The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 344

lo.ting, The world, it is true, k1iew thee oot, the perrect Son of me.n, and Representative of /,ut I linew thee. 'fho Revised Version hBS, man, upon him who laid down hi~ life that with the Authorized Vereion, simply omitted he might take it a~e.in (cf. eh. x. 17)-me.y the 1<111. It is one of tho most solemn of be in them; m"'y alight on them e.s know in", the Lord's condemnations of the ,.&,,.µoi. receiving, loving me (cf. eh. xvi. 27, "Tho Tho Apostle Pe.ul se.id (I Cor. i. 21), "The Father himself loveth you, because ye he.v" world through its wisdom know not God; " loved me"). However much was involved and in Rom. i. 18-23 ho shows the.t this in the utterance just qnotecl, in this closing lgnornnce wo.s wilful and practical o.nd with- nttere.nce still moro is conveyed. Tho waves out oxcuse. 'fbo hiHtory of the struggling on this boundless oce!l.n of love pour in, one of tho world o.fter Grd has shown how dense behind tho other, each nobler anc.l freighted tb.e humo.n darknes•J is. There ho.ve been with richer blessing than that which pre- signs thnt men groped after the idee. of e. ceded; e.nd the motive of this infinite I?nther who should be blind to their fe.nlts fnlness of eternal love being thus la.vishecl s,;id intlifferent to their follies, e.ntl e.fter e. upon them is e.drlerl: I in them. On this righteous Lord who has exaltetl righteous- profound suggestion he has e.lrea<ly said ness o.nd hated iniquity; but it was left for much, but not until we reach these laot Christ to blend these apparently discordant words do they flash forth in e.11 their mystic bee.ms iuto the re.dio.nce of e. perfect glory. grandeur. His life will be so identified with How mo.ny illustro.tions do the se.d and their life, his abode so blenrted with their shameless perversions of humo.n intelligence being, bis life so repeated in their experi- supply I But I knew thee, beco.use of the ence, his personality so m11ch entwined e.nd eternity of the.t ineffe.ble love wherewith blended with theirs, that he in them, e.nd thou he.et loved me, e.nd because of the because he is in them, prolongs and repeats <lepth of tho.t righteous love which thou hast himself as the Object of e.n eternal love. We manifested to the world in sending me upon see the same ideas in the Pauline teaching, my mission. And these knew-came to know and can only exple.in G1i.l. i. 16 ; ii. 20 ; iv. by personal intuition-that thou didst send 6; Rom. viii. 9, 10, 11; Eph. ii. 18; iii. me (cf. eh. xvi. 27, and vers. 8, 23) on the 19 ; Col. ii. 7 ; iii. 4, as echoes of the clBSs mission of redeemiug the world. They have of tee.clung which, long before John had learned the.t I have come with a.11 thy recortled the prayer in this form, had yet authority and in o.11 thy power; that I ho.ve become the seed and life-principle of the come out from thee; that I entered into Church. This is not only true of the closing the world; that I have glorified thee among verses, bnt of the whole prayer and preceding men; that my thoughts a.re thy thoughts, discourse. and my" words" (Jn1µd.Ta) a.re thy (Logos) "Wo1·d;" that my works of love are the 5. Review of tke dijficultiea attending tha works of the Father; and that my promises preservation and characteristica of this diB- are the me.nifestation of thy Na.me to the course and prayer. The sublime comprehen- men whom thon he.at given me. siveness of the prayer; its e.ngmenting swell Ver. 26.-Since they have '' learned the.t of thought; the awful depth of its self-con- thou sentest me," our Lord, to complete the e.wful monologue, e.dds, And I me.de known sciousness; the limpid simplioity of its style; thy Ne.me to them, pointing be.ck to the the movement from himself to his disciples, '"'""'P"',,.d, (Tau TO ovoµ,i of var. 6. "To make to the entire Church, to the outlying world; ma.nifest" is not equal in potency with "to the ground on which he ho.see every prayer; make known, to cause them to know ; " there the imperial dignity of the Pleader; the i11 more dirnct work done in them e.nd to them in order to effect knowledge. Our Lord tote.I absence of any sense of personal weak- e.lso decle.res tho.t he has done this already, ness or sinfulness; the revelation and insight but his work of manifestation and teaching thus granted into the heart of the God-Ma.n; a.re not complete. There is more and more its naturalness, if we concede the foregoing for these to lee.m. And (-yvwp(,,..,) I will make character; its profound humility, if we bea.r them to know it. A promise of Diviue expan- sion 1·eo.ching ouwa.rd a.ud outwe.rd for ever- iu mind his unique cln.ims ;-constitute more. By the power of his Spirit, by his this page a superne.turol phenomenon. return to them in his resurrection-life, by the Christ himself is the greatest of his miracles. minMry of the Pa.ra.olote, he would prolong The supposition that some unknown WTiter and complete tbeconvinoingproceBS. In order of the second century excogitated such a. that the love wherewith thou hast loved me conception out of the synoptic narre.tive, the (notice the unusuu.1 expression, 71 a.-ya1r11, f,v 11-ru11,,.ds; and et Eph. ii. 4)-the etema.l Pauline Epistles, o.nd the Ale;i;a.ndrine philo- love of the Fo.ther to the woll-beloved Son- sophy, refutes itself. _tbe love which ha.s ftowcc.l forth upou him as Wo admit, with F. W. Ncwme..u., with JOHN-II, ~ .:\  854 THE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [oH, xvu. 1-20.