PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels — St. John — Volume 3
Ryle, J. C. (John Charles), 1816–1900 · 220,804 words · 484 reading sections
JOHN, CHAP. XVIII. 255
Grotius paraplirases tlie verse tlius : " Thou hast been long a ruler, and a careful defender of tlie Roman majesty. Hast thou ever heard anything that would impeach Me of a desire to usurp authority against Rome ? If thou hast never known any- thing of thyself, but others have suggested it, beware lest thou be deceive…
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Stier remarks, " Tlie Romans were only concerned with what was DONic; not with dreams, like the J(iwa ; nor with wis- dom, like the Greeks." Pilate's question was characteristic of his nation. 30. — [JeHUH anawfived.. kingdom... not... world.] In this famous sen- tence our Lord Ije^ins His answer to Pilate's question, …
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(c) To tell us that a Government must leave religion alone, because it cannot promote it without favoring one church more than another, is simply absurd. It is equivalent to saying that, as we cannot do good to everybody, we are to sit still and do no good at all. (d) To tell us that no Government can find out what tr…
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and Princes serve God, by defending the good and punisliing the bad." Calvin observes that this sentence " does not hinder Princes from defending the kingdom of Christ ; partly by appointing external discipline, and partly by lending their protection to the Church against wicked men." Beza says mnclx the same. Hutche…
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lost sight of. I came to bring it to light once more, and to be the King of all who receive it." I think the " truth " in this sentence must be taken in the widest and fullest sense. The true doctrine about man, and God, and salvation, and sin, and holiness, was almost buried, lost, and gone, when Christ came into the…
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He speaks of Himself as a sTieplierd, He says, " My sheep hear my voice ; " so wlien He speaks of Himself as God's great wit- ness to trutL, He says, " All friends of truth hear my voice." The wise condescension with which our Lord adapts His lan- guage to Pilate's habits of thought as a Roman, is very note- worthy. I…
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true state of affairs ? How can one so poor as Thou art be a King ? How canst Thou be a King and yet not of this world ! " [And when. ..said this. ..went out...Jews.'] The meaning of this sentence is that Pilate " went out " of the palace where he had been conversing with our Lord apart from the Jews, and re- turned t…
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please tlie Jews, by declaring an innocent person guilty, and yet at the same time to please himself by getting His life spared. Such are the ways of worldly and unprincipled rulers. Between the base fear of men, the desire to please the mob, and the secret dictates of their own conscience, they are contin- ually^ doin…
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and tlie Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you." (Acts iii. 13, 14.) They publicly declared that they liked a rob- ber and a murderer better than Christ 1 The Greek word rendered " cried," signifies a very loud cry or shout. It is the same word that occurs at the raising of Lazarus. " He cried, Lazarus, …
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ten by any one Evangelist, tliat can possibly be contrary either to his own or another's narration." Melancthon suggests that the whole history of the passion, in this chapter, is a vivid typical picture of the history of Christ's Church in every age. He bids us observe what a multitude of portraits it contains ! Sain…
228 wordsSECTION 251JOHN XIX. 1—16.
1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged liim. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, aud put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews ! and they smote him with fheir hands. 4 Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold I bring him forth t…
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265 IS "When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pave- ment, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour : and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King I 15 But they cried …
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transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, and that with His stripes we are healed. Let us diligently follow the example of His patience in all the trials and afflictions of life, and specially in those which may be brought upon us by religion. When He was reviled, He reviled not again ; when He suffered. He threa…
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proved but refuses to receive reproof, will finally have a heart harder than the nether mill-stone, and a conscience past feeling, and seared as w^ith a hot iron. This was the state of the Jewish nation during the time of our Lord's ministry ; and the heading up of their sin was their deliberate rejection of Him, when …
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enormous crime, — and finally countenancing, from love of man's good opinion, the murder of an innocent per- son. Never perhaps did human nature make such a con- temptible exhibition. Never was there a name so justly handed down to a world's scorn as the name which is embalmed in all our creeds, — the name of Pontius P…
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Notes. John xix. 1 — 16. 1. — [TJien Pilate...took Jesus. ..scourged Him.'] Tlie cruel injury inflicted on our Lord's body, in this verse, was probably far more severe tlian an English reader might suppose. It was a punishment which among the Romans generally preceded cru- cifixion, and was sometimes so painful and vi…
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is said to do things, when he does them by the hands of ser- vants and attendants ! It was thus, no doubt, that Pilate Bcourged Jesus. The word " took " probably means, " com- manded Him to be seized." Hengstenberg thinks that the remarkable incident of Pilate's " washing his hands " (Matt, xxvii. 24), and declaring h…
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seems the greatest proof is, that the leaves most resemble those of ivy, as they are of a very deep green. Perhaps the enemies of Christ would choose a plant like that witli which Emperors and Generals used to be crowned, that there might be calumny even in the punishment." How painful and irritating such a crown of th…
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tioned by St. Luke, wlien he sent Him back to Pilate (Luke xxiii. 11), a circumstance which Jolin has not recorded. In any case we need not doubt that the " robe " was some shabby, cast- off garment. It is worth remembering that this brilliant color, scarlet or purple, would make our blessed Lord a most conspic- uous o…
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Him witli it on tlie bead. This appears to me a reasonable and Batisfactory supposition, and makes it most likely that the blow- here was not " with the hand." If the blows were inflicted on the head, whether with hand or reed, we can readily conceive what acute bodily pain they might occasion to a head crowned with t…
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tence appears to me to show tliat Pilate went outside the pal- ace first, and announced that he was goino- to bring out the prisoner, and that then our Lord followed him. The word " forth," both in this and the preceding verse, means literally, " outside," or " without." It is the same that is used in the texts, " His …
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Tlie conduct of Bisliop Bonner, in the reign of bloody Mary, to- wards some of our martyred Reformers, is a melauclioly proof of this. The " officers " here mentioned were the attendants, and ser- vants, and immediate followers of the priests, who would nat- urally take up any cry raised by their masters. The word re…
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Burkitt remarks, " Hypocrites within tlie pale of the visible Church may be guilty of sucli monstrous acts of wickedness, as even the consciences of heathens without the Church may bog- gle at and protest against." 7. — \_The Jews answered him, etc.] In this verse we find the priests taking up a new ground of accusati…
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One tliino; at any rate is very clear : whatever Socinians may- say, our Lord distinctly laid claim to divinity, and the Jews distinctly understood Him to mean that He was God as well as man. Cyril well remarks that if the Jews had dealt justly, they would have told the Gentile ruler that the person before him had not…
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of sucli miracles as our Lord, brought to his bar, frightened him. But now when he heard that He laid claim to divinity, he was " more afraid." We must never forget that Pilate, as Roman Governor of Judaa, charged with the management of a most turbulent and troublesome province, was doubtless in- formed by spies, as we…
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treated our Lord with flagrant injustice, scourged Him, allowed Him to be treated with the vilest indignities by his soldiers, and held Him up to scorn, knowing in his own mind all the time that He was a guiltless person. He had, in short, sinned, away his opportunities, forsaken his own mercies, and turned a deaf ear …
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connection of tlie former and latter parts of the verse is hy no means clear. The precise object of " therefore," and the reason why God's overruling providence made the Jews more guilty than the Gentiles, are things which it is not easy to explain. But I must think that the latent idea of our Lord was to remind Pilate…
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Hutclieson observes, tliat " tlie greatest height of impiety ia found within the visible Church," where there is most knowl- edge. When all has been said, we must admit that there is proba bly something in the verse more deep than we have line to fathom. The two propositions of the verse are both quite in- telligible …
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accuse him to Caesar, the Roman Emperor, as a governor un- friendly to the Imperial interests. — " You are no friend to Caesar if you let o.T this prisoner. Every one who sets himself up as a king, be his kingdom what it may, is usurping part of Caesar's authority, and is a rebel. If you pass over this man's claim to b…
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The " pavement " means tlie marble, or Mosaic levelled space on wLicli the judge's chair was placed. Parkhurst says that Roman Governors used sometimes to carry with them tlie mate- rials to form such a pavement. The word "Gabbatha," according to Hammond, is more Syriac than Hebrew ; " According to the custom of the N…
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(c) Some say, as Augustine does in one place, and Bullinger, " that at tlie third hour the Lord was crucified by the tongues of the Jews, and at the sixth by the hands of the soldiers." This, however, to say the least, is a weak and childish explana tion. Moreover, it is open to the grave objection that it would make o…
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o'clock, — Mark calling it the third hour, because it was near our nine o'clock ; John calling it the sixth hour, because it was Bome time between our nine and twelve. Grotius says, in Parkhurst, that the third, sixth, and ninth hours, which were most esteemed for prayer and other servi- ces, were marked by the soundi…
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but Caesar ! " Above all tliey madly proclaimed to the world, though they knew it not, that " the sceptre had departed from. Judah," and that Messiah must have come. (Gen. xlix. 10.) Truly the sceptre had departed, when chief priests could say, " We have no king but Caesar." Cyril remarks, that " while other nations, …
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and that God " spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." (Rom. iv. 25 ; viii. 30.) Christ was delivered to death, that we might be delivered from death and set free. Here is substitution. Let us remember, as we read the word " led," that Isaiah ex- pressly foretold that Messiah should be brought, or le…
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them, and write them down ? There is but one answer. He wrote them by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Why the common people, who always •' heard Jesus gladly," permitted our Lord's crucifixion so easily, and made no resist- ance, is at first sight rather hard to understand. The Galileans, who would have made Jesus King…
206 wordsSECTION 276JOHN XIX. 17—27.
17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called tTie place of a skull, which is called in the He- brew Golgotha : 18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writ- ing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH T…
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sense of man's debt to Christ, must have a very cold, or a very thoughtless heart. Great must be the love of the Lord Jesus to sinners, when He could voluntarily endure such sufferings for their salvation. Great must be the sinfulness of sin, when such an amount of vicarious suf- fering was needed in order to provide r…
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Like our Master, we must be willing to take up our cross daily, and to be persecuted both for our doctrine and our practice. Well would it be for the Church if there was more of the true cross to be seen among Christians ! To wear material crosses as an ornament, to place material crosses on churches and tombs, all thi…
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tude who accompanied our Lord at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, had cried, " Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." (John xii. 13.) The current belief of all godly Jews was, that when Messiah, the Son of David came. He would come as a King. A kingdom of heaven and a kingdom of God was …
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her desolate condition, and the crushing effect of the sor- rowful sight before her. lie knew that, holy as she was, she was only a woman, and that, as a woman, she must deeply feel the death of such a Son. He therefore com- mended her to the protection of His best-loved and best- loving disciple, in brief and touching…
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Notes. John xix. 17 — 27. 17. — [And He hearing His cross.'] It was the Roman custom to compel criminals, sentenced to crucifixion, to carry tlieir own cross. Our Lord was thus treated like the vilest felon. " Fur- cifer," was the Latin name of ignominy and contempt given to the worst criminals. It means, literally, "…
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deserves no more attention than the many pretended pieces of the true cross, which are exhibited in Romish churches as sa- cred relics. Ambrose says, quaintly enough, that the form of the cross is that of a sword with the point downward ; above is the hilt toward heaven, as if in the hand of God ; below is the point t…
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297 went oat of the city to be crucified. He was condemned in tlie open air, and " went forth " cannot mean out of Pilate's house, but went outside of Jerusalem, without the gates. Trifling- as this incident may seem to a careless reader, it as a striking- fulfilment of one of the great types of the Mosaic law. Tiie s…
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miles. Beneath, tliis platform is a garden of olives still, full of excavations. In one of these, I think, was the sepulchre." (c) Others, and among them another friend, who has travel- led much in Palestine, and published the results of his travels, inclined to think that Golgotha was on the west side of Jerusa- lem,…
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the marginal reading in Luke xxiii. 33 ought certainly to be in the text. One thing alone is very certain. There is not the slightest authority for the common idea, that the place where our Lord was crucified was a hill, or mountain. The common expression in hymns and religious poetry, " Mount Calvary," is utterly in-…
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of the cross, to bear up the weight of the body, and also a place for the feet to rest on. Jeremy Taylor thinks, in support of this view, that the body of a crucified person could not rest only on the four wounds of hands and feet. Bishop Pearson also quotes a passage from Seneca, which seems to favor the idea. — As tD…
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hands than their own. It must either be the four soldiers who were the executioners, or else it must be interpreted generally- after the manner of other places, for " He was crucified." Thus in John xvi. 2, "They shall put you out of the synagogues." In that sentence " they " cannot refer to any person in particu- lar.…
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Pilate about it. If I may venture a conjecture, I stould guess that Mark gives the Latin inscription, Luke the Greek, and Matthew and John the Hebrew one. But wliy it seemed good to the Holy Ghost that Matthew should omit the expression "of Nazareth," which John mentions, I do not pretend to say. It is precisely one of…
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The last day alone, perhaps, will disclose the effect this title had on those who read it. When the priests and their com- panions saw it, they mocked and scoffed : " King indeed I Let Christ the King of Israel descend from the cross, and we will helieve." (Mark xv. 32.) But there was one man who saw the title probably…
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priests might easily be standing bj. The difficulty is to under- stand where the parties could be, when the priests said " write not ; " and it is one which must be left unsettled. It seems, however, certain that once put over our Lord's head, the title was not expected to be taken down ; and the request was not to alt…
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can we tliink that God dotli write any in His book and blot it out again ? " 23. — [Then the soldiers, etc.] The soldiers having now finished their bloody work, having nailed our Lord to the cross, put the title over His head and reared the cross on end, proceeded to do what they probably always did, — to divide the c…
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seamless and woven throughout, — though I doubt not our Lord wore it, and it was the hem of such a garment the woman touched. (b) Some few commentators think it was the outer garment, a loose mantle or cape, thrown over the shoulders, which many wore above the tunic. Such a garment, having no sleeves, might easily be …
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order that we miglit be clothed with the garment of His perfect righteousness and reckoned innocent. 24. — [Thet/ said therefore among themselves, etc.] In this verse we are told that the conduct of the soldiers was a precise ful- filment of a prophecy delivered a thousand years before. (Ps. xxii. 18.) That i)ropliecy…
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It is wortli remembering, that when the first Adam fell hy Bin and was cast out of Eden, God mercifully clothed him and covered his nakedness. When the second Adam died as our substitute, and was counted " a curse " for us on the cross. He was stripped naked and His clothes sold. The object for which John concludes th…
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lee to tlie feast of tlie passover, in company witli the other women who ministered to our Lord. She must now have been comparatively old, at least forty-eight years old. To represent her in pictures as a beautiful young woman at the time of the crucifixion is absurd. Who can doubt that when she saw her Son hanging on …
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four : viz, (1) Mary, the mother of Jesus. (2) The sister of our Lord's mother : i.e., Salome, the mother of John, who wrote this Gospel. (3) Mary, the wife of Alpheus and mother of two Apostles. (4) Mary Magdalene. The reader must decide for himself. The question happily is not one affecting our salvation. For myself…
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tenderly for her desolate condition, left alone in a wicked world, after having lost such a Son. He therefore commended her to the care of John, His most loving and tender-hearted and faith- ful disciple. He told John to look on her as his mother, and told His mother to look on John as her son. No better and wiser arra…
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a trustee and a guardian by a great person, for those lie leaves behind at his death. To the women Jesus gives the honor of being specially named and recorded for their faithfulness and love, in a Gospel which is read all over the world in 200 lan- guages. The Greek words rendered " his own home," mean literally, "his…
518 wordsSECTION 299JOHN XIX. 28—37.
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, Baith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar : and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had re- ceived the vinegar, he sai…
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last it was a thing foreknowiij and every portion of it was in accordance with a settled plan and design. In the highest, fullest sense, when Christ died, He " died according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor. xv. 3.) We need not hesitate to regard such fulfilments of prophecy as strong evidence of the Divine authority of Go…
326 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.