John viii.13. 14. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest Jerusalem. record of thyself: thy record is not true. Jesus answered, and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I come, and whither I go: but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. 15. Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. John viii.21. 22. 23. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple and no man laid hands on him, for his hour was not yet come. SECTION VI. Christ declares the Manner of his Death. JOHN Viii. 21 to the end. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way: and go And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 25. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus 26. I have many things to say, and to judge of you: but 27. 28. They understood not that he spake unto them of the Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lift up the to this custom, He made himself equal to Moses, as the foun- John viii.29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not Jerusalem. As he spake these words, many believed on him. And ye you free. shall know the truth, and the truth shall make They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, And the servant abideth not in the house for ever, but 36. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be 37. I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to 38. I speak that which I have seen with my Father; and 89. 40. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our Father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me; a man that hath told you 41. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to 42. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God, heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my John viii.50. 51. 52. 53. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that Jerusalem. seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is 54. Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is 55. 56. 57. 58. : Yet ye have not known him: but I know him and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, 10 Had our Lord been younger than the age at which the priests asumed their office, the Jews would have charged him with presumption, ignorance, or vanity. His exalted love, his generous compassion, his fervent piety, would have been attributed to inexperience, to the sallies of imagination, or to the youthful ardour of the passions. His virtues would have been associated in their minds with extravagance or romance, with enthusiam or superstition. His pity and forbearance would have been considered as the effect of mere feeling, or weakness; his austerity as unnatural, presumptuous, and morose. Had our Lord, on the other hand, been an old man, it would have been said, He had lost all interest or concern in those objects and pursuits, which kindle the most active and extensive desires; that he saw things with different views from human beings in general: that he had outlived the remem. brance of the peculiar trials and temptations of early life, and made not proper allowances for the infirmities of others. Some might have reminded him, that the wisdom and experience of age were incompatible with the sprightliness and gaiety of youth; others might have deemed his opposition to the vices and corruption of the times, as proceeding from the love of singularity, or desire of distinction. His patience and forbearance might have been attributed to a deficiency of energy and spirit; and even his resignation in the hour of death, to the want of the power of enjoyment among the living; and, if he had delayed the work of his ministry to a later period, the question would have been asked, why he had deferred so long the reformation of a sinful and degenerate people.-See on this subject, a Sermon by Mr. Hewlett, on the Duties of Middle Life, vol. iii. p. 278. 11 As the end of our Lord's ministry approaches, He proclaims, in still plainer language, that He possessed the attributes and John viii.59. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus Jerusalem. characters of the Messiah. John, in the commencement of his It appears to me, that our Lord here alludes to his eternity, Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, And Dr. Watts God fills his own eternal Now, And sees our ages waste. And Archbishop King has well described the Deity, as having neither remembrance of the past, nor foreknowledge of the future, but as being ever existing in all places, and ever enduring throughout all time. Therefore whatever has, or is, or can, or will be, form but One present. Sir Isaac Newton, in his Scholium Generale, has expressed his notion of a Deity much in the same manner, but in the most sublime and expressive language. Alike conscious of the past, the present, and the future, our Lord asserts that such is his mode of existence, and claims the attributes of Deity to the same extent as they appertained to his heavenly Father. The general body of Christians have understood this passage as a plain declaration on the part of our Lord, that He did not begin to exist at the time when he assumed a human body in the form of an infant, but that He existed before the time of Abraham. It is the belief of the Christian Church, and it was the faith also of the ancient Jews, that the Word of God, their Messiah, existed before his permanent incarnation. He existed before the creation of the world, when He was one with the Father; He existed also after the creation of the world, as the Angel Jehovah. It will not be possible, in these notes, to discuss the various misinterpretations to which the Socinian writers have resorted, to explain away the grammatical sense of this, and other passages of Scripture, which assert the divinity of Christ. The expression, however, "Before Abraham was, I am," or before Abraham existed, I exist, is so satisfactory and so decisive, that it might have been supposed to have set the question at rest for ever. But the supporters of the Socinian heresy have, at various times, employed all their ingenuity and learning to give another interpretation to these words-and have presented the world with such a selection of absurd and contradictory illustrations, as to draw upon them the undivided censure of their mildest opponent. Dr. Pye Smith, who seems to write every sentence of his reply to Mr. Belsham with a smile, an apology, or a bow, condemns the interpretation of this passage as trifling, and absolute folly. Archbishop Magee, in the higher tone of dignified rebuke, which becomes a champion of the truth, chas tises the ignorance, or blasphemy of the Socinian heresy, with more unsparing severity. Πρὶν ̓Αβραὰμ γενέσθαι, ἐγώ εἰμι, are the words in the original. This is translated by Socinus: Before Abraham can be Y John viii.59. hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through Jerusalem, the midst of them, and so passed by. Lake x. 17. SECTION VII 12. The Seventy return with Joy 13. LUKE X. 17-24. And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, Uncertain. even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. Abraham, that is, the father of many nations, I must be, the (a) Cowley's Davideis, book i.-Watts's Hymns.-Archbishop King's 12 These sections, from seven to eighteen inclusive, with the exception of some few passages, which on various authorities are placed elsewhere, are inserted here, on the united testimony of the five harmonizers, by whom I am principally guided. They contain an account of the actions of our Lord from the feast of tabernacles to that of the dedication. Several chapters of St. Luke relate events which are not recorded by the other Evangelists, and these are generally referred to the period which elapsed between the mission of the seventy and Christ's apprehension. This period included both the feast of tabernacles and the dedication, and it is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to ascertain precisely the exact order of the events here mentioned, and to decide at which of these two feasts they took place. The difficulty is further increased by the question, whether St. John's Gospel is to be read with these chapters of St. Luke, continuously from chap. vii. 11. to the conclusion of chap. x. or the eighth be divided from the ninth and tenth; that is, whether the healing of the man who was born blind, was effected by our Lord at the feast of tabernacles, or at the feast of dedication. I have principally observed the order proposed by Lightfoot, excepting that some passages are arbitrarily inserted elsewhere, on the authority of Newcome and others. Archbishop Newcome places John ix. 10. before these chapters of St. Luke. He then proceeds with the interruptions before alluded to, from Luke x. 17. to Luke xviii. 14. Doddridge inserts the cure of the blind man, John ix. 10. at the feast of the dedication, as Lightfoot has done, but continues the chapters of St. Luke to chap. xviii. 14. not perceiving sufficient reason to change the order. Pilkington differs from Lightfoot, and arranges John vii. 11. |