The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 131

whfoh repeatedly led to the measuN!II which might have at once oulm!nated in his death (eh. v., viii., x.). Twice over (eh. xi. 61, 62; xviii. 14) the evangelist refers to the words of the high prie8t Caiaphe.s, who unwittingly prophesied of one who should die ("'~P 'l"oD Acaoii) on behalf of the people, eo that the whole people should not perish. In eh. vi. 61 Jeaus declares that he hae not only come down from heaven, but will give his flesh for the life of the world. "As meat and drink sustain life, eo his flesh and blood, which seem to be so separated by violent death, become the means by which the world, which has fallen under abiding death, is maintained in life" (Weiss), ln eh. iii. 16, etc., the work which the Son of man will be able to effeot is to snve men from (tcpltris and cl1r..S~ ..11) condemnation and destruction. The eternnl life which he secures for those who believe on him is verified by the uplifting (as the serpent in the wilderness was uplifted) in the very image of the diseased and poisonous and sinful flesh, conquered, slain, and yet exalted to be the provocative of faith and the channel of the supreme love to a dying world. In oh. x. Jesus speaks under the figure of a Shepherd, who is not only willing to give his life for the safety of the sheep, but who is actually preparing to do this that they may have life, and have it more abundantly. Reuss thinks that the metaphor conveys no vicarious or propit.iatory idea, because a shepherd who dies in endeavouring to save his sheep still leaves them to the fangs of the wolf or the wiles of the thief, and because a shepherd QY not dying is better able to save if he have courage to risk so much for their advantage. But let it be especially noticed that while giving, sacrificing, laying down his life for the sheep, the good Shepherd represents himself as victoriously clutch- ing his sheep from the fangs of the wolf, and declaring that his dying arms are one with the everlasting Father's arms, because he and the Father are one. The allegory of the tenth chnpter is continually dropped for the sake of the spiritual and transcendental truth conveyed by it. Those parts of the work of Christ imperfectly supplied by the imagery when carried out by Reuss, are actually introduced by our Lord when he says, " Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. . . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." He contemplates death and resurrection, and a continued presidency and guardianship of the sheep for whom he relinquishes his life. Apart from his death, the love of God to man would not have been revealed to the uttermost. Hence the uplifting of Christ in agony and redeeming might was the highest glorification of God, and a means of glorifying himself; for it was a condition of the ultimate glory of his resurrection and of his ascension to where he was before. We do not meet with the phraseology of " ransom," " redemption," or " propitiation " on the lips of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel; but the idea he.d entered into the thought of the evangelist, as we judge from the Epistle, where the lAarrµos is referred to (1 John ii. 2; iv.10): "Our sins are forgiven us (d.q,l,,wra1) for his Name's sake" (1 John ii. 12); "He laid down his life for (inr~p) us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John ilL 16); "God sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins" (1 John iv. 10). It is clear from the valedictory discourse that the Lord's departure from the world, from the fellowship of his disciples on earth, was the great condition of his power to fulfil his great and mysterious promises. 'l'he world would rejoice over its temporary victory, but would ultimately be convinced of its sin and of righteousness and judgment by his going to the Father. It was granted that the disciples would have sorrow (A6m,), a travail-pang, but their bitterness would be transformed into joy. The whole address turns on this departure of his from the world as a necessary preliminary to their blessedness. Seeing that the evangelist has prepared the way for these great utterances, be follows them up by the tragedy of the death of the God-Man, and .records subse- quently an explanation of the mystery in Pauline phrase; it seems to us idle to sepa- rate the teaching of the Fourth Gospel from that of the synoptists or of St. Paul, and still less from that of the Apocalypse (see sect. VIL p. lxxxv.), (c) The rising agaim. The teaching of the Fourth Gospel with reference to the method of salvation is crowned by the historical detail of the Resurrection. The life was laid down and taken again ; and the evangelist shows the recommencement of the 11ew and heavenly life in a form which is itself a new revelation of the possibilities and  '!'Tm GOHPET, ACCORDHm TO ST. ,JOH~. c,rlvii