The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 443

t"'k np lnf(l the LRw which h1> gave yon the spirit of thCI Law-the olorost appro11ch that still ol<lor IRw of the AhrahRmic oovenRnt., a Jew could mnh'e to the will of God-is re- nnd lttid down the stringent rule that the produced in Paul's Epistles (Col. Ii. 11 ; Eph. rite mmt be performed on the eighth dRy ii. 11), Are ye then wroth with me (xo\iiT<, (Lev. xii. 3)-fl p1inciple which WM seen to xo\av (from xo\,'J, bilo, go.11)--to be bitter im·olve the infringement of the sabb1tth lnw. with wrnth, and even mad with rngo This is, in substR.nce, the view of Moulton, (Aristoph., 'Nub.,' 833), is found in 8 Maco. Lange, Westcott, R.nd others. To expound iii. 1, but not elsewhere in the New Testa- t be ~u\ -ro6-ro by the obx' 8n is (W estrott) mcnt)-beoa11Be I made an entire man- oontre.ry to the usage or 2 Cor. i. 24 ; iii. 5; i.e. the whole frame of the pamlyzed man Phil. iv. 17; 2 Thess. iii. 9; bnt it is still (not his spirit or mind in contrast with hie more against the o.rgument. Moses did not body)-sonnd-or, healthy-on a sabbath give CU"('Umcision because it was of the day 1 The antithesis is not between heal- fathers,-at leB-qt thnt is not the point; but ing the wound of circumcision and hen.ling .Te~UB argure thR.t he gave circumcision e.s the paralytic. Of the former there docs not R. mode of legislation which will involve a seem the faintest trace, notwithstanding the modification of his own sabbatic regimen. conjecture of Lampe. Circumcision was Stringent as was the law of the so.bbath, it the removal of an offending portion of the would hnve, on occasion, to yield to the human body, the sanitary purpose of which more searching and stringent rule of admis- rite wn,s strenuously believed in, but it was a sion into the covenant of graoo. " If the partial cleansing and actual excision of one sabhR.th could give way to a mere ceremonial member of the body. To accomplish this pur- lnw, how much more to a work of mercy, pose Moses, by his enactment, regarded even which is older and higher than any ritnall" the sabbatic law as subsidiary. Why, then, are 'Mish. Sabb.,' xix. I, fol. 12S, b, "Every- the Jews wrathful with Jesus for making an thing required for circumcision may be com- entire man-a whole physical fram&-health- pleted on the sa.bbath ; " and so xix. 2. The ful on the sabbath? The stress laid on the reason is given: 'Mldrash Tanchume.,' fol. Authorized Version and R.T. translations, 9, b, "The healing of a sick man dan- "every whit whole," by some commentaries gerously ill, and circumcision, break tl.trough is unfortunate: for ii would throw diiroredit the sabbath sRnctity." on circumcision altogether, which was far Ver. 23.-li a man on (a) sabbath receive from our Lord's contention here, e.nd would oircumoision, which was the removal by reduce the force of his argument. Christ surgical. means of what was regarded as a docs not in this argument take up the great cause and sign of physical impurity, as well line of defence pursued in oh: v. Nor does as the seal of the covenant made with the he call the healing of the parn,lytic more family of Abraham, that hill seed should be than an tp-yov, a "work ; " but it must be heir of the world, and that in that seed all remembered that he had spoken on the the nations of the earth should be blessed, previous occasion of his great miraoles as in order that the law of Moses might not be "works," the like to which he saw the broken. It is not without difficulty that, in Father ever doing. the prenons verse, the law of circumcision Ver. 24.-.Tudge not aooording to appear• on the eighth day is declared to be older anoe-the superficial aspect of things, the than Moses, to have come down from the merely formal side, the unexplained letter fathers of the consecrated race: how, then, of the_Le.w. '01/11S id quod sub flisum cadit re, does he call it the law of Moaeaf Clearly in conspicu,o_ posita. According to that, the he refers to the fact that this particular law healing and the bed-carrying consequent wo.e embodied by Moses and me.de part of upon it would be a positive infre.ction of a his own code, even though in one respect it certe.in enactment. But judge 1 righteous wo.e obviously older than the particular form jud.gment, Consider the case, and see that of the fourth commandment, and must fre.. I have done, in this act of healing, less than quently clo.eh with the letter of that com- you are doing yourselves, notwithstanding mandment. The law of Moaea;then, o.e much all your punctilio, and with a higher j118ti- as the law of the Abrahamic covenant, would fication. The aorist tcplva'I'• invol vcs pro- have been broken by any infraction of the bably "the one true e.ud complete deoision rule which me.de circumcision incumbent on which the case admits" (Westcott). the eighth day. The common custom of the Vers. 25-29.-(4) Special perple:,;it11 oJ people we.a to admineter this rite on that some JerU6alemites, and Christ', repl11, A day, even if it fell on a 88.bbath. "None of second scene is here described, not neces- yon keepeth the Lawn in its strict integrity, sarily on the de.y of his first appearance in said Jes11.B. Nay, it is oertain that the older the temple, though it took place in the laws, which MoseB endorsed and embodied 1 The reading tcplvt.,.,, of B, D, L, T. In in his own code, do themselves demand such ripl.e.tion from you. Thie appeal to the adopted by 1'reitellllll  alt, vn. 1-58.] TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOllN. 313