The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 101

ie Indispensable, thnt judgment is the correlative of the offer of life, that those that do the truth come to the light. Again, in eh. v., in the great discourse to the authoritieR he asse1ts a sorics of claims based on hie unique relntion to the Father and to th~ universe, and in every possible variety of form this exnmple is followed out in eh. vi. vi~., v!ii.-x., xiii.-:i-vii. 'fhe _prodigious and astonishing self-consciousness, the eg~ with its most amazmg memones and transcendental force, the realization even in human experience nnd on human lips of the eternal judgments and the eternal life do call repeated attenUon to the Messenger. Yet from end to end this is ethically subordinated to the well-being of man and the saving of the world. Thus he would give eternal life to those who labour for it (eh. vi. 27); he would quench human hun.,er0 and thirst (eh. iv. 10, 14; vi. 32, 50, 57, 58). It is impossible not to see that while hc was mysteriously conscious of the most unique claims, and that they were of supreme moment to men, yet the end of the self-manifestation was the life, light, peace, love, liberty, deliverance, and victory over the world, after the fashion of his own life. The reason for the utterance of every claim and lofty prerogative is the benefit and the salvation of mankind (eh. vii. 17, 24, 38; viii. 12, 31, 32, 51; x. 9, 28; xi. 9, 40; xii. 25, 35; xiii. 14, 15, 34, 35; xiv. 3, 16, 17, 27; xv. 6, 7, 16, 20, 21; xvi. 1-3, 7-13, 33 ; xvii. 17, 26). It is conceded that this is the prevailing tone of the Fourth Gospel, but the question arises whether the same features are absent from the synoptic Gospels. We ought never to forget that we owe to the synoptists the record of the supernatural birth of Jesus. He is conceived by the Holy Spirit. The power of the Highest, the Holy Spirit, is the occasion of hie introduction into this world(Matt. i.18,20; Luke i. 26-38). One of the most characteristic features of the Johannine teaching, almost more Johannine than any solitary utterances of the Fow-th Gospel, is to be found in Matt. xi. 25---28, '' I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes. Yea, Father: for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no oue knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." .And take the parallel expression in Luke x. 21, 22, where the chief difference is "Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said." The relation between the Father, as Lord of heaven and earth, and the Son is unique. No human mind knows the Father as he does; no prophet, no forerunner, no disciple, knows him as the Father does. It is through his own revelation of the Father that any man will ever know the Father. It is by coming to him for this revelation that they will find rest for their souls. Over this entire conception of himself as the revealing Son Jesus rejoices iu the Holy Spirit, and the representation culminates in the peculiarly Johannine conception of" coming" to himself for rest and life. The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke alike assert the Divi11e Paternity of Christ. They also record the declaration of John the Baptist, that he who was mightier than himself Wl\S about to baptize with the Holy Spirit. In the sermon on the mount Christ identifies "righteousness" with "himself" (Matt. v. 10 and 11). The "I say unto you," often repeated, lirts the Speaker above all other teachers (Matt. vii. 21-27). He assumes to hM·e the destinies of the world in his hands, and makes attention to or rejection of his words the conditions of safety or ruin (see Matt. x. 32, 33; xi. 6, 20-24), to say nothing again of vers. 25-37, which are charged with the deepest self-consciousness (cf. Matt. xii. 40---42; xvi. 27). In Matt. xvi. 16 Pater's confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," is wore explicit than the language of Peter given in eh. vi. 69, which the R.T. reads in an altered and abrid~ed form, "Thou art the Holy One of (l:od." We owe to the three synoptists the stupendous scene of the 'l'ransfiguration and the vc,ice from heaven, tho omission of which in John's Gospel (seeing t~is apostle was an eye-witness of h~s majesty) we have endeavour~d to explain (see p. c1v). When the hollllunas of the children are rebuked by the Phansees, Christ deolaree, "If these should be silent, the stones would cry out • (Luke xix. 40). The synoptist narratives all alike record the fact that Je~us assumes the r!g~t toforgive sins and to do so in the presence of those who entertain a rooted connct1011 that no one 'can forgive sins but God only (Matt. ix. 3-8; Luke v. 20-24; Mark ii. 5-12; cf. Luke vii. 48).  rxii INTRODUCTION TO