The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 74

It is almost always suggested as nl'ar, but is not yet come. Thus before the first mi1-aclc (eh. ii. 4) the Lord tells his mother she must wait for tho foll satisfaction he will e'l'cntunlly gil"e t_o human need. In eh. iv. 21, 23 he foretells the npproo.ch of an hour of transcendent rnter<.'st to the true worshipper; and in eh. v. 25, 28 ho waits o.nd causes bis hearers to wnit for the full manifestation of his jud<>mcnt and power. In eh. \'ii. 30 aud eh. viii. 20 twice the Lord escapes from the mali~e which was burstin<> for n;prcssion, brcnuse his "hour ,.,as not yet come." In eh. xii. 27 this hour or his s~cri- fice seems to ha ,e been reached, and yet there is the wonJ.rous delay of the rnledictory ?is~urse, in ,~hich the supreme Teacher and Victim, in larger s1Hcp of thought nnd rnfimtcly bolder utt.ernnce than docs the Socrates of the • Phredo,' discourses of" the ,vay, the Truth, and the Life." Arisiul!: to go from the upper chamber to the "arden once more he lif~s his 'Voice with prophetic ardour nnd unfathomable depth of thought: a_nd co~cludcs w)th words which are of inimitable force, revealing bis love, bis satisfac- tion ":1th the fa.1th of the eleven, and his renewed prediction of sorrow, calamity, and desertion. The seal is loosed, tlie trumpet has sounded, the vial is poured, and yet before the great woes are uttered and the tragedy begins there comes the interlude of the intercessory prayer. The same mysterious accumulation of climacteric sorrows reaches its highest expression when he lays down his life that he may take it acrain. Much of the same kind of overlapping of interest pervades every step taken unttl we reach the confession of Thomas. The Gospel is composed, as the Revelation is, upon a somewhat similar plan. In both we have (i.) prolo!!;Ue; (ii.) introductory ministry, giving specimens of all his powers nnd Junctions; (iii.) active conflict with the world of Judaism, and all the power of the prince of this world; (iv.) creation of the inner sanctuary, where love and communion can go vn undisturbed between himself and bis own disciples, and then between him and them united and the eternal Father; (v.) the great representative of .the world-power really bafiled and overcome by the blood he wa.s by his own mingled passions forced on to shed; (vi.) the npliftiug of lhe veil which hides the eternal world, in the revelations of the glorifie.l Lord; (vii.) epilogue, revealing the triumph of his rule to the end of the world. There is the most complicated structure involved in the selection of the materials and their arrangement. The epilogue points back to the prologue, and epilogue and prologue are illustrated by the intervening chapter~. The Fourth Gospel is not an invertebrate and d1anee collection of works and words. Every event recorded is to some extent prepared for in the prologue and complemented in the epilogue; e.g. on behalf of the Logos the creative power is claimed. The evangelist's idea.s on this subject are affirmed by the miracle on the water and on the Sea of Galilee. The Logos is asserted to be the origin of" life," and we find that the body of the narrati'\"e leads continually to the demon- stration that Christ is the Life-giver, and that he will and does rise from the dead He is "the Licrht," 0 and with what care does the Gospel record the proof that C~rist claims to be " the Light of the world"! The prologue reveals the activity of the Logos in the old creation and in the theocracy; the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. This is confirmed by a succession of dealings on his part with the temple, with the Sanhedrin, with the chosen teachers of the people, with Samari- tan claims, with the sect of the Pliarisees, with pseudo-historical prej11dices, with legal quiobles, with sabbatic pride, with misapprehended revelation, and the like. 'l'he pbilosopheme of eh. i. 14 is, without doubt, _the theme of every. chapter! though. it is never once quoted. It rises o'l'er the Gospel Just as the great v1s10n of l,1m that l1veth and was dead dominates the Apocalypse. To the specific de.tails of the structure of the Gospel it is not necessary in this place to refer more mrnutely (see plan of the Gospel, sect. X.). It is sufficiently patent to make the structural character ?f tbo Apoca- lypse no bar to community of origin. Nay, more, the two d?~uments are 1n the matter of structure r.o closely allied as to lead many competent entice to hold that the two books must have proceeded from the same pen. (i) TJ.e th.eology of the ~pocalypse, so far as it bea~s upon the auelio~sliip of the Fourth Gospel. Even Baur and Volkmar admit a certain correspondence Ill the typo d. doctrine to be found in the two books, and, differences of style or method of presenta- tion being allowed, cannot maintain that they spring froJ? a dilfere~t ~oo!. 'l'he more the matter is weio-hed the more abundant becomes tho evidence of smnlanty. Inde.cd, there are no two books of the New 'l.'e6tament which arc more closely allied in their  nm G08PEL ACCOHDINu TO ST. JOHJ\i", lxxxi