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theirs, ὃ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται λαβεῖν, the characteristically worldly cannot receive that which can only be apprehended by spiritually prepared persons. It has been proposed to render λαβεῖν, “ seize”? or ‘‘apprehend,” as if a contrast to the world’s apprehension and dismissal of Jesus were intended. But λαμβάνειν τὸ πνεῦμα is regularly used in N.T. to express ‘‘receiving the Spirit,” Gal. iii. 2; 1 Cor. ii. 12. The world cannot receive the Spirit ὅτι ev θεωρεῖ αὐτὸ, . . . Outward sense cannot apprehend the invisible Spirit ; and the world has no personal experience of His presence and power; but ye, ὑμεῖς, have this experi- mental knowledge, ‘‘ because He is even now abiding with you (has already begun His ministry ; or, rather, has this for His characteristic that He remains with you, making you the object of His work), and shall be within you”. With the entire statement cf. 1 Cor. ii. 8-14.
Vv. 18-21. The third encouragement : that fesus Himself will come to them and make Himself known to them.—Ver. 18. Great as was the promise of this other helper, this spirit of truth, it did not -seem to compensate for the departure of Jesus. ‘Another,’ any other, was un- able to fill the blank; it was Himself they craved. Therefore He goes on, οὐκ ἀφήσω ὑμᾶς dphavots: ἔρχομαι πρὸς ύμας, “I will not abandon you as orphans,” ὀρφανός (orbus) “' bereaved,” used of fathers bereft of children (1 Thess. ii. 17, Dionys. Hal., i.); as well as of children bereft of parents. See Elsner. πατρικῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας τὸ ῥῆμα, Euthymius. Cf. Ps, ix. 14, ὀρφανῷ σὺ ἦσθα βοηθό. Wetstein quotes Rabbi Akiba as lamenting the death of Rabbi Eleazar, ‘‘Vae mihi... quia totam hance generationem reliquisti orphanam”’. The utter helplessness of the disciples without their Master is indicated. ἔρχομαι πρὸς pas. From the absence of ἐγώ it may be gathered that Jesus means to point out not so much that it is He who is coming through the spirit to them, as that His apparent departure is really a nearer approach.— Ver. 19. In a short time, ἔτι puxpdv, the
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world would no longer see Him, but His disciples would be conscious of His presence, ὑμεῖς δὲ θεωρεῖτέ µε, present for immediate future. His presence would be manifested in their new life which they would trace to Him, ὅτι ἐγὼ ζῶ, καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσεσθε. This is confirmed by Paul’s “‘ No longer I, but Christ liveth inme”. Gal. Π. 2ο. The grand evidence of Christ’s continued life and presence is the Christian life of the disciple.—Ver. 20. ἐν ἐκείνῃ TH ἡμέρᾳ, “in that day,” which does not mean Pentecost, but the new Christian era which was to be characterised by these experiences. Cf. Holtzmann. The sense of a new life produced by Christ would compel the conviction ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί . .
“that I am in the Father” in vital union with the source of all life, ‘‘and that you are in me,” vitally connected with me so as to receive that life that I live, *‘and I in you,” filling you with all the fulness that is in myself, living out my own life in and through you, and finding in you room for the output of all I am.— Ver. 21. The conditions on which de- pended the manifestation of the departed Christ are then exhibited, 6 ἔχων . . . ἐμαντόν. The love to which Christ pro- mises a manifestation of Himself is not an idle sentiment or shallow fancy, but a principle prompting obedience, 6 ἔχων τὰς ἐντολάς µου, cf. I John ii. 7, iv. 21, 2 John 5; it means more than “hearing,” and is yet not equivalent to τηρῶν; it seems to point to the permanent posses- sion of the commandments in conscious- ness. This finds its appropriate expres- sion in τηρῶν attds— keeping them,” observing them in the life. This is the expression and proof of love, and this love finds its response and reward in the love of the Father and of the Son, and in the manifestation of the Son to the individual. The appropriateness of in- troducing the Father and His love appears in νετ, 24. The love of Christ is that which prompts the manifestation. ἐμφανίσω, the word is used by Moses in Exodus . xxxiii. 13. Reynolds says: ‘* This remarkable word implies that the scene or place of the higher manifestation