The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 75

fundamental ideas of the Godhead, of the rank in the universe of the Son of God, or the Perso1mlity of the Spirit, of the ground and method of redemption, and the transcen- dently important and siguificant teaching with reference to obedi, nee and submission of man to the commandments and will of the Supreme. GreatP.r d1ffPrence is percep- tible with reference to the parouBia, and the doctrine of the last things; and yet even here the advocates of the early date of the Apocalypse,! who believe that the fall of Jerusalem, with all its tremendous consequences to the Church of Go<l, largely fill up the Apocalypse and are symbolically portrayed in its visions, are ready to admit that the Gospel is but a sublimated Apocalypxe. Without looking for or findincr, however, any later stage of Johannine doctrine, as Ritzschl and Weiss and Sears(' Heart of Christ') have done, Gebhart undertakes to prove, "by a corn parison of their teaching, that what Strauss calls 'the notorious, fantastical J udaizing-Zelotic' author of the Apocalypse, and the lauded final reconciler of all the contrarieties of the first and of half the second centuries-the author of the Fourth Gospel-are one and the same apostolic personality." We must remember tbat the conditions under which truth was apprehended by the &uthor of each book were profoundly different. In the one case a writer professing w be an eye-witness is reflecting on the past; in the other he is anticipating the future. In the one book we have the historical realization of One who was believed to be God manifest in the flesh-a human being, who laid down his life that he might take it again, who passes through the stages of trial, suffering, and death, to the occupation of a position in two worlds, at home and yet capable of exercising supremacy in both; in the other book the writer surveys the future, and realizes the conflict of this Divine Personality with evil in all its forms of manifestation. In the one book the writer is reflective, utters large and comprehensive truths in a form approaching the dogmatic and propositional. In the other the same truths are represented in glowing imagery and brilliant picture. In the one book he writes "in the understanding," with the view of rationalizing and soothing the thoughts of men with great realities and the material of faith. In the other he writes "in the Spirit," with the imagery of the Hebrew prophet. Paul may have had similar visions, but he could not utter them; John was able to make his readers feel what he felt, and see what he saw, and hear what he heard, and handle what he handled, when he was caught up into Paradise-into the highest heaven. Just as a biographer with penetrative;insight, he was able to seize and record more than any other apostle the open secrets of the heart of Jesus; so that same man, when permitted to see into the present glory of the Divine Lord, was also qualified to see more and say more than any other apocalyptic writer of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. This position, however, the reader can only decide for himself; and illustration and c9mparison are necessary under some of the principal groups and classes of doctrine. (i.) Let us commence with some of the fundamental doctrines of these books with reference to the Godhead. (a) One of the most conspicuous ideas of the Gospel is that God is a Spirit (eh. iv. 24); and th~ teaching with which this is associated is that the old local sanctuaritls will pass away, that spiritual and true worship will be univer8al, alike the explanation of the past dealings and the prophecy of the future dealings of God with men. How does this same truth appear in the Apocalypse? In the repeated and continuous assurance that true bellevers are the veritable priesthood (Rev. i. 6; v. 10) ; that the faithful are per- sonally as sacred in themselves as pillars in the temple (Rev. iii. 12); that "prayers of Paints" are the "incense" that perfumes it (Rev. v. 8; viii. 3); that the new Jeru- salem builds itself down out of heaven, including within its walls the world itself; that its door is "open;"that the gates are never closed, and the "seven spirits" (or sevenfold spiritual energy of God himself) go forth into the whole earth; and that the natioo;i of the saved walk in the light of it. Moreover, the Lord God and the Lamb are the temple thereof. (b) God is "life," " love," and "light." These are the persistent ideas of the Gospel and Epistle. "Life" (eh. i. 4; v. 26; vi. 57; 1 John v. 20, "This is the true God. and eternal life"). "Love" (eh. iii. 16; 1 John iv. 8, 16). "Light" (eh. i.4; 1 John i. 1 See Gebh1ut, 'Doctrine of the Apocalypse,' Eng. trans., pp. 805----424. JOHN,  INTRODUCTION 'l'O