The impulse to restore the world comes from the Father, and is based on love : ' God so loved the world that he sent his only-begotten Son ' to save it (Jn 3'«-"; cf. 1 Jn 4">-"). The effect of the mission of Christ is variously described ; He comes that the world may be saved through His means (Jn 8" ; cf. 4*", 1 Jn 4") ; that is the most general phrase. He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1", 1 Jn 3°). He comes that He may deatroythe works of the devil (1 Jn 3'). But perhaps the most frequent expri's.sion of the intended result is the phrase eternal life (Jn 3'", 1 Jn 6"). This forms the subject of many of the discourses and warnings of the Lord, and it is constantly occurring in the l''irst Epistle. Those who believe have passed from death into life (1 Jn 3"; cf. Jn S'") ; eternal life has Iwen promised to mankind by (!o<l (1 Jn '2"). Christ Himself is identilicd with it |l ..In !• 5"- ''"). He declares that He has come 'that the; may i\aru life, and have abundance'
(Jn 10"") ; thecommandmentof the Father is et«mal life (Jn 12'"). And again, ' This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesua Christ whom thou hast sent' (17"). Thus the life which Christ brings consists in union with Christ, obedience to the Father's commandments, and knowledge of God. It is not a thing to be attained only in tlie future ; it is actually in the possession of those who believe (Jn 6", 1 Jn 5"-'"). From another point of view this condition is described as light. Christ is the light of the world (Jn 8"^ ; cf. 3i!i i24«) in contradistinction to the darkness of sin (cf. 1 Jn 2«-"). (See below, p. 6S9).
The means of salvation tor the world is only through Christ. This is partly implied by the general statements of the purpose of God already cited, and partly by the series of metaphorical phrases used by Christ Himself to describe His functions. Thus He is the Bread of Life(G''-"); without participation in His Flesh and Blood there is no true life at all (6™). He is the true fulfilment of the type of the water in the wilderness (7^- "*) ; the light of the world (8'» 12"). He is the Door into the trae fold, to the exclusion of all others (10'- ") ; and again. He is the good Shepherd (10"-"). So, at the grave of Lazarus, He proclaims Uim-self the Kesurrection and the Life (11°°) ; in answer to the question of Thomas, He declares Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14«). Through Him alone is man's access to the Father; in llim all truth and all life are summed up. Once more. He is the True Vine, the unity and quickening force of all those who believe (15' etc.). Nor are His functions restricted to those whom He may be con- nected with during His earthly life, or to tliose who belong to the chosen people. His work is universal in power and validity (Jn 10" 11" 12^, 1 Jn 2-).
The idea of God, then, if we may so say, is the salvation of the world through His Son, Christ. We must now consider what action is necessary to achieve this purpose, both on the part of Christ and of mankind. We have already spoken of the obedience of Christ, and the exact way in which He fulfilled the commission of the Father ; we have now to deal more in detail with the subject, (a) The method by which Christ saves the world is by the sacrifice of Himself through death. The law under which He lived is first suggested by the Baptist in his witness : Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world (l^-").* Christ Himself asserts the same truth, with greater or less distinctness. First to Nicodemus obscurely (3'*), and again more clearly to the Jews after the feeding of the 5000. ' I am the living Bread which came down from heaven . . . and the bread which I will ^ve is my Flesh for the life of the world ' (6"). He is ' the good Shepherd that giveth his life for the sheep' (10"-'»: cf. 1 Ju :!"• ) ; and by so doing He shows that He has the uttermost love (15"). So deeply is this necessity woven into the fabric of things, that the high priest 'of that year,' speaking more wisely than he knew, prophe- sied that He must lay down His life for the people (11"-"). It is the condition of drawing all men to Him (12-^-). In two places in the First Epistle St. .lohn uses the phrase IXan/nij, or propitiation (2^ 4'") ; once (1 Jn 1') St. John speaks of the blood of .K'sns Christ as cleansing us from all sin. And our Lord llimself u.^es once the peculiar phrase, ' 1 sanctify myself for their sake' (Jn 17").
Thus it is by this process of sacrifice that our Lord performs His part in the plan initiated by God. ('') We now come to consider the function lif man — the response required of the world. (1) The fundamental law under which the world is ordered