Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

ix. 16: x. 19.

[i which I will give] for the life of the world. 52 The Jews therefore i strove among themselves, saying, How can i chvil. 43: this man give us his flesh to eat? 53k Then Jesus said kch. iii. 9. unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except 'ye eat 1 Matt. xxvi. the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have 54 m 1 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh 63.ch. iv.

no life in you.

i omitted by almost all our most ancient authorities.
k render, Jesus therefore.

the living man. I cannot therefore see
how any thing short of His Death can be
here meant. By that Death, He has given
His Flesh for the life of the world: not
merely that they who believe on Him may,
in the highest sense, have life; but that
the world may have life. The very exist-
ence of all the created world is owing to,
and held together by, that Resurrection-
Body of the Lord. In Him all things are
gathered together and reconciled to God:

66

by Him all things consist," i. e. "hold together," Col. i. 17. (2) The question whether there is here any reference to the ORDINANCE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER, has been inaccurately put. When cleared of inaccuracy in terms, it will mean, Is the subject here dwelt upon, the same as that which is set forth in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper? And of this there can surely be no doubt. To the ordinance itself, there is here no reference; nor could there well have been any. But the spiritual verity which underlies the ordinance is one and the same with that here insisted on; and so considered, the discourse is, as generally treated, most important towards a right understanding of the ordinance.

52.] The inference conveyed in the word eat, which word, be it noted, first comes from the Jews themselves, is yet a right one. If He is the Bread, and that Bread is His Flesh, we must eat His Flesh, though not in the sense here meant by them. They contended against one another, probably some having more insight into the possibility of a spiritual meaning than others. 53.] Our

Lord not only ratifies their own word, eat, but adds to it a more wonderful thing; that they must also do that against which a prohibition might seem to have existed from Noah downwards,-drink His Blood. But observe, this Blood is not to be eaten in the Flesh, which was the forbidden thing (Gen. ix. 4: Levit. xvii. 10-16), in its strict literal form: but to be drunk, separate from the flesh again presupposing death. Now as the Flesh of Christ (see above) is the Resurrection-Body which

1 render, He that.

20, 28.

m ver. 27, 40, 14.

He now has, and in which all things consist; so is His Blood ("the blood is the life," Lev. xvii. 11, 14) the Life which He gave up, paid down, as the penalty for the sin of the world. By the shedding, pouring forth, of that Blood, is remission of sin.

It is quite impossible that these words should, as De Wette maintains, be merely an expansion of "eating His flesh." Even had the idea of drinking blood been one familiar to the Jews, the construction would not have allowed such an interpretation;-but new as it was, and abhorrent from their habits and law, we must regard it as specially and purposely added. But what is this eating and drinking? Clearly, not merely faith: for faith answers to the hand reached forth for the food, but is not the act of eating. Faith is a necessary condition of the act: so that we can hardly say with Augustine, "believe, and thou hast eaten," but "believe, and thou shalt eat." Inasmuch as Faith will necessarily in its energizing lead to this partaking, we sometimes incorrectly say that it is Faith but for strict accuracy this is not enough. To eat the flesh of Christ, is to realize, in our inward life, the mystery of His Body now in heaven,-to digest and assimilate our own portion in that Body.

To drink His Blood, is to realize, in our inward life, the mystery of His satisfaction for sin,-to digest and assimilate our own portion in that satisfaction, the outpouring of that Blood. And both these definitions may be gathered into one, which is: The eating of His Flesh and drinking of His Blood import the making to ourselves and using as objectively real, those two great Truths of our Redemption in Him, of which our Faith subjectively convinces us.

And of this realizing of Faith he has been pleased to appoint certain symbols in the Holy Communion, which He has com. manded to be received; to signify to us the spiritual process, and to assist us towards it. ye have no life in you] 'Ye have not in you that spring of life, which shall overcome death, and lead

n1 John iii. 24: iv. 15, 16.

[ocr errors]

my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is a drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood," dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he o ver. 49, 50, 51. that eateth me, P even he shall live by me. 58 This is a that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat [manna], and are dead: he that eateth [tof] this bread shall live for ever. 59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60 P Many therefore of his disciples, when they [" had] heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples q Mark xvi. 19. murmured at it, [he] said unto them, Doth this offend

p ver. 60.

Matt. xi. 0.

ch. iii. 13.

Acts i. 9.

Eph. iv. 8.

you?

62 9 a What and if ye

[blocks in formation]

u omit.

romit.

y render, But Jesus knowing. a render, What then if.

54.] to the resurrection in the true sense :' see above, ver. 44, and notice again the solemn refrain. 55.] The sense is not here, My Flesh is the true meat &c.,' but My Flesh is true meat, i. e. really TO BE EATEN, which they doubted. The adverb, "meat indeed," or "drink indeed," as in A. V., falls short of the depth of the adjective. This verse is decisive against all explaining away or metaphorizing the pas sage. Food and drink, are not here mere metaphors;-rather are our common material food and drink mere shadows and imperfect types of this only real reception of refreshment and nourishment into the being.

56.] He who thus lives upon Me, abides in Me (see ch. xv. 5 and note); -and I (that living power and nourishment conveyed by the bread of life, which is the Lord Himself) abide in him. 57.] The same expanded further-see ch. v. 26. The two branches of the feeding on Christ are now united under the general expression, eateth ME. because of expresses the efficient cause. The Father

is the Fountain of all Life: the Son lives in and by the Father: and all created being generally, lives (in the lower sense) in and by Him; but he that eateth Him, shall (eternally and in the highest sense) live by Him. 58.] forms the solemn

shall see the Son of man

n read, true drink.

P render, he also.

[blocks in formation]

conclusion of the discourse, referring back to the Bread with which it began and to its difference from the perishable food which they had extolled:- and setting forth the infinite superiority of its effects over those of that sustenance. which came down,-past, now: because He has clearly identified it with Himself.

60-65.] Murmuring of some of the disciples at the foregoing discourse, and the answer of Jesus to them. 60.] It has been shewn by Lampe, that the word rendered hard signifies not so much absurdity as impiety. It seems clear that it was not the difficulty, so much as the strangeness of the saying, which scandalized them. It is the whole discourse,the turn given to it,-the doctrine of the Bread of Life,-the giving His Flesh and Blood to eat,-at which they take offence.

who can hear it? i. e. who can listen to it? Who can stay and hear such sayings as this?' not, Who can understand it? 61.] in himself, by His divine knowledge. 62.] What then if ye see... not meaning 'will ye not then be much more scandalized?' or, what will ye say (or do), then?'- but appealing to an event which they should witness, as a certain proof of one part of the "hard saying," with which indeed the rest of it

bb ascend up where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that r 2 Cor. ii. 6. quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that

t ch. ii. 24, 25:

I speak unto you, [* they] are spirit, and [* they] are life. 6 But there are some of you that believe not. Fort Jesus & ver. 36. knew from the beginning who they were that believed i.. not, and who should betray him. 65 And he said, 8 Therefore u said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, u ver. 44, 15. except it were given unto him of i my Father.

66k From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 671 Then said Jesus unto

bb render, ascending.

d read, have spoken.

frender, it was that should.

g render, For this cause have I said. h render, be.

Krender, Upon this.

was bound up,-His having descended from
heaven. All attempts to explain this
otherwise than of His ascent into heaven,
are simply dishonest,-and spring from
laxity of belief in the historical reality of
that event. That it is not recorded by
John, is of no moment here. And that
none but the Twelve saw it, is unim-
portant; for how do we know that our
Lord was not here speaking to some among
the Twelve? To explain it of His death,
as part of His going up where he was be-
fore, is hardly less disingenuous. 63.]
spirit and flesh do not mean the spiritual
and carnal sense of the foregoing discourse,
as many Commentators explain them: for
our Lord is speaking, not of teaching
merely, but of vivifying: He is explaining
the life-giving principle of which He had
been before speaking. Such eating of My
flesh as you imagine and find hard to listen
to, could profit you nothing,- for it will
have ascended up, &c.; and besides, gene-
rally, it is only the Spirit that can vivify
the spirit of man; the flesh (in whatever
way used) can profit nothing towards this.'
He does not say My Flesh profiteth no-
thing,' but the flesh.' To make Him say
this, as the Swiss anti-sacramentalists do,
is to make Him contradict His own words
in ver. 51.
the words that I have
spoken] viz. the words my flesh and my
blood, above. They are spirit and life:-
spirit, not flesh only:-living food, not
carnal and perishable. This meaning has
been missed by almost all Commentators:
Stier upholds it, and it seems to me beyond
question the right one. The common in-
terpretation is, the words which I have

• render, giveth life.

e omit.

i

read, the.

v ver. 60.

[ocr errors]

1 render, Jesus said therefore. spoken,' i. e. ‘My discourses,' are 'to be taken in a spiritual sense,' and are life.' But this is any thing but precise, even after the forcing of the meaning of the word "spirit." 64.] This accounts for your murmuring at what I said, that ye do not believe. For Jesus knew. . .] De Wette remarks, that the foreknowledge of our Lord with regard to Judas renders it impossible to apply the ordinary rules of moral treatment, as Why did He then continue him as an Apostle? Why did He give him the charge of the purse, knowing him to be a thief? &c.,'to the case: and it is therefore better not to judge at all on the matter. fact is, we come here to a form of the problem of divine foreknowledge and human free-will, which, in any of its endless combinations of expression, it is equally impossible for us to solve. from the beginning, from their first coming to Him;-the first beginning of their connexion with Him. 65.] These unbelievers had not that drawing to Christ, which leads (ver. 44) to true coming to Him. Observe the parallelism between it were given him here, and all that which the Father giveth me, ver. 37. Both these gifts are in the Father's power.

The

66-71.] Many of the disciples leave Him. The confession of the Twelve through Peter: and the Lord's warning to them.

66. Upon this] The temporal meaning prevails, but does not exclude the causal. It was upon this being said, and it was also because this had been said. many, viz. of those that believed not but not all. 67.] The first men

w Acts v. 20.

x Matt. xvi. 16.

Mark viii. 29.

Luke ix. 20.
ch. i. 49:
xi. 27.

y Luke vi. 13.

z ch. xiii. 27.

the twelve, Will ye also go away?

68 Then Simon Peter

answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast w the words of eternal life. 69x And we m believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 70 Jesus answered them, yo Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71 He spake of Judas P Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that I should betray him, being one of the twelve.

[ocr errors]

VII. 1r After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for

m render, have believed and know.

read, with most of the ancient authorities, the Holy One of God.
• render, Did I not choose.

P read, [the son] of Simon Iscariot.
I render, was about to.

tion of the Twelve by John. The question

is asked in order to extract from them the confession which follows, and thus to bind them closer to Himself. We must not forget likewise, in the mystery of our Lord's human nature, that at such a moment of desertion, He would seek comfort in the faith and attachment of His chosen

ones.

68.] Peter answers quickly and earnestly for the rest, as in Matt. xvi. 16. to whom shall we go?] What they had heard and seen had awakened in them the desire of being led on by some teacher towards eternal life; and to whom else should they go from Him who had, and brought out of His stores for their instruction, the words (see ver. 63) of eternal life?

69.] we have believed seems to be used absolutely, as in ver. 64: we believe [in Thee], and have long done so.

In the following words the readings vary;
the common text having been to all ap-
pearance introduced from Matt. xvi. 16.
The circumstance of the Lord not being
elsewhere called the Holy One of God by
John, is of course in favour of the read-
ing on the principle that an unusual ex-
pression was generally by the transcribers
altered to a more usual one, not vice versa.
The idea however is found (ch. x. 36). I
regard the coincidence with the testimony
of the dæmoniacs, Mark i. 24 and parallel
places, as a remarkable one. Their words
appear to have been the first plain declara-
tion of the fact, and so to have laid hold on
the attention of the Apostles.
The selection of the Twelve by Jesus is the
consequence of the giving of them to Him
by the Father, ch. xvii. 6,-in which there
also Judas is included. So that His select.
ing, and the Father's giving and drawing,
do not exclude final falling away.

70.]

rrender, And after.

a devil] It is doubtful in what sense this word should be taken. However we explain it, it will be an expression only once used in the N. T. In the dark act here prophesied, Judas was under the immediate instigation of and yielded himself up to Satan (compare our Lord's reply to Peter, Matt. xvi. 23); and I would understand this expression as having reference to that league with and entertainment of the Evil One in his thoughts and purposes, which his ultimate possession by Satan implies. This meaning can perhaps hardly be rendered by any single word in another language. The A. V. a devil,' is certainly too strong; devilish would be better, but not unobjectionable. Compare "The son of perdition," ch. xvii. 12. 71.] On the name Iscariot (here applied to Simon, Judas's father), see on Matt. x. 4.

CHAP. VII.-X.] JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. The conflict at its height.

VII. 1-52.] JESUS MEETS THE UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS AT JERUSALEM. The circumstances [verses 1-13]. 1.] The chronology of this period is very doubtful. I have remarked on it in my note on Luke ix. 51. Thus much we may observe here, that after these things cannot apply emphatically to ch. vi., but must be referred back to ch. v., as indeed must the Jews seeking to kill Him, and the miracle alluded to in ver. 23. But it will not follow from this, that ch. vi. is not in its right place: it contains an independent memoir of a miracle and discourse of our Lord in Galilee which actually happened in the interval, and only serves to shew us the character of this Gospel as made up of such memoirs, more or less connected with one another, and selected by the Evangelist for their higher spiritual import, and the discourses arising

a

34.

c Matt. xii. 46. Mark iii. 31

he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to a ch. v. 16, 18. kill him. 2 b Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at b Lev. xxiil. hand. 3 c His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judæa, that thy disciples also may t see Acts i. 14. the works that thou doest. 4 For [ there is] no man [that] doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, 7 shew thyself to the world. 5 d For neither did his brethren a Mark ill. 21. believe in him. 6 zz Then Jesus said unto them, e My time ech. ii. 4: is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. 7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I g ch. iii. 19. testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. 8 Go ye up unto a this feast: I go not up [byet] unto this feast; h for h ch. vili. 20. 8 render, as usual, Judæa. trender, behold thy works. u omit. I render, doest.

viii. 20. ver.

fch. xv. 19.

ver. 6.

y render, manifest: see ch. i. 31; ii. 4; iii. 21; ix. 3; xvii. 6, &c., where the

word is the same.

Z render, even his brethren did not. zz render, Jesus therefore.

omitted by some ancient authorities. from them. I would understand this verse as merely carrying on the time from ch. v. and ch. vi.,-and its contents as introductory to the account of Jesus not going up at first to the feast. Ch. vi. is in some measure presupposed in our ver. 3, as indicating that He had not constantly observed the festal journeys of late.

2.] See Deut. xvi. 13-17. Josephus calls this the holiest and greatest feast. It began on the 15th (evening of 14th) of Tisri (Sept. 28), and lasted till the evening of the 22nd (Oct. 6). 3-5.] Respecting the BRETHREN OF THE LORD, see note on Matt. xiii. 55. They seem to have had at this time a kind of belief in the Messianic character of Jesus, but of the very lowest sort, not excluding the harsh and scoffing spirit visible in these words. They recognized his miracles, but despised his apparent want of prudence and consistency of purpose, in not shewing himself to the world. In the words that thy disciples also may see, &c., there is perhaps a reference to the desertion of many of his disciples just before. Nay, more than this: the indication furnished by this verse of the practice of our Lord with regard to His miracles up to this point is very curious. He appears as yet to have made His circuits in Galilee, and to have wrought miracles there, in the presence of but a small circle of disciples properly so called and there would seem

[blocks in formation]

In

to have been a larger number of disciples,
in the wider sense, in Judæa, or to be
gathered in Judæa by the feast, who yet
wanted assuring, by open display, of the
reality of His wonderful works.
ver. 5 (as well as by "thy disciples," ver.
3), we have these brethren absolutely ex-
cluded from the number of the Twelve (see
ch. vi. 69); and it is impossible to modify
the meaning of the word "believe," so as
to suppose that they may have been of the
Twelve, but not believers in the highest
sense. This verse also excludes all His
brethren: it is inconceivable that John
should have so written, if any among them
believed at that time. The emphatic
expression, for even his brethren, &c., is a
strong corroboration of the view that they
were really and literally brethren ;-see
also Ps. lxix. 8. 6-9.] My time can
hardly be taken as directly meaning the
time of my sufferings and death,'-but as
the same expression in ch. ii. 4: My time
for the matter of which you speak, viz.
manifestation to the world.' That (ch. xii.
32), was to take place in a very different
manner. But they, having no definite end
before them, no glory of God to shew forth,
but being of the world, always had their
opportunity ready of mingling with and
standing well with the world. Then (ver.
7), you have no hatred of the world in
your way: but its hatred to Me on account

« AnteriorContinuar »