The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 45

denoting the innemwst "Essenca of God;" l\l'ld >.&ror 'lrpo~oprl<6!, the Logos Issuing from God, RB" word ~rokcn," to r;,venl thought and manifest nctivity. • Philo hnd epoken mninly of tho former under the attributes e.Cos 11.ntl tho like; nnd ho is speaking still of the form<'r when he calls Ad-yos the "eldest Son or the Fntller," "Hie l•'irst~Dcgotten," "tho Imnge of God," "the Angel," "the Archan!rCl," "the Demiurge," "the nrchotypnl Light," "the High Priest," "the second God," the rr&a-µos 11017.,.,tt&s. Tho Apostle Paul clnimed hr Christ that he was the Wisdom and the Po~r of God, the· Giver of W,ht the Creator 0f all things, God blessed for ever. All the promise~ of God ·were eo~~: t~ be "Yea nnd Amen in him." The Epistle to the llebre,rs dcclnres thu.t ho wr1s "the Effulgence of the Divine glory, the exprc>.ss Image of his substance," 11 the Hiah Priest of our profession." Surely no word in the Greek language was so 11dvantngeou~ to oxprcs~ and blend the fulness of the DiYine nature and the n1ission of the Lord Christi llenco we can see many explanati?ns of the Jobannine phr?seology •with'out having any recourse to the hasty conclusion that the fonrth e1•angehst wo.s an··Alcxandrine' philo- sopher. We see further that the langnage an(l the terminology ivhich had· been adopted· by the Greek philosophic Jews was circulating in the East and ·in the varfous· epech- Jative schools of early Gnosticism; and, so far from being adopted by the writets of·the New 'festament, it was interponetmtcd by a profoundly dtlferent· :philosophy; ·by· a;• 'per.: fcctly hostile system of ethics, and uti1i~cd in its higher senses; in its new 'aud· potent conr.otation, to set forth the Di vino nature of Ono who was "manifest in·the•flesh,'1'atid ns such was "justified in tho Spirit, seen of angels, preached ·among·the nations, belieted on in the world, received up into glory." •. •• · • • • , '. ·'" • • •. The entire method in which the fourth evangelist treats the· Old Testament di'lfer's from that of Philo. St. John is not struggling tci eviscerate tbe Bible histories'of their healthy anthropomorphism. He is·n'Ot translating the language ·of ancient-history into the terms of Platonic philosophy. Mose~, Jacob,: and A:btaham were· to-hiin historid men. The well of Jacob, the temple of'Solomon; the'rite- ofcircumcision, were referl'ed to as well-known things, without any mythic or mystic significal::u:,e. The-ancient Word· was searched for true rather than recondite meanings. 'l'he two writers differ toto ccslo in the attitude they severally sustain towards the ·Old Testament. Their conceptions· of the supreme God, of the Absolute, the Infinite and Eternal· One, differ profoundly. Philo exaggerated the abstraction of Plato or Aristotlc;·and emphasized the most subtle" and transcendent expressioilll of the Old Testament, in order to adumbrate ·the inde- finable and shadow forth the eternal. Numberless passages may he quoted to· ·show how God is above all thought and praise, superior to reason, and incapable-of expression by perfection or attribute; how he is ungraspable, unthinkable, unknowablc, unulfor- able; his essence is an eternal secret; dazzling, unapproachable light is the robo of his spiritual essence, etc. To pass from these hyperbolical expressions-which afo akin to Hindu pantheism or modem idealism-into the vocabulary and atmosphere of the Fourth Gospel, a new world is entered. If the writer were a pupil of Philo, he-was a very audacious one, and profited very little by bis master's teaching. Tho Johariniilo teachino- of the" Father" explodes the whole Philonian metaphysics, Philo did; however, heap u;in the Loo-os whom he re"arded as the hridgo between the Infinite Unapproach- able One and the ~oAi, every kind of glowing and splendid epithet. He called the Lotos the Liaht awl the Life the Prophet nnd Interpreter of the archetypal Light, the Pnn-· ciple ;f "wisdom," S~urce of bw, "the royal Way 'of true philosophy,"the Ground of virtue, "the Way which leads to God," the Captain of the vessel of the soul, the Inoer Voice of conscience, Accuser and Judge, as well as the Shepherd. •Thoma (loc. cit.) has accumulated these traits with immense skill and great eloquence; but the por- traiture as a vorbild of the Fourth Gospel, vanishes when 'wo find that all this is bnt the tropical phrase for the disciplino through which souls arc paesiug to the rest of a· true philosophy. . • :• , • , '' • ..· . ,', The Old Testament itself is the real source of th11 .two mllal)ings of Logos, !'-1:ld, apf,L,rt even from the later teaching of the rabbis, furnished bpth to Paul and John the materinl "n which their intellectual phrasoology,snd theological system were built• 11p., (a) 'l'he grand agent of the Lord in the.creation of' t~e world ie in Gen: i. thrort~li!. out represented as spoken word. The commg forth of hght and· life, of ·su'.n and stars, of man himself, ie pr~ed by tbe assertion; "And God salJ." •1'l'his had' sl:! ·dcepl'y  'l'HE GOSPEL ACCOil.DING TO ST. ,JOllN. Ii