The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 163

tntion of •• tho Word" with the theopha.niee x&p,Tot 1<11l 6./1.116,(111. Some he.ve referred of the Old 'fcetamont; nor ca.n we forget ,r/l.fip11• to the Father, o.nd some to a~-rou tho sublime vieion whioh John undoubtedly though in both cases e. break in the con: records in tho beginning of his Apoce.lypeo. etrnction would be involved, as the ante- Noverthelees, the glory which the e.postles cedent would have been in the genitiv~. beheld must be distinct from the "glory" Others, a.gain (founding on the rearlina- 0 of whioh he had with the Fa.ther before the one uncie.l manuscript, D, which here ha.e world w11,s, e.nd to which (eh. xvii. 24) he ,r/\11p11), refer it to 3o(av, and all who thus prayed tha.t he might return, n.nd the full construe eschew a.ny parenthetical tree.tment ra.din.uce of which he would ultima.tely turn of the previous clause. The latter method upon the eyes of the men whom he had i1 freer from difficulty, as then this cla.use, gathered ''out of the world." Before that con- ,r/\f,p11t x&p,-ror ,cal &11119,ia<, is directly nnd ■ummation" we," says he, "contemplated his grammatically related with /\6-yo,. The glory ao of an only begotten." The wt W orcl Wa.3 made flesh, e.nd, full of grace and implies compe.rison with the transcendent of truth, set up his tabernacle in onr midst. conception which ha.cl entered into his Grace anrl truth are the two methods by ~nspired imagining. 'fhe word µ0110-ywr1< which the glory a.a of "cm only begotten" 1s used by John to refer to the supreme and shone upon us, o.nd we beheld it. The com- unique relation of the Son to the Father bine.tion of these two irlea.s of grace a.nd truth (eh. iii. 16, 18, and 1 John iv. 9). It is pervades the Old Testament description of used of hume.n sons in Luke (vii. 12; viii. the Lord (cf. Exod. xxxiv. 6; Ps. xl. 10, ll • 42; ix. 38), and unigenitus is the translation lxi. 7; xxv. 10). "Grace," the free and in the Vulga.te of the Hebrew ,•n•;i where royal communication of unlooked-for and of the LXX. gives a-ya1T7)T&t, weii:beloved undeserved love. is the key-note of the ~ew (see 'I?'':; Gen. xxii. 2, 12, 16). It corre- Testament. "The grace of our Lord Jesus sporn;ls with the ,rpc.rroT01<ot of Col. i. 15 Christ" is the compendium of all his powera and Heh. i. 6, showing that e.n 11,ualogous of benediction, and corresponds with the thought filled the e.postolic miud. By laying life which is "in him," and all the gift of st_ress. here on the "glory," e.nd giving himself to those who ea.me iuto contact with h1stor10 vo.lue e.nd emphasis to the super- him. " Truth" is the expression of the na_tural conception of Jesus, many see in thought of Goel. Truth per se can find no this e. reference to the Inca.rna.tion wherein larger definition than the perfect revelation he became an only begotten Son of the of God's eterne.l thought concerning himself Fa.ther. This would be far more probable and his universe, and concerning the rela- if the e.rticle had been placed before µ0110-y•• tions of all things to each other and to him. vovt. Here the apostle seems to labour to That which God thinks about these thin!ra express the glory of One who could thus must be " truth per sa." Christ claimed to stand in the eterna.l rele.tion of the Loa-os to be "the Truth" a.ml" the Life" (eh.xiv. 6), 0e&r, making it correspond with the relation and John here says that it v:e.s in virtue of also subsisting between µovo-y<111)< uncl the his being the Logos of Goel that he was full "Father." Great speciality and peculiarity of these. Graee and truth, love e.nd revela- is here bestowed upon the "only begotten," tion, were so tre.nscendent in him; in other as it stands in close rele.tionship with those words, he was so full, so charged, so over- to whom he gives power or capability to flowing with both, that the glory which become " children of God." They are born shone from him gave apostles this coneeption into the family of the God and Father of about it, viz. that it was that of an only be- our Lord Jesus Christ. The glory which gotten (specially e.nd eternally begotten) and John says "we beheld" in his earthly flesh with the Father. The ,rapa. Ila-rp&r corre- was the effulgence of the uncreated beum sponds with the ..-apa. uov rather than ,rapa which broke through the veil of his flesh uo! of eh. xvii. 5, and does not, therefore and really convinced us tho.t he was "th~ necess11,1"ily suggest more the.n the premun: Word mo.de flesh." The Tiibingon critics dane condition, e.nswering to the ,rpos TOV see a contradiction here with the pre.yer of 0eov of ver. 1, o.nd ,h Tov 1<&/\,ro11 of ver. 18. Christ(ch. xvii. 5, 24) for" the glory which he Erasmus, Po.ulus, and a few others he.ve had with the Futher." If he shone on ea.rth associated the ,r/l.f,p11<, eto., with the follow- with such glorr as John here describes, why ing vorse. This ill eminently unsatisfactory tihould he de&re more? Godet resolves it o.s unsuited to the character of the Baptist. b. y insisting on the moral glory of his fllie.l Moreover, the sixteenth verse, by its reference consciousness when he had indeed deprived to Christ's "fulness," positively forbids it. himself of his Divine perfections. Thus Ver. 15.-(6) The testinumy to this fact by Godet repudiates the two na.t11res of his ths prophetio spirit. The eve.ngelist, in Person. There is no real contradiction, as support e.nd vindication of the profound we have seen. Some difference of opinion impression produced upon himself and others ,ocurs alee as to the reference of the 1111:,jp'IS by the Christ, cites the etartling and pam-  20 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [en, I, 1-ol.