PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels — St. John — Volume 2
Ryle, J. C. (John Charles), 1816–1900 · 168,104 words · 353 reading sections
JOHN, CHAP. VIII. 129
saying he will never die. In short, Thou makest Thyself greater than Abraham, for Abraham could not escape death, while keeping Thy saying enables a man to escape death. To talk in this way is a plain" proof that thou art mad." The phrase " to have a devil," in this place can hardly mean anything but "to be mad or cra…
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presslon must include all the works, and signs, and miracles, which the Father gave Him to do ; as well as the words which He gave Him to speak. (John v. 26; xiv. 10, 11.) 55. — [Yet ye have not known him, etc.~ The meaning of this verse seems to be as follows : " Although you say of My Father in heaven that He is you…
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some future time, My day, the clay of Messiah ; and by faith he did see it afar off." (b) Some think, as Maldonatus, Lampe, Stier, and Bloom- field, that it means, " Abraham rejoiced when he was told that he should see My clay ; and he actually has seen it in Paradise, and has been gladdened there in the separate stat…
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really was fifty before He was crucified, is utterly without war- rant, and absurd. Some think that our Lord's countenance was so marred and aged by sorrow and care, that He looked much older than lie really was, and that hence the Jews supposed Him to be nearly fifty. But I prefer the former view. Euthymius thinks t…
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was invisible, Maldonatus proves too much. The bread in the Lord's Supper is seen, and after consecration the Roman Cath- olic says its substance is changed. But it is not invisible. In leaving this remarkable chapter, we should not fail to no- tice the difficulties under which our Lord's public ministry was carried o…
222 wordsSECTION 126JOHN IX. 1—12.
1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, say- ing, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind ? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must w…
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Lord gave sight to a man who had been " blind from his birth." Here, as elsewhere in this Gospel, we find the circumstances of the miracle narrated with peculiar fulness, minuteness, and particularity. Here too, as elsewhere, we find the narrative rich in spiritual lessons. We should observe, first, in this passage, h…
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That saying was eminently true when applied to our Lord Himself. He knew well that his own earthly ministry would only last three years altogether, and knowing this He diligently redeemed the time. He let slip no oppor- tunity of doing works of mercy, and attending to His Father's business. Morning, noon, and night He …
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of course there was no inherent healing virtue. But for wise reasons the Lord was pleased to use them. We need not doubt that in this, as in every other action of our Lord, there is an instructive lesson. It teaches us, we may well believe, that the Lord of heaven and earth will not be tied down to the use of any one …
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Where is the spiritual disease that He cannot take away? He can open the eyes of the most sinful and ignorant, and make them see things they never saw before. He can send light into the darkest heart, and cause blindness and preju- dice to pass away. Surely, if we are not saved, the fault will be all our own. There li…
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" the Light of the world." (John viii. 14.) Bucer says, u This chapter is a sermon in act and deed, on the words, ' I am the Light of the world.' " In the miracle which occupies the whole of this chapter, the following special circumstances deserve notice : (1) It is only- related by St. John. (2) Like each of the few…
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absence; and by working a miracle, both softening their hard* ness, and proving His affections. And it is clear that He pro- ceeded intentionally to this work on leaving the temple, for it was He who saw the blind man, and not the blind man who came to Him." Gualter observes, that this passage shows how the eyes of th…
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getfulness of Eze. xviii. 20, etc. There are few notions that men seem to cling to so naturally, as the notion that bodily suf- ferings, and all afflictions, are the direct consequences of sin, and that a diseased or afflicted person must necessarily be a very wicked man. This was precisely the short-sighted view that …
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order to furnish a platform for the exhibition of a work of Di- vine mercy and power. A deep and instructive principle lies in these words. They 6urely throw some Light on that great question, — the origin of evil. God has thought fit to allow evil to exist, in order that He may have a platform for showing His mercy, …
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4.— [I must work the works, etc.'] The connection between this verse and the preceding one seems to be in the word "works." It it as though our Lord said,— "Healing the blind man is one of the great « works ' which God has appointed for Me to do, and I must do it during the ' day,' or short period of My minis- try. Thi…
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natural darkness iu which they are; and so long as I am in the world I wish to be its Light in the fullest sense, the Deliverer of men's souls and the Healer of men's bodies." Coccems suggests, that in these words our Lord had respect to the fact that He was going to work a work on the Sabbath, and that it would be di…
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could easily restore one of those faculties, even sight, when He thought fit. He that healed these blind eyes with clay was the same Being who originally formed man out of the clay. Ecolampadius thinks that the spittle was the emblem of Christ's Divinity, and the clay of His humanity, and that the union of the two rep…
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[Which is by interpretation, Sent.~] There is undeniable diffi- culty about this seutence. It is naturally asked, — Whv is this parenthetical explanation inserted by St. John? Why are we specially told that the word Siloara means Sent, or He that was sent? — The most probable answer seems to be, that the name of the fo…
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one which the Pharisees felt to be unanswerable. Silenced before the whole council they turn on the speaker with auger and abuse. " Thou art a miserable, wicked creature, entirely- born in sin, and dost thou pretend to know better than us, and to teach us?" They then proceeded at once to excommunicate him. The expressi…
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Ferus, a Romanist, says that this verse should teach the lead- ers of Churches not to be hasty in excommunicating people, lest they commit as great mistake as the Pharisees. Barradius, a Portuguese Romanist, makes strong remarks here on the great sin of unjust excommunication. He quotes the text in Samuel which says t…
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Ing Him. Our Lord Himself has set the seal of His Divine sanction on these principles." [And lohen he had found, etc.'] We should note in this sen- tence our Lord's kindness and compassion. As soon as His people suffer for His name's sake He is ready to visit them and speak words of comfort and give special consolatio…
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"We must not perhaps estimate too highly the extent of this man's faith. At any rate, it had the germ and nucleus of all justifying faith about it, a belief in oar Lord as the Messiah. [And he worshipped Him.'] This seems to have been some- thing more than an action of respect and reverence to a man. It looks like the…
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good and bad, which was one consequence (not the purpose) of Christ's coming into the world. — When Christ came into the world, men promptly showed themselves to belong to the state of darkness or of light, and by their arranging themselves in two great classes, anticipated their own final sentence." — " The blind (tha…
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sees is a very remarkable and elliptical one. It may be thus paraphrased : '{ Well would it be for you. if you were really blind and ignorant. If you were really ignorant, you would be far less blameworthy than you are now. If you were really blind, you would not be guilty of the sin of wilful unbelief as you are now. …
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The expression, " your sin remaineth," is very worthy of notice. It teaches the solemn truth that the sins of impenitent and unconverted people are upon them, uuforgiven, and not taken away. It condemns the modern idea that all sins are already forgiven and pardoned on account of Christ's death, and all men justilied, …
374 wordsSECTION 146JOHN X. 1—9.
1 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. 2 But he that entereth in by tho door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he call- oth his own sheep by name…
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175 the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not fol- low, 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. 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, veril…
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souls is he who enters the ministerial office with little or no thought about Christ, from worldly and self-exalting motives, but from no desire to exalt Jesus, and the great salvation that is in Him. Christ, in one word, is the grand touchstone of the minister of religion. The man who makes much of Christ is a pastor …
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spiritual instinct in most true believers, which generally enables them to distinguish between true and false teaching. When they hear unsound religious instruction, there is something within them which says, " This is wrong." When they hear the real truth as it is in Jesus, there is something in their hearts which res…
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Born with a heart at enmity with God, we become more and more alienated from Him, by practice, the longer we live. The very first questions iu religion that must be answered, are these: "How can I draw near to God? How can I be justified ? How can a sinner like me be reconciled to my Maker ? " The Lord Jesus Christ ha…
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of the ninth chapter. Our Lord is still speaking to the hostile Pharisees who asked, " Are we blind also? " and got the answer, " Ye say, We see ; therefore your sin reraaineth." — It is to them that He goes on to say, " I say unto you, He that entereth not in by the door is a thief and a robber." He is not so much com…
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would be justly suspected of being a thief. Every true shep- herd, as a matter of course, makes use of the door. The " door" He afterwards interprets to mean Himself. The latent thought evidently is, that any teacher of religion who does not take up and discharge his office with faith in Christ and His atonement, and …
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plies a striking instance of the use of a parable to convey indi- rectly a sharp and severe rebuke. Of course our Lord could hardly have said to the Pharisees, "You are thieves and rob- bers." Yet by use of a parable, He says what is tantamount to it. Let it be noted that these strong epithets show plainly that there …
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to show the character of a true shepherd of sheep, in four respects, (a) The porter opens the gate to him, knowing by his step and manner of approach, that he is a friend, and not an enemy. (6) The sheep recognize his voice, and attend to what he says, (c) He, knowing all his flock individually, calls each sheep by his…
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walks before them, as an Eastern shepherd always does, never requiring them to go where he does not first go himself. Such a shepherd the sheep follow with implicit confidence, and, know- ing his voice, go wherever he calls them. The words of Moses should be read : " Let the Lord set a man over the congregation, which…
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things, and must be carefully handled, and not interpreted too literally. The Greek word used by John for "parable" is not used in any other Gospel. \_B\it they understood not... unto them.] The Pharisees appear to have failed in seeing the application of the parable. This is curious, when we remember how quickly they…
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At first sight it seems strange that our Lord says, " I am the Door of the sheep," and not simply " the Door." But I think it is meant to teach that the Door is for the benefit of the sheep more than the shepherd, and that He Himself is given more particularly for all His people than for His ministers. Minis- ters are …
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Luther says : *' These thieves and robbers form at all times the great majority in the world, and nothing better can they be as long as they are not in Christ. In fact, the world will have such wolf's preaching, and indeed desires no better, because it hears not Christ nor regards Christ. It is no wonder that true Chri…
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Father by Me, whether pastors or hearers, sha/1 find through Me safety and liberty, and possess continua' food for their souls." Strictly speaking the sentence appears to belong spe- cially to the true ministers of the flock of Christ. But I dare not confine it to them alone. It is a grand, wide promise to all who ente…
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whom the various features of the picture apply so literally, clearly, and exactly, as they do to the great Shepherd of believ- ers. "Every expression," says Burgon, "has a marked refer- ence to Christ; yet it is plain that it is not of Himself that He is primarily speaking." Throughout the passage it is noteworthy how…
125 wordsSECTION 161JOHN X. 10—18.
10 Tho 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 abundant- ly- 11 I am tho good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the w…
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for thirty-three years on earth for far higher ends than these. He came to procure eternal life for man, by the price of His own vicarious death. He came to be a mighty fountain of spiritual life for all mankind, to which sinners coming by faith might drink ; and, drinking, might live for evermore. By Moses came laws, …
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est of them with which He is not familiar. The children of this world may not know Christians, and may count theiT lives folly ; but the Good Shepherd knows them thoroughly, and, wonderful to say, though He knows them, does not despise them. Like a Good Shepherd, Christ cares tenderly for all His believing people. He …
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down of myself. I have power to lay it clown, and I have power to take it again." The point before us is of no mean importance. We must never suppose for a moment that our Lord had no power to prevent His sufferings, and that He was delivered up to His enemies and crucified because He could not belp it. Noth- ing coul…
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Notes. John X. 10—18. 10.— [The thief... destroy.'] In this passage our Lord entirely drops the figure of " the door," and presents Himself under a new as- pect, as " the Shepherd." And the first thing He does is to show the amazing difference between Himself and the false teachers who bore rule among the Jews. He had…
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So Paul tolls Titus that " Christ's appearing brought life and immortality to light." (2 Tim. i. 10.) Most commentators do not admit the comparative idea in " more abundantly," but interpret it as simply meaning the abundance of grace aud mercy which Christ brings into the world : as Rom7 v. 20, 21. This is true, but …
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does our Lord say, that He laid down life for His doctrines, but for His sheep." 12, 13. — [But he that is an hireling, etc.'] Our Lord in these two verses illustrates the subject He has taken up, by showing the wide difference between a mere hired shepherd, and one who feels a special interest in his sheep because th…
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[And "know my sheep, and am known of mine.'] These words express the close and intimate union there is between Christ and all His believing people, a union understood fully by those alone who feel it, but to the world foolishness. Our Lord, like a good earthly shepherd, knows every one of his people, — knows them with …
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shepherd He not only knows all His sheep, but lays down His life for them. By using the present tense, He seems to say, " I am doing it. I am just about to do it. I came iuto the world to do it." This can only refer to His own atoning death on the cross : the great propitiation He was about to make by shedding His life…
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In the eternal councils, and foreknown from the beginning of the world. So it was with the Corinthians before their conver- sion : " I have much people in this city." (Acts xviii. 10.) Augustine remarks: "They were yet without, among the Gentiles, predestinated, not yet gathered in. These He knew who had predestinated…
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after that to take it again. He would not only die for His peo« pie, but also rise again. Guyse thinks the true meaning is, " I cheerfully lay down ray life for the expiation of my sheep's offences, in order that I may rise again for their justification." Let it be noted here, that there is no part of Christ's work f…
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serves special notice. Our Lord teaches that His resurrection, as well as His death, was in His own power. When our Lord rose again He was not passive, and raised by the power of another only, but rose by His own Divine power. It is note- worthy that the resurrection of our Lord in some places is at- tributed to His Fa…
559 wordsSECTION 173JOHN X. 19—39.
19 Thero was a division therefore I 25 Jesus answered them, I told von, again among the Jews for these sayings, and yon believed not: thewn t.ffi 20 And many of them said, He bath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him ? 21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the …
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of strife in his own family. He will have to endure ridi- cule, hard words, and petty persecution, from the children of this world. He may even discover that he is thought a fool or a madman on account of his Christianity. Let none of these things move him. The thought that he is a par- taker of the afflictions of Chri…
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The expression, " My sheep," points to the close connec- tion that exists between Christ and believers. They are His by gift from the Father, His by purchase, His by call- ing and choice, and His by their own consent and heart- submission. In the highest sense they are Christ's prop- erty ; and just as a man feels a sp…
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Christ declares that His people " shall never perish." Weak as they are they shall all be saved. Not one of them shall be lost and cast away : not one of them shall miss heaven. If they err, they shall be brought back ; if they fall, they shall be raised. The enemies of their souls may be strong and mighty, but their S…
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it was among " the people ; " at ix. 16, among the " Pharisees." Here it was among the " Jews," an expression in St. John's Gospel generally applied to our Lord's enemies among the Pharisees. The special " sayings " which caused the division were proba- bly our Lord's words about His Father, His claim to have power to…
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The Greek word here rendered " words," is not the same as that rendered "sayings," in verse 19. Webster says it is a stronger expression, and means "the whole transaction," as well as the things said. The word " blind " here in the Greek is plural, and would be more accurately translated, " of blind persons." 22. — [A…
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The mention of winter goes far to prove that the feast of dedi- cation must have been appointed in commemoration of the work of Judas Maccabeus. (Solomon's dedication was at Michael- mas, in the seventh month ; Ezra's about Easter, in the first month. 13. — [And Jesus walked.'] This must either mean that "it was the h…
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understood, but openly, boldly, unreservedly, and without mys- tery. S5.— [Jesus answered.. .1 told.. .ye believed not.'] To what does our Lord refer here ? I believe He refers to what he had said in the fifth chapter before the Sanhedrim, and in the eighth chapter in the discourse beginning, " I am the Light," etc. T…
464 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1857). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.