The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 260

Kirodemus superrene. "Hoto," asks Nioo- s.'\id, in the recorded words of Jesus, though <lemus, "Mn this be?" "Tlnl,/l may it be," H is found in the discourse of tho ovr1Dgellst answers the Son of ml\u. It is not necrssltry thnt Rli the mystery of the cross shouhl himself in eh, 1. 12: ii. 23; and 1 John v. 19, bltve been peroeh•ed by Nicodemus, yet the The so.me criticism l\pplics. John ueed it ~ub~equent referenoes to ihis man make it because he h&d heard our Lord thus deign highly probable thn\, when he saw Jesus to express himself. llloreover, the commence• euspended on the ~Ola, instel\d of giving mont of the parngraph, by the use of the '1\11.y to unbelief and despair, he was stimu- lated to a.n act of lofty faith (eh. xix. 39, pa1·tiele 'Yttp, shows that no brcnk hns oo- nnd note). In this gTeat uttomncc we have 011rrecl, thnt a rich~.r nnd fuller nnd more the nns'l'l"cr which Paul addressed to the triumphant reason is to bo given for the Philippian jailer,nnd we ham the argument obtaining of life eternal than that which had of Paul in Rom. i., ii. and we infer that the alrendy been advnnoed. He passes from souroos of the Pauline doctrine were to be the Son of mnn (who is in he:i.ven, and found in the 1."I!own teaching of the Lord himself. cnme from heaven nnd God) to the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. He Many commentators, beginning with speaks in moro practical and explanatory Erasmus, and followed by Nennder, Tho· form of the Object of faith, and the Divine luck, Liicke, W'estcott, and Moulton, have source of the arrangement and its issues, A supposed that our Lord's discourse with flood of new thoughts and some terms occur Nicodemus ended with ver. 15, and that here for the first time:; but they aro no more thenceforward we have the reficctions in startling than other words of Jesus, whose after-times made by the evangelist, in ha.r- awful weight of meaning a!J.d rich originnlity mon y with the teachings which he ha.d re- gave to the evangelist all his power to tea.eh, ceived from the Lord. This is nrged on It is quite unnecessary to find fault with the the g-round thn.t in eh. i. 18,and at the close abruptness of tho close of this discourse; or of the present chapter (vcrs. 31-36), when the sudden cessation of the dialogue, or the reciting the testimony of the Baptist, it disappearance of Nicodemus,.or of an,yl.e,ck appears to the commentators that John has of o.ffectiono.teness in the style of address. blended bis own reflections with the words Christ is often abrupt, and in numerous of the Baptist, adding them without break replies which he gave to his interlocutors to the sentences which be does r600rd (see he prolongs the remarks as though they notes). I am not prepared to admit the were addressed to the concealed, mind of the analogy; there is notLing in these words, if speakers rath.Ar than to their uttered words. attributed to the Baptist, incomp:i.tible with If there had been an-y hint or indication that the purely Old Testament position nud these were John's refieotions, we can cinly say tronsition-standpoint to which he o.dhered. that he who by the Holy Spµit penn'ed the The urgumeut drawn from the past tenses, prologue was not incapable of these splendid .;,-y&r.710"0 aud {~"'"•"• is not incompatible with and head-searching generalizations of love, the large ·dew of the whole transaction faith, judgment, and eternal. life. But which the Son of God adopted, as though in there does not appear to be any sufficient the fulness of its infinite love it had already reason for such an hypothesis. Still, it must been consummated. We are told that there be admitted that we have not the whole of are certain phro.ses which nowhere else are the former or the latter pa.rt of this wondrous ascribed to J esue himself, such as " only discourse. Much has, without any doubt, begotten Son ''-a term which is found in the been omitted. John has seized upon the prologue (eh. L H, 18) and First Epist. (iv, most salient points and the loftiest thoughts. 9), i.e. in John's own composition. The reply These stand out like mountain-peaks above ill that John used this grent word on the the glitt.ering seas, indioating where ':the specified occasion because he had heard it inner e.nd hidden connections of their bases on the lips of Jesus ; that he would not have lie, hut not unveiling them. We do not dart:<l to use it if he had not had the justi- doubt that John's mind, by long pondcriu~; fication of such use, the like to wbieh he on the thoughts of Jesus and hie worils ot here recounts. The believing els Tb 6voµ.& profound significance, had l\cquired to some -"on the name of"--does not occur, it UI extent the method of his speech, and do not OH. Ill. 1-36.] TIIE oosr EL ACCORDING TO ST. JOUN. 123