Expositor's Bible: The Epistles of St. John Part 3

1. "That which was from the beginning--concerning the Word of Life" = John i. 1-15.

2. (_a_) "Which we have _heard_" = John i. 38, 39, 42, 47, 50, 51, ii.

4, 7, 8, 16, 19, iii. 3, 22, iv. 7, 39, 48, 50, v. 6, 47, vi. 5, 70, vii. 6, 39, viii. 7, 58, ix. 3, 41, x. 1, 39, xi. 4, 45, xii. 7, 50, xiii. 6, 38, xiv., xvii., xviii. 14, 37, xix. 11, 26, 27, 28, 30, xx.

15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 27, 29, xxi. 5, 6, 10, 12, 22.

(_b_) "Which we have seen _with our eyes_" = John i. 29, 36, 39, ii.

11, vi. 2, 14, 19, ix., xi. 44, xiii. 4, 5, xvii. 1, xviii. 6, xix. 5, 17, 18, 34, 38, xx. 5, 14, 20, 25, 29, xxi. 1, 14.

(_c_) "Which we gazed upon" = _ibid._

(_d_) "Which we have handled" = John xx. 27 (refers also to a synoptical Gospel, Luke xxiv. 39, 40).

_ii._--1 John i. 2.

1. "The Life was manifested" = John i. 29--xxi. 25.

2. (_a_) "We have seen" = (A. _i._ 2 (_b_)).

(_b_) "And bear witness" = John i. 7, 19, 37, iii. 2, 27, 33, iv. 39, vi. 69, xx. 28, 30, 31, xxi. 24.

(_c_) "And declare unto you" = John _pa.s.sim_.

"The Life, the Eternal Life, which"

? "Was with the Father" = John i. 1-4.

? "And was manifested unto us" = John _pa.s.sim_.

B.

_i._--1 John v. 6-10.

Summary of the Gospel as a Gospel of _witness_.

1. "The Spirit beareth witness" = John i. 32, xiv., xv., xx. 22.

2. "The water beareth witness" = John i. 28, ii. 9, iii. 5, iv. 13, 14, v. 1, 9, vi. 19, vii. 37, ix. 7, xiii. 5, xix. 34, xxi. 1.

3. "The blood beareth witness" = John vi. 53, 54, 55, 56, xix. 34.

4. "The witness of men" = (A. _ii._ 1 (_b_)) Also John i. 45, 49, iii.

2, iv. 39, vii. 46, xii. 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 21, xviii. 38, xix. 35, xx. 28.

5. "The witness of G.o.d" =

(_a_) Scripture = John i. 45, v. 39, 46, xix. 36, 37.

(_b_) Christ's own = John viii. 17, 18, 46, xv. 30, xviii. 37.

(_c_) His Father's = John v. 37, viii. 18, xii. 28.

(_d_) His works = John v. 36, x. 25, xv. 24.

_ii._--1 John v. 20.

We know (_i.e._, by the Gospel) that--

1. "The Son of G.o.d is come" (??e?), "has come and is here."

Note.--?????? = ???, LXX. Psalm xl. 7. "_Venio_ symbolum quasi Domini Jesu fuit." (Bengel on Heb. x. 7), the _Ich Dien_ of the Son of the Father--e?? ?a? e? t?? ?e?? e?????? ?a? ???. "I came forth from G.o.d, and am here" (John viii. 4) = John i. 29--xxi. 23 (John xiv. 18, 21, 23, xvi. 16, 22, form part of the thought "is here").

2. "And hath given us an understanding" = gift of the Spirit, John xiv., xv., xvi. (especially 13, 16).

3. "This is the very G.o.d and eternal Life" = John i. 1, 4.

The whole Gospel of St. John brings out these primary principles of the Faith,--

That the Son of G.o.d has come. That He is now and ever present with His people. That the Holy Spirit gives them a new faculty of spiritual discernment. That Christ is the very G.o.d and the Life of men.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] Bengel, on Acts xix. 19, 20, finds a reference to ma.n.u.scripts of some of the synoptical Gospels and of the Epistles in 2 Tim. iv. 13, and conjectures that, after St. Paul's martyrdom, Timothy carried them with him to Ephesus.

[32] Renan's curious theory that Rom. xvi. 1-16 is a sheet of the Epistle to the Ephesians accidentally misplaced, rests upon a supposed prevalence of Ephesian names in the case of those who are greeted.

Archdeacon Gifford's refutation, and his solution of an unquestionable difficulty, seems entirely satisfactory. (_Speaker's Commentary, in loc._, vol. iii., New Testament.)

[33] It has become usual to say that the Epistle does not advert to John iii. or John vi. To us it seems that _every_ mention of the Birth of G.o.d _is_ a reference to John iii. (1 John ii. 23, iii. 9, iv. 7, v.

1-4.) The word a?a occurs _once_ only in the fourth Gospel outside the sixth chapter (xix. 34; for i. 13 belongs to physiology). Four times we find it in that chapter--vi. 53, 54, 55, 56. Each mention of the "Blood" in connection with our Lord _does_ advert to John vi.

[34] The masc. part. ?? a?t?????te? is surely very remarkable with the three neuters (t? p?e?a, t? ?d??, t? a?a) 1 John v. 7, 8.

[35] 1 John i. 7, v. 6, 8.

[36] See note A. at the end of this Discourse, which shows that there are, in truth, _four_ such summaries.

[37] ? a????ae?.

[38] ? e??a?ae? t??? ?f?a???? ???.

[39] John xx. 20.

[40] ? e?easae?a, 1 John i. 1. The same word is used in John i. 14.

[41] John xix. 27 would express this in the most palpable form. But it is constantly understood through the Gospel. The tenacity of Doketic error is evident from the fact that Chrysostom, preaching at Antioch, speaks of it as a popular error in his day. A little later, orthodox ears were somewhat offended by some beautiful lines of a Greek sacred poet, too little known among us, who combines in a singular degree Roman gravity with Greek grace. St. Roma.n.u.s (A.D. 491) represents our Lord as saying of the sinful woman who became a penitent,