which is fully recorded in tlie other three Gospels. The insti- tution of the Lord's Supper is an example. His Gospel was em- inently supplementary. Writing later than the others, he was specially inspired to dwell at great length on the examination of Jesus before Pilate the Gentile ruler, and to say comparative- ly little about the proceedings in the Jewish courts.
(d) Last, but not least, the Greek of the twenty-fourth verse cannot fairly and honestly bear the same sense which our translators have put upon it. They have really strained the words to make the sense square with tlieir evident interpreta- tion. The word " sent " is not a pluperfect at all in the Greek 1 The verse literally translated is, '* Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest." It is rather " did then send Him," than "now had sent Him." The natural sense that any ordi- nary reader would put on it is, that " Annas having asked our Lord about His disciples and His doctrine, and having found by His reply that he could make nothing of Him, did then send Him bound to Caiaphas." As to what then took place before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrim John tells us nothing, and leaves us to learn it from Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Such are my reasons for the view which I adopt. If the reader does not think them valid, he must regard the twenty- fourth verse as one of Jolm's parenthetical explanations or comments, and carry the true place of the fact mentioned back- wards to verse thirteenth ; and must suppose that the examina- tion of our Lord in the nineteenth and four following verses is the examination before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrim, and only another part of what Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe ! — Not least, he must suppose that " did send " in the twenty- fourth verse, means " had sent " some time before !
Chrysostom says, " Annas questioned Jesus about His doc- trine ; and having heard Him, sent Him to Caiaphas ; and he having in his turn questioned Him, and discovered nothing, sent Him to Pilate."
25. — [And Simon Peter. ..warmed himself.] This would be more literally rendered, " was standing and warming himself." The expression seems to indicate, that all the time during which Annas was questioning and examining our Lord, Peter was standing by the fire in another part of the hall, and warming himself comfortably among the enemies of our liOrd, like one of them. May not the light of the fire, as it burned up, have made Peter's face and appearance more easily recognizable ?
[They said. ..art not thou... disciple ?] Here comes Peter's sec- ond trial. After a time, when the fire had burned up, and men could see better and felt more warm, they looked at Peter stand- ing among them, and recognizing either by his dress and talk that he was a Galilean, or suspecting by his anxious manner that he was a friend of our Lord, they asked him plainly, " Art
240 jfiXPOSITOEY THOUGHTS.
tliou not one of this prisoner's disciples ? " We see wliat trials people bring on themselves by going where they ought not.
{He denied it. ..lam not.] A second time we find the unhappy Apostle telling a lie, and this time it is added emphatically, "he denied it." The further a backslider goes, the worse he becomes. The first time he seems to have said quietly, " I am not." The second time he flatly "denies." Even an apostle can fall into being a liar !
Bloomfield suggests that Peter heard our Lord's examination, and was terrified at hearing inquiry made about His disciples. This, he supposes, hastened his fall.
26. — [Ofie of the servants, etc., etc.] Here comes Peter's last trial. Attention seems to have been roused by his strong denial, and eyes were fixed on him. And the one who had seen him in the garden, and marked him as a forward man among the disciples by his using the sword, presses home the painful question, " Did not I see thee ? "
27. — [Peter then denied again.] This denial we know from the other Gospels, was more loud and emphatic than any, and was made with cursing and swearing ! The further a man falls, the heavier his fall.
Calvin remarks on the course of a backslider, " At first the fault will not be very great ; next, it becomes habitual ; and at last, after the conscience has been laid asleep, he who Ijas ac- customed himself to despise God will think nothing unlawful, but will dare to commit the greatest wickedness."
Henry remarks, " The sin of lying is a fruitful sin, and there- fore exceeding sinful. One sin needs another to support it, and tliat needs another."
[And immediately the cock crew.] There was nothing uncom- mon in this, of course. Every one knows that cocks crow at night. But the bird's familiar crow no doubt sounded in Peter's ear like a clap of thunder, because it awoke him to a sense of his sin and his fall.
It will be noted that for wise reasons John says nothing about Peter's weeping, or about our Lord turning and looking at him, or about Peter going out. He seems to have left the hall when the cock crew, without any attempt being made to detain him. This too may have been the overruling work of his gracious Master.
As long as the world stands, Peter's fall will be an instructive example of what even a great saint may come to if he neglects to work and pray, — of the mercy of Christ in restoring such a backslider, — and of the honesty of the Gospel writers in re- cording such a history.
Let it never be forgotten that Peter's fall is one of those few
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facts whicli all four Gospel writers carefully record for our learninsr.