The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 12

they ruik from the ground of thei~-llin, to M- thee. Thus they admit the ohl\nge that hu cure their mrn sinful purpose; but if a.ny man come o,·er him by reverting to the peculiar be a worshipper of God (the word li!J,ocr,/',~• ie depravity which had been stl\mped upon an 8,.-a.! ,.,.,,&,nvov, and occurs nowhere else his brow, according to their narrow inter- in the New TC'Btament), a.nd doeth hiB(God"s) pretation of Divine providence. And dost will, this man he heareth. The blind bcggnr thou presume to tea.oh us 1---the chosen, the has learned the deepest truth of the Divine Iearned, the approved ministers of God? revelntion abont the conditions of accept- Dost thou, with all this heritnge and mnrk able prayer. The immediate applicntion of separntion from God, dnro to instruct tho "l\'ns the miraculous unwontcd C'l"ent as chief pastors and teachers of Israel? They ans 1ver to tho effectnnl fervent pmyor of did not stop with cruel words, hut in their tbe !ighteous man (see JR,S. v. 16-18). So bitterness of spirit they thrust him forth; much for the general relation of this they violently expelled him from the syna- Healer to God. 'l'he rabbis wero never tired gogue where they were then sented (so of urg-ing thnt the "answer. to prayer de- Meyer, llfaldonatus, Bengel, and many pended on a man being devout and doing others). We are not told that there and the will of God" (Edershcim, who quotes then they excommunicated, or unsynn- ' Bcr..' 6, b; ' Taanith,' iii. 8; 'Succah,' 14, gogued, him. It is probable that this ban "; ' Yonm,' 2S, a). So that the man was followed, with the usual terrible formalities. here fighting with drawn sword. He had practically confessed that the hlghest Y crs. 32, 33.-The man,having once begun, claims which Jesus bad ever made nbout will not be stopped in his argument. Since himself were true, and he made himself liable the world began (J1< -rov a.iwvos does not to the curse already pronounced (ver. 22). elsewhere occur in the New 'l'est.ament; we This marvellous Df,rrative, with its life- hnve ,b.' alwvos three times, and ,hro -rwv like detail, is not made the text of a dis- a,wv,,w) it was never heard tha.t a.ny one course. It remains for ever the startling opened the eyes of one bom blind. There is vindication of our Lord's own word, that he no record of any cure of blindness in the was Light to the world and Eyesight too, and Old Testament. The miracle stands forth was able to supply both the objective con- with grn.nd distinctness on the page of dition and subjective change by which the histo:-v. If such stories had been told, nature of man could alone receive the light neither he nor the author of this narrative of life. From ver. 8 to ver. 34 is almost kL1ew of them. The Pharisees and Jews the only passage in the Gospel, with the hnve no reply to this burst of g;rateful buL exception of the passage, eh. iii. 22-36, in indi~nant testimony to the umqueness of which we are not stnndin.g in the actual his Ddiverer, and then, with a home-thrust presence of the Lord, or are not listening to which cut through their weak obj~ctions and his judgments on men and things, 11ud to his repudiated their cruel inferences, he added, revelations of the mystery of his own Person. Unless this Man were from God, he could do The narrative so far stands by itself, and nothing ; he could neither have wrought gives us an insight into the life which was this marvel, nor any of the deep impressions being enacted in Jerusalem contemporane- wrought upon yon. "From God;" that is ously with the Divine self-revelation of Jesus. the mau's final auswer to the query," What Vera. 35-41.-(10) The issues of the sayest thou of him, seeing that be bath opened thine eyes?" God has the glory, ministry of light. while I repudiate what you give as a judg- Vere. 35-38.-(a) The vision of those who ment against him. Verily God has heard see not. These verses narrate the sequel so him as One who in this thing has simply done far as the man was concerned. Westcott his will. Thus the Jews are compelled for a and others rather exaggerate the bearing or few moments to hear, from one known as a street-beggnr, words of teaching along the it when they say here was "the beginning of finest lines of n deep experience. the new society." "The universal society Ver. 34.-Vanquished by this logic of is based on the confession of a new truth" simple fact and plain inference, the au- (Westcott). Even in this Gospel ihe first thorities have no other weapon to use but chapter shows that Jesus gathered disciples invective and persecution. They answered a.nd said to him, Thon wast altogether bom about him who from that time onw11rd were in sins ; through and through a . ~om to "see angels of God ascending and de- reprobate. They take up the snperstit10us scending on the Son of man." In the second idea which seems (ver. 2) to have been and fourth chapters he "made and baptized floating in the mind of the ~sciples. . Fro~ disciples." The twelve (eh. vi,) would not sins of parents or from thme own sins m thy mother's womb, than earnest into the leave hiw in the midst of widespread dis- world with the brand of thy in.fawy upon affection, because they confessed that he cH, 1x. 1-41.) THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST, JOHN. 13