The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 413

heartB. "No man can come to mo, except the Father which hath sent me drow him." (1) The reason is that men. are naturally in a state of alienation anti darkness, at once estranged from Gt,d by their" c1m1al enmity," nnd unable to see the true Liaht. (2) Faith is God's gift (Eph. ii. 8; Phil. i. 23). (3) The attrnctlng power of the Father ie (rr) not mere moral suai,ion. (b) It is nothing merely arbitrary. (c) It hne ho com- pulsorY: effic~c):; for, as Bernard eays, "No man is saved against his will." (d) It ia 80methmg d1st1nct from the power or doctrine or miracles. (e) It is tl1Bt inlluence which makes a sinner willing in the day of God's power (Ps. ex. 3), enlightenina his understanding, renewing bis will, and allurin"" his heart by the power of his g~ace. "~e dr~~s with the bands of i?ve." (4) Yet°th<'re_ is a human side to the process by ,,h1ch lllnners are drawn to Chnst, "It is written 1n the prophets, .And they shull be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath hoard, and bath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." (a) The teaching which is contained in the writings of Moses (vers. 46, 47) and the Word of God in general (ver. 38) discloses sin, and makes the sinner realize the nothingness of his own righteousness. (b) 'l'he teaching enables us to learn concernin~ the Father's love, grace, and mercy, so that the sinner is led to commit his soul to Christ. (c) This teaching, however precious, is not immediate. "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he bath seen the Father." (a) We a.re bound, notwithstanding, to believe in the revelation of the unseen Father just as we rejoice, believingly, in the unseen Saviour (1 Pet. i. 8). (fJ) Because that revelation reaches us through him who is a sharer in Deity, "who is of God." (5) Christ makes a further advance in his teaching. (a) He repeats several truths. (a) The connection between faith and eternal life. "He that believeth on me bath ever- lasting life." (13) The fact that he is himself the Bread of life. ('y) The fact that their fathers were fed on the manna, and yet died. (5) The life-giving properties of the true mB.DII& that "cometh down from heaven." (b) A.nd then he explains its life-giving properties. " A.nd the bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (a) This refers, not to bis incarnation, but to his atoning death, for he speaks of the gift as still future. (fJ) The design or application of the gift. " For the life of the world." There is here no narrow particularism. His life was to be sacrificed for the salvation of the world. Vers. 52-59.-.The increasing diJficulti.es of Jewil,h unbeUef. The further teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum only developed the more decidedly the unbelieving temper of the Galilma.ns. L Tim STRIFE A.llONG THE JEWS. "The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can he give us his flesh to eat?" 1. Some e,f them evidently were in his favour, and understood hi.a words in their tNUl sense; but the majority were as evidently opposed to him. 2. Those who are carnally minded are apt to put a wrong sense upon the words of life, to their own undoing. 3. Yet owr Lord does not alter hia words to meet the 'fTWral, difficulties present to their minds. IL CONSIDER BOW OUR LORD DEALS WITH TBEm QUESTION. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, bath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the lasi day." Here he gives his explanation, first in a negative, then in a positive form, to the effect that the atoning obedience of Christ is the cause of life to men (Rom. v. 18). He had first connected the life with his Person; he now connects it with his work. 1. Owr Lord doe.s not, aa some imagim, rifer here to tlie Lord's Supper, (1) because this ordinance had not then been instituted, and the Jews could not possibly have under- stood his reference to it; (2) becausc it is not true to ea! that every one who parta~es of the Lord's Supper either has or shall have eternal life ; ~3) and Roma~ Catholics, who insist upon this interpretation of the text, are not consistent, by denymg the cup to the laity though "drinking his blood" is expressly declared to be as essential to life as " eati~g his flesh." 2. He does not refer these words to his doctrine, or his system of ethia, or hiB ezampk. Such an interpretation is exceedingly s~allow•. 3. He d~es not rcftr to the Incarnatioo, as the so"le channel for the com~un~ation of life, accordiug to those who hold the mystical theory of the atonen:ient, as 1f_ hlS death were th? mere climax of his dedica.tion to God and not a true sacnfice for em. 4. He refers, in these e:q,ressive word,,, to hi• atooing death on Oal,varv, of which the Pasche.I lamb was bu, 111. v1. 1-il.] 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCOUDING TO ST. JOlIN. 281