A commentary on the Gospel by St. John

Preface

Ak eminent ecclesiastical authority * has said concerning Holiness as found in the Word of God, "It breathes in the prophecy, thunders in the law, murmurs in the narrative, whispers in the promises, supplicates in the prayers, sparkles in the poetry, resounds in the songs, speaks in the types, glows in the imagery, voices in the language and burns in the spirit of the whole scheme, from its Alpha to Omega, from its beginning to its end. Holiness! Holiness needed! Holiness required! Holiness offered! Holiness attainable ! Holiness a present duty, a present privilege, a present enjoyment, is the progress and completeness of its wondrous theme ! It is the truth glowing all over, webbing all through revelation; the glorious truth which sparkles and whispers and sings and shouts in all its history and biography and poetry and prophecy and precept and promise and prayer; the great central truth of the system. The wonder is, that all do not see, that any rise up to question a truth so conspicuous, so glorious, so full of comfort Another authority t has written a book to show that Holiness is " the central idea of Christianity." This fact, however, is not generally recognized or admitted among the commentators. Holiness seems to many to be a matter of incidental mention in the Scriptures, and many commentators succeed very well in concealing it, or in those marked passages that teach it, treat it so indefinitely as to make it intangible and misty. Hence this commentary, which attempts to reveal Holiness (either in theory or practice) in every verse, claims the right of existence. Most of the early commentaries were written from a Calvinistic standpoint, which denied the possibility of living free, either from original sin or actual transgression; asserting that Christ cannot * Bishop Foster, t Bishop Peck,

PREFACE.

cleanse and keep from sin, but that this friendly work must be performed by our enemy, Death ; or, if some have admitted that Christ can perform the work, they have denied that the Great Physician could or would cure until .we were removed from the baleful atmosphere of this sinful world. Arminian commentators have been affected, with but few exceptions, with this unscriptural, dogmatic taint. As we study both Calvinistic and Arminian authorities, we many times notice passages where, to be true to the Scripture, they unconsciously drop their theology, and clearly and explicitly declare the possibility of being cleansed from all sin. If any reader shall say, as we quote from these authorities, that we do not represent their thoughts as they themselves intended, we reply, that we represent at least Adam Clarke, John Wesley and some others correctly, and that other writers were obliged to state their opinions as they did or be unfaithful to Scripture, and we quote some of them to show the inconsistency of any system that represents Jesus Christ as a perfect Saviour, and at the same time theoretically denies his power to heal the malady of sin at the very time of the sickness. In the treatment of the miracles of Christ, commentators have been obliged to consider the healing of the body as a type of the healing of the soul, or get no spiritual lessons from these events. But in so doing, complete, instantaneous faith-cures of the body have been represented as symbols of the same cures wrought upon the souls of men. It is impossible to find a commentator who seeks to convey spiritual teaching from the cures of lepers, who does not state the antitype of soul-healing as clearly and unequivocally as we could wish. We call especial attention to the treatment of the healing of leprosy by nearly all the commentators, who state clearly and positively that Jesus can cleanse from the leprosy of sin. As leprosy is universally accepted as a type of sin, its cure must therefore be accepted as a type of the cure of sin. A large part of the cures of Christ must have a spiritual interpretation, or none at all that shall be of any spiritual profit to us. Happily* we are not left in doubt as to this question. Jesus interpreted to us many of his miracles, and thus gave us the principle of interpreting miracles spiritually. (See John 6 : 27-04; 9: 39-41; Luke 5: 1-10.) Our view of the great and underlying thought of the Scriptures is further substantiated by all or nearly all

PREFACE.

those grand passages which tell us the end and aim of the Bible. (See Psalms 119: 1-4, 9, 11; John 15: 3; 17: IT; Eph. 5: 26; 2 Tim. 3: 16, 17; 2 Peter 1 : 4, and others. )

It may be objected that the author sees Holiness every wherein the Scriptures because he is determined to see it there. In reply we would say that doubtless the objector may not see it there, because he does not wish to see it. The scribes and Pharisees, who were certainly as well acquainted with the text of the Old Testament as any of the modern divines or scholars, did not recognize the portraits of Jesus of Nazareth in those writings at all. We would say still further that the great proof of the inspiration of the Scriptures is in the power and privilege of proving them true by experience, if we come candidly to Jesus seeking to know and do his will. The doctrines of the new birtli and the witness of the Spirit, as taught in the Scriptures, have been proved true again and again in human lives. And the testimonies to this effect are accepted in the Church to-day. The doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a work subsequent to conversion, whereby the heart is cleansed from all sin, is just as clearly testified to by the saints from all the denominations, men and women of sober judgment, scholarly wisdom and consistent lives.

Lastly. This commentary is not written polemically, or with any desire to reflect on anybody or anything but sin. It is written to assist that large and growing body of believers whose understanding, through experience of these truths, has been opened to see these things; who have found, since their baptism of love, that the Bible is a new book; who have the new version by the latest and best of the revisers — the Holy Spirit.

CONCERNING THE GOSPEL BY ST. JOHN.

St. John was the disciple most intimate with Jesus, and hence was best adapted through divine inspiration to write this Gospel. This Gospel differs from the others in that it treats more concerning the deity of Jesus. Luke wrote the most complete biography of Jesus from the human standpoint, but John writes more of his divine life. So conclusive is this Gospel in establishing forever the fact of the deity of Jesus, that infidelity has made its severest attacks upon it.

PREFACE.

But it has sustained its claims; it lias survived the most searching criticism. It may be well called a volume of the sermons of Jesus, the greatest Preacher. Here we have discourses on the new birth (chap. 3); the relation of Jesus in sustaining the divine life in the believer, illustrated by the water and bread of life (chaps. 4, 6); the deity of Jesus Christ (chap. 5); the fulness of the Spirit (chap. 7); Christ as light, liberty, and life (chap. 8); Jesus the light of the world (chap. 9); Jesus the good shepherd (chap. 10); Jesus the resurrection and the life (chap. 11); the necessity of the atonement (chap. 12); the necessity of entire cleansing (chap. 13); a sermon of comfort and promise of the Comforter (chap. 14); the intimate relation of Christ and his disciples, and its fruits (chap. 15); the office and work of the Holy Spirit (chap. 16); the marvellous prayer-sermon for the sanctincation of believers (chap. 17^; the discourse before Pilate (chap. 19); the farewell discourses (chaps. 20, 21). A gradual unfolding of the theme of holiness may also be clearly seen, beginning with the new birth ; then the sustenance of that new life by an indwelling Jesus as the bread, water, life, and light of the soul; and in his later discourses the treatment of sanctification, which removes inward sin and enables us to have life more abundantly. Here is a volume of sermons that can never be exhausted; here is a book on homiletics that is not enough studied; here preachers and teachers may get more instruction on the matter and manner of preaching than from any other book in the world. We are convinced that if it were studied as much, as a help to effective sermonizing, it would be of greater service than any text-book upon the subject that has ever been written. The author of this commentary has endeavored to point out some of the spiritual teachings that he has found in this exhaustless treasure-house. He makes no apology for spiritualizing whenever it is possible, for the author declares (John 20: 31), " 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." We have spent no time proving the divinity of this book. Believing that the best defence of this book is saved souls, " living epistles," who are the real Christian evidences, our only aim is to show that believers are encouraged here to obtain cleansing from all sin; and holy souls are the best proofs of the inspiration of the Scriptures.

THE

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.

CHAPTER I. IN the beginning a was the Word, and the

CHAPTER I.

Holiness has Always Existed, 1-3 — The Mission of God's Servants is to Reflect Holiness, 4-9— The Attitude of Depravity towards Holiness, 5-11— Initial Holiness is Received by Faith, 11-14 — Complete Holiness Obtained at the Reception of the Second Grace, 15-18 — John's Baptism A Symbol of the Reception of Initial Holiness, 19-28 — Jesus' Baptism takes away Sin, the Negative Side of Entire S anctific ation, 29-34 — The Preacher who Reiterates this Latter Truth will make an Impression on Some One, 35-42 — Jesus had Holy People on Earth in that Day, 43-49 — Purity Beholds Increasingly Greater Things, 50, 51.

1. In the beginning. — John begins his Gospel with the same words with which Moses begins Genesis. He refers to the same beginning, before creation. This shows that our holy religion is before all other religions, because

Word was bwith God, cand the Word wag God.

its Author has always existed. How long that beginning was of which Moses and John wrote, no one can tell. Notice, it is not, u From the beginning," but, "In the beginning." Had it been the former, it might mean that Christ was created after other things were created ; but he was in that period called the beginning, which was eternal as far as we know. John begins his Gospel farther back than either of the other evangelists, because his chief motive in writing was to prove to Unitarianism of that day that Jesus was God. The Jews were Unitarians. In John 20: 31, the apostle gives his object in writing this Gospel. Was the Word. — The term "Word" is one of the titles of Christ. The same term is used to denote the Bible in other places. Christ and the Bible are the two " Words " by which God has spoken his truth to the world. They are both called the " Word," because a word is the means of communicating the thoughts of the innermost soul to other beings. Christ revealed the mind of God to the

JOHN.

2. dThe same was iu the beginning with God.

3. e All things were made by him ; and withworld. By referring to Ps. 33: 6, we shall see that this term had been used to describe the Creator of the world in Old Testament times. God had been speaking to the world all through the ages. (He delights to speak his will to men. ) But now he speaks so clearly through Jesus Christ, that Christ as the clear revelation of God is The Word, in comparison with whom all other revelations were but inferences. The Word did not come into being in the beginning, he already was. Was with God, and . . . was God. Here we have the great mystery of the Father and the Son so stated as to teach us that the Word was distinct from the Father (being with God in the most intimate relation) and also was God. Argument is useless with any one who refuses to believe this plain statement, 14 The Word was God."

2. The same was in the beginning with God. — John emphasizes the two preceding statements by combining them here into one, that his readers may understand what he means to say, — that the Word was God and yet distinct in personality from the Father.

3. All things were made by him. — Having shown the relation of the Word to Deity in the previous verses, he now proceeds to show his relations to humanity. The Word was the Author of creation.

out him was uot any thing made that was made, 4. fin him was life ; and gthe life was the light of men.

12; 9:5; 12 : 35, 46.

Up to this time mankind had believed that matter had always existed. John, by inspiration, launches forth a truth, new to the world, that God created everything. Was not anything made. This is simply a repetition of the idea of the former part of the verse. That was made. — " That hath been made " (Rev. Ver.).

4. In him was life. — He is the

source of all life, both physical and spiritual, both of natural birth and regeneration. And the life was the light of men. — This light is above that possessed by beasts. It is that moral illumination which God gives to all the world, both heathen and Christian. It is among heathen the essential Christ ; in Christian lands the historical Christ. It is the life of absolute holiness shining out from the bosom of God, through the Logos, or Word, and giving all men by nature the knowledge that they are not right, just as a light in a dark night reveals to men a sense of the darkness about them. This revelation is termed conscience, or susceptibility to becoming religious; hence it is found everywhere, that man seeks to have some kind of a religion. "And this highest consciousness of the human spirit is the basis of the operation of the divine Spirit in and upon man, by which he is | able to be in himself a responsible

CHAPTEE I.

5. And htke light shineth in darkness ; and the darkness comprehended it not.

h John 3 : 19.

and holy being" (Whedon). This is the basis of all our holiness ; it is the power to discern our need of it and to receive it. This life, he says, was the light of men, shining with more or less brightness in Judaism and the various systems of religion.

5. The light shineth in darkness. — In this verse light and darkness are personified. Here is a statement of the contest going on through all ages since the fall, between holiness and depravity. It is still going on in the hearts of men, except where the light has been expelled by darkness or darkness has been expelled by the light. Notice, " shineth " is present tense; not only has God been shining on the race, but he continues to do so. The darkness comprehended it not. — Here we have two qualities given of inbred sin, or depravity. ( 1 ) Darkness, or spiritual ignorance of the holy nature of God. Darkness is a frequent figure of the Bible to denote depravity. This is a negative quality of depravity. "The darkness is of course the opposite of the light, that is, moral ignorance and consequent depravity" (Strong). (2) A positive quality — hostility to the light. It does not embrace or receive the light. The word "comprehended" means "to take down." The depraved human heart hates the light; it has a perverse will, which refuses to receive into its bosom the light

6. y, i There was a man sent from God, whose name icas John.

coming down from heaven. Inbred sin is that in man that is against holiness. Therefore wherever there is disturbance and hostility against holiness, in spite of other pretexts the real reason is, light has come in contact with darkness : depravity is showing its nature. Hence the more need, having found out what the enemy is, of pushing the battle. Resistance to holiness shows the need of holiness, of whatever degree be the depravity, whether in the renewed or unrenewed. The tendency of light is not merely to be seen, but to penetrate into and attack darkness. The reason darkness does not yield to light is because it hates it. (See John 3: 19,20; Matt, 13: 15.)

6. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. — Here is the first mention of any mere man. The writer began in the far-off recesses of eternity, and now speaks of the introduction of the light into this world. God employed a man to assist him in bringing fallen men to a knowledge of the light. Here we have the human part in promoting the spread of the gospel. God might have employed angels or no one, but he saw fit to make us " laborers together with God." He saw fit to have the vine bear its fruit on its branches and not on the trunk. (John 15.) Christ was the expression of God's love, the Logos, or Word. John the Bap-

JOHN.

7. k The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

k Acts 19 : 4.

tist (here referred to) was only sent to call men's attention to this Word-Light.

7. The same came for a witness. — The forerunner of Jesus was more than the prophets of the old dispensation; he was a witness. He had seen the Word, of whom they had only prophesied. John was a holy man. (See notes on Luke 1: 15-17; 7: 24-35.) A witness is one who tells what he knows of the subject. So we learn that holy men get the light, and then, like planets, reflect it upon the darkness about them. Every holy man is a forerunner, or herald, of Christ, to those who do not know him. No unholy man, no matter what his other attainments, can "make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Lukel: 17; see note there). John'stheme, according to this and the theme of all witnesses, is, walking in the light, which, if mankind do, will bring pardon and cleansing. (1 John 1: 7.) John, too, met opposition from the darkness, as his Master did, and all witnesses to the benefits of walking in the light receive the same. Be not astonished if there is objection to your testimony to the cleansing way. Depravity has always thus acted towards both the absolute holiness of God and the derived holiness of man. Holiness must testify. A man that has seen and felt the light, knows about it.

8. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9. 1 That was the true Light, which light-

Through him might believe.—

John was not merely to persuade men to believe by his example, but by his voice. He was u the voice of one crying in the wilderness'' (Mark 1:3). The modern idea of, u Let it shine, but say nothing about it," had not yet been invented.

8. He was not that Light. —

Some people in later times believed that John the Baptist was the Messiah. The Evangelist John takes pains here to set the matter right. John the Baptist was but a minister of Christ. Ministers, earthly priests, cannot save men.

9. The true Light. — The real light. Wherever there is any light among men it is but a reflection from Jesus. He compared himself to light. (John 8: 12.) Lighteth every man. — (See note on v. 4. Compare also Kom. 2: 12-15.) Bishop Taylor says the heathen, having the essential Christ in the light of natural religion, are in God's primary school. So was Cornelius, — saved up to his light. He who lives as well as he knows in heathen lands will be saved, and no one can do more than that in Christian lands or in heaven. Everybody has light enough to be saved if they will. There are but two classes in the world. " Professors and non-professors?" No, those who are really desirous to be right and those who are not. The only con.

CHAPTER I.

eth every man that cometh into the world.

10. He was in the world, and mthe world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

damnation in the world is that people do not live up to what light they have. ( John 3 : 19. )

10. The world knew him not.

— The term world is here used for unconverted, depraved humanity. He had a claim upon this world because he made it. This is a repetition of the idea of verse five. Paul tells us that the hostility of the carnal mind to Christ springs from spiritual ignorance. " Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2: 8). Inanimate nature — winds and waves — obeyed him better than depraved man.

11. His own received him not.

— He came to his own Church and they stirred up the Roman governor to crucify him. In the former verse we had an illustration of the attitude of the depraved world: here we have the attitude of an unholy Church towards the truth. The bitterest opposition to holiness and truth in the history of the past has come from an apostate Church. " To receive Christ is to acknowledge him as the promised Messiah; to believe in him as the victim that bears away the sin of the world ; to obey his gospel; and to become a partaker of his holiness, without which no man, on the gospel plan, can ever see the Lord " (Clarke).

12. As many as received him.

11. n He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12. But o as many as received him, to them

— Here we have a definition of saving faith, as may be seen by noticing that the last clause, " Even to them that believe on his name," which means the same act as this of receiving him. From which we learn : ( 1 ) That saving faith is not intellectual faith — mere belief of the intellect; (2) That it depends on our will; hence all can believe who will to believe. After all the great terms and learned elaborations, saving faith is simply receiving Christ. While on the other hand depravity is that part of man that refuses to accept him; hence depravity is 1 4 an evil heart of unbelief" (Heb. 3: 12). The essence of depravity, or inbred sin, then, is unbelief. Gave. — It was a gift (of grace), not purchased nor merited. In receiving him they received spiritual life, initial holiness. A gift is not a gift until received. Power. — This, in the original, means both the right and the privilege. In the New Yersion it is translated "right." Every son and daughter of Adam has this right, under the gospel charter, of being a partaker of the divine holiness, if he will comply with the conditions and receive Christ. Sons of God. — The term in the original means more than sons ; it means children. The term son might be applied to one who was adopted: children means those begotten — partakers of the divine nature. That believe.—

JOHN.

gave he 1 power to become the sous of God, even to them that believe on his name : 13. P Which were born, not of blood, nor of

1 Or. the right or privilege. p John 3:5;

That receive him. (See first clause of the verse.) "The man fixes his gaze on Christ, and, discerning in him the divine stamp of holiness, he surrenders personally to him. This is faith" (Godet). On his name. — The name of Christ represents his holy character. Thus we fulfil, when we receive him, the prayer, "Hallowed be thy name."

13. Which were born. — The term regeneration is not used here, but an equivalent. How puerile are those objections against this, or the higher degree of holiness, that are made simply on the number of times certain terms are used. The Bible clearly teaches holiness, even if the term were never used. Salvation is a life principle, born into the soul. Many people unintentionally state an impossibility when they say they are trying to be Christians. It is a birth, and cannot be arrived at by striving. It is received, as stated in the previous verse. The apostle goes on still farther to define the new birth negatively and positively. (A hint to preachers and teachers in their definitions. Negative and positive statements are necessary to guard and fully state a definition.) Negatively: (1) Not of blood.— Regeneration is not physical birth. (2) Nor of the will of the flesh. — It does not come by the efforts of a strong will against sin. (3) Nor of the will of man, — It is not

; the wiD of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14. q And the Word rwas made s flesh, and acquired by culture derived from human teachers, nor assistance of friends. Here we have the three errors of — ( 1 ) Universalism, which says we are children of God by nature. (The Bible says in man's fallen condition he is a child " of wrath.") (2) Morality, which proposes to accomplish the work by putting on an outside — human righteousness. (3) Unitarianism, which proposes to culture sin out and holiness into us. Positively; But of God. — It is a divine life in the soul. Mere formalists do not give this positive definition of a Christian, but tell us a Christian is one who does this and that. The doing is part of the phenomena of the Christian life, but is not the life itself. A moral man can in many things do as well as a Christian. If a man, in spite of all circumstances, has not the especial divine power imparted to make him a child of God, he is still " dead in trespasses and sins."

14. And the Word was made flesh. — The preceding thirteen verses were written to lead us up to this statement, which is the great theme of the whole Bible: The Son of God taking upon him human nature, dwelling in a human body. That is the reason that the former verse is true, — that men may become the sons of God because their faith rests on him who is God manifest in the flesh.

CHAPTER I.

dwelt among us, and twe beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, u full of grace and truth.

finite mind is great enough to understand the union of God and man in Christ Jesus. The other chapters of John simply unfold, expand, and describe the life of that Holy Being, while in a body of flesh and blood like ours. He in a human body illustrated holiness as our example of holiness. Had he come as a spirit or a phantasm, without a body, he would not have been a pattern of holiness for us. Dwelt among us. — The original signifies, " Tabernacled among us." A tabernacle is a temporary structure, as the ancient tabernacle in the wilderness. Christ was in this world to dwell only temporarily. His body was the tabernacle in which he dwelt for over thirty years. God has always desired to dwell with man, — in the pillar of fire and cloud; in the shechinah of the tabernacle and temple; in the presence of Jesus Christ; and in the Holy Ghost filling believers (who are temples of the Spirit) in this last dispensation. Terse sixteen tells us that this filling of the Holy Spirit was the experience of John (the writer). We beheld his glory. This glory was spiritual. It was not only that blaze of divine effulgence which John the evangelist saw on the Mount of Transfiguration, but a moral and spiritual glory, coming from him who was full of grace and truth. It was the glory of holiness, the richest,

15. IT w John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, x lie divinest glory of the universe. It was his in his relation to God the Father. (John IT: 22. ) "Such a relation with God is the most complete glory which can irradiate the face of a human being. It comprehends, of course, all the manifestation of such a relation; thus, works of power, words of wisdom, the life of holiness and charity, all of divine grandeur and beauty, that the disciples beheld in Jesus" (Godet.) The only begotten. — This phrase is used only of Christ. Believers are sons : he is the only begotten Son; the only Son of God directly begotten of God. Grace. — From which we receive life. Truth. — By which we are led along and grow in the path of life. " The Christian is to be like his Master, full of grace and truth. To be at once perfectly truthful and also gracious is one of the most difficult problems of the Christian life" (Abbott). We need holiness of heart to enable us to develop all the essentials of Christian life; so that, far from its making a man narrow, holiness is the only thing that keeps him from being narrow and one sided in his development.