32---31.
827
27. εἰρήνην ἀφίημι ὑμῖν, εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν δίδωµι ὑμῖν: οὗ καθὼς 6
κόσμος δίδωσιν, ἐγὼ δίδωµι ὑμῖν. μηδὲ ᾿ δειλιάτω. ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
οµαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ΄ ὅτι ὁ
εἰ ἠγαπᾶτέ µε, ἐχάρητε ἂν ὅτι εἶπον, Πορεύ- πατήρ µου μείζων µου ἐστί. νῦν εἴρηκα ὑμῖν " πρὶν γενέσθαι: ἵνα ὅταν γένηται, πιστεύσητε.
“pn ταρασσέσθω ὑμὼν ἡ καρδία, u ver. τ. 29. ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐγὼ εἶπον ὑμῖν, Ὑπάγω καὶ vDeut.i.er
Is, xiii. 7.
20. καὶ
w Is. xlvi. 1ο. Ecclus.
30. “OdK ἔτι πολλὰ λαλήσω pel ὑμῶν": ἔρχεται γὰρ *6 τοῦ xiviii. 25.
κόσμου τούτου ἄρχων, καὶ ἐν ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἔχει οὐδέν' 41. GAN’ ἵνα γνῷ
X xii. 31 reff.
6 κόσμος, ὅτι ἀγαπῶ τὸν πατέρα, καὶ καθὼς ἐνετείλατό por 6 πατὴρ,
o ~ OUTW ποιω.
““peace’’. And Jesus uses the familiar word, but instead of uttering a mere wish He turns it into a bequest, intimating His power not only to wish but to give peace in the further description εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν δίδωμµι ὑμῖν, ‘my peace I give unto you”; the peace which He had at- tained by means of all the disturbance and opposition He had encountered. Leaving them His work, His view of life, His Spirit, He necessarily left them His peace.—ov Kaas ὁ κόσμος δίδωσιν, ἐγὼ δίδωμι ὑμῖν, “not as the world gives give I to you”. This is referred by Grotius to the difference between the empty form of salutation and Christ’s gift of peace. (‘* Mundus, 1.¢., major pars hominum, salute alios impertit sono vocis, nihil saepe de re cogitans; et si cogitet, tamen id alteri nihil prodest.’’) So too Holtzmann and Bernard. Meyer considers this ‘‘ quite out of relation to the profound seriousness of the moment,” and understands the allusion to be to the treasures, honours, pleasures which the world gives. There is no reason why the primary reference should not be to the salutation, with a secondary reference to the wider contrast. This gift of peace, if accepted, would secure them against perturbation, and so Jesus returns to the exhortation of ver, 1, μὴ ταρασσέσθω... “ Observing that the opening sentence of the discourse is here repeated and fortified, we understand that all enclosed within these limits is to be taken as a whole in itself, and that the intervening words compose’ a divine antidote to that troubling and desolation of heart which the Lord’s departure would suggest.” Bernard. He now adds a word, μηδὲ δειλιάτω, which carries some reproach init. Theophrastus (Char., xxvii.) defines δειλία as ὄπειξίς τις ψυχῆς ἔμφοβος, a shrinking of the soul through fear. With this must be taken Aristotle’s description, Nic. Eth,, iii. 6, 7, 6 δὲ τῷ φοβεῖσθαι
ἐγείρεσθε, ” ἄγωμεν ἐντεῦθεν.
γχὶ.7
ὑπερβάλλων δειλός. It may be rendered ‘neither let your heart timidly shrink ”’. —Ver. 28. On the contrary quite other feelings should possess them: joy in sympathy with Him in His glorification a‘ad in expectation of the results of His going to the Father: ἠκούσατε..
πατέρα. ‘If ye loved me,” an almost playful way of reproaching their sadness. There was no doubt of their love, but it was an unintelligent love. They failed to consider the great joy that awaited Him in His going tothe Father. This going to the Father was cause for rejoic- ing, ὅτι 6 πατήρ pov [pov is not well authenticated and should be deleted] μείζων µου ἐστί, ‘because the Father is greater than I” ; and can therefore fulfil all the loving purposes of Christ to His disciples. ‘‘ The life which He has begun with them and for them will be raised to a higher level.” They had seen the life He had lived and were dis- turbed because it was coming to an end: but it was coming to an end because absorbed in the greater life He would have with the Father. The theological import of the words is discussed by Westcott, who cites patristic opinions and refers to Bull and Pearson. In all that Jesus did, it was the Father’s will He carried out, and with powers communicated by the Father: the Father is the Originator and End of all His work in the world. Throughout the ministry of Jesus the Father is repre- sented as “' greater’ than the Son. That it should require to be explicitly affirmed, as here, is the strongest evidence that He was Divine.—Ver. 29. καὶ νῶν .. . πισ- τεύσητε. ‘I have told you now before it came to pass,”’ i.e., He has told them of His departure, that they might not be terrified or depressed by its occurrence, but might recognise it as foretold by Him as the consummation of His work and so might have their faith increased.