" Thf precise reference of this iihroM is, no doubt, ob0cur«* but ttiiTec.in U* no doubt thftt tlie asitociiition with tilr Iaip> wiu one of aacriHo*.
688
JOHN, APOSTLE
JOHN, APOSTLE
here meets us. The world can do nothing for itself. He, therefore, that will see and enter the kin^idom of God must be horn iiqain : the old i>hysieal sequence — of blood, of the will of the llesh, and the will of man — must be broken oH', and a new kinship established (3'-«, cf. 1"). (2) Further, there is required of necessity faith in tlie Son, and acceptance of His mission (Jn 3" 5" C'"- ■", 1 Jn 3^). This faith is more than mere belief (8")> w-hich in the p.issa^e quoted fails to bear criticism. But St. Jolin supplies no definition of it, or anything approach- ing; a dclinition. It is rather trust in a person than belief in the truth of what he says : or rather, this kind of belief conies as a result of the trust. It is made impossible, as we shall shortly sec?, by certain moral conditions. (3) The new life which the new birth begins must be sustained by continual par- ticipation in the Life of Christ. This is the burden of the strong and startling language in the syna- gogue at Capernaum (Jn 0'-'") : 'Except ye eat the fli'sh of the Son of Man and drink liis blood, je have not life in yourselves. He that eateth my flesh and drinketli my blood hath eternal life, and I will rai.se him up at the last day.' And this is said in explanation of the phrase, ' the bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.' It implies that the faithful must in some way, not explained by St. John, enter into and share the sacritice of our Lord. The sacrihco is thus not an external transaction : all men must have a part in it.
In face of these demands stands the fact that Christ was in large measure rejected. He came to His own place, and His o\vn people received lliiu not (Jn 1"). This, which might easily become a diliiculty, is met in two ways. First, St. John presents a stron" theory of predestination. Tlie failure no less than the success falls within the sovereignty of the Father. ' No man can come to me, except the Father draw him ' (G") ; ' I mani- fested thy name to the men whom tliou gavest me out of the world' (17*, cf. 10^). The success and tlie failure are even matters of prophetic pre- vision (12""'") : Isaiah saw what would come about, ' when he saw his glory, and spake concerning him.' And Christ administers the will of the Father in this, as in other respects. ' Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and set you that ye should go and bring forth fruit ' (15", cf . ''). Secondly, faith depends upon certain moral con- ditions. Those who are evil are, ipso facto, incap- able of faith : they shun the light (3'»- =»). This general truth is made plainer in various discourses of the Lord's. The essential moral fault which pre- vents faith is self-seeking, aiming at personal dis- tinction, seeking glory one from another (5"- ** 7"). The Jews refuse to accept the teaching of Christ, because they do not understand the spirit in which it is given : If another comes in his own name, him ye will receive (5"). They will not do the Father's will, and therefore they blind themselves. ' If any man will to do his will, he shall know concerning the teachin", whether it is of God, or I speak of myself (7'"''*). And the peril of this position lies just in the fact that they are so self-confident. ' If ye had been blind, ^e would not have had sin : out now ye say, \\ e see ; therefore your sin re- maineth ' (9*')
Thus it is that the manifestation of Christ pro- duces a twofold effect, corresponding to the varieties of moral condition. On the one hand, it produces faith, and so eternal life ; this is its natural and proper result. On the other hand, it produces re- jection, which is a declaration of affinity with evil — in St. John's language, judgment (3'"). ' This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. ' As eternal
life is not a future state of blessedness, but is the correlative of right faith in the Son of Man, so judgment is a condition the precise opposite of life. It consists in the revelation, in action, of hostility to Christ and all that He represents. So Christ says (l^"-*), ' If any man hear my words and keep them not, I do not judge him : for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, that will judge him in the last day.' Thus judgment follows the same course of meaning as life. The Father has given into the hands of the Son the two Uivineprerogativesof life and judgment (5'-"-""). ■^'et Christ speaks as if life were the immediate consequence of faith, and judgment the conse- quence of the refusal to believe (cf. 5" 6"). At the same time, both in the case of life and judgment, 'here is a sort of consummation to be looked fot at the last day iO'°- '■* 12"- ■•«). In neither casi- docs tlw enndition of life or judgment begin iij'ler the last day : it is a process whidi begins I ere. and is deliued and completed at the last day. In the same way Christ speaks before the Passion of having already overcome the world UU^'), and St. John iu his F'irst Epistle uses similar language of the faith (4''5'-°), although in the same Epistle he warns against continuance in sin. .So again he speaks of the sinlessness of those who are ' born of God ' (3") in similar connexions. On the other hand, to con- tinue the refusal to accept Christ after the oi)por- tunity is linaUy past is ' to die in sin ' (Jn 8-'- -■*).