John 16:32

32. Before ἐλήλυθεν omit νῦν (inserted from John 4:23; John 5:25).

We are still in the first part of the second main division of the Gospel, THE INNER GLORIFICATION OF CHRIST IN HIS LAST DISCOURSES (13–17). We now enter upon the third division of this first part (see introductory note to chap. 13).

THE PROMISE OF THE PARACLETE AND OF CHRIST’S RETURN

As has been remarked already, the subjects are not kept distinct; they cross and interlace, like the strands in a rope. But the following divisions may conduce to clearness; 1. The World and the Paraclete (1–11); 2. The Disciples and the Paraclete (12–15); 3. The Sorrow of Christ’s Departure turned into Joy by His Return (16–24); 4. Summary and Conclusion of the Discourses (25–33).

32. ἵνα σκορπ. See on John 16:2. This part of the allegory of the sheep-fold will be illustrated even in the shepherds themselves (John 10:12). Comp. Πατάξω τ. ποιμένα, καὶ διασκορπισθήσονται τ. πρόβατα (Matthew 26:31). With εἰς τ. ἴδια comp. John 1:11; John 19:27 : ‘to his own home, property, or pursuits.’ Ἀφῆτε depends upon ἵνα; may be scattered and may leave: all this is part of the Divine plan. They must be taught their weakness, and this foretelling of it is, as it were, pardon granted by anticipation.

καὶ οὐκ εἰμί. And yet I am not. The ‘yet’ is implied, as so often in S. John, in the collocation of the sentences: John 1:10-11; John 3:19; John 3:32; John 6:70; John 7:4; John 7:26; John 8:20; John 9:20. As a rule it is best to leave S. John’s simple conjunctions to tell their own meaning.

ὁ πατὴρ μετ' ἐμοῦ. The Divine background (as it seems to us) of Christ’s life was to Him a Presence of which He was always conscious (John 8:29), with the awful exception of Matthew 27:46.