The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 126

t-o condemn, hut) t-0 save the world (eh. iii. 16, l i'\ and that 11.1\ men through him might. be FAY<'<L He is he.iled in Samaril\ as "the Saviour of the world" (eh. iv. 42; 1 ,Tohn iv. 14). "Sah•ation" (ua,.-71p!a) iR not a new idea invented by the author of the Fourt.h Gospel. The Old Testament constantly uses the word to describe the greatest necessity of mRn and the mightiest work of God. It is the most oompreheusive of e.11 terms 11dopted to express the beneficent action of God. It is the restoration of nil the relations between God and man which had been dislocnted by sin, and the conference of subjective condit.ions and experiences of transcendent preciousness and importnuce. It would be eru;y to show the.t this word covers all that is meant by justificntion and new life, by reconciliation, pardon, and sanctification, by adoption and eternal life.1 'l'he term "sRlvation" covers all that this evangelist describes by his use of the verb m,,(..v. He who is able to do this thin~ must possess lofty powers and Divine Person- ality. As John uses the word, it implies a terrific anrl hopeless condition into which the world has fallen. Darkness, ignorance, unsusceptibility, falsehood, rebellion, bondage, and exposure to moral destruction (cnr@A~111, eh. xvii. 12), death without any prospect or principle of life. The serpent-bitten, plague-stricken, and dying hosts of Israel; sheep exposed to the ravages of the wolf, existence without any life, death in sin, death in all its defilement, shame, and mystery, are metaphors more or less explicit and translucent to describe the oondition of humanity independently of God's saving grace. St. John discriminates between " sins" and sin, and shows that to him sin is not an isolated act of transgression. His definition of a.µ.a.p.-la., is a.voµCa, or lawlessness (1 John iii. 4), ,:.e. antagonism to the known Law and will of God. It assumes in Gospel and Epistle the twofold meaning of concrete acts of rebellion and transgression, as in (eh. v. 14) "Go, and sin no more," and "He that delivered me to thee hath the greater sin" (eh. xix. 11); 1 John ii. 2, "He is the Propitiation for our sins," etc.; 1 John i. 9, "He is just to forgive us our sins." But it is also used as descriptive of a power or principle of cor- ruption, a tendency to sin, as in (eh. viii. 34) "He that doeth sin is the bond-slave of sin,'' and ( eh. viii. 4.6) "Which of you convicteth me of sin?" Whereas Jesus said boldly to the religious leaders in Jerusalem (eh. vii. 19), "Which of you doeth [keepeth] the Law?" This is the state of man from which Christ comes to deliver the human race, commencing with individuals. There is a positive ·objective work to be done in and for human nature by its Saviour, and there is inducement and motive to be supplied to perishing man to accept this objective work of his. The sending, the coming, the descent, the work, the acts, the words, of the Son of God have all been conditioned by the desperate condition of humanity. It is admitted that in some sense he had always been coming, and had always been in the world, had been seen by prophets (eh. xii. 41) and testified to by the prophetic spirit (eh. i. 5); that patriarchs desired to see his fuller manifestation (eh. viii. 56), that the great Law- giver had written of him (eh. v, 47), and the entire Scripture of the Old Testament testified to him (eh. v. 39); but all this agelong and universal approach of the Logos t-0 the mind of man had not disarmed resi,;tance, nor did the darkened understanding see the brightness oftheglory of the Father. So, before any further or final display of the purpose of God in the salvation of men oould take place, "the Logos," says John, "became flesh, and tabeme.cled amongst us." The Divine humanity thus constituted was specially equipped for the work to be done. Every lofty name he bears or assumes has a distinct reference to the reoonstitution, saving, and redemption of humanity; while the very nature of the changes to be wrought in human nature and individual souls c.orresponds with the attributes and perfections and offices that in the Fourth Gospel he is prepared to fulfil. 'l'hus he is to save the world; to save those that believe on him from destruction (eh. iii 16, 17); to set them free from bondage to sin, their hard taskmaster (eh. viii. 36); to provide, for whosoever looks to him with eye of faith, deliverance from worse than the bite of fiery serpent (eh. iii. 14, 15). Ile is" the good Shepherd," who has come to deliver from the fangs of the wolf or the malice of the thief who comes on apace "to steal, to kill, and destroy n ( eh. x. 10). "I am come that tl,ey might have life." He is the Giver to the starving soul of man (eh. vi. 50) of the true food, of which, if a man eat, he shall not die. ·' (2) The nature of salvation may be sumIT.eci up in three great terms, alike descriptive of the need of man and the character of the Christ and his work-life, light, and love, 1 Enny on" Forgivenelili of Sins," in• Eoolesia,' first series, by the present writer.  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. cxli