(8) To believe {iriffTeieiv). — This, and not the sub- stantive wla-Tis, is St. John's chosen expression. The verb has two constructions: (1) with the dative (5^' 8^', both mistranslated in AV), to believe a person or statement — accept the veracity of the former, or the truth of the latter ; and (2) tt. ei's niia—a. construction characteristicalljr Johannine, which occurs only once in the Synoptics (Mt 18" = Mk 9*% In the Synoptics (ienerally faith is rela- tive to a particular object — the condition of obtain- in" some special miraculous benefit. But in St. Jolin faith is allegiance to Jesus Christ, and, as such, a condition of eternal life (l'= 6'"}, which is also a progressive state, depending on knowledge (17^) as well as faith. The Evangelist studiously avoids yviiffti as well as tt/o-tis, using in both cases the verbs only.
(9) Love {iydini). — This is the new commandment (1.3**). Love is the bond which unites the Son to the Father, the disciples to the Son, and the dis-
ciples to each other. ' As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you' (15"). 'That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.' The virtue of love is no vague sentiment, but shows itself necessarily in action. ' He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me' (14-'--^). Love is not to be sharply distinguished from faith, though the former is a state mainly of the atl'ections, the latter of the will and the intellect. Theologians who developed the Johannine ideas further, like Clem- ent of Alexandria, agree that faith is the begin- ning, love the crown, of the spiritual life. Faith and love are both simple states, and, as Clement says, ' are not taught.' The soul passes out of the simplicity of faith, through the multiiilicity of strenuous interests in the life of duty, into a second and more Divine simplicity, and immediacy of intercourse with God. St. John's teaching about love culminates in cli. 17, in which our Lord seems to imply that the 'name' of the Father, which He has declared to His disciples, is Love.
3. The miracles of the Fourth Gospel. — The miracles in St. John are either ' signs ' (o-Tj/ieia), in which case their abnormal and also their symbolic character is emphasized, or ' works ' (Ipya), in which case no distinction between natural and supernatural is thought of, and the ' works ' are only component parts of the one 'work,' to do wliiili .liMis came into the world. The .Johannine ('liri~l il.ns not wish faith in His person to rest on thi' si^iis, though He allows them a legitimate weight in fortifying a weak faith. It is better to believe for the sake of the words than of the works. He implies in 14" ; and the last beatitude (20-") is a reproof of Thomas, who believed only when he had ocular testimony to the Resurrection. The seven miracles selected by the Evangelist have the value of acted parables, and in some cases the .symbolical significance is dearly indicated.
(1) T/ir minnlr ,,f Cnn, ni (!,',/i/rr Ci'"-).— Christ is reprcsciiti-.l .-i.s l„.-iiniih,L; His |iul.lic ministry at a wt-(!(liii,L;. I iilil..' the I'.s^riii's, and unlike John the Baptist, .Icsus wa.s nut iicisonally an ascetic. He drank wine, and ate what -was put before Him. There was, indeed, a special approjiriateness in this festivity at the beginning of His ministry, when He had just called together His family of Apostles, whom He loved to compare to a bridal party (cf. Mt9''||). The miracle may have taken place on the last of the seven days usually given up to bridal festivities. The occasion gives Chiist an opportunity to assert the superior sacredness of His mission to any family ties (His words to His mother convey an unmistakable rebuke), and also (through the mouth of the master of the cere- monies) to indicate symbolically the supersession of the water of the Law by the good wine of the Gospel.
(2) The healing of the offirinV.H son (4«"-).— The miracle of healing, performed for the benefit of a court official (/3a(riA(/i6s) of Herod Antipas, is the only ' sign ' of the Synoptic type recorded in St. John. The miracle is conditioned by the faith of the father ; it is a work of mercy, pure and simple, and no symbolic meaning can easily be detected in it.
(3) r/ie /innihiflr „/ f.rilirMl.i (.->'"■•).— This work of heiiliii- at lir-t -iulil irsi'inlilcs the last, and it introduces the situation, laniiliai m the Synoptics, of a quarrel with the strict legalists about Sabbath observance. But the Evangelist has a deeper lesson to convey by this work of healing on the Sabbath, one wliicli profoundly modifies the whole conception of the way in which that day should be kept. ' My Father worketli hitherto, and I work ' (v."). That is to .say, the Sabbath rest of God is unimpeded activity, and that is the true notion of
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JOHN, GOSPEL OF
rest, as opposed to inertia. It follows that a mere negative abstinence from exertion of every kind is not an intelligent or acceptable mode of honouring God. The verse is also theologically important, as separating the Christian idea of God the Father from the Neo-Platonic Absolute, and from the God of such speculative mystics as Eekhart and Silesius.