The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 157

eence in tho world." (b) 'fhe innor light of the previous a.nnouncoment into two re- of the mystical writors, nnd the " common lated proofs of the fact that the Light which grace" of the Remonetrnnt theology. Or illumines every man shineth in darkneaa, (o) the Divine instruction bestowed on every and the.t the darkness a.pprehendeth it not. mo.n from the universo.l mo.nifosto.tion of Ver. 10.-Of him who was evermore corn,. the Logoe-life. No man is left without ing into the world, it is said, In the world some direct communico.tion of light from he wa.e, and the world we.a made (ea.me into the Father of lights. The.t light me.y be being) through him, and the world recog- quenched, the eye of the soul me.y be blinded, nized him not, The w6rrµor is a term speci- the folly of the world me.y obscure it e.s e. alJy used by St. John to denote the ordered cloud disperses the <lirect ro.ys of the sun; whole of the universe, viewed apart from but o. fundamente.l fact remains-the veri- God (see Introduction). Sometimes this is to.ble Light illumines every man. Then (2) emphasized by the pronoun, " This world," it is further declared that this Light we.a when it is contrasted with the higher and ever coming into the world. Bengel and heavenly " order" to which the Lord's per- Hengstenherg, e.s Le.nge e.nd Baumgo.rten- sonality belonged, both before and after this Crusius, rege.rd it e.s in the purely historic manifestation in the flesh. From being thus sense, declo.ratory of the great fact of the In- the scene of ordered existence apart from ce.me.tion. But Ewald, Keim, Westcott, e.nd God, it rapidly moves into the organized others decide the.t it refers to his continual resistance to the will of God, and therefore coming into the world. Up to the time of it often denotes humanity taken as a whole the Incame.tion, the great theme of the apart from God and grace. It may be the prophets is ( o epx&µ•vor) the Coming One. object of the Divine love and compassion Nor ce.n we conceal the ,numberless assur- (eh. iii. 16), while the redemption e.nd e.noes of the old covenant that the Lord of deliverance of the worlcl from sin is the men was e.lways "coming," and did come, great end of the ministry and work of Jesus to them. At one time he came in judgment, (ver. 2!J); but throughout this gospel "the and at a.nether time in mercy; now by world- world" is the synonym of the adverse power wido convulsions, then by the fall of em- o.nd order of humanity, until it is illumined, pires; again by the sense of need, of guilt regenerated, by the Spirit of God. The and peril, by the bow of promise which world here signifies humanity and its dwell- often broke in beauty on the retreating ing-place, considered apart from the changes storm-cloud, by the mighty working ol' con- wrou~ht in any part of it by grace. The science, by the sense given to men of their three assertions concerning the world drop Divine relationships and their dearness to the imagery of light and life, and by their God,-by all these experiences he has ever emphatic conce.tena.tion, without the assist- been coming, a.nd he cometh still. Ever since ance of e. Greek particle, tell the tragic the coming in the flesh and the subsequent story of human departure from God. Thus cessation of that manifestation, lie has ever only can the mystery of the previous verses been coming in the grace of the Holy be explained. At the very forefront of the Spirit, in a.11 the mission of the Comforter, argument of the Gospel is put a statement in the fall of the theocra.tic system rmd city, which concedes the strange perplexity of in the grea.t persecutions and deli verauces, the rejection of the incarnate Logos. Not the chastisements and reformations, the only does the entire narrative illustrate the judgments and revivals of his Church. The awful fa.et, strange and inconceivable as eternal, veritable Light which does, by its such a.n idea appears when baldly stated, universe.I shining, illumine every man, id but the author generalizes the antipathy still coming. The cry, "He is coming," between the Logos and the world into a. was the language of the noblest of heathen more comprehensive, damning, and yet un- philosophies; "He is coming," is the burden deniable, proposition. From the beginning, of the Old Te,tament; "He is coming though the world came into being through age.in," is the great under-song of the the Logos, though he was in the world, in Church to the end of time: "Evon so, come, every atom of matter, in every vibration of Lord Jesus." force, in every energy of life, yet the world, Vere, 10, 11.-(c) 7'he twofold effect of notwithstanding a.11 its power of recognizing the pre-Incarnation activity in the elected the fact, yet the world, as concentrated in an nation and individuals. The highest ex- antagonistic humanity, did not come to know pression or this truth was seen iu the unique him fully (e'")'v01). This is the lesson we learn "coming" of which the ovangelist had from all the melancholy and tragic perver- been the spectator and witness: but the sions of his glorious perfections which every words cannot be limited to it-they stretch heathenism e.nd every cultus, and even every back to the beginning of the crc,ilion of the philosophy, has perpetrated. St. Pe.ul says world and on to the final consummation. precisely the se.me thing : '' The world by 'fhey oxpluin or divide the solemn theme wisdom knew not God" (see also Rom. i.  14 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 81'. JOHN. [cu. 1. 1-IU.