The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 167

cntcs tbo claim of the Saviour of the worlcl Father, he interpreted (him); became the to be the truth (of. eh. xiv. 6). satiHfying Exposition, the Declarer, drnwing Ver. 18.-No one hath ever yet aeen God. forth from the depths of God all that it ia Mnny visions, theophnnies, nppearances, nngelio splendours, in the desert, on the capable of an Arian signification, and is by mountnln, in the temple, by tho river of no means needed as a. support of the true Chebnr, hncl been gmnted to the prophets Deity of the Son. The common reading is of tho Lord; but they hnve nil falleu short sustnined by A, C3, E, X, and fourteen other of tho direct intuition of God as God. uncials, by all known cursives except 33, Abrabnm, lernel, Moees, Manoo.b, David, by the Old Latin, the Vulgate, the Old Syriac, Ise.inh, Ezeldel, enw visions, loco.I manifesta- 1-Iarclean Syrie.e, the Jerusalem Syriac tions, anticipntions of the Incarnntion; bnt lectionary, the Armenian and <Ethiopic the apostle here takes the Lord's own word Versions, by Tertullian (' Adv. Prax.,' c.15), for it (eh. v. 37), and he elsewhere repeats it Eusebius (in six places), Atha.nnsius (four), (1 John iv.12). These were but forerunners Chrysostom (eight), Ambrose, Augustine, of the ultimate manifestation of the Logos. Hilary (seven, though in one place he reads, "The Glory of the Lord," '' the Angel of the "unigenitus Del/,JI in sinu Patrie,'' 'De Trinit.,' Lord," "the Word of the Lord," were not so xii. 24). Irenaius, Origen, Basil, Cyril, can revealed to patriarchs that they saw God scarcely be claimed on either si,le, as they as God. They s,iw him in the form of light, make nee in this connection of both 0•os or of spiritual agency, orof humnn ministries; and vios. Theodore of Mopsuestia, and with but in the deepest sense we must still wait doubtful context Alexander of Alexandria, for the purity of bee.rt which will reveal to and Gregory of Nazianzus, give the common our weakened faculties the bee.tific vision. text. Dr. .Abbott adds many others, and The only begotten Bon-or, (God only be- enumerates the Latin Fathers, Hilary, gotten 1)-who is in (or, on) the bosom of the Phaibadius, V. Afer, Ambrose (seven), Jerome, Fa.ustin (three), Augustine, and 1 The reading µovo-y•v¾s 0•os, in place of others. He shows that Tregelles h~ been I, µovo-y•v¾s vl&s, has greatly exercised modem inaccurate in his citations from the Fathers, critics, and the most abundant information and undervnlued the testimony against the may be obtained against and for the un- reading of the ancient codices. To set over familiar phrase in Dr. Ezra Abbott's dis- against this very wide diffusion of evidence, sertation 'Bibliotheca Sacra' (1861), and 0EOl is read by ~. B, C*, L, four of the Dr. Hort's 'Two: Dissertations' (1876). codices most trusted by the modem school, Tischendorf (8th edit.) has finally e.dopted the specie.I cursive 33, by the Memphitic I, µovo-y<1117s v/os with the R.T. With them Version, by Peschito Syriac, a.nd the margin Godet, Alford, Meyer (who styles the other of Ha.rclean Syriac, by the Va.lentinia.ns, reading a dogmatic gloss), Lucke, and a. by Irenams once or twice, by Clemelli majority of modern critics agree. Tre!?;elles, Alexa.ndrinus, Origen (' Eus.'), Epiphanill!i. antecedent to hie acquainta.nco with the Gregory of Nyssa, by Arius (' Ap. Ath.'), and Sinai tic manuscript (~ ), called attention to others. Fulgentius repeatedly adopts it as a tho reading ®•ds -without the article before theologica.l term. From this enumeration it µovo-y•v¾s, and chiefly on the ground of the would seem that the question really turns patlietio use of the term, with or without on the valne to be attributed to ~ and B; direct quotation from the passage before us. a.nd with reference to the former it cannot be Dr. Hort has sustniued it with great learn- concealed that ~ omits the following words, ing, endeavouring to refute the objections, 6 &v, which detracts from the value of its (1) that the phrase is unfamiliar to the authority. The argument of alteration by Christian theologian; (2) that it is incon- copyists is in favour of transposition from sistent with the theology of the prologue or ec to -re, ss to the more ordinary and of the New Testament; (3) the.t it could customary phrase, than vice versa. have been foisted into the text from its A special reading, o µovo-yev¾s e.&,, does currency in ancient Creeds, although the not occur in 1my ancient Greek codex, thongh frequency e,f the use of the term, apart from found in Epipha.nius. Some other modi- scriptuml context, miiy have been occasioned fications of the phrase occur, such as vibs by its presence in some of the early Creeds .-oii e,oii and vlhs 0e6s. One La.tin copy out of whioh the phraseology of the Nicene reads unigenitus without either ftlius or Cl'Oed wo.s fashioned. He shows that, though Deus. Professor Hort has t!i,l;:en the whole µovo-y•v¾s e.&, was used by the writers of of Dr. Abbott's facts into consi<lerotion, the fourth cent.my, it was not used to further and Rdheres to the originality of the reading special dogmatic conclusions. He proves 0•bs: and Ha.rnack 1mcl Westcott agree with thnt Arius himself was accustomed to it, Tregelles, and so also Dr. Plummer nn,l awl that Eunomius and the Apostolical Archdeacon Watkins regard the questi,>u os Con~titutions ml\do use of it. Hence it is settled. It will not be generally regurdeu  24 THE GOSPEL ACOORDING '1'0 ST. JOHN. r_ott, L 1-51. --------------------------- possible that we shRll sco, know, or realize. derived from the recorded words or arts of 'fhis_ lo~y assc:rtiou ia nugmented by tho the Lord, the revell\tion of the Fnthor in ~.ub)ime rntcns11ieat1~n of the earlier phrase, with God (1rpbs "Tov e,&v)," by (,1r .,.bv time, the unveiling of the oternnl heart of KdJ..,roo). "in or on the bosom of the Failwr ·" him who mado nil things, o.nd by one com- t".e. in most intimate Rnd loving fellowship petent to speak of both eternities. The with _the Fut.her M the only begotten. The writer of the prologue speaks of himself ns relnt1ons of fatherhood and eonship within one of a group or society who had hnd the snbstanC'e of the Godhead gh-e new life warmth, r~alization, to the vaeter, colder, mor~ ocular evidence of the perfection and glory metaphysical, metaphenomenn.l relRtiona of of the manifestntion. This fellowship of e,&r and Ao,-&r ( cf. here Prov. viii. 30). men had found themselves children of God, Bengel here lllLYS. "In lumbis ease dicuntur and in the possession of a life, o. light, and qui ne.scentur bomincs, in sinu sunt qui nati a hope which were derived entirely from sunt. In sinu Patris erat Filius, quia. nunquam non-natus." In view of the con- Jesus Chruit, who is undoubtedly in a unique tention of Meyer that the language here sense decla.rP.d ( though not formally defined) refers to no agelong, eternal indwelling of to be" the Word made flesh." In the subse- the Logos with, or of the Son (God only quent narrative we find a graduated series of begotten) on the bosom of, the Father, but instructions on the powers of Christ and the to the e:i:a.ltation of the Christ after his opposition of the world to his self-manifesta- ascension, we can only refer to the present tense ( d tlv ), which from the standpoint of tion. Thus (eh. i.) the testimony of the the prologue docs not transfer itself to the Baptist (ma.de after his contact with Christ) historice.l standpoint of the writer at the to the Person nnd work of the Lord attri- end of the first century. Lange thinks that butes to him, on prophetio authority, most the whole of this wonderful utterance is stupendous functions-those of bo.ptizing attributed by the evangelist to the Baptist; but the standing of the Baptist, lofty as it with the Holy Spirit, and taking away the is in John's Gospel, after the Baptist came sin of the world. He does himself reveal into brief fellowship with the One who was the way to the Father. He is hailed as the before him, certainly falls short of this in- " ehrist," the "King of Israel," and ne the sight into his eternal Being. John the link between heaven and earth, between beloved disciple could thus speak of the the invisible and visible, the Divine aud the revelation and interpretation of God which WBB made in the life, words, and deat-h of human ( eh. i. 51). In eh. ii., with all its other the Only Begotten, from whose fulness he suggestiveness, Christ displo.ys his creative had received "grace for grace; " but in this power, and (cf. eh. vi.) his relation to the verse he is speaking of the timeless con- world of things, as well as his organic re- dition, the eternal fellowship, of the Only lation to the old covenant. In eh. ii. his Begotten with the Father, as justifying the fulneBS o! the revelation made in his incar- "body" is the "temple" of God, where bis nation. Father dwelt, thus justifying the l<l'1<f/11"1<l'e11 of ver. 14. The pre-existence of Christ as The prologue form.a a key to the entire a self-conscious personality in the very Gospel It may have been written after substance of Deity is asserted by himself in the record of the central principles involved eh. vi. 62; viii. 58 ; xvii. 5, 2!. The fe.ct in the life-work of J eSUB had been completed. that he is the Source of o.11 life (eh. i. 3), u Every statement in it may be seen to be involved in the teo.ching of the Gospel from end to end. Eternal life is ministered as settled until the great question of the through him, to believers (eh. iii. 16, etc., deference to be yielded to t( and B in com- 36). He claims to have life in himself (eh. v, bination is finally det.ermined. Wordswmih, 26). He is the" Bread of life" for starving Tischendorf (8th edit.), Scrivener, have humanity (eh. vi. 35, 48). The words that adhered to the received text. With reference to the sense and legitimacy he speaks are spirit and life (eh. vi. 63). or coogruity of the phrase with the rest of In eh. viii. 12 the q,ws .,.;;s (r,i?js links the foe prologue, it is obvious that " God only idea of life and light as they are shown to begotten" does but bring into one statement cohere in the prologue, In eh. xiv, 6 he what hBB been already implied in ver.1-that declares himself to be " the Truth and the "the Logos was God," and that his glory (ver. 14) wBB "aa that of 111.n only begotten Life," thus susto.ining the great genera.lizo.- af the Father," tion, Dy raising Lazarus he is portrnycd CIII, I. 1-61.] TllE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 25