The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 258

th!" "bcnv" 0f Di,·ine grace. No one hath he Ntmo down, n.nd though his introduction asoended into he&ven except he who has to this world was an incarnation, yot that by living th<"re 11e in his eternal home oome he is in tho deepest sense elill in heo.ven, down from heRven. Meyer, Luthardt, Such language is a \'indication of his claim Westcott., etc., 1111 O.'lll attention to other l\nd to reveal heavenly things. Augustina says, RnRlogons usage of ~i µ¾,, which fastens upon "Ecce hie ern.t et in crolo erat, hio erat in R part of the previous negative, not the whole c•1u·no, in crulo ernt divinitate, natus de a8sertion, and therefore here upon the idea matre, non recedens e. Patre." Again, "Si ofliving in heaven and coming thence (Matt. Paulus ambnlabat in co.rue in term et con- xii. 4 ; Luke iv. 26, 27; Gal. i. 7). Man, if versabe.tur in crolo, Dons OOlli ot terrm potere.t he 8hould presume to come with a full reve- esso et in crolo et in term." Archdeacon lation of Dfrine and heavenly things, must Watkins says ndmirably, "If heaven is a come down from a height to which he had st&.te, a life, in which we nre, which is in pre..-iously ascended; but no man has thus us, now in part, hereafter in its fulneas, then and for this purpose ascended, except he who we may understand, and with glnd hearts has descended from ltea'IJeri, having been hold to, tbe vill\l truth thnt the Son of man there before his manifestation in the flesh, who came down from heaven was ever in having been "in God," "with God," "in heaven." the bosom of the Father," and having come Vers. 14, 15.-And. Seeing that our Lord thence, not losing his essential ego, his had claimed supreme right to speak of Divine personality, even though calling him- heavenly things, he proceecls at_ once to self the Son of ma.n. For any other to have speak of them also. There may be many come clown from heaven, it was necessary ways of ta~ng the 1<al : supposing that it that be should first have ascended thither; indicates a transition from the person of the but tbe Son of man ha.s descended without Lord to his work. From his Divine o.nd en- having ascended. He calls himself" Son of dowed humanity thus shown to be competent man," and he claims to he.,e come down to explain and reveal heo.venlythings, he pro- from heaven without ceasing to be what ceeds to his atoning sacrifice. These under- he was before. Godet urges that, by the lying links of connection o.re not mutually "ascended into heaven," he meant such exclusive. Even as Moses lifted up the lofty communion with God and immediate serpent in the wilderness, so mu.et also the knowledge of Divine things e.s to differen- Bon of ma.n be lifted up. The narrative of trate him from all others, but that the phl'a.se, Numb. xxi. 8, etc., is one of the most curious "come down from heaven," implies previous in Scripture, and it we.a a grent puzzle to the existence in his native place, a.nd that the Jewish commentators, who felt that it was Lord's filial intimacy with God rests on his in apparent violation of the second commRnd essential sonship. Still. he conceives that of the Decalogue. Moreover, in the days of Jesus asserts his own ascension in the Hezekiah the reverence paid to the serpent spiritno.1 sense to the heart of God, and his led to disastrous consequences and pu.ritanio descent with consequent resultant know- removal of the idolatrous snore. The Jewish ledge, a.nd expounds both statements by the divines consulted by Trypho (see Justin expl.e.na.tion that as Son of ma.n he is Ii ving Martyr, ' Dial.,' 94) were unable to explain the twofold life in heaven and on earth at the it. Philo regarded it as a designed con- same time. By nsing the term, "Son of man," trast to the serpent of the Book of Genesis, Christ emphasized the exalted dignity that but he supposed the antithesis to be that is involved in the extent of his self-humilia- between pleasure and righteousness or pru- tion and complete sympathy with us. He was dence (' De Leg. All.,' ii. l. 80). The Book of " the second Adam, the Lord from heaven." 1 Wisdom (xvi 6), "'.l'he murmuring people Who is (not was) tn heaven. If this be only were troubled for a while for warning, a.n early gloss, it throws light on the two having a symbol of salvation, ... he that previoue cle.1111ee.. It declares that,· though turned to it was saved, not by reason of that which he beheld, but by reo.son of the Saviour 1 Tischendorf (8th edit.), Revised Version, of all." Ferguson, in his • Tree o.nd Serpent Meyer, Tregelles, Godet., retain the additional Worship,' regards the narrative o.s an indi- very difficult cle.use, on the a,uthority of A, cation that within the bosom of Israel the r, .6., and me.ny others, a.11 cursives, Vnlgate, worship of the serpent bad been introduced Coptic, numerous versions and quotations; and had left its traces. But the narrative but Westcott s.nd Hort reject it, and R.T. itself showe that the serpent healing from states its doubtfnlness in margin, seeing the serpent bite was a Jehovistic symbol I<, B, L, 33, etc., omit it. There seems no of Divine love and victory. The •Test.XII. motive to juetify an omission, if it were in Patr. Benj.,' 9, refers to it as the type of the the original text; and there can hardly be cross (cf. Phil. ii. 9: Acts ii. 33). "Moses discovered any reuon for tbe addition, if not ma.de a serpent of brass, and put it upon a ihere e.lree.dy. pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent, cl't. ut. 1-36.] 1'11E GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 121