(Deut. xviii. 18, 19) of a Prophet to be raised up like Moses, to whom the Jews were to hearken ? Does He not seem to say, " I have come as that Prophet, and have spoken my Father's words, and they ought to have received and hearkened to them ? The refusal of the promised Prophet is of itself their condemnation, and leaves them without excuse."'
The word rendered " cloke," would have been better as in the margin, " excuse." The clause literally is, " They have now no excuse concerning their sin."
When our Lord says " they had not had sin," He does not of course mean they would not have been sinners at all. It is only another way of putting the degree of their guilt. " They would have been less guilty than they are now. To have heard Me and not believed will increase their condemnation." (Com- pare John ix. 41.)
Let us note that there are degrees of sin, and that nothing Beems to increase man's guiltiness so much as to have privi- leges, and not use them aright.
23. — [He...hatet7i Me. ..Father also.'] The object of this verse is to supply a reason why the guilt of hearing Christ without be- lieving was so great. It was because Christ's words were not only His words but the Father's also. — "He that hears Me, and hates and refuses my teachings, is hating not Me only but my Father, because I and my Father are one." — Once more we are reminded of the close union between the first and second Per- sons of the Trinity. The idea that we can worship and serve God while we neglect Christ, is a baseless dream. Neglecting Christ, we neglect the Father. (See Psalm Ixix. 9.)
Poole remarks, " It is a common error of the world, that many pretend to love God, while yet they are manifest haters of Christ and His Gospel. Our Saviour saith, this is impossi- ble ; whosoever hateth him who is sent, hateth also him who sent him."
Hengstenberg observes, " The Jews professed that they lov- ed God, and that on the ground of that love they hated Christ ; the God, however, whom they loved was not the true God, but a phantom which they named God. The fact that they rejected Christ, in spite of all His words of spirit and truth, showed them to be enemies of the Father."
'M. — \_If 1 had not done, etc.] — In this verse our Lord gives anoth- er proof of the exceeding wickedness of the Jews. They had seen works and miracles done under their eyes, in confirmation of Christ's Divine mission, more numerous and mighty than any oiie had ever worked before, and yet they continued unbe- lieving. The more they saw of Him the more they hated Him ; and in so hating Him, they hated not Him only, but the Father which sent Him. — " The Jews would not be so guilty as