The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 146

be refel'I! fo the prophetic 11.nticipations and phrase. It we.a in hArmony with the whole1 historic reRlization of glRd tidings utt.ered purpose of his Gospel that he should begin by the Lorn, 11.nd he based 11.ll his tell.Ching it before the baptism, before the birth, on the fnct thRt Jesus Christ WII.B SON OF before the conception, of the Lord J esua ; GGD. J\IATillEW, who wished to est.ablish the.t he 1hould. press be.ck in thought to the Lord's special ol&im to Messi11.hship, the Divine 11.Ctivit.y itself-to those idena and bis offici&l right to the throne of David, of the older revcle.tiou which, though no& began with a gene11.logioa.l proof of the in conflict with the pure monotheism of Lord's descent from D11.vid and Abraham. the Hebrew Scriptures, involved the vori• LuKL who aimed throughout t.o illustrate table prepe.re.tion for the stupendous reality, the Divine hum11.nity, e.nd to bnild his for the supreme tre.gedy, for the Divine narrative on historio facts and chronologioe.l kingdom which had evolved itself under de.ta. took np his story with the birth of the his very eyes. He looked baok into the B11.ptist, and, in conjunction with his be.p- pR.St, nay, ho gazed out of time into tizing of Jesus, presents a lineal gene&logy eternity ; he looked up from the miraculous of the supposed father (11.nd prob11.bly of the conception to that holy thing which was mother) of Jesus, throagh the line of conceived in the womb of humanity ; he Nathan to De.vid, thence from David to endeavoured to set forth that form of God Abre.h11.m, and finally to Adam, the first son which could alone become" :flesh" and te.ber- of God. In his prologue Luke indicated n&cle among men; and which, though it did the biographical use he had made of the this, did not destroy the unity of Deity, but me.teri&l in his hands, and of the personal confirmed and este.blislied it. He we.s not knowledge he had acquired, and that he slow to reflect on nil the methods in which aimed to set forth the grounds of security God he.d ever come near to men, nor could that existed for the things mosi fully he believe that God Incarnate he.d never believed by the Church (Luke L 1-4). foreshadowed his presence with men, or his The fourth evangelh!t was as earnestly manifestation to them, before his own de.y set upon giving proof of the Musial.ship of and hour. Wheu the old man wll.B at Jesus as Matthew was (see eh. x:x. 31), Ephesus, many dangerous speculations were and &S resolved to emphRsize the complete rife. Some denied that Christ he.d ever humanity of the Son of God as even Luke come in the flesh at all, and said that so himself was (see ver. 14, and all the Divine e. presence as his was no objective many signs of the Saviour's resemblance to ree.lity-we.s allied to the Docetic "seeming" hie brethren, and sympathy with their manifestations made to the patriarchs of the snfferings and joys~h. iL 1; iv. 6; v. 13, Old Testament. Jesus was to them a theci- 14; x:i. 5, 35, etc.). But John had felt phany, not a living Man. Now, we learn from more deeply than many of the apostles the Firat Epistle that such a thesis was, the effulgence of the Father's glory which in the opinion of John, the quintessence of gleamed in the face of Jesus Christ. John antichrist. Others, again, had speculated had hee.rd in the words of Jesus the veri- about the emanations of Deity, until a table voice of the Ii ving God ; " The Word of new mythology was beginning to hover on ihe Lord (Ii A/ryos K11pio11) came to him" in the borderland between Christendom and the speech (AUJGJ of Jesus. There we.a e. heathendom. Essenic and Ehiouitic errors Divineness e.bout the mission of the Lord had grieved him. At length the moment which deeply impressed this eve.ngelist- arrived when the "Son of Thunder," who that Jesus had come in a specie.I sense from saw all the glory of tbe risen Lord, e.11 the ~ ' that he was the Giver of eternal life majesty of his triumphant reign, utt.ered and the Author of eternal salvation, and thst these opening words, replying, in every he had the "form of God," though in the sentence, to one or other of these miscon- likene&B of men. John's mind revolved all ceptions of his Lord's Person. And he pro- the truth which, long before this prologue ceeded to lay a simple basis deep and strong or introduction was written, had been pro- enough to support the fe.cts upon whioh the claimed by Paul aud the author of the faith of the Church was resting. Men had Epistle to the Bebrew1, in every varying come veritably to believe that tlll!fJ were  CII, I, 1-51.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. ,JOHN. 3