The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 134

within the cognizrmce or the writer, and that the words were heard by the credible witness. The ord~r in whic~ they are narrated was eimply the order of time and nature, The motive stated m eh. xx. 30, 31 was all-sufficient and was everywhere apparent. 'fhe Galilrean fhherman was innocent of art. He ~imply spake that he knew, and testified to that which he had seen and heard. Hardly an attempt was n ade by either of these w1iters to classify or arrange the contents of the Gospel. Lampe (1724, Utrecht) was the first to propose a simple classification: I. The pro- logue (r,h, i. 1-18). II. The narrative (eh. i. 19-xx. 29). This narrative was sub- ,l!~idecl into the "pu?lic ministry" (from eh. i. 19 ~ xii. 50) and the" last acts" (eh. xm. 1-xx. 29). This was followed by: III. The epilogue (eh. xx. 30-xxi. 25). The most important principle suggested here, was the strong line of demarcation between the public ministry and last acts or our Lord, drawn with respect to eh. xii. and xiii. Bengel, followed to some extent by Olshausen, and even by Liicke in his first edition, classified the entire subject-matter that follows the prologue (eh. i. 1-18) by exhibiting the chronological sequence of the feasts-the three Passovers (eh. ii. 13; vi. 4; xiii. 1), the Pentecost (or Purim) of eh. v. 1, and the Feast of Tabernacles (eh. vii. 2). The ceremonies and import of the great feasts furnished our Lord with illus- trations of his own Person and mission ; but they leave the theme of the discourses and multitudinous detail untouched. Bengel drew some attractive parallels between the first week of our Lord's ministry (eh. i. 19-ii. 11) and the last week {eh. xii. 1-xx. 31). De ·wette, who conceived that the writer's main purpose was to exhibit the glory uf Christ, supposed that in eh. i. the idea was set forth sum'TTl/1,rily; that in eh. ii.-xii. the same thought is set forth in actions; that between eh. ii. and vi. the glory ie revealed in particular examples, while in eh. vii.-xii. preparation is made for the last catastrophe. The glory of our Lord then appears in all its brightness in eh_ xiii.- xx.; in eh. xiii.-xix. inwardly and morally; in eh. x:x. by his resurrection. Both Luthardt and Godet regard this as by far the most suggestive and beautiful arrange- ment of the material up to De Wette's day, Baumgarten-Crusius (' Einleitung,' x.xx. 11) divides the narrative portion (1) into the record of Ohrist's worka (eh. i.-iv.); (2) his conflict, including misunderstandings of his character and word; (3) this is followed by his victory; and (4) by his glorification. Liicke (in the third edition, 1840, of his 'Kommentar Uber das Evangelium,' vol. i. 183) does not subdivide eh. i. 18-xii. 60 any further than by notifying the advance of opposition to our Lord in eh. v. He sees, however, in the later part of the Gospel, in eh. xiii.-xix., the glorifying of the Father by the Son, and in eh. :xx. the glorifying of the Son by the Father, both in his death-hour and by the Resurrection. This last contrast is fanciful, and in some respects might be inverted. Schweizer (' Das Evang. Johannis,' 1841) added an important consideration, in making a part of the author's purpose to be the development of unbelief. I. Ch. i.-iv., "The battle is only heard at a distance." [We submit that it is heard very audibly, as in eh. i. 29, 37, 46, in the temptation of his mother (eh. ii. 3), in the criticism of the authorities (eh. ii. 20), in the distrust of Jesus (eh. ii. 24), in the misconception of Nicodemus (eh. iii. 4, 9-12; cf. eh. iii. 32), in the hostility of the Pharisees (eh. iv. 1), and the numerol18 misapprehensions of the Samaritaness, the disciples, and the lovers of signs and portents (eh. iv. 12, 15, 33, 44, 48).] II. The struggle breaks out in its violence (eh. v.-:xiii.). III. The closing chapters detail the issue. Schweizer errs in not recognizing the part which faith takes as well as unbelief, and how the growth of both is a consequence of each step which Jes\1s takes. Reuss (' Historie de la Theo!. Chret.,' ii. pp. 392-394; 'Theologie Johannique,' etc.) limits the prologue to eh. i. 1-6, and from sh. i. 6-:xii. 60 supposes the author first to exhibit an orderly representation of various Christian ideas to the world, w!.iich secures, however, in eh. 1.-iv., an enrolment of disciples, and in eh. v.-xil. the selec- tion of the innermost circle of his followers, to whom (eh. xiii.-xvii.) ho then makes known, in practical and mystical form, what had been previously set forth in its specu- lative or polemical aspects. The third part (eh. xviii.-xx.) is, according to Reues, a kind of pseudo-historic treatment of the dencniemenl of the whole: "Jesus remains dead to the unbelieving; while to believers he rises again victoriously." In Reuse, 'Hist. Sacred Scriptures of New Testament,' Eng. tr~IlB., § 221 (1884), a 11Jightly different arrangement occurs. I. Ch. i. 6-:i.ii. (1) F..ntrance mto the world of tha  INTRODUCTION TO