final rejection of Messiah with the declarations of prophecy; CHAP. V. and then records the words in which the Lord declared His relation to the Father and the world, foreshadowing the judgment which should follow on the rejection of His message1. festation of nouncement. The first section may be generally described as the ma- 1. The Maninifestation of Christ to men. Throughout the whole of it, Christ to men. and nowhere afterwards, Christ is described as the Light. Under this image He is first presented by St John in the Introduction, and at the close of the twelfth chapter the Lord Himself, when He surveys the course of His teaching, repeats it for the last time. A second idea is scarcely less characteristic: Christ is not only the Light, but He came to give Life. He that followeth Me,' to use the remarkable words which He addressed to the Jews, shall have the light of life. The manifestation of Christ centres in these truths, and is exhibited under two distinct aspects. The first conveys the announcement of the Gospel (i. 19- The Aniv); the second the conflict (v-xii). At first during a wide range of labour in Judæa, Samaria, and Galilee, among persons most widely separated by position and character, the revelation is made without exciting any direct antagonism. The elements of the future conflict are present, but visible only to the eye of Him who knew what was in man1.' The Gospel is laid before the world, and the reception which it was destined to meet is shown in detail in the portraiture of typical cases. The testimony of the Baptist and of signs (i. 19-ii. 25) is followed by personal revelation (iii-iv). The group of the first disciples, Nathanael, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the Galilæan nobleman, exhibit various forms of faith and unbelief, and behind these individual characters glimpses 1 xii. 36-43; 44-50. The image occurs, i. 4—9; iii. 19; viii. 12; ix. 5; xii. 35, 46. * The phrases έχειν ζωήν, &c. occur thirty times in this section and only 4 ii. 25, ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ. CHAP. V. of the popular feeling are given, which serve as a prepaThe Conflict. ration for the next stage of the history. In this, the conflict between Christ and the Jews,' grows more and more hopeless, till the 'chief Priests and Pharisees' finally determine to put Him to death. The desire to kill Him' is marked at the opening of the period, and traced out on several successive occasions, till the feeling of the people was ratified by the deliberate judgment of the Sanhedrin'. In the mean time the same course of events which aroused the animosity of the Jews tried the spirit of the disciples. There is a conflict within as well as without; and they who had welcomed the first proclamation of the Gospel advance or fall back in faith as Christ revealed more fully His Person and Work. This revelation proceeds in a three-fold order. In the first section Christ is presented as the support of action and life (v, vi); in the second, in a more special sense, as the Light (vii-x); in the third as the giver of life in death (xi, xii). Each of these ideas is illustrated by miraculous working; and the miracle both points the lesson, and serves as the centre and startingpoint of the discourses which are grouped about it. Now Christ gives strength to the impotent man, feeds the multitude in the wilderness, triumphs over the power of nature (v, vi); now He gives sight to the man born blind (ix); now he calls Lazarus from the grave (xi). Each division is bound to that which precedes by the recollection of earlier conflicts; and the whole finds its consummation in the twelfth chapter, which presents, in the most striking contrasts, the fruits of faith and unbelief in act (xii. 1—22) and sign (28—30) and word (44—50). Then at the close of Christ's open ministry, Greeks come to claim admittance to Him, of whom the Pharisees said in anger, 'Behold, the world is gone after Him' (xii. 19-22); and who said Himself, speaking of His death, 'If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me' (xii. 32). CHAP. V. of Christ's to men. The second great division of the Gospel (xiii-xx) dif- 2. The issues fers from the first both in the unity of scene and the brief- manifestation ness of the period over which it extends, and in the general character of its contents. The first describes the manifestation of Christ to men; the second presents the varied issues of that manifestation. In regard both of its substance and of its style it falls into two parts, of which the first (xiii-xvii) contains the record of the Saviour's love as seen in His unrestrained intercourse with His disciples in the immediate prospect of His death; while the second exhibits the narrative of the Passion, as the crowning point of faith on one side and unbelief on the other, of humiliation and victory, of rejection and confession. A Church is founded on the Cross: a ministry is commissioned in the chamber where the Apostles were gathered together in 'fear of the Jews',' of love. The one great subject of the Lord's last discourses is The revelation the new commandment,' the love of Christians springing out of His love, and His Father's love for them. The point of departure is a symbolic act, which places in the clearest light the ministry of love; then after the dismissal of the traitor (xiii. 31), the Christian law is proclaimed with the warning against St Peter's hasty assurance (xiii. 34-38). First, love is contemplated as it works in the absence of the Lord (xiv), then as it springs from vital union with Him, the only source of love (xv), then as it is fulfilled in the strength of the promised Spirit (xvi). And 1 Cf. xix. 34. 1 John v. 6, 8.-xx.19. * The words ἀγαπᾶν and ἀγάπη occur thirty times in these chapters WESTC. GOSP. (xiii-xvii) and only thirteen times S CHAP. V. last of all the priestly prayer of Christ (xvii) is itself at once the fullest outpouring of love, and the surest pledge of The Passion. the support of love among Christians. After the record of the Passion, in which the glorified human nature of the risen Saviour is specially brought out, follows, as a last The Epilogue. appendix, the promise, and the charge for the future. A last miracle conveys the lesson of encouragement to those who toil long: a last commission distinguishes the work which Christ's servants have still to do for Him1. 1 The following sketch of the construction of St John's Gospel may be of use in completing some of the gaps in the summary which has been given and guiding the way to minuter inquiry. (i) i. 19-xii. THE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST TO THE WORLD. (a) i. 19-iv. The Proclamation. CHAP. V. Even in this rapid outline, it is impossible to overlook the unity of purpose and plan which runs through 3. The sub (b) vii-x. The Contrast. (c) xi-xii. xi. xii. (ii) xiii-xx. Christ the source of truth, light, guidance. (The man blind from his birth healed.) (Lazarus raised.) The judgment of men (1-29); of the Evangelist THE ISSUES OF CHRIST'S MANIFESTATION. (a) xiii-xvii. The Consolation. (a) xiii. Types. xiii. 1-17. The true pattern. 31-35. The charge. (b) xiv. Love to Christ in absence. xiv. I-II. The union of Christ with the Father. (c) xv. XV. I-17. The mutual love of Christians. (d) xvi. The Promise. xvi. 1-15. The Comforter. 16-24. The Return. 25-33. The Interval. (e) xvii. The Prayer. xvii. 1-5. For Christ Himself. (8) xviii-xx. For all believers. The Victory. stance of St John's Gospel. |