The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 135

~el!t will he reaped only when he ahdl have There al'e ends and objeola or love so much l!IMlrifl('ed his life and put away sin by the grcskr than " tho self," that to keep it by l!Mrifice of him8('lf, It is, too, only Be every some aot of will and rooreant fear is to mnko believing- man dies to himself, is oraciflcd it ntterly valueless, is really to destroy lt1 with Ohriei, is dead with him to the world, true vitality. And he that hateth hia (,j,ux/i) that be rises again in the newness of life. life (self) in thie world, wherover the grentor Vere. 25, 26.-Tbe Lord here introduces olaim of Obrist and of tho Father would ho a solemn, almost oracular utterance, wliioh compromised by loving it, shall veritably pro'l"es how oloae and iutime.te is the rela- preserve it, viz. the self, unto eternal ((a,IJ) tionship between the eynoptioe and the lite; i.e. to the blessedness of eterulll being. Fourlb Gospel. On aeveral great OCC8Bions The ,j,vx/i is a great poeseBBion; and "what our Lord bas imprell8ed this law of the advantagetb a man if he should gain the Spirit of life upon bis disciples. Thus in whole world, an<l lose it?" But U e. mnn Matt. x. 37-39, in the lengthened commis- persists in gaining the world, and forgets sion given to the twelve, after calling on that this earthly existence is not co.pnble of his followers to plaoe his own claim on their satisfying the demands or finding a sphere nffeotion as great.er than that of father, for the true self, nnd so makes the earthly mother, friend, and oalling for self-sacrifice, reign or enjoyment of the ,j,ux/J the end of and aelf-orncifixion, he said," He that findeth nll striving,-then he misernbly foils. So hit!life ('1111x,I) shall lose it: he that Ioseth bis far it is olear that our Lord is applying a life for my sake shall find it." Again (Matt. great p1-inciple of the true life to the cnso xvi. 25, etc.), after rebuking Peter for bis of his own Messinnio work and ministry. unwillingness to recognize the necessity and He draws, from a lnw of the superiority of eignifioaoce of the killing of "the Son of the Di vine life to the fear of death and to the living God," he laid down the same law the fact of death, a justifico.tion of hie own once more, calling for self-denial and daily approaching doom. He can only by dying cross-hearing, Rnd adds, " Whosoever will live his perfect life, win his greatest triumph, Mlle his life shall lose it: and wliosoever will reap his world-wide harvest. loae his life fur my 811.ke shall find it." So Ver. 26.-In this verse the Lord brings also Luke iL 23, etc. Luke (xiv. 26) also the light of heaven down into this deep pa- introduces the same solemn aphorism in our radox. He epenks like an anointed King Lord's discourse oonceruing the close of the and great Cllptai.n of Slllvation, who has Jewish naiional life. Surely here he is (liuii,01101) "servants" willing to do his bid- applying to his own oase the law of the ding. If any man will be my servant, let Diviue life which he had shown to be uni- him follow me a.long the line which I am versal, and of which he was on the point of prepared to take, in the way of sacdfiee and giving the crowning and climacteric ex- death, which iB the true glorification ; and pression. He does it with amplification.e where I am, there shall also my servant be. and a supply of motives. If life be regarded This association of the servant with the UB au end in it.self; U it be treat.ad as com- Lord, W! the sufficient and the transcendent plete when rounded with its own indi- motive, pervades the Gospels (of. eh. xiv. 3 viduality ; iC life shrink from 1111.Crifice, if it and xvii. 24; comp. also Lake I.Xiii 43, "love it.self," aud will at all hazards pre- "with me in Para.diae;" and 2 Cor. xii. 2, serve it.self; U the ne.tnral and instinctive 4; v. 8; Phil. i. 23). It is rem!lrkable that fca1 of <leath, and instinct of self-preserva- Christ chose the twelve that they should be tion, become a self-idolatry ;-that life will "with him•· (Mark iii. 14). There is no "abide a.lone." If it sacrifice itself for greater blessedness. Still, the Lord adds, higher ends than self; U it regard the higher If any man aerve me, him will the Father end as more valuable than itself; if it lose honour. For the Father to honour a poor it.self in the object to which it is conse- child of the dust seems almost more than crated; if it be content to" die; "-it abideth we can receive. The conception of the no longer" alone," but" bringeth forth much steps by mean.e of which the Lord makes fruit." thiB possible to hie followers and servants Ver. 25.-B:e that love■ hiB own life produced in his own solf-coneciouenees one (,j,ux11); life used B.B equivalent to" ael~,'' in of those sudden and overwhelming crises that totality of being which, like the hfe of and changes from joy to pel'turbation, as of t.L.e aee<l-oom, survives the accident of death agony to pee.ea and to reconcilement with -be that lov111 his own life (llel/) ii loling 1 the eternal Father's will, which prove how it; or, perhaps, destroying it, ipso facto. certainly St. John is e.lwa.ya portraying the same Personage, the same transcendent cho.- I 'AroA>.6•• is rea<l, with II(, B, L, 33, by re.cter whom the aynoptist.a describe (Luke Tisclieudorf, E.. T ., etc., instead of bo"-•"" xii. 49, 50; comp. Luke xi.x. 38, 41 ; Matt. of T.R., wilh A., D, X, and nwnero111 :xi 20, 25; xvi.17, et.c., and 21). More than yersiOIIIL this, the whole passage that follows is a  OH, xn. 1-60.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 141