The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 395

the condition~ of fr!'cclom which migbt oon- reformer or prophetic messenger. Jesus pro- cei vnbh· i•snc in <limricntion of interest and ceeds to clinch his argument and rcn~eort nim. l~hri•t dC'<']OT('B t.hat tho Divine oom- his claims os follows. :But In proof of the mi~sion 0f his humanity is the spontaneous very opposite of the supposition thllt I oan an<l fr<'c, but. pcrfoct., coinoidenoo of his will drop one ntom of this great chnrge, I will with the F,,t.her's. Christ's embodiment of raise it np at the last day. Reuss 11pplie1 the FnthN's ";11, and co-ordination with it, this to the resurrection of onch believer on make all his attractiveness to the human the "Inst day" of each life, for ho seems BODI. His henling, feeding, nnd sntisfying unwilling to find in the Fourth Gospel any powers become a revelation of the Father's such iden ns thnt of the general resurrection. benrt. If he will not cMt out the coming ones, But cf. eh. v. 29, and observe tho repetition it is because he came down out of' heaven to as in a wondrous refrain, vers. 40, 44, 54, fulfil the Father's will (see further, vers. 44-, in which he again speaks of the "Inst day " 45), to explain the world-wide hunger, to -the final consummation cf bis redemptive meet an<l execute the will of the Father. work. The next verse shows tba.t tho Lord The frequent assertions by our Lord in this did discriminnte between eternal life already disconrse (and in eh. iii. 13) of bis descent bestowed hero and now, and the great con- from heaven as One chDl'ged with a full sequence of such possession in the complete knowledge of the Divine will, implies thot restoration of body as well 11s life. It is in the Lord Wll8 conscious of pre--existenc<i in the continuity and perpetuity of the eternal the very bosom of God. This was language life that we find the condition of the resur- which, with more of the same import, led rection-life. The "when" of this "last day" St. John to the overwhelming conclusion is not positively asserted here. that the Jesns whom he knew in the flesh Ver. 40.-For I this is the will of my was the Only Begotten of the Father-was Father• (or, of 1,im that aent me), that every the Logos me.de flesh. one ( 1riis, instead of the "'"" of vers. 37, 39), Ver. 39.-A.ud this is the will ot him• (the treated sepa.rotely and individually, who Fnther) that aent me, that (with reference beholdeth-i.e. steadily and continuously con- to) all that lle h&th given me• I should not templates-the Son(1erehe identi1ies himself loae (sc . .,-!) anything, any fragment ot it; with the revelation of the sonship in his own i·.e. from the entire mass of hnmanity thus Person) and believeth on him-i.e. entrusts given to me as the gnerdon of my sacri1icial himself in a full moral surrender to the Bon work, given by the inward working of (the£ls 1&lm$11 must be here especially noticed) Di"l"inc groce which issues in their coming as thus revealed-should have eternal life. and reaching me, no solitary soul should be This is the sublime law of Divine arrange- plucked out of my hand-should be let slip ment, and the fullest expression of the will of nway into perdition or destruction. The the Father(comp.l John v.12, "Hethathath claim of a Divine authority and absolute the Bon bath life; and he that bath not the power could not be put more strongly. The Bon of God bath not life "). " Behold and care with which the Divine hand can pro- trust." These are the conditions. The steady tect every fragment of his universe, and gaze, the full perception of the Divine Bon- hold it by its everlasting laws and keep it ship that is adequately expressed in the Bon in the C8l'e0r eBBigned to it from the begin- of man, issues by a Divine arrangement in ning, illumines this passage. Should the life eternal. The blessedness of the lifo of speaker not sustain this stupendous RSSnmp- faith, its elevation above the conditions of tion, it is on! v too certain that he was giving corruption and decay, are not all which ho utterance to the most reckless raving. These promises, for he added, And (perhaps the 1111& words cs.nnot be honestly watered down to is carried on to the dv<&O'Tf/O'OJ, and so the the language of the influence of an ethical word is in anbj. aor. rather the.n fut. indio., and. if so, the sentence may express the fact) 1 'Ard is here read by Tregelles, R. T,., and that I should raise him (not "it;" cf. ver. Tischendorf (8th edit. ),A, B, L, T, 13, 33, etc. : 89) at the last day. while the more common b: is read by M, D, r, .6., and ma.ny other ma.n1?-5!lripts and cu~- It is not improbable, ns we have seen, that sives. The former prepoS1tion denotes his 1 rap instead of Be stal!.ds on the high 1111cri1icial descent from out of heaven, the latter bis Divi..nitv (Westoott). authority of N, A, B, C, D, eto., thirty our- • The n ...,.p&s of T.R. is omitted by Tre- si ves, nndltalic, Syrie.c,and Coptic Versions, gelles, Westcott and Hort, Tischendorf (8th o.nd is preferred by Tischcndorf (8th edit.) i,dit.), and R.T., with M°, A, B, D, L, T, and andR.T. 2 numerous cursives. ~. D, C, D, L, T, U, Italio, Syriac, and • 1:,.,5,.,,,. µ.o,, the gift oontemplated as a Coptic read Toii 1rEµl/,aJl'Tds µE in place of comph,ted act. The construction is broken ; 'Tov ""'.:P&s µo11. Bo Ti&ohendorf (8th edit.) the.,;;., e,etc., ia in the nomina.tive absolute. , andB.T. en. v1. 1-71.] THE GOSPEL ACCOTIDING TO S1', JOilN. 263