$33
~~
23. 6 ἐμὲ μισῶν, καὶ τὸν πατέρα 24. εἰ τὰ ἔργα μὴ ἐποίησα ἐν αὐτοῖς, ά οὐδεὶς ἄλλος viv δὲ καὶ " ἑωράκασι, καὶ µεμµισή- ςχἰν. ϱ.
κασι καὶ ἐμὲ καὶ τὸν πατέρα µου" 25. GAN’ ἵνα πληρωθῇ ὁ λόγος 6
γεγραµµένος ἐν τῷ νόµῳ αὐτῶν, ΄"Ὅτι ἐμίσησάν µε δωρεάν.
26. t Ps. xxxv. 19; Ixix. 4.
Ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ 6 "παράκλητος, ὃν ἐγὼ πέµψω ὑμῖν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς, u xiv. 16. τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ ” παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ᾿ ἐκπορεύεται, ἐκεῖνος ν More freq.
µαρτυρήσει περὶ ἐμοῦ ' 27. καὶ ὑμεῖς δὲ μαρτυρεῖτε, ὅτι ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς
μετ’ ἐμοῦ ἐστε. 1 ειχοσαν in NB; «ιχον in AD?,
xix, IT; 1 John i. δ. νῦν δὲ πρόφασιν οὐκ ἔχουσι περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν. “But now,”’ as I have come, “ they have no excuse for,” etc., πρόφασιν, cf. Ps. cxl. 4: “Incline not my heart προφασίζεσθαι προφάσεις ἐν apaptiats”’.—Ver. 23. In hating me, they hate my Father whom I represent, 6 ἐμὲ μισῶν . . . pioet. In hating and persecuting me, it is God they hate—-Ver. 24. ef τὰ épya... οὐκ εἶχον. This repeats in a slightly varied form the statement of ver. 22. He had not only come and spoken, but had done works which none other had done, cf. iii. 2; ix. 32; vii. 31. The miracles wrought by Christ were themselves of a kind fitted to produce faith. In them men were meant to see God, v. 17, 19, 20. So that He could say, vov δὲ καὶ ἑωράκασι κκ. pov. This is their guilt, that they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. This does not imply that they had been conscious of seeing the Father in Christ, but only that in point of fact they had done so. Cf. xiv. 9; i. 18.—Ver. 25. This almost incredible blindness and obduracy is accounted for, as in xii. 37, by the purpose of God dis- closed in Ο.Τ, Scripture. ‘‘ Their law” is here, as in x. 34, εἴς., used of Ο.Τ. Scripture as a whole. αὐτῶν is inserted, as ὑμετέρῳ in vili. 17, to suggest that the very Scripture in which they had prided themselves would condemn them; see also v. 45, v.39. The words ἐμίσησάν pe δωρεάν do not occur inO.T.; but similar expressions are found in Ps. xxxiv. 10, οἱ pirotwrés µε δωρεάν, and cviii. 3, ἐπολέμησάν µε δωρεάν. Entirely gratui- tous was their hatred and rejection of Christ, so that they were inexcusable. Ver. 26—xvi. 11. The conquest of the world by the Spirit.—Ver. 26. But the work of the Apostles was not to be wholly fruitless, nor was their experience
with ἐκ; cp. xvi. 28.
to be wholly comprised in fruitless perse- cution, "Όταν δὲ ἔλθῃ . . . περὶ ἐμοῦ. The Spirit of Truth will witness concern- ing me. The Spirit is here designated, as in xiv. 16, ‘‘the Paraclete,’’ and the Spirit of Truth. There, and in xiv. 26, it is the Father who is to give and send Him in Christ’s name: here it is ὃν ἐγὼ πέµψω παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, as if the Spirit were not only dwelling with the Father, but could only be sent out from the Father as the source of the sending. This is still further emphasised in the added clause, 6 παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορεύ- erat. To define the mode of being of the Spirit, or His essential relation to the Father, would have been quite out of place in the circumstances. These words must be understood of the mission of the Spirit. What the disciples needed to know was that He came out from the Father, and of this they are here assured. ἐκεῖνος µαρτυρήσει περὶ ἐμοῦ, ‘ He,” that person thus elaborately described, who is truth and who comes out from Him who sent me, ‘will witness con- cerning me”.—Ver. 27. καὶ ὑμεῖς δὲ μαρτυρεῖτε, ''απά do ye also witness,” or, if indicative, ‘‘and ye also witness”’. Most prefer the indicative. ‘The dis- ciples were already the witnesses which they were to be in the future.” Meyer. This agrees with the ἐστε following. They were able to act as witnesses ὅτι ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἐστε, “' because from the beginning,” of the Messianic activity, “ye are with me”. The present, ἐστε, is natural as Jesus is looking at their entire fellowship with Him, and that was still continuing. Cf. Mk. iii. 14, ἐποίησε δώδεκα, ἵνα dou per αὐτοῦ ; also Acts i. 21, iv. 13.—CHAPTER XVI. ver. 1. Tatra λελάληκα ὑμῖν, I have warned you of persecution, and have told you of the encouragements you will have, ἵνα μὴ σκανδαλισθῆτε, ‘that ye be not