Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 12:31

John 12:31. Now is there judgment of this world. The ‘now' is the ‘now' of John 12:27, the ‘hour' of John 12:23; and the primary thought to be taken into it is that of the suffering and death in the midst of which Jesus stood, and which in the purpose of God, and to the eye of faith, were so different from what they were to the eye of sense.

Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. Again we have the ‘now' that we have already had. The moment is the same; the cause producing the effect the same. ‘This world' culminates in its prince. The title meets us again in John 16:11, and, although with omission of the ‘this,' in chap. John 14:30. By it can only be understood Satan, whom, indeed, the Jews knew as the ‘prince of the world' excluding Israel. Here there is no such exclusion; the ‘world' is again used in the widest sense of the term. In its prince are concentrated the powers that come between man and God. But he ‘shall be cast out,' that is, out of the world which he has ruled, so that ideally he shall have no more power in it. The expression ‘cast out' is very remarkable when compared with its use in other parts of this Gospel (John 6:37; John 9:34-35). It is excommunication from a holy community, or scene, or synagogue, or world, which is, and is to be, God's alone. The negative side of the victory of Jesus has been declared; we have now the positive.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 12:31

Old Testament

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