('U It is in regard to this subject that the theology of St. John is most systematic. We must now pass on to the consideration of some other points less fully systematized, but no less decisive in their character. And lir.st we must call attention to the Tkcologij of the Father and tlie i!o7i. It is contained, for the most part, in incidental references in the Discourses of the Lord. The Father is supreme, and is the source of the Being and all the action of the Son (S"--' etc.). He has .sent the Son into the world (3'"), .and given Him commission to perform certain works there ,536 SM i,|3.'.37 1431 igiu 17J) -pije relation between
the Father and the Son is variously described. It is a profound and complete unity : ' I and the Father are one' t?.- ^irMf) (lO*" IT'"'-"). But this u-iity does not destroy the distinction between the Father and the Son. The Father loves the Son (5" 15"), and the Son loves the Father ( 14^') ; the Father knows the Son, and is known by Him (10'°; cf. 8"). Before the world was, the Son enjoyed 'glory with the Father,' to which He returns (17°). The Father abides (m^''") in the Son, and the Son in the Father (8»«- » U'"- ") : so that it is said ' the Father abiding in me doeth his works ' (14'"). All that belongs to the Son belongs also to the Father, 'and thine are mine' (17'"): yet 'the Father is greater than I ' (14**). Hence tne representation of the Father by the Son iscomplete: ' He that hath seen me hath seen the Father ' ( 1 4", cf . 8"). So that honour given to the Son is given to the Father (5"- ■*), and those who reject the Son reject also the Father (giB 15!U-M ; cf. 1 Jn 2"-"). This fulness of union and intercourse throws some light upon the obsvure subject of the witness of the Father. In 5^'- '-' the Lord disclaims bearing witness concerning Himself, but refers instead to tlie witness of John, and then 5" to the witness of the Father. In cli. 8, in answer to the Jews, He says, ' If I do bear witness of myself, my witness is true, because I know whence I came and whither I go ' (8'^), and then again (8'") refers to the witness of the Father. In "S^--" (probably a reflective passage by the evangelist and not part of a discourse) we read, ' He thai receiveth his {i.e. the Son's) witness hath set to his seal that God is true ' (ia(ppi.yiaei' Sri 6 Sfis dXijS?;! iirrlv); and in 1 Jn 5'° St. John says again, 'He
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that l>elieveth on the Son hath tlie witness in himself ; he that believetli not God, hatli made him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning his Son.' Thus the most obvious sign of failure to receive the witness of the Father is to misunder- staud the promises of God, and the indications of His purpose, which Christ fullils. The witness of the Father is closely allied to the witness of Scripture, but is not quite the same. It seems to con.sist in that inner perception of the purpose of God resting on the love of God (5*^), which carries conviction in the presence of the life and works of Christ ; the Jews fail ' because ye have not his word abiding in you'(5''); without this, they search the Scriptures, and bo fail to receive their witness also. The Son appeals to this wit- ness against the charge of self-seeking or self- advertisement ; and the certainty of His know- ledge of His own nature, and of His mission ('whence I come and whither I go') justifies His witness to Himself.
(5) The next point for consideration, starting with the above-described theology of God and the Incarnation, is the process or scheme of salvation. To do this it is necessary to define first St. John's concei)tion of the world, and of the condition requiring remedy. The word ciff/ioj means pri- marily the created order ; so in !'• '" we find that the world was created through the Word. Also the phrase 6 /ii'os toO Kbafiov occurs (1 Jn 3") for this world's goods. From the idea of transitoriness (e.g. 1 Jn 2'') the word gets a sinister sen.se ; and we find it in its most characteristic signification of the fallen world, the world in opposition to the will of God. In this sense St. John says of it that the whole world lies in the evil one (1 Jn 5"). It is the embodiment of the principle of hatred to all that God requires ; by the inherent necessity of its nature it hates Christ and His Church (Jn 15'*"^, 1 Jn 3"). Christ is alien from it (Jn S-'' 17" IS", 1 Jn 4'). Its hostility is represented in a ruler, i ipxuy ToO K/xTfiov TovTov (Jn 12*' H'"), who has an ' hour ' in which he apparently triumphs. The characteristic attitude of the world is sin, which is 'lawlessness,' i.e. self-will and rebellion (1 Jn 3* 6"). Those who live in sin are under the wTath of God (3") : their life is no true life, their existence may be described as death (Jn 8-^, 1 Jn 3"). From another slightly different point of view the prin- ciple of the world's hostility is called the flesh, and it is clearly declared to be impossible to pass by natural evolution out of the range of the llesh. That which is bom of the fle-sh is Hesh (Jn 3'), and therefore there is no power in the flesh to restore or recreate itself ; it can only go on reproducing itself perpetually. This is the condition of things which it IS Christ's mission to redeem.