But the most remarkable part of the allegoric method is that connected with numbers. There can be no doubt, in the opinion of the present writer, that the Philonic method of playing with numbers had a strong fascination for our Evan- gelist. The examples are far too numerous to be accidental. The number 7 recurs in the number of the miracles (omitting ch. 21 from our calculations), in the number of solemn declarations beginning ' I am ' ; in the number of ' witnesses ' borne to Christ, and perhaps in other places. The officer's son is healed at the seventh hour ; the paralj'tic on the seventh day. It is thorouglily in accordance with the method of the Evangelist, that he avoids the word e?rrd, just as he avoids the two crucial words ■yvCidis and ttio-tis, which had become watchwords of parties. As for tlie number 3, perhaps too mucli ingenuity has been shown in cutting up the whole Gospel into arrangements of 3 ; but unquestionably the book does lend itself very readily to such classi- fication, and the fact that it is concealed rather than obtruded is in accordance with what seems to have been the method and design of the writer. With regard to higher numbers, the extreme pre- cision of the Evangelist must excite su.spicion of an allegorical motive ; and when we find that 38, 40, and 153 can be plausibly explained on Philonic principles, the suspicion becomes almost a certainty. For example) the 153 fish may be the ' fulfilment ' of 10-1-7; l-f2-(-3-t- . . . -fl7 = 153; or, as Bishop Wordsworth suggests, it may be the square of 12 + the square of 3. It is said that 200 (Peter is 200 cubits from the land) signifies, in the PhUonian lore, repentance. The ' forty -six years ' since the beginning of the building of the Temple may possibly be connected with the age assigned to Jesus ('not yet fifty years old') ; it has been sug- gested that the Evangelist wishes to make Him .seven times seven years old at the Crucifixion ; but this is very doubtful. The frequent use of number-symbolism in the Gospel is more certain tlian the correctness of particular interpretations. These interpretations would occur readily to the ' Gnostic ' or the 2nd cent. ; to us they must be guesswork.
Some critics, such as Kenan, have objected to this discovery of allegorisni in the Fourth Gospel, that the allegorist always tries to atlraet attention to his symbols, whereas St. John clearly does not, but conceals them so carefully that the large majority of his readers do not even suspect their existence. This sounds plausible. But the question really is whether the Evangelist has not done all that he need have done in order to be uiiderstood by those among his first readers who knew his method. It is not suggested tlmt the Johannine symbolism was meant for all to understand. There is abundant evidence that those who valued the ' Gnosis ' were agreed that it must not be profaned by being explained to all. We find this conviction in i'hilo, and very strongly in Clement of Alexandria, who, as a Christian, is important evidence. He says that to put the spiritual exegesis before the coannon people is like giving a sword to a cliild to play with. He will not write all that he knows, because of the danger that it may get into WTong hands. There are some religious truths which can only be safely im- parted orally. There is reason to think that he abandoned his project of putting the coping-stone on his theological works by a book of an esoteric character, because a published treatise cannot be confined to those who ought to read it. Since, then, the existence of the symbolic method, and the obligation of concealing it from the ordinary reader, are both proved, there i^ nothing strange in the veiled s^-mbolism which we have found to characterize this Gospel.
The Evangelist writes throughout for two classes of readers— for the siinjMciores, who would be satisfied by the narrative in its plain sense, and for the ' Gnostic,' who could read between the lines without difficulty. And yet he icishes all his readers to rise towards a spiritual understanding. Again and again he puts the key in the lock — in such solemn utterances as ' I am the Bread of Life — the Light of the World — the Resurrection and the Life.' His own word for the allegoric method is ' proverb ' (irapoifila). Up to the end of the last discourse, Jesus has spoken to His disciples in proverbs ; but the time was coming (after the %vith- drawal of His bodily presence) in which, through the medium of the Paraclete, He should no more speak to them in proverbs, but should show them plainly of the Father. The proverb is different from the Synoptic vafapoX-q, which is a story with a religious and moral application — a story which has a complete sense in itself, apart from the lesson, which is generally conveyed by the story as a whole, and not by the details. St. John, however, tries to keep the historical parabolic form in which Jesus actually taught. Yet, in spite of himself, he half substitutes the Alexandrian and Philonic allegory for the Synoptic parable. The double sense runs all through the narrative. Whenever the Johannine Christ begins to teach— whether His words are addressed to Nicoderaus, the Samaritan woman, 'the Jews,' or His oym disciples— He nearly always begins by enunciating a proposition which contains, under a sensible and symbolic image, a religious truth. The auditor regularly misunderstands Him, interpreting liter- ally what should have been easily perceived to be a metaphor. This gives Jesus an opportunity to develop His aUegory, and, in so doing, to instruct the reader, if not the original hearer of the dis- course, whom once or twice (as in ch. 3) the Evan- gelist seems to have quite forgotten. The Johannine Christ loves words which, at any rate in Greek, have a double sense, such as ivueev, TveiVa, X670! (cf. esp. 10^'-^). Whether the very numerous cases where a verb may be indicative or imperative are intentionally ambiguous, it is not easy to say. The symbolism reaches its height in some of the discourses to the Jews ; the last discourses to the disciples are more plain, and in ch. 17, which is the climax of the teaching of tlie Gospel, the mystical union is expounded with much directness.