The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 343

ii! oomp<>~ro. Thie ie the flret p11,1.t of the regarded the being equl\l with God RB no fine! f)<'1ition, e.nd it embr&C'el! evervthing. &pn-yµdr-not ae a thing to be seized, prized, "With Uhriet;" "For ever with the Lord;" e.nd held in its integrity. And iu Heh. ii. 9, in his glory and part of it., in the pince "He Wll8 by 1'01\eon of hie intended pnseion whi.-,h he is going to lOC'e.lize and prepare crowned with glory e.nd honour, in order that for them, i• h!'aven. The glory whfoh he he might taste death for every me.n." So the.t had already girnn to bis dieoiplos (1·er. 22) the glory which he had with the Fe.ther fells for short of this fellowship with him before the world we.e, e.ud therefore before wh('re his undimmoo raJien00 shines, ie his inoe.rnation, Wll.8 the.t very glory of self- only e prepa.re.tion for shr<ring with him in devoting and unutterable love into whioh his ultimate triumph over the world and he would oome o.ge.in with o.11 the trophies death, an<l also for sitting down with him of hie redemptive work. The new and on his throne (Rev. iii. 21). In this world higher embodiment of his humanity would fellowship with him in hie suffering humanity prove of suoh e. I..-ind the.t his esseutie.l glory did not finally reveal the tranooendent gl.ory would shine through it in undimmed lustre. (though in oh. i. H the apostle says, " We If this he the mee.ning, we oe.nnot dilute beheld his glory," eto.) of hie Person. To this pregnant saying, one of the moet realize this he prays, And that they may also mysterious of all his words, one which lee.de behold the glory whioh ii mine, whioh thou us up t.o the highest possible conception of hast giveu me. The glory given cannot be the rele.tione between the Fe.ther e.nd the the glory of the AO-yor iw-d.pocor, e.coording to Son. The etemal love of whioh the God- Meyer, for that is not given, bnt belongs to head itself ie the SOUBOl!I e.nd the OBJECT is him by eternal right; yet llleyer admits that the.t to which we she.11 be introduced, e.nd the Father gave the Son to have life in him- which our Lord wonld he.ve us see e.nd Helf; and that even the ekrne.l Sonship itself she.re (of, 1 John iii, 1--3). may be regarded e.s the etemal bestowment Ver, 25.-The prayer is thus over, a.nd of nn infinite love. Seeing that the Lord onoe more the gree.t High Priest e.nd Victim goes on to give a reason of his 114>..11µa. declares concerning himself some of the founded on an eternal or at least pr&- mysteries of his Person e.nd of his relation mundane manifeetntion of a oonscious love, with his disciples e.nd with the world. O surely he is thinking of the exaltation of righteous Father (of, vers. 1, 5, miT•P humanity into the eterna.l glory, whioh he simply; ver. 11, ndT•p &-y1•; ver, 2!, Dc!T•p distinctly relinquished and veiled in the without e.ny charo.cterize.tion). The right- de.ye of his flesh. That wbioh they had eousness of God is e. more exalt.ed perfection hitherto seen they only partially appr&- th.o.n his holiness, one that might seem more heuded, though he had even given it to e.t ve.rie.noe with the exercise of his paterne.l them (ver. 22), e.nd though they he.d been compassion; yet this righteousness is con- dra wu out of the world to high ple.ces of spicuously disple.yed in the redemptive love tmnsfigure.tion, the.t they might behold it which Christ he.cl thus me.nifested, e.nd the and lee.m how it coexisted with and we.s beloved disciple (1 John i 9) decle.res the.t compe.tible with a perfect resignation to tile God is faithful and "righteous" in forgiving will of God in human redemption. Our the repentant sinner. The blending of the Lord prays, nay, toill.a, that they should idea. of righteousness with Fatherhood is the hereafter see it in its fuluess of grace and sublime revelation me.de by the Lord Jesus, beauty, see it when relieved from obstructive and he gathers the two idee.s t.ogether iuto hindranOOB due to the fieah and to thoe: world, an indissoluble unity. Justice e.nd meroy see it on the grandest scale, see it e.s it are seeu by the whole work of the Son of ree.lly is, see the fnll cape.city and in.finite God to have been the outflow e.nd effulgence momentum of the glory which he had of the one &ll-oomprehendiug and infinite alree.dy bestowed upon them. For thou love. 'l'he ,ca.l the.t here follows he.s created. lov6dst me before the follJldation of the world. some difficulty, though some me.nuscripts This, fJaY Meyer and Lutbardt, is girnn e.s a omit it (D e.nd Vulgo.te), probably in con- rea.;on of the pre.yer for hi1 disciples, not as sequence of its inappropriateness; but it is an explanation of the glory which he had reooived on strong e.ncient authority. Meyer with the Fu.ther before the world wa& It and Hengstenberg take it thus: Riyldeou, ie often .aid that the exaltation of the Son FaJher (gea, BUC!t tltOU art), and (yet) the worl.d of man ie a rewe.rd for hie self-humiliation, knew thee oot. But would our Lord he.ve hesi- and th., crown of his sacrificial death (Phil. tated, o.s it were, to express this truth, with- ii 9; Bu. iii. 21 ; Heh. L 1, 2), but thwe out justifying it age.inst the Wlbelief of the very pa.!lllllg(;I 0011.ple ihe.t exaltation with world? Moult.au triea to exple.in the simple the prewandu.nl! glory of him who wu, to adversative force of the ""l u.nd Ii, by "bolh 1,egin with, and before hie work of re- the world learned. not t.o !mow theo, hut I demi,tiou, 1.1i., "Effulgence of the Father's learned to kuow thee." Godet has ex- :,(lory ," wl,o we.. •• iu the fClrl.ll of God," a.ud prtllll!ed. the ,ca.l more t:lfectively by truus, OR. xvn. l-26,) 'fllE GOSPEL ACCORDING '1'0 B'r..JOHN. 353