as Q-od, one will with the Father, it was not possible for Him to seek His own will independently of the Father. Hence the judg- ment was not His only, but His Father's also. — As Son of man He had a human will disiinct from His Divine will, aa when He said, " Let this cup pass from me : neveriheiess not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matt. xxvi. 39.) But the will here seems to be His Divine wilh
Chrysostom remarks, — '' What Christ implieth is of this kind : — not that the will of the Father is one and His own another, but that as one will in one mind, so is Mine own will and My Father's."
Once more we must remember the extreme difficulty of han- dling such a subject as the one before us. The distinction between the Persons in the Trinity, and the Unity of their essence at the same time, must always be a deep thing to man, hard to con- ceive, and harder still to speak or write about.
31. — [7/" / hear witness of myself etc.] This verse must be in- terpreted with caution and reasonable qualification. It would be folly and blasphemy to say that our Lord's testimony about Himself must be false. What the verse does appear to mean is this : — " If I have no other testimony to bring forward in proof of My Messiahship but My own word, my testimony would be justly open to suspicion." — Our Lord knew that in any disputed question a man's assertions in his own favour are worth little or nothing. He tells the Jews that He did not want them to be- heve Him merely because He said He was the Son of Grod. He would show them that He had other witnesses, aud these wit- nesses He next proceeds to bring forward. A comparison of this verse with John viii. 14 shows at once that the meaning of the words, " My witness is not true," must be qualified and restrained, or else one place of Scripture would contradict the other.
32. — [Tliere is another that heareth witness.] There are two dis- tinct and diJBferent views of this expression.
(a.) Some, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthjmius, Light- foot, Brentius, Grrotius, Ferus, Barradius, Quesnel, Whitby, Doddridge, Grill, think that the "other witness" is John the Baptist.
(&.) Some, as Cyril, Athanasius, Calvin, Beza, Gualter, Bacer, Ecolampadius, Zwingle, Rnpertus, Flacius, Calovius, Cocceius, Piscator, Musculus, Aretius, Toletus, Nifanius, Bollock, Poole, Leigh, Diodati, Hammond, Trapp, Hutcheson, Henry, Buikitt, Baxter, Bloomfield, Lampe, Bengel, Pearce, A. Clarke, Scott. Barnes, St'er, Alford, Webster, think that *' the other witness,'* is God the Father.