Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Augustine remarks, — " Behold the Jews understood what the Arians would not understand."

Whitby remarks that the Jews never accused our Lord of blasphemy for saying that he was the Messiah, but for saying that He was the Son of God, because they did not beUeve that Messiah when He appeared was to be a Divine Person.

Ferus remarks that the Jews probably took notice of our Lord calling God " My Father," and not " our Father." — CartwrJght also thinks that there is much weight in the expression *'my," and that the Jews gathered from it that Christ claimed to be the only -begotten Son of God, and not merely a Son by adoption and grace.

19 — [Then answered Jesus and said unto them.'] This verse begins a long discourse, in which our Lord formally defends himself from the charge of the Jews of laying claim to what He had no right to claim. (1.) He asserts His own Divine authority, commission, dignity, and equaHty with God His Father. (2.) He brings forward the evidence of His Divine commission, which the Jews ought to consider and receive. (3.) Finally, He tells the Jews plainly the reason of their unbelief, and charges home on their consciences their love of man's praise more than God's, and their inconsistency in pretending to honour Moses while they did not honour Christ. It is a discourse almost unrivalled in depth and majesty.

There are few chapters in the Bible, perhaps, where we feel our own shallowness of understanding so thoroughly, and discover so completely the insufficiency of all human language to express ^' the deep things of God." Men are often saying they wnnt explanations of the mysteries of the Christian faith, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the person of Christ, and the like. Let them just observe, when we do find a passage full of explanatory statements on a deep subject, how much there is that we have no line to fathom and no mind to take in. " I want more light," says proud man. God gives him his desire in this chiipter. and Hfts up the veil a little. But behold 1 we are dazzled by the very light we wanted, and find we have not eyes to take it in.

It has always been thought by many commentators that this solemn discourse of our Lord's was delivered before the Sanhedrim, or general Ecclesiastical Assembly of the Jews. They regard it as a formal defence of His Divinity and Messiahship, and a statement of evidence why He should be received, before a regularly constituted ecclesiastical court. — It may be so. Probabilities seem in favour of the idea. But it must be remembered that we have noth'ng but internal evidence in favour of the theory. There is not a word said to show that our Lord was formally brought before the Sanhedrim, and made a formal defence. — Some writers lay much stress upon the opening words of the 19th verse, — " Then answered Jesus and said," — and consider that these words imply a formal charge in court, and a formal reply from our Lord. It may be true. But we must remember that it is only a conjecture.

One thing only is certain. Nowhere else in the Gospels do we find our Lord making such a formal, systematic, orderly, regular statement of His own unity with the Father, His Divine commission and authority, and the proofs of His Messiahship, as we find in this discourse. To me it seems one of the deepest things in the Bible.

[Verily, verily, I say unto you.'] Here, as elsewhere, the remark applies, that this form of expression always precedes some statement of more than ordinary depth and importance.

[The Son can do nothing of himself, &c.] This opening verse declares ihe complete unity there is between God the Father and God the Son. The Son, from His very nature and relation to the Father, "can do nothing" independently or separately from the Father. It is not that He lacks or luants the power to do, but I hat He unU not do. (Compare Gen. xix. 22.) When the angel said, " I cannot do anything till thou be come thither;" it means of course "'I will not do." — "Of himself" dees not mean without help, or unassisted, but "from himself," from His own independent will. He can only do such things as, from His unity with the Father, and consequent ineffable knowledge, He

*' seeth" tLs Father doing. For the Father and the Son are so united, — one God though two Persons, — that whatsoever the Father does the Son does also. The acts of the Son therefore are not His own independent acts, but the acts of His Father also.

The Greek word which we render "likewise" must not be supposed to mean nothing more than '' also, as well." It is literally " in like manner."

Bishop Hall paraphrases this saying of our Lord thus: — "1

and the Father are one indivisible essence, and our acts are no less inseparable. The Son can do nothing without the will and act of the Father; and, even as He is man, can do nothing but wliat He seeth agreeable to the will and purpose of His heavenly Father."

Barnes remarks, — " The words ' what things soever ' are without limit; all that the Father does, the Son likewise does. This is as high an assertion as possible of His being equal with God. If one does all that another does, or can do, then there is proof of equality. If the Son does all that the Father does, then, like Him, He must be almighty, omniscient, all-present, and infinite in every perfection; or, in other words, He must be God."

Augustine remarks, — " Our Lord does not say, whatsoever the Father doeth the Son does other things like them, but the very same things....1{ the Son doeth the same things, and in Hke manner, then let the Jew be silenced, the Chri-tian believe, the heretic be convinced; the Son is equal with the Father."

Hilary, quoted in the ^' Catena Aurea" remarks, — " Christ is

the Son because He does nothing of Himself He is God because whatsoever things the Father doeth, He doeth the same. They are One because They are equal in honour. He is not the Father because He is sent."

Diodati remarks, — "The phrase, 'what He seeth the Father do,' is a figurative term, showing the inseparable communion of will, wisdom, and power, between the Son and the Father in the internal order of the most holy Trinity."

Toletus remarks, — " When it is said ' the Son can do nothing of Himself,' thi-^ does not maan want of power, bnt the highest pcwer. Just as it is a mark ot omnipotence not to be able to die, or to be worn out, or to be annihilated, because there is nothing that cm injure omnipotence, so, likewise, 'to be unable to do anything oi' Himself is no mark of impotence, but of the highest power. It means nothing less than having one and the same power with the Father, so that nothing can be done by tho One which is not equally done by the Other."

20. — ^The Father loveth the Son, c&c.] This verse carries on the thought begun in the preceding verse, — tne unity of the Father and the Son. When we read the words, " The father loveth " and the "Father showeth," we must not for a moment suppose them to imply any superiority in the Father, or any inferiority in the Son, as to their Divine nature and essence. — The " love " is not the love of an earthly parent to a beloved child. The "sliowing" is not the showing of a teacher to an ignorant Bcbolar. The " love " is meant to show us that unspeakable unity of heart and affection (if such words may be reverently used) which eternally existed and exists between the Father and the Son. The "showing" means that entire confidence and cooperation which there was between the Father and the Son as to all the works which the Son should do when He came into the world, to fill the ofl&ce of Mediator, and to save sinners. — The "greater works,'' which remained to be shown, were evidently the works specified in the two following verse>;, — the works of quickening and of judging. That the Jews did "marvel," and were confounded at the works of "quickening," we know from the Acts of the Apostles. That they will "marvel" even more at our Lord's work of judgment we shall see when Christ comes again to jadge the heathen, to restore Jerusalem, to gather Israel, to convince the Jews of their unbelief, and to renew the face of the earth.

Both in this, and the preceding verse, we must carefully remember the utter inability of any human language, or human ideas, to express perfectly such matters as our Lord is speaking of. Language is intended specially to express the things of man. It fails greatly when used to express things about God. In the expressions "seeth the Father do," — "loveth the Son," — "showeth him all things," — " will show him greater works," — we must carefully bear this in mind. We must remember that they are expressions accommodated to our weaker capacities. They are intended to explain the relation between two divine Beings, who are one in essence, though two Persons, — cue in mind and will, though two in manifestation, — equal in all things as touching the Grodhead, though the Son is inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. There must needs be immense difficulty in finding words to convey any idea of the relation between these two Ptrsons. Hence the language used by our Lord must be cautiously handled, with a constant recollection that we are not reading of an earthly father and son, but of God the Father and God the Son, who though one in essence as God, are at the same time two distinct Persons.

Augustine wisely remarks, " There are times when speech is deficient, even when the understanding is proficient. How much more doth speech suffer defect, when the understanding hath nothing perfect I "

Auofustine and Bernard both remark, that it is far " greater work" to repair ruined human nature, than to make it at first, and to re-create it, than to create it.

21, 22. — [As the Father raiseth up the dead, &c.'\ Our Lord here proceeds to tell the Jews one of His mighty works which He had come to do, in proof of His divine nature, authority, and commission. Did they find fault with Him for making Himself equal wiin God? Let them know that He had the same power as God tiie Father to give "life" and quicken the dead. Let them know furthermore, that all "judgment" was committed to Him. Surely He who had in His hand the mighty prerogatives of giving life and judging the world, had a right to speak of himself as equal with God 1

When we read "the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them," we must either understand the words to refer generally to God's power to raise th3 dead at the last day, — which the Jew would allow as an article of faith, and a special attribute of divinity, — or else we mu^t understand it to apply to the power of spiritually quickening men's souls, which God had from the beginning exercised in calling men from death to life, — or else we must simply take it to mean that to give life, whether bodily or spiritual, is notoriously the peculiar attribute of God. The last view appears to me the most probable one, and most in harmony with what follows in after verses.

When we read " the Son quickeneth whom he wills," we have a distinct assertion of the Son's authority to give life at His will, either bodily or spiritual, with the same irresistible power as the Father. The highest of all gifts He has but to " will " and to bestow. The Greek word translated " quickeneth," is very strong. It is, literally, " makes alive," and seems to imply the power of making life of all kind, both bodily and spiritual.

Burkitt remarks, that it is never said of any prophet or apostle, that he did mighty works "at his will."

When we read " the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son," we must understand that in the economy of redemption, the Father hL.s honoured the Son by devolving on Him the whole office of judging the world. It cannot of course mean that judgment is work with which the Father from His nature hath nothing to do, but that it is work which He has completely and entirely committed to the Son's hands. He that died for sinners, is He that will judge them. Thus it is written, — '• He will judge the world in righteousnesa by that man whom he hath ordained," (Acts xvii. 31.)

Burgon remarks, " There is an origiuMl, supreme, judicial power; and there is also a judicial power derived, given by commission.

Christ, p^ God, hath the first together with the Father: Christ, as man, hath the second from the Father,"

I think it highly probable that the " all judgment committed to the Son," includes not merely the final judgment of the last day, but the whole work of ordering, governing, and deciding the afi'airs of G-ods kingdom. "To judge" is an expression constantly used in the Old Testament in the sense of " to rule." The meaning then would be, that the Father has given to the Son the office of King and Judge. The whole administration of the Divine government of the world is put into the hands of the Son, Christ Jesus. Everything connected with the rule of the church and world, as well as the last judgment, is placed in the Son's hands.

We should carefully mark the distinction between " quickening " and "judging" in the language of these two verses.

(a.) It is not said that " the Father quickeneth no man," but hath committed the power of giving life to the Son. Had this been said, it would have contradicted the texts "no man can come unto Me except the Father draw him," and "the Spirit giveth life." (John vi. 44; 2 Cor. iii. 6.) Quickening is the work of all three Persons in the Trinity, of one as much as another.

(b). It is said that judgment is the special work of the second Person of the Trinity. It is not the pecuhar office either of the Father, or the Spirit, but of the Son. There seems a fitness in this. He who was condemned by an unjust judgment, and died for sinners, is He whose office it will be to judge the world.

(c.) It is said that " the Son quickeneth whom he will " The power of giving life is as much the prerogative of the Son as of the Father, or of the Spirit. Surely this teaches us that to place the election of God the Father, or the work of the Spirit, before men, as the first and principal thing they should look at, is not good theology. Christ, after all, is the meeting-point between the Trinity and the world. It is His office to quicken as well as pardon. No doubt He quickeneth by the Spirit whom He sends into man's heart. But it is His prerogative to give life as well a^ peace. This ought to be remembered. There are some in this day who in a mistaken zeal put the work of the Father and the Spirit before the work of Christ.

23. — [That all men should honour the Son, <&€.] By these words our Lord teaches us that the Father would have the Son to receive equal honour with Himsel£ We are to understand distinctly that there is no inferiority in the Son to the Father. He is equal to Him in dignity and authority. He is to be worshipped with equal worship. If any man fancies that to honour the Son equally with the Father, detracts from the Father's honour, our

Lord declares that such a man is entirely mistaken. On the contary, " He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father t'lat se!!t him." It was the mind and intenlion of the Father that the Son, as the Mediator between God and man, should receive honour from all men. The glory of His beloved Son is part of the Father's eternal counsels. Whenever therefore any one through ignorance or pride, or unbelief, neglects Christ, but professes at the same time to honour God, he is committing a mighty error, and 59 far from pleasing God, is greatly displeasing Him. The more a man honours Christ, and makes much of Him, the more the Father is pleased.

Evangelical Christians should mark the doctrine of this verse, and remember it. They are sometimes taunted with holding new views in religion, because they bring forward Christ so much more prominently than their fathers or grandfathers did. Let them see here that the more they exalt the Son of God and His office, the more honour they are doing to the Father who sent Him.

To the Deist and Socinian, the words of this verse are a strong condemnation. Not honouring Christ, they are angering God the Father. The Fatherhood of God, out of Christ, is a mere idol of man's invention, and incapable of comforting or saving.

Alford remarks, "Whosoever does not honour the Son with equal honour to that which he pays to the Father, however he may imagine that he honours or approaches God, does not honour Him at all; because he can only be known by us as 'the Father who sent his Son.'" — Barnes remarks, "If our Saviour here did not intend to teach that He ought to be worshipped and esteemed equal with God, it would be difficult to teach it by any language."

Rollock remarks, " The Jews and Turks in the present day profess to worship God earnestly, not only without the Son, but even with contempt of the Son Jesus Christ. But the whole of such worship is idolatrous, and that which they worship is an idol. There is no knowledge of the true God except in the face of the Son."

Wordsworth remarks, " They who profess zeal for the one God do not honour Him aright, unless they honour the Son as they honour the Father. This is a warning to those who claim the title of Unitarians, and deny the divinity of Christ. No one can be said to believe in the Divine Unity who rejects the doctrine of the Trinity."

The entire unity of the three Persons in the Trinity, is a subject that needs far more attention than many give to it. It may be feared that many well-meaning Christians are tritheists or worshippers of three distinct Gods, witliout knowing it. They talk as if God the Father's mind towards sinners was one thing-, and God the Son's another, — as if the Father haied man, and the Son loved him and protected him. Such persons would do well to study this part of Scripture, and to mark the unity of the Father and the Sou.

After all, that deep truth, " the eternal generation " of God the Son, whatever proud man may say of it, is the foundation ti'uth which we must never forget in trying to understand a passage like that before us. In the Trinity " none is afore or after other. The Father is eternal: the Son eternal: the Holy Ghost eternal. The Father is God: the Son is God: the Holy Ghost is God. And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal: not three Gods, but one God." — As Burgon remarks, '•' There never was a time when any one of the three Persons Avas not;" and it might be added, there never was a time when the three Persons were not equal. And yet the Son was begotten of the Father from all eternity, and the Holy Ghost proceeded from all eternity from the Father and the Son.

27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurreo tion of damnation.

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

25 Verily, verily, I say unto you. The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

26 For as the Father hath hfe in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

The passage before us is singularly rich in weighty truths. To the minds of Jews, who were familiar with the writings of Moses and Daniel, it would come home with peculiar power. In the words of our Lord they would not fail to see fresh assertions of His claim to be received as the promised Messiah.

We see in these verses that the salvation of our souls dbfends on hearing Christ. It is the man, we are told, who " hears Christ's word," and believes that God the Father sent Him to save sinners, who " has everlasting life." Such " hearing " of course is something more than mere listening. It is hearing as a humble scholar, —hearing as an obedient disciple, — hearing with faith and love, — hearing with a heart ready to do Christ's will, — this is the hearing that saves. It is the veryhearing of which God spoke in the famous prediction of a " prophet like unto Moses:" — " Unto him shall ye hearken." — " Whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." (Deut. xviii. 15—19.)

To " hear " Christ in this way, we must never forget, is just as needful now as it was eighteen hundred years ago. It is not enough to hear sermons, and run after preachers, though some people seem to think this makes up the whole of religion. We must go much further than tliis: we must " hear Christ." To submit our hearts to Christ's teaching, — to sit humbly at His feet by faith, and learn of Him, — to enter His school as penitents, and become His believing scholars, — to hear His voice and follow Him, — this is the way to heaven. Till we know something experimentally of these things, there is no life in us.

We see, secondly, in these verses, how rich and full are the privileges of the true hearer and believer. Such a man enjoys a present salvation. Even now, at this present time, he " hath everlasting life." — Such a man is completely justified and forgiven. There remains no more condemnation for him. His sins are put away. "He shall not come into condemnation." — Such a man is in an entirely new position before God. He is like one who has moved from one side of a gulf to another: " He is pass* ed from death unto life."

The privileges of a true Christian are greatly underrated by many. Chiefly from deplorable ignorance of Scripture, they have little idea of the spiritual treasures of every believer in Jesus. These treasures are brought together here in beautiful order, if we will only look at them. One of a true Christian's treasures is the " presentness " of his salvation. It is not a far distant thing which he is to have at last, if he does his duty and is good. It is his own in title the moment he believes. He is already pardoned, forgiven, and saved, though not in heaven. — Another of a true Christian's treasures is the " completeness " of his justification. His sins are entirely removed, taken away, and blotted out of God's book, by Christ's blood. He may look forward to judgment without fear, and say, "who is he that condemneth?" (Rom. viii. 34.) He shall stand without fault befbre the throne of God. — The last, but not the least, of a true Christian's treasures, is the entire change in his relation and position toward God. He is no longer as one dead before Him, — dead, legally, like a man sentenced to die, and dead in heart. He is " alive unto God." (Rom. vi. 11.) "He is a new creature. Old things are passed away, and all things are become new." (2 Cor. v. 17.) Well would it be for Christians if these things were better known! It is want of knowledge, in many cases, that is the secret of want of peace.

We see, thirdly, in these verses, a striking declaration of ChrisPs power to give life to dead souls. Our Lord tells us that " the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." It seems most unlikely that these words were meant to be confined to the rising of men's bodies, and were fulfilled by such miracles as that of raising Lazarus from the grave. It appears far more probable that what om* Lord had in view was the quickening of souls, — the resurrection of conversion. (Ephes. ii. l; Colos. ii. 13.)

The words were fulfilled in not a few cases, durino: our Lord's own niinistiy. They were fulfilled far more completely after the day of Pentecost, through the ministry of the Apostles. The myriads of converts at Jerusalem, at Antioch, at Ephesus, at Corinth, and elsewhere, wore all examples of their fulfilment. In all these cases, " th© voice of the Son of God" awakened dead hearts to spiritual life, and made them feel their need of salvation, repent, and believe. — They are fulfilled at this very day, in every instance of true conversion. Whenever any men or women among ourselves awaken to a sense of their soul's vahie, and become alive to God, the words are made good before our eyes. It is Christ who has spoken to their hearts by His Spirit. It is " the dead hearing Christ's voice, and living."

We see, lastly, in these verses, a most solemn prophecy of the final resurrection of all the dead. Our Lord tells us that " the hour is coming when all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation."

The passage is one of those that ought to sink down very deeply into our hearts, and never be forgotten. All is not over when men die. Whether they like it or not, they will have to come forth from their graves at the last day, and to stand at Christ's bar. None can escape His summons. When His voice calls them before Him, all must obey. — When men rise again, they will not all rise in the same condition. There will be two classes — two parties — two bodies. Not all will go to heaven. Not all will be saved. Some will rise again to inherit eternal life, but some will rise again only to be condemned. These are terrible things! But the words of Christ arc plain and unmistakeable. Thus it is written, and thns it must be.

now^ and are numbered among His true disciples. Let us know the privileges of true believers, while we have life and liealth. Then, when His voice shakes heaven and earth, and is calling the dead from their gi-aves, we shall feel confidence, and not be " ashamed before Him at his coming." (1 John ii. 28.)

24. — [Verily, verily, 1 say."] Here, as in other places, these words are the preface to a saying of more than ordinary solemnity and importance.

[He that hearetli my word.'] The " hearing" here is much more than mere hstening, or hearing with the ears. It means hearing / with the heart, hearing with faith, hearing accompanied by obedient discipleship. He that so hears the doctrine, teaching, or '' word " of Christ, hath life. It is such hearing as that of the true sheep: " My sheep hear my voice," (John x. 27,) or as that spoken of by St, Paul: "Ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him." (Eph. iv. 21.)

[Believeth on Him that sent Me.] This must not be supposed to mean that a vague faith in G-od, such as the Deist professes to have, is the way to everlasting life. The belief spoken of is a believing on God in Christ, — a believing on God as the God who sent Christ to save sinners, — a believing on God as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has planned and provided redemption by the blood of His Son. He who so believes on God the Father, is the same man that beheves in God the Son. In this sense the Father is just as much the- object of saving faith as the Son. Thus we read, " It shall be imputed if we believe on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." (Rom. iv. 24.) And again, " Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God." (1 Pet. i. 21.) He that rightly believes on Christ as his Saviour, with the same faith believes in God as his reconciled Father. The Gospel that invites the sinner to believe in Jesus as his Redeemer and Advocate, invites him at the same time to believe in the Father, who is " well pleased " with all who trust in His Son.

Henry remarks, "Christ's design is to bring us to God. (1 Pet. iii. 18.) As God is the first original of all grace, so is He the ultimate object of all faith. Christ is our way, and God ia our rest. We must believe on God as having sent Jesus Clmist,

and reef mmended Himself to our faith and love, by manifesting His glory in the face of Jesus Christ."

Lightfoot remarks, "■ He doth most properly centre the ultimate fixing and resting of belief in God the Father. For as from Him, as from a fountain, do flow all those things that are the object of faith, — namely free grace^ the gift of Christ, the way of redemption, the gracious promises, — so unto Him as to that fountain doth faith betake itself in its final resting and repose, — namely to God in Chri^.'

Chemnitius i^emarks, that the expression " believe on Him who sent me," shows " that true faith embraces the word of the Gospel, not as something thought out by Christ alone, but as something decreed in the secret counsel of the whole Trinity."

[Hdth everlasting life.'] This means that he possesses a complete title to an everlasting life of glory hereafter, and is reckoned pardoned, forgiven, justified, and an heir of heaven, even now upon earth. His soul is delivered from the second death. — The *' presentness " of the expression should be carefully noticed. Everlasting life is the present possession of every true believer, from the moment he believes. It is Hot a thing he shall have at last. He has it at once, even in this world. " All that believe are justified." — " Being justified by faith we have peace with God." (Acts xiii. 39; Rom. v. 1.)

[ShaU not come into condemnation.] The Greek word for " come " is in the present tense, and it would be more literally rendered " does not come." The meaning is, there is no condemnation for him. His guilt is removed even now. He has nothing to fear in looking forward to the judgment of the last day. " There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." — "He that believeth on Him is not condemned." (Rom. viii. 1; John iii. 18.)

I cannot see in these words any warrant for the notion held by some, that the saints of God shall not be judged at the last day in any way at aU. The notion itself is so utterly contradictory to some plain texts of Scripture (2 Cor. v. 10; Rom. xiv. 10; Matt. XXV. 31), that I cannct understand any one holding it. But even in the text before u-, it seeos to me a violent straining of the words to apply them to the judgment-day. The thing our Lord is speaking of is the present privilege of a believer. The tense He uses, as Chemnitius bids us specially observe, is the present and not the future. And even supposing that the words do apply to the judgment-day, the utmost that can be fairly made of them is, that a believer has no condemiLation to fiar at the last da}^ Judged according to his works he shall be. Condemned he may certainly feel assured he shall not be. From the day he beUeves, all his condemnation is taken away.

Ecolampadius remarks how irreconcileable this verse is with the Romish doctrine of purgatory.

[But is passed from death to Ufe.] This means that a believer has passed from a state of spiritual death to a state of spiritual life. Before he believed, he was dead legally, — dead as a guilty criminal condemned to die. In the day that he beheved he received a free and full pardon. His sentence was reversed and put away. Instead of being legally dead, be became legally alive. — But this is not all. His heart, which was dead in sins, is now renewed, and alive unto Grod. There is a change in his character as well as in his position toward Grod. Like the prodigal son, he " was dead and is alive." (Luke xv. 24.)

We should mark carefully the strong language of Scripture in describing the immense difference between the position of a man who believes, and the man who does not believe. It is nothing else than the difference between hfe and death, — between being dead and being alive. Whatever some may think fit to say about the privileges of baptism, we must never shrink from maintaining, that so long as men do not hear Christ's voice and believe, — so long they are dead, whether baptized or not, and have no life in them. Faith, not baptism, is the turningpoint. He that has not yet believed is dead, and must be born again. When he believes, and not till then, he will pass from death to life.

Ferus remarks, " Although it seems very easy to believe, and many think they do believe when they have only heard the name of believing, — supposing that to believe is the same as to understand, to remember, to know, to think, — yet this beheving is in truth a hard and difficult thing. It is easy to fast, to say prayers, to go on pilgrimage, to give alms and the like; but to believe is a thing impossible to our strength. Let superstitious people learn that God requires of us a far higher and more difi&cult kind of worship than they imagine. Let pious people learn to seek faith more than anything, saying, — Lord, increase our faith."

begins a prophecy of the wonderful things that should yet be done by the Son of G-od. Did the Jews of Jerusalem desire to know what proofs of Divine power and authority the Son of God would give? Let them hear what he would do.

[The hour is coming and now is.] This meant that a time was coming, and in fact had already begun.

iThe dtad shall hear His voice and live.] It is thought by some that these words apply to the hteral raising again of dead persons, such as Lazarus at Bethany. I cannot think it I beheve that the " dead " liere spoken of are the spiritually dead. I believe that the " hearing the voice of the Son of God," means the hearing of faith. I believe that the "living" spoken of means the rising out of the death of sin to spiritual newness of life. And I believe that the whole verse is a prediction of the many conversions of dead sinners that were to take place soon, and had begun in some measure to take place already. The prediction was fulfilled when dead souls were converted during our Lord's own ministry, and was much more fulfilled after the day of Pentecost, when He was preached by His apostles to the Gentiles, and "believed on in the world." (1 Tim. iii. 16.)

To confine the words to th@ few cases of miraculous raising of dead bodies which took place in the time of our Lord and His apostles, appears to supply a very inadequate interpretation, and to be rendered unnecessary by the succeeding verse.

Let it be noted that it is only those who " hear," or " have heard " with faith the voice of Christ, that live. Spiritual life turns on believing. "Ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth." (Eph. i. 13.)

Ferus and Cocceius think that the calling and conversion of the Gentiles was the principal thought in our Lord's mind when He spoke these words.

26. — [For as the Father^ etc ] The first part of this verse needs no explanation. It is an admitted principle that God is the Author and Source of all life. He " hath life in himself." When it says further that " he hath given to the Son to have life in himself," we must not suppose it means that He has bestowed it on His Son, in the same way that He gives gifts to mere men, such as prophets and apostles. It rather means that in His everlasting counsels concerning man s redemption. He has appointed that the Second Person of the Trinity, — His beloved Son, — should be the Dispenser and Giver of life to all mankind. " God has given to us eternal fife, and this life is in his Son." (1 John V. 11.)

Both here and in the following verse we must remember that "giving" does not imply any inferiority in the Son to the Father, so far as concerns His Divine essence. The things " given" to the Son were things solemnly appointed, deputed, and laid upon Him when He assumed the office of Mediator, in virtue of His office.

Burgon remarks, — " Both the Father and the Son have the same life; both have it in themselves; both in the same degree; as the on<» so the other; but only with this difference,

— the Father from all eternity giveth it, the Son from all eternity receiveth it."

27. — [And hath given him authority ^ etc.] This means that in virtue of His Mediatorial ofi&ce the Second Person of the Trinity ia specially appointed to be the Judge of all mankind. In the couiLsels of God concerning man, "judgment" is assigned to the Son, and not to the Father, or to the Holy Spirit. It is undoubtedly true that God is " the Judge of all." (Heb. xii. 23.) But it is also true that it is God the Son who will execute judgment^ and sit on the throne at the last day.

[Because he is the Son of man.] These words seem to imply that there is a connection between our Lord's incarnation and His filling the oflQce of the Judge. It is because He humbled Himself to take our nature on Him, and be born of the Virgin Mary, that he will at length be exalted to execute judgment at the last day. It appears to be the same thought that St. Paul expresses when he tells the Philippians that because of Christ's humiliation, " God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name," etc. (Phil. ii. 9.)

Burgon remarks, — " Because of His alliance with man's natrire, because of His sense of man's infirmities, because of all He did and suffered for man's sake as the Son of man, the Son is that Person of the Trinity who is most fit, as well as most worthy, to be man's judge."

The expression, " The Son of man," would be rendered more literally, " a Son of man," or, " Son of man," Campbell remarks that the absance of the article " the" before the words " Son of man," occurs novyhere in the Gospels except in this passage.

Both in this and the preceding verse we should observe an example of the great truth, that " order is heaven's first law." Even the Second Person in the Trinity, one with the Father, very and eternal Gol, does not take on Himself the office of giving life and executing judgment, but receives it through the solemn appointment of God the Father. Just as it is written, — " Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my.Son " (Heb. v. 5), so we find it written here, that in taking on Him the office of Mediator, it was ^^ given ^ to Him to have life in Himself, and "authority given to him" to judge. Those who take on th«.<Qselves offices Avithout either divine or human commission are very unlike our Lord.

Toletus quotes a remarkable passage from Athanasius, in which he points o it that such expressions as, '^ given to the Son by the Father," ' received by the Son fi-om the Father," are purposely used in order to prevent the Sabellian heresy of supposing that the Father and the Son are one and the same Person. — Such expressions are an unanswerable proof that the Fathef and the Son are two distinct Persons, though one God. We must never forget the words of the Athanasian creed,— " Neiuier confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance."

28, 29. — [Afarvel not at this.] These words imply that the hearers of our Lord were astonished at the things He had spoken concerning His Divine commission to give life and to judge. He proceeds to tell them that they have not yet heard all. If they wondered at what they had already heard, what would they think when He told them one thing more?

[The hour is coming.] This means the last day. To use the present tense of a time so distant as this is characteristic of one who is very God, to whom time past, time present, and time to come, are all alike, and a thousand years are as one day.

[All that are in the graves shall hear his voice..,come forth... damnation, etc.] These words are singularly like those in Daniel xii. 2. They contain one of the most distinct statements in Scripture of that great truth, — the resurrection of the dead. — It shall be universal, and not confined to a few only. "AH "in the graves shall come forth, whether old or young, rich or poor. — It shall take place at Christ's command and bidding. His " voice" shall be the call that shall summon the dead from their graves.-^ There shall be a distinction of those who rise again, into two classes. Some shall rise to glory and happiness, — to what is called a " resurrection of life," Some shall rise to be lost and ruined for ever, — to what is called a " resurrection of damnation." — The doings of men shall be the test by which their final state shall be decided. " Life" shall be the portion of those tliat have " done good," " damnation" of those that " have done evil," in the resurrection-day.

(a.) This passage condemns those who fancy that this world is all, and that this life ends everything, and that the grave is the conclusion. They are awfully mistaken. There is a resurrection and a life to come.

(6.) This passage condemns those who try to persuade us in the present day that there is no future punishment, no hell, no condemnation for the wicked in the world to come, — that the love of God is lower than hell, — that God is too merciful and compassionate to punish any one. There is a " resurrection," we are told, "of damnation."

(c.) This passage condemns those who try to make out that resurrection is the peculiar privilege of believers and saints, and that the wicked will be punished by complete annihilation. Both heie and in Acts xxiv. 15 we are distinctly told that both bad and good shall rise again. In St. Paul's famous chapter about the resurrection (1 Cor. xt.), the resurrectioii of behevers only is treated of.

(d.) This passage condemns those who try to make out that men's lives and conduct are of little importance so long as they profess to have faith and to believe in Christ. Christ himself tells us expressly that the '' doings " of men, whether good or evil, will be the evidence that shall decide whether they rise again to glory or condemnation.

Musculus remarks that the goodness which God requires of us is not such as only begins in the next world, after the resurrection. We must have it now, and it must precede the time of iudgment. It is not said, '' some shall rise again that they may be made good and partakers of life," but, " they that have done good shall come forth to a resurrection of life." We should take care to be such in this hfe as we desire to be found in the day of judgment. — He also remarks that our Lord does not say, *' those who have known or talked what is good," but, " those who have actually done good " shall come forth to a resurrection of life. Those only will be found to have " done good " who are Grod's elect, born again, and true believers. Nothing but true faith will bear the fruit of good works.

Calvin remarks that our Lord is not here speaking of the cause of salvation, but of the marks of the saved, and that one great mark which distinguishes the elect from the reprobate, is good doing.

There are two different Greek words used to express the English words " they that have done," and it is difficult to say why. Precisely the same difference exists in John iii. 20, 21. The attempts made to explain the distinction between the two words do not appear to me very successful. For instance, — Wordsworth remarks: " Good made and done has permanence for ever. Evil is practised, but produces no fruit for eternity." Yet I doubt whether this remark will apply to Rom. i. 32, aud ii. 3, where both the two Greek words for " doing " are used together, and applied to the same clasa of persons, viz., the wicked.

It is thought by some that this passage supports the doctrine of the first resurrection as the peculiar privilege of the saints. (Rev. XX. 5.) But it must in fairness be remembered that there is nothing said here about distinction of time in the resurrection of the good and bad.

As to the manner in which Christ's " voice " will be heard by the dead ^' in the graves " we are told nothing. It is remarkable that there are two other places beside this in which a

"voice" or sound is mentioned as accompanying the resurrection. In Corinthians we read of the " last trumpet." (L Cor. xv. 52.) In Thessalonians we are told of " a shout," of the '" voice of the archangel," and the " trump of God." (I Thess. iv. 16.) Nothing, however, but conjecture can be brought forward about the subject. No doubt the latent thought is that the dead bodies of men are sleeping, and need to be awakened, as sleepers are roused by a voice.

As to the nature of risen bodies we are told nothing. Enough for us to know that this passage clearly shows it will he a resurrection of "bodies" as well as souls. It is those who are "in the graves " that shall come forth.

30 I can of mine own self do notliing: as T hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the wOl of the Father which hath sent me.

31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.

34 But I receive not testimony from man; but these tilings I say, that ye might be saved.

35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for 0 season to rejoice in his hght.

In these verses we see the proof of our Lord Jesus Christ being the promised Messiah, set forth before the Jews in one view. Four different witnesses are brought forward. Four kinds of evidence are offered. His Father in heaven, — His forerunner, John the Baptist, — the miraculous works He had done, — the Scriptures, which the Jews professed to honour, — each and all are named by our Lord, as testifying that He was the Christ, the Son of God. Hard musi

36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

37 And the Father himself, wliich hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

39 Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal Hfe: and they are they which testify of me.

those hearts have been which could hear such testimony^ and yet remain unmoved! Bat it only proves the truth of the old saying, — that unbelief does not arise so much from want of evidence, as from want of will to believe.

Let us observe for one thing in this passage, the lionout Christ puts on His faithful servants. See how He speaks of John the Baptist. — *' He bare witness of the truth;" — " He was a burning and a shining light." — John had probably passed away from his earthly labours when these words w^ere spoken. He had been persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death by Herod, — none interfering, none trying to prevent his murder. But this murdered disciple was not forgotten by his Divine Master. If no one else remembered him, Jesus did. He had honoured Christ, and Christ honoured him.

These things ought not to be overlooked. They are 'vritten to teach us that Christ cares for all His believing people, and never forgets them. Forgotten and despised by the world, perhaps, they are never forgotten by their Saviour. He knows where they dwell, and what their trials are. A book of remembrance is written for them. " Their tears are all in His bottle." (Psalm Ivi. 8.) Their names are graven on the palms of His hands. He notices all they do for Him in this evil world, though they think it not worth notice, and He will confess it one day publicly, before His Father and the holy angels. He that bore witness to John the Baptist never changes. Let believers remember this. In their worst estate they may boldly say with David, — " I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me." (Psalm xl. 17.)

Let us observe, for another thing, the honour Christ puts upon miracles^ as an evideiice of Sis being the Messiah. He says, — " The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me."

The miracles of the Lord receive far less attention, in the present day, as proofs of His Divine mission, than they ought to do. Too many regard them with a silent incredulity, as things which, not having seen, they cannot be expected to care for. Not a few openly avow that they do not believe in the possibility of such things as miracles, and would fain strike them out of the Bible as weak stories, which, like burdensome lumber, should be cast overboard, to lighten the ship.

But, after all, there is no getting over the fact, that in the days when our Lord was upon earth. His miracles produced an immense effect on the minds of men. They aroused attention to Him that worked them. They excited inquiry, if they did not convert. They were so many, so public, and so incapable of being explained away, that our Lord's enemies could only say that they were done by satanic agency. That they were done they could not deny. " This man," they said, " doeth many miracles." (John xi. 47.) The facts which wise men pretend to deny now, no one pretended to deny eighteen hundred years ago.

Let the enemies of the Bible take our Lord's last and greatest miracle — His own resurrection from the dead — and disprove it if they can. When they have done that, it will be time to consider what they say about miracles in general. They have never answered the evidence of it yet, and they never will. Let the friends of the Bible not be moved by objections against miracles, until that one miracle has been fairly disposed of. If that is proved unassailable, they need not care much for quibbling arguments against other miracles. If Christ did really rise from the dead by His own power, there is none of His mighty works which man need hesitate to believe.

Let us observe, lastly, in these verses, the honour that Christ piits upon the /Scriptures. He refers to them in concluding His list of evidences, as the great witnesses to Hira. " Search the Scriptures," He says: " they are they which testify of me."

The " Scriptures" of which our Lord speaks are of course the Old Testament. And His words show the important truth which too many are apt to overlook, — that every part of our Bibles is meant to teach us about Christ. Christ is not merely in the Gospels and Epistles. Christ is to be found directly and indirectly in the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets. In the promises to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and David, — in the types and emblems of the ceremonial law, — in the predictions of Isaiah and the other prophets, — Jesus, the Messiah, is everywhere to be found in the Old Testament.

How is it that men see these things so little? The answer is plain. They do not " search the Scriptures." They do not dig into that wondrous mine of wisdom and knowledge, and seek to become acquainted with its contents. Simple, regular reading of our Bibles is the grand secret of establishment in the faith. Ignorance of the Scriptures is the root of all error.

And now what will men believe, if they do not believe the Divine mission of Christ? Great indeed is the obstinacy of infidelity. A cloud of witnesses testify that Jesus was the Son of God. To talk of wanting evidence is childish folly. The plain truth is, that the chief seat of unbelief is the heart. Many do not wish to believe, and therefore remain unbelievers.

30. — [/ can of rkine own self etc.] This verse is perhaps one of the most difficult in Scripture. I* is so because the subject of it is that great mystery, — the unity of God the Father and God the Son. Man has no language to express adequately the idea that has to be conveyed. The general thought of the verse seems to be aa follows: —

" In consequence of the close relation between Me and the Father, I cannot do anything independently and separately from Him. 'I judge,' and decide, and speak on all points, in entire harmony with the Father, as though I heard Him continually at My side; and so judging and speaking My judgment on all points is always right. It is right now, and will be seen right at the great account of the last day. For in all that I do I seek not to do My Own will only, but the will of Him that sent Me, since there is an entire harmony between My will and His."

Let it be carefully noted that at this part of His address our Lord ceases to speak in the third person of Himself as " the Son of man," and begins to use the first person, — "I can," "I hear," " I judge," etc.

" Of mine own self" does not mean "unhelped and unassisted," but "from myself," — ^from My own independent volition and action.

Chrysostom remarks, — " Just as when we say, it is impossible for God to do wrong, we do not impute to Him any weakness, but confess in Him an unutterable power; so also when Christ saith, ' I can of my own self do nothing,' the meaning is that it is impossible, — my nature admits not, — that I should do anything contrary to the Father."

" As I hear" is an expression adapted to man's comprehension, to convey the idea of the unity between the Father and the Son. It is like verse 19th, where it is said, " The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do." It is also like the words used of the Holy Grhost, — " He shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall Aear, that shall he speak." (John xvi. 13.)

Chrysostom remarks, — " Just as when Christ said, ' we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen,' and John the Baptist said, * that which he hath seen and heard he testifieth,' (John iii, 11, 32,) both expressions are used concerning exact knowledge, and not concerning mere 'seeing' and 'hearing;' — so in this place, when Christ speaks of 'hearing,' He declares nothing else than that it is impossible for Him to desire anything save what the Father desireth."

*' I judge" applies not only to all Christ's judgments and decisions as Mediator when He was upon earth, but to His final judgment at the last day.

'■ My judgment is just" would probably remind the Jews of the prophecies about Messiah. (Isa. xi. 3 and Dan. vii. 13.)

" I seek not mine own will" must be inteipreted with special reference to our Lord's Divine nature, as Son of God. Having as Q-od, one will with the Father, it was not possible for Him to seek His own will independently of the Father. Hence the judgment was not His only, but His Father's also. — As Son of man He had a human will disiinct from His Divine will, aa when He said, " Let this cup pass from me: neveriheiess not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matt. xxvi. 39.) But the will here seems to be His Divine wilh

Chrysostom remarks, — '' What Christ implieth is of this kind: — not that the will of the Father is one and His own another, but that as one will in one mind, so is Mine own will and My Father's."

Once more we must remember the extreme difficulty of handling such a subject as the one before us. The distinction between the Persons in the Trinity, and the Unity of their essence at the same time, must always be a deep thing to man, hard to conceive, and harder still to speak or write about.

31. — [7/" / hear witness of myself etc.] This verse must be interpreted with caution and reasonable qualification. It would be folly and blasphemy to say that our Lord's testimony about Himself must be false. What the verse does appear to mean is this: — " If I have no other testimony to bring forward in proof of My Messiahship but My own word, my testimony would be justly open to suspicion." — Our Lord knew that in any disputed question a man's assertions in his own favour are worth little or nothing. He tells the Jews that He did not want them to beheve Him merely because He said He was the Son of Grod. He would show them that He had other witnesses, aud these witnesses He next proceeds to bring forward. A comparison of this verse with John viii. 14 shows at once that the meaning of the words, " My witness is not true," must be qualified and restrained, or else one place of Scripture would contradict the other.

32. — [Tliere is another that heareth witness.] There are two distinct and diJBferent views of this expression.

I feel no doubt in my own mind that this last is the coirect view. The use of the present tense, — " witnesseth,*' — is a strong proof of it. John the Baptist's testimony was a thing past and gone. — Our Lord declares that His Father had borne distinct testimony to Him, and supphed abundant evidence, if they, the Jews, would only receive it. And He adds, "his testimony is true." He will never bear witness to a lie. — Then having laid down this general proposition, He goes on to show the threefold testimony which God had provided: — first, John the Baptist; — secondly, the miracles which the Father had commissioned Him to work; — and, thirdly, the Scriptures.

The expression, " I know," probably imphes the deep consciousness which our Lord had, even in His humiUation, of His Father's perfect righteousness and truthfulness. It means much more than a mere man's " I know." " I know and have known from all eternity that my Father's testimony is perfect truth."

33. — [Ye sent unto John, etc.] In this sentence the word "ye " must be taken emphatically. It is " ye yourselves." The meaning of the verse seems to be, — " My first witness is John the Baptist. Now ye yourselves sent unto him at an early period of his ministry, and ye know that he told you One greater than himself was coming, whose messenger he was, and that afterwards he said of Me, ' Behold the Lamb of God.' You cannot deny that he was a prophet indeed. Yet he bore faithful witness unto Me. He told you the truth."

There can be no doubt that our Lord refers to the formal mission of *' priests and Levites from Jerusalem " to John the Baptist, described in John i. 19.

34. — [But Ireceive not testimony from man, efc] This sentence seems meant to remind the Jews that they must not suppose our Lord depended either solely or chiefly on man's testimony. "Not that I would have you think I rest My claim to be received as the Messiah on the witness of John the Baptist, or of any other man. But I say these things about John and his witness to Me in order to remind you of what you heard him say, and that remembering his testimony to Me you may believe and be saved."

Here, as elsewhere, we should note how our Lord presses home on the Jews the inconsistency of admitting John the Baptist to be a prophet sent from God, while they refused to believe Himself as the Messiah. If they believed John they ought in consistency to have believed Him. (See Matt. xxi. 23 — 27.)

35. — [He was a hu7ming...light] This is very high testimony to John. Doubtless he was not " the light," as Christ was. But still he was not an ordinary lamp lighted from above, as all true believers are. He was pre-eminently " the lamp,'* a lamp of peculiar power and brilliancy, a *' burning " and a " shining" light like a flaming beacon or light-house seen from afar.

I think the expression '' he was " shows that at the time when our Lord spoke, John the Baptist was either in prison or dead. At any rate his public ministry was ended. " He used to be a light. He is burning and shining no longer."

Chrysostora remarks, — " He called John a torch or lamp, signifying that he had not light of himself, but by the grace of the Spirit."

[ Ye were willing for a season to rejoice^ This refers to the extraordinary popularity and acceptance of John the Baptist when his ministry first began. " Then went out unto him Jerusalem and all Judasa, and all the country round about Jordan." (Matt, iii. 5.) " Many of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to his baptism." (Matt. iii. 7.) It was an ignorant excitement that brought many of John's hearers to him. They thought most probably, that the Messiah, of whom he spoke, and whose way he came to prepare, would be a temporal king and conqueror, and would give to Israel its old pre-eminence on earth. But be the motives what they miglit, the fact remains that John's ministry attracted immense attention, and awakened the curiosity of the whole Jewish nation. "They willingly rejoiced in the light which John lifted up," They seemed to take pleasure in coming to him, hearing him, following him, and submitting to his baptism.

The expression, *' for a season," seems purposely used to remind the Jews of the very temporary and transitory nature of the impressions which John's ministry produced on them.

Stier remarks, — "Man generally, even a prophet, can only give light by burning, like a lighted candle, until he is burnt out, and his mission on earth ceases. Thus did the Baptist burn, brightly but rapidly."

Burkitt remarks, — " It has been an old practice among professors not to like their pastors long, though they have been never such burning and shining lights, John was not changed, but his hearers were changed. He did burn and shine in the candlestick with equal zeal and lustre to the last, but they had changed their thoughts of him,"

3. — \^But I h-ave greater witness...John^ This means, " although John the Baptist was a witness to My being the Messiah, and the Son of God, his was not the only testimony I bid you receive. There is testimony even more important than his, namely, that My miracles." The Greek means literally, " the greater witness;"— " The witness tiiat I l^ve is greater."

Flacius suggests that our Lord here and in the preceding verse reminds the Jews how willing they were at first to receive John's ministry, and almost seemed to think he was the Messiah. Yet all this time "John did no miracle." — But when the true Messiah appeared, doing mighty " works," the Jews did not show him even as much attention as they had shown to John.

l^Tlie worTcs... Father hath given, etc.] This is a distinct appeal to miracles, as an important proof of our Lord's Messiahship and Divinity. Four times in this Gospel we find the same appeal. (John iii. 2; x. 25; xv. 24.) The evidence of miracles should never be hghtly esteemed. We are apt to underrate their value because they were wrought so long ago. But in the days when they were wrought they were great facts, which demanded the attention of all who saw them, and could not be evaded. Unless the Jews could explain them away, they were bound, as honest and reasonable men, to believe our Lord's Divine mission. That they really were wrought the Jews never appear to have denied. In fact they dared not attempt to deny them. What they did do wjis to ascribe them to Satanic agency. All who attempt to deny the reality of our Lord's miracles in the present d y, would do well to remember that those who had the best opportunity of judging, namely, the men who saw these miracles, and lived within hearing of them, never disputed the fact that they were wrought. If the enemies of our Lord could have proved that His miracles were only tricks, legerdemain, and impostures, it stands to reason they would have been only too glad to show it to the world, and to silence Him for ever.

Five things should always be noted about our Lord's miracles. (1.) Their number: they were not a few only, but very many indeed. (2.) Their greatness: they were not little, but mighty interferences with the ordinary course of nature. (3.) Their puhlicity: they were generally not done in a corner, but in open day, and before many witnesses, and often before enemies. (4.) Their character: they were almost always works of love, mercy, and compassion, helpful and beneficial to man, and not mere barren exhibitions of power. (5.) Their direct appeal to mens senses: they were visible, and would bear any examination. The difference between them and the boasted miracles of the Church of Rome, on all these points, is striking and instructive.

The iiianner in which our Lord speaks of His miracles is very remarkable. He calls them, — " The worlds that the Father hath given me that I should finish." He carefully avoids the appearance of want of unity between the Father and Himself, even in the working of miracles. They are not works which He did of His own independent will, but " works which the Father hath given me," works which it had been arranged in the eternal counsels the Son should work, when He became man and dwelt upon earth. Precisely the same expression is used elsewhere about " the words " our Lord spake, as here about " the works:" "I have given unto them the words which tliou gavest me." (John xvii. 8.)

37. — [And the Father himself....witness of me^ There is undeniable difficulty about these words. It is not clear to what " witness of the Father " our Lord here refers.

(a..) Some, as Chrysostom, Brentius, Bullinger, Grualter, Ferus, Toletus, Barradius, Cartwright, Chemnitius, Rollock, Jansenius, Trapp, Baxter, Hammond, Burkitt, Lampe, Bengel, Henry, Scott, Gill, think that our Lord refers to the audible testimony borne to Him by the Father at His baptism, and at the transfiguration, when He said, — "This is my beloved Son, hear him." (Matt. iii. 17; xvii. 5.) But it surely is a capital objection to this theory, that this voice of the Father was in all probability heard by nobody excepting John the Baptist at the baptism, and Peter, James, and John at the transfiguration. At this rate it would be entirely a private testimony, and of no avail to the general body of the Jewish nation.

(b.) Some, as Theophylact, Euthymius, Eupertus, Calvin, Cocceius, Pearce, Tholuck, Bloomfield, Tittman, A. Clark, D. Brown, Alforcl, Burgon, think that our Lord refers to the testimony the Father has borne to Him generally throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, and that the sentence before us should be taken in close connection with the next verse but one, beginning, " Search the Scriptures." In fact that expression would then be the explanation of our Lord's meaning.

Of the two views I decidedly prefer the second one. It certainly seems the least difficult, and open to the fewest objections. There is a third view, supported by Olshausen and Bucer, viz., that the " witness " here means the inwarrd witness of the Spirit in the hearts of believers. This, however, appears to me wholly out of the question. It is a witness that would be useless to the world at large.

Both here and elsewhere we must take care that we do not attach the idea of " inferiority " to the expression '' sent '" by the Father. Rollock remarks, — " It is quite possible that an

equal may send an equal to dib^harge some office." Cyril remarks, — " Mission and obedience, being sent and obeying, do not take away equality of power in the sender and the sent one."

[ Ye have neither heard.... seen his shape.^ This appears to be a parenthetical sentence, as well as the verse that follows. It certainly seems to strengthen the view that when our Lord spoka of His Father •' bearing witness," He could not have meant the audible witness of His voice at the baptism or transfiguration. In fact the sentence seems purposely to preclude the notion. It is as though our Lord said, " Do not suppose that I mean any audible testimony of voice, or apparition, or vision, when I speak of My Father bearing witness to me. I mean testimony of a very different kind, even the testimony of His Word."

The expression " not seen His shape," teaches the same great truth we find elsewhere, — viz., that the Father is invisible, and has never been seen by mortal man. He who appeared to Abraham was the Second Person of the Trinity, and not the Father. St. Paul says distinctly of the Father, — " whom no man hath seen, nor can see." (1 Tim. vi. 17.) The idea of artists and painters, when they represent the Father as an aged man, is a mere irreverent invention of their own brains, without the slightest warrant of Scripture.

Rupertus and Ferus suggest that the latter part of this verso was spoken to prevent the Jews thinking that our Lord spoke of Joseph, His supposed father. This, however, seems a rather improbable and fanciful idea.

38. — [And ye have not his word, Sc] This verse seems meant to remind the Jews that with all their pretended reverence for Grod, and affected zeal against blasphemies of Him, they were really ignorant of God's mind. Their reverence for Him was only a form. Their zeal for Him was a blind fanaticism. They knew no more of His mind than of His shape or voice. They Avere not acquainted with His Word. It did not dwell in their hearts and guide their rehgion. They proved their own ignorance by not believing Him whom the Father had sent. Had they really been familiar with the writings of the Old Testament they would have believed.

Our Lord evidently implies that real knowledge of God's Word will always lead a man to faith in Christ. Where there is no faith we may rightly assume the Bible is either not read, or read in a wrong spirit. Ignorance and unbelief will go together.

Locke holds the curious opinion, that the " word" in this verse means the " Personal Word," as at John i. 1. " Ye have not Me, the Eternal Word, dwelling in your hearts." But Christ nowhere calls Himself " the Word," and the idea does not harmonize with the context.

Ecolampadius thinks that in this and the preceding verse there is a reference to Deut. xviii. 15 — 19, where the Lord promised a prophet to the Jews like unto Moses, because they had said, — • " Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not." He thinks ctir Lord reminds them of this. God had fulfilled His promise, and sent them a prophet like unto Moses, and now they would not believe on Him!

69. — [Search the Scriptures.'] This famous sentence is interpreted two different ways.

I decidedly prefer this latter view. It is more forcible, and more in keeping with our Lord's general style of address. Above all it seems to me to agree far better with the context. Our Lord had told the Jews that His Fatiier had borne witness of Him, though not by audible voice, nor by visible apparition. How then had He borne witness? They would find it in His Word. " Go and search your own Scriptures," our Lord seems to say. " Examine them, and become really acquainted with their contents; you will find that they testify clearly and distinctly of Me. If you wish to know God the Father's testimony to Me, search the Scriptures."

The word rendered *' search" means " search minutely and diligently." It appears to me intentionally used, to show thnt the Jews should not be content with mere reading. The Septuagint version of Prov. ii. 4, has an expression like it.

Chrysostom remarks, — " When Christ referred the Jews to the Scriptures, He sent them not to a mere reading, but to a careful and considerate search. He said not, 'read,' but, 'search,' Since the sayings about Him required great attention (for they had been concealed from the beginning for the advantage of men of that time). He bids them now dig down with care, that they might discern what lay in the depths below. These saying'? were not on the surface, nor were they cast forth to open view, but lay like some treasure hidden very deep,"

Some, who think the word "search" should be taken as an indicative, ''ye search," maintain that our Lord spoke ironically, and meant, " Ye pretend to make a minute investigation of Scripture, and search into ths letter of it, but never get any further." I can see little ground for this view. The Tvord " search" is never used in a bad sense in Scripture (1 Pet. i. 11.) The chief argument in favour of the " indicative" side of the question is the notorious Rabbinical custom of minutely scrutinizing and reverencing every syllable of Scripture. To this custom of honouring the letter of Scripture, while neglecting its spirit, many advocates of the "indicative" here think that our Lord referred. Brentius gives a full account of the length to which the Jews went in their reverence for the letter of Scripture, such as counting the letters of each book, etc., and thinks that this was in our Lord's mind. I cannot however agree with this view.

[In them ye think ye have eternal life.] In this sentence the first " ye" must be taken emphatically, as in the 33rd verse. " Think" does not imply that it was a doubtful point, or mere matter of opinion. It is rather, " Ye yourselves think, and think rightly, — it is one of the dogmas of your faith, — that ye have in the Scriptures the way to eternal life pointed out."

Chemnitius remarks, — "The words 'ye think' mean that common persuasion and opinion of all men concerning Scripture, which, like an axiom in science, is established, firm, and certain."

Let it be noted that many Christians are just in the unsatisfactory state of the Jews here described. Like them, they " think," and hold it as a dogma of their creed, that they " have eternal life in the Scriptures." But, like them, they never read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest what Scripture contains.

Ecolampadius remarks, — "Scripture alone does not make a man any the better, nor even preaching, by itself, except by the Holy Grhost aiding. It is the peculiar otiice of the externa! Word to supply testimony; but it is the Spirit of God alone that can make the heart of man assent."

[They are they which testify of me.] This sentence is a strong and weighty declaration of the value of the Old Testament Scriptures. It was to them exclusively, of course, that our Lord referred. He says, "they testify of me." In direct prophecies, in promises, in typical persons, in typical ceremonies, the Old Testament Scripture all through testifies of Christ. We read thein to very little purpose if we do not discern this.

Ferus remarks that there are three ways in which the Scriptures testify of Christ. (1.) Generally: they are as it were the voice of the uncreated Word, ever speaking to man in every part of them. (2.) In figures: the paschal lamb, the brazen. serpent, and all the sacrifices of the law were witnesses of Christ. (3.) In direct proj.hecies.

Let us note in this verse the high honour which our Lord puts on the Old Testament Scriptures. He distinctly endorses the Jewish Canon of in^^pired writings. Those modern wrirers who kbour to depreciate them, and bring them Into disrepute, show very lit lie of Christ's mujd. Much infidelity begins with an ignorant contempt of the Old Testament. Stier remarks, —

*' Israel, possessing still the Old Testament, will enter into the kingdom, when the despisers of Scripture in the final unbelief of Christendom will be judged and condemned,"

Let us note further what a plain duty it is to read the Scriptures. Men have no right to expect spiritual hght if they neglect the great treasury of all light. If even of the Old Testament our Lord said, "Search," " it testifies of me," how much more is it a duty to search the whole Bible I An idle neglect of the Bible is one secret of the ignorant formal Christianity which is so widely prevalent in these latter days. God's blessing on a dihgent study of the Scripture is strikingly illustrated in the case of the Bereans. (Acts xvii. 11.)

■tO And ye will not come to me, that je might have Ufe.

41 I receive not hoiKxir from men.

42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, hhn ye will receive.

44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and

seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

45 Do not think that I wiU accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.

46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.

47 But if ye beheve not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

This passage concludes our Lord Jesus Christ's wondrous defence of His own divine mission. It is a conclusion worthy of the defence, full of heart- searching appeals to the consciences of His enemies, and rich in deep truths. A mighty sermon is followed by a mighty application.

Let us mark, in this passage, the reaso7i why many souls are lost. The Lord Jesus says to the unbelieving Jews, — " Ye will not come to me that ye might have life."

These words are a golden sentence, which ought to be engraven in our memories, and treasured up in our minds. It is want of will to come to Christ for salvation that will be found, at last, to have shut the many out of heaven, — It is not men's sins. All manner of sin may be forgiven. — It is not any decree of God. We are not told in the Bible of any whom God has only created to be destroyed,— It is not any limit in Christ's work of redemption. He has paid a price suflScient for all mankind. — It is something far more than this. It is man's own innate unwillingness to come to Christ, repent, and believe. Either from pride, or laziness, or love of sin, or love of the world, the many have no mind, or wish, or heart, or desire to seek life in Christ. " God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." (1 John v. 11 >) But men stand still, and will not stir hand or foot to get life. And this is the whole reason why many of the lost are not saved.

This is a painful and solemn truth, but one that we can never know too well. It contains a first principle in Christian theology. Thousands, in every age, are constantly labouring to shift the blame of their condition from off themselves. They talk of their inability to change. They tell you complacently, that they cannot help being what they are! They know, forsooth, that they are wrong, but they cannot be different! — It will not do. Such talk will not stand the test of the Word of Christ before us. The unconverted are what they are because they have no will to be better. *' Light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light." (John iii. 19.) The words of the Lord Jesus wUl silence many: " I would have gathered you, and ye would not be gathered." (Matt, xxiii. 37.)

Let us mark, secondly, in this passage, one pinncipal cause of unbelief. The Lord Jesus says to the Jews, — *'How can ve believe which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh of God only?" He meant by that saying, that they were not honest in their reh'gion. With all their apparent desire to hear and learn, they cared more in reality for pleasing man than God. In this state of mind they were never likely to believe.

A deep principle is contained in this saying of our Lord's, and one that deserves special attention. True faith does not depend merely on the state of man's head and understanding, but on the state of his heart. His mind may be convinced. His conscience may be pricked. But so long as there is anything the man is secretly loving more than God, there will be no true faith. The man himself may be puzzled, and wonder why he does not believe. He does not see that he is like a child sitting on the lid of his box, and wishing to open it, but not considering that his own weight keeps it shut. Let a man make sure that he honestly and really desires first the praise of God. It is the want of an honest heart which makes many stick fast in their religion all their days, and die at length without peace. Those who complain that they hear, and approve, and assent, but make no progress, and cannot get any hold on Christ, should ask themselves this simple question, — " Am I honest? — Am I sincere? — Do I really desire first the praise of God?"

Let us mark, lastly, in this passage, the manner in which Christ speaks of Moses. He says to the Jews, — " Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me."

These words demand our special attention in these latter days. That there really was such a person as Moses, — ^that he really was the author of the writings commonly ascribed to him, — on both these points our Lord's testimony is distinct. " He wrote of me." Can we suppose for a moment that our Lord was only accom- modating Himself to the prejudices and traditions of Hia hearers, and that He spoke of Moses as a writer, though He knew in His heart that Moses never wrote at all? Such an idea is profane. It would make out our Lord to have been dishonest. — Can we suppose for a moment that our Lord was ignorant about Moses, and did not know the wonderful discoveries which learned men, falsely so called, have made in the nineteenth century? Such an idea is ridiculous blasphemy. To imagine the Lord Jesus speaking ignorantly in such a chapter as the one before us, is to strike at the root of all Christianity. — There is but one conclusion about the matter. There was such a person as Moses. The writings commonly ascribed to him. were written by him. The facts recorded in them are worthy of all credit. Our Lord's testimony is an unanswerable argument. The sceptical writers against Moses and the Pentateuch have greatly erred.

Let us beware of handling the Old Testament irreverently, and allowing our minds to doubt the truth of any part of it, because of alleged difficulties. The simple fact that the writers of the New Testament continually refer to the Old Testament, and speak even of the most miraculous events recorded in it as undoubtedly true, should silence our doubts^ Is it at all likely, probable, or credible, that we of the nineteenth century are better informed about Moses than Jesus and His Apostles? God forbid that we should think so! Then let us stand fast, and not doubt that every word in the Old Testament, as well as in the New, was given by inspiration of God.