The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 257

mntters in whioh the testimony of disciples Ver. 13.-And, The simple copule. is here wo.s not nvnilable. It hne eometimee been full of eignificcmce. Olshe.usen regards it a.a Mid that tho "earthly" 1md "hee.vonly" "e.dverse.tive," eqnivalent to" yet." l\Ieyer, things refer to :tho wind-parable and its as a simplo continuation of the previous interpretation. But, on the euppoeition thRt statement. The Hai has more than a mere there ie o. pnmblo or metaphor in ver. 8, conjunctive force. Lcinge puts it thus: which we have aeon reason to doubt, there " And yet you must be told heavenly things would be no perplexity a.bout the reception by him who, being the Heavenly One, is of the earthly illuetro.tion; none could in thnt himeelf the first subject of thia revelation." dny hove ma,le o. moment's question touch• No one hath ascended into heaven. The iog the invisibilit,v o.nd incomprehensibility past tense must be honestly considered. of the motion of the wind. The birlh from The word cannot refer to the future aecension wuter hns been supposed by others to be of Jesus the Lord of glory to where he was tho (l,rlymv) "enrtbly" thing of which he before-to the glory which he had with the had spoken, as contrasted with the heavenly Fo.ther before the world was (eh. xvii. 5); thing, the birth anew from the Spirit. But nor can it refer, us the Socinicin interpreters this also is improbablo, for of all the things supposed, to a re.ptnre into heaven of the of which Jesus spoke, that wus the least Divine ]\fan between bis baptism and temp- likely to he.ve been rejected by the Pharisaic tation (Socini 'Opera,' ii. 511, 610, quoted party. The "earthly things" are the sub- by J.P. Smith, 'Scripture Testimony to the Ject-matter of the discourse as o. whole, in Messiah,' ii. pp. 103--117), of which we have apprehending which Nicoclemus manifested not the faintest trace either in Scripture or such obtuseness. The change, renovation tradition ; nor is it sufficient, with Heng- of human nature, the new beginning '' from stenberg e.nd others, to regard it as a mere the Spirit" of each human life, was indeed Hebraism for high e.nd exe.lted intel'eourse operated on the ground of nn earthly ex- with God and heavenly things. True, there perience, and came fairly within the compass have been many who have sought to climb of common appreciation. Though produced the steep ascent (Gen. xi. 4; Isa. xiv. 13); by the Spirit, these things were enacted on true e.lso that rabbis spoke of l\loses having earth. When Nicodemus asks the question "ascended into the heavens," by which (so.ys "how'/" he launches the inquiry into another Whitby) they meant "admission to the region. There is wide difference between Divine counsels." The authority on which the question ••what?" o.nd .the question he depends is the late 'Targum on Ce.ntic. " how ? " The one in physical science refers i. 5; 11, 12,' by which, however, e.11 tho.t is to the whole range of phenomena, o.nd the clear is that the Targnmist was referring to answer states . the facte e.s they present the ascent of Moses to the top of Sinai, i.e. themselves to the senses; the other question above the multitude in the deserts, to the inquires into what Bo.con called the latem place whither Jehovah ea.me to spee.b: with processus-into verm causm, into the move- him. But Exod. xx. 22, the canonical ments a.nd method of the creative ho.nd. Scripture, makes it clear that it we.s "frol!l So the nuswer to the question "what 1" ma.y the heavens" that Jehovah spoke with his be e.n " earthly thing," tho answer to the serrnnt. There a.re, however, other pas- question "how 'f" a ·• heavenly thing." If sages quoted by Schottgcn from Jerusalem Christ answer the "how" of his listener, he Targum on Dent. m. 12, and from the raises his mind to the "heavenly" ll.Ild 'l\Iishno.,' in which Moses is said to have transceudental rca!Hies which Nicodemus "ascended into heaven, o.ncl bellJ',l the voice and we too will havo to 1·cceive on e.n of God;" but further inquiry leads us to authority which entirely outsonrs that of judge that the Hebrew commentators were daily experience or tc:>mpoml phenomena. thinking of the going up to Sinai for his lofty Truly he does proceed to do so, but the revelations, and their followers have sup- difficulty of acceptance is indefinitely aug- posed that this process was a synonym of the mented. The o.nswer of Christ to the revelations themselves. l\Iauy have thought matters of personal experience, verifiable by to rise above the world to the beatific conscience and affirmed by Scripture, was vision, but J esns so.ys none have done it in difficult to the master of Israel. The o.nswer the only sense in which they would have of Josus to the question "how?" ml\y prove been thercbv fitted to discourse on the for more formhlublo, It involves the revo- heavenly things. '.rwo thiugs o.ro needed fation of "the Son of man," ancl tho 1·0• for. this in tho m11in-to bo in heaven, and demption by the cross, e.nd the nsoension of come thence charged with its Divine com- the Son of man into heo.ven, und the love of munications. Enoch, Elijah, mny havo been God to the world, e.nd the gift of eternal life transll\ted that they should not see death, to faith. but they are not so lifted into the abode of V ers, 1!l--15.-(2) The fr11th concerning the God that" they might come thence charg,-d Son oJ man and lti8 sacrifice. with heavenly truth, ancl e.ble to exph\iu 120 'l'llE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. JOHN. (olt. III, 1--38,