PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Great Texts of the Bible — Volume 11
James Hastings · 198,579 words · 206 reading sections
Section 1
m^ m il- V. u THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE We must preach more upon the great texts of the Scriptures, ttie tremendous passages whose vastnesses almost terrify us as we approach them. J. H. JOWETT. THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE EDITED BY THE REV. JAMES HASTINGS, D.D. EDITOR OF "THE EXPOSITORY TIMES" "THE DI…
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3. St. John started with Jesus of Nazareth, and he has reached this : " In the beginning was the Word." But he cannot rest in that. Jesus was the Word in Old Testament times and earlier, because He uttered God's will. He came into the world to utter it. But He did not separate Himself from God by coming into the world.…
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2. This title will have many advantages. It will lead up naturally to the stress which the writer wants to lay on the words of Jesus as being spirit and life, and on His discourses as being the utterances of Him who claimed to be the Truth : they will be sayings of One who had already been described as " the faithful …
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1 Westcott. ST. JOHN I. I 9 thoughts beyond the beginning and dwells on that which " was " when time, and with time finite being, began its course. Already when " God created the heaven and the earth," " the Word was." The " being " of the Word is thus necessarily carried beyond the limits of time, though the pre-exi…
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^ God could be known in nature, in conscience, in history ; but if He was to be thoroughly known, He must be known in a person. So Christ stands the central fount of personality, who explains, not my gifts, my attainments, my knowledge, my capacities, but me, that which lies beyond these, uses them and gives them meani…
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^ W. J. Dawson, The Reproach of Christy 25. 14 THE WORD At length he came, of lowly birth, despised And by the world rejected ; but a band Of humble men observed and felt the power Of kindling love and faith with which he taught. For in him thou, the eternal Word of truth, Who once didst grave thy precepts upon …
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2. Next, this passage tells us that the character of Christ is the character of God. We cannot read the Gospels without a sense of the infinite piety, tenderness, holiness, and magnanimity of Jesus. Were the Gospels but a pure human idyll, still the picture they present of the character of Christ would be the loveliest…
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By blessed ways before untrod, To lift us to our crown; Victory that only perfect is Through loving sacrifice, like His. Holding His hand, my steadied feet May walk the air, the seas; On life and death His smile falls sweet, Lights up all mysteries: Stranger nor exile can I be In new worlds where He leadeth me. N…
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ST. JOHN I. I 21 — among the nations whom He approached through the avenues of the natural conscience, and among the Israelites to whom He spoke in the piercing tones of inspiration, there were those who did feel His presence, did hear His voice ; and these were rescued from their grovelling, material, earthly life, w…
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Literature. Barrow (E. P.), The Way not a Sect, 23. Briggs (C. A.), The Incarnation of the Lord, 190. Brooke ('S. A.), Christ in Modern Life, 63, 75. Campbell (K J.), A Faith for To-day, 197. Church (R. W.), The Message of Peace, 159. Dale (R. W.), Christian Doctrine, 45. Dods (M.), Footsteps in the Path of Life, 19. …
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Tf The belief in the Divinity of Christ is waning among us. They who hold it have petrified it into a theological dogma without life or warmth, and thoughtful men are more and more beginning to put it aside. How are we then to get back this belief in the Son of God — by authority or by the old way of persecution ? ^ H…
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ST. JOHN I. 14 31 Many had tried to interpret it into human speech. Psalmiets, prophets, philosophers had tried; but their words died away, leaving fainter and fainter echoes in man's conscience. They had written their interpretation, but God's word can never find full expression in a book. Language must be transforme…
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But that Word has yet to become flesh. There are countless words of God in the knowledge and conviction of us all which are as yet no more than words. These are waiting for their incarna- tion in our character and influence, in our daily work and service of man and God. The works of our hands are God's word fulfilled i…
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i. His Pre-existence. 1. Who is it of whom St. John says that He became flesh ? The Word, he says. And who was the Word ? Was it some prophet, a voice from God, bringing His word to man ? It was more than that. Was it some Being, more than man, created on purpose to be the messenger of God to His creatures, and to dec…
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^ Among geographers there have sometimes been disputes as to the identity of a river. They have debated, for instance, whether the Quorra were the same as the Niger ; but when a boat, launched on the Niger, after a few weeks made its appear- ance floating on the Quorra, there was an end of the argument : » P. T. Forsy…
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^ James Hamilton, Works, iii. 249, 40 THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD in the Epistle to the Philippians (ii. 6, 7) : " Who, being in the form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a …
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mil 1st of his argument turning back again to simple statement, as if, like his Lord, he would have asked, " Do ye now believe ? " ^ 2. The faith of the Church in our Lord's humanity rests primarily on experience — the experience of those who knew Him during His earthly life. And their experience must also deter- mine…
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^ M. C. Albright, The Common Heritage, 1]3. ^ Luther. 44 THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD descension, for He came to lift us into participation with Himself. But we can adore the man Christ Jesus, and the Father whom He reveals, as we could not have adored a God shrouded from us in His own perfections. Save through the f…
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1. He became man in order that He might realize Himself. This point we must touch reverently, yet firmly. It has a certain significance. God shares in every experience of the race and lives His life in every individual. The Hegelian philosophy declares that creation is the result of a process in which the Deity realize…
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When Christ came. He, and He first, taught us that we, with our sin-stained lips, might call upon God as " Our Father which art in heaven." Thus a new relationship altogether was (not established but) revealed between the Creator and the creature, and that connection which David faintly foreshadowed when he said, " Lik…
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And this brings new life into the world. Christ is the pro- pitiation for His people through whom they recover their lost place in the Divine favour. But besides this. He is their life, and is made to them a quickening spirit. To Him they are indebted for their new existence; in His likeness they are re- newed ; on Him…
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ST. JOHN I. 14 53 thing to be man, with man's destiny ; to be man, with the honour put on man by God.^ 1. The Word " dwelt among us." There can be little doubt that the author had in mind the Shekinah of the temple of the old dispensation. Biblical history tells us that after the erection of the tabernacle in the wil…
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(1) Grace and truth are spoken of in the concrete. The Apostle says that the only begotten is " full of grace and truth." He did not come to tell us about grace, but actually to bring us grace. He is not full of the news of grace and truth, but of grace and truth themselves. Others had been messengers of gracious tidin…
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1. Grace is a revelation of the will of God now. A child knows something of the mind and will of the parent from personal contact with that parent, but not from the rules, or only to a very slender degree from the rules, which are laid down for its guidance. But when we turn from Law to Grace, then we see at once that …
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2. He was full of Sincerity. — This is one of the chief impres- sions made on all readers of the Gospels, that Jesus of Nazareth was perfectly honest, that He was not a conscious impostor, that He spoke with a strength and depth of sincerity which raised Him far above the level of ordinary witnesses. The frank and pene…
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The New Testament embodies this unique Apostolic experi- ence. There are critical considerations which give a graduated value to its materials. Some portions are more near the centre than others. Some passages and sections are relegated to the fringe. Some may have a doubtful claim. There is a certain variance in tone …
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that the blaze of His glory was manifest to every seeing eye that looked upon Him. 2, There would be several facts which would stand out with peculiar prominence before St. John's mind when he thought of the glory of the Divine Word as manifested in the human life of Jesus Christ. (1) He might probably have in mind, …
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That human character, what was it ? Was it simply one character among many ? Was it a superlatively good man side by side with whom there were the Caiaphases and the Pilates, the weak men and the desperately wicked men ? Was it simply one out of many ? No, it had dawned upon them more and more that here He had not only…
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Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tahernacle Pulpit, xxxiii. (1887) No. 1, 987 ; Ivi. (1910) No. 3, 222. Taylor (W. M.), The Silence of Jesus, 17. Thomas (J.), The Dijnamic of the Cross, 86. Trench (R. C), Sermons in Westminster Abbey, 163. Van Dyke (H.), The Reality of Religion, 99. Waddell (R.), Behold the Lamb of God,…
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The text is " Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away [margin " beareth "] the sin of the world ! " Let us consider it in this way — I. The Sin of the World. II. The Lamb of God. III. The Lamb and the Sin. The Sin of the World. <^f^^^ ^y'% 1/^^ — Sin, the choice of evil instead of good, the perversion f .^ of th…
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II A genial sense of " camaraderie " was inspired and main- tained by sacred dance, song, and simple prayer, and especially by the sacrificial banquet at which the deity and his tribe were imagined as feasting together. And whatever ritual was in vogue ^6 THE LAMB OF GOD for the purging of the people's sins was exter…
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\ All depends on our maintaining the inviolability of the will ; and for finite beings a will is no will which cannot choose evil. 1 T1\A Lift of R. W. Dale, 314. » C. E. Jetferson, Things Fundamental, 234. j^ THE LAMB OF GOD If admits that, but says that the continued rebellion of any is irreconcilable with the t…
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^ J. Parker. 8o THE LAMB OF GOD separation the next step is easy. It is hostility. Thus the last stage of the world is humanity separated, hostile, rebellious against God. That is sin. That is the sin of the world. (1) The view of the Baptist embraces the human race. His words are that the Lamb of God "taketh away t…
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^ Says Drummond : The whole of a man's nature is built up. I might say, of cells. One after another, good and bad, ail things have become part of him. His sins have made sin a part of him. That unkind thing you say or do makes you an unkind character. That selfish thing you do makes you selfish, pure and holy and noble…
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Defiling with the world my virgin heart — My lov'd companion dropt a tear, and fled, And hid in deepest shades her awful head. Beloved, who shall tell me, where thou art. In what delicious Eden to be found ? That I may seek thee, the wide world round. Now, that was the test that Christ never needed. Why? Because He ne…
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Nay, lamb is not so sweet a word, Nor lily half so pure a name ; Another name our hearts hath stirred, I Kindling them to flame : I ** Jesus" certainly Is music and melody : Heart with heart in harmony Carol we and worship we.^ ^ When the great Father came to unveil Himself in the person of His Son, it was a life …
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IE. Waddell. ST. JOHN I. 29 89 III. The Lamb and the Sin. 1. " Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ! " What precisely do these words mean ? In the margin of the ordinary version we read, "beareth away" the sin of the world; and in that of the Kevised Version it is given simply, " beareth…
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3. How the death of Christ upon the Cross is an atonement for the sins of the whole world is a complete mystery to us ; but that it is so we know from revelation. All sin, upon repentance, is made as though it had never been by virtue of this sacrifice ; it is cancelled, done away with. " Though your sins be as scarlet…
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94 THE LAMB OF GOD that the sin which man commits every hour issued in His Passion. ^ Ghastliest of all misconceptions ever put before this city or any other is the assertion that the doctrine of the Atonement implies, first, that an innocent being is made guilty in the sense of being personally blameworthy ; and, se…
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According to St. John's narrative, Andrew and John (who characteristically does not name himself in the narrative) were the first men who heard and responded to the Master's call, the first whom He enlisted in His little cohort of disciples. They had previously been followers of John the Baptist ; but one day as Christ…
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(4) But when Andrew spoke thus, he knew little of the real Christ. During the next three years he was to be continually finding Christ. He found Him anew in the Sermon on the Mount. He grew larger to his thought as he saw Him heal the sick, teach the inquiring, forgive the sinning. He grew still mightier as he watched …
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(4) If we can say " We have found the Messiah," it is now, as I04 PERSONAL SERVICE of old, enough. John in the desert, Andrew on the morrow aftei meeting the Eedeemer, did not look like the men who were to initiate nothing less than the spiritual conquest of the world. But one truth, seriously believed and proclaimed…
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^ I remember well how I used to pray for joy. I was told that a Christian must be joyful. I prayed and prayed, and I must say I did not get it. Why not ? Because it does not come by prayer alone. It may come that way, but not alone. I used to think that joy was kept in lumps — packets which were stored up and then dole…
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^ In a list of Indian missionaries of Mohammedanism, pub- lished in the journal of a religious and philanthropic society of Lahore, says Arnold in The Preaching of Islam, " We find the names of schoolmasters, government clerks in the Canal and Opium Departments, traders, including a dealer in camel carts, an editor of …
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^ On Sunday afternoons the boys in his passage would often indulge in pillow fights or games of a somewhat rowdy order. In order to stop this, Hogg, now one of the eldest boys at Joynes', suggested that they should all club together and have tea in his room, and then read aloud. He collected a large quantity of old Cha…
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^ Lord, I read at the transfiguration that Peter, James, and John were admitted to behold Christ ; but Andrew was excluded. So again at the reviving of the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, these three were let in, and Andrew shut out. Lastly, in the agony, the aforesaid three were called to be » C. G. Trumbull, …
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^ F. G. Peabody, Mornings in the College. Chafd^ ii. 59. ST. JOHN I. 40-42 115 Eoman Empire was slowly subdued under the Cross, and Chris- tianity made the ruling faith of the world.^ ^ I recently read a story in some newspaper or other about a minister who preached a very elaborate course of lectures in refutation …
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^ J. W. BuTgon, Lives of Twelve Good Men, i., xxv. ' C. Bickersteth, The Gosj^el of Incarnate Love, 10. ST. JOHN I. 40-42 117 " Strengthen thy brethren " ; how thousands were converted in a day by his preaching ; and how, in the Epistles he has left, he has been made such an instrument for comforting and building up …
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2. The keynote of this Gospel was struck in the earlier verses of the first chapter in the great words, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, full of grace , and truth." To these words there is an evident reference in the language of the text. The Evangelist regards Christ's first miracl…
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124 THE FIRST SIGN carded His aureole, or wore it only on rare days and in retreat, as at the Transfiguration. You might have come to the feast, and marked all the notables, from near and far ; He would not be of them : this one is the bridegroom of the day, and this the bride ; this the bride's father or mother ; and…
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^ Marcus Doda. ^ J. Rendel Harris, Union loith Ood, 12. 126 THE FIRST SIGN It is difficult to understand how a poet could have been so blin^ir as not to know that such nameless and appropriate gifts never come except from God, and from good women. But even when we lay the charge of want of insight at the poet's door,…
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as His words conveyed. Given the perfect man, who is Lord of Nature, surely the wonder lies in the limitation of His power, and not in any manifestation of it. Given the required conditions of spiritual life, nothing which does not involve contradiction is impossible. To Him who could work, not merely on nature, but on…
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5. What special propriety was there in the selection of this particular work to introduce and inaugurate the whole train? It is evident from St. John's impressive words that he finds a strong significance and a profound fitness in the form His Master chose for the beginning of His signs. He can recall many other signs …
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' James Freeman Clarko, ST. JOHN II. II 133 glory of Christ, for St. John saw that it was full of truth. Therefore, neither strength nor craft is the glory of Christ. For the glory of Christ is the glory of God, and none other, because He is very God, of very God begotten. In Christ, man sees the unseen, and absolute…
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ST. JOHN II. II 135 sunshine. Behold, and drink, and see my glory without the vineyard, since you had forgotten to see it in the vineyard ! " ^ ^ An Eastern fable says that a boy challenged his teacher to prove the existence of God by working a miracle. The teachei, who was a Brahmin, procured a large vessel filled w…
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^ Whenever we make a grateful review, let it mean instant commitment to a better future. If the mercies of God have blessedly beset us, let us not build " Three Tabernacles," that we may abide; but rather, like Paul, call the places where our mercies meet us "Three Taverns," then push on, thank God, and take courage. E…
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^ To shroud ourselves in no false mist of holiness : to dare to show ourselves as we are, making no solemn affectation of reserve or difference from others ; to be found at the marriage-feast ; to accept the invitation of the rich Pharisee Simon, and the scorned Publican Zaccheus; to mix with the crowd of men, using no…
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(4) This first miracle is emblematic of the whole redemptive work of Christ. Is it possible that while He first put forth His power to restore the joy of these wedding guests. He should not have seen in the wine a symbol of the blood He was to shed for the refreshment and revival of men ? The Baptist, whose mind was no…
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(3) The disciples did not stop at this rudimentary state of faith, in which they merely believed in Jesus. They continued to believe in Him ; but to this they added in later life many and illustrious spiritual attainments. But great as were their attain- ments in faith, knowledge, righteousness, and grace in after life…
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» G. F. Terry, The Old Theology in the New Age, 179. * Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive ( TForks, xviii. 478). ST. JOHN — 10 A New Beginning. 147 Literature. Albertson (C. C), The Gosiwl aawding to Christ, 25, Arnold (T.), Sermons, vi. 124. Bain (J. A.), Questions Answered hy Christ, 133. Banks (L. A.), The Grea…
1,084 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1910); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.