The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 154

be the fBC'ulty or C'onrlition, the inward and in those whom the Fn.thor he.s given to him, outwnrrl me,;ns, b,- which men know God. and who come to him (eh. vl. 37). Ho speaks "The light of men" is the consoienre and of" other sheep which are not of this fold, reason, the e)'C of the soul by which the who h!'11.r his voice" ( eh. x. 16). Ho tells human rnr<' Mmes into contact with truth Pilnte that "every one who is of the truth anrl riglit Rnd beauty. The perfertions of hen.reth my vofoo '1 (eh. xviii, 37). In solitary God an~wering to thesr functions of the soul address to the Father ( eh. xvii. 6), he sl\ys, are not. Rod were never, manifested in mere "Thine they were, ancl thou go.vest them matter or foree_ Until we sur.-ey the opera- me." In e.11 these passo.ges o.bundl\nt tions of God in life we have no hint of hint is gil'en of a direct treutment of souls either. The lower forms of life in plant or antecedent to, or rather irrespective of, 1mimal IDRV reveal the wisdom e.nd bencfi- 0 the special grace of Christ's earthly me.ni- cene.e and beRuty of the Logos, and so far fustation. 'l'his pasdage, so far, in the wide l'Ome light shines upon me.n; but even these embraee of its meaning, e.ssorts thut the light have neyer boon Rdequat.ely appreciRtC'cl until here taken as the effluence of the life itself, the life of man himself comes into view, then perpetually, for ever, shiueth ( </)ai•••• not the Divine perfections of righteousness and .,,,.,.,.1(..)-pours forth its radiance by its own mora.l loveliness break upon the eye of the essential necessity into the " darkness." soul. In the life of conscience and reRSon a "Darkness" and " light" are metaphors for higher and more revealing light is mode to moral conditions. Though there is e." light shine upon man, upon his origin, upon his of men" whioh is the result of the meeting Dinne image, upon his destiny. In the of man's capecity with Divine revele.tion, spiritual life which has been superinduced yet, for the most part, there is a terrible upon the life of the conscience and of the antagonism, a fearful negative, a veritable flesh, there is the highest ligl,t, the brightest opposition to the light, a blinding of the and warmest and most potent rays of the eye of the soul to the clearest beam of whole spectrum of Divine illuminetion. heavenly wisdom, righteousness, e.nd truth. "The life " which was in the Logos "was," Light has a be.ttle to fight, both with the has always been, is now, will ever be," the cixcumstances and the faculties of men. The light of men." The plural, "of men" (.,...,., ancient light which broke over the childhood u6po'.Mr,ov), justifies this larger and sweeping of hume.uity, the brighter beams which fell generalization. The two" imperfects" ('1•) on consciences ixradie.ted and educated by a ple.cing the process in the past do not compel thousand ministries, the light which was us to limit the operation to the past or id(!al focused in the incarnate Logos and diffused sphere. They assert what was "in the be- in o.11 the "entrance of the Divine Word" ginning," and which can never cease to be; into the bee.rt of men, have all and always but they partly imply further consequences, this solemn contingency to encounter-" The which the actual condition of man has light shineth in the darkness." And the introduced. de.rkn.ess apprehended it not. This word Ver. 5. - (3) The antagonism between translated" apprehended" (,ca.,.l>-a.8•)has, in light and darlr:neu. The highest ID11.Difeeta- New Testament Greek, undoubtedly the tion and proof of the following Ete.tement sense of "laying hold with evil intent," will be found in that great entrance of the "overtaking" (eh. xii. 35; 1 Thess. v. 4; Eteme.I Logos into hum.an life which will Mark ix. 18), "suppressing" (Lange), "over- shed the most complete ray of Divine light coming" (Westcott and Moulton); e.nd e. fine upou men; but before that great event, sense would arise from this passe.ge if it during its occurrence, and ever since, i.e. means that, while the light shone into the throughout all times and nations, the light darkness, it did not scatter it, but, on the Bhineth in the darkness. Me.ny expositors, other hand, neither did the darkness sup- like God.et, after long wa.-ering e.nd ponder- press or absorb and neutralize the light. ing, resolve this expressinn into a distinct Certainly the darkness was disastrous, trngi- epitome of the effect of the Incarnation, the cal, prolonged, but not triumphant, even in highest manifestation of the light in the the gloomiest moments of the pre-Incarnation theanthropic life, e.nd hesitate to see any period, even in the darkest hour and place reference to the shining of the light upon of savage persecution, even in the time of the darkness of hunumity or of the heathen outrage, superstitious impenetrability, or world. They do this on the ground that moral collapse. There are, however, two there is no confirmation or illustration of classes of difficulty in this interpretation. this idea. in John's Gospel. However, let (1) Ka-ra,N1.JJ,,6d.11w is in LXX. used for :l'C?l'.1, the following parallels and expositions of -,:,',, and H¥O, and in many plaoes in the this thought be considered. Our Lord dis- N;w Teste.~ent has its ordine.r}'. cle.esical criminates between those who " hate the sense, "lay hold of," "apprehend,' "compre- light" e.nd "those who do the truth and hend," " understand," "come to know," come to the ligl1t" (eh. iii. 21). He delights CIJ, I, 1-61.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 11