The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 397

down out of heaven 1 This wns not an irra- by the attracti\-o forco of the love nnd eaor!Ooe tic>n1tl nc>r n malignnntcriticism. Thie ques- of the F&tl..cr ,,hich is seen in Christ's being tion must lrn ,·c hL'C'n Mkod by those who henrd lifted up ; nnd still fmther oxplaiucd by his for the first time the stupendous claim, It owu subsequontasserlioniu oh. xiv., "Nomo.n would not seem t.hl\t these intcrrogntinne cometh unto the Father but by me." Bo wero put in the hcnring of our Lord. His thRt, while tho whole action centres in Christ, "&newer•· goes back to the "question" ns the process begins and ends in the F11ther's it shRped itself in the hearts of tho disciplos, hcnrt. Tho Father loves the world ; the Rnd inmlves some of the doepost truths Father would ho.vo nll rucn come to him, "·hich he had previously commuuic11tcd to havo ncccss to himself. To secure this Nicodemus. He demands and must ha,o Dinno result he Fends forth his Son with a new humanity, a regenerated andionoo, nil tho nltrnctive forco of love o.nd denth, snbjocts for his kingdom who aro born anew This Di'l"ine humnnitY. is a eu.lRoieut revela- or from above. Ho who ea.me down from tion of I.ho perfect will and infinite love of hea,on insists thn.t his true disciples must God. The drawing of Christ to himself is b!'come who.the is-heaven-born, must have nothing less thnn tho dro.mng of the Fnther a life out of heaven. They must be" of God," to Himself; for Christ came to do the will of they must" hear" and" learn of the Father," him that sent him. Nor is this nll, for o.ll must be drawn by Divine hands, if they the "internal pressing" and revelation of would or should come to him. No lip-hom- need and peril, the conviction of sin und age, no fioklo desire for the Messianic king- righteousness nnd judgment by the Com- dom, would satisfy him. forter, is llt once the Father's drnwing and Vera. 43, 44.---J' esus answered 1 and said to also the o.ttraction of the Son, and the them, Murmur not e.mo:ug yourselves; or, with veritable" coming" of a soul through Christ one another. Ho had searched out a. deeper to the Fo.ther. The Fo.ther "gives" to the reason for their murmuring than their pro- Son by this double process : (1) he mo.nifests. bable involuntary ignore.nee of certain his own fotherly heurt in Christ; (2) he miraculous facts. No man oan come (is able opens men's eyes to see the Father in the to come) to me exoept the Father, who ha.th Son. "No man can come to me e:i:cept thtr sent me draw him : &lld I will raise him up Father, which hath sent me, draw him : and 1 a.t the last day. In the previous utterance will raise him up at the laBt day. I," se.ys "nil" which the Father "gives" to the Son Christ," will complete e.ud oousummo.to hi11 "comes" to him, reaches him, enters into life at my grent day of corono.tion nnd close relatio:i.ship wit.h him. Here" no one triumph." The several thoughts must be is able " by the nuture of the oa.se " to tn.ken together, and they explo.in one another. come " except this process and method of The coming of men to the Father, access to a Di'l'ine gi,ing is reulized. The Futher's God himself in the glory of the resurrection- " gfring" to him is described in new terms, life, is the sublime oonsummutiou. Christ o.s "I.he drawing" by I.he Father who bath is sent, the Only Begotten is given, he is 6Cllt him. The word i>..1<v<1v almost o.lwo.ys lifted up to draw men by the revelation of implies resistless or o.t least successful forco, the Father's hee.rt to himself, and thus in in the stretching of a sail, the dragging of seeing o.nd knowing that Christ is in the n net, the foreo applied to a. prisoner, the Father and the Father in him, the soul is drawing of a sword (eh. xviii. 10; :ui. 6, drawn by the Father to the Sou-is druwn 11; Acts xvi. l!J; Jas. ii. 6). It is used by the Son to tho Father. Yet the sub- nlso in Attic writcra for the internal dra\'l'lllg jective work of the Father in the mind, of desire towo.rds pleasure (Plo.to, 'Pbiedr..' moving it even to see the full meaning ot lJ, 238, a; cf. Virgil, • Eel.,' ii C5," Tral,it the Christ o.nd to yield to hie attractive force, bUO. quemquo voluptas "). Our Lord also is strongly suggested. The direct contact U!leS the word for his own o.ttractive force, of God himself with enoh soul thut seeks, for the Divine mugnctism of his cross,•• U .finds, e.nd comes to him through Christ ia I be lifted up, I "\\'ill draw o.11 men to me;" made evident. There is, as Reuss so.ys, I will counteract e.11 the power of the plince of "la base mystique· de lu thcologio Chrc• this world (see eh. xii. 32, note). This draw- tfonne," mlher than the o.nnouncement of ing of tl.ie Futhcr to the Son by an inierual a. prcdestinating decree. Even Culvin says, operation 011 the heart must be interpreted "As to the kind of drawing, it is not violent, so as to compel men by external foroe; but Vuln-ate, both Syriac Versions, and palrislio still it is a powerful influence of the Holy quotc.Uous. Dille IlcTi.-iera place it iu the Spirit which makes men willing who for- m:1.r:;i :1. merly were unwilling." 1 TLe oi;i, of T.R., Lachmann, Griesbach, Ver. 45.-It is written in the prophets ; of ~. A, D, is hero omitted by Il.T., Trc- either in the division of Scripture culled gc,fas, Ti.echendorf (8th e<li t. ), with B, 0, K, L, " the prophets," or because the substunce of a..uu tc:u others and numerous vcraiona. tho statement is found to pervade the pro- OIL VL 1--71.) THE GOSPEL ACCOTIDING TO ST. JOUN. 265