794 KATA ΙΤΩΑΝΝΗΝ x. e xvii. 21. καὶ 6 πατὴρ "ἕν ἐσμεν. 31. :Εβάστασαν οὖν πάλιν λίθους ot viii. 59; μα is A ο χε Ἰουδαῖοι, ἵνα λιθάσωσιν αὐτόν. 32. ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς, g Mt. v. 36. “ Πολλὰ ἔκαλὰ ἔργα ἔδειξα ὑμῖν ἐκ τοῦ πατρός µου" διὰ ποῖον Thayer. | αὐτῶν ἔργον λιθάζετέ pe; 33. ᾽Απεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι i Viii. 53; ν. 4 ge λέγοντες, “'" Περὶ καλοῦ ἔργου οὐ λιθάζοµέν σε, ἀλλὰ ” περὶ βλασ- j Ps. Ixxxii. w 6. φηµίας, καὶ ὅτι σὺ ἄνθρωπος ὢν | ποιεῖς σεαυτὸν Θεόν. 34. k vi. 25. ‘ 5 ίθ ee Paar) a “pn? ” j , 2 a / Jonahi.1. Απεκριθη αὗτοις ο Ιησοῦς, “ OuK εστι 'γεγραμμενον ἐν τῷ νόμῳ 1 Mt. v. 10. ε a 6? π > B09 ? > 3 , 5 A \ τι Wisd. ὑμῶν, ‘"Ey® εἶπα, θεοί éote;’ 35. Ei ἐκείνους εἶπε θεοὺς, πρὸς xlix. 7. a a n Ch. xvii. οὓς 6 λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ " ἐγένετο, καὶ οὗ δύναται | λυθῆναι ἡ γραφή: 17. Mk. 6. ὃν ὁ AY me / ος ψ λ 3 SY ό ς is λέ τι 36. ὃν 6 πατὴρ '' ἡγίασε καὶ ἀπέστειλεν eis τὸν κόσμον, ὑμεῖς λέγετε,
he denies that the words carry this sense: “' Abusi sunt hoc loco veteres ut probarent Christum esse Patri ὁμοούσιον. Neque enim Christus de unitate sub- stantiae disputat, sed de consensu quem cum Patre habet: quicquid scilicet geritur a Christo Patris virtute confirma- tum iri.”” An ambassador whose demands were contested might quite naturally say : ‘“‘Tand my sovereign are one’’; not mean- ing thereby to claim royal dignity, but only to assert that what he did his sovereign did, that his signature carried his sovereign’s guarantee, and that his pledges would be fulfilled by all the resources of his sovereign. So here, as God’s representative, Jesus introduces the Father’s power as the final guarantee, and claims that in this respect He and the Father are one. Whether this does not involve metaphysical unity is another question. Cf, Tertullian, adv. Praxeam, 22; Hippolytus, ο. Noetum, 7, δύο πρόσωπα ἔδειξεν, δύναμιν δὲ piav.—Ver. 31. ἘἙβάστασαν οὖν . . . αὐτόν. In chap. Vili. 50, ἦραν λίθους, so now once more, πάλιν, they lifted stones to stone Him.—Ver. 32. Jesus anticipating them says: Πολλὰ . . . µε; “ Many excellent works [‘ praeclara opera,’ Meyer] have I shown you from my Father; for what work among these do ye stone me?” Which of them deserves stoning ? (Holtz- mann). As it could only be a work differing in character from the καλὰ ἔργα which deserved stoning, ποῖον is used, although in later Greek its dis- tinctive meaning was vanishing. Wet- stein quotes from Dionys. Halicar., viii. 29, an apposite passage in which Corio- lanus says: ot µε ἀντὶ πολλῶν καὶ καλῶν ἔργων, ἐφ᾽ ols τιμᾶσθαι προσΏκεν .., αἰσχρῶς ἐξήλασαν ἐκ τῆς πατρίδος. —Ver. 33. The irony is as much in the situation as in the words. The answer is honest enough, blind as it is: Περὶ κ Θεόν. “For a praiseworthy work
we do not stone Thee, but for blasphemy, and because Thou being a man makest Thyself God.” For περί in this sense cf. Acts xxvi. 7. The καὶ ὅτι does not introduce a second charge, but more specifically defines the blasphemy. On the question whether it was blasphemy to claim to be the Christ see Deut. xviii. 20, Lev. xxiv. 10-17, and. Treffry’s Eternal Sonship. It was blasphemy for a man to claim to be God. And it is noteworthy that Jesus never manifests indignation when charged with making Himself God; yet were He a mere man no one could view this sin with stronger abhorrence.—Ver. 34. On this occasion He merely shows that even a man could without blasphemy call himself ‘ Son of God”; because their own judges had been called ‘‘ gods ”'.---Οὐκ ἔστι yeypap- µένον ἐν TO νόµῳ itpov, “Is it not written in your law, I said ‘ye are Gods’?”’ In Ps. Ixxxii. the judges of Israel are rebuked for abusing their office ; and God is represented as say- ing: “I said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High”. “The law” is here used of the whole Ο.Τ. as in xii. 34, xv. 25, Rom. ili. 19, 1 Cor. xiv. 21.—Ei ἐκείνονς . . . “If it [that 6 νόμος is the nominative to εἶπε is proved by the two following clauses, although at first sight it might be more natural to suppose the nearer and more emphatic ἐγώ supplied the nominative] called them gods, to whom the word of God came,” that is, who were thus addressed by God at their consecration to their office and by this word lifted up to a new dignity—“ and that they were so called is certain because Scripture cannot be denied or put aside—then do you, shutting your eyes to your own Scriptures, declare Him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world to be a blasphemer because He said, I am God’s Son?”