THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. -Usherian years of the World, 3999-4033. -Alexandrian years of the World, 5497-5531. -Antiochian years of the World, 5487-5621. -Constantinopolitan AEra of the World, 5503-5537. -Rabbinical years of the World, 3754-3788. -Years of the Julian Period, 4708-4742.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:3. _ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM_] That is, by this Logos. In Genesis 1:1, GOD is said to have created all things: in this verse, _Christ_ is said to have created all things: the same unerring Spirit spoke in _Moses_ and in the _evangelists_: therefore _Christ_ and the _Father_ are ONE.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:4. _IN HIM WAS LIFE_] Many MSS., versions, and fathers, connect this with the preceding verse, thus: _All things were made_ _by him, and without him was nothing made. What was made had life_ _in it; but THIS LIFE was the light of men_. That is, though every thing he made had a principl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:5. _AND THE LIGHT SHINETH IN DARKNESS_] By _darkness_ here may be understood: 1. The heathen world, Ephesians 5:8. 2. The Jewish people. 3. The fallen spirit of man. _COMPREHENDED IT NOT._] αυτο ου κατελαβεν, _Prevented it_ _not-hindered it not_, says Mr. Wakefield, who adds the fo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:6. _WHOSE NAME_ WAS _JOHN._] This was John the Baptist; see his name and the nature of his office explained, Mark 1:4, and Matthew 3:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:7. _THAT ALL_ MEN _THROUGH HIM MIGHT BELIEVE._] He testified that Jesus was the _true light_-the true _teacher_ of the way to the kingdom of glory, and the _lamb_ or sacrifice of God, which was to bear away the sin of the world, John 1:29, and invited men to believe in him for the remis... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:9. _WHICH LIGHTETH EVERY MAN_] As Christ is the Spring and Fountain of all wisdom, so all the wisdom that is in man comes from _him_; the human _intellect_ is a ray from his brightness; and _reason_ itself springs from this Logos, the eternal reason. Some of the most eminent rabbins und... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:10. _HE WAS IN THE WORLD_] From its very commencement-he governed the universe-regulated his Church-spake by his prophets-and often, as the angel or messenger of Jehovah, appeared to them, and to the patriarchs. _THE WORLD KNEW HIM NOT._] αυτον ουκ εγνω - _Did not acknowledge him_; fo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:11. _HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN_] τα ιδια - to those of his own _family, city, country:-and his own people_, οιιδιοι-his own _citizens, brethren, subjects_. The _Septuagint, Josephus_, and _Arrian_, use these words, τα ιδιοι and οι ιδιοι, in the different senses given them above. _RECEIVED... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:12. _GAVE HE POWER_] εξουσιαν, _Privilege, honour, dignity_, or _right_. He who is made a child of God enjoys the greatest privilege which the Divine Being can confer on this side eternity. Those who accept Jesus Christ, as he is offered to them in the Gospel, have, through his blood,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:13. _WHICH WERE BORN, NOT OF BLOOD_] Who were regenerated, ουκ εξ αιματων, _not of bloods_-the union of father and mother, or of a distinguished or illustrious ancestry; for the Hebrew language makes use of the _plural_ to point out the dignity or excellence of a thing: and probably by... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:14. _AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH_] That very person who was in the beginning-who was with God-and who was God, John 1:1, in the fulness of time became flesh-became incarnated by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin. Allowing this apostle to have written by Divine inspi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:15. _OF HIM_] The glorious personage before mentioned: _John_ _the Baptist_, whose history was well known to the persons to whom this Gospel came in the beginning, _bare witness; and he_ _cried_, - being deeply convinced of the importance and truth of the subject, he delivered his testi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:16. This verse should be put in place of the _fifteenth_, and the 15th inserted between the 18th and 19th, which appears to be its proper place: thus John's testimony is properly connected. John 1:15 _AND OF HIS FULNESS_] Of the plenitude of his _grace_ and _mercy_, by which he made a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:17. _THE LAW WAS GIVEN BY MOSES_] Moses received the law from God, and _through_ him it was given to the Jews, Acts 7:38. But _GRACE AND TRUTH_] Which he had already mentioned, and which were to be the subject of the book which he was now writing, _came_ to all mankind _through Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:18. _NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME_] Moses and others _heard_ his voice, and _saw_ the cloud and the fire, which were the _symbols_ of his presence; but such a manifestation of God as had now taken place, in the person of Jesus Christ, had never before been exhibited to the world. I... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:19. _AND THIS IS THE RECORD OF JOHN_] He persisted in this assertion, testifying to the Jews that this Jesus was THE CHRIST.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:20. _HE CONFESSED, AND DENIED NOT; BUT CONFESSED_] A common mode of Jewish phraseology. John renounces himself, that Jesus may be all in all. Though God had highly honoured him, and favoured him with peculiar influence in the discharge of his work, yet he considered he had nothing but w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:21. _ART THOU ELIAS?_] The scribes themselves had taught that Elijah was to come before the Messiah. See Matthew 17:10; and this belief of theirs they supported by a literal construction of Malachi 4:5. _ART THOU THAT PROPHET?_] the prophet spoken of by Moses, Deuteronomy 18:15, Deute... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _THAT WE MAY GIVE AN ANSWER TO THEM THAT SENT US._] These Pharisees were probably a deputation from the grand Sanhedrin; the members of which, hearing of the success of the Baptist's preaching, were puzzled to know what to make of him, and seriously desired to hear from himself what he pro... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _I_ AM _THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING_] Matthew 3:3; and Mark 1:4, Mark 1:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _WHY BAPTIZEST THOU THEN?_] Baptism was a very common ceremony among the Jews, who never received a proselyte into the full enjoyment of a Jew's privileges, till he was both baptized and circumcised. But such baptisms were never performed except by an ordinance of the Sanhedrin, or in the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _I BAPTIZE WITH WATER_] Mark 1:8, Mark 1:8. I use the common form, though I direct the baptized to a different end, viz. that they shall repent of their sins, and believe in the Messiah. _THERE STANDETH ONE AMONG YOU_] That is, the person whose forerunner I am is now _dwelling in the land... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _IS PREFERRED BEFORE ME_] Ὁς εμπροσθεν μου γεγονεν, _Who_ _was before me_. This clause is wanting in BC*L, four others, the _Coptic, AEthiopic, Slavonic_, and two copies of the _Itala_, and in some of the primitive fathers. _Griesbach_ has left it out of the text. It is likely that it was... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _THESE THINGS WERE DONE IN BETHABARA_] It is very probable that the word _Bethany_ should be inserted here, instead of _Bethabara_. This reading, in the judgment of the best critics, is the genuine one. The following are the authorities by which it is supported: ABCEGHLMSX, BV, of Matthai... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _THE NEXT DAY_] The day after that on which the Jews had been with John, John 1:19. _BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD_, c.] This was said in allusion to what was spoken Isaiah 53:7. Jesus was the true Lamb or Sacrifice required and appointed by God, of which those offered _daily_ in the tabernacle... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _AND I KNEW HIM NOT_, c.] John did not know our Lord _personally_, and perhaps had never seen him, at the time he spoke the words in John 1:15. Nor is it any wonder that the Baptist should have been unacquainted with Christ, as he had spent thirty years in the hill country of Hebron, and o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _I SAW THE SPIRIT DESCENDING_, c.] See the notes on Matthew 3:16, Matthew 3:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _HE THAT SENT ME - SAID UNTO ME_] From this we may clearly perceive that John had a most intimate acquaintance with the Divine Being; and received not only his call and mission at first, but every subsequent direction, by _immediate, unequivocal_ _inspiration_. Who is fit to proclaim Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _THE NEXT DAY_] After that mentioned John 1:29. _TWO OF HIS DISCIPLES_] One of them was _Andrew_, John 1:40, and it is very likely that _John_ himself was the other; in every thing in which he might receive honour he studiously endeavours to conceal his own name.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _AND LOOKING UPON JESUS_] _Attentively beholding_, εμβλεψας, from εν, _into_, and βλεπω, _to look _- to view with steadfastness and attention. He who desires to discover the glories and excellencies of this Lamb of God, must _thus_ look on him. At first sight, he appears only as a man amon... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _AND THE TWO DISCIPLES HEARD HIM_] And they perfectly understood their master's meaning; in consequence of which, they followed Jesus. Happy they who, on hearing of the salvation of Christ, immediately attach themselves to its author! Delays are always dangerous; and, in this case, often f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 38. _WHAT SEEK YE?_] These disciples might have felt some embarrassment in addressing our blessed Lord, after hearing the character which the Baptist gave of him; to remove or prevent this, he graciously accosts them, and gives them an opportunity of explaining themselves to him. Such questio... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _COME AND SEE._] If those who know not the salvation of God would _come_ at the command of Christ, they should soon _see_ that with him is the fountain of life, and in his light they should see light. Reader, if thou art seriously inquiring _where_ Christ dwelleth, take the following for... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 41. _FINDETH HIS OWN BROTHER SIMON_] Every discovery of the Gospel of the Son of God produces benevolence, and leads those to whom it is made to communicate it to others. Those who find Jesus find in him a treasure of _wisdom_ and _knowledge_, through which they may not only become rich themse... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 42. _CEPHAS, WHICH IS BY INTERPRETATION, A STONE._] πετρος signifies a _stone_, or fragment of a rock. The reason why this name was given to Simon, who was ever afterwards called _Peter_, may be seen in the notes on Matthew 16:18, Matthew 16:19, and particularly in Luke, at the end of chap 9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 43. _PHILIP_] This apostle was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee. _Eusebius_ says he was a married man, and had several daughters. _Clemens Alexandrinus_ mentions it as a thing universally acknowledged that it was this apostle who, when commanded by our Lord to follow him, said, _Let me first g... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 45. _NATHANAEL_] This apostle is supposed to be the same with _Bartholomew_, which is very likely, for these reasons 1. That the evangelists who mention _Bartholomew_ say nothing of _Nathanael_; and that St. John, who speaks of _Nathanael_, says nothing of _Bartholomew_. 2. No notice is take... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 46. _CAN THERE ANY GOOD THING COME OUT OF NAZARETH?_] Bp. Pearce supposes that the τι αγαθον of the evangelist has some particular force in it: for, in Jeremiah 33:14, God says, I will perform _that good thing_ which I promised, c. and this, in Jeremiah 33:15 is explained to mean, his causing... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 47. _BEHOLD AN ISRAELITE INDEED_] A worthy descendant of the patriarch Jacob, who not only professes to believe in Israel's God, but who worships him in sincerity and truth, according to his light. _IN WHOM IS NO GUILE!_] Deceitfulness ever has been, and still is, the deeply marked characteri... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 48. _WHENCE KNOWEST THOU ME?_] He was not yet acquainted with the divinity of Christ, could not conceive that he could search his heart, and therefore asks how he could acquire this knowledge of him, or who had given him that character. It is the comfort of the sincere and upright, that God kn... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 49. _RABBI_] That is, _Teacher_! and so this word should be translated. _THOU ART THE SON OF GOD_] The promised Messiah. _THOU ART THE KING OF ISRAEL._] The real descendant of David, who art to sit on that spiritual throne of which the throne of David was the type.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:50. _BECAUSE I SAID - I SAW THEE_, c.] As thou hast credited my Divine mission on this simple proof, that I saw thee when and where no human eye, placed where mine was, could see thee, thy faith shall not rest merely upon this, for _thou shalt see greater_ _things than these _- more num... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 1:51. _VERILY, VERILY_] _Amen, amen_. The doubling of this word probably came from this circumstance: that it was written both in Hebrew אמן and in Greek αμην, signifying, _it is true_. _HEAVEN OPEN_] This seems to be a figurative expression: 1. Christ may be understood by this saying t... [ Continue Reading ]