practical result, the activity being the outcome of the
realisation of the state.

Thus soul-energy finds its effect in loving obedience to all His
commands, and this is the life of Christ bearing fruit: "As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither
can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He
that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for-
apart from (i.e., severed from) Me ye can do nothing" (vv. 4, 5).

OUR INSUFFICIENCY

A distinction is necessary between the subject of the life of the believer as being inseparable from
Christ from the day on which he receives Him by faith, and the
relation of the believer to Him in the matter of spiritual
fruit-bearing. As to the former the Lord made the imperishable life of
the believer clear in chapter 10, in declaring that His sheep could
never perish. What He is now showing is that no believer can bring
forth fruit from his own resources or by his own initiative. As the
Apostle Paul says, "I laboured ... yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me." "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think
anything as of ourselves." "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me."

The Lord compares one who abides not in Him to a withered branch.
That kind of branch men gather and burn. The aorist tenses of the
verbs rendered "he is cast forth" and "is withered," suggest a twofold
significance,
(1) the decisive character of the acts (no other course being
practicable),
(2) the all-knowing mind of the Speaker (as One who knew what must
take place before it became a fact).

The fruitlessness may be caused by lethargy of soul, or by
unbelief, or by wilful apostasy. The latter had been the case with the
betrayer; avarice, then discontent, then definite antagonism!

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CONDITIONS FOR POWER IN PRAYER

Now the Lord deals with the fruitfulness of enjoyed union and
communion, and shows that the indwelling of His words means power in
prayer, and that the truly prayerful life is the fruitful life: "If ye
abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask* whatsoever ye will, and it
shall be done unto you" (v. 7). (*The better reading in the original
is _aitesasthe, the aorist imperative, "ask Me.") His words are vital
principles; they are designed to inspire our motives and to direct our
thoughts and prompt our acts. To have His words abiding in us gives us
such communion with God that we can count upon His answers to our
prayers. And this inevitably means productiveness. It is the very
opposite to fruitlessness.

This asking and obtaining never affords self-gratulation. What it
does effect is true discipleship of Christ, whose one and only motive
was the glory of the Father. "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye
bear much fruit; and so shall ye be My disciples" (v. 8). Their
discipleship had begun, but there was to be development and progress.

VERSES 9 TO 13

THE KEY TO LOVE, JOY AND FRIENDSHIP

Passing for the moment from His subject of the Vine and the
branches, with its significance of vital and constant union of His
members with Himself for fruitfulness, He now speaks of His love for
them as His friends, and its practical effect in them. "Abiding" is
the continued keynote. As they must abide in Him as their Life, so
they must abide in His love.

Firstly, as to the source, "Even as the Father hath loved Me;"
secondly, as to the mediating bestowment, "I also have loved you;"
thirdly, as to the enjoyed element, "Abide ye in My love,"
fourthly, as to the means, "If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide
in My love:"
fifthly, as to the example, "even as I have kept My Father's
commandments, and abide in His love" (vv. 9, 10).

All this makes clear that our obedience does not create the
Lord's love, any more than walking in sunshine creates the sun's

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light. The light is there, His love is there all the time. Obedience
gives the realisation of it. Disobedience, turning from the path of
His commandments, hinders our enjoyment of His love. It rests upon him
who walks as He walked.

HIS JOY

It is just this which leads on to the subject of His joy; for it
was His joy to do the Father's will, and in our case a life of
obedience is a life of joy: "These things have I spoken unto you, that
My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled" (v. 11).
That the former purpose means that the joy which is His own may be
imparted to them (rather than that His joy in them may continue) is
confirmed in two respects:
firstly, by the striking character of the full phrase in the
original, which describes the uniqueness of His joy, lit., "the joy,
the Mine;"
secondly, by His prayer in 17:13, "that they may have My joy
fulfilled in themselves." It is not "that your joy may be full;" that
rendering misses the important point. That His followers would live
and work in full fellowship with Him in seeing the extension of His
Kingdom, would mean that His joy, in the outworking of the will of the
Father, would be fulfilled in each of their lives.

This is abundantly illustrated in the Epistles. To take one
example, when Paul says of the Thessalonian believers "Ye are our
glory and joy" (1 Thess. 2:20), this is but the Lord's own joy being
fulfilled in the hearts of the Apostle and his fellow-labourers.

HIS FRIENDS

But it is to be fulfilled by the mutual love of fellow-believers,
and this it is which leads to His reminder that those who act like
this are His friends: "This is My commandment, that ye love one
another, even as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends" (vv. 12, 13). He uses
again the same kind of striking phrase concerning His commandment as
He has done of love, joy and peace: 'This is the commandment, the
Mine' ('that which is especially Mine').

The question has been raised as to whether, in this 13th verse,

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the Lord was actually making reference to His own atoning sacrifice,
or whether, in enjoining upon the disciples the exercise of mutual
love, He was simply giving the highest example of merely human
self-sacrifice. This calls for careful consideration. True it is that
there is no other direct reference, in this discourse in the Upper
Room, to His Death. It has been asked, too, whether, since Christ died
for all men, "died for the ungodly," died for the whole world, He
would have spoken of His Death as a giving up of His life for His
"friends."

THE REFERENCE TO HIS OWN DEATH

It is necessary first to consider the main purpose of the Lord's
message to His disciples. One cannot read through this discourse
without noticing that His great object was to comfort, strengthen and
instruct them in view of their coming experiences, trials, and
vicissitudes, after He had gone to the Father, and so to prepare them
for their service and testimony. This would not mean the entire
withholding of an intimation of His Death (that would be improbable),
but it would mean keeping the subject in a certain amount of reserve.
The circumstances and meaning of His Death they had already known to
some extent ("the way ye know"), but the facts and their implications
would be clear in a few hours, and in due time their full explanation
would be made known to them. For that immediate occasion there was
manifested therefore in His messages a Divinely wise economy of
treatment. To have handled the subject of His Death as an offering for
the world, a giving up of His life "for the ungodly," would have been
to exceed the scope and method of His immediate teachings.

Consistently with this, and so far from keeping secret the
subject of His death, He addresses His disciples as His "friends" in
this connection. He had used that term for them long before (Luke
12:4). While therefore He is instructing them as to how they should
manifest their love one to another, it is in keeping with the nature
of His instructions that He should include a reference to His own
Death as the giving up of His life for His "friends." Such indeed it
was with regard to the eleven who were listening to Him, and there is
nothing theologically erroneous, or doctrinally inconsistent with the
subject of His expiatory sacrifice as set forth elsewhere in
Scripture, in regarding His

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general statement, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends," as including a reference to His own
act with its special significance. The fact that its general
character, as bearing upon their love one to another, involved the
mention of the giving up of life as the act of "a man," in no way
detracts from the expiatory efficacy of His Death, as if suggesting
that His act was that of a mere man. On the contrary the natural
illustration involved the use of such phraseology. As a matter of fact
the word "man" is not in the Greek in any part of the verse. The words
are "no one" and "anyone."

The crowning exemplification made the inclusion of His own deed,
with its special instruction, most appropriate. And how wisely and
suitably He intimated it! That His statement did not preclude an
intimation of His own act, with its expiatory uniqueness, is confirmed
by what His "beloved disciple" says in his First Epistle, in words
which surely contain an echo of the very words of Him on whose breast
he leaned, "Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us:
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). We
may observe that the Apostle narrows the subject to believers, instead
of referring to the world as that for which the Lord died, just as
Christ Himself did on the evening when He spoke to His disciples.

VERSES 14 TO 16

THE INTIMACY OF FRIENDSHIP

In the deeper intimacy established by the Lord in this discourse
He now unfolded more fully to His disciples what their being His
"friends" involved. He had already made clear that it meant their
doing all that pleased Him. But there was to be more than this.
Accordingly He says, "No longer do I call you servants; for the
servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you
friends."

This did not mean that they were no longer His servants. Such
they continued to be, and they ever delighted so to describe
themselves (douloi, bondservants; see 1 Pet. 1:1; Jude 5:1; Rom. 1:1).
With the believer the capacity of being a servant

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carries with it the intimacy and communion of friendship. The servant
(doulos) as such does not know what his master is doing; his knowledge
is limited to his duty. If, however, his master takes him into his
confidence, the scene is changed. There is cooperation and sympathy
and fellowship. A friendship is established. And this is just what the
Lord now says: "I have called you friends: for all things that I heard
from My Father I have made known unto you" (v. 15).

By this communication of the Father's counsels and ways, a
communication constantly being made to us by the Spirit through the
Word, Christ brings us into partnership with Himself; in His purposes,
interests and operations, we are His friends. This is more than the
friendship produced by loving obedience. To be partners is a greater
privilege than to be servants.

His next word provides a beautiful connection. In making them His
friends to share in His thoughts and purpose He it was who took the
initiative: "Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you,
that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide:
that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name He may give it
you" (v. 16). This is not election to eternal life, it is choice for
service and fruitfulness. The statement looks back to two facts, one
to the immediately preceding subject of the combined service and
friendship, consequent upon the communication of the Father's counsels
and operations made to the disciples through the Son, the other to the
first part of the chapter, where the Lord was speaking of the union
with Himself as the requisite for fruitbearing.

PRIVATE COMMUNION AND VISIBLE POWER

This metaphor is resumed. The word rendered "appointed" is,
literally, "set in" (i.e., 'I set you in Me'). But now there is more
than the union of branches with the stem. There is all the consequent
activity of the mission which lay before them.

With all true believers there is the double condition necessary,
first the privacy of vital and intimate communion, with the
realisation of partnership with Him, and then, and then only, the
spiritual and visible activity of producing results for His glory; not
for spectacular display, but by the quiet yet earnest response to the
guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. Such

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fruitfulness goes on from time into eternity. And the secret of it all
is the power of prayer, prevailing prayer.

VERSES 17 TO 27

THE WORLD'S ENMITY

The renewal of the command in verse 17 to love one another is a
connecting link between what has preceded and what now follows (cp.
14:25; 15:11; 16:1, 25, 33). As to the preceding, the one thing
compatible with those who know what union and friendship with the Lord
are, is that they should love one another. But this the more so owing
to the antagonism of the world (cp, 1 John 3:11 to 14). Outer hatred!
Inner love! In all this their identification with Christ is
exemplified. "If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated Me
before it hated you" (v. 18). This introduces certain principles,
spiritual truths governing the condition; these principles are the
subject of 15:18 to 27. In 16:1 to 15 the Lord gives details of
actions.

We have seen how He speaks to His own, first as His members
participating in His life, then as His friends participating in His
love. Now He shows that they are to be His followers, participating in
His work. But this last means opposition and hatred from the world and
consequent experiences of suffering and trial. But that means triumph
and glory through the ministry of the Comforter.

"If the world hateth you;" the "if" expresses, not a possibility,
but a fact. And the explanation is clear: "If ye were of the world,
the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but
I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (v. 19).
There is in the world a pervading characteristic, a sort of affection
for those who naturally belong to it, and this is indicated by the
phrase "its own." The verb _phileo, here used of its love, indicates
what is merely natural, in contrast to _agapao, to love by way of
moral choice. The fellowship created by Christ in choosing His
disciples out of the world and uniting them to Himself, conforming
them to His own likeness, is radically and essentially contrary to the
spirit of the world. Therefore it hates both Him and them. The
fivefold mention of the "world"

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emphasises what He says of it. Similarly five times John speaks of it
in his First Epistle.

The Lord now reminds them of what He had already said, "A servant
is not greater than his lord." Before, this statement inculcated
likeness to His in lowliness of service; now it speaks of
identification with Him in treatment by the world: "If they persecuted
Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word (which they had
certainly not done), they will keep yours." The change to "they" is
noticeable; the term "the world" suggested its oneness in nature and
attitude, the plural suggests its varied antagonistic efforts: "But
all these things will they do unto you for My Name's sake (because of
My Name)." His Name is expressive of His character and ways, all being
contrary to those of the world.

HIS WITNESS AGAINST THE WORLD

In both respects He revealed the Father who sent Him. In both
respects His followers represent Him. Having no real knowledge of the
Sender, the world failed to recognise the Sent. The Sent One came in
Person and spoke to them; hence the extreme degree of their sin. "If I
had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they
have no excuse for their sin." The Lord thus showed that He was ready
to make allowance were it possible. Their sin was unbelief. They could
not plead ignorance. Their unbelief developed into hatred.

The evidence He had given was twofold and overwhelming. He had
Himself borne witness that He and the Father were One. In hating Him
they hated His Father also (v. 23). Then there was the witness of His
works: "If I had not done among them the works which none other had
done, they had not had sin: but now they have both seen and hated both
Me and My Father." Their unbelieving malice had therefore a double
condemnation.

Behind all this witness was that of the Scripture, which He
speaks of as "their law." They boasted in it, blind to the fact that
it testified against themselves: "They hated Me without a cause."

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ADDITIONAL WITNESS

This instruction concerning the world and its treatment of them
had been imparted with regard to the witness that was yet to be given
in it by them. For this object adequate provision would be made. The
contrasting "But" connects the past with the future: "But when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear
witness of Me, and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with Me
from the beginning " (vv. 26, 27).

There is strong emphasis on the pronouns "I" and "He," the first
stressing the Lord's own action, the second the importance of the Holy
Spirit's action. The Lord speaks of Him now as "The Spirit of truth;"
this is additional to what He mentioned in 14:16 and 26, and is
appropriate to the subject of the witness to be given, for the truth
describes the matter of the witness. Also He "proceedeth from the
Father;" this describes a going forth that is constant, but of which
His coming at the promised time was to be a special act. The witness
of the Apostles would be by reason of their having been with Christ
from the beginning, that is, from the beginning of His public
manifestation and ministry (Acts 1:2, 21, 22; 5:32; 1 John 1:1 to 3).

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CHAPTER XVI

VERSES 1 TO 11

THE ESTABLISHING WORD

The very fact that they would be witnessing to Him amidst fierce
hostility produces the reminder that He was about to leave them, and
that this was necessary if they were to experience the provision He
was about to make for them, so that they might be both delivered and
empowered. If they were to have the help they must be alive to the
danger.

"These things have I spoken unto you (i.e., especially verses 18
to 27 of chapter 15) that ye should not be made to stumble" (16:1);
the word here is a warning, not against being tripped up in the path,
but against a sorrowful reaction of thought in being disappointed at
not seeing the Kingdom set up in the world through the conversion of
Israel. Let not their faith be staggered by the hostile fanaticism of
Jewish leaders in excommunicating them, and even killing them as an
act of service to God (vv. 1, 2). Let them bear in mind the reason for
it all, namely, ignorance of the Father and Himself. Let them
remember, when the antagonism burst upon them, that it was but
fulfilling what He had foretold, and thus let the very adversities be
but reminders of His ministry of love that very evening (vv. 3, 4).

"These things," He says, "I said not unto you from the beginning,
because I was with you." The phrase 'from the beginning" is to be
noted; it is not "at the beginning" (as in the A.V.). He had told them
"at the beginning" (see Matt. 10:16 to 25), but He had not continued
all along to do so and thus disconcert their minds. For He was with
them, and what they needed was His Person and His teachings concerning
Himself. One forewarning was enough.

A WARNING

This has its lesson for us. We must never allow difficulties and
distresses in the future so to preoccupy our minds that we shall

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lose our enjoyment of His own Person and love and power. Let not dark
circumstances obscure the light of His countenance and glory.

Now He was going to Him who sent Him, and, instead of faith and
hope, nothing but sorrow filled their hearts. True they had asked
whither He was going (13:36 and 14:5), but the enquiries were by way
of despair and perplexity, not of hope. "Nevertheless," He says, "I
tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away (the
pronouns 'I' are emphatic): for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto you." It was
expedient in more ways than one. The very loss would be gain. Sight
would give place to faith, the all important factor in present
service. They would pass from a stage of training to qualified
activity. Their earthly companying with the Lord would be exchanged
for the power of the indwelling Spirit of God, ministering Christ to
and through them.

Two different words are rendered "go" in verse 7; twice the verb
_apeltho indicates departure from the place left, i.e., from the
world; the last verb _poreutho indicates the journey to the place and
the object in view, Heaven and God. The former suggests the
inevitable, the latter the purposive.

A THREEFOLD CONVICTION

Verses 8 to 15 present two contrasting operations of the Holy
Spirit after His coming. The former has to do with the world, the
latter with the disciples. As to the world He would convict it "in
respect of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment: of sin, because
they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father,
and ye behold Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this
world hath been judged." The significance of the word rendered
"convict," is to bring home the evils of false notions and gross
errors.

The three subjects pertain to the realm of conscience. They have
to do with the state and attitude of man in regard to God and His
claims. They are factors in the ancient and continued controversy
between God and man from the beginning of human sin onward. But the
Lord shows that, since His own coming into the scene, a new and
special test is applied. The test relates to, and centres in, Himself.
It is applied by the Holy Spirit. As to

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the first, conviction in respect of sin is not of a transgression of
God's Law; it goes deeper, it goes to the root of sin, namely,
unbelief. For all sin is essentially unbelief. That was so with Adam
and Eve and had been so all along. But now, with the new test, the
evil consists in refusal to believe on Christ: "because they believe
not on Me."

As to the second, conviction in respect of righteousness is not
because man has departed from the right ways of God. That is so. But
now in Christ righteousness had been realised in man for the first
time and was duly to be vindicated by His enthronement at the right
hand of God: "of righteousness, because I go to the Father" (a
different word again for "go;" _hupago, which might fully be rendered
'I go My way;' cp. John 8:21; 16:5). The world had refused to
recognise His righteousness; they counted Him a demon-possessed
blasphemer and numbered Him among the transgressors. As to His right
to be raised from the tomb, with the issues at the right hand of the
Father, they concocted a lying fable about that. The Lord adds very
significantly "and ye behold Me no longer" ("behold," _theoreo, is the
word). That meant faith; and the life of faith is a life of practical
righteousness; it is a witness to the world of what true righteousness
is. Therefore it is a veritable part of the convicting work of the
Spirit in regard to the world. Appropriately therefore the Lord
associates the life of believers here with His presence with the
Father, as an essential factor in this second process of conviction.

As to the third, conviction in respect of judgment is the
crowning operation. The world dares to pronounce its judgment on its
affairs as if its directing policy would issue in the vindication of
the rights of humanity. The present is "man's day," that is, the time
in which man seeks to walk by the light of his own counsels. But man's
estimate is marred by his alienation from God. "The whole world lieth
in the evil one" (1 John 5:19, R.V.). The world will yet find that
out. But the evil one, its prince, met his doom at the Cross. Then was
fulfilled the word of the Lord, "the prince of this world cometh, and
hath nothing in Me." The triumph of Christ at Calvary meant the
casting out of Satan (cp. Col. 2:15). Since the being who is the 'the
deceiver of the nations' (Rev. 20:3) has been judged, the world is to
be convicted by the Spirit in respect of judgment, the falseness of
its own judgment and the righteous judgment of God.

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VERSES 12 TO 15

As to the Spirit's work in the case of believers, the Lord had
much to say, but that was not the time: "Ye cannot bear them now"
(_arti, just at the present time). There is a Divine economy in the
process of revelation. The Lord had now disclosed matters which He had
hitherto withheld. Truth is tempered to suit the mind's stage of
development. The fulness of truth was to be given when further
experiences relative to Christ had fitted the disciples for it.
"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you
into all the truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what
things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall
declare unto you the things that are to come" (v. 13).

FINALITY OF REVELATION

The first "He" is emphatic (ekeinos, the Person, not an
influence). He is "the Spirit of truth." Truth is His nature, and that
is the guarantee of the character of what He teaches. He would not
only be sent, He would "come," by His own power. He would guide into
the truth, leading into its facts and their meanings by Divinely
arranged progress. Moreover it would be completely given to them in
their lifetime. Nothing would remain to be added by the Church. It
would be sufficient for all generations (Jude 3, R.V.). Just as Christ spoke that which He heard from the
Father (8:38; 15:15), so would the Spirit. He is not a separate Deity,
originating truth. The Three are One. He would declare the coming
things, i.e., all things relative to this period and the coming ages.

As to the world the Lord said, "He shall bear witness of Me," and
as to the mode of His ministry, "for He shall take of Mine (more
fully, out of that which is Mine), and shall declare it unto you" (v.
14). The whole of the New Testament is the great proof of the
fulfilment of this, and by means of the entire Scriptures the Spirit
of truth has been fulfilling it to and through believers ever since.
Yet not all has been unfolded thus far. The _ek, out of, is to be
taken literally. There remains yet more in the ages to come.

He gives a reason for this promise in repeating it, and the
reason is this: "All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine"

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(v. 15). He thus shows not only the unity between the Father and
Himself in Godhood, but points out the vastness of the storehouse of
Divine possessions from which the revelations and unfoldings are to be
made. "The Spirit searches all things, yea the deep things of God."

VERSES 16 TO 33

SOEROW TO BE TURNED INTO JOY

The ministry of the Spirit would be given amidst seasons of
sorrow and trial for all believers. The Lord now prepares the
disciples for this. He first reminds them that He is about to leave
them, but there is joy to come from His own Person: "A little while,
and ye behold Me no more; and again a little while, and ye shall see
Me" (v. 16). The first "little while" was a few hours, and then after
some days He would cease to be seen of them (in the sense of the verb
_theoreo, a visible beholding). He would be seen by the eye of faith
indeed. But there is surely more than this in the _opsesthe, "ye shall
see (Me)." The Apostle John uses this very verb and the same tense in
1 John 3:2, and the Lord doubtless had in mind His future return, as
He had said in 14:3. For the time being the disciples were perplexed.
The Lord noticed that they were enquiring among themselves, and
satisfied their questionings by His further disclosures (vv. 17 to
22).

They would indeed weep and lament, while the world rejoiced, but
Christ Himself, first by His resurrection and appearances, would turn
their sorrow into joy, and since everything centred in His death and
resurrection, the very cause of their sorrow would be the cause of
their joy. For Him and for them the experiences found their analogy in
the birth pangs of a woman in her travail with the resulting joy in
the birth of her son. His own bitter hours on the Cross and the
triumphant joy of the vacant tomb were to have their counterpart in
their experiences, for He had identified them with Himself. He saw of
the travail of His soul and was satisfied. God loosed the birth pangs
of death, because it was not possible that He should be holden of it
(Acts 2:24).

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He did see them again, their heart did rejoice, and no one could
take their joy from them (see, e.g., Acts 5:41). But what was
experienced in that way, and has been ever since, is not the complete
fulfilment of the Lord's reassuring words of promise. The best, the
complete, fulfilment will be brought about when He comes to receive us
to Himself and takes us into His Father's House above.

COMMUNION, SUFFERING, VICTORY

The Lord now completes His confirmatory comfort and assurance.
The intercourse they had enjoyed with Him in bodily presence was about
to be changed, not to end, but to continue in a different condition.
There was an intercourse during the forty days after His resurrection
(Acts 1:1 to 8), but the new experience was to be marked by a
different mode of access and by a new mode of communion. "And in that
day ye shall ask Me nothing (margin, ask Me no question). Verily,
verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, He
will give it to you in My Name. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My
Name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be fulfilled" (vv.
23, 24). This all combines immediate access and mediation (see Eph.
2:18; 3:12).

CONCERNING PRAYER

There is a change in the verbs to ask. The first, _erotao,
primarily means to ask by way of enquiry, and then by request. The
second, _aiteo, means to ask by way of petition. A nearer relation is
involved in _erotao than in _aiteo. _Erotao had been used of the
disciples with regard to Christ (v. 19) and is used in verse 26 of
Christ's address to the Father; so in 17:9, 15, 20; cp. the change in
1 John 5:16. The Lord did not mean that no prayer must be offered to
Him afterwards. They did address Him in prayer, Acts 1:24; 7:59; 9:13,
etc. What He does stress particularly is His own ministry of mediation
and the effect of prayer addressed to the Father. What He gives He
does so in the Name of the Lord Jesus, that is, by reason, of all that
the Name implies in relation to the Father (see on 14:14; 14:26;
15:16). The conditions for prayer being thus fulfilled, the answers
are designed to fill the heart with joy, a joy of which no foe, no
adverse circumstance, can deprive us.

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But there was to be a change in the nature of the unfoldings of
truth. The Lord would not again adopt the use of "proverbs," a word
including different modes of figurative language. He would speak
"plainly" of the Father. The word is to be taken in its wider sense of
freedom of speech. The time for fulness of utterance was coming. No
longer would the mind be needing a gradual process of training. The
communications would impart a full assurance of understanding. All
this became characteristic of the ministry of the Spirit to and
through the Apostles. The subject is "the Father," and the Lord at
once communicates plain and direct truth concerning Him.

He says, "In that day ye shall ask in My Name, and I say not unto
you that I will pray (make request of) the Father for you: for the
Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me and have believed
that I came forth from the Father" (vv. 26, 27). Firstly, He does not
say He will not pray the Father; He actually proceeded to do so (ch.
17), and He "maketh intercession for us" (Rom. 8:34); His negative way
of putting it "I say not ..." is simply a way of preparing for the
strong positive assurance which immediately follows. Secondly, the
preposition _peri here means "concerning" ("I will pray the Father
concerning you"). The same preposition He has just used in regard to
telling them concerning the Father. Thirdly, He gives a reason for His
interest concerning them, in that the Father Himself loves them
because of their love for Christ and their faith regarding Him.

UNORIGINATED SONSHIP OF CHRIST

Now follow His plain statements concerning the Father and
Himself, fundamental facts of the utmost importance, a climax in His
communication: "I came out from the Father, and am come into the
world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father" (v. 28).
These four facts summarise the history of Christ. The first takes us
to His past eternity. There is a significant change of preposition. In
verse 27 He said, "Ye have believed that I came forth from (para, from
with) the Father" (so the R.V., instead of "from God"). But now He
says "I came out from (ek) the Father." This is a deeper truth, it is
more than a recognition of the faith of the disciples. The _ek

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indicates a complete oneness of essence, of the Father and the Son, in
the past eternity. Those who deny the pre-eternal Sonship of Christ
fail, for one thing among others, to discern the significance of this
_ek; it definitely implies the essential relationship of Christ as the
Son of the Father before He became Incarnate, He did not become the
Son at His Birth.

The second covers the facts of His Birth, Incarnation, Death,
Burial and Resurrection. The third marks His Ascension, the fourth His
return to the Father, to the One standing in the same relation to Him
as in the eternal past. His coming out and His return are each
inseparable from His Sonship. The coming out does not suggest that the
Father ceased to be with Him. It could not be so. He said "I and the
Father are One." "The Father hath not left Me alone."

The doubts were cleared away from the minds of the disciples.
They use a third form of preposition in asserting their faith that He
came from God, the preposition _apo, the least definite of the three;
it gives the general view, as stated by the disciples; _para is more
close in the relation; _ek,
the Lord's other word, is the most intimate.

A CLOSING MESSAGE

His answer, "Do ye now believe?" (not a statement, 'Ye do now
believe') is not a doubt or denial. It is equivalent to an
exclamation, in view of what He is going to state as to the impending
danger and their being scattered: "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is
come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall
leave Me alone; and yet," He says, in giving a closing message of
comfort, "I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." This He
designed to be a reassuring word for them and for all those who, like
Him, pass through conditions of trial and solitude. For He says, with
reference both to this word and all that He had given them, "These
things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye may have peace. In the
world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome
the world" (v. 33).

This sums up much of what He had said. He had given them a
legacy of His own peace (see 14:27). He had reminded them of world
antagonism (15:18 to 25; 16:1 to 4). He had assured them of the issue
in His own case (14:3; 14:18, 20, 21; 16:22)

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and of His victory over the prince of the world (14:30). His very word
"Be of good cheer" suggests that naturally there would be cause for
depression of heart. But against this He is Himself the antidote. He
had been through it all, and had defeated the influences of the world.
He had vindicated truth and righteousness in the face of its deceit
and iniquity. The morrow was to see the crowning triumph, over the
Devil, the world and death, and His word "I have overcome" looks to
the accomplished victory.

But they were to share the victory, and we are to share it, and
the means for this is to fulfil our identification with Him and thus
to obey His command of promise and assurance, "Be of good cheer." We
are to be "more than conquerors through Him that loved us." And our
victory that overcomes is faith (1 John 5:4, 5). It is just our joy in
Christ Himself, our good cheer, that gives us to be more than mere
conquerors. Christ points to this very super-victory in this His
closing word. Victory can bring content. Joy in Christ gives more than
the satisfaction of victory. See Rev. 3:21.

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CHAPTER XVII

VERSES 1 TO 3

INTRODUCTORY

"These things spake Jesus: and lifting up His eyes to Heaven, He
said, Father the hour is come." The mention of His lifting up His eyes
immediately upon His closing word to the disciples, shows that there
was no break in the circumstances. The prayer follows the discourse as
a consummation of the teaching given, linking it all with the Throne.
All that has preceded receives now its interpretation and
ratification. The disciples hear how the Father and the Son
contemplate their condition, how their prospects are regarded by Them,
how their highest interests are the subjects of effective
intercession, and how others with them are to be brought into the same
sphere of eternal blessing and into the bliss of ineffable oneness in
both Father and Son.

In this prayer there is nothing giving the slightest intimation
of infirmity, demerit or defect. Even the tone of entreaty is absent.
There is nothing but the consciousness of a life of the constant,
uninterrupted fulfilment of the Father's will, summed up in the
statement, "I have glorified Thee on the earth." This is but one of
the many such statements of the perfect accomplishment of the Divine
will and counsel: "I have finished the work." "I have manifested Thy
Name." "I have given them the words." "I have kept (them)." These are
declarations and assertions of will impossible to a mere human being.
When He says "Father, I will," He expresses a claim with the complete
consciousness of the right of its accomplishment, as being equally the
will of Him whom He is addressing.

It is the prayer of our "Apostle and High Priest," the Apostle as
sent from God to men, the High Priest interceding for men to God.

There are three interwoven subjects,
(1) concerning Himself (especially vv. 1 to 5):
(2) concerning His followers and messengers (vv. 6 to 20);
(3) concerning other believers (vv. 20 to end).
Matters concerning Himself involve those relating to the Apostles

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and others. These three correspond to those mentioned after Judas had
gone out; (1) 13:31, 32; (2) 13:33; (3) 13:34, 35. This marks the
order and connection throughout.

THE GLORY OF THE PERSONS AND THE WORK

The opening words at once indicate that everything is based upon,
and determined by, the eternal relation "Father ... Thy Son." There is
also the consummating word of time, "The hour." It is the
predetermined hour, fulfilling the past, conditioning the future. It
is the hour of the overthrow of Satan, the hour of atonement and
redemption, bearing their eternal issues. "The hour is come; glorify
Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee." The answer is seen in His
Resurrection, Ascension, and Mediatorial work, and in giving Him all
authority in Heaven and on earth. In the exercise of this authority
and work, with all that it accomplishes; the Son glorified and will
glorify the Father.

LIFE ETERNAL

But this receives its especial expression in what follows: "even
as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh (i.e., all mankind in its
weak state), that whatsoever Thou hast given Him, to them He should
give eternal life" (v. 2). The "whatsoever" is, lit., "all that
which," viewing the gift in its collective aspect and not in its
individual parts. Cp. 6:28 and see again 17:23, 24. But in the giving
of eternal life the individual recipients are in view. Cp. 10:10, 28.
The life is not mere existence, it is an enjoyed possession of
capacities and activities, of affection and devoted energy. This is
brought out in His next words (and His own words they are, despite
arguments assigning them to the writer). This is His own pronouncement
of what really constitutes eternal life: "And this is life eternal,
that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst
send, even Jesus Christ" (v. 3). The word _ginosko, "know," indicates
a knowledge acquired by experience. The tense of the verb here
signifies a continuous course of progressive knowledge. Moreover, it
is a knowledge of Persons, not simply of facts, and this involves
personal contact and intercourse. It is our mind answering to His
mind, our heart to His heart, our appropriating to ourselves

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all that God makes known to us, the Father and the Son revealing
themselves to us by the Holy Spirit.

NOT THE FATHER WITHOUT THE SON

The oneness of Christ with the Father in Godhood is implied in
what the Lord says in regard to the experience of knowing Him, and is
confirmed by the Apostle's testimony, "We know that the Son of God is
come, and hath given us an understanding, that we know Him that is
true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). There is no such
thing as knowing the Father without knowing the Son. No one can know
the true God apart from the Son whom He sent, and who is in Himself
the Personal embodiment and manifestation of the true God. His two
Names Jesus Christ, here mentioned by the Lord concerning Himself in
His prayer, contain the title of Deity, the work for which He came,
and the confirmation of it by God the Father. Hence the
appropriateness of the Names to His immediate utterances. It is His
coming as the Son from the Father and all that His Names convey that
make the knowledge of the One inseparable from the knowledge of the
Other.

He is "the true God." All other objects of veneration are false
gods, and any conception of God which does not accept the oneness of
the Son with the Father in the Godhead, and the oneness of the Spirit
in the same Godhead, as taught by the Lord and in the Scriptures of
truth, is a misconception. There is no eternal life possible without
the knowledge of the Father and the Son in this oneness by the
operation of the Spirit.

VERSES 4 AND 5

GLORIFYING AND GLORY

The statement "whom Thou didst send" leads to the mention of the
fulfilment of that for which He was sent: "I glorified Thee on the
earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do."
Up till now he had used the third person with reference to Himself,
giving an introductory review of the

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great facts concerning His relation as the Son, and the plan of the
ministry of eternal life through Him. Now He changes to the first
person "I." The contrast of circumstances is striking. "I glorified
Thee:"--a life of unsullied brightness of glory in fulfilling the
Father's will: "on the earth,"--a scene of grossest darkness in the
human rejection of Himself and His testimony. He finished the work,
not simply bringing it to an end, but perfectly fulfilling it and
achieving its object. It was His meat to do the will of Him who sent
Him and to accomplish His work (4:34). This is His example for every
true follower who realises that what he engages in doing is given him
to be fulfilled for His glory.

THE GLORY OF PRE-EXISTENT SONSHIP

And now comes the sequel, expressed in a desire certain of its
fulfilment, a desire that, looking to the immediate future, goes back
to the eternal past: "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine
own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was"
(v. 5). There are three parts to this which call for reverent
attention:
(1) the bestowment of honours merited by, and consequent upon, the
perfected work--"glorify Thou Me:"
(2) "with Thine own self," not "by," but "with," _para, expressing
presence with (the same word as in the next clause, "with Thee"):
(3) "with the glory which I had with Thee," not merely before He
came as the Sent One, but before the world had its being from the
Creator's hands. This is the glory of essential and unoriginated
Deity, of a Being uncreated, a Personal Being and not an ideal
existence, and an eternal relationship as the Son; for it is a glory
"with Thee," the Father--a clause in itself exposing the errors of
Arianism, Socinianism, present-day cults, and the denial of the
eternal Sonship of Christ. It was a glory which "I had," not which "I
received."

VERSES 6 TO 8

FACTS CONCERNING THE DISCIPLES

The Lord now mentions seven facts concerning His followers:
(1) He had manifested the Father's Name to them;
(2) they were the Father's gifts to Him out of the world;

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(3) they had kept His word;
(4) they had known that what belonged to the Son came from the
Father;
(5) the words given them by the Son were given Him by the Father;
(6) they had received them;
(7) they knew that He came forth from the Father as sent by Him.

It is clear that the purpose in all this was to prepare these men
for their service as instruments in bearing testimony for Him, with
all its consequences. In manifesting the Name he had declared all that
God is, His nature, counsels, and ways and works (cp. 1:18). His
disciples were given Him "out of the world," humanity in its
alienation from God and in its darkness. They belonged to the Father,
not merely as being foreknown by Him, but by being actually and
personally related to Him. They were given to Him not merely by Divine
purpose, but as delivered by the Father to Him for His possession,
care and instruction. With joy He could say, that they had responded
to it; "they have kept Thy word." And not merely the teaching as a
whole but the very words of which it consisted.

These teachings were not simply His; He taught every detail as
that which He received from the Father. In receiving His words they
had accepted the truth concerning His Person as the One who came forth
from the Father and was sent by Him. That was the great preparation
for their mission. They were raised above the perplexities, the cavils
and criticisms of false teachers.

VERSES 9 TO 19

A RADICAL DISTINCTION

They were to be left, but not without the Divine help they would
need. So the Lord begins with His own High Priestly intercession: "I
pray (erotao, I make request) for them (the 'I' is especially
emphatic): I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou has given
Me; for they are Thine." The distinction is solemn and radical:--the
disciples--the world. Not that He had not the interests of the world
before Him. He was about to send them into it that all men might
believe and be saved. But the uppermost and immediate interests are
those of His own. They are equally the Father's and His: "and all

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things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine." To say, "whatever
is mine is Thine," is possible for any believer, but no one but the
Son of God could ever say, "all things that are Thine are Mine."

The next words "and I am glorified in them" would seem to refer
to the disciples; for Christ was, and continued to be, glorified in
them. It is possible, however, to read thus: "All things that are
Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them," for God orders all things
so that they may be for the glory of His Son.

KEPT IN THE NAME

Now comes the special point of His intercession for the disciples
as those who are to be still in the world, with all that this entails:
"And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come
to Thee; Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name which Thou hast given Me,
that they may be one, even as We are" (v. 11). He had Himself
experienced all the hostility and adverse conditions of the world, and
He feels for those who are to be in it still. It is full of everything
unholy and unwholesome, baneful to the spiritual life and antagonistic
to endurance and power. All the time He was with them, He kept them,
"in Thy Name," He says, "which Thou hast given Me: and I guarded them,
and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the
Scripture might be fulfilled" (v. 12). How He kept them, teaching and
training them amidst all the circumstances of an adverse character in
the nation's condition is brought out in the narratives of the
Gospels. So to the end; see 18:8, 9.

But He kept them in the Name the Father had given Him. That is
the better reading. Since the Name conveys all that God is as revealed
in Christ, all the truth concerning Him, in nature, character and
ways, had been the very sphere and element in which the Lord had
guarded, taught and trained these men. For the subject of the Name see
further at verse 26 and at Exodus 33:19 and 34:5, 6. The fulness of the Name is again and again mentioned in
the Epistles as "Christ Jesus (or Jesus Christ) our Lord" (see, e.g.,
Rom. 5:11, 21; 6:11, 23). In all that this meant He made request that
they might still be kept. And on their behalf He addresses the Father
as "Holy Father;" for they were, and we are to be, holy, for He is
holy. They were, and we are, by nature unholy and in an unholy world.

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HOLINESS

Holiness is a quality which is essential to true spiritual unity;
anything short of it makes for division and discord. The unity is
designed for believers, and will be manifested hereafter. It is not
simply likemindedness, nor mere acknowledgment of the truth, it is the
very character of God manifested in all circumstances and activities.

The "son of perdition" stands out in contrast. That kind of
phrase describes the character and effect of a man's moral state, as
the manner of his life (e.g., 1 Sam. 25:17; Matt. 23:31; Luke 6:35;
Eph. 2:2), and not a destiny. The Scripture, being God-breathed, has
the character of accurate prediction; it has never been, and could not
be, falsified. Christ had shown, in regard to this very person that
He, the Living Word, was possessed of Divine powers of knowledge
(13:18).

JOY

But they were not only to be kept, it was His desire that they
might be filled with joy, His own joy experienced in them: "But now I
come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may
have My joy fulfilled in themselves" (v. 13). This plainly intimates
that the Lord purposely spoke these things in their hearing. But why
does He say "in the world" instead of "in their hearing"? He had
expressed the same desire to them directly (15:11). The world,
however, was the scene of so much that would tend to cast down and
depress (and He was leaving them in it), that He repeats this great
desire, addressing it to Him to whom He was coming, that the joy that
characterised Him might continue and be fulfilled in them.

But not only was His own sustaining joy to be theirs, it would be
maintained by the word He had given them, the Father's word. The Word
of God, accepted and kept, ministers joy to the heart. To keep His
word is, however, contrary to the spirit of the world and produces its
hatred: "I have given them Thy Word; and the world hated them, because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not
that Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest
keep them from the evil one" (vv. 14, 15). To remove them from

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the world would leave the effects of their presence and of their very
mission unaccomplished. But the negative way first of making the
request served only to stress the urgency of the positive desire. For
the being who had sought to hinder and defeat Him was still active,
and would be, in spite of his initial overthrow at the Cross. There
lay, and there lies, the great danger.

THE EVIL ONE

The Lord had spoken of the evil one (Matt. 13:19), not as a
sinister influence, but as a person, and the Epistles bear this out in
frequent passages. The Apostle Paul assures the church at Thessalonica
that God would guard them "from the evil one" (2 Thess. 3:3). The
Apostle John speaks of him five times thus and says in the closing
passage of his First Epistle, in words which re-echo the Lord's, "We
know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not (present continuous
tense, 'doth not go on doing sin'); but He that was begotten of God
(i.e., the Son of God, 4:9) keepeth him (R.V.), and the evil one
toucheth him not. We know that we are of God, and the whole world
lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5:18, 19).

The preposition "from" in "from the evil one" is _ek, out of, and
is used of deliverance from persons, e.g., Acts 26:17.

SANCTIFICATION

In verse 16 the Lord says again, "They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world," and this precedes a request for their
deliverance: "Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth."
Sanctification is a state of separation to God; all believers enter
into this state when they are born of God; but sanctification is also
used of the practical experience of this separation to God, and is the
effect of the Word of God as learned by the Holy Spirit, and is to be
pursued by the believer earnestly, 1 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 12:14. In
this sense of the word the Lord prays here; and here it has in view
the setting apart of believers for the purpose for which they are sent
into the world: "As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so send I
them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they
themselves also may be sanctified in truth " (v. 18, 19). That He set
apart Himself for the purpose

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for which He was sent, is both the basis and the condition of our
being set apart for that for which we are sent (cp. 10:36). His sanctification is the pattern of, and the
power for, ours. The sending and the sanctifying are inseparable. The
words "in truth" mean "in reality," i.e., in practical experience (as
in Matt. 22:16; Col. 1:6; 2 John 1).

VERSES 20 TO 24

PRAYER FOR ALL BELIEVERS

"Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe
on Me through their word." The Lord uses the present tense "them that
believe," as He views the vast company forming the Church, the outcome
of their initial ministry by tongue and by pen, the latter inclusive
of the Gospels as well as the Epistles. In this connection the
foundations of the future city of glory have on them the names of "The
Twelve Apostles of the Lamb." The purpose of the request is the same
as that made for those who were listening to Him that evening, "that
they all may be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee,
that they also may be in Us" (v. 21), lit., 'one thing' in us
(neuter), not indicating the elimination of individual life, but the
oneness as of a body in its various members, each developing its
activity as part of the whole.

The great object looks on to the time when the Church will be
completed and manifested with Him in glory at His Second Advent. The
world will then be brought to accept all the facts involved in His
being sent, and that for the very purpose He has expressed. There are
three purposes,
(1) oneness in themselves as with the Father and Son;
(2) oneness in Them ("in Us"), the essential sphere and relation of
the oneness;
(3) recognition by the world.

IMPARTED GLORY EXPRESSED IN UNITY

This is confirmed and expanded in His next words, "And the glory
which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one,
even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be
perfected into one; that the world may

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know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst
Me" (vv. 22, 23). What this imparted glory is receives an explanation
from 1 Peter 1:21, "God ... raised Him from the dead and gave Him
glory." It is the glory therefore of resurrection and reception into
His presence. How the Lord Jesus will impart this glory to all
believers is stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. He will "fashion anew
the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of
His glory" (Phil. 3:21). At that moment and from that time believers
will be one, even as the Father and the Son are one. The fulfilment
and completeness is to be realised in the indwelling of Christ and the
Father in each and all: "I in them, and Thou in Me." The perfecting
into one will be accomplished by, and consist in, our being "like Him;
for we shall see Him even as He is" (1 John 3:2). There will be a
participation by all in this perfect likeness. Then will be fulfilled
the word, "whom He justified, them He also glorified" (Rom. 8:30).

Then will the world be made to recognise not only the great
truths concerning Christ as the One sent by the Father (see v. 21),
but that all that is accomplished is the effect of the love of God the
Father towards believers, as definite as His love for His Son (see v.
26). For the fulfilment in regard to the world see, e.g., 2
Thessalonians 1:10; Revelation 1:7. For the love of Christ as that
which is to be recognised by the world, see Revelation 3:9.

THE LORD'S WILL

Thus far the Lord has said three times "I pray" (I make
request); now He says "I will:" "Father, that which Thou hast given
Me, I will that, where I am, they also may be with Me." This and what
follows are a consummation of all that has preceded regarding those
who are His. It brings everything to the complete fruition of all the
Divine counsels and operations on their behalf. Accordingly His
desires now find their expression in a word which conveys the equality
of the Son and the Father in counsel and purpose. Again He speaks of
His people first as a totality, a complete entity, "that which Thou
hast given Me," and then as a company of individuals, "that they may
be with Me."

His will concerning them is twofold: (1) their being with Him,

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(2) that they may behold His glory; each is involved in his relation
to Him. Of the first He had given them a promise (14:3), and now His
will completes all that He has added: "that they may behold My glory,
which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of
the world" (v. 24). This is the glory already mentioned in verse 22, a
glory given, and now as a proof that the Father loved Him "before (not
'from,' as in Matt. 25:34, as to the earthly Kingdom) the foundation
of the world." To behold His glory will be to be like Him (cp. Psalm
17:15).

VERSES 25, 26

THE CONCLUDING FACTS AND PURPOSE

Just as the title "Holy Father" was used as appropriate to the
holiness of His followers (v. 11), so now regarding the world and its
unrighteous state of ignorance of God, the Lord says, "O righteous
Father." God had endowed man with a capacity for knowing Him, with
resulting fulfilment of His will and obedience to His command. He
would thus have been "right with God." The world refused to have Him
in knowledge (Rom. 1:28). To the Jews He said "ye have not known Him,
but I know Him" (8:55). So now He says "the world indeed (kai) knew
Thee not, but I knew Thee (looking back on the contrast experienced in
the days of His flesh); and these knew that Thou didst send Me" (v.
25).

Then comes the close; it is retrospective, prospective and
purposive. That which He had been doing for His own, He will continue
to do, and that with one great object: "and I made known unto them Thy
Name (cp. 15:15), and will make it known (see 14:26 and 16:13); that
the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them, and I in them." He
continued to make the Name known during the forty days after His
resurrection; He continued to do so by the Holy Spirit through the
Apostles after Pentecost; He has done so ever since by the ministry of
the Spirit in and through the Scriptures of truth; and this will not
cease in the ages to come.

Finally, as to the purpose, the love of the Father to Him is
designed to dwell in us by reason of the perpetual indwelling of

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Christ Himself. Were our hearts in such a condition that this love
might be the controlling power over our lives, we should learn to love
as He loves, to love one another fervently with a pure heart, and so
to manifest the very life and character of Christ. That kind of life
it is which will meet with the highest reward hereafter.

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CHAPTER XVIII

VERSES 1 TO 11

It was in a garden where God had walked with man in perfect
communion that man treacherously handed over the springs of his being
to the spiritual foe and was at enmity with God. It was again in a
garden, where Christ had held communion with His disciples, that one
of them, having treacherously handed over his being to the human foe,
manifested his enmity against the Son of God and betrayed Him.

THE TRAITOR'S PRECAUTIONS

Judas had had experience of the power of Christ in various ways.
Determined therefore to make sure of the carrying out of his object,
he obtained "a band of soldiers," a Roman cohort together with
officers, or the Temple guard, from the chief priests (Luke includes
some of the latter themselves) and Pharisees, and guided this large
company, carrying lanterns and torches, to the familiar spot. These
elaborate preparations were perhaps made because of the possibility
that Jesus might do as He had done before, and hide Himself and
escape. There was no need for all this precaution: "Jesus ... knowing
all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth, and saith unto
them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith
unto them, I am He."

Three facts stand out conspicuously in these circumstances. The
form of the verb rendered "betrayed" in verses 2 and 5 indicates the
whole process of the treachery of Judas. It is, literally, 'the one
betraying Him,' and while it is almost equivalent to a title, it
indicates the whole course of his procedure.

THE EFFECT OF THE JEHOVAH NAME

Secondly, that Jesus went forth to meet the company indicates the
voluntary character of His sacrifice. The hour had come for

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the great fulfilment of His becoming obedient even unto death. Hence
the significance of His word to Peter, "Put up the sword into the
sheath; the cup which the Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?"
(v. 11).

Thirdly, there is the striking effect of the Lord's reply to His
foes, who stated that they were seeking Jesus of Nazareth. The words
_ego _eimi, "I am," were to Jewish ears the equivalent of the name
Jehovah. That the company went backward and fell to the ground, was
the effect, not of guilt confronted with innocence, but of the majesty
and power of His utterance. The fact that He permitted them to rise
again and seize Him serves to confirm the voluntary character of His
giving Himself up to death.

And now He shows His loving care for, and His power to defend,
His followers, as a shepherd cares for his sheep: He says, "if
therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way," thus fulfilling His own
word in 17:12, with a change from "not one of them perished" to "I
lost not one," which brings out forcibly the Lord's own act in
intervening on their behalf.

VERSES 12 TO 27

THE ECCLESIASTICAL TRIBUNALS

The Lord is seized by the cohort ("the band") under their
commander, the military tribune, "the chief captain," as well as the
Jewish officials, and taken before Annas. He was the most influential
member of the hierarchy. He secured the high-priesthood for Caiaphas,
his son-in-law, and for five of his own sons, the last of whom, also
named Annas, put James to death. There were several deposed high
priests in the Sanhedrin, Annas was the acting president. The attitude
Caiaphas would adopt was clear from his statement in 11:50, an
unconscious prophecy; doubtless too an advice that if Jesus were put
to death the Romans would postpone their enslavement of the nation and
devastation of the land.

The court into which Christ was taken, and into which the
disciple mentioned in verse 15 (almost certainly John) entered was
quadrangular, and around it the high priest's house was built. There was a passage running from the street

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through the front part of the house. This was closed at the street end
by a gate with a wicket, which on this occasion was kept by a maid.
The rooms round the court were open in front; in one of these Jesus
was being examined, and the Lord could see and hear Peter. John had
seen Peter following at a distance and went to the maid with a request
to let him in. She, knowing that the one was a disciple, naturally
greets Peter with the question, "Art thou also one of this man's
disciples?" In confusion at being confronted by such a hostile crowd,
and remembering the blow he had struck in the garden, Peter denies any
such connection. One denial prepared for more.

THE EFFECT OF IMPULSE

The impetuous act of using the sword in the garden was no
inconsiderable factor in bringing about the terrible circumstances of
these denials. We need to be on our guard against acting by sudden
impulse on any occasion. One act of mistaken zeal in the energy of the
flesh may have a bearing upon ensuing circumstances which are fraught
with dire consequences.

Had Peter been void of self-confidence, and had he heeded the
Lord's warning, he might have acted otherwise than remaining in the
company of the servants and officers warming himself with them by the
fire. That was a position full of danger. The repetition of the fact
in the record is very suggestive: "Peter also was with them, standing
and warming himself" (v. 18), and again, after an interval, "Now Simon
Peter was standing and warming himself" (v. 25).

In the conversation his Galilean accent was readily detected.
"They said therefore unto him, Art thou also one of His disciples?"
That produced a second denial. In the groups was a servant of the high
priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. "Did not I
see thee," he says, "in the garden with Him?" Peter therefore denied
again: and straightway the cock (rather, "a cock") crew. This, Luke
tells us, was about an hour after the second denial. Then it was that
the Lord turned and looked on Peter, either from the room looking out
into the court, or as He was being led across the court. That brought
Peter to himself and he went out and wept bitterly. The tenderness of
the look brought home the terrible nature of the guilt, and saved him
from blank despair.

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This is all written for our admonition, a warning against
self-confidence, against planning our own steps, against associating
with the world even with a good motive, and a strong reminder that,
should we fail to take heed to ourselves and fall, He who went to the
Cross for our sakes, yearns for our restoration and has provided the
means for it.

JEWISH ILLEGALITIES

The record of the trial before Annas and Caiaphas is brief.
Nothing could be done until Pilate's ratification. Every detail of the
trial was illegal. It was illegal to hold it at night at all. The high
priest asked Jesus both about His disciples and about His teaching. He
answers nothing concerning them, shielding them from the unscrupulous
ways of these foes. Concerning Himself His statements as to the
openness of His teaching stand in contrast to their secret method.
"Why askest thou Me?" He says. "Ask them that heard Me" (not the
disciples, but witnesses present). Witnesses for the defence should be
heard first.

The act of the attendant officer who struck Jesus with the palm
of his hand (not with a rod, as R.V., margin) was particularly noted
by John. The meek yet firm reply of the Lord was sufficient to finish
that part of the proceedings. "Annas therefore sent Him bound unto
Caiaphas."

A SUMMARY OF 18:28 TO 19:16

PILATE AND THE JEWS

John describes this scene at some length. He records what is
elsewhere omitted, the conference between Pilate and the Jews (18:28
to 32) and the two private examinations by Pilate (18:33 to 38 and
19:8 to 11).

Caiaphas had passed sentence of death on Christ, and now they led
Him into the Praetorium, the official residence of the Procurator. The
circumstances which follow are partly outside this place, partly
inside: in verses 28 to 32 Pilate deals with the Jews, the accusers
outside; in 33 to 37 he deals with Christ inside; in 38 to 40, with
the accusers outside; in 19:1 to 3, with Christ inside (now the
scourging and cruelty take place); in 4 to 7 outside with

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the accusers; in 8 to 11 with Christ, inside (when the Lord's
testimony produces a climax); in 12 to 16, with the Jews outside.

VERSES 28 TO 40

The significance of the statement in verse 28, "and it was
early," is as follows. A Roman court could be held after sunrise. The
occasion being critical, Pilate would be ready to open the court, say,
between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. The Sanhedrin officials were in a
difficulty, as a whole day must intervene between their sentence and
execution. Hence they go at once to Pilate. If he agrees to execute he
can fix the time. So they transferred the breach of their law from
themselves to him.

Their supercilious adherence to the Law prevented their entering
a polluted house, uncleansed from leaven (Exod. 12:15). "Pilate
therefore went out unto them," lit., "went out ... outside unto them,"
with emphasis on the verb "went out," marking his concession to their
religiousness and his anxiety to avoid disturbance.

PILATE'S INTERVIEW

His question as to the accusation (v. 29) has an air of judicial
formality. At the same time the Prisoner looked very unlike a
criminal. On their refusing to name their charge, and with a
combination of contempt and irritation, he tells them to judge Him by
their law. Upon this they raised an accusation with regard to the
Roman power, that He forbade to give tribute to Caesar and claimed to
be a king. Could they not have stoned Him otherwise? However that may
be viewed, the point is that Christ had foretold by what manner of
death He would die. They said it was not lawful for them to do the
execution. He had said He must be "lifted up."

The private interview inside the Praetorium therefore takes
place, and Pilate puts the question "Art Thou the King of the Jews?"
There is stress on "Thou," and the question indicates surprise. Christ
demands that the responsibility of making the charge should be put
upon the right persons (v. 34). Pilate says, "Am I a Jew?" (with
stress on the "I"), brusquely repudiating the idea that he has any
interest in Jewish affairs. So he emphatically

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says, "Thine own nation (the nation that is thine) and the chief
priests delivered Thee unto me. What hast Thou done?"

Three times over in His reply the Lord says, with similar
emphasis, "The Kingdom that is Mine," and likewise, "The servants (or
officers) that are Mine," setting Himself and His affairs in direct
contrast to the world. The "now" in verse 36 indicates that there is
to be a Kingdom hereafter. He shows therefore that His Kingdom could
not engage in conflict with the Kingdom represented by Pilate. The
latter scornfully asks "Art Thou a king, then?" with stress on the
"Thou." If he had any lurking fear of some secret society, it is
removed by Christ's reply, that a King He is, that He had been born
for this, and has come into the world also to bear witness to the
truth. There is special emphasis upon the "I" in the statement "I have
been born to this end." Moreover, He has authority, His voice has
power; everyone who is of the truth (the characteristic of His
Kingdom) is subject to Him, listens to His voice.

PILATE'S INJUSTICE

All this is essentially different from what Pilate had expected.
There is nothing but innocence in such statements. And as for truth,
that sort of thing has no place in the Roman Procurator's mind. With a
sort of combination of impatience and pity, and not in jest or serious
enquiry, he says "What is truth?" Upon this he goes out again to the
Jews, declaring the innocence of the Prisoner and suggesting His
release, according to custom at the Passover. To pronounce the accused
guiltless and then to try and propitiate the savage accusers was the
extreme of weakness. Injustice removed the one means of resisting
their blood-thirstiness.

BARABBAS

Barabbas was popular, he was a bandit (lestes), a man of violence
(not a thief). He rose against the Romans, that which Christ refused
to do. The accusation by the Jews was that Jesus was dangerous to the
Roman government; in reality one great reason for their antagonism was
that He was not against the Government.

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CHAPTER XIX

Verses 1 to 16

According to Luke 23, Pilate had sent Christ to Herod before
this, and Herod, with his troops, maltreated Him and sent Him back to
Pilate. Pilate "took Jesus, and scourged Him." This was not the
immediate preliminary to execution. He doubtless hoped that this might
somehow satisfy the fury of the Jews. This form of Roman scourging
(not that of the lictors' rods; Pilate had no lictors) was barbarously
cruel. The heavy thongs were loaded with metal, and bone was woven
into them, a piece of metal being fastened at the tip. Every cut tore
the flesh from the bones, chest and back (see Psa. 22:17). Eusebius
tells how he saw martyrs sinking down in death under the lashes of
this kind of scourging.

BRUTAL MOCKERY BY TROOPS

Upon this followed the cruelty of the soldiers, who "plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on His head,
and arrayed Him in a purple garment" (a military cloak), and saluting
Him in mockery as a king, put, as Matthew says, a reed (a stout rod,
as a sceptre) in His right hand, spat upon Him, and taking the reed,
one after another, from His hand, smote Him on the head (imperfect
tense in the Greek, i.e., they kept on doing it). See Isaiah 50:6. All
was intentionally a cruel caricature of Jewish hopes of a king.

ECCE HOMO

Pilate now brought Him out, still arrayed (previously he had left
Him inside), and declared again His guiltlessness. With pity rather
than contempt he says "Behold the man." The chief priests and the
Sanhedrin officers, perhaps fearing some signs of compassion among the
people, begin at once to shout "Crucify, crucify." Pilate, goaded into
taunting them, tells them to do it themselves, a thing he knew they
dared not do. They were clever enough

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to advance a new accusation, held in reserve, which might appeal to
his fears. When therefore, they brought the accusation that He made
Himself the Son of God, and so broke their law, fear laid hold of
Pilate, by very reason of this word (_logos, not a mere saying,
_rhema). There was the combination of his wife's message, the
awesomeness of Christ's demeanour throughout, the possibility that,
even according to Roman religion, he had been dealing with the
offspring of a god. Apprehensive about it all he took Jesus into the
Praetorium again and said "Whence art Thou?"

To this Christ gave no answer. For one thing, the information
would have been useless in Pilate's case. For another, the injustice
of his actions could now have only one issue: no explanation would
have altered what was a foregone conclusion. In the next question,
"Speakest Thou not unto me?" the special emphasis is on "me." The
Roman governor could naturally claim power to release or to crucify.
And now, in Christ's last word to him, He shows His judge that He is
Himself the Judge. Any exercise of power by Pilate depended on the
permissive will of a Power "from above." And his Prisoner could
pronounce and measure guilt. The sin of Caiaphas was declared to be
greater than Pilate's.

THE FINAL ARGUMENT

Going again outside he made efforts (more than one, as the
imperfect tense shows) to release Him. At this the accusers played
their last card. To release the Prisoner would endanger the governor's
position. A report would go to a suspicious Emperor (his fear of the
Emperor was real). The political argument succeeded. Pilate brought
Christ out and prepared to pass sentence; it must be passed in public.
He sat down on the judgment-seat (probably a temporary one; there is
no definite article, as everywhere else in the N.T. with _bema), on a
tessellated pavement, called in Aramaic Gabbatha (or raised). His
"Behold, your king !" was uttered in bitter irony. They shouted in one
loud cry (aorist or definite tense), "Away with Him, away with Him,
crucify, crucify."

In declaring that their only king is the heathen Emperor, the
chief priests, the official exponents of Israel's religion, with
blasphemous callousness renounce the faith of their nation. If Pilate

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was guilty of judicial murder, they were guilty of suicide. In his
delivering Christ "unto them to be crucified" (v. 16), the actual
execution would be done by soldiers.

VERSES 17 TO 37

THE DEATH OF CHRIST

"They took Jesus (paralambano, to receive, is used in 1:11 of not
receiving the Father's gift of His Son; here, of receiving Him from
Pilate; in 14:3, of His coming to receive His own to Himself); and He
went out, bearing the cross (stauros, a single beam, a stake, a tree
trunk, not a two-pieced cross, a thing of later arrangement from pagan
sources), for Himself," R.V. (the A.V. misses this point), that is to
say, like the vilest felon. Yet there is in this an underlying
intimation of His voluntariness.

JESUS IN THE MIDST

The name Golgotha, "The place of a skull," refers to the
configuration and markings of the place. At the same time it suggests
the emptiness of all mere human ideas, methods, aims and schemes. John
describes more fully than the Synoptists the fact that the Cross of
Christ was the central one: "They crucified Him, and with Him two
others, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst" (v. 18). The
position assigned may have been a Roman mockery. Yet it serves to make
prominent both the contrasting sinlessness of Christ, and His actual
bearing of our sins, His being "made sin" for us. But further, it
indicates the eternal separation between repentant, saved sinners, as
represented by the converted robber on the one side, and unrepentant,
unsaved sinners, represented by the other on the other side.

Pilate carried on further mockery, writing a title in Hebrew,
Latin and Greek, for the cosmopolitan crowd to read, and putting it on
the Cross: "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." The Septuagint
in Psalm 96:10 has that "the Lord reigned from the tree." Pilate's
contemptuous reply to the objection raised by "the chief priests of
the Jews" (a phrase here only in the N.T.)

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shows that, now that his personal interests were not at stake, he
could be obstinate instead of vacillating.

THE SEAMLESS ROBE

Four soldiers (a small force was sufficient, as there was no more
danger of an outbreak of the mob) divided Christ's garments. These
were the legal perquisites of soldiers who carried out executions. In
casting lots for the seamless tunic they fulfilled Psalm 22:18. As the
high priest's robe was seamless (Exod. 28:6 to 8), the detailed
mention of this by the Apostle John would suggest that this garment of
Christ was symbolic of His High Priesthood (Heb. 8:3).

In the Greek in the closing statement of verse 24 and the first
statement of verse 25, there are two particles setting in marked
contrast the callous doings of the four soldiers and the devoted
attitude of the four women standing by the Cross. This is partly
expressed by the "But." That John here again calls himself the
disciple whom Jesus loved is definitely connected with the Lord's
loving committal of His Mother to him. It was a mark of Christ's love
for His disciple, that He should thus give him a mother and her a son.
John takes her at once to his own home, sparing her from seeing the end.

"I THIRST"

One prophecy remained to be fulfilled. True, He experienced in
terrible measure the physical anguish of thirst. Spiritually, too, He
felt the drought of the condition of being forsaken of God. What,
however, John mentions is that He said "I thirst, knowing that all
things are now finished (or rather have been completed), that the
Scripture might be accomplished."

The stupefying draught mentioned in Matthew 27:34 He refused. He
did not refuse the vinegar or hyssop. Hyssop was appointed in
connection with the passover lamb (Exod. 12:22). Thereupon He said "It
is finished;" all the will of the Father, all the types and
prophecies, all the redemptive work, He declared to have been
fulfilled; "and He bowed His head," He reclined (klino) His head,
putting it into a position of rest, with face turned Heavenward,
indicative of the rest He found in the fulfilment of the will of His
Father, "and gave up His spirit," a voluntary act,

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committing His spirit to the Father. No other crucified person ever
died thus. In every other case the head dropped forward helplessly on
the chest. He had said of His life, "No one taketh it from Me, but I
lay it down of Myself" (10:18). The request of the Jews, in their
scrupulosity as to the sabbath, had been forestalled in the case of
Christ by Psalm 34:20; Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12. But a soldier
pierced His side with a spear, "and straightway there came out blood
and water." God, overruling the act of human enmity, testified to the
efficacy of the Death of Christ. The blood speaks of redemption, and
cleansing, the water speaks of the new birth and separation. Both tell
of life, life bestowed through the giving up of His life in
propitiatory sacrifice; "it is the blood that maketh atonement by
reason of the life" (Lev. 17:11, R.V.), and life is bestowed by the
water of regeneration (Titus 3:5). Accordingly the Apostle lays
special stress on his own evidence: "his witness is true (alethine, not simply truthful, but real, genuine,
fulfilling the conditions of valid evidence), and he knoweth that he
saith true (alethe, true things), that ye also may believe" (v. 35).

VERSES 38 TO 42

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, of whom we hear nothing
afterwards, are representatives of a future remnant of repentant
Israel. Nicodemus would now certainly understand the significance of
the Brazen Serpent (3:14). The tomb was "new" (kainos, fresh, not
newly hewn out), no body ever having been laid in it. Matthew speaks
of its newness, Luke of its freshness.

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CHAPTER XX

VERSES 1 TO 10

THE FIEST EVIDENCE OF RESURRECTION

The first day of the week, the third from the burial, was the day
on which Abraham typically received his son as from the dead; it was
also the day of Jonah's deliverance, and is the day of Israel's future
revival (Hos. 6:2). Mary Magdalene knew Christ as yet only "after the
flesh." Hence her message to Peter. What he saw on entering the tomb
was the evidence, in the very condition of the clothes, of
resurrection. There had not been a tidying of the wrappings. They had
not been disturbed, any more than the tomb and the stone, when the
Lord arose. His body, possessed of supra-natural resurrection power,
left the wrappings, not in a heap, but in the shape in which they had
been. Every detail gave proof of resurrection. That revealed the fact
to both Peter and John (vv. 6 to 8). What they failed to learn and
understand from the Scripture they realised from what they saw. There
was no need to stay and make enquiry: so they went home.

VERSES 11 TO 18

THE SECOND EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION

The outstanding fact about Mary Magdalene is the utter absorption
of her mind and heart in the Person of Christ, whom she regards as
dead and whose lifeless body she wants. She "continued standing,"
after the others had gone. Even the appearance of the two angels in
the tomb did not startle her, nor did their question to her distract
her from her preoccupation. Even though she was thinking only of the
body, the lifeless form was still to her "my Lord." Turning herself,
and thinking that the Person who asked her the same question as did
the angels, was the gardener (Christ's risen body was so changed that

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He was not recognised by those who had known Him), she wanted to know,
should he have taken the body out, where he had put it (she says
"Him") and she would take Him away, the wrappings and the hundred
pounds weight of spices and all! "Jesus saith unto her, Mary." That
awakened the ecstasy of her heart. "He calleth His own sheep by name."
She turned again (she had evidently turned away while thinking she was
talking to the gardener), addressed Him as "Rabboni," in the language
used by the Lord and His followers, and reached out to hold Him. His
command, rendered "Touch Me not," is used in the present continuous
tense and is to be understood with the meaning "Do not hold Me" (or
"Do not be clinging to Me"). "For I am not yet ascended," He says,
"unto the Father." The former intermittent intercourse is to be
replaced by the new and continuous intercourse, but this cannot be
till He is with the Father.

He was going to place them in the same position as His own, of
relationship with His Father and His God. Hence He sends this devoted
soul as His first messenger to His "brethren," to say "I ascend unto
My Father and your Father, and My God and your God." Heavenly, eternal
and infinitely intimate relationship, with all the joy of the love of
the Father and the power of God realised and enjoyed in Christ.

VERSES 19 TO 23

THE THIRD EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION

The "therefore" in verse 19 indicates that it was owing to her
testimony that the disciples assembled. If the news reached the
authorities it would excite their hostility. They gathered "for fear
of the Jews." It was "evening," late in the day; it was "that day,"
the memorable day, but it was still "the first day of the week" (not
the second, though the second had begun in the evening by Jewish
reckoning). A new week-period had begun; it was the Resurrection day;
not the sabbath, there was beginning a perpetual sabbath-keeping of
rest in Christ (Heb. 4:9). "The doors were shut;" that marks two
things, a protection against the Jews and the supernatural entrance of
the Lord. "Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them,

pp183

Peace be unto you." Peace was His last message to them before He went
with them to Gethsemane; it was His first word to them after His
resurrection.

He then shewed them "His hands and His side," and Luke says His
feet (24:39). Whatever other scars there had been were obliterated at
His Resurrection, but not these marks of His crucifixion and the
significant wound in the side. Their sorrow Is turned into joy. He
repeats to them what they had heard Him say to the Father (v. 21 and
17:18). Thereupon "He breathed on them." The same word (here only in
the N.T.) is used in the Septuagint in Genesis 2:7; that was more than
natural life, it was spiritual life as well.

His word "Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (R.V. margin) referred not
merely to His own breath, it was symbolic of the Holy Spirit as about
to be sent at Pentecost. It was connected with their being sent into
the world, and with the effect of their ministry of the Gospel in the
forgiveness of sins by the Spirit's power, or the retention of sins by
the rejection of the message (vv. 23, 24). It was a prophetic act as
well as symbolic.

VERSES 24 TO 31

THE FOURTH EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION

When Thomas, who had been absent, rejoined his brethren, they
repeatedly told him (imperfect tense, _elegon, they kept telling him)
that they had seen the Lord. He had only one reply to make (aorist
tense; _eipen), it was decisive. Doubtless they told him that Christ
had bidden them handle Him and see. Hence his persistent asseveration,
"Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I
will not (a strong negative, I will in no wise) believe."

A week later, the next first day of the week, Thomas being
present, the Lord appears again in the midst, and shows him, by
quoting his words, that He had heard the condition he laid down. This
draws forth immediately the acknowledgment of the authority of Christ
as his Lord and of His Deity as God. Christ accepts both Titles (just
as He accepted the charge of the Jews in 5:18,

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that He made Himself equal with God), and proclaims the blessedness of
the multitudes of those who, not having seen, have yet believed.

Here the Apostle looks back over the whole book he has been
writing, recording the fact that the Lord did many other signs (a
miracle was a sign) in the presence of His disciples. What he wrote
was not a history of Christ, or the life of Christ, but just those
facts which would enable readers throughout this period to believe
"that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (the outstanding fact and
feature of this Gospel); and that believing ye may have life in His
Name." Were He not the Son of God, He would not be the Christ, the
Messiah. Jehovah's Anointed must be very God as well as very man. "In
His Name" indicates that the gift of life comes by reason of His
character, His attributes and His dealings.

pp185

CHAPTER XXI

VERSES 1 TO 14

THE FIFTH EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION

The narrative (miscalled an epilogue) continues the proofs of the
reality of Christ's resurrection. The manner in which the Lord
manifested Himself at the Sea of Tiberias after His resurrection,
forms the closing act, as recorded in this Gospel, of the preparation
of His disciples for their service. On this occasion there were seven
of them. What memories the lakeside had for them! There they had
listened to His teaching. There they had seen wonders of His glory.
Thither their boat had been safely and suddenly brought from out of
the storm that threatened to overwhelm them.

Deciding to pursue their former occupation they had gone "a fishing," had toiled all night, and taken
nothing (cp. Luke 5:5). Natural skill and persistent effort avail
nothing apart from the will and power of the Lord. God brings us to an
end of ourselves that He may give us to see His all-sufficiency to
meet our need. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity."

THE WITHHOLDING AND THE REVEALING

"But when day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach: howbeit
the disciples knew not that it was Jesus" (v. 4, R.V.). As He had
dealt with Mary Magdalene at the tomb and with the two on the road to
Emmaus, so now with these seven. In each case the initial withholding
of His identity had the design of imparting the greater assurance, in
the immediately succeeding manifestation, of the fact of His
resurrection. The brightness of a light is rendered more vivid by an
antecedent darkness. As the natural dawn that morning shone out upon
the darkness of the weary night, so He first veiled the reality of His
Person that the power of the disclosure might be the more effective.

Accordingly, permitting them to regard Him as an ordinary
bystander, He addresses them in the customary and familiar

pp186

manner of such. Our English Versions render His question "Children,
have ye aught to eat?" (A.V., any meat). The word _paidion, translated
"children," was used variously, e.g., of a new-born infant, a more
advanced child, a son. In affectionate, colloquial address, as in the
present instance, our term "lads" would almost represent it.

In response to their somewhat cheerless "No," He says, "Cast the
net on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find." There was still
nothing in that to make His identity known, nothing more than the
natural interest any stranger might take in a fishing enterprise.

A READY RECOGNITION

But now the surprising and magnificent haul, rendering it
impossible to draw the net into the boat, immediately effects in "that
disciple ... whom Jesus loved" the recognition characteristic of
strong and intimate attachment. John's frequent mention of himself in
this way was not, as some have suggested, indicative of the soft character
of a weakling. How could it be so? Was he not described by His Master
as "a son of thunder"? Nor was it a vaunt of superiority over his
fellow-disciples. He does seem to have had a readier, if not fuller,
grasp of spiritual verities. "It is the Lord," he says to Peter.
Ardent, impetuous Peter, first at the sepulchre, and now first to make
for the Lord, girds his coat about him and casts himself into the
water. He had cast himself before into the waters of the same lake to
reach Him in very different circumstances. Acts reveal character. The
impulse which made him leave all behind to go to His Master was the
eagerness of love. This was a renewal, with the added attractiveness
of the Risen Christ, of that former renunciation of all things for
Him, concerning which he had afterwards said, "Lo, we have left our
own, and followed Thee" (Luke 18:28, R.V.).

PROVISION AND CO-OPERATION

Leaving the larger boat in which they had spent the night, the
other disciples come "in the little boat ... dragging the net full of
fishes." Getting out upon the land, with the net and its catch left
for the moment in the water, they see "a fire of coals ...

pp187

and fish (less in size than the 'great' fish of their catch) laid
thereon, and bread." Their Guide becomes their Host.

Nothing is said as to how the Lord provided the repast, and
surmisings are fruitless. There is no indication of the miraculous in
this respect. That He bade them bring of the fish which they had taken
would remove feelings of mere awe and prevent any misgivings. This
token of fellowship on His part added to the homely intimacy of the
feast. Besides this, the kindly gesture serves to remind us how the
Lord delights to use our co-operation in His ministrations, the more
fully to reveal Himself to us in His grace and love.

LESSONS OF DEPENDENCE ON THE LORD

Then there were the lessons of their entire dependence upon
Himself in all that lay before them, and of His sufficiency to meet
their needs in all the details of their life and service. That is what
the Lord would likewise have us learn. How futile are our own schemes
for bettering ourselves! How constant and ready are the provisions of
our great El Shaddai!

The details were so vividly impressed on the mind of the Apostle
John that some sixty years later he could remember the precise number
of fish caught. Speculations as to the significance of the number tend
to obscure the true force and meaning of the facts. The very
simplicity of the narrative, the brevity in the recounting of the
details, the freedom from undue enlargement upon the miraculous, give
eloquent evidence of the reality of His risen Person. That was the
Lord's design in all that He did, besides the confirmation of their
faith in Him and in His power to meet their need.

REASSURANCE OF HIS RESURRECTION

After the counting, the customary thing with the fishers upon
occasion, the Lord bids them "Come and break your fast." The
homeliness of the welcome, given in the same gracious tone with which
they were familiar in days gone by, at once leads to the statement,
"And none of the disciples durst inquire of Him, Who art Thou? knowing
that it was the Lord." There might have been some ground for the
question. The Lord's body was not the former natural body, though
still real, corporal, and tangible. But the

pp188

character of His utterances and His acts, His ministration of the
bread and the fish, together with the marks of His identity, dispelled
all possible misgivings, and the way was now opened for further and
different ministry.

"We walk by faith, not by sight." "Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed." It is ours not only to believe in the
fact of the resurrection of Christ, but to experience the joy and
power of His presence, as the Apostles did of old when, after His
Ascension, His promise was fulfilled for them, as it is for us, "Lo, I
am with you all the days even unto the end of the age." Let us lay
hold of the significance for us of this post-resurrection sign. Let us
learn day by day our entire dependence upon Him both for our temporal
needs and for all that is involved in our occupations as His followers
and servants. May we realise that the same loving heart that planned
for the disciples, cared for them with tender affection, taught and
disciplined them and attached them to His own glorious Person, does
the same for us if we, as they did, follow Him with Spirit-filled
devotion.

VERSES 15 TO 25

CHRIST AND PETER

Peter's relation to his Master had been established. He is now to
be reinstated in view of his responsibility as an Apostle and as one
who could strengthen his brethren, his self-confidence having been
banished. Three times he had denied his Lord. Three times the Lord
says "Lovest Thou Me." The first time he says "Lovest thou Me more
than these?" Grammatically the "these" might refer either to persons,
fellow-disciples, or to things. But
(1) Peter had boasted that he was a more ardent disciple than the
others: they might deny their Master, but he would not;
(2) to speak of loving the matters connected with fishing does not
give a sufficient application to the meaning;
(3) would the Lord be likely to ask the question with this in mind,
considering that the moment Peter saw it was the Lord he left the boat
and the nets and swam ashore to be with his Master?

pp189

AGAPAO AND PHILEO

As to the change of verb in Peter's reply to the Lord's question,
"Lovest thou Me?" Christ uses _agapao in His first two questions;
Peter uses _phileo in all three answers. _Phileo expresses a natural
affection, and in this Peter is perfectly sure of himself, and is
keenly desirous of stating his affection, particularly after his
denials. This the Lord fully appreciates; but He is thinking of the
practical manifestations and effects as well, as is evident from His
commands. And the verb _agapao combines the two meanings: it expresses
a real affection, but likewise raises it to the thought of an active
and devoted exercise of it on behalf of others. Accordingly He first
says "Feed My lambs" (showing that the love is the expression of mind
in action). So again, when Peter adheres to _phileo, Christ replies,
"Tend My sheep." Shepherd work (all that is involved in tending sheep)
must exhibit the love. The commands show how fully reinstated Peter
was.

The third time the Lord adopts Peter's word, and this grieved
him. It was not that Christ had asked three times, but that now the
third time, in using Peter's word, He should even seem to question the
deeply felt, genuine affection he felt for Him. This is confirmed by
the statement Peter makes, "Thou knowest all things ('Thou knowest
intuitively,' _oida); Thou knowest (_ginosko, 'Thou dost recognise')
that I love Thee (phileo).

THE CALL TO FOLLOW

In what the Lord now says he takes up both the aspects of love,
the practical and the deep-seated, affectionate and emotional love.
First He adheres to the practical: "Feed My sheep." Then He foretells
how Peter will manifest his affection in laying down his life after
all for his Master's sake. Thus it would be given him to do what he
had in self-confidence boasted he would do. And it was devotion to His
Master that made him say it. The being girded and carried "whither
thou wouldest not" did not imply unwillingness to die, but a natural
shrinking from a cruel death, especially crucifixion as a criminal.

That the Lord said to him "Follow Me" (v. 19) may have had a
literal meaning, as the same word in the next verse has, but it
certainly had a figurative sense; it was a call to follow in

pp190

the path of testimony and suffering (see 13:36). The Apostle now
clearly discloses his identity. In telling how, as the Lord moved
away and Peter after Him, John himself followed, intimating his own
devotion, he recalls how he leaned on Christ's breast at the supper,
and asked as to who would betray Him.

FELLOW-APOSTLES

In John's record concerning Peter and the Lord's reply to his
question regarding himself, we cannot but note the continued and
special intimacy between these two disciples, an intimacy which would
be seen in the earliest apostolic testimony. Noticeable also are the
Lord's combined foreknowledge of, and authority over, the future lives
of His servants. He not only foretells Peter's martyrdom, but says
that the length of John's life depends upon what He wills (vv. 22,
23). In verse 22, the "he" and the "thou" are emphatic and set in
contrast: 'whatever concerning him My will may be, thou must follow
Me.' In the last utterance of Christ recorded in this Gospel He speaks
of His Coming, and the Lord holds out to us the possibility that it
may take place during our lifetime.

As to the statement in verse 24, the mode of expressing his
identity is characteristic of John. The "these things" probably refers
to all the contents of this Gospel. The change of tense from "beareth
witness" to "wrote," shows that though the writing was finished, the
witness was continuing. The use of the plural "we" in "we know" is
quite in keeping with John's style; cp. 1 John 5:18 to 20; as there so
here, he includes all the believers of his time.

The last verse expresses a note of appreciation and admiration
regarding all that Christ wrought during the whole course of His life
here including the period after His resurrection, and an overwhelming
sense of the infinitude of His Person and His activities.

\pp191

GREEK WORDS AND SYNONYMS

agapao & phileo, 146, 189
aiteo & erotao, 131, 154, 162
aitesasthe, 141
alethes & alethinos, 57, 58, 180
allos & heteros, 130, 131
aner & anthropos, 52
anothen, 28
apeltho, hupago & poreutho, 150, 151
amnos & arnion, 16
apo, ek & para, 152, 155, 156, 161, 165
arti, 152
bema, 177
cholao, 75
deiliao, 136
doulos, 143, 145
dunamis & exousia, 11
ego eimi, 171
eidos, 47
eis, 11
ekeinos, 152
emphanizo & phaneroo, 134
emprosthen & protos, 13
ennomos, 132
erchomai & heko, 60
ginosko & oida, 11, 45, 71, 75, 94, 103, 121, 129, 159, 189
horao & theoreo, 62, 130, 151, 153
hieron & naos, 22, 33
huios, paidion & pais, 35, 186
houtos, 124
kai, 26, 168
kainos & neos, 127, 180
kalos, 102
klino, 179
kosmos, 11
lalia, 91
lambano, 11
lego, 92, 183
lestes, 175
logos & rhema, 9, 68, 91, 177
luchnos, 48
luo, 23
ou me & popote, 59
para, 48 64, 155, 161
paralambano, 11, 178
peri, 155
petra & petros, 17
phago & trogo, 70
phaulos & poneros, 27
pistis, 57
poieo & prasso, 27, 44
semeion, 19
stauros, 178
thelo, 17

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JOHN--HIS RECORD OF CHRISTBY W. E. VINE1948

JOHN--HIS RECORD OF CHRIST
BY W. E. VINE
1948