The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 354

bco.reet wHneea concemin!I' thyself; thy disturb apathy, fo rliscern the coming and witnoee le not true," he rophecl, " Thmer,h I prepare the wa,y of tho Lord (seo eh. i. 4, 5, beal' witness of myself, my witness i• tru6; notes). He was not tho Light; but he ditl beco.ueo I know whence I cnmo, nnd whither call attention to a teatimony immeasurably I go." The o.bsoluto unison with the more precioua tlrn.n o.ny word proceeding Fo.ther, which he wo.e not only conscious of, merely from human lips. 'l'h<l testimonies but bad also reveo.led to the Pho.riseee, of John, both before o.n,I afl;cr he came into lifted his own word to the gro.ndeur of o. contact with Chri..t, were very wonderful word of God. The Di vine beo.mecl through and wero adapted to exert and did produce the humnn, the infinite thrnugh the finite. a deep i mpreasion npon the people for a Here he ea.ye, " If I hear-if I and I o.lono time; but by themselves they would not were beo.ring toitneBB to myself," then-sup- have given enfficient ratification to the posing e. co.so which, ns o. mo.tter of fact, ie im- Lord's words. We may welcome still all possible-" my witness is not true." If he Jobannine, ministerial testimnnies to the were acting alone, which is nn inconceivable Lord, but the power of God himself must supposition, seeing tbo.t in the depths of his assert itself to the inner consciousness consciousness he knew tuo.t he was one with before o.ny man receives the gospel. No the Father, then for his human nature to mere bnman test;mony to such claims as break o.way thus from the Father and dis- these rises to the digui ty of the occasioa. dain his testimony would nullify and Unless the Father's witness can be discerned, falsify his witness. He is not bearing wit- supreme, convincing, and final, John's wit- ness o.lone. ness wonld be insufficient. It may arrest Vere. 32, 37, 38,-(a) The witneu of the attention, it may impress the apathetic, it Father. . may overawe the gainsayers; but it is not Ver. 32.-It is another that witnesseth final, nor does it leave the hearers without conoerning me ; and I I know that the witness excuse. All the rhetoric, all the thren tening, which he witnesseth ooncerning me is true, all the irony, of Elijah would have failed if H is a mistake, with Ewald, De Welte, the fire of the Lord had not fallen to con- and many others, to supposo • that this sume the so.crifice. refers to the testimony of John the Baptist. Ver. 3!.-But I for my part receive not By Augustine, Hengetenberg, Luthardt, the witness which affil'Illll my Sonship from Godet, Moyer, etc., it has been perceived a man j or, yet the witness which I receive is tho.t the "other'' (li;\;\or) refers to the not from man. Some have given the stronger Father. Jesus expressly declines to receive meaning of "take hold," or "snatch," or John's testimony as his justifiootion or "strive after," to ;\aµa&,,01. But this is un- sufficient vindication, and he contrasts it necessary, for emphasis is laid on the article, with the higher confirmation which iu three "the witness," which is real, infallible, con- distinct ways is o.lready and con.tionoualy vincing, commanding, must come from the vouchsafed to him. 'fhe present tense; highest source of e.11. Yet, though Christ µ.apTvpii, is in striking contrast to the testiscannot depend upon John's testimony, it mony of John nlreo.dy silenced by im- ought to have bad weight with his bearers. prisonment or death. The methods of this It called them to repeutance, to holy living, testimony are subsequently analyzed and to faith in the Coming One. It discounted described. The Father's witness includes- their pride in Abrnhamic birth, and their Vers. 33-35.-(,8) The temporarv witness fo.lse notions of race-purity : it made personal of John. and individual that which had been looked Ver. 33.-Ye have aent to J'ohn, and he o.t as ano.tional monopoly of pri,ilege. Nay, hath bome witness to the trnth. The send- more, it had testified that he was the "Lamb ing to John' was probably a. reference to the of God." e.nd the •· Son of God" nnd the official transaction described in oh. i. 19. "Bridegroom of the Church." Therefore he This is not the "other" whom he referred continued : Howbeit, these things I say-I to, for in the next clause he made ·solemn call nttention to the sum total of his mes- disclaimer of resting bis claim upon John S."lgP, the testimony he bore to truth-that ye or upon o.uy individual man. The witness may be saved; for all thnt John snid was of the forerunner was a b·ue one. The true. "John did no miracle: but all things function of the prophet is to bear witness to that he said concerning Jesus were true" (eh. x. 41: see notes). If the Jews h11d the Light,\to strip oft' the veils which hide it, to call attention to its most solemn realities, accepted the testimony of John, they would to quicken vision, to stimulate oonscieuce, to not now be cherishing angry and rebellio~ thought, and have been so blinded to the 1 The reading o'flian (or o'fliaµ,11 in some troth and reality of things. Fe.there), ~•. D, has induced Tiaohendorf • Ver. 35.-He was the lamp (;\.oxvor, not (8th edit.) to insert in the text. He is 11.ot t/Ji,,s) that bUl'lleth and ehineth, Ho WllS followEYl by nny other editor, not the Light, but came to bea.r wilnesa to  'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. JOHN. [ dtr, V. 1-47,