[5738] 1 John ii 1.
[5739] ver. 17.
[5740] Ver. 19 should, I think, be rendered: But you behold Me, because [for] I live, and ye shall live.'
[5741] St. John xiv. 20, 21.
[5742] ka monn par' at poiesmetha. Of course only a station,' as the reference is only to the state of believers while on earth.
[5743] vv. 22-24.
[5744] St. John xiv. 27.
[5745] The word again' before come unto you' is spurious, as also are the words I said' before I go to the Father.'
[5746] The great difficulty in understanding the last part of ver. 28 lies not in any one of the clauses nor in the combination of two, but in that of three of them. We could understand that if they loved Him, they would rejoice that He went to the Father, as marking the completion of His work; and again, that they should rejoice in His going to the Father, Who was greater, and would send the Holy Ghost, as implying benefit to themselves. But the difficulty of combining all these, so that love to Christ should induce a wish that He should go to the Father, because He was greater, seems one, of which I can only see the natural solution in the interpretation which I have ventured to suggest.
[5747] ver. 29.
[5748] St. John xiv. 30.
[5749] ver. 31.
[5750] xv. 1-8.
[5751] vv. 9-17.
[5752] vv. 18-27.
[5753] There the two could with difficulty be separated. Hence the vine the symbol of Israel, the sages being the ripe grapes, Chull. 92 a.
[5754] arei - katharei: Suavis rhythmus (Bengel).
[5755] Canon Westcott beautifully observes: Their prayer is only some fragment of His teaching transformed into a supplication, and so it will necessarily be heard.'
[5756] Every unprejudiced reader will feel that St. Matt. xviii. 19, 20, so far as it does not belong to an entirely different sphere, is subject to similar conditions.
[5757] Some, to me at least, horrible instances of this supposed absolute licence of prayer have appeared in a certain class of American religious literature which of late has found too wide circulation among us.
[5758] St. John xv. 7, 8.
[5759] Preces ipsæ sunt fructus, et fructum augent (Bengel).
[5760] We would fain here correct another modern religious extravagance.
[5761] St. John xv. 11.
[5762] So according to the better reading.
[5763] The heathen are wont to exclaim with wonder, See how these Christians love one another!' (Tertullian, apud Westcott.)
[5764] vv. 12-14
[5765] St. John xv. 16.
[5766] ver. 17.
[5767] ver. 18.
[5768] vv. 19-21.
[5769] vv. 22-24.
[5770] Canon Westcott writes: The works are characterised (which none other did); the words are undefined (come and spoken). The works of Christ might be compared with other works: His words had an absolute power.'
[5771] Ps. xxxv. 19; 1xix. 4.
[5772] On this meaning of the words see the Note of Canon Westcott.
[5773] For the fulfilment of this predicted twofold testimony, see Acts v. 32.
[5774] St. John xvi.
[5775] Sanh. 81 b; Bemid. R. 21.
[5776] St. John xvi. 1-4.
[5777] ver. 5.
[5778] The question of Thomas (St. John xiv. 5) bore as to the way, rather than the goal; that of Peter (xiii. 36) seemed founded either on the Jewish idea that the Messiah was to disappear, or else referred to Christ's going among enemies and into danger, whither Peter thought he would follow Him. But none of the questions contemplated the Messianic Return of the Son to the Father with a view to the Mission of the Holy Ghost.
[5779] St. John xvi. 7.
[5780] It occurs besides this place in St. Matt. xviii. 15; St. Luke iii. 19; St. John iii. 20; viii. (9) 46.
[5781] Closely similar to the above is the use of the verb lncho in St. James ii. 9, and in Rev. iii. 19. This may be called the Hebraic usus of the word. In the Epistles of St. Paul it is more general; in that to the Hebrews (xii. 5) it seems to stand for punishing.