PREFACE.
THE gospel of the beloved apostle has so much a character of its own, that it is generally treated separately by those who take a synoptical view of the gospels.
In writing his gospel, John is supposed to have had two objects in view; - to record some parts of the Lord's life and teaching which the other evangelists had omitted; and to counteract the influence of Gnosticism, which had even then begun to infect the church, and the tendency of which was, to substitute the visionary embodiment of a time-born AEon for the actual incarnation of the Eternal Word.* There is no reason to doubt that the gospel may have had a special as well as a general use to perform; and that the Divine and the human purpose in writing it may have coincided, since every good intention, like every good and every perfect gift, is from above. Such an opinion is only objectionable so far as it assigns to the gospel a merely human authorship, or reduces the inspiration of Scripture to the super-intending influence of the Holy Spirit. As this is a point of great importance, and as the present Commentary proceeds on the principle that the Scriptures are divinely inspired, I have treated of this subject in an introductory chapter. My object here is to consider the relation which John's gospel has to the others, in reference to the Lord, to the church, and to man in his spiritual character.
* John is believed to have had this in view when he wrote in his epistles: "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world" (1 Epistle iv. 2). "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2 Epistle 7).
The Word of God, considered as a series of successive revelations, reflects the character, and is indeed a history, of the human race, as they lived and acted under the several dispensations of the church, to which these revelations were made. As there is an analogy between the, history of the race and that of the individual, these dispensations, which mark the great epochs of man's spiritual history, are analogous to the successive states of human life, from its beginning to the completion of regeneration. The Old Testament describes those states which precede, and are preparatory to, the actual commencement of the regenerate life. The period from Adam to Christ, in the history of the race, is analogous to the period of man's life, from the time of his first, to the time of his second, birth; from the time he is born in the image of the first Adam, who was made a living soul, to the time he is born in the image of the second Adam, who was made a quickening Spirit. * The gospels, therefore, which contain the history of the Lord's life, from his birth to his ascension, and thus describe the entire process of his glorification, also include the period, and describe the process, of man's regeneration, as the effect and image of the Lord's work.
* For a development of this idea see an article, by the author of this work, in the Intellectual Repository for 1846, under the title of "Remains."
While the New Testament has thus a distinct character in relation to the Old, its several parts have a distinct character in relation to each other. Assuming that the existence of four gospels, each containing a history of the Lord's life, is not of man but of God, we may conclude that this originated in a purpose worthy of Divine wisdom. We cannot, therefore, consistently with their Divine authorship, regard the gospels simply as repetitions, sometimes with perplexing variations, nor even as supplements, one of another. True, every gospel contains something that is not to be found in the others; and John's is not the least conspicuous in this respect. To his gospel we owe the Lord's discourse with Nicodemus on the new birth; with the woman of Samaria on the living water, and with the Jews on the bread of life; with Martha on the resurrection; with his disciples on his oneness with the Father; and his sublime prayer that the Father would perfect in him the work of Glorification, as the crowning act of Reconciliation. To it also we are indebted for the record of some of the Lord's beneficent works; as, the cure of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda; the gift of sight to one born blind; the raising of Lazarus from the dead; and the washing of His disciples' feet. But there are also some particulars in which John's gospel differs from the others in its character as well as in its contents. The other evangelists relate more of the public, he relates more of the private, life and teaching of our Lord; nearly one half of his gospel being occupied with the record of transactions that took place in the presence of the disciples only, most of them of the profoundest nature and of the deepest import. It is admitted by all commentators that John's gospel is more spiritual in its character than the others; that it concentrates our attention more fully upon the single person of the Lord; and that it gives more of the Lord's doctrine than of his history.
What has been remarked respecting the distinctive characters of the two most eminent of the Lord's apostles, that John was a lover of Jesus, and that Peter was a lover of Christ, may be said of the four evangelists. John's gospel is more the history of Jesus; the others are more the history of Christ. John presents the Lord to us more in his personal, the others more in his Messianic, character; he presents Him more in His character of Jesus the Saviour, the others more in His character of Christ the King; he presents Him more in the character of Divine Love, they more in the character of Divine Truth. His gospel presents the Lord's life and teaching, more in their moral than in their intellectual aspect; and as more calculated to make Him the Object of love than of faith to His disciples. Perhaps there is no better view of this subject than that suggested by Noble, * - that Matthew and Mark relate more to the external, Luke and John more to the internal, life of the Lord and his disciples. According to this view, the gospels may be understood to describe the progressive advancement of the Lord's glorification and of man's regeneration. As John's is the last of the gospels, so does it describe the last and most perfect of these states, and eminently, in relation to man, that state in which all lower graces are centred in love to the Lord, the crowning grace of the religious life.
* "Plenary Inspiration," Lect. vi. see. 2.
INTRODUCTION.
"ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God," * for "holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit," ** Divine in its origin, Scripture is most holy in its nature, and is, in reality, as well as in name, the Word of God. Looking up to the Majesty on high; we may say, as our Lord when addressing the Father said, THY WORD IS TRUTH: Not simply true, as being free from error, but Truth itself, as emanating from Him "who is Light, and in whom is no darkness at all." ***
* Tim. iii. 16.
** 2 Peter i. 21.
*** 1 John i. 5.
But the Truth which the Word is differs from the truth as it outwardly appears. The Word is in the truest sense a revelation of the mind of God, but it is a revelation of the Divine mind, not simply as expressed in the words of human language, but as clothed in the forms of human thought. Revelation has, therefore, two sides - a Divine and a human. On its Divine side it is absolute truth, on its human side it is relative truth. The absolute truth of the Word is, like its Divine Author, eternal, unchangeable, universal; its relative truth, like its human writers, is temporal, variable, local. The absolute truth of Scripture is not, therefore, that which appears in its cosmogony, its science, its history, or even in its ecclesiastical laws and institutions. These are forms of human thought which belong to the periods in which the Word was written, and are but the human vesture in which Divine Truth clothed itself, when it descended from God to the abodes of men. The Old and New Testaments are striking examples of this. In descending into the Hebrew mind, Revelation clothed itself with the forms of Hebrew thought. Much of it, for this reason, consists of the history of that peculiar people, and not a little of its teaching is accommodated to their particular state of mental development and imperfect spiritual discernment. The Hebrew Scriptures contain no direct revelation of the immortality of the soul, and speak of none but temporal rewards and punishments; other laws besides that of divorce were given them for the hardness of their hearts, and their whole system of sacrificial worship was the adaptation of an existing ritual to their carnal state. The New Testament is addressed to a higher condition of mind. Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel; God, as a Spirit, is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth; the law of ordinances is abolished; and the moral law is raised to a higher standard. While these striking differences are manifest in the letter of the Word, its Divinity and spirituality are everywhere the same; the only difference being that in some parts they are more deeply and completely veiled than in others. All the Lords words are spirit and are life but His spiritual and living words are embodied in literal forms of expression having different degrees of transparency, but which, considered by themselves, are not living, and therefore not life-giving; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. *
* 2 Cor. iii. 6.
The distinction we have now pointed out must not be confounded with that which some commentators make between certain parts of Scripture which they allow to be of Divine, and others which they deem to be only of human, authority. This theory divides the Word into two separate portions, one of which is inspired, and the other not. The apostolic doctrine is, that all Scripture is given by inspiration; and all is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. The whole Word is Divine, and the whole is human; Divine in its essence, human in its form. Not one part, but one side, of revelation is Divine, and one human.
But even that side of revelation which is formally human is essentially Divine. Although the literal form of the Word is moulded by mans state, it is not determined by his will. The materials for this Temple of the Divine presence have indeed been supplied by man, but its Maker and Builder is God. The stones may even have been rough-hewn in the quarry of the human mind, but no sound of human hammer or of axe has been heard in the Sacred Edifice while building. *
* 1 Kings vi.7.
In this, as in all other respects, the written is like the incarnate Word. When God as the Eternal Word, came down from heaven to tabernacle among men, the humanity, with which he clothed Himself, took its outward form from the nature of the virgin-mother, and its quality from her state, but it was neither originated nor formed by her will. Begotten of God, and therefore inwardly Divine, the humanity was afterwards curiously wrought according to the Divine laws of creation, which are independent both of the will and the power of man. The revealed, like the incarnate Word, is therefore Divinety clothed with humanity. On its Divine side the Word is all that the Lord was as the Son of man. Like the maternal humanity of the Lord, the natural sense of the Word exhibits signs of its human parentage. What is said of the incarnate Word is equally true of the revealed Word. He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. * His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. ** The letter of the Word is deficient in the graces of style which men so much admire in human compositions; and it is marred by the moral infirmities of many who have borne a conspicuous part in the events and transactions it records.
* Is.liii.2.
** Is.lii.14.
The Word is no doubt widely different in its outward form and appearance from what it would have been, if the state of mankind at the time it was revealed had been less degraded. The sinfulness of men has caused a change in the outward condition of the Word, analogous to that which the idolatry of Israel produced in the tables of the Decalogue. The commandments, as first delivered to Moses, were written with the finger of God on tables which were the work of God.* But when, on seeing the people dancing round the golden calf, he cast the tables in anger from his hand, and broke them, he was instructed to hew out two other tables, like those he had broken; and on these two human tables God wrote the same Divine words which were on the first tables, which He Himself had formed. So, but for the sinfulness of man the literal sense of the Word would have been the work of God, as the spiritual sense, which is inscribed upon it, is the writing of God. We do not mean to say that the Word would not have been given through the instrumentality of man; but there would have been more of the Divine and less of the merely human in it, more of the heavenly and less of the earthly in its composition. The letter of the Word would have been a more perfect image of its spirit. It would have contained no indications of an angry God; no command to slaughter nations and seize on their heritage; no sanction of concubinage or plurality of wives; no worship of God by offering him the blood of slain beasts.
* Ex. xxxii.10.
We must, however, carefully guard against supposing these to be blemishes, or even imperfections, in the written Word. On the contrary, they are justly to be regarded as evidences of the perfection of Scripture, as a wise means to a beneficent end. A form of revelation more perfect in itself - expressed more in accordance with absolute truth, would have been less suited, or rather, would have been entirely unsuited, to the imperfect nature and degenerate state of man. The Divine Word bears the image of the earthly, in order that, by coming, nearer to man in his earthly state, it may raise him to the image of the Divine and to the state of the heavenly.
While the Word, like those to whom it has come, bears the image of the earthly, it has within itself the means of its own exaltation, or, as we might say, of its own glorification, and thus of the exaltation of those who sincerely follow its teaching. Rude and carnal as some of it appears, it is animated by a spirit as pure and holy as the most perfect form of Revelation would have contained. As the same Divinity dwelt in the Son of Mary that spoke through the angel in the burning bush, or that shone forth from the countenance of the Son of man in the midst of the golden candlesticks; as the same Divine words were written upon the tables which Moses made, that had been written on the tables which were the work of God; so, the Word which we possess is as much the Temple of the Divine presence as if it had been framed more directly by the Divine hand. Take a part as an example of the whole. The history of Israel is but an earthly tablet, on which are written, in characters of light, the Divine history of man's regeneration. His bondage and deliverance, his dangers and escapes, his privations and supplies, his trials and triumphs, his weary pilgrimage and everlasting rest, - these are the Divine revelation which God has inscribed on the literal history of the chosen people as the representatives of a spiritual church.
But it may be asked, and with reason, how are we to discern the Divine essence, which is within, by means of the human form, which is without? what is there to guide us with anything like certainty in our search after this pearl of great price, this heavenly treasure hid in an earthly field ?
If there were no law of inspiration there would be no rule of interpretation. But there is such a law; therefore there is such a rule, When Divine thought clothes itself with the forms of human thought, it assumes such only as are correspondent with itself. The Divine and the human, the spiritual and the natural, are thus joined by Correspondence, and by the law of Correspondence the Divine can be seen in the human, the spiritual in the natural. That Divine Truth clothes itself with corresponding forms of human thought may be seen by one reflection. The natural forms which the Divine Word has put on in revelation, are those which the Eternal Word had put forth in creation. These forms are not less natural, because they have been taken from the human mind. Nature is the basis of all human thought. Natural thoughts are but the mental images of natural things, variously combined and modified.
How, in the inspiration of the Scriptures, Divine Truth clothed itself in the forms of human thought, and expressed itself in the words of human language, it may be necessary to consider. Plenary inspiration implies verbal inspiration. Verbal inspiration implies that the very words used by the sacred writers were pronounced in their ears. But how is this to be understood consistently with the idea that the words of inspiration were supplied by the sacred writers themselves? The laws of the spiritual world explain how Revelation was given. Angels and spirits cannot utter a word of human language, and yet they speak with every man in his own tongue. The angels so spake with the patriarchs; and so, no doubt, did the apostles with the multitude on the day of Pentecost, when every man heard them in his own language. Angelic speech could not be conveyed through a natural atmosphere, and could not therefore come to men by an external way. Angels speak with men by an internal way. They clothe their ideas in the language which they find in the storehouse of the human memory; and thus they speak with every one in his own tongue. This is in accordance with the law of correspondence, by which the spiritual and natural worlds are connected, and by which their inhabitants communicate with each other. When God spoke to the prophets and apostles, it was through the medium of an angel, whom He filled for the time with his presence. And He communicated His Word to the sacred writers according to the same law as that by which angels themselves communicate with men. From this circumstance it is that Divine Truth, not only clothes itself with the forms of human thought that belong to the age in which it is revealed, but that it also assumes the characteristic style and expressions of the individuals through whom the revelation has been given. In these respects the writings of the prophets differ from those of the evangelists, and one prophet and one evangelist differs from another. Every inspired book has something peculiar to itself and characteristic of its writer. No doubt the Lord chooses his instruments; and there is something in the character of the instrument in accordance with the nature of the message he is to deliver, or the truths he is to reveal. And those truths clothe themselves with the language which the mind of the writer contains that correspond with itself.
It may be necessary to explain what we mean by Correspondence, which forms the bond of connection between the letter and the spirit of Scripture, and by means of which we see the spiritual in the literal sense.
Correspondence is the mutual relation of one thing to another. Two things correspond when they bear such a relation that the one exactly answers to the other. There is one peculiarity in the sense in which we employ the term. Correspondence is generally understood to mean the relation existing between two natural objects; we use it to express the relation which exists between spiritual and natural things. There is such a relation between the infinite and the finite, between the spiritual world and the natural, between the soul and the body. There is one condition inseparable from all spiritual correspondence, which distinguishes it from all natural analogies: the thing corresponding derives its existence from that to which it corresponds. Correspondence, therefore, is the relation which exists between a spiritual cause and its natural effect; and the science of correspondence is the knowledge of that relation. The correspondence between the natural and spiritual worlds, and between the natural and spiritual senses of the Word, is grounded in this circumstance, that all natural things have a spiritual cause, the natural world having its proximate cause in the spiritual world, and the natural sense of the Word in its spiritual sense. These are therefore united by correspondence.
The nature of Correspondence, and its difference from all natural analogies, will be best understood by an example. Every one perceives that there is an analogy between the different seasons of the year and the natural divisions of the day, and between these and the natural periods of human life. The morning of the day answers by analogy to the spring of the year, mid-day to summer, evening to autumn, and night to winter. Again, the morning and the spring answer to the season of childhood and youth, mid-day and summer to manhood, evening and autumn to declining years, and night and winter to old age. However exact and beautiful these may be as analogies, they are not in the strict sense correspondences; they all belong to the sphere of nature. They may serve to point a moral, but they teach no spiritual truth. They, however, become spiritual correspondences, and teach a spiritual truth, when they are understood as answering, not to successive periods of man's natural existence, but to the successive states of his spiritual life, as these follow each other in the progress of his regeneration. Under this view morning, spring, and childhood all answer by correspondence to that season of the spiritual life, at whatever period of natural life it may commence, when the soul is first turned in sincerity to God, and the thoughts and affections are opened to receive His light and love, so that the seeds of truth, previously sown in the mind, begin to germinate. Summer corresponds to that state of spiritual maturity when religious knowledge ripens into spiritual intelligence, and the mind rejoices in the splendour of truth, and the prospects which that truth opens to its view. Autumn answers to that state when the splendour of truth has passed into the beauty of holiness, and religion, from having its primary seat in the intellect, has taken up its principal abode in the heart, and its energies are determined to the fruits of a holy life. Here the analogy might seem to end, for no winter can close the year, no night can succeed the day, in the Christian life, but the regenerate soul must be ever advancing to higher and better states of light and love. * The analogy however is still complete, for although, in the spiritual life, the winter and the night do not follow the autumn and the evening, they precede the spring and the morning, of the regenerate life. Even in his primeval state man was in the cold of natural love before he was in the warmth of spiritual love, and in the darkness of ignorance before he received the light of knowledge, for "the evening and the morning were the first day." ** Now, however, his night is not only the darkness of ignorance, but the gross darkness of error; and his winter is not only the absence of spiritual love, but the presence of spiritual hatred. The beginning of re-generation, the spring-time and morning of the new life, is when the Spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters, and the light dispels the darkness, - when the affections are first moved by the influence of Divine Love, and the thoughts are enlightened with the light of Divine Truth. And when the love and light of God are admitted into the mind, and the re-creation of the soul has once commenced, a stedfast and persevering co-operation with the Lord will open up a succession of states increasing in perfection and happiness, and ending in a state and place, where there is no night and no winter, where the light shall increase more and more unto the perfect day, and where, to reverse the figure of the poet, autumn shall pour her treasures into the lap of spring, a spring increasing in freshness and beauty for ever.
* We here speak of night and winter as permanent states. As temporary states, alternating with those of day and summer, in the progress of the regenerate life, we have the assurance of the Divine Word that they shall never cease. Gen. viii. 22.
** Gen. i. 5.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.
CHAPTER I.
THE introductory part of this gospel (1-14) treats of a subject at once the most profound and the most important: the most profound, since it relates to the infinite nature of God; and the most important, since it relates to God in Christ, whom to know is life eternal. The evangelist brings Jesus before the minds of men first in his Divine character, as he existed from eternity, and afterwards in his human character, as he appeared in time. John's gospel is peculiar in this respect, that it gives precedence and prominence to the subject of the Lord's divinity. Matthew and Luke commence their gospels with an account of the Lord's miraculous conception and birth into the world; John begins his gospel by showing the pre-existence of him who was thus conceived and born of a human mother. They present more of the human, he presents more of the Divine, side of the Lord's dual nature. Both views are needed to give the mind a just conception of the person and work of the Saviour. It was necessary that divinity and humanity should be united in the person of him who was to accomplish the great work of human redemption, comprehending in it the subjugation of the powers of darkness and the restoration and glorification of man's fallen nature, a work which required a human nature and a Divine power. This subject is set forth in the particular statements we have now to consider.
1. The evangelist begins his gospel with the opening words of Genesis:
In the beginning.
In commencing his history of the redemption of the world he goes back to its creation, not so much to connect the work of redemption with the work of creation, as to identify the Redeemer with the Creator. Moses tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; John tells us that
But the language of the evangelist has a deeper meaning than this; which may be gathered from the Lord's declaration respecting himself, when he appeared in his glory to John in Patmos; "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last, which was, and which is, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Rev. i. 8, 11). He who thus spake existed indeed from eternity, but he existed as the Alpha, the Beginning, the First; after his incarnation he existed also as the Omega, the Ending, the Last. The Lord from eternity was the Word in its first principles - the Word with God, the Son in the bosom of the Father. As such, all things had their beginning from him, and he was in the beginning of all things; but when he became incarnate, all things had their ending in him, and he was in the ending of all things. This is the difference between the Word in its creative and the Word in its redemptive character. As the Creator he is the Beginning, as the Redeemer he is the Ending of all things. Considered in relation to man, who is the crowning work and final cause of creation, this truth may be seen in its true depth and import. Man was so created, that the Lord might dwell with him in the first principles of his uncorrupted nature; and by being thus in the beginning of all his mental activities, of his affections and thoughts, and thence of his words and works, might rule and direct the whole man, as the moral image of his Maker.
THE WORD, the name by which the apostle characterizes him whose incarnation he is about to declare, is a term that had been employed long before the time of John, to express that principle in the Deity which is analogous to reason in man. It is supposed either to have been introduced by early Christian converts from those philosophical sects who used it, or to have been employed by early Christian teachers, to explain to Gentile hearers an important Scripture doctrine by means of a term with which they were already familiar; and that this term, used in a Christian sense, was finally consecrated to the service of the Lord, by being inscribed in the last of the gospels. This is a striking instance of Divine truth clothing itself in the forms of human thought. A term which had become the common sign of a human idea is taken up by an inspired writer, to become henceforward the continent and vehicle of a Divine truth. Yet we are to reflect that heathen thoughts on Divine subjects are not always human
There is a substantial agreement among Christian writers, from the earliest to the present times, respecting the idea intended to be conveyed by the Word, as a name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Divine Consciousness, Reason, Understanding, Idea, Thought, Wisdom - these are variously given as equivalents for the name by which the eternal Word is here set forth, in his internal relation to God and in his external relation to the world and to man.
While all agree in regarding the Word as the eternal Wisdom, almost all unite in maintaining, that the Word is not an abstract quality but an entity; or, as it would now be generally expressed, is not an attribute but a person. What the Latin Church expressed by the word persona, the Greek Church expressed by the word hypostasis. What was the exact theological meaning of the word persona, at the time it was first employed, or subsequently introduced into the Athanasian Creed, to express the nature of the distinction in the Godhead, is not absolutely certain; nor is it perhaps of much importance, since all sound theologians admit that it is a term of expediency rather than of propriety, and as such is not to be understood, like our word person, to mean a distinct individual being. The Greek word hypostasis means a basis or substance; and is intended to express the idea, that God and the Word are not mere attributes, but are the subjects of attributes.
That there is a real, and not merely a nominal, distinction in the Divine nature, is evident from many parts of Scripture, from none more clearly than the statement we are now considering, which speaks of God and the Word as existing distinctly and unitedly from eternity. While the Scriptures contain the doctrine of a Divine trinity, they emphatically declare the Divine unity; and no doctrine of the trinity can be scriptural, which is not consistent with the absolute oneness of God. There being a trinity in the Divine nature, of what does this trinity consist? In the nature of God there are three Divine essentials, which are Love, Wisdom, and Power. These form a trinity in unity. They can neither be confounded nor divided. Distinct as essentials, they necessarily constitute but one person. Thus understood, the subject involves no conflicting elements of thought. The mind can harmoniously combine the idea of the Divine trinity with that of the Divine unity.
This view may seem liable to the objection, that it makes the Divine trinity a trinity of attributes. But Love, Wisdom, and Power are not mere attributes; they are essentials of the Divine nature, the subjects of attributes. God is sometimes spoken of as a substance, of which Love, Wisdom, and Power are qualities. This is an idea borrowed from the nature of finite beings, and transferred without qualification to the Infinite. Man is an organized form, created for the reception of love and wisdom; but God is Love itself, and Wisdom itself. Love and Wisdom are not mere qualities of the Divine substance, but the Divine substance itself. They are the Divine will and the Divine understanding; for the Divine will can be nothing but infinite love, and the Divine understanding can be nothing but infinite wisdom; and to these, as constituting the Divine mind, nay, the very Divine Essence, all attributes belong: Power, the third essential of the Deity, being Love and Wisdom as the Divine Proceeding, or Operation, which is the Holy Spirit.
While the Scriptures teach that God and the Word are distinct, but co-eternal and co-equal, they also teach that the Word from eternity was from God as well as with God. Understanding God and the Word to be the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, we can see the truth of this; for Love is the parent of Wisdom. Love is the eternally begetting, Wisdom is the eternally begotten. Divine Love begets Divine Wisdom as human affection begets human thought; or as the mind expresses itself by words. All intelligent commentators, ancient and modern, substantially agree with this view of the subject. One of the early Fathers treating of the present text speaks thus: - "Now turn thy attention to that Word. If thou canst have a word in thy heart, as it were a design or idea engendered in thy mind, thy mind giving birth to the design, and the design being in thy mind, the offspring, so to speak, of thy mind, the child of thy heart. For, first, the heart gives birth to an idea, suppose, of constructing some work of art, of some vast edifice on the earth: here is the idea already born into existence, and the work not yet finished: thou seest what thou art about to make; but another does not admire thy work until thou hast made and reared the pile, and brought the work to its last shape and finish: then men take note of the admirable workmanship, and admire the idea of the work-master; they marvel at what they see and are delighted with what they do not see: who is there that can see an idea? If then from some great work of art praise is given to the idea of man, wouldest thou see what an Idea of God is our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, the Word of God? See what has been made by the Word, and then wilt thou understand what the
Substantially the same view of the subject is presented by modern writers. If we regard the Word, or the Son, as the "eternal thought of Divine love," as expressed by one, and consider the eternal generation of the Son as "God thinking himself," as expressed by another, there can be no reasonable objection to the doctrine of his eternal generation. "For," as a recent author observes, "from the womb of life, only life and being can flow forth, moreover, the original Word, or original thought of the eternal God, can only be the consciousness of himself, and which, as perfect consciousness, is equivalent to God." Some of the early Christian writers compared the eternal generation of the Son by the Father to the issuing of light from the sun. And as it is the very nature of the sun to give forth light, the sun and its light must have been co-existent: so it is the very nature of God to give birth to the Word, which must, therefore, be co-eternal with himself.
These statements and explanations of so profound a subject commend themselves to our reason. But is not the idea of distinct personality, each Divine person having a consciousness of his own, inconsistent with reason, and with every just idea of the nature and unity of God ? Can the thought, idea, or consciousness of God be a distinct person from, or in, God himself ? To make Divine thought a distinct person in God is comparatively as inconsistent as to make human thought a distinct person in man. We have already seen that the wisdom of God is not a mere attribute, but is an essential of the Divine nature; and this agrees with all the teaching of revelation, and satisfies all the demands of reason. The Word of God is the Wisdom of God; and this will be seen more clearly from what John says further respecting the Word which was with God and was God.
2. The same was in the beginning with God.
This is generally understood to be in contrast with the statement that occurs at the fourteenth verse. The Word, which in the beginning was God, in the fulness of time became incarnate, that he might dwell among men. Unless this be the meaning of the apostle, the present statement has much the appearance of being a repetition of that which precedes. In the Word, however, there are no useless repetitions. If there be any difficulty in regard to the literal sense, there is none with respect to the spiritual. The beginning, spiritually considered, means the beginning of regeneration, which is a new creation, the creation of a new heart and a right spirit.
3. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
Creation is a purely Divine work, and can only have been performed by an Almighty Being. Self-evident to most of us as this truth is, it was not so clearly seen at the time John's gospel was written. It was then believed by a philosophical sect, which had partially received and greatly corrupted Christianity, that creation was the work of an inferior and malignant being, and that Christ, a superior and benevolent being, had been sent by the Supreme God to redeem the world from the evil inherent in it by creation. Extravagant as such a notion may seem, it is but another form of the belief that creation, or that preservation which is perpetual creation, is the result of secondary causes, and that redemption is not a purely Divine work. The evangelist, to those who receive his testimony, sets both these questions at rest. Creation and redemption are Divine works, both effected by the same Being.
But these words of John express much more than this. They tell us that creation was not only a work of infinite power, but of infinite love and wisdom. This is not so readily seen from his words as given in our version. The evangelist states that all things were made by means of the Word, or through him as a medium; and this is the invariable testimony of the Scriptures. In creation, as in redemption, the Word was the instrument, God was the agent. In regard to redemption, this is plainly stated by Paul: "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself" (1 Cor. x. 18). The same is declared respecting creation: "God created all things by Jesus Christ" (Gal. iii. 9). "To us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things" (1 Cor. viii. 6).
4. Of the Word it is said,
in him was life, and the life was the light of men.
There is no word in human language more expressive of Deity, none of more profound significance, than the word Life. The grand distinction between the Creator and the creature is this: the Creator is life, the creature is a recipient of life. I AM is the incommunicable appellation of the Deity; this is his name for ever, and this is his memorial throughout all generations. Of us, on the contrary, it is said, In him we live and move and have our being. Creation, strictly considered, does not include life. Life is not creatable. Organisms are created, life is imparted; organisms are given by creation, life is given by influx. Entirely different was it with the Word. In him was life. It did not flow into him as a stream, but was, and is, in him as its fountain. He has the life which is characteristic of Deity - life in himself, as the Lord declared: "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given unto the Son to have life in himself" (chap. v. 26). But the statement of the evangelist has a still more specific meaning than this, which can only be seen when the Word is understood to be the eternal Wisdom, as it existed from eternity in union with eternal Love. Considered in itself, Life is the inmost activity of Divine love and wisdom. But as love is within wisdom, comparatively as heat is within light, life is predicated of love, as light is of wisdom.
The truth which the evangelist makes known is, that the Word, which became flesh, had in himself that life which the world needed for its revivification, as well as the light it required for its enlightenment. This is well expressed by the same apostle in his first general epistle, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us" (i. 1). But how inexpressibly grand and comforting does this truth become to us, when we know that life is love, and thus that the Divine life which was in the Word, and was manifested in the person of Christ, was the Divine love itself. Divine love works ever by Divine wisdom, as human love works by human intelligence; so that in all the Divine works love is the moving, as wisdom is the efficient, cause.
5. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.
The state and condition of man, which rendered the manifestation of the Lord as the light necessary, is now described. The light shone in the soul, but such was the darkness of the mind that it did not enlighten.
6-8. There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
When the Lord's forerunner is announced by name, one which, like that of the Lord himself, was given him from heaven before his birth, we must regard it as significant of the official and representative character he was to sustain. "John" is a contraction of Johanan, which occurs several times in the Old Testament, and which itself is a contraction of Jehohanan. Like other names of this formation it combines part of the Divine name of Jehovah with a word which has a suitable meaning. John signifies Jehovah graciously gave. Jehovah being the name of God which is most expressive of his love; "John" was a suitable name for one who represented the written Word, as a gift of divine love, and who was to prepare the way of Him who was the Divine Love itself manifest in the flesh.
7, 8. The description which is here given of John answers precisely to his official and representative character.
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through Him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
The written Word is the witness of the inward light, because, as we have seen, the inward light is only visible to us when it is reflected by the truths of the written Word as objects existing in our minds. These truths are not themselves the light, but they are witnesses of the light; they are sent and come for a witness, and the purpose of their testimony is, that all men through them may believe. They are the materials of which faith is formed, the life and light of which are immediately from the Lord himself. They form the body of faith, of which he is the soul. John came to prepare the way of the Lord. He did this personally at the time of the Lord's coming into the world, and he does this representatively, when the Lord makes his advent into the mind prepared by repentance for his reception. The way of the Lord, as the inward light, can only be prepared by the teaching of the written Word, when that Word is understood in its true sense. It was, therefore, to teach the truth of the Word, in the church where it had been perverted, that John came as the Lord's forerunner, and it was the Word, thus restored, of which he was the representative.
9. John now delivers his testimony as witness of the light.
That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Jesus is the true light, not only in opposition to all false lights, but the true and actual as distinguished from the shadowy and representative, or as light in its origin is distinguished from light received and reflected.
Spiritually, every man that cometh into the world is every truth of the revealed Word that is introduced into the mind, from the earliest to the latest period of life. The truths of revelation are not themselves light, but are the receptacles of light, or the objects on which the light falls. The spirit of truth from the Lord, which enters through the interiors of the mind, finds its fitting receptacles in the truths of revelation that have entered through the senses from without. When the spirit of truth enters the thoughts, it enlightens them; when it enters the affections, it animates them. So long as the truths of the Word remain in the natural mind as facts, they are but the dry bones in the valley; it is only when the spirit enters into then that they live, and become an exceeding great army.
10, 11. The Lord, as the light, was in the world and the church before his manifestation in the flesh.
The world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12. Although the rejection of the Lord's light and life had been general, it had not been universal. Some had received him.
And as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
To receive the Lord is to admit the spirit of his love into the affections, and to believe on his name is to receive the spirit of his truth into the understanding. But it is those only who both receive him and believe in his name, or who unite in themselves good and truth, or love and faith, that receive power to become the sons of God: for it is only such that can be born of God or regenerated. Abstractly considered, those who receive and believe are the truths themselves in the mind into which the spirit of the Lord's love and truth is received, and by the reception of which they receive power to become the sons of God.
13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Two kinds of birth are here mentioned - birth of blood, of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, and birth of God. In this a most important doctrine is delivered. No one is naturally born for hell. All are born for heaven; and any one dying in the state in which he is born, or before he has confirmed himself in evil, goes to heaven. No one indeed is born in a state fit either for heaven or hell; that is, no one is born heavenly minded or infernally minded; no one is born either a child of God or a child of the devil. A second birth is necessary to make any one either. Heaven consists in the union of goodness and truth, and hell consists in the union of evil and falsity. No one is born in possession, much less in the union, of these principles. Every one, therefore, has to acquire and unite them, before he can enter either heaven or hell. This can only be effected by being born of God on the one hand, or of the devil on the other; man thus becoming either a child of God or a child of the devil. It is sometimes said there are but two states and two places: good and evil, heaven and hell: and that whatever is not good is evil, whatever is not heaven is hell. No doubt the final state and place of every one is either good or evil, heaven or hell. But there is an intermediate state which is neither good nor evil, neither righteous nor wicked. This may be called the state of positive and even of comparative ignorance. All are born into it and remain in it till they come to the age of reason, but all, whatever be their age, are in it who are in comparative ignorance of what is good and true, evil and false, and who have not confirmed and united evil and falsity in themselves. All who die in infancy pass immediately into heaven, and are there placed under the care of angels; but although they are in heaven they are not of heaven, although they are among the angels they are not themselves angels, until they have arrived at the full measure of the stature of angelic life, until, in fact, the union of goodness and truth, or of love and faith has been effected in their minds; this union being heaven.
In the spiritual sense those who are born of blood are they who do violence to charity and profane truth, those who are born of the will of the flesh are they who are in the evils of self-love, and those who are born of the will of man are they who are in the persuasion of what is false;
14. An event which no human words could adequately describe is set forth in the simplest language:
And the Word was made flesh.
Yet this simple announcement contains an infinity of great ideas. The event itself was the effect and the expression of infinite love, as it was the immediate manifestation of the eternal wisdom. The incarnation was the complement of creation; and a more complete manifestation of the love and wisdom of God than even revelation and Providence. It involved and provided for a new and spiritual creation, without which the purpose of the first would not have been realized. Incredible as it may appear that God should become man, yet it involves no contradiction. Although there is no proportion, there is a relation, between the infinite nature of God and the finite nature of man, which rendered the assumption of humanity, however marvellous, entirely consistent with Divine order. The Word which was made flesh was man's Prototype as well as his Creator. God not only created man, but he made him in his image and likeness. The Divine could not have assumed the human, if it had not been, by creation, a likeness of itself. There was, however, one important peculiarity in the Lord's case, which rendered it possible for God to dwell bodily in the person of Christ. The assumed humanity was not merely the creature but the offspring of the Divinity. Jesus was not merely created, but begotten of God. That, therefore, which every mere man inherits from his human father, and which is both finite and corrupt, the Lord had not; but in its place he had a principle divine and immaculate. This may be called the soul from the Father. The human soul is the inmost receptacle of life from God, but the Lord's soul was life itself, and therefore Divine. The divine soul of the humanity is not to be confounded with the soul which was sorrowful unto death, and which he laid down. This is the rational soul (psyche), which alone could sorrow and die. The humanity of the Lord being thus both of divine and of human extraction, Jesus was at once the Son of God and the Son of Man. From his very birth, his humanity, outwardly of the nature of his finite and sinful mother, was inwardly of the nature of his infinite and perfect Father. In virtue of this, the Lord, unlike every other man, could receive the Spirit without measure, and could make his humanity, not only finitely, but infinitely, perfect. Had not Jesus been begotten of God, all the fulness of the Godhead could not dwell in him.
But there is a deeper sense than this in which the Word was made flesh. In the Lord the Divine was made human, not only in the womb but in the world - by putting on humanity not only by birth, but by a life of human experience. In the strict, or at least in the full sense, a human being is not a man at his birth; he is but the germ or rudiment of a man; he becomes human by means of human knowledge and experience. Nay, a man is not truly human till he is born again; for then only is he raised to the true condition of humanity. So with the Lord himself as a man. The Word was made flesh, in the absolute sense, and in the supereminent degree, when the flesh itself was no longer of the substance of the mother, but of the substance of the Father. And such it was when the Lord said of his risen body, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have."
By the Lord dwelling among us, we beheld his glory. The glory which shone in Jesus was not the outward splendour which strikes and pleases the senses, but the inward refulgence that penetrates and affects the mind. The glory of Jesus, beheld by those who had eyes to see it, was that which shone forth from his benignity and holiness, from his words of wisdom and works of love.
That which the faithful beheld was the glory
'as of the only begotten of the Father.'
We have already (ver.1) spoken of the eternal relation between the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, as analogous to that between father and son. The actual sonship of the Lord Jesus will be considered when we come to verse 18, where the names Father and Son first occur; and are introduced with strict propriety after the Lord's incarnation has been treated of. Here we observe that the Divine humanity of the Lord was the only begotten of the Father. That which men beheld in Jesus was not the glory itself of the only begotten, but the glory as of the only begotten. The only begotten of the Father was that interior human principle which the Lord derived from the Divine Father, as distinguished from that which he derived from the human mother, indeed, that principle considered as Divine goodness; the divine truth in union with this is called glory, which is the effulgence of divine truth.
The
'grace and truth'
of which the Saviour was full, are his divine love and wisdom humanized, and so brought near to men in the Lord's humanity, and freely offered to them for their salvation. The Lord, as God, being Love itself and Wisdom itself, as man, his fulness of grace and truth was without measure. "It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell" (Col. i. 19); and no attribute can be other than infinite in him, "in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (ib. ii. 9).
15. It was of this gracious and wise Being that
John bare witness and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
John testified to the Lord's priority to himself, both as to rank and time. It is hardly necessary to insist upon the priority of Jesus to John, after the distinct enunciation of the truth, that he was the Eternal Word incarnate. The present declaration has, however, another purpose and a higher meaning. John, we have seen, represented the written Word, Jesus was the Word itself incarnate. John especially represented the Word as written for men, and as understood in the church on earth; the Lord was the Word or the Divine Truth itself, who made and fills all things, the source of life and the fountain of light to angels and men. But it is said of Jesus that, coming after John, he was preferred before him. This is true in every sense. The law which our Lord announced: "The first shall be last, and the last first," was eminently exemplified in the case of John and himself. The written Word comes before, and prepares the way of, the incarnate Word, as the life and light of men, and then takes the last place, Jesus himself taking the first. In like manner, in reference to the revealed Word, apparent truth comes before genuine truth, and the literal sense before the spiritual. We may also say that spiritual truth comes before celestial, and celestial before divine. Yet, in each of these cases, that which comes after is preferred before that which precedes, and, indeed, was before it; for the lower is derived from the higher, and yet is the necessary means by which it is attained.
16. John therefore says of the incarnate Word,
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
We have already (v. 14) spoken of the fulness that dwelt in Jesus, as being all fulness, even the fulness of the Godhead. But this term has a peculiarly important meaning in reference to the Word made flesh. By incarnation the Lord became Divine Truth in ultimates, and in ultimates divine truth is in its fulness and in its power. Why is it so important to us that all fulness should dwell in Jesus Christ, or in the Lord's humanity? Because in him the divine perfections are brought nearer, and made more accessible to us. The humanity of the Lord is nearer to us, that is, nearer to our state and condition, than his divinity. In his humanity the fulness of Divine Love and Wisdom is brought into a nearer relation to fallen and frail humanity. The fulness that dwelt, and that dwells, in Jesus, is that out of which all men are supplied. Of his fulness have all we received. His humanity is the fountain which is opened for us, from which flow unfailing streams of love and mercy.
But not only have we all received of his fulness; we have all received grace for grace. This is a peculiar phrase, and has given rise to considerable discussion. From the words of the evangelist, which fol low, the grace must be understood as that which came by Jesus Christ. It has no such meaning, therefore, as substituted grace. The literal sense of the passage, as agreed on by the most eminent commentators, is, grace upon grace, which means abounding grace: "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. v. 20). As the divine fulness of our Lord is connected with this phrase, we must suppose that both are intended to express his abounding goodness and truth brought near and freely offered to all men, but received only by sincere disciples. Grace is commonly understood to mean divine favour, offered to sinners through Jesus Christ, as the great sacrifice for sin. Rightly understood, there can be no objection to this. Grace is the sister of mercy, and both are the offspring of love. Whether we speak of grace or mercy or love, it is substantially the same. We owe all our salvation and the means of it to the divine love, of which grace is but an adaptation to our necessities. To speak of divine grace as favour purchased for us by the sufferings and righteousness of Christ, is not to speak the language of Canaan, but a language unknown to the true church, and to the Word of God. Abounding grace is abounding love.
17. John comes now to explain the reason of this:
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
What has been said of the law and the gospel in reference to the church and the race, is true of them in respect to the individual.
18. Christ is not only the giver of spiritual and saving gifts, but the revealer of their previously hidden source and unseen author.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Instead of God and the Word, we now hear of the Father and the Son. Not till the time of the Incarnation are these names used to express the nature of the distinction in the Godhead, and then first in reference to it. Then only, indeed, were the names first literally applicable. The humanity begotten of God and born of the Virgin Mary was the actual and only begotten Son of God. But these names, thus used to express the paternal and filial relationship between the begetting Divinity and the begotten humanity, were afterwards applied analogically to express the relation between the Divine Love and Wisdom, or between God and the Word, as they existed from eternity. This distinction, and therefore the names by which it is expressed, are peculiar to the New Testament. Why do the names Father and Son never occur in the Old Testament in reference to this distinction in the Divine nature? Some suppose that these names were suppressed, so to speak, to prevent the Jews who were an external people and prone to idolatry, from falling into polytheism. Certainly many things were but obscurely revealed to them, which are made more clearly known in the gospel; and Christians perceive in the Old Testament various truths which were wisely hid from the children of Israel. But is it not more reasonable to believe that Father and Son, as divine names, never occur in the Old Testament, because the relationship which these names express did not then actually exist? God existed in his triune nature; for this is necessary, and therefore eternal; but the actual distinction of Father and Son had no existence till the Incarnation, when the divine and human natures stood in that relationship to each other. When that relationship came actually to exist, it was entirely consistent to extend the idea and the names to the corresponding distinction in the divine nature, even as it was before the Incarnation. The Word, when made flesh, became the Son, being one with the divinely begotten humanity, in which it dwelt, as the soul of man dwells in his body; and God, or the eternal Love, became the Father, since it was by the power of the Highest that the humanity was begotten.
19-22. The power and influence of John's baptism had now excited so much interest and fear among the leaders of the church,
that the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
The Jewish church, sunk as it was in darkness and corruption, was yet desirous to know the pretensions of this new teacher and baptizer of men, whom its leaders regarded with no favourable eye. The men of the church are called Jews, as descendants of Judah, when the will principle of the church is spoken of, and Jerusalem signifies the church as to its intellectual principle, or in regard to its doctrines. The Jews sending from Jerusalem signifies the will sending out from the understanding; and what the mind thus sends out, or what issues from it, are its affections and thoughts, which are either good and true or evil and false, and these are meant by priests and Levites. The evangelist introduces this account of the Jews sending messengers by saying "this is the record of John," his witness respecting himself and his mission, and also respecting the Lord. The priests and Levites demand of him, Who art thou? a most important question respecting the character of the revealed Word, when thus demanded of the revealed Word itself, which John represented, and one which the Word itself must answer, for no lower testimony will avail. What, then, is the record of John?
'He confessed, and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ.'
He confessed he was not the Messiah, of whom all men were in expectation. Christ is the Divine Truth itself, the Word incarnate. John was not that Word, nor did he, strictly speaking, represent it. He confessed, and denied not, but confessed, he acknowledged both affirmatively and negatively, that he was not the Christ.
'And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? and he saith, I am not.'
It had been predicted that Elijah was to come before the Lord; and when John confessed that he was not the Messiah, the Jews inquired if he was the promised Elijah. In the spirit of the prophecy he was Elijah, in the letter he was not. To the Jews, who believed that Elijah was to rise from the dead, John was not that prophet. And by those who remain in the letter John cannot be seen or received in this character, for he cannot be seen or received by them in his own true character, therefore not in Elijah's, since both John and Elijah represented the written Word. The priests and Levites asked John,
'Art thou that prophet? and he answered, No.'
This is understood to refer to the prophet promised in Deut. xviii. 15; "The Lord will raise up a prophet like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." That prophet was not the forerunner of the Lord, but the Lord himself; not the written but the incarnate Word. John therefore, was not that prophet, nor his representative. But even if we understand it to refer to an ordinary prophet, John was not one, for, as the Lord declared, he was more than a prophet. A prophet represented the Lord as the Prophet. A prophet also represented doctrine derived from the Word; but John was more than a prophet, for he represented the Word itself. The priests and scribes, then said unto him,
'Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?'
Their questions hitherto had admitted only of negative answers; now they request him to make some positive declaration respecting himself. The mind cannot be satisfied with pure negatives. If it is in a negative state, the mind wants something positive to object to; if in an affirmative state, it wants something positive to rest upon. But the Lord does not desire to give positive truth to those who only wish to know it that they may deny or profane it; therefore John first answered the Jews negatively. It was for this reason that the Lord himself did not always answer those who questioned him in a positive or open manner, and at his trial did not answer the high priest at all, till he adjured him by the living God whether he were the Christ or no. For the same reason, when he was falsely accused he answered his accusers never a word. We are now to hear what John says of him self.
23, 24. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
John representing the written Word, his coming to prepare the way of Jesus, besides his own work of preparing for the reception and acknowledgment of the Messiah, was for the sake of representing that the preparation of the human mind to receive the Lord is by the teaching of the Word.
The evangelist here remarks
'that they which were sent were of the Pharisees.'
In the historical sense this explains the reason of the question which they put to John about his baptizing. But the Pharisees represented those who cleanse the outside, but allow the inside to remain full of corruption, and whose character comes out in the question which these messengers ask.
25. Why baptized thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
Washings formed a part of the religious ceremonial service of Israel, although baptism in the Christian sense, that of an introductory rite, is unknown to the Mosaic law. It is considered that they had a traditional faith among them that Elias and the Messiah were to come baptizing. The Pharisees, therefore, demand of John why he baptized, when, according to his own confession, he was neither the Christ nor Elias?
26. John answered them, saying,
I baptize with water; but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not.
In Matthew, John's words are: "I indeed baptize with water," to distinguish his baptism from that of Jesus, which was with the Holy Ghost. The distinction is no doubt to be understood here, though not expressed. John meant to tell the Pharisees that his baptism was but preparatory to the coming of one greater than himself; that in the midst of them, and yet unknown to them, was the Christ of whom they had inquired. When John said, "I baptize with water," he meant to say that his baptism was only external, representing the purification of the external man. If the Pharisees objected to John's baptism, what would they say of Jesus, of whose work this water-baptism was but the outward sign? Spiritually, it speaks to us all in corresponding terms. John's baptism with water is the purification effected by the letter of the Word. The water of John's baptism signified the truths of the literal sense, baptism being the purification effected by their application to life. But while this outward baptism is being effected, there standeth one in the midst whom we know not. This unknown one is present in the inmost of every mind. But the purification of the natural man makes him manifest. Jesus can come forth to public view when John has prepared his way. He then comes forth from the inner into the outer mind, and so makes himself manifest to us as the object of our conscious faith and love.
27. Of Jesus the Baptist testifies:
He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
How profound and beautiful is John's humility in thus testifying to the Lord's greatness and to his own comparative insignificance! Of the personal priority and greatness of Jesus, we need not further speak, having already (v. 15) considered a similar declaration. His present mode of illustrating this statement is that which invites our attention. His shoe latchet he was not worthy to unloose. In those times the sandal was removed from the foot of the pilgrim when he sought repose after the fatigue of his journey, a service performed by the very lowest domestics. In declaring himself unworthy to perform this humblest service for the Son of man, he acknowledged himself to be immeasurably inferior to his Lord as to rank and perfection.
28. The things which the evangelist has just recorded
were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
On the best authorities the name of this place should be Bethany. It was on the east side of the Jordan, as the town of Martha and Mary was on the west; but although one was in, and the other was out of, the land of Canaan, the Bethany beyond the Jordan was not strictly speaking out of the region which represented the Church. When the Israelites took possession of the promised land, two tribes and a half chose their inheritance on the other side Jordan. Those on the east of the river represented the external church and the external man, and those in Canaan itself represented the internal church and the internal man; the tribe of Manasseh, half of which was on one side of the Jordan and half on the other, representing the principle of mutual love that forms the conjoining medium between them. Bethany was in the tribe of Reuben, who, among the twelve patriarchs, has the same signification that Peter has among the twelve apostles.
29. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
How noble a testimony to Jesus as the Saviour of men! Thirty years had passed since the angel had announced to the shepherds at Bethlehem the birth of a Saviour which was Christ the Lord; and now, when Jesus was about to show himself unto the world, John proclaims him to be the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Both the angel and the Baptist were messengers of the Lord; the heavenly messenger preparing the way for the Lord's advent into the heaven of the inner man, and the earthly messenger preparing the way for his descent into the world of the outer man. The Lord had hitherto been engaged in a great work, but it was inward and hidden; more in the inner depths of his human consciousness than in the outward acts of his human life, for the Lord glorified himself, as he regenerates man, first internally, next externally; and more in heaven among the angels than among men on earth, for the Lord redeemed angels as well as men. The stages of the Lord's glorification were coincident with corresponding periods of his life.
The Lord, as to his humanity, is the Lamb of God. This is a name given to him as the great antitype of the Jewish sacrifices, especially of the lamb of the daily sacrifice, and of the paschal lamb, which were types of Jesus, who offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
The same law, which is applicable to all the sacrifices offered by men, was fulfilled in the one great sacrifice, which was offered by the Lord, the sacrifice of himself. It was his old man, his frail humanity, that was crucified; it was his new man, his glorified and risen humanity, that was sacrificed (Heb. x. 10). It was in his glorious body that "Christ gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour (Eph. v. 2); for Jesus "offered himself without spot to God" (Heb. ix. 14). The Lord's sacrifice was the great anti-type of all the sacrifices that burned for ages on the altar of the Jewish church. Sweet to Jehovah was the savour of that offering; for that which was offered was no less than a sanctified, perfected, glorified Humanity. That was the offering of all offerings: "For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb. x. 10-14).
In what way does the Lord's sacrifice take away the sin of the world? Among heathen nations, sacrifices were offered to propitiate the deity. It is natural for men to suppose that God should be offended with them when they sin, and that they should seek to obtain his forgiveness by some acceptable offering as a sign of their penitence. Revelation gives us the true view of this great matter. God is love, and desires the happiness of all his creatures, the only obstacle to which exists in themselves. Man has become God's enemy, but God has never ceased to be man's friend. Man needs therefore to be reconciled to God; God needs not to be reconciled to man. There is indeed an opinion, that while God's love desires the salvation of all, his justice demanded satisfaction for sin; and redemption is considered to include a scheme by which God's justice is reconciled to his mercy. Jesus is believed to have come into the world to live the life of the righteous and die the death of the guilty, to satisfy the demands of the divine law; and having done this, sinners may now be saved, not for anything they can do, but for what Christ has done. So deeply does the idea of substitution enter into the plan of redemption, that many, unable to see any other use in the Lord's Incarnation, will be ready to ask, If Christ did not come into the world to live and die in the room and stead of sinners, what did he come to do?
We may now look at the words of John in their spiritual meaning. In the spiritual sense the Lord is called the Lamb of God, as being Innocence itself, and the author of innocence to his people. By innocence we do not mean mere blamelessness, but the very perfection of holiness. Therefore the Lord is represented (Rev. v. 6) as the Lamb in the midst of the throne, to teach us that the Lord's humanity is innocence, and that this is the inmost of heaven, which is God's throne. The Lord, as the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world, by making the world free from sin, and restoring it to something of the innocence from which it has departed. There is no other way of salvation for the world but this. We cannot be saved by simply believing what Jesus did for us, but by doing as he did, and by being as he is, having the same mind in us which was also in him. We do not, of course, mean that we can ever, even to eternity, arrive at his measure of perfection.
30. John proceeds to say of Jesus,
This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me; for he was before me.
This declaration, now repeated for the third time, differs from the others in one particular. Jesus is here called a man. It does not of course follow that Jesus was a mere man. He was truly man, as well as truly God. But the Lord was man, not only as the son of Mary, but also as the Son of God; and he is more truly a man since, than he was before, he put off all that he inherited from his human mother. Paul so speaks of him as he now is. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. ii. 5). The Lord is perfect man, because he is a divine man, and therefore a perfect mediator between God and man. We are so much accustomed to think of the human as contrasted with the Divine, that we are apt to forget that the human derives its distinguishing character, not from its unlikeness, but from its likeness, to the Divine. In a high and holy sense God is infinite Man, considered as the prototype of finite man. He is a divine person, not an infinitely extended and formless essence. As such he is the divine, and indeed the only Man; we, as men, being but the faint, because the finite, images of him, as the infinitely perfect. And we become more truly men as we acquire more and more of his image and likeness. Although it is not necessary to suppose that finite man is in all respects the exact copy of the Infinite, yet there can be no reasonable doubt that the divine image extends to man's form as well as to his nature. The human form is not an arbitrary one. It is not constructed but created. It is not built up mechanically as a habitation for the soul, but put forth creatively through the soul as a habitation for itself. It is the human essence concreted into the human shape. No creature can exist in any form but that which is suitable to its nature; that is to say, in its own form; man's form is the form of his nature. God could not have taken man's nature upon him, if that nature had not been homogeneous with his own; he could not have appeared in the human form, if that form had not been the image of his own; the Lord therefore was man before he assumed man's nature. By incarnation he became man in ultimates, having existed from eternity as man in first principles; and the glorified humanity is man in the perfection of the human form, because it is love and wisdom in their own form.
31. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel.
How was it that the Messiah should have been unknown to him who had been raised up for the purpose of preparing his way? Was it that there might be no appearance of collusion? There must be a higher reason than this. John knew that the Messiah was come; but he was kept in ignorance of Jesus as the Christ, that he might know him through the sign which was to be vouchsafed to him from heaven. John had been, so to speak, working his way up to the Messiah, while preparing his way by preaching and baptizing. He knew what he was working and labouring for, but he knew not him in whose cause and for whose coming he laboured. The object of his mission was, that the Messiah might be made manifest to Israel, and to the church so far as it was animated by the love of truth, which is the spiritual principle that Israel represented; and to the human mind, in which affection for truth exists; for to none but those who are in the love of truth for its own sake can the Lord be savingly manifested or revealed as Christ, the Saviour of the world. Every one in John's condition has John's experience. While we are acquiring a knowledge of the truth and striving to obey it, we are preparing the way of the Lord. We know him, and yet we know him not. We know him theoretically but not practically, potentially but not actually. Only by the heavenly sign, the spirit descending from on high and alighting and abiding on the truth, do we know it as the truth, in and by which the Lord brings salvation to us.
32, 33. The sign by which John was to know Jesus as the Christ was that which took place at his baptism.
I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
If we look at this divine event only from the sensuous side, according to which the literal narrative is written, we shall regard it as teaching not only the distinct but the separate personality of Father, Son, and Spirit. Reason may convince us that the reality is different from the appearance. No reasonable person can suppose that an omnipresent Being can be thus divided and separated, one person in heaven, another on earth, and a third the messenger between them. The appearances spoken of are but the outward visible signs of an inward divine operation, an operation of the Lord's divinity in his humanity. The dove was not the Spirit itself, but a representative appearance of its nature, as the Spirit of infinite love and wisdom, the motion of the dove representing the descent of the Spirit from the Lord's divine into his human nature. In the Lord the descent and operation of the Spirit was constant; but as his glorification advanced not only by continuous but by discrete degrees, there were marked stages where one discrete degree ended and another began.
This was the promised sign by which Jesus was made known to John. I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. To look at this subject spiritually in relation to ourselves, the same evidence is given to us that was given to John, by which we know Jesus as our Saviour. As regeneration is in effect an image of the Lord's glorification, and is that by which the Lord is glorified in us, this is given us as a sign by which we come to know the Lord. The descent of the Holy Spirit from the Lord through the will and understanding of the internal man into the baptized and purified life and conversation of the external man is that by which the Lord becomes sensibly known to us; and by which he works out the complete regeneration of the willing and obedient, as he effected the complete glorification of his own humanity. The dove was not only to descend but to remain upon Jesus; so that not a transitory visit but a continued abiding of the spirit was to be the sign. But these words express something more than this. All motion, especially that of birds, is expressive of the activity of thought, and remaining is expressive of a permanent state in regard to the will. The descending of the dove was there-fore symbolical of the operation of the divine wisdom in the Lord's human understanding, and the remaining upon him of the dove was symbolical of the confirmation of divine love as a principle of his human will. These were to be a sign that Jesus was he who was to baptize with the Holy Spirit. This baptism forms a most important contrast to that of John. John's baptism was representative, the Lord's was actual. The difference between them is as the difference between what is dead and what is living. All outward rites and all human agencies are but the forms into which life flows. The baptizing and preaching of men are most useful operations, but they have nothing of vitality in them.
34. John saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
The Lord, we have seen, was now the Son of God actually, as, before the incarnation, he was potentially. We have also seen that Jesus was more fully the Son of God at his resurrection than at his birth. By birth, he was the Son of Mary as well as the Son of God; by glorification, he became the Son of God only, having put off all the frail humanity he derived from his human mother, and put on a perfect humanity from his divine Father. Although at his birth he was justly entitled to be called the Son of God, yet, strictly speaking, this title was only applicable to that principle of his humanity which he derived from the Father; and as the humanity in which he rose from the dead was wholly divine, this was truly and exclusively the Son of God, he having been "declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead." The record of Jesus as the Son of God, is the knowledge and acknowledgment, not simply of the Lord's divinity, but of the divinity of his humanity. Those who regard Jesus as the eternal Son of God, and yet deny the divinity of his humanity, do not really acknowledge him to be the Son of God. There was no eternal Son of God. There was a Son born in time and glorified; and this is in very truth the only begotten Son of God. John's testimony respecting Jesus, as being the Son of God, is of great practical as well as doctrinal importance; for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as God manifest in the flesh, as that One in whom God is Man and Man is God, is the faith which brings salvation, because it brings the soul into connection with him who has the power to save.
35, 36. Again, the next day after, John stood, and two of his disciples: and looking on Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.
John had already borne testimony to Jesus as the Word made flesh, as the fulness of grace and truth, as Jehovah whose coming was predicted by Isaiah, as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, as the Son of God. He had testified this to the multitude who came to his baptism, and to the priests and Levites sent to ask him who he was, and whether he was the Messiah. He now gives the same testimony before his own disciples. The first disciples of Jesus were, it would appear, disciples of John. So far John had prepared the way of the Lord, not only to the Jews generally, but to his own disciples in particular. And these disciples of John became disciples of Jesus, and one of them became the first of the Lord's apostles. The two disciples to whom John pointed out Jesus as the Lamb of God, and who followed the Lord and became his disciples, represent the two general classes of converts who follow the Lord, those who are in charity and those who are in faith, and abstractly the graces of charity and faith themselves; their leaving John and following Jesus representing the elevation of those principles out of the natural into the spiritual degree of the mind. John and his disciples stood while Jesus walked, a symbol of the completed mission of the one and the commencing mission of the other. John's work may be said to have ended where the Lord's work began. The baptism of Jesus was the crowning act of John's mission. A connection between heaven and earth had been effected by the baptism of men, but heaven itself was opened by the baptism of the Lord. Henceforth the humanity of Jesus became the direct medium of communication between heaven and the church, and between God and man, and the spiritual baptism of regeneration was about to succeed the ceremonial baptism of repentance. The sun having risen in his strength, the star which heralded his approach became hidden in his beams. So John testified of Jesus and of himself: He must increase, but I must decrease. And thus is it with those who pass successfully through the regenerate life. Charity and faith are first the disciples of John. They are received from the written Word as principles of doctrine, and if they are faithfully acted upon as such, they become eventually principles of life; introduced into the mind by the baptism of water, they become quickened by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and being animated with spiritual and heavenly life are raised from the natural into the spiritual mind.
37. The effect of this exclamation was,
that the two disciples who heard him speak followed Jesus.
38. Then Jesus turned and saw them following.
The Lord turns himself to us when we turn ourselves to him. "Turn ye unto me and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord." But the real truth is, the Lord turns us to himself; he draws us, we suffer ourselves to be drawn; he leads us, we suffer ourselves to be led. The Lord's turning himself away from us is an appearance; and it is only when he turns us to himself that it seems as if he turned himself to us. We must beware, however, of falling into error, by supposing that we are mere passive objects whom the Lord turns at his pleasure. It is always his pleasure to turn his creatures to himself, and he turns all who of their free will yield to the perpetually operating influences of his Spirit. This turning of the Lord has a spiritual significance. Turning the face to any one means to open the mind inwardly to him; and when the Lord is spoken of as turning to any one, it indicates that he who previously saw the Lord externally and obscurely now sees him inwardly and clearly. And so when it is said that the Lord sees any one, as it is here said that, being turned, he saw the two disciples of John following, we are not to understand any new sight on the Lord's part but on man's. The Lord always sees us, but we do not always see him; and he sees us in the true sense when he enables us to see ourselves. There are two different aspects which the Lord has to men; they see him on the back and they see him on the face. The first is external sight, the second is internal. When the Lord was turned, he asked the two who followed him,
'What seek ye?'
An important and searching question this. When we follow the Lord, we should endeavour to know, not only the Lord whom we follow, but what our object is in following him. The two answered this question by asking him another. Addressing Jesus as Master, a title to which no one is spiritually entitled but himself, he alone having authority in matters of faith and practice, the disciples say unto him,
'Where dwellest thou?'
39. To their question the Lord answered,
Come and see.
To come is an act of the will, to see is an act of the understanding. This, therefore, is an exhortation to them to come to that state themselves, as the best and indeed the only practical way of knowing it. As if the Lord had said, and as he now says to those who occupy the place and have the desire of these disciples, Learn from experience. Follow me to the place of my abode and see for yourselves; it is a state and place I have prepared for you, that where I am ye may be also. My humble dwelling upon earth is the consecrated symbol of my church on earth and of my kingdom in heaven, of my Father's house in which are many mansions, the dwelling place of my love and the home of the loving.
'They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day.'
Time, like place, signifies state; but place is state in relation to good, and time is state in relation to truth. Place and time thus signify both. Their abiding with Jesus that day signifies a state of good and truth united. The quality of the state on which they had thus entered is expressed by the hour of the day:
'it was about the tenth hour.'
Ten is a number which signifies remains, which are the germs or rudiments of states formed in the mind by the Lord, through the insemination of the truths and goods of his Word. Others may be instrumental in communicating the knowledge of these principles, but the Lord alone can cause them to take root. The implantation of remains is the beginning of the regenerate life. Their impartation is confined to no period, but their implantation is the first day, and is memorable as the day of our being with Jesus in the place of his abode. The states formed under the teaching of John are the beginnings of those perfected under the teaching of Jesus. Reformation is preparatory to regeneration.
40. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
We are not told who the other disciple was; some suppose it was John himself.
41. It is said of Andrew that
he first findeth his own brother Simon.
Simon Peter is eminently the representation of the Christian grace of faith. When he is called Simon he represents faith in the will, or that faith which exists in the mind as a general principle; Peter represents the same faith when it exists in the understanding; while Simon Peter is expressive of that faith which is both in the will and in the understanding. The faith represented by Andrew is that which leads to the faith represented by Peter, in other words natural faith leads to spiritual faith, or we should rather say the obedience of natural faith leads to spiritual faith. So it is said of Andrew that he first findeth his own brother Simon, for natural faith is the brother of spiritual faith, and obedience is that which forms the link of connection between them. Andrew saith to him,
'we have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.'
42. Andrew brought Simon to Jesus.
And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a stone.
This recognition of the new inquirer, if not convert, is an instance of the truth of the statement, that Jesus needed not that any should testify of man; for if he knew what was in man, it is not surprising that he should know such outward circumstances as these. But Jesus not only knew what Simon was, but he knew what he would be, and in accordance with this knowledge he gave him at once a new name, that expressed the character which this disciple was to earn for himself. It is worthy of remark that this eminent disciple is, in the brief narrative of his first connection with Jesus, spoken of by all the names by which he is afterwards designated: Simon, Simon Peter, Simon son of Jona. Each has a particular spiritual as well as natural signification. Simon literally means hearing; and he who has ears to hear the truth is one who is inclined to hearken to its lessons of wisdom and precepts of life, and to follow them. Hearing is that sense which communicates more immediately with the will and ministers to the affections, these being affected with sound and its harmony; while sight communicates more immediately with the understanding, and conveys to it impressions of symmetry and beauty. When this disciple is called by the name of Simon, it is in reference to the affection of truth, which disposes and opens the mind to its reception. When he is called Peter, which has the same meaning as Cephas, it is in reference to his character as one whose faith is fixed on the immovable rock of divine truth, and eminently on the Lord as the Truth itself - the Rock of Ages; for Peter, as one strong in the faith, and especially as the one who made the famous confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, is the representative of faith, and also of the church itself, as founded upon a rock, and against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.
43. The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
This part of the narrative will be best understood by some general remarks on its connection with what precedes and follows. As Andrew found his brother Simon, and brought him to Jesus, so Philip did with Nathanael. There is, therefore, a relative connection between them. Little is recorded in the gospels respecting these two disciples, but that little enables us to see their representative characters. The place where Jesus abode, to which Andrew followed and Simon came to him, was Judea; Philip and Nathanael he found in Galilee. The Lord's going forth from Judea into Galilee signifies, in reference to the regenerate, his going forth from the internal into the external man. Philip and Nathanael, therefore, signify principles of goodness and truth, or charity and faith in the natural mind, corresponding to principles of charity and faith in the internal, represented by Andrew and Simon. This appears not only from the general rule, that when two are mentioned together, one has reference to the will and the other to the understanding, but also from what is further said respecting them in the present instance. The account of the Lord's calling Philip begins with the statement that he would go into Galilee on the day following that on which Peter was brought to him. The following day is a state following in series that represented by the day on which Andrew and Peter were with Jesus, a state of the conjunction of charity and faith in the natural mind, corresponding to a state of the conjunction of the same principles in the spiritual mind. It is thus that regeneration proceeds, sometimes inwards or upwards to the interior affections and thoughts of the mind, and sometimes outwards and downwards towards the words and actions of the life. In the Lord's journey into Galilee, which represented this outward progression, the Lord finds Philip, whom he commands to follow him.
44. What Philip specially represented is brought out more distinctly in the statement which the evangelist now makes, that
Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter,
45. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph.
It is a spiritual law, which is a law of life originating in him who is Life itself, that truth desires good and good desires truth. This spiritual law lies at the foundation of our desire that others should think and feel as we do, that there may be unity of mind and action. This is the case, indeed, with those who are in evil and falsity, as well as with those who are in goodness and truth; and, as a consequence, men and spirits actuated by those principles desire to make others like themselves. But abuse does not take away use, and this use we see operating in the present case. Philip tells Nathanael, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. The acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah, whose coming had been foretold by Moses and the prophets, was in itself a great act of faith; yet Philip's language respecting Jesus does not indicate a clear perception of his character. He does not, like Andrew, speak of Jesus as the Christ, but as the Nazarene; nor does he, like Nathanael, speak of him as the Son of God, but as the son of Joseph, the only instance in which a disciple so calls him. Jesus as the Nazarene is the Lord as to his natural humanity, or the divine truth accommodated to the natural apprehension of man. This principle of the Lord's humanity glorified, is indeed that by which he has access to the natural minds of men, so as to bring his love and wisdom down to their lowest state of reception, and save men unto the uttermost; but Philip had not yet acquired a just apprehension of the divinity of the Lord's humanity.
46. Nathanael but expressed the repugnance of the natural mind to divine truth when he answered Philip's announcement, that they had found the Messiah, with the question,
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Goodness, unless it comes in the form of greatness, seldom finds a ready acceptance amongst men, who are so accustomed to judge by appearances. The assumption of humanity by Jehovah, as a remedy for human disorder and misery, is the great stumbling-block to the natural man, as the prophet declared it would be to both houses of Israel. For, however much we may be sensible of that want which can only be supplied by the Saviour, we are all naturally disinclined to accept the Saviour in the lowly character in which he presented himself to the Jewish people. Philip answered Nathanael's question, by asking him to do what Jesus had requested Andrew to do, Come and see. As if he had said, Approach Jesus yourself, and use that faculty which God has given you for discerning the truth, and you will see it to your spiritual benefit and eternal salvation. Nathanael took this wise counsel, as every one should who desires to see the truth as it is in Jesus.
47. Nathanael's doubt was at once shaken, but not at once removed.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.
Although these words were spoken respecting Nathanael, they were heard by him. The first evidence of Jesus' Messiahship which this doubting and cautious visitor received was a revelation of his own character. It might have been regarded as a flattering compliment, but that the person of whom it was spoken must have heard it as a voluntary test of the speaker's claim to being what Philip had represented him to be. Nathanael felt it to be an evidence of supernatural knowledge, and therefore of Jesus as a supernatural Being. He perceived that Jesus knew him. The description which Jesus gives of Nathanael's interior character is expressive also of the character of those persons and of that Christian grace which he represented. A true Israelite is one who is in the spiritual love of truth.
48. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me?
The love of truth is ever accompanied with the fear of error; and one of the signs by which it is indicated is this, that the mind does not at once accept and confirm the offered truth. Hasty and unquestioning reception and confession of the truth is likely to result in persuasive rather than in rational faith; and, however sincere such a faith may be, it is liable to be shaken like a reed with the ever-varying breath of human opinion. There is a healthy as well as a diseased scepticism; a state of doubt that leads to faith as well as a state of doubt that ends in infidelity. An affirmative principle underlies the doubt that is felt by the true Israelite. He is willing to be convinced, but is aware of the danger of being deceived; and the doubts through which he makes his way to faith only tend to enlarge and confirm it. Such was the process through which Nathanael entered into faith. He was disposed to believe, but did not at once yield to the evidence of the truth. He was convinced that Jesus knew him; he now desired to learn how the Lord possessed that knowledge. Jesus answered Nathanael, by giving him a still more convincing evidence of his supernatural knowledge. He said unto him,
'Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.'
This disclosure of some circumstance of his private life, which he was sure Jesus could only have known by omniscience, drew from him the full and free confession,
'Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the king of Israel.'
The connection between the Lord's declaration and Nathanael's acknowledgment is not without a spiritual lesson for us. The fig tree is symbolical of the principle of natural goodness, by which we mean, not the goodness which is natural in its origin, but spiritual goodness, as it enters into and influences our natural thoughts and affections; and which may be called natural goodness from a spiritual origin. The divine promises of the peaceful times, when they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid, (Micah iv. 4), and when they shall call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree (Zech. iii. 10), are promises to the faithful, that when the warfare of their spiritual life is accomplished, and all their evil passions and habits are subdued, they shall dwell tranquilly under the shadow and in the enjoyment of all the spiritual and natural goodness they have acquired.
50, 51. Promises of a still more perfect manifestation of the Lord whom he had acknowledged were given to Nathanael.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Nathanael had confessed Jesus to be the Son of God; the promise now given relates to the Son of Man.
There is no record of this having received a literal fulfilment, unless we regard as such, the angels ministering unto the Lord after his temptation in the wilderness (Matt. iv. 11), and the angel strengthening him during his agony in the garden (Luke xxii. 43). In these cases the angels and their ministry were representative of a higher agency and work. They were merely passive instruments like those angels of the Old Testament dispensation, in whom God appeared and through whom he spoke. Jesus needed not the aid of angels. The ministering of these angels was the outward representative appearance of an inward divine operation. It was the Lord's own Divinity that sustained him in his temptations; and that ministered unto him after the conflict was past. The promise to Nathanael is a promise to the Christian disciple, that he shall be privileged to comprehend something of the nature of that divine work, by which the humanity of the Lord was glorified, that his children might be regenerated. The opening of heaven is the opening of the internal man; and the ascending and descending of the angels, through the open heaven, upon the Son of Man, is the reciprocal communication between the divine and the human nature of the Lord; the ascending angels indicating that the human nature was made divine, and the descending angels indicating that the divine was made human.
CHAPTER II.
1. The miracle which the Lord performed at the marriage of Cana in Galilee is, like all his other works, pregnant with divine instruction. This, the first manifestation of the Lord's miraculous power, representatively shows forth the purpose of his coming; which was to enter into a new and everlasting covenant with his people. The covenant between the Lord and his church is a marriage covenant, the Lord himself being the bridegroom and husband, and the church the bride and wife. It was, therefore, suitable that the first of the Lord's miracles should be performed at a marriage. Like every other covenant, marriage is entered into by mutual consent, and is established on certain conditions; the conditions of marriage being mutual love and mutual service. The Lord has engaged to love and cherish his church, and he requires to be loved and served in return. The conditions can never be less than fulfilled on his part. His nature is sufficient to assure us of this. But his promise has been given. To his church he has said, "I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies" (Hos ii. 19). How could it be otherwise, when he has declared, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee" (Jer. xxxi. 3). And the Lord's love, which has been ever of old, will ever continue. "Can a mother forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (Isa. xlix. 15). Whenever the covenant has been broken, it has been through the conditions having been violated by the church. And many and grievous are the lamentations of the Holy One over the defections and backsliding of his corrupt and unfaithful spouse. All, therefore, that is required to form and preserve the marriage covenant between the Lord and the church is the faithful and loving fulfilment of the laws of the covenant by the church herself. But the marriage of the Lord and the church implies and rests upon another marriage, of which the members of the church individually are the subjects. The church as a body, as it is in the Lord's sight, consists of those, and of those only, who have the principles of the church in their hearts and manifest them in their lives. Those only are the children of the marriage who have the marriage in themselves. The union of love and faith is the heavenly marriage. This is the marriage into which we should desire to enter.
The marriage which the Lord blessed with his presence was in Cana of Galilee, to represent that he was about to raise up a spiritual church among the Gentiles, in place of the representative church, which had been established among the Jews, which was now passing away. It is true that this was a Jewish wedding; the people themselves were Jews, and their surroundings and customs were Jewish. All this was necessary and suitable. Although the church was to he established among the Gentiles, it had to be commenced among the Jews. The rudiment of every new church is formed out of the remnant of the old. The first disciples and the twelve apostles were Jews. But the election of a particular people to form a visible church, does not imply any partiality in him who elects them; much less does it imply, that the benefits conferred are designed for those who directly receive them, to the exclusion of all others. On the contrary, though established visibly in one nation, the church exists for the benefit of all nations, the visible church being, for the time, the centre from which light is diffused in all directions outwards.
The narrative states that the marriage was on the third day. This is mentioned for a more important reason than to inform us, that this event followed a certain time after that recorded at the close of the previous chapter. Three is a number expressive of completeness. It here signifies that now, in the fulness of time, and when all necessary means were divinely provided, the Lord was about to commence the church of his first advent. The resuscitation of the church, like the resurrection of the Lord, took place on the third day; for in the divine economy, death is ever followed by newness of life, and every end by a new beginning.
Regarding the marriage itself, the evangelist informs us that the mother of Jesus was there. (Mary was there in her dual character, as the mother of Jesus and as the representative of the church. The church which Mary represented was that spiritual principle which is embodied more or less perfectly in every dispensation; and which is providentially preserved through all ages, so that when one dispensation expires, the church may rise again in another; though only in the case of the Christian Church has it ever risen in a more perfect and beautiful form than its predecessor.
2. And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage.
Jesus is the divine good and truth from which the church exists, and his disciples are types of the love of good and the faith of truth, which constitute the church or kingdom of the Lord, whether existing among the many or in the mind of one. Their being called to the marriage is expressive of the circumstance, that amongst the Gentiles there was an active desire to receive the Lord and the principles of his kingdom. This implies both a knowledge and an appreciation of divine and spiritual truth. Of the partial existence of these amongst the Gentiles, we have an evidence in the journey of the wise men from the East, in search of Jesus, as the king of the Jews. The invitation to Jesus and his disciples may be considered to have been, like the miracle itself, owing to the mother of Jesus being there. When the affection for truth, which constitutes the vital principle of the church, is present in the mind, the truth itself must be desired and sought, for good ever desires truth. There are several instances recorded in the gospels of Jesus being invited to partake of his people's hospitality; and no instance is to be found of his refusing to become the guest even of the most humble or the most unworthy of his creatures. How beautiful an example of humility and love! His object, of course, was not merely to please but to profit those who bade him. Any one influenced by the same benevolent motive would be secured against contamination; and would be able to turn the entertainment into a feast of love. The Lord's acceptance of these invitations teaches us this other and still higher lesson: that no one who earnestly invites Jesus into his heart will ever ask in vain; and no one who entertains him will ever fail to receive his blessing in return. And that blessing, in the present instance, was both an increase and exaltation of the truth which the church possessed.
3. The first incident connected with the celebration of the marriage is the failing of the wine. There was no need of mentioning any other, since the object of introducing the account of the marriage was to record the miracle of which it was the scene; and the failing of the wine was the occasion of its performance.
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
Mary, as representing the living principle of the church, through whose influence the Lord as the truth was present, was the one to perceive the want of spiritual truth in the church, and to express that want to him who alone had the power to supply it.
4. The answer of Jesus to this implied appeal for aid is singular. The Lord addresses Mary, as he always did, by the name of Woman. This is not to be judged of by our usage, as implying on the Lord's part any want either of respect or affection. In those days woman was a title of respect, if not of honor. There were two reasons for the Lord's never addressing Mary by the name of mother, but always by the name of woman. First, Jesus avoided calling Mary his mother for the same reason that he refused to acknowledge David as his father. If he was Mary's Lord, how was he then her son? He was, indeed, the Son of Mary by natural birth, as he was the Son of David by natural descent. But just as his humanity had been conceived by the power of the highest overshadowing the virgin; so his human thoughts were conceived by the power of his indwelling divinity overshadowing his maternal humanity; and so he spake as the Son of God and the Son of Man, and not as the Son of Mary. For although, in a certain respect, he was the Son of Man as to his maternal humanity, yet, strictly speaking, this is a name which is expressive of his character as the Word, as accommodated to the apprehensions of men. Before the marriage in Cana, the glorification of the Lord's humanity had so far advanced, that he could not regard and speak of himself as the Son of Mary, but as the Son of God. He was born of God by glorification, as we are born of God by regeneration, and that work was completed at the Lord's resurrection, when he was declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection from the dead (Rom. i. 4). In the second place, the Lord called Mary woman, because this is a symbolic designation of the church, which Mary represented. When the Lord addressed her by the name of woman, it was to say to her,
What have I to do with thee?
This, however, is an unfortunate rendering of the Lord's words; their true meaning,
What is that to me and to thee?
has nothing of the severity, if not harshness, which our version expresses. Even in their true sense, his words might be understood to mean, that the want of wine did not concern either Mary or himself.
5. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
We have already spoken of Mary as representing the church. We may now remark, that when the church is spoken of as a mother, which expresses the relation she bears to her children, and only to Jesus so far as he was her Son, made under the law, she has a different yet kindred meaning to that which she has when spoken of as a wife, which expresses her relation to the Lord as a husband.
6. And there were set there six water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins a-piece.
These vessels represent the precepts and statutes of the Jewish Church; in a larger sense, the law as acknowledged by the Jews; in the largest sense, the Word in its literal form. The water, which these vessels contained, represented the truth which God gave the Jews, in and through their law, for purification and regeneration. The water-pots were six in number, because six is expressive of a preparatory state, attended with trial and temptation, as the six days of labour are preparatory to the sabbath of rest. The Jewish dispensation was preparatory to the Christian, the law to the gospel, and the letter to the spirit; as the secular week was preparatory to the holy Sabbath: eminently, the Lord's life of labour and travail was preparatory to the divine state of rest, into which he entered by the union of his Humanity with his Divinity: hence our Lord on the Sabbath day performed so many of his beneficent works, which, however, were not works of conflict, but of mercy.
7. These pots our Lord desired them to fill with water, and they
filled them up to the brim.
The Jews had emptied the law of its meaning and deprived it of its power. The Lord filled it again, even to the brim, both by his teaching and his life. The law is filled in two ways, by restoring its true sense, and by fulfilling its requirements. The law is filled by being fulfilled, a meaning which belongs to the English as well as to the Greek word; for the father of English poetry speaks of this "gentil May, fulfilled of pity." The Lord's restoring and fulfilling the law, as to the letter, was represented by his commanding the, water-pots to be filled with water, and by their filling them up to the brim, water being the type of natural truth, which constitutes the true sense of the letter of the Word. The Lord filled up the law in his teaching, and fulfilled it in his life. He restored the true sense and meaning of the Word, and he fulfilled all its requirements in his self-denying and beneficent life. But he taught that others were to do this also. It is the duty of the church and of its members, in obedience to his divine command, thus to fill and fulfil the law, both by filling up the measure of its true meaning, and teaching and doing what it truly requires.
8. When the servants had filled the water-pots with water,
Jesus saith unto them, Draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
It has been a question, whether the whole of the large quantity of water which the vessels now contained was turned into wine, a question which would hardly deserve consideration, but for its relation to a spiritual meaning and practical use.
The servants, when they had drawn the wine, were desired to bear it to the governor of the feast. The marriage feast in those times was presided over by one, whose office it was to see to the proper entertainment of the guests, to preserve order and temperance, and promote happiness. The marriage feast presents a faithful representation of the spiritual feast in which it originated; for the festivals of our social life are the outbirths and images of our spiritual states. Marriage is the most important, and, when it is a true union, is the happiest event of our natural life; and calls forth the warmest sympathy and joy in others. The heavenly marriage of goodness and truth is the great event of our spiritual life, and draws around it all our best affections. But when the natural affections are excited and inspired with delight, they are liable, like the guests at the marriage feast, to run into some degree of disorder and excess; and require a ruler to direct and govern them. Reason is the legitimate ruler of our feasts, not natural reason, but reason which acts under the influence of religious principle. To this power the natural affections and thoughts, passions and appetites, should ever be subject. Therefore, to the governor of the feast was the wine directed to be taken, before the guests were supplied.
9. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew:) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom.
The ruler knew that what he tasted was superior wine, but he knew not whence it was. To know the truth and to know whence it is are two distinct things. The first comes by revelation, the second by illustration; the first by the knowledge, the second by the light, of truth. But although the ruler knew not whence the good wine was, the servants that drew the water knew; for they represent those truths that act immediately from the Lord, by which we have a perception of the origin of spiritual truth. But when it is said that the ruler knew not whence it was, the narrative shows that he supposed it had been provided by the bridegroom. And so human reason, before it is enlightened by the Lord's Spirit, imagines the truth to have a human and not a divine origin; or at least regards it as less than divine, and traces it to a cause lower than the Infinite or Eternal. We see, however, in this relation, that the perception of divine truth and of its origin, in the process of regeneration, ascends; first the servants, then the ruler, and lastly the bridegroom, became acquainted with the fact that Jesus was the author and giver of the wine. For although it is not related, there is a certainty that both the ruler and the bridegroom were thus led to the knowledge of the truth, that Jesus had performed this great miracle.
10. When the ruler had called the bridegroom, he saith unto him,
Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse; but thou has kept the good wine until now.
Every church commences with truth derived from good, which is the good wine, and declines into truth without good, which is the wine that is worse. This, at least, has been the case with all churches which have hitherto existed in the world. All have degenerated. When men had well drunk - or had drunk to excess - the wine has become "worse." Intellectual and spiritual intoxication arises from finding pleasure in truth without goodness, or faith without works. All excess of truth over goodness is, to the extent of that excess, a degree of spiritual or rather intellectual intoxication, and is meant by drunkenness in the Word. Natural intemperance is no doubt traceable to this spiritual cause. The ruler of the feast expressed his surprise and approbation that the bridegroom had kept the good wine till the last. Every church previously existing had passed through these descending stages, and had landed in a state of hypocrisy at last, a state which is implied in the very circumstance of giving the guests inferior wine, when they had become incompetent to judge of its quality. But here was an exception to the general rule. The church which the Lord was about to establish was to receive a higher degree of truth than the members of the Jewish Church had ever possessed. The spiritual truth of the Christian Church was more spiritual than that of the Jewish Church, even in its best and palmiest days. The revelation which is made at the commencement of any church, is made at the end of the old, and to those belonging to it who are capable of receiving the truth of the new dispensation. The inhabitants of Galilee were of this description. They were nominally Jews, but essentially Gentiles. They were less deeply sunk in the Pharisaism and Sadducism of the age. It is not those who are deeply versed in, and strongly attached to, the doctrines of a consummated church that hail the advent of a new dispensation, and become the earliest recipients of its principles; it is those who are in a state of simplicity, whose hearts crave after some better things than elaborate and exclusive human creeds can supply. In this respect the Lord ever acts differently from men. As a church degenerates, her truths degenerate also; and thus does the silver of the church become dross, and her wine mixed with water. Nay, it is permitted by a wise and merciful Providence, that when the church declines into evil, she should fall into error, that the truth may be saved from profanation, and that her condemnation may be less severe than it would be by sinning against the light.
11. The turning of water into wine at the marriage in Cana of Galilee is called
the beginning of the Lord's miracles.
And how worthy of being recorded, and how deserving of admiration, is the first in that series of beneficent works, by which the Saviour manifested his eternal power and Godhead, and dispensed his mercy to the suffering and afflicted; at the same time representatively exhibiting those greater because spiritual and eternal works, by which humanity, suffering from the effects of sin, is to be raised into higher states of truth and righteousness. In the spiritual meaning of Scripture, the first of a series always gives the key to the character of the whole; so that the first means, not only the first in the other of time, but the first in the order of rank. Among all the similitudes of the kingdom of heaven, marriage is the most exalted. It is the origin and end of all things. The union of love and wisdom in God is the divine marriage, from which creation had its birth, and from which, through its effects and images in created objects, it has its continuance. The same divine marriage of infinite love and wisdom is in all the other divine works, of providence, revelation, redemption, and salvation. The union of love and wisdom in the human mind is the spiritual marriage, which forms the kingdom of God within us. This is, in the particular sense, the marriage to which the kingdom of heaven is compared, and from this result all other unions, the marriage of the Lord and his church, and the marriage of human pairs both on earth and in heaven. This being the case, we can see the reason why the Lord performed his first miracle at a marriage; and how it is that this first miracle enters into all the other miracles of our Lord. The turning of water into wine was a sign (which the word for miracle here signifies) of the character of all the works of goodness and wisdom characteristic of the Christian dispensation. Of the several dispensations that preceded the Christian Church, each was less perfect than that which it followed. But the Christian Church was the beginning of an ascending series. The church had descended from celestial to spiritual, from spiritual to natural; when the Lord came, it began to ascend from natural to spiritual, and from spiritual to celestial. Man had, so to speak, turned the wine into water; the Lord turned the water into wine.
'manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him.'
The first effect is agreeable to the meaning and purpose of the miracle; for glory, in reference to the Lord, is the effulgence of divine light, which is divine truth, by which his character and perfections are more clearly revealed. And the result of this is, as stated in the narrative, that his disciples believe on him. Not that this is the beginning of belief, but that a purer and more spiritual faith is now begotten in them. The disciples, it is evident, had believed in him before this miracle; it did not produce faith but exalted it. As the miracle itself represented the changing of natural truth into spiritual; the result of it was that it changed their natural into a spiritual faith. This miracle is still performed in the minds of the regenerate. Our knowledge and belief still begin in the letter. We know of the Lord first as the Nazarene, we think of him first as the son of Joseph (chap. i. 45); and our first faith in the Lord is as low and poor as our first conceptions of him. But when we have accompanied the Lord to the marriage, and seen the water turned into wine, and in that miracle of divine power have beheld his glory, our belief in the Lord begins to be spiritual and heavenly.
12. After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples.
When the Scriptures speak of going down, they speak of descent from a higher to a lower state. This does not necessarily mean exchanging a superior for an inferior state; it generally means, as it does here, carrying out the principles of an inward faith into the actions of a holy life, descending from the mount, where we receive the law, into the camp, where it is to be carried into effect. Such was the Lord's going down to Capernaum, which was upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Naphtali (Matt. iv. 13); Capernaum thus signifying a state of the external life of man, where there is the practical conjunction of goodness and truth. As a city, Capernaum signifies doctrine. From its being the Lord's own city it represents the doctrine of the Lord; and from its situation the doctrine of life. The Lord's going down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brethren and his disciples, teaches us that the Lord leads his church, represented by his mother, and her children, consisting of those who are in charity and faith, represented by his brethren and his disciples, into the doctrine of the Lord and the doctrine of life. Yet why should they, who had already entered into the marriage of truth and good, be led thence into the doctrine of truth and good? For the same reason that an apostle exhorts the faithful to add to their faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge (2 Peter i. 5). Faith is enriched, virtue is exalted by knowledge.
'continued not many days.'
As periods of time mean states of life, these natural days mean states of spiritual life. Numbers, in the spiritual sense, do not mean quantity but quality, and every particular number is expressive of a certain quality. Here, however, no specific number is mentioned. When many and few are spoken of, as they frequently are in Scripture, many has relation to truth and few to goodness; as where it is said that many are called but few chosen, which does not necessarily mean that few are saved out of the many that are called, but that it is the true who are called, the good who are chosen. The Lord, and those who are with him, continuing in Capernaum not many days, means, therefore, that the state into which the children of the marriage are led, as here represented, is a state rather of the good than of the truth of doctrine.
13. The Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
During his life on earth the Lord went up three times to Jerusalem, to the feast of the passover. As the law required that every male should appear three times a year at Jerusalem, we may regard the Lord's three visits as intended to fulfil this requirement, and as having the same representative character. The passover, at which the paschal lamb was eaten, as a memorial of that night when the first-born of Egypt were slain, and when Israel obtained deliverance from Egyptian bondage, typified the glorification of the Lord's humanity, as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, and by the power of which human redemption was effected. The Lord also glorified his humanity by three distinct acts, or rather stages of progression; for his glorification, like man's regeneration, ascended from natural to spiritual, and from spiritual to celestial; but in him these states were divine, while in all others they are human and finite; his states were divine-natural, divine-spiritual, divine-celestial.
14. The glorification of the Lord's humanity being represented by the passover, therefore when he went up to Jerusalem to attend the feast, he, as here recorded, proceeded to purify the temple, which was the symbol of the temple of his body.
He found in the temple those that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.
It may seem inconsistent with the Lord's perfect innocence to suppose, that his humanity had any qualities in it, which could be re-presented by these mercenary dealers in the temple. We are, however, carefully to distinguish between hereditary and actual evil. The Lord inherited from his human mother all the hereditary imperfections of our common nature, without which he could not have been a Saviour from sin. The grand difference between the Lord and every other man was, that while he inherited all men's evils, he committed, none of their sins. Not in his birth, but in his life, he was wholly undefiled and separate from sinners. He took our corrupt nature upon him for the very purpose of removing its corruptions. He did not find it, but he made it, without spot and blemish. Our Lord's temptations and great trials consisted in his conflicts with the inherited corruptions of his human nature, or rather with the powers of darkness, which assailed him through those corruptions; and his triumphs, by which he attained perfection, consisted in his at once overcoming the powers of darkness who assailed him, and purifying his humanity from the hereditary evils through which their assaults had come. The oxen and sheep and doves are the merely human affections and thoughts which belonged to the Lord's maternal nature, and the money which was changed is the knowledge connected with them. The oxen and sheep and doves and money were not indeed in themselves evil, but only became so by being introduced into the temple. The selling and buying and money-changing were necessary for the temple service, but the traffic should have been carried on beyond the precincts of the building; by being intruded into the sacred edifice, that which had ministered to holiness became profane.
15. When he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables.
The small cords of which he made the scourge are the truths of his holy word, which become a scourge when they are employed in the way of judgment, to chastise and expel evils and intentional errors. His pouring out the money is the dissipation or dispersion of all falsities, and his overturning the tables is the overthrowing of the evils in which false principles are grounded. In regard to the church and to man, the Lord's judgments, it is to be remarked, are not upon persons but upon principles. Divine truth, by which judgment is effected, is directed against the evils and errors which are opposed to it; and the only difference between judgment on the righteous and on the wicked is this, that the righteous yield to the judgment, and willingly forsake the evils and errors which the truth condemns, while the wicked resist the truth which judges their evils and errors, and are therefore cast out from the Lord's presence with the evils which they love and cherish. So far as regards the Lord, his judgments are the same upon all; the same in their character, the same in their purpose; ever in his judgments the Lord remembers mercy, that is to say, all his judgments are full of mercy, and only those who refuse mercy in judgment are judged without mercy.
16. He said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence.
It was natural that these dealers should be required to remove their doves from the temple, for they could not like the sheep and oxen be driven out. But there is an analogy in this to a spiritual truth. Doves, we have said, signify thoughts; these belong to the understanding or the rational faculty; they must be removed, not by pressure, but by persuasion; not by an act of the will, but by an act of the reason. To all the mercenary dealers, as well as to those who sold doves; the Lord said,
'Make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.'
17. When the disciples saw this exhibition of the Lord's zeal for the honour of the temple,
they remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
In the Old Testament the zeal of the Lord is often spoken of, though it sometimes appears in our version under the name of jealousy. In regard to the feeling itself, zeal is the ardour of love, and is more especially manifested in vindicating and protecting the innocent from injury or evil. Zeal, as a spiritual feeling, is analogous to anger as a natural feeling. They differ little in their outward appearance, but are essentially unlike in their inward character. Both are the warmth of love, but one is the warmth of heavenly love, and the other is the warmth of infernal love. Zeal desires only to vindicate those it loves, anger desires to punish those it hates. From the apparent similarity between zeal and anger, God himself is often spoken of as being angry. In him, however, there is no shadow of anger. The only instance in which anger is attributed to Jesus is that recorded in Mark (iii. 5), where it is said that he looked round about on the persecuting Jews in anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. This is the character of divine anger, or that which is so called in the letter of Scripture; it is the warmth of love and mercy, for mercy is love grieving; and that anger which originates in grief is in reality zeal, and only appears as anger to the evil.
18. But there was another class that were spectators of this manifestation of holy zeal and superhuman power.
The Jews answered and said unto him, What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things.
Those who are in a negative state want not reasons but signs. It is not enough for them to have the evidences which the truth gives of itself, they demand evidences which they themselves think necessary; they do not wish to be convinced by the power of truth, but induced to believe by the evidence of the senses; they, in effect, want a sign which will induce them to believe that which they regard as in itself incredible, or unworthy of belief. The Lord is indeed the Author as well as the Object of faith; but he does not compel assent through appeals to the senses, but produces belief through truths addressed to the mind.
19. Jesus, therefore, answered the demand of the unbelieving Jews by saying,
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
This was indeed a sign, but it was one which the Jews at that time understood not; and when the sign itself was afterwards given them, they refused to believe it. How then could they believe that which it signified? They destroyed the temple when they crucified the Lord. Three days afterwards the Lord restored the temple which they had destroyed, in rising from the dead in his glorified humanity; in which also was fulfilled the prediction of one of their own prophets, "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts, and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts" (Hag. ii. 9). This raising of the temple, or the glorification of the Lord's humanity, is the sign of signs. It is not an outward but an inward sign; and not merely the highest evidence of truth, but the deepest ground of faith. But the power of this sign comes to us through another.
20. But the Jews answered,
Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
This was not the temple of Solomon, but that which was rebuilt at the return from Babylon, and afterwards renewed by Herod the Great. The forty and six years which the Jews say were occupied in building this temple, are expressive of the quality of the church which it represented. Forty is a number which, like the forty years' journey and the forty days' temptation in the wilderness signifies temptation, and six has a similar meaning, which is derived from the six days of labour that precede the sabbath of rest. The temple which then existed, like the church which it represented, was entirely different and far less magnificent than at its first establishment. The first temple, the building of which had been expressly reserved for the prosperous and peaceful reign of Solomon, was rebuilt in adverse and troublous times, and was the sign of a troubled and greatly depreciated state of religion. The Lord did not come to destroy that temple, for he never comes to destroy but to save. The Jews themselves destroyed it, by destroying every principle of the church in themselves, the destruction of the temple of the Lord's body being at once the effect and the sign of the extinction of religion in their hearts and understanding. The church which the Lord was to raise up on the ruins of that which they had destroyed, was a new and glorious church, a temple that not simply foreshadowed, but was the image of his own glorious body; the three days in which it was to be built up being expressive of its quality, as derived from, and a likeness of the Lord's glorified humanity, the effect and the form of his goodness and truth.
21. But he spake of the temple of his body.
This was not a mere comparison but a correspondence, for the temple represented his humanity, as it also represented the church; for the church is his mystical body, as his humanity is his own glorious body.
22. The disciples themselves had either like the Jews misunderstood or had afterwards forgotten the deep significance of the Lord's words.
It was only when he was risen from the dead that his disciples remembered he had said this unto them;
and it was only then that
they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
We know it was hid from them that the Lord was to be crucified and was to rise the third day. There is a meaning as well as a mystery in the circumstance of the disciples remaining in ignorance or passing into forgetfulness of facts so remarkable, repeatedly and solemnly declared unto them. It was to hold up to the Lord's disciples in all future ages an image of that which takes place in themselves. The Lord's disciples cannot truly know that death and resurrection of the Lord till they take place in their own experience; they cannot understand the great mystery of the Lord's death and resurrection in relation to themselves till their understandings are opened by the risen Lord breathing upon them the Holy Spirit of his glorified humanity. It is not till after he is risen in our own hearts, that we savingly remember the words which he has uttered in our ears. The remembrance of these things does not consist in their being in the outward memory; they must be inscribed on the inward memory, before we can truly possess them, or spiritually call them to remembrance. It is on the inner memory, which is that of the spirit, that spiritual and eternal truths are inscribed, and they can only come into living remembrance, when the Lord's resurrection is realized in our regeneration. Then it is that we '
'believe the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.'
The written and the incarnate Word bear the same testimony, but the one speaks to us through the ear, and the other reveals himself to us through the heart; nor is the outward testimony of the one ever truly understood or believed, till the inward witness of the other enters into it with its spirit and its life.
23. When he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
24, 25. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
We might, therefore, say that many believed in him, but did not believe from him. He was not in their belief as its Author and Object, in any saving sense. Belief means trust, and none truly believe in the Lord, but those who trustingly rely on him as their Saviour. It is said that Jesus did not commit himself unto them, more correctly, he did not trust himself to them. And his want of trust in them shows and expresses, in the spiritual sense, their want of trust in him. He did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.
CHAPTER III.
It is remarkable that some of our Lord's most important lessons of doctrine and practice were drawn from him by persons who sought his advice or instruction, and even by some who endeavoured to entangle him in his talk; so that it seems as if many of the precious truths of the gospel owed their existence to the accidental circumstance of some human inquiry. But things accidental are not fortuitous. What natural men call chance, spiritual men call Providence. All things that happen are divinely ordered or permitted, and for some wise and benevolent purpose. Besides, the sense of need, and the desire for light, which drew Nicodemus, as well as others, to Christ, were inspired by him who could bestow the blessing. This shows that divine instruction is adapted to human want. And when we reflect that every sincere desire to receive the Lord's light is inspired by his love, since no one can come to the Son except the Father draw him, we can see, that while the occasion of these lessons is human, the cause of them is divine; and that providence and revelation are coincident as well as concordant. But all who, like Nicodemus, come to Jesus, to learn the truth relating to eternal life, are directed to the Lord by his works, especially those miracles of grace that act upon the will, and incline the mind to listen to the truth.
1. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
Such is the description of him through whom our Lord delivered to his church his divine lesson on the subject of the new or heavenly birth. The darkest times sometimes produce the greatest lights, and the most corrupt the brightest examples.
'for,' said he, 'no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.'
The Jewish ruler took, so far, the right view of these supernatural works, in regarding them as evidences of the character of him who performed them, and of his being sent from God; and he came to him as a teacher, to learn the message, of which he believed him to be the bearer.
3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
This is one of the primary truths of the gospel, the meaning of which is better expressed in the original, which speaks not of being born again, but of being born from above. Of the nature of this divine work, which alone can prepare the mind for heaven, it is most important that we should have some definite and clear ideas. The second and heavenly birth, which our Lord teaches, is not a mere figure but a great reality. It is a birth as real and actual as that which ushers us into existence in this world. There is a constant correspondence between natural operations and spiritual, or between what is done in the body and what is done in the spirit. From this correspondence, the stages of spiritual regeneration answer to those of natural conception, gestation, birth, and education. It is on this ground that, whenever mention is made in the Word of natural births, they signify spiritual births, or the birth of goodness and truth in the mind. It is from this ground too that the Lord is called Father, and that the church is called mother, and that those who have received the principles of goodness and truth from the Lord are said to be born of God, and to be his children, and in relation to each other are called brethren. As there is a correspondence in all things that relate to the body and all that relate to the soul, we may see the nature of the second birth from that of the first. As the life of the body is dependent on the motion of the heart and the lungs, the life of the soul depends on that of the will and the understanding. By birth the will and the understanding are natural, being devoted exclusively to the things of this life. Regeneration consists in the beginning, formation, and birth of a new will and a new understanding, which, as they come from heaven, are devoted to heavenly things. The Word, treating of the soul by images and language relating to the body, calls regeneration the creation of a new heart and a new spirit; as in the Psalms, "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God, and renew a right spirit within me" (li. 10). In accordance with the same imagery, the old will, or the natural heart of man, is called a heart of stone, and the new will is called a heart of flesh (Ezek. xxxvi. 26).
4. But Nicodemus failed to see the truth which the Lord declared to him. He answered,
How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
This expresses at once ignorance and concern; ignorance of the birth of which the Lord spake, and concern for his own salvation, which seemed to him to rest on so impossible a condition. Yet the second birth, as Nicodemus had first conceived of it, had such a birth been possible, would not have been a birth from heaven, but from the world, and at best but a repetition of that which he had already experienced. There is perhaps something of the spirit and notion of Nicodemus, in the desire which natural men often have, of returning again into the innocence and happiness of their childhood. And yet in this sighing for the purity of early life, there is the germ of a yearning for the new life, which combines the innocence of infancy with the wisdom of manhood. We may see, therefore, in this turn in the thought of Nicodemus, the influence of those remains of the innocence and ignorance of childhood, in turning the mind with a tender longing for what the new birth can alone supply. All, at first, form natural conceptions of spiritual things, earthly ideas of heavenly states. Where, however, there is a spiritual desire, there is the ground for receiving the seeds of spiritual truth.
5. Having excited in the mind of the Jewish ruler a desire for spiritual knowledge, and a fear of exclusion from the kingdom of God, Jesus proceeds to instruct him respecting the nature of that birth which qualifies the soul for heaven:
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John's baptism is distinguished from the Lord's by this: John baptized with water; Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The Lord here combines the two baptisms, and calls them the baptism of water and the Spirit. John's baptism was a type of that preparatory part of the new birth which is called reformation; the Lord's baptism consists of that part which is properly called regeneration. The first consists in the removal of what is old and dead, the second consists in the communication of what is new and living. Water is the truth by which the life is purified; the Spirit is the truth by which the mind is enlightened and inspired.
But what are we to understand by being born of water and the Spirit? Are we to suppose that to be baptized is to be born of water; and that the water washes away original sin? This, by some, is called baptismal regeneration. Water baptism has an immediate and important use. It is a sign of introduction into the church. As, at our Lord's baptism, heaven was opened unto him, and the Spirit descended and abode upon him; so, there is every reason to believe, baptism has still the effect of opening heaven, and surrounding the person baptized with a sphere of heavenly influences, to preserve him in a state favourable to the reception of that divine truth of which the water of baptism is the symbol, and to the accomplishment of that purification which the washing of baptism represents.
6. The Lord further teaches the nature of the second birth, by showing wherein it differs from the first.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Nothing could be more plain and decided than this. That which we derive from our earthly parents is natural; that which we derive from our heavenly Father is spiritual. There is, however, something more contained in the meaning of the word flesh than may at first sight appear. Flesh, as a term expressive of the nature of man, is not confined to what is generally called its physical part, but means his whole nature, both mortal and immortal, which he inherits by birth, with all he acquires to himself while he continues in his natural or unregenerate state; it means his entire selfhood. And as man, when he becomes spiritual by being re-born, has a new will and a new understanding, therefore the natural will and the natural understanding constitute the flesh, as distinguished from, and opposed to, the spirit. In a special sense the flesh means the evil of self-love, which constitutes the very essence or deepest ground of man's selfhood, and which is the root of all others. In relation, however, to those who are well disposed, and who may be called good natural men, the flesh is expressive of natural goodness; and our Lord's words teach us that even natural goodness, undirected by spiritual truth, and uninfluenced by spiritual goodness, does not prepare the soul for entering into the kingdom of heaven; being of the earth, it is earthly, and therefore transitory.
7,8. Our Lord having stated this important doctrine, addresses the astonished Nicodemus thus,
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The Jewish ruler had already expressed his astonishment at the mere idea of a new birth; how then must he have marvelled when the Lord explained to him, that the birth of which he spake was spiritual and from heaven. Although he now heard that this change was purely spiritual in its nature, he seems to have supposed that it was to be effected by some outward visible agency; Jesus, therefore, points out to him that it was to be effected by an unseen, and even unperceived, operation of the Spirit.
'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.'
We are not to understand this to mean, that man's regeneration is effected by the Lord without his knowledge, and even without his consent. It no doubt teaches us that regeneration is a divine work, effected by an inward operation in itself incomprehensible to the human mind, but it does not teach that it is done independently of the choice and co-operation of those who are the subjects of it. It is similar to the description of another part of the same process, in which the Lord compares the kingdom of heaven to a man that cast seed into the earth, and who rose night and day, but the seed grew up he knew not how (Mark iv. 26). These two statements of our Lord, taken together, describe regeneration as an inward and an outwork work; the blowing of the wind describing the inward operation of the Spirit, and the growing of the seed describing the outward operation of the Word. In both cases the idea presented to us, and intended to be impressed upon our minds, is this; that regeneration, both as an inward and an outward work, is of the will and power of God, and not of man. Human power cannot produce a blade of grass.
This work of spiritual life in the soul, as carried on by the Lord alone during our co-operation, may be compared to the operation of natural life in the body, as carried on by a similar economy. The heart and the other internal organs do their work spontaneously, in obedience to the will or laws of the Creator, independently of our will, and even without our consciousness. Yet we must needs co-operate, in order that their action, especially their healthy action, may be kept up. We must, by labour, provide ourselves with food and clothing and shelter, and attend to the other conditions of life and health, or the motion of the vital organs will languish and finally cease. So is it with the soul. God is the Author of spiritual life and of all that belongs to it, all its vital operations; we have to use the means which he has appointed for its preservation, and these are the conditions on which we enjoy the blessing of spiritual and eternal life.
9, 10. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
It is not surprising that one who heard those things for the first time should be at some loss to comprehend them. But this mixture of wonder and unbelief is characteristic of the natural man, even when he is in an affirmative state of mind, on his first learning the nature and necessity of regeneration. A stupendous work is regeneration, and to man a marvellous one. In that sublime Psalm (cxxxix.), where the second birth is treated of under the figure of the first, the impression it has on the devout mind is stated in strong terms - "I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, being yet unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." True as this is in the natural sense, it is not the less true in the spiritual; for the re-creation of the soul for heaven is at least as great and marvellous a work as the creation of the body for the world. Nicodemus ought to have known something of the nature of this work. Therefore,
'Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?'
Some suppose that our Lord here alluded to the then prevailing mode of calling initiation into the mysteries of a science, or inauguration into an office, a new birth.
11. The Lord further says to him,
We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
Jesus knew and saw all things; and so far as his speech and testimony were concerned, his teaching should be received as indisputable truth. The Lord speaks as if he were not the only one who possessed the knowledge which he was willing to, communicate to Nicodemus; he says, we speak. In the spiritual sense, this has relation to the twofold testimony of his love and wisdom. But what the Lord says of himself, he says also of his Word, and the Word speaks to us both in the spirit and in the letter, both in truths of love and truths of wisdom, designed to beget in us both charity and faith. This duality runs through the Lord's declaration; he speaks and testifies, he knows and sees; for to speak what he knows has relation to his love, and to testify what he has seen has relation to his wisdom. And those who do not receive the witness of these, are such as have as yet no real spiritual affection for the good or love which the Word teaches, and no internal perception of its truth, in relation to the work of regeneration.
12. Nicodemus being still in amazement and doubt, the Lord addresses him in these words:
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things.
The Lord had told him heavenly things after an earthly manner, teaching him spiritual truths by natural images. If he believed not the teaching of heavenly truth, when accommodated to his natural apprehension, by being clothed in natural images; how would he have believed, if it had been addressed to him unclothed and unaccommodated? If heavenly beings cannot be seen by the natural eye, neither can heavenly things be perceived by the natural understanding. Our first conceptions are natural, therefore unless spiritual truth came to us clothed in a natural vesture, it would come to us, and be regarded by us, as a phantom: and instead of administering comfort, it would create alarm;
13. The Lord now imparts the secret of all reception and rejection of the truth, in these mysterious words,
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
This declaration has no very obvious connection with the Lord's previous teaching, if understood in the ordinary meaning of human language. But it will be seen to have an intimate connection with the subject, if we regard it in its spiritual sense. In the first place, it teaches us, that the Son of man, as a title of Jesus, is not limited to his natural humanity. This did not come down from heaven, and was not then in heaven. If we could suppose that the Lord spoke of himself personally, without any reference to the distinction between the divine and human nature, his words would present no difficulty, since he, as God manifest in the flesh, was in heaven, and far above all heavens, at the same time that he was upon earth. But this is not the case. An accurate distinction is always made between the Son of God and the Son of Man. The Lord calls himself the Son of God when he speaks of his divine humanity, and he calls himself the Son of Man as divine truth or the Word. No one ascends up to heaven but by means of divine truth, and all divine truth comes from heaven, and is in heaven. We have nothing in ourselves that can raise us up into heaven. There is nothing we can acquire from the world that can raise us up into heaven. Whatever is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. Nothing can ascend up into heaven but what has first come down from heaven. This was true of the Lord especially by virtue of the Incarnation. As the Son of man he was in heaven; for the divine truth in heaven was his humanity before he came into the world by incarnation. Divine truth in heaven came down to earth, that it might raise men from earth to heaven. And this it provided for by ascending where it was before. Of this our Lord speaks in what now follows.
14, 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Most commentators are of opinion, that, not the serpent itself, but only the lifting of it up, was typical. Why, in the case of rebellious Israel, did God command that the serpent should be the instrument both of their punishment and their cure? No doubt because the serpent was emblematical, in the one case, of the means of destruction, and the other, of the means of salvation. The brazen serpent was a type of Jesus, as the Saviour of those whose fall had been effected by the serpent;
The object of the Lord's being lifted up was, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Lord expresses this same truth on another occasion by saying, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (chap. xii. 32). The Lord, having lifted up his own humanity by glorification, has the power of elevating men, and drawing them to himself. Men derive from the Lord's elevation the power of being elevated. This elevation is effected through faith. Belief in the Lord as our Saviour is not so much a condition, as a means, through which his saving power acts upon us. We are not saved on account of our belief, but through it. Salvation is not the reward, but the result, of faith. And this salvation is freely offered to all. Whosoever believeth shall have everlasting life. This is a blessed truth. It would be a terrible thought, that God is able, but not willing, to save all men. This would be to vindicate his power at the expense of his goodness. If all are not saved, it is because men will not come unto him that they might have life.
16. The reason of the freeness of the gospel is given in the clearest language.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
A blessed truth is this, and precious the gift which it declares. God's love is the origin of man's redemption. To the love of God the world owes all that forms the foundation of its hopes for the progressive advancement of the race in true virtue and happiness on earth, and of salvation as the means of felicity in heaven. And yet how could it be otherwise? God is love; and his tender mercies are over all his works. And what God is, and what he feels, he is and feels invariably and eternally.
17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
The Word, or the divine truth, may be said to exercise the two distinct functions of a judge and of a Saviour. Divine truth judges, because it lays open the states of all, being sharper than a two-edged sword, and is the two-edged sword that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Son of Man (Rev. i. 16). But as a judge, or an instrument of judgment, truth condemns those only who resist it. It is truth separate from love that pronounces the judgment of condemnation. But this separation is not effected by the Lord, but by man. It is only those who "hold the truth in unrighteousness" who are judged by it. But it is not the will of God that his divine truth should in any case judge men to condemnation. God's truth, as it proceeds from him, is united with his love; and it ever comes from him on a mission of love, for the purpose of delivering men from sin and death.
18. But although it is the Lord's purpose to save, this does not prevent man from bringing condemnation on himself.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
We learn from this that condemnation is not a divine act, but a human state. He that believeth not is in a state of condemnation. On the same principle, he that believes is in a state of justification and salvation. We are so accustomed to think unreflectingly of the justice and judgment of God from those of men, that we represent to ourselves the divine Being as making and administering laws to impose his own will on his creatures, and to vindicate his own authority. But the divine justice is but another expression for immutable divine order; and God's law is but another expression for the law of divine order. These are, indeed, of the divine will and wisdom; but the divine will and wisdom can have no view in anything they do or require, but the welfare and happiness of mankind. The condemnation, therefore, that results from unbelief or disobedience, is simply and purely the state which man acquires by opposing those laws which were given for his happiness.
19. The ground of this condemnation our Lord explains.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Light condemns those who have the light, and yet love the darkness rather than the light. It is a truth plainly revealed in Scripture, that where there is no law there is no transgression; and that the degree of guilt is exactly proportionate to the degrees of light which we possess. Light is given, not to condemn, but to guide and direct us. But that which is given for use is always liable to abuse. Did not this possibility exist, there would be no choice, and therefore no virtue.
Ignorance implies the absence of responsibility, but it implies also the absence of improvement. Light is necessary for our advancement, and if we faithfully use it, it will enable us to progress in virtue and happiness. Light is therefore an inestimable blessing. But it may also become a great curse, as every blessing becomes when it is abused and perverted, or even when it is neglected or contemned. That very light, therefore, which came into the world in the person of him who was the Light itself, while it is the means of our highest improvement, may become also the means of our deepest condemnation. Not indeed that light condemns, but that those who love the darkness and hate the light, form and confirm in themselves a state of evil, more malignant in proportion to the clearness of the light against which they have sinned.
20. The reason of this state of condemnation is given.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Evil and truth are incompatible with each other; no one can be in love with both at the same time. It is possible, indeed, for men to know the truth, and yet to be in evil; but to know the truth and to love it are two distinct things. Men may even make a profession of faith in the truth, and at the same time hate and despise it in their hearts; and if they had no object in making a profession of faith, they would despise and contemn it openly. And if evil men do not act thus in the natural world, they do so when they come into the spiritual world, where there is no concealment, and therefore no motive for hypocritical belief. John here says that the evil come not to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. Literally men hate the light when it condemns their conduct. But, in the spiritual sense, we are instructed that the evil do not come to the light, because they have no desire that their evils may be laid open, or made manifest to themselves in order that they may he removed. The Lord reproves that he may convince, and by convincing, lead men to amendment of life. The evil refuse reproof, because they have no desire of amendment.
21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
The natural sense of this is easily understood. He who acts uprightly acts openly, that the character of his deeds may testify of their origin. The spiritual sense teaches a still more specific lesson. Truth is one thing, the light of truth is another. Truth comes from without, light comes from within; truth comes from the Holy Word, light comes from the Holy Spirit.
22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
Jesus having purified the temple, as the symbol of his coming glorification, and instructed Nicodemus as to the necessity and nature of regeneration, as its effect and image, he now comes into Judea to dispense baptism, as the sign and the means of his saving work. This is the first time we read of the baptism of Jesus and of its distinction from that of John. It is called the baptism of Jesus, not because the rite was performed by him personally (for Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), but because it represented a more interior and complete work than the baptism of John. John's baptism represented the purification of the outward man, the Lord's baptism represented the purification of the inward man. Baptism, as now administered in the church, is a symbol both of inward and outward purification, and thus combines the meaning and the use both of the baptism of John and of Jesus. It is reasonable to suppose, that as John's baptism was intended to prepare men for receiving the Lord as the Messiah, it would represent a work preparatory to that which the Messiah himself should perform. A clear distinction was made by the apostles, after the Lord's ascension, between these two baptisms, insomuch that persons who received John's baptism were rebaptized in the name of Jesus Christ, by which they acquired the full benefits of discipleship, in the reception of the Holy Spirit (Acts xix. 3-5).
23. But John was also baptizing in AEnon, near to Salim, because there was much water there; and they came, and were baptized.
These two places are intended to describe something connected with the nature of John's baptism, as distinguished from that of Jesus. AEnon, which literally means eyes, is the figurative name for springs or fountains of water and Salim literally signifies peace. The name of the spring is derived from the resemblance there is between waters bursting and flowing from the ground, and tears gushing forth from the eyes. And what can be more expressive of the baptism of repentance, which John administered? Penitential tears are the waters that spring from the fountain of a broken and contrite heart, and are signs of the inner working of the Spirit of truth that convinces the conscience of sin. This is a hopeful state. It is not itself a state of peace, but it is near to it, as AEnon was to Salim. A night of weeping is followed by a morning of joy. John baptized in AEnon, because there was much water there, literally many waters. Many truths, meant by the many waters, are necessary for the work of purification. The more numerous the truths possessed by the church, the more ample may be her instruction, the more complete may be the purification of her members. AEnon and its waters would seem to indicate an advance, even an advance in the baptism of John. AEnon was on the west of Jordan, and thus within the land of Canaan; and the waters were not those of the Jordan, but of springs. The waters of a spring or fountain are what are called in scripture living waters, which are emblematical of truths in a state of active operation, as they come from the thoughts, and are applied to the uses of life. It appears that John attracted many to his baptism in AEnon: they came and were baptized. The more abundant and active the truths of the church are, the more may she attract the earnest and truth-seeking, by her teaching, to enter into her communion, and make them worthy members of her body, and fit subjects of the Lord's kingdom.
24. There is a season when this drawing of the mind to the Word, and to the reception of its purifying truths, can be better effected, and that is,
when John is not yet cast into prison.
The casting of John into prison represents a state in the regenerating life common to all the true members of the church. It is a time and state of temptation, which follows the sincere reception of heavenly truth.
25. While John was yet at liberty,
there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
This indicates the beginning of that state of temptation, represented by John's imprisonment. Intellectual debate and disputation are the beginning of sorrows, and generally lead to deeper evils and severer trials, both in the church and in the individual mind. The question that arose was about purifying. The next verse reveals the nature of this controversy; the present informs us that the question was between some of John's disciples and a Jew (as the text should read). This is the first recorded dispute between Judaism and Christianity. As we are all under the law before we are under the gospel, such a dispute takes place in every regenerate mind. The Jew is but the type of the Jewish element or principle in our own minds, while the disciples of John are the first principles of our early Christianity; and the first conflict between these is on the subject of purifying, for actual purification forms the boundary line between the old and the new, and that through which we pass from the one to the other.
26. This question leads to another.
And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
27. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Every good and every perfect gift cometh from the Father of Lights.
God is the author of every blessing we enjoy, whether for the body or the soul. Life is his gift, therefore all that pertains to life, the faculties of the will and understanding, and all their affections and thoughts, with every good which is the object of affection, and every truth which is the object of thought; all are given us from heaven. There is none good but one, that is God; and he alone filleth the hungry soul with good. Such is the truth uttered by the Baptist. But what was its application in reference to the question of his disciples?
28. But John not only established the heavenly origin of the Lord's baptism, and his divine authority to perform it, but he placed it above his own, as he placed the Messiah above himself.
Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
We are all like the disciples of John, liable to take the means for the end, and to regard that as final, which is only introductory. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4). All rites and ceremonies, all prophets and priests, yea, all revelation point to him as that One in whom they received their fulfilment, and in whom all things are perfected. John comes to prepare the way of the Lord; and this is still the testimony and function of the written Word, in respect to him who is the Word itself, the light and life of men.
29 John further says respecting Jesus,
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He who is the bridegroom and husband of the church stands in the highest possible relation to the whole body of the faithful.
In the Old Testament these titles are claimed by Jehovah as his own; and it is only because Jesus was the manifested Jehovah that the title of bridegroom could be justly applied to him. The bridegroom is he that hath the bride; the church, therefore, is the Lord's church, and she can acknowledge none but him. John, the greatest of prophets, claimed no higher rank than that of being the friend of the bridegroom. He rejoiced greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, and considered the public manifestation of Jesus as the fulfilment of his joy. In this he also described the relation which the written Word bears to the Lord as the Word incarnate. Eminently, the revealed Word was and is the bridegroom, for it is through the Word that we hear him, and it is by the heartfelt reception of its truths that we rejoice greatly because of his voice, which is expressive of the affection in which his truth is received. John's joy was fulfilled in the Lord's marriage with his church, for this marriage is the very end for which revelation exists. This is the fulfilment of spiritual joy, for truth is full of joy when it is full of goodness. It is hardly necessary to say that in speaking of the Lord's marriage with the church, the union of love and truth in the mind is included in its signification; for here only, indeed, does the heavenly marriage exist.
30. John representing the revealed Word, and Jesus being the manifested Word, John represents the truths which we derive from the written Word by an external way, while Jesus is the truth we receive from him by an internal way. John therefore says of Jesus,
He must increase, but I must decrease.
We are not to understand from this, that the inward testimony of the Spirit will ever supersede the outward testimony of the Word; or that the authority of the written Word will decrease, as the influence of the eternal Word increases. It describes a change of state that takes place in the regenerate mind, and which belongs to all spiritual progression. It is otherwise expressed by the Lord, when he says, the first shall he last, and the last first. In the first stage of the regenerate life, called reformation, which John's teaching and baptism represented, truth is in the first place, and good is in the second; thus external things are first, and internal things are last. In the second stage of the new life, called regeneration, which the Lord's work especially represented, good is in the first place, and truth is in the second, internal things are first, and external things are last. Thus, as regeneration advances, the influence and authority of good increase, and those of truth decrease; external things that ruled give way to the government of internal things, and become more and more subservient to those higher ends, which the Lord inspires into the mind. This inversion of state, which might seem to involve the degradation of those external truths which were once primary, is in reality their true honour and exaltation. For divine order, which has made ministry and service the true state of the external man, has also made them his true joy.
31. John further says of the Lord and of himself,
He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
Again the Baptist bears testimony to the Lord's supremacy. He who is above all, above angels and men, is God. There is no degree of existence or being between the infinite and the finite, the uncreated and the created. He who is above all, is himself all in all. But to come to its more specific meaning, in relation to the subject of comparison between the Lord and John. Whether we regard John's statement relating to the Word as it is in itself, or as it is in us, it is equally expressive. Internally and essentially, the truth of the Word is the Lord from heaven, and is above all human truth; externally, it is of the earth, earthly, and speaketh of the earth. In descending from heaven, divine truth clothed itself with an earthly garment; the wisdom of God, as revealed in the Scriptures, is not only expressed in the language of men, but it treats, to a considerable extent, of earthly things.
32. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
Jesus is here said to testify what he had seen and heard. We cannot consistently think of one divine person seeing what another does, and hearing what he says, and then revealing it to others. The general idea intended to be conveyed by such language is this, that Jesus, unlike all other beings, angelic and human, was in immediate and intimate relation with God; which is the same thing as saying, that God was in Jesus, and spoke by him. No one hath seen God at any time, nor heard his voice; the Son only hath had this privilege. It is only therefore by and in the Son that we can see and hear the Father - it is only infinite wisdom that can comprehend and reveal infinite love; only a divine Humanity that can receive and manifest essential Divinity. There is, however, a special meaning in the Baptist's language. Jesus is said both to see and to hear the things of God. To see is to understand, to hear is to will. But, in reference to the Lord, seeing and hearing have a still higher meaning. The divine understanding being infinite wisdom, and the divine will being infinite love, the Lord seeing and hearing the Father means that his humanity receives into itself the love and wisdom of his indwelling divinity, and communicates them to men, accommodated to their feeble apprehensions. But this testification of the divine humanity no one receiveth. This does not mean that his testimony was absolutely and universally rejected; but that the church, as a church, rejected the testimony of the truth against herself.
33. Yet not the whole church rejects the truth. However corrupt a church may become, however completely devastated it may be, a germ is preserved, to form the beginning of a new dispensation. Therefore John speaks of some who had received.
And he that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
Those who receive his testimony are the remnant, out of which the New Church and the new man are formed. And he who receives, sets to his seal that God is true. Sealing is confirming. He who receives the testimony of Jesus hath the witness in himself (1 John v. 10); he who truly receives Christ, receives God in Christ. Jesus is said to be the faithful and true witness (Rev. iii. 14). The truth bears witness to itself; it has the inherent power of bringing conviction to the mind; for it carries its own evidence within it. Jesus, as the light, is the only witness to the light, and the highest and only real testimony of the light, is the illumination which it gives to the mind that receives it.
34. This is further taught in the declaration,
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God : for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Jesus is said to be sent of God, but not in the sense of being divinely commissioned, as John the Baptist was. He is sent of God, as having, according to his own testimony, proceeded forth and come from God. Yet proceeding cannot be understood in the sense of departing, which is inconsistent with the nature of an omnipresent being. Jesus proceeded from God, as infinite wisdom proceeds from infinite love. As love and wisdom in God are inseparable, the coming forth of wisdom from love is the manifestation and revelation of love by wisdom. Such being the true idea of Jesus being sent of God, he could not but speak the words of God. Nor are the Lord's words the expressions of wisdom alone, but of love and goodness. - Jesus speaks the words of God, because God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. Without measure is infinite. True, it is said, that the Spirit was given unto him infinitely. Here, again, we must not be misled by the forms of human language, in which divine truths are expressed. The giving of the Spirit, like the sending of the Son, must be understood consistently with the nature of the being of whom it is spoken. The Spirit of love is given to wisdom, as the Spirit of human affection is given to human thought. But it is also and more especially to be understood of the communication of all the Lord's divinity to his humanity.
35. The words that now address themselves to us are entirely consistent with the truth we have been considering.
The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
Here once more we have a divine truth expressed in accordance with human ideas. Can we suppose that the Son was an object of the Father's love, as a human son is of a human father's. Such an idea is quite inconsistent with every sound notion we can form of divinity. The Son was the subject, not merely the object, of the Father's love; the divine love was in him, and not merely directed to him. So the Father was in the Son, the divinity was in the humanity. In agreement with this, we read, in continuation, that the Father hath given all things into the Son's hand. The Father gave all things into the hand of the Son, as love gives its power, authority, glory to wisdom; and as the essential divinity gives all these, and even itself, to the divine humanity. In the Lord's humanity all the divine attributes are brought into nearer relationship with created man. All things are said to be given into the hand of the Son, for the hand of the divine being is his omnipotence, in which all the divine attributes become operative for human redemption and salvation. The hand of the Son is also the divine power as it operates by the humanity; and also the humanity itself, as that by which the power of the divinity is manifested among angels and men.
36. In accordance with what the Baptist had stated concerning the Son, he says, in conclusion,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
God had sent his Son into the world, had filled him infinitely with his Spirit, and had invested him with all his authority and power; and now he demands for his Son the same allegiance and homage which his people had been required to render to himself. This is the human idea which the words present. A just interpretation teaches us, that the Eternal and Infinite, whom men had obscurely known and imperfectly worshipped, had now manifested himself in the person of Jesus Christ, who was henceforth to be known and worshipped as God.
CHAPTER IV.
The Lord's conversation with the woman of Samaria, the history of which occupies the early part of this chapter, is one of the most beautiful incidents in his life of beneficence. Humility, tenderness, wisdom, are all displayed in that perfection, which we behold only in the Son of Man, the impersonation of sympathetic love for frail humanity. As in the case of Nicodemus, we seem to owe the important lessons which this incident teaches us, to the accidental circumstance of the woman coming to the well, while Jesus, wearied with the journey, sat upon it. Is it not easy to see that all these circumstances were divinely foreseen, and, therefore, so ordered as to bring about the happy result which the Lord's conversation with the woman produced?
1-3. When the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized, more disciples than John (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), he left Judea, and departed main into Galilee.
There had been a dispute between some of John's disciples and a Jew about purifying, of which the baptism of Jesus formed a part. If John's baptism was offensive to the Jews, that of Jesus must have been still more offensive to the Pharisees, as it must be to the Pharisaic principle in the human mind. The baptism of Jesus represented a more inward purification than that of John. And the more inward the purification is, it brings to light deeper evils of the heart, and excites them into more deadly hostility to the power that would remove, and the good which would supplant them. The Pharisees, whom the Lord so often charged with hypocrisy, represented self-love united with deceit, the form in which the evil enters most deeply into the human heart.
It is said that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John; but it is added that Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples. We have (iii. 26) spoken of three kinds of baptism, the water-baptism of John, the water-baptism of Jesus, and the Lord's baptism with the Holy Spirit and with first; the two first representing purification from outward and inward evils, the last communicating the living principles of truth and love to the purified will and understanding. This last baptism is peculiarly the Lord's. His disciples, as ministers of his Word, can communicate the knowledge of religion and dispense the outward means of salvation; but the Lord alone can give illumination and life. The means of removing evils can therefore be supplied and applied by the Lord's disciples, but the Lord alone can implant good. Therefore, in water-baptism, the Lord himself baptized not, but his disciples.
The result of the Lord's knowing what the Pharisees had heard respecting him, was his leaving Judea, and departing again into Galilee. This may seem to indicate the mere humanity of Jesus. He may seem to act with human precaution, and with a desire for self-preservation. As there are instances of his acting otherwise, this is but an appearance, presented for a wise purpose. In the spiritual sense, these circumstances disclose the mode of the Lord's dealings, as providentially adapted to the states of men. However hostile men may be to him, he is never hostile to them; and he removes as far as possible all cause of offence, all occasion of conflict. He therefore, as it were, departs from where the conflict arises, or moderates the influx of his truth, so that the temptation to which it gives rise may be tempered and moderated.
Jesus must needs go through Samaria.
The divine truth, in progressing from the spiritual into the natural mind must needs pass through the rational, which is intermediate. At the time of our Lord's pilgrimage on earth, Canaan was divided into three regions, Judea, Samaria, Galilee, which represented three regions or degrees of the mind. Yet Samaria was different from what it had been. The kingdom of Israel, which possessed it, had been overturned, and the inhabitants of the country had been carried away into captivity, and replaced by a strange people from the land of their conquerors. The Assyrians, who took Samaria and peopled it, represented the rational principle, but, as the opponents of Israel, they represented that principle perverted and opposed to the spiritual. At the time of the present history the Samaritans were half Jew, half Gentile. They had, indeed, adopted some of the religion of the Israelites; for soon after the deportation of the ten tribes, the King of Assyria sent back one of the captive priests to teach the people in Samaria the manner of the God of the land. The Samaritans were, therefore, not entirely out of the pale of the church, and yet were not, strictly speaking, within it. It was among this people, therefore, that the Lord had now come.
5. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
The city of Sychar was the same as that known to the patriarchs under the name of Shechem.
6. Now Jacob's well was there.
Jacob's well is the Word of God. More expressive is it when read "Jacob's fountain;" for the Word is a fountain, a well of water springing up unto eternal life. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.
He had seen of the travail of his soul; and now he was to be satisfied.
7. While Jesus sat thus on the well,
there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
Samaria representing the semi-Gentile church, the woman of Samaria represented the affection by which that church was influenced in favour of the truth, and by which it was drawn to the Word of God, to draw water from it as the well of salvation. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. This request the Lord still makes to his creatures, and especially to those who possess his Word and seek instruction from it. The Lord's thirst is his ardent desire for the salvation of his people. It was this desire for the salvation of mankind that gave utterance upon the cross to his dying exclamation, "I thirst," and which stands as a perpetual appeal to his creatures to give him to drink. But how can we give him to drink? We give to the Lord when we gratefully return to him what we have received from him, and especially when we give to each other. In the Jewish church, the meat and drink offerings, when laid upon the altar, were considered to be offered to the Lord, to satisfy his hunger and thirst. And this was a type of true worship, in which we present to the Lord the offerings of our best thoughts and affections, of thanksgiving and praise; for we can offer to the Lord only that which we have received from him, and it is by laying these gifts upon his altar that they become sanctified to our use. But our truest worship is that of the life, in ministering to others, as the Lord has ministered to us; for in giving to them we give to the Lord. So he himself has assured us: "I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink." And when the righteous say, "Lord, when saw we thee an hungered and fed thee, or thirsty and gave thee drink?" this is the Lord's answer: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." How, in thus ministering to others, do we minister to the Lord? Every sincere desire to be fed with good and truth is from the Lord, and is the Lord in us. It is he who hungers and thirsts in us, for we have no inherent desire for spiritual and heavenly things. As he is in himself, the Lord can receive nothing from us; but as he is in the penitent and humble mind, we can give him to drink, by endeavouring to satisfy the soul's desire for his saving truth.
8. At this part of the narrative it is mentioned, to account for the Lord's being alone and conversing with the woman, that his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. While the disciples were seeking to procure meat in the city, Jesus was asking drink from the woman at the well.
9. When the Lord, in the absence of his disciples, asked the Samaritan woman to give him to drink, she answered,
How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria ? (for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans).
The hatred which existed between the Jews and the Samaritans, and which was most bitter on the Jewish side, too plainly indicated the existence of what it also represented the separation of faith and charity. When the minds of men, especially of those professing the same faith, are turned away from each other, it is a sign that they have no real belief in the truth, which teaches them that they should love the Lord above all things and their neighbour as themselves. The woman was surprised, but it does not seem she was displeased, at being asked to perform an act of kindness to one who was a Jew. It may rather be inferred that the Lord's unexpected expressions of friendly feeling, uttered, as they must have been, in tones of the deepest tenderness, awakened in her heart some degree of a corresponding affection, and made her feel like the good Samaritan, whose compassionate nature led him to succour the man, his Jewish despiser, who had fallen among thieves, when the priest and the Levite passed by on the other side.
10. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
The Lord asks not that he may receive, but that he may give that what we offer to him may be returned with his divine blessing. The truth we derive from the Word by instruction is at first but knowledge; it has no life. But when from affection we, by humble and grateful acknowledgment, connect it with the Lord as its life and eternal source, then does it descend to us again as living truth. To realize this great blessing we must know the gift of God, and who it is that asks of us "Give me to drink." The gift of God is Jesus Christ as eternal, saving truth in the inner man, which ever craves the truth which has been received from the Word in the outer man, that the dead may be exalted into union with the living, and, when sanctified and vivified by it, may flow down again as a living stream, carrying life and health wherever it goes.
11. The woman did not understand the language and the lesson of Jesus. Not more dull of apprehension was she than those whom she spiritually represented. In our early states of religious intelligence, we as little see the connection and correspondence between the letter and the spirit, as she saw between the water of Jacob's well and the Lord's divine truth, of which it was the symbol.
'Thou hast nothing (no vessel) to draw with, and the well is deep'.
So long as we know and believe in the existence of the letter only, it seems to us as if there could be nothing deeper in the Word, and no means of reaching even these without the ordinary vessel. Vessels symbolize the receptacles of truth and goodness, which are not only the faculties of the mind, in which these principles are received, but the knowledges which are the means of receiving and containing them. Spiritual truths are not learned scientifically, but are discerned spiritually. They are not those which are drawn by laborious study from the letter of the Word, and then laid up in the memory, but spiritual truths are within those natural truths, and are seen by the light of a purer reason, which is perception. When the woman said that the well was deep, she did not mean that the water was deep, but that it was too far below the surface to be reached without a vessel. She knew that Jesus could not obtain it, and she asked him, Whence then hast thou that living water? Those who know and believe in no sense but that of the letter, can conceive of no higher truth than that which the letter makes known. They suppose that there is nothing beyond the reach of their own doctrinal deductions. They think that they have all that the Word can yield. Whence can there be anything greater or better?
12. The woman, supposing Jesus alluded to the water of some other spring asked him,
'Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? '
Jacob, as the father of the Israelitish people, represented that church and everything that belonged to it. Jacob gave us the well for the Word was revealed to the Israelitish church, and came through it to the people. And he drank thereof, and his children, and his cattle; for the Word was the religious drink of the whole Israelitish church and people, with all their internal and external affections. But the Israelitish people knew, and desired to know, only the literal sense of the Word. And those who know and believe in the letter only, suppose that there can be nothing greater. And as these have no experience but that of the natural mind, to which the letter applies, and in which it resides; they further suppose that if the natural mind, with its internal and external affections find their satisfaction in its simple truths, there can be no greater satisfaction possible or desirable.
13, 14. 'Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever 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 be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.'
In its simple natural meaning this is beautifully true; the natural is exhaustible, the spiritual is inexhaustible. Yet it is not true in the sense in which it is sometimes understood. The spiritual nature of man requires, and will require through eternity, fresh supplies of truth, as, in this world, the body requires fresh supplies of water. The soul has desires, as the body has thirst. We are rather, therefore, to consider the Lord's words in a figurative and in a spiritual sense. Natural and earthly truths afford no permanent satisfaction and happiness: those only which are spiritual can give enduring peace and pleasures for evermore. And so is it relatively with the Word. The letter gives not full and perennial delight: but the spirit is, in every one who receives it, a well of water springing up into everlasting life. They that enter into its spirit shall hunger no more neither thirst any more; for the Lamb shall lead them to living fountains of water. In his address to the woman the Lord distinguishes between the water of Jacob's well and the water which he should give, as a supply coming from without and one coming from within; one coming from the memory and the other from the heart. This is the water which the Lord gives, as distinguished from that which we procure ourselves, even when the supply is derived from revelation. Such is the difference between the truth we acquire by our own spirit, and that which we acquire by the Spirit of the Lord.
15. Still thinking naturally,
'The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.'
Both the worldly and the naturally minded are willing to think of a happiness greater than that which they possess. Many, indeed, desire heaven as a place of happiness, who have hardly any of the elements of happiness in them, and have no disposition to acquire theirs. Where there is but little of the principles of true happiness, there may be a disposition to acquire more. There may, consequently, be a disposition in favour of the spiritual sense of the Holy Word, where there is as yet no knowledge of its nature or even of its existence.
16. When the Lord has excited this desire for spiritual truth in the human heart and mind, he then begins to teach the qualifications and conditions for its reception.
'Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.'
Naturally, this was no doubt intended as the means of revealing to the woman the Lord's Messiahship through his super-natural knowledge of her history. Literally understood, it has no immediate connection with the subject, or the giving of the living water. Spiritually, it has. Marriage is the symbol and the outbirth of the heavenly marriage of goodness and truth, or love and faith. The spiritual mind cannot be opened to the perception of spiritual truth, until truth has been united to good in the natural mind. This union of truth with good is effected by doing the truth, or living according to the laws of divine order. The woman was therefore desired to go and call her husband, to teach us, that the reception of heavenly truth in the inner man requires the union of good and truth, or of the will and understanding, in the outward man. Another reason, under this, for the Lord desiring the woman to call her husband was, that not only will but understanding is necessary for the perception and reception of divine truth. In the heavenly marriage the will is represented by the wife and the understanding by the husband. Hence our Lord, when the woman expressed her desire to receive, said, "Go, call thy husband." To go at the Lord's command means to live in accordance with his teaching; and to call her husband signifies to draw the under-standing into closer connection with the will, so that both will and under, standing may come to the Lord, to receive the gift of his grace and truth.
17. 'The woman answered, I have no husband.'
It is remarkable that the Lord should ask the woman to call her husband, when he yet knew she had no husband. It was no doubt to bring her sin to her remembrance, and induce in her a state of humility and repentance. There was a mixture of criminality and candour in the woman's conduct. Living with a man to whom she was not married, she was so far truthful as not to put him forward in a false character, though she at the same time showed the desire to conceal her connection with him. She was perhaps a fair specimen of the half Jew half Gentile character of the Samaritan people, and a true representative of the Samaritan church, Jewish in sin, Gentile in simplicity. "I have no husband" is expressive of the state of those who are spiritually like them. The spiritual Samaritan is one who has an affection for truth, but possesses no genuine but only spurious truth, between which and the affection of truth there is and can be no true marriage, but only an illicit connection.
18. The acknowledgment that the woman made opened the way for a further disclosure of her private history, and evidence of the Lord's superhuman character. Having first simply confirmed her testimony respecting herself, "I have no husband," he proceeded to show her that he knew more of her history than this, and of a fact that she had not revealed.
'For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.'
In those times of easy divorce, and for any cause, it might not be a very extraordinary thing for a woman to have had five husbands. The spiritual lesson is that which chiefly concerns us. And what amount of union was there here? Marriage signifies the union of good and truth. It may be concluded that the greater the number of husbands the woman had, the slighter the bond that existed between her and any of them. Marriage, in any of these instances, must have been but a very superficial union. This is indicated by her five husbands; for numbers, as we have had occasion to remark, do not in spiritual language express the quantity but quality; and five signifies that which is comparatively imperfect. Five signifies remains, but in a small degree.
19. When Jesus had declared her history,
'the woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.'
The Lord's knowledge of her history revealed to her his prophetic character; and this discovery of her guilt, in her present condition of life, no doubt humbled her, and opened the way in her mind for the reception of his truth. She perceived that he was a prophet. This was part of the truth; she did not yet know the whole. A prophet represented heavenly truth, which a prophet was the instrument of revealing; but the Lord as the Christ was more than all prophets, the Divine Truth in person. To receive truth from the Lord is one thing, to receive the Lord as the Truth is another: so is it one thing to see him as a prophet, and another to receive him as the Christ. Yet the Lord must be seen in one character before he can be received in the other. We have seen the means by which the first was brought about: we have now to consider the second.
20. The woman, understanding Jesus to be a Jewish prophet, addresses him as we might expect a Samaritan to do.
'Our fathers worshipped in this mountain.'
This was mount Gerizim, on which Israel stood to bless, when the law was rehearsed in their ears, after entering into the land of Canaan. After the separation of the ten tribes in the reign of Rehoboam, and their forming themselves into a separate kingdom in Samaria, they built a temple for their own worship on this mountain" of Gerizim, near which the Saviour and the woman now were. This was the chief ground of the Jews' hatred of the Samaritans. We can hardly suppose that the woman wished to provoke a dispute on this point: she rather wished, it would seem, to hear the opinion of one whom she regarded as a prophet on so momentous a subject. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, but ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. It is supposed that by their fathers, she meant the patriarchs, and appealed to Jacob and his sons worshipping on Gerizim, while they dwelt in Shechem, as an evidence of "this mountain" having been the place of divine worship long before men worshipped at Jerusalem.
21. 'Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.'
The Jewish and the Samaritan worship were both local. Both peoples regarded the place where they worshipped as being holy, and they considered the worship performed there to be sanctified by the holy place. True worship is that which is performed in a holy state; and when the state of the worshipper is holy, every place where he worships God is holy ground. In the Jewish church place represented state; and the place appointed for worship was called holy, only because it was the grand symbol of the holy state of love and faith, from which all true worship proceeds. When the Lord came into the world, mere representative worship ceased, and with it all local sanctity. When the Lord addressed the Samaritan woman, the hour was rapidly approaching, when neither on mount Gerizim, nor yet on mount Zion, in the city of Jerusalem, should men worship the Father. This impending change in the outward condition of the church represented a coming change in the inward state of the worshipper. A change from place to state, from the letter to the spirit, was to be effected by the coming of the Lord as the Holy One, the antitype of the temple made with hands. A corresponding change takes place in every regenerate person. Representative worship was about to cease. But this is true with respect to a regenerate individual, as well as a regenerate church. The worship of every one is representative and shadowy before he is made spiritual, even when his worship, though simple, is sincere. The hour cometh, the state arrives, with every one who suffers himself to be regenerated, when neither in the mountain of natural love, nor yet in the city of doctrinal intelligence, will man expect to find or worship the Father. When the Lord makes his advent into the mind and life, the regenerate man worships the Father from higher and purer principles.
22. Yet there is an important difference between the two rudimentary and preparatory states. Those who are in good without truth, or in natural love alone,
'worship they know not what;'
but those who are in doctrinal intelligence know what they worship; for salvation is of the Jews. The Jews occupied a higher position than the Samaritans. The Jews had this advantage indeed over all classes of Gentiles To them pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose were the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. ix. 4, 5). Therefore, as our Lord said, "salvation is of the Jews." As the Word revealed to them formed the connecting link between heaven and earth, the church instituted amongst them formed the centre from which light was diffused to the surrounding nations; and as they supplied the root of Jesse, out of which the Branch sprung, salvation, both for their own and for all time, came of the Jews. But there is a more spiritual lesson in the Lord's words than this. The Jews, as the descendants of the patriarch, and the remnant of the kingdom, of Judah, represented the principle of love or goodness, of which salvation essentially comes. Yet the Jewish was only a representative church; so that all that is said of the Jews is to be spiritually understood. As that which the Lord here speaks of is the symbol of the state which precedes redemption and regeneration, salvation is not actually in it, but comes through it. As Jesus the Saviour came of the Jews, so does salvation come of that state which the Jews represented.
23. Worship of the Father from natural affection and doctrinal knowledge is followed by the worship of him from the spirit of love and in the light of truth.
'The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.'
The spirit and truth in which the Lord is to be worshipped are graces and states in the mind of the worshipper; but in relation to the historical period to which our Lord refers, the spirit and the truth, in which the Father was then about to be worshipped, came by Jesus himself, from whom every human worshipper receives them. Spirit is the life or affection which enters into and animates worship, and truth is the intelligence which enlightens and directs it. The Lord himself is the life and light, as well as the Object of all true worship. He was the light in which the life was manifested; and in him we are enabled to worship the Father. "The Father seeketh such to worship him." The divine love of the Lord, or the Lord from his divine love, seeks true and spiritual worship for the worshipper's sake.
24. 'God is a Spirit.'
And here the name God is used instead of Father; for God is more expressive of the Divine Wisdom, as Father is of the Divine Love. But when it is said that God is a Spirit, we are not to understand it to mean that God is a mere essence. God is Man - the perfect Man of whom created man is but the imperfect image. He is the only being, substance, form; all others are his created images, whose existence and subsistence are from him. God is called Spirit specifically with reference to the Spirit which proceeds from him, and which, when received in the minds of angels and men, makes them spiritual, and enables them to worship him in spirit and in truth. This was especially the case with the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit; and therefore the spiritual and true worship of God is the worship of him in the person and in the spirit of Jesus Christ. This is the worship of which our blessed Lord speaks, as that which was about to succeed and supersede the worship which had been practised during the Israelitish dispensation. The hour that was coming was that in which the work of redemption was finished; which finished the ceremonial law with its sacrificial worship, and introduced a worship that was spiritual and living, because offered to a Being who is Spirit and Life, by spiritual and living worshippers.
25. 'I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come he will tell us all things.'
We need not dwell on this declaration in regard to the speaker, but consider its inspired meaning. The affection of truth has in it the faith of truth, and man, when partially enlightened, looks forward with confidence to receiving a full measure of intelligence. "I know that Messias cometh." Such is the language of the loving heart. It is like the exclamation of Job - "I know that my Redeemer liveth." I know that my present state of obscurity and uncertainty will pass away, and be followed by light and certainty. The Messias, the Anointed, the Truth itself from Love, when he comes, will tell my understanding all things that my heart desires to know.
26. When the woman had thus expressed her faith in the coming Saviour,
'Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.'
In spiritual things, as in the spiritual world, there is no time: state is every thing. When the mind comes into the state of reception the truth is revealed.
27. While Jesus yet spake,
'his disciples came.'
At the time that the Samaritan woman came out of the city to Jacob's well to draw water, the disciples of Jesus had gone into the city to buy meat. This represented a search into the state of the church of the Samaritan Gentiles, to see and to draw out whatever of good it contained, to bring it to, and connect it with, the Lord. The disciples procured meat - the church yielded good, and it is now brought to Jesus that he may partake of it. But the disciples marvelled that he talked with the woman. This arose from the Jewish prejudice against the Samaritans, and from the opinion of the Jews, that women were not worthy of receiving religious instruction. The state of the disciples represents that state of the regenerating mind, when faith regards charity with something of contempt, and is unwilling to think that it should be the immediate object and receptacle of heavenly truth. Yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? how strikingly does this show the superiority of Jesus as felt by his disciples. So a sincere but mistaken faith feels the power and virtue of the Lord's operation into charity, even while it marvels at the Lord's communion with it. Many of the Lord's doings are marvellous in our eyes, while our eyes are but partially opened to see his wise and just economy: and when will they be able to behold him as he is? What the Lord either seeks from or imparts to those who are in charity, is unknown to those who are only in faith.
28, 29. 'The woman then left her water-pot, and went her way into the city.'
When those who are in charity are instructed by the Lord in the nature of spiritual truth, they leave the scientifics of natural truth, meant by the water-pot, and enter into doctrine, meant by the city. And the object of thus entering into doctrine, is to instruct by means of it, and bring those who are in the truths of doctrine of the church into the acknowledgment of the supreme Truth, and into conjunction with the supreme Good. These truths of doctrine are the men of the city, and the effort to draw them out and elevate them, is implied in the invitation of the woman, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did. All her deeds were told her. How impressive. The Lord searches the heart and the reins: his truth reveals the secret thoughts and intents of the heart. He indeed knows every one of us, and all of us alike; but it is his knowledge revealed within us, and bringing our doings home to our own conscience, that makes us true penitents, and zealous workers in his cause, both inwardly in ourselves, and outwardly among others.
30. 'Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.'
The truths were elevated out of doctrine, or, to express it otherwise, the intellectual perceptions were raised out of a doctrinal to a spiritual view of Divine truth.
31. 'In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.'
The Lord partook of human food, and those who thus ministered unto him, did to Jesus an act similar to that which the Jews did to Jehovah, when they laid their sacrifices as food for him upon the altar. We spiritually ask our Lord to eat when we ask his acceptance of the good which we have acquired.
32. 'But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.'
The Lord here began to teach his disciples, who had brought him meat, a lesson similar to that which he taught the woman who had come to draw water. As his object was to teach the woman that he had in himself a fountain of living water, so was his object to teach his disciples that he had in himself an inexhaustible supply of living bread. They knew not yet of the true nature of this bread of life; he had not yet delivered his discourse on that great subject, in which he declared himself to be the living bread that came down from heaven. As the water which the woman came to draw was the type of natural truth, so the meat which the disciples craved the Lord to eat was the type of natural goodness. Our Lord did not, therefore, eat it, but began to tell those who pressed the meat upon him that he had meat to eat that they knew not of; intimating that they knew not of the nature, or even the existence, of the good which constituted his true meat.
33. The disciples show their ignorance of what our Lord meant. Therefore said they one to another,
'Hath any man brought him ought to eat?'
They knew not yet of any good but human good, nor had they any clear apprehension that the Lord's good was other than human and finite. Such is the state and case of every early disciple. He thinks of the Lord as some philosophers think of the sun, as fed by surrounding matters that in reality depend upon him for their existence.
34. Jesus proceeds to teach them what food he had to eat.
'He saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.'
How sublime a truth! and how divinely instructive! It is no metaphor, but a great reality. The Lord's work was to do his Father's will.
35. After teaching his disciples respecting his own food, the Lord draws their attention to the harvest which is to provide food for his church.
'Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are, white already to harvest.'
The harvest signifies the church itself, or those who were to be gathered into it; but it signifies also the principles by the reception of which men become members of the church; and these principles are the soul's spiritual food. This provision was the immediate result of the Lord's redeeming work. The abundant provision which his redemption and glorification made for the salvation of mankind was the harvest, which his disciples had said was yet four months distant. Harvest is the in-gathering of goodness and truth, of the conjunction of which four, like two, is expressive. And this harvest was already come, but the disciples saw it not. To see it, the Lord desired them to lift up their eyes and look upon the fields that is, to elevate their understandings, and regard that which was present, though unseen; for the fields were white already unto harvest. Standing corn signifies truth in the mind's conception, and white is expressive of its maturity in the understanding, the reaping of the harvest having relation to the ingathering of the fruits of faith into the life.
36-38. Of this reaping our Lord proceeds to speak.
'He says, And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.'
He evidently speaks of the continued labours of the divinely commisioned teachers of all times.
39. The evangelist now returns to the Samaritans, who went out of the city and came to him (ver. 30); and he tells us that many
'of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, for the saying of the woman.'
The woman signifies affection, the men thoughts. The influence which the affections have upon the thoughts is well brought out in this and in another scripture narrative. The women, it will be remembered, were the first to convey to the disciples the glad tidings of the Lord's resurrection. Reception of the truth by the thoughts through the affection is meant by this acknowledgment of Jesus by men of Sychar, who believed on him for the saying of the woman. Yet this influence its own testimony with it the inward and practical testimony, that the truth of God reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart he told me all things that ever I did."
40. 'So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would, tarry with them: and he abode (or tarried) there two days.'
The Samaritans did not come to satisfy themselves of the truth of what the woman had told them of Jesus, but to ask him to tarry with them.
41, 42. 'Many more believed because of his own Word.'
There is mediate and there is immediate teaching from the Lord's Word, as there are mediate and immediate influx from the Lord himself. We all receive the truth in the first instance from others; but instruction is not complete till we are taught immediately by the Lord himself. These two classes of persons and states of life are spoken of by the prophet, as those who are taught of the neighbour and those who are taught of God. And the promise is given that a time will come, when the people shall be all taught of God, when they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord for they shall all know him from the least of them unto the greatest of them (Jer. xxxi. 34). We are not indeed to understand this promise to men, that the time will ever arrive when human teaching will be unnecessary; but a time will come, in the history of the church when human authority in matters of faith shall cease, when God will be his own teacher as well as his own interpreter, when men will believe what they know, not merely what they learn, and will know what they believe as well as believe what they know. This change of state received the truth on human authority, we reach the more perfect state of accepting it on its own testimony, which is to make the Lord our teacher. This did the Samaritan, who said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves.
43. When the Lord left Judea it was to go into Galilee, Samaria being taken in the way.
'Now, after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.'
While these journeyings describe, in the supreme sense, the progressive glorification of the Lord's humanity, and, historically, raising up of his church among all classes of those in whom there was any remnant of spiritual affection for goodness and truth; they showed forth the advancement of his kingdom in the individual mind. In reference to the regeneration of man, we have seen (ver. 3) that the Lord's journey from Judea through Samaria into Galilee, represented the progression of his divine truth from the internal, through the rational, into the natural degree of the mind; which may, in a general way, be called its progression from the will through the understanding into act; for in proceeding from the will into act, the divine truth must needs pass through the understanding. The two days he abode in Sychar are again mentioned, intimating the conjunction of truth with good in the rational principle; after which it was to be manifested in its power in the natural mind and outward life.
44, 45. A reason is assigned for the Lord's going into Galilee, where he was brought up, which would seem, according to our human notions, more likely to repel than to attract him.
'For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.'
This has been felt to be a difficulty. Without enlarging on it, we may remark, that this can hardly refer to what was future, since in entering their country the Galileans received him," but would seem rather to refer to the past, Jesus having previously testified this to the Galileans themselves (Luke iv. 24): and to that John would seem in the present instance to refer. Some of the Galileans, who went up to the passover, had seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast. There is a beautiful and instructive truth in the Lord's going down into Galilee, where he was brought up. The Lord's early life, as he now lives it, is his life in us during the early period of our existence. He is brought up in all minds, especially in the minds of those whose parents bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Our infantile and childish conceptions of Jesus are the periods of his infancy and childhood in us.
46, 47. 'So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine.'
Cana is the church among the Gentiles; and the making the water wine represented the bringing of spiritual out of natural truth. This miracle was performed to confirm the belief of his disciples; the Lord's second visit to Cana resulted in the confirmation of the faith of an eminent Gentile, by a miracle of another kind. This Gentile was a nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. This man affords a pleasing instance of faith in Jesus, first in his coming to implore his help, and secondly in placing entire reliance on his simple word. The nobleman, as the original expresses, was an officer of the king, or one near his person. The very court of Herod Antipas furnishes an eminent instance of belief in the meek and humble Saviour. But as the king is not named, we are to understand, as in many other cases in the Word, the regal office abstractly; and as this is symbolical of the government of truth, the nobleman is one who loves and obeys the truth as he knows it. The affection of truth is meant by his son; for affection is an offshoot from love, as a child is from a parent. But the son was sick. The soul sickens when its desires remain unsatisfied; for love unsatisfied, like hope deferred, maketh the heart sick.
48. It is remarkable that on this, as on some other occasions, the Lord does not immediately satisfy the desires, and answer the prayers of the supplicant, urgent as the need seems, earnest as the prayer is. To the beseeching of the afflicted parent the Lord answers,
'Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.'
The Lord's answer was addressed to others as well as to him; for the Galileans had refused to believe till they saw the miracles which he did. Belief had led the nobleman to Jesus, and belief was the result of the miracle, the effect of which was that the father "himself believed and his whole house" (ver. 53). His first belief in Jesus must have been belief in him as a prophet; his final belief in him must have been a belief in him as the Messiah. And in this the man represented one whose first faith is natural, intellectual, and historical. Saving faith is spiritual, of the heart and mind; and this faith, confirmed by temptation, gives health and newness of life.
49. The only answer of the father to this seeming reproof is,
'Sir, come down ere my child die.'
The son was sick at Capernaum. This place represented an external state relatively to that meant by Cana. In a previous chapter (ii. 12, 13), we read that after the marriage in Cana, Jesus went down to Capernaum, and went up from thence to Jerusalem. When he returned from Jerusalem he went direct to Cana, and the nobleman came up from Capernaum to Cana to implore his help. The nobleman represented those who, while they have a sincere and ardent affection for truth, are held in external things, as the fallacies of sense and science, but who come to elevate their minds to the Lord, as revealed in his Word.
50. The Lord did not comply with the man's entreaty to come down," but only said unto him,
'Go thy way, thy son liveth.'
The Lord performed this miracle at the very moment he gave the assurance that the child lived; illustrating the truth he had declared reprovingly to the Jews, "Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off ?" (Isa. xxxiii. 33). The man believed the word that Jesus had spoken with him, and he went his way.
51. 'And as he was going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.'
Any principle that is subordinate and subservient to another, is, spiritually, its servant: as truth to good, natural things to spiritual. The servants going out to meet their Lord and convey the glad tidings to him, describes the co-operation of the natural mind with the spiritual, and of truth with good; and meeting him is expressive of their reciprocation and conjunction. The servants convey to their master the joyful tidings, Thy son liveth. Spiritually understood, truth enables good to perceive the new life, which the Lord has imparted to the distressed and languishing affections. When good and truth thus meet together, the word of the Lord, already believed, is realized - his truth is confirmed, and his goodness is experienced. In reference to this same circumstance, the Word speaks of mercy and truth meeting together, righteousness and peace kissing each other.
52. 'Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend.'
The father no doubt wished to know if there was an exact coincidence between the time of the Lord's word and his son's recovery, the more certainly to connect them as cause and effect. Time is state; and the desire to know the hour when his son began to amend, is expressive of a desire to know - the precise nature of the new life in its beginning. The servants answered, Yesterday about the seventh hour, the fever left him. The seventh hour is a holy state; and is especially a state of rest and peace, after states of labour and temptation. These states of temptation are the fever of the soul, when the thoughts rush tumultuously through the troubled mind, and the feelings are wrought up to the highest pitch of painful excitement. The power of the Lord is more conspicuous, as its result is more blessed, in removing the fever of the soul than in removing the fever of the body, wonderful as this was in the present case. This miracle of the Lord showed his omniscience and omnipotence, and therefore his divinity. He is entreated to come and cure a child. He sends his word and heals him. He wills, and the raging fever, like the tempestuous sea, is in a moment calmed, and the blood flows gently on.
53. 'The father knew that it was at the same hour in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.'
It is only necessary to remark on the results of this fact - the recognition of the child's restoration as the work of Jesus. We find that it led to the whole house receiving the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole house spiritually means the whole mind, that is, the whole of the affections and thoughts. When all these are brought under the influence of a spiritual and saving faith, then is man regenerate or born again. New life is imparted to the soul, and the man becomes a new creature.
54. 'This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee.'
The question for us is, what spiritual relation has this second miracle in Galilee to the first? It is deserving of remark that these two miracles produced the same effect, but upon different persons. The effect of the first was, that "his disciples believed on him;" the result of the second was, that the father of the child "himself believed, and his whole house." The miracles, the persons, and the places, all point to the fact, that they were both wrought for producing or confirming faith in the Lord, first in the interiors, and next in the exteriors, of the mind; thus tending to make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. There are works of the mind and works of the life, although it is only when they unite that they make man perfect.
CHAPTER V.
This chapter contains the account of another and interesting miracle, and the record of a most important discourse of our Lord, which arose out of it. Interesting and important as these are in their literal sense, they are much more so in their spiritual meaning, for this reveals divine truths immediately applicable to our regeneration, which is the work and state of salvation.
1. When Jesus performed the miracle of curing the nobleman's son, he had just come from Jerusalem to Galilee; and the present chapter begins with saying, that
'after this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.'
It is not known how long this second journey was after the first, nor what feast was there celebrated. Spiritually considered, it is enough to know the sequence of the events, and there being a feast at the centre of the Jewish worship.
2. It was when the Lord was in Jerusalem at the feast that he performed one of those miraculous cures which symbolized the healing of the spiritual maladies of the soul.
'Now there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep-market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having five porches.'
This pool represented the Word of God. Bethesda, which means the "house of mercy," is eminently expressive of the Divine Word, as a revelation of God's will, and an offer of his mercy to afflicted and perishing sinners. The pool was at Jerusalem, by the sheep-market, to signify that the Holy Word, while committed to the care of the church, which is Jerusalem, is practically with those who are principled in spiritual love or charity, these being spiritually meant by sheep. But the pool of Bethesda is a symbol of the Word, not only as it exists as a book, but as it exists by the knowledge of its truths in our minds. It is especially a pool when its truths are in the memory, for there they are collected together, and there they lie motionless, unable to effect a cure.
3. As the pool is in the mind itself, so are the
'multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.'
These sick persons are the multitude of disordered affections and thoughts, that are in every yet unregenerated, or partially regenerated, mind. In the blind, we may see the ignorance that hinders and the errors that pervert our intellectual perception of truth and goodness; in the halt we may see the unequal manifestation of these principles in our life and conversation; and in the withered, the enfeeblement of some or all the powers of active life in the will, which produces incapacity for moral action. Every one of us is thus infirm by nature, and more or less by practice.
4. 'For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.'
As the waters of the pool are the truths which have been acquired from the Word, and laid up as knowledge in the memory, the angel is the Spirit of truth which descends from heaven, and enters the mind, quickening the truths that had lain dead and inactive there. The angel went down only at a certain season. The reason of this is to be sought, not in God or his angels, but in ourselves. The Lord has no times or seasons for descending with his blessings to mankind. His time is always ready. With him this is the day of salvation. While we seem to wait for grace, he is waiting to be gracious. Our state to receive is his time to give. The season in which the angel descends is determined by us; the gift comes when we are prepared to receive it. Even after we have discovered our infirmities, and have become earnestly desirous of having them removed, we often have to wait, and sometimes long, before the desired deliverance comes. Many prayers and many efforts are needed to effect their removal. The reason of this is not difficult to discover. The desire is a newly-conceived affection, the infirmity is an ingenerate lust or confirmed habit. The period of our waiting and the season of our deliverance are determined by the relative strength of our desire and of our infirmity. But another singular circumstance in the case was, that when the angel had moved the waters, the first only that stepped in was made whole. Why was there such a seeming parsimony in dispensing so great a gift? Might not the whole multitude have plunged into the pool, and risen from its waters restored to the blessing of health? The greater miracle would have been as easy to omnipotence as the less. But divine wisdom designed the circumstance to convey a spiritual lesson. Our spiritual infirmities are not removed at once, but by degrees. The whole multitude of our evils are not wiped away in a moment, by a single act of grace through a single act of faith. Our evils are removed, as the infirm persons at the pool of Bethesda were cured, one by one. The cure was experienced by the first that stepped in after the troubling of the waters. First as to time, spiritually means first as to state, or that which is the principal object of our thoughts and desires.
5. But amongst the great multitude lying waiting at the pool of Bethesda, there was a
'certain man which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.'
If the multitude of impotent folk are types of our numerous infirmities, what infirmity does this man represent? He represents that infirmity which is the greatest of all our infirmities, our ruling love, our dominant evil, the sin that doth so easily beset us. This love, as the thirty-eight years' duration of the poor man's malady implies, contains in itself the conjunction of what is evil and false, and has its root both in the will and understanding. It forms our very self, that which forms the root of our unregenerate nature. And long and painful is the struggle before it is remove.
6. But deliverance from this evil comes at length to those who patiently strive and wait.
'When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?'
When the Scripture speaks of the Lord seeing and knowing what is in or of us, the spiritual meaning is, that we see and know from the Lord what is in or of ourselves. This is the highest kind or degree of knowledge, and is inward perception. The voice of the Lord speaks inwardly in the heart, saying, Wilt thou be made whole?
7. To the Lord's question, the man gives not a direct answer, but says,
'Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.'
The predominant feeling and idea in the mind, which has a perception of its own sinful state, is that of its own inability and helplessness, and even of its being left unaided. He had no man to put him into the pool. He knew not as yet that in Jesus he at last had found the Man for whom he had so long waited and so often sighed - the Divine Man, in whom is all help. But this sense of his own helplessness and destitution prepared the way for his deliverance. He had often, unaided, attempted to reach the pool; but while he was coming, another stepped down before him. Feeble and without help, he would, but for the Lord's coming to his relief, have remained uncured. We can hardly fail to notice in this miracle a feature which is common to many, and is perhaps to be understood of all, that the Lord performed cures which others had been unable to effect. He came to do for mankind what they had been unable to do for themselves or for each other. He came to do for them, as their Redeemer, even what he had been unable to do for them as their Creator.
8. 'Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed, and walk.'
A deep sense of our own helplessness is the very means of opening the heart for the reception of help from the Lord - help that comes to us rather in deed than in word, for it comes to our experience. This manner of showing his power is not uncommon, but most interesting. Understood of the soul instead of the body, to rise is to rise above earthly into heavenly states of thought and affection; to take up the bed, is to raise doctrine and faith from a persuasion to a principle; and to walk, is to live according to the divine commandments from charity and faith united.
9. 'And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.'
The performance of the acts commanded signify effect, which makes the command a deed, and thus a blessing; but it adds, that on the same day was the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a day on which Jesus performed many beneficent works, because it represented a state of spiritual rest after states of conflict and labour, peace after warfare, joy after suffering. It was the type of salvation and heaven. The Lord's performing so many of His works of mercy on the Sabbath, is an evidence that even the Jewish Sabbath was never intended as a day of absolute inactivity, but was rather a day in which cessation from servile and interested labour should give time and opportunity for free and disinterested work, or works of love and mercy. More important still is it as a testimony to the truth, that the Christian Sabbath is a day for works of spiritual love and mercy; and that the Sabbath of eternal rest which remains for the people of God, is not a monotonous life of vocal praise and thanksgiving, but is a life of the most active love to one another, and to all the children of God, as they exist in the unnumbered worlds which the Lord created and has redeemed.
10. The other and negative side of the subject now presents itself. The Jews made the carrying of the bed, and the performance of this cure on the Sabbath, a ground of persecution. To the man they objected,
'It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.'
This act would seem, indeed, to have been inconsistent with the Jewish law, which prohibited the carrying of a burden on the Sabbath day (Jer. xvii. 21). As Lord of the Sabbath, and on the principle that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, Jesus had told the man to carry his bed.
11, 12. The all-sufficient reason for this, and answer to all objections and suggestions against it are contained in the man's answer to his Jewish objectors:
'He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.'
He who gives health and strength must be best able to direct us how to use them.
13. 'And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.'
This circumstance, which is not the only one of the kind in the gospel, has several important points. How beautiful are the facts and the lesson, in Jesus bestowing his blessings, as it were, with an unseen hand, withdrawing himself from the multitude of spectators, and leaving even the object of his mercy without the knowledge of his benefactor! How great a lesson is this, to do good for its own sake. But the manner of his leaving the scene of his great miracle is deserving of attention. The difference in the manner of his withdrawing himself from the sensible presence of men, before and after his resurrection, is very striking. The relation gives us the idea of his removal being, before his glorification, natural; of being, after his glorification, supernatural. After his resurrection he appears in an instant in the midst of his disciples, the doors being shut; and in breaking bread with his disciples at Emmaus, he vanishes out of their sight, or ceases in a moment to be seen of them. These simple relations show how different was his humanity, before and after he had passed through death, His resurrection body being no longer material, but Divine. But to return to the spiritual lesson which the present circumstance teaches. The man knew not that it was Jesus who had healed him, Jesus having conveyed himself away through the multitude.
14. The opportunity of doing this in due time comes.
'Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple.'
The object and the Author of the miracle meet in the temple; a holy state of worship opens the mind for the manifestation of the Divine Restorer of our mercies, and enables us to connect the gift with the Giver. Jesus revealed himself in delivering to the man a great lesson: Thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Any one who returns to sins, after having been delivered from them, profanes the holy gifts he has received, and falls into a deeper state of evil and guilt than before. This does not arise from the fact, important as it is, that we sin presumptuously against the great and good Being who delivered us, but because, by returning to a sin which had been forsaken, we wilfully destroy the good that had taken its place, and cause the evil to take deeper root than it previously had in the mind. This, indeed, is the sin of profanation, which, in its worst form, cannot be forgiven, not because the Lord is unwilling to forgive, but because he is unable to remove it. The Lord removes evil in us by means of good - good which he himself has implanted in our hearts; but if we destroy that good, nothing remains by which his saving power can work salvation in us. We may think that free grace and omnipotence can do any thing. They can do anything that is consistent with divine order, but nothing that is inconsistent with the eternal laws that govern and uphold the worlds of mind and matter. In saying there are some things God cannot do, it may seem that we deny his omnipotence. If we say that he can and does not, do we not impeach his goodness?
15. 'The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole.'
We cannot suppose that the man told the Jews for the purpose of enabling them to direct their enmity against Jesus, but rather to proclaim his power, and advance his glory. But the natural mind and the natural man are ever disposed and ready to pervert knowledge and influx into compliance with its own ends.
16. 'Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath-day.'
On another similar occasion Jesus appealed to their own practice, in justification of his doing such deeds of mercy and goodness on the Sabbath-day. If a sheep fell into a pit they would pull him out on the Sabbath? How much is a man better than a sheep? They were like natural zealots in all ages, whose practice it has ever been to persecute for non-conformity to their own dogmas and superstitions, good being no protection to him who does it out of the dogmatic way, but rather the ground of greater hatred and opposition. The opposition here represented is that of evil against good: for the "Jews" are the types of evil, and Jesus is a name for the Divine Good. The opposition here described proceeds both from evil and its falsity, and is directed against both good and its truth, for falsehood persecutes truth, and evil seeks to slay goodness.
17. The Lord's answer to these enemies of him and his works leads us into some of the highest truths that the gospel contains, which teach the relation of Jesus to the Father. The Lord meets their opposition to him as the worker of this miracle on the Sabbath, by saying,
'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.'
The great truth which the Lord here delivered demands our serious attention. The nature of the distinction which exists between the Father and the Son, and the work in which they, first the Father and then the Son, had engaged, it is most important we should understand. The truth may best be conveyed by a simple statement. The Father and the Son are the divine and the human natures in the person of the Lord. This is the simplest idea of the subject. It involves another - that the Father is the principle of divine love, and the Son is the principle of divine wisdom. When the Lord said "The Father worketh hitherto," he asserts that God had hitherto operated in his divine character of Creator and Preserver, but that now he operated in his human character of Redeemer and Saviour. The language of the Lord is very striking in one respect. He speaks of his own and his Father's work as being on a perfect equality; of the one as being a continuation of the other. This teaches us that the Lord's work in the flesh was a divine work, and that it was necessary, in order to complete the circle of divine operations required for the eternal welfare of the human race. And, indeed, the incarnation was simply a means for God doing for his creatures what he could no longer do without it.
18. The Lord's declaration still further exasperated the Jews.
'They sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath, but said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.'
Spiritually, in saying that God was his Father, the Lord asserted the divinity of his humanity: for the human became fully the Son of the divine by glorification. This truth is opposed to every thought and feeling of the natural man, because it is itself the opposite of all naturalism. It was to make man spiritual that the Lord made his humanity divine; and they who are opposed to spirituality in themselves, must be still more opposed to divinity in Jesus. The deadly enmity of the Jews against Jesus, is that which every natural man has against the Lord, as the supreme good as well as the supreme truth. Even in the minds of the faithful this enmity of the Jews is realized during the progress of regeneration. The reception of the Lord's goodness in his truth, which is the practical acknowledgment of the Father in the Son, is most opposed to the evil of our nature, and cannot be effected without temptation, by which these evils are removed.
19. The Lord proceeds to show the necessity of acknowledging the Father in the Son.
Verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.'
20. Having spoken of the Son seeing what the Father does, the Lord now speaks of the Father, from his love for the Son, showing him whatever things he does.
'The Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater things than these, that ye may marvel.'
The Father is the divine love itself, and the divine wisdom is the object of that love. Wisdom is the offspring of love, as thought is of affection, and light of heat. But when divine inspiration says that the Father loves the Son, it not only means that wisdom is the object, but that it is the subject, of love; that the divine love dwells in the divine wisdom, and is the very love and life of that wisdom. For love is wisdom's and wisdom is love's. In the language of the Word, the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son. And as the Father loves the Son, he shews him all that he himself doeth. Love communicates to wisdom the perception of all its ends and purposes, that wisdom may work them out. For God's love does nothing but by his wisdom, as his wisdom does nothing but from his love. Love and wisdom are distinct in God, but they cannot be separated, either in essence or in act. The Lord proceeds to say to the Jews that, besides sheaving the Son the works which they saw him do, the Father would show him still greater works, that they might marvel. The Lord did afterwards perform greater works than these, including that of his own resurrection; but the greater works which he promised were the divine and spiritual works, of which these were the types or the signs; first, the stupendous work of his own glorification, as completed in his resurrection, and, secondly, the re-generation or spiritual resurrection of man.
21. The works of which the Lord spoke he proceeds to mention.
'For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.'
It is hardly necessary to say that our Lord speaks of the resurrection of souls, not of bodies, of souls dead in trespasses and sins. Two distinct acts are mentioned; and of these, the first is, drawing men away from evil, which is spiritually to raise them from the dead; the second is, to lead them into good, which is to quicken them, or make them alive; for evil is spiritual death, and good is spiritual life. There is another truth contained in this declaration. In the supreme sense, the Father raised up the dead, when the divinity raised up the humanity from the dead, at the Lord's resurrection; and by this finished work, the Son can now quicken whom he will. In this quickening work both Father and Son are still engaged; for divine love works in the heart, which is the will, giving life to the affections, and divine wisdom works in the understanding, giving life to the thoughts; thus bestowing the new life of charity and faith.
22. Although the Father as well as the Son raiseth up the dead
yet
'the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.'
Another proof have we here that the Father and Son are not separate persons, but distinct essentials of the divine nature. We cannot, consistently with the unity of God, think of one divine person judging, while another has no share in the work. His judging makes it evident, indeed, that Jesus is divine; for who but the omniscient can judge mankind? But it equally shews, that judgment is the function of a peculiar essential of the deity, of which the Son is the name. All judgment is performed by divine truth or wisdom, not by divine good or love. Love judges no man. Love is never absent from divine judgment, for all judgment is tempered with mercy; but truth is that which judges; truth it is which discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, and is sharper than a two-edged sword, to separate even to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrows. But the Lord's work of judgment includes the whole work of redemption. It relates especially to the separation of the good and the evil, and the adjustment of the balance between heaven and hell, and the consequent restoration of freedom to the human will, so as to enable man to choose between them. It is only necessary to add that judgment is a work effected in every regenerate mind, and consists in discerning and separating evil from good, and falsehood from truth. This act is not done by the judge alone. He judges us when we, by his truth, judge ourselves. Thus judgment is not a sentence pronounced upon us, but a work of decision and separation effected in us, a separation between good and evil, truth and error.
23. And now comes the purpose of this judgment, which is,
'That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father.'
Equal honour implies equal dignity, and equal dignity implies equal divinity. Supposing the Father and the Son to be two distinct persons, but equal as to divinity, how would it be possible to honour one more or less than another? In honouring one, we would honour the other, for the honour we render to God, if it be true honour, is not, properly speaking, rendered to his person, but to his nature, thus to his attributes and character. But when we understand the Father and the Son to be the Lord's Divinity and Humanity, and his Love and Wisdom, we can see how it is possible to honour one more and another less, and how necessary it is to honour the Son as we honour the Father. The Lord's humanity is to be honoured with the honour due to his divinity. Jesus is to be honoured as Jehovah; God is to be worshipped in Jesus Christ; the Creator in the Redeemer. It is only in his humanity that God can be worshipped and honoured.
24. The Lord still further presses this great truth on the attention of his hearers.
'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.'
To hear the word of Jesus is to receive his truth into the heart; thence comes true and living faith; for belief in the Father is belief in which the Father is - faith grounded in love. This is the faith that saves, for it has everlasting life or heavenly goodness in it, and is opposed to evil as the cause of condemnation. This state of goodness has been acquired by overcoming and renouncing evil, and such a one has passed from death unto life.
25. The blessed effect of the Lord's redemption in giving life is now described.
'Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear, shall live.'
The spiritually dead are here evidently meant, and spiritual life is that which they were about to receive. It does not relate to a universal resurrection, for not all, but they only that hear the Lord's voice shall live, that is, those who receive the Lord's truth in love and faith shall have eternal life. This raising of the dead was, in the historical sense, the general revival which was to be the result of the Lord's work of redemption. Humanity was, by the power of the Lord's resurrection, to rise from the state of spiritual death in which it had for long ages been lying. But this is only part of a restoration which is spoken of further on, where it will be more fully considered.
26, 27. And here again a reason, but a different one from the former, is given.
'For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.'
This is a remarkable declaration. Life in himself is underived and independent life. But how could such life be given and received? Not certainly by one person and to another. Nor could it be given by an infinite to a finite nature. Had the humanity of Jesus been the same as that of another man, he could not have received, because he could not have contained, infinite life.
28, 29. A further effect of his redeeming work is described.
'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.'
This does not refer to a resurrection of the material bodies of mankind at the end of the world, but to a resurrection of the spiritual bodies of men at the end of the Church. In the internal historical sense, these words, and those in the twenty-fifth verse, relate to the general judgment in the spiritual world, which the Lord performed after his resurrection. This judgment was performed on all who had died during the dispensation which preceded the Lord's Advent, and who were reserved in the world of spirits, or intermediate state, till the time of decision.
30. The distinction which the Lord makes in the words we have just considered, he now states in another way.
'I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.'
What the Lord here says again, can only be understood when the Father and Son are seen to be the human and the divine nature, the divine truth, and the divine good. The human could do nothing of itself without the divine, as the body can do nothing of itself without the soul; truth can do nothing of itself without good, as the understanding can do nothing of itself without the will. When Jesus says, "As I hear, I judge," can we understand him to speak of hearing and judging in the ordinary sense? There is a difference between this and a former declaration, which deserves our attention. At verse 19, Jesus says, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do:" here he says that he judges as he hears. Seeing has more relation to the understanding, hearing to the will; in respect to the Lord, seeing relates to his wisdom, hearing to his love. Now, doing is an act of the will, judging is an act of the understanding. But that the will may act rightly, it must he guided by the understanding, or, that love may act rightly, it must be guided by wisdom; therefore Jesus acts as he sees the Father act. On the other hand, that wisdom may judge justly, it must be influenced by love; therefore the Lord Jesus judges as he hears, that is, hears the Father. The Lord, for this reason, proceeds to say, "My judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
31, 32. Not only is truth alone incapable of judging justly, but it is incapable of testifying truly. It cannot by itself witness of itself; which our Lord declared when be said,
'If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.'
We have had occasion to speak of this subject, and have remarked, that truth is its own witness, and carries its own testimony with it. There are, however, two witnesses to all truth, the intellectual and the moral. Intellectual testimony is that which the truth bears to itself, moral testimony is that which good bears to the truth. Intellectual testimony appeals to the understanding, moral testimony appeals to the heart. The first is the witness of the Son, the second is the witness of the Father; the first is the witness of truth, the second is the witness of love. Therefore, said our Lord, There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
33-35. The Lord says to the Jews,
'Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.'
John testified of Jesus, that being from above, he was above all. Eminent as John was, Jesus did not rest his claim upon John's testimony.
36. But the Lord said,
'I have greater witness than that of John : for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me.'
The Lord justly appealed to his works, in evidence of his having proceeded from the Father, and of being himself the Father; clothed in human nature; for, as he declared, "the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the Works." The mighty works which the Lord performed were the manifestations, and therefore the evidences, of his eternal power and Godhead. But there are works of which these were but the symbols, works of which the soul is the subject, and salvation the fruit. And these are evidences of the power of the Father in the Son, or of divine love being manifested and operative in divine truth. And these works, by producing new life in the soul, carry their own internal evidence with them; for new life is the ground of new and saving faith.
37. Besides the evidence of the works performed from the Father, the
'Father himself hath borne witness of Jesus.'
This is supposed to refer to the Father's testimony at the Lord's baptism. If so, it is singular that the Lord should add; Ye have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape. This has been felt to be a difficult passage. It has been supposed to mean that the Jews had not hearkened to and obeyed the voice of God, as uttered in the Scriptures. But this is inconsistent with the next part of the statement, that they had not seen his shape. The voice and the shape are connected as of like nature. The Lord's words are no doubt to be understood like similar records in the Old Testament. There we read of their seeing God face to face, and yet are told that no one can see God and live. Israel saw God, but they saw him, not as he is in himself, but as he made himself visible to them in the presence of an angel, who is hence called the angel of his presence. So with the voice of God; it came, and must have come, to men, through a finite medium. The grand medium through which the Father was seen and heard was the Son - the humanity he assumed. Those who saw and heard him saw and heard the Father. "No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Spiritually understood the Lord's words contain a spiritual lesson. The divine love never comes or can come directly to the perceptions of the human mind; it can only reach our faculties in and through the divine truth; this alone gives it the voice and shape that make it visible to men.
38. The Lord states to the Jews the real cause of their conduct towards him -
'Ye have not his word abiding in you.'
They had not the inward witness, therefore whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. How necessary to have the word of the Father abiding in us, the living word dwelling in our hearts! Without this there can be no living faith in the truth which is ever proceeding from his love to bring us to himself. "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him:" no one comes believingly to the truth of God, unless he is drawn to it by the love of God.
39-42. How is this love to be obtained? how is the word of the Father to be acquired? We cannot answer these questions till we know the meaning of the words which the Lord now addresses to the Jews. We are accustomed to understand the Lord's words as a command when he says,
'Search the Scriptures'.
This is not considered by the best critics as the necessary or proper meaning. It is understood to be a statement that the Jews did search the Scriptures, and yet could not or would not see the testimony of Jesus in them. It is considered that the passage should be read thus:
Ye search the Scriptures, and in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. This want of the love of God in their hearts was the cause of their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, the Truth of Love. So it is with others who search the Scriptures, and do not find a Saviour in them. Although they think they have in the sacred writings eternal life, yet unless they bring a loving heart to the investigation, their minds will receive no light on the subject which concerns their salvation and eternal life.
43. When such is the state of the heart, it rejects the true Christ and accepts the false.
'I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.'
It is evident from this that "name" has a larger and deeper signification than we are accustomed to give it. The name of a person in authority is often, indeed, used to express the authority which belongs to his office; and one who comes and speaks in his name, is one who, for the time, is invested with his authority. Viewed in this light, Jesus may be considered as having come invested with the authority of his Father. The prophets thus came in the name of God. Was Jesus only a prophet? He was the Son of God. As such he was God. And being God, he was God alone; for God is one. But there is a more certain way to this conclusion, than through the forms of school logic. Truth is light, and enables the mind to see; and love is heat, and gives the heart to feel. The Father and the Son are the divine love and the divine wisdom. In Jesus, divine wisdom came with the authority and power of divine love. But men did not receive him. Why? Because they had in them and among them none of that love which disposes the mind to receive wisdom. In Scripture, a name means more than the authority of the person to whom it belongs; it means his spirit and power, his nature and character. Jesus came in his Father's name, because he came as the divine wisdom of divine love. He came to exhibit the divine character before men. His words of wisdom were filled with the spirit of love; his works of power with the spirit of benevolence. His Father's name, the spirit of love, was manifest in all his teaching, and in his whole life. His life was evidently one of pure disinterestedness.
44. The Lord comes to the root of their rejection of him.
'How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?'
Here the moral ground of unbelief is said to be self-exaltation. Self-exaltation is the opposite of humility; and humility is the soil in which every Christian grace, and therefore the grace of faith, is implanted and grows. Men are not blamed for receiving honour one of another, but for receiving it to the exclusion of that which comes from God only. Religion requires that we render honour to whom honour is due. Wise men render and receive honour as a means to a useful end; unwise men, as an end, and one which resides in themselves. God is the author of all true honour. The honour that comes from God is the honour of virtue and sincerity, received through the approval of a good conscience. This is the only honour that is to be desired here, or that will avail us hereafter. And the only true honour that we can render to, or receive from each other, is honour for what is of God in us; so that the Lord is in truth the object as well as the author of all true honour.
45, 46. Severe as are the Lord's judgments on the Jewish persecutors, yet the tenderness of his love is not less than the severity of his truth.
'Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father'.
O divine forbearance and forgiveness! How true the inspired words: "If thou shouldest mark iniquity, who, O Lord, should stand?" Yet it does not follow, that the wicked can altogether escape. When the Lord proclaimed himself merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, he yet declared that he would by no means clear the guilty. Guilt cannot escape all penalty; even infinite mercy can not separate guilt and punishment. Although the Lord would not accuse his enemies, but would pray for them, as he did upon the cross, still he gave them the solemn warning, There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. The Lord gives them the reason for this: Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. They professed to be the disciples of Moses, and trusted in him, yet did not believe the greatest message he had delivered to them the coming of a prophet like unto himself, whom they were to hear. Moses, therefore, would be their accuser. Here we learn a law of judgment, which includes all. We are judged by what we know, and especially by what we believe. Our condemnation arises from not believing what we know, or not doing what we believe. Our witness is within us, either for justification or condemnation. Moses is a witness for Christ, and his testimony will be against the Jew who refuses to acknowledge the Saviour. It is, therefore, because the Jews do not believe Moses, that they do not believe Christ.
47. The Lord ends his discourse to the Jews with this decisive conclusion;
'But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?'
How indeed? If they believed not the prediction, how could they believe its fulfilment? And here we find what belief really is. The Jews believed in Moses as their prophet, their lawgiver; but they believed in him after their own fashion. They really believed not in the writings of Moses, but in their own interpretations of them. And they so construed them, that they made the very commandments, which those writings contained, of none effect by their traditions. And, as a consequence, they rejected him who was the Divine Love itself in person. As every truth is in harmony with every other, so, eminently, must the truths of the Old and New Testaments - the writings of Moses and the words of Christ - harmonize together. He, therefore, who believes or denies the one, cannot but believe or deny the other. "If ye believe not his writings, how can ye believe my words?"
CHAPTER VI.
This chapter contains a remarkable discourse of our Lord's, which has not found a place in any of the other gospels. He had fed a multitude of people, by miraculously multiplying a few loaves and fishes. And he now turns the attention of the multitude from the perishable food, with which he had fed their bodies, to himself as the living bread, with which he desired to feed their souls. The miracle of the loaves and fishes is recorded in the fourteenth chapter of Matthew; where we have also a record of the miracle that followed, when Jesus walked on the sea. Both having been already explained, it may suffice to give a brief outline of their meaning, except in the case of the particulars in which the two accounts differ.
1. 'After these things, Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.'
The Lord was now passing from the western to the eastern side of the lake, leaving Canaan for the country on the other side Jordan, to carry the blessings of his gospel to a more purely Gentile population. The sea over which he passed was representative of the Word, the truths of which are meant by its waters. When called the Sea of Galilee, from the region which it skirts, it means the Word with respect to the good which it teaches; and when called the Sea of Tiberias, from the town on its shore, it means the Word with respect to its doctrine; and when both these names are applied both meanings are involved. The Lord passes over to the people who are out of the church by the good of simple truth, as revealed in the letter of his Word. And if we consider this progression as it respects the individual, the Lord's descent into the very lowest degree of the mind being represented by his passing over from Galilee to the other side of Jordan, then by his passing across the Galilean sea is signified his entrance through the good and truth of his Word, as these exist in the natural mind.
2. When on the other side,
'a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.'
The healing of the diseases of the soul, indicated by these miracles, draws to the Lord the numerous natural affections and thoughts of the mind; and these follow him, by striving to follow his example.
4. Separating himself from the multitude,
'Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.'
The disciples, as distinguished from the multitude, are the affections and perceptions of the spiritual mind, as distinguished from those of the natural mind.
5. It is here mentioned that the passover,
'a feast of the Jews, was nigh.'
There is not perhaps any obvious connection between the Jewish feast and the circumstances related in this chapter. There is, however, a relation of the feast of the passover to the feeding of the multitude, and more especially to the eating of the flesh of the Son of Man, of which the Lord afterwards treats so largely. Jesus was our passover; and his completed work of redemption and glorification, in which the feast was to receive its fulfilment, was nigh.
5, 6. The Lord, with his disciples, having retired, the multitude followed him.
'When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?'
By retiring into the mountain, and drawing the multitude after him, we learn, that when the Lord raises the higher affections of the mind to himself and heaven, the lower are elevated also. Jesus, who knew of the movements of the multitude, is spoken of as lifting up his eyes and seeing them coming. The lifting up of the eyes, so often recorded in the Word, means, in relation to man, the elevation of the understanding; the consequent sight of the object being expressive of perception. In reference to the Lord this means the application and operation of his wisdom. His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men" (Ps. xi. 4). But the true lifting up of the Lord's eyes takes place in the minds of those in whom he dwells. He sees when he gives them to see; for all spiritual sight is the perception which his truth imparts to the intellect. The question which the Lord, on seeing the great company come unto him, proposed to Philip, is interesting, more especially as we are informed that he himself knew what he would do. Such questions are intended to prove the faithful. Yet the proof is intended, not for the Lord's satisfaction, but for the disciples' improvement. The Lord proves us, not to see what is in us, but to enable us to see what is in ourselves, and to prepare us for recognising his divine goodness and wisdom in the removal of the difficulty to which our reflection leads us.
6. Philip answered the Lord's question by saying,
'Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.'
The Lord had inquired, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" Our first and natural idea is to rely upon meritorious goodness, or that which we purchase for ourselves. Yet, with the sincere disciple, there is a sense of the inadequacy of the supply which even our utmost means and powers can procure. Two hundred pence was probably all the money which the bag contained, yet, though a considerable sum, it was not enough for the occasion. When we think of feeding the mind with purchased bread, and yet see that our knowledge, however large, is insufficient to procure enough to satisfy our hunger, or even to provide that every one of our affections may take a little, we are in some measure prepared to accept the good that the Lord alone can give, and which is more than sufficient to supply every want.
8, 9. The conviction and acknowledgment, that the utmost extent to which self-righteousness goes does not suffice to satisfy the cravings of the soul, is followed by another and higher state of mind, which brings us a step nearer the solution of the difficulty, and the discovery of the real answer to the divine question, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"
'One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?'
Andrew evidently stands higher in the scale of discipleship than Philip. We have already (i. 43) spoken of Philip as representing a more obscure perception of truth, and a lower degree of faith, than those of which Andrew is the type. While Philip thinks only of purchasing bread for the multitude, Andrew discovers a supply among themselves. Spiritually understood, the lad, or youth, is the good affection of early life, in which the remains or germs of heavenly goodness and truth have been implanted by the Lord, and have been preserved, so that, the time and state having arrived, they can he brought forth to form the beginning of the new man. These remains are meant by the loaves and the fishes. Five, like ten, denotes remains, but in less abundance; the quality of these remains of natural goodness being indicated by the loaves being of barley. The fact of the loaves being few and of barley, and the fishes still fewer and small, expresses, representatively, how scanty and poor were the remains of what was good and true in the church at the time of our Lord's Advent.
10. Thus scantily provided, Jesus said,
'Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down. in number about five thousand.'
The arranging or disposing the affections in the order of heaven, represented by the people sitting down, is one of the means by which the Lord prepares them for the reception and appropriation of the principles of goodness and truth; the abundant grass on which they sat signifying abundance of natural truth, such as the letter of the Word contains, and on which the ordinated affections rest.
11-13. 'Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.'
In the Lord's miracles of feeding the multitudes, there is this one particular to be observed. He does not immediately create the necessary quantity of food, which would seemingly be a greater exhibition of power; but he takes a small quantity, which some one present supplies, and makes that the seed, so to speak, from which, under his beneficent hand, the abundant harvest springs. Can we suppose this is done without a purpose and a moral? Does it not teach us that even in the spiritual concerns of the soul nothing is brought out of nothing? There must be a nucleus, a rudiment, a germ, as a beginning, without which even Omnipotence does not create for us the means of spiritual life. That very germ, it is true, is the gift of God, for we have nothing of ourselves; but it is a gift he bestows on every soul, by the operation of his Spirit, with the co-operation of angels and parents, during the early period of life, while the soul is yet in the Eden of infantile innocence. Through this supply, however small, the divine power can produce such abundance, that not only all the wants of the mind shall be satisfied, and the powers strengthened for the immediate uses of life, but that the twelve baskets shall be filled with the fragments that remain, that nothing that comes from God out of heaven may be lost.
14, 15. This miracle produced two effects. The people acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, and determined to make him a king. These are two particulars not mentioned in the other gospels.
'Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world.'
The conviction, as we find, was, in this case, as in many others produced by miracles, in some of the multitude at least, superficial and transitory. The attempt they made to bring their faith to a practical result, in a way congenial to the national passion, shows how natural as well as shallow their faith was. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. There was nothing more natural than that a multitude of Jews, suddenly convinced that Jesus was the promised Messiah, should be inspired with the desire to make him a king, that he might conquer for them deliverance from the hated Roman yoke. They had not learnt, and had no desire to learn, that, though the Lord was a king, his kingdom was not of this world. This ignorance and this error are still those of every early Christian disciple. He regards the Lord's regal character and his kingdom rather as earthly than heavenly. He is willing that the Lord should be his king, but only that his power may be exalted in his natural affections, for natural ends. But in this state of the mind, the Lord withdraws himself into the good affection of the inner man, as he retired into the mountain, to maintain his hold on the inner life, till he can again descend with advantage into the thoughts and affections of the natural mind.
16-21. The storm which the disciples encountered while on their passage across the lake, and the two miracles of Jesus, his coming to them walking on the sea, and his stilling the tempest, are to be considered as having a connection with the feeding of the multitude with the loaves and fishes. Goodness and truth are not confirmed but by means of temptation. The reception of these spiritual principles is described by the feeding of the five thousand, and the temptation which follows their reception, and is the necessary means of their confirmation, is meant by the storm.
In the early part of the chapter we find the Lord, his disciples, and the multitude together; at the beginning of this portion of the record we find them apart, the Lord gone up into a mountain alone, his disciples gone into a ship, and the people remaining on the other side, and standing on the sea-shore. These are representative of different but alternate states. The disciples represent the spiritual thoughts and affections of the inner man, and the people, the natural thoughts and affections of the outer man, while the Lord is the truth and life that enlighten and sustain both. These sometimes act unitedly, sometimes distinctly - unitedly when man looks to the Lord and heaven; distinctly, and it may be separately, when he looks to himself and the world. In this state it is that he is exposed to temptation. This is the state which is described, in the present relation, by the experience both of the disciples on the sea and the multitude on the shore. These we now briefly consider.
16-18. 'And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And the sea arose, by reason of a great wind that blew.'
All this is descriptive of a state of trial and temptation. It was now even, and soon it becomes dark, and a great wind raises the sea into a storm. This historical symbolism it is not difficult to interpret. Darkness and tempest in this outer world are obvious images of the mental and spiritual obscurity and tribulation, which form part of the common experience of all Christian disciples in passing through the religious life, of which going over the sea to Capernaum is but one of the stages. The sea to which they go down is the letter of the Word; the Lord's own city, Capernaum, is the doctrine of the Lord, as God in his humanity; the one ship into which they enter is the knowledge of that one Lord and Saviour. But while they go down to, and pass over the sea, Jesus is not come to them; he is away in the mountain alone, above the region of their active thoughts and feelings, leaving them for a while to themselves, but ready to descend to succour them when the time of deliverance comes. But it may be useful to consider how and whence these states of obscurity and tribulation arise. Alternations of state arise from the alternate activity of our spiritual and natural thoughts and affections. These alternations are unavoidable and useful. In their orderly succession they are like the regular vicissitudes of day and night. The mind is no more able to maintain a state of constant wakefulness and activity than the body. The angels themselves have their alternations of state. They rise into activity and sink into repose; and these changes both improve their state and exalt their happiness.
'rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship.'
Severe as was the storm, they continued to row; they did not lay down their oars and give themselves up for lost, but rather, we may suppose, exerted themselves the more as the storm increased. And they made progress. They had rowed about five-and-twenty or thirty furlongs when the Lord appeared to them. Twenty-five and thirty, like the simple numbers five and six, of which they are the product, indicate not so much the amount of spiritual progress as the quality of their spiritual state, as being one in which the remains of love and truth are brought out by the labours of temptation. Their striving had not indeed brought them to the other side, and would in all probability have failed even to save them. But it brought them so far on their way, and even towards him who came to them walking on the water. They were now far from the land, in the midst of the sea, with the raging tempest threatening their destruction. In such perilous circumstances, how welcome the prospect of deliverance. With what wonder and gratitude must they have been filled when they recognised Jesus coming towards them, walking securely upon those troubled waves, that threatened every moment to engulph them. Yet not hope, but fear, was their first emotion. They were afraid. According to Matthew, they supposed they saw a spirit, and, perhaps looking upon it as a messenger of death, they cried out for fear. Our states give a shape and complexion to the objects that come upon us suddenly. In spiritual experience and in the spiritual world this is invariably the case. And more is it so with divine than even with spiritual things; they are more remote from our conceptions.
22-24. The evangelist, having recorded the arrival of the ship with its precious freight at Capernaum, now returns to the multitude who had been left on the other side of the lake.
'The day following, when the people, which stood on the other side of the sea, saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; (howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias, nigh unto, the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:) when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capertnaum, seeking for Jesus.'
The day following is a new state, the quality of which is indicated by the transactions that belong to it. The first state of the people, as representatively described in the narrative, is an external one: they stood on the side of the sea opposite to that on which the disciples were, and out of the land of Canaan.
25. 'When they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when earnest thou hither?'
This title, by which the people address the Lord, is in accordance with their professed object in seeking for him; for a Rabbi, or teacher, signifies the truth, which he is supposed to teach. The Lord, as Rabbi, is the Truth itself. But the people who now addressed him, did not, it will appear, regard him in this exalted character. Nor did they seek him as a teacher, that he might lead them, by the knowledge of truth, to the possession of goodness, unless to that which was perhaps to them the highest good, the loaves and fishes, with which they had been and might again be filled. The question, spiritually considered, indicates that such inquirers after Jesus have only an intellectual, not a moral purpose in their search after him as the teacher. They ask him, When camest thou hither? Time means state, but state in relation to truth, as place means state in relation to goodness.
26. Instead of replying to their question,
'Jesus answered them, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.'
The miracles to which the Lord referred were those he had performed on the diseased. The healing of diseases represented the removing of evils. To seek the Lord for the meat he gives, but not because of the miraculous cures he performs, is to seek to be filled with good, without being delivered from evil. Those who are of this character desire to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, which is for food, without first submitting to be healed with its leaves, which are for medicine. The good we desire to possess or to do, without hating and ceasing to do evil, is not spiritual but natural, not heavenly but earthly. This, it is evident from what now follows, was the kind of good for which the people sought Jesus; and is that kind of good which is desired by those who follow him, not because they see his miracles of curing the diseases of the mind and life, but because they have eaten and been filled with the natural good and truth which even natural men are willing to receive.
27. The first words of exhortation which the Lord addresses to them show his knowledge of their character.
'Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.'
But the lesson which was thus delivered to them is of universal application, and is designed for the use of all disciples, and of all others who seek the Lord. How much is expressed in this one word, labour! Labour is the heritage of man. God, in his wisdom, and not only in his wisdom, but in his goodness, has so constituted us, that labour is a necessity of our nature. We cannot rise above the condition of the animal without it. But labour was not intended by the Divine Being to be employed only to supply our animal or other temporal wants. God had an eternal end in view in the appointment of human labour. And if our end in life were in harmony with God's, our labour, even for the requirements of the body, would, at the same time, discipline and enrich the mind, and thus equally advance our temporal and eternal welfare. God is in all his laws, both of creation and providence, working out by them his eternal ends: and we need only to become workers together with him, that his will and pleasure may be realized in our happiness.
28, 29. 'Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.'
Still thinking naturally of the meat which the Lord declared himself able to give, the people ask what they should do to work the works of God, by which that meat was to be obtained. The Lord's answer is a striking one. The work of God is to believe on him whom he hath sent. To the Jews, who rested their hopes on the works of the Mosaic law, this must have seemed to remove the foundations of their religion. For their elaborate system of observances was to be substituted belief in One whom they could, at best, regard and recognise as a Rabbi. But faith in Jesus, in whom all the Mosaic law was fulfilled, and who was its substance, was an essential condition of the salvation and eternal life he came to bestow. Perhaps Christians are too much inclined to take the Jewish view of this subject. They are liable to commit the error of supposing that the faith of Jesus Christ is a substitute, not only for Jewish but for Christian works, and that it is the only condition of salvation: that faith, in fact, includes works, and that the whole work of God consists in believing on him whom he hath sent.
30. When the Lord had instructed them that the work of God was to believe in him,
'They said unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? What dost thou work?'
They had seen the Lord perform miracles, and they themselves had been fed by one of the greatest of them, and still they demanded a sign. A sign differs from a miracle. A miracle is a work that affects the will, and inclines it to listen to him who performs it; but a sign acts upon the understanding, and forces its consent. The understanding is not convinced by signs, but by reasons. No work, however marvellous, can convince, which does not enlighten. And to compel belief without rational conviction, does not produce, but destroys, true faith. It induces a faith in which there is no truth; and faith without truth is blind faith, which is not conviction but persuasion. It was for this reason that the Lord refused a sign to those who demanded that evidence of his truthfulness. An evil generation seeks after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah, which pointed to the Lord's own resurrection, and unto his glorification, which is the only and convincing sign to those disinclined to, believe in his teaching.
31. But the people not only demand a sign, but they indicate the nature of the sign which they desired.
'Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'
These very persons who appealed to this miracle, had just been fed in the desert with bread from heaven, provided for them by as great a miracle as that by which their fathers had been sustained. Yet they appeal to the manna, and ask Jesus for an equally convincing proof of his power. And such is ever the demand of the unbelieving. Yet no work, but one which would effect a moral change in themselves, can convince them; and without this change of heart signs may be multiplied to infinity only to make them more negative than before.
32. Our Lord calls their attention, therefore, away from the outward miracle and sustenance, to the inward work and life. He says to them,
'Moses gave you not that bread from heaven.'
The literal meaning of this requires attention. Some understand it to mean that the bread of the Israelites, though produced by a miracle, did not come from heaven; others, that the manna, though from heaven, was not the true bread. The passage literally is, "Moses gave you not the bread from heaven." That which Moses gave you was not the true bread - the bread of life. My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. The contrast here is most important. The Lord teaches that the bread which their fathers had received under Moses was for the body, while that which was now provided for and offered to them by Jesus, was for the soul. He thus endeavours to lead their thoughts from the natural to the spiritual, from the type to the antitype.
33. The Lord, as is his wont, sheds his light upon them gradually. He now brings it to bear a little more directly upon them.
'The bread of God is he which cometh, down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.'
To us this language is plain enough; but the Jews did not yet understand its true meaning or full force; they did not yet see that the Lord meant that he himself was the true bread which nourishes the soul, but that he had bread, and would give it to support human life, by which they understood the life of the body. Their notions exactly correspond with those of the woman of Samaria. When Jesus spoke of his being able to give her living water, she understood him to speak of some natural spring which was inexhaustible. The present case is an exact counterpart of this, though the result seems much less favourable. There, the subject is the water of life, here, it is the bread of life: there, it is the living and life-giving truth, here, it is the living and life-giving goodness. Both are equally necessary for spiritual life, but both are not equally easy to receive.
34. The answer of the Jews is the same as that of the Samaritan woman:
'Lord, evermore give us this bread.'
How ready we are to accept from the Lord what is agreeable to ourselves. How glad should we be to have our bodies, and even our minds supplied, without stint or interruption, with the things which they are willing to recognise as good, and which is their bread of life. Yet, as not all who uttered this desire were natural men, since they were not all offended with the plain truth, when it came to be declared to them, the prayer is in itself an expressive one. The true desire, evermore to be fed with the true bread that came down from heaven in the person of the Lord, containing in himself all that the soul can need or receive, to fill it with goodness and truth, as the very principles of spiritual and eternal life, is the hunger and thirst after righteousness, which Jesus has promised to satisfy.
35. Jesus answers their petition, by still more plainly revealing the truth in relation to himself.
'I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.'
It will be seen that, as in the case of the Samaritan woman, the Lord builds his doctrine on the foundation his inquirers had laid. They supply a material basis, and he builds upon it a spiritual super-structure. The history of the Israelites was a representative history of human redemption and salvation. The work of redemption was represented by the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, and the work of salvation, by their journey through the wilderness and their settlement in Canaan. The bread that came down from heaven to feed them, and the water that was given, even out of the rock, to quench their thirst, were types of the good and truth with which the Lord feeds the soul, and gives it spiritual life. The whole experience of the Israelites was typical. "All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: (for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ). Now these things were our ensamples" (1 Cor. x. 2). Although the Lord speaks only of the bread as being typical of him, as the living bread, yet he includes the water as typical of him, as the living water; for he says that they who come to him shall never hunger, and they that believe on him shall never thirst. All who come to the Lord with their will, and believe in him with their understanding, will have the deepest cravings of their immortal nature satisfied. They shall never hunger any more, neither thirst any more. They will have no unsatisfied desires. They will not lust after what is evil and false, but only desire what is good and true. These are the meat and drink of angels, and must be the food of those who desire to become angels. The Lord, as the supreme Good and Truth, is the very bread and water of life; and all who truly come to him, and believe on him, shall receive of his fulness.
36. Although the multitude that Jesus addressed had seen him, and beheld his wonderful works, and been fed by a miracle, they yet remained unbelieving.
But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
The Jews were those of whom it is said, that seeing, they see not, or, seeing, see and do not perceive. "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them" (Matt. xiii. 15). To see without believing is to have a merely intellectual apprehension of the truth, without any inward consent grounded in affection. This our Lord reveals in what he now says, as recorded in the next verse.
37.'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.'
It has been inferred from this and some similar statements, that God had elected a certain number, on whom he was pleased to bestow his grace and confer the gift of salvation; and that these he would bring to Christ, none others having the power to come. The present statement affords, even in the literal sense, no ground for such an opinion. In the original "all" is neuter, and does not mean persons but things. The proper rendering would be, Everything that the Father giveth me will come to me. By everything that the Father gives is meant every affection and thought, inclination and motive, in the mind or heart of man, in which there is anything of heavenly goodness. When, therefore, the Lord says that every such thing will come to him, he means that wherever there is anything truly good in the interiors of the human mind, there is in that good an acknowledgment of the Lord and his truth, and a disposition to obey him. And as every such good comes from God, and indeed from his love, by its very nature, it returns to him again, and receives the truth, which raises it up into actual life by regeneration. But within the literal sense of the Lord's words, there is a spiritual sense, which accounts for the form of the declaration. The Father is the Lord's divine love, and the Son is his divine wisdom. The profound and instructive meaning of the Lord's words is, that all who suffer themselves to be drawn by the Lord's love will come to and accept his truth. None else can or will come. A divine influence, acting upon the heart, turns the understanding believingly to the Lord. The human soul is under the influence of the Lord's love from the first moment of its existence; and love is acting within the heart long before the understanding is capable of receiving the knowledge of the truth. That the work of the Lord's love precedes that of his truth, the Lord himself declares in the words already considered, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." This is the order of the divine operation, in the individual as well as in the world.
38. Our hope of acceptance by the Lord rests on this,
'For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.'
The will of the Father and the will of the Son are spoken of as distinct, and in some instances as at variance. Considered as divine persons, this were impossible. As the divine and the human natures in the person of the Lord, this distinction and variance is easily understood. The human will could be inimical to the divine. It must have been so. But the Lord's human will always yielded submission to his divine will; and by this means his human will became divine, that is, divine-human. There is, however, another and more abstract meaning than this in the Lord's words. He speaks of having come down from heaven to do the Father's will, and not his own. He, as we have had occasion to remark, came down from heaven as Divine Truth, to do the will of Divine Love. We have also remarked that Divine Truth condemns all, and that Divine Love saves all. This truth no doubt lies at the foundation of the theological notion, that divine mercy and divine justice are opposed to each other. There is this wide difference, however, between the true and the mistaken view. The mistaken view is, that mercy and justice are opposed in the mind of God; the true view is, that they are opposed in the mind of man. The Lord, by incarnation, took upon himself the human mind, in which the opposition between mercy and justice, or love and truth, existed; and his work in the flesh consisted essentially in his reconciling them. Had the Lord come into the world as the Truth only, none could have been saved, for his work would only have been a work of judgment. All would have been cast out, for none could have endured the operation of that which judges. But the Lord, as the Truth, came not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him, the will of his divine love, which is the source of all good, and consequently of all blessedness.
39. Having declared that he came to do his Father's will, the Lord tells the people what that will is.
'This is the Father's will, that of all which he hath given, me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.'
Here, again, the "all" is neuter, and means everything, which is indeed expressed by "it," which is to be raised up at the last. All that the Father gives the Son is, as already remarked, all in us that is willing to be drawn to the knowledge and obedience of the truth. Love cannot save us but by bringing us under the teaching and government of truth. If love could save by itself, all would be saved; for God wills that all men should be saved, but he wills that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. It is because love can only save by truth, that divine truth, or the Word, "came down from heaven," and was manifested on earth in the person of Jesus Christ. The object of this manifestation was to make divine truth the perfect instrument or medium, even on earth, of divine love in heaven, that whatever could be drawn away from evil to good by the influence of love might be shielded and preserved, purified and enlightened, by the power of truth, so that the Lord's will might be done on earth as it is in heaven. Every good affection which God's love produces in the heart requires a corresponding perception in the understanding for its development and preservation, and every such perception comes from God's truth. Every human affection is given to the Son when it is brought into the light of truth, and the end in view is, that of all which the Son thus receives, he should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. In reference to the regeneration of man, the last day is the last or the completed state of the new life. Resurrection is rising into newness of life. It is not the raising of what is dead into life, but the raising of what is living out of what is dead. There must be a germ that is capable of being called into life when the seed falls into the ground and dies. The good which the love of God implants in the human heart is only potential, and only becomes actual by the agency of truth. It is truth that raises it up and gives it consciousness and sight, directing it in the performance of use, and giving a sense of delight. It is the divine will, then, that of all the good instructions which Love has given, Truth should lose none, but should raise them up as living and active principles at last, which is not only the completed state of regeneration, but the last or ultimate degree of the regenerate life, that the first things should become also the last, and all scattered things be gathered into one.
40. The Lord further reveals the Father's will.
'And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.'
A distinction is made between seeing the Son and believing on him. With respect to us, to see is to know, which is intellectual sight; but belief must be added to knowledge, that we may have everlasting life. But everlasting life is a state, and not merely a condition. It is the Father's will that this state should succeed belief. Eternal life is a state of heavenly goodness. Goodness is the first state, and it is the last. The first is the good of ignorance, the second is the good of wisdom. The first is good which draws us to truth, the second is good which is purified and enriched by truth. Good is not genuine till it is united to truth, love is not true love till it is united to wisdom. Love is life, but love united to wisdom is eternal life. It is the Lord's will, therefore, that every one who has any good should receive truth, and it is his will that every one who receives truth should acquire by it that good in which there is everlasting life. These are they whom the Lord promises to raise up at the last day. This cannot mean a resurrection of the dead at the last day of the world's existence - supposing that such a day is to come. The raising up here promised, is one which is to be enjoyed by believers, and can mean nothing else than that which believers only can experience, resurrection from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. This is the resurrection which the Lord promises. There is another resurrection for the righteous: it is their resurrection into heaven, which takes place at the last day of their earthly existence.
41. When Jesus had ended this brief but pregnant address,
'the Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.'
Hard, no doubt, it was for men, who beheld a human being, to admit his descent as bread from heaven. Yet, they had seen his mighty works, and had eaten of the bread that his power had produced to satisfy the cravings of their hunger. Was not his claim, to be the giver of the bread which satisfies the hunger of the soul, deserving of their serious regard? But they were types of the natural man, and of the natural mind of man, in all times. These murmur at the things of the spirit, and most of all at the highest spiritual things, those which relate to the Lord as the Supreme Good, from whom all that can be called good is derived, both among angels in heaven and among men on earth.
42. Appearances favour this objection to the Lord being the source of all heavenly goodness. To the claim which he made, the Jews answered,
'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?'
The reputed son of Joseph, the Lord could not be supposed by the multitude to have come down from heaven. Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God, but for this they sought to kill him; they had seen his mighty works, but these they ascribed to an evil power. When men are natural, all their conceptions, even of divine things, are natural. The same objection which the Jews made against the incarnate Word is made by natural men against the written Word. Because the Word, like the Lord, is clothed in a human form, those who judge from appearance regard it as merely human. The estimate we form of the Word is necessarily similar to that which we form of the Lord, who is the Divine Truth itself, which the Word reveals, and which, in its inmost sense, it is.
43. The dissent and reasoning of the Jews appear to have been secretly expressed.
'Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.'
This exhortation, both in itself and in reference to the declaration which follows, is a most necessary one. Not only among us, but within us, should all murmuring cease. When the thoughts and affections unite in complainings against the teachings of Divine Truth, it is because they are unwilling to become subject to its laws, unless its rule is to be rewarded by temporal benefits. Jesus does not enter into conflict with them on the subject of his divinity and descent from heaven, but seeks to allay their irritation and still their murmurings, that their minds may be prepared to hear the words of eternal truth. These murmurings, like those of the children of Israel in the wilderness, are the temptations which, with the faithful, end in the confirmation of truth and good, with the unfaithful, in their rejection.
44. The Lord now reveals to those who had murmured against him the secret ground of their unbelief, and at the same time the origin of true faith.
'No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.'
The remarks we have made on similar declarations, especially that contained in verse 37, render it unnecessary to say much in the way of exposition on the present statement. The Father, we have seen, is the essential divinity, and the Son is the divine humanity; the Father is the divine Love, and the Son is the divine Wisdom. The great truth which the Lord teaches is this: that no one can come to him as the incarnate God, unless he be drawn to him by the power of his indwelling divinity; no one can come to him as the divine Wisdom except he be drawn to him by his divine Love.
45. Jesus further says,
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every one therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
The Lord does not here speak of those who are taught of God, as distinguished from those who are instructed of men, but as opposed to those who are taught of self. In the matter of salvation, we are either taught of God or ourselves. If taught of God, we see the truth from the love of God, if taught of ourselves, we see it from the love of self. As the Lord, as the eternal Wisdom, came forth from the eternal love, so must our acknowledgment of his wisdom come forth from his love. This is to hear and learn of the Father. And every one that hath heard, and bath learned of the Father, cometh to the Son. That which enters by the hearing enters through the affection, to which the hearing corresponds: and every affection, which receives the Lord's love, comes to his truth. To be more specific, the affections turn the thoughts; for it is affection that hears, and thought that learns.
46. The divine teacher continues:
Not that any man hall seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
According to the teaching of the Old Testament, no one can see God and live; according to the teaching of the Son, no one can see the Father but in the Son. Eternal wisdom alone can comprehend eternal love, and enable us in our degree to comprehend it. Therefore the Lord elsewhere says, "No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him" (Matt. xi. 27). The Father draws us to the Son, and when we yield to his attractive love, the Son, as wisdom, leads us to the Father. But while the Lord's words remind us, that it is necessary for us to hear and learn of the Father, we are not to understand that we can hear or learn of him directly.
47. The impossibility of our seeing the Father is compensated by our being able to see the Son; for he who seeth the Son seeth the Father also. Love, which cannot be seen, or known, such as it is in itself, can be seen, so far as it can come to human apprehension, as it manifests itself in wisdom. So the Divinity can be seen in the Humanity. Jesus, as the manifested Jehovah, is therefore the only object of faith and worship. Hence our Lord's words,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath, everlasting life.
If he who sees the Son, sees the Father also, he who believes on the Son believes on the Father also.
48-50. Alluding to his former declaration, that he was the true bread, Jesus says,
I am that bread of life.
And he proceeds to point out the difference between that which had been given to the Jews, and that which. was now offered to the whole human race.
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which came down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
The Jews who had eaten of the manna, died naturally; those who eat of the true bread, die not spiritually. In the literal sense the cases are not parallel. But the Lord spake according to the correspondence between natural and spiritual things. The manna of the Israelites fed the body, the true bread, which Christ is, feeds the soul; the manna did not prevent natural death, but the bread of life saves from spiritual death. But there is a deeper view than this. As the manna was the type of the Lord as the true bread, it expressed and represented the whole means of maintaining the religious life under the Israelitish dispensation; and as the Israelitish was but the shadow of a true church, nothing that belonged to it was, in itself, living or life-giving. As the blood of bulls and goats could not cleanse from sin, neither could the bread of their meat-offerings give or support the life of righteousness. Death was written on every thing that constituted the Israelitish church; and so far as that church was concerned, death was the portion of those who lived under it. Not that there was no spiritual life or salvation to those who formed it; but life and salvation were received by them through Him to whom all their symbolic worship pointed.
51. The Lord further pursues this subject, for the purpose of introducing a more perfect and comprehensive analogy of his life-giving power.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If a man eat of this bread he shall live for ever; and the bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
The Lord had called himself the bread of life; he now calls himself the living bread: he had declared that the eating of this bread gave immunity from death; he now declares that it secures eternal life. It is true that whatever gives life must itself be living, but it is only by receiving life from the Lord that we come to see that the Lord is life. It is true also that deliverance or immunity from death is the preservation and possession of life; yet to be saved from death and to receive life are two distinct things, one being the removal of evil, and the other the reception of good; and one precedes the other, for evil must be removed before good can be received. Another distinction our Lord now introduces. He had spoken of himself as bread; he now speaks of himself as flesh. Taken from the Jewish economy, these analogies are found in the manna, with which the people were fed, and in the flesh of the sacrifices which they offered. These were laid upon the altar, as food which the Lord was pleased to accept at their hands, and were called the bread of God. But in the offerings which are called sacrifices, as distinguished from burnt-offerings, certain parts were burnt upon the altar, and the remaining parts were eaten by the priests, and, in some cases, by the people. In offering the sacrifice, the priest, besides being a type of Jesus, represented the persons who offered, as Jesus himself stood in the place of the people, he having come to do for them what they were no longer able or willing to do for themselves. When, therefore, Jesus declared that he was the living bread, and that the bread he would give was his flesh, he claimed to be to his people what the flesh of the sacrifice and the manna had been to their fathers. In him mankind have the divine and spiritual principles, by which they have eternal life, that were foreshadowed in the means by which the representative people had temporal life. The bread of which he had been speaking was his flesh, his very body, as he afterwards expresses it. And this must be regarded as more than a figure; for if the Lord gives from himself that which nourishes the soul, he must give of his own substance; nor can we live by any other.
52. We need hardly wonder that
the Jews strove among themselves, saying; How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
How gross their conception, when, after all the Divine Teacher had said about himself, as the bread that came down from heaven to give eternal life, they should be utterly unable to rise above the merest natural idea of his flesh, by which the world was to be fed. Yet, why should we severely blame them? Do not even some Christians believe, that the flesh of which the Lord spake was that of the material body he then inhabited, such. Christians differing from the Jews only in supposing that they now eat of the Lord's body by a figure? They receive by faith the merit of the Lord's life and sufferings in the flesh, elevating their thoughts little above those of the Jews. But the Jews differed in this respect, that they considered it impossible for the Lord to give them his flesh to eat. They are the true types of the natural man, who apprehends all spiritual truth naturally, and then objects to it because it is natural.
53. This doubting question brought out the Lord's doctrine on the subject in all its plainness and fulness.
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
When we are doubting or disputing about a truth, or even when we are hesitating whether, we shall admit it, how necessary is it sometimes to be reminded that life and death depend upon the decision and choice we make. If there is no life in us, except we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, it is of the very first importance that we understand clearly what is meant by this singular and startling declaration. What are the flesh and blood of the Son of man? Flesh and blood constitute the all of the body, and in this instance of the Lord's body. The Lord, as he afterwards explained, did not speak literally but spiritually; he did not speak of his material, but of his glorified and divine body. This body, in which he rose from the dead, and in which he now is, consists of two divine Essentials, which are Goodness and Truth. For the Lord's body is his Divine Humanity, or his divinity made human, and thus brought down to the capacities and necessities of fallen man. His divine goodness and truth, or love and wisdom, which constitute the very body in which the divinity now dwells, are the life of angels and men; they are the food of their souls, without receiving which they can have no life in them. So true is it, therefore, that except we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, we have no spiritual life.
54. The Lord continues to set forth and enforce this divine lesson.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
He thus gives the affirmative, as he had just before given the negative, side of this momentous truth, renewing the promise of resurrection unto life, when the day of our regeneration is ended. And as no one has life except by eating his flesh and drinking his blood; so, whoso eateth and drinketh bath eternal life. The language implies the freeness of the offered mercy. Any one and every one may come to the Saviour, that he may be filled with his love and truth, which, while they are freely offered, may be freely received.
55. The reason why those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man have eternal life, the Lord declares.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Flesh and blood are essential goodness and truth, which are meat and drink indeed, compared, not only with the food of the body, but with all other food of the mind. The mind requires moral and intellectual food, besides that which is strictly religious and spiritual; but, compared with all such food, that which the Lord gives is meat indeed. All others are accessories, this is essential; all others are temporal, this is eternal.
56. The Lord says still further,
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him.
The appropriation of the Lord's goodness and truth makes us, as it were, parts of himself, not indeed parts of his divine body, but members of his mystical body, living members of the Church on earth, and afterwards of the Church in heaven.
57. The Lord further says,
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
This reveals the purpose and use of the Lord's incarnation. The Father sent the Son. We must not think of this sending and coming as having anything to do with space. God, who is omnipresent, cannot come personally nearer to us by any new means. Sending and coming, in the Divine sense, can mean only a way of making his presence obvious or felt-bringing himself nearer to our apprehensions and feelings. This the Eternal did by assuming human nature, the effect of which was to bring his divine love, wisdom, and power, thus himself, nearer to our human thoughts and affections: not merely nearer to the senses, as was the case with those who saw and heard the Lord in the days of his personal manifestation, but nearer to our conceptions, by a mental realization of the power and actions of Jesus while he sojourned on earth, and nearer especially to our human faculties of understanding and will. By incarnation, he who dwelt in the inmost of the soul, as the secret place of the Most High, and in the heaven of angels as his habitation, came down into the outermost region of human thought and feeling, and thus into the Church on earth as the court of his temple, and so brought himself forth to view. The human nature which the Lord glorified is therefore a living power, that can transform ours into the image of his own.
58. Truly
this is the bread that came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
We may here speak of this subject in its particular and practical meaning. The manna, as distinguished from the true bread, is the good which man receives from heaven during childhood and youth, before he has come to the age of rationality and liberty, and before regeneration has commenced actually. The true bread, which the Lord the Saviour came down from heaven to give, is the good which man receives from the Lord out of heaven during the regenerate life. The good of childhood is not truly good, because not spiritual and saving. That which man receives from the Lord by regeneration is truly good, because it is chosen as necessary for salvation. The first state passes away, and if it is the only state, the soul dies spiritually and eternally; but the second state does not, and he who enters upon and perseveres in it lives for ever. This state is often called a resurrection, for it is a raising up of the good of early life into a new and higher condition, making it truly spiritual and living.
59. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
A synagogue, we have seen, signifies doctrine, and Capernaum an external condition of the church. To say in the synagogue, while teaching in Capernaum, is to bring forth internal truths out of the external truths of the church.
60. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
The great doctrine which the Lord had now delivered to his hearers offended, not only the Jews, but even many who had become his disciples.
61. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Another instance we have here of the Lord's omniscience. It would appear that the disciples murmured among themselves privately, and in themselves secretly. It may seem surprising that they should not have known the power of Jesus to perceive their murmurings, after the evidence he had given of his divinity. But are we not all liable to think and act as they did? We confess that the Lord is omniscient, and yet we often think and act as if he neither saw nor heard us. There is another lesson to us in this and similar intimations of the Lord's perception of our thoughts and acts. When the letter tells us, that Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at his doctrine, the spirit teaches us, that our murmurings penetrate into the interior life of the truth, as it is present in our minds; and react against it, so as to weaken or even destroy its power in and over us. The subject of the present murmuring was the Lord's requiring his hearers to eat his flesh and drink his blood. And he demands of them, Doth this offend you? Startling it may have been, when first put forth; but the language and imagery of their own Scriptures might have led them to divine its meaning. They had been accustomed to eat the flesh of their own sacrifice as a holy thing. There was, therefore, nothing incomprehensible or inconsistent in the idea of eating the flesh of him who was to become the great sacrifice. The whole of their sacrificial worship pointed to this great fact. Why then should this be to the Jew a stumbling-stone and rock of offence? Because they were carnally minded. And the same cause lies at the foundation of all stumbling at this grand doctrine of the gospel. We would rather eat, "every man the flesh of his own arm," or appropriate and trust to the power of our own natural goodness, than draw our soul's support from the goodness of the Lord, the Saviour, who came down from heaven to feed us with his own flesh.
62. Even in enunciating this requirement, the Lord had made but a moderate demand on their faith and practice, but now he directs their minds to something more marvellous.
What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
63. To encourage his disciples to leave the carnal notions and inclinations that caused them to stumble, the Lord tells them,
It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
When the Lord spoke of his flesh, he meant not the flesh of his material body, but of his divine body. The soul is quickened by the operation of the spirit, by its receiving living principles from the living body of a glorified Saviour; by its partaking of the virtues of a divine, not of a finite humanity. The sayings of the Lord are to be spiritually understood. They are spirit and life; they inspire the understanding and animate the heart. We may understand these words of our Lord to have a wider application than the immediate subject of his address. All his words were spiritual and living. Uttered by his human lips, they came from the infinite depths of his divine mind, and were, like himself, divine wisdom clothed in a finite human form. So far as they relate to the present subject, they contain a very important truth. We are all, like his early disciples, disposed to judge by appearances. There is no danger of our following them, in supposing that the Lord requires his disciples literally to eat his material flesh and drink his material blood. But the result shews that we are liable to take the Lord's words in a figurative rather than a spiritual sense. Many believe that the Lord's flesh and blood did, and do yet, profit. The flesh which suffered, and the blood which was shed, are believed to have had a vicarious value in the Father's estimation; and the disciple is supposed to receive them, through faith in their efficacy, in receiving the pardon and sanctification which the Saviour has purchased for his people.
64. Notwithstanding this encouraging explanation, all could not receive the Lord's saying. The Lord told them so.
But there are some of you that believe not.
This evidently means that they were possessed by the spirit of unbelief, which was proof against the clearest evidence. Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and even who should betray him. Again the omniscience of the Saviour is set before us. Foreknowledge does not interfere with human freedom. It may be said that the fate of all men is already decided. Yes; but by what they will choose for themselves. God does not decide for them; he only knows how they will decide. His knowledge, so far from doing them injury, does them good; for his foreknowledge enables him to apply his Providence so as to moderate evils which it cannot prevent.
65. Again the Lord repeats his saying,
No man can come unto me, except it were given him of my Father,
and tells them that it was because he knew their unbelief that he said this unto them. This teaches, we have seen, that men must be drawn to belief by love. Divine Love is ever present and pressing upon the hearts of all men; and if they harden their hearts against it, that cannot be the result of the will of God, but of man. We may remark here that this often repeated declaration is but another and higher form of the doctrine, that charity is the first-born grace of the soul, and the first principle of the church. Where there is no charity in the heart, there can be no faith in the understanding. Charity consists in doing the will of God; for "he that doeth my commandments, he it is that loveth me;" and he that doeth the will of God shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God. All these are but different modes of stating the same fact, that true faith, though it belongs to the intellect, has its seat in the heart.
66. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
The first great exposition of his principles, or of the principles of eternal life, scattered his disciples. How expressive the language, how melancholy the fact! They turned their backs upon the Author of eternal life, and their feet from the path that would have led them to heaven. How should we be warned of the danger, of the folly and ingratitude, of turning our minds away from the lessons of eternal truth, and our lives from the example of eternal goodness. How fearful the state-"they went back, and walked no more with him I"
67. There were others left after this defection, but only, it would appear, those who were called apostles.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
How affecting this appeal; not for his own sake, but for the sake of those to whom it was addressed. The apostles were, no doubt, compared with the disciples at this period, spiritual men, and represent spiritual principles. Like some other questions of our Lord, this is intended for the hearers' reflection, not for the speaker's information. It is designed to lead to self-examination, that the disciples may discover the ground of their belief in the Lord, and of their adherence to his cause. Considered in reference to the individual believer, it teaches the necessity, when any backsliding or disobedience arises out of the corruptions and reasonings of the natural mind, of looking into the inner life, to see whether this is also inclined to yield.
68. Happy will it be for us if there be found in the midst of our affections a faith like that of Peter among the twelve, ready to exclaim,
Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Among the many memorable sayings that occur in the Scriptures, this is one of the most instructive and precious. When temptations or allurements, acting upon our perverse hearts and frail nature, would turn us away from Him who has fed and helped us hitherto, how desirable and necessary the confiding question, Lord, to whom shall we go? Peter's noble exclamation is but another form of the Psalmist's-"Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none on earth I desire besides thee." (Ps. lxxiii. 25.) And whom shall the faithful desire, and to whom shall they go, since the Lord, and he alone, has the words of eternal life? Only the eternal Word has the words of eternal life. The apostle's declaration of confidence in the Lord forms a noble contrast to the weak and faithless conduct of those disciples who found the grand doctrine of Jesus, respecting himself as the giver of life, an hard saying, and who went back and walked no more with him. An example like that which these miserable disciples gave, while it has a great influence over the weak and vacillating, tends only to strengthen the strong and confirm the steadfast.
69. And what a noble testimony does this bold and devoted disciple bear to the character of him whom he and his fellow apostles were resolved to follow.
And we believe, and are sure, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
This is the famous confession which procured for him, who pronounced it, the name of Peter, or a Rock, on which the Lord builds his church, and against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. The acknowledgment of Jesus as the Christ, or, according to some copies, the Holy One, is in unison with Peter's previous declaration; for Christ, and also the Holy One, are names applied to the Lord as the Divine Truth, the Fountain of truth and holiness to men, and to the church as formed of the faithful. The confidence with which the apostle speaks is deserving of our admiration. "We believe, and are sure." The belief of the apostles, in whose name Peter spoke, had no background of uncertainty. They did not, like some disciples, consider it presumptuous to be confident; much less did they regard faith the more worthy, the less clear the evidence on which it rests. True, however, it is, that the faith and certainty of the true disciple do not rest entirely upon outward, but chiefly and essentially upon inward evidence. His is a faith that rests upon knowledge, a certainty that has grown out of experience, that the Lord is the author of immutable and saving truth, and of spiritual and eternal life. He, who uttered the impassioned words we are now considering, knew from conviction and experience that Jesus was the infinite Wisdom of infinite Love. As if he had said, Our understandings tell us, our hearts assure us, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God; the Truth that came forth from Love. We have seen and have felt that thou art all that feeble and sinful man needs or can desire.
70. To this fervid declaration and confession of Peter, the Lord answers,
Have not I chosen you twelve? and one of you is a devil?
71. The one to whom the Lord referred
was Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
Judas, the son of Simon, is the symbol of evil derived from falsity. Each of us, even in our partially regenerate state, has a Judas in his own heart; for Satan still comes among the sons of God, even when they assemble in the divine presence. Nay, Judas is chosen among the twelve, not because he is approved by the Being who chooses him, but because he is the only one that is there to choose for the place and office. By this the Lord would teach us that, even when we are able from a sincere faith to acknowledge him as the Christ, the Son of the living God, we have lurking in our hearts one that may even betray him whom we rejoice to confess; but who will himself be crushed under the weight of his own transgression. In the regenerate man, however, the Judas of his heart is not permitted to commit the crime of the actual betrayal of the Lord. The temptation to betray the Lord who bought him may come from hell, and act upon the evil of his corrupt nature, but the deed remains undone; the temptation ends in the rejection of the evil through which the temptation comes, and the Lord triumphs over all the power of the enemy.
CHAPTER VII.
1. This chapter begins by informing us that,
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
It is almost needless to say that the Lord, whose moral power, as exemplified in the preceding chapter, was itself a protection to him, and who had all power at his command, could not be in fear of the wrath or machination of the Jews. He walked in Galilee, and not in Jewry, to represent as well as to exemplify, that his truth and love find acceptance with the simple-minded out of the church, when they are hated and refused by the wise and prudent within it; and that these principles have their active presence where there is goodness, even when accompanied with comparative ignorance, and not where there is knowledge without it. This is especially meant by his "walking" in Galilee, and not in Jewry; to walk meaning; to live. The Lord walks among those who live according to his precepts.
2. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.
This was the greatest of the three annual festivals of the Jewish Church. It was instituted in memory of the most holy worship of the Lord in tabernacles by the most ancient people, and of their conjunction with him by love. As typical of the last stage of the regenerate life, it signified the implantation of good, and thus fill deliverance from evil. These feasts describe the regeneration of man, and the glorification of the Lord. The attendance of Jesus at these feasts involves both these meanings. The feast of tabernacles is said to have been nigh at hand, to signify the approach of the state it represented, and the certainty of its accomplishment in the completion of the Lord's glorifying and saving work; for nearness, in the spiritual sense, signifies certainty and proximity of state.
3. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples may see the works that thou doest.
As this feast represents the highest state, it is connected with a circumstance that represents the Lord's being tempted to enter it from the lowest motives. The Lord's brethren, according to the flesh, represented the principle of the flesh itself, as it existed in the Lord's maternal humanity. His brethren, it is observable, demanded what he himself intended to do in going up to the feast; but their demand differed from the Lord's intention as to the time, manner, and purpose. Their demand represented a temptation of the Lord to do from natural love and according to natural prudence, what should be done from Divine love according to Divine wisdom.
4. The ground on which they urged Jesus to go to Judea, was that no man doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly.
But Jesus did not seek notoriety. The works that he did made his name widely known; yet not only did he never seek publicity, but often enjoined silence respecting him on others, and frequently sought retirement. The reason that he had never acted on the principles of his brethren, as expressed in their saying,
If thou doest these things, shew thyself to the world,
no doubt was, because the desire to be known, or, as the word means, talked of, is a natural and selfish desire. A good man may have to submit to publicity, but that is not his object in doing good. Besides, "the world," as it is in itself, and as mentioned in Scripture, is opposite to heaven; and on this account, the Lord never sought to be the object of its observation or its praise.
5. That this demand did not originate in any true perception of the Lord's purpose, or any real conviction of the efficacy of the course they recommended, appears from the fact that neither did his brethren believe in him. The Lord was the very Divine Truth, and to this the maternal element in his humanity was in its very nature opposed in all its ends, and in the means of their accomplishment. So, in those who are following the Lord in the regeneration, the natural man is opposed to the spiritual.
6. This is further declared by the Lord himself:
My time is not yet come: but your time is always ready.
The spiritual man goes on unto perfection, but the natural man knows no change for the better. Even in the Lord, the Son of man had a progression in which the son of Mary had no share. The proper state of the Son of man was future, that of the son of Mary was present. The Lord's time was his state of glorification, which had not yet arrived; his brethren's time was their state of confirmed natural-mindedness, which was present. Time means state. The state of the Lord's glorification was not yet fulfilled; the state of his natural-minded brethren was already confirmed. The worship of the spiritual man is from spiritual love, and is therefore in correspondence with it; the worship of the natural man is from natural love, which has no harmony with his act, and is not changed by it.
7. Our Lord reveals the ground of this difference.
The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the deeds thereof are evil.
In the mind of the natural man there is no conflict with the world; thus no temptation. In the mind of the spiritual man there is; as in the mind of the Lord, far more than in all mere men, there was.
8. The Lord therefore said,
Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.
The Lord's counselling his brethren to go up unto the feast indicates that even natural men learn from the Word to engage in some kind of religious worship. Besides, as it was the duty of every Israelite to attend the feast instituted by Moses, the Lord only counselled his brethren to render obedience to the law. He himself attended them in order to fulfil the law, but he had a much higher purpose than the Jews who went up to Jerusalem. He had a work to accomplish in connection with them as their antitype, which others knew not of. His time for going up was not yet come.
9. When he had said these things unto them, he abode still in Galilee.
The Lord abides with those who are in receptive states, especially is he present with those who are in good, even when they may have less of the intelligence of truth than others.
10. But when his brethren were gone up, then scent he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
The Lord's going up as it were in secret describes that state of the regenerate mind in which there is a hidden operation and an imperceptible progress of divine and heavenly truth. What is present or takes place in the internal man is unperceived; it is only when it conies into the external that it becomes manifest. This imperceptible presence and operation of the Lord in the internal is meant by his going up as if in secret. It is not indeed absolutely unknown, for it is revealed to faith, but it is unknown to consciousness; therefore it is said that Jesus went up as it were in secret.
11. The reason that this presence and operation are as it were secret or hidden is, lest divine truth should be so opposed by the evils of the external man as to destroy it. These evils are
the Jews who sought Jesus at the feast, and said, Where is he?
12. The natural mind is not however wholly possessed by those evils.
There was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.
This conflict of opinion is not only in the world but in the mind itself, and is between the good and the evil, the true and the false, that have place in every one during his progress in the spiritual life. And such a conflict is the experience even of the best, for man is permitted to come into a state of doubt before he affirms, that his reception of the truth may be more interior, and, by triumphing over doubt, may afterwards be undisturbed by it.
13. These conflicting states of doubt are not, however, always outward and open, but are often the internal workings of the yet divided mind. And this is meant by the record that
no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
The fear of the Jews implies that there is in such cases a fear of the opposing evil; and as this fear must have been felt by those who spoke well of him, it implies a fear lest the truth should suffer through the influence and opposition of evil and falsity. One class of the people favoured Jesus because he was a good man, while another concluded that he deceived the people. Yet goodness is the best test of truth. What is the practical tendency of a doctrine? This ought to be a primary question in deciding on its merits. We are all too ready to raise the cry against any new development of religious truth, He deceiveth the people. Let us never forget that every doctrine has a moral as well as an intellectual side, and that this is the golden side of the shield.
14. Jesus, who was the subject of those disputations,
about the midst of the feast, went up into the temple, and taught.
The midst of the feast is spiritually the inmost of the good which it represented, and the temple is the divine truth, which is the temple of the Lord's Body and of his Word. This signifies that the Lord from the inmost of his love, by means of his truth, teaches the way of eternal life. This appearance of the Lord in the midst of his avowed enemies and secret friends is remarkable in itself, but still more so in its spiritual signification. For when the mind is agitated by conflicting views of the truth, the Lord appears, and finds his opportunity of strengthening the good and overcoming the evil, by manifesting the beauty and power of truth.
15. The Jews wondered, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
Well might they wonder that he, not one of the doctors of the law, yet enunciated wisdom, which even his opponents felt to be marvellous, and far beyond the lifeless and trifling speculations of the schools. Useful as human knowledge is, there is a learning that goes beyond it all, and is as much superior to it as the wisdom of angels is to the intelligence of men, and as Divine wisdom is to human truth.
16. Our Lord himself teaches this.
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
His doctrine was not human but divine in its origin; spiritually understood, his doctrine was not the doctrine of truth alone, but of love and goodness; not of the Son only but of the Father. This was the secret of his wisdom, and of his influence and power with the good.
17. As the Lord's doctrine originated in his love, so it can only be appreciated and even apprehended by love.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
He who does the will of the Lord, he it is that loves him (xiv. 21). All divine doctrine has good as its first and last end; and cannot be known without regard to it. Truth indeed is an instrument by which infinite goodness in God takes hold of finite goodness in man. True it is that goodness in man comes from God; but something of goodness from the Lord is insinuated into the mind of every human being, and the Lord's truth is designed to call it out and perfect it. Although the Lord's doctrine is truth, still more is it good; it is truth in its form, but it is good in its essence.
18, 19. As a proof that the Lord did not speak of himself, he tells us,
He that speaketh of 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.
Spiritually understood, this teaches us that if the Lord's doctrine were of truth alone, it would find its result in intellectual glory: it would teach men to exalt God on account of his wisdom rather than of his goodness, and would lead man to glory in himself on account of his own intelligence. But truth does not seek its own glory, but the glory of love, and goodness. That which does so is alone true, and no unrighteousness is in it. For what is righteousness but the good which truth teaches, and to which it leads? Men practically regard God's truth as seeking its own glory, when they hate or persecute one another for the sake of what they call the truth;
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me.
The Jews professed great veneration for the truth, and they sought its glory; but they sought not the glory of the goodness which sent it, and which it enjoined. They gloried in the law, but none of them obeyed the law. They therefore in reality sought to destroy the law, which they indeed did in seeking to kill Jesus, who was the law personified.
20. But so far were the Jews from acknowledging him as the law, and thus the divine good in which the law originated, that they said unto him,
Thou host a devil.
They thus accused him of being the opposite of good, or the very evil in which falsity has its origin, and which justifies the evil that produces it. They also demanded,
Who goeth about to kill thee?
thus denying the truth which he uttered, because it was against themselves, and so perverting both his goodness and his truth. Those who are evil never think or admit, even where divine truth accuses them, that they are, either in intention or in act, the destroyers of goodness or truth; for a man calls that good which he loves, and that true which he believes.
21. Jesus answers, as he always does, without returning the railing accusation of his enemies:
I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
He alludes to the cure (v. 8) of the man at the pool of Bethesda. This work itself produced wonder; but its performance on the Sabbath excited wrath. This shows how little effect miracles have on negative minds. Miracles are not indeed intended to convince, but only to impress the mind with a certain sense of awe and reverence, that may influence the moral nature, and through it, the intellectual. In those, however, who are morally and thence intellectually opposed, the effect of miracles is to harden and exasperate, rather than to soften and conciliate.
22, 23. Jesus, while he appeals to the miracle as causing them all to marvel, adduces a reason which ought to have had great weight with his Jewish audience, why its being performed on the Sabbath-day should have been to them no cause of offence.
Moses gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath-day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath-day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath-day?
Circumcision was commanded by God to Abraham, and was the seal of the covenant he made with him (Gen. xvii. 10). It signified the purification of the mind from impure loves, or fleshly lusts, and represented introduction into the Church and newness of life through that purification. Circumcision is said to be from the fathers, who spiritually mean the ancient Church, in which, not the rite but the doctrine of purification had its origin. A similar purificartion is represented by baptism, which is the sign of introduction into the Christian church, and signifies purification of the heart and life, by which man becomes a new creature. The Lord's miraculous healings had a similar spiritual meaning, for removal of diseases signified the removal of sins and introduction into a life of righteousness. The Jews circumcised on the Sabbath-day without breaking the law of Moses; but although they would not neglect a ceremonial on the Sabbath, they were mad against the Lord for doing on that day a great work of benevolence. Yet while these works of mercy were suitable to the holy day on which they were performed, it was a part of their holy and blessed significance, that they should be done on the day which was a type of the holy state which was to be introduced by the Lord's coming. The Sabbath is said to have been instituted to commemorate the Lord's rest after the six days' work in creation. But the creation there means spiritual creation, which is the Lord's glorification and man's regeneration. And these being life and health, are rest and peace. In fact, the union of the divine and the human in the Lord is a perpetual and eternal Sabbath; and salvation, which is the union of the good and the true in man, is the rest which remaineth for the people of God, of which heaven is the crowning condition.
24. After having reasoned them into silence, Jesus concluded his address to them on this subject by this exhortation,
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
This was most necessary and wholesome advice to those external people, and is useful to all. It is another way of saying, Judge not by the letter but by the spirit of the law. Slaves to the letter of the law, the Jews neglected and violated its spirit, and most of all in condemning the beneficent works of Jesus, in that they were done on the Sabbath-day.
25. The overawing and convicting effect of the Lord's words drew from them of Jerusalem the inquiry,
Is not this he whom they seek to kill?
Well might they express astonishment at the circumstance of men seeking to kill one from whose lips proceeded such words of wisdom. But why should this be said by them of Jerusalem? Because Jerusalem represented the church, especially the doctrine of the church; and true doctrine recognises the Lord's good and truth, and the unreasonableness of the deadly hatred of falsity and evil against them.
26. They remark further,
Lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing against him.
The Lord's speaking boldly or freely, unmolested by those who were seeking for him to kill him, shows the mysterious power which his presence and address sometimes exercised over minds which yet resisted conversion and even conviction. The charm of his speech was like the fabled music of Orpheus, which for the moment tamed the listening beasts, without changing their savage nature. Thus does the divine power and influence still prevent many acts of evil, that would otherwise destroy order, and take peace from the earth, and happiness from heaven.
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
This question appears to have originated half in doubt of Jesus being the Christ; yet spiritually it signifies an inquiry excited in the mind, as to whether its ruling thoughts and affections have yet become subject to the truths of love, which make the Lord the supreme Governor of the soul. The Christ, or the anointed, is the divine truth in which is divine love; and to know this indeed is to know practically that the Lord is our Saviour.
27. Now comes the doubt of which we have spoken:
Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
This expresses the perplexity of the natural man respecting the humanity of Jesus. How many continue to think of Jesus as a mere man, because, in their own opinion, they know whence he is.
28, 29. Then cried Jesus in the temple, as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
In this the Lord admits that they know both whence he was and who he was, but intimates that they knew neither in the true sense. They knew he had come out of Nazareth, but they knew not that he had come down from heaven; they knew his human mother, but they knew not his divine Father, nor his descent from him. This is the knowledge of Christ-of the human as coming forth from the divine, and therefore as being itself divine; for the human from the mother was but the material covering of the humanity from the Father, as the body of man is a covering for his soul, which is the real man. The Lord again tells them that he came not of himself, but that he that is true, whom they knew not, sent him. Spiritually, he that is true is the true Good, as distinguished from every false good. It is indeed the same whether we say the true Good or the true God; for as God is Goodness itself, he who knows God as Goodness knows him as the true God, or as the Truth itself. All essential opposition to the truth respecting God is opposition to the Goodness of God, which his truth teaches. Hence our Lord so often declared that the reason men did not come to him was because they were not drawn by the Father. Men know not Christ, or the divine Truth, because they know not the Father or the divine Good. But the Lord knew him, because he was from him, and was sent by him. It is a great truth that "no one knoweth the Son but the Father, and no one knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." Love only knows wisdom, and wisdom only knows love; the Divine only knows the Human, the Human only knows the Divine.
30, 31. The truth of what we have now said is practically shown both negatively and affirmatively, by the result of the Lord's address.
Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
The truth produces opposite effects on the evil and on the good. With the evil, in this instance, the opposition was in will, but did not proceed to act. This was entirely owing to that extraordinary moral influence which the divine Saviour exercised over the minds even of his enemies. This influence was but a restraining power. And we here see what is but too true, that even divine power cannot change the will, although, it lays restraint upon the actions of the wicked, not only in this world but in the other also. Even this is not absolute, for the will, being free, in some instances breaks all bonds, and rushes into actual evil. The reason they did not lay hands on Jesus was, that his hour was not yet cone. When the time did cone, the Lord said to his enemies, "This is your hour and the power of darkness." One cause of the present restraint and of the subsequent licence, was the less and greater putting forth of power by the kingdom of evil, and the different degrees of co-operation with it by man. This also depended upon and corresponded to the state of the Lord's humanity. His own temptations were as yet comparatively internal; but when his hour' was come, these temptations came into their fullest condition, acting at once upon the inmost and the outermost of the Lord's hereditary life, resulting in the death and putting off of all that was imperfect and finite, and ending in the temporary triumph, but in the eternal conquest, of the kingdom of darkness. The hands signify the ultimate of power; and the opposing Jews did not "lay hands upon him," because the power of evil and temptation had not yet developed itself into its last degree of activity and power.
32. The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
The murmurs that arise from the multitude of the natural thoughts and feelings call the higher powers of the mind into action, and the understanding and will unite in aiming to accomplish what the crowd of principles in the natural mind dares not attempt to effect. The Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to take him. When evil seeks to injure or destroy good, it does so by the instrumentality of something that has the appearance of truth or of goodness. When the evil attempt to invalidate the genuine truths of the Word, they do so by means of its apparent truths, as the devil attempted to draw Jesus under his power by means of his own Word. The reason of this is, that mere falsity, having not even a seeming affinity with truth, has nothing by which it can lay hold of it and bring it under its power. In the other life, when the evil infest the good, they can only do it by means of those who are in simple good. The evil use the apparent truths of the Word against its genuine truths, as the Jewish sanhedrim employed its officers against Jesus to take him. And we shall see in the conduct of these officers a singularly exact representation of the different character and conduct of apparent truth, when it acts under the influence of evil and under the influence of good. The officers went out from the Pharisees with the purpose of taking Jesus, and went out from the presence of Jesus without either the power or the disposition to take him.
33, 34. When these messengers arrived, they found Jesus teaching, and were constrained to listen.
Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
The Lord here speaks of his visible presence with the Jews, and the near approach of his death and resurrection. But the Lord spoke for us as well as for the Jews. He spoke in these same terms to his disciples, with this momentous difference, that to them he was to cone again and abide with them for ever. The Lord is with the evil and the good during this life, for here his Word is present with all.
35, 36. The Jews themselves expressed what was really about to take place in regard to the Lord. Then said the Jews among themselves,
Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?
The Jews meant by the dispersed the ten tribes which had been carried into captivity, and the children of Judah who had not returned from Babylon. The church of the Lord was about to be transferred to the Gentiles, both Greeks and barbarians, while the children were to be left. The dispersed among the Gentiles also were to be gathered in, according to the often repeated promise in the Old Testament. For the dispersed among the Gentiles were spiritually the receivers of truth and goodness preserved among the Gentiles, and which they, unlike the Jews, through whom they received them, had not perverted and profaned. And so is it with individuals. The Gentile principle is that in us which is receptive of the Lord, who is first accepted by the truths and goods which have been dispersed in it, and exist there as remains. These are they of whom Isaiah speaks, when he says, "In that day there shall be a root of Jesse: and he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (xi. 10, 12). The Jews who suggested this meaning of our Lord's words were not, indeed, aware that they were uttering a truth, but Providence bends the ideas and the words of the natural to a use which they themselves intend not.
What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
To the natural man these things are utter darkness. What can he know of the Lord's glorification, when he knows nothing of regeneration, which is the only sign that can be given of its truth?
37. In the last great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any mama thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
It has, not unreasonably, been supposed that the form of the Lord's address had reference to an act which the priest performed on this, as on other days of the feast-pouring upon the altar, from a golden vessel, water drawn from the stream of Shiloah, which flowed under the temple mountain, when the prophetic words of Isaiah were sung: "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells or fountains of salvation" (xii. 3). To himself, as the Fountain of living water, he now invited all who desired to receive it. Desire for truth is the soul's thirst. And expressive and instructive the analogy is. Thirst is a natural craving caused by a demand of the system for that which it needs. It is entirely different from artificial or morbid craving for drinks which nature neither asks nor supplies. So is the real desire for truth expressive of a want of the soul-a craving for what it feels to be necessary for its spiritual and eternal life. To Jesus we must go for the supply of this want. He only can give us to drink of the water of life. His invitation to come to him is worthy of the last day of the feast; and its reception is the crowning gift of his finished work of redemption, which the last day of the feast expressed.
38. But how are we to come to him and receive and use this gift? We are to come to the Lord by faith.
He that believeth on me, as the Scriptures have said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Faith, in its scriptural sense, is a living confidence and trust in the Lord, as the Author of salvation, that is, of regeneration. Belief is that state in the disciple which brings him, as the receiver, into connection with the Lord, as the giver of the graces of the Christian life; and which makes him not only their recipient, but the channel through which they flow to others. Truth, in the believer, is not only a fountain but a stream. In the unbeliever the truth is a standing pool. which may be stirred into artificial motion by vanity or contention, but can never gush forth spontaneously in a living stream from the heart.
39. All this is shewn in the words that follow.
This he spoke of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
The impassable line between the real and formal believer is this: the believer receives the Spirit of the Lord as well as his truth; the non-believer receives the truth but not the Spirit. Truth is learnt through the senses from the Scriptures, either directly or indirectly, but the Spirit comes through the soul, and, entering into the truths learnt from the Scriptures, converts the truths of a dead into those of a living faith. This is done by the Spirit of Jesus. The Spirit of Jesus, spoken of in the New Testament, is not the Spirit of Jehovah mentioned in the Old. The Spirit of Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, is the divine influence that proceeds from the Lord's glorified Humanity, conveying to believers all the virtues of the Lord's work in the flesh, the righteousness and merit of the Lord's redemption and salvation, acquired by the subjugation of the powers of darkness and the glorification of his human nature. To mark the difference of the spirit of regeneration from that of preservation, it is said that the Holy Spirit was not yet (the word "given" being an interpolation), because that Jesus was not yet glorified; teaching us that the Holy Spirit which the believers in Jesus receive, is the Spirit of his Divine Humanity, the Spirit of the second Adam, which alone is able to quicken those who have become dead through the first.
40, 41. The enunciation of this truth seems to have wrought its promised effect.
Many of the people, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ.
The prophet meant was the one who was expected as the forerunner of Christ, or him promised by Moses; some, therefore, considered the Lord as that messenger, others that he was the Messiah himself. A prophet signifies the doctrine of truth, Christ the truth itself. The Lord is the prophet to us when we receive him in doctrine; he is the Christ whom we receive as the Truth. The Lord is doctrine itself as well as truth itself; for all doctrine proceeds from him and treats of him. He is doctrine in the rational mind, and truth in the spiritual mind; he is doctrine in us when his Word is understood, he is truth in us when it is perceived. Doctrine is therefore the forerunner of truth; it prepares the way for its acknowledgment.
42-44. The people who objected to Jesus being the Christ, objected because he came out of Galilee; and they said,
Hath, not the Scriptures said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
But the Lord did come of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and was born in Bethlehem. The real and the seeming origin of Christ have for us a deep spiritual meaning, and convey a great spiritual lesson. Truth in man, like the Incarnate Word in the world, has an apparent origin or beginning different from its real one. Truth is really born, not in the senses, but in the soul, although it first makes its appearance in and to the senses; as the Lord was born in Bethlehem, but was first known as coming out of Galilee. Religion has its first beginning in the inner man, not only in the remains of good and truth which are there stored up by the Lord's mercy in early life, but in the first moving of the Spirit upon these, when regeneration commences in mature life. This is, indeed, unknown to the regenerate themselves, because it does not reveal itself to their consciousness. The beginning seems to be in the truths we learn, the lessons and the warnings we hear. These are no doubt the first religious impressions that come to our knowledge, and produce sensible effects; but if it were not for the inner life, that stirs the affections of the heart, these outward agencies Would have no effect upon us. Were it not for the inward Christ, who is born in the Bethlehem within us, the outward Christ, who comes out of Galilee, could neither move nor convince us. Hence there are two kinds of these doubters or objectors; those who doubt before they believe, and those who doubt before they deny. Those with whom belief follows doubt, are they who have the Saviour born in them; those who doubt and deny, are they who have not. We see this exemplified, or at least represented, in that there was a division among the people because of him. And the objectors carried their opposition so far, that some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
45. We come now to another class. There are elements in human nature, as there are human acquisitions, which are neither good nor evil in themselves, but become good or evil in the using. They never act a principal but only an instrumental part, and take their character from the power which governs their action. Such are the appetites and the senses, or what may be called the sensual principle, as that which feels and thinks from sensation. These are the officers sent out by the chief priests and Pharisees, which are ready to do their will while under their immediate influence, but are turned from their purpose when brought under an influence of an opposite kind. They had been sent out to take Jesus; but they now return without him to those who sent them. And on its being demanded of them,
Why have ye not brought him? The officers answer, Never man spake like this man.
In itself what a testimony is this to the power which the words of Jesus exercised over minds not entirely poisoned by the serpent of an obdurate heart and perverse understanding! True it is, in many respects, that never man spake like this man; never so wisely, never so lovingly. How powerful must his words have been, when eternal love was their origin, and eternal life their end. This was no doubt the secret of the Lord's persuasive and overawing power. The wisdom that flows from love is true eloquence. Other eloquence may dazzle and inflame, this only can carry conviction and life to the mind.
47, 48. When the officers made this remarkable declaration,
Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
Strange perversion, that the truth itself should be considered to be falsehood, and belief in it an evidence of deception. But evil inverts order, putting light for darkness, and darkness for light. Do not many seriously believe that all religion is deception, and that nothing is real but the world's honour and wealth, and nothing true but the science of acquiring greatness and riches? Those men who, like the Pharisees, make religion a stepping stone to these as their supreme good, are in their hearts as much enemies to the truth as avowed and shameless unbelievers.
Have any of the rulers, or of the Pharisees, believed on him?
While the rulers were steadfast, their cause might be doubtful, but could not be hopeless. And so spiritually with ourselves, while the ruling principles remain firm, we do not greatly fear the result of the failing of inferior elements, although this is not so insignificant as we sometimes suppose. The Christian sometimes thinks there is not much danger to be apprehended from a little indulgence of the natural man beyond what conscience sanctions; yet this may be the letting in of water, that may increase till it ultimately becomes a flood, that rises till it covers the tops of the highest mountains; for in all men there is a natural proneness to evil.
49. The Pharisees seemed little disposed to yield to the influence which prevailed, not only with their own officers, but with many of the people. They despised the defection of numbers of the people, so long as the rulers remained unbelieving. They declared that
this people (or rather multitude), who knoweth not the law, are cursed.
The knowledge of the law, with these speakers, was the professional knowledge which was cultivated by them as religious teachers. We are all too like the Pharisees, in placing much reliance on this theological knowledge, and thinking that a religious teacher must be a better man, because he devotes much time and labour to the study of the Scriptures. If a man is really spiritual and good, this will help to exalt his spirituality and goodness; but this professional knowledge is entirely distinct from saving knowledge. Professional knowledge may lead to self-exaltation, but saving knowledge ever produces self-abasement. He who understands all mysteries and all knowledge, and has not charity, is nothing; while any one of the multitude, who is distinguished by nothing but poverty of spirit, is akin to the angels, and in the way to become one. Lazarus, starving and full of sores at the gate, was greater than the rich man. who inhabited. the mansion, and was clothed in purple, and fared sumptuously every clay. Not he who knows the law, but he who does it, is blessed.
50, 51. Amidst this general condemnation one solitary voice was raised in behalf of truth and virtue.
Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
52. How did the Jewish conclave receive this wise admonition of Nicodemus? They did not dispute the propriety of the course suggested, but declared the case, of Jesus as prejudged by the circumstance of his origin.
They answered him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
Their argument was that, being a Galilean, Jesus could not be a prophet; and not being a prophet, his claim was not entitled to be heard. The assumed fact was not indeed true. Jonah and Elijah were Galileans but, even had it been true, it had nothing to do with the question. Such, however, is human blindness and inconsistency. When we have no reasons, we assume facts, and make them the bases of our judgments. "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" "No prophet arises in Galilee!" These are sectarian cries, by which truth is denied, and condemned without a hearing. We are all inclined to believe that nothing can be either true in itself, or in favour of the truth, which dues not originate with, or belong to, ourselves.
53. After the conclusion of the consultation,
Every man went unto his own house.
They separated, after the testimony of the officers and the counsel of Nicodemus, unmoved in favour of the holy Saviour. This teaches us how important it is that the end by which we are actuated be a good one. We are what our ends are. We think and judge and act from them. Our ends are the roots from which our thoughts and affections, words and actions, spring. When our ends are evil all these are evil; when our ends are good all are good.
CHAPTER VIII.
The first eleven verses of this chapter, with the last verse of the preceding one, are considered by the most eminent critics as forming no part of this gospel, as it came from the hand of the evangelist. As this is a point of great importance, we have thought it the proper course to state the grounds on which this conclusion rests. For these we are indebted to a friend, who is an authority in all questions of textual criticism.
The question as to the genuineness of this whole passage, when estimated by mere documentary evidence, is of such importance in the criticism of the New Testament, that it demands some notice here. The weight of external evidence is decidedly unfavourable to its genuineness; and these are briefly the main arguments on which that decision rests. First, this passage is omitted in the great majority, both of the MSS. of the first-class, and of the most ancient versions, and is ignored by the chief ancient Greek Fathers, and even by the Latin ones up to the time of St. Ambrose (A.D. 370). Secondly, its phraseology is unlike that of John, and exhibits several words not elsewhere occurring in his gospel (as, for instance, the Scribes, the Mount of Olives, &c.); whereas it strongly resembles the style of the Synoptical Gospels. Some HISS. even place it after Luke xxi. 38; while others remove it to the end of John's gospel. Thirdly, the MSS. which do contain this passage exhibit a greater diversity of reading than is found in any other passage of the same length in the entire New Testament. Fourthly, it seems to interrupt the coherence of the text where it stands; hence most MSS. that have this passage also modify the last clause of the preceding chapter, to make an easy transition.
While we are bound to pay due regard to the weight of external evidence, we are not to overlook that true internal evidence which comes through a perception of the internal sense. Swedenborg seems to have entertained no suspicion of the spuriousness of the passage. True, his attention may never have been directed to the question of its genuineness. On the other hand, he has not overlooked the passage, and does not appear to have perceived any want of the characteristics of inspiration, either in the narrative itself, or in the place it occupies. Moreover, he has explained it, so far as to show that he regarded it as having a regular spiritual sense, which distinguishes inspired from uninspired compositions. We will follow his example, and endeavour to embody his views in our explanation.
1, 2. After the circumstances recorded in the last chapter,
Jesus went unto the mount of Olives; and early in the morning he came again into the temple.
The mount of Olives and the temple are the Lord's divine love and his divine wisdom. His retiring into that holy mount means his entering into the sanctuary of his own pure love; and his coming thence into the temple to teach, represented his love teaching by wisdom. He came into the temple early in the morning. Jeremiah (vii. 13) speaks of the Lord rising up early to teach his people. His coming into the world is called both evening and morning, because then was the end of the old dispensation, and the beginning of the new. The Lord's coming is called a morning without clouds; and himself is called the bright and morning star, as ushering in by his advent the day of salvation. His humanity is indeed both the morning and the morning star, for the glory of the indwelling divinity shone and still shines in it, to give light and life to the world. The Lord's coming early in the morning into the temple, symbolized his coming in the dawn of the day of salvation to the temple of his body, to manifest his glory, unfold the mysteries of his kingdom, and display the splendour of his wisdom, of which the morning is also eminently significative. When in the temple, all the people came unto him-all who were in the love of truth, which "people" in the favourable sense signifies. As on some other occasions, Jesus sat down, and taught them, representing again that he taught them truth from love; sitting being expressive of a state of repose, indicative of a state of love.
3, 4. While seated in the temple,
the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery: and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
The principal lesson we are to draw from the historical sense of this circumstance is the tenderness with which the Lord deals with the guilty woman; and the means which her case becomes in his hand of convicting her accusers. Without undervaluing the moral instruction it contains, we will attend to the spiritual meaning, which is at the same time the most highly moral; for spiritual is the soul of moral wisdom. In the spiritual sense, the woman's sin represented the profaning of the principle of good in the church, so frequently described by the same sin charged against the church, as figured by the daughter of Jerusalem and Zion. Marriage is the union of goodness and truth, the wife being the type of the principle of goodness and the husband of truth. In the true order and the spiritual sense, marriage constitutes the church and heaven; and adultery constitutes the world and hell. In the highest sense, a chaste wife is a type of the church, as the pure and faithful wife of the Lord, and an unchaste wife is an emblem of the church corrupted by the love of the world and of the flesh. In the lower analogous sense, a chaste wife represents the principle of goodness united to the principle of truth, or the grace of love united to that of faith. But an unchaste wife, who admits another man than her own husband, represents the principle of goodness united to and corrupted by falsehood, and the grace of love corrupted by union with falsehood and unbelief, or, what is the same thing, the union of a corrupt will with a corrupt understanding. The woman taken in adultery represents the Jewish church, as devoted to and corrupted by the world; and, individually applied, represents the good of the principles of the church perverted by false doctrines. In the internal historical sense, the woman represents the Gentile church, and those who accused her represented the Jewish church. It is not to be supposed that she was accused falsely; for both Jews and Gentiles were included under sin. Yet the sins of the Gentiles, though in some respects more outwardly glaring than those of the Jews, were less heinous, because committed in comparative ignorance, and not, as were those of the Jews, against light. On this principle the Lord said to the self-righteous Jews, that the publicans went into the kingdom of heaven before them. By possessing the Word, which contains in fulness the knowledge of sin, the Jews were able to discern the sins of the Gentiles, and they indeed called them sinners, as compared with themselves, because of their being without the law.
5-9. When they submitted the woman's case to Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees said,
Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such, should be stoned. Jesus answered them not, but stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. When they continued asking him, he lifted himself up, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last.
In this we see the wisdom of Jesus displayed in defeating the machinations of his enemies. But the circumstances themselves command our attention. Every act which Jesus did, every word he spoke, is significant. His writing on the ground reminds us of the words of Jeremiah: "They that depart from me shall be written in the earth" (xvii. 13). The Lord's act, which was a symbolical answer to the accusation and appeal of the Jews, told them that they were written in the earth. And when an act or a speech is repeated, it is always, in the Word, expressive of a double application-to the intellectual and moral nature, or the inner and outer man; the repetition of the act in this instance signifying, that the Jews were both malevolent and deceitful, both morally and intellectually debased, and thus wholly of the earth, earthly. They did not accuse the woman from any hatred of the sin she had committed, nor bring her to Jesus to have her case righteously judged. It was not with the view of the Lord's condemning the woman, but of his condemning himself, that they brought her to him. Instead of this, they were made to pronounce their own condemnation. Little conscience as these hypocrites had, they had sufficient discernment to drive them from the presence of him who so unexpectedly and so completely discomfited them. No doubt the holy influence of Jesus had a considerable share in the effect which his words produced upon them. It was like that judgment of which the evil are the subjects in the other world. It is a law of that world, that no one shall be cast into hell, until he is convicted in his own conscience, that he is so great a sinner, as to be unworthy and unfit for a place in the kingdom of heaven. Conscience among the wicked acts but negatively; it convicts them of evil, but does not prevent them from committing it.
10, 11. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
The Lord's conduct on this occasion is not to be understood as affording any countenance to the notion, that he acquits the guilty. He acted in conformity with his own merciful declaration, that he came, not to condemn the world, but to save the world, and in conformity with his answer to the young man who wished him to make his brother divide the inheritance with him, "Who made me a judge and a divider over you?" But there is a still more comprehensive principle on which the Lord's conduct is to be explained. This he stated, when he said, "I judge no man: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day." Besides, the Lord himself never accuses any. And where there are no accusers, there can be no condemnation. The Lord desires to condemn none, but to save and bless all. Where there are none to condemn, it is the blessed prerogative of his divine mercy to say, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." This the Lord desires every one should do. He wishes every sinner to forsake sin. And if any commit sin, the Lord does not condemn, so as to close against them the door of repentance and forgiveness, but, so long as they are in this world, preserves them in the capacity of forsaking sin and learning righteousness. There is one other consideration on this subject, which it is important should be attended to. It is a law of sacred ethics, that blame is proportionate to knowledge. He that knew his Lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who knew not his Lord's will, and did things worthy of stripes, shad be beaten with few. This does not arise from any arbitrary appointment, but from the circumstance, that sin against light deeply corrupts the soul, while sin without light leaves the soul comparatively free from confirmed evil. The evil of the natural will is not sin till it has obtained the consent of the understanding. Now, if we consider the woman as the type of the Gentile will among the Gentiles, either within or out of the church, her having no accusers is expressive of this state; that evil exists, indeed, in the will and comes into act, but is without an accuser in the understanding. When this is the ease, evil has no moral quality; for inclinations and acts derive their moral quality from their being done with knowledge of the moral law. No one of a sound mind and of a sufficient age can love or commit evil without some degree of blame, because none are utterly ignorant of the distinction between good and evil.
12. In accordance with the view we have presented of the meaning of the woman, as representing those who sin through ignorance, the Lord no sooner dismisses her, uncondemned but not unnamed, than he addresses himself to the people, saying unto them,
I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
The Light is the Truth. The Lord is the light of the world, as the truth by which the world is enlightened and directed in the way of eternal life. He existed indeed in the beginning-from eternity-as the Light, the divine wisdom; but he is especially the light of the world, the divine wisdom in its adaptation to erring and sinful men, as God manifest in the flesh, that is, God made man, and through his manhood brought near to men, in a way that makes him a lamp unto their feet, and a light unto their path. The Lord, as thus manifested, is the light of the world. For the world means not only the men of the world, but that part of the human mind which is analogous to the world, its external or natural degree. This was that part of man, for the illumination of which the Lord assumed human nature. The Lord was Man from eternity, the Archetype of finite man, who was created in his image and likeness. And during the first church he was the One into whose image man was regenerated. It was man's fall, which eventually closed up the higher degrees of his mind, through which he had been regenerated, and left open only the natural degree, which the Eternal Word could not savingly affect, that rendered Incarnation a necessity; since by no other medium than the Lord's humanity could man be reached, so as to be enlightened by the divine light. Thus did the Lord become the light of the world. And thus the Saviour could say, "he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness." He who follows the light, which the Lord has shed on the path of life by his teaching and example, follows the Lord. But to follow the Lord is to follow him in the regeneration, by doing as he has done, and being what he is, so far as the saved can be as the Saviour.
13. When they heard the Lord utter this saying,
The Pharisees said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.
The Jews, like all external people, wanted external evidence of the truth; they were not disposed to accept truth on its own testimony; they could not admit that the record which truth bears of itself is true.
14. The Lord, however, answered,
Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true.
The ground of the truths of his testimony of himself, and of their denial of it was this:
for I know whence I come, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come and whither I go.
Truth is the form and the revealer of goodness. Without relation to goodness truth is nothing; it is a form without an essence, a means without an end. Truth knows whence it is, and this is the cause of its testimony being true. Those who know truth, but do not receive the good from which it proceeds, and to which it points and leads, know not whence it is. Truth comes to us as the messenger of goodness, as the offspring of love; and the purpose of its coming is to lead us with it to that love and goodness whence it came and whither it goes.
15, 16. One cause that the Jews knew not the Lord's record to be true was that stated by Jesus:
Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
Those who judge not spiritually, nor even rationally, can have no true knowledge of the Lord, or of his word, or even of themselves. They judge according to the appearance. Yet such persons are the readiest to judge, and the most confident in the soundness of their judgments. But judgment is here used in the sense of condemnation. And those who judge according to the flesh condemn everything relating to the spirit, and sometimes even deny the existence of the spirit itself. The Lord "judges no man." This is a declaration that the Lord makes more than once. It does not mean that he absolutely does not judge. He said that the Father had committed all judgment unto the Son. The Lord does not judge in the sense of condemning. Man is judged to condemnation by the truth itself which he has received, but from which he has separated goodness. Every one is judged either to heaven or to hell by that which is in him. Truth without good is that which condemns, and truth with geed is that which justifies. This is easily seen. Why are the evil condemned? Because they know their duty and do it not.
Yet if I judge, my judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me;
he means that when he does judge, it is not by truth alone, but by truth in union with goodness, or by wisdom in union with love. For the Son is Truth or Wisdom, and the Father is Goodness or Love.
17, 18. The Lord appeals for a confirmation and illustration of the rectitude of his judgments to the law which the Pharisees recognised.
It is also written in your law, the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
The two witnesses are the principles of goodness and truth on the one hand, and of evil and falsity on the other. The Father and the Son are these two witnesses in the divine sense, the "two men" are the same witness. The testimony of these two witnesses is analogous to that of the Son, because they are types of the same principles; the Father and the Son being the principles of Good and Truth in the Lord, and the two men the principles of goodness and truth in man. The law itself, as it stands in the Mosaic code, has reference to the testimony which proves guilt as well as innocence; for as goodness and truth are both required to justify, evil and falsity are both required to condemn. As neither good nor truth alone justifies, so neither evil alone nor falsity alone condemns. One witness establishes nothing: "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses every matter shall be established" (Deut. xix. 15). We have said indeed that truth alone condemns. But he who has the truth which condemns him, is himself an enemy to the truth; and if not openly, yet in his heart, he believes what is opposite to the truth. Truth condemns, not actively but passively, not because it acts against the sinner, but because the sinner acts against it. If he would only be loyal to the truth, the truth would make him free: his disloyalty to the truth is the cause of his being the bondman of Satan. Evil which hates truth loves falsity, and is united to it, even while an evil man makes profession of the truth.
19. When the Lord had appealed to the testimony of the Father as uniting with his own, to show that his word was true, the Jews demanded,
Where is thy father?
The question is similar to the demand of Philip, "Lord, shew us the Father?" And it might receive the same answer, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet Last thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me, Lath seen the Father. How sayest thou then skew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" The demand was made by a believer, and therefore received an answer. This question was asked by unbelievers, and therefore remained unanswered. He who knows what is in man saw, no doubt, that the answer would have produced no conviction, and only added to condemnation. We learn from it, that not the formal demand, but the rooted inclination, is that which secures or prevents an answer to our religious inquiries. We learn further that the knowledge of the humanity includes the knowledge of the divinity, for the Lord says to his interrogators,
If ye had known me, you should have known my Father also.
This shows that they who judge according to the flesh, know not the Lord even as to his humanity, and they who know not the origin and nature of his humanity, cannot know, and do not acknowledge, his divinity. They are like the Jews to whom the Lord also said, "Ye neither know me nor my Father." This accusation may therefore be made as truly now as it was then. And as the Lord's humanity is the very Divine Truth, and his divinity is the very Divine Good, we learn that unless we know the truth as the power and manifestation of goodness, we are ignorant of both.
20. These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple.
The words he uttered came forth from the treasury of his wisdom, the temple being the symbol of his humanity. In relation to us, the treasury is our human understanding, spiritual knowledge being symbolized by the money which the coffers in the temple contained. Notwithstanding the enmity of the Jews,
no man laid hands on him, for his hour was not yet come.
This wonderful circumstance shows the extraordinary influence which the Lord exercised over men. But there is something more wonderful still. It teaches us what enables the evil spiritually to lay hands on the good. The evil can only lay hands on the good, or, to view the subject abstractly, evil can only lay hands on good by means of some perversion of good; and so also falsity can only lay hands on truth by means of some perversion of truth.
21. Jesus again addresses himself to the people. There was some interval between the preceding and the present address, indicating a distinction in the truths uttered, and a change of state in those addressed. In the preceding part of his address, the Lord tells the Jews that they knew not whence he came or whither he went; here he speaks of his approaching departure.
I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.
The Lord alludes to his death, which was his going away from the Jewish church, and from those who were of its character. The Lord of himself never leaves any church, or any sinner, however depraved. So long as the Lord had anything of the "flesh" or the infirm humanity derived from Mary, he was with the Jewish church, but when this was put off, there was no longer any element of sympathy between him and that carnal dispensation, and all connection between them was severed. But why then did the Lord say, "Ye shall seek me?" Did not this indicate a desire on their part to find him whom they had despised, after they had lost him? It certainly does. But what was their object in seeking him? The Lord cannot deny himself to any who seek him sincerely; he cannot refuse life to any who desire and ask it.
22. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.
As suicide was considered by the Jews a crime which sent the soul to perdition, it has been supposed that these unprincipled men meant to insinuate, that Jesus meditated an act which would send him to a place where no son of Abraham would follow him. This, or even a simple imputation of a probable intention of self-murder, was inferring from the words of Jesus the very opposite of their true meaning. To kill himself would indeed have been to contradict all he had said and done, and destroy the whole work of human redemption. The insinuation was therefore a diabolical perversion of his love and truth, and was in reality a killing in themselves of every vestige of these saving principles.
23. Well, therefore, might the Lord say,
Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world, I am not of this world.
Their sentiments and his were diametrically opposite in their origin, and so were those who uttered there. He and his words were divine and heavenly, they and theirs were infernal and worldly.
24. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Belief in the Lord is the means of righteousness, and thence of life. The Lord being Righteousness itself and Life itself, he is the author of them to men; and unless we come to him in faith, we cannot receive them. That of which the Lord as our Saviour is the author is what is called eternal life, not life as existence, for this every soul has, but life as love and blessedness. Existence without these is death; and those who die in their sins have only a living death. We must die to sin if we would escape dying in sin.
25. When the Lord declared belief in him to be necessary to save from death, it was natural they should ask him,
Who art thou?
This question does not express desire but contempt. The Lord is made to answer,
The same that I said unto you from the beginning.
The true sense of this passage is much debated. Clowes, after Augustine, gives, "The Beginning, which thing I also said unto you," making the Lord tell the Jews that he was the Beginning or Origin of all things. There are objections to both renderings. In the first, the case of the answer is different from that of the question, instead of being, as they should be, the same; in both, the verb is in the past tense, "I said," whereas in the original it is in the present, "I say." Olshausen takes the word arche adverbially, and reads the passage thus,
First, I tell you, I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
The many things which the Lord had to say and to judge of the Jews were the evils and falsities which the divine truth was about to lay open in the Jewish church; for to say has relation to the exposing of evil, and to judge has relation to the opposing of falsity. But the Lord's saying and judging were unerringly just, for "he that sent me is true." If he that sent Jesus was true, Jesus himself must have been true also; therefore there could be no escape from his pronounced decision. Spiritually, there is a much more impressive lesson. The Father who sent Jesus is always sending him; the divine Love is always sending forth the divine Wisdom. Whatever wisdom or truth says and judges, it says and judges from love. Therefore the Lord, as an assurance that what he says is true, tells us that he always speaks to the world those things which he heard from the Father that sent him. We cannot, of course, understand what the Lord says about the Father speaking and the Son hearing, in the simplest literal sense. The Lord, as to his humanity, heard the spirit of the divinity within him as internal revelation-the divine flowing down into the human, the divine love in the Lord's interior will becoming divine truth in his interior understanding, and thence coming forth in words of wisdom, and deeds of beneficence.
27. When the Lord had said these things respecting him that sent him,
They understood not that he stake to them of the Father.
The knowledge of the Father being the knowledge of the Lord's divinity and of the divine love, as manifested in the person of the Lord, and displayed in his works of redemption and salvation, none can understand the language in which he describes the Fatherly principle in himself, but those in whom the divine humanity or the divine truth obtains an elevation into the thought and affection of the inner man, and who are treated of in the words that now follow.
28. Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself: but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
Literally, this lifting up of the Son of Man is his crucifixion, and those who lifted him up were those who crucified him. But the Lord's crucifixion was also his glorification; and this is the event of which, in the spiritual sense, the Lord speaks. It was to this the Lord referred when he said, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." His divine humanity is the centre of spiritual attraction, to which willing souls are drawn. In the individual application of the subject, the lifting up of the Son of man is the elevation of the Lord's holy truth into the interior thoughts and affections. Only this lifting up of the Lord can give us experimentally to know that he is the Saviour, and that his humanity does nothing of itself but from the indwelling divinity, or that his truth does nothing of itself, but acts entirely and constantly from love. And it mast act from love in us before we can know its saving power. Thus it is that truth is taught of love, and speaks the language of love.
29. The divine and the human, love and truth, cannot be separated, either in the Lord as he is in himself,-or in the Lord as he is in us.
He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
Plainly and strikingly does this teach the oneness of the Father and the Son. They are indeed the Sender and the Sent, yet they are not separate. To be sent is to proceed. But to proceed, spiritually, is not to depart, or to advance through space; it is to proceed as thought proceeds from love, or speech from thought, or as light proceeds from the sun. In all these cases the sender and the sent are connected; their separation would be extinction. "He that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left me alone." This is a momentous truth, practically as well as doctrinally. The Father and the Son cannot be separated in us any more than in the Godhead. If we have not both we have neither. Love without. wisdom is not love, and wisdom without love is not wisdom. It may seem as if we could have wisdom without love, or truth without goodness, but it is not so. Knowledge is sometimes alone; truth never. How may we distinguish between them? Knowledge is the science of goodness, truth is the form of goodness. Love is not in theory, but in practice; not in truth, but in the good of truth. The Lord said, The Father hath not left me alone, "for I do always those things that please him."
30. As he spake these words, many believed on him.
The truth which the Lord's words to the Jews involve comes now to be exemplified. His wisdom and love exercise a power over the minds of some. They believe on him. But there are as many grounds of belief as there are of soil on which the seeds of the sower fell. Belief, in its first moments, may be fervid as well as intellectual, but its final state depends on the quality of the ground on winch it falls. Practice is the test by which its sincerity is tried, and its endurance or dissipation is determined. Let us see how this operates here.
31. Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.
In chap. ii. 23, we read of some who believed in the Lord's name because they saw the miracles he did, but to whom he did not commit himself because he knew them. So in this case, the Lord evidently regards these as nominal disciples, and therefore tells them how they may become disciples indeed-by continuing in his word. Continuance in the Lord's word is not possible without doing what his word teaches and requires-it implies perseverance in opposing evil and in doing good. Continuance or perseverance in faith and holiness is one of the most necessary conditions of success in religion, as in everything else. Numerous are the exhortations, solemn are the warnings, given in the Scriptures on this subject. The fact of their abundance is proof of their necessity, arising from the tendency, which exists in all, to fall away, or to become lukewarm.
32. The Lord gives this encouraging promise to those who continue:
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
The knowledge of the truth of which Jesus here speaks is practical knowledge, that which is acquired by continuing in his word. The freedom which the truth conquers for us is, as the Lord's subsequent teaching shows, freedom from sin. This includes every other kind of freedom-freedom from ignorance, from error, from doubt; and the still more precious freedom which succeeds it; freedom from the thraldom of our appetites and passions, and from distrust in the providence of God.
33. Yet some of those who had "believed" could not endure this doctrine. They considered themselves already free, and would not hear of a doctrine that implied they were in bondage. They understood not the nature of the bondage and freedom of which Jesus spake.
They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
These Jews were at that very time in bondage to the Romans, and yet were indignant at the idea of their being made free. In this they well represented the natural man, who, while the slave of his passions, boasts of his freedom, because he is uncontrolled by the restraints of religion. The Jews grounded their claim of being free on their being the children of Abraham. Had they been spiritually the children of Abraham, they might have claimed the possession of spiritual freedom. But to be sons of Abraham according to the flesh gave no true liberty. We are all the children of God by creation, or according to the flesh, but to be free, we must he his children by regeneration; by being born from above.
34. Our Lord proceeds to explain the true nature of bondage and of freedom.
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
This is bondage, and that only which is deserving of the name. It is the parent of all other bondage. Sin first makes us slaves to avarice or ambition, and then prompts us to reduce others to the bondage of subserviency to ourselves. There is this difference between spiritual and natural bondage; spiritual bondage is voluntary, natural bondage is sometimes involuntary. Yet sin is the great slave master. Self-love, which is the master sin, is the great enemy of freedom, both of soul and body. But whatever be men's outward condition, whether it be that of the oppressed or the oppressor, this condition is common to them all-"he that committeth sin is the servant of sin." This is the bondage from which the truth of Christ will make us free.
35. The results of servitude and freedom are, that
the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abiders ever.
The house is heaven, which is the Lord's dwelling-place, and also the principle of goodness, which is his habitation in the human mind. The servant of sin does not enter there; but he that is horn again, and is a child of God, abideth there for ever. Abstractly, a servant of sin is the falsity of evil, and a son is the truth of good; in the supreme sense the Son is Divine Truth, and thus the Lord himself as the Truth. He it is eminently who abideth in the house for ever. By the Lord's incarnation and glorification that sublime declaration of the Psalmst has received its verification and confirmation: "For ever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven." The divine Truth is there eternally fixed as in its own tabernacle, descending thence into the church on earth and into the hearts of men.
36. And it abides there, and descends thence, that it may make angels and men truly free.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye, shall be free indeed.
Freedom consists in being led of God, servitude consists in being led of oneself. The natural man's notion of freedom is the very opposite of this. He supposes it to be freedom from all restraint. There is no such state as this. We must either be led of heaven or hell, be the servants of God or the servants of sin. Which is the best guide? The one leads us by virtue to happiness, the other leads us by vice to misery. There is another lesson which the Lord teaches us here. He no doubt drew his imagery from the Old Testament economy, with which his auditors were familiar. The Hebrew servant was not always the property of his master, but served him for a term of years, after which he was discharged. But the son who was always free, was the heir, and abode in the house.
37. The Lord reverts to what the Jews had said about being the children of Abraham.
I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
They were Abraham's seed only according to the flesh. Spiritually, they were the seed of Abraham in possessing the Word: for Abraham was a type of the Lord, and his seed are the truths of his Word. These the Jews possessed, though they perverted them, as they themselves were the perverted children of their temporal father. As they perverted the truths of the Word which they had received from the Lord, they desired to destroy the Word, and therefore the Lord, from whom these truths proceeded, and of whom they treat in their highest sense. Ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you." True is this still. The mind in which the Lord's Word has no place, is at enmity against him, and is ever seeking to kill hint, or what is the same, is ever seeking to destroy, in itself and in others, every thing good and true, which is seeking to kill the Lord, who is Good itself and Truth itself.
38. The tendency of opposites is to destroy each other. The truth of good and the falsity of evil are such opposites. Their opposition was exemplified in the case of the Lord and the Jews.
I speak that which I have seen with may Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Truth is the offspring of goodness; falsity of evil. Truth speaks what it sees-what it perceives from goodness, for truth is the expression of goodness; and falsity does what it sees front evil, for falsity is the expression of evil. This was exemplified as well as represented by the Lord and the Jews. He was the Truth of Goodness, they were forms of falsity from evil.
39. The Jews
answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.
40. While claiming to be the children of Abraham, the Lord said
Ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Good loves truth. Desire for truth and readiness to receive it are the prevailing signs of the existence of good in the heart. But where men seek to destroy truth, they give unmistakable evidence of their want of goodness. The Lord's teaching was the truth of love, and all who had any similar state in themselves-all who were really the children of Abraham, must have heard him gladly, and have found a witness in themselves that his words were true. Abraham, as a principle in us, is the good of early life, which is intended by Providence to dispose and prepare the mind for the reception of the higher good of mature life. The simple truths of this good are intended to enable the mind to apprehend the higher truths of the Christian life. When however men have destroyed these states in themselves, they will ever seek to destroy the higher one offered to them, as beings created for heaven. This is seeking to kill Jesus. This do not the children of Abraham.
41. Deeds indicate their origin. Our motives are the parents of our works.
Ye do the deeds of your father.
And what the Lord said to his hitter enemies, he says still to all who are actuated by the same diabolical motives. Our deeds are indeed our own, and they ever proceed from the springs of action, that are seated deep in the ends of our inner life. We ought, therefore, to examine ourselves, that we may trace our deeds to the motive, secret and remote it may be, from which they spring. To the Lord's declaration, that the Jews did the deeds of their father, they answered, We be not born of fornication; we have one rather, even God. The Jews used this language figuratively. By fornication they meant idolatry; they asserted that they were not idolators, but worshippers of Jehovah; children of God, not of idols.
42. The Lord gives a test which will always enable us to determine whether we are in the one state or the other.
Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither come I of myself, but he sent me.
Those who are born of God love whatever comes from God. This is self-evident. To have God for our Father is to have his love abiding in us; and if we have God's love in us, we cannot but love the Truth that proceeds from him. The truth is that which make love manifest. The Lord was the Divine Truth that manifested the Divine Love. In the Lord's concluding words, "neither came I of myself, but he sent me," must be some deep and instructive meaning. If the Lord was truly God, even supposing there were another equal with him, this could not have been literally the case. By the Lord's statement we are instructed, that love in the Deity was the moving cause of the Incarnation and of human redemption. The Word, the Eternal Truth, came not of itself, it was sent by Eternal Love, to accomplish the purposes of saving mercy. And so it is still. Truth is still sent by love; it comes neither of itself nor by itself. It comes not of itself, it seeks not its own; it seeks to lead men up into the heaven of unchangeable love. Truth, we have had occasion to remark, is that which judges. Had the Lord come of himself, or as truth alone, he would have come as a judge; and if he had cone as a judge, his coming would have involved sinners, and thus the human race, in universal condemnation. But the Lord came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He came, not solely to manifest himself in the majesty and power of truth, but in the benignity and tenderness of love. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And thus "in his love and in his pity he redeemed" mankind. In his often repeated declaration, that he was sent by the Father, that he came not to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him-that of himself he did and said nothing, there is thus a profound significance, expressing the blessed assurance that the great work of redemption, which the Lord came on the earth to accomplish, had its origin in infinite love, and that this love was the moving cause in all the redeeming operations of the Lord's eternal truth.
43. The Lord asks,
Why do ye not understand my speech? and he answers, Even because ye cannot hear my word.
To understand, in Scripture, does not mean to understand with the intellect only, but to understand with the heart: that is, to receive truth into the understanding under the influence of love. We believe from the heart by the understanding. This our Lord teaches when he says to the Jews that they did not understand his speech, because they could not hear his Word. Hearing is a sense which has more immediate connection with the will, as seeing has with the understanding. When the Scriptures speak of hearing, they mean perception from the will. The reason, therefore, why we do not understand is because we do not hear. There is a difference also between speech and word, or between the utterance of a thing and the thing uttered, which is as the difference between the form and the essence. We do not understand the divine speech, which comes by an external way, because we do not hear the divine word, which comes by an internal way. We do not understand external truth because we do not love internal truth.
44. And what is the reason we do not?
Because Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
Jesus had already told them they did the deeds of their father; he now tells them who their father is. The devil signifies the principle of evil, as Satan signifies the principle of what is false. The devil and Satan are not indeed abstractions. Personally, they are the powers of darkness, consisting of innumerable evil spirits. And these act upon the human mind; but they act through the evils and falsities which a man loves and believes; therefore the evils and falsities themselves are signified by them. Evil in the heart is the devil; and when the ruling love is evil, the affections are lusts; and these lusts are what the children of the devil do. In all evil there is the lust of destroying good. This is spiritual murder. And of evil it may be said, "He was a murderer from the beginning." A murderer is literally a manslayer, and as a man signifies the principle of charity, the extinction of that heavenly principle is meant by the devil being a homicide. This, indeed, was an act that was committed at the beginning or in primeval times, being described by Cain slaying Abel. In itself evil is murder, both spiritual and natural: this is its character, its inmost nature, its beginning, which it is ever in the intention, often in the effort, to make its ending. But evil effects its purposes by means of falsehood, which it often frames by the perversion of truth, and is therefore called the father of lies. Its enmity against truth arises from the circumstance that truth exposes and condemns evil. "He abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him."
45. Such being the nature of evil, it follows, as our Lord says,
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
That which in its nature speaketh a lie cannot believe the truth. And for this reason it rejects Jesus, because he is the truth itself.
46. The great cause of men rejecting the truth is, that it convicts them of sin. Our Lord challenged even his enemies to convince or convict him of sin.
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
What an appeal was this to those who were seeking his destruction, and watching for anything in his words or conduct that might be construed into a ground of accusation! He did not, as in the case of the adulterous woman, seek a tender judgment, by appealing to their own consciousness of sin; but he placed himself before them, in the plenitude of their malignity and falsehood, as his judges, to condemn him if they could. O immaculate Son of man! Inheritor of our frail, fallen nature; yet so entirely sinless, that even thine enemies were struck dumb when asked to convince thee of sin! So are evil men, or the evil that is in them, unable to trace sin to Righteousness or falsehood to Truth. Can we trace darkness to light, or cold to heat? If, then, he who is good, without any mixture of evil, "speaks the truth, why do ye not believe him?" The reason is given in what now follows.
47. He that is of God heaveth God's words.
The truth here enunciated is evident and is most momentous. He who is influenced by the Spirit of God listens to the truth of God. Spiritual truth is unlike natural truth; science, or the knowledge of nature, may be as grateful, and therefore as perceptible, to an evil as to a good man. Spiritual truth is grateful only to one who is good, or has so much good as to desire to have still more.
Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
That which makes us the people of God is goodness and love; those who are destitute of this have no sympathy with the truth; they hear it not because they love it not.
48. The truth, to such as are opposed to it, is only the more hated the more it testifies against them that they are evil.
Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil.
Arch-heresy and wickedness are included in this accusation; and it spiritually implies the imputation of falsity and evil to Truth itself, and Goodness itself. This is putting evil for good and darkness for light. Although the Jews could not convince the Lord of sin, they accuse him of being a Samaritan and of having a devil. And they even justify themselves in doing so: "Say we not well?" Their conduct was inconsistent, but not unaccountable. Some, when they cannot condemn acts, impute motives. There are some religions and religious persons who impute even to God himself motives and acts which are unworthy of his character; but they do not impute them to him as evil, but attribute them to him as good. But however much men may, either by mistake or from inclination, impute wrong motives or acts to the Lord or to his Word, none can convince or convict either of sin.
49. To the Jews who made these wicked charges against him, Jesus answered,
I have not a devil: but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
Truth has but one answer to such a charge, the meek answer which Jesus gave, whether he speaks now in his Word, or in the conscience. But the truth not only repudiates the charge of proceeding from evil, but it claims the merit of teaching and leading to goodness. "I honour my Father." Truth honours goodness by doing its will. This Jesus did. And men should honour him as the Truth, by following his teaching and obeying his commands. The Lord prayed that his Father and he and his disciples might all be one, "thou in me and I in them." We must honour the Father in the Son. When the Son is dishonoured the Father is dishonoured, for the Father is in the Son. It is, therefore, a double dishonour to dishonour the Son. We do not know the truth, if we do not see that it honours goodness. For this it deserves our honour. The truth ever shows us that it pays homage to goodness; and it claims our homage for goodness' sake.
50. Our Lord therefore says,
I seek not mine own glory.
Truth seeks not its own glory.
51. Although the Son does not seek his own glory, yet his Word has life-giving power.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death.
The Lord's sayings are his precepts, and it is the keeping of these that saves from death. Spiritual life is a state of heavenly love and faith; the extinction of these is death; and such a state is condemnation. In one sense all are dead, for all by nature are destitute of goodness and truth, and inclined to what is evil and false; but death, which brings condemnation, is a state of confirmed evil and falsity. This is the death that the righteous never see; they never come into condemnation; they are passed from death unto life.
52. The Jews did not understand this death or immunity from it. They said,
Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
How natural was this remark by those who understood the Lord's words naturally! But although the result of pure misapprehension in them, it is spiritually expressive of a particular state in those whom they represented. These Jews represent those in whom Abraham and the prophets are spiritually dead; those in whom the love of goodness and the perception of truth, signified by Abraham and the prophets, are extinct. These truly must regard such a teacher and such teaching as demoniacal and false.
53. The Jews further said,
Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?
The Jews naturally thought it presumptuous and false to promise immunity from a fate which these holy men had not escaped. To pass to the spiritual meaning: it is just those in whom Abraham and the prophets are dead, that are disposed to reject the Lord and his Word, and to think that any assertion they make of their own greatness and importance is an assumption of superiority that belongs not to them. Many think of the Word as a dead letter, and regard Jesus as nothing more than a man, and his gospel as having no claim to more than human excellence and authority.
54. But the Lord does not claim human faith on his own word only. He answered the Jews,
If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God.
The Jews claimed to be the worshippers of God, and yet refused to believe him of whom God had testified that he was his Son. What is here rendered honour is more properly glory; and is used here because honour, already spoken of (v. 49), has relation to good, while glory, here mentioned, has relation to truth. In the former case, Jesus speaks of honouring his Father, here he speaks of his Father glorifying him. Wisdom honours love, and love glorifies wisdom. Without wisdom love would have no honour, without love wisdom would have no glory. These essential attributes, even in the Deity, receive, as it were, their qualities from each other. Love is love by virtue of its union with wisdom, and wisdom is wisdom by virtue of its union with love. Neither could be anything without the other. This is equally true of love and wisdom in the human as in the Divine mind. We have no true love but that which is united with wisdom, and no true wisdom but that which is united with love. These are each other's mutually and reciprocally. This mysterious but beautiful relation of love and wisdom, and the reflection of their qualities back upon each otherperhaps we should say their mutual interpenetrationis involved in the relationship of the Father and the Son, and is revealed in what is taught in the New Testament respecting them. When the Lord here says, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing," he instructs us, that wisdom derives not its glory from itself; and when he says further, "it is my Father that glorifieth me," he instructs us, that it is love that imparts to wisdom all the glory it possesses. This is true of those principles in us; and we can see it more clearly in ourselves, because we can, as it were, separate in ourselves attributes which are inseparable in God. If wisdom or truth alone in the mind glorify itself, its glory is nothing. If wisdom could only speak of, or exalt, or glorify itself, its glory would be nothing. If wisdom had no end or object higher than itself, it would be worthless. It is because the end of wisdom is love, or because the end of truth is goodness, that it is precious and glorious. It is the end which is in it from love that gives it all its lustre, that sheds around it true glory. Great talents undirected by noble ends have no true glory. If they only glorify themselves, their glory is nothing; love and goodness alone can glorify them. Such is the order of life in God and man.
55. While the Jews said that he by whom Jesus was glorified was their God, the Lord said unto them,
Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his sayings.
The Jews knew the name of God, but were ignorant of his true nature, and ascribed to him a character opposite to the truth, making him altogether such a one as themselves. They thus falsified or perverted the truths of the Word respecting God, which made them spiritually liars, for to lie is to falsify the truth. On the other hand, if Jesus, knowing God, had said he did not know him, he would have been a liar like unto them. But in the spiritual view, what the Lord says respecting himself is to be understood respecting Truth, or the Word, of which he was the impersonation. If the Word, which is the revelation of God, is so interpreted, or its truths are so perverted, as to be made to destroy the true knowledge of God, it is made to declare a lie, or to teach what is false instead of what is true. The Lord not only taught the truth respecting God, but he did the truth. So is truth ever distinguished, by not only knowing but doing the divine will.
56. Although those who claimed to be the children of Abraham refused Jesus as their Messiah, Yet the Lords tells them,
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.
It may be useful to consider these words and those which immediately follow according to their literal sense. Thus regarded, they teach us some important truths, relating to the Lord as the Saviour. They toll us that the Lord had been the desire and the hope of ages, the holy one to whom the faithful in all ages had looked forward as the Redeemer of a captive race, the Saviour of a lost world. Abraham is called the father of the faithful; and he may justly be regarded as standing here as the representative of those who "died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. xi. 13). This faith sustained them, and secured for them, when the Lord came, the benefits of his redemption. The patriarchs were not, however, left to rest on the promise of a coming Saviour: it was given them to see him with their eyes, as he manifested himself to them in the person of an angel, whom he filled with his spirit. "The angel of his presence" saved them in their troubles; and was a temporary humanity, in and through which he visited men, for the support of their faith, till the fulness of times for his incarnation. Spiritually, Abraham represents those who are in the love of truth, and who already receive and perceive it in the inner man, and to whom this reception is a source of joy.
57. To the Lord's declaration the Jews answered,
Thou art not yet fifty years old: and hast thou seen Abraham?
A very natural question, as they understood the words of Jesus. Surprise has been expressed why the Jews should have named fifty years. The words of even his enemies are overruled or recorded for the sake of a higher meaning than their own. Fifty signifies a state in which truths are filled with. goodness. This is a state which the Lord had not yet perfected in himself by glorification; but has not commenced in those whom the Jews represented. They represent those who possess the Word, and know the truths relating to the Lord, but who have no good in their truths, and therefore have neither the faith nor the joy of Abraham, and regard all such faith and joy as fabulous.
58. Jesus answered them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
This great truth has unhappily acquired a controversial importance, from the pre-existence of Jesus being denied by some professing Christians, as well as by the Jews, to whom these words were addressed. Perhaps they were providentially drawn from the Lord by the denial of his divinity and pre-existence, for the purpose of establishing the faithful in the belief of the eternity and divinity of their Saviour. They will ever remain as a divine enunciation of this great truth. They evince not only that the Lord existed before Abraham, but that he existed as the I AM, the self-existent and self-essent; He who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. But when all controversy shall have for ever ceased on this point, the declaration will still remain to teach a great spiritual truth, in which all have an eternal interest. Jesus is before Abraham, as well as after him, in the experience of the individual mind, as he was in the history of the world, and in the progress of the church. Jesus is the First and the Last. He is the inmost life in every soul, and the moving cause in every spiritual activity of the mind, and he is the ultimate good in which life is embodied and activity is fixed in use. He is both the Archetype and the Antitype of all the principles and states of our spiritual life. Things truly human in us shadow and foreshadow things divine. The humanity of the Lord is the origin and the perfection of humanity, as it exists finitely on earth and in heaven.
59. This is a truth, both doctrinally and practically considered, which none but the spiritual can truly receive. In the natural man it will ever find determined opposition. When the Jews heard the Lord's declaration,
Then took they up stones to cast at him.
So will the natural man ever take up false reasonings and false principles, to cast them against the great truth, that the Son of man is the Infinite and Eternal clothed in Humanity; for the natural man is inherently disposed to assail this most essential principle of the church, in order to destroy it.
But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
There is evidently something miraculous in this, as in some other instances of the Lord's disappearing from the midst of his enemies. They represent the providential removal or withdrawal of his divine truth from the sight and power of those who, being in the opposite false persuasion, desire and even attempt to do violence to it, and so do the most serious spiritual and eternal injury to themselves. In the internal historical sense, they represent the Lord's departure from the Jewish church, which is especially meant by his going out of the temple, and going, as he is represented coming, as a thief in the night, unperceived because unacknowledged. So does he pass away from the minds of those who believe and live contrary to his holy teaching; and especially is this the case when the time of decision conies, when the false principles come forth in their malignity, and when the soul is left without the living presence of the blessed Saviour.
CHAPTER IX.
1. We have remarked in speaking of the last verse of the preceding chapter, that, in the internal historical sense, the Lord's going out of the temple through the multitude, represents his departure from the Jewish church. His coming to the Gentiles, and his reception by them when rejected by the Jews, are described representatively by what is now related of his connection with the man, the history of whose case occupies the whole of this chapter. The narrative reads as if the Lord's coming upon this man had been accidental.
Passing by he saw a blind man, which had been blind from his birth.
Passing by means presence and influx. The Lord's seeing this man does not mean that he perceived for the first time the presence, in that place, of this distressed object; for he who knew all things, knew who was there before he came to him. When it is said that the Lord sees any one, the spiritual meaning is, that the person sees him, that is, that the influx of the Lord's truth into the mind is so far received into the understanding as to make man, not the object but the subject of the Lord's truth. The Lord sees men spiritually, especially savingly, through his light shining in them. The man whom the Lord then saw had been blind from his birth. This is exceedingly expressive when understood in reference to the Gentiles. They had never seen the truth, not having possessed the Word, as an immediate revelation from God; though they possessed some knowledge of divine things by tradition, and by indirect information from Scripture through the Jews. Blindness in the simplest sense is the symbol of ignorance, and this is especially meant by blindness from birth. This was the blindness of the Gentiles. They were in the blindness of ignorance. This is their condition, so often spoken of in the prophets; and the Lord's communicating to them, at his coming, the light of his truth, and opening their understandings to receive it, are described prophetically by his opening the blind eyes, and giving light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. This blessed work of mercy was not, indeed, confined to the people who received sight and light at his coming. It is applicable to all men individually who are in similar states. Therefore, the present relation is descriptive of the state of all who are in ignorance of the truth, and who are in the way of the Lord's providence, and ready to accept his saving grace.
2. When, we may suppose, the Lord stopped to regard this object, the disciples inquired of him,
Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
We need not dwell on the well-known opinion then prevalent among the Jews, that pre-existent souls were incarcerated in diseased bodies, as a punishment for sin. We may consider the question as expressive of a doubt or difficulty that is often felt, and sometimes expressed, about the Gentiles and those in Gentile states. For what fault of theirs, of their parents and progenitors, are nations and individuals born under such circumstances, that they live in ignorance of the truth? The Bible is known but to a comparatively small portion of the inhabitants of the globe; and many who live where it is recognised as the teacher of truth, know little of its teaching.
3. Jesus answered,
Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
The Lord did not teach that the man or his parents were sinless, or that disease did not owe its origin to sin; but that the man's particular affliction was not the effect of his own or his parents' particular sinfulness. The Lord had taught the same thing regarding the Jews and the Gentiles. Not for their worth were the Israelites chosen as the visible church; not for their unworthiness were the Gentiles excluded, for the Israelites were a stiff-necked people, and were no better than the nations around them. The Lord's providence is regulated by the principle of final results. Nations are born blind that the work of God may be made manifest in them. The darkness in which the nations are allowed to remain is a wise permission for a wise and beneficent end. The light of the gospel has been withheld, because they were not in a condition to profit by it. But the time will come when the work of God shall be made manifest in them; and very probably those nations that have so long sat in darkness, will become more eminent subjects of the Lord's saving operations than the visible church, through whose instrumentality the knowledge of the Scriptures has been propagated through all regions. To consider this subject individually, every one is now born in ignorance, which is mental blindness. And every one remains blind, however much he knows even of spiritual things, till Jesus opens the eyes of his understanding, that he may understand the Scriptures. It is not knowledge but faith that opens the spiritual understanding, and gives us to see light in the Lord's light.
4. The works of God, which were to be made manifest in restoring the blind man to sight, must be wrought in the day.
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work.
The general meaning of this, in reference to the Lord, is no doubt similar to that of the Lord's exhortation to men: "work while it is day." Probationary work can only be done during the probationary day. The Lord had a work to perform, not for his own salvation, but for that of his creatures. But the day of which our Lord spoke had a more extensive meaning. It had also reference to that day which was then rapidly passing away, the day of the Jewish church, which, had it been allowed to close in night before the Lord's advent, could never have been restored.
5. When the Lord added,
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world,
he could not mean that his departure, as to the body, would leave the world in darkness; for the light of his Spirit and of his truth shone after his ascension with greater effulgence than before it. The Lord is in the world when he is acknowledged in it. In the purely spiritual sense, his presence in the rational mind, by the practice of his truth, makes him its guide and instructor. And it is this which prepares the way for the opening of the understanding, which now comes to be treated of.
6. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
Why did he, who so often performed such wonderful cures with a word, now proceed so indirectly, and with such simple means, to restore this man to sight I Could there be any other reason than that all his acts were symbolized? It is because this blindness was peculiar that he used peculiar means. This man represents, we have said, those who have never been instructed in the truth, such as the Gentiles. They are, therefore, such as have never had their rational faculty cultivated by instruction in the doctrines of the church; and being in an external or sensual state, they require the truth brought down to their sensual apprehension. This bringing down of the Lord's truth to the level of their senses, or their merely sensual apprehension, is signified by the Lord spitting on the ground, the ground signifying the natural mind itself, as to its faculty of reception; and the union of the Lord's truth with natural or sensuous good there, is meant by his making clay of the spittle. This was spread upon the eyes of the blind man, to represent further, that simple truth united to simple good becomes instrumental in opening the understanding, being applied during the exercise of faith, by the Lord, as the author of faith.
7. A further means is, however, required, which is now described. The Lord
said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
The pool of Siloam was a type of the Word, and especially the Word as to its literal sense; and washing in its waters signifies purification by its truths. The name of the pool signifies Sent, a name applied to the Lord himself.
8. In this and the following verses to the twelfth, we have an account of the impression which this miracle had upon the man's neighbours. When the man is considered as representing the church among the Gentiles, his neighbours denote those who are in a semi-Gentile state, and who are connected with the Gentiles on the one hand, and with the professing church on the other. Considered as representing those who are in a state of ignorance of the truth, and whose minds are little elevated above the senses, his neighbours denote those who are in natural good, for good is the neighbour of truth. We read, however,
of his neighbours and they who beforetime had seen him that he was blind,
by which two classes of persons are described, those who regard the "blind" from the will and from the understanding. They said,
Is not this he that sat and begged?
This condition, like the man's blindness, is peculiarly expressive of the condition of the Gentiles, in relation to those who form the church. A beggar is one who craves from others what he is unable to provide for himself. So the Gentiles were represented by the beggar who was laid at the rich man's gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from his table; and the elevation of the Gentiles to the privileges of church membership is described by the Lord lifting up the beggar from the dunghill to set him among princes (1 Sam. ii. 8). Begging is expressive at once of destitution and a desire to be relieved, the desire to receive of the truths of the church being one of the qualities which prepared the Gentiles for being the recipients of the principles of the gospel dispensation, when the Lord came. So is their state described by sitting and begging: just as it is by sitting in darkness, which is another way of expressing blindness, for though the cause is different, the effect is the same. Sitting relates to the state of the will, and begging to the state of the understanding. But there is a change of which we may not only be the witnesses but the subjects. We are all born blind.
9. His neighbours and they who had seen the man blind having asked if this were not he that begged,
Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
The question here is between identity and likeness. Those who recognised in the man restored to sight the same man they had known as a blind beggar, are they who can trace the progress of reformation from its beginning, and see the difference of the two states and the identity of the subject of them; while those who could only recognise a likeness, are they who cannot trace the progress of reformation, nor see through the two states the same groundwork that divine mercy has operated upon. But the man himself knew what others regarded with doubt, which was rather the doubt of wonder than of scepticism. The knowledge of what we have been and what we are, impresses the mind with a sense of the divine goodness and power, in having brought us out of darkness into light. "I who now see am he that was blind" is an acknowledgment that comprehends in it many holy and happy sentiments.
10. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
It is remarkable that we seldom see or hear of any striking phenomenon without desiring to know its cause; even the common accidents of life almost always suggest the inquiry, How did it happen? It is because God has implanted in our nature a rational faculty, which is intended to lead us to trace everything through its proximate to its first cause. The present inquiry is, How were thine eyes opened? And this is capable of more than one answer. In his case there were both the proximate and the first cause. The proximate cause was the water of Siloam: the first cause was the Lord Jesus. So is there in every event of life, rational and spiritual.
11. The man enumerated the secondary causes but did not forget the first.
A man named Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash and I went and washed, and I received sight.
He regarded Jesus only as a man; but this spiritually is not inconsistent with the acknowledgment of Jesus as a Divine Man. And indeed this is a form of expression admitted into the Word, because it can be filled with the true idea respecting the Lord, that he is Man in the supreme sense and in a super-eminent degree, he being the Divine Man, the Author and the Pattern of all that makes us truly human. The other particulars have already teen considered. It is only requisite to state, that when a thing is repeated, as having been done as directed, it is expressive of effect and confirmation.
12. The man having answered the question, Who opened thine eyes? is now asked,
Where is he?
The question Who? is an inquiry respecting one's nature, and the question Where? is an inquiry respecting one's state.
13. They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
We here enter on a new phase of the history of this case, and one that extends to nearly the end of the chapter. The Pharisees constituted that extreme Jewish element in the church, which was concentrated in the person of Judas. It was the opposite of Jesusthe evil united with cunning and deceit, which is the opposite of the good united with wisdom and sincerity. The man whom Jesus had cured they brought to the Pharisees. Do not our own faculties sometimes lead us into the presence of the enemies of our Saviour and benefactor, to try us and to tempt us, and see whether we will not prove faithless to him, by denying him the merit that belongs to him, as the opener of our understandings to behold the light of truth? We may read, therefore, in this part of the narrative an account of what has been or will be our own experience.
14. And it was the Sabbath-day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
This forms the ground of the accusation against Jesus. It is remarkable that our Lord, knowing the prejudice of the Jews in general, and of the Pharisees in particular in favour of a rigid ceremonial observance of the Sabbath, should yet perform so many of his miracles on that day. Our Lord's conduct spews this remarkable fact, that he was tender to such of their prejudices as leaned to virtue's side, but showed no respect for those that were opposed to righteousness and mercy.
15. The Pharisaic principle in the heart creates doubts in the understanding.
Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.
The mind is appealed to from the negative side, to question the truth of the divine origin of its enlightenment. But this temptation is met with the testimony of experience: He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Are not the facts sufficient to set the question at rest?
16. But if the fact cannot be denied, the character of him who performed the work may be called in question.
Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath-day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?
And there was a division among them. Singularly clear is the distinction between the true and the formal member of the church. The formalist entirely overlooks the beneficence of the miracle, and condemns it as sinful because performed on the Sabbath clay; the true man justly regards the miracle itself as a convincing proof that he who performed it could not be a sinner. This division among the Pharisees suggests a practical reflection. So far as we regard the Lord and his works from the apparent truths of the Word, we have an unworthy view of both; it is only as we regard them from its genuine truths that we see them in their true character.
17, 18. Divided among themselves respecting the character of Jesus, the Pharisees appeal to the man himself,
What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes?
Possibly those on the negative side only wished to see whether he would confess Jesus to be the Christ or not, that they might retain or excommunicate him. And this was perhaps the reason that the man did not express his belief in Jesus as the Messiah, but only as a prophet. But the spiritual sense teaches another lesson. The Pharisees are those whom unbelief has blinded, the man represents those who through faith have come to see. The Lord is the author and the supreme Object of faith. Being so, he is the Rock on which the faithful build, and on which the unfaithful fall and are broken. The treatment which Jesus received at the hands of men was an exhibition of the treatment of his divine truth in all ages. Unbelievers try to extinguish faith in others. They neither believe in the Lord nor believe those who do. We see this manifested throughout in the conduct of the unbelieving Jews. The present is an instance. When the man declared that he regarded Jesus as a prophet, which means the acknowledgment of his divine truth in doctrine, the Jews not only denied the truth of his opinion, but denied the fact of his having ever been blind. They
did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight.
Does not the natural man still act in this way? He does not believe that man is naturally blind, and remains so till the Lord opens his eyes, but that he is naturally as able to understand spiritual as natural truth. The only reason, as he thinks, that he does not understand or believe them, is that they are neither deserving of study nor worthy of credit. It is but another phase of this negative state that some regard truth, not as an object of intelligent belief but of blind faith,a faith that looks backwards to tradition and authority, not forward to reason and experience. The Jews would not believe that the man was born blind until they called his parents. The parents of the blind are the man's hereditary nature, which in itself is in darkness respecting the things of heaven and eternal life.
19. The Jews asked his parents,
Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?
20, 21. His parents answered them, and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: but by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not; he is of age, ask him; he shall speak for himself.
The natural man knows his own offspring, and can testify to its hereditary condition; but the means and power of its restoration he knows not. He knows, however, that the rational, when it has attained maturity and become independent of the natural, can testify of itself.
22, 23. These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, He is of age, ask him.
Thus the natural principle is prevented from uniting its testimony with that of the rational by evils that obtrude themselves into the natural mind, and threaten to separate acknowledged divine truth from the doctrine of the churchmeant by the Jews putting out of the synagogue all who confessed Jesus to be the Christ.
24. These opposing evils in the natural mind apply themselves directly to the rational, with a view of falsifying its testimony,
Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner
They did not ask him to give praise or glory to God for his restoration to sight, for they did not believe that he had been blind and been cured; they administered this form of words as a solemn injunction to him to confess that Jesus was, what they believed or affected to believe him to be, a sinner. They knew "this man to be a sinner," and they wanted to extort from the beggar a confession that would confirm this point, which they had settled in their own minds.
25. The man, in answer to this demand, placed his knowledge by the side of their assertion, leaving them to draw the conclusion.
Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.
This was an excellent answer, and it teaches an excellent lesson. The experimental knowledge, that we have been brought out of darkness into marvellous light, is an unanswerable refutation of all objections against the power of working the miracle, or the reality of the miracle itself, of opening our eyes. Let my soul know this, and all the cavils of unbelievers are, so far as respects me practically, at an end; and this argument is equally efficacious against all such suggestions arising from unbelief in my own naturally depraved heart.
26. But there is still another ground of outward or inward assault against the truth. The previous objection related to the power, there is another which relates to the means. They demand again,
What did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes?
This in itself was a natural inquiry. As already remarked, our rational nature prompts us to inquire into the causes of things. We are not content to know that a thing has been done or has happened; we wish to know how, and often ask the question at strangely unseasonable times, and when the information can be of no practical avail. But the Jews, besides having a sinister object in view, had asked the question before. They, like many other negative men, return to the attack on the very ground they had taken before, and lost. So, evil in our own hearts recurs again and again to the same point, in the hope of ultimate success.
27. The man answered their question,
I have told you already, and ye did not hear.
The former answer produced no conviction. Wherefore, would ye hear it again? And as if they could only be expected to ask an already answered question, that they might reconsider their decision, he asks them in return, Will ye also be his disciples? "Ye did not hear." How can those hear who have not ears to hear? This is the ground of just accusation. Evil has no ears for truth; and when it demands the explanation or reason again, the true answer is, Wherefore? what is your purpose in asking? Would you be his disciple? But the Jews here do not represent the openly wicked and unbelieving, for these have no concern about such questions; they represent those unrighteous and narrow-minded professors, who see no further than their creed, and who would sacrifice truth and virtue at the shrine of sectarianism. Christ, as the truth, must conform to their notions and ends, not they to his principles and practice.
28. How ready are these blind worshippers of use and wont to fall back upon established forms and authority, and to banter those who adopt and adhere to anything that seems to encroach upon what has the mould of antiquity upon it.
Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.
We know that they could not be disciples of Moses and enemies of him of whom Moses wrote. But we may he disciples of the letter of the Word, which is Moses, and yet be at enmity with its spirit, which is Christ. The letter killeth, unless held in connection with the spirit, which giveth life. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4).
29. The Jews give, it is true, a reason for their belief in Moses, and their unbelief in Jesus.
We know that God spoke unto Moses: as for this man, we know not from whence he is.
They knew that God spake unto Moses, because many generations of their fathers had shown them the example. It is easy to believe in what others have believed, and what it has become the custom and an honour and advantage to believe. The case greatly changes when anything demands our faith that has none of these recommendations. But after all, it is a question how far disbelievers in the new truth are believers in the old. In this case, the new had always been contained in the old, and was now brought forth from it. "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me" (John v. 46). Besides, the Jews might have known that God had spoken to Jesus as well as to Moses. But the real test is internal. God must speak with Moses and with Christ in our own hearts and minds. And in us he may speak with Moses and not with Christ. For Moses, as natural truth, dwells in the natural mind, and Christ, as spiritual truth, dwells in the spiritual mind. And God, as the living and the true, can only speak to that which we possess and acknowledge. And how many acknowledge natural truth outwardly, who know not whence spiritual truth is?
30. Yet how inconsistent is this conduct.
Herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
If the tree is known by its fruit, Jesus may be known by his works; and their origin may be known by their nature. The "whence" is expressive of good as the origin of truth. That truth is derived from good we know by the beneficent results of its operation. Among these is the opening of the understanding. Christianity has opened the eyes of many nations; it has brought them out of spiritual and natural ignorance into the knowledge of heaven and the world, for religion and science go hand in hand. And yet some, like the Jews, refuse to acknowledge whence it is.
31. The poor beggar seems to have known no better than that Jesus was a holy man, who had done this miracle by a divine power imparted to him. And on this simple ground he reasons justly.
We know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
32. The work which the Lord had wrought was no ordinary one.
Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
Great as this truth is literally, it is still more so spiritually. Man's being born mentally and spiritually blind is a consequence of the fall. Had man remained in his integrity, he would, like the inferior creatures, have been born into all knowledge which his nature and necessity required. Being now born blind, no one since the world began has ever been spiritually delivered from his blindness. The Lord Jesus was the first, and the only one, who opened the eyes of any of the sons of Adam who were born blind; as he was the only one who raised the spiritually dead to life. This poor man was typically the first-fruits of the Lord's work of restoring sight to the spiritually blind. No power but his could do this great miracle.
33. The beggar continued,
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
A greater truth than this speaker understood lies concealed in his words. Unless Jesus had been divine as well as human, he could have done no work of restoration such as that symbolized by the work he performed on the blind man. He could have done nothing for the salvation of the human race, who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.
34. To the unanswerable argument of the poor man, the Pharisees gave the reply of men who are unable to deny the truth, and yet are determined not to believe it.
Thou wast altogether born in sins: and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
The accusation may be supposed to express the prevailing opinion, which even the disciples themselves as yet held, that the man's blindness had been the result of the special sins of his parents, or of his own. The Pharisees judged of truth by the authority of the teacher. How much in all ages has this same spirit prevailed, and this same rule been followed by the timeserving in the church. And how much influence do the same spirit and rule exert over all of us. Passion, prejudice, and self-interest, more or less, warp our judgment. And too often do we resist the fact, the thought, the testimony, that comes against what we ourselves profess.
35. Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
When we read of Jesus hearing what, by his omniscience he previously knew, we are to understand it in reference to the Lord in us, indicating a perception from him in the mind which is in connection with him and subject to him. This perception is in the interior of the mind, and conies through the will, into which what is heard more directly enters. The Lord afterwards found the man he had cured, which implies that this perception found its object, and operated upon it so as to produce in it a corresponding perception and reciprocal action. The Lord asks of the man, Dost thou believe on the Son 'of God? Important question. The Lord is called the Son of man as to the Word, the Son of God as to the Divine Humanity. To acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God is to acknowledge the Lord's humanity to be divine. Through belief in him as the Son of man, the Lord produces belief in him as the Son of man. This higher belief is the fruit of the regeneration which all lower means conspire to begin and carry forward. Belief in the Son of God is the rock on which the Lord builds his church, against which no power can prevail; for a living faith in the Lord's glorified humanity implies that humanity has been glorified in us.
36. To the Lord's question, "Dost thou believe in the Son of God?" the man answered
Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
The man had not before seen, and therefore did not know, his Benefactor. He had heard him by the hearing of the ear, but now his eyes saw him. In this we see the distinction between hearing and sight exemplified. Hearing, we have remarked, is a sense that communicates more directly with the will; sight with the understanding. Sight gives completeness and distinction to perception. A truth may be felt to be true, but it needs also to be seen to be true, before it conies under the full intuition or perception of the mind. So is it in respect to the Lord as an object of perception. We must not only hear his voice but see his shape. The beggar knew that a man called Jesus had opened his eyes; but he knew him not as the Son of God. That higher truth he was now prepared to accept, and only required to be directed to the Lord, to whom the title belonged. The principle of faith already existed in his mind, and was ready to be fixed on its true object, when declared and manifested to him.
37. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
Hearing and sight, which had succeeded each other, now met together. He who had said "Go wash in the pool of Siloam," now stood before him as the Son of Godas Jehovah manifested in human nature, claiming belief as his Saviour.
38. How ready and earnest was his response.
He said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
But here we have to consider the spiritual origin of this acknowledgment. It is the offspring of experience. The soul knows its own plague and sorrow; and deliverance from its evils and its ignorance open the mind to the perception and the acknowledgment of its Deliverer and Saviour. And this leads to worship. The reverence paid on this occasion may not have had much of the character of spiritual worship: but it was enough to represent it. Those who receive from the Lord that much greater blessing, the opening the eyes of the spirit, and the ability to see the light of heavenly truth, are able and should be willing to offer a correspondingly higher worship, the worship of love and faith, addressed to the Lord as God over all, and also to render him the worship of a loving heart in an obedient life.
39. The lesson which the Lord deduced from the two opposite manifestations of human character, in the relation which occupies the greater part of this chapter, is solemn and instructive.
For judgment I am come into this world; that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind.
It is very evident that the Lord here refers solely to intellectual blindness and sight, showing that in his divine thought the blind man was a representative of the intellectually blind, and that the persecuting Jews were representatives of those who have intellectual sight, but abuse that divine gift. The Lord's coming had both the purpose and the effect of leading the simple-minded into the truth, and hiding it from the wise and prudent. Those who see only from themselves see only for themselves; and the more they see, the more they pervert the truth to their own aggrandisement and exaltation. Those, on the other hand, who see not, but desire to see, that they may do, are led of the Lord, and follow him. Judgment is one of the divine works connected with every coming of the Lord. The separation of the evil and the good in the spiritual world has its corresponding effects in the church, and in the minds of the regenerate individually. Discrimination and separation between evil and good, falsehood and truth, is the work of judgment. We shall see the beneficent purpose of this in the Lord's concluding words to the Pharisees.
40. Some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
These men understood the nature of the blindness of which the Lord spice. But they seem to have taken offence at the supposed implication that they were among the blind, who needed to have their eyes opened. The "blind Pharisee" supposes himself to be the most clear-sighted. Cunning always imagines itself to be wisdom; falsehood claims to be truth.
41. Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
Sin is the transgression of the law. "Where no law is, there is no transgression." What amounts to the same, where there is no knowledge of law there is no transgression. And this is indeed the true state of the case with regard to the divine law. That law, though eternal and immutable, exists to us only when we know it. Ignorance, which exists in its absolute state only in infancy, is sinless. Comparative ignorance gives comparative immunity from blame. True and consolatory it is, that "if ye were blind ye would have no sin." The blind know something of their want of sight, and do not boast of seeing. Those who say they see are not less blind, but theirs is the guilty blindness of self-conceit. They, seeing, see not, neither understand. They have science, but no wisdom. They see the faults of others, but are blind to their own. They have the knowledge that would enable them to see their own sins if they were willing to see them. And having this knowledge of sin, their sin remaineth, for they make no effort to remove it by repentance and self-denial.
CHAPTER X.
This is not a new discourse, but a continuation of that recorded in the last chapter. The connection is evident in the literal sense. The Lord contrasts himself, as the Good Shepherd, with the Jewish teachers, as evil shepherds. No more beautiful description of the true and the false pastor could be given than that presented in the parable of the good shepherd. Still more intimate the connection, still more beautiful the description, in the internal sense, where its truths are seen in their universal application.
1, 2. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
2. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
In the supreme sense the shepherd is the Lord. In the secondary sense he is the faithful pastor. In the spiritual sense he is the faithful Christian. Sheep, in the abstract sense, are the graces of love and charity; and every one is a spiritual shepherd who cherishes these graces in his heart and cultivates them in his life. He, in imitation of his Lord, carries the lambs in his bosom, and gently leads those who are with young, or give suck. The fold itself is in his own warm heart, fenced about with truths in a careful and enlightened understanding. The door by which he enters is his rational faculty, and is the acknowledgment, in the understanding from the heart, that the Lord is his shepherd, and that through him and in him there is life and safety.
3. To him the porter openeth.
This is not to be considered merely as a figure introduced to complete or adorn the parable. In the Word every thing is significant and significative. Who then, and what, is this porter? The shepherd and the porter are distinguished from each other as love and wisdom. Wisdom is the guardian of what love cherishes as a treasure.
4. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them.
The ancient custom of shepherds leading their flocks, not driving them, affords a beautiful symbol of the conduct of the Divine, and of every spiritual shepherd. The faithful pastor reproves as well as instructs, but in both he goes before his flock, leading them by his example. The shepherd's going before his sheep implies also their intelligence to follow him, as it is said they do; and the reason is given, that they know his voice.
5. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers.
As the shepherd is one who appeals to his flock by truths grounded in good, the stranger is one who appeals to them by falsity grounded in evil. The sheep, therefore, will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.
6. This parable spake Jesus unto them; but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
The Lord's parables were framed for the use of those who were without, and were commonly understood, as they were intended to be understood, by those to whom they were addressed. The Jews in general, and the Pharisees in particular, who heard this parable, did not understand it to represent that the faculty of perceiving truth was now so far destroyed in the Jewish church, that it was incapable of seeing the things that belonged to its peace. The Jews saw not the application of this parable to themselves. They knew the subject described, but they understood not the things as having reference to them or their teachers, or to Jesus himself.
7. The Lord, therefore, proceeds, contrary to his usual custom, to explain to them the meaning of the parable in its immediate reference to himself and them.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
Did they understand this explanation? The question for us is, Do we understand it? The Lord is the door as to his Divine Humanity. This is the great medium, brought in to unite in one all things that had been divided and rent asunder by evil introduced through the fall. Thus had been broken off the communication between heaven and the world, and between God and man. The Lord's divine humanity became the door, through which God had access to man and man to God; and as a consequence, all the channels of life and blessing were opened up through it anew. The Lord is thus the door of the sheep. Through him there is admission into the church, on earth and in heaven, and security against evil.
8. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers.
This statement has been felt hard to be understood. It cannot mean that all pastors that preceded him were wicked, nor is it considered to relate to false Christs, none claiming that character having appeared before the Lord's advent.
9. The Lord again declares, I am the door; but he repeats this truth to teach the use and benefit which we may derive from him as a medium.
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Salvation is through the Divine Humanity of the Lord. And he is the Saviour, because, having glorified himself; he is able to regenerate us. To enter through him is to pass through all states corresponding to those which he passed through. We can only 'be saved by being regenerated, and we can only be regenerated-as the Lord was glorified. Those who are saved shall go in and out. To go in is to enter into states of love and charity, and to go out is to proceed from those inward states to outward acts of holiness and piety, The pastures which such find are the good and truth which recreate and sustain the soul, and which are received by those who acknowledge the Lord.
10. A contrast is now drawn between the true and the false shepherd.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
The evil of merit is specifically meant by the thief. But evil and falsity of every kind are of the same character; they come not, but for to steal, and kill, and destroy, that is, to alienate from the mind all good and truth, and to kill with evil and destroy with falsity. But the Lord, with his good and truth, comes to the soul, to give it life, that is, the life of love and faith, and to give it abundantly. Specifically, love is life, and the life of love in the will reproduces itself by truths in the understanding, which is meant by life abounding.
11. The Lord had spoken of himself as the door, through which the shepherd enters; he now calls himself the shepherd, and not only the shepherd, but the good shepherd. The character here assumed by the Lord is one of the most prominent of those applied to Jehovah in the Old Testament; and, like many other titles and names, shows the identity of Jehovah and Jesus. Spiritually, the Lord is our shepherd as to his divine love, as he is the door as to his divine truth; or, what amounts to the same, he is the shepherd as to his divinity and the door as to his humanity. His Divinity enters into our minds through his humanity; his love enters through his truth.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
What is called life is more properly soul. In a more external sense, the soul which the Lord laid down was that which in Gethsemane was exceedingly sorrowful even unto death, and which died upon the cross. Of the two terms which are translated life in the New Testament, one signifies the life of the internal man and the other the life of the external, or, what is the same, one the life of love and the other the life of truth. The Lord was tempted, and suffered, and died as to his external man, the life of which he laid down; the life of his internal man was above temptation and all its concomitants. The external man is the seat of hereditary evil, and the truth which is first therein is obscured by appearances and fallacies. These the Lord laid down. But he laid down his life (his soul) that he might take it again. And when, by temptation, the last of which was the passion of the cross, the Lord put off all hereditary evil and all appearances of truth, through which he had been tempted, he took up the life of the external man and the life of truth in their perfection and power. And this new soul, which in the Lord is a quickening spirit, he gives to man; that as he lives they may live also.
12. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
A hireling is not one who receives hire for his work, but who works for the sake of hire, and whose only interest in his labour is its profit. A hireling is one whose own the sheep are not. Spiritually, he is one who has no charity and faith of his own. He has them, but does not possess them. One of the characteristics of the real shepherd is, that he defends the sheep, even at the expense of his own life. The hireling does not lay down his life for the sheep. His love for charity and faith are not strong enough to make him give up self and the world for their sake. He flees at the very approach of danger. He offers no resistance to evil. When "he seeth the wolf coming, he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth."
13. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
It is of the very nature of a hireling to flee from danger. Those who place merit in righteousness have neither the motive nor the power to stand against temptation. When the lusts of evil and falsity break forth like the evening wolf, seeking to devour, and there is no real affection for goodness, no real resistance will be offered.
14. The Lord again says of himself,
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
This reciprocal knowledge of the Lord and his people had been alluded to in the sheep knowing the shepherd's voice; here their knowledge of him is more complete; and such reciprocation produces that completeness of conjunction which is expressed by the Lord being in his disciples and his disciples in him.
15. This conjunction between the Lord and man is the effect and the pattern of union between the Lord and the Father.
As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
From the reciprocal knowledge of him and of his people, the Lord turns to the reciprocal knowledge of himself and the Father. The cases are more than analogous, they are related to each other as cause and effect. The Lord asserts his perfect equality with the Father, which he so often and emphatically teaches. In the present instance, equal knowledge of each other is the mode of expressing equal infinity, for such knowledge must be infinite. And this infinite knowledge implies infinite union and oneness. The union of the divine and the human in the person of the Lord is the origin and exemplar of union between him and his children. And this union of the divine and the human was effected by the human laying down its life for the sheep. The Lord's love for the human race, his desire for their salvation, was that from which he fought against all the powers of evil and darkness, and which made him lay down the life of his hereditary or maternal humanity. In this the good shepherd is distinguished from the hireling; the hireling does not lay down his life for the sheep.
16. But the Lord laid down his life for others besides those he calls his own.
And other sheep have I, which are not of this fold: them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
In the proximate sense, the sheep whom the Lord calls his own, are the good who belong to his visible church, where the Word is; and the other sheep, which are not of this fold, are those scattered throughout the world, who live in mutual charity according to the religious light they possess. These are also the Lord's sheep, whom he shall bring into his sheepfold, and take under his pastoral care. In a more interior sense, or higher application, the two flocks are those who constitute the two kingdoms of the Lord, the celestial and the spiritual; and the ingathering of the other sheep, which were not of the celestial fold, relates to the salvation of the spiritual, which was especially effected by the coming of the Lord. And not only does the Lord's declaration point to a prospective result of his Incarnation in the natural world, but to an immediate effect which was to flow from it in the spiritual world. As this is a subject of great interest and importance, as exhibiting the grandeur and beneficence of the work of Redemption, in its immediate though unseen results in the eternal world, it may be well to consider it with some degree of minuteness.
The whole heaven is distinguished into three heavens, and into two kingdoms. This distinction did not exist actually, though it existed potentially, before the coming of the Lord. "At that time the spiritual kingdom was not distinct from the celestial kingdom, as after the Lord's coming, but was one with the celestial, though only its external." Heaven, as it then existed, necessarily resembled the man of the most ancient church, from which it had been essentially derived. In the men of that church the understanding was not distinct from the will, as in the men of the succeeding church, but was one with the will, through its external. The celestial and spiritual kingdoms, which are the will and the understanding of the grand man, were thus circumstanced as they had been in individual or least man.
When the Adamic or most ancient church was consummated, and the Noetic or ancient church commenced, a miraculous change was effected in the condition of the human mind. The understanding was so far separated or discriminated from the will as to be able to act distinctly, and no longer as the unresisting instrument and echo of the voluntary faculty. No corresponding change was, however, then effected in the condition or form of heaven. The reason of this was, that no separate heaven or distinct kingdom could be formed of those who belonged to the spiritual church, till after the Lord had come into the world, and accomplished the works of redemption and glorification.
Those whom the Lord raised up and formed into the new spiritual kingdom, were the other sheep the Lord had, which he was to bring, which should hear his voice, and should combine with his own sheep to form one fold, under one Shepherd.
17. The Lord now speaks of the means by which his flock were to be gathered into one.
Therefore doth my Rather love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it up again.
We are not to look at this from a natural point of view. A human father may love his son more or less as he is more or less obedient. The Divine Father does not love thus. He loves more or less as his love is more or less received. The Father's love in the Son could be increased, but the Father's love for the Son could not.
18. Of his life the Lord says,
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
His was a voluntary sacrifice, a free-will offering. He gave himself for us. What love does this bespeak on his part! What gratitude does it demand on ours! Do we sufficiently reflect on the great truth which the Lord declares in these divine words? Of the extent and intensity of his sufferings we can form no adequate conception. He had to contend for our redemption against the whole powers of darkness in the other world, and of evil in this. And yet, while he suffered as never man suffered, he possessed the power by which he could have destroyed his enemies. These words express another truth, relating to the Lord's redemption. He carried on the conflict of temptation by his own inherent power. He was, so to speak, left to carry on this conflict alone. He was not indeed alone, for the Father was with him. But his human consciousness was alone in his states of humiliation. He then felt as a man and acted as a man. So distinct and separate was his human consciousness, that, in the hour of his greatest trial, it appeared to him as if the divinity were absent, and had forsaken him. All this was necessary. Redemption, and the union of his divinity and humanity, could not have been accomplished, unless the Lord had acted of himself from the depths of his human consciousness. The Lord as a man was in absolute freedom; he was free to lay down his life; and he laid it down of himself. Yet the divinity was not excluded from the Lord's human freedom. In laying down his life, he obeyed a commandment he received from his Father. The humanity submitted to the will and complied with the requirements of the divinity. Not that Jesus acted in obedience to a formal command, but in agreement with a dictate of his indwelling divinity.
19-21. When the Lord had spoken these divine words, full of mercy as of wisdom,
There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil: can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
The people had been divided on account of his doings in respect to the blind man; and now they are divided on account of his sayings in regard to himself. The words as well as the works of the Lord tend to division. He came not to send peace on earth, but a sword, the sword of the Spirit, which divides between the evil and the good, the faithful and the unfaithful in the church, and between evil and good, and truth and error, in the individual mind. For this kind of judgment the Lord came into the world. Only by the separation of opposites can the church he restored and man be regenerated. This separation is the introduction of order. When things opposite in character range themselves on opposite sides, the principles of goodness and truth are brought into a heavenly form, as the means by which the opposite principles of evil and falsity are resisted and overcome. Those which range themselves on the evil side are they which say, "He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?" They invert divine order, calling goodness demoniacal, and wisdom madness. And this they do that they may close the will against the admission of the Lord's love. On the other hand, those which range themselves on the side of goodness, have a perception that truth cannot proceed from evil; and that evil cannot open the understanding to perceive the truth. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? There is a wisdom which comes from the tree of knowledge, as well as a wisdom that comes from the tree of life. But how different are they in their character and results. One is sensual, the other is spiritual. By their fruits ye shall know them.
22. And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
This feast commemorated the purification and consecration of the temple by costly sacrifices, after it had been profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes. The date of that event prevents its being mentioned in any of the canonical books of the Old Testament; but the introduction of it by inspired writers into the New, gives the present reference to the commemorative feast a divine significance. The Lord himself was now about to complete the purification of the temple of his body by the grand sacrifice of himself, and to consecrate it, glorified to the service of the indwelling Deity.
23. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
Those who look no deeper than the letter tell us that Jesus walked in the porch of the temple to seek shelter from the inclemency of the weather. He had a higher purpose, and his act has a deeper meaning. This act had symbolic reference to the temple of his body, personal and mystical. The Lord stood, as it were, on the threshold of his glorification. He walked in the porch of that magnificent temple in which the divinity was to dwell, and according to the pattern of which his temple, the church, was to be sanctified, so that he might dwell with men, and be their God, and they his people. Solomon was an eminent representative of the Lord in his glory, that is, in his glorified humanity; and this porch, named from him, is expressive of the Lord's state, and the state of those with whom he there conversed.
24, 25. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
It is remarkable that those who are little disposed to believe ask for some positive assurancesome one thing that shall convince them of some other and entirely different thing. The teaching and works of Jesus were much better testimony than his solemn asseveration. So he refuses to yield to their demand, and appeals to the works that he did in his Father's name, as bearing witness of him. He had indeed told them before, and they believed not. Although this telling is not recorded, they must have received the information. But if they knew that he professed or claimed to be the Christ, why should they ask for a formal assurance that he was? If they believed not his works, would they have believed his word? He did his works in the Father's name; that is, in the spirit and power of the divine nature. His were the works of omnipotence and love, showing forth the attributes of the divinity that dwelt within him. What better evidence could men receive that he was indeed the Messiah?
26. Their unbelief had another cause. It did not arise from want of evidence, but from want of the disposition to admit it.
Ye believe not; because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
We have seen that the Lord's sheep are they who are in love and charity. Not any chosen number are meant, to whom is given the gift of faith, but all who have the will to believe. This will is not indeed of man, but of the Lord, and he gives it to all who do not refuse it. Those who receive it are his sheep. The love of truth, which forms the foundation of faith, is from him. The cause of reception and rejection lies deeply seated in man's free will, beyond another's ken, as beyond his control.
27, 28. The Lord repeats his words,
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
and then proceeds,
And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Here we see that men may be his sheep, and yet require eternal life through the Lord's work of salvation. Those who are in the good of charity are the Lord's sheep, but good without truth is natural; truth makes it spiritual, for truth directs it to a Divine object and to eternal ends, and thus gives to it eternal life. And when the good in man is thus enriched and confirmed by truth, it shall never perish, neither shall any pluck it out of the Lord's hand. Those whose charity is united to faith, or whose good is united to truth, are safe in the Lord's divine hand, which is his omnipotence. And that which is specifically meant is the omnipotence of his divine humanity, or of his divine truth. Those who are sincere in their charity, however simple and unenlightened they may be, are received into heaven, as the Lord's sheepfold, when they enter the eternal world. They cannot, indeed, pass into heaven as angels, until their charity has been united to faith; but as all who are in good eagerly receive truth in the other life, they only remain in the middle state till they have entered into the marriage of charity and faith, when they enter, as a natural result, into heaven.
29. And not only are they in and under the protection of his divine Truth, but also of his divinity or Love.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
In the "all" the Lord includes himself, for he had said, "The Father is greater than I." How greater, if both are divine? Divine is greater than human, love is greater than wisdom, good is greater than truth, because one is the essence and the other the form; one is the producer, the other the produced. In this sense it is the Father is greater than the Sonthan. all. For this reason none is able to pluck them out of his Father's hand. But this does not arise from the Father being greater or more powerful than the Son, as they are in themselves, but as they are in us.
30. But although the attributes, or rather essentials, of love and wisdom in the Lord are distinct, they are yet one and inseparable.
I and the Father are one.
Whether we speak of divinity and humanity, or of love and wisdom, in the Lord, unity is equally to be understood as necessarily belonging to them. We need not enter into the doctrinal idea, so as to present it under a controversial aspect. The unity of the Godhead must be a real unity. Two persons and one God present indeed the real idea of two, but not the real idea of one.
31. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
We find in a future verse the reason of this meditated violence. We only remark here on its spiritual sense. The more exalted a truth is, and the more plainly it is declared to those who are in a negative spirit, the more violent is their hatred and opposition to it. This taking up stones to stone Jesus, symbolized an act of those who are spiritually opposed to the Lord's truth. Stones signify falsities; and their taking them up signifies the raising of falsities out of the memory into the intellect, and thence holding them in readiness to destroy with them, if possible, the hated truth. It is remarkable that the infuriated Jews never actually stoned Jesus, even when they seized the stones with the intention of doing so. They were overawed by his calm and commanding presence, and restrained by his divine influence. We can hardly imagine more power than that exercised by the Lord over the Jews on these occasions. There is no intimation and no indication of fear, no shrinking in the presence of an infuriated people, burning with intense religious zeal to avenge what they regarded as an outrage on their faith. This power over his enemies must have been greatly increased by the words he addressed to them, and his manner in doing so.
32. Jesus answered them,
Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
he Lord had done many good works; and even his enemies could not convict him of having done an evil one. For which of those beneficent works did they intend to stone him? This question may still be asked of those who take up the weapons of falsehood to destroy the truth, which they hate but cannot gainsay. The Lord appeals to the good he had done from his Father, the very character of which evinced that they were done by divine power, and beneficent as well as divine. They were done from infinite love, this being indicated by the Lord's declaration that they originated with his Father.
33. The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
It has been often and well remarked, that these Jewish students of the Old Testament understood the Lord's claim of unity with the Father to have been equivalent to his claiming to be God. It shows, however, that while they understood him as claiming to be God, they believed him to be no more than man. Neither his works nor his teaching had impressed them with the idea that he had any claim to divinity. They considered him guilty of blasphemy in speaking of oneness with God. Yet they themselves were guilty of this sin, for they blasphemed the truth in turning the words of Jesus into falsehood. And this is still the cause of offence to the natural man, that "thou, being a man, makest thyself God." Not simply the divinity of the Lord, but the divinity of his humanity, which the Lord's claim implies, is the great stumbling stone and rock of offence to the natural mind. This is the truth that the natural man denies and falsifies, and would willingly extinguish. It is, in his estimation, blasphemy for the Lord to say he is the Son of God. To say this is the same as to assert that his humanity is divine. For the Lord was the Son of God as to his humanity; and he was the Son of God, not only as born of Mary, when he came into the world, but especially as born of God, when he went out of the world. This birth was glorification, and to glorify is to make divine.
34-36. To the accusation that, in claiming to be the Son of God, the Lord made himself God, he
answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the rather hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
The Lord condemns them by their own law. If those to whom the word of God came were thence called gods, Jesus, whom God had sanctified and sent into the world, could not blaspheme in calling himself the Son of God. The passage in the "law" referred to is in the 82d Psalm, "I have said, Ye are gods." The reason of this application of the Divine name to men is to be found in its spiritual meaning.
37. If the Jews would not believe the word of Jesus, they might have believed his works.
If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
Without entering into the dogmatic view, we may observe that, spiritually, there is a difference between the works of the Father and those of the Son. Those which are called his Father's works are works in which the Divine love and mercy are more especially manifested; those which are called the Son's works, are works in which the divine wisdom and truth are more especially manifested. In one sense all the Lord's works are works of the Father, because, as he explains, the Father that dwelt in him did the works.
38. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works; that ye may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Every one knows with certainty a good work, but every one does not with equal certainty know a true word. The heart is a still better judge than the understanding; and the Lord appeals from the intellect to the heart. "If ye believe not me, believe the works." Those which the Lord did spoke for themselves. "No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." But the Lord appealed to his works, as evidences that the Father was in him, and also that he was in the Father. How could any one behold the stupendous and beneficent works which Jesus performed, and yet refuse to believe that they proceeded from an indwelling divinity? But there are other works besides those outward works. Those which carry conviction with them, are the works which are done in the heart itself: The works that change the heart are the Father's works, and they produce belief in the Son, and in the union of the Divine and Human, and of Divine good and Divine truth in the Lord the Saviour.
39. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand.
Those who are not the subjects of the works of love, so far are they from being converted to belief in the words of truth, that they are exasperated against them, and seek even to destroy them. The unbelieving still seek to lay hold on Jesus. The evil are desirous to subject truth to their own power. But the Lord provides against this, by removing the truth from their presence, and thus from their power; it escapes out of their hand. This is another of his miraculous escapes. There could have been, in the ease of Jesus, none of those stratagems or disguises by which, under similar circumstances, mere men escape from the power of numerous, exasperated, and eager enemies.
40. When Jesus escaped out of their hand,
he went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.
Jesus may be said to have sowed in the ground which John prepared. As john represented the letter of the Word, and Jesus was the Word itself, the Lord completed and perfected in himself and in his church all the states that had their beginning in John and in his work. Jesus goes away again beyond Jordan, to those without the church, and into the extremes, where the sphere of Divine Truth terminates, as it flows into the humanity and into the human mind, and thence begins to reascend to glorification and regeneration. "Beyond Jordan," is out of the holy land, but where there is entrance into it. "The place where John at first baptized," is the state in which the first purifying effect of repentance is experienced. But when Jesus comes and abides there, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire succeeds to that of water. The outward man has been purified by self-denial; the inward man is now imbued with the spirit of truth and love. The higher gift comes when the lower duty is faithfully performed. Jesus cometh after John.
41. And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
The people resorting to Jesus shows reciprocation. Reciprocation is salvation. It is not the Lord's coming to us that actually saves us; it is our coming to him. He is always coming to us, and is always drawing us, that we may come to him. Our being drawn, attracted, our comingthis is actual life. Those who thus came to him said, "John did no miracle." This absence of all miraculous testimony on the part of John has often been remarked. It shows that miracles are not the necessary credentials of a divine messenger. Rational evidence is that which belongs to a spiritual dispensation. Here is the true witness, the real test"all things that John spake of this man were true." To see the truth of all that the Scripture saith respecting Jesus as our Saviour is the grand point. To find him to be in us and to us all that the Scriptures have taught and promised, is more than all miracles and signs.
42. And many believed on him there.
Belief was the result of finding in Jesus all that John had said respecting him.
CHAPTER XI.
This chapter teaches some of the sublimest lessons contained in the gospel of our Lord and Saviour. It teaches, representatively as well as actually, that life and immortality were brought to light by the gospel. The resurrection of Lazarus from the dead represented the raising up of a church among the Gentiles; for all the miracles wrought by the Lord, as being divine, involved spiritual states of the church. But Lazarus may be considered as representing the Gentiles within the church; for Bethany was in Judea, and, as the home of the loving family of which Lazarus was a member, was a spiritual oasis in the desert of the Jewish church. In its personal application, it teaches the nature of the death in which all men are included, all being included under sin, and the means and the power of their resurrection.
1. The evangelist begins his narrative by saying,
'Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.'
The brother of Martha and Mary bears a name which means "whom God helps." The spiritual significance of the name may be inferred from the Lord's having used it in his beautiful parable of the rich man and the beggar. Dives there signifying the Jews, rich in possessing the revealed Word as the treasury of saving knowledge, and Lazarus signifying the Gentiles, poor in being destitute of that source of the true riches. The Gentile state of those, among whom the Lord was now about to establish his church, is further indicated by Lazarus being of the town of Bethany. The palm tree, which gave its name to this village, afterwards rendered so illustrious by the Lord's ascension from it into heaven, is the emblem of spiritual goodness. But Bethany was a village, and as such signifies the external things of faith and consequently of the church, cities signifying the internal things of the church, which are eminently meant by Jerusalem, not very remote from which Bethany was situated.
2. 'It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with, her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.'
This act of devotion to Jesus was not performed till after Lazarus was raised from the dead, and the pure love and profound humiliation which it signifies were the effect of this restoration to life.
3. The sisters in their affliction sent to Jesus, who was not then in Bethany. In tribulation the Lord appears absent, away from the soul, and distant in proportion to the severity of the trial. But the affliction which produces an appearance of the Lord's absence, causes the suffering soul to seek his presence. Therefore Mary and Martha sent unto Jesus, saying,
'Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick.'
A sense of the Lord's love in states of tribulation is the foundation of hope and the spirit of prayer. Precious is this sense of love in times of trial. But to have a sense of his love towards us his love must have a place in us. It is his love in our hearts that turns our affections and thoughts to him, to seek the salvation which he only possesses. We have an instance of this described in the first chapter of Revelation, in the beautiful language of correspondence. John heard a voice behind him, saying, I am Alpha and Omega; and when he turned to see the voice that spake with him, he saw the Son of man in the midst of seven golden candlesticks. The Lord's love flows into the will, and the influence of love on the will turns the understanding to him, to receive his wisdom.
4. It is almost unnecessary to say that Jesus knew of this sickness before he heard the message of Martha and Mary. Spiritually, the Lord hears our prayers, when our expressed desires are in accordance with his will. There is no direct petition in the sisters' message, but one is implied; for their object in sending to Jesus was to receive his aid:
'When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.'
The Lord expresses himself in language similar to that which he used relative to the man who was born blind. The sickness, he says, is not unto death, yet Lazarus died. He meant that it was not unto permanent death. It was only unto a death that should result in life. The death of Lazarus was analogous to the death which the righteous die. They die to sin, but by so doing they live to righteousness.
5-7. The evangelist tells us that
'Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. When after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judea again.'
Delay may seem inconsistent with his love. It is one of the silent rebukes of his love. "Whom the Lord loves he rebukes and chastens." His love exposes us to rebuke and chastening. It is the Lord's love in us that rebukes our self-love, and the chastisement that we undergo is the result of the conflict between them. Those who have not the love of God in their hearts have nothing that rebukes or resists their evils. They have consequently no spiritual temptations (Ps. lxxiii. 5). But neither have they any spiritual triumphs. Although the Lord is a very present help in time of trouble, the tempted soul has no sense of his presence. Temptation is a time of tribulation and darkness, during which the Lord seems far away from the desolate heart. But he is there, though unfelt, and is active, though he seems to withhold his aid. Present in and acting through the hidden springs of spiritual love in the soul, he controls and overrules the conflict so as to make it end in the greatest possible good. The grand end of temptation is the conjunction of goodness and truth, first in the mind, then and thence in the life. This conjunction is signified by the number two. The Lord abode two days where he was, to represent that in states of temptation he abides, though remote from man's consciousness, in the interior of the mind, till he has effected the conjunction of good and truth there, that he may come and complete it in the exterior of the mind also. The Lord as the supreme good and truth, effects his entrance into the inferior region of the mind through the goods and truths of the Word. These are meant by his disciples, to whom he now proposes "to go into Judea again." He had left Judea on account of the violence of its people, and had gone to the place on the other side Jordan, where John at first baptized.
8. 'His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?'
This describes an inquiry suggested by the truths of the Word, which the disciples represent, whether falsities originating in evils, meant by the stones of the Jews, which had opposed the divine truth in the interior of the mind, were not still in hostile opposition to them, and whether the holy truth of the Lord would not be in danger of suffering violence.
9, 10. 'Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.'
The answer which the Lord now gives does not, in the literal sense, afford any clear meaning in relation to what goes before. Spiritually understood, the connection is clear. When the true church apprehends danger to the truth of good from the falses of evil, as the disciples apprehended danger to Jesus from the disposition of the Jews to stone him, then is the church instructed, that no danger is to be feared while men live according to the truth, meant by walking in the light. Independently of its connection, the Lord here teaches an instructive lesson by beautiful and expressive imagery. The day and the night, the light and the darkness, are, as every one can see, expressive of the two opposite states of knowledge and ignorance, and of truth and error. Every one can see also that ignorance and error cause us to stumble, and that knowledge and truth enable us to walk securely. One of the great uses of truth is that it enables us to know and see the way that leads to goodness and heaven, and to walk with certainty and safety in it. The Lord asks, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" The day of probation is long enough to enable us to prepare for heaven. Yet the regenerate life is not attained by one act or in a moment of time, but is perfected by successive states, attained by means of truth. The successive states do not consist in advancing degrees of the knowledge of truth, although these are necessary degrees of the life of truth. We must not only have the light, but must walk in it. And the light that guides us must be in us; for if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11. 'These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.'
In the literal sense death is here called sleep, but in the spiritual sense there is a distinction between them. As sleep is the suspension, and death is the extinction, of sensible life, sleep represents a natural state of the intellect, and death a natural state of the will; for when naturalism invades the understanding, the functions of spiritual life are suspended, but when it invades the will, they perish. This distinction is seen in death itself, in which respiration of the lungs ceases before the pulsation of the heart; and the respiration of the lungs corresponds to the life of the understanding, and the pulsation of the heart to the life of the will. Spiritual death proceeds in the same order as natural death; first the life of the intellect ceases, then the life of the will. When intellectual life, or the life of truth ceases, man sleeps; when voluntary life, or the life of good ceases, he dies. This is the distinction meant by sleep and death in the Lord's words respecting Lazarus. And the same distinction is meant by the Lord's going to awaken Lazarus out of sleep, and raising him from the dead. The act indeed was one, but the life which he imparted was twofold, intellectual and voluntary, the life of good and of truth, of faith and of love.
12. When the Lord said Lazarus was asleep, the disciples answered,
'If he sleep, he shall do well.'
They thought not of the sleep of death, but of that which ministers to life and health, of that sleep which the Lord gives, and of which the living say, "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety" (Ps. iv. 8); the sleep into which unfallen Adam was cast, during which the hard intellectual selfhood was taken out of him, and built up into a living form of life and beauty. This recreative sleep existed on earth when as yet there was no death, as it exists in heaven, where they know not what death is. Spiritual like natural sleep is a state in which man is passive and God alone is active, in which the Divine life supplies the waste which human energy has expended, and restores the equilibrium which it has disturbed.
13. 'Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest in sleep.'
To those who die while they live, death is the extinction of their carnal life. The disciple of the Lord dies daily. Every act of self-denial is a dying to sin, and these daily acts lead to a full and final laying down of the life of the corrupt self-hood. Yet on the part of the self-hood this is not a voluntary act. Our Lord's own case affords the highest example of this. He laid down his life, no one took it from him; yet even he shrank from the last agony, and prayed that the cup might pass from him; his life also was taken by his enemies, and in them it was a wicked deed. The death of the selfhood is an agony, and is effected by the agency of evil spirits, who excite it into activity. Their purpose is the destruction of the whole man; but when the conflict is over, they find themselves only in possession of the body of sin; the soul of righteousness, which had lived in it, is safe in the hand of the Lord, who is the Conqueror of hell and of death.
14. 'Then Jesus said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.'
He announced the end of the conflict, even to the giving up of the life of the old man, though not yet to the taking up the life of the new. This is another act.
15. It is because even this kind of death is the gate of life, that the Lord said to his disciples,
'And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.'
The Lord is intimately present with the Christian in states of temptation, without whose power he would utterly fail; but he is present in the final ends and tranquil affections of the inner life, not in the tumult of conflicting passions in the outer man. We are ruled by our ends, and on these the result of temptation depends. If the Lord is in our ends of life, he is then in all the conflicts of life, working out a happy issue; but his presence is not perceived; he even seems to be far away. If his presence were perceived in times of tribulation, the temptation would be arrested, and the evil in which it originated would remain unsubdued. If the Lord's presence be perceived, there can be none of the tribulation of temptation. The presence of the one implies the absence of the other. The Lord is not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in the still small voice which is heard when all the noise and tumult of temptation is past (1 Kings xix. 11, 12). The children of the bridechamber cannot fast so long as the bridegroom is with them.
16. 'Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.'
Literally, this refers to the death of Jesus, which the disciples apprehended from the violence of the Jews (v. 8). Spiritually, willingness to die with Jesus is willingness to die his death, that we may obtain his resurrection. The apostle Paul speaks of us dying with Christ, that we may rise with him. This dying is proposed by Thomas. That apostle, who refused to believe in the Lord's resurrection till he had put his fingers into the prints of the nails, and thrust his hand into his side, represented sensuous faith, or, in reference to that which is believed, the truth which addresses, itself to the senses. What then do we learn from this proposal coming from Thomas? We learn that even the most external truths of the Word teach the necessity of following the Lord unto death; and that the most external faith necessarily includes it. And that which is included in the lowest truth is contained in and is the concurrent testimony of all truth, meant by Thomas saying unto his fellow-disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
17. 'Then, when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.'
18. 'Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.'
The history now turns from the dead to the living, and first to the place where they reside. Bethany already mentioned as the place of Martha and Mary, is now spoken of as to its distance from Jerusalem. Bethany being nigh to Jerusalem teaches us that the state of the Gentiles within the church was but little removed from that of the church itself. The relative state is more exactly described by the measured distance of the village from the city - about fifteen furlongs. Furlongs, like the ways measured by them, signify progression by successive stages from one state to another. The number fifteen derives its signification from its components, ten and five. Ten signifies remains, and five a little. Thus understood, the distance of Bethany from Jerusalem tells us that, even with those within the church who were in a Gentile or simple state, the "remains" of truth were so few that hardly anything of intellectual spiritual life existed. The spirit indeed was willing, but the flesh was weak, and even dead. Affection for good and truth remained in the inward man, but there was no corresponding living truth and good in the outward man. And when this is the case, man is practically dead; for spiritual life consists in the united and harmonious action of affection and thought, and of charity and faith. There is this, however, to be observed, that where there is inward affection, there is not only the capacity but the desire for new life; which is not the case when affection itself is dead.
19. Before Jesus arrived,
'many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.'
The Jews are those who belong to the church; abstractly, they are the principles of the church. The principles of the church, even when the church is in a perverted state, afford comfort and support to the affections in states of desolation. And even when the truths of the Word are perverted, the single-minded can see and receive them without the perversion. For truths are not perverted in themselves, but in human minds, and in their explanation and application of them; and in the simple who receive them without the subtle reasoning which falsifies them, find many that comfort them in their affliction, and that comfort them as the Jews comforted Martha and Mary, "concerning their brother." The brother of the affections of charity, which belong to the inner man, is the good of faith and charity in the outer man; and even in regard to this, the loving always find many truths which administer comfort and inspire hope.
20. But another and higher comforter was now approaching.
'Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.'
Hearing of the Lord's approach, Martha did not take time to inform her sister, but went at once to meet him. Comparatively external, the natural affection of truth receives the first notice of the Lord's approach, and first goes forth to meet him; the spiritual affection, which is more interior, remaining for a time unconscious and inactive in the will, which is its house, except that its influence extends to the lower faculty, which it aids in its perceptions and determinations.
21. 'Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.'
Whether we regard the death of Lazarus as representing the end of the church or the crisis of individual temptation, the presence of Jesus would prevent that death; but Jesus withheld his presence, because in each case there must be death that there may be life, an end that there may be a beginning.
22. 'But (continues Martha) I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.'
Martha evidently desired and looked to the restoration of her brother. Martha, it may be supposed, had at this time no very just idea of the divinity of the Lord, but she evidently thought him endowed with more than human power, or had power with God, otherwise she could not have thought that whatever he asked of God, even to the revival of her brother to life, would be granted to his prayers.
23. In answer to this expression of Martha's confidence in the Lord's ability to procure whatever he saw good to ask,
'Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.'
Spiritually understood, this is significative of a hope and belief, inspired by the Lord into the minds of the faithful after temptation, that its result will be the restoration to life of that which has died in the conflict, and that, according to the Lord's own promise, the life that is laid down shall be received again, so that every trial in which one is faithful unto death shall receive a crown of life.
24. On receiving this assurance,
'Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.'
Naturally considered, this affords an instructive instance of the form which divine truth takes in the minds of men, according to the particular notion they happen to entertain on any subject of religious belief. When the Lord spoke of the resurrection, Martha understood his words in her own way, different from the meaning of him who uttered them. And so it is still in this and many other subjects of doctrine. God's truth is often very different in the human mind from what it is in the divine mind, and declared in the divine Word. When it enters the understanding, it is moulded by the preconceived notion or belief. On the subject of the resurrection, how much do the words of Scripture assume, in the minds of men, the form that the Lord's words took in the mind of Martha. The men of the church, when the rising from the dead is mentioned, very generally think as Martha spoke, that the dead will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. On the contrary, if the language of inspiration be allowed to express its own divine meaning, it will be found to teach, what our Lord intended to teach Martha, that the resurrection takes place now - immediately after the death of the body. In the present instance, indeed, the resurrection of Lazarus was but a natural and temporary restoration; but it was the symbol of the true resurrection, both from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness, and from the dead body into the eternal world.
25, 26. 'Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life.'
One of the greatest and most blessed of the truths revealed in the gospel is that which our Lord now announces, that he is the resurrection and the life. He is the resurrection, as the first begotten from the dead. To understand and see the force of this divine attribution, we must divest our minds of the idea that the Lord's was the first of a universal resurrection of bodies "at the last day of this world." Jesus, it is true, rose with his body; but his resurrection was identical with his glorification; and his glorification answers to our regeneration. That from which the Lord came to deliver us was spiritual death. He took upon himself human nature as it was degenerate and even dead; and he made it not only living but Life, not only perfect but Perfection. Natural death was not the fruit of sin. The Creator never intended to bestow natural immortality upon man. Man was made for another and higher state of existence. To this, natural death and the grave were the necessary passage. The body, once removed, can never be resumed; it can never rise from the dead. Far more stupendous was the Lord's resurrection, and far more beneficent its design, than to be the first-fruits of a resurrection of dead material bodies. By his divine work the Lord became the resurrection and the life, as the author of our resurrection from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. He indeed, raised up the body of Lazarus, but this was only a temporary, and a type of the true, resurrection. This is evident from the Lord's own words on this occasion. For when calling himself the resurrection and the life, he adds, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. Only of the spiritually dead could this be said. They only, being dead, can believe, and being alive, can never die. And well may the Lord demand of us, as he did of Martha, Believest thou this? This belief brings salvation, for it brings us into living connection with him who is to us the resurrection and the life; but what spiritual profit could there be in believing that, because Jesus rose from the grave, we shall rise likewise? No; it was to give life to our souls, not to our bodies, that the Lord became the first-begotten from the dead, the first-fruits of them that slept.
The subject requires little difference of treatment or application.
27. To the question of the Saviour, Believest thou this? Martha answers,
'Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.'
Whatever phases her faith had passed through respecting her brother's death and the Lord's power to restore him, her belief had now reached its culminating point, or at least it came out in all its fulness, as if she felt that everything that Jesus could be to her and her sister, or could demand of them, was included in this, that he was the Christ, the Son of God, that should come into the world. It has been remarked on this part of the narrative, that Martha shows some degree of vacillation, as if she hardly knew what to believe or hope. After temptation there is fluctuation, as, in ordinary circumstances, after a storm at sea, there is an agitation of the waters before they subside into repose. This state of fluctuation takes place between death and resurrection, and is the state here described. In this state there is an alternate looking backwards and forwards, as Martha looked back to her brother's death, as a catastrophe which might have been prevented, and then forward to, something that Jesus might still do for the sisters in their calamity, even to the restoring of Lazarus. There is also a fluctuation in the state of one's faith; but this is substantially at an end when the soul is able to end all reasonings and doubts, in the full assurance that he on whom we have to lean is the Christ, the Son of God, that should come into the world. The Lord is to us the Christ, when he is the divine Truth, that enlightens our darkness and dissipates our unbelief; he is the Son of God to us, when we not only see that he is the omnipotent Truth, but when we know that, as the eternal Truth, he proceeds from infinite Love, and that both are embodied in his divine humanity.
28. When the faith of Martha is thus called into action and fixed by confession, she goes away and calls
'Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.'
The good natural affection excites the spiritual affection. Martha is said to tell her sister secretly or privately, to express the spiritual idea that our affections act upon each other imperceptibly; and that spiritual affections themselves are to receive these impressions and communications apart from all other extraneous affections, such as were represented by those who came to comfort the sisters concerning their brother. The joyful announcement is made, "The Master is come." The Comforter, the Restorer, is here. He who in the dark hours of tribulation had been absent; who was sent for and longed for, but had never appeared, he is now come. What joy to the tempted soul, sitting in desolation, to be made sensible of the presence of him who himself has known all our tribulations, though he seemed willing to leave us in our affliction. But he has not only come, but "calleth for thee." There is still greater cause to rejoice. The Lord's call is general and particular. The general call is given to every human being. Spiritually, his general call is to those who know him, his particular call is to those who love him. These are they whom he calls by name, whose character is in harmony with his own, and whose affections and thoughts are admissive of his love and truth. In this simple relation we see the nature and purpose of the Divine operation upon our souls. The Lord comes to us by influx into our affections, and his purpose is to draw those affections to himself, and by their means to turn our thoughts to him as their life and light.
29. Mary, who rejoiced in her Saviour's presence, was not slow to answer his call.
'As soon as she heard, she arose quickly, and came unto him.'
To hear is to perceive from affection, as to see is to perceive from thought. A sense of the Divine presence produces elevation of heart, which is spiritually to rise; and when the affection is ardent, this is done quickly, for ardency of feeling produces celerity of motion, and is therefore represented by it. When quickness is predicated of the divine Being, as when the Lord promises to come quickly, it means certainly; but this can be only conditionally promised as the result of human action. Mary, when she had risen up, came to Jesus: and the practical way of coming to the Lord is to do his will. All elevation is of the will, all progression is of the life.
30. 'Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.'
Martha, as representing the natural affection, went out to meet Jesus before he entered the town, while Mary sat still in the house. A house in a town is comparatively as the will in the understanding, the will being the home of those principles which are the objects of our life's love, and the understanding being the dwelling-place of those principles which are the objects of our general affections and perceptions. Jesus had not entered into the town, much less into the house, but was without. In our states of spiritual affliction, Jesus, to our own consciousness at least, is out of our hearts and even of our understandings. Our love for him has not indeed died out, but he seems not to be there; we have a sense of want and desolation. The signs of renewing life are manifested in our going out to meet him, when we become aware of his approach. He comes to us; and we should go out to meet him; and if we do so, he will return with us into the heart and mind, where he desires to be with us as our Saviour and friend. The state of those who are being regenerated, when the Lord has visited them in their temptations, but has not yet entered, as the Healer and Restorer, as their Saviour and Comforter, into their understandings and hearts, is representatively described in Jesus, who had come to the aid of the sisters, not yet having come into the town, but being in the place where Martha met him.
31. 'The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.'
In the Word the Jews have the same signification as Judah, from whom they were descended, and denote principles of good, or, in the opposite sense, of evil. It is no doubt on account of their representative character that the people are generally called Jews in the gospel of John, where the name occurs much more frequently than in all the other gospels together. John is eminently the evangelist, as well as the apostle, of love and goodness. In the internal historical sense, these Jews were those of the old who had attached themselves to the new Church which was about to be raised up by the Lord, or had come under the influence of the affection by which it was distinguished. Their following Mary further expresses the willingness of such adherents to act and live under the influence of the spiritual affection of good and truth.
32. 'Then when Mary had come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.'
Mary expresses the same regretful sentiment that had been uttered by Martha; but in Mary it is accompanied with a more profound humiliation: she falls down at the Lord's feet and worships him. The sight of Jesus was sufficient to produce this prostration. And this sight was evidently, in her case, an act of true faith, which it also represented, faith looking upon its supreme and beloved Object through the eye of sense as well as through the eye of the mind. Mary came, and saw, and worshipped. This was to be expected of her who sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. The higher the love, the deeper the humiliation. And when Mary had thrown herself at her Saviour's feet, she uttered the lamentation, which spoke of her confidence in the divine power of Jesus, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." It is much to know that Jesus can preserve from death, it is more to know that he can restore to life. This Mary and Martha were about to see with their eyes; as all may with the eye of faith, if they will but rely on the Lord for new and eternal life.
33. And now we come to one of the most touching manifestations which the gospel records of the human character of our blessed Lord.
'When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.'
The scene on which we now enter exhibits the great, instructive, and consolatory truth, that the Lord and Saviour has a fellow-feeling with the sufferings and sorrows of objects of his saving mercy. This truth is well expressed in the epistle to the Hebrews. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (iv. 15). The Lord knew the infirmities of our nature, and commiserated our condition, and was as willing to relieve and help us before, as he was after, his incarnation. It may be said that before his incarnation he felt for us, that since his incarnation he feels with us.
34. The Lord now asks,
'Where have ye laid him?'
Here again is an apparent truth. Jesus, who at a distance knew when Lazarus died, could not but know where he was buried. Yet he asks, as if he needed to be informed; but he asks for our sake. The question Where? has an important meaning for us. We may call to remembrance the mournful complaint of Mary. "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." In the present case, Jesus himself is the speaker. As place is the symbol of state, the Lord's question, Where have they laid him? is designed to lead us to reflect on the state of deadness which exists in our own minds, and as we ourselves have left it.
35. 'Jesus wept.'
How solemn, impressive, and significant! Jesus weeping was Divine love grieving. When the Son of man wept, it was not for Lazarus alone, who had fallen asleep that he might be awakened again, who had died that he might be restored to the temporary enjoyment of natural life. The Lord wept over the spiritual condition of those whom Lazarus represented. In the largest sense, he was a type of the human race. Death had seized upon them, the grave had swallowed them up. Such was the state of mankind at the time of the Lord's coming, as described by prophets and apostles. It is evident from his words to Martha, that Jesus then looked through the scene presented at the grave of Lazarus, to one of immeasurably greater importance. He looked through the temporary death and resurrection of Lazarus to the spiritual death and resurrection of mankind - to the death in which he found them at his coming, to the resurrection which he came to provide for them. Such a view of the subject makes the occasion worthy of the tears of him who came to save his people from their sins. And when thus contemplated, how significant and precious do the tears of Jesus become! Most real and expressive are they when known to have been shed over the spiritual condition of the human race. Had Jesus been nothing more than man, his tears might have been an appropriate tribute of natural affection for the death of a friend. But regarded as God-Man, whose love embraced the whole human race, whom he had come to seek and to save, we can hardly conceive it possible that the case of Lazarus could demand or deserve such a manifestation of feeling. When the whole race of sinful men in their lost condition was before the mind of the Saviour, we can see that his tears were not the effect of mere human feeling for the transient death, or suspended animation, of a single human being, but the effect and expression of infinite love for the spiritual death and eternal ruin of the whole human family.
36. When they saw Jesus weeping,
'Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!'
Much more may we say, behold how he loved mankind, then sitting in darkness and the shadow of death! But the Lord's love for Lazarus was not for his person. The Lord loves, as he respects, not the persons of men, but that in them which is lovable, by a Being who is himself pure love. It is true that, while his love is infinite and impartial, he is yet said to love some more than others. He loved John more than the other disciples. He loves those more who have more of his love in them. This is the only kind of partiality of which divine love is capable. The Lord loves the good qualities of men, and the men on account of them. We utter the exclamation of the Jews, but from a higher view of the subject, when we have some perception of the nature of the Lord's love, which was manifested in the redemption of the human race, and which is still manifested in the salvation of all who come to him that they may have life.
37. Some of the Jews said,
'Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died.'
The Lord once said, Whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk? Both are alike easy to him who is the bestower of natural and spiritual life. He who opened the eyes of the blind could have prevented the death of Lazarus, but it was not the Lord's purpose to prevent his death, but to restore him to life. Considering Lazarus as a type of humanity, the question of the Jews is sometimes asked by others: could not the Lord have caused that mankind should not have died spiritually? If this could have been done, consistently with the nature of God and of man, it would not have been left undone. The Lord did not interpose to save Lazarus from natural death; he had not interposed to prevent man from spiritually dying.
38. After recording what the Jews said on seeing Jesus weep, the evangelist proceeds:
'Jesus therefore again groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. '
The ardency of the Lord's love thus again expresses itself, when brought, by the medium of the humanity, into immediate connection with the spiritual state of man, as represented by the natural condition of Lazarus. As the grave is the house of the dead, it denotes the mind itself, especially the natural, sensual, and corporeal degree of the mind, in which every thing spiritual lies as it were dead and buried, till awakened into life by the Lord's regenerating power. In this case, we may justly say that the man himself is dead and buried. Not the sensual but the rational nature is the man; and where the rational is immersed in the sensual, the man is, in the Scripture sense, dead and buried. The grave in which Lazarus was laid was a cave; and this expresses obscurity of the mind in respect to spiritual things. A cave is frequently mentioned in the Word, and signifies obscurity of mind in regard to truth; as the cave in which Elijah hid himself when he fled from Jezebel, representing that the Word itself, which the prophet represented, was hid from the church during the evil reign of Ahab. On the cave, in which Lazarus was laid, was a stone. In a good sense, a stone is the symbol of truth, such as it is in the letter of the Word, and therefore also of the appearances of truth, of which the literal sense for the most part consists. The dead in a cave, with a stone upon it, presents a type of one who is in a natural state, and whose understanding is obscured and confined by the appearances of truth, the fallacies of the senses, and the false persuasions drawn from them.
39. To deliver the soul from death, at least from that which may be called intellectual death, the first thing to be done is to remove the appearances of truth, which have given rise to false persuasions, and have been used to favour the evils of the will and obscure the perceptions of the understanding.
'saith, unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.'
The objection to the removal of the stone by Martha, did not, however, arise from a negative spirit, but from a conviction that the case of Lazarus was a hopeless one. Not doubt, but despair, is expressed by the sister of Lazarus, when she said, By this time he stinketh. Sweet smells correspond to perceptions of goodness and truth, and unpleasant smells, to perceptions of evil and falsity. This is the source of spiritual corruption. Evil and falsity do not, however, produce offensive odours, or, to use Martha's term, do not stink, to those who are in the love of them, but to those who are in the affection of goodness and truth, for the quality of evil and falsity is perceived from their opposites: therefore this remark is made by Martha, who represents a good affection, and those who possess it. But although this just remark of Martha's expresses the truth according to the ordinary law, it does not follow that the body of Lazarus was in the state of decay which her words express. Lazarus had been dead four days, but his body may not have seen corruption. The separation of the soul from the body does not take place generally till the third day after death; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that in the case of Lazarus this separation had been prevented, so that, although in the ordinary sense of the term dead, he was really, as our Lord expressed it, in sleep - a sleep, however, from which he never could have awakened but for the exercise of the Lord's power. This does not lessen but rather increases the magnitude of the miracle. It implies two miracles instead of one - the miracle of preserving him from corruption, and the miracle of raising him again from the dead. This view corresponds better, too, with the state of the Gentiles, and of those who are in the extremity of temptation, whom Lazarus represented. And here we may say that corruption represents, not the extinction, but the profanation of goodness and truth; for the greatest corruption and most offensive of all spiritual odours arise from the profane mixing of good and evil. Now the Gentiles, though they were in evil and falsity, were not in profanation; for those who do not know things holy, cannot profane them. Those who undergo temptation may indeed profane these holy principles;
40. To Martha's conviction of corruption, Jesus presented the alternative of belief as the hope of glory.
'Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?'
But why should the resurrection of Lazarus be dependent on another's faith? This is an interesting question, and it is one that relates, not to the case of Lazarus only, but to that of others, many of the Lord's cures having been performed through the faith, not of the persons cured, but of their relations. It teaches us that, spiritually, faith is an act of the living, not of the dead, and that its saving results reach the dead through the living. The living principle within us is that through which, by faith in the Lord, his life is communicated to whatever is dead. The affection is that living principle through whose faith life can be communicated to our thoughts and acts. The dead can indeed hear the voice of the Son of God, and hearing can live, as the Lord declared in a previous discourse (chap. v. 25), and as was exemplified in the case of the son of the widow, and in that of Lazarus but it is not that which is dead that hears, but that which retains some degree of life. Spiritual death is not the extinction of all life; it is the extinction of spiritual love and faith, which constitute spiritual and eternal life. But however dead in this respect a soul may be, the faculty of receiving new life remains, and through that faculty new life can be communicated. This is the faculty to which the Lord calls; this is the door at which he knocks; and every one is able to hear the call and obey it; to hear the knock and open the door.
41, 42. 'Then took they away the stone from the place where the dead was laid.'
The removal, by the command of Jesus, of the stone where the dead was laid, is the actual removal of the appearances of truth, which conceal the truth itself from the mind. When the stone was removed, Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. The prayers of the Lord are expressive of the inmost communion of the human nature with the Divine, of wisdom with love in the Lord;
43. 'When he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.'
What a voice was that which called Lazarus from the tomb, a voice at once powerful and prophetic! Calling the dead to life is an act not only God-like but Divine. No one can impart life but him who is Life.
44. 'And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin.'
The grave-clothes were to Lazarus what the stone was to the sepulchre; they enclosed and confined him. What garments are to the body, truths are to the mind; they invest it, so as to preserve the warmth of its love and give it a certain kind of adornment. More specifically, truths are to good what garments are to the body; for good is the body of religion, and truth is the raiment which it puts on. And as truths are the laws of right, garments are the symbols of righteousness, which is the beautiful garment that serves to invest and adorn the graces of the mind: and so white linen is the righteousness of saints. But the garments of the dead are like the truths that cover the body of religion from which life has departed, and which has the form of godliness without the power. Considered as a representative of the church, which Lazarus was, the grave-clothes are the appearances of truth and the ceremonials of religion, which, in the time of the end, take the place of genuine truths and works of righteousness. These formed into narrow creeds and a rigid ecclesiasticism, may serve as a suitable vesture for the dead, but they are entirely unfit to be a garment for the living.
45, 46. The effect of this miracle was,
'that many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.'
The unavoidable but beneficial effect of all divine operations is, that they act in the way of tests and judgments; they try the states of men, and separate the good and the evil, drawing the good into connection with the supreme Good, and leaving the evil to fall away into the prevailing evil. The same takes place when a new church is being raised up in the world; some of the former church believe in the new principles, others become more confirmed in the old. Like the comforters of Martha and Mary, some can lament over the dead who cannot rejoice over the living. The truth, which is a rock of confidence to some, is a rock of offence to others. The divine operations serve also to separate good and evil in the minds of those who are favourably affected by them; and thus serve to draw forth the good, and bring it into conjunction with the Lord.
47, 48. Informed, by those who believed not, of this wonderful work of Jesus,
'then gathered the chief priests and Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.'
The fears of the Sanhedrin seem now to have reached a crisis that required more than an attempt to entangle him in his speech. The raising of Lazarus was a miracle that might well fill them with alarm, and lead them to exclaim, If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him; and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. The Pharisees were like those of their creed and class in every church and in every age. The selfish and the formal would fain arrest the progress of goodness and truth, with their life and light. Spiritually, in this we see the opposition which the natural man ever offers to the spiritual, when the Lord imparts new life to the soul.
49-53. 'And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.'
There can be no reasonable doubt that John understood this remarkable utterance of the high priest to be an inspired prediction. But how could one so wicked possess so great a gift? In the representative church of the Jews, a profane person could exercise a sacred function, because it was the function and not the man which represented. Besides, prophesying is a miraculous gift, which may be bestowed on a person in virtue of his office, independently of his moral character, as in the case of Balaam. The prophecy of Caiaphas, as high priest, was the very truth. He was divinely inspired to predict an event which was divinely appointed. It was expedient that one should die for the people, and that he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. The Lord delivered the same truth respecting himself, as the good shepherd, gathering the scattered sheep, and uniting his two flocks into one fold. But the remarkable circumstance connected with the prophecy of the high priest is, that it should have been uttered at a meeting of the Sanhedrin, called for the purpose of devising some plan for arresting the progress of the Lord's cause. Were it not for other testimony to the contrary, we might suppose that Caiaphas wished to restrain rather than excite the wrath of the council against Jesus. It is evident that his object was to induce them no longer to trifle with the growing evil, but to arrest it at once, by the destruction of its author. It had the desired effect. It led them to the determination to effect the fulfilment of what may be regarded as their own prediction. Then, from that day forth, they took counsel together to put him to death. Their understanding of the prophecy, compared with its true meaning, affords a striking illustration of the difference between the letter which killeth and the spirit which giveth life. They understood the people of the prophecy to be the Jews, and the scattered abroad to be the dispersed of Israel.
54. In consequence of the conduct of the Pharisees and chief priests, and their efforts to stir up enmity against him among the people,
'Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.'
For the third time in this gospel we are told that Jesus retired on account of the opposition of the Jews. In the two previous cases he left Judea and went into Galilee; in the present instance, he retires to the town of Ephraim, in or near the wilderness of Judea. According to the literal sense, he retires for safety, although he possessed the power to resist or disarm all opposition. Spiritually, the Lord walks no more openly where he is openly assailed, but withdraws into some remote or secret part of the mind, that his divine truth may be preserved from violence, and the soul saved from destruction.
55-57. 'The Jews' passover was nigh at hand.'
This passover was the last which our Lord celebrated, and signified his glorification, the redemption of mankind, and the establishment of his church. This was the passover at which the Holy Supper was instituted, when the Lord entered into an everlasting covenant with the church, which his disciples represented, and in connection with which the redemption of the world and the glorification of his humanity were accomplished. The completion of his great work now drew nigh: it was certain as well as near at hand. Everything was preparing, both on the good and the evil side, for the great event. Many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover to purify themselves. Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it that they might take him. That purification, though ceremonial, represented the spiritual purification which the penitent seek, and who seek it from good by truth; for to go out of the country up to Jerusalem is to proceed from a state of good to a state of truth; and all purification is effected by truth, but only in those whose desire for it proceeds from a principle of good. Transferring this subject to our own minds, we here see what we too often feel, that when we would do good, evil is present with us. The Pharisaic principles either without or within us take occasion of the holiest times for the unholiest purposes. The very sphere of holiness excites their enmity and opposition. Among the multitude there were bands who doubted among themselves the Lord's appearing at the feast, and who discussed the question of his coming.
CHAPTER XII.
The resurrection of Lazarus representing the raising up of a church among the Gentiles, the beautiful narrative with which this chapter commences represents the Lord's entering into a covenant of life with his church. Individually, it represents the reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and man after regeneration, which is spiritual resurrection, by the appropriation of good, which is represented by a supper.
1. 'Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.'
As this was the passover in connection with which the Lord was crucified, these six days represent states of trial, ending in his last temptation, the passion of the cross, followed by his resurrection, which was his entrance into rest - rest from the labour of his combat with the powers of darkness - rest which was eminently represented by the Sabbath which follows the six days of labour; for the Lord's state of glorification is Rest itself, and the origin of spiritual rest to man. But every state of tribulation has rest for its beginning as well as for its end.
2. 'There they made him a supper: and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.'
The supper made, for Jesus may be considered to have some analogy to the sacrificial feast of the Israelitish church. These were regarded in the light of food partly offered to God, and partly consumed by man. The offering was considered as an outward expression of an inward feeling, either of contrition or of thanksgiving, and was nothing without it. The various offerings were representatives of human affections, devoted to God, the acceptance of which brings the worshipper into a spiritual and saving relation with the Object of his love and worship. And as all our offerings to God are but the return to Him of the gifts He has bestowed upon us, our feasts and sacrifices become the means of conjunction with Him; they are covenants between God and our own souls. When we take an interior view of the subject of the present narrative, we must regard the Lord as the guest of those who are members of the household of faith. Every humble mind is a house where the Lord may be entertained as a guest; for he who dwells in the high and holy place does not disdain to dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit (Is. lvii. 15).
3. The principal incident, for the sake of which the others are introduced, is that which comes now to be noticed.
'Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.'
In this beautiful act Mary expressed her gratitude for her brother's restoration to temporal life. What must be the gratitude which one feels for the restoration of a soul to spiritual life; and what the joy of angels over one sinner that repenteth! This being the restoration represented by the resurrection of Lazarus, we are to consider Mary's act as having the same representative character. And having to consider the resurrection of Lazarus as representing the resurrection to life of the spiritual principle of faith in ourselves, we have to regard Mary's offering as one arising out of the new life, bestowed by him who is the life itself. We have already seen that Mary is a type of spiritual love, the sister to the natural love represented by Martha, Lazarus representing the intellectual principle of the church, raised up to a perception of the Lord's truth, and to the reception of a living faith, of which he is the Author and the Object. Thus restored, the mind, from its inmost affection, pours out its offering of love and gratitude to the Lord, as the merciful giver of eternal life. This offering is the ointment which Mary poured upon the feet of Jesus. Ointment is emblematical of love. This offering is precious, and therefore costly. It is precious, because love is the most excellent of all graces, and costly, because it cannot be purchased but at the expense of all that we have. Little is said in the Word respecting the particular ointment used by Mary, nothing that can lead us to a better knowledge of its quality than its costliness and its fragrance. With this ointment Mary anointed the feet of Jesus. According to Matthew (xxvi. 7) and Mark (xiv. 3), Mary anointed his head. It is reasonably conjectured that Mary anointed both the head and the feet of Jesus; and many think that the evangelists recorded the circumstance as they observed it, or as it impressed them. Believing that they wrote from divine inspiration, the difference is not the result of human but of divine choice, for the purpose of teaching the same truth as seen by persons in different states of perception.
4-6. When Mary had anointed the feet of Jesus with her precious ointment,
'Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.'
The character of Judas, as it here manifests itself, presents a remarkable contrast to that of Mary. Not only does Judas remain unmoved by the mingled love and humility of Mary, which her precious ointment and loosened tresses but poorly express, but he sees nothing in her offering but wasteful extravagance. His complaint shows how mean are the ideas of degraded minds on the purest and worthiest acts of devoted affection. Judas, as a man, seems designed to exhibit that state of mind which regards everything as wasted which cannot be turned into the channel of self-interest. He seems a personification of avarice, which is the root of all evil. But he is designed to hold up to our view the image of something more appalling than even this. He is the type of the lowest and grossest part of our fallen nature, that corporeal principle which forms the deepest ground of our selfhood, and which ever opposes itself to the higher ends and activities of the renewed inner man, and whose opposition is the more obstinate the higher and purer the internal affection. The twofold nature of this part of man's degraded selfhood is indicated in the two names, Judas Iscariot, which are expressive of its quality, as being evil and false. When it is added that it was he who should betray the Lord, we are instructed further that it is the lowest principle of human nature which is the means of delivering the Lord into the hands of his enemies. Judas is also called one of his disciples. The twelve represented all the principles of human nature, as well as all the principles of the church, but Judas represented one of those principles perverted. A little child is corporeal in all his apprehensions of truth, but his innocence gives him a certain faith in it and affection for it. But when, instead of innocence, there is guilt, and when besides guilt there is guile, these two produce a character which is described as that of the traitor. But in censuring the waste Judas seems as if he were actuated by motives of charity.
7. Even supposing Judas had been sincere in his plea for selling the ointment, the Lord did not admit the propriety or justice of his remark.
'Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.'
The Lord's burying spiritually means his glorification, for when the maternal humanity was buried, and thus entirely put off, the Paternal humanity was fully put on, and became the Lord's resurrection body. The Lord's glorification was his complete anointing. The Divine love had been poured out upon him from his being conceived in the womb, but he was anointed in fulness when the humanity became the Divine Love itself, in form as well as in essence. The present anointing was, as we have said, performed by a human agent. But Mary representing the church, her anointing the body of Jesus is expressive of the church acknowledging the divinity of the Lord's humanity; doing from without what the Father was doing from within, and thus reciprocating the inward divine operation;
8. The Lord justifies Mary's act on another ground.
'The poor always ye have with you: but me ye have not always.'
Who are spiritually meant by the poor? As spiritual riches are the knowledges of goodness and truth, those who possess little of these are the spiritually poor. As all are born, and many grow up, in ignorance of the truth, the disciples of Christ have these poor always with them, and when they will they can do them good. But there are poor which we have still nearer to us and more constantly with us than these. Our faculties, so far as they are deficient in the knowledge or possession of spiritual things, are poor; and these we have always with us, and when we will we can do them good by ministering to their wants. And then there are, in spiritual as in temporal wealth, the poor rich as well as the rich poor. The rich poor are those of whom it is said, "I know thy works, and thy tribulation, and poverty, but thou art rich" (Rev. ii. 9). The poor rich are those who are rich in religious knowledge, but poor in religious virtue, who think themselves rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and know not that they are poor, and miserable, and blind and naked (Rev. iii. 17). All of us are more or less in all these conditions of poverty, and may always do something to mitigate or remove them. But none of us have the Lord thus constantly with us. In declaring this, he alluded more especially to his departure from his disciples by death, when they would have sorrow, a state which is incident to all Christian disciples, who, as children of the bride-chamber, mourn when the bridegroom is taken away. True, he departs but to return as the Comforter, but these states of trial show, that him we have not always; and that it is the more desirable and dutiful, so long as he is with us, to give him the costly offering of our best affections, that our souls may be brought into such internal conjunction with him, as may preserve us faithful to the day of his coming.
9. We read in the previous chapter (v. 19) that many of the Jews came to comfort Martha and Mary concerning their brother, and that many of them became believers in Jesus through his miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, some, however, informed the Pharisees of what Jesus had done (49). Here again, we find,
'Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.'
10, 11. But here again we have the repetition of a circumstance which so often occurs in the previous history of the Lord's life. Evil rises up to oppose the good.
'But the chief priests consulted that they might also put Lazarus to death: because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.'
They who had endeavoured to destroy Jesus as the truth and the life, now take counsel to kill Lazarus, on whom the gift of life had been bestowed. When evil men cannot destroy the principles that are opposed to their own, they often endeavour to do it indirectly, by assailing them in their practical results, either by denying them, which is spiritually to kill, or by perverting them, by imputing them to an evil origin, which the Jews did when they accused the Lord of casting out devils by the prince of the devils. Those, on the contrary, who are well disposed judge favourably of truth from its good results, for good leads to the acknowledgment of truth, and thence of its Author, as many of the Jews believed on Jesus because of Lazarus. The offence of these in the eyes of the priests was that they went away and believed on Jesus; they were alienated from the priestly rule to which they had submitted, and were brought under the dominion of the Son of man; they had forsaken error for truth, and evil for good.
12, 13. The fame of the miracle of raising Lazarus overbore, for the time, the influence of the priests; for
'on the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.'
The Lord's entry into Jerusalem is recorded in all the four gospels, though in each with some difference. John relates that it took place the next day after the supper in the house of Lazarus. A new state, but one following and connected with the former, is described.
14, 15. The manner in which the Lord made his entry into Jerusalem had been the subject of a divine prediction.
'And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.'
16. 'These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.'
The singular circumstance of the disciples being ignorant of the significant character of the things that were done by them, and that happened to Jesus, shows how little they knew of his true character and work. But this state represented one that is common to all true disciples. Not till he is glorified in them can the disciples of any time see the true meaning of the things that have been spoken of him, and which they themselves have done unto him. It is not necessary, nor is it possible, that we should see at the time the meaning and the reason of every religious act we do. Obedience must spring from duty first, and from reason afterwards. And what is recorded of the disciples may teach us some useful lesson respecting our children. It is most important that the young should be early instructed in the simple truths of religion, and initiated into habits of virtue and piety. That children understand little of many things they learn and are required to do, is no good reason for leaving them uninstructed and untrained in religion. Like the disciples, they may not understand these things at the first, but when Jesus is glorified in their more matured intellects and purified hearts, then will they remember that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
17, 18. John states, what the other evangelists have passed over in silence, that
'the people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.'
It was the miracle of raising the dead that obtained for Jesus this attention and homage of the multitude. The people consisted of two classes, those who saw the miracle and those who heard of it. Those see the Lord's miracle who perceive it intellectually; those hear of it who perceive it morally, sight being predicated of the understanding and hearing of the will.
19. This enthusiasm of the people in favour of Jesus was a cause of mortification to their religious leaders.
'The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.'
There is in this expression a consciousness that their effort to restrain the popular movement was unavailing, and that there was no way of arresting the progress of the innovation but by destroying the Innovator. The feeling and conviction expressed by the Pharisees are like those which sometimes force themselves on the natural man, of the useless and unavailing nature of his efforts to oppose the progress of the cause of right, to which he is averse, and which he almost confesses to himself is true and good. "The world is gone after him" must be the regretful admission of those who strive, especially when by dishonourable means and for selfish ends, to stem the tide of true human progress. In this instance the Pharisees uttered a truth that had even then begun to work, and which will be eventually realized to its fullest extent. The realization of this in the world at large will be hastened by those who espouse the cause of Jesus, allowing their natural affections and thoughts to go after him, by following his teaching and example.
20, 21. Besides the Jews who followed the Lord in his progress to and entry into Jerusalem,
'there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: the same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.'
The Greeks were Gentiles; but the isles of Greece were among the most eminent of those of which it is said, "The isles shall wait for my law" (Isa. xlii. 4); "the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust" (li. 5); and because the Greeks were amongst the most eminent of the Gentiles, the new revelation was given to John in Patmos, which was one of the isles of the Grecian Archipelago;
22. But there is another who must be associated with Philip before introduction to the Lord can be obtained. When the Greeks apply to Philip,
'Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.'
Philip and Andrew, like Peter and Andrew, are, with a difference in degree, types of faith in the understanding and faith in the will, or, of truth and the good which are acquired by means of it.
23. Introduced as the pious Greeks were into his presence,
'Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.'
Regarded in the literal or historical sense, it seems singular that the Lord should address those strangers and Gentiles in a discourse on his passion and glorification. But these Greek strangers were of, and represented, those among whom the new or Christian church was about to be raised up; and this raising up of the church was consequent on the Lord's glorification; for his mystical body is fashioned after the pattern of his glorious body. The phrase, "the hour is come," or "is coming," is used by our Lord on several occasions. It is expressive of the near approach of the time, and the certainty of the event, of which the Lord speaks. The hour of the Lord's glorification being come, tells us that the great work, for which the Lord had come into the world, was on the eve of its completion. The humanity which the Lord, in his marvellous and merciful condescension, had assumed for the redemption of his creatures, was now about to pass out of its state of humility into a state of transcendent glory.
24. The necessity for the glorification of the Son of man, its nature, and its blessed results, our Lord proceeds to declare.
'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.'
This divine declaration is explained in the Writings in a passage so lucid, so beautiful, and at the same time so practical, that, departing from our usual practice, we give it in the author's own words. He is treating of the glorification of the Lord's rational principle, in the inmost of which humanity, or the conscious life of man, begins, and which, in the Lord, was immediately below the soul, or the divine humanity, which he derived from the Father. The part of the Word, in connection with which the explanation is given, is that which contains the history of Ishmael and Isaac; Ishmael, the son of Hagar the Egyptian, representing the natural rational, which every natural man of sound mind acquires, and Isaac representing the spiritual rational, which the regenerate only receive.
The similitude which the Lord employed to describe his glorification is equally descriptive of his resurrection. And as all the similitudes which the Lord employed were correspondences, the present comparison is an exact illustration of both. It is not our intention to enter largely or minutely on this branch of the subject; but we may remark that the same law of order presided over the glorification of the natural principle as over that of the rational. Glorification, in all its degrees, was effected by a process of putting off and of putting on. And if we may follow the analogy of the death and resurrection of the seed, we may venture to say, that, while the Lord rose with his whole body complete, it does not follow that the body which rose from the sepulchre was the identical body that was laid in it - identical, we mean, in substance. It was sown a natural body; it was raised a Divine Body: or, as the original may be better expressed, a natural body was sown, a Divine Body was raised. By what particular mode of operation this was effected it is not our purpose here to inquire. From the lucid exposition of the present passage we learn, that the divine seed, which the Lord inherited from the Father, became a Divine Humanity by "unfolding itself," the material humanity serving, like the fruit in which the seed is deposited, as a body in which it might be manifested, and in which it might unfold itself.
25. Having instructed his hearers in the nature and manner of his glorification, the Lord proceeds to teach them the nature and manner of their regeneration, as the image of his divine work.
'He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.'
This expresses in another form what the Lord had just said respecting himself. That which is to be hated is natural life, as opposed to spiritual life - the earthly as opposed to the heavenly. The word translated life is that which in some other places is rendered soul, and means the hereditary life, as opposed to the spiritual life which we receive by regeneration. We cannot understand the Lord to speak of life in the sense of existence; for this no one is required to hate, nor would the hatred of temporal existence secure eternal life. Immortality is unconditional. The life of man is his ruling love, which enters as a living soul into all the thoughts and intents of the heart, and into all the words and actions of the life. The love of self is the life which belongs to all men by nature, and this life they must hate in the world, if they would keep it unto life eternal. That life which is lost is not the same life that is saved. But as a man can have at one time but one ruling love which is his life, and his very self, when he hates his corrupt life, the Lord imparts to him a new life, a ruling love whose nature is heavenly. But the condition is, that he who hates life "in this world" shall keep it unto life eternal. No doubt the lesson teaches that the work is in this world, the reward is in the next. But there is a temporal and eternal in ourselves, which are found in our natural and our spiritual minds. To hate the evil life in this world, is to hate or shun it, as it exists in the natural mind, to overcome it in thought and act, which is to hate it practically. And when the love of evil is put to death in the flesh, the love of good obtains life in the spirit.
26. The Lord follows up his teaching respecting the duty of self-sacrifice by saying,
'If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.'
27. The Lord, from speaking of his glorification to those around him, turns inwards into himself, where the last dread trial had already begun.
'Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.'
The temptation that culminated in the passion of the cross had already commenced. Anguish of soul preceded agony of body. The powers of darkness invaded his inner man and pressed upon his inner life, before they assailed his outer man and acted upon his outer life. The Lord's soul which was troubled was not the divine soul which he inherited from the Father, for this was incapable of suffering; it was the human soul which he inherited from the mother, understanding by this the Lord's human nature, everything in the Lord's humanity which was beneath the divine, even the rational principle, in the inmost of which the human principle begins. But this human principle considered as it is in men, was not capable of being troubled with that trouble which the Son of man endured. The human must have been receptive of the Divine, before it could be subject to such sorrows of temptation.
28. In the power of this conviction the Lord now prays,
'Father, glorify thy name.'
Taken in the ordinary sense, which it contains, the Son is willing to endure for the sake of advancing the Father's glory; just as man's highest motive to suffer and obey is the glory of God. But the Son is himself the name of the Father, for the glorification of which he prays. The Son is the Father's name, because the Divine wisdom is the expression of the Divine love - the Divine Humanity is the express image of the Essential Divinity. A name expresses the quality or character of him who bears it, and the humanity expresses the quality of the divinity. The Son manifests the Father, and brings him forth to view. When therefore the Lord prayed the Father to glorify his name, he prayed the divinity to glorify the humanity, or to make the humanity divine and one with itself. When Jesus had uttered this prayer, then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. We need not dwell here on the prayer and answer, as presenting the appearance of a personal distinction between the Father and the Son. These are appearances that can only be presented in the domain of nature, or, at least in the sphere of finite existence, where divine things are seen under appearances, that accommodate them to human apprehension. Infinite things can only be seen by finite minds when they fall into corresponding finite ideas. In this way, what is only a distinction in the divine nature assumes the appearance of separate personality.
29, 30. It is remarkable that the voice which gave so clear an utterance to the Lord, conveyed no distinct meaning to the multitude.
'The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spoke to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.'
It would appear from this that Jesus did not require this voice from heaven for his own comfort and encouragement; and that the voice was capable of strengthening the faith of the people, though it conveyed to them no intelligible sense. Faith cannot exist without knowledge. The knowledge of the truth precedes faith in the truth. That which enables us to know the truth is entirely different from that which enables us to believe it. That which gives faith is a state, not of the intellect only, but also and primarily of the heart. On the present occasion, the Lord had instructed the people in the truth relating to his own glorification, and to their regeneration as its fruit and its image. The voice from heaven was given to influence their hearts, that they might receive in faith what they had heard in intelligence.
31. Our Lord therefore addresses himself to the people in these words:
'Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.'
This is expressed still more strongly in Luke (x. 18), "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven;" where the judgment is presented under the figure we are now considering. The thunder cloud had burst upon the heads of the wicked. "He sent forth lightning and scattered them" (Ps. cxliv. 6). Our Lord said, "For judgment am I come into this world;" and he adds, as the purpose of the judgment, "that they which see not might see, and that those which see might be made blind" (chap. ix. 39). The end of all judgment is adjustment - that things wrong may be righted; that the good may be restored to the power of using their faculties, and the evil deprived of the power of abusing them. How is this to be effected, and how, in particular, was it effected by the Lord when he was manifest in the flesh?
32, 33. After judgment comes a new power of elevation and new life.
'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.'
This lifting up, naturally understood, was the Lord's crucifixion: this he said, signifying what death he should die. But the Lord's crucifixion was a means of his glorification. This glorification was the true lifting up of the Son of man, which gave him the power of drawing all men unto him. When his humanity was raised by glorification above all human frailty, and above all trial and temptation, and exalted into union with his divinity, then was he able to draw all men unto him. This is a most important doctrine, and teaches one of the greatest and most blessed truths that the Lord revealed, or the gospel contains. The power to draw men unto him was the very object and use of the Lord's coming. This was provided for by removing obstacles that stood in the way, and prevented man's return to God, and by exercising a power of drawing men unto him. Obstructions were removed by the work of redemption, attraction was exercised by the work of glorification.
34. When the Lord had uttered these remarkable and memorable words,
'The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must he lifted up? who is this Son of man?'
How characteristic of natural men are these words! They had rightly learnt that Christ abideth for ever - "that of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever" (Isa. ix. 7). But they expected that both the king and the kingdom were to be of this world. They could not, therefore, understand what this lifting up could mean. Nor could they understand who this Son of man could be of whom the Lord spake. They knew nothing of the nature of the kingdom which the Lord came on earth to establish, nor of the means by which its establishment was to be effected. The disciples themselves, and even the twelve, who had followed him and listened to his teaching, remained as dark on this subject as the multitude, till the Lord's resurrection had revealed it to them. Their notions concerning Christ are the natural offspring of the condition of mind which is incident to every disciple in the early stage of his religious life. And even now, when the truth is known, and is taught to every Christian child, the early perception is the same in all, and is only changed from natural to spiritual by progressing in the regenerate life. Every one who receives Christ thinks Christ will abide for ever as he is received. But as every one receives the Lord according to his state, change of state produces change of reception.
35. The Lord does not directly or formally correct the false notions of the people, but gives them such instruction as will lead them into the state of mind that is receptive of him at his coming.
'Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you: walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.'
The people had concluded their remarks by asking, "Who is this Son of man?" The Lord's words contain the answer to this question. He speaks of himself as the Light. The Son of man is the name expressive of the Lord as divine Truth, or of the Word made flesh, the eternal and immutable Truth clothed in the vesture of humanity. This was the light that the people had with them in the person of Christ; this was the Son of man that was to be lifted up. But the condition of the Son of man's being lifted up in our hearts is, that we walk in the light while it is with us - rather among us or in us. We cannot come to the spirit of the Word, unless we walk according to the teaching of the letter. The letter cannot be our guide always; but while it is, we must be faithful to its teaching. If, while we have the light, we walk in the light, it will, after a brief eclipse, such as that which hid the Lord from the disciples after the crucifixion, shine forth in greater splendour; but if we walk not according to the light while we have it, darkness will come upon us; for when the veil of the letter is rent asunder, those only who can see in the spiritual light of truth shall see the Lord. And he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. The use of light is to lighten our path; but where there is no light, we wander and go we know not whither. Truth in religion is of the utmost importance; ignorance and error are both to be deplored, for their tendency is to keep the mind in darkness, and cause the feet to wander and stumble in the path of life.
36. Our Lord further says,
'While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.'
In the previous verse the people are exhorted to walk while they have the light; here they are exhorted to believe in it. True faith is built upon obedience as well as manifested in good works. By walking in the light we come to believe in the light, and by believing and walking in the light we become the children of light. To be the children of light is to be regenerated by means of divine truth, which is, to become spiritual.
These things spoke Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. The Lord departs from those who depart from him, and hides himself from those with whom he can have no communion. He departs from the evil will, and hides himself from the false understanding. To express it otherwise, evil in the will separates between man and his God, and falsity in the understanding hides the Divine face from him. Jesus literally departed and hid himself from the people, but his acts were representative of what he does spiritually with regard to those who, like the people he addressed, refused either to obey or believe in the offered light.
37. 'But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him'
Miracles done before men seem to have little effect in producing belief. To believe, their understandings must be enlightened, their hearts must be changed, their eyes and their ears must be opened. This is the miracle which gives true and living faith. Creation is full of miracles, but these fail to convince men of the existence and presence of the Creator.
38. This unbelief had been foreseen and therefore foretold.
'They believed not on him, that the sayings of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?'
This occurs in Isaiah liii., where the deepest states of our Lord's humiliation, his trials and temptations, are treated of; and the chapter begins with these words, for human unbelief lay at the foundation of all the Lord's temptations. "Who hath believed our report?" is equivalent to the Lord's own question, in relation to his second coming, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith in the earth?" (Luke xviii. 8). The answer implied in the prophet's question is, No one. No one hath believed our report, to none hath the arm of the Lord been revealed. There was no reception either of the divine truth or of the divine love among men, even when they appeared in the person, in the teaching, and in the works of the Son of man. Many believed not his report, although his doctrine dropped as the rain, and distilled as the dew, his speech as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass; nor did they yield to his beneficent acts, though the arm of his omnipotence had been put forth to perform them.
39, 40. But notwithstanding this putting forth of the arm of Jehovah in the person of Jesus Christ, the mass of those to whom the divine manifestation was made remained in unbelief. The evangelist even goes so far as to say that
'they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.'
The words of the prophet, and the evangelist's introduction to them, seem to teach that unbelief was independent of the will of the people, being the result of a divinely inflicted state of intellectual blindness and hardness of heart. The Lord, no doubt, hides the truth from men in certain states of mind, and in doing which his goodness is manifested. This we learn especially from the words of Jesus himself, when he addressed the Father in the remarkable words, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight" (Luke x. 21). What seems good in the sight of God must be good in relation to men as well as in relation to Himself. He hides divine wisdom from the wise and prudent, only to prevent them from profaning what is holy. And profanation consists in first believing the truth and afterwards denying it. Those who do this not only seriously injure the cause of religion, but they do an incalculable and eternal injury to themselves. Those who are converted and healed, and return to unbelief and sin, are in a worse state than if they had never known the truth. "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance: seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him, to an open shame" (Heb. vi. 4-6). Reason as well as revelation tells us that it is impossible for a perfect Being, infinite in goodness as in wisdom, to hide from any of his creatures the means of salvation, except for their own sake. And however the letter of the Word may seem to favour the opposite conclusion, the spirit of the Word reveals the true state of the case.
41. The evangelist concludes by saying,
'These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.'
The glory of the Lord, of whom the prophet spake, he thus describes, "I saw also the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly" (vi. 1, 2). It is evident from the tenor of the chapter, that this was a vision, in which the prophet saw the glory of the Lord, as it was in heaven, which is God's throne, and as it was to be manifested on earth, in the temple of his humanity. The preaching and spread of the gospel are also the theme of the prophecy. "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me" (v. 8). And then follows the words quoted by John, - "Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of the people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed" (v. 9, 10). This is intended to describe the general state of the Jewish people, at the time of the Lord's coming. It was foreseen that they would, as a church, refuse the offer of salvation, and that in consequence, their land would be utterly desolate; in other words, that their dispensation would come to an end. Yet it is promised that "in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil-tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof" (13). By this we are instructed that, while the church would come to an end, yet, according to the merciful providence of the Lord in such cases, a remnant should be preserved, to form the germ or nucleus of a new dispensation. According to the evident scope of this prophetic vision of the prophet, the blindness and hardness of heart, which had been brought upon the people, are descriptive of the general condition of the church, which had come to an end, to be succeeded, however, by a new and higher dispensation of truth and righteousness.
42, 43. Of the remnant, the tenth, the holy seed, which was promised to be preserved amidst the general corruption, the evangelist now speaks.
'Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.'
Nicodemus was one of the rulers of the Jews, and he formed one of the first fruits of the Lord's gospel. His was not, however, the only instance of the acceptance of Christianity among the rulers of the Jewish church. There were secret disciples, who did not confess him because of the Pharisees; they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Still they were disciples, though they remained in the ranks of Judaism, and retained their hereditary and national religious connection. The Lord did not condemn Nicodemus for coming to him by night, nor counsel him to confess him openly. He is tender to human infirmity, although we can have no difficulty in knowing which he commends. To love the praise of men more than the praise of God is certainly a very imperfect state; but it is one that will be succeeded by a better in those who are sincere, though secret, disciples.
44, 45. We have seen, at the 36th verse, that, having addressed himself to the people, he departed and went and hid himself. Here we find it recorded that Jesus cried, and said,
'He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me.'
Jesus is supposed to have uttered these words as he departed and was at some distance, hence he cried and said. However this may be, to cry is expressive of the ardency of his love, and also of the clearness of his truth. What he uttered involves also this distinction. Jesus speaks of himself as being sent, and of the Father as sending him. The Father who sends is the divinity, the Son who is sent is the humanity; the Father who sends is the divine love, the Son who is sent is the divine wisdom. Love comes to men and manifests itself to them, addresses them and acts upon them, by wisdom. God, from his love, creates, redeems, and saves by his wisdom. The Lord's divinity is thus the Father and Sender of his humanity; and he who believes in Jesus as God manifest in the flesh, believes not in the mere humanity of Jesus, but in his indwelling Divinity. But Jesus here declares, "he that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me." In this our Lord asserts that true belief in him includes in it belief in God. And this he still further and more forcibly declares when he adds, "and he that seeth me seeth him that sent me." That which the Lord here teaches is, however, more than a theological tenet, to be embodied in a creed; it is a divine truth, to be embodied in a heavenly life.
46. Our Lord teaches this openly in the words which now follow.
'I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.'
Divine light is Divine wisdom; and love is in wisdom as heat is in light. The Lord came a light into the world, which lay in darkness. As the eternal Word, he was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. That which had been the inward shining light, came into the world and was outwardly manifested, that with their eyes and intellects men might see the light, which had never ceased to shine into the highest region of their minds, but which, in descending into their natural understandings, shone in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. The divine love, compassionating the state of men, desired to remove their darkness, and therefore came with the light of wisdom, to enlighten the human mind; so that his light, displayed without, might unite with that which shone within, to dissipate the prevailing darkness of ignorance and error. The light which came to us by the incarnation of him who is the Light itself, has provided us with the means of being enlightened through a new medium, even the humanity of the Lord; so that while from his divinity the Lord still acts upon and gives light to the inmost of the mind, from his humanity he may give light to the natural mind, so that both may be enlightened together, and in the light, may receive the love, of God.
47. Merciful was this condescension of God to men, and merciful is the dealing of God with those who refuse it.
'And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.'
Judgment here evidently means condemnation. The Lord had already declared that "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved" (iii. 17). Salvation was the purpose of divine love, and the work of divine wisdom, in the Incarnation. Such is the divine nature, that it would save all; and the Lord's work in the flesh is sufficient for universal salvation. But even those who reject this salvation are not judged or condemned by the Saviour. He came not to condemn, but to save; nor is there any attribute of his nature, as it is in him, that condemns even the worst of sinners. Condemnation has another cause, which the Lord now proceeds to show.
48. 'He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.'
49. The Lord gives a reason for the seeing and non judging character of his truth.
'For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.'
Let us for a moment consider the doctrinal import of these words. Did Jesus speak as a divine person or as a human being? As a divine person he could not say, "I have not spoken of myself: "for what an infinite person says he cannot but speak of himself; nor can he speak as he has been commanded by another. It may be evident from this and from all other instances of expressed inferiority and dependence on the part of the Son, that the difference between the Father and the Son was a real and not a nominal difference. The difference was that which exists between love and wisdom, and between soul and body. There is a real distinction or difference between these. Love and wisdom, though one and indivisible, are perfectly distinct essentials in God; and divinity and humanity, though one, are yet distinct. Wisdom also exists and acts from love; but by existing, we must be understood to mean coming forth from love; and so with the humanity in regard to the divinity. Wisdom speaks from the promptings of love; the body acts from the energy of the soul. Here we see the force of the Lord's declaration. He does not judge or condemn, because his words were the words of love as well as of truth.
50. The Lord therefore says,
'And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.'
The commandment of the Father is everlasting life. Yes, this is the end of all the divine commandments. This was the end of every word uttered and every work done by Jesus Christ, when he was upon earth. Love to men was the object of the Lord's coming into the world. Redemption was a work of pure infinite love. How true the words of the Lord, "Even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." Every word of the Lord was inspired by his love. And that love was the love of mankind, and those words which were its utterance were the words of wisdom, for the instruction and guidance of men in the life which constitutes as well as leads to heaven. God's love to men was the origin of the law, and man's love to God is the fulfilling of the law.
CHAPTER XIII
Between the end of the preceding chapter and the beginning of the present there is a wide interval, not of time, but of circumstance. The raising of Lazarus was the last, and perhaps we may say the greatest of the Lord's miracles, and the discourse he delivered after it was the last he addressed in public to the Jewish people. In his concluding words to the world he talked with them, how fitly! of righteousness and of judgment to come. He left them with the divine assurance that he came not to judge the world, but to save it, and that the only judge that would confront them at the last day, being the words he had spoken, and which would only condemn those to whom they had been spoken in vain. Having thus ended that succession of discourses, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, he now retires with his disciples, to commune with them of those more interior things, which could be consistently and profitably addressed to those only who were prepared to enter with him, or rather, perhaps, to obtain a glimpse within the vail, to behold his glory, though to them surrounded as yet with clouds and darkness, which he dissipated only by his resurrection.
1. 'Now, before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his time was come that he should depart out of the world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.'
2. 'And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.'
The immediate purpose of speaking of the supper, is to mention that Jesus rose from it to wash his disciples' feet. Not when supper was ended, but during supper, is, however, the correct meaning of the evangelist's language. Jesus rose from the supper to do a servile office to his disciples. None of the other gospels mention this affecting circumstance; but one records an incident which some suppose to have given rise to it. Luke relates, in connection with the inquiry of the disciples, who it was that should betray Jesus, that there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest (xxii. 24). That Jesus should adopt this practical and symbolic mode of teaching his followers humility and brotherly love, by each being willing to take the lowest place and perform the lowest service, is very conceivable. On another occasion, when they contended which should be greatest in the ideal kingdom of theirs, Jesus at once rebuked and taught them, by setting a little child in the midst, and telling them, that except they should be converted and become as little children, they would not so much as enter the kingdom of heaven. His washing the feet of the yet ambitious disciples, was a lesson not less striking and edifying, which we shall see as we proceed. The part of the narrative now before us points out two particulars which require our attention, before the washing itself of the disciples' feet comes to be considered. The two particulars which the evangelist here relates place the Lord's act of humility in a strong light by means of contrast. The devil had put into the heart of Judas to betray him. Not only Judas as a man, but that most degraded part of human nature which he represented, had now nearly filled up the measure of its iniquity, which culminated in the actual betrayal and crucifixion of the Son of man; and it is here described as having reached a particular stage in its evil progress. The idea of betraying Jesus had now entered the heart of Judas. The devil had put it into his heart. There was nothing uncommon in the case of Judas in this respect. All evil is put into the human heart by evil spirits. Strictly speaking, evil spirits do not put into the heart anything of their own, or what is not already there. They excite the evils which are natural to the human heart, and which exist in it as evil inclinations.
3. But at the same time that the devil was putting into the heart of Judas to betray his Master and ruin his cause, the Father was putting into the heart of Jesus that he, the
'Father, had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God.'
It is hardly necessary to inquire what those things were which the Father had given to Jesus, and what is to be understood by their being given into his hands. From other parts of the New Testament we learn that the things given by the Father to the Son were all things which the Father himself possessed, and these were no other than the divine attributes themselves, even to all power in heaven and on earth. These things being in their nature divine, are incommunicable; they cannot be transferred from one to another. Yet they are said to be given, and therefore also received. This can be understood only in one way, if we are to have any consistent view of the subject. The Father and the Son are the divine and human natures in the person of the Lord; and the divine attributes were given by the Father to the Son, as the soul gives its attributes to the body, but which, though given, are not transferred. The Lord's coming from God and going to God must be understood in the same manner. The human came from the Divine by conception, and returned to the Divine by glorification. No other proceeding and returning are possible with God. We may, indeed, speak of the Divine wisdom coming forth from the Divine love, and returning into the bosom of the Divine love again, but this is not a different but only a more interior view of the same divine truth.
4. 'He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and taketh a towel and girdeth himself.'
As everything which the Lord did was representative, his washing the disciples' feet has a high and holy significance, in reference to the church and its members in all ages. As he himself was now about to be glorified as to the very ultimates of his humanity, and so return to God from whence he came; this washing of the disciples' feet was designed to signify, that his great work was to provide for the purification and regeneration of the ultimate principles of humanity in the members of his mystical body, the church. Before the Lord's incarnation and glorification, human nature could not be regenerated as to the natural principle. Not till this principle had been glorified in the Lord could it be regenerated in man. The possibility of this work being effected under the gospel dispensation, was represented by the Lord's washing his disciples' feet.
5. When Jesus had girded himself,
'then he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.'
The Lord pours water into the bason when his truth flows from himself, as its source, into the faculty of the human mind, which was originally created, and is now prepared by regeneration, to receive it. This faculty is the human understanding. With the water here received, the Lord begins to wash the disciples' feet. The feet of the body are symbolical of the lowest degree of the human mind. The lowest or most external degree of the mind consists of the natural affections and appetites, which, being nearest to, and immediately connected with, corporeal and earthly things, become soiled by their contact with the outer world. Not only is this the case with the careless and impenitent; the pilgrim in his journey through life contracts impurities which require to be washed away. But the impurities from which the Christian disciple needs to be washed are not, properly speaking, evil deeds. One who has any claim to the character of a Christian has ceased to live an evil life, or to commit intentional evil, and sins not, except as the result of human infirmity. Purification from such outward evils was represented by baptism, which, with the disciples, was administered at the beginning of the religious life. The washing of the feet, which the Lord performed at the end of the first period of their discipleship, represented, not the purification of the life from evil works, but the purification of the works from evil motives. The evil which adheres to the good deeds of the Christian are the evils of merit and self-righteousness. This will appear still more clearly if we regard the disciples as representing, not only the persons who are being regenerated, but the principles by which regeneration is effected. These principles in the human mind become soiled by contact with the impure affections, thoughts, and acts of our corrupt nature; and they require to have these impurities removed before they can be fully operative, as agents in the Lord's hand, for effecting the regeneration of the Christian disciple. When he had washed the disciples' feet, he wiped them with the towel wherewith he was girded. The water and the towel, the washing and wiping of the feet, point to that completed purification which is effected by the united operation of the Lord's truth and goodness. Truth is that by which the cleansing is commenced, and the good of truth is that by which it is completed. Truth is the water with which the feet of the disciples are washed; the good of truth, which is righteousness, is the linen cloth with which they are wiped.
6. In the Lord washing the disciples' feet,
'then cometh he to Peter, who saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?'
7. Jesus answered and said unto him,
'What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.'
This answer to Peter's question is not such a one as he desired and expected, but it is such a one as he needed. It expresses a truth which it is needful we should, in this and in many other things, act upon. Many acts of providential and saving mercy are inscrutable to us at the time, and can only be seen as the future of our advancing wisdom and experience unfold them to us. The wisdom of experience should teach us to confide in the Lord, even where we cannot clearly see the wisdom or the special purpose of his operations. But how often do we neglect to learn this most salutary lesson, as Peter did!
8. 'Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.'
No doubt the apostle objected to the Lord washing his feet, principally because he regarded it as an act of condescension too great for him to perform. But all such ideas conceal within them a repugnance to the nature of the act and its intended consequences. When the disciple objects to the Lord's washing his feet, it is partly because, however unaware he may be of the fact, he is unwilling to have them washed, because he is not sufficiently impressed with the necessity of complete purification, as a condition of eternal life. This lesson our Lord proceeds to enforce upon his reluctant disciple. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. This positive statement of the absolute necessity of purification, is worthy of our most serious attention.
9. When the truth, that if the Lord washed him not, he could have no part with him, was brought home to his mind,
'Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.'
From objecting to any washing, Peter goes at once to the opposite extreme of wishing to have his whole body purified. This certainly is expressive of the earnestness of the apostle to be all that was necessary for having a part with his Saviour. But it also implies, what it representatively expresses, obscurity and confusion of ideas as to the distinction which exists between the internal and external man, and thus between the inward principles and outward, duties of religion, between the graces of the mind and the virtues of the life. This distinction should be known, not merely as the means of accurate thinking, but as a means of right acting. These two are designed to be one; but we cannot intelligently strive after their union, till we know and understand the nature of their distinction. The want, or at least the imperfect knowledge or perception, of this distinction is implied, both in Peter's refusal to let the Lord wash his feet, and his desire that he should wash, not his feet only, but his hands and his head.
10. But
'Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.'
The purification which the Lord's act represented was not general but special. That which the present washing represented was the purification of the external man, meant by the apostles' feet, not the purification of the internal man, signified by their hands and their head. In the disciple who has followed the Lord in the regeneration thus far, the internal has already been purified, and nothing now remains to complete the work of regeneration but to bring the external into a corresponding state of purification, that the inferior may act as one with the superior, and so make of the twain one entire and perfect man. The first part of this purification the disciples generally, and Peter in particular, had already undergone.
11. 'For he knew who should betray him, therefore he said, Ye are not all clean.'
In the Lord's foreknowledge of who it was that should betray him, we have an instance of what he does universally in regard to the states of men. The Lord's foreknowledge extends to all men, the evil as well as the good. It is by this that he is able to provide for all, and to bring the best possible results out of the worst possible circumstances. Evil itself, in its activity, is of divine permission, but the law of providence is, that a less evil is permitted to prevent a greater. The Lord still knows who shall betray him. From his divine order the Lord sees not only all in the universe that is in order, as being from and in harmony with himself, but all that is in disorder, as being the inversion and the opposite of what proceeds from himself. For evil, as the root of disorder, is not an independent production or separate existence. It is the abuse and perversion of good, not the past perversion of a past good, but the present and continuous perversion of a present good. The evil could not exist without the good. Good flows from the Lord as a constant stream, and all evil is the constant perversion of this good; and as the evil is constantly reacting against the good, the good cannot but see and be otherwise sensible of the evil. The foreknowledge of God is no doubt difficult for us in any measure to comprehend. We can see that infinite wisdom must know all things. And while from his divine truth he sees its opposite, the opposite is not permitted to operate against it farther than to effect its glorification. It is enough for us to know this, and adore.
2. When the Lord had washed his disciples' feet, and had taken his garments, and sat down again, he said unto them,
'Know ye what I have done to you?'
In all probability they only thought of their Lord's act as one of great condescension, or at most as an initiatory rite, by which they became entitled to a place in his temporal kingdom. His question was intended to produce other reflections, and prepare them for receiving the spiritual lesson he intended for them. He had told Peter that what he was about to do he could not then know, but would know thereafter. He now prepares the disciples for the knowledge which he had promised them. Many of the merciful operations of which the Christian disciple is the subject can only be explained to him after he has been the subject of them. Outward revelation comes alike to all; inward revelation comes only to those whom the outward revelation has prepared to receive it. Experience is the true teacher. Know ye what I have done to you? is the Lord's question to the disciples now as it was then. This is intended to lead them to reflect on his purpose, which is the real meaning of the act; for we know not what the Lord has done to us until we know what his act teaches us to do, which he now proceeds to point out. There is some resemblance of this act of the Lord to that of the Jewish priest removing the ashes of the altar. When the priest did so he laid aside his ordinary garment and put on one of linen; after having completed the duty, he resumed his ordinary habit. So did the Lord when he had removed the dust from the feet of the disciples.
13. 'Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.'
To call Jesus Master and Lord is to acknowledge him as Teacher and Ruler, as the supreme Truth and Good. And as we are to call no man our master, for one is our Master, even Christ; so is Jesus, supreme and alone, our authority in all matters of faith and practice, in everything relating to spiritual and eternal life. But the point which the Lord here emphasizes is one of great importance. "Ye call me Master and Lord." And he tells them that they said so rightly. But he proceeds to tell them that they were now to do more than call him so. It deserves our attentive consideration that while the Lord displays in his conduct towards his disciples the greatest condescension, he yet asserts his claim to their homage. While he assumes the office and performs towards them the duties of a servant, he declares himself their Lord and Master.
14. 'If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.'
Here is the great and blessed lesson which his disciples were to learn from their Lord and Master having washed their feet. The ceremonial act which the Lord had performed was to teach them that the spiritual feet-washing is the Christian's passage from the theory to the practice of religion - from saying to doing. "If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet." The Lord's blessings are dispensed, not that they may remain with those who receive them, nor even that they may be returned to him in direct acknowledgment, but that they may descend, and carry their blessed influence to those who require them. Every blessing which the Lord bestows must descend to the lowest sphere of activity and usefulness, before it can ascend and return to him again. Unless his Word completed this circle of order, it would return unto him void, without accomplishing that whereto he sent it, and effecting that which he pleases (Is. lv. 11). Every purified disciple must help on the purification of his brethren; and not less must he cause the purification, which has been begun in himself, to descend to the lowest degree of his mind and acts of his life, that he may be wholly clean. If, therefore, the Lord has washed our feet; how ought we to transmit his blessing to others, that we may be like him, ever labouring to promote the improvement and happiness of others. This turning of the mind and life from the theoretical to the practical in religion is an inversion of state. In the former state truth is in the first place and good in the second; in the latter state, good is in the first place and truth in the second. This is indicated in the Lord's words. In the previous verse he says, "Ye call me Master and Lord;" in the present sense, he speaks of himself as their Lord and Master. He is our Master and Lord, when, in our minds, his truth is before his good; he is our Lord and Master, when his good is before his truth.
15. The Lord proceeds further to say,
'For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.'
The Lord was indeed an example to us in all things; but his example is much more than an outward pattern for our imitation. Our whole religious life and experience is an image of his. In whatever we do we can but follow where he has led. The Incarnation was the doing of what the Lord had taught before it. It was to bring down his truth into deed that the came down into the world.
16. As a reason for our imitating him, he says,
'Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.'
If the servant is not greater than his lord, he cannot claim or expect to be exempted from the duties which his lord takes upon himself. The Christian disciple must therefore do as Jesus Christ himself has done. In the spiritual sense, the Lord here teaches the duty and necessity of the external being subservient to the internal; and that it may be truly so it must do as the internal has done. Truth also is subservient to good, and is sent of good; for truth proceeds from good, as thought does from affection. If we regard external, as more to us than internal things, if we regard truth as more than good, faith more than charity, we spiritually place the servant above his lord, and make him that is sent greater than him that sent him. We must, to be true disciples, place these principles in their true order, both in doctrine and in practice.
17. 'If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.'
Great is this truth, and blessed are they who realize it! In, all things, as well as in this particular lesson, this is the rule of right conduct, and the way to true happiness. Needful indeed is it to know the things which relate to spiritual and eternal life, for without knowledge there can be no intelligent action; but action is the end of all knowledge. And not only is it our duty, but it is our happiness also, to do as we know. The laws of God, as rules of conduct, have happiness as their reward. The reward is in the work. Happiness arises from right action, as the fruit of right principles. What are the things, the doing of which brings happiness? Knowing that the Lord is our example, true happiness consists in doing as he has done.
18. Jesus had said to his disciples, "Ye are clean, but not all." The exception was Judas, who, the Lord knew, should betray him. He now returns to this, and says,
'I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen: but, that the scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.'
We have seen (10, 11) that Judas represented the corrupt selfhood of man. Specifically, he represented the lowest or corporeal principle of human nature, through which our Lord's last and severest temptation came. This principle, with those within the church, perverts the truth, and betrays it unto the hands of open and avowed enemies, in and out of the church, as Judas betrayed Jesus into the hands of "sinful men", to be spit upon, buffeted, and put to death.
19. The Lord shows his disciples, not only from fulfilled, but from yet unfulfilled prediction, what they are to believe.
'Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he."
He does not indeed ask them to believe for the prediction, but he gives them the prediction that they may believe through its fulfillment. Future states, like future events, can only be believed when they exist. We truly believe the Lord to be our Savior only when we are saved. We cannot indeed be saved without faith; but it is not till his words are verified in our experience that we truly believe in him. When the things that he has told us before have thus come to pass, "then ye may believe that I am he."
20. When religion has become a matter of experience, the mind ascends form the lower degrees of truth to the higher, and even to the highest.
'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.'
21. 'When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, That one of you shall betray me.'
Understanding this in its spiritual sense, and in reference to Christian progress and experience, we learn from it that the soul's ascent from the lower to the higher degrees of truth and spiritual development is not effected without conflict. The Lord was no doubt actually troubled in spirit, not simply at the contemplation of the treachery of Judas and the suffering of the cross, but because the inward conflict with the powers of darkness, to be followed by their more open and vigorous assault, had already begun. If, considering the disciples as representing the church, Judas was typical of those of its professed members who crucify the Lord afresh, and are inwardly devils, which they afterwards openly appear, the Lord's anguish of spirit will express the mourning of his love over every lost one; for it is his desire that all should be saved; and his redemption includes all within its wide embrace.
22. 'Then the disciples looked on one another, doubting of whom he spake.'
Well might they look upon one another at this startling announcement; and well might they doubt of whom he spake; for which of them, except the traitor himself, could imagine it possible that any one of them could think of betraying so blessed a Master? But what are we to understand the meaning of this to be in regard to ourselves? This looking of the disciples on one another is expressive of self-examination - looking into our own thoughts, and through these into our affections; for the disciples represent principles in one mind. Such examination is attended with doubt as to where the evil lurks. When we are assured by divine wisdom that our hearts are evil above all things, and desperately wicked, we may consent to the truth, but we cannot realize it till experience makes it manifest. But when we are told of any particular evil of a desperate character that we inherit, and may be guilty of, we naturally doubt that it can have an abiding place within us. When Hazael was told by the prophet of the cruelties he would commit when he had become king of Syria, he answered, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" (2 Kings viii. 13.) The trouble which the disciples felt was the trouble which Jesus experienced now communicated to them. When anguish seizes upon the interior of the mind, it descends into the exterior also, though it is there felt at first as an undefined evil, whose origin and operation are yet undiscovered.
23. 'Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.'
Self-examination, when the thoughts only look one upon another, leads the mind into doubt, which cannot be removed but by looking higher, even to the Lord himself, for a solution of the difficulty. But the Lord can only be approached by mediums; the supreme Good and Truth can only be reached through goods and truths of a lower degree. The highest of these mediums is the good of love to the Lord. This was represented by John, who, for that reason, leaned on Jesus' bosom. The bosom of Jesus is the divine love itself; and "he who dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him." Jesus is said to have loved the disciple who reclined on his bosom. Not that the Lord does not love all his disciples, and even all the human race; but he is said to love those in whom his love dwells. All are the objects of his love; those who are the recipients of his love are the disciples whom Jesus loves, and who he in his bosom; for love is spiritual conjunction. In the abstract sense it is love in the disciple through which he has immediate conjunction with the Lord?, and therefore through which he has immediate communion with him.
24. But there is a lower grace by which the mind ascends through this to the Lord. That grace is faith, and was represented by Simon Peter.
'Simon Peter, therefore, beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.'
When this disciple is called Simon Peter, it expresses faith more intimately connected with love. Peter beckoning to John to ask Jesus is expressive of an act of the mind, by which it looks from faith through love, to receive from the Lord a revelation of that which deeply concerns it, to know what and where the evil is, of which the Lord speaks of as his betrayer.
25. 'He then, lying on Jesus' breast, saith unto him, Lord, who is it?'
Momentous question. In regard to the disciple, in the progress of his spiritual life, the question means, What in me is it that is traitor to thee? How shall I know the traitor in my own heart?
26. Jesus answered,
'He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the Son of Simon.'
The sop of which Jesus spoke was the morsel which he, who presided at the feast of the passover, dipped in the vessel containing the bitter herbs. And as the bitter herbs eaten with the paschal lamb were symbolical of temptation, with which the reception of spiritual good is attended, and by which its appropriation is effected, the giving of the sop to Judas was an appropriate act, by which the disciples were to discover him of whom the Lord spake. Temptation is that which, in Christian experience, makes the evil of the heart manifest. This is the use of temptation, and that for which it is permitted; and its permission was represented by Jesus giving Judas the sop.
27. 'And after the sop Satan entered into him.'
At verse 2 it is said that the devil had put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus; here it is said that Satan entered into him. The devil is the name for spirits who are actuated by the love of evil; Satan is the name for those who are actuated by the love of falsity. The stages of the progress of wickedness are in this expressively pointed out. First evil enters into the heart, prompting it to sin, then falsity enters into the understanding, pleading the justification of evil, and devising the means of committing the sin. Evil may enter as an impulse into the heart without our incurring guilt; but when it is confirmed by false reasonings in the understanding, it only wants the opportunity and the immediate temptation to become sin Temptation is induced by evil spirits. They enter into and excite the evils of the heart, which rise up in the form of concupiscence., prompting to the commission of sin.
28. 'Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake thus unto him.'
Those previously called disciples are now spoken of as those who were at the table, the former title having relation to truth and the present to goodness. Meat, and the table on which it is placed, have the same signification, with the distinction that the meat is the internal, and the table is the external on which it rests. Those at table are, therefore, those who are in conjunction and communion by a common principle of goodness - goodness derived from the Lord, and in which he is. But none of those at table knew for what intent Jesus thus addressed Judas. Those who are principled in good never suspect evil; and so far as any one thinks under the influence of good, he thinks no evil of others. The Lord's words, moreover, do not of themselves imply evil action, but only his desire that what Judas was to do he should do quickly. And none but the Lord knew what that was which he was desired to hasten.
29. Although the disciples did not know what Judas was required to do, they conjectured, and their conjecture was in harmony with their own character.
'For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.'
Judas being the purse-bearer of the little brotherhood, suggested this interpretation of the Lord's mysterious words. What this office of Judas spiritually implies we have already stated. Money is the symbol of knowledge; and the memory is the receptacle in which it is deposited, and from which it is drawn forth when it is employed for the uses of life, either in supplying the demands of the higher faculties for the good things of love, or of the lower for the good things of charity, which is to buy the things needed for the feast, or to give something to the poor. Judas having the bag, indicates that he represents those whose knowledge of divine and spiritual things is a mere possession of the memory.
30. 'He then, having received the sop, went immediately out; and it was night.'
How impressive is this statement, how impressive the lesson it teaches! This reception of the sop was but a sign of Satan having entered into him, of his having admitted into his heart the dreadful false principle, which Satan inspired or rather excited. Judas, notwithstanding the devil had put evil into his heart, remained in the presence of the Lord, and in company with the rest of the disciples; but as soon as Satan entered into him he went out. What he had admitted into his heart being now confirmed in his understanding, he went out - out from the presence of the Lord and from the fellowship of the faithful. He went out immediately. Immediately, like suddenly, means certainly; being expressive of a deep and settled confirmation of mind in the cherished evil, and a fixed determination of the will to carry it out into act. And it was night. Night spiritually means a state of the understanding. The seasons, which are determined by varying degrees of heat and cold, are expressive of the varying states of the will; but night and day, which are determined by light and its absence, are expressive of the different and opposite states of the understanding. Night is mental and spiritual darkness. It is therefore recorded that it was night when Judas went out. Then indeed was it the night of the Jewish church, which Judas represented; but it is night with the sinner when the evil, which that of Judas represented, has taken entire and undisputed possession of the mind. He goes out from the presence of Him who is the light, into the darkness, to do the deeds thereof.
31. 'Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.'
Now that Judas had gone out, Jesus spake exultingly of his glorification. He saw in the precipitate departure of the traitor the certainty and proximate completion of his great work, and in it the redemption of the human race.
32. But there is another effect of this glorification of the Father in the Son; for the Lord proceeds to say,
'If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.'
The reciprocal work of making the human divine and the divine human is still spoken of. The glorification of the Father in the Son is the subject of the preceding verse, the glorification of the Son in the Father is the subject of this.
33. From speaking of himself he turns to his disciples,
'Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say unto you.'
The Lord now for the first time calls his disciples little children. Children he had already called them; but they had now, by becoming more innocent, acquired more of the true character of those of whom it is said, that of such is the kingdom of heaven. They had become little in their own eyes, and more and more completely purged of the leaven of hypocrisy and iniquity. But their innocence and trust in their Lord was now to undergo a severe trial. The time was fast approaching when he was to be taken away from them. The "little while" he was to be with them was a time and a state of joy and security. But when that time was ended, they would seek the Lord as one whom they had lost. Severely would they feel his absence. Yet it was expedient for them that he should go away. One state, however pleasing and prosperous, cannot continue always. The Christian must go on unto perfection, and perfection cannot be attained without alternations of state.
34. The Lord delivers a commandment to them, by obedience to which they would be prepared to receive him at his coming.
'A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.'
Why was this called a new commandment? It had been required by the old law that men should love their neighbour as themselves (Lev. xix. 18). This commandment was new, because, under the Christian dispensation, it was to be done from a new principle and after a new pattern. Christians are to love one another as spiritual and immortal beings, and from a spiritual and eternal principle of action; and they are to love one another, not only as they love themselves, but as the Lord has loved them. This marks the grand distinction between the mutual love of Christians and that of the Jews, and of all others who know not or receive not Christ. While we were yet enemies to him, he loved us with a pure disinterested love, and so far from loving us as he loved himself, he gave himself for us. It is with a love like this that Christians are to love one another. They cannot indeed love with the same ardour and purity as the Lord loved and still loves them; but they can strive to imitate him, and to reflect, in the innocence and usefulness of their lives, something of his human perfection.
35. While obedience to this commandment is necessary to make us disciples in the sight of the Lord, it is equally requisite to make us disciples in the sight of men.
'By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another.'
This test of discipleship is one that all men can apply, and which they cannot help applying. Many may be unable to distinguish truth from error, but all are able to distinguish between good and evil, love and hatred. The reason of this is, that truth and error belong to the thoughts, and their quality is arrived at by a process of reasoning; but good and evil belong to the affections, and their quality is known by an act of perception. The language of the affections is a universal language which all understand. It is the only language of animals, of which they have an intuitive knowledge. Human beings intuitively know the difference between the sound of love and hatred; and as they discern it in sound, so can they perceive it in action. Love, expressed in word and deed, is the language of Christianity; and by this shall all men know that we are the disciples of Jesus, that we have love one to another. If we would at once honour our Lord, and do good to our neighbour and to ourselves, we must cultivate mutual love, and endeavour to love one another, even as our Saviour loved us. If this new commandment were carried into life with any degree of consistency and constancy, how beautiful a spectacle would the church present! how beneficial an influence would it exercise on the world without, and what a blessed effect would it have on the communion of the faithful! War and contention would cease, and the human family would live as the children of their heavenly Father peaceful subjects of the Prince of peace.
36. The disciples do not seem to have fully appreciated the value and blessedness of this lesson. Their faith was as yet more active than their love; and so Peter, by whom their faith was expressed and represented, reverts to the Lord's declaration respecting his departure, which had made a deeper impression upon them than the new commandment he had given them.
'Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.'
The disciples were as yet ignorant of the real import of the Lord's declaration. This question shows that they knew nothing whatever of the mystery of redemption, but only thought of the Lord's going away as a change of place. The Lord does not answer Peter's question, although he no doubt anticipated his purpose in asking it, which was that he might follow him. Future states cannot be revealed to those who have not entered on them, or into which the Lord, as the way, the truth, and the life, has not yet been manifested in their hearts and minds. It is enough to be instructed in the truth relating to themselves, "Whither I go thou canst not follow me now," and so receive the promise, "but thou shalt follow me afterwards." This is supposed to refer to the disciples following Jesus, in becoming martyrs in his cause, which they were neither required nor prepared to be now, but afterwards would willingly become. But there was a martyrdom of another and still more trying kind, which they were then unprepared for, and which they could not triumphantly endure until the Lord had suffered; for the disciple could not lay down the life of his self hood until the Lord had laid down the life of his frail humanity. Afterwards, the disciple could follow his Lord through the great temptation, and experience the great change from nature to spirit, from death unto life. And then would be exhibited the fruits of that change, as spoken of by the apostle, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (1 John iii. 14). And here we see the reason of the Lord's delivering, in connection with the subject of his death and life, the new commandment, to love one another, which is not very apparent from the literal sense.
37. The disciples were not, it would appear, satisfied with the Lord's assurance of their inability to follow him.
'Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.'
As they did not know whither the Lord was going, they could not know that they were unable to follow him.
38. To Peter's assertion,
'Jesus answered, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.'
The Lord here showed his prescience. He, who knew what was in man, saw into Peter's inmost soul, and knew how he would act in the trial that awaited him. Impressive is this lesson. Since we know so little of our own hearts, it shows how humbly and meekly we should hear the words of the Most High, when they tell us of our weakness and warn us of our danger. In the spiritual sense, the Lord's words to Peter are addressed through him to the church. The crowing of the cock is the announcement that the night of the church is past, and that the morning of a new dispensation has dawned. Before the cock crew, was before the morning twilight had appeared. Peter's denying the Lord three times before the crowing of the cock, represented the utter denial of the Lord in the night of the expiring church, both at the time of the Lord's first coming, and at the time of his second advent. The plenary denial of the Lord is expressed by the thrice that Peter denied him. As Peter represented faith, his defection was a representative exhibition of that which our Lord predicted, when he said, "When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith in the earth?" If Peter denied his Lord, where may faith be expected to be found? But how blessed a prospect does this dark prediction contain! Peter indeed should deny his Lord; but after the dark sin, there is a bright prospect. The cock is to crow, and the morning of a new day is to dawn, which will bring light and love to the sons of men.
CHAPTER XIV.
If the knowledge of God in Christ is the highest and most precious knowledge that the church can possess or the Christian disciple acquire, this chapter is one of the most important that the Scriptures contain.
1. 'Let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.'
Immunity or deliverance from mental trouble is to be found only through belief in Jesus, and not only through belief in him, but through belief in him as God. "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." It is evident that Jesus here places himself on an equality with God, and inculcates or demands the same belief in Him as that which men directed to God. As God has no equal but himself, Jesus must be God himself. But although he was God, and therefore God alone, there is yet a distinction between God and Jesus, or between the Father and the Son. This distinction is an important one, as our Lord here evidently teaches. He says to his disciples, Ye believe in God; but notwithstanding this belief, they were in a state of obscurity, and were the subjects of tribulation. It was by believing also in Jesus, as they believed in God, that they were to escape or surmount trouble. God is the divinity, pure and unmanifested; Jesus is the divinity clothed in humanity. It was not, therefore, by their belief in God, but by their belief in God incarnate, that they were to be secured from trouble of heart. If the Lord, as God, could have, given peace to the troubled heart of humanity, he needed not to have come into the world. It was because he could not, as God, that he became Man. It is by belief in Jesus, as the manifested God, that men obtain rest to their souls. If, therefore, we would be saved from spiritual trouble, we must believe in Jesus as we believe in God.
2. The Lord proceeds to say,
'In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.'
From the Father, the Lord passes to the Father's house, as the place where the heart shall experience no more trouble or sorrow. Heaven is the Father's house. In the individual, the Father's house is the regenerate heart, where the Lord dwells with his love, or rather in his love, for the Lord dwells only in his own. In the abstract sense, love in the heart is itself the Father's house, the habitation where his honour dwelleth. Understood of the heaven of angels, or the spirits of just men made perfect, the many mansions are the innumerable distinct habitations where the elect reside. Heaven is not a promiscuous multitude, but a most perfectly classified assembly, where every one has his own place, his own use, and his own reward.
3. 'And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.'
The Lord's coming again, to receive his disciples into the place he had prepared for them, is considered to mean his coming to remove them by death to the mansions of heaven. This may be admitted as his meaning; but it is not his whole meaning. The Lord came again at the day of Pentecost, when he poured out his Spirit from on high on his disciples. This was the coming which he several times promised to make; coming as the Comforter, who was to guide them into all truth, and bring all he had said to their remembrance, and show them things to come. This was a second coming, the completion of the first. But the Lord makes a second coming of this kind to all true disciples. He came first as their Instructor and then as their Enlightener, first as the Teacher, and then as the Spirit, of Truth. This is the coming by which the Lord receives the faithful unto himself, or by which he draws them into spiritual conjunction with him. The Lord, in the best and highest sense, takes his disciples unto himself, when he draws them away from the love of themselves unto the love of him. The true and renewed disciple is no longer his own, he is the Lord's. The Lord's purpose in taking his disciples to himself is, that where he is, there they may be also. Not, strictly speaking, in the place, but in the state where he is, does the Lord desire his disciples to be. If they come into his state, they will come into his place as a necessary consequence. The Lord desires indeed that his disciples should find their home in heaven, but the heavenly state is a sure passport to the heavenly place. This is what all the desires of divine love and all the operations of divine wisdom unite to secure.
4. The Lord, after speaking of his departure, says to them,
'And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.'
There are two kinds of knowledge, especially in regard to divine and spiritual things, the knowledge that is of the memory and the knowledge that is of the understanding and the heart - of science and of experience. The disciples possessed one kind of knowledge but not the other; they knew and they did not know. The Lord had taught them that he must go away unto the Father, and that they must follow him.
5. Hence
'Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?'
This statement and question were uttered by Thomas, because he represented those within the church who are of an external character, and judge of spiritual thing by the light of the world rather than by the light of heaven. Such, therefore, know not where the Lord goes nor the way that leads thither. The principle of human nature which he represents, the sensuous, as it exists in every disciple, asks the same question, when the Lord makes the assertion that drew forth the words of Thomas.
6. The Lord answers the question of Thomas by saying unto him,
'I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.'
Jesus himself was the way, which he truly said the disciples knew, though they hardly yet knew in what respect he was so. That which the Lord now delivers is a great truth, one of the greatest in the New Testament. How is it to be understood? Jesus is the way; no one can come to the Father but by him. We can only understand this clearly when we know that the Father and the Son are the Divine and the Human in the person of the Lord, and the divine Love and Wisdom in his nature, embodied in his person. The Humanity is the way to the Divinity, for we cannot approach the Lord in his Essential Divinity, except in and through the Divine Humanity in which it dwells. The Lord is also the truth which reveals his love, and invests it. Truth is as light, love is as heat; and heat clothes itself with light as with a garment; as does the divine love with divine wisdom. But Jesus is also the life. This is agreeable to the declaration of John: "In him was life; and the life was the light of men" (i. 4). Life produces light, love produces or clothes itself with wisdom. He who claimed all these characters, or attributes, cannot be less than divine. Yet that distinction of essential principles in the nature of God, which constitutes the divine trinity, is here very strikingly taught, and its benefits to men pointed out. Divinity is distinct from humanity, love is distinct from wisdom. The great object of the Lord is to bring us by his humanity to his divinity, by his wisdom to his love; and his humanity or his wisdom is the way which alone can lead unto it.
7. Jesus proceeds to say,
'If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.'
The disciples knew Jesus and acknowledged him as the Messiah, but they knew him not as yet in his true character. Had they known that the essential and eternal divinity was in the humanity, they would have known the divine by the human. The human manifested the divine both in person and in character. The Lord's divinity was manifested personally in his humanity, as a man's soul is manifested in his body; and it was manifested characteristically, by his love being exhibited in his wisdom, as a man's will is exhibited in his understanding. Those who know Jesus know the Father, and when the true knowledge of Jesus is attained, from henceforth the Father is known and seen by the reception of his love in the heart, and even by the perception of his truth in the understanding. In Jesus we know and see the Father, for he is at once the Father and the Son, the divine and the human, the love and the wisdom, in one glorious person.
8. But there is yet another claimant for further light or demonstration.
'Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.'
As Thomas signifies those who judge from sense, Philip signifies those who judge from reason, as yet unenlightened by the rays of divine truth. Such desire to see the Father, to have the divinity revealed, the divine love made known, in some other than the only way in which they can be known. They want to see immediately that which can only be seen mediately - to see the Father, but not through the medium of the Son. There are many in Philip's state, who think of the Father out of and separate from the Son, as a Person or Being who may be seen by the eye of the mind, if not by that of the body, as he is in his own essence.
9. The Lord's answer to Philip is sufficent to correct this grave error.
'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?'
The Lord speaks as if in the language of surprise, that Philip should ask to see Him he had so long and so often seen. Jesus had been long with him, and yet he had not known him. This could only be said on the ground that Philip was ignorant of who Jesus really was. If he had not seen the Father in Jesus, he had not known Jesus. Jesus was the manifestation of the Father. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." What could be stronger than this in proof that the Father and the Son are one, and that he who saw the Son saw the Father? Hence the demand, "How sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?"
10. The Lord proceeds,
'Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.'
Not only the unity of the Father and the Son, but the nature of their distinction and union, is placed in the clearest light. The Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, implies unity that is only possible on the ground of equality, and in mutual and reciprocal action and intercommunion. Each is in the other. The Father is in the Son as love is in wisdom, and the Son is in the Father as wisdom is in love; the Father is in the Son as the soul is in the body, and the Son is in the Father as the body is in the soul. That this is the kind of distinction between the Father and the Son, the Lord further and plainly declares. "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." If the Son had been a divine person distinct from the person of the Father, and possessing all divine attributes equally with him, this language would have been impossible, for it would not have expressed the truth. But when Father and Son are considered as being to each other as soul and body, or as love and wisdom, or as will and understanding, the words of the Lord are seen to be most significant and beautifully expressive of the truth. The words that the body speaks, it speaks not of itself; the soul that dwells in the body, it doeth the works. Both the words and the works of man, though spoken and done by the body, are spoken and done by the body from the soul, or by the soul through the body. It is the same with love and wisdom, which are in the Lord as will and understanding are in man. Whatever wisdom speaks and does, it speaks and does from love, just as all that the human understanding says and does is from the will.
11. 'Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.'
The Lord impresses upon Philip the duty of believing in the reciprocal union of Him and the Father; or if he cannot see the truth from its reasonableness and consistency, he is exhorted to believe it on account of the works which the Lord had performed, of which Philip himself was one of the witnesses. Those works were such as testified to an indwelling divine power in him who performed them. Wonderful works had been performed by some of the prophets of the Old Testament, and even by the apostles of the New, and perhaps by Philip himself as one of them; but they performed their works in the name and by the power of the Lord; while Jesus performed his works by his own power, - by the power of the divinity that dwelt within him.
12. Yet great as the Lord's works were, he promises that the true disciple shall be able to do, not only the works that he did, but works still greater.
'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.' We are not informed that the disciples, after the Lord's ascension, did any greater works than the Lord himself performed. Those of which he here speaks are indeed greater works than he had done, but they are works of another kind. They are internal works, of which the Lord's miracles were but the types and foreshadowings. The greater works which the disciples were and are able to do, are works that relate to the soul and its restoration to spiritual health and life. These works are as much greater than those which our Lord performed as the soul is greater than the body. To some extent the Lord performed these spiritual works in the days of his flesh; but not until after his glorification could they be done effectually and fully, since man could only be regenerated as the Lord was glorified. Therefore our Lord says, ''Greater works than these shall ye do - because I go unto my Father." His going to the Father was the union of his humanity with his divinity. In the spiritual sense, this teaches us that the union of the Lord's truth with his love in the minds of the disciples is that which enables them to do the greater works of regeneration. It is hardly possible to miss the meaning and force of the Lord's declaration.
13. The Lord further says,
'And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.'
To ask in the Lord's name is not to pray to one divine person to grant favours for the sake of another. This is not the meaning of the Scripture form of expression. The general custom of Christians of addressing their prayers to the Father, as a divine person, for the sake or in the name of the Son, as another divine person, arises from an entire misapprehension of the meaning of the Lord's words, as well as from a mistaken view of the nature of the Lord's work in the flesh. It is supposed that Jesus came into the world to make satisfaction for sin, and that sinners receive pardon of their sins and find acceptance with God, on account of what Jesus has done to satisfy the demands of divine justice. Such a doctrine has no foundation in the Scriptures. It is inconsistent with human justice, much more with divine justice, which is infinitely perfect. Divine justice could secure nothing to satisfy it from such a transaction. Indeed, such a mode of satisfaction would be an outrage upon the justice of God; and is not to be thought of as a part of true Christianity. To ask in the Lord's name is to ask in his spirit. This is the same as to ask in faith; and whatsoever the disciple asks, believing, he shall receive. Faith is the gift of the Lord's spirit, and is the spirit of his truth in the human heart. Indeed, the Lord's name means the quality of his love and truth; and to ask in his name is to ask under the influence of his love and the direction of his truth in our hearts and minds. And as all the divine qualities and attributes are brought near to us in the Lord's humanity, therefore also to ask the Father in the name of the Son, is to approach and worship the Lord in his Divine Humanity, as the temple of the Divinity. The Lord promises to grant the petitions that are preferred in his name, "that the Father may be glorified in the Son." The Father is glorified in the Son in every saving operation which the divinity performs through the humanity, or which the humanity performs from the divinity.
14. 'If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.'
We may remark again, that asking in the Lord's name cannot mean asking for his sake, else he would have said, not that he, but the Father, would do it. What meaning can we attach to the promise of a person, that he himself will do for us what we ask another to do in his name? Is it not evident that to ask in the Lord's name is to ask in the spirit of the Lord? that if we pray in the spirit of his humility and meekness, of his mercy and forgiveness, of his love and truth, we shall receive? To ask in the name or for the sake of Christ, on account of what he has done, cannot, of itself, make it certain that we shall have the things we ask, however good these things may be; but to ask in the spirit of the Lord, having the same mind in us which was also in him, this is a security for the reception of "whatsoever" we ask; for this implies a state of mind which at once gives us to know what we should ask, and prepares us for receiving it. The Lord is then the inspirer as well as the answerer of prayer, and whatsoever we ask we shall undoubtedly receive. We never really ask in his name until his name is in our prayers, till he inspires them, till his Spirit is the spirit of our prayers. Prayers addressed to the Father, as an invisible and incomprehensible because unmanifested God, with the name of Jesus Christ pronounced at the conclusion, as the name of one for whose sake we expect our petitions to be granted, is not to pray in the name of Christ, in the sense in which our Lord taught us to pray. Those who pray according to this formula, may indeed pray in the name of Jesus, because they may pray in the spirit of Jesus; but the form itself has no scriptural authority or Christian meaning. And, innocent though it may be, it has a tendency to do harm, and to dishonour rather than to honour the Lord, since it may create a false trust, and so draw the mind away from the true.
15. Our Lord now proceeds to teach the condition on which our prayers are to be answered.
'If ye love me, keep my commandments.'
Considered in itself this is a lesson of great importance. Love must be manifested in a loving obedience to the divine commands. Where there is sincere love, there will be obedience; but the Lord's imposing this duty upon those who love him, shows that there may be a kind of love which is without obedience. His exhortation implies, that we must show our love in discharging our duties;
16. 'And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.'
A most instructing subject is the Lord's praying the Father. The Lord literally prayed in the days of his humiliation. Does he pray literally now in the days of his glorification? We assume that one who prays must be inferior to him whom he addresses. In the days of his flesh the Lord's human nature was inferior to his divine nature; therefore, as a man, Jesus prayed to God. He could not pray as to his divinity. Pure divinity cannot pray. It has no one to pray to, nothing to pray for. It has in itself all that can be the object of prayer. Jesus prayed upon earth, because he was clothed with a frail humanity, which was inferior to his divinity and dependent upon it. Some may think that the man Christ Jesus could not pray to a divinity that dwelt within him. But this would make no difference. It is not space but state that distinguishes and separates man from God, and gives to man the sense of distance and separateness from God. The Infinite and the finite are not separated by space, yet there is an impassable gulf between them. And so long and so far as the Lord's humanity was finite, he had, in his states of humiliation, a sense of inferiority and dependence, and therefore prayed to the Father. Union with the Father was the supreme object of his prayers. While this union was in progress the Lord could pray, but when that union was completed, prayer, in the literal sense, must cease: there was no longer the union to pray for. But as the union of love and wisdom, or of goodness and truth, first effected in the Lord, was afterwards to be effected in men, there was this object to be desired, and therefore to be prayed for. But the prayers of the Lord now are the desires of his love and the activities of his wisdom for man's salvation. When, therefore, the Lord says, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter," we are not to understand that he actually and literally addresses prayers to another person, to bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, whom he was about to leave. The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete or Comforter, we have seen, is the Spirit of regeneration proceeding from the Lord's divine humanity, and is called another, because the Saviour was about to come to his church in another character.
17. The Comforter, whom the Lord was to pray the Father to send,
'is the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.'
The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth, not because the divine Emanation inspires the mind with the love, or gives it the perception, of truth only - for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord's love as well as of his truth; but because what proceeds from the Lord is called truth; the Lord from whom it proceeds being Goodness itself; and what proceeds from him contains both his love and his wisdom. This Spirit of truth the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. The worldly-minded cannot receive the Spirit of him whose kingdom is not of this world. They see him not by singleness of mind and know him not by simplicity of heart. But the disciples know him, for, says our Lord, "he dwelleth with you and shall be in you." It is evident from these words that the Lord himself was that Spirit. It was he who was with the disciples, and it was he who was to be in them. The emphatic part of this teaching is this: there was to be a decided difference in the state of reception on the part of the disciples, after the Lord's departure out of the world, from what there was before. The reception of the Lord, even by his disciples, was external. He was with the disciples rather than in them. They saw him and they saw him not; they knew him and they knew him not. They had not a spiritual perception of his truth, nor a spiritual affection for his goodness, partly because of their own external condition of mind, partly from the Lord himself being as yet in a comparatively external and unglorified state. But after his ascension in his glorified humanity, his Spirit descended, or he himself descended as the Spirit, and entered into the hearts and understandings of his followers, dwelling in them by the good of his love and the truth of his wisdom.
18. That the Lord himself was the Spirit of truth, he now evidently declares.
'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.'
It was, then, he himself who was to come as the Comforter. The identity of the Lord and the Spirit does not imply that there is no distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Lord and the Spirit are distinct as essentials, but they are essentials of one person. In a practical sense, the promise that the Spirit would come as the Comforter, and then that Jesus himself would come as the Comforter, teaches us, that the Lord comes to his regenerate people, first as the Spirit of truth to enlighten the understanding, and then as the Spirit of love to warm the heart. When the Lord said he would not leave his disciples comfortless, more properly, that he would not leave them orphans, he meant that he would not leave them in truth only, but that he would come and impart goodness unto them. An orphan is one without a father or without a mother. A father signifies interior good, a mother truth joined to that good; and children or sons are truths thence derived. Orphans here signify those who have been instructed in truth as the means of leading them to good. They denote also those who are in truth and desire good. In the spiritual sense, the Lord is the Father and the church is the mother. The church instructs her children in truth, and into and by that truth the Lord communicates good; and he who communicates good is the Father of the faithful. The Lord's loving promise that he would not leave his disciples fatherless, is a promise that he would not leave them without the good which makes them his children.
19. Jesus proceeds to say,
'Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.'
The world saw the Lord only while he was clothed with the likeness of sinful flesh. When he was no longer invested with the garment of mortality, they saw him no more. The world, however, spiritually understood, consists of those who are in the love of the world; and the world cannot see the Saviour with the eye of spiritual faith, but the true disciples can. The disciples saw the Lord more clearly and profitably after his departure than before it. While he was present with them in the body, they saw him too much as the world saw him; it was not till after he had "vanished out of their sight," that they truly saw him as the Lord and Saviour of their souls. The eyes of their understandings were opened, and they saw him in his true character. But the Lord promises the disciples, what he could not promise the world, that they should live by him.
20. The Lord now speaks of the time and state which follow the reception of his Spirit.
'At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.'
Jesus had already declared to Philip that he was in the Father, and the Father in him. He now tells his disciples that in the day of their beginning to live from his life, they should know, not only that he was in his Father, but, as a consequence, that he was in them, and they in him. The day in which they should know this is, spiritually, the state in which they should realize it. To know that Jesus is in the Father, is to know that his humanity is fully united to his divinity; it is to know that in his humanity divine truth is united to divine goodness, divine wisdom to divine love. The Lord's conjunction with his disciples, is an effect and image of this. His disciples are in him, as he is in the Father. Jesus is the Father of the faithful, as God is the Father of Jesus. As he was born of God, the disciples are born of him. The disciple cannot be in the Father immediately, but only mediately through the Son; the Son in the Father, and the disciples in the Son, and through the Son in the Father. In other words, man has not conjunction with the divinity immediately, but only mediately through the humanity. But the conjunction of the Lord and man is mutual. "Ye in me, and I in you." So the Lord says respecting himself and the Father, "I in the Father, and the Father in me." This mutual and reciprocal union is most momentous in its nature and significance. It is acknowledged in the church, that in the Lord, God is man and man is God.
21. The Divine Teacher now tells his disciples how they may be in him, and he savingly in them.
'He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.'
The Lord had already exhorted his disciples to love him, even as he had loved them, and to love one another. Love, we know, is the means of conjunction and the bond of union. The Lord now tells his disciples who those are that love him, and thus have conjunction with him. They are those who love his commandments and keep them. Love is very commonly considered, even among Christians, as a feeling; and many judge of the intensity of their love to the Lord by the ardency of their feelings towards him personally. We ought, indeed, to think of the Lord as a person, and cultivate the feeling of love towards him. But we must remember, that, as the Lord regards not the persons of men, but regards and loves them according to their characters, so ought we to regard and love the Lord.
22. This teaching is not yet clear to the minds of all the disciples.
'Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?'
This Judas is the Jude of the epistles, who bears such clear testimony to the sole divinity of the Lord, as the only wise God our Saviour. Judas, at this time less enlightened than when he wrote his epistle, asks how it is that Jesus will manifest himself to his disciples, and not unto the world. The disciples still entertained the idea that the kingdom, which Jesus was about to establish, was a temporal kingdom; and Judas no doubt expressed the surprise and disappointment which the disciples generally felt, on hearing the Lord speak of a manifestation which they only were to witness. This is the only instance which the gospels record of this disciple expressing himself, either under the name of Judas, or that of Lebeus, as he is also called. In all the lists of the apostles, his name is among the last of the twelve, and by Luke (vi. 16), is placed next to Judas Iscariot, though honourably distinguished from him. As Judas Iscariot represents the corporeal principle of human nature, Judas, who now speaks, may be understood to represent the sensuous, which is next above it. Yet he is not Iscariot; he is a true disciple, and came fully to know the truth which he now so dimly saw but afterwards so clearly expressed: "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." The question of Judas is expressive of a desire to know the nature of the manifestation Jesus promised, and the difference between the disciples, to whom this manifestation was to be made, and the world, to whom it was not to be made. Divine wisdom is unfolded, as it has in all ages been revealed, according to the general state of human apprehension, and this is indicated by the truth being often given to those who inquired after it.
23. 'Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.'
In this declaration the Lord points out to Judas how it was that he would manifest himself unto his disciples, and not unto the world. His manifest presence was to be given to those who loved him and kept his words.
24. On the other hand our Lord says,
'He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.'
The first part of the Lord's statement is evident, since it is but the negative side of the truth already considered. If those who love him keep his words, those who do not love him do not and cannot keep his sayings. The Lord enforces the authority of his words, by saying that they are not his but the Father's. We cannot understand this if we regard Jesus as a divine person; for how, in that case, would the word be not his, if it was the Father's, since he and the Father were equal in divinity, and one God? If we understand the Father to be the divinity and the Son to be the humanity, we can see that the word was not his but the Father's, as the words which the lips utter are not the body's, but the soul's. If, again, we understand the Father and the Son to be the divine love and the divine wisdom, we can see a profound and great truth revealed in the Lord's saying. For the word which the Lord spake was not the expression of his wisdom only, but of his love. The Lord's infinite love was the fountain of his words. Love was the real origin of all his words and works. His words were words of love. They were, indeed, words of wisdom, but they proceeded forth and came from love, and were love in their very essence. They were the breathings, the expression, and the very form of eternal, infinite, and most tender love.
25, 26. Having instructed his disciples in the all-important subject of their duty to him, he now says,
'These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.'
The Lord spoke as if he could only partially reveal himself to his disciples while he was present with them in the flesh. He had many things to say unto them, which they could not then bear. The canon of Scripture was not yet complete; but the supplemental part of his Word which was yet to be communicated to the disciples, was not only a further but a higher revelation - a revelation not only of the letter, but of the spirit and inner meaning of his Word. The Comforter, whom the Father was to send in his name, was to teach them all things, and bring to their remembrance all that he himself had taught them. The Comforter being sent in the Lord's name, is expressive of the great truth, that the Spirit was to bring with him all the virtue and power of the Lord's work on earth, all the saving qualities which the Lord embodied in the glorified Humanity in which he now dwelt. He was to lead the disciples into all truth. The disciples but half understood most if not all of the words that Jesus addressed to them. Neither the things to be understood, nor the faculty of understanding them, existed as yet. Not till the Lord had gone through his experience, and ascended into heaven, and returned to the disciples by his Spirit, could they know the mysteries of the kingdom in its completed establishment. How many things must the disciples have forgotten, as well as imperfectly understood! They had forgotten the words of the repeated prediction, that he should be put to death, and would rise again the third day. This is also a symbol of the forgetfulness of the disciple in all times; for, spiritually, he remembers nothing which he does not realize. The inner memory is the memory of the heart rather than of the understanding; for it records the affections rather than the thoughts, and the thoughts only so far as they are the forms and outbirths of the affections. Hence it is that in the Scriptures the heart is often spoken of as the memory. So is it with the Lord's word, as to the letter and the spirit. While the disciple is in the letter, the Lord is present with him as the Son of man, but when he is in the spirit the Lord is with him as the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was to teach the disciples all things - all things that concerned their salvation, that came within the limit of their capacities, and were accordant with their states.
27. Having promised his disciples the gift of the Spirit, the Lord now bestows upon them the gift of his peace.
'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'
Innocence and peace are the inmost principles of all perfection and blessedness. Innocence was the state from which man fell, and to which the Lord came to restore him. To effect this the Lord, by glorification, made his humanity Innocence itself. Having by this means reconciled the human to the Divine nature in himself, he made peace between them. So that innocence and peace, which sin had destroyed in the human race, were restored and brought nigh to them in the perfected humanity of Jesus Christ. The Lord's own peace - that which he calls "MY peace" - is the result or state of the perfect reconciliation and union of the Human nature with the Divine in his own person. The union of the divine and human natures in the person of the Lord is, therefore, essential and perfect peace. And when the Lord removes the enmity that dwells in our hearts, we, being reconciled to him, have his peace imparted to and dwelling in us. "For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell: and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
28. The Lord now reveals to his disciples the ground of their faith and confidence in him, as the Author of peace and of every other blessing.
'Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto my Father: for my Father is greater than I.'
29. Our Lord further says,
'And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.'
The disciples did not now believe, for they did not understand, nor were they disposed to entertain the idea, that the Lord must pass through death into glory. Nevertheless it was expedient that they should be instructed, that they might believe when the event fulfilled the prediction. Spiritually understood, truth foretells, good fulfils; knowledge is prediction, experience is fulfilment. Spiritual and saving faith comes by experience. When we do not believe the truth, it is essentially because we do not feel the want of it. It is the heart that believeth unto righteousness.
30, 31. The Lord concludes this part of his discourse in these words:
'Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.'
The time was fast approaching when the work, of which the Lord had been telling his disciples, was to be accomplished. When his work on earth was finished, he was not to speak, but to act - to act out his own divine purpose, of drawing them still more closely into union with himself. But between the time of his speaking to them and of his doing what the Father had given him to do, the Prince of this world was to come to make a last determined effort to defeat the Lord's purpose of redeeming mankind. We know how terribly and awfully this was realized in our Lord's experience, in the garden and on the cross. The commandment the Lord had received from the Father was, to lay down his life, that he might take it again. This commandment included the doing of all that the divine law required; for to overcome in the last temptation, when all the powers of evil, in both worlds, were to be resisted, the power of love and wisdom must be active. The devil is called the prince of this world. The love of the world is the prince of this world, for this love is the ruling power in the world, and the ruling principle in the natural mind, where the world has its empire. The prince of this world, our Lord said, "hath nothing in me." The Lord subsequently declared "I have overcome the world." The Lord does not, however, mean that the prince of the world would find no ground of temptation in him, but that the temptation would result in convincing the world that he loved the Father. Jesus does not indeed say that the Prince of this world would find absolutely nothing of the world in him; only that the prince of this world had nothing in him, but that the world might know that he loved the Father. Similar is the meaning here to the Lord's words to his disciples respecting the man who was born blind, "Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him" (chap. ix. 3). In reference to the disciple, the Lord's words teach that between words and deeds - between the reception of truth and the doing of good - between a state of intellectual and practical faith, there is a state of conflict. But with the faithful, this conflict only introduces the mind into a higher because a purer state, leading the Christian to do the Father's commandment.
CHAPTER XV.
The words which the Lord addressed to his disciples, after he had concluded the discourse, in which he revealed so fully and plainly his relation to his Father, and their relation to him, were followed by their literally arising from the table where they reclined with him, and going thence with him into the city, when his last and most momentous address to them was delivered.
1. The Lord had taught his disciples that a most intimate relation should exist between himself and the Father, and between him and them. He now proceeds to illustrate the nature of that relation.
'I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.'
The parable of the vine is a most beautiful and instructive illustration of the subject it was introduced to explain. In the beginning of Genesis, the Lord's presence with his church, as the giver and sustainer of her life, is described allegorically by the tree of life, planted in the midst of the garden; by eating the fruit of which her children should live for ever, or secure for themselves eternal life. Man forfeited his right to the tree of life by eating of the tree of knowledge. When the Lord came as the Restorer, as the seed of the woman who was to bruise the serpent's head, he came to plant anew the tree of life, which is love, in the centre of the soul, which was to be renewed as the paradise of God.
The humanity which the Lord assumed and glorified in the world, is, in very deed, the tree of life, in and through which the church and her members have spiritual and eternal life. Setting himself forth as "the true vine," the Lord explains the relation in which he stood to his Father on one hand, and to the church on the other. The Father stood, in a corresponding relation to the Son that the husbandman stands to the vine; and the members of his church have a relation to him similar to that which the branches bear to the tree. The Father was to the Son as the husbandman is to the vine, both in its beginning and in its progress. The husbandman plants the vine, so the humanity was begotten of the divinity; and the superintending care of the Lord's Divinity over the humanity from first to last, even to its complete glorification, is as the care of the husbandman over the vine. In the more abstract or interior sense, the vine is a symbol of the Lord as to his Divine Truth, and the husbandman is a type of the Lord as to his Divine Good; and the operation of the Divine Good upon and through the Divine Truth, is treated of throughout the whole of the parable. First the operation of the Divine Good on Divine Truth in the humanity itself, and afterwards on the members of the Lord's body.
2. But the divine operations, of which the humanity is the subject, are mentioned more particularly.
'Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.'
As we are considering this parable first in relation to the Lord himself, the branches are the human affections which belonged to his humanity, as born of the virgin mother. Those which grew out of the root of that fallen nature which the Lord assumed, were of a character similar to the root which produced them. Every affection of the human nature which bore no fruit, was removed, and every affection which bore fruit was purged of what was natural and imperfect, that it might bring forth more fruit - fruit more perfect as well as more abundant. By this process of removing and purging, the humanity of the Lord was gradually perfected, and was made Righteousness, so as to produce the fruits of salvation in those who, as branches, became engrafted into the true vine - the Divine Humanity of the Lord the Saviour. And this leads us to the secondary meaning of the parable. In this application, the vine is the type, not of the Lord's own glorious Body, but of his mystical body, formed by heaven and the church. The Lord is still the primary, we may say the only, object to be regarded in the vine thus understood; for heaven and the church are not constituted of anything originating in or belonging to those who compose them, but heaven and the church consist of that which angels and men have received from the Lord, and which is the Lord in them.
3. The Lord, addressing the disciples, applies this parable to them as branches of the true vine, which he himself is.
'Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.'
Purification is effected by truth, symbolized in the Scriptures by water. The Lord seems here to allude to the significant and symbolic act which he had just performed, in washing the disciples' feet; when he said "Ye are clean, but not all." The purifying efficacy of his truth is also described by the purifying power of his blood. Jesus is he "that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. i. 5).
4. 'Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me'.
The nature of the relation subsisting between himself and his disciples the Lord here very expressively describes. The branch owes the whole of its life, and consequently its power of bearing fruit, to its connection with the vine. It draws indeed nourishment from the atmosphere through its leaves as well from the earth through its roots; but the power of nourishing itself, or of being nourished, is entirely owing to its being in connection with the vine. There is this difference, it is true, between the type and the antitype, that the natural vine and its branches are destitute of the power of willing and choosing, while the spiritual are possessed of free will. Jesus wills that all should be branches in him, as the true vine, and that all should be living branches, bearing good fruit. The members of his church have the power of choosing whether they will abide in connection with the vine, and be fruitful or unfruitful branches. The Lord therefore says, "Abide in me, and I in you." This is the language of exhortation, and would be without meaning if those to whom it was addressed were not free - free to choose whether they will abide in the Lord Jesus Christ or no. It is an appeal to the disciples, to choose life rather than death; life by remaining in connection with Him who is Life itself, and the source of life to his people, rather than the death that inevitably results from wilful separation from Him. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me." Fruit is the end of the vine's existence; to produce fruit is the function and use of the branch.
5. Having instructed his disciples as to the work of the husband-man, and the necessity of the branches abiding in the vine, he now explains to them the meaning of the image he had used.
'I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing.'
The language which the Lord employs to describe the relation between him and his disciples gives a most exalted idea of his nature and power. No being that was not infinite could rightfully use this language. For what does it imply, but that Jesus is the spiritual life and strength of all who spiritually live and act? They live by his life, they act by his power: without him they can do nothing. This language is inconsistent with the idea that spiritual and eternal life are to be secured by merely following his teaching or imitating his example. It is not only from what Jesus was and did, that his disciples have life, but from what he is and does; it is not merely by looking back to him as an example, but by looking up to him as a living power - as One who has all power, and by abiding in him, that they can bear fruit unto eternal life. Their life is to be derived from him, and is to be his life in them. They are to be grafted into the vine, and draw their nourishment from his roots. Not fruit merely, but much fruit, is the result of living in connection with the true vine. Much the disciple receives, much he is required to give. He is to abound in all good works. But while we can bring forth much fruit by abiding in the Lord and having the Lord abiding in us, without him we can do nothing. We can do nothing spiritual or heavenly of ourselves; nothing that can enrich the soul of the doer, or that can build up the Lord's kingdom of righteousness and peace in his heart.
6. We now learn the consequences of not abiding in the Lord as the true vine.
'If a man, abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.'
Not only is there no fruit, but no existence out of Jesus Christ. There is nothing here said about the Lord not abiding in men, but only about their not abiding in him. The Lord does not withdraw himself from any one; it is by not abiding in him that a man is cast forth. The nominal disciple, who abides not in the Lord, is one whose want of faith and love separates him from the Fountain of life, and leaves him no other fate than to be cast forth as a branch, and to wither. "And men gather them, and they are cast into the fire, and they are burned." No longer living and flourishing and bearing fruit, to the glory of God and the good of others, he is rudely cast away and dried up, and is fit for nothing but to be gathered of men, and cast into the fire and burned. Gathering is expressive of particular things being brought together into one whole. The Lord unites the affections of the whole human race, so as to form of them one man. He gathers the righteous into his kingdom, as the husbandman gathers the wheat into his garner. The angels gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. The wicked are gathered, when their affections are gathered together by and around the ruling love. They are cast into the fire when the ruling love obtains complete ascendancy, and comes into manifestation as the lusts of evil; and they are burned, when everything good and true which they may have learnt is consumed, and every thought and affection is inflamed, and burns with the desires of hatred, revenge, and all uncharitableness.
7. On the contrary, our Lord continues to say,
'If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'
Those who abide in the Lord receive whatever they ask, because they crave nothing but what the Lord himself inspires them with the desire to ask. When the will of man is in harmony with the will of God, he can ask nothing but what is agreeable to the Divine will. He wills what the Lord wills; indeed he wills from the Lord's will; for to abide in the Lord is nothing but to be in the love of the Divine attributes which constitute the Divine nature. Confirmation in a state of love and faith is abiding in the Lord; and he who asks in faith and love, asks what the Lord delights to grant.
8. But the end of prayer leads to doing as well as to receiving.
'Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.'
In what sense and in what way is the Father rather than the Son glorified by the disciples bearing much fruit? The Lord, we know, is the Father as well as the Son; the Father as Love, the Son as Wisdom. The Father is glorified in man's works, when they are done from the Lord's love, and thus from love to the Lord. The divine love is then glorified in the disciple who performs them; for the love of God is exalted in the heart, so far as the disciple does good, which is the fruit of love. "So shall ye be my disciples." A disciple of the Lord is one who learns and obeys the Lord's truth. The doing of good leads to the acquisition of truth. Love and truth perfect each other. The more we love the more we believe; the more we exalt the love of God in our hearts, the more clearly we see the truth of God in our understandings. The more we glorify the Father, the more faithful disciples are we of the Son.
9. 'As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.'
The mediatorial character of the Lord's humanity is here very strikingly brought out. The Lord Jesus is too commonly thought of as directing his mediatorial work to the Father, as a distinct person from himself.
10. The Lord now teaches us how we may be able to continue in his love.
'If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.'
The commandments of which our Lord speaks, were not any special commands laid upon the Son in reference to the work of redemption, but are the eternal laws which the Lord came on earth to fulfil. So neither are the Lord's commandments to us special but general. If we take the Lord's words in the simple literal sense, we learn from them the useful lesson, that to continue to be the objects of the Lord's love we must keep his commandments. He loves the obedient, but not the disobedient. He does not here say that if we would abide in his love, we must love him in return, but that we must keep his commandments. No doubt reciprocal love is implied. But loving and doing are so intimately connected, that one cannot exist without the other. Of the two it might be supposed that obedience was most capable of existing alone.
11. That the Lord's commandments were the laws of life, obedience to which is the means of obtaining it, is further evident from the words which the Lord now utters.
'These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.'
The Lord's joy, as it is in himself, is the blessedness arising from his own perfections, and from imparting of them to the children of men. To have the Lord's joy remaining in us, we must have a measure of his perfections, for thence only can we have a measure of his blessedness. The joy of which the Lord spake was especially the joy which he had by accomplishing the work of redemption.
12. 'This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.'
This is the new commandment which our Lord gave his disciples, and which we have already considered (chap. xiii. 43). As introduced here, it expresses the duty, which the Lord was now enforcing on the disciples, of keeping his commandments, as the means of abiding in his love. Love to the Lord is to be manifested in love to the neighbour. Nay, the Lord's love in us is the love of the neighbour. The Lord's love, as revealed and as given to us, is the love of his creatures; and this love in us, by its very nature, prompts us to love one another, and to love one another even as he has loved us.
13. Love is to be shown by the sacrifices it makes as well as by the benefits it confers.
'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'
If we are to love one another as the Lord has loved us, we have in his love to us an example for our imitation. He laid down his life, not for his friends only, but for his enemies. "Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet, peradventure, for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. v.7, 8). No; greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. But Jesus was not a man, he was the man. Humanity in its greatest perfection was embodied and exemplified in Him. And he, therefore, did what none other man did, he died not only for his friends but for his enemies. He does not here set forth this feature of his own character - this wonderful and unexampled display of love. He only directs the minds of his disciples to the greatest of all human loves - the love which prompts one to lay down his life for his friends. The Lord laid down his life for his disciples.
14. Jesus teaches us who are his friends.
'Ye are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.'
If friendship is formed and cemented by love, then friendship, like love, must rest on virtuous action. But in the bond of friendship between the Saviour and his disciples there is something peculiar. Friends are bound to each other not only by mutual love, but by mutual obligations, and these obligations, like the love which they manifest and sustain, are generally equal. But the friendship of the Lord and his disciples rests on conditions that respect the disciples only. "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." He is at once the Author and the Object of these conditions; the disciple only is subject to them. There are indeed means on the Lord's part, which are laws of order, according to which his friendship for the disciple acts; but these laws originate in himself, and are himself, for divine law is but another name for divine wisdom, or for the mode in which wisdom, as the law of divine love, operates. His wisdom is a law unto his disciples, which they are to receive from him, and whose commands they are to obey as his. The disciples are his friends if they do whatsoever he commands them. It is worthy of our attention that the Lord so constantly impresses upon his disciples the necessity of keeping his commandments, which he makes a condition of every blessing which he promises to bestow upon them. There is no difference in respect of obedience between the friend and the servant, of whom the Lord proceeds to speak. Both are required to obey His commandments, the only difference between them being the difference in the intelligence and motive by which their obedience is distinguished. Abraham was called the friend of God (Isa. xli. 8), because he represented those who are principled in love to the Lord; and in agreement with this the apostle James tells us that Abraham was called the friend of God because he showed his faith by his works (ii. 23).
15. The Lord continues,
'Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things I have heard of my Father, I made known unto you.'
16. The cause as well as the conditions of our being raised from the state of servants to that of friends is of the Lord.
'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.'
The twelve were chosen to their apostleship by the Lord, and were appointed to preach the gospel, and to bring souls to him, as the fruit of their labour. But it is doubtful if Jesus now addressed them as apostles, and not rather simply as disciples. The term and general scope of his address have more reference to Christian than to official life and character. It is in this light that we intend to consider them.
17. 'These things I command you, that ye love one another.'
How impressive is this lesson thus once more repeated! This, the Lord's new commandment, to love one another, as he had loved them, by whom all men are to know them to be his disciples, is the object of all the Lord's teaching, the end of all his commandments. Well might the divine Teacher iterate and impress this lesson on his disciples! No lesson of Christian duty is more difficult to learn. Much as his immediate disciples stood in need of having it repeatedly and solemnly impressed upon them, those of all subsequent times have required it still more. With how little of that love, with which the Lord loved his disciples, have they loved one another! With his teaching and example before them, have not his professed disciples, both individually and as nations, warred against each other?
19. The opposition of the world is to be expected by those who are not of it.
'If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.'
So long as a man is in the world as one of it, he is not as such liable to opposition from it. Worldly men indeed hate and injure one another, not, however, because they are opposed to each other on worldly principles, but because they are rivals in their worldy aims and interests. The hatred of the world to those who are not of the world is founded in principle, and cannot fail to produce antagonism. Yet the words of our Lord in their spiritual sense are to be understood of opposite principles in the mind of the disciple himself. The world, in the individual application, is the worldly part of our nature - the natural mind with all its natural thoughts and inclinations; and the disciples are the spiritual principles which are acquired during regeneration. At first, even our spiritual principles are in our natural mind. As man advances in the regenerate life, these are elevated out of the natural mind into the spiritual mind. Then are they chosen out of the world, and are not of the world; therefore the world hateth them. There is opposition, and, therefore, conflict, between the world and heaven in our own minds.
20. While engaged in conflict the disciples are to draw comfort and derive strength from the Lord's teaching and example.
'Remember the word which I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my sayings, they will keep yours also.'
The spiritual memory is that of the inner life. Spiritual remembrance is the reproduction, as principles, of truths we have acquired as knowledge. It is thus that we are to remember the word which Jesus has said unto us, that the servant is not greater his lord. Jesus had said this to them during his present discourse (xiii. 16), but he now adds the warning, that as the Jews had persecuted him, they would also persecute them. No disciple can expect to escape the persecution that Jesus experienced. Yet the kind of persecution which the Lord underwent from his out-ward enemies is not often the lot of his disciples in these days. There are, however, inward persecutions which our Lord underwent which his disciples in all time have to endure. Inward persecutions are temptations, and it is to these that our Lord especially refers. These the disciples cannot escape, for they are a necessary part of the process of his purification and salvation. But there is another and happy part of the Lord's experience which the disciple may expect to realize. "If they have kept my sayings, they will keep yours also." The world to which the disciples were to be sent consists of two classes - those who hate and persecute the Lord and his disciples, and those who accept the glad tidings which they bring. Here is encouragement. Those who share in the Lord's persecution, shall also share in his success. But let us consider this in relation to ourselves and our spiritual life. In our natural state we place the servant above his lord: we place self above God, the world above heaven, the natural above the spiritual, knowledge above goodness. We have first to learn, and then to remember, that this state of inverted order is to be rectified: that the servant is not greater than his lord. To bring the servant into subordination to his lord, in all matters pertaining to the mind and life, we must be the subjects of that tribulation which is meant by persecution. The world, from which this persecution comes, is the world in ourselves - the world as the object of a ruling love. When the love of the world is overcome, that which once opposed, will be induced to hear the Lord and his word, and will acknowledge the Saviour and keep his sayings.
21. 'But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, for they know not him that sent me.'
In regard to the disciples, the hatred they incurred by their being servants of Jesus Christ, was on account of the principles of their master, which they practised and exemplified. In relation to us, in our spiritual life and experience, the inward persecutions which we undergo are for the Lord's sake. It is his truth in us that is the primary and ultimate object of opposition on the part of our own evils and errors. The hatred and persecution here spoken of are understood to be directed immediately against the disciples. But the disciples in us are the principles which we have received from the Lord; and when these are hated and opposed, the Lord himself is hated and opposed. It is said that the world will do this to the disciples of the Lord, as they had done it to the Lord himself, because they know not the Father that sent him. When men know not and feel not the love of God, they hate and persecute the truth of God. And so far as we know not the Lord's love, or have not that love in us, we have a natural hatred of his truth. The Lord's truth is sent of his love - it proceeds from it, as the sun's light comes of the sun's heat. And as men that love the darkness hate the light, because it makes their evils manifest; so we, even when we have entered on the new life, so far as our corrupt nature prevails, hate the light, because we have so little practical knowledge of the divine love from which it proceeds. We do these things to the Son, because we know not the Father.
22. 'If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin.'
We are not to understand that the Jews would have been sinless, if the Lord had not come and spoken unto them. They would not have been guilty of the sin of hating and persecuting him personally. They hated him personally because they hated the purity and beauty of his character, as the Word made flesh, as the true Light. Their knowledge was the cause of their condemnation. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness, because their deeds were evil." Yet the Lord "came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." But what is salvation to the well disposed, is condemnation to those of an opposite character.
23. 'He that hateth me hateth my Father also.'
The Lord had said that the world hated him, because they had not known the Father: now he says that in hating him they hate the Father also. As those who have not the love of God hate his truth, so those who hate the truth of God hate his love which it reveals. Love and truth are one. Love is the life of truth, truth is the light of love. No person can love the one and hate the other, no person hate the one and love the other. The love and truth of the Lord are his will and his wisdom. No one can hate the wisdom of God and love the will of God; no one can hate the Lord's will without hating his wisdom. Truth is the light; and no man can hate the light of God without hating the love of God also.
24. 'If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.'
The Lord now speaks of his works, as he had already spoken of his words, as condemnatory of those who beheld them and yet remained unbelievers. The Lord's works have the same relation to his words as his love has to his wisdom. Works are the outbirths of willing, words of thinking. In this also the Lord speaks of exhibiting the nature of the Father, or of his own infinite love. "The works that I do are not mine, but the Father's that dwelleth in me." But the Lord says, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin." His works were as superior to those of other men, as his nature was to theirs. Other men had done as great miracles as he had done, even to the raising of the dead. But there was a greatness in the Lord's works that was in the works of no other man. He did them in his own name and by his own power: all others did theirs by a power above themselves, even the power of Jesus, as God, both before and after the incarnation. It may seem to make no difference to those who beheld the works. But the Lord's works, like his words, were with power; and His outward and visible works, unlike those of other men, were attended with inward and visible works that transcended all finite power and agency.
25. 'But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.'
This is written in the Psalms xxxv. 19, xciv. 4, but it is only by this reference to them that we certainly know then to be prophetic of the Lord. The hatred of the Jews was indeed without a just cause, so far as related to the Lord; the cause was in themselves. And so is all hatred of the Holy One. But the less just the cause the deeper the hatred. The Jews did not hate the Lord from any necessity which prophecy laid upon them. Foresight does not imply fore-appointment. Considered in relation to ourselves individually, we may see the full force of the saying that this was written in their law. The law which condemns us is that which is ours. The divine law never condemns us till it has been revealed to us, and we have been instructed in it. A law that we know not is not our law: it is no law to us; and where there is no law there is no transgression. But when the divine law has become our law; if we hate the Lord, it must be without a cause; for the law shows God to be all pure and merciful; and to hate the qualities of such a Being there can be no just cause, therefore nothing that can be called a cause. But even this causeless hatred is written in our law. If we hate without a cause, it is the fulfilment of the law that is within us, for that law tells that if we are evil we will cherish this causeless hatred. So does evil itself in our own hearts hate what is pure, without any cause out of our own impurity.
26, 27. A new and more hopeful state of things was fast approaching.
'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 testify of me; and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.'
CHAPTER XVI.
This chapter is a continuation of the Lord's discourse to his disciple, but there is a distinction and yet a connection between what the Lord now says and what he had already addressed to them. He had already instructed them on two important subjects. He had declared and explained to them the nature of the connection existing between himself and the Father; showing them that the Father dwelt within him, and he did the mighty works which they saw him perform; and he had instructed them as to the nature of the connection which existed between himself and them, which is like of the vine and its branches, a connection so intimate and vital, that their very existence as useful members of his church depended on their abiding in him, and his words abiding in them. In the present chapter the Teacher speaks of the effects which the descent of the Holy Spirit would have upon them and upon the world.
1. Having instructed them, both by example and precept, symbolically and by plain teaching, to prepare for the work that lay before them, and for the glory by which their fidelity and virtue were to be rewarded, by cultivating humility and charity, love to him and obedience to his commandments, Jesus now proceeds to say unto them,
These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
To be offended is to stumble. It was to prevent the disciples from sinking under the weight of the duties and trials which awaited them, that the Lord forewarned them of the hatred and persecutions he knew they would have to encounter.
2. But the Lord proceeds to tell his disciples of still severer trials than those of simple persecution.
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
This was fulfilled to the letter. Yet we need not now be surprised at the Jews persecuting the Christians unto death, seeing that themselves have often done so both to the Jews and to each other. Looking more deeply, we find a more spiritual and practical lesson. While the prediction relates literally to the conduct of the Jews and others towards the early Christians, it relates spiritually, not to the apostles themselves, but to the principles which they represented. A time would come, our Lord teaches, when the Christian church itself would reject the principles of pure religion, given in the truths of the Word, meant by the disciples, as unworthy of a place in the synagogue, and when they would even deprive them of spiritual vitality, meant by killing the disciples, and every one who committed this deed would think that he did God service. The idea of serving God by destroying the messengers, whether persons or principles, which he sends, implies as it expresses a state of mind, in which men call evil good and good evil, and put darkness for light and light for darknesswhen their notions of God and of his Word are the opposite of the truth.
3. This deadly persecution of the disciples has the same cause as the persecution which the Lord himself endured.
And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
Those who persecuted the Lord did so because they knew not the Father; those who persecute the disciples do so because they know not the Father and the Son. The Father and the Son being the divine love and wisdom, and the disciples representing the goods and truths of the Word, in which the love and wisdom of the Lord are present; those who reject these principles, or who destroy them in themselves, refuse to recognise or receive the love and wisdom of the Lord which are in them.
4. But these things have I told you, that, when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Much of what the Lord addressed to his disciples they entirely forgot, till the event, or a repetition of his words, recalled it to their minds. The Lord's object in telling them was, that, when the time was come, they might remember that he had told them before. This fulfilment of his words was no doubt intended to strengthen their faith and confidence in Jesus, and enable them to suffer with more fortitude. But its spiritual lesson for us is not less important. Truths previously received are confirmed by experience, and when they are thus confirmed, they pass into the inner memory, and remain inscribed on it for ever. It is then, too, that we remember that it was the Lord who first told us of the things we come to know by experience; for they are thus connected with him as their author. These things the Lord told not his disciples at the beginning, because he was yet with them. The beginning of the regenerate life is a time when all things are bright and joyous. A new day has dawned upon the mind, and the light of the morning sun bathes the whole landscape in beauty. But storm and shade come on betimes; and when the sun is darkened, and even the moon does not give her light, and the very stars are fallen from heaven, then is the time of sorrow. It is happy for us that the beginning of our spiritual, like that of our natural life, is bright and hopeful. And it is so because the Sun of righteousness has risen upon us with healing in his wings. It is true that the Lord is with us then only externally and intellectually. Our first reception of the truth is superficial, and to a considerable extent natural. We know the Lord after the flesh. This is the time the Lord is with us, as he was with the disciples during his pilgrimage on earth. In early states, our Saviour tells us not of the sorrowful times that are coming upon us.
5, 6. The time comes, however, when they must be revealed; and with the disciples this time had arrived.
But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts.
The Lord had already said to his disciples, "Whither I go ye know." Why then ask him, "Whither goest thou?" They knew and they knew notthey knew but did not understand. They gave way to grief because they knew not the bright side of the event of his departure. Their hearts were filled with sorrow at the thought of his leaving them; they knew not of his glory beyond. They thought only of their own loneliness. The Lord was going to the Father that sent him. The humanity was about to be glorified, the Divine Wisdom to return into the bosom of the Divine Love, from whence it came. In regard to our individual experience; this going away takes place when the Lord's truth, hitherto in the natural mind, as the Lord had been in the natural world, is elevated into the spiritual mind, as the Lord ascended into heaven. This is not, however, the time of sorrow. The disciples do not seem to have sorrowed on account of the Lord's ascension. They then knew that he was alive, and was passing into glory, and that his kingdom was not of this world. It was when he was taken from thence by death, and when they knew not of his coming resurrection, that they mourned and wept. The Lord had told them before, that he would rise again the third day; but the Spirit had not yet come, to bring all things to their remembrance, whatever Jesus had said unto them. This going away is a time of trial, for then the truth which has been with us as our guide and support, seems to be lost, and to have left us without stay or comfort. The nature and severity of this trial the Lord explains to his disciples, as we shall see in the sequel.
7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
The Lord's departure out of the world unto the Father was the completion of that work, without which salvation would have been impossible. The union of the Human with the Divine was the only means by which the human race could have conjunction with God. Expedient therefore it was for the disciples that the Lord should go away. And if he had not departed, the Comforter could not have come. There would have been no Holy Spirit to come and regenerate men, if the humanity of the Lord had not been perfected by the extremity of suffering. This is a great truth, as the Lord said, "I tell you the truth"a truth which it is necessary for all to know.
8. The expediency of the Lord's departure, that the Holy Spirit might come, appears from the divine work which the Spirit was to perform.
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
Instead of reprove, it is better to read convince. There are three distinct and most important acts, which our Lord tells us that the Spirit he should send would perform. The mission of the Spirit is, to convince the world of the vices and errors which obstruct, and of, the virtues and truths which promote, the establishment of the Lord's kingdom upon earth; to carry to the minds of sinners conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
9. The first thing of which the Spirit is to convince the world is sin.
Of sin, because they believe not on me.
Conviction of sin is the first act of the Lord's saving power, and the first act of real conversion. Conviction of sin is the beginning of a new life of righteousness. Men cannot begin a righteous life until they begin to forsake sin, and they cannot begin to forsake sin until they are convinced they are sinners. What a great idea does it give us of the work of the Lord's Spirit, that he will convince the world of sin! Sin had ruined mankind; and had brought the Lord into the world, and had made hint a sufferer, and had put him to death; and now the Spirit descends from Him, who came in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." The reason which the Lord gives for its being necessary for the Spirit to come, that he may convince men of sin, is, because they believe not in him. The sin of which the Spirit is to convince men is unbelief in the Lord the Saviour.
10. The Spirit comes also to convince the world
of righteousness.
The Spirit came to convince the world of the Lord's righteousness, and of righteousness as a means of salvation and happiness. It is a part of the Christian faith, as it is a statement of the Word itself, that the Lord is our Righteousness, which he became by fulfilling the law; and that our righteousness is of him. This truth, so plainly stated, is not so clearly understood. It is believed that Jesus came into the world, to expiate the sins of men, by fulfilling the law they had broken, and suffering for the guilt they had incurred; and that sinners are saved, not by any righteousness they can do, even by Christ strengthening them, but solely on account of that which he has done. The mistake that lies at the foundation of this scheme of salvation is, that sin amid righteousness are not states, written in the book of man's life, but acts, recorded in the book of God's remembrance. It is therefore believed that Jesus Christ could, by doing what the law required man to do, blot out the handwriting against him, and enable God consistently with his justice, to accept him, as if he had fulfilled the law himself. The Saviour's merit is supposed to be imputed to believers, so that their own impurities are covered, and as it were concealed from God's sight, by the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness. Many sincerely religious persons will regard it as bordering on impiety, to go so far as question the truth of this doctrine. Yet it rests on a misconception both of the nature of sin and of righteousness. Sin or guilt cannot be transferred, nor can righteousness or merit be imputed to another. He that committeth sin is the servant of sin: he that doeth righteousness is righteous. It was to enable and induce men to cease to be sinners by ceasing to sin, and to become righteous by doing righteousness, that the Lord came into the world. How did he effect it? We may be assured it was in the best, if not in the only, possible way.
because I go to the Father, and ye see me no more.
Jesus went to the Father when his humanity was united to his divinity. The Father, we have seen, is the divine Love or Goodness; and this, which is essential and eternal Righteousness, when made human became our Righteousness. When the Lord said that his disciples should see him no more, he meant that they should see him no more corporeally. Spiritually, the disciples see the Son no more when, in their experience, faith is lost in love; when, in the apostle's language, the Son gives up the kingdom to the Father; that God may be all in all (1 Cor. xv. 28).
11. The Spirit, moreover, comes to convince the world
of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
The prince of this world was judged when the Lord subdued the powers of darkness, and effected a judgment in the spiritual world, by which the good and the evil, who had lived in the earth, were separated from each other. But this work in the spiritual world has its effect in the natural world, in separating good from evil in the minds of men; and, as a result of this, in separating the good from the evil in the world. It is well known that the more corrupt the times are, the less distinction there is between good and evil, virtue and vice. One of the results of the divine judgments is to bring out this distinction. The Lord comes by his Spirit to convince the world of judgment, by enabling men to discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not (Mal. iii. 18). The beneficial effect of the prince of this world being judged is, that it restores the balance between heaven and hell in the other world, and between the power of good and evil in this. If, in the world, the power of evil were to exceed the power of good, human society could not long exist. Wicked as the world is, there is in it at least as much good as evil.
12. The Lord proceeds,
I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
It does not appear that from this time Jesus spoke much with his disciples either before or after his resurrection. It is true he may have said many things unto them on the few occasions on which he appeared to them and talked with them after he was risen from the dead. One memorable instance is that of his journeying with the two disciples to Emmaus, when, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. And the extent and depth of his expositions may be judged of by the testimony of the disciples themselves, "Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?" (Luke xxiv. 32.) The promise is not, however, limited to the disciples themselves whom. Jesus then addressed, but extends to the disciples in all future time. Considering the disciples of the Lord as at once forming and representing the church, the Lord's words relate to the disclosures he was to make to the church of the future, as well as to that which was then present. Every age and dispensation receives that measure of truth which is suited to the capacities and wants of the people. More would blind them with excess of light, and distract them with enigmas instead of instructing them with knowledge. The Scriptures indeed contain, so far as we know, all that the church requires, or can ever require, of revealed truth; but there is no limit to its development.
13. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
The function of the Spirit is in this and in the following verses very plainly pointed out. It is to guide the disciples into truthinto all truth. The Holy Spirit is the Author of Revelation: for holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Now, when Revelation has been given, the function of the Holy Spirit is to open the understanding to perceive the teaching of the Word. The Spirit of Jehovah gave revelation; the Spirit of Jesus gives illustration also. Therefore after his resurrection Jesus breathed on his disciples, and said, "Receive ye the holy Spirit," and opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures. But Jesus says of the Spirit, "he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak." The Lord speaks of the Spirit in relation to himself as he speaks of himself in relation to the Father. The Son speaks what he hears of the Father; the Spirit speaks what he hears of the Son. Of course we cannot understand this language naturally.
14. The Lord further says respecting the Holy Spirit,
He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall chew it unto you.
This, like the preceding statement, is a divine truth expressed after a human manner. We cannot reasonably think of one Divine Person taking of what belongs to another, and showing it unto men. But we can think of the Spirit of a Divine Person proceeding from him, carrying his saving gifts to his receptive creatures, and glorifying the Author of those gifts in the salvation of their souls. The Spirit glorifies the Lord; but he does so by taking of the Lord's and shelving it unto the disciples. When the Spirit sanctifies and saves a soul, he glorifies the Saviour in that finished work. The salvation of man is the glory of the Lord.
15. The things which the Spirit receives from the Son are the things which the Son received from the Father.
All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.
This series of statements respecting the operation of the Holy Spirit, teaches most clearly and convincingly the nature of the distinction and relation existing between Father, Son, and Spirit. The Lord first says of the Spirit that he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak. Then he says, he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you;" and now he says, "all things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, he shall take of mine and show it unto you." Does not all this plainly teach that they must be, not three distinct divine Persons, but three divine Essentials? We cannot too carefully cultivate the knowledge of the truth that God in Christ is God to us and with us; that no one knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him; that no one cometh to the Father, and that the Father cometh to no man, but by the Son. If the Father and the Son he considered as Divine Persons, this has no intelligible meaning. But these divine declarations have a real meaning when the Father is regarded as being the divinity and the Son the humanity in the person of the one Lord. God in Christ is then seen to be God in his Humanity. It can also be seen that when God glorified the human nature he assumed, he communicated to it all the attributes of his divinity, comparatively as the soul endows the body with its life and power; and that since the incarnation, God communicates with his creatures through the medium of his humanity, comparatively as the soul of man communicates with his fellow-men through the medium of his body. In the Lord's humanity the divine attributes are humanized, and thus accommodated, tempered, and made relatively more powerful for convincing and affecting the human mind. It is because the divine attributes are thus humanized that they are efficacious for human salvation. It is by the divinity being human and the humanity being divine that the Lord's presence and power are with us. From a Being purely divine, or from a being merely human, no saving efficacy could proceed to the sons of men in their present state. Pure divinity has no point of contact with fallen man; mere humanity has no power to restore him. Our Lord's words strikingly teach this. "All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." The things which the Lord had to shew his disciples, were the things of the Father, which had now become his own.
16. Having carried the minds of the disciples forward to the bright and happy time when the fruits of his finished work would be realized by them, he calls them back to the present, to remind them of the trials through which this state was to be attained.
A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again a little while, and ye shall see me; because I go to the Father.
Literally this refers to the Lord's removal from his disciples by death, and his restoration to them by resurrection. Spiritually, it relates to the soul's experience, when passing, and when it has passed, from death unto life. The Lord's death and resurrection, once actual to him personally, are still actual in the experience of the disciple. To all who follow the Lord in the regenerate life, a time comes when they see him not after the flesh, and again a time comes when they see him after the spirit. The nature of these two states the Lord afterwards describes. Here they are both spoken of in reference to the Lord, as about to pass out of and come again into the sight or intellectual perception of his disciples; this therefore has reference to intellectual states, or states of faith. Our first knowledge and faith are external, for our natural understanding sees even divine things after a natural manner. Our carnal thoughts clothe divine and spiritual truths with a fleshly covering; thus do we still see and know the Lord in a carnal manner. If we faithfully follow the Lord in a life of obedience to his commandments, we pass out of this carnal into a spiritual state, in which we see the Lord after a spiritual manner. The change of state is not effected without trial; for every transition state is one of tribulation. The trial may be brief but it is sharp. But every trial brings its reward. The temporary obscurity is followed by clearer light: the light of the moon becomes as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun becomes sevenfold as the light of seven days.
17, 18. Certain as this change is, and real as its experience, the disciple who is still in the first state cannot comprehend its nature.
Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
How graphic is this representation of the state of the disciples, all unknowing, as their whole history shows them to have been, of the nature of the Lord's kingdom, and the means by which it was to be established. And no less perfect a description is it of the state of the Christian disciples of all times in corresponding circumstances. Future states are as much hid from our sight as future events. And even now, when we can talk of the states which were shadowed in those past events recorded in the gospel, we know nothing of their true nature till they exist in our experience. Not all the disciples, but only some of them, talked among themselves about their Lord's mysterious saying. Yet none of them had any apprehension of the events that were fast approaching; and when told plainly of them they refused to believe. Taking the disciples collectively, there will always be found among them some to whom the Lord's death and resurrection will be a mystery, hopelessly incompresible as a practical truth. And to all it is an enigma till experience unfolds it. If we consider the disciples as representing the thoughts and affections of the regenerating mind, some of them will, in a preparatory stage, see nothing but darkness on this subject. And even if we consider them as representing the truths of the Word, the same obscurity may be observed. For all those truths that originally led the disciples to believe in the continued presence with them of the Messiah, who should lead then to a temporal kingdom, and set them upon thrones of judgment, can show nothing of light on this subject, till they are themselves enlightened, by the true Light shining within.
19. But while, in the earlier stages of the regenerate life, there is impenetrable obscurity on the subject of the Lord's death and resurrection, there is in the minds of every true disciple a desire to receive illumination from the Lord himself, as the Truth.
Now Jesus knew they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye inquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again a little while and ye shall see me?
This is another instance of the Lord's knowing the desires of his disciples before they expressed them. "He needed not that any one should testify of men; for he knew what was in man." So is it still. The Lord utters dark sayings, that he may excite in the mind the desire of coming to the light. And there is in the obscure truth itself a desire and a capacity for illumination. The mind is thus prepared for the reception of the light, not only into the understanding but into the heart, there to produce a living faith.
20. Having told his disciples of his approaching departure and return, he now proceeds to disclose to them the feelings that these events would excite in their hearts.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
The Lord's death and resurrection were to revolutionize all their ideas and feelings; to change their natural into spiritual faith and love, and their earthly into a heavenly kingdom. They were, therefore, approaching the crisis of their life. But this is an experience common to all who follow the Lord: and to know the states and their results, we must consider them in relation to ourselves. The opposite elements of the Church and of the world are ,within us, and our trials arise from their coming into conflict with each other. It is the world within us that crucifies the Saviour, and for a time hides him from our spiritual perceptions. Then do the disciples weep and lament. When the affections are deprived of their object, they cannot but suffer; and no anguish is so great as that of bereaved affection. Weeping, unlike shedding tears, is expressive of sorrow at once of heart and understanding; while lamentation is the same outward manifestation of both. But that which makes the disciples weep and lament, causes the world to rejoice. Feeling as if freed from the power of a hitherto conquering enemy, it lifts up its brow on high, and boasts of its power. This is, however, but a temporary triumph, like that of the Egyptians when they pursued the emancipated Israelites, and followed them through the channel of the Red Sea. It is also the last triumph of the principles of the carnal mind; for of them it may also be said, "The Egyptians whom ye have seen today ye shall see no more for ever."
21. The nature of this sorrow and joy our Lord proceeds to explain.
A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child; she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
The illustration of the subject which our Lord here gives is a striking instance of the very important fact, that he expressed himself, not in the language of figure merely, but in that of correspondence. Regeneration is truly a new birth; and there is an exact correspondence between the natural and the spiritual. The new birth consists in bringing into actual existence in the life the vital principle which has been begotten in the heart. Now it is in bringing our inward convictions and principles into act that the great labour of life consists, and that its severest trials are experienced. We all know how difficult it is to be in deed what we are in intention. This has been the testimony in all ages of the highest examples of Christian earnestness and fidelity. How does the Apostle Paul lament over his natural waywardness and inability to do goodto realize in his life what he loved and believed in his heart. He delighted in the law of God after the inward man, but he felt a law in his members warring against the law of God in his mind; when he desired to do good evil was present with him; and so oppressive did he feel the contrariety between the desires of his spirit and the lusts of the flesh, that he passionately exclaims, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" It is because, though the Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, that the new birth is attended with such difficulty and anguish. The natural mind is the seat of our hereditary evils, and therefore naturally opposes the descent into it of the principles of spiritual love and truth that have been begotten in the spiritual mind. The pains of a woman in travail are spoken of in Scripture for the purpose of presenting this subject before us in its true and practical light. "A woman when in travail hath sorrow because her hour is come." This is used to illustrate the sorrow of his disciples at the time of his departure from them. But the Lord departed from them by death that he might be "the first born from the dead." The death of the old man is necessary to the birth of the new.
22. Applying this instructive similitude to the apostles in their present or approaching circumstances, Jesus says,
And ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
The Lord had said to his disciples that they should see him; he now tells them that he would see them. This implies reciprocal knowledge and conjunction. Our seeing him and his seeing us are the counterparts of each other, and the completeness of perception. We see the Lord when our thoughts are directed upwards to him, and he sees us when his truth descends to us, and gives us to see him in ourselves. Thus is it that our hearts rejoice, for joy in the heart arises from the reception of the Lord's truth in the will and its affections, so that we not only see the truth but feel it and delight in it. And as the Lord. inspires this joy, no one can take it from us. The power of evil and error is broken, and the power of love and truth is established; and the joy which these holy principles inspire is beyond the power of the world to take away.
23. Now we hear the blessed consequences of this new state and
its joy.
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto You, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
And what does this rather singular declaration express? Does it mean that the disciples were to ask him nothing, but were to address their prayers and requests to the Father?
24. The disciples had not attained to this state which the Lord now described; they had not even entered it.
Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name: ask,, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
They had no doubt asked of God, but not in the name of Jesus.
25. It is possible that what the Lord had thus far addressed to his disciples, they had but imperfectly understood. And not those whom he immediately addressed only; all others in their stage of discipleship are in corresponding obscurity. To all disciples are the Lord's words true:
These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall spew you plainly of the Father.
A parable is a familiar image used to express an unfamiliar truth. To the disciples the Lord himself was a parable. They saw him as man, but they did not yet clearly know him as God. They did not yet understand the truth, that he who saw him saw the Father. They did not yet know that the Father dwelt bodily in him, and did the works and spake the words that proceeded from him. He had told them this, when one of them asked him to show them the Father. They could not know this great truth in its clearness and integrity, for the Lord was not yet glorified, neither in himself or in them. But the time was at hand when he should not only teach them, but show them, plainly of the Father. The Father could only be seen in the Son; for no one can know the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
26, 27. Speaking of this time and state, the Lord says,
At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
The Lord speaks of the certainty of the disciples asking in his name. We need only direct our attention to the declaration that follows. It is an opinion, drawn from a too literal and natural view of some other statements in the Scriptures, that Jesus pleads with the Father for those who believe in him. Here he says that his praying the Father for his disciples was unnecessary; and for the very satisfactory reason, that the Father himself loved them. If the Father is Love itself, he needs no persuasive prayers addressed to him by an advocate, the equal of himself, who pleads his own merits for the gifts he craves. The Father loves the disciples because they love the Son, and believe that he came out from God. Setting aside the idea of the distinct personality of the Father and the Son, as a human idea of a divine Being, and regarding the Father and the Son as the divine love and the divine wisdom in the one indivisible and infinite God, we learn from the Lord's words, that the way to acquire the Lord's love is to love his wisdom, and to have faith in it as the emanation of his love. To love the Lord's wisdom is to love to be and to do what it teaches we should be and do. Truth leads to good, wisdom to love. Truth also desires good, wisdom desires love. And as desire is the essence of prayer, and prayer is the expression of desire, so the prayer of truth is to good, the prayer of wisdom is to love. The desire and prayer of truth and wisdom are for conjunction with goodness and love; but when that conjunction is effected, the desire and prayer for it cease.
28. The Lord draws the attention of his disciples to the truth expressed in the last words which he had spoken.
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
The repetition of this truth by the Lord, can only be accounted for on the ground of its importance as a matter of belief. He came forth from the Father. How did he come forth? Not as one person departs from the presence of another to go on a distant journey. Such an idea is not to be for a moment entertained in relation to an infinite and omnipotent Being. The Lord came into the world by manifesting himself as the Word made flesh. The Word of God is the Wisdom of God. And wisdom proceeds from love, as light from heat; and Jesus, as the Word, is the Light of Love, the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Jesus, as the Word, came forth from the Father, as divine wisdom from divine love, and came into the world by assuming the nature of man. But the object of the Son in coming into the world, was to effect the work of redemption, and then return to the Father again. As the Lord came into the world by taking upon him a natural humanity, he returned to the Father by putting on a divine humanity. Before the incarnation, the Lord, when he appeared among men, assumed an angelic nature, and laid it aside when he left off communing with them. But when he assumed man's nature by birth, he assumed it never to lay it aside, yet to divest it of all its imperfection, and make it divinely perfect: born of God, therefore purely the Son of God.
29, 30. When the Lord had thus amplified this brief declaration respecting his absence and return, which had seemed to the disciples so mysterious and unintelligible, they said unto him,
Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we know that thou earnest forth from God.
How obscure a perception the disciples had of the manner in which these words were to be verified, their subsequent history abundantly testifies. His language however was plain, and it carried to the minds of his earnest hearers a conviction of his unbounded knowledge, itself an evidence to them of his divine origin. In the spiritual life there are progressive degrees of knowledge, which are attained by successive degrees of mental development, with corresponding openings of the truths of revelation. The Lord reveals his truth to his children as they are able to bear it, and he reveals it to them by additions and by elevations; additions enlarge their stores, and elevations give them higher views of whatever they possess. We see this dual process of advancement in the history of the first disciples. Gradually was the truth revealed to them, slowly was its meaning and import unfolded to them; nor was it till after the Lord was risen that, breathing on his disciples, he opened their understandings to understand the Scriptures. Every Christian disciple knows by experience that, through enlargement and opening of the mind, things which once appeared enigmatical are seen plainly. Truth, which in a lower state seems to be human, in a higher state is seen to be divine. It brings to the mind the evidence of its own divinity; and that evidence comes from the conviction that divine truth is not only a revealer of things beyond the reach of unassisted reason, but is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And so full is the instruction, so entire the satisfaction, that there is no room for doubt; there needeth not that any man should ask Him. By this we indeed know that Jesus as the Eternal Word came forth from the bosom of Eternal Love, and that he has the words of eternal life.
31. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
32. The trial of their faith the Lord now reveals to them.
Behold the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
This language respecting the disciples is very expressive and significant: They were to be scattered like a flock attacked and pursued by wolves, each concerned for his own safety. The shepherd was to be smitten, and the sheep were to be scattered. The disciples were to seek refuge from the storm among those whom they had left to follow Jesus. As representing the affections and thoughts that have turned from self and the world to the Lord, this scattering of them to their own is most expressive. In extreme states of trial and temptation the thoughts and affections are severed from each other, and drawn again, if not in act, at least in desire, into connection with those from among whom they had come out; as the children of Israel, in their severe temptation, desired to return to Egypt, from which they had been delivered. In states of severe temptation, love and faith seem to be severed from each other, and from the Lord as their Author and Object. The affections and thoughts that have been elevated and have become receptive of faith in Jesus are, in states of temptation, cast down. Not yet so confirmed in faith as to be able to maintain their elevation, they fall away when severe inward trial comes. Their connection with each other and with the Lord is broken, and they become immersed for the time in the lusts and darkness of the natural mind. Forsaken by the thoughts and affections that had, with so much earnestness and devotion, clung to him as their beloved object, Jesus is left alone, so far at least as they are concerned. But even then he is not alone, because the Father is with him. It is an important and consolotary truth, that in states of severe trial and temptation, the Lord is more intimately present with the disciple than in the ordinary conditions of his religious life. Not that the divine love and care are greater at one time than at another. The state of mind produced by temptation brings the soul into a nearer connection with the Lord. All temptation is attended with the fear of the loss of eternal life; and from this arises the anguish which wrings the heart in those dark and troubled seasons.
33. Another blessed result of temptation, as a trial of faith and integrity, is that it brings the mind into a state of peace in Jesus. Therefore, our Lord says to his disciples,
These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.
Spiritual peace is the fruit of conquered passions, and of the doubts and fears which they inspire. There is a peace that is experienced by those who know nothing of spiritual conflict within themselves, but this is the peace of self-satisfaction. It is only those who have warred with evil in themselves that can have peace in Jesus, that peace which passes all understanding, which the world cannot give, and which it cannot take away. So far removed is this peace from any that the world can bestow, that it is never fully experienced till the world has passed away. Life in this world is never so far perfected as to secure to the mind a state of undisturbed tranquillity. "In this world ye shall have tribulation" is the assurance of infinite wisdom. The world does not, indeed, mean the outer world only in which we live, but the inner world which lives in us, the worldly element that enters more or less into our thoughts and affections, and disturbs the calm that the Lord and heaven are ever operating to produce and preserve. But the tribulation that the disciple experiences in the world is not a just ground of sadness or despondency. On the contrary, there is in Christian tribulation a solid ground of cheerfulness and hope, because Christ himself has endured tribulation, and has overcome the world, and for this reason exhorts his disciples to be of good cheer. In the Lord's conquest lies our hope of being able to overcome. It was to overcome the world that he came into the world. He assumed the nature that we inherit. He passed through all the trials incident to humanity. He overcame in all these trials. He did all this for our sakes, that we also might overcome. He was tempted that he might succour us in our temptations (Heb. ii. 18). How grand and cheering are these divine words, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
CHAPTER XVII.
Having finished his discourse to his disciples, which may be said to have closed the work of his ministry on earth, the Lord now lifts up his eyes to heaven, and addresses himself to the Father, into whose hands he was soon to commit his spirit. The prayer is in the highest degree sublime and impressive, and deserves our humble and reverential consideration. Several instances are recorded of Jesus praying, on one occasion, of his retiring into a mountain, and continuing all night in prayer to God. But excepting the few words of thanksgiving he uttered on the return of the disciples and at the grave of Lazarus, his short agonizing prayer in Gethsemane, and his despairing cry upon the cross, the gospels contain no record of the subjects or the language of the devotional addresses of Jesus to the Father. That which John has preserved is the only prayer of any considerable length; uttered by the Lord, which He, the Author of inspiration, has seen good to reveal. Worthy is that prayer of the Being who uttered it and of the Book which contains it. It breathes the very spirit of redeeming love; it is the pattern, as it is the expression, of pure love to God and love to man. Suitable is it as the prayer of Him who was the Mediator between God and man. It contains no trace of a petition, or claim, for the forgiveness of sinners on account of the obedience or sufferings of the Saviour, as a vicarious sacrifice for sin. The burden of it is, the Father's love for the human race, as the moving cause of the Incarnation, the Father's love in the Son as the efficient cause of redemption, and the Son's communication of that love to men, as the operating cause of regeneration, which, as it creates them anew into the image of their Saviour, makes them at one with God, and restores them to union with Him, in whom alone is true happiness.
The circumstance itself of Jesus praying is deeply interesting, though, in some respects, it may seem mysterious. We, who are frail and sinful creatures, need to send our supplications for aid to the Author of our being and our mercies. But that Jesus, who was God as well as man, and was holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, should have felt the need of Divine support, and should have poured out his soul to God, may seem inexplicable. It is supposed, indeed, by some that the Lord's work in the flesh was vicarious, and that, standing in the place of sinners, his prayers, like his obedience and death, were theirs in him. True, "Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. ii. 6).
The first and pervading petition of this prayer is, that the Son may be glorified, and the Father glorified in him; and that in their glorification men may have salvation. When the Lord's glorification was completed, and his humanity had become divine, Jesus could no longer pray after the manner of men. Still, the same love for the human race, and the same desire for their salvation, which the Lord expressed in this prayer, are infinitely active in Him, and are constantly operating through his Holy Spirit, to reconcile sinners to himself, and draw them into an intimate and everlasting union with Him, as their God and Saviour. As desire is the essence of prayer, the Lord's desire for man's salvation, though it can no longer be uttered, is still described as if expressed, in the language and manner of prayer. For the same reason the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord sends, is represented as making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Rom. viii. 26). This supplies us with a satisfactory reason for the use of this language in reference to the Lord himself, as he now is. The intercession of the Spirit, although for us, is really in us, as the inspirer of prayer. He "helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us" (Rom. viii. 26). Although the Lord himself does not and cannot pray, he still prays in us. That divine influence, which descended into his own frail humanity, and ascended from his human heart and lips in real and earnest prayer, still comes down from his now glorified Humanity into our frail humanity, that it may ascend from our hearts and lips to Him, as his ascended to the Father. When this takes place, the final purpose of this divine prayer is accomplished: "that the love wherewith thou has loved me may be in them, and I in them."
1. 'These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.'
The heaven of the senses corresponds to the heaven of the soul; and one naturally and properly turns the eyes of his body to the one when the eyes of his mind are turned to the other. To lift up the eyes to heaven is, spiritually, to elevate the thoughts to the throne of God and to him that sitteth thereon, and thus to all that is heavenly and divine. The Lord's lifting up his eyes to heaven was, therefore, the outward sign of an inward elevation, which gave the humanity a more interior perception of the indwelling divinity.
2. Having prayed for the union of his humanity with his divinity, the Lord now prays for that which was its end and purpose.
'As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.'
The immediate effect of the Lord's glorification was to give him power over all flesh. This is a great and momentous truth. The Lord came in the flesh that he might have power over the flesh. He assumed human nature that he might acquire saving power over human nature. By the prevalence of evil, the divine power, ever in itself the same, was diminished in relation to man. "All flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" (Gen. vi. 12), and no means of restoration remained but by the Lord taking that flesh upon himself, and thus bringing himself relatively nearer to man. It was not, however, by the assumption, but by the glorification of the flesh that the Lord acquired power over all flesh. Hence the language of his prayer to the Father, "as thou hast given him power over all flesh." His power over all flesh the Lord acquired by the glorification of his humanity, and this was effected by the Father.
3. And now the Lord declares what this promised eternal life is.
'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.'
The function of the Son, as it is here implicitly taught, is, to give men the knowledge of the Father, as the only true God, and of himself, as him whom the true God had sent, in which knowledge there is eternal life. The Lord calls the Father the only true God, and speaks of himself as the Saviour, the Anointed whom he had sent into the world. Viewed dogmatically, Jesus may be supposed to teach, not only that the Father and the Son are two distinct persons, but that the Father is the only true God, exclusive of himself as the Son. There is one particular in the language itself that must strike us as inconsistent with this. Eternal life is said to consist in knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he had sent. This makes the knowledge of the Son of equal importance, and equally necessary to life eternal, with that of the Father.
4. Still addressing the Father, the Lord now says,
'I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.'
The Lord speaks of having glorified the Father upon earth, and finished his work. The glorification of the Lord was not only a gradual but a successive work; it was effected, not only by continuous but by discrete or distinct degrees. This is expressed in the text itself, which, according to some, should be rendered indefinitely, "I glorified, I finished," which may be understood to relate to a particular act, or, as we have said, to a particular stage, of glorification. The Lord might therefore speak of having finished the Father's work, although there was yet one other important part of that work to be accomplished. He says to the Father, "I have glorified thee on the earth."
5. 'And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.'
These words are very striking, and are most important. To understand them we must consider the origin and object of this prayer. In the introductory remarks to this chapter we have said that desire is the essence of prayer. The present petition leads us to the further and deeper inquiry, What is the essence of desire? Holy desire is the affinity which truth has for goodness and which goodness has for truth. It may not be obvious that this is the case, but it is so. All things in the universe, which are in the order of their creation, have relation to goodness and truth. All perfection arises from their union; all imperfection from their disunion. And as in human beings perfection of state produces happiness, and imperfection produces unhappiness, therefore the degrees of happiness and unhappiness are according to the degrees of the union and the disunion of goodness and truth, which are the principles of all things. It is the sense of imperfection, and of the unhappiness arising from it, that gives us the desire which we express in prayer. With the wicked, however, there is not only the disunion of goodness and truth, but the union of evil and falsity; but of them it must be said, that this union produces not only unhappiness, but misery. They too have their desires, and these have their origin in the principles that constitute their life. As holy desire is the affinity which exists between goodness and truth, unholy desire is the affinity which exists between evil and falsity. Good desires truth and truth desires good; so evil desires falsity and falsity desires evil. There are in fact no human desires which are not either of the one or the other. In speaking, in relation to the present subject, of perfection and imperfection of state, and of happiness and unhappiness as their results, we speak of these as they exist in the Christian disciple. If we are disciples of Christ, the sense of imperfection and of the unhappiness arising from it gives us the desire we express in prayer. Whatever be the immediate object of our desire, the union of goodness and truth in our hearts and minds is the first principle and ultimate end of our prayers, if they are sincere.
6. The whole of the present prayer, so far as it relates to the disciples, is in conformity with the view we have now presented.
'I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.'
7. The hearing of the Lord's words gives the knowledge of the Father to the Son.
'Now they have known that all things, whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee.'
All things that the Son possessed he had received from the Father; they were therefore divine. The disciples had now come to know this. The acquisition of this knowledge belongs to a corresponding stage of all true discipleship. The true divinity of Christ, which is the divinity of his humanity, is not known, in the Scripture sense, till the disciple keeps the Father's words. We never truly know or believe in the divinity of the Lord's humanity till its image is reflected in our own experience. Spirituality in us is the image of divinity in the Lord. To know that all things which the Son hath are of the Father, is also to know that all things of divine truth are of divine good, the express image of its substance (Heb. i. 3). The essence is the all of the form, the substance is the all of the image.
8. The Lord continues,
'For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.'
The Lord's words, though human in their expression, were in their origin and in their nature divine; and though words of truth, were also words of love. The Lord's words are to the disciple words of love when received in love. It is this which gives the disciple to know surely that Divine Truth itself came out from Divine Love, and to believe that on whatever mission it comes, it is a messenger sent by infinite love and mercy for the salvation and happiness of man. Divine truth, we have seen (chap. viii. 42), came not of itself, but divine love sent it. If Divine Truth had come of itself and alone, it would have condemned all; it was because Love sent it, and dwelt within it, that it came to save all, and that it saves all who receive it in love. Truth received without love still condemns; for those who know, but love not, are liable to the judgment: "The words that I have spoken, the same shall judge you in the last day." Hence the Lord's joy that now his disciples knew surely that he came out from God. Even this, however, was but half the knowledge which, as true disciples, they were required to possess. They knew surely that Jesus had come out from God; but they did not yet know, and were unwilling to learn, that he returned to God again. They knew not that he must be glorified. Because he had told them this, sorrow had filled their hearts.
9. 'I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them, which thou hast given me; for they are thine.'
The people of the world were not now the objects of the Lord's prayer; the world itself, in its abstract sense, as consisting of the principles of the world, was not, and could not be. Those given by the Father to the Son were the opposite of those of whom the world consisted. The Father's were the good, the world's were the evil. The objects of the Lord's present prayer was, that those who had been raised out of and above the world, and had been brought by goodness to the acknowledgment of the truth, might be preserved in it. The Lord prayed also (for this is included in the prayer) that in the mind of every disciple the affections of good which had been united to perceptions of truth, might be preserved and perfected. But the Lord prayed not for the world, not for the worldly element that yet mingled with the heavenly principles which the disciples had received from Jesus; this was rather to be deprecated than prayed for.
10. Having said of those he prayed for, "they are thine," the Lord adds,
'And all mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them.'
In reference to the Lord himself, these words mean, that the divinity of the Father belongs to the humanity of the Son, and that the humanity of the Son belongs to the divinity of the Father, thus that, in Christ, God is man, and man is God. As all things, so all persons, that are truly the Son's are also the Father's, and all that are really the Father's are also the Son's. All who are really in truth are also in goodness, and all who are really in goodness are also in truth: all who have faith have also love, and all who have love have also faith. While being regenerated, the disciple has both good and truth, but they are both imperfect, and imperfectly united. Each is perfected by the other. Truth purifies and enlightens good, and good exalts and warms truth. When the one is purified and the other is exalted, then are they united, and their union constitutes regeneration. Then it is that whatever one has is the other's. Good belongs to truth, and is its life, and truth belongs to good, and is its light. This is the state in the disciple to which the Lord's words refer: "All mine are thine, and all thine are mine." And as the Lord is glorified in those who are regenerated, in the regenerate are fulfilled the divine words, "and I am glorified in them." Glory, when it relates to the Lord, properly means the divine truth proceeding from him, because divine truth is the light of heaven, from which angels and men derive not only all intelligence and wisdom, but likewise all happiness. And since this is glory, it is therefore the glory of the Lord to enlighten angels and men, and give them intelligence and wisdom, and bless them with everything happy and delightful, and give magnificence to all things in heaven. Divine glory has therefore nothing in common with human glory; for in human glory men seek their own splendour, but in divine glory the Lord seeks to make others illustrious.
11. The Lord continues,
'And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.'
The Lord was no longer in the world (chap. xvi. 33). The disciples had not yet overcome the world; therefore they were yet in it. But Jesus overcame the world, that he might enable his disciples to overcome also. While his disciples are yet in the world, passing through its tribulations, striving to overcome it in their own hearts, the Lord's desire and his prayer is, "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me."
12. Our Lord says,
'While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.'
While the Lord was in the world, he kept the disciples in the Father's name, and he now prays that when he is no longer in the world, the Father himself may keep them in his own name. The two periods our Lord speaks of are analogous to two states that occur in the experience of all disciples. The first is a state in which they are kept in goodness by the power of truth, the second is a state in which they are kept in truth by the power of goodness. The Lord himself is both Father and Son, both Good itself and Truth itself. In the first state he is with the disciples as truth leading them to good, in the second state he is in them as good leading them by truth. The Lord had thus kept all whom the Father had given him - all who had been drawn to his truth by the influence of his love. Among the disciples there was one exception in the son of perdition. Judas is mentioned as one of those whom the Father had given to the Son; for he represents those who are drawn to the truth by love, but afterwards fall away, and are thus guilty of profanation, which is the greatest of all sins. In the general sense, Judas represented the Jewish Church, which, while it possessed the Word, perverted its truths, as Judas betrayed the Incarnate Word in the person of the Lord. Judas represented also the carnal principle of human nature, in which all perversion of truth originates, and therefore also the carnally minded among men, who turn the truth into an instrument of advancing their own interests. When, instead of using the truth to purify their hearts, men employ it to advance their selfish and worldly purposes, they profane the truth; and then, instead of being sons of God, they are sons of perdition. The word translated perdition means utter destruction, and is the same that occurs in Revelation (ix. 11) as the name of the angel of the bottomless pit, who was king over the army of locusts, that came out of the ascending smoke of the abyss. Locusts are emblematical of the sensual principle; and when this principle rules, the perdition or utter destruction of all good and truth is the result, for when one is the slave of his senses, he either denies or perverts every spiritual good and truth.
13. 'And now come I to thee: and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.'
The union of the human with the divine in the person of the Lord was now at hand. In this and other parts of this holy prayer, Jesus speaks as if this union were already accomplished. It is not unusual in the Word to speak of future events, especially when they relate personally to the Lord, as if they were present; as, "unto us a child is born - thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." But there was an additional reason in the present instance. The Lord's glorification, as we have remarked, was effected by successive degrees; and each of these consisted of two distinct acts, one internal, the other external. The glorification of the Lord's internal man was now effected; and all that was required to complete the great work was the passion of the cross, by which his external man, even to the body, was to be made divine. His words, "and now come I to thee," express the complete union of the human with the divine, which was now at hand, and which he speaks of as already accomplished. Although he was thus no longer in the world, his disciples were yet in it. Hence the words, "and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves." In the spiritual sense, not the world only as a place, but the world also as a state, is that of which the Lord speaks. Literally, he addressed his prayer to the Father while he was present with his disciples. Spiritually, this describes what he does now, and will ever continue to do, while his disciples are yet in the world, and the world is yet in them, not entirely overcome.
14. We have said that regeneration is effected by divine truth combating against the evils of the natural mind. This our Lord now speaks of.
'I have given them thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.'
The truth which is the instrument of regeneration is not truth alone; truth from goodness is that which forms the real commencement of the new life and of Christian experience. This truth is that of which the Lord speaks in the present case, for the word, which he gave his disciples, was the Father's word. It is truth from this origin and of this quality that is antagonistic to worldly love, and makes the disciple not of the world. The world within us does not rise up in opposition to truth in the form of knowledge, but to truth as the form of goodness. The world hates those who receive the Father's word; for truth from heavenly love is the opposite of falsity from worldly love, and never fails to excite its hatred and hostility. Such truth makes the disciple not of this world, even as the Lord, as the Truth itself from Goodness, is not of this world.
15. 'I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.'
This prayer, regarded in its natural sense, teaches a most wholesome and useful doctrine. The world is a school for heaven. Its duties, its satisfactions, its trials are all divinely appointed or permitted, as means for educating us into a life of usefulness and happiness in a higher world. It is in these that the Christian finds a field for the exercise of his principles of love to God and to his neighbour. A life of seclusion may be more favourable to mental religion and habits of outward piety.
16. The Lord places this truth in still clearer light, by saying,
'They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.'
The Lord's example is a practical reproof of every form of abstract religion, whether pious or sentimental. He lived in the world among men, teaching them wisdom and doing them good; he met them in the synagogue and in the temple, in the market-place and in the street, entered with them into the house of mourning and sat down with them at their social feasts. His life in the world was short; he was thirty years old before he began his public ministry. Yet it is remarkable that although he lived till then in retirement, hardly anything is recorded or even hinted as to the mode or tenor of his life. His unwritten was preparatory to his recorded life. What its particular form may have been, we know not; but this we do know, that it was to find its result in a life of unbounded beneficence and of the purest holiness. While he lived in the world, he could truly say, "I am not of the world." He was neither actuated by its principles nor stained by its impurities. He was holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Such, in his measure, should the Christian disciple be. And such the true disciple is. Of his own disciples, and of all true disciples, the Lord says, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." All that comes from the Lord is like himself; and one of the means we have of knowing that we are really his disciples, is the unworldly character of our own minds and lives. In the world, but not of the world, is the description the Lord gives of his true followers. So is it of the principles themselves which make men true disciples.
17. The disciples, by being not of the world, are capable of advancing in spiritual purity and perfection.
'Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.'
To sanctify is to make holy. Sanctification is effected by divine truth; yet not by divine truth alone, as received into the understanding only, but by divine truth proceeding from divine love, and received also into the heart. The divine truth which thus sanctifies is the Word - he written Word, which is the immediate fountain of all regenerating and saving truth; and eminently the Lord himself, as the Word made flesh, the Source and Giver of truth. All the efficacy of the written Word is from the living Word who dwells within it; and the Lord, as the Word, is Divine Wisdom from Divine Love. Divine love or goodness, which is called the Father, is the origin of all sanctification and salvation; but divine goodness always acts by the understanding. When we hear, in this and other parts of the Old and New Testaments, of the Word of God, we are liable to think of it as we think of a word uttered by a human being, as at best the expression of a thought by one mind, that conveys an idea to another. Words are not so limited in their scope as this. The words which a man utters contain his whole mind, for the very essence of his thought and affection is embodied in every expression. But the mind of man is finite, and his words partake of his finiteness and imperfection. This is the case even when he speaks the truth, and speaks it in love. With the Divine Being the case is different. He not only speaks the truth, but he is the Truth itself which he speaks; he not only speaks the truth from love, but he is the Love itself from which he speaks. In the supreme sense the Lord himself is the Truth, through or in which the disciples are sanctified; and he himself is the Word which is truth, and in whom there is sanctification, The Father sanctifies the disciples by his word, when the Lord from his divine love purifies and regenerates his people by his divine truth.
18. After being sanctified by the truth the disciples are to be sent forth to proclaim it.
'As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world.'
The disciple is to follow his divine Master in the work of evangelizing the world, as in every other work. But there is another and deeper meaning in the Lord's words than this. The world into which the Lord descended, and in which he laboured, was the world of fallen humanity.
19. The Lord had prayed the Father to sanctify the disciples through his truth. In this, as in all other things, the Lord himself was their example, as he now declares. '
'And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.'
This declaration of our Lord contains the essence of Christianity - the immediate purpose of the Incarnation, and the ground of human hope for salvation. It teaches the sublime but simple truth, that the Lord sanctified human nature in himself, that in his disciples human nature might be sanctified. We have often had occasion to remark that the Lord assumed human nature in its fallen and degenerate state, that he might restore it to perfection in his own person: and that this was the only means by which even infinite power could restore fallen humanity to something of its original order and happiness. In no part of the Word is this truth declared more directly or clearly than in these blessed words. We learn from them, that the Lord sanctified himself; and that he sanctified himself that he might sanctify his disciples. So long as men understood not this great truth, they are ignorant of the real purpose and use of the Incarnation, and of the very nature of salvation. Christians rightly believe that the sanctification of men was the end and purpose of the Lord's coming; but few if any seem to know, or even to conceive, that before the Saviour could sanctify men, he had first to sanctify himself. So far from this being the case, it is commonly believed that he came into the world free from all the hereditary effects of sin, and that the very circumstance of his being already holy was the ground of his capability of being a Saviour.
20. Jesus had just said of himself and his disciples, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." He now addresses the Father on behalf of those who should receive the message of salvation, which his servants were to carry into all lands, and preach to every creature.
'Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.'
The universal redemption which our Lord accomplished restored to all men the capacity of accepting life eternal, which he came freely to offer to all. Redemption and salvation are distinct. All men are redeemed, for redemption was effected by the Lord subduing the powers of darkness, and delivering mankind from the state of spiritual bondage in which Satan had held them, even to having possession of their bodily organs. All men are therefore restored by redemption to a state of spiritual liberty. As the subjugation of the powers of darkness by the Lord effected man's redemption, the glorification of humanity by the Lord provided for his salvation, for man is saved by being regenerated, and he can be regenerated because the Lord was glorified, the lesser work being an effect and image of the greater.
21. 'That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.'
There are four interesting points included in this petition. The Lord prays for the disciples that they all may be one. Peace on earth, good will among men, was the angels' song of glorification on the birth of Jesus as the Saviour. The purpose of the gospel is peace, and peace will be its effect so far as it is received in spirit and in truth. Discord and war are the fruits of evil, concord and peace are the fruits of righteousness. As the Lord is our righteousness, he is also our peace. The Lord prays also that the disciples may be one, as he and the Father are one. That of which the Lord speaks is not the oneness that existed between God and the word before the incarnation. This was not the cause and the pattern of Christian unity. Had it been so, there would have been no need for the Word to have come into the world. The cause and pattern of Christian unity is the union and oneness of the Lord's divine and human natures. It is from this union that union among men comes. It is by virtue of the Lord having reconciled and united man's nature to himself, that he can now reconcile and unite men to each other. Yet, we are to reflect that unity among men is only a likeness of the unity that exists between the divinity and humanity of the Lord. In him they are one person. The unity among men, which is produced by this unity in the Lord, is according to the nature of the unity of which men are capable. The Lord prays also, respecting his disciples, "That they may be one in us." Several times he had had occasion to quiet their contentions, and teach them the duty of being united among themselves. And he now makes their unity the subject of his prayers. Union with the Lord, like unity among brethren, is produced through spiritual unity in their own minds. The union of goodness and truth, or of love and faith, in the minds of the members of the church, is that which disposes and enables them to become united to the Lord and to each other. Without it there can be no true unity.
22. 'And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.'
In the 14th verse the Lord says of the disciples, "I have given them thy word:" here he says, he had given them the glory which the Father had given him. Glory is the splendour of divine truth. Truth, when it irradiates the mind, is glory, and is called the glory of God. Nor is there any other glory given by the Divinity to the Humanity, and by the Humanity to men, than the lustre of divine truth. It is, however, from good that truth has its lustre or glory. The Father being the divine Love and the Son the divine Wisdom, the glory which the Father gives the Son is the glory which divine Love gives to divine Wisdom. This glory the Lord gives to his disciples when he regenerates them, the glory of the regenerate being an effect and image of his own. Hence the words, "that they may be one, even as we are one." The unity of the Divine and the Human in the Lord is the origin and the pattern of man's conjunction with God, and thence of all unity, harmony, and peace among men.
23. The Lord explains the nature and manner of this union.
'I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.'
The divinity in the humanity, the humanity in the disciples. How clearly does this express the great gospel truth, that the humanity which the Lord assumed and glorified in the world, is the medium through which the power and glory of the divinity descends into the minds of men!
24. Having uttered in prayer what he desires his disciples might be, the Lord now expresses his desire as to where they may be.
'Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me; for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.'
The Lord desires two things - that his disciples may be with him where he is, and that they may behold his glory.
25. The Lord now speaks in the language of thanksgiving rather than of prayer.
'O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee, and these have known that thou host sent me.'
The world, because it knew not righteousness, knew not the righteous Father, for none can know God as a righteous Being but those who have something of his righteousness in them. Jesus knew the Father under this character, because he himself was the righteous or just One. In one of his petitions (ver. 11) the Lord addresses the Father as Holy; here he calls him Righteous. He addresses the Father as holy, when he prays him to keep through his own name those he had given to the Son; he calls him righteous, when he declares that the world had not known him, but that the Son had known him. God is the Holy One more especially in relation to his church, and the Righteous One more especially in his relation to the world. One of the acts of the Holy Spirit was, to convince the world of righteousness; and this he was to do because Jesus was going to the Father. But although the world knew not the righteous Father, Jesus knew him. With the Lord to know was to possess. In this eminent sense Jesus alone knew the Father, and he alone knows him as the source of righteousness as of every other divine attribute. No one can see and know God as he is in himself; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath brought him forth to view. It is sufficient for the disciples to know that the righteous Father sent Jesus into the world, to declare and manifest his righteousness before men. It is an essential mark of discipleship to know Jesus as that One in whom the righteous Father has been manifested. This is the knowledge that belongs and is profitable to the disciple. Jesus knows the Father; the disciple knows Jesus as the Son of the Father, and thus he knows the Father in the Son. This is the strain that runs through the whole of this prayer. "I have known thee, and these have known that thou halt sent me."
26. The Lord now, in the conclusion of his divine prayer, sums up the whole truth he has expressed in its several petitions.
'And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.'
It is very evident that the divine name here means the divine nature, the divine attributes, the divine character. The Lord not only declared this in words and in miracles, but in his own spotless and beneficent life, which was the exhibition of perfect God in perfect man. But the Lord not only declared the name, the character, of his Divinity in his humanity, but he still declares it; for he himself is that NAME. The humanity is the manifested form of the divinity. The divinity, with all its perfections and operations, is brought near to us, and made apprehensible by us, in the Lord Jesus Christ. But what is the Lord's purpose in thus declaring the Father's name? "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." The end and purpose of the Lord's declaring and being the divine name is, that the love which he received from the Father might be communicated to men. It was the Lord's desire that his divine love might be brought down into the hearts of men, that they might love one another even as the Lord had loved them. But there was one other object the Lord had in view. He desired, not only that the Father's Love might be in them, but that he, as the Divine Wisdom, might be in them also. He desired that his love might dwell in their hearts, and his wisdom in their understandings. The truth expressed in this part of the prayer is similar to that which the Lord elsewhere declared, when he promised that both he and the Father would take up their abode with his perfected disciples. But here the truth is enunciated in greater fulness. The love wherewith the Father loved the Son, as communicated by the Son to the disciples, is the Divine Love as brought near to them in the Lord's Humanity; the Divine Love made human by the human life of the Lord Jesus; and having made his humanity the very form of Love, He is now the Fount of love to sinful and suffering man. Wisdom is given, however, as well as Love, that we may have the law of Love inscribed upon our understandings as well as the affection of love infused into our hearts. The union of love and wisdom in the mind, and their united operation in the life, form the new man, the highest image of the DIVINE MAN, THE LORD AND SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The prayer which the Lord addressed to the Father is followed, in the progress of the gospel history, as recorded in this chapter, by a series of events, directly leading to the fulfilment of the predictions which Jesus had uttered more than once in the ears of his disciples, that he must be put to death and rise again the third day.
1. 'When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.'
The place from which Jesus "went forth" was the city of Jerusalem, and the place to which he was repairing was the garden of Gethsemane, the scene of his great agony and of his betrayal. The brook over which he passed flows through a deep gorge between the city and the Mount of Olives, and falls into the Dead Sea. It is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. The first instance in which its name occurs has some historical resemblance to the present case, and may be concluded to have a typical reference to it. When king David, followed by his weeping people went forth from Jerusalem to escape the wrath of his rebellious son, Absalom, he passed over the brook Kidron, towards the way of the wilderness (2 Sam. xv. 23). When Solomon granted Shemei an asylum in Jerusalem, it was on the condition that he should not, on pain of death, pass over the brook Kidron, a penalty which he incurred when he crossed it in pursuit of his two fugitive servants, who had fled to Gath (1 Kings ii. 37). The name of the stream suitably expresses the nature of the circumstances connected with it. The brook Cedron means the black, turbid stream. The reading which has led some to understand it to mean the brook of cedars, is believed to owe its origin to the natural mistake of some copyist, who took Kedron to be the Greek used for cedar trees in the plural, and who therefore made the article agree with it, whereas in the Hebrew it is singular. There does not seem to be any question among the best Biblical scholars as to the identity of the Cedron or Kidron of the New Testament and that of the Old. The black and turbid stream over which Jesus now passed might suggest, even to the natural mind, the dark and troubled state on which he was about to enter. But the circumstances connected with the historical events of Scripture are not to be regarded simply as poetical images to please the imagination, but as spiritual analogies to enlighten the understanding. Jerusalem and all other parts of the Holy Land were typical. Canaan represented the church, of which Jerusalem is the inmost but intellectual part, thus the church as to doctrine, or the doctrine of the church.
2. But Jesus was not only assailed by the powers of darkness from within, but by the powers of the world and the degenerate church from without.
'And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place; for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.'
The resemblance, if not analogy, between the transaction which took place in the garden of Gethsemane to that which is recorded to have taken place in the garden of Eden, may be further traced in this particular.
3. 'Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns, and torches, and weapons.'
Judas was at this time acting as an emissary of the priesthood, to whom he had sold himself. Cupidity, which had been his besetting sin, now prompted him to commit the great crime. His case, individually considered, is no doubt intended as a warning, and should induce us to "beware of covetousness," avarice being the root of all evil. Avarice, which is the love of money for its own sake, without respect to the use for which alone it is worthy of regard, corresponds to the love of knowledge for its own sake, without respect to the use for which alone it is worthy of regard. People of this character were represented by Judas, who therefore carried the bag containing the money, and was a thief, the bag, as we have seen, being the memory, where the evil lay up their knowledge, by claiming which as their own, and using it for their own ends, they become spiritual thieves. The pieces of silver, too, for which Judas betrayed Jesus, represented the knowledge of spiritual truth which the evil covet, and for the sake of possessing which they betray the truth itself into the hands of its enemies.
4. 'Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?'
Jesus acted differently towards his enemies now from what he did on some previous occasions, when he escaped out of their hands (chap. x. 39). His hour was now come, and he yielded himself up as a lamb to the slaughter. The Lord's conduct on this occasion, as on all others throughout the whole of the dreadful scene which now begins to be enacted, displays the beauty and sublimity of his character even more than his heavenly teaching and his beneficent works. He, it is true, knew all that was to happen, even to the passion of the cross, and was so far prepared for the trial. The outward indignities and bodily pains which were to be inflicted on him were, however, but a small part of what he had to suffer. The inward temptations, which he had still to endure, were immeasurably more afflictive than the agony of crucifixion. Yet, with all these before him, Jesus, while possessed of the power to defeat or destroy his enemies, calmly yields himself into the hands of those sent to take him. While we reverence this calm submission on the part of our Lord, we should not forget that he was our example in his sufferings as well as in his active life. The scene which is presented in this narrative, has, however, a deeper than the literal signification, which we will do well to consider. That scene, which was acted before the eyes of angels and men, so many centuries ago, in this outer world, is acted over again in the inner world of the human consciousness of every true disciple, on the one hand, and of every apostate, on the other. We have the new man and his representatives in the Lord and his disciples, and the old man in Judas and his band. In Judas we see the human selfhood in its true character, not simply as it is in every one by birth, when it slumbers in the shade of innocence, but as it is when it has come forth in its strength, armed with all the aids which the wisdom and authority of the world can lend it. When we speak of the new man, we mean the new principles and character we acquire by regeneration, which are indeed a new nature we receive from the Lord, when, as the Divine Man, he dwells in us by his love and truth;
5, 6. When Jesus asked the officers whom they sought,
'They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he.'
And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. It has been remarked as a singular circumstance, that the priests and Pharisees should have required the aid of a disciple to find and apprehend Jesus. The reason was, that Judas undertook to betray Jesus in the absence of the multitude, or without tumult, which the rulers apprehended and dreaded (Luke xxii. 6). It is likely, too, that the Pharisees were glad to accept the aid of a disciple, to prevent the defeat which previous attempts to take the Lord had met with, and which, but for his own willingness to be taken, would have attended the present, as is evident from the effect which the simple utterance of his first words had upon the soldiers. The soldiers were heathens; and feeling no interest in Jewish questions, they knew not Jesus, except by name, as given by those who sent them. They knew that the person whom they were sent to seize was named Jesus of Nazareth, but personally they knew him not. The natural rationality which they represented is similarly circumstanced - it knows and knows not the truth. Jesus himself reveals it, and reveals himself in it, as he said to the soldiers, "I am he."
7. But the Lord asks them again,
'Whom seek ye?'
And again they answer, Jesus of Nazareth. Repetition, in the Word, expresses repeated action in the mind, when that which takes place in the will is repeated in the understanding, or what is done in the internal is done afterwards in the external. When the same question, repeated, receives the same answer, it is a sign that the mind is confirmed in the object which the reply expresses. The band sought Jesus of Nazareth, against whom they had no personal enmity; but those for whom they acted sought him for his destruction, and this they did with heart and mind. This was the confirmed purpose both of Judas, and of the chief priests and Pharisees who sent the band; and is expressed in the words of their instruments. Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord as to the divine humanity, especially as to the divine natural, for the sake of putting on which he came into the world. Against this the world and the worldly principle are at enmity; and it can only be glorified in us, as it once was glorified in the person of the Lord, after severe trial and temptation.
8, 9. 'Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.'
10. 'Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear.'
The servant's name was Malchus. This incident is recorded in Matt. xxvi. 51, where it is explained. Peter represents those who are in faith; his sword was a symbol of truth; but the truth used falsely is turned into what is false. The cutting off of the ear of the high priest's servant was a sign that, in those last days of the church, the perceptive faculty was destroyed, and with it all spiritual hearing and obedience. The only peculiarity of John's account is the introduction of the servant's name. Malchus is generally understood to be derived from the Hebrew melech, a king, which in the genuine sense signifies truth, in the opposite sense, falsity. Now, a king in relation to a priest, and a servant to a Lord, signify truth in relation to good, and falsity in relation to evil; and this last was, no doubt, the representative character of Malchus. The servants of the high priest do not indeed mean principles in themselves false, but natural truths, or knowledges, under the dominion and direction of evil: for such truths may be made serviceable to evil as well as to good. And as the high priest was opposed to the Lord, so the priest's servants were opposed to the Lord's servants. We know that in human interpretations of the Word, one truth can be opposed to another, especially may the apparent truths of the Word be opposed to its genuine truths.
11. 'Then, said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?'
The principle on which the Lord reproved Peter for smiting the high priest's servant, was that which he laid down for the church, and which he himself always exemplified, "resist not evil." This is the principle of the celestial angels and of celestial men. They never assault the wicked or even resist evil. And as evil can never act against us to our injury, except so far as we have evil in ourselves, therefore evil cannot do harm to goodness except by means of evil. This was the case even with the Lord himself. The evil which he inherited from the mother was the ground of his temptations. Evil men and evil spirits only acted upon him through these. And their assaults were the means by which these evils were overcome and removed. Hence our Lord said to Peter, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" The cup is a common figure for that which the cup contains. In Scripture it is mentioned both in a good and bad sense. We read both of the cup of salvation (Psa. cxvi. 13), and of the cup of trembling, which is the cup of the Lord's fury (Isa. li. 17). This is the cup which Jesus says his Father had given him to drink. Those who do not know the distinction between genuine and apparent truth, as it exists in the Word, believe that God pours out his wrath and displeasure upon men and nations, in judgments for their sins. And as mankind are spoken of as subject to wrath, on account of their evil state and sinful conduct, it is believed that Jesus endured the whole weight of Divine wrath, which was due to men for their sins. This is understood to be the cup which the Father had given him to drink, and which he willingly drank, even to the last dregs. These dark and unworthy views are now gradually passing away, and at no very distant time will entirely disappear. Men will come to see, what they may even now understand, that there is no wrath or fury in God, that he is Love in its essence, and that he desires to save all, and does save all who come to him. The language of Scripture, on which such opinions rest, is the language of appearances. God appears to every one in accordance with his state. "With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury" (2 Sam. xxii. 26, 27). The Lord is described and expresses himself in the Word as he appears to men to be. The notion that God inflicted upon Jesus the punishment he otherwise would have inflicted on men themselves for their sins, is part of the theory that God's government is maintained by means of rewards and punishments.
12. 'Then the band, and the captain, and officers of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound him.'
What the Jews did to Jesus represented what the Jewish church had done to the Word. The series of acts now recorded are similar to those in Matthew and the other gospels. The band and their leaders taking Jesus and binding him, is expressive of all falsities derived from evil in the church taking and binding the divine truths of the Word. These are taken and bound when they are brought under the power of their opposite errors, and deprived of all their freedom of action, in reproving sin and teaching righteousness.
13, 14. When bound, they
'led him away to Annas first: for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.'
John is the only one of the four evangelists who mentions the Lord's being led to Annas. The reason of this, no doubt, is, that John treats of more interior states of the church than the other evangelists: and the father-in-law of the high priest represents a more interior principle than the high priest himself. Considered as father-in-law and son-in-law, Annas and Caiaphas represent the church in respect to the will and the understanding.
15. This portion of the sacred history, which now comes to be considered, gives an account of what took place in the palace of the high priest, not before Caiaphas, but Annas. This relation differs very considerably in some respects from the account of the other evangelists.
'And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.'
John does not speak of himself by name, but, naming Peter, he calls himself another disciple. Indeed, this "other disciple," in the gospel which he wrote, never speaks of himself by his proper name. This is considered to have arisen from his modesty. The grace of love or charity, which John represented, is the farthest removed from self-seeking: it "vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." But there is another reason for John's suppressing his name. Name is expressive of quality, and of that which reveals it. Love does not itself reveal its own quality. Love, in itself, as it is in the will, is nameless. It only acquires a quality and a name when it descends into the understanding, and puts on the form of wisdom, or when, as affection, it clothes itself with thought. Simon Peter and John followed Jesus. All the disciples at first forsook him, and fled; but these two returned, and followed him to the palace of the high priest, not openly, but as timid though anxious friends. The Lord was still the object of love and faith among his disciples, but these graces were as yet feeble and unconfirmed, because not yet completely severed from the loves of self and the world. Jesus was thus followed by the two disciples who seem to have occupied the highest position among their brethren, and who had the highest representative character, being the types of faith and love. The conduct of these two disciples on this trying occasion is descriptive of the state of faith and love, as they existed among the disciples generally;
16. 'But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.'
While something of good and love entered the church, truth and faith stood at the door without. Yet truth is introduced by good, and faith by love, and this by the influence of good and love upon the affections, signified by her that kept the door. But although Peter was introduced, he was not known to the high priest; he was indeed afterwards recognised by the damsel and some of the other servants, but only as a disciple, involved in the supposed criminality of his Master.
17. The affection, by the influence of which faith is admitted into the church and into the mind, exercises a scrutiny as to the origin and object of that faith.
'Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not.'
The predicted trial of Peter's faith now commences, and at the very beginning fails. In this, as in some other instances, Peter represented faith, such as it then existed in the church. But to understand the subject rightly, we must consider that Peter's conduct represented the character of faith as it would be at the end of the first Christian church, the state of which is described by the Lord when he said, "When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith in the earth?" The history of Peter on this occasion is the history of the faith of the church; it is a historical prediction, representatively teaching, that at the end of the church, when the ruling love of self and the world, which prevails among men, opposes itself to the Lord as essential love and truth, faith fails and denies Him who is its Origin and Object.
18. 'And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; (for it was cold;) and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.'
The servants and officers represented the principles of the church and of its members, which are subordinate to the ruling love, as these servants were to the high priest. The cold which invades the church at the time of its end, is its state when the warmth of genuine love has departed, or when the love of the many waxes cold. Then the members of the church, when its sun has set, and left it exposed to the cold as well as the darkness of night, kindle a fire of coals from their own natural loves, and warm themselves; and even faith itself, which has no life but from love, derives its warmth from the fire which the lusts and appetites of the natural mind have kindled. The servants of the high priest had kindled a fire, and a servant of Jesus warmed himself at it. Fire is a common and well understood emblem of love. Sacred fire comes from heaven, and is an emblem of the holy love which the Lord inspires into the contrite heart. The fire which man kindles is symbolical of the love which is earthly in its origin and character. The idolater is represented as burning part of the wood of which he makes his image in the fire; and "he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire" (Isa. xliv. 16). He that walketh in darkness and hath no light is exhorted to trust in the name of the Lord and to stay upon his God. But this warning and threatening are added: "Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow" (Isa. 1. 10).
19. While Peter warmed himself with the servants and officers at the fire,
'the high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine.'
These questions and the Lord's answer to them are entirely different from those recorded in Matthew (xxvi. 62, 63), and afford countenance to the opinion already noticed, that this examination of Jesus took place before Annas, who was not then in office, although, in conformity with custom, he is called the high priest; and who had no active share, judicially, in his condemnation. This inquiry about the Lord's disciples and his doctrine, or teaching, is assumed to have been intended to draw answers from him that might form the grounds of accusation; and the Lord's answer seems to favour this opinion. But there is nothing related of this interrogator, as of Caiaphas, condemning Jesus out of his own mouth. It may be, therefore, that Annas was the high priest to whom John was known. As to questioning Jesus about his doctrine: the Lord is doctrine itself, for the whole of doctrine proceeds from him and relates to him; and his disciples are those who receive his doctrine, and live according to it. All the doctrines of the Word refer to two things, comprehended in the two great commandments - to love the Lord above all things, and our neighbour as ourselves. These are the Lord's doctrines, and those who live according to them are his disciples. The evil do indeed inquire into these, and desire to know what the Word teaches respecting them, not for the purpose of knowing, that they may honour them, but either that they may gratify their curiosity, or find in them the means of their condemnation. Whether the high priest regarded Jesus as Herod regarded John the Baptist we cannot say.
20, 21. Jesus does not tell of his doctrine, but refers the high priest to those of his own people who had heard him teach.
'Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world: I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.'
Those who for unworthy ends interrogate the Word do not receive the answer they desire from the Word itself: it comes to them through their own thoughts and feelings. Jesus spake openly, or fearlessly, to the world. The church is the general recipient of the Lord's truth;
22. 'And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?'
One reason why the Lord refused to answer the high priest and some others who asked him questions, was to prevent profanation. He in many instances bides the truths of his kingdom from the wise and prudent and reveals them unto babes. The disposition to profane and blaspheme the truth was shown by the conduct of the officer of the high priest, for to smite is to destroy. And truth is destroyed when men do violence to it, because it testifies against them. Such violence was represented by the officer smiting our blessed Lord with a rod (as this may more strictly be rendered) a rod signifying the false principle proceeding from evil.
23. 'Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?'
That which our Lord gave as a test to judge of and act towards himself, is also a test by which his word is to be tried. The teaching of the Word is open to just judgment. If it speaks or teaches evil, men may bear witness of the evil, but if it teaches truth and righteousness, why should it be smitten? Yet as the Lord was smitten, so his Word is smitten, because it reproves evil, and refuses to gratify the sinful or idle curiosity of those who please to consult it for their own ends.
24. 'Now Annas had sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.'
25. And now comes another trial of faith, such as it is when the Word is subjected to such treatment.
'And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art thou not also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not.'
Peter stood and warmed himself, fit emblem of faith when it derives its warmth from self-love, from the world and not from heaven. Under the influence of such love how could the faith of the church do otherwise than deny the Lord? This was Peter's second denial, but another and more daring one follows.
26, 27. 'One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did I not see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again, and immediately the cock crew.'
The consistency of Peter is now put to the severest test. The time and place of his being seen with Jesus, as one of his disciples, are mentioned to him, but a selfish fear prompts a ready and angry denial, confirming his asseveration, like the wicked, with a profane oath. How striking an instance is this of the presence and power of man's natural depravity, even after he has entered sincerely on the regenerate life! How well it proves the truth of the experience of one who had himself been tried: "When I would do good evil is present with me;" and of our Lord's saying, The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." The temptation of Peter did not proceed from the persons who accused him. In times of spiritual trial evil spirits accuse, and hence Satan is called the accuser of the brethren.
28. We now come to another act in the terrible drama which was acted by the enemies of the Saviour in the sight of angels and men.
'Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment.'
Jesus was first led to Annas, then to Caiaphas, and lastly to Pilate. Thus was the Divine Truth opposed in will, understanding, and act. Pilate represented the civil power which gave effect to the spiritual.
29. As the Jews would not go in to Pilate,
'Pilate then went out unto them.'
Pilate suffers himself to be drawn out of his own house by the Jews, which is to go out of his own state, and place himself in theirs. Having thus yielded himself up to their influence, he asks them, What accusation bring ye against this man? It is as if the judgment should leave its seat in the understanding, where reason should preside, and appeal to the will, where passion rules, for the purpose of hearing what it can lay to the charge of innocence.
30. 'They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.'
This is just such an accusation as passion and prejudice would urge. Jesus is accused of being a malefactor, but no evidence is offered in support of the charge. It is, however, to be understood that the Jews had already tried Jesus and pronounced him to be worthy of death. But having no executive power, they apply to the Roman governor, to confirm and carry out the sentence they had pronounced. They therefore thought it sufficient to state that he was a criminal, without even mentioning his crime, or offering any testimony in support of it, a proceeding which is clearly enough indicative of an act of the will, and of one under the influence of evil and malevolence.
31, 32. The Roman governor, considering that Jesus was accused of some breach of the Jewish law, said unto them,
'Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.'
The Jews had been deprived of the power of lawfully putting any one to death a very short time before the Lord was crucified. It is probable, therefore, that the saying of Jesus, signifying what death he would die, was uttered before the Jews were deprived of the power of life and death. Had Jesus been put to death by the Jews it would have been by stoning; it was because he was executed by the Romans that it was done by crucifixion, and Jesus had foretold that he should be delivered to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified. The Romans were Gentiles, and by them the prediction of the Lord was fulfilled. It was fulfilled in a way that did not reflect so much discredit on them as it did upon the Jews. The Jews had the will, the Romans had the power; and the will of the one acting by the power of the other effected Satan's purpose of slaying one whose kingdom was not of this world, and whose claims were opposed, not to Caesar's but to Satan's dominion.
33. When those of the Gentile class and character return again into their own state they are disposed to hear something respecting the truth from the Truth itself. This was represented by what is now recorded of the Roman governor.
'Then Pilate entered into the judgment-hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?'
Pilate's entering again into the judgment-hall is expressive of the mind retiring into or within itself, especially into the intellectual faculty, where reasons are adduced and judgments are formed. His calling Jesus unto him describes the state of the mind when the Truth itself is called to the bar of human judgment, but with the view of receiving from it that evidence on which a judgment respecting it may be formed. The question which Pilate asks Jesus is, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" In the Word the Lord is called a king as the ruler of his kingdom, which consists of heaven and the church. There are, however, two kinds of government which the Lord exercises. He governs from love and from truth. This distinction does not arise from his own will, but from the states of those who are the subjects of his government. He desires to govern all from love; and if all his subjects were principled in love to him above all things, his kingdom would be one, and his only government would be the dominion of love. But as there are some who are governed by love, and some who are governed by truth, therefore heaven and the church constitute two kingdoms, a celestial kingdom and a spiritual kingdom.
34. 'Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?'
The Lord answers Pilate's question in the meantime by asking him another, because he desires those who inquire of him respecting himself to reflect whether their inquiry springs from their own hearts and understandings, or whether it comes from the memory as a thing that has entered from without, and has thus been suggested by others rather than come spontaneously from the promptings of the mind itself. There is a wide difference in the character of questions which come from the cravings of the heart and those which spring from curiosity; between those which arise from a sense of our own wants, and those which proceed from the interest we feel in subjects that lie entirely beyond the range of our own experience. In the historical sense, the Lord no doubt answered Pilate's question for the purpose of drawing from him an acknowledgment of what He knew to be true, that the Roman governor had framed his question from what he had learned respecting Jesus from the chief priests and Pharisees.
35. 'Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?'
In this answer Pilate acknowledged that he had not spoken as a Jew but as a Gentile, not as one who asked him a question on which he had already formed a conclusion, but as one who was free to judge. At the same time, this question, as addressed to Jesus by Pilate, was no doubt intended to draw from him the admission or denial of the charge which the Jews had made against him, of having claimed the throne of Judea, and of drawing the Jews away from their allegiance to Caesar. When Jesus did not answer his question, and did not confess to having claimed to be king of the Jews, he asks him what he had done, seeing he had been delivered into his hands as a criminal. When the religious uses the secular power to effect its purposes in the treatment of heretics, there is the greatest cause to be alarmed for the safety of even the best of men. When dissent from a human creed is held to be a greater crime than the violation of the Divine commandments, no perfection of virtue and piety can be expected to justify the maintaining of heretical opinions. Of this our Lord was an eminent example. But his own case has had too little influence on the conduct of some of his professed disciples. And so it is individually with us, when the subject is applied to our inward life. When the truth is delivered up by a depraved will to be judged by a blinded or perverted understanding, there can be little hope of an impartial judgment. "Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me," said Pilate to Jesus. These are names which in the Word are expressive of principles of the will, good or evil as the case may be, evidently evil in this case. Pilate demanded of Jesus "What hast thou done?" To this question, which is almost an implied accusation, the Lord says nothing. He speaks, but he passes over to another and a higher subject, but one bearing upon the charge, that he claimed to be king of the Jews.
36. 'Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.'
The Lord's answer to Pilate's question removed any reasonable ground of suspicion against him as one seeking for temporal power.
37. Hearing the Lord's declaration respecting his kingdom,
'Pilate therefore saith unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into this world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.'
Pilate had heard from the Jews, as an accusation against Jesus, that he claimed to be a king: and the Lord having spoken of his kingdom, the governor but expressed the just inference he had drawn from this admission, when he demanded of Jesus, "Art thou a king then?" Jesus answers this question affirmatively. He then declares that in claiming to be a king, he claimed to be the Truth. "For this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the Truth." In saying this, our Lord expressed himself respecting his kingship, as it is in its first principles. A king is a governor, and truth is the principle that governs. Whether we say that truth governs, or that law governs, it amounts to the same; for truths are laws of order, according to which all right government is exercised. Divine Truth is that by which the Lord governs. Truth may therefore be said to govern, and thus to be a king. The Lord is a king, and his government is over heaven and earth, because he is Divine Truth itself. This was the character in which he came into the world. He came as Divine Truth, to put down all misrule, and to establish his kingdom of righteousness. The kingdom of misrule was the kingdom of darkness, which he came to subdue; and the kingdom of righteousness was the kingdom of light, which he came to set up, or restore, among men. For this end was he was born, for this cause came he into the world. And to this end and for this cause he now comes to each of us. When his truth is born in our hearts and comes into our understandings, he puts down all the misrule of evil and error within us, and sets up his kingdom of righteousness in its stead. Jesus therefore proceeds to say, "Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." Every one who loves the truth must be disposed to hear the voice of him who is the Truth; and to hear his voice is to hearken to and obey that which he teaches. So the apostle, who wrote this gospel, testifies. "They (who confess not the Word incarnate) are of the world; therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We (who confess Christ) are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error" (1 John iv. 5). And they who are of the truth are they who do the truth. "Hereby we know that we are of the truth - that we love not in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (iii. 18).
He that is of the truth heareth the Lord's voice. The Lord's voice is truth with its living affection; and they hear this who hearken to and obey it. How instructive the lesson, especially to all who halt between two opinions, and seek to be convinced of the truth by extraneous evidence!
38. 'Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?'
This was a question that might very naturally be proposed on this occasion by such a one as Pilate - a question much discussed by the wise of his time, and which those of our own day debate as much as they did indeed the differences which exist even among the professed disciples of Christ show that there is no certain knowledge among men as to what truth really is, or what really is truth. Our Lord did not answer Pilate's question, partly, we may presume, because Pilate was not in a state to accept either the definition of truth or the truth itself, and partly because truth must be seen to be known. In the supreme sense, Jesus Christ himself is the Truth. But this makes us no wiser, unless we know in what respect he is so. Jesus Christ was the eternal Word, or divine Wisdom, made manifest. And the eternal Wisdom is that through which all things exist and subsist, and of which it may be said all things consist. We commonly think of truth as a spoken word expressive of what is true; but truth is the substance of all things. Divine Truth is that principle in God through which Divine Love effected both creation and redemption. Truth may be said to be the law of eternal order, according to which God necessarily and invariably acts. It is the law of his nature, and therefore the law of his love. Love cannot come to us, and we cannot come to love, but by means of truth. Hence the necessity of receiving the truth and doing the truth. Perhaps men who ask Pilate's question imitate Pilate's conduct, who, when he had said this, went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all, but at the same time consented to leave him to their will. Pilate, finding Jesus innocent, should have released him; but he seems to have had no very nice sense of justice, and the fate of the just one was decided by the caprice of a provincial governor.
39, 40. While pronouncing Jesus innocent, Pilate said to the Jews,
'But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?'
Singular it is that this custom should have placed Jesus before the Jews in company with a noted criminal, leaving them to determine which they would choose. The passover itself had been instituted to celebrate an act of divine judgment, in saving the innocent and slaying the guilty.
CHAPTER XIX.
In this chapter we have a further account of Pilate's feeble effort to save Jesus, and of the Lord's crucifixion, after the cruelties which both the Jews and the Gentiles had heaped upon him. This account, while wanting many particulars related by Matthew, contains some which none of the other evangelists have recorded. What is peculiar to John we will consider at greater length, treating more briefly of that contained in the first gospel.
When we read of the cruelties which the Jews and the Gentiles inflicted on the meek and patient Son of Man, we may be ready to say, as the Jews themselves said of their sinful predecessors, "If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." But Christians may be guilty of the blood of one greater than the prophets. Jesus was the impersonation of the eternal principles of righteousness and truth, which the prophets taught. Every sin which men commit against these principles is an act of violence done to the Son of Man. The principles of righteousness and truth, which the Lord so perfectly exemplified, he has perfectly revealed to us in his Holy Word and just as men reverence or dishonour the written Word they would reverence or dishonour the Incarnate Word, were he to appear in person amongst them. It is the knowledge of this fact that enables us to read of the Lord's sufferings and death in the right spirit and with real profit. Regarded as cruelties inflicted on the sacred person of the Saviour, they may produce a certain tenderness and humiliation of heart, which is not without its value and its use. But it is only when the treatment of the Lord's person is seen to have resulted from, and to represent, the treatment of his Word, or of the eternal principles which were manifested in the one and are revealed in the other, that the record has its true practical value for those of all time. It was no doubt for this reason that the Lord came among men, without anything but his own intrinsic worth to recommend him. If men could not love him for the purity and beauty of his character, they could not truly love him at all; yet it was this very moral beauty that caused the Jews to hate and persecute him. And so is it at this day. When, therefore, we read the sacred record of his life, and of his sufferings and death, we should learn from it to estimate how much our own character is represented in that which was exhibited towards him by men in the days of his flesh.
1-3. 'Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.'
4, 5. After this mockery and cruelty, which took place in the governor's house,
'Pilate went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!'
This bringing of Jesus forth to the Jews with the mock insignia of royalty, bespeaks little reverence or sincerity in Pilate, seeing he is compelled to declare that he can find no fault in him. But when the heart is depraved the understanding is corrupted, and even when it judges right, it is easily induced to do wrong. Nevertheless the evil heart cannot entirely silence the understanding or prevent it from giving testimony in favour of the truth; and this is sometimes the testimony of the Truth itself, for Jesus addresses himself to the Jews, and says, "Behold the man."
6. 'When the chief priests therefore and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him!'
So is it ever with the evil, and especially with the corrupt members of the church; it is they that crucify the Lord afresh, and put him to an open shame. And their wrath against him is the greater, and their demand for his crucifixion is the louder, the more they have defaced in themselves the divine image, which alone makes them men, and worthy of the name. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him. Again there is an appeal to the Jews on the ground of law and justice; he, whose prerogative it was to confirm or cancel the ecclesiastical sentence, declaring he found no fault in him. Yet Pilate did not, at least at this stage of the proceedings, show very much concern about the fate of Jesus, since he desired the Jews themselves to carry their unjust sentence into execution. Thus, while the Jews hated Jesus, the Gentiles showed no great love for him, none at least, sufficient to save him from an unjust punishment.
7. To Pilate's repeated declaration, I find no fault in him,
'the Jews answered, We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.'
Reference is here made to the law: "He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord; and that prophet or dreamer which shall say, Let us go after other gods, which thou halt not known, and let us serve them; shall be put to death" (Lev. xxiv. 16; Deut. xiii. 1, 5). The Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy, because, he being a man, made himself God (chap. x. 33); and they sought to kill him, because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God (chap. v. 18). But if they had understood their own Scriptures, they would have known that the Messiah could be no other than God manifest in the flesh, and that in serving him they served their God. But they wished to find in the Messiah an earthly king, the restorer to them of an earthly kingdom; and they hated and persecuted one whose life and teaching both proclaimed that his kingdom was not of this world. This same earthly desire lies at the foundation of all hatred of Jesus, or of the truth which reveals him. And this desire professes to have a law by which it judges; for passion, while it prejudges, frames or perverts the law to justify its proceedings, and attain its object. In the church, on divine and spiritual subjects, men find their law in the Scriptures themselves, which the evil pervert to their own purposes. The Jews, in our Lord's time, had made the Word of God of none effect by their traditions, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men; and so in regard to the Messiah. By what divine law ought Jesus to die, because he made himself the Son of God? Not by any, but by the perverted application of the law.
8, 9. 'When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; and went again into the judgment-hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.'
It is to be observed that the Jews had at first charged Jesus before Pilate with being guilty of sedition. But when they found that Pilate pronounced him innocent of the civil offence, they then accused him of the religious offence of having called himself the Son of God, for which, they declare, he was, according to their law, worthy of death. Thus, when they could not secure his condemnation by the Roman law, they sought to obtain it by the Mosaic law. When Pilate heard that Jesus was accused of some infraction of the Jewish law, he was the more afraid. It is observed, not we think without reason, that Pilate, convinced that Jesus was innocent of the political charge, and impressed with the dignity and meekness of his deportment under the brutal treatment and mockery of the soldiers, was startled by the new charge into a fear that, in condemning Jesus, he might be doing something more serious than consenting to the death of a suspected, obscure, political offender. He therefore went again into the judgment-hall and interrogated Jesus. His question, Whence art thou? does not relate to the Lord's country, but to his origin. This is a question which the sceptical are ever proposing. But it is one to which they receive no direct reply. "Jesus gave him no answer." How striking and expressive is the Lord's silence! a gentle but severe reproof, not only to the vacillating sceptic who demands, but to the wary debater and the ignorant zealot who offer, an answer to every question that may be proposed as to the origin of the truth! Truth reveals its own origin as well as its own nature, but it is to ingenuous minds: to them it reveals its heavenly origin, because they desire to know whence it is, that they may ascend with it and by it to him from whence it comes.
10, 11. 'Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?'
Pilate's language supplies the reason of our Lord's silence. He claims to himself the power to crucify or to release. Every one has indeed the power to judge and to choose between truth and error, and between good and evil, but this power is not of man but of God.
12. 'And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.'
Pilate's struggles for Jesus' release were like the struggles of a half-convinced understanding against the inclinations of a corrupt and stubborn heart. Pilate sought to release Jesus, but there were two powers which acted upon him, the Jews on one side and Caesar on the other. When spiritual and temporal motives unite, how difficult it is to stand! The Jews who hated Jesus because he did not deliver them from Caesar's yoke, sought his condemnation on the ground of his being a rival king to Caesar! They contended therefore for the subjection of the spiritual to the temporal, of the heavenly to the worldly. Such at least do those whom the Jews represented - those in the church who pervert the truth, and invert divine order.
13. 'When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment-seat, in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.'
We have here another of the vacillations of the natural man, the too pliant subject of opposing influences. Pilate again brings forth Jesus, and places him before his enemies, while he himself sits down in the judgment-seat, in the place called the Pavement. This stone-paved place, as the word means, was without the praetorium; and here the judgment-seat was placed in the presence of the Jews. The sentence pronounced from this place ought to have been in accordance with the truth; but stone is the symbol of what is false as well as of what is true, and in this instance its symbolical meaning was too completely verified.
14. 'And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour.'
The Jewish and the Christian passovers were thus simultaneously in preparation - a coincidence not of man but of God. "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. v. 7); and the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world is to be slain by those hands by which the paschal lamb was killed, showing how much the world stood in need of something better than the blood of an unblemished animal for its deliverance from death. When Pilate sat down on the judgment-seat it was about the sixth hour. Mark says the third hour. This apparent discrepancy is probably reconcilable, and explanations of it are offered in the commentaries of those who devote their talents to the elucidation of the historical and literal senses. Regarded as containing a spiritual meaning, there is no contradiction, but only a variation, each statement being the basis of a distinct idea in harmony with the other. Three and six belong to the spiritual class of numbers, but six expresses greater fulness and perfection than three. The sixth is especially expressive of the last of the states of labour and trial which precede the Sabbath of rest, and therefore may be considered especially suitable to be mentioned in John's gospel, which describes higher states than those described in the other evangelists. It was at this hour, then, that Pilate made his last appeal to the Jews in behalf of Jesus, when he said unto them, Behold your King! We may here remark that Jesus was presented to the Jews as a man and as a king - a man as the essential Goodness, and a king as the essential Truth: and under these two distinct characters he is presented to all, and to each of us individually.
15. 'But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.'
16, 17. And now we have an account of the Lord's crucifixion, of which it may be only necessary to notice at length the particulars in which John supplements the other evangelists.
'Then delivered he him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha.'
The spectacle here presented is indeed most affecting, and most humiliating. What can be more deeply affecting than the Lord of life being led away to crucifixion, bearing the cross on which he was to be fastened? and what can be more humiliating than to see men, before whom he had lived a life of the purest virtue and benevolence, leading him, like the worst and meanest criminal, to the most cruel and ignominious death, which the depraved ingenuity of man has been able to devise for inflicting prolonged torture on his fellow-creatures. Yet these were permitted for the wise and merciful ends of completing the work of human redemption; but, like all other evils, permitted in accordance with the immutable laws of Divine Providence, whichever act so as to overrule evil, as far as it can be overruled, for good.
We will now briefly advert to some of the particulars related of the Lord, as the willing sacrifice for sin. Pilate delivered Jesus unto the Jews to be crucified. Not ill-disposed towards Jesus, and not unwilling to release him, Pilate yields to the clamour of the Jews, and delivers into their hands one in whom he confessed he found no fault. Considered personally, Pilate displays very strikingly the character of the natural man who is well-intentioned, but is guided by no fixed principles of justice and rectitude. Not a little of the evil in this world is done by persons who have a large share of natural goodness, but are deficient in the principle that is necessary to guide it to right and useful actions. They would not willingly do wrong, but are too ready, under persuasion and pressure, to sanction what is not right. Good without truth is not good. It is Gentile good, and may exist both among the Gentiles out of the church and those who are in a Gentile state within it. Pilate was a Gentile, and, in the gospel, represents the Gentiles. He, as a Gentile, did not desire to crucify Jesus, yet it was by his yielding to the clamour of the Jews that he was crucified. Both Jews and Gentiles were concerned in his death, though with different degrees of criminality; and as Jesus died by, so he died for, both Jews and Gentiles. He whom Pilate delivered, the Jews took, and led him away to be crucified. In these two expressions we see the union of the two corrupt principles under which the Jewish church acted against Jesus; for to take him expresses an act of the will, and to lead him away, an act of the understanding. "And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place which is called the place of a skull." The cross, on which malefactors were executed, was a sign of the evil which they were then considered to expiate. When the Jews compelled Jesus to bear his cross, they no doubt intended it as a sign of guilt. But as they knew him to be innocent, it was really a sign of their own guilt, and represented what they had done to his Word- laid upon it and compelled it to bear the burden of their own iniquity.
18. It was here, therefore,
'where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.'
There were two kinds of capital punishment among the Jews, stoning and hanging. Some are of opinion that hanging was not inflicted on the living, but was only added to the real punishment, to mark the enormity of the crime; and hence the saying that "he that is hanged is accursed of God" (Deut. xxi. 23). There are instances, it is true, where this is distinctly related (as in Joshua x. 26), but there are others where it is mentioned alone (as Joshua viii. 29, Esther vii. 9). It is more probable that the two kinds of punishment were used both separately and combined. They represented two kinds of spiritual death, that produced by falsities, which is meant by stoning, and that produced by evil, which is meant by hanging upon a tree; stones being emblematical of falsities, and wood of evil. The Jews regarded crucifixion as answering to their punishment of hanging. Paul recognised in this more disgraceful punishment, and the cause attached to it, a type which found its fulfilment in Jesus. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. iii. 13). Those who take a purely natural view of the Scriptures understand this to mean, that Jesus took upon himself the curse of the law, and by his death removed the curse from us. What is the curse of the law? How did Jesus become a curse for us? and how, by so doing, did he redeem us from the curse? The curse which the law pronounces against the disobedient is death, but it is spiritual death, or the extinction in the, heart of love to God and man, for this love is life, spiritual and eternal.
The curse under which all mankind lie by nature is not any divine malediction or sentence of death, but the unavoidable condition of creatures born in sin, and with so strong a hereditary tendency to sin, that they cannot naturally help sinning. Christ became a curse for us by taking upon himself our nature with its hereditary curse. And he redeemed us by undoing the curse, so far as regarded the humanity he assumed; and by this he provided for the undoing of the curse in the case of men. The crucifixion of Jesus, considered in its spiritual aspect, represented the total rejection of the Word as the divine truth, which had been revealed to them and their fathers. The Lord's crucifixion was a crime that could only be committed in a corrupt age; and, effected as it was by the priesthood, could only be committed by a corrupt church. The Lord exemplified in his life and enforced in his teaching the principles of that Word which the Jews professed to believe and reverence. If they could hate and crucify one who presented the purest example of the life which their own law required, it could only be because they had crushed out of their hearts all sincere love for the holiness which their law commanded. They treated the Lord, therefore, precisely as they had treated the Word, with this only difference, that the written law received outward homage, while the spoken and acted law was the object of open hatred and persecution, a persecution which was pursued even to the death of the cross; and to make the infliction of the punishment the greater indignity, they crucified two others with him, one on either side, and Jesus in the midst. In this, too, they exhibited a sign similar to that which our Lord himself presented of their state. These two, one of whom was the penitent thief, represented those who are in good and those who are in truth: in the case of the impenitent thief, those who are in truth alone; but in the abstract sense, they represent the principles of good and truth themselves. These are on either side of Jesus, and he is in the midst, where they are conjoined.
19. 'And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.'
It is remarkable that the title King of the Jews, on the only two occasions of its being applied to Jesus, is in both instances employed by Gentiles, the first time at his birth, the second time at his death. He was born King of the Jews, according to the wise men of the East; he was crucified King of the Jews, according to the governor of the West. It may be admitted that if the Gentiles thought of Jesus as a king, they, knowing he was to be born a Jew, would naturally think of him as King of the Jews; and there can be no question that Pilate's accusation was derived from his Jewish enemies.
20. 'This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.'
This title, written by a Gentile and read by the Jews, foreshadowed the acknowledgment of Jesus by the Gentile world, and the knowledge of him, without belief in him, by the Jewish people. The superscription was read by many of the Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. The crucifixion of Jesus took place outside the city, in fulfilment of a representative law regarding the Jewish sacrifice for sin, "for the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burnt without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" (Heb. xiii. 11). Jesus, we have had occasion to remark, bore our sins in his own body (1 Pet. ii. 24), he having derived from his fallen mother all our hereditary tendencies to sin. The maternal humanity, thus frail and finite, was, however, to be put off, as the flesh of the sin-offering was rejected and carried without the camp (Lev. iv. 11). But the sin-offering must be considered in connection with others, especially the burnt-offering, before we can see its full meaning and right application. In the sin-offering the fat that covered the inwards and the two kidneys were burnt on the altar of the burnt-offering, at the bottom of which the blood, after some sprinklings with it, was poured; the body of the animal, with the legs and skin, being carried and burnt without the camp. In the burnt-offering the whole animal was laid upon the altar and entirely consumed. These two kinds of offerings represented two distinct acts, and two general stages, in the progress of man's regeneration and of the Lord's glorification. The sin-offering, in which the blood and the fat that covered the inwards were offered to God, was a typical description of the regeneration of the inward man, and the burnt-offering, in which the whole animal was consumed, represented the regeneration of the whole man, both inward and outward, of the mind and of the life. As the Lord's glorification was but a more exalted form of man's regeneration, the same sacrifices and offerings are typical descriptions of both. The glorification of the internal of the Lord's humanity was, therefore, represented by the sin-offering, and the glorification of his whole humanity, external as well as internal, was represented by the burnt-offering. But why should the sin-offering, in which only part of the animal was offered, be applicable to the Lord's crucifixion, when this was the last act by which his humanity was fully glorified, and was fully united to the divinity? The Lord's crucifixion was the last act of his glorification, but not exclusive of his resurrection.
21, 22. 'Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.'
The chief priests, instead of representing those who are in the love and worship of the Lord, represent those who are in the love and worship of self Such cannot consent to the Lord being proclaimed the king of the Jews, even when written over his cross as an accusation against him.
23, 24. 'Then the soldiers, when, they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat; now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.'
This is a more precise account than is given by Matthew and Mark, who say nothing of the coat, nor of its being disposed of by lot. Here again we may see the character of John's gospel. The deeper the view the more distinctly the parts are seen: the more minute the more comprehensive. In this historical circumstance of the soldiers dividing the Lord's garments there is a spiritual meaning interesting and instructive.
25-27. From the series of painful circumstances, we turn with a feeling of relief to one of a very different character.
'Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took; her unto his own home.'
This beautiful incident is mentioned only by John, and is singularly in keeping with the character of his gospel. It breathes the very air of paradise restored, the tender sweetness of intense but chastened love. The three Christian graces, as we may call the three Marys, standing at the foot of the cross under the benign influence of their Saviour, who, even in his great sufferings, is to them as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land (Isa. xxxii. 2)! How deeply affecting to see the Lord, not only while he is suffering the pains of death, but the last and greatest of his temptations, acknowledging and caring for his mother Mary! Far be it from us to think that Jesus, as a man, was less human than those who are nothing more than men, - that he was less susceptible of the feelings of our common nature. An example in all things, he could not be wanting in filial tenderness towards her who bore him - a tenderness with more than all the intensity, but with none of the frailty, of mere human affection. It is true that the Gospel contains no instance of Jesus addressing or speaking of Mary as his mother; but it is not less true that the inspired record of his life calls her so. The Lord did not call Mary by that name, because by glorification he had so far ceased to be the son of a finite and sinful mother, and had so far become the Son of a divine and righteous Father, as to render the name of Mother inexpressive of the nature of his now highly perfected humanity. When the Lord on the cross assigned to the beloved disciple the place he himself once occupied in relation to Mary, saying, "Woman, behold thy son!" it was to teach all future generations, that love to him and to the neighbour, of which John was the type, is his representative on earth, and is to be regarded by the church as her son; and when he said to the beloved disciple, "Behold thy mother!" and thus committed Mary to his affectionate care, it was to teach all men that love is to cherish and protect the church, as the mother of all living and those only live whose life is love. When it is further recorded, as the fulfilment of this divine injunction, that "from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home," we are instructed that wherever there is love to the Lord, manifested in charity to men, there the church of the Lord is.
28-30. Having expressed his last will, if we may so call it, by which the relation between John and Mary was established, and his church had found a home with the good of love and charity,
'Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full, of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put, it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.'
This prediction and its fulfilment had a far higher than historical purpose. It is true that the connection between the prophets and evangelists is a testimony to their truth, and shows that the Scriptures were written by divine inspiration. But this was not all the purpose intended to be answered by the harmony. The events themselves, thus treasured up in the archives of divine wisdom, are representative of holy states and things, in which the children of God have a spiritual and eternal interest. Intolerable thirst was one of the natural results of crucifixion; but he who endured without a murmur all the other pangs of this torturing death, could and would have borne this also, had there not been another cause for his seeking this last alleviation of his sufferings. His was a spiritual or divine thirst - an intense desire for the salvation of his sinful and perishing creatures. This was the thirst he felt, and which he expressed, that the Scripture might be fulfilled; for Scripture, from beginning to end, has for both its subject and its object the salvation of the human race, the accomplishment of which was the only purpose of the Incarnation. Jesus had been offered vinegar mingled with gall (Matt. xxvii. 34) or wine with myrrh (Mark xv. 23), but he would not drink; but he partook of the vinegar alone; which was to represent that, ardently as he desired the salvation of all men, yet those in whom error is mingled with evil cannot find acceptance with him; while all who are in error without being in evil are received.
31-37. Having recorded the death of Jesus, John now relates two particulars respecting his dead body, which none of the other evangelists have noticed.
'The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain, upon the cross on the Sabbath-day (for that Sabbath-day was an high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not he broken. And again another scripture saith. They shall look on him whom they pierced.'
The use that is made of one at least of the incidents, and the almost universal recognition of its symbolical character, show how much we have gained by its having found a place in the inspired page. The Jews' scrupulous attention to ceremonials comes into painful contrast with the moral character of their proceedings in relation to Jesus. They had stained their conscience with the blood of Jesus, but scrupulously guarded the ceremonial sanctity of the sabbath.
It was to put on humanity in its ultimate degree that the Lord came into this world, where humanity exists in its most ultimate condition, as well as in its most degraded state; for by doing so, his assumed humanity included human nature as it exists in all other worlds, so that he can indeed save to the uttermost. In consequence of the bones representing the very ultimate principles of humanity, the Lord, after his resurrection, spoke of his bones, as one of the distinguishing marks of his actual and absolute humanity, when he said, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." It is for the same reason that the Lord himself is called a foundation and chief cornerstone; for the humanity he assumed is the basis on which the spiritual universe rests. When heaven and the church are considered as constituting together the Grand Man, the church on earth, as compared with the church in heaven, is as the bones compared with the flesh; and when the Lord spoke of his humanity as consisting of flesh and bones, or as having these two constituent parts of the human frame, he spoke of himself as being Man as man exists both in heaven and the church, and in the spiritual and natural worlds. While it was divinely provided, that, contrary to the usual custom, and exception in the present case, a bone of Jesus should not be broken, it was also provided, or permitted, that, contrary to the usual custom, his side should be pierced with a spear, and that thereout should come blood and water. In regard to the Jews, this act represented violence offered to, and rejection of, the Lord as the Word. The blood and water that flowed from the Lord's side denote divine truth spiritual and natural, thus the Word in its spiritual and natural truths; and to pierce the Lord's side is to destroy both by falsities, of which a spear is emblematical.
38-40. 'And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, (being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews,) besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, (which at the first came to Jesus by night,) and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.'
41. 'Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden: and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.'
Literally, the garden was not in, but near, the place where the Lord was crucified. But in a higher than the literal sense, the place of resurrection is not only near, but in, the place of crucifixion. This is the case at least with those who obtain the resurrection from the dead. To them death is the gate of life; it closes the senses of the body to the world, and opens the senses of the soul to heaven. To the righteous the death of the body is the last of a series of acts, by which the life of the natural man is laid down, and the life of the spiritual man is taken up. Yet let us remember that it is only those who follow the Lord who can make it so, because he has made it for them. He has opened up a passage from the cross to the kingdom, making the scene of suffering the scene of triumph.
42. 'There laid they Jesus therefore, because of the Jews' preparation-day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.'
The burial of the Lord was effected in haste. It was on account of the near approach of the Jews' preparation-day that the two pious disciples hurriedly conveyed the sacred body of the Lord, which they embalmed, to the nearest sepulchre. There is some resemblance in this to the haste in which the passover was to be eaten, and in which the Israelites were sent out of the land of Egypt (Exod. xii. 11, 33).
CHAPTER XX.
We have passed over with as much brevity as possible the painful history of the Lord's cruel treatment and crucifixion, the more especially as, in its main features, it is given in all the gospels, and has already been explained as it appears in the gospel by St. Matthew. We now come to the bright, glorious, and hope-inspiring event of the Lord's resurrection, and the tender and instructive incidents connected with it.
1. 'The first day of the week cameth Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.'
The dawn of the first day of completed redemption and glorification had succeeded the three days and three nights during which the Son of man had lain in the heart of the earth. Early, when it was yet dark, cometh Mary Magdalene unto the sepulchre. Purified seven times, the soul of Mary clung to her Saviour, and, prompted by the love which casteth out fear, bent her footsteps in the dim twilight to the tomb where she had seen him laid, that she might perform the last duties of pious affection to his crucified body. It is in keeping with the character of John and of his gospel that Mary of Magdala is mentioned alone as having come first to the sepulchre. Although she is here mentioned alone, this does not exclude the idea that others might be with her, according to the testimony of Matthew and Mark. Indeed, the presence of one or more companions is implied in the words of Mary to the two disciples. "They have taken away the Lord, and we know not where they have laid him. "But we infer it was the object of John, or of the Spirit which guided him, to speak of Mary Magdalene only as having come to the sepulchre. John is the apostle of love, and his gospel describes the activity of that grace, as directed to the Lord as well as to man. Mary Magdalene was the type of the purest, because most fully purified, love, that of which the Lord the Saviour is the supreme Object, the love of him as Love. When Mary came, she saw that the stone was taken away from the sepulchre. The sepulchre where the Lord was entombed represented the Word, so far as it describes his states of humiliation, and the stone which was placed against its mouth symbolized the outward natural sense, which encloses the inward spiritual meaning. Mary as yet knew the Lord only in his unglorified humanity, as perceived by the natural senses, as apprehended by the natural mind. To those like Mary the Lord's divinity shone through his maternal humanity but it was only seen as through a glass darkly.
2. The first effect of seeing into the sepulchre was disappointment and alarm.
'Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.'
Every transition state is one of uncertainty and anxiety. Old things are passed away, but all things are not yet become new. There is a blank in our spiritual existence. The night is indeed past, and a new day has dawned, and the day-star has arisen in the heart, and the affections are induced to seek the Lord; but it is yet dark to the understanding, which has obtained no clear perception of the risen truth. That singular state has come which was predicted by the prophet, one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night, when the light shall not be clear nor dark, but at the evening-time there shall be light (Zech. xiv. 6, 7). Such is the state of mind represented by that of Mary when she came to the sepulchre. In her disappointment at not finding the body of the Lord, her first impulse was to run to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. This running was the effect of the intensity of Mary's feelings, and is a symbol of the state of mind of those whom Mary represented - who do not, in the heaviest trials, stand still in stupefied amazement, but hasten to seek relief where they expect it is to be found. Mary's running and coming to Peter and John describes how the mind, under the strong impulse of its best affection, seeks to awaken into activity the dormant faith and charity, which the two stricken disciples represented.
3, 4. When Mary had imparted to them this seemingly sad intelligence,
'Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.'
Faith and love, roused into activity; go forth from their retirement in the mind, here they have been brooding over their loss, and betake themselves to the Word, that they may examine and ascertain for themselves, whether those who have deprived the truth of its life have taken it away likewise. The running of the disciples, like that of Mary, indicates intense desire.
5-8. 'And he, stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.'
John's stooping down is expressive of humility. Stooping here is not, however, that kind of bowing down which is a sign of worship, but is a reverential and earnest looking into; and in two of the other three places in the New Testament in which the word occurs (Jas. i. 25, 1 Pet. i. 12) it is so rendered. Spiritually, it means reverential investigation and contemplation. Of the two acts, "stooping down," describes an act of the will, and "looking into," describes an act of the understanding. In agreement with the view, that John's gospel describes acts done from the will, and thus from the deepest ground of affection, John is the one who is here said to have stooped down; while in Luke (xxiv. 12) this act is ascribed to Peter, who alone is there spoken of as having come to the sepulchre. Our deepest humility and most earnest looking for the Lord are from love. When love is powerfully active it takes the precedence of faith. The Lord becomes to us, for the time, an object of affection rather than of thought his image is imprinted on the heart rather than upon the understanding. Such is, indeed, the case whenever the feelings are greatly excited. And in what circumstances can we conceive them to be more powerfully excited than in such as correspond to those in which Peter and John were now placed? If there is joy in heaven over a lost sinner found, what must be the joy of an earnest and loving soul over the finding of a lost Saviour? Nothing less is the subject of this beautiful narrative. When the mind is awakened from deep despondency to high hopes, no wonder that in pursuing the desired object love comes first to the sepulchre. But thought comes betimes to the aid of feeling, as Peter did to John. And reflective thought does what excited feeling does not; it enters into and examines minutely what feeling had only discovered, as Peter entered into the sepulchre, which John had first reached, and into which he had looked, but did not enter. And it discovers particulars and distinctions which feeling has not attended to, as Peter saw the linen clothes lie, and the napkin wrapped together, in a place by itself.
9. But what Peter and John now believed was only what Mary had told them, that the Jews had taken away the Lord's body. No thought occurred to them of that which the state of the sepulchre might have suggested;
'for as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.'
Belief and hope were now more than ever depressed. The object of their faith was both dead and borne away. The anchor of their hope had lost its last hold, and their frail bark was now tossed on the troubled sea, and they themselves without the power and almost without the disposition to guide it. But he whom they now, in the hour of darkness, supposed to be gone for ever, was with them, and within them, upholding them in their great tribulation, and leading them by a way which they knew not to the desired haven. Who can fail to see in this the experience of the Christian disciple in the great trial of his faith and love, when passing from death unto life.
10. When they had thus seen an end of all their hopes,
'then the disciples went away again unto their own home.'
What is here rendered their own home, and which no doubt implies it, is, literally, themselves, their own. Understood spiritually, how expressive is this of the state of the Christian disciple now represented. When his mind has been awakened from a state of stupor into one of intense action, only to be convinced of its loss, he returns into himself, relapses into his former state, only more hopeless than before.
11, 12. 'But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and, as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.'
The sepulchre presents an entirely new scene to Mary to that which it presented to the two disciples. These angelic messengers were the first to announce to Mary, and through her to the church, that the Lord had risen, and there is reason to believe that this was one object, at least, of their mission. But is it not reasonable also to suppose that their appearance had yet another purpose, and an edifying meaning? They did not appear to Peter and John. Why was not the resurrection thus made known to them?
13. These living truths appeal directly to the mind, and excite reflections as to the cause of its tribulation and sorrow. The angels
'say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou?
To know why we weep, and to be called upon from heaven to give a reason for our sorrow, are two different things. They have also two different results; for all heavenly searchings of the heart are designed, and have a tendency, to lead to self-examination, and to conviction and elevation of mind. To the question of the angels, Mary replies in the words she had addressed to the disciples, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. Mary now calls Jesus my Lord, expressing a nearer and dearer connection with him; feeling him to be her Saviour, and, therefore, feeling her own need of salvation; but, as yet, seeing neither her Deliverer, nor the prospect of her deliverance from sin and sorrow.
14. But this which has taken place leads to a conversion of the mind.
'And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.'
15. The Lord addresses Mary in the words of the angels,
'Woman, why weepest thou? but he adds, Whom seekest thou?'
The question, as asked by the Lord, is from a deeper ground in our own consciousness than as asked by the angels; leading therefore to a more interior perception of the cause of sorrow, and to a profounder humiliation on account of it. But when the Lord adds another question, Whom seekest thou? the mind is directed, not only to the person of the Saviour, but to all that constitutes his character, and to the greatness of the loss, under a sense of which the mind so deeply sorrows, and for the recovery of what it so ardently desires. But Mary knew not by whom these questions were addressed to her. She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. It is a remarkable circumstance that after his resurrection, the Lord's disciples did not know Jesus, till he had vouchsafed them some special means of recognition - a proof that his appearance was no longer the same as before, and not always alike - a proof, in fact, that his body was no longer material. The Lord having put off materiality, the law of the spiritual world, that the Lord appears to every one according to his state, was now in operation with respect to him and his disciples. It was in accordance with this law that Mary supposed Jesus to be the gardener. She did not, it is true, think of the Lord as being present, but the true cause of her not recognising him was, that she did not yet think of him in his true character, as the Resurrection and the Life. This is not the only instance in which Jesus was seen but not known after his resurrection, by those to whom he was most intimately known.
16. 'Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.'
It is natural to suppose that the utterance of her name would draw her attention to the speaker, and reveal who the speaker was. Yet, even here, there is room for reflection.
17. 'Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.'
18. 'Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.'
The Lord's message was carried to his disciples by the faithful and devoted. Mary. Thus does the Lord's living words descend through the inmost affection of good in the will into the perceptions of truth in the understanding, communicating to the mind a knowledge both of the Lord's glorification, and of their own regeneration, now about to be completed. When, on her visit to the sepulchre, Mary found not the body of Jesus, she ran and told two of the disciples; and now, when, on her second visit, she had seen the Lord, and had been entrusted by him with a message, she came to deliver it to the disciples generally.
19. From early morning, when the Lord showed himself to the women, we now come to the evening, when he manifested himself to the men. He had shown himself to two of the disciples, as they travelled to Emmaus, but the whole of the eleven remained unbelieving, regarding the report of the several witnesses as idle tales. The fact and the manner of the Lord's appearance to the eleven were sufficient to convince them.
'Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week (sabbaton), when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.'
There is need for no argument to prove that the Lord appeared in the midst of the disciples instantaneously, the doors remaining shut; for the spirit and letter of the relation demand this. A striking evidence this that the Lord's body was no longer material. The day of the resurrection is again called by the name applied to it (ver. 1), where the visit of Mary to the sepulchre is related. Though the day after the Jewish sabbath, the name of the Sabbath is applied to it, no doubt for the purpose of expressing the idea that the Lord's resurrection day is a sabbath, and realizes all that was represented by the sabbath instituted by the mandate of Jehovah himself. It was indeed the first day of the week, and thus the beginning of a new week, but it was also a sabbatical period, the introduction of a state of sanctity and rest. Or, considering that the term Sabbath is here used, as it is in some other places (as in Matt. xxviii. 1; Mark xvi. 9; Luke xviii. 12) to mean a week, we may infer that the Christian week is a sabbath, sanctified by the resurrection of the Lord on its first day. The Jewish sabbath on the seventh day represented a state of rest which rewards states of labour; but the Christian Sabbath is a holy state which is to extend its influence into the succeeding states of toil.
20. 'And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.'
In giving this evidence of his identity, of his being the same Jesus which was crucified, the Lord accommodated himself to the infirmities of his disciples. Although we cannot conceive that his death wounds were still open, or that they existed in the hands and side of his resurrection body, yet, according to the law, that the Lord appears to men and angels according to their state, he appeared on this occasion as the disciples must have expected to see him. His body, though no longer material, was substantial.
21. 'Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.'
How befitting the occasion the salutation and the gift of peace! The disciples had passed through states of anguish and tribulation far greater than those they experienced on the sea of Galilee, when the great tempest threatened them with swift destruction; and he who came to them walking on the troubled sea, and said, "Peace, be still," and there was a great calm, now comes to them, treading the waves of that sea of tribulation on which they were helplessly and despairingly tossed, and by the same omnipotent word - Peace, calms their troubled spirits, and fills them with joy unspeakable. But there were other reasons for the suitableness of the Lord's salutation and gift of peace. Jesus had now ended his great warfare and achieved his great victory, and had established peace on the sure foundation of conquest and glorification. The peace which he had conquered for himself he now bestowed upon his disciples, who had followed him in his humiliation.
22. 'And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.'
This act of our Lord is very instructive and significant. It shows that the Holy Spirit is the blessed Spirit of the Lord's love and truth, as it proceeds from his glorified body into the hearts and minds of his disciples. The spirit which our Lord breathed on his disciples was the Spirit which could not he given before his glorification, because it did not then exist as a regenerating Spirit (vii. 39). There had always been the Spirit of God - an emanation from the Divine Being, of which we read often in the Old Testament, and which is mentioned in the New, as having overshadowed the virgin. But the nature and effects of this Spirit were very different before and after the Incarnation. The Holy Spirit, as it now proceeds from the Lord, is not the Spirit of Jehovah, but the Spirit of Jesus - not the Spirit of his creative but of his redemptive love and power. It is the Spirit which breathes the breath of spiritual life into those who had been dead in trespasses and sins, and restores them to a life of obedience and righteousness. The Spirit which the Lord breathed on his disciples was, in brief, the Spirit of regeneration, by the reception of which man becomes a new creature.
23. When the Lord had breathed his Spirit upon the apostles, he said unto them,
'Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.'
The power here given to the apostles must be understood consistently with the truth, that sin can be forgiven by God only. The sense in which the Lord's words are generally regarded is, that the apostles were authorized to pronounce forgiveness to penitent sinners. When we consider that the remission of sins is really their removal, and that even infinite mercy and grace cannot remit them in any other way, we may see that the Lord could not give to his servants a power which he himself does not possess. Sins are remitted to the penitent. The agency of the apostles, in remitting and retaining sin, will be best seen by regarding these words as addressed to them in their representative as well as in their personal character. Considered as representing the principles of goodness and truth, we can see how they remit and retain sin. The truths of the Word remit sins when they remove them, which they do by convincing men of sin, and leading them by repentance to newness of life. They also retain sins: for it is truth which condemns. "I had not known sin unless the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Thus that which is a savour of life unto life is also a savour of death unto death (2 Cor. ii. 16). The power of remitting and retaining sins was given to the apostles, to intimate, that the light of the Gospel distinguishes more clearly between good and evil, than that of the Law, and more fully reveals their consequences. The Lord said, "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness." But he also said, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
24, 25. 'But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.'
It is remarkable, and was no doubt a part of the divine purpose, that the twelve apostles should comprise men of such marked difference of character. Their diversity of character was needed, to enable them to represent all the varieties of character and state among the members of the church, and the principles that enter into and form the character of each of its members. Thomas represents those whose faith rests upon the testimony of the senses. Thomas was not among those who are in a negative state, and are predetermined not to believe. He had the principle of belief in his heart, and only wanted what, to his constitution and condition of mind, was sufficient evidence to warrant full and firm belief. Thomas was only a step behind his fellow disciples.
26. 'And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.'
This meeting was again on the first day of the week - the Lord's day - expressive of a new state, after the intervening states of labour and trial; but it is called after eight days, because eight signifies, not merely a completed state, like seven, but the beginning of a new one. Thomas on this occasion, was with the disciples. The doors were again shut, and again Jesus stood in the midst of his disciples, giving Thomas, as he had previously given the others, a proof of his actual existence in his resurrection body. The Lord again, and now the third time, gives them a salutation of peace, as a sign that he was about to complete the object of his appearing amongst them. Looking at the circumstance in reference to ourselves individually, as those whose inward experience is described in these outward events, we may see something instructive. When we are brought into states of deep trial, as the apostles were, as the means of divesting our minds of imperfect views and feelings, our new convictions and affections are produced gradually. When the truth, in its new aspect, is presented to our minds, it finds the greater difficulty of reception the lower it descends into the faculties or degrees of the mind. And even after it has been perceived and acknowledged with joy by the will and intellect of the mind, objections arise from the fallacies of the senses.
27, 28. 'Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.'
By appearing instantaneously in the midst, the Lord showed his omnipresence, by addressing Thomas as he did, he showed his omniscience. Jesus showed Thomas that he knew his unbelief and his demand for suitable evidence; and offering him the testimony which he had demanded, called upon him to be not faithless but believing. Whether this double appeal to him carried conviction to his mind with or without his actually touching the Lord's risen body does not appear; but whatever was the cause of conviction, that conviction was complete. How deeply must conviction have sunk into his soul to have drawn from him the exclamation and confession, MY LORD AND MY GOD! We shall not stop to dispute with those who regard this as an exclamation of surprise, and not also an expression of faith. The language of the evangelist shows that it was an acknowledgment of his faith in Jesus. Thomas did not simply utter his words as an exclamation; but, addressing Jesus, "he said unto him, My Lord and my God." Jesus was therefore the person to whom the words referred, as being the person to whom they were addressed. They were an acknowledgment that to the hitherto unbelieving disciple Jesus was Lord and God. But there was something still more than the doctrinal acknowledgment of the divinity of Jesus. There is the acknowledgment of Jesus as his Lord and his God. Jesus entered at once into his understanding and his heart, as the living Object of his faith and love. Jesus is indeed both Lord and God. The confession of Thomas is not the only testimony to this great truth. But it is a valuable testimony nevertheless. But the practical lesson we acquire from this is different, though coincident with its doctrinal teaching. When, after trial, and doubt, and denial, the truth of Jesus is brought home by irresistible evidence at once to our understanding and our heart, then it is that we see and feel that Jesus is our Lord and our God. He is the Lord of our hearts by his love, and the God of our understandings by his truth. These two names applied to the Lord are expressive of his love and truth.
29. 'Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.'
30, 31. 'And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.'
The many signs Jesus did, which divine wisdom has left unrecorded in the gospels, are not to be regarded as lost; they are written in the great works he performed, and on the work which he was even then performing in the spiritual world, preparatory to his ascension into heaven. We may even venture to suppose that they contributed to that mysterious change which was effected in the Lord's humanity, between his resurrection and ascension - that change by which the Lord made his humanity divine good, in virtue of which he ascended to the Father. The things which the evangelist has written, have been given for establishing the faith of the Lord's disciples, and these it is our privilege to possess. The words of the evangelist, taken in their simplest sense, must be understood to teach that the few of the many signs which Jesus did in the presence of his disciples, after he was risen from the dead, are sufficient to convince them that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
CHAPTER XXI.
It is the opinion of some critics that the last verse of the preceding chapter forms the original conclusion of John's gospel, and that this chapter is to be regarded as a supplement added by the apostle himself, or an addition made by some other hand. The objections to its authenticity are based on a few slight differences from John's usual forms of expression, and on the assumed unmeaningness or triviality of its contents. It is, on the other hand, to be considered that all the manuscripts contain it, and that the most spiritual and intellectual Fathers of the church gave it a symbolical interpretation. It is from leaving out of sight the spirituality of the Scriptures, and fixing their eyes exclusively on the structure and meaning of the letter, that they have founded this opinion of the present portion of John's gospel, and that their judgment respecting the genuineness of some other parts of the Word have been determined or greatly influenced. While we award all honour to those scholars who devote their lives to the study of the sacred text, and render them the meed of praise for much real good which they effect, we must at the same time assert the claims of a higher criticism, whose procedure is synthetical and not analytical. Both kinds of criticism are required for obtaining a complete view of the sacred text, and no just conclusion can, in many cases, be formed of its genuineness but by the combined and balanced evidence of both. Although our explanation of the particulars of the chapter differs in some respects from that of the early expositors of the sacred text, who are now too much disregarded, they will, we think, be sufficient to show the edifying nature of this concluding part of the gospel, which, from a merely literary point of view, has seemed to be unworthy of the apostle to whom it is ascribed.
1. 'After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed he himself.'
This, according to John, the third and final manifestation of Jesus to his disciples, is not less edifying than it is affectingly beautiful. The sea of Tiberias, on the shores of which Jesus first presented himself to the chief of his disciples, when he called them from their humble occupation to become fishers of men, is the scene of this his last manifestation to them, to confirm his covenant with them, and seal his instruction and his charge to them as the ministers of his Word. The sea is of extensive signifification; it signifies the world and it signifies the Word, - the world as consisting of immortal souls, and the Word as consisting of eternal truths.
2. The evangelist then relates the circumstances under which Jesus showed himself.
'There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.'
In all there were seven disciples, a holy number. The seven were together, expressive of their being united and harmonious. Of these seven Peter and Thomas, the one who denied and the other who had disbelieved, are placed first, as if to show how much can be done by sincere and deep repentance. But it also shows that faith is the leading grace in the present combination, faith being represented by Simon Peter; for in every case, whoever is mentioned first gives a character to the whole. The series here consists, first, of Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana of Galilee, who represent faith in the will, faith in the understanding, and faith in the life; then the two sons of Zebedee, who represent charity and faith united in the internal man, and two others, not named, who represent charity and faith united in the external man.
3. 'Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a-fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing.'
Peter saying, spiritually means a reflection originating in faith in the will, which he represents. In many cases Peter was the spokesman, and most appropriately was he so now, when the disciples were about to become, in a sense and manner they had never hitherto realized, fishers of men, and when their acts were to be types of a spiritual work they had hitherto but imperfectly understood and performed. Now that Jesus was glorified, the evangelization of the world and the regeneration of the human soul were to be, as it were, commenced anew. It was not until now that the disciples could understand what the kingdom of Christ was, and what it was to preach it. Hitherto, and even now, they knew not the spiritual nature of the kingdom, and the spiritual change which was necessary to be effected in those who were to be brought into it. They were yet in a state fitly represented by the night in which they were engaged in fishing on the dark lake of Galilee, and the result of their labour was like that of their fishing, when they toiled all the night and caught nothing. But we may see in this description of the disciples and of their labour a type of the disciple and his work, when he is in the state of the spiritual life here represented. Let us view it in reference to the Word as the depository of living truths. "I go a-fishing" is the expression of the desire of the Christian disciple to acquire from the Word truths for supporting the spiritual life of the soul. This desire, uttered in faith, has the concurrence and co-operation of the other Christian graces, but is essentially the prompting of the understanding. The night in which they toiled was the night of the Jewish church, the state of which made it difficult to draw any into the net which the disciples cast into the sea. But the night describes their own state as well as that of the church. Their minds are in a state of obscurity on the great subject and object of the gospel dispensation. And this night of fruitless labour is one that is a common experience with the Christian disciple, and it is that state of mental obscurity in which he finds himself, when the Lord, who is the true Light, is away, and when he labours in his own strength and in his own intelligence.
4. We now come to the bright side of the subject.
'But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore; but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.'
We have seen the disciples separate from the Lord, acting from themselves, and in the night. Now we are to see them with the Lord, or the Lord with them, and the result of their acting under his immediate direction. The early morning, when the sun, unrisen and unseen, has shed his light upon the mountain-tops and diffused it through the atmosphere, is an emblem of that state of the mind when the love of God is indeed shed abroad upon the heart, but the light of truth is as yet but dimly seen in the understanding; when the sun has not yet risen in his strength, and become visible to the eye of faith. Such was the morning which had now come, when Jesus stood on the shore. The shore is the ever-varying border-line of the land and of the sea, and is representative of the external or sensual part of the mind where good and truth meet: and in relation to the Word it is representative of the external or literal sense, where its principles of good and truth are conjoined. Here the Lord appears to the disciples who are earnestly but unsuccessfully labouring to draw from the Word living truths for the support of their spiritual life. In this case the Lord is seen and is not seen - seen but not perceived. Singularly expressive is this natural fact here recorded, in certain states of Christian experience. We may read the Scriptures and learn the truths it teaches, even those which relate to Jesus as the Saviour of men; yet we may not know them, having no spiritual discernment of their nature, and no experience of their power. We see their form, but not their essence, as the disciples saw the Lord but knew not who he was.
5. The means which the Lord took to make himself known to his disciples are symbolical of those which he still employs to reveal himself to his sincere but darkened followers.
'Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.'
He addresses or salutes them by the endearing name of children, which expresses his paternal love and their filial relation to him, and their teachableness and submission to his authority, as the event proved. They were yet children in another sense, children in knowledge, who had yet to grow up into the stature and wisdom of men. The Lord did not ask them if they had been successful in their fishing, but if they had any meat. The word here used means, not bread, but something that is eaten with it, as fish. But as the term meat signifies the principle of good, in distinction from truth, the question is an important and searching one.
6. 'And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore; and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.'
Among those who regard the relation as having only a natural meaning it has been asked, Why on the right side of the ship? and it has been conjectured that it may have been the side nearest the shore, as the shallowest water, and the least likely to provide a supply for their net. We have no wish to diminish the force of the miracle but we may venture to suggest that the command carries in it something more than the means of a miracle. In Scripture, the right is expressive of charity, while the left is expressive of faith. When thus understood, how instructive does the divine command become! It teaches us that whether we learn or preach the gospel, our success will depend on the principle from which we act and on which we proceed. If we act from the intellect and faith only, we may toil all the night and take nothing; but if we act from the heart and charity our exertions will be crowned with success. So far as we act from faith, we seek to make converts to our own particular doctrines, without a due regard to their spiritual improvement and happiness; but so far as we act from charity, we seek to convert men, not simply by a change of opinion to ourselves, but by a change of heart to God. And again, in studying the Word, so far as we act from intellectual faith we seek to acquire truths with a view to confirm our own religious opinions; but so far as we act from charity, we seek to acquire truths for the purpose of growing in the graces and virtues of the Christian life. These two kinds of activity may be displayed successively by the same person. The first is when his natural mind is more active than his spiritual. This is his spiritual night. For night and day are states of mind produced, night by the ascendancy of the natural over the spiritual man, and day by the ascendancy of the spiritual over the natural. These states alternate with every man, however highly regenerated he may be. "While the earth remains, day and night, and summer and winter shall not cease." The alternations are as useful as they are necessary. No state can be perfected without them. Action and reaction preserve equilibrium and promote healthful vigour and development.
7. One effect of this miraculous increase is to convince us that it is the Lord's doing, and therefore that he who produced it can be no other than Jesus.
'Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him (for he was naked), and did cast himself into the sea.'
The idea that it was the Lord who had directed and prospered their effort, presents itself first to John, who suggests it to Peter: because the divine influx is into the will, and through the will into the understanding; or through charity into faith. This leads the mind to seek conjunction with the Lord, as Peter determined to go to Jesus. But Peter was naked, and therefore girt his fisher's coat about him. Naked, here and in some other places in Scripture, means without the outer garment; but the term is, no doubt, used to express spiritual nakedness, which is a destitution or deficiency of truth, truths being to the mind what garments are to the body. The word here used for coat does not occur as a name in any other part of the New Testament; in its verbal form it occurs in 2 Cor. v. 2, 4, where the apostle says, "For in this (earthly house) we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon by our house which is from heaven . . . not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality be swallowed up in life."
8. 'And the other disciples came in a little ship (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fishes.'
The other disciples are the principles of goodness and truth which enter into faith, and serve to exalt and confirm it. These follow where faith leads - to the Lord as the supreme object of faith and the author of all that is good and true and they came to the Lord mediately through the knowledge of good and truth, of which a ship is the symbol.
9. 'As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.'
It may seem to some to do violence to the simplicity of the narrative to regard this as supernatural, and yet the narrative itself suggests, and the Lord's history after his resurrection requires, that it should be so regarded. The incident has a supernatural air about it. Whence and why this preparation and provision, the fire, the fish, the bread? Jesus now needed none of the elements of material existence: and those speculations, in which some have indulged, as to where he dwelt, how he was clothed, by what he was fed, are the offspring of materialistic views respecting the nature of his resurrection body. The Lord's body was now divine; and that which he provided for the disciples was food for the soul, not for the body. The disciples saw the Lord, not with their natural but with their spiritual eyes; so likewise did they see the provision which he had made for them. While every reasonable man must see that such was the case, some may have some difficulty in understanding the subject of spiritual life, to which these objects must be referred.
10, 11. When they were come to land,
'Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.'
Jesus did not at once invite them to partake of the bread and fish he had provided, but desired them first to bring of the fish which they had caught. There are two sources of spiritual intelligence and faith, the Lord and his Word, and it is only by receiving from both that we can understand and believe. Good and Truth, as living principles, come from the Lord himself, but good and truth as knowledge come from the written Word. There can be no true faith without instruction, there can be no living faith without inspiration. The two must co-exist and meet together in the mind, before any one can be a real Christian. Good and truth as living principles were represented by the provision which the Lord had made for feeding the disciples, truth as knowledge was represented by the fish which they themselves had caught. Therefore, before giving them of the fish which he was preparing for them, he commanded them to bring of the fish which they had now caught. The internal gift and the internal acquirement were to be brought together. The command given to the disciples generally, was acted on by Peter, implying that this was an act of faith, in which, however, all the other graces were included. Obedience to the Lord's command gives an elevation to faith - for Peter "went up." Although it only means that he went up into the ship, to which the net was attached, yet the term by which that act is expressed has the sense of ascending. Natural faith is changed into spiritual faith by being raised out of the natural into the spiritual region of the mind; and this is effected when we act in obedience to the Lord's command to bring our acquired possessions to him, and lay them at his feet, in humble acknowledgment, that having obtained them by his power and guidance, they are truly his. Peter's drawing the net to land signifies bringing the acquired truths into connection with good, or what is the same, raising them out of the understanding into the will, or what is still the same, out of the natural into the spiritual mind.
12. 'Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.'
How solemn an invitation! The repast to which they were invited was not in our sense a dinner, but rather a breakfast, which may appear, not only from the meaning of the word, but from the circumstance that it was early morning when the Lord appeared to them, after they had toiled all night and taken nothing. All this is expressive of a new state, and the appropriation of new and higher principles of good and truth. This was not indeed the first time since his resurrection that the Lord had communicated with his disciples by means of the elements of life; but this was the first time he himself had provided the repast and invited them to eat of it. And it was suitable that this first provision he had made for them should be their first meal on that eventful day, the type of the new day of their labours in the church of their now glorified Redeemer. "Come and dine," was an invitation which they themselves were henceforth to give to those who should hunger and thirst after righteousness, that they might be filled with the good things which the Lord had provided, and now freely offered to all without exception. Singular it is that, when invited to come and dine, none of the disciples durst ask him, "Who art thou? knowing it was the Lord." This shows that they regarded him with profound reverence: they were so overawed by his presence that they dared not ask him of his mysterious personality. They knew, yet they desired to ask; they desired to ask, yet they dared not utter the question. They knew the Lord, we venture to think, not from his outward appearance, but from the miracle he had performed for them, and from the circumstances of the case; as he was known to the two who travelled with him to Emmaus, not by his person, or his voice, but by his manner in the breaking of bread. Is there anything in our Christian experience that answers to this? Paul says, "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more" (2 Cor. v. 16). The disciples had known the Lord after the flesh, both subjectively and objectively: they had known him when he was in the flesh, and when they themselves were yet fleshly.
13. 'Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.'
Having invited his disciples to come to him, he now comes to them. The Lord draws us to himself that he may give himself to us. Union is not effected without reciprocation. He in us, and we in him, is the law of conjunction. "I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in, and will sup with him and he with me." The bread and fish which the Lord gave his disciples are the spiritual food, the divine goodness and truth, which he gives to feed the souls of his people - those who accept his divine invitation to come and dine.
14. 'John states that this is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the dead.'
Altogether Jesus had been seen by his disciples more than three times. Either this must be grounded in a distinction between being seen and showing himself; or in the word "disciples" being intended to mean a number of them together. But the language of the Word is framed so as to contain a higher than the natural meaning. Three is no doubt intended here to express completeness of manifestation; that full and final exhibition of their glorified Saviour, which gives the disciples to know Jesus as that One in whom all fulness dwells, - not merely as he is in himself, God-man, but as he is in them, the perfection of Humanity, glorified in their redemption and salvation-risen in them from the dead, and that dieth no more.
15-17. The Lord having fed his disciples, he now leads them, by means of that symbolical act, to the divine lesson it was designed to teach them.
'So, when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith, unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.'
18, 19. As the three times mentioned by the Lord signify the successive periods of the church, in regard to its faith, which Peter represents, the Lord proceeds to describe the different quality of faith at the beginning and at the end of the church.
'When Jesus had concluded his charge to Peter, he addressed him in these remarkable words: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When, thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.'
In the literal sense this had reference to Peter's martyrdom, as Peter himself understood it (2 Peter i. 14). But in the spiritual sense, it has reference to the state and condition of faith at the beginning and at the end of the church. Peter in his youth is faith, such as it is in the early period of the church; Peter in his old age is faith, such as it is at the end of the church. When thus understood how striking is the figurative description of the state of faith, and of the human understanding, in the primitive and in the last times! When Peter was young he girded himself and walked whither he would; when he became old he would stretch forth his hands, and another would gird him, and carry him whither he would not. There is the idea of freedom in the one case, and of constraint in the other. In the early days of the church, the understanding acts freely under the guidance of an enlightened and fearless faith; in the last days of the church, the understanding is held under subjection to the dictates of a blind and timid faith. In the early days of the church, when faith was young, she girded herself and walked whither she would; she freely acquired and investigated truth, and, by the force of free determination, lived according to it. What is thus believed and done is believed and done from the Lord, whose service is perfect liberty, whose love casteth out fear; but what is believed and done from constraint is from the world and self, whose service is bondage, and whose fear casteth out love. This is described by Peter in his old age stretching forth his hands and being girded by another, which describes the state and condition of faith at the end of the church. Then the moral and intellectual powers of the mind are in a state of subjection to the will of man, and the mind is brought under the restraint of human error, instead of being preserved in the liberty of divine truth. This state is exemplified in the operation of the theological maxim, that the understanding is to be held in subjection to the authority of faith. This sounds, indeed, as if faith were invested with all power; but such faith is but a name for the unquestioned tyranny of human opinion, put forth under the name of faith. When the mind is thus deprived of Christian liberty, the faculties being forced and misdirected, the life is determined by the will of man and not of God. Faith walks whither she would not.
20, 21. 'Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?'
The preceding incident relates entirely to Peter. This relates to John. These two disciples represented the two essentials of religion, and, therefore, of the church. What is recorded of them in the present case has reference to them in their relation to the Lord, and as to what would befall them in the latter days. The circumstance recorded is a very singular one, singular to be introduced into so solemn a history, seeing it has no great importance in itself; that it teaches no lesson either of faith or practice, and that there is nothing apparently prophetic in its character. It is nothing if it is not symbolical. Viewed in connection with what we have already considered, relating to Peter, it is deeply instructive. Peter is the type of faith, John of love or charity. John describes himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, who leaned on his breast at supper, and asked who should betray him. Jesus loves in his disciples the love they have derived from him; love gives conjunction with him, which is lying on his bosom, and love draws forth from the lips of divine wisdom the revelation of what it is that betrays the truth into the hands of its enemies.
22. To Peter's question the Lord answered,
'If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.'
This answer is not the least singular part of this singular circumstance. No satisfactory explanation can be given of it but that which is supplied by the internal sense. The second coming of the Lord is the event of which our Lord speaks. All commentators admit this: and to verify the Lord's words, they assert that the Lord's coming, till which John should live, was his coming to destroy Jerusalem. Such an assumption is quite arbitrary. The coming of the Lord is his coming in the clouds of heaven - his second advent, to raise up a new church in place of that which he predicted would come to an end. The Lord's prophetic declaration respecting John announces, that something of love and charity would be preserved in the church even to the time of the Lord's coming; that, notwithstanding the prevalence and progress of error and corruption, notwithstanding that faith itself would turn away from the Lord, and would be bound and even put to death, yet something of charity should survive even to the time of the Lord's second coming. The Lord teaches elsewhere that this would be the case. He says, "When the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?" implying that there would be none.
23. 'Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, he shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee.'
The Lord's words had given rise to the opinion among the brethren that John should live to see the coming of the Lord, while Peter should follow him to the cross, dying, like his Master, a martyr to the truth. The evangelist sets aside this traditional error by repeating what the Lord had actually said of him. And what he said is certainly sufficiently mysterious, regarded in the natural sense. Jesus did not say of John that he should not die, yet he said what, if the disciples had known the time of the Lord's coming, must have seemed equivalent to it. The tradition of the brethren was wrong as to the letter but right as to the spirit of the Lord's words. Yet what they came to believe regarding John was not what the Lord had said. And as divine language has a specific meaning, it is on this account that we are reminded of the very words which Jesus uttered.
Here John's record of the Lord's sayings and doings ends, and it is a conclusion full of hope and comfort. It is an ending that looks to a beginning, that reveals the means by which the church of his first advent is so far preserved as to be able to pass over into the church of his second advent. It is charity that bridges over the chasm, that forms the way by which the Lord passes from the Old into the New. Those who are in the good of charity are the remnant that is saved, the elect who are gathered together from the four winds, to form the nucleus of the new dispensation, for these accept the Lord at his coming; these are they of whom it is written, "To them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
24. 'This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true.'
John's declaration, that he whom Jesus loved, and who leaned on his breast at supper, is the disciple which testifieth these things, is a declaration that the history of the Lord's life, as written by him who was the type of love, is such as to present the Lord's character and ministry in an aspect that is best adapted to produce and strengthen the grace of love in the hearts of believers. This gives a peculiar and exalted character to the gospel of John as a revelation to all men. But this fact has a peculiar application to ourselves.
25. Having stated that this is the disciple which testifieth these things, and wrote these things, John proceeds to say,
'And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.'
This is considered a mere figure of speech to express the great amount of the Lord's unwritten life. No doubt many things were said and done by the Lord, even during his public ministry, besides those which the evangelists have recorded. And it is one of the deep things hid in the treasury of divine wisdom, that so much that was uttered and done by the Incarnate Word should have passed unrecorded in the written Word, which is the fulness of revelation, and the verbal form of the Word made flesh. Nothing, however, which the Lord said or did was lost. Every word he spake, every work he performed, was written in heaven and inscribed in his own humanity; for it became a part of his redemption and glorification, and was thus permanently fixed in those eternal realities which the Word makes known. The glorified Word has thus written in it the results of the Lord's great work on earth; and from the Word glorified, now far above all heavens, and which all worlds, and even the heaven of heavens cannot contain, the divine influence descends, both immediately and through the Word revealed, into the church in heaven, and thence into the church on earth, to unite them into one, and make that one the increasingly perfect image of the Lord's Divine Humanity.
Amen is the response of the church, and should be that of every human heart, to the great and consolatory truths which the beloved apostle was the chosen instrument of revealing to mankind.