The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 420

ite two cnnetltnente, w11e time libern.ted from the highest 11nrl 1111reRt kinr:1 of witnn~•, the perioardium-a phonOllDenou tho.t might that of direct obRAn,ition, ataggering, con- eeom to justify the supposition of the founding the ordinary acnee, but proving ovangelist, tb11t it was blood e.nd wnter. tho.t the Son of God died in bis human Dr. Stroud endeovoured, with much medical body-and he knoweth, by his own inwarrl leo.rning, to show that this might follow the experience, that he 1aith trne things, that eide-pieroing if the Lord's phyeic11l de11th ye al10 1 may believe. A vehement effort he.d followed, e.s he e.rgued, from rupture of has been mn.de to sever this testimony from the he11rt due to hie intense agonies, Sir the evangelist, and refer it to 11, third person R. Bonnett hoe accepted this solution. Nor, iKeivos, and suppose that it took place during furthor, do we eeo hare 11ny reference to the John's absence from the cross (so Weisse, eo.oramento.l system of which John else- Schweizer, Hilgenfeld, and others); but, as where er,ye so little: but we do see 11 token Meyer,Godet,etc., affirm there is no necessity miroculously given of the twofold power of wh11.tever for such an interpretation. 'E,cei- his redemptive life e.nd work (1) renovo.tion, vo, is used of the subject of the sentence refreshment, rivers of living wo.ter issuing when it is clear from the context that the from the 1<oll\1e& of Christ, the first greo.t speaker himself is that so bject (see eh. ix. rush of spirituo.l power which wo.s to re- 37). Concerning a third person, the writer generate humo.nity: and (2) the expression could not have written, " He knoweth that he of tho.t redemptive process which wo.s effected saith true things, that ye may believe," but in the positive shedding of his precious rather, " We know that he eaith true things, blood. It wns, moreover, a proof and sign that we may belie'Ue." But John here speaks given to Roman soldiers that thoir Victim strongly of his own invincible conviction, wo.s actno.lly. deacl. We oannot think, with and, as in eh_ xxi. 24, it is here given to Westcott, tho.t it was a kind of sign of induce a stronger faith on the part of his the commencement of the resurrection-life. readers-not of himself and his reo.ders-in which goes perilously near to the assertion the supernatural death, in .the signs that tho.t he never really died. Moulton argues accompanied it, aclapted to convince the tho.t the phenomena were physiologically bystanders of its marvel, and to fill up the possible if the event occurred immediately prophetic picture. Hilgenfeld, with strange o.fter deo.th. There is nothing in the narra- perversity, urges the.t the clever forger of tive to prevent such juxtaposition. Tho.t the narrative "falls out of his pa.rt" and John should ho.ve witnessed it, and been forgets himself (see Luthardt on 'Author- uao.ble to underet1md it, and therefore put ship of the Fourth Gospel,' p. 180). The it down among the marvels of the Crucifixion, symbolical and allegorical explanations are corroborates the veracity of the eye-witness numerous. E.g. Toplady's well-known hymn, (Webster o.nd Wilkinson). The interesting "Rock of Ages," contains the word.9- ontenr, of patristic interpreto.tions given by " Let the water and the blood, Westcott (' Adilitional Note') shows that From thy riven side which flowed, the earliest writer who refers to the marvel, Be of sin the double cure, Claudius .ApoUinaris, regarded it NI expres- Cleanse me from its guilt nncl power." sive of l\o-yo, and .,,.,.;;µa. "the Word and the Spirit." Origen showed that from a corpse Ver. 36.-For theae things came to pass, such a phenomenon could not occur: and so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Both even in his death there are still the signs the omission of the crurifragium, and the of the living one. Cyril of Jerusalem saw piercing of the Redeemer's side, with its the two baptisms of blood and water; solemn and strange issues, confirm to this Oh1'!/soswm, the two sacraments, or the great eye-witness the spiritual meaning and mysteries of bo.ptiem and of the flesh and Messianic portraiture involved in them. A blood. Macarius Magnes and .ApoUinarius hone of him shall not be broken. This quo- saw an allusion to the side of Adam, from totion from the ceremonial of the Passover which Eue, the source of evil, was taken; (Exod. xii. 46; Numb. ix. 12), where the tho.t now the sicle of the second Adam should lamb offered to God was to be shielded give forth the means of aalvation and del~ver- from unnecessary mutilation, is in harmony anoe. Tertullian dwells on the two baptisms with the words of the Baptist, "Behold the of water and blood: so Jerome; while Lamb of Goel I" and with Paul's languo.ge .Augustine sees in it the !aver and the cup. (1 Cor. v. 7), "Christ our Passover is That there was some speoial, abnormal phe- saorificed for us,'' and shows that the Fourth nomenon seems specie.lly noticeable from the emphasis whioh the eye-witneBB lays upon 1 Ke&l, on the strongest authority of the obeervr,tion and record of the faot. N, B, A, eto., twenty-five manuscripts, and Ver. 85.-lle that hath seen hath bome, Italic, Vulgo.te, Syriao, R.T., Tischendorf and is now bearing, herein I\Il!l hereby, (8th edit.), Meyer, Godet, e~. It is omitted witnea■, and hill wi~ou u 11!1ritable- byT.R. 2 I!' JOHN.-n. 484: THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO ST. JOHN. [oR. x1x. 1-42,