{"commentaries":[{"work_id":"chrysostom","author":"John Chrysostom","short_name":"Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"title":"Homilies on the Gospel of St. John","edition_short":"The Oxford Translation","author_url":"/commentators/chrysostom/","divisions":["Homily","Section"],"work_url":"/works/chrysostom/","entries":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.1.1","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"Homily II. John i. 1","excerpt":"And he has not called Him simply “Word,” but with the addition of the article, distinguishing Him from the rest in this way also. Seest thou then that I said not without cause that this Evangelist speaks to us from heaven? Only see from the very beginning whither he has drawn up the soul, having given it wings, and has carried up with him the mind of his hearers. For having set it higher than all the things of sense, than earth, than sea, than heaven, he leads it by the hand above the very angels, above cherubim and seraphim, above thrones and principalities and powers; in a word, persuades it to journey beyond all created things.\n\n[9.] What then? when he has brought us to such a height as this, is he in sooth able to stop us there? By no means; but just as one by transporting into the midst of the sea a person who was standing on the beach, and looking on cities, and beaches, and havens, removes him indeed from the former objects, yet does not stay his sight anywhere, but brings him to a view without bound; so this Evangelist, having brought us above all creation, and escorted us towards the eternal periods which lie beyond it, leaves the sight suspended, not allowing it to arrive at any limit upwards, as indeed there is none.\n\nFor the intellect, having ascended to “the beginning,” enquires what “beginning”; and then finding the “was” always outstripping its imagination, has no point at which to stay its thought; but looking intently onwards, and being unable to cease at any point, it becomes wearied out, and turns back to things below. For this “was in the beginning,” is nothing else than expressive of ever being and being infinitely.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.iv.html","locus":"2.8","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/2/#iv.iv-p41"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.1.2","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"Homily III. John i. 1","excerpt":"What then do I say? That this first “was,” applied to “the Word,” is only indicative of His eternal Being, (for “In the beginning,” he saith, “was the Word,”) and that the second “was,” (“and the Word was with God,”) denotes His relative Being. For since to be eternal and without beginning is most peculiar to God, this he puts first; and then, lest any one hearing that He was “in the beginning,” should assert, that He was “unbegotten” also, he immediately remedies this by saying, before he declares what He was, that He was “with God.” And he has prevented any one from supposing, that this “Word” is simply such a one as is either uttered or conceived, by the addition, as I beforesaid, of the article, as well as by this second expression. For he does not say, was “in God,” but was “with God”: declaring to us His eternity as to person. Then, as he advances, he has more clearly revealed it, by adding, that this “Word” also “was God.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.v.html","locus":"3.3","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/3/#iv.v-p22"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.1.3","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"Homily IV. John i. 1","excerpt":"“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” Why, when all the other Evangelists had begun with the Dispensation ; (for Matthew says, “The Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David”; and Luke too relates to us in the beginning of his Gospel the events relating to Mary; and in like manner Mark dwells on the same narratives, from that point detailing to us the history of the Baptist;) why, when they began with these matters, did John briefly and in a later place hint at them, saying, “the Word was made flesh” ( ver. 14 .); and, passing by everything else, His conception, His birth, His bringing up, His growth, at once discourse to us concerning His Eternal Generation?\n\nI will now tell you what the reason of this is. Because the other Evangelists had dwelt most on the accounts of His coming in the flesh, there was fear lest some, being of grovelling minds, might for this reason rest in these doctrines alone, as indeed was the case with Paul of Samosata. In order, therefore, to lead away from this fondness for earth those who were like to fall into it, and to draw them up towards heaven, with good reason he commences his narrative from above, and from the eternal subsistence. For while Matthew enters upon his relation from Herod the king, Luke from Tiberius Cæsar, Mark from the Baptism of John, this Apostle, leaving alone all these things, ascends beyond all time or age. Thither darting forward the imagination of his hearers to the “was in the beginning,” not allowing it to stay at any point, nor setting any limit, as they did in Herod, and Tiberius, and John.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vi.html","locus":"4.1","cites":[{"at":545,"text":"ver. 14","label":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/4/#iv.vi-p5"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.1.4","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"Homily IV. John i. 1","excerpt":"... “Yet observe,” says he, “the Father is named with the addition of the article, but the Son without it.” What then, when the Apostle says, “The Great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ” ( Tit. ii. 13 ); and again, “Who is above all, God”? ( Rom. ix. 5.) It is true that here he has mentioned the Son, without the article; but he does the same with the Father also, at least in his Epistle to the Philippians ( c. ii. 6 ), he says, “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God”; and again to the Romans, “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” ( Rom. i. 7.) Besides, it was superfluous for it to be attached in that place, when close above it was continually attached to “the Word.” For as in speaking concerning the Father, he says, “God is a Spirit” ( John iv. 24 ), and we do not, because the article is not joined to “Spirit,” yet deny the Spiritual Nature of God; so here, although the article is not annexed to the Son, the Son is not on that account a less God. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vi.html","locus":"4.3","cites":[{"at":190,"text":"Tit. ii. 13","label":"Titus 2:13","href":"/tit/2/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":243,"text":"Rom. ix. 5","label":"Romans 9:5","href":"/rom/9/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":412,"text":"c. ii. 6","label":"Philippians 2:6","href":"/php/2/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":612,"text":"Rom. i. 7","label":"Romans 1:7","href":"/rom/1/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":820,"text":"John iv. 24","label":"John 4:24","href":"/jhn/4/#v24","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/4/#iv.vi-p37"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.1-2.1","start":1,"end":2,"heading":"Homily IV. John i. 1","excerpt":"And what we may mention besides as especially deserving our admiration is, that John, though he gave himself up to the higher doctrine, yet did not neglect the Dispensation; nor were the others, though intent upon the relation of this, silent as to the subsistence before the ages. With good cause; for One Spirit It was that moved the souls of all; and therefore they have shown great unanimity in their narrative. But thou, beloved, when thou hast heard of “The Word,” do not endure those who say, that He is a work; nor those even who think, that He is simply a word. For many are the words of God which angels execute, but of those words none is God; they all are prophecies or commands, (for in Scripture it is usual to call the laws of God His commands, and prophecies, words; wherefore in speaking of the angels, he says, “Mighty in strength, fulfilling His word”) ( Ps. ciii. 20 ), but this Word is a Being with subsistence, proceeding without affection from the Father Himself. For this, as I before said, he has shown by the term “Word.” As therefore the expression, “In the beginning was the Word,” shows His Eternity, so “was in the beginning with God,” has declared to us His Co-eternity. For that you may not, when you hear “In the beginning was the Word,” suppose Him to be Eternal, and yet imagine the life of the Father to differ from His by some interval and longer duration, and so assign a beginning to the Only-Begotten, he adds, “was in the beginning with God”; so eternally even as the Father Himself, for the Father was never without the Word, but He was always God with God, yet Each in His proper Person.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vi.html","locus":"4.1","cites":[{"at":874,"text":"Ps. ciii. 20","label":"Psalms 103:20","href":"/psa/103/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/4/#iv.vi-p9"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.3.1","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"Homily V. John i. 3","excerpt":"[1.] Moses in the beginning of the history and writings of the Old Testament speaks to us of the objects of sense, and enumerates them to us at length. For, “In the beginning,” he says, “God made the heaven and the earth,” and then he adds, that light was created, and a second heaven and the stars, the various kinds of living creatures, and, that we may not delay by going through particulars, everything else. But this Evangelist, cutting all short, includes both these things and the things which are above these in a single sentence; with reason, because they were known to his hearers, and because he is hastening to a greater subject, and has instituted all his treatise, that he might speak not of the works but of the Creator, and Him who produced them all. And therefore Moses, though he has selected the smaller portion of the creation, (for he has spoken nothing to us concerning the invisible powers,) dwells on these things; while John, as hastening to ascend to the Creator Himself, runs by both these things, and those on which Moses was silent, having comprised them in one little saying, “All things were made by Him.” And that you may not think that he merely speaks of all the things mentioned by Moses, he adds, that “without Him was not anything made that was made.” That is to say, that of created things, not one, whether it be visible or intelligible was brought into being without the power of the Son.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vii.html","locus":"5.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/5/#iv.vii-p4"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.3.2","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"Homily V. John i. 3","excerpt":"And what is that? It is to make the sentence end at “was made,” and to begin the next sentence with, “In Him was Life.” What (the Evangelist) says is this, “Without Him was not anything made that was made”; whatever created thing was made, says he, was not made without Him. See you how by this short addition he has rectified all the besetting difficulties; for the saying, that “without Him was not anything made,” and then the adding, “which was made,” includes things cognizable by the intellect, but excludes the Spirit. For after he had said that “all things were made by Him,” and “without Him was not anything made,” he needed this addition, lest some one should say, “If all things were made by Him, then the Spirit also was made.” “I,” he replies, “asserted that whatever was made was made by Him, even though it be invisible, or incorporeal, or in the heavens. For this reason, I did not say absolutely, ‘all things,’ but ‘whatever was made,’ that is, ‘created things,’ but the Spirit is uncreated.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vii.html","locus":"5.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/5/#iv.vii-p20"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.4.1","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"Homily V. John i. 3","excerpt":"Let us now attend to what follows. John having spoken of the work of creation, that “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made,” goes on to speak concerning His Providence, where he saith, “In Him was Life.” That no one may doubt how so many and so great things were “made by Him,” he adds, that “In Him was Life.” For as with the fountain which is the mother of the great deeps, however much you take away you nothing lessen the fountain; so with the energy of the Only-Begotten, however much you believe has been produced and made by it, it has become no whit the less. Or, to use a more familiar example, I will instance that of light, which the Apostle himself added immediately, saying, “And the Life was the Light.” As then light, however many myriads it may enlighten, suffers no diminution of its own brightness; so also God, before commencing His work and after completing it, remains alike indefectible, nothing diminished, nor wearied by the greatness of the creation. Nay, if need were that ten thousand, or even an infinite number of such worlds be created, He remains the same, sufficient for them all not merely to produce, but also to control them after their creation. For the word “Life” here refers not merely to the act of creation, but also to the providence (engaged) about the permanence of the things created; it also lays down beforehand the doctrine of the resurrection, and is the beginning of these marvelous good tidings. Since when “life” has come to be with us, the power of death is dissolved; and when “light” has shone upon us, there is no longer darkness, but life ever abides within us, and death cannot overcome it. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vii.html","locus":"5.3","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/5/#iv.vii-p31"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.4.2","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"Homily V. John i. 3","excerpt":"First then, the Evangelist hath instructed us respecting the creation, after that he tells us of the goods relating to the soul which He supplied to us by His coming; and these he has darkly described in one sentence, when he says, “And the Life was the Light of men.” ( Ver. 4.) He does not say, “was the light of the Jews,” but universally “of men”: nor did the Jews only, but the Greeks also, come to this knowledge, and this light was a common proffer made to all. “Why did he not add ‘Angels,’ but said, ‘of men’?” Because at present his discourse is of the nature of men, and to them he came bearing glad tidings of good things.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vii.html","locus":"5.3","cites":[{"at":271,"text":"Ver. 4","label":"John 1:4","href":"/jhn/1/#v4","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/5/#iv.vii-p39"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.5.1","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"Homily V. John i. 3","excerpt":"“And the light shineth in darkness.” ( ver. 5.) He calls death and error, “darkness.” For the light which is the object of our senses does not shine in darkness, but apart from it; but the preaching of Christ hath shone forth in the midst of prevailing error, and made it to disappear. And He by enduring death hath so overcome death, that He hath recovered those already held by it. Since then neither death overcame it, nor error, since it is bright everywhere, and shines by its proper strength, therefore he says,\n\n“And the darkness comprehended it not.” For it cannot be overcome, and will not dwell in souls which wish not to be enlightened.\n\n[4.] But let it not trouble thee that It took not all, for not by necessity and force, but by will and consent does God bring us to Himself. Therefore do not thou shut thy doors against this light, and thou shalt enjoy great happiness. But this light cometh by faith, and when it is come, it lighteth abundantly him that hath received it; and if thou displayest a pure life (meet) for it, remains indwelling within continually. “For,” He saith, “He that loveth Me, will keep My commandments; and I and My Father will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.” ( John xiv. 23 ; slightly varied.) As then one cannot rightly enjoy the sunlight, unless he opens his eyes; so neither can one largely share this splendor, unless he have expanded the eye of the soul, and rendered it in every way keen of sight.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vii.html","locus":"5.3","cites":[{"at":39,"text":"ver. 5","label":"John 1:5","href":"/jhn/1/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":1213,"text":"John xiv. 23","label":"John 14:23","href":"/jhn/14/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/5/#iv.vii-p41"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.6.1","start":6,"end":6,"heading":"Homily VI. John i. 6","excerpt":"[1.] Having in the introduction spoken to us things of urgent importance concerning God the Word, (the Evangelist) proceeding on his road, and in order, afterwards comes to the herald of the Word, his namesake John. And now that thou hearest that he was “sent from God,” do not for the future imagine that any of the words spoken by him are mere man’s words; for all that he utters is not his own, but is of Him who sent him. Wherefore he is called “messenger” ( Mal. iii. 1 ), for the excellence of a messenger is, that he say nothing of his own. But the expression “was,” in this place is not significative of his coming into existence, but refers to his office of messenger; for “‘there was’ a man sent from God,” is used instead of “a man ‘was sent’ from God.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.viii.html","locus":"6.1","cites":[{"at":463,"text":"Mal. iii. 1","label":"Malachi 3:1","href":"/mal/3/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/6/#iv.viii-p4"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.7.1","start":7,"end":7,"heading":"Homily VI. John i. 6","excerpt":"Ver. 7. “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of that Light.”\n\nWhat is this, perhaps one may say, the servant bear witness to his Master? When then you see Him not only witnessed to by His servant, but even coming to him, and with Jews baptized by him, will you not be still more astonished and perplexed? Yet you ought not to be troubled nor confused, but amazed at such unspeakable goodness. Though if any still continue bewildered and confused, He will say to such an one what He said to John, “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness” ( Matt. iii. 15 ); and, if any be still further troubled, again He will say to him too what he said to the Jews, “But I receive not testimony from man.” ( c. v. 34.) If now he needs not this witness, why was John sent from God? Not as though He required his testimony—this were extremest blasphemy. Why then? John himself informs us, when he says,\n\n“That all men through him might believe.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.viii.html","locus":"6.1","cites":[{"at":586,"text":"Matt. iii. 15","label":"Matthew 3:15","href":"/mat/3/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":739,"text":"c. v. 34","label":"John 5:34","href":"/jhn/5/#v34","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/6/#iv.viii-p11"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.7-8.1","start":7,"end":8,"heading":"Homily VI. John i. 6","excerpt":"“That all men through Him might believe.” All but saying, Think not that the reason why John the Baptist came to bear witness, was that he might add aught to the trustworthiness of his Master. No; (He came,) that by his means beings of his own class might believe. For it is clear from what follows, that he used this expression in his anxiety to remove this suspicion beforehand, since he adds,\n\nVer. 8. “He was not that Light.”\n\nNow if he did not introduce this as setting himself against this suspicion, then the expression is absolutely superfluous, and tautology rather than elucidation of his teaching. For why, after having said that he “was sent to bear witness of that Light,” does he again say, “He was not that Light”? (He says it,) not loosely or without reason; but, because, for the most part, among ourselves, the person witnessing is held to be greater, and generally more trustworthy than the person witnessed of; therefore, that none might suspect this in the case of John, at once from the very beginning he removes this evil suspicion, and having torn it up by the roots, shows who this is that bears witness, and who is He who is witnessed of, and what an interval there is between the witnessed of, and the bearer of witness. And after having done this, and shown His incomparable superiority, he afterwards proceeds fearlessly to the narrative which remains; and after carefully removing whatever strange (ideas) might secretly harbor in the minds of the simpler sort, so instills into all easily and without impediment the word of doctrine in its proper order.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.viii.html","locus":"6.1","cites":[{"at":397,"text":"Ver. 8","label":"John 1:8","href":"/jhn/1/#v8","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/6/#iv.viii-p26"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.9.1","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"Homily VII. John i. 9","excerpt":"“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” For since above in speaking of John he said, that he came “to bear witness of that Light”; and that he was sent in these our days; lest any one at hearing this should, on account of the recent coming of the witness, conceive some like suspicion concerning Him, who is witnessed of, he has carried up the imagination, and transported it to that existence which is before all beginning, which has neither end nor commencement.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.ix.html","locus":"7.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/7/#iv.ix-p9"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.9.2","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"Homily VIII. John i. 9","excerpt":"[1.] Nothing hinders us from handling to-day also the same words, since before we were prevented by the setting forth of doctrines, from considering all that was read. Where now are those who deny that He is true God? for here He is called “the true Light” ( c. xiv. 6 ), and elsewhere very “Truth” and very “Life.” That saying we will discuss more clearly when we come to the place; but at present we must for a while be speaking to your Charity of that other matter.\n\nIf He “lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” how is it that so many continue unenlightened? for not all have known the majesty of Christ. How then doth He “light every man”? He lighteth all as far as in Him lies. But if some, wilfully closing the eyes of their mind, would not receive the rays of that Light, their darkness arises not from the nature of the Light, but from their own wickedness, who willfully deprive themselves of the gift. For the grace is shed forth upon all, turning itself back neither from Jew, nor Greek, nor Barbarian, nor Scythian, nor free, nor bond, nor male, nor female, nor old, nor young, but admitting all alike, and inviting with an equal regard. And those who are not willing to enjoy this gift, ought in justice to impute their blindness to themselves; for if when the gate is opened to all, and there is none to hinder, any being willfully evil remain without, they perish through none other, but only through their own wickedness.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.x.html","locus":"8.1","cites":[{"at":259,"text":"c. xiv. 6","label":"John 14:6","href":"/jhn/14/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/8/#iv.x-p4"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.10.1","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"Homily VIII. John i. 9","excerpt":"Ver. 10. “He was in the world.”\n\nBut not as of equal duration with the world. Away with the thought. Wherefore he adds, “And the world was made by Him”; thus leading thee up again to the eternal existence of the Only-Begotten. For he who has heard that this universe is His work, though he be very dull, though he be a hater, though he be an enemy of the glory of God, will certainly, willing or unwilling, be forced to confess that the maker is before his works. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.x.html","locus":"8.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/8/#iv.x-p7"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.10.2","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"Homily VIII. John i. 9","excerpt":"“And the world knew Him not.” By “the world” he here means the multitude, which is corrupt, and closely attached to earthly things, the common turbulent, silly people. For the friends and favorites of God all knew Him, even before His coming in the flesh. Concerning the Patriarch Christ Himself speaks by name, “that your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.” ( c. viii. 56.) And concerning David, confuting the Jews He said, “How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand.” ( Matt. xxii. 43; Mark xii. 36; Luke xx. 42.) And in many places, disputing with them, He mentions Moses; and the Apostle (mentions) the rest of the prophets; for Peter declares, that all the prophets from Samuel knew Him, and proclaimed beforehand His coming afar off, when he says, “All the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” ( Acts iii. 24.) But Jacob and his father, as well as his grandfather, He both appeared to and talked with, and promised that He would give them many and great blessings, which also He brought to pass.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.x.html","locus":"8.1","cites":[{"at":394,"text":"c. viii. 56","label":"John 8:56","href":"/jhn/8/#v56","status":"detected"},{"at":570,"text":"Matt. xxii. 43","label":"Matthew 22:43","href":"/mat/22/#v43","status":"detected"},{"at":586,"text":"Mark xii. 36","label":"Mark 12:36","href":"/mrk/12/#v36","status":"detected"},{"at":600,"text":"Luke xx. 42","label":"Luke 20:42","href":"/luk/20/#v42","status":"detected"},{"at":976,"text":"Acts iii. 24","label":"Acts 3:24","href":"/act/3/#v24","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/8/#iv.x-p12"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.10.3","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"Homily VIII. John i. 9","excerpt":"“The world,” he says, “knew Him not”; but they of whom the world was not worthy knew Him. And having spoken of those who knew Him not, he in a short time puts the cause of their ignorance; for he does not absolutely say, that no one knew Him, but that “the world knew him not”; that is, those persons who are as it were nailed to the world alone, and who mind the things of the world. For so Christ was wont to call them; as when He says, “O Holy Father, the world hath not known Thee.” ( c. xvii. 25.) The world then was ignorant, not only of Him, but also of His Father, as we have said; for nothing so darkens the mind as to be closely attached to present things.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.x.html","locus":"8.2","cites":[{"at":489,"text":"c. xvii. 25","label":"Luke 17:25","href":"/luk/17/#v25","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/8/#iv.x-p24"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.11.1","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"Homily IX. John i. 11","excerpt":"He (St. John) had said, speaking of the old times, that “the world knew him not” ( ver. 10 ); afterwards he comes down in his narrative to the times of the proclamation (of the Gospel), and says, “He came to His own, and His own received Him not,” now calling the Jews “His own,” as His peculiar people, or perhaps even all mankind, as created by Him. And as above, when perplexed at the folly of the many, and ashamed of our common nature, he said that “the world by Him was made,” and having been made, did not recognize its Maker; so here again, being troubled beyond bearing at the stupidity of the Jews and the many, he sets forth the charge in a yet more striking manner, saying, that “His own received Him not,” and that too when “He came to them.” ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xi.html","locus":"9.1","cites":[{"at":83,"text":"ver. 10","label":"John 1:10","href":"/jhn/1/#v10","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/9/#iv.xi-p6"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.11.2","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"Homily X. John i. 11","excerpt":"“He came to His own, and His own received Him not.” Whence came He, who filleth all things, and who is everywhere present? What place did He empty of His presence, who holdeth and graspeth all things in His hand? He exchanged not one place for another; how should He? But by His coming down to us He effected this. For since, though being in the world, He did not seem to be there, because He was not yet known, but afterwards manifested Himself by deigning to take upon Him our flesh, he (St. John) calls this manifestation and descent “a coming.” One might wonder at the disciple who is not ashamed of the dishonor of his Teacher, but even records the insolence which was used towards Him: yet this is no small proof of his truth-loving disposition. And besides, he who feels shame should feel it for those who have offered an insult, not for the person outraged. Indeed He by this very thing shone the brighter, as taking, even after the insult, so much care for those who had offered it; while they appeared ungrateful and accursed in the eyes of all men, for having rejected Him who came to bring them so great goods, as hateful to them, and an enemy. And not only in this were they hurt, but also in not obtaining what they obtained who received Him. What did these obtain?","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xii.html","locus":"10.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/10/#iv.xii-p20"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.12.1","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"Homily X. John i. 11","excerpt":"Ver. 12. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God,” says the Evangelist. “Why then, O blessed one, dost thou not also tell us the punishment of them who received Him not? Thou hast said that they were ‘His own,’ and that when ‘He came to His own, they received Him not’; but what they shall suffer for this, what punishment they shall undergo, thou hast not gone on to add. Yet so thou wouldest the more have terrified them, and have softened the hardness of their insanity by threatening. Wherefore then hast thou been silent?” “And what other punishment,” he would say, “can be greater than this, that when power is offered them to become sons of God, they do not become so, but willingly deprive themselves of such nobility and honor as this?” Although their punishment shall not even stop at this point, that they gain no good, but moreover the unquenchable fire shall receive them, as in going on he has more plainly revealed. But for the present he speaks of the unutterable goods of those who received Him, and sets these words in brief before us, saying, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become sons of God.” Whether bond or free, whether Greeks or barbarians or Scythians, unlearned or learned, female or male, children or old men, in honor or dishonor, rich or poor, rulers or private persons, all, He saith, are deemed worthy the same privilege; for faith and the grace of the Spirit, removing the inequality caused by worldly things, hath moulded all to one fashion, and stamped them with one impress, the King’s. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xii.html","locus":"10.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/10/#iv.xii-p24"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.12.2","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"Homily X. John i. 11","excerpt":"Why then did he say not that “He made them sons of God,” but that “He gave them power to become sons of God”? To show that we need much zeal to keep the image of sonship impressed on us at Baptism, all through without spot or soil ; and at the same time to show that no one shall be able to take this power from us, unless we are the first to deprive ourselves of it. For if among men, those who have received the absolute control of any matters have well-nigh as much power as those who gave them the charge; much more shall we, who have obtained such honor from God, be, if we do nothing unworthy of this power, stronger than all; because He who put this honor in our hands is greater and better than all. At the same time too he wishes to show, that not even does grace come upon man irrespectively, but upon those who desire and take pains for it. For it lies in the power of these to become (His) children since if they do not themselves first make the choice, the gift does not come upon them, nor have any effect.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xii.html","locus":"10.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/10/#iv.xii-p26"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.13.1","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"Homily X. John i. 11","excerpt":"[3.] Having therefore everywhere excluded compulsion and pointing to (man’s) voluntary choice and free power, he has said the same now. For even in these mystical blessings, it is, on the one hand, God’s part, to give the grace, on the other, man’s to supply faith; and in after time there needs for what remains much earnestness. In order to preserve our purity, it is not sufficient for us merely to have been baptized and to have believed, but we must if we will continually enjoy this brightness, display a life worthy of it. This then is God’s work in us. To have been born the mystical Birth, and to have been cleansed from all our former sins, comes from Baptism; but to remain for the future pure, never again after this to admit any stain belongs to our own power and diligence. And this is the reason why he reminds us of the manner of the birth, and by comparison with fleshly pangs shows its excellence, when he says,\n\nVer. 13. “Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.” This he has done, in order that, considering the vileness, and lowness of the first birth, which is “of blood,” and “the will of the flesh,” and perceiving the highness and nobleness of the second, which is by grace, we may form from thence some great opinion of it, and one worthy of the gift of Him who hath begotten us, and for the future exhibit much earnestness.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xii.html","locus":"10.3","cites":[{"at":931,"text":"Ver. 13","label":"John 1:13","href":"/jhn/1/#v13","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/10/#iv.xii-p29"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.14.1","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Homily XI. John i. 14","excerpt":"“And the Word was made Flesh,” he saith, “and dwelt among us.”\n\nHaving declared that they who received Him were “born of God,” and had become “sons of God,” he adds the cause and reason of this unspeakable honor. It is that “the Word became Flesh,” that the Master took on Him the form of a servant. For He became Son of man, who was God’s own Son, in order that He might make the sons of men to be children of God. For the high when it associates with the low touches not at all its own honor, while it raises up the other from its excessive lowness; and even thus it was with the Lord. He in nothing diminished His own Nature by this condescension, but raised us, who had always sat in disgrace and darkness, to glory unspeakable. Thus it may be, a king, conversing with interest and kindness with a poor mean man, does not at all shame himself, yet makes the other observed by all and illustrious. Now if in the case of the adventitious dignity of men, intercourse with the humbler person in nothing injures the more honorable, much less can it do so in the case of that simple and blessed Essence which has nothing adventitious, or subject to growth or decay, but has all good things immovable, and fixed for ever. So that when you hear that “the Word became Flesh,” be not disturbed nor cast down. For that Essence did not change to flesh, (it is impiety to imagine this,) but continuing what it is, It so took upon It the form of a servant.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xiii.html","locus":"11.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/11/#iv.xiii-p19"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.14.2","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Homily XI. John i. 14","excerpt":"[2.] Wherefore then does he use the expression, “was made”? To stop the mouths of the heretics. For since there are some who say that all the circumstances of the Dispensation were an appearance, a piece of acting, an allegory, at once to remove beforehand their blasphemy, he has put “was made”; desiring to show thereby not a change of substance, (away with the thought,) but the assumption of very flesh. For as when (Paul) says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,” he does not mean that His essence removing from Its proper glory took upon It the being of an accursed thing, (this not even devils could imagine, nor even the very foolish, nor those deprived of their natural understanding, such impiety as well as madness does it contain,) as (St. Paul) does not say this, but that He, taking upon Himself the curse pronounced against us, leaves us no more under the curse; so also here he (St. John) says that He “was made Flesh,” not by changing His Essence to flesh, but by taking flesh to Himself, His Essence remained untouched.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xiii.html","locus":"11.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/11/#iv.xiii-p26"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.14.3","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Homily XI. John i. 14","excerpt":"What then was the tabernacle in which He dwelt? Hear the Prophet say; “I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen.” ( Amos ix. 11.) It was fallen indeed, our nature had fallen an incurable fall, and needed only that mighty Hand. There was no possibility of raising it again, had not He who fashioned it at first stretched forth to it His Hand, and stamped it anew with His Image, by the regeneration of water and the Spirit. And observe I pray you, the awful and ineffable nature of the mystery. He inhabits this tabernacle for ever, for He clothed Himself with our flesh, not as again to leave it, but always to have it with Him. Had not this been the case, He would not have deemed it worthy of the royal throne, nor would He while wearing it have been worshiped by all the host of heaven, angels, archangels, thrones, principalities, dominions, powers. What word, what thought can represent such great honor done to our race, so truly marvelous and awful? What angel, what archangel? Not one in any place, whether in heaven, or upon earth. For such are the mighty works of God, so great and marvelous are His benefits, that a right description of them exceeds not only the tongue of men, but even the power of angels.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xiii.html","locus":"11.2","cites":[{"at":130,"text":"Amos ix. 11","label":"Amos 9:11","href":"/amo/9/#v11","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/11/#iv.xiii-p37"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.14.4","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Homily XII. John i. 14","excerpt":"“We beheld,” he says, “His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father.”\n\nHaving declared that we were made “sons of God,” and having shown in what manner, namely, by the “Word” having been “made Flesh,” he again mentions another advantage which we gain from this same circumstance. What is it? “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father”; which we could not have beheld, had it not been shown to us, by means of a body like to our own. For if the men of old time could not even bear to look upon the glorified countenance of Moses, who partook of the same nature with us, if that just man needed a veil which might shade over the purity of his glory, and show to them the face of their prophet mild and gentle; how could we creatures of clay and earth have endured the unveiled Godhead, which is unapproachable even by the powers above? Wherefore He tabernacled among us, that we might be able with much fearlessness to approach Him, speak to, and converse with Him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xiv.html","locus":"12.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/12/#iv.xiv-p9"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.14.5","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Homily XII. John i. 14","excerpt":"But what means “the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father”? Since many of the Prophets too were glorified, as this Moses himself, Elijah, and Elisha, the one encircled by the fiery chariot ( 2 Kings vi. 17 ), the other taken up by it; and after them, Daniel and the Three Children, and the many others who showed forth wonders ; and angels who have appeared among men, and partly disclosed to beholders the flashing light of their proper nature; and since not angels only, but even the Cherubim were seen by the Prophet in great glory, and the Seraphim also: the Evangelist leading us away from all these, and removing our thoughts from created things, and from the brightness of our fellow-servants, sets us at the very summit of good. For, “not of prophet,” says he, “nor angel, nor archangel, nor of the higher power, nor of any other created nature,” if other there be, but of the Master Himself, the King Himself, the true Only-Begotten Son Himself, of the Very Lord of all, did we “behold the glory.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xiv.html","locus":"12.1","cites":[{"at":197,"text":"2 Kings vi. 17","label":"2 Kings 6:17","href":"/2ki/6/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/12/#iv.xiv-p16"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.15.1","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"Homily XIII. John i. 15","excerpt":"What then saith he? He “beareth witness concerning Him, and crieth, saying” What means that word “crieth”? Boldly, he means, and freely, without any reserve, he proclaims. What does he proclaim? to what does he “bear witness,” and “cry”? “This is He of whom I said, He that cometh after me is preferred before me; for He was before me.” The testimony is dark, and contains besides much that is lowly. For he does not say, “This is the Son of God, the Only-begotten, the true Son”; but what? “He that cometh after me, is preferred before me; for He was before me.” As the mother birds do not teach their young all at once how to fly, nor finish their teaching in a single day, but at first lead them forth so as to be just outside the nest, then after first allowing them to rest, set them again to flying, and on the next day continue a flight much farther, and so gently, by little and little, bring them to the proper height; just so the blessed John did not immediately bring the Jews to high things, but taught them for a while to fly up a little above the earth saying, that Christ was greater than he. And yet this, even this was for the time no small thing, to have been able to persuade the hearers that one who had not yet appeared nor worked any wonders was greater than a man, (John, I mean,) so marvelous, so famous, to whom all ran, and whom they thought to be an angel. For a while therefore he labored to establish this in the minds of his hearers, that He to whom testimony was borne was greater than he who bore it; He that came after, than he that came before, He who had not yet appeared, than he that was manifest and famous. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xv.html","locus":"13.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/13/#iv.xv-p32"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.15.2","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"Homily XIII. John i. 15","excerpt":"The phrase, “that cometh after,” means, “that” preacheth “after me,” not “that” was born “after me.” And this Matthew glances at when he says, “after me cometh a man,” not speaking of His birth from Mary, but of His coming to preach (the Gospel), for had he been speaking of the birth, he would not have said, “cometh,” but “is come”; since He was born when John spake this. What then means “is before me”? Is more glorious, more honorable. “Do not,” he saith, “because I came preaching first from this, suppose that I am greater than He; I am much inferior, so much inferior that I am not worthy to be counted in the rank of a servant.” This is the sense of “is before me,” which Matthew showing in a different manner, saith, “The latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.” ( Luke iii. 16.) ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xv.html","locus":"13.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/13/#iv.xv-p42"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.16.1","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"Homily XIV. John i. 16","excerpt":"And what means that, saith he, “Of His fullness have all we received”? for to this we must for a while direct our discourse. He possesseth not, says he, the gift by participation, but is Himself the very Fountain and very Root of all good, very Life, and very Light, and very Truth, not retaining within Himself the riches of His good things, but overflowing with them unto all others, and after the overflowing remaining full, in nothing diminished by supplying others, but streaming ever forth, and imparting to others a share of these blessings, He remains in sameness of perfection. What I possess is by participation, (for I received it from another) and is a small portion of the whole, as it were a poor rain-drop compared with the untold abyss or the boundless sea; or rather not even can this instance fully express what we attempt to say, for if you take a drop from the sea, you have lessened the sea itself, though the diminution be imperceptible. But of that Fountain we cannot say this; how much soever a man draw, It continues undiminished. We therefore must needs proceed to another instance, a weak one also, and not able to establish what we seek, but which guides us better than the former one to the thought now proposed to us.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvi.html","locus":"14.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/14/#iv.xvi-p6"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.16.2","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"Homily XIV. John i. 16","excerpt":"After having said, “Of His fullness have all we received,” he adds, “and grace for grace.” For by grace the Jews were saved: “I chose you,” saith God, “not because you were many in number, but because of your fathers.” ( Deut. vii. 7 , LXX.) If now they were chosen by God not for their own good deeds, it is manifest that by grace they obtained this honor. And we too all are saved by grace, but not in like manner; not for the same objects, but for objects much greater and higher. The grace then that is with us is not like theirs. For not only was pardon of sins given to us, (since this we have in common with them, for all have sinned,) but righteousness also, and sanctification, and sonship, and the gift of the Spirit far more glorious and more abundant. By this grace we have become the beloved of God, no longer as servants, but as sons and friends. Wherefore he saith, “grace for grace.” ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvi.html","locus":"14.2","cites":[{"at":221,"text":"Deut. vii. 7","label":"Deuteronomy 7:7","href":"/deu/7/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/14/#iv.xvi-p26"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.17.1","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"Homily XIV. John i. 16","excerpt":"Ver. 17. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”\n\nSee ye how gently, by a single word and by little and little, both John the Baptist and John the Disciple lead up their hearers to the highest knowledge, having first exercised them in humbler things? The former having compared to himself Him who is incomparably superior to all, thus afterwards shows His superiority, by saying, “is become before me,” and then adding the words, “was before me”: while the latter has done much more than he, though too little for the worthiness of the Only-Begotten, for he makes the comparison, not with John, but with one reverenced by the Jews more than John, with Moses. “For the law,” saith he, “was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”\n\nObserve his wisdom. He makes enquiry not concerning the person, but the things; for these being proved, it was probable that even the senseless would of necessity receive from them a much higher judgment and notion respecting Christ. For when facts bear witness, which cannot be suspected of doing so either from favor to any, or from malice, they afford a means of judging which cannot be doubted even by the senseless; for they remain to open view just as their actors may have arranged them, and therefore their evidence is the least liable to suspicion of any. And see how he makes the comparison easy even to the weaker sort; for he does not prove the superiority by argument, but points out the difference by the bare words, opposing “grace and truth” to “law,” and “came” to “was given.” ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvi.html","locus":"14.3","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/14/#iv.xvi-p33"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.18.1","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"Homily XV. John i. 18","excerpt":"“No man hath seen God at any time.” By what connection of thought does the Apostle come to say this? After showing the exceeding greatness of the gifts of Christ, and the infinite difference between them and those ministered by Moses, he would add the reasonable cause of the difference. Moses, as being a servant, was minister of lower things, but Christ being Lord and King, and the King’s Son, brought to us things far greater, being ever with the Father, and beholding Him continually; wherefore He saith, “No man hath seen God at any time.” What then shall we answer to the most mighty of voice, Esaias, when he says, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up” ( Isa. vi. 1 ); and to John himself testifying of Him, that “he said these things when he had seen His glory”? ( c. xii. 41.) What also to Ezekiel? for he too beheld Him sitting above the Cherubim. ( Ezek. i. and x.) What to Daniel? for he too saith, “The Ancient of days did sit” ( Dan. vii. 9.) What to Moses himself, saying, “Show me Thy Glory, that I may see Thee so as to know Thee.” ( Ex. xxxiii. 13 , partly from LXX.) And Jacob took his name from this very thing, being called “Israel”; for Israel is “one that sees God.” And others have seen him. How then saith John, “No man hath seen God at any time”? It is to declare, that all these were instances of (His) condescension, not the vision of the Essence itself unveiled. For had they seen the very Nature, they would not have beheld It under different forms, since that is simple, without form, or parts, or bounding lines. It sits not, nor stands, nor walks: these things belong all to bodies. But how He Is, He only knoweth. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvii.html","locus":"15.1","cites":[{"at":683,"text":"Isa. vi. 1","label":"Isaiah 6:1","href":"/isa/6/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":794,"text":"c. xii. 41","label":"John 12:41","href":"/jhn/12/#v41","status":"detected"},{"at":964,"text":"Dan. vii. 9","label":"Daniel 7:9","href":"/dan/7/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":1072,"text":"Ex. xxxiii. 13","label":"Exodus 33:13","href":"/exo/33/#v13","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/15/#iv.xvii-p7"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.18.2","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"Homily XV. John i. 18","excerpt":"Observe, therefore, with what fullness the Evangelist speaks; for having said that “no man hath seen God at any time,” he does not go on to say, “that the Son who hath seen, hath declared Him,” but adds something beyond “seeing” by the words, “Who is in the bosom of the Father”; because, “to dwell in the bosom” is far more than “to see.” For he that merely “seeth” hath not an in every way exact knowledge of the object, but he that “dwelleth in the bosom” can be ignorant of nothing. Now lest when thou hearest that “none knoweth the Father, save the Son,” thou shouldest assert that although He knoweth the Father more than all, yet He knoweth not how great He is, the Evangelist says that He dwells in the bosom of the Father; and Christ Himself declares, that He knoweth Him as much as the Father knoweth the Son. Ask therefore the gainsayer, “Tell me, doth the Father know the Son?” And if he be not mad, he will certainly answer “Yes.” Then ask again; “Doth He see and know Him with exact vision and knowledge? Doth He know clearly what He Is?” He will certainly confess this also. From this next collect the exact comprehension the Son has of the Father. For He saith, “As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father” ( c. x. 15 ); and in another place, “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God.” ( c. vi. 46.) Wherefore, as I said, the Evangelist mentions “the bosom,” to show all this to us by that one word; that great is the affinity and nearness of the Essence, that the knowledge is nowise different, that the power is equal. For the Father would not have in His bosom one of another essence, nor would He have dared, had He been one amongst many servants, to live in the bosom of his Lord, for this belongs only to a true Son, to one who has much confidence towards His Father, and who is in nothing inferior to Him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvii.html","locus":"15.2","cites":[{"at":1234,"text":"c. x. 15","label":"John 10:15","href":"/jhn/10/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":1336,"text":"c. vi. 46","label":"John 6:46","href":"/jhn/6/#v46","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/15/#iv.xvii-p20"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.18.3","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"Homily XV. John i. 18","excerpt":"[3.] “He hath declared Him,” saith John. What hath he declared? That “no man hath seen God at any time”? That “God is one”? But this all the other prophets testify, and Moses continually exclaims, “The Lord thy God is one Lord” ( Deut. vi. 4 ); and Esaias, “Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” ( Isa. xliii. 10.) What more then have we learned from “the Son which is in the bosom of the Father”? What from “the Only-Begotten”? In the first place, these very words were uttered by His working; in the next place, we have received a teaching that is far clearer, and learned that “God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” ( c. iv. 24 ); and again, that it is impossible to see God; “that no man knoweth” Him, “save the Son” ( Matt. xi. 27 ); that He is the Father of the true and Only-Begotten; and all other things that are told us of Him. But the word “hath declared” shows the plainer and clearer teaching which He gave not to the Jews only but to all the world, and established. To the prophets not even all the Jews gave heed, but to the Only-Begotten Son of God all the world yielded and obeyed. So the “declaration” in this place shows the greater clearness of His teaching, and therefore also He is called “Word,” and “Angel of great Counsel.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvii.html","locus":"15.3","cites":[{"at":230,"text":"Deut. vi. 4","label":"Deuteronomy 6:4","href":"/deu/6/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":329,"text":"Isa. xliii. 10","label":"Isaiah 43:10","href":"/isa/43/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":698,"text":"c. iv. 24","label":"John 4:24","href":"/jhn/4/#v24","status":"detected"},{"at":800,"text":"Matt. xi. 27","label":"Matthew 11:27","href":"/mat/11/#v27","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:18","href":"/jhn/1/#v18-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/15/#iv.xvii-p29"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.19.1","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"Homily XVI. John i. 19","excerpt":"... When then John continually sent them from himself to Jesus, who seemed to them a meaner person, being ashamed and vexed at this, and wishing rather to have him for their teacher, they did not dare to say so plainly, but send to him, thinking by their flattery to induce him to confess that he was the Christ. They do not therefore send to him mean men, as in the case of Christ, for when they wished to lay hold on Him, they sent servants, and then Herodians, and the like, but in this instance, “priests and Levites,” and not merely “priests,” but those “from Jerusalem,” that is, the more honorable; for the Evangelist did not notice this without a cause. And they send to ask, “Who art thou?” Yet the manner of his birth was well known to all, so that all said, “What manner of child shall this be?” ( Luke i. 66 ); and the report had gone forth into all the hill country. And afterwards when he came to Jordan, all the cities were set on the wing, and came to him from Jerusalem, and from all Judæa, to be baptized. Why then do they now ask? Not because they did not know him, (how could that be, when he had been made manifest in so many ways?) but because they wished to bring him to do that which I have mentioned.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xviii.html","locus":"16.1","cites":[{"at":809,"text":"Luke i. 66","label":"Luke 1:66","href":"/luk/1/#v66","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/16/#iv.xviii-p5"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.20.1","start":20,"end":20,"heading":"Homily XVI. John i. 19","excerpt":"[2.] Hear then how this blessed person answered to the intention with which they asked the question, not to the question itself. When they said, “Who art thou?” he did not at once give them what would have been the direct answer, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” But what did he? He removed the suspicion they had formed; for, saith the Evangelist, being asked, “Who art thou?”\n\nVer. 20. “He confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.”\n\nObserve the wisdom of the Evangelist. He mentions this for the third time, to set forth the excellency of the Baptist, and their wickedness and folly. And Luke also says, that when the multitudes supposed him to be the Christ, he again removes their suspicion. This is the part of an honest servant, not only not to take to himself his master’s honor, but also to reject it when given to him by the many. But the multitudes arrived at this supposition from simplicity and ignorance; these questioned him from an ill intention, which I have mentioned, expecting, as I said, to draw him over to their purpose by their flattery. Had they not expected this, they would not have proceeded immediately to another question, but would have been angry with him for having given them an answer foreign to their enquiry, and would have said, “Why, did we suppose that? did we come to ask thee that?” But now as taken and detected in the fact, they proceed to another question, and say,","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xviii.html","locus":"16.2","cites":[{"at":396,"text":"Ver. 20","label":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/16/#iv.xviii-p8"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.21.1","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"Homily XVI. John i. 19","excerpt":"Ver. 21. “What then? art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not.”\n\nFor they expected that Elias also would come, as Christ declares; for when His disciples enquired, “How then do the scribes say that Elias must first come?” ( Matt. xvii. 10 ) He replied, “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” Then they ask, “Art thou that prophet? and he answered, No.” ( Matt. xvii. 10.) Yet surely he was a prophet. Wherefore then doth he deny it? Because again he looks to the intention of his questioners. For they expected that some especial prophet should come, because Moses said, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet of thy brethren like unto me, unto Him shall ye harken.” ( Deut. xviii. 15.) Now this was Christ. Wherefore they do not say, “Art thou a prophet?” meaning thereby one of the ordinary prophets; but the expression, “Art thou the prophet?” with the addition of the article, means, “Art thou that Prophet who was foretold by Moses?” and therefore he denied not that he was a prophet, but that he was “that Prophet.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xviii.html","locus":"16.2","cites":[{"at":222,"text":"Matt. xvii. 10","label":"Matthew 17:10","href":"/mat/17/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":370,"text":"Matt. xvii. 10","label":"Matthew 17:10","href":"/mat/17/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":697,"text":"Deut. xviii. 15","label":"Deuteronomy 18:15","href":"/deu/18/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/16/#iv.xviii-p13"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.22-23.1","start":22,"end":23,"heading":"Homily XVI. John i. 19","excerpt":"Ver. 22. “Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?”\n\nObserve them pressing him more vehemently, urging him, repeating their questions, and not desisting; while he first kindly removes false opinions concerning himself, and then sets before them one which is true. For, saith he,\n\nVer. 23. “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”\n\nWhen he had spoken some high and lofty words concerning Christ, as if (replying) to their opinion, he immediately betook himself to the Prophet to draw from thence confirmation of his assertion.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xviii.html","locus":"16.2","cites":[{"at":356,"text":"Ver. 23","label":"John 1:23","href":"/jhn/1/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/16/#iv.xviii-p15"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.24-25.1","start":24,"end":25,"heading":"Homily XVI. John i. 19","excerpt":"Seest thou not without reason I said that they wished to bring him to this? and the reason why they did not at first say so was, lest they should be detected by all men. And then when he said, “I am not the Christ,” they, being desirous to conceal what they were plotting within, go on to “Elias,” and “that Prophet.” But when he said that he was not one of these either, after that, in their perplexity, they cast aside the mask, and without any disguise show clearly their treacherous intention, saying, “Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ?” And then again, wishing to throw some obscurity over the thing, they add the others also, “Elias,” and “that Prophet.” For when they were not able to trip him by their flattery, they thought that by an accusation they could compel him to say the thing that was not.\n\nWhat folly, what insolence, what ill-timed officiousness! Ye were sent to learn who and whence he might be, not to lay down laws for him also. This too was the conduct of men who would compel him to confess himself to be the Christ. Still not even now is he angry, nor does he, as might have been expected, say to them anything of this sort, “Do you give orders and make laws for me?” but again shows great gentleness towards them.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xviii.html","locus":"16.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/16/#iv.xviii-p20"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.26-27.1","start":26,"end":27,"heading":"Homily XVI. John i. 19","excerpt":"“But there standeth One among you, whom ye know not.” Reasonable it was that Christ should mingle among the people as one of the many, because everywhere He taught men not to be puffed up and boastful. And in this place by “knowledge” the Baptist means a perfect acquaintance with Him, who and whence He was. And immediately next to this he puts, “Who cometh after me”; all but saying, “Think not that all is contained in my baptism, for had that been perfect, Another would not have arisen after me to offer you a different One, but this of mine is a preparation and a clearing the way for that other. Mine is but a shadow and image, but One must come who shall add to this the reality. So that His very coming ‘after me’ especially declares His dignity: for had the first been perfect, no place would have been required for a second.” “Is before me,” is more honorable, brighter. And then, lest they should imagine that His superiority was found by comparison, desiring to establish His incomparableness, he says, “Whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose”; that is, who is not simply “before me,” but before me in such a way, that I am not worthy to be numbered among the meanest of His servants. For to loose the shoe is the office of humblest service.\n\nNow if John was not worthy to “unloose the latchet” ( Matt. xi. 11 ), John, than whom “among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater,” where shall we rank ourselves? If he who was equal to, or rather greater than, all the world, (for saith Paul, “the world was not worthy” of them— Heb. xi. 38 ,) declares himself not worthy to be reckoned even among the meanest of those who should minister unto Him, what shall we say, who are full of ten thousand sins, and are as far from the excellence of John, as earth from heaven.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xviii.html","locus":"16.3","cites":[{"at":1319,"text":"Matt. xi. 11","label":"Matthew 11:11","href":"/mat/11/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":1566,"text":"Heb. xi. 38","label":"Hebrews 11:38","href":"/heb/11/#v38","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:27","href":"/jhn/1/#v27-catena"},{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:27","href":"/jhn/1/#v27-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/16/#iv.xviii-p31"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.28.1","start":28,"end":28,"heading":"Homily XVII. John i. 28, 29","excerpt":"Such an one was John, who regarded not the multitude, nor opinion, nor anything else belonging to men, but trod all this beneath his feet, and proclaimed to all with becoming freedom the things respecting Christ. And therefore the Evangelist marks the very place, to show the boldness of the loud-voiced herald. For it was not in a house, not in a corner, not in the wilderness, but in the midst of the multitude, after that he had occupied Jordan, when all that were baptized by him were present, (for the Jews came upon him as he was baptizing,) there it was that he proclaimed aloud that wonderful confession concerning Christ, full of those sublime and great and mysterious doctrines, and that he was not worthy to unloose the latchet of His shoe. Wherefore he saith, “These things were done in Bethany,” or, as all the more correct copies have it, “in Bethabara.” For Bethany was not “beyond Jordan,” nor bordering on the wilderness, but somewhere nigh to Jerusalem.\n\nHe marks the places also for another reason. Since he was not about to relate matters of old date, but such as had come to pass but a little time before, he makes those who were present and had beheld, witnesses of his words, and supplies proof from the places themselves. For confident that nothing was added by himself to what was said, but that he simply and with truth described things as they were, he draws a testimony from the places, which, as I said, would be no common demonstration of his veracity.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","locus":"17.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/17/#iv.xix-p5"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.29.1","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"Homily XVII. John i. 28, 29","excerpt":"... Wherefore then did He come to John? for He came not casually, but went expressly to him. “John,” saith the Evangelist, “seeth Jesus coming unto him.” Then wherefore cometh He? In order that since John had baptized Him with many (others), no one might suppose that He had hastened to John for the same reason as the rest to confess sins, and to wash in the river unto repentance. For this He comes, to give John an opportunity of setting this opinion right again, for by saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world,” he removes the whole suspicion. For very plain it is that One so pure as to be able to wash away the sins of others, does not come to confess sins, but to give opportunity to that marvelous herald to impress what he had said more definitely on those who had heard his former words, and to add others besides. The word “Behold” is used, because many had been seeking Him by reason of what had been said, and for a long time. For this cause, pointing Him out when present, he said, “Behold,” this is He so long sought, this is “the Lamb.” He calls Him “Lamb,” to remind the Jews of the prophecy of Isaiah, and of the shadow under the law of Moses, that he may the better lead them from the type to the reality. That Lamb of Moses took not at once away the sin of any one; but this took away the sin of all the world; for when it was in danger of perishing, He quickly delivered it from the wrath of God.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","locus":"17.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/17/#iv.xix-p10"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.30.1","start":30,"end":30,"heading":"Homily XVII. John i. 28, 29","excerpt":"Ver. 30. “This is He of whom I said, He that cometh after me is preferred before me.”\n\n[2.] Seest thou here also how he interprets the word “before”? for having called Him “Lamb,” and that He “taketh away the sin of the world,” then he saith that “He is preferred before me, for He was before me”; declaring that this is the “before,” the taking upon Him the sins of the world, “and the baptizing with the Holy Ghost.” “For my coming had no farther object than to proclaim the common Benefactor of the world, and to afford the baptism of water; but His was to cleanse all men, and to give them the power of the Comforter.” “He is preferred before me,” that is to say, has appeared brighter than I, because “He was before me.” Let those who have admitted the madness of Paul of Samosata be ashamed when they withstand so manifest a truth.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","locus":"17.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/17/#iv.xix-p12"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.31.1","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"Homily XVII. John i. 28, 29","excerpt":"Ver. 31. “And I knew Him not,” he saith.\n\nHere he renders his testimony free from suspicion, by showing that it was not from human friendship, but had been caused by divine revelation. “I knew Him not,” he saith. How then couldest thou be a trustworthy witness? How shalt thou teach others, while thou thyself art ignorant? He did not say “I know Him not,” but, “I knew Him not”; so that in this way he would be shown most trustworthy; for why should he have shown favor to one of whom he was ignorant?\n\n“But that He should be made manifest unto Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.”\n\nHe then did not need baptism, nor had that laver any other object than to prepare for all others a way to faith on Christ. For he did not say, “that I might cleanse those who are baptized,” or, “that I might deliver them from their sins,” but, “that He should be made manifest unto lsrael.” “And why, tell me, could he not without baptism have preached and brought the multitudes to Him?” But in this way it would not have been by any means easy. For they would not so all have run together, if the preaching had been without the baptism; they would not by the comparison have learned His superiority. For the multitude came together not to hear his words, but for what? To be “baptized, confessing their sins.” But when they came, they were taught the matters concerning Christ, and the difference of His baptism. Yet even this of John was of greater dignity than the Jewish, and therefore all ran to it; yet even so it was imperfect.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","locus":"17.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/17/#iv.xix-p14"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.32.1","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"Homily XVII. John i. 28, 29","excerpt":"“But,” says one, “how then did not the Jews believe? for it was not John only that saw the Spirit in the likeness of a dove.” It was, because, even if they did see, such things require not only the eyes of the body, but more than these, the vision of the understanding, to prevent men from supposing the whole to be a vain illusion. For if when they saw Him working wonders, touching with His own hands the sick and the dead, and so bringing them back to life and health, they were so drunk with malice as to declare the contrary of what they saw; how could they shake off their unbelief by the descent of the Spirit only? And some say, that they did not all see it, but only John and those of them who were better disposed. Because even though it were possible with fleshly eyes to see the Spirit descending as in the likeness of a dove, still not for this was it absolutely necessary that the circumstance should be visible to all. For Zacharias saw many things in a sensible form, as did Daniel and Ezekiel, and had none to share in what they saw; Moses also saw many things such as none other hath seen; nor did all the disciples enjoy the view of the Transfiguration on the mount, nor did they all alike behold Him at the time of the Resurrection. And this Luke plainly shows, when he says, that He showed Himself “to witnesses chosen before of God.” ( Acts x. 41.)","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","locus":"17.3","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/17/#iv.xix-p29"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.32-33.1","start":32,"end":33,"heading":"Homily XVII. John i. 28, 29","excerpt":"“How then didst thou know Him?” “By the descent of the Spirit,” he saith. But again, lest any one should suppose that he was in need of the Spirit as we are, hear how he removes the suspicion, by showing that the descent of the Spirit was only to declare Christ. For having said, “And I knew Him not,” he adds, “But He that sent me to baptize with water the Same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” ( Ver. 33.)\n\nSeest thou that this was the work of the Spirit, to point out Christ? The testimony of John was indeed not to be suspected, but wishing to make it yet more credible, he leads it up to God and the Holy Spirit. For when John had testified to a thing so great and wonderful, so fit to astonish all his hearers, that He alone took on Him the sins of all the world, and that the greatness of the gift sufficed for so great a ransom, afterwards he proves this assertion. And the proof is that He is the Son of God, and that He needed not baptism, and that the object of the descent of the Spirit was only to make Him known. For it was not in the power of John to give the Spirit, as those who were baptized by him show when they say, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.” ( Acts xix. 2.) In truth, Christ needed not baptism, neither his nor any other; but rather baptism needed the power of Christ. For that which was wanting was the crowning blessing of all, that he who was baptized should be deemed worthy of the Spirit; this free gift then of the Spirit He added when He came.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","locus":"17.2","cites":[{"at":501,"text":"Ver. 33","label":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33","status":"detected"},{"at":1306,"text":"Acts xix. 2","label":"Acts 19:2","href":"/act/19/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/17/#iv.xix-p18"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.34.1","start":34,"end":34,"heading":"Homily XVII. John i. 28, 29","excerpt":"“And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”\n\nWhere did he “bear record that this is the Son of God?” he called Him indeed “Lamb,” and said that He should “baptize with the Spirit,” but nowhere did he say of Him, “Son of God.” But the other Evangelists do not write that He said anything after the baptism, but having been silent as to the time intervening, they mention the miracles of Christ which were done after John’s captivity, whence we may reasonably conjecture that these and many others are omitted. And this our Evangelist himself has declared, at the end of his narrative. For they were so far from inventing anything great concerning Him, that the things which seem to bring reproach, these they have all with one voice and with all exactness set down, and you will not find one of them omitting one of such circumstances; but of the miracles, part some have left for the others to relate, part all have passed over in silence.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","locus":"17.3","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/17/#iv.xix-p32"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.35-36.1","start":35,"end":36,"heading":"Homily XVIII. John i. 35–37","excerpt":"“Again,” saith the Evangelist, “John stood, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God.” Christ utters no word, His messenger saith all. So it is with a bridegroom. He saith not for a while anything to the bride, but is there in silence, while some show him to the bride, and others give her into his hands; she merely appears, and he departs not having taken her himself, but when he has received her from another who gives her to him. And when he has received her thus given, he so disposes her, that she no more remembers those who betrothed her. So it was with Christ. He came to join to Himself the Church; He said nothing, but merely came. It was His friend, John, who put into His the bride’s right hand, when by his discourses he gave into His hand the souls of men. He having received them, afterwards so disposed them, that they departed no more to John who had committed them to Him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","locus":"18.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/18/#iv.xx-p15"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.35-36.2","start":35,"end":36,"heading":"Homily XVIII. John i. 35–37","excerpt":"The Prophets and Apostles then all preached Him absent; the Prophets before His coming according to the flesh, the Apostles after He was taken up; John alone proclaimed Him present. Wherefore he calls himself the “friend of the Bridegroom” ( c. iii. 29 ), since he alone was present at the marriage, he it was that did and accomplished all, he made a beginning of the work. And “looking upon Jesus walking, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.” Not by voice alone, but with his eyes also he bore witness to, and expressed his admiration of, Christ, rejoicing and glorying. Nor does he for awhile address any word of exhortation to his followers, but only shows wonder and astonishment at Him who was present, and declares to all the Gift which He came to give, and the manner of purification. For “the Lamb” declares both these things. And he said not, “Who shall take,” or “Who hath taken”; but, “Who taketh away the sins of the world”; because this He ever doth. He took them not then only when He suffered, but from that time even to the present doth He take them away, not being repeatedly crucified, (for He offered One Sacrifice for sins,) but by that One continually purging them. As then The Word shows us His pre-eminence, and The Son His superiority in comparison with others, so “The Lamb, The Christ, that Prophet, the True Light, the Good Shepherd,” and whatever other names are applied to Him with the addition of the article, mark a great difference. For there were many “Lambs,” and “Prophets,” and “Christs,” and “sons,” but from all these John separates Him by a wide interval. And this he secured not by the article only, but by the addition of “Only-Begotten”; for He had nothing in common with the creation.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","locus":"18.2","cites":[{"at":242,"text":"c. iii. 29","label":"John 3:29","href":"/jhn/3/#v29","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/18/#iv.xx-p19"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.37.1","start":37,"end":37,"heading":"Homily XVIII. John i. 35–37","excerpt":"“And the two disciples heard him, and followed Jesus.”\n\nYet John had other disciples, but they not only did not “follow Jesus,” but were even jealously disposed towards him. “Rabbi,” says one, “He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come unto him.” ( c. iii. 26.) And again they appear bringing a charge against him; “Why do we fast, but thy disciples fast not?” ( Matt. ix. 14.) But those who were better than the rest had no such feeling, but heard, and at once followed; followed, not as despising their teacher, but as being most fully persuaded by him, and producing the strongest proof that they acted thus from a right judgment of his reasonings. For they did not do so by his advice, that might have appeared suspicious; but when he merely foretold what was to come to pass, that “He should baptize with the Holy Ghost, [and with fire,]” they followed. They did not then desert their teacher, but rather desired to learn what Christ brought with Him more than John. And observe zeal combined with modesty. They did not at once approach and question Jesus on necessary and most important matters, nor were they desirous to converse with Him publicly, while all were present, at once and in an off-hand manner, but privately; for they knew that the words of their teacher proceeded not from humility, but from truth.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","locus":"18.3","cites":[{"at":318,"text":"c. iii. 26","label":"John 3:26","href":"/jhn/3/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":432,"text":"Matt. ix. 14","label":"Matthew 9:14","href":"/mat/9/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/18/#iv.xx-p28"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.38.1","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"Homily XVIII. John i. 35–37","excerpt":"Ver. 38. “Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?”\n\nHence we are taught, that God does not prevent our wills by His gifts, but that when we begin, when we provide the being willing, then He gives us many opportunities of salvation. “What seek ye?” How is this? He who knoweth the hearts of men, who dwelleth in our thoughts, doth He ask? He doth; not that He may be informed; how could that be? but that by the question He may make them more familiar, and impart to them greater boldness, and show them that they are worthy to hear Him; for it was probable that they would blush and be afraid, as being unknown to him, and as having heard such accounts of Him from the testimony of their teacher. Therefore to remove all this, their shame and their fear, he questions them, and would not let them come all the way to the house in silence. Yet the event would have been the same had He not questioned them; they would have remained by following Him, and walking in His steps would have reached His dwelling. Why then did He ask? To effect that which I said, to calm their minds, yet disturbed with shame and anxiety, and to give them confidence.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","locus":"18.3","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/18/#iv.xx-p34"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.38-39.1","start":38,"end":39,"heading":"Homily XVIII. John i. 35–37","excerpt":"Nor was it by their following only that they showed their earnest desire, but by their question also: for when they had not as yet learned or even heard anything from Him, they call Him, “Master”; thrusting themselves as it were among His disciples, and declaring what was the cause of their following, that they might hear somewhat profitable. Observe their wisdom also. They did not say, “Teach us of Thy doctrines, or some other thing that we need to know”; but what? “Where dwellest Thou?” Because, as I before said, they wished in quiet to say somewhat to Him, and to hear somewhat from Him, and to learn. Therefore they did not defer the matter, nor say, “We will come to-morrow by all means, and hear thee speak in public”; but showed the great eagerness they had to hear Him, by not being turned back even by the hour, for the sun was already near its setting, (“it was,” saith John, “about the tenth hour.”) And therefore Christ does not tell them the marks of His abode, nor its situation, but rather induces them to follow Him by showing them that He had accepted them. For this reason He did not say anything of this kind to them, “It is an unseasonable time now for you to enter into the house, to-morrow you shall hear if you have any wish, return home now”; but converses with them as with friends, and those who had long been with Him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","locus":"18.3","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/18/#iv.xx-p38"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.39.1","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"Homily XVIII. John i. 35–37","excerpt":"How then saith He in another place, “But the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head” ( Luke ix. 58 ), while here He saith, “Come and see” ( v. 39 ) where I abide? Because the expression “hath not where to lay His head,” signifies that He had no dwelling place of His own, not that He did not abide in a house. And this too is the meaning of the comparison. The Evangelist has mentioned that “they abode with Him that day,” but has not added wherefore, because the reason was plain; for from no other motive did they follow Christ, and He draw them to Him, but only that they might have instruction; and this they enjoyed so abundantly and eagerly even in a single night, that they both proceeded straightway to the capture of others.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","locus":"18.3","cites":[{"at":90,"text":"Luke ix. 58","label":"Luke 9:58","href":"/luk/9/#v58","status":"detected"},{"at":143,"text":"v. 39","label":"John 1:39","href":"/jhn/1/#v39","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/18/#iv.xx-p40"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.40.1","start":40,"end":40,"heading":"Homily XVIII. John i. 35–37","excerpt":"Ver. 40. “One of the two who heard, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.”\n\nWherefore then has he not made known the name of the other also? Some say, because it was the writer himself that followed; others, not so, but that he was not one of the distinguished disciples; it behooved not therefore to say more than was necessary. For what would it have advantaged us to learn his name, when the writer does not mention the names even of the seventy-two? St. Paul also did the same. “We have sent,” says he, “with him the brother,” (who has often in many things been forward,) “whose praise is in the Gospel.” ( 2 Cor. viii. 18.) Moreover, he mentions Andrew for another reason. What is this? It is, that when you are informed that Simon having in company with him heard, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” ( Matt. iv. 19 ), was not perplexed at so strange a promise, you may learn that his brother had already laid down within him the beginnings of the faith.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","locus":"18.3","cites":[{"at":626,"text":"2 Cor. viii. 18","label":"2 Corinthians 8:18","href":"/2co/8/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":836,"text":"Matt. iv. 19","label":"Matthew 4:19","href":"/mat/4/#v19","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:40","href":"/jhn/1/#v40-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/18/#iv.xx-p31"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.41.1","start":41,"end":41,"heading":"Homily XIX. John i. 41, 42","excerpt":"Andrew, after having tarried with Jesus and learned what He did, kept not the treasure to himself, but hastens and runs quickly to his brother, to impart to him of the good things which he had received. But wherefore has not John said on what matters Christ conversed with them? Whence is it clear that it was for this that they “abode with Him”? It was proved by us the other day; but we may learn it from what has been read today as well. Observe what Andrew says to his brother; “We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” You see how, as far as he had learned in a short time, he showed the wisdom of the teacher who persuaded them, and their own zeal, who cared for these things long ago, and from the beginning. For this word, “we have found,” is the expression of a soul which travails for His presence, and looks for His coming from above, and is made overjoyed when the looked-for thing has happened, and hastens to impart to others the good tidings. This is the part of brotherly affection, of natural friendship, of a sincere disposition, to be eager to stretch out the hand to each other in spiritual things. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxi.html","locus":"19.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/19/#iv.xxi-p10"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.42.1","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"Homily XIX. John i. 41, 42","excerpt":"Ver. 42. “And when Jesus beheld him,” saith the Evangelist, “He said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a stone.”\n\n[2.] He begins from this time forth to reveal the things belonging to His Divinity, and to open It out little by little by predictions. So He did in the case of Nathaniel and the Samaritan woman. For prophecies bring men over not less than miracles; and are free from the appearance of boasting. Miracles may possibly be slandered among foolish men, (“He casteth out devils,” said they, “by Beelzebub”— Matt. xii. 24 ), but nothing of the kind has ever been said of prophecy. Now in the case of Nathaniel and Simon He used this method of teaching, but with Andrew and Philip He did not so. Why was this? Because those (two) had the testimony of John, no small preparation, and Philip received a credible evidence of faith, when he saw those who had been present.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxi.html","locus":"19.1","cites":[{"at":576,"text":"Matt. xii. 24","label":"Matthew 12:24","href":"/mat/12/#v24","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/19/#iv.xxi-p20"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.42.2","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"Homily XIX. John i. 41, 42","excerpt":"But Peter makes no reply to these words; as yet he knew nothing clearly, but still was learning. And observe, that not even the prediction is fully set forth; for Jesus did not say, “I will change thy name to Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church,” but, “Thou shalt be called Cephas.” The former speech would have expressed too great authority and power; for Christ does not immediately nor at first declare all His power, but speaks for a while in a humbler tone; and so, when He had given the proof of His Divinity, He puts it more authoritatively, saying, “Blessed art thou, Simon, because My Father hath revealed it to thee”; and again, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.” ( Matt. xvi. 17, 18.) Him therefore He so named, and James and his brother He called “sons of thunder.” ( Mark iii. 17.) Why then doth He this? To show that it was He who gave the old covenant, that it was He who altered names, who called Abram “Abraham,” and Sarai “Sarah,” and Jacob “Israel.” To many he assigned names even from their birth, as to Isaac, and Samson, and to those in Isaiah and Hosea ( Isa. viii. 3; Hos. i. 4, 6, 9 ); but to others He gave them after they had been named by their parents, as to those we have mentioned, and to Joshua the son of Nun. It was also a custom of the Ancients to give names from things, which in fact Leah also has done; and this takes place not without cause, but in order that men may have the appellation to remind them of the goodness of God, that a perpetual memory of the prophecy conveyed by the names may sound in the ears of those who receive it. Thus too He named John early, because they whose virtue was to shine forth from their early youth, from that time received their names; while to those who were to become great at a later period, the title also was given later.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxi.html","locus":"19.2","cites":[{"at":715,"text":"Matt. xvi. 17, 18","label":"Matthew 16:17–18","href":"/mat/16/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":819,"text":"Mark iii. 17","label":"Mark 3:17","href":"/mrk/3/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":1117,"text":"Isa. viii. 3","label":"Isaiah 8:3","href":"/isa/8/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":1131,"text":"Hos. i. 4, 6, 9","label":"Hosea 1:4","href":"/hos/1/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":1131,"text":"Hos. i. 4, 6, 9","label":"Hosea 1:6","href":"/hos/1/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":1131,"text":"Hos. i. 4, 6, 9","label":"Hosea 1:9","href":"/hos/1/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/19/#iv.xxi-p26"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.43-44.1","start":43,"end":44,"heading":"Homily XX. John i. 43, 44","excerpt":"... “The day following Jesus went forth into Galilee.” Before any had joined Him, He called no one; and He acted thus not without cause, but according to his own wisdom and intelligence. For if, when no one came to Him spontaneously, He had Himself drawn them, they might perhaps have started away; but now, having chosen this of themselves, they afterwards remained firm. He calls Philip, one who was better acquainted with Him; for he, as having been born and bred in Galilee, knew Him more than others. Having then taken the disciples, He next goes to the capture of the others, and draws to Him Philip and Nathanael. Now in the case of Nathanael this was not so wonderful, because the fame of Jesus had gone forth into all Syria. ( Matt. iv. 24 .) But the wonderful thing was respecting Peter and James and Philip, that they believed, not only before the miracles, but that they did so being of Galilee, out of which “ariseth no prophet,” nor “can any good thing come”; for the Galilæans were somehow of a more boorish and dull disposition than others; but even in this Christ displayed forth His power, by selecting from a land which bore no fruit His choicest disciples. It is then probable that Philip having seen Peter and Andrew, and having heard what John had said, followed; and it is probable also that the voice of Christ wrought in him somewhat; for He knew those who would be serviceable. But all these points the Evangelist cuts short. That Christ should come, he knew; that this was Christ, he knew not, and this I say that he heard either from Peter or John. But John mentions his village also, that you may learn that “God hath chosen the weak things of the world.” ( 1 Cor. i. 27 .)","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","locus":"20.1","cites":[{"at":736,"text":"Matt. iv. 24","label":"Matthew 4:24","href":"/mat/4/#v24","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/20/#iv.xxii-p4"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.45.1","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"Homily XX. John i. 43, 44","excerpt":"Ver. 45. “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”\n\nHe says this, to make his preaching credible, which it must be if it rests on Moses and the Prophets besides, and by this to abash his hearer. For since Nathanael was an exact man, and one who viewed all things with truth, as Christ also testified and the event showed, Philip with reason refers him to Moses and the Prophets, that so he might receive Him who was preached. And he not troubled though he called Him “the son of Joseph”; for still he was supposed to be his son. “And whence, O Philip, is it plain that this is He? What proof dost thou mention to us? for it is not enough merely to assert this. What sign hast thou seen, what miracle? Not without danger is it to believe without cause in such matters. What proof then hast thou?” “The same as Andrew,” he replies; for he though unable to produce the wealth which he had found, or to describe his treasure in words, when he had discovered it, led his brother to it. So too did Philip. How this is the Christ, and how the prophets proclaimed Him beforehand, he said not; but he draws him to Jesus, as knowing that he would not afterwards fall off, if he should once taste His words and teaching.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","locus":"20.1","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/20/#iv.xxii-p7"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.46-47.1","start":46,"end":47,"heading":"Homily XX. John i. 43, 44","excerpt":"Ver. 46, 47. “And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.”\n\nHe praises and approves the man, because he had said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” and yet he ought to have been blamed. Surely not; for the words are not those of an unbeliever, nor deserving blame, but praise. “How so, and in what way?” Because Nathanael had considered the writings of the Prophets more than Philip. For he had heard from the Scriptures, that Christ must come from Bethlehem, and from the village in which David was. This belief at least prevailed among the Jews, and the Prophet had proclaimed it of old, saying, “And thou, Bethlehem, art by no means the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall feed My people Israel.” ( Matt. ii. 6; Mic. v. 2.) And so when he heard that He was “from Nazareth,” he was confounded, and doubted, not finding the announcement of Philip to agree with the prediction of the Prophet.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","locus":"20.1","cites":[{"at":930,"text":"Matt. ii. 6","label":"Matthew 2:6","href":"/mat/2/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":943,"text":"Mic. v. 2","label":"Micah 5:2","href":"/mic/5/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/20/#iv.xxii-p10"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.46-47.2","start":46,"end":47,"heading":"Homily XX. John i. 43, 44","excerpt":"But observe his wisdom and candor even in his doubting. He did not at once say, “Philip, thou deceivest me, and speakest falsely, I believe thee not, I will not come; I have learned from the prophets that Christ must come from Bethlehem, thou sayest ‘from Nazareth’; therefore this is not that Christ.” He said nothing like this; but what does he? He goes to Him himself; showing, by not admitting that Christ was “of Nazareth,” his accuracy respecting the Scriptures, and a character not easily deceived; and by not rejecting him who brought the tidings, the great desire which he felt for the coming of Christ. For he thought within himself that Philip was probably mistaken about the place.\n\n[2.] And observe, I pray you, his manner of declining, how gentle he has made it, and in the form of a question. For he said not, “Galilee produces no good”; but how said he? “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip also was very prudent; for he is not as one perplexed, angry, and annoyed, but perseveres, wishing to bring over the man, and manifesting to us from the first of his preaching the firmness which becomes an Apostle. Wherefore also Christ saith, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” So that there is such a person as a false Israelite; but this is not such an one; for his judgment, Christ saith, is impartial, he speaks nothing from favor, or from ill-feeling. Yet the Jews, when they were asked where Christ should be born, replied, “In Bethlehem” ( Matt. ii. 5 ), and produced the evidence, saying, “And thou, Bethlehem, art by no means the least among the princes of Judah.” ( Mic. v. 2.) Before they had seen Him they bore this witness, but when they saw Him in their malice they concealed the testimony, saying, “But as for this fellow, we know not whence He is.” ( c. ix. 29.) Nathanael did not so, but continued to retain the opinion which he had from the beginning, that He was not “of Nazareth.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","locus":"20.1","cites":[{"at":1484,"text":"Matt. ii. 5","label":"Matthew 2:5","href":"/mat/2/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":1613,"text":"Mic. v. 2","label":"Micah 5:2","href":"/mic/5/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":1804,"text":"c. ix. 29","label":"John 9:29","href":"/jhn/9/#v29","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/20/#iv.xxii-p13"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.48.1","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"Homily XX. John i. 43, 44","excerpt":"Ver. 48. “Whence knowest Thou me?” He replies, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.”\n\nObserve a man firm and steady. When Christ had said, “Behold an Israelite indeed,” he was not made vain by this approbation, he ran not after this open praise, but continues seeking and searching more exactly, and desires to learn something certain. He still enquired as of a man, but Jesus answered as God. For He said, “I have known thee from the first,” (him and the candor of his character, this He knew not as a man, from having closely followed him, but as God from the first,) “and but now I saw thee by the fig-tree”; when there was no one present there but only Philip and Nathanael who said all these things in private. It is mentioned, that having seen him afar off, He said, “Behold an Israelite indeed”; to show, that before Philip came near, Christ spoke these words, that the testimony might not be suspected. For this reason also He named the time, the place, and the tree; because if He had only said, “Before Philip came to thee, I saw thee,” He might have been suspected of having sent him, and of saying nothing wonderful; but now, by mentioning both the place where he was when addressed by Philip, and the name of the tree, and the time of the conversation, He showed that His foreknowledge was unquestionable.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","locus":"20.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/20/#iv.xxii-p19"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.48-49.1","start":48,"end":49,"heading":"Homily XX. John i. 43, 44","excerpt":"And He did not merely show to him His foreknowledge, but instructed him also in another way. For He brought him to a recollection of what they then had said; as, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” And it was most especially on this account that Nathanael received Him, because when he had uttered these words, He did not condemn, but praised and approved him. Therefore he was assured that this was indeed the Christ, both from His foreknowledge, and from His having exactly searched out his sentiments, which was the act of One who would show that He knew what was in his mind; and besides, from His not having blamed, but rather praised him when he had seemed to speak against Himself. He said then, that Philip had “called” him; but what Philip had said to him or he to Philip, He omitted, leaving it to his own conscience, and not desiring farther to rebuke him.\n\n[3.] Was it then only “before Philip called him” that He “saw” him? did He not see him before this with His sleepless eye? He saw him, and none could gainsay it; but this is what it was needful to say at the time. And what did Nathanael? When he had received an unquestionable proof of His foreknowledge, he hastened to confess Him, showing by his previous delay his caution, and his fairness by his assent afterwards. For, said the Evangelist,\n\nVer. 49. “He answered and saith unto Him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel:”\n\nSeest thou how his soul is filled at once with exceeding joy, and embraces Jesus with words? “Thou art,” saith he, “that expected, that sought-for One.” Seest thou how he is amazed, how he marvels? how he leaps and dances with delight?","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","locus":"20.2","cites":[{"at":1328,"text":"Ver. 49","label":"John 1:49","href":"/jhn/1/#v49","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/20/#iv.xxii-p28"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.49-50.1","start":49,"end":50,"heading":"Homily XXI. John i. 49, 50","excerpt":"Now what is the question arising from this passage? It is this. Peter, when after so many miracles and such high doctrine he confessed that, “Thou art the Son of God” ( Matt. xvi. 16 ), is called “blessed,” as having received the revelation from the Father; while Nathanael, though he said the very same thing before seeing or hearing either miracles or doctrine, had no such word addressed to him, but as though he had not said so much as he ought to have said, is brought to things greater still. What can be the reason of this? It is, that Peter and Nathanael both spoke the same words, but not both with the same intention. Peter confessed Him to be “The Son of God” but as being Very God; Nathanael, as being mere man. And whence does this appear? From what he said after these words; for after, “Thou art the Son of God,” he adds, “Thou art the King of Israel.” But the Son of God is not “King of Israel” only, but of all the world.\n\nAnd what I say is clear, not from this only, but also from what follows. For Christ added nothing more to Peter, but as though his faith were perfect, said, that upon this confession of his He would build the Church; but in the other case He did nothing like this, but the contrary. For as though some large, and that the better, part were wanting to his confession He added what follows. For what saith He?","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxiii.html","locus":"21.1","cites":[{"at":169,"text":"Matt. xvi. 16","label":"Matthew 16:16","href":"/mat/16/#v16","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/21/#iv.xxiii-p5"},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.51.1","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Homily XXI. John i. 49, 50","excerpt":"Ver. 51. “Verily, verily I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”\n\nSeest thou how He leads him up by little and little from the earth, and causes him no longer to imagine Him a man merely? for One to whom Angels minister, and on whom Angels ascend and descend, how could He be man? For this reason He said, “Thou shalt see greater things than these.” And in proof of this, He introduces the ministry of Angels. And what He means is something of this kind: “Doth this, O Nathanael, seem to thee a great matter, and hast thou for this confessed me to be King of Israel? What then wilt thou say, when thou seest the Angels ascending and descending upon Me?” Persuading him by these words to own Him Lord also of the Angels. For on Him as on the King’s own Son, the royal ministers ascended and descended, once at the season of the Crucifixion, again at the time of the Resurrection and the Ascension, and before this also, when they “came and ministered unto Him” ( Matt. iv. 11 ), when they proclaimed the glad tidings of His birth, and cried, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace” ( Luke ii. 14 ), when they came to Mary, when they came to Joseph.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxiii.html","locus":"21.1","cites":[{"at":1043,"text":"Matt. iv. 11","label":"Matthew 4:11","href":"/mat/4/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":1174,"text":"Luke ii. 14","label":"Luke 2:14","href":"/luk/2/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/chrysostom/21/#iv.xxiii-p9"}]},{"work_id":"augustine","author":"Augustine of Hippo","short_name":"Augustine","author_dates":"354-430","tradition":"Patristic (Latin West)","era":"Early church","died":430,"title":"Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John","edition_short":"Translated by John Gibb and James Innes","author_url":"/commentators/augustine/","divisions":["Tractate","Section"],"work_url":"/works/augustine/","entries":[{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.1.1","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"Tractate I. Chapter I. 1–5","excerpt":"5. Accordingly, brethren, of these mountains was John also, who said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This mountain had received peace; he was contemplating the divinity of the Word. Of what sort was this mountain? How lofty? He had risen above all peaks of the earth, he had risen above all plains of the sky, he had risen above all heights of the stars, he had risen above all choirs and legions of the angels. For unless he rose above all those things which were created, he would not arrive at Him by whom all things were made. You cannot imagine what he rose above, unless you see at what he arrived. Dost thou inquire concerning heaven and earth? They were made. Dost thou inquire concerning the things that are in heaven and earth? Surely much more were they made. Dost thou inquire concerning spiritual beings, concerning angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, powers, principalities? These also were made. For when the Psalm enumerated all these things, it finished thus: “He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created.” If “He spoke and they were made,” it was by the Word that they were made; but if it was by the Word they were made, the heart of John could not reach to that which he says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” unless he had risen above all things that were made by the Word. What a mountain this! How holy! How high among those mountains that received peace for the people of God, that the hills might receive righteousness!","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","locus":"1.5","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/1/#iii.ii-p18"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.1.2","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"Tractate I. Chapter I. 1–5","excerpt":"8. But let us see what advantage it is that these words have sounded, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We also uttered words when we spoke. Was it such a word that was with God? Did not those words which we uttered sound and pass away? Did God’s Word, then, sound and come to an end? If so, how were all things made by it, and without it was nothing made? how is that which it created ruled by it, if it sounded and passed away? What sort of a word, then, is that which is both uttered and passes not away? Give ear, my beloved, it is a great matter. By everyday talk, words here become despicable to us, because through their sounding and passing away they are despised, and seem nothing but words. But there is a word in the man himself which remains within; for the sound proceeds from the mouth. There is a word which is spoken in a truly spiritual manner, that which you understand from the sound, not the sound itself. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","locus":"1.8","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/1/#iii.ii-p27"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.1.3","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"Tractate I. Chapter I. 1–5","excerpt":"10. Perhaps some one now answers me, “Who so conceives this Word?” Do not then imagine, as it were, some paltry thing when thou hearest “the Word,” nor suppose it to be words such as thou hearest them every day—“he spoke such words,” “such words he uttered,” “such words you tell me;” for by constant repetition the term word has become, so to speak, worthless. And when thou hearest, “In the beginning was the Word,” lest thou shouldest imagine something worthless, such as thou hast been accustomed to think of when thou wert wont to listen to human words, hearken to what thou must think of: “The Word was God.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","locus":"1.10","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/1/#iii.ii-p30"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.1-3.1","start":1,"end":3,"heading":"Tractate I. Chapter I. 1–5","excerpt":"11. Now some unbelieving Arian may come forth and say that “the Word of God was made.” How can it be that the Word of God was made, when God by the Word made all things? If the Word of God was itself also made, by what other Word was it made? But if thou sayest that there is a Word of the Word, I say, that by which it was made is itself the only Son of God. But if thou dost not say there is a Word of the Word, allow that that was not made by which all things were made. For that by which all things were made could not be made by itself. Believe the evangelist then. For he might have said, “In the beginning God made the Word:” even as Moses said, “In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth;” and enumerates all things thus: “God said, Let it be made, and it was made.” If “said,” who said? God. And what was made? Some creature. Between the speaking of God and the making of the creature, what was there by which it was made but the Word? For God said, “Let it be made, and it was made.” This Word is unchangeable; although changeable things are made by it, the Word itself is unchangeable.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","locus":"1.11","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/1/#iii.ii-p31"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.1-4.1","start":1,"end":4,"heading":"Tractate III. Chapter I. 15–18","excerpt":"4. Is it, however, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself—His whole self—who was seen, and held, and crucified? Is the whole very self that? It is the same, but not the whole, that which the Jews saw; this is not the whole Christ. And what is? “In the beginning was the Word.” In what beginning? “And the Word was with God.” And what word? “And the Word was God.” Was then perhaps this Word made by God? No. For “the same was in the beginning with God.” What then? Are the other things which God made not like unto the Word? No: because “all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made.” In what manner were all things made by Him? Because “that which was made in Him was life;” and before it was made there was life. That which was made is not life; but in the art, that is, in the wisdom of God, before it was made, it was life. That which was made passes away; that which is in wisdom cannot pass away. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","locus":"3.4","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/3/#iii.iv-p11"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.3.1","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"Tractate I. Chapter I. 1–5","excerpt":"13. Give good heed to what follows, brethren, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made,” so as not to imagine that “nothing” is something. For many, wrongly understanding “without Him was nothing made,” are wont to fancy that “nothing” is something. Sin, indeed, was not made by Him; and it is plain that sin is nothing, and men become nothing when they sin. An idol also was not made by the Word;—it has indeed a sort of human form, but man himself was made by the Word;—for the form of man in an idol was not made by the Word, and it is written, “We know that an idol is nothing.” Therefore these things were not made by the Word; but whatever was made in the natural manner, whatever belongs to the creature, everything that is fixed in the sky, that shines from above, that flies under the heavens, and that moves in universal nature, every creature whatsoever: I will speak more plainly, brethren, that you may understand me; I will say, from an angel even to a worm. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","locus":"1.13","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/1/#iii.ii-p34"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.3-4.1","start":3,"end":4,"heading":"Tractate I. Chapter I. 1–5","excerpt":"16. “All things,” then, brethren, “all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.” But how were all things made by Him? “That, which was made, in Him is life.” It can also be read thus: “That, which was made in Him, is life;” and if we so read it, everything is life. For what is there that was not made in Him? For He is the Wisdom of God, and it is said in the Psalm, “In Wisdom hast Thou made all things.” If, then, Christ is the Wisdom of God, and the Psalm says, “In Wisdom hast Thou made all things:” as all things were made by Him, so all things were made in Him. If, then, all things were made in Him, dearly beloved brethren, and that, which was made in Him, is life, both the earth is life and wood is life. We do indeed say wood is life, but in the sense of the wood of the cross, whence we have received life. A stone, then, is life. It is not seemly so to understand the passage, as the same most vile sect of the Manichæans creep stealthily on us again, and say that a stone has life, that a wall has a soul, and a cord has a soul, and wool, and clothing. For so they are accustomed to talk in their raving; and when they have been driven back and refuted, they in some sort bring forward Scripture, saying, “Why is it said, ‘That, which was made in Him, is life’?” For if all things were made in Him, all things are life. Be not carried away by them; read thus “That which was made;” here make a short pause, and then go on, “in Him is life.” What is the meaning of this? The earth was made, but the very earth that was made is not life; but there exists spiritually in the Wisdom itself a certain reason by which the earth was made: this is life.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","locus":"1.16","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/1/#iii.ii-p43"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.4.1","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"Tractate I. Chapter I. 1–5","excerpt":"18. For this follows: “and the life was the light of men;” and from this very life are men illuminated. Cattle are not illuminated, because cattle have not rational minds capable of seeing wisdom. But man was made in the image of God, and has a rational mind, by which he can perceive wisdom. That life, then, by which all things were made, is itself the light; yet not the light of every animal, but of men. Wherefore a little after he says, “That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” By that light John the Baptist was illuminated; by the same light also was John the Evangelist himself illuminated. He was filled with that light who said, “I am not the Christ; but He cometh after me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.” By that light he had been illuminated who said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Therefore that life is the light of men.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","locus":"1.18","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/1/#iii.ii-p46"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.5.1","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"Tractate I. Chapter I. 1–5","excerpt":"19. But perhaps the slow hearts of some of you cannot yet receive that light, because they are burdened by their sins, so that they cannot see. Let them not on that account think that the light is in any way absent, because they are not able to see it; for they themselves are darkness on account of their sins. “And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” Accordingly, brethren, as in the case of a blind man placed in the sun, the sun is present to him, but he is absent from the sun. So every foolish man, every unjust man, every irreligious man, is blind in heart. Wisdom is present; but it is present to a blind man, and is absent from his eyes; not because it is absent from him, but because he is absent from it. What then is he to do? Let him become pure, that he may be able to see God. Just as if a man could not see because his eyes were dirty and sore with dust, rheum, or smoke, the physician would say to him: “Cleanse from your eye whatever bad thing is in it, so that you may be able to see the light of your eyes.” Dust, rheum, and smoke are sins and iniquities: remove then all these things, and you will see the wisdom that is present; for God is that wisdom, and it has been said, “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","locus":"1.19","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:5","href":"/jhn/1/#v5-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/1/#iii.ii-p48"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.6-8.1","start":6,"end":8,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"5. Therefore, because He was so man, that the God lay hid in Him, there was sent before Him a great man, by whose testimony He might be found to be more than man. And who is this? “He was a man.” And how could that man speak the truth concerning God? “He was sent by God.” What was he called? “Whose name was John.” Wherefore did he come? “He came for a witness, that he might bear witness concerning the light, that all might believe through him.” What sort of man was he who was to bear witness concerning the light? Something great was that John, vast merit, great grace, great loftiness! Admire, by all means, admire; but as it were a mountain. But a mountain is in darkness unless it be clothed with light. Therefore only admire John that you may hear what follows, “He was not that light;” lest if, when thou thinkest the mountain to be the light, thou make shipwreck on the mountain, and find not consolation. But what oughtest thou to admire? The mountain as a mountain. But lift thyself up to Him who illuminates the mountain, which for this end was elevated that it might be the first to receive the rays, and make them known to your eyes. Therefore, “he was not that light.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.5","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p10"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.7-9.1","start":7,"end":9,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"6. Wherefore then did he come? “But that he might bear witness concerning the light.” Why so? “That all might believe through him.” And concerning what light was he to bear witness? “That was the true light.” Wherefore is it added true? Because an enlightened man is also called a light; but the true light is that which enlightens. For even our eyes are called lights; and nevertheless, unless either during the night a lamp is lighted, or during the day the sun goes forth, these lights are open in vain. Thus, therefore, John was a light, but not the true light; because, if not enlightened, he would have been darkness; but, by enlightenment, he became a light. For unless he had been enlightened he would have been darkness, as all those once impious men, to whom, as believers, the apostle said, “Ye were sometimes darkness.” But now, because they had believed, what?—“but now are ye light,” he says, “in the Lord.” Unless he had added “in the Lord,” we should not have understood. “Light,” he says, “in the Lord:” darkness you were not in the Lord. “For ye were sometimes darkness,” where he did not add in the Lord. Therefore, darkness in you, light in the Lord. And thus “he was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of the light.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.6","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p11"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.9.1","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"7. But where is that light? “He was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” If every man that cometh, then also John. The true light, therefore, enlightened him by whom He desired Himself to be pointed out. Understand, beloved, for He came to infirm minds, to wounded hearts, to the gaze of dim-eyed souls. For this purpose had He come. And whence was the soul able to see that which perfectly is? Even as it commonly happens, that by means of some illuminated body, the sun, which we cannot see with the eyes, is known to have arisen. Because even those who have wounded eyes are able to see a wall illuminated and enlightened by the sun, or a mountain, or a tree, or anything of that sort; and, by means of another body illuminated, that arising is shown to those who are not as yet able to gaze on it. Thus, therefore all those to whom Christ came were not fit to see Him: upon John He shed the beams of His light; and by means of him confessing himself to have been irradiated and enlightened, not claiming to be one who irradiates and enlightens, He is known who enlightens, He is known who illuminates, He is known who fills. And who is it? “He who lighteth every man,” he says, “who cometh into the world.” For if man had not receded from that light, he would not have required to be illuminated; but for this reason has he to be illuminated here, because he departed from that light by which man might always have been illuminated.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.7","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p13"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.10.1","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"10. “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him.” Think not that He was in the world as the earth is in the world, as the sky is in the world, as the sun is in the world, the moon and the stars, trees, cattle, and men. He was not thus in the world. But in what manner then? As the Artificer governing what He had made. For He did not make it as a carpenter makes a chest. The chest which he makes is outside the carpenter, and so it is put in another place, while being made; and although the workman is nigh, he sits in another place, and is external to that which he fashions. But God, infused into the world, fashions it; being everywhere present He fashions, and withdraweth not Himself elsewhere, nor doth He, as it were, handle from without, the matter which He fashions. By the presence of His majesty He maketh what He maketh; His presence governs what He made. Therefore was He in the world as the Maker of the world; for, “The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.10","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p23"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.10.2","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"11. What meaneth “the world was made by Him”? The heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things which are therein, are called the world. Again, in another signification, those who love the world are called the world. “The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” Did not the heavens know their Creator, or did the angels not know their Creator, or did the stars not know their Creator, whom the demons confess? All things from all sides gave testimony. But who did not know? Those who, for their love of the world, are called the world. By loving we dwell with the heart; but because of their loving the world they deserved to be called after the name of that in which they dwelt. In the same manner as we say, This house is bad, or this house is good, we do not in calling the one bad or the other good accuse or praise the walls; but by a bad house we mean a house with bad inhabitants, and by a good house, a house with good inhabitants. In like manner we call those the world who by loving it, inhabit the world. Who are they? Those who love the world; for they dwell with their hearts in the world. For those who do not love the world in the flesh, indeed, sojourn in the world, but in their hearts they dwell in heaven, as the apostle says, “Our conversation is in heaven.” Therefore “the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.11","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:10","href":"/jhn/1/#v10-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p24"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.11.1","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"12. “He came unto His own,”—because all these things were made by Him,—“and His own received Him not.” Who are they? The men whom He made. The Jews whom He at the first made to be above all nations. Because other nations worshipped idols and served demons; but that people was born of the seed of Abraham, and in an eminent sense His own, because kindred through that flesh which He deigned to assume. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Did they not receive Him at all? did no one receive Him? Was there no one saved? For no one shall be saved unless he who shall have received the coming Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.12","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p26"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.11-14.1","start":11,"end":14,"heading":"Tractate III. Chapter I. 15–18","excerpt":"6. “He came unto His own;” that is to say, He came to that which belonged to Himself; “and His own received Him not.” What, then, is the hope, unless that “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God”? If they become sons, they are born; if born, how are they born? Not of flesh, “nor of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man; but of God are they born.” Let them rejoice, therefore, that they are born of God; let them believe that they are born of God; let them receive the proof that they are born of God: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” If the Word was not ashamed to be born of man, are men ashamed to be born of God? And because He did this, He cured us; and because He cured us, we see. For this, “that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” became a medicine unto us, so that as by earth we were made blind, by earth we might be healed; and having been healed, might behold what? “And we beheld,” he says, “His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","locus":"3.6","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/3/#iii.iv-p18"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.12.1","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"13. But John adds: “As many as received Him.” What did He afford to them? Great benevolence! Great mercy! He was born the only Son of God, and was unwilling to remain alone. Many men, when they have not sons, in advanced age adopt a son, and thus obtain by an exercise of will what nature has denied to them: this men do. But if any one have an only son, he rejoices the more in him; because he alone will possess everything, and he will not have any one to divide with him the inheritance, so that he should be poorer. Not so God: that same only Son whom He had begotten, and by whom He created all things, He sent into this world that He might not be alone, but might have adopted brethren. For we were not born of God in the manner in which the Only-begotten was born of Him, but were adopted by His grace. For He, the Only-begotten, came to loose the sins in which we were entangled, and whose burden hindered our adoption: those whom He wished to make brethren to Himself, He Himself loosed, and made joint-heirs. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.13","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p27"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.13.1","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"14. And how are they born? Because they become sons of God and brethren of Christ, they are certainly born. For if they are not born, how can they be sons? But the sons of men are born of flesh and blood, and of the will of man, and of the embrace of wedlock. But in what manner are they born? “Who not of bloods,” as if of male and female. Bloods is not Latin; but because it is plural in Greek, the interpreter preferred so to express it, and to speak bad Latin according to the grammarian that he might make the matter plain to the understanding of the weak among his hearers. For if he had said blood in the singular number, he would not have explained what he desired; for men are born of the bloods of male and female. Let us say so, then, and not fear the ferule of grammarians, so long as we reach the solid and certain truth. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.14","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p30"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.13-14.1","start":13,"end":14,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"15. These, then, “were born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” But that men might be born of God, God was first born of them. For Christ is God, and Christ was born of men. It was only a mother, indeed, that He sought upon earth; because He had already a Father in heaven: He by whom we were to be created was born of God, and He by whom we were to be re-created was born of a woman. Marvel not, then, O man, that thou art made a son by grace, that thou art born of God according to His Word. The Word Himself first chose to be born of man, that thou mightest be born of God unto salvation, and say to thyself, Not without reason did God wish to be born of man, but because He counted me of some importance, that He might make me immortal, and for me be born as a mortal man. When, therefore, he had said, “born of God,” lest we should, as it were, be filled with amazement and trembling at such grace, at grace so great as to exceed belief that men are born of God, as if assuring thee, he says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Why, then, dost thou marvel that men are born of God? Consider God Himself born of men: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.15","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p33"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.14.1","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Tractate II. Chapter I. 6–14","excerpt":"16. But because “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” by His very nativity he made an eye-salve to cleanse the eyes of our heart, and to enable us to see His majesty by means of His humility. Therefore “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us:” He healed our eyes; and what follows? “And we beheld His glory.” His glory can no one see unless healed by the humility of His flesh. Wherefore were we not able to see? Consider, then, dearly beloved, and see what I say. There had dashed into man’s eye, as it were, dust, earth; it had wounded the eye, and it could not see the light: that wounded eye is anointed; by earth it was wounded, and earth is applied to it for healing. For all eye-salves and medicines are derived from the earth alone. By dust thou wert blinded, and by dust thou art healed: flesh, then, had wounded thee, flesh heals thee. The soul had become carnal by consenting to the affections of the flesh; thus had the eye of the heart been blinded. “The Word was made flesh:” that Physician made for thee an eye-salve. And as He thus came by flesh to extinguish the vices of the flesh, and by death to slay death; therefore did this take place in thee, that, as “the Word became flesh,” thou mayest be able to say, “And we beheld His glory.” What sort of glory? Such as He became as Son of man? That was His humility, not His glory. But to what is the sight of man brought when cured by means of flesh? “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Of grace and truth we shall speak more fully in another place in this same Gospel, if the Lord vouchsafe us opportunity. Let these things suffice for the present, and be ye edified in Christ: be ye comforted in faith, and watch in good works, and see that ye do not depart from the wood by which ye may cross the sea.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html","locus":"2.16","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/2/#iii.iii-p34"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.15.1","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"Tractate III. Chapter I. 15–18","excerpt":"7. “John beareth witness of Him, and crieth, saying, This was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is made before me.” He came after me, and He preceded me. What is it, “He is made before me”? He preceded me. Not was made before I was made, but was preferred before me, this is “He was made before me.” Wherefore was He made before thee, when He came after thee? “Because He was before me.” Before thee, O John! what great thing to be before thee! It is well that thou dost bear witness to Him; let us, however, hear Himself saying, “Even before Abraham, I am.” But Abraham also was born in the midst of the human race: there were many before him, many after him. Listen to the voice of the Father to the Son: “Before Lucifer I have begotten Thee.” He who was begotten before Lucifer Himself illuminates all. A certain one was named Lucifer, who fell; for he was an angel and became a devil; and concerning him the Scripture said, “Lucifer, who did arise in the morning, fell.” And why was he Lucifer? Because, being enlightened, he gave forth light. But for what reason did he become dark! Because he abode not in the truth. Therefore He was before Lucifer, before every one that is enlightened; since before every one that is enlightened, of necessity He must be by whom all are enlightened who can be enlightened.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","locus":"3.7","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/3/#iii.iv-p19"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.16.1","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"Tractate III. Chapter I. 15–18","excerpt":"8. Therefore this follows: “And of His fullness have all we received.” What have ye received? “And grace for grace.” For so run the words of the Gospel, as we find by a comparison of the Greek copies. He does not say, And of His fullness have all we received grace for grace; but thus He says: “And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace,”—that is, have we received; so that He would wish us to understand that we have received from His fullness something unexpressed, and something besides, grace for grace. For we received of His fullness grace in the first instance; and again we received grace, grace for grace. What grace did we, in the first instance, receive? Faith: walking in faith, we walk in grace. How have we merited this? by what previous merits of ours? Let not each one flatter himself, but let him return into his own conscience, seek out the secret places of his own thoughts, recall the series of his deeds; let him not consider what he is if now he is something, but what he was that he might be something: he will find that he was not worthy of anything save punishment. If, then, thou wast worthy of punishment, and He came not to punish sins, but to forgive sins, grace was given to thee, and not reward rendered. Wherefore is it called grace? Because it is bestowed gratuitously. For thou didst not, by previous merits, purchase that which thou didst receive. This first grace, then, the sinner received, that his sins were forgiven. What did he deserve? Let him interrogate justice, he finds punishment; let him interrogate mercy, he finds grace. But God promised this also through the prophets; therefore, when He came to give what He had promised, He not only gave grace, but also truth. How was truth exhibited? Because that was done which had been promised.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","locus":"3.8","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/3/#iii.iv-p24"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.17.1","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"Tractate III. Chapter I. 15–18","excerpt":"11. “For the law was given by Moses;” which law held the guilty. For what saith the apostle? “The law entered that the offense might abound.” It was a benefit to the proud that the offense abounded, for they gave much to themselves, and, as it were, attributed much to their own strength; and they were unable to fulfill righteousness without the aid of Him who had commanded it. God, desirous to subdue their pride, gave the law, as if saying: Behold, fulfill, and do not think that there is One wanting to command. One to command is not wanting, but one to fulfill.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","locus":"3.11","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/3/#iii.iv-p31"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.17.2","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"Tractate III. Chapter I. 15–18","excerpt":"16. “The law was given by Moses: grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” By a servant was the law given, and made men guilty: by an Emperor was pardon given, and delivered the guilty. “The law was given by Moses.” Let not the servant attribute to himself more than was done through him. Chosen to a great ministry as one faithful in his house, but yet a servant, he is able to act according to the law, but cannot release from the guilt of the law. “The law,” then, “was given by Moses: grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","locus":"3.16","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/3/#iii.iv-p38"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.18.1","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"Tractate III. Chapter I. 15–18","excerpt":"17. And lest, perhaps, any one should say, And did not grace and truth come through Moses, who saw God, immediately he adds, “No one hath seen God at any time.” And how did God become known to Moses? Because the Lord revealed Himself to His servant. What Lord? The same Christ, who sent the law beforehand by His servant, that He might Himself come with grace and truth. “For no one hath seen God at any time.” And whence did He appear to that servant as far as he was able to receive Him? But “the Only-begotten,” he says, “who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” What signifieth “in the bosom of the Father?” In the secret of the Father. For God has not a bosom, as we have, in our garments, nor is He to be thought of sitting, as we do, nor is He girt with a girdle so as to have a bosom; but because our bosom is within, the secret of the Father is called the bosom of the Father. And He who knew the Father, being in the secret of the Father, He declared Him. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","locus":"3.17","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/3/#iii.iv-p39"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.18.2","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"Tractate III. Chapter I. 15–18","excerpt":"18. But know this, that all those things which were seen in bodily form were not that substance of God. For we saw those things with the eyes of the flesh: how is the substance of God seen? Interrogate the Gospel: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” There have been men who, deceived by the vanity of their hearts, have said, The Father is invisible, but the Son is visible. How visible? If on account of His flesh, because He took flesh, the matter is manifest. For of those who saw the flesh of Christ, some believed, some crucified; and those who believed doubted when He was crucified; and unless they had touched the flesh after the resurrection, their faith would not have been recalled. If, then, on account of His flesh the Son was visible, that we also grant, and it is the Catholic faith; but if before He took flesh, as they say, that is, before He became incarnate, they are greatly deluded, and grievously err. For those visible and bodily appearances took place though the creature, in which a type might be exhibited: not in any fashion was the substance itself shown and made manifest. Give heed, beloved brethren, to this easy proof. The wisdom of God cannot be beheld by the eyes. Brethren, if Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God; if Christ is the Word of God, and if the word of man is not seen with the eyes, can the Word of God be so seen?","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","locus":"3.18","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/3/#iii.iv-p41"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.19-20.1","start":19,"end":20,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"3. Yet because He appeared as it were in the night, in a mortal body, He lighted for Himself a lamp by which He might be seen. That lamp was John, concerning whom you lately heard many things: and the present passage of the evangelist contains the words of John; in the first place, and it is the chief point, his confession that he was not the Christ. But so great was the excellence of John, that men might have believed him to be the Christ: and in this he gave a proof of his humility, that he said he was not when he might have been believed to have been the Christ; therefore, “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?” But they would not have sent unless they had been moved by the excellence of his authority who ventured to baptize. “And he confessed, and denied not.” What did he confess? “And he confessed, I am not the Christ.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.3","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p8"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.21.1","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"5. They saw Him then lowly, and did not know Him. He was pointed out to them by a lamp. For in the first place he, than whom no greater had arisen of those born of women, said, “I am not the Christ.” It was said to him, “Art thou Elias? He answered, I am not.” For Christ sends Elias before Him: and he said, “I am not,” and occasioned a question for us. For it is to be feared lest men, insufficiently understanding, think that John contradicted what Christ said. For in a certain place, when the Lord Jesus Christ said certain things in the Gospel regarding Himself, His disciples answered Him: “How then say the scribes,” that is, those skilled in the law, “that Elias must first come?” And the Lord said, “Elias is already come, and they have done unto him what they listed;” and, if you wish to know, John the Baptist is he. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Elias is already come, and John the Baptist” is he; but John, being interrogated, confessed that he was not Elias, in the same manner that he confessed that he was not Christ. And as his confession that he was not Christ was true, so was his confession that he was not Elias. How then shall we compare the words of the herald with the words of the Judge? Away with the thought that the herald speaks falsehood; for that which he speaks he hears from the Judge. Wherefore then did he say, “I am not Elias;” and the Lord, “He is Elias”? Because the Lord Jesus Christ wished in him to prefigure His own advent, and to say that John was in the spirit of Elias. And what John was to the first advent, that will Elias be to the second advent. As there are two advents of the Judge, so are there two heralds. The Judge indeed was the same, but the heralds two, but not two judges. It was needful that in the first instance the Judge should come to be judged. He sent before Him His first herald; He called him Elias, because Elias will be in the second advent what John was in the first.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.5","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p13"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.22-23.1","start":22,"end":23,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"7. “And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he said, No. And they said unto him, Art thou a prophet? and he answered, No! They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He saith, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” That said Isaiah. This prophecy was fulfilled in John, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” Crying what? “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.” Would it not have seemed to you that a herald would have cried, “Go away, make room.” Instead of the herald’s cry “Go away,” John says “Come.” The herald makes men stand back from the judge; to the Judge John calls. Yes, indeed, John calls men to the lowly One, that they may not experience what He will be as the exalted Judge. “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.” He did not say, I am John, I am Elias, I am a prophet. But what did he say? This I am called, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord: I am the prophecy itself.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.7","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p17"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.24-25.1","start":24,"end":25,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"8. “And they which were sent were of the Pharisees,” that is, of the chief men among the Jews; “and they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias, nor a prophet?” As if it seemed to them audacity to baptize, as if they meant to inquire, in what character baptizest thou? We ask whether thou art the Christ; thou sayest that thou art not. We ask whether thou perchance art His precursor, for we know that before the advent of Christ, Elias will come; thou answerest that thou art not. We ask, if perchance thou art some herald come long before, that is, a prophet, and hast received that power, and thou sayest that thou art not a prophet. And John was not a prophet; he was greater than a prophet. The Lord gave such testimony concerning him: “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” Of course implying that he was not shaken by the wind; because John was not such an one as is moved by the wind; for he who is moved by the wind is blown upon by every seductive blast. “But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?” For John was clothed in rough garments; that is, his tunic was of camel’s hair. “Behold, they who are clothed in soft raiment are in kings’ houses.” You did not then go out to see a man clothed in soft raiment. “But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, one greater than a prophet is here;” for the prophets prophesied of Christ a long time before, John pointed Him out as present.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.8","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p19"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.26-27.1","start":26,"end":27,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"9. “Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias, nor a prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water; but there standeth One among you whom ye know not.” For, very truly, He was not seen, being humble, and therefore was the lamp lighted. Observe how John gives place, who might have been accounted other than he was. “He it is who cometh after me, who is made before me” (that is, as we have already said, is “preferred before me”), whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.” How greatly did he humble himself! And therefore he was greatly lifted up; for he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Hence, holy brethren, you ought to note that if John so humbled himself as to say, “I am not worthy to unloose His shoe-latchet,” what need they have to be humbled who say, “We baptize; what we give is ours, and what is ours is holy.” He said, Not I, but He; they say, We. John is not worthy to unloose His shoe’s latchet; and if he had said he was worthy, how humble would he still have been! And if he had said he was worthy, and had spoken thus, “He came after me who is made before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am only worthy to unloose,” he would have greatly humbled himself. But when he says that he is not worthy even to do this, truly was he full of the Holy Spirit, who in such fashion as a servant acknowledged his Lord, and merited to be made a friend instead of a servant.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.9","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p21"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.28-29.1","start":28,"end":29,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"10. “These things were done in Bethany, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world!” Let no one so arrogate to himself as to say that he taketh away the sin of the world. Give heed now to the proud men at whom John pointed the finger. The heretics were not yet born, but already were they pointed out; against them he then cried from the river, against whom he now cries from the Gospel. Jesus comes, and what says he? “Behold the Lamb of God!” If to be innocent is to be a lamb, then John was a lamb, for was not he innocent? But who is innocent? To what extent innocent? All come from that branch and shoot, concerning which David sings, even with groanings, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Alone, then, was He, the Lamb who came, not so. For He was not conceived in iniquity, because not conceived of mortality; nor did His mother conceive Him in sin, whom the Virgin conceived, whom the Virgin brought forth; because by faith she conceived, and by faith received Him. Therefore, “Behold the Lamb of God.” He is not a branch derived from Adam: flesh only did he derive from Adam, Adam’s sin He did not assume. He who took not upon Him sin from our lump, He it is who taketh away our sin. “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.10","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p23"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.29-30.1","start":29,"end":30,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"11. You know that certain men say sometimes, We take away sin from men, we who are holy; for if he be not holy who baptizeth, how taketh he away the sin of another, when he is a man himself full of sin? In opposition to these disputations, let us not speak our own words, let us read what John says: “Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world!” Let there not be presumptuous confidence of men upon men: let not the sparrow flee to the mountains, but let it trust in the Lord; and if it lift its eyes to the mountains, from whence cometh aid to it, let it understand that its aid is from the Lord who made heaven and earth. So great is the excellence of John, that to him it is said, “Art thou the Christ?” He says, No. Art thou Elias? He says, No. Art thou a prophet? He says, No. Wherefore then dost thou baptize? “Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I spake, After me cometh a Man who was made before me; for He was before me.” “Cometh after me,” because He was born later; “was made before me,” because preferred before me; “He was before me,” because, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.11","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p25"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.31.1","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"12. “And I knew Him not,” he said; “but that He might be made manifest to Israel, therefore came I baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, the same is He who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.” Give heed for a little, beloved. When did John learn Christ? For he was sent to baptize with water. They asked, Wherefore? That He might be made manifest to Israel, he said. Of what profit was the baptism of John? My brethren, if it had profited in any respect, it would have remained now, and men would have been baptized with the baptism of John, and thus have come to the baptism of Christ. But what saith he? “That He might be made manifest to Israel,”—that is, to Israel itself, to the people Israel, so that Christ might be made manifest to it,—therefore he came baptizing with water. John received the ministry of baptism, that by the water of repentance he might prepare the way for the Lord, not being himself the Lord; but where the Lord was known, it was superfluous to prepare for Him the way, for to those who knew Him He became Himself the way; therefore the baptism of John did not last long. But how was the Lord pointed out? Lowly, that John might so receive a baptism in which the Lord Himself should be baptized.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.12","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p28"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.32.1","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"Tractate VI. Chapter I. 32, 33","excerpt":"4. Hence in this manner it behoved the Holy Spirit to be manifested when coming upon the Lord, that every one might understand that if he has the Holy Spirit he ought to be simple as the dove, to have true peace with his brethren, that peace which the kisses of doves signify. Ravens have their kisses too; but in the case of the ravens it is a false peace, in that of the dove a true peace. Not every one, therefore, who says, “Peace be with you,” is to be listened to as if he were a dove. How then are the kisses of ravens distinguished from those of doves? Ravens kiss, but they tear; the nature of doves is innocent of tearing. Where consequently there is tearing, there is not true peace in the kisses. They have true peace who have not torn the Church. Ravens feed upon carrion, it is not so with the dove; it lives on the fruits of the earth, its food is innocent. This, brethren, is really worthy of admiration in the dove. Sparrows are very small birds, but yet they kill flies at least. The dove does nothing of this sort, for it does not feed on what is dead. They who have torn the Church feed on the dead. God is mighty; let us pray that they who are devoured by them, and perceive it not, may come to life again. Many acknowledge that they do come to life again, for at their coming we daily express joy with them in the name of Christ. Be ye simple, but only in such wise that ye be fervent, and let your fervor be in your tongues. Hold not your peace, speak with glowing tongues, set those that are cold on fire.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.vii.html","locus":"6.4","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/6/#iii.vii-p13"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.32-33.1","start":32,"end":33,"heading":"Tractate IV. Chapter I. 19–33","excerpt":"15. But did he know Christ, or did he not know Him? If he did not know Him, wherefore did He say, when Christ came to the river, “I have need to be baptized of Thee”? that is to say, I know who Thou art. If, then, he already knew Him, assuredly he knew Him when he saw the dove descending. It is evident that the dove did not descend upon the Lord until after He went up out of the water of baptism. “The Lord having been baptized, went up out of the water, and the heavens were opened, and he saw a dove descending on Him.” If, then, the dove descended after the baptism, and if, before the Lord was baptized, John said to Him, “Comest Thou to me? I have need to be baptized of Thee;” that is to say, before he knew Him to whom he said, “Comest Thou to me? I have need to be baptized of Thee;”—how then said he, “And I knew Him not: but He who sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon whom thou seest the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost?” ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","locus":"4.15","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/4/#iii.v-p32"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.33.1","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"Tractate V. Chapter I. 33","excerpt":"2. Did John hear this that he might know Him whom he had not known, or that he might more fully know Him whom he had already known? For if he had been entirely ignorant of Him, he would not have said to Him when He came to the river to be baptized, “I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?” He knew Him therefore. But when did the dove descend? When the Lord had been baptized, and was ascending from the water. But if He who sent Him said, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost,” and he knew Him not, but when the dove descended he learned to know Him, and the time at which the dove descended was when the Lord was going up from the water; but John had known the Lord, when the Lord came to him to the water: it is made plain to us that John after a manner knew, and after a manner did not at first know the Lord. And unless we understand it so, he was a liar. How was he true acknowledging the Lord and saying, “Comest Thou to me to be baptized,” and, “I have need to be baptized of Thee”? Is he true when he said this? And how is he again true when he saith, “I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost”? The Lord was made known by a dove, not to him who knew Him not, but to him who in a manner knew Him, and in a manner knew Him not. It is for us to discover what, in Him, John did not know, and learned by the dove.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.vi.html","locus":"5.2","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/5/#iii.vi-p7"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.33.2","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"Tractate V. Chapter I. 33","excerpt":"9. Already, then, John knew this, and he knew the Lord. What then did the dove teach? What did He desire to teach by means of the dove—that is, by means of the Holy Spirit thus coming to teach who had sent him to whom He said, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He”? Who is this He? The Lord? I know. But didst thou already know this, that the same Lord having the power to baptize, was not to give that power to any servant, but to retain it to Himself, so that all who were baptized by the ministration of the servant, should not impute their baptism to the servant, but to the Lord? Didst thou already know this? I did not know this: so what did He say to me? “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” He does not say, “He is the Lord;” He does not say, “He is the Christ;” He does not say, “He is God;” He does not say, “He is Jesus;” He does not say, “He is the One who was born of the Virgin Mary, after thee, before thee.” This He does not say, for this John did already know. But what did he not know? That this great authority of baptism the Lord Himself was to have, and to retain to Himself, whether present in the earth or absent in body in the heaven, and present in majesty; lest Paul should say, my baptism; lest Peter should say, my baptism. Therefore see, give heed to the words of the apostles. None of the apostles said, my baptism. Although there was one gospel of all, yet thou findest that they said, my gospel: thou dost not find that they say, my baptism.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.vi.html","locus":"5.9","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/5/#iii.vi-p21"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.33.3","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"Tractate VI. Chapter I. 32, 33","excerpt":"6. Now this it was in Him that John saw, and came to know which he did not know. Not that he did not know Him to be the Son of God, or that he did not know Him to be the Lord, or not know Him to be the Christ; or that he did not know this too, that it was He who should baptize with water and with the Holy Ghost. This he did know; but that he should do this so as to retain the authority to Himself and transfer it to none of His ministers, this is what he learnt in the dove. For by this authority, which Christ has retained to Himself alone, and conferred upon none of His ministers, though He has deigned to baptize by His ministers; by this authority, I say, stands the unity of the Church, which is figured in the dove, concerning which it is said, “My dove is one, the only one of her mother.” For if, as I have already said, my brethren, the authority were transferred by the Lord to His minister, there would be as many baptisms as ministers, and the unity of baptism would no longer exist.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.vii.html","locus":"6.6","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/6/#iii.vii-p16"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.34.1","start":34,"end":34,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"4. John bare record because he saw. What record did he bear? “That this is the Son of God.” It behoved, then, that He should baptize who is God’s only Son, not His adopted son. Adopted sons are the ministers of the only Son: the only Son has power; the adopted, the ministry. In the case that a minister baptizes who does not belong to the number of sons, because he lives evilly and acts evilly, what is our consolation? “This is He which baptizeth.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.4","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p12"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.35-36.1","start":35,"end":36,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"5. “The next day, John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” Assuredly, in a special sense, the Lamb; for the disciples were also called lambs: “Behold, I send you as lambs in the midst of wolves.” They were also called light: “Ye are the light of the world;” but in another sense is He called so, concerning whom it was said, “That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” In like manner was He called the dove in a special sense, alone without stain, without sin; not one whose sins have been washed away, but One who never had stain. For what? Because John said concerning the Lord, “Behold the Lamb of God,” was not John himself a lamb? Was he not a holy man? Was he not the friend of the Bridegroom? Wherefore, with a special meaning, said John of Him, “This is the Lamb of God;” because solely by the blood of this Lamb alone could men be redeemed.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.5","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p13"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.35-37.1","start":35,"end":37,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"8. “John stood, and two of his disciples.” Behold two of John’s disciples: since John, the friend of the Bridegroom, was such as he was, he sought not his own glory, but bore witness to the truth. Did he wish that his disciples should remain with him and not follow the Lord? Rather he himself showed hisdisciples whom they should follow. For they accounted of him as though he were the lamb; and he said, “Why do you give heed to me? I am not the lamb; behold the Lamb of God,” of whom also he had already said, Behold the Lamb of God. And what benefit does the Lamb of God confer upon us? “Behold,” he says, “who taketh away the sin of the world.” The two who were with John followed Him when they heard this.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.8","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:36","href":"/jhn/1/#v36-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p24"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.37-39.1","start":37,"end":39,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"9. Let us see what follows: “Behold the Lamb of God.” This John said, and the two disciples heard him speak, and followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto them, “What seek ye?” And they said, “Rabbi (that is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest Thou?” They did not follow Him in such manner as that they should cleave to Him; for it is plain when they clave unto Him, for He called them from the ship. For one of the two was Andrew, as you have just heard, and Andrew was the brother of Peter; and we know from the Gospel that the Lord called Peter and Andrew from the ship, saying, “Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And from that time they clave unto Him, so as not to go away. On the present occasion these two followed Him, not as those who were not again to leave Him, but to see where He dwelt, and to fulfill the Scripture: “Let thy foot wear out the threshold of His doors; arise to come to Him continually, and be instructed in His precepts.” He showed them where He dwelt: they came and remained with Him. What a blessed day they spent, what a blessed night! Who can make known to us those things which they heard from the Lord? Let us also build in our heart, and make a house into which He may come and teach us, and have converse with us.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.9","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p25"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.38-39.1","start":38,"end":39,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"10. “What seek ye?” They said unto Him, “Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest Thou? He says to them, Come and see. And they came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day: and it was about the tenth hour.” Do we think that it did in no wise pertain to the evangelist to tell us what hour it was? Is it possible that he wished us to give heed to nothing in that, to inquire after nothing? It was the tenth hour. That number signifies the law, because the law was given in ten commandments. But the time had come for the law to be fulfilled by love, because it could not be fulfilled by the Jews by fear. Hence the Lord says, “I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill.” Suitably, then, at the tenth hour did these two follow Him, at the testimony of the friend of the Bridegroom, and that He at the tenth hour heard “Rabbi (which is interpreted, Master).” If at the tenth hour the Lord heard Rabbi, and the tenth number pertains to the law, the master of the law is no other than the giver of the law. Let no one say that one gave the law, and that another teaches the law: for the same teaches it who gave it; He is the Master of His own law, and teaches it. And mercy is in His tongue, therefore mercifully teacheth He the law, as it is said regarding wisdom, “The law and mercy doth she carry in her tongue.” Do not fear that thou art not able to fulfill the law, flee to mercy. If thou canst not fulfill the law, make use of that covenant, make use of the bond, make use of the prayers which the heavenly One, skilled in the law, has ordained and composed for you.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.10","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p28"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.40-41.1","start":40,"end":41,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"13. We have declared, then, why it was at the tenth hour. Let us see what follows: “One of the two which heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.” Messias, in Hebrew; Christ, in Greek; in Latin, Anointed. Χρῖσμα is anointing in Greek; Christ, therefore, is the Anointed. He is peculiarly anointed, pre-eminently anointed; wherewith all Christians are anointed, He is pre-eminently anointed. Hear how He speaks in the psalm: “Wherefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” For all the holy ones are His fellows, but He in a peculiar sense is the Holy of Holies, peculiarly anointed, peculiarly Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.13","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p35"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.42.1","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"14. “And he brought him to Jesus; and when Jesus beheld him, He said, Thou art Simon the son of Joannes: thou shall be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, Peter.” It is not a great thing that the Lord said whose son Peter was. What is great to the Lord? He knew all the names of His own saints, whom He predestinated before the foundation of the world; and dost thou wonder that He said to one man, Thou art the son of this man, and thou shall be called this or that? Is it a great matter that He changed his name, and converted it from Simon to Peter? Peter is from petra, a rock, but the petra [rock]; is the Church; in the name of Peter, then, was the Church figured. And who is safe, unless he who builds upon the rock? ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.14","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p36"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.43-46.1","start":43,"end":46,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"15. “And the day following He would go forth into Galilee, and finding Philip, He saith unto him, Follow me. Now he was of the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip findeth Nathanael” (Philip who had been already called by the Lord); “and he said unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus, the son of Joseph.” He was called the son of that man to whom His mother had been espoused. For that He was conceived and born while she was still a virgin, all Christians know well from the Gospel. This Philip said to Nathanael, and he added the place, “from Nazareth.” And Nathanael said unto him, “From Nazareth something good can come.” What is the meaning, brethren? Not as some read, for it is likewise wont to be read, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” For the words of Philip follow, who says, “Come and see.” But the words of Philip can suitably follow both readings, whether you read it thus, as confirming, “From Nazareth something good can come,” to which Philip replies, “Come and see;” or whether as doubting, and making the whole a question, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Come and see.” Since then, whether read in this manner or in that, the words following are not incompatible, it is for us to inquire which of the two interpretations we shall adopt.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.15","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p38"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.46.1","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"... This man, then, was great and without guile, and for this reason only was not chosen, lest the Lord should seem to any to have chosen the learned. And from this same learning in the law, it came that when he heard “from Nazareth,”—for he had searched the Scripture, and knew that the Saviour was to be expected thence, what the other scribes and Pharisees had difficulty in knowing,—this man, then, very learned in the law, when he heard Philip saying, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph;”—this man, who knew the Scriptures excellently well, when he heard the name “Nazareth,” was filled with hope, and said, “From Nazareth something good can come.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.17","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p40"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.47.1","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"16. What sort of a man this Nathanael was, we prove by the words which follow. Hear what sort of a man he was; the Lord Himself bears testimony. Great is the Lord, known by the testimony of John; blessed Nathanael, known by the testimony of the truth. Because the Lord, although He had not been commended by the testimony of John, Himself to Himself bore testimony, because the truth is sufficient for its own testimony. But because men were not able to receive the truth, they sought the truth by means of a lamp, and therefore John was sent to show them the Lord. Hear the Lord bearing testimony to Nathanael: “Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip says to him, Come and see. And Jesus sees Nathanael coming to Him, and says concerning him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” Great testimony! Not of Andrew, nor of Peter, nor of Philip was that said which was said of Nathanael, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.16","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p39"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.47.2","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"... Dolus is fraud, it is deceit. When a man conceals one thing in his heart, and speaks another, it is guile, and he has, as it were, two hearts; he has, as it were, one recess of his heart where he sees the truth, and another recess where he conceives falsehood. And that you may know that this is guile, it is said in the Psalms, “Lips of guile.” What are “lips of guile”? It follows, “In a heart and in a heart have they spoken evil.” What is “in a heart and in a heart,” unless in a double heart? If, then, guile was not in Nathanael, the Physician judged him to be curable, not whole. A whole man is one thing, a curable another, an incurable a third: he who is sick, but not hopelessly sick, is called curable; he who is sick hopelessly, incurable; but he who is already whole does not need a physician. The Physician, then, who had come to cure, saw that he was curable, because there was no guile in him. How was guile not in him, if he is a sinner? He confesses that he is a sinner. For if he is a sinner, and says that he is a just man, there is guile in his mouth. Therefore in Nathanael He praised the confession of sin, He did not judge that he was not a sinner.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.18","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p42"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.48.1","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"21. We must inquire whether this fig-tree signifies anything. Listen, my brethren. We find the fig-tree cursed because it had leaves only, and not fruit. In the beginning of the human race, when Adam and Eve had sinned, they made themselves girdles of fig leaves. Fig leaves then signify sins. Nathanael then was under the fig-tree, as it were under the shadow of death. The Lord saw him, he concerning whom it was said, “They that sat under the shadow of death, unto them hath light arisen.” What then was said to Nathanael? Thou sayest to me, O Nathanael, “Whence knowest thou me?” Even now thou speakest to me, because Philip called thee. He whom an apostle had already called, He perceived to belong to His Church. O thou Church, O thou Israel, in whom is no guile! if thou art the people, Israel, in whom is no guile, thou hast even now known Christ by His apostles, as Nathanael knew Christ by Philip. But His compassion beheld thee before thou knewest Him, when thou wert lying under sin. For did we first seek Christ, and not He seek us? Did we come sick to the Physician, and not the Physician to the sick? ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.21","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:48","href":"/jhn/1/#v48-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p48"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.48-49.1","start":48,"end":49,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"20. Jesus then saw this man in whom was no guile, and said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” Nathanael saith unto Him, “Whence knowest Thou me?” Jesus answered and said, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig (that is, under the fig-tree), I saw thee.” Nathanael answered and said unto Him, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.” Some great thing Nathanael may have understood in the saying, “When thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee, before that Philip called thee;” for his words, “Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel,” were not dissimilar to those of Peter so long afterwards, when the Lord said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” And there He named the rock, and praised the strength of the Church’s support in this faith. Here already Nathanael says, “Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.” Wherefore? Because it was said to him, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.”","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.20","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p47"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.50-51.1","start":50,"end":51,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"22. When, then, Nathanael had said “Whence knowest Thou me?” the Lord said to him, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.” O thou Israel without guile, whosoever thou art; O people living by faith, before I called thee by my apostles, when thou wast under the shadow of death, and thou sawest not me, I saw thee. The Lord then says to him, “Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, thou believest: thou shalt see a greater thing than these.” What is this, thou shalt see a greater thing than these? And He saith unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye shall see heaven open, and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” Brethren, this is something greater than “under the fig-tree I saw thee.” For it is more that the Lord justified us when called than that He saw us lying under the shadow of death. For what profit would it have been to us if we had remained where He saw us? Should we not be lying there? What is this greater thing? When have we seen angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man?","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.22","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p54"},{"id":"augustine.JHN.1.51.1","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Tractate VII. Chapter I. 34–51","excerpt":"23. Already on a former occasion I have spoken of these ascending and descending angels; but lest you should have forgotten, I shall speak of the latter briefly by way of recalling it to your recollection. I should use more words if I were introducing, not recalling the subject. Jacob saw a ladder in a dream; and on a ladder he saw angels ascending and descending: and he anointed the stone which he had placed at his head. You have heard that the Messias is Christ; you have heard that Christ is the Anointed. For Jacob did not place the stone, the anointed stone, that he might come and adore it: otherwise that would have been idolatry, not a pointing out of Christ. What was done was a pointing out of Christ, so far as it behoved such a pointing out to be made, and it was Christ that was pointed out. A stone was anointed, but not for an idol. A stone anointed; why a stone? “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.” Why anointed? Because Christus comes from chrisma. But what saw he then on the ladder? Ascending and descending angels. So it is the Church, brethren: the angels of God are good preachers, preaching Christ; this is the meaning of, “they ascend and descend upon the Son of man.” ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","locus":"7.23","cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[{"author":"Thomas Aquinas","title":"Catena Aurea","status":"detected","ref":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51-catena"}],"inFull":"/works/augustine/7/#iii.viii-p55"}]},{"work_id":"catena","author":"Thomas Aquinas","short_name":"Aquinas","author_dates":"1225-1274","tradition":"Medieval Catholic","era":"Middle Ages","died":1274,"title":"Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers. Vol. IV, Part 1: St. John","edition_short":"Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1841-45","author_url":"/commentators/aquinas/","divisions":"verse","work_url":"/works/catena/","entries":[{"id":"catena.JHN.1.1.1","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"In the beginning was the Word,","excerpt":"CHRYS. While all the other Evangelists begin with the Incarnation, John, passing over the Conception, Nativity, education, and growth, speaks immediately of the Eternal Generation, saying, In the beginning was the Word. AUG. The Greek word \"logos\" signifies both Word and Reason. But in this passage it is better to interpret it Word; as referring not only to the Father, but to the creation of things by the operative power of the Word; whereas Reason, though it produce nothing, is still rightly called Reason.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 4, section 1","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vi.html#iv.vi-p5","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v1-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:1"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.1.2","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"In the beginning was the Word,","excerpt":"HILARY; Years, centuries, ages, are passed over, place what beginning thou wilt in thy imagining, thou graspest it not in time, for He, from Whom it is derived, still was. CHRYS. As then when our ship is near shore, cities and port pass in survey before us, which on the open sea vanish, and leave nothing whereon to fix the eye; so the Evangelist here, taking us with him in his flight above the created world, leaves the eye to gaze in vacancy on an illimitable expanse. For the words, was in the beginning, are significative of eternal and infinite essence.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.1.3","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"And the Word was God.","excerpt":"HILARY; Thou wilt say, that a word is the sound of the voice, the enunciation of a thing, the expression of a thought: this Word was in the beginning with God, because the utterance of thought is eternal, when He who thinketh is eternal. But how was that in the beginning, which exists no time either before, or after, I doubt even whether in time at all? For speech is neither in existence before one speaks, nor after; in the very act of speaking it vanishes; for by the time a speech is ended, that from which it began does not exist. But even if the first sentence, in the beginning was the Word, was through thy inattention lost upon thee, why disputest thou about the next; and the Word was with God? Didst thou hear it said, \" In God,\" so that thou shouldest understand this Word to be only the expression of hidden thoughts? Or did John say with by mistake, and was not aware of the distinction between being in, and being with, when he said, that what was in the beginning, was not in God, but with God? Hear then the nature and name of the Word; and the Word was God. No more then of the sound of the voice, of the expression of the thought. The Word here is a Substance, not a sound; a Nature, not an expression; God, not a nonentity.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.2.1","start":2,"end":2,"heading":"The same was in the beginning with God.","excerpt":"HILARY; Whereas he had said, the Word was God, the fearfulness, and strangeness of the speech disturbed me; the prophets having declared that God was One. But, to quiet my apprehensions, the fisherman reveals the scheme of this so great mystery, and refers all to one, without dishonour, without obliterating [the Person], without reference to time, saying, The Same was in the beginning with God; with One Unbegotten God, from whom He is, the One Only-begotten God.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.3.1","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"All things were made by him.","excerpt":"ALCUIN; After speaking of the nature of the Son, he proceeds to His operations, saying, All things were made by him, i. e. every thing whether substance, or property. HILARY; Or thus: [It is said], the Word indeed was in the beginning, but it may be that He was not before the beginning. But what saith he; All things were made by him. He is infinite by Whom every thing, which is, was made: and since all things were made by Him, time is likewise. CHRYS. Moses indeed, in the beginning of the Old Testament, speaks to us in much detail of the natural world, saying, In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth; and then relates how that the light, and the firmament, and the stars, and the various kinds of animals were created. But the Evangelist sums up the whole of this in a word, as familiar to his hearers; and hastens to loftier matter, making the whole of his book to bear not on the works, but on the Maker.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 5, section 1","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vii.html#iv.vii-p4","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v3-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:3"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.3.2","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"And without him was not any thing made.","excerpt":"AUG. For sin was not made by Him; for it is manifest that sin is nothing, and that men become nothing when they sin. Nor was an idol made by the Word. It has indeed a sort of form of man, and man himself was made by the Word; but the form of man in an idol was not made by the Word: for it is written, we know that an idol is nothing. These then were not made by the Word; but whatever things were made naturally, the whole universe, were; every creature from an angel to a worm.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 1, section 13","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html#iii.ii-p34","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v3-augustine","ref":"John 1:3"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.4.1","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"In him was life.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Or to give another explanation.... To the mention of creation, succeeds that of providence. In Him was life. As a fountain which produces vast depths of water, and yet is nothing diminished at the fountain head; so worketh the Only-Begotten. How great soever His creations be, He Himself is none the less for them. By the word life here is meant not only creation, but that providence by which the things created are preserved. But when you are told that in Him was life, do not suppose Him compounded; for, as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. As then you would not call the Father compounded, so neither should you the Son.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 5","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.vii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.4.2","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"And the life was the light of men.","excerpt":"THEOPHYL. He had said, In him was life, that you might not suppose that the Word was without life. Now he shews that that life is spiritual, and the light of all reasonable creatures. And the life was the light of men: i. e. not sensible, but intellectual light, illuminating the very soul. AUG. Life of itself gives illumination to men, but to cattle not: for they have not rational souls, by which to discern wisdom: whereas man, being made in the image of God, has a rational soul, by which he can discern wisdom. Hence that life, by which all things are made, is light, not however of all animals whatsoever, but of men. THEOPHYL. He saith not, the Light of the Jews only, but of all men: for all of us, in so far as we have received intellect and reason, from that Word which created us, are said to be illuminated by Him. For the reason which is given to us, and which constitutes us the reasonable beings we are, is a light directing us what to do, and what not to do.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 1","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.5.1","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"And the light shineth in darkness.","excerpt":"AUG. Whereas that life is the light of men, but foolish hearts cannot receive that light, being so incumbered with sins that they cannot see it; for this cause lest any should think there is no light near them, because they cannot see it, he continues: And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. For suppose a blind man standing in the sun, the sun is present to him, but he is absent from the sun. In like manner every fool is blind, and wisdom is present to him; but, though present, absent from his sight, forasmuch as sight is gone: the truth being, not that she is absent from him, but that he is absent from her.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 1, section 19","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.ii.html#iii.ii-p48","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v5-augustine","ref":"John 1:5"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.6.1","start":6,"end":6,"heading":"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.","excerpt":"THEOPHYL. Not an Angel, as many have held. The Evangelist here refutes such a notion. AUG. And how could he declare the truth concerning God, unless he were sent from God. CHRYS. After this esteem nothing that he says as human; for he speaketh not his own, but his that sent him. And therefore the Prophet calls him a messenger, I send My messenger, for it is the excellence of a messenger, to say nothing of his own.... AUG. What was he called? whose name was John? ALCUIN. That is, the grace of God, or one in whom is grace, who by his testimony first made known to the world the grace of the New Testament, that is, Christ. Or John may be taken to mean, to whom it is given: because that through the grace of God, to him it was given, not only to herald, but also to baptize the King of kings.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 6, section 1","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.viii.html#iv.viii-p4","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v6-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:6"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.7.1","start":7,"end":7,"heading":"The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Not because the light wanted the testimony, but for the reason which John himself gives, viz. that all might believe on Him. For as He put on flesh to save all men from death; so He sent before Him a human preacher, that the sound of a voice like their own, might the readier draw men to Him. BEDE; He saith not, that all men should believe in him; for, cursed be the man that trusteth in man; but, that all men through him might believe; i. e. by his testimony believe in the Light. THEOPHYL. Though some however might not believe, he is not accountable for them. When a man shuts himself up in a dark room, so as to receive no light from the sun's rays, he is the cause of the deprivation, not the sun. In like manner John was sent, that all men might believe; but if no such result followed, he is not the cause of the failure.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.8.1","start":8,"end":8,"heading":"He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Forasmuch however as with us, the one who witnesses, is commonly a more important, a more trustworthy person, than the one to whom he bears witness, to do away with any such notion in the present case the Evangelist proceeds; He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light, If this were not his intention, in repeating the words, to bear witness of the Light, the addition would be superfluous, and rather a verbal repetition, than the explanation of a truth.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 6","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.viii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.9.1","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.","excerpt":"AUG. Wherefore is there added, true? Because man enlightened is called light, but the true Light is that which lightens. For our eyes are called lights, and yet, without a lamp at night, or the sun by day, these lights are open to no purpose. Wherefore he adds: which lighteneth every man: but if every man, then John himself. He Himself then enlightened the person, by whom He wished Himself to be pointed out. And just as we may often, from the reflexion of the sun's rays on some object, know the sun to be risen, though we cannot look at the sun itself; as even feeble eyes can look at an illuminated wall, or some object of that kind: even so, those to whom Christ came, being too weak to behold Him, He threw His rays upon John; John confessed the illumination, and so the Illuminator Himself was discovered.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.10.1","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.","excerpt":"AUG. But what meaneth this, The world was made by Him? The earth, sky, and sea, and all that are therein, are called the world. But in another sense, the lovers of the world are called the world, of whom he says, And the world knew Him not. For did the sky, or Angels, not know their Creator, Whom the very devils confess, Whom the whole universe has borne witness to? Who then did not know Him? Those who, from their love of the world, are called the world; for such live in heart in the world, while those who do not love it, have their body in the world, but their heart in heaven; as saith the Apostle, our conversation is in heaven. By their love of the world, such men merit being called by the name of the place where they live. And just as in speaking of a bad house, or good house, we do not mean praise or blame to the walls, but to the inhabitants; so when we talk of the world, we mean those who live there in the love of it.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 2, section 11","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html#iii.iii-p24","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v10-augustine","ref":"John 1:10"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.11.1","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"He came unto his own, and his own received him not.","excerpt":"CHRYS. He came then unto His own, not for His own good, but for the good of others. But whence did He Who fills all things, and is every where present, come? He came out of condescension to us, though in reality He had been in the world all along. But the world not seeing Him, because it knew Him not, He deigned to put on flesh. And this manifestation and condescension is called His advent. But the merciful God so contrives His dispensations, that we may shine forth in proportion to our goodness, and therefore He will not compel, but invites men, by persuasion and kindness, to come of their own accord: and so, when He came, some received Him, and others received Him not. He desires not an unwilling and forced service; for no one who comes unwillingly devotes himself wholly to Him. Whence what follows, And his own received him not.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 10","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.12.1","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:","excerpt":"CHRYS. And because in the matter of these ineffable benefits, the giving of grace belongs to God, but the extending of faith to man, He subjoins, even to those who believe on his name. Why then declarest thou not, John, the punishment of those who received Him not? Is it because there is no greater punishment than that, when the power of becoming the sons of God is offered to men, they should not become such, but voluntarily deprive themselves of the dignity? But besides this, inextinguishable fire awaits all such, as will appear clearly farther on.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 10","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.13.1","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.","excerpt":"BEDE; The carnal birth of men derives its origin from the embrace of wedlock, but the spiritual is dispensed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. CHRYS. The Evangelist makes this declaration, that being taught the idleness and inferiority of our former birth, which is through blood, and the will of the flesh, and understanding the loftiness and nobleness of the second, which is through grace, we might hence receive great knowledge, worthy of being bestowed by him who begat us, and after this shew forth much zeal.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 10","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.14.1","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Or thus, After saying that they were born of God, who received Him, he sets forth the cause of this honour, viz. the Word being made flesh, God's own Son was made the son of man, that he might make the sons of men the sons of God. Now when thou hearest that the Word was made flesh, be not disturbed, for He did not change His substance into flesh, which it were indeed impious to suppose; but remaining what He was, took upon Him the form of a servant.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 11, section 1","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xiii.html#iv.xiii-p20","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:14"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.14.2","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.","excerpt":"AUG. As our word becomes the bodily voice, by its assumption of that voice, as a means of developing itself externally; so the Word of God was made flesh, by assuming flesh, as a means of manifesting Itself to the world. And as our word is made voice, yet is not turned into voice; so the Word of God was made flesh, but never turned into flesh. It is by assuming another nature, not by consuming themselves in it, that our word is made voice, and the Word, flesh.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.14.3","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"And we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.","excerpt":"AUG. Or thus; in that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, His birth became a kind of ointment to anoint the eyes of our heart, that we might through His humanity discern His majesty; and therefore it follows, And we saw His glory. No one could see His glory, who was not healed by the humility of the flesh. For there had flown upon man's eye as it were dust from the earth: the eye had been diseased, and earth was sent to heal it again; the flesh had blinded thee, the flesh restores thee. The soul by consenting to carnal affections had become carnal; hence the eye of the mind had been blinded: then the physician made for thee ointment. He came in such wise, as that by the flesh He destroyed the corruption of the flesh. And thus the Word was made flesh, that thou mightest be able to say, We saw His glory.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 2, section 16","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iii.html#iii.iii-p34","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-augustine","ref":"John 1:14"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.14.4","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"And we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.","excerpt":"CHRYS. As if he said: We saw His glory, such as it was becoming and proper for the Only-Begotten and true Son to have. We have a form of speech, like it, derived from our seeing kings always splendidly robed. When the dignity of a man's carriage is beyond description, we say, In short, he went as a king. So too John says, We saw His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father. For Angels, when they appeared, did every thing as servants who had a Lord, but He as the Lord appearing in humble form. Yet did all creatures recognise their Lord, the star calling the Magi, the Angels the shepherds, the child leaping in the womb acknowledged Him: yea the Father bore witness to Him from heaven, and the Paraclete descending upon Him: and the very universe itself shouted louder than any trumpet, that the King of heaven had come. For devils fled, diseases were healed, the graves gave up the dead, and souls were brought out of wickedness, to the utmost height of virtue. What shall one say of the wisdom of precepts, of the virtue of heavenly laws, of the excellent institution of the angelical life?","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 12","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xiv.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.15.1","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Or he introduces this, as if to say, Do not suppose that we bear witness to this out of gratitude, because we were with Him a long time, and partook of His table; for John who had never seen Him before, nor tarried with Him, bare witness to Him. The Evangelist repeats John's testimony many times here and there, because he was held in such admiration by the Jews. Other Evangelists refer to the old prophets, and say, This was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. But he introduces a loftier, and later witness, not intending to make the servant vouch for the master, but only condescending to the weakness of his hearers. For as Christ would not have been so readily received, had He not taken upon Him the form of a servant; so if he had not excited the attention of servants by the voice of a fellow-servant beforehand, there would not have been many Jews embracing the word of Christ.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 13, section 1","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xv.html#iv.xv-p15","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.16-17.1","start":16,"end":17,"heading":"And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.","excerpt":"AUG. But what have ye received? Grace for grace. So that we are to understand that we have received a certain something from His fulness, and over and above this, grace for grace; that we have first received of His fulness, first grace; and again, we have received grace for grace. What grace did we first receive? Faith: which is called grace, because it is given freely. This is the first grace then which the sinner receives, the remission of his sins. Again, we have grace for grace; i. e. in stead of that grace in which we live by faith, we are to receive another, viz. life eternal: for life eternal is as it were the wages of faith. And thus as faith itself is a good grace, so life eternal is grace for grace. There was not grace in the Old Testament; for the law threatened, but assisted not, commanded, but healed not, shewed our weakness, but relieved it not. It prepared the way however for a Physician who was about to come, with the gifts of grace and truth: whence the sentence which follows: For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth were made by Jesus Christ.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 3","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.iv.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.17.1","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Or we have received grace for grace; that is, the new in the place of the old.... Next, after he has said, Grace for grace, he adds something to shew the magnitude of the gift; For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth were made by Jesus Christ. John when comparing himself with Christ above had said, He is preferred before me: but the Evangelist draws a comparison between Christ, and one much more in admiration with the Jews than John, viz. Moses. And observe his wisdom. He does not draw the comparison between the persons, but the things, contrasting grace and truth to the law: the latter of which he says was given, a word only applying to an administrator; the former made, as we should speak of a king, who does every thing by his power: though in this King it would be with grace also, because that with power He remitted all sins. Now His grace is shewn in His gift of Baptism, and our adoption by the Holy Spirit, and many other things; but to have a better insight into what the truth is, we should study the figures of the old law: for what was to be accomplished in the New Testament, is prefigured in the Old, Christ at His Coming filling up the figure. Thus was the figure given by Moses, but the truth made by Christ.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 14","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvi.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.18.1","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.","excerpt":"Chrys. In this complete sense only the Son and the Holy Ghost see the Father. For how can created nature see that which is uncreated? So then no man knoweth the Father as the Son knoweth Him: and hence what follows, The Only-Begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. That we might not be led by the identity of the name, to confound Him with the sons made so by grace, the article is annexed in the first place; and then, to put an end to all doubt, the name Only-Begotten is introduced.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/p1catenaaureaco04thomuoft/p1catenaaureaco04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"Chrys.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 15","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.18.2","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.","excerpt":"CHRYS. But what hath He declared? That God is one. But this the rest of the Prophets and Moses proclaim: what else have we learnt from the Son Who was in the bosom of the Father? In the first place, that those very truths, which the others declared, were declared through the operation of the Only Begotten: in the next place, we have received a far greater doctrine from the Only Begotten; viz. that God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth; and that God is the Father of the Only Begotten.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 15, section 3","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xvii.html#iv.xvii-p29","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v18-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:18"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.19.1","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?","excerpt":"ORIGEN; This is the second testimony of John the Baptist to Christ, the first began with, This is He of Whom I spake; and ended with, He hath declared Him. THEOPHYL. Or, after the introduction above of John's testimony to Christ, is preferred before me, the Evangelist now adds when the above testimony was given, And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem. ORIGEN; The Jews of Jerusalem, as being of kin to the Baptist, who was of the priestly stock, send Priests and Levites to ask him who he is; that is, men considered to hold a superior rank to the rest of their order, by God's election, and coming from that favoured above all cities, Jerusalem. Such is the reverential way in which they interrogate John. We read of no such proceeding towards Christ: but what the Jews did to John, John in turn does to Christ, when he asks Him, through His disciples, Art thou He that should come, or look we for another? CHRYS. Such confidence had they in John, that they were ready to believe him on his own words: witness how it is said, To ask him, Who art thou? AUG. They would not have sent, unless they had been impressed by his lofty exercise of authority, in daring to baptize.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.20.1","start":20,"end":20,"heading":"And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.","excerpt":"ORIGEN; John, as it appears, saw from the question, that the Priests and Levites had doubts whether it might not be the Christ, who was baptizing; which doubts however they were afraid to profess openly, for fear of incurring the charge of credulity. He wisely determines therefore first to correct their mistake, and then to proclaim the truth. Accordingly, he first of all shews that he is not the Christ: And he confessed) and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. We may add here, that at this time the people had already begun to be impressed with the idea that Christ's advent was at hand, in consequence of the interpretations which the lawyers had collected out of the sacred writings to that effect. Thus Theudas had been enabled to collect together a considerable body, on the strength of his pretending to be the Christ; and after him Judas, in the days of the taxation, had done the same. Such being the strong expectation of Christ's advent then prevalent, the Jews send to John, intending by the question, Who art thou? to extract from him whether he were the Christ. GREG. He denied directly being what he was not, but he did not deny what he was: thus, by his Speaking truth, becoming a true member of Him Whose name he had not dishonestly usurped.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.21.1","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not.","excerpt":"GREG. These words gave rise to a very different question. In another place, our Lord, when asked by His disciples concerning the coming of Elias, replied, If ye will receive it, this is Elias. But John says, I am not Elias. How is he then a preacher of the truth, if he agrees not with what that very Truth declares? ORIGEN; Some one will say that John was ignorant that he was Elias; as those say, who maintain, from this passage the doctrine of a second incorporation, as though the soul took up a new body, after leaving its old one. For the Jews, it is said, asking John by the Levites and priests, whether he is Elias, suppose the doctrine of a second body to be already certain; as though it rested upon tradition, and were part of their secret system. To which question, however, John replies, / am not Elias: not being acquainted with his own prior existence. But how is it reasonable to imagine, if John were a prophet enlightened by the Spirit, and had revealed so much concerning the Father, and the Only-Begotten, that he could be so in the dark as to himself, as not to know that his own soul had once belonged to Elias? GREG. But if we examine the truth accurately, that which sounds inconsistent, will be found not really so. The Angel told Zacharias concerning John, He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias. As Elias then will preach the second advent of our Lord, so John preached His first; as the former will come as the precursor of the Judge, so the latter was made the precursor of the Redeemer. John was Elias in spirit, not in person: and what our Lord affirms of the spirit, John denies of the Person: there being a kind of propriety in this; viz. that our Lord to His disciples should speak spiritually of John, and that John, in answering the carnal multitude, should speak of his body, not of his spirit.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.21.2","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.","excerpt":"... For every one of the prophets in succession had signified to the people of Israel that he was not the one whom Moses had prophesied of; who, like Moses, was to stand in the midst between God and man, and deliver a testament, sent from God to His disciples. They did not however apply this name to Christ, but thought that He was to be a different person; whereas John knew that Christ was that Prophet, and therefore to this question, he answered, No. AUG. Or because John was more than a prophet: for that the prophets announced Him afar off, but John pointed Him out actually present.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.22-23.1","start":22,"end":23,"heading":"Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness","excerpt":"CHRYS. You see them here pressing him still more strongly with their questions, while he on the other quietly puts down their suspicions, where they are untrue, and establishes the truth in their place: saying, / am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. AUG. So spoke Esaias: the prophecy was fulfilled in John the Baptist. GREG. Ye know that the only-begotten Son is called the Word of the Father. Now we know, in the case of our own utterance, the voice first sounds, and then the word is heard. Thus John declares himself to be the voice, i. e. because he precedes the Word, and, through his ministry, the Word of the Father is heard by man. ORIGEN; Heracleon, in his discussion on John and the Prophets, infers that because the Saviour was the Word, and John the voice, therefore the whole of the prophetic order was only sound. To which we reply, that, if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle? If the voice of prophecy is nothing but sound, why does the Saviour send us to it, saying, Search the Scriptures? But John calls himself the voice, not that crieth, but of one that crieth in the wilderness; viz. of Him Who stood and cried, If any man thirst , let him come unto Me and drink. He cries, in order that those at a distance may hear him, and understand from the loudness of the sound, the vastness of the thing spoken of.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.23.1","start":23,"end":23,"heading":"Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.","excerpt":"THEOPHYL. Or because he declared the truth plainly, while all who were under the law spoke obscurely. GREG. John crieth in the wilderness, because it is to forsaken and destitute Judaea that he bears the consolatory tidings of a Redeemer. ORIGEN; There is need of the voice crying in the wilderness, that the soul, forsaken by God, may be recalled to making straight the way of the Lord, following no more the crooked paths of the serpent. This has reference both to the contemplative life, as enlightened by truth, without mixture of falsehood, and to the practical, as following up the correct perception by the suitable action. Wherefore he adds, Make straight the way of the Lord, as saith the prophet Esaias. GREG. The way of the Lord is made straight to the heart, when the word of truth is heard with humility; the way Of the Lord is made straight to the heart, when the life is formed upon the precept.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.24-25.1","start":24,"end":25,"heading":"And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?","excerpt":"ORIGEN; The questions of the priests and Levites being answered, another mission comes from the Pharisees: And they that were sent were of the Pharisees. So far as it is allowable to form a conjecture from the discourse itself here, I should say that it was the third occasion of John's giving his witness. Observe the mildness of the former question, so befitting the priestly and levitical character, Who art thou? There is nothing arrogant or disrespectful, but only what becomes true ministers of God. The Pharisees however, being a sectarian body, as their name implies, address the Baptist in an importunate and contumelious way. And they said, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, neither Elias, neither that Prophet? not caring about information, but only wishing to prevent him baptizing. Yet the very next thing they did, was to come to John's baptism. The solution of this is, that they came not in faith, but hypocritically, because they feared the people. CHRYS. Or, those very same priests and Levites were of the Pharisees, and, because they could not undermine him by blandishments, began accusing, after they had compelled him to say what he was not. And they asked him, saying, Why baptizest thou then, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elias, neither that Prophet? As if it were an act of audacity in him to baptize, when he was neither the Christ, nor His precursor, nor His proclaimer, i. e. that Prophet.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.26.1","start":26,"end":26,"heading":"John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;","excerpt":"GREG. A saint, even when perversely questioned, is never diverted from the pursuit of goodness. Thus John to the words of envy opposes the words of life: John answered them, saying, I indeed baptize with water. ORIGEN; For how would the question, Why then baptizest thou, be replied to in any other way, than by setting forth the carnal nature of his own baptism? GREG. John baptizeth not with the Spirit, but with water; not being able to remit sins, he washes the bodies of the baptized with water, but not their souls with pardon. Why then doth he baptize, when he doth not remit sins by baptism? To maintain his character of forerunner. As his birth preceded our Lord's, so doth his baptism precede our Lord's baptism. And he who was the forerunner of Christ in His preaching, is forerunner also in His baptism, which was the imitation of that Sacrament. And withal he announces the mystery of our redemption, saying that He, the Redeemer, is standing in the midst of men, and they know it not: There standeth one among you, whom ye know not: for our Lord, when He appeared in the flesh, was visible in body, but in majesty invisible. CHRYS. One among you. It was fitting that Christ should mix with the people, and be one of the many, shewing every where His humility. Whom ye know not; i. e. not, in the most absolute and certain sense; not, who He is, and whence He is.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.27.1","start":27,"end":27,"heading":"He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.","excerpt":"CHRYS. As if he said, Do not think that every thing is contained in my baptism; for if my baptism were perfect, another would not come after me with another baptism. This baptism of mine is but an introduction to the other, and will soon pass away, like a shadow, or an image. There is One coming after me to establish the truth: and therefore this is not a perfect baptism; for, if it were, there would be no room for a second: and therefore he adds, Who is made before me: i. e. is more honourable, more lofty. GREG. Made before me, i. e. preferred before me. He comes after me, that is, He is born after me; He is made before me, that is, He is preferred to me. CHRYS. But lest thou shouldest think this to be the result of comparison, he immediately shews it to be a superiority beyond all comparison; Whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose: as if He said, He is so much before me, that I am unworthy to be numbered among the lowest of His attendants: the unloosing of the sandal being the very lowest kind of service. AUG. To have pronounced himself worthy even of unloosing His shoe's latchet, he would have been thinking too much of himself.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 16, section 3","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xviii.html#iv.xviii-p31","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v26-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:26–27"},{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 16, section 3","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xviii.html#iv.xviii-p31","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v26-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:26–27"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.27.2","start":27,"end":27,"heading":"He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.","excerpt":"GREG. Or thus: It was a law of the old dispensation, that, if a man refused to take the woman, who of right came to him, to wife, he who by right of relationship came next to be the husband, should unloose his shoe. Now in what character did Christ appear in the world, but as Spouse of the Holy Church? John then very properly pronounced himself unworthy to unloose this shoe's latchet: as if he said, I cannot uncover the feet of the Redeemer, for I claim not the title of spouse, which I have no right to. Or the passage may be explained in another way. We know that shoes are made out of dead animals. Our Lord then, when He came in the flesh, put on, as it were, shoes; because in His Divinity He took the flesh of our corruption, wherein we had of ourselves perished. And the latchet of the shoe, is the seal upon the mystery. John is not able to unloose the shoe's latchet; i. e. even he cannot penetrate into the mystery of the Incarnation. So he seems to say: What wonder that He is preferred before me, Whom, being born after me, I contemplate, yet the mystery of Whose birth I comprehend not.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.28.1","start":28,"end":28,"heading":"These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.","excerpt":"CHRYS. He mentions this too for another reason, viz. that as He was relating events which had only recently happened, He might, by a reference to the place, appeal to the testimony of those who were present and saw them. ALCUIN. The meaning of Bethany is, house of obedience; by which it is intimated to us, that all must approach to baptism, through the obedience of faith. ORIG. Bethabara means house of preparation; which agreeth with the baptism of Him, who was making ready a people prepared for the Lord. Jordan, again, means, \" their descent.\" Now what is this river but our Saviour, through Whom coming into this earth all must be cleansed, in that He came down not for His own sake, but for theirs. This river it is which separateth the lots given by Moses, from those given by Jesus; its streams make glad the city of God. As the serpent lies hid in the Egyptian river, so doth God in this; for the Father is in the Son. Wherefore whosoever go thither to wash themselves, lay aside the reproach of Egypt, are made meet to receive the inheritance, are cleansed from leprosy, are made capable of a double portion of grace, and ready to receive the Holy Spirit; nor doth the spiritual dove light upon any other river. John again baptizes beyond Jordan, as the precursor of Him Who came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.29.1","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"The next day John seeth Jesus coming to him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Or; Matthew relates directly Christ's coming to His baptism, John His coming a second time subsequent to His baptism, as appears from what follows: I saw the Spirit descending, &c. The Evangelists have divided the periods of the history between them; Matthew passing over the part before John's imprisonment, and hastening to that event; John chiefly dwelling on what took place before the imprisonment. Thus he says, The next day John seeth Jesus coming to him. But why did He come to him the next day after His baptism? Having been baptized with the multitude, He wished to prevent any from thinking that He came to John for the same reason that others did, viz. to confess His sins, and be washed in the river unto repentance. He comes therefore to give John an opportunity of correcting this mistake; which John accordingly did correct; viz. by those words, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. For He Who was so pure, as to be able to absolve other men's sins, evidently could not have come thither for the sake of confessing His own; but only to give John an opportunity of speaking of Him. He came too the next day, that those who had heard the former testimonies of John, might hear them again more plainly; and other besides. For he saith, Behold the Lamb of God, signifying that He was the one of old sought after, and reminding them of the prophecy of Isaiah, and of the shadows of the Mosaic law, in order that through the figure he might the easier lead them to the substance.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 17","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.29.2","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"The next day John seeth Jesus coming to him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.","excerpt":"THEOPHYL. He is called the Lamb of God, because God the Father accepted His death for our salvation, or, in other words, because He delivered Him up to death for our sakes. For just as we say, This is the offering of such a man, meaning the offering made by him; in the same sense Christ is called the Lamb of God Who gave His Son to die for our salvation. And whereas that typical lamb did not take away any man's sin, this one hath taken away the sin of the whole world, rescuing it from the danger it was in from the wrath of God. Behold Him Who taketh away the sin of the world: he saith not, who will take, but, taketh away the sin of the world; as if He were always doing this. For He did not then only take it away when He suffered, but from that time to the present, He taketh it away; not by being always crucified, for He made one sacrifice for sins, but by ever washing it by means of that sacrifice.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.30.1","start":30,"end":30,"heading":"This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.","excerpt":"THEOPHYL. John having said above to those who came from the Pharisees, that there stood one among them whom they knew not, he here points Him out to the persons thus ignorant: This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me. Our Lord is called a man, in reference to His mature age, being thirty years old when He was baptized: or in a spiritual sense, as the Spouse of the Church; in which sense St. Paul speaks, I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. AUG. He cometh after me, because he was born after me: He is made before me, because He is preferred to me. GREG. He explains the reason of this superiority, in what follows: For He was before me; as if his meaning was; And this is the reason of His being superior to me, though born after me, viz. that He is not circumscribed by the time of His nativity. He Who was born of His mother in time, was begotten of His Father out of time. THEOPHYL. Attend, O Arius. He saith not, He was created before me, but He was before me. Let the false sect of Paul of Samosata attend. They will see that He did not derive His original existence from Mary; for if He derived the beginning of His being from the Virgin, how could He have been before His precursor? it being evident that the precursor preceded Christ by six months, according to the human birth.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.31.1","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.","excerpt":"CHRYS. That He might not seem however to give His testimony from any motive of friendship or kindred, in consequence of his being related to our Lord according to the flesh, he says, / knew Him not. John could not of course know Him, having lived in the desert. And the miraculous events of Christ's childhood, the journey of the Magi, and such like, were now along time past; John having been quite an infant, when they happened. And throughout the whole of the interval, He had been absolutely unknown: insomuch that John proceeds, But that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. (And hence it is clear that the miracles said to have been performed by Christ in His childhood, are false and fictitious. For if Jesus had performed miracles at this early age, he would not have been unknown to John, nor would the multitude have wanted a teacher to point Him out ) Christ Himself then did not want baptism; nor was that washing for any other reason, than to give a sign beforehand of faith in Christ. For John saith not, in order to change men, and deliver from sin, but, that he should be made manifest in Israel, have I come baptizing. But would it not have been lawful for him to preach, and bring crowds together, without baptizing? Yes: but this was the easier way, for he would not have collected such numbers, had he preached without baptizing.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.31.2","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.","excerpt":"AUG. Now when our Lord became known, it was unnecessary to prepare a way for Him; for to those who knew Him, He became His own way. And therefore John's baptism did not last long, but only so long as to shew our Lord's humility. Our Lord received baptism from a servant, in order to give us such a lesson of humility as might prepare us for receiving the grace of baptism, And that the servant's baptism might not be set before the Lord's, others were baptized with it; who after receiving it, had to receive our Lord's baptism: whereas those who first received our Lord's baptism, did not receive the servant's after.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 4","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.32.1","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.","excerpt":"CHRYS. John having made a declaration, so astonishing to all his hearers, viz. that He, whom he pointed out, did of Himself take away the sins of the world, confirms it by a reference to the Father and the Holy Spirit. For John might be asked, how did you know Him? Wherefore he replies beforehand, by the descent of the Holy Spirit: And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. AUG. This was not however the first occasion of Christ s receiving the unction of the Holy Spirit: viz. Its descent upon Him at His baptism; wherein He condescended to prefigure His body, the Church, wherein those who are baptized receive preeminently the Holy Spirit. For it would be absurd to suppose that at thirty years old, (which was His age, when He was baptized by John,) He received for the first time the Holy Spirit: and that, when He came to that baptism, as He was without sin, so was He without the Holy Spirit. For if even of His servant and forerunner John it is written, He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from His mother's womb; if He, though sprung from His father's seed, yet received the Holy Ghost, when as yet He was only formed in the womb; what ought we to think and believe of Christ, whose very flesh had not a carnal but spiritual conception?","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.32.2","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.","excerpt":"AUG. The Holy Ghost was made to appear visibly in two ways: as a dove, upon our Lord at His baptism; and as a flame upon His disciples, when they were met together: the former shape denoting simplicity, the latter fervency. The dove intimates that souls sanctified by the Spirit should have no guile; the fire, that in that simplicity there should not be coldness. Nor let it disturb thee, that the tongues are cloven; fear no division; unity is assured to us in the dove. It was meet then that the Holy Spirit should be thus manifested descending upon our Lord; in order that every one who had the Spirit might know, that he ought to be simple as a dove, and be in sincere peace with the brethren. The kisses of doves represent this peace. Ravens kiss, but they tear also; but the nature of the dove is most alien to tearing. Ravens feed on the dead, but the dove eats nothing but the fruits of the earth.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 6","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.vii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.32.3","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"And it abode upon him.","excerpt":"GREG. He saith, Abode upon Him: for the Holy Spirit visits all the faithful; but on the Mediator alone does He abide for ever in a peculiar manner; never leaving the Son's Humanity, even as He proceeds Himself from the Son's Divinity. But when the disciples are told of the same Spirit, He shall dwell with you, how is the abiding of the Spirit a peculiar sign of Christ? This will appear if we distinguish between the different gifts of the Spirit. As regards those gifts which are necessary for attaining to life, the Holy Spirit ever abides in all the elect; such are gentleness, humility, faith, hope, charity: but with respect to those, which have for their object, not our own salvation, but that of others, he does not always abide, but sometimes withdraws, and ceases to exhibit them; that men may be more humble in the possession of His gifts. But Christ had all the gifts of the Spirit, uninterruptedly always.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.33.1","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Should any however think that Christ really wanted the Holy Spirit, in the way that we do, he corrects this notion also, by informing us that the descent of the Holy Ghost took place only for the purpose of manifesting Christ: And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me. Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. AUG. But who sent John? If we say the Father, we say true; if we say the Son, we say true. But it would be truer to say, the Father and the Son. How then knew he not Him, by Whom he was sent? For if he knew not Him, by Whom he wished to be baptized, it was rash in him to say, / have need to be baptized by Thee. So then he knew Him; and why saith he, I knew Him not?","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 17, section 2","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html#iv.xix-p18","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:32–33"},{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 5","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.vi.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.33.2","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"The same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.","excerpt":"AUG. Let us turn to the other Evangelists, who relate the matter more clearly, and we shall find most satisfactorily, that the dove descended when our Lord ascended from the water. If then the dove descended after baptism, but John said before the baptism, / have need to be baptized of Thee, he knew Him before His baptism also. How then said he. / knew him not, but He which sent me to baptize? Was this the first revelation made to John of Christ's person, or was it not rather a fuller disclosure of what had been already revealed? John knew the Lord to be the Son of God, knew that He would baptize with the Holy Ghost: for before Christ came to the river, many having come together to hear John, he said unto them, He that cometh after me is mightier than I: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. What then? He did not know that our Lord (lest Paul or Peter might say, my baptism, as we find Paul did say, my Gospel,) would have and retain to Himself the power of baptism, the ministering of it however passing to good and bad indiscriminately. What hindrance is the badness of the minister, when the Lord is good? So then we baptize again after John's baptism; after a homicide's we baptize not: because John gave his own baptism, the homicide gives Christ's; which is so holy a sacrament, that not even a homicide's ministration can pollute it.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 4","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.v.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.34.1","start":34,"end":34,"heading":"And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.","excerpt":"CHRYS. The Father having sent forth a voice proclaiming the Son, the Holy Spirit came besides, bringing the voice upon the head of Christ, in order that no one present might think that what was said of Christ, was said of John. But it will be asked: How was it that the Jews believed not, if they saw the Spirit? Such sights however require the mental vision, rather than the bodily. If those who saw Christ working miracles were so drunken with malice, that they denied what their own eyes had seen, how could the appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove overcome their incredulity? Some say however that the sight was not visible to all, but only to John, and the more devotional part. But even if the descent of the Spirit, as a dove, was visible to the outward eye, it does not follow that because all saw it, all understood it. Zacharias himself, Daniel, Ezechiel, and Moses saw many things, appearing to their senses, which no one else saw: and therefore John adds, And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God. He had called Him the Lamb before, and said that He would baptize with the Spirit; but he had no where called Him the Son before. AUG. It was necessary that the Only Son of God should baptize, not an adopted son. Adopted sons are ministers of the Only Son: but though they have the ministration, the Only one alone has the power.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 17","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xix.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.35-36.1","start":35,"end":36,"heading":"Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!","excerpt":"BEDE; John stood, because he had ascended that citadel of all excellences, from which no temptations could cast him down: his disciples stood with him, as stout-hearted followers of their master. CHRYS. But wherefore went he not all about, preaching in every place of Judaea; instead of standing near the river, waiting for His coming, that he might point Him out? Because he wished this to be done by the works of Christ Himself. And observe how much greater an effort was produced; He struck a small spark, and suddenly it rose into a flame. Again, if John had gone about and preached, it would have seemed like human partiality, and great suspicion would have been excited. Now the Prophets and Apostles all preached Christ absent; the former before His appearance in the flesh, the latter after His assumption. But He was to be pointed out by the eye, not by the voice only; and therefore it follows: And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 18","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.36.1","start":36,"end":36,"heading":"Behold the Lamb of God!","excerpt":"AUG. John was the friend of the Bridegroom; he sought not his own glory, but bare witness to the truth. And therefore he wished not his disciples to remain with him, to the hindrance of their duty to follow the Lord; but rather shewed them whom they should follow, saying, Behold the Lamb of God. CHRYS. He makes not a long discourse, having only one object before him, to bring them and join them to Christ; knowing that they would not any further need his witness. John does not however speak to his disciples alone, but publicly in the presence of all. And so, undertaking to follow Christ, through this instruction common to all, they remained thenceforth firm, following Christ for then own advantage, not as an act of favour to their master. John does not exhort: he simply gazes in admiration on Christ, pointing out the gift He came to bestow, the cleansing from sin: and the mode in which this would be accomplished: both of which the word Lamb testifies to. Lamb has the article affixed to it, as a sign of preeminence. AUG. For He alone and singly is the Lamb without spot, without sin; not because His spots are wiped off, but because He never had a spot. He alone is the Lamb of God, for by His blood alone can men be redeemed. This is the Lamb whom the wolves fear; even the slain Lamb, by whom the lion was slain.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7, section 8","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html#iii.viii-p24","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v35-augustine","ref":"John 1:35–37"},{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 18","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null},{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.37.1","start":37,"end":37,"heading":"And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.","excerpt":"ALCUIN. John having borne witness that Jesus was the Lamb of God, the disciples who had been hitherto with him, in obedience to his command, followed Jesus: And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. CHRYS. Observe; when he said, He that cometh after me is made before me, and, Whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose, he gained over none; but when he made mention of the economy, and gave his discourse a humbler turn, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, then his disciples followed Christ. For many persons are less influenced by the thoughts of God's greatness and majesty, than when they hear of His being man's Helper and Friend; or any thing pertaining to the salvation of men. Observe too, when John says, Behold the Lamb of God, Christ says nothing. The Bridegroom stands by in silence; others introduce Him, and deliver the Bride into His hands; He receives her, and so treats her that she no longer remembers those who gave her in marriage. Thus Christ came to unite to Himself the Church; He said nothing Himself; but John, the friend of the Bridegroom, came forth, and put the Bride's right hand in His; i. e. by his preaching delivered into His hands men's souls, whom receiving He so disposed of, that they returned no more to John. And observe farther; As at a marriage the maiden goes not to meet the bridegroom, (even though it be a king's son who weds a humble handmaid,) but he hastens to her; so is it here. For human nature ascended not into heaven, but the Son of God came down to human nature, and took her to His Father's house.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 18","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.38.1","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye?","excerpt":"... Again; There were disciples of John who not only did not follow Christ, but were even enviously disposed toward Him; but the better part heard, and followed; not from contempt of their former master, but by his persuasion; because he promised them that Christ would baptize with the Holy Ghost. And see with what modesty their zeal was accompanied. They did not straightway go and interrogate Jesus on great and necessary doctrines, nor in public, but sought private converse with Him; for we are told that Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? Hence we learn, that when we once begin to form good resolutions, God gives us opportunities enough of improvement. Christ asks the question, not because He needed to be told, but in order to encourage familiarity and confidence, and shew that He thought them worthy of His instructions. THEOPHYL. Observe then, that it was upon those who followed Him, that our Lord turned His face and looked upon them. Unless thou by thy good works follow Him, thou shalt never be permitted to see His face, or enter into His dwelling.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.38.2","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?","excerpt":"CHRYS. And besides following Him, their questions shewed their love for Christ; They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which is, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest Thou? They call Him, Master, before they have learnt any thing from Him; thus encouraging themselves in their resolution to become disciples, and to shew the reason why they followed. ORIGEN. An avowal, befitting persons who came from hearing John's testimony. They put themselves under Christ's teaching, and expres's their desire to see the dwelling of the Son of God. ALCUIN. They do not wish to be under His teaching for a time only, but enquire where He abides; wishing an immediate initiation in the secrets of His word, and afterwards meaning often to visit Him, and obtain fuller instruction. And, in a mystical sense too, they wish to know in whom Christ dwells, that profiting by their example they may themselves become fit to be His dwelling.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 18","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.39.1","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.","excerpt":"ORIGEN. Or perhaps come, is an invitation to action; see, to contemplation. CHRYS. Christ does not describe His house and situation, but brings them after Him, shewing that he had already accepted them as His own. He says not, It is not the time now, to-morrow ye shall hear if ye wish to learn; but addresses them familiarly, as friends who had lived with him a long time. But how is it that He saith in another place, The Son of man hath not where to lay His head? when here He says, Come and see where I live? His not having where to lay His head, could only have meant that He had no dwelling of His own, not that He did not live in a house at all: for the next words are, They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day. Why they stayed the Evangelist does not say: it being obviously for the sake of His teaching. AUG. What a blessed day and night was that ! Let us too build up in our hearts within, and make Him an house, whither He may come and teach us.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 18","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.39.2","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.","excerpt":"THEOPHYL. And it was about the tenth hour. The Evangelist mentions the time of day purposely, as a hint both to teachers and learners, not to let time interfere with their work. CHRYS. It shewed a strong desire to hear Him, since even at sunset they did not turn from Him. To sensual persons the time after meals is unsuitable for any grave employment, their bodies being overloaded with food. But John, whose disciples these were, was not such an one. His evening was a more abstemious one than our mornings.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.40.1","start":40,"end":40,"heading":"One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.","excerpt":"CHRYS. One of the two which heard John speak and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Why is the other name left out? Some say, because this Evangelist himself was that other. Others, that it was a disciple of no eminence, and that there was no use in telling his name any more than those of the seventy-two, which are omitted. ALCUIN. Or it would seem that the two disciples who followed Jesus were Andrew and Philip.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 18, section 3","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xx.html#iv.xx-p32","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v40-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:40"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.41.1","start":41,"end":41,"heading":"He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Andrew kept not our Lord's words to himself; but ran in haste to his brother, to report the good tidings: He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. BEDE. This is truly to find the Lord; viz. to have fervent love for Him, together with a care for our brother's salvation. CHRYS. The Evangelist does not mention what Christ said to those who followed Him; but we may infer it from what follows. Andrew declares in few words what he had learnt, discloses the power of that Master Who had persuaded them, and his own previous longings after Him. For this exclamation, We have found, expresses a longing for His coming, turned to exultation, now that He was really come. AUG. Messias in Hebrew, Christus in Greek, Unctus in Latin. Chrism is unction, and He had a special unction, which from Him extended to all Christians, as appears in the Psalm, God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. All holy persons are partakers with Him; but He is specially the Holy of Holies, specially anointed.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 19, section 1","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxi.html#iv.xxi-p10","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:41"},{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7, section 13","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html#iii.viii-p35","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v40-augustine","ref":"John 1:40–41"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.42.1","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.","excerpt":"BEDE. He beheld him not with His natural eye only, but by the insight of His Godhead discerned from eternity the simplicity and greatness of his soul, for which he was to be elevated above the whole Church. In the word Peter, we must not look for any additional meaning, as though it were of Hebrew or Syriac derivation; for the Greek and Latin word Peter, has the same meaning as Cephas; being in both languages derived from petra. He is called Peter on account of the firmness of his faith, in cleaving to that Rock, of which the Apostle speaks, And that Rock was Christ; which secures those who trust in it from the snares of the enemy, and dispenses streams of spiritual gifts. AUG. There was nothing very great in our Lord saying whose son he was, for our Lord knew the names of all His saints, having predestinated them before the foundation of the world. But it was a great thing for our Lord to change his name from Simon to Peter. Peter is from petra, rock, which rock is the Church: so that the name of Peter represents the Church. And who is safe, unless he build upon a rock? Our Lord here rouses our attention: for had he been called Peter before, we should not have seen the mystery of the Rock, and should have thought that he was called so by chance, and not providentially. God therefore made him to be called by another name before, that the change of that name might give vividness to the mystery.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7, section 14","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html#iii.viii-p36","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v42-augustine","ref":"John 1:42"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.43.1","start":43,"end":43,"heading":"The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.","excerpt":"CHRYS. After gaining these disciples, Christ proceeded to convert others, viz. Philip and Nathanael: The day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee. ALCUIN. Leaving, that is, Judaea, where John was baptizing, out of respect to the Baptist, and not to appear to lower his office, so long as it continued. He was going too to call a disciple, and wished to go forth into Galilee, i. e. to a place of \" transition\" or \"revelation,\" that is to say, that as He Himself increased in wisdom or stature, and in favour with God and man, and as He suffered and rose again, and entered into His glory: so He would teach His followers to go forth, and increase in virtue, and pass through suffering to joy. He findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me. Every one follows Jesus who imitates His humility and suffering, in order to be partaker of His resurrection and ascension.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 20, section 1","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html#iv.xxii-p4","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v43-chrysostom","ref":"John 1:43–44"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.43-44.1","start":43,"end":44,"heading":"He findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.","excerpt":"... He calls Philip, however, because he would be known to him, from living in Galilee. But what made Philip follow Christ? Andrew heard from John the Baptist, and Peter from Andrew; he had heard from no one; and yet on Christ saying, Follow Me, was persuaded instantly. It is not improbable that Philip may have heard John: and yet it may have been the mere voice of Christ which produced this effect. THEOPHYL. For the voice of Christ sounded not like a common voice to some, that is, the faithful, but kindled in their inmost soul the love of Him. Philip having been continually meditating on Christ, and reading the books of Moses, so confidently expected Him, that the instant he saw, he believed. Perhaps too he had heard of Him from Andrew and Peter, coming from the same district; an explanation which the Evangelist seems to hint at, when he adds, Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. CHRYS. The power of Christ appears by His gathering fruit out of a barren country. For from that Galilee, out of which there ariseth no prophet, He takes His most distinguished disciples. ALCUIN. Bethsaida means house of hunters. The Evangelist introduces the name of this place by way of allusion to the characters of Philip, Peter, and Andrew, and their future office, i. e. catching and saving souls.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.45.1","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Philip is not persuaded himself, but begins preaching to others: Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him. We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. See how zealous he is, and how constantly he is meditating on the books of Moses, and looking for Christ's coming. That Christ was coming he had known before; but he did not know that this was the Christ, of whom Moses and the Prophets did write: He says this to give credibility to his preaching, and to shew his zeal for the Law and the Prophets, and how that he had examined them attentively. Be not disturbed at his calling our Lord the Son of Joseph; this was what He was supposed to be. AUG. The person to whom our Lord's mother had been betrothed. The Christians know from the Gospel, that He was conceived and born of an undefiled mother. He adds the place too, of Nazareth. THEOPHYL. He was bred up there: the place of His birth could not have been known generally, but all knew that He was bred up in Nazareth.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 20","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null},{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.46.1","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.","excerpt":"And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth. AUG. However you may understand these words, Philip's answer will suit. You may read it either as affirmatory, Something good can come out of Nazareth; to which the other says, Come and see: or you may read it as a question, implying doubt on Nathauael's part, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Come and see. Since either way of reading agrees equally with what follows, we must inquire the meaning of the passage. Nathanael was well read in the Law, and therefore the word Nazareth (Philip having said that he had found Jesus of Nazareth) immediately raises his hopes, and he exclaims, Something good can come out of Nazareth. He had searched the Scriptures, and knew, what the Sciibes and Pharisees could not, that the Saviour was to be expected thence.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.46.2","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.","excerpt":"CHRYS. Nathanael knew from the Scriptures, that Christ was to come from Bethlehem, according to the prophecy of Micah, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, — out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule my people Israel. On hearing of Nazareth, then, he doubted, and was not able to reconcile Philip's tidings with prophecy. For the Prophets call Him a Nazarene, only in reference to His education and mode of life. Observe, however, the discretion and gentleness with which he communicates his doubts. He does not say, Thou deceivest me, Philip; but simply asks the question, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip too in turn is equally discrete. He is not confounded by the question, but dwells upon it, and lingers in the hope of bringing him to Christ: Philip saith unto him. Come and see. He takes him to Christ, knowing that when he had once tasted of His words and doctrine, he will make no more resistance.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 20","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.47.1","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!","excerpt":"CHRYS. Nathanael, in difficulty as to Christ coming out of Nazareth, shewed the care with which he had read the Scriptures: his not rejecting the tidings when brought him, shewed his strong desire for Christ's coming. He thought that Philip might be mistaken as to the place. It follows, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! There was no fault to be found with him, though he had spoken like one who did not believe, because he was more deeply read in the Prophets than Philip. He calls him guileless, because he had said nothing to gain favour, or gratify malice. AUG. What meaneth this, In whom is no guile? Had he no sin? Was no physician necessary for him? Far from it. No one was ever born, of a temper not to need the Physician. It is guile, when we say one thing, and think another. How then was there no guile in him? Because, if he was a sinner, he confessed his sin; whereas if a man, being a sinner, pretends to be righteous, there is guile in his mouth. Our Lord then commended the confession of sin in Nathanael; He did not pronounce him not a sinner.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 20","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null},{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.48.1","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.","excerpt":"THEOPHYL. Nathanael however, notwithstanding this praise, does not acquiesce immediately, but waits for further evidence, and asks, Whence knowest Thou me? CHRYS. He asks as man, Jesus answers as God: Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee: not having beheld him as man, but as God discerning him from above. / saw thee, He says, that is, the character of thy life, when thou wast under the fig tree: where the two, Philip and Nathanael, had been talking together alone, nobody seeing them; and on this account it is said, that on seeing him a long way off, He said. Behold an Israelite indeed; whence it appears that this speech was before Philip came near, so that no suspicion could attach to Christ's testimony. Christ would not say, I am not of Nazareth, as Philip told you, but of Bethlehem; in order to avoid an argument: and because it would not have been sufficient proof, had He mentioned it, of His being the Christ. He preferred rather proving this by His having been present at their conversation.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 20","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.48.2","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.","excerpt":"AUG. Has this fig tree any meaning? We read of one fig tree which was cursed, because it had only leaves, and no fruit. Again, at the creation, Adam and Eve, after sinning, made themselves aprons of fig leaves. Fig leaves then signify sins; and Nathanael, when he was under the fig tree, was under the shadow of death: so that our Lord seemeth to say, O Israel, whoever of you is without guile, O people of the Jewish faith, before that I called thee by My Apostles, when thou wert as yet under the shadow of death, and sawest Me not, I saw thee. GREG. When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee; i. e. when thou wast yet under the shade of the law, I chose thee. AUG. Nathanael remembered that he had been under the fig tree, where Christ was not present corporeally, but only by His spiritual knowledge. Hence, knowing that he had been alone, he recognised our Lord's Divinity.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaurecomment04thomuoft/catenaurecomment04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7, section 21","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html#iii.viii-p48","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v48-augustine","ref":"John 1:48"},{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.49.1","start":49,"end":49,"heading":"Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.","excerpt":"CHRYS. That our Lord then had this knowledge, had penetrated into his mind, had not blamed but praised his hesitation, proved to Nathanael that He was the true Christ: Nathanael answered and saith unto Him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel: as if he said, Thou art He who was expected, thou art He who was sought for. Sure proof being obtained, he proceeds to make confession; herein shewing his devotion, as his former hesitation had shewn his diligence. ID. Many when they read this passage, are perplexed at finding that, whereas Peter was pronounced blessed for having, after our Lord's miracles and teaching, confessed Him to be the Son of God, Nathanael, who makes the same confession before, has no such benediction. The reason is this. Peter and Nathanael both used the same words, but not in the same meaning. Peter confessed our Lord to be the Son of God, in the sense of very God; the latter in the sense of mere man; for after saying, Thou art the Son of God, he adds, Thou art the King of Israel; whereas the Son of God was not the King of Israel only, but of the whole world. This is manifest from what follows.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"CHRYS.","author":"John Chrysostom","where":"Homily 21","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf114.iv.xxiii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.50-51.1","start":50,"end":51,"heading":"Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.","excerpt":"... whereas Nathanael, as if his confession were very deficient, is led up to higher things: Jesus answered and said unto him. Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. As if He said, What I have just said has appeared a great matter to thee, and thou hast confessed Me to be King of Israel; what wilt thou say when thou seest greater things than these? What that greater thing is He proceeds to shew: And He saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. See how He raises him from earth for a while, and forces him to think that Christ is not a mere man: for how could He be a mere man, whom angels ministered to? It was, as it were, saying, that He was Lord of the Angels; for He must be the King's own Son, on whom the servants of the King descended and ascended; descended at His crucifixion, ascended at His resurrection and ascension. Angels too before this came and ministered unto Him, and angels brought the glad tidings of His birth. Our Lord made the present a proof of the future. After the powers He had already shewn, Nathanael would readily believe that much more would follow.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"catena.JHN.1.51.1","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.","excerpt":"AUG. Let us recollect the Old Testament account. Jacob saw in a dream a ladder reaching from earth to heaven; the Lord resting upon it, and the angels ascending and descending upon it. Lastly, Jacob himself understanding what the vision meant, set up a stone, and poured oil upon it. When he anointed the stone, did he make an idol? No: he only set up a symbol, not an object of worship. Thou seest here the anointing; see the Anointed also. He is the stone which the builders refused. If Jacob, who was named Israel, saw the ladder, and Nathanael was an Israelite indeed, there was a fitness in our Lord telling him Jacob's dream; as if he said, Whose name thou art called by, his dream hath appeared unto thee: for thou shalt see the heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. If they descend upon Him, and ascend to Him, then He is both up above and here below at the same time; above in Himself, below in His members. AUG. Good preachers, however, who preach Christ, are as angels of God; i. e. they ascend and descend upon the Son of man; as Paul, who ascended to the third heaven, and descended so far even as to give milk to babes. He saith, We shall see greater things than these: because it is a greater thing that our Lord has justified us, whom He hath called, than that He saw us lying under the shadow of death. For had we remained where He saw us, what profit would it have been?","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft/catenaaureacomme04thomuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7","exact":false,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html","status":"detected","href":null,"ref":null},{"label":"AUG.","author":"Augustine of Hippo","where":"Tractate 7, section 23","exact":true,"url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf107.iii.viii.html#iii.viii-p55","status":"detected","href":"/jhn/1/#v51-augustine","ref":"John 1:51"}],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null}]},{"work_id":"calvin","author":"John Calvin","short_name":"Calvin","author_dates":"1509-1564","tradition":"Reformed","era":"Reformation","died":1564,"title":"Commentary on the Gospel According to John","edition_short":"Calvin Translation Society, tr. William Pringle, 1847","author_url":"/commentators/calvin/","divisions":"verse","work_url":"/works/calvin/","entries":[{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.1.1","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"In the beginning was the Speech","excerpt":"1. In the beginning was the Speech. In this introduction he asserts the eternal Divinity of Christ, in order to inform us that he is the eternal God, who was manifested in the flesh, (1 Timothy 3:16.) The design is, to show it to have been necessary that the restoration of mankind should be accomplished by the Son of God, since by his power all things were created, since he alone breathes into all the creatures life and energy, so that they remain in their condition; and since in man himself he has given a remarkable display both of his power and of his grace, and even subsequently to the fall of man has not ceased to show liberality and kindness towards his posterity. And this doctrine is highly necessary to be known; for since apart from God we ought not at all to seek life and salvation, how could our faith rest on Christ, if we did not know with certainty what is here taught? By these words, therefore, the Evangelist assures us that we do not withdraw from the only and eternal God, when we believe in Christ, and likewise that life is now restored to the dead through the kindness of him who was the source and cause of life, when the nature of man was still uncorrupted.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":184,"text":"1 Timothy 3:16","label":"1 Timothy 3:16","href":"/1ti/3/#v16","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.1.2","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"","excerpt":"As to the Evangelist calling the Son of God the Speech, the simple reason appears to me to be, first, because he is the eternal Wisdom and Will of God; and, secondly, because he is the lively image of His purpose; for, as Speech is said to be among men the image of the mind, so it is not inappropriate to apply this to God, and to say that He reveals himself to us by his Speech. The other significations of the Greek word λόγος (Logos) do not apply so well. It means, no doubt, definition, and reasoning, and calculation; but I am unwilling to carry the abstruseness of philosophy beyond the measure of my faith. And we perceive that the Spirit of God is so far from approving of such subtleties that, in prattling with us, by his very silence he cries aloud with what sobriety we ought to handle such lofty mysteries.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.1.3","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"And the Speech was God","excerpt":"And the Speech was God. That there may be no remaining doubt as to Christ’s divine essence, the Evangelist distinctly asserts that he is God. Now since there is but one God, it follows that Christ is of the same essence with the Father, and yet that, in some respect, he is distinct from the Father. But of the second clause we have already spoken. As to the unity of the divine essence, Arius showed prodigious wickedness, when, to avoid being compelled to acknowledge the eternal Divinity of Christ, he prattled about I know not what imaginary Deity; but for our part, when we are informed that the Speech was God, what right have we any longer to call in question his eternal essence?","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.2.1","start":2,"end":2,"heading":"He was in the beginning","excerpt":"2. He was in the beginning. In order to impress more deeply on our minds what had been already said, the Evangelist condenses the two preceding clauses into a brief summary, that the Speech always was, and that he was with God; so that it may be understood that the beginning was before all time.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.3.1","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"All things were made by him","excerpt":"3. All things were made by him. Having affirmed that the Speech is God, and having asserted his eternal essence, he now proves his Divinity from his works. And this is the practical knowledge, to which we ought to be chiefly accustomed; for the mere name of God attributed to Christ will affect us little, if our faith do not feel it to be such by experience. In reference to the Son of God, he makes an assertion which strictly and properly applies to his person. Sometimes, indeed, Paul simply declares that all things are by God, (Romans 11:36) but whenever the Son is compared with the Father, he is usually distinguished by this mark. Accordingly, the ordinary mode of expression is here employed, that the Father made all things by the Son, and that all things are by God through the Son. Now the design of the Evangelist is, as I have already said, to show that no sooner was the world created than the Speech of God came forth into external operation; for having formerly been incomprehensible in his essence, he then became publicly known by the effect of his power. There are some, indeed, even among philosophers, who make God to be the Master-builder of the world in such a manner as to ascribe to him intelligence in framing this work. So far they are in the right, for they agree with Scripture; but as they immediately fly off into frivolous speculations, there is no reason why we should eagerly desire to have their testimonies; but, on the contrary, we ought to be satisfied with this inspired declaration, well knowing that it conveys far more than our mind is able to comprehend.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":534,"text":"Romans 11:36","label":"Romans 11:36","href":"/rom/11/#v36","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.4.1","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"In him was life","excerpt":"4. In him was life. Hitherto he has taught us, that by the Speech of God all things were created. He now attributes to him, in the same manner, the preservation of those things which had been created, as if he had said, that in the creation of the world there was not merely displayed a sudden exercise of his power, which soon passed away, but that it is manifested in the steady and regular order of nature, as he is said to uphold all things by the word or will of his power, (Hebrews 1:3). This life may be extended either to inanimate creatures, (which live after their own manner, though they are devoid of feeling,) or may be explained in reference to living creatures alone. It is of little consequence which you choose; for the simple meaning is, that the Speech of God was not only the source of life to all the creatures, so that those which were not began to be, but that his life-giving power causes them to remain in their condition; for were it not that his continued inspiration gives vigor to the world, every thing that lives would immediately decay, or be reduced to nothing. In a word, what Paul ascribes to God, that in him we are, and move, and live, (Acts 17:28,) John declares to be accomplished by the gracious agency of the Speech; so that it is God who gives us life, but it is by the eternal Speech","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":480,"text":"Hebrews 1:3","label":"Hebrews 1:3","href":"/heb/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":1174,"text":"Acts 17:28","label":"Acts 17:28","href":"/act/17/#v28","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.4.2","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"The life was the light of men","excerpt":"The life was the light of men. The other interpretations, which do not accord with the meaning of the Evangelist, I intentionally pass by. He speaks here, in my opinion, of that part of life in which men excel other animals; and informs us that the life which was bestowed on men was not of an ordinary description, but was united to the light of understanding. He separates man from the rank of other creatures; because we perceive more readily the power of God by feeling it in us than by beholding it at a distance. Thus Paul charges us not to seek God at a distance, because he makes himself to be felt within us, (Acts 17:27.) After having presented a general exhibition of the kindness of Christ, in order to induce men to take a nearer view of it, he points out what has been bestowed peculiarly on themselves; namely, that they were not created like the beasts, but having been endued with reason, they had obtained a higher rank. As it is not in vain that God imparts his light to their minds, it follows that the purpose for which they were created was, that they might acknowledge Him who is the Author of so excellent a blessing. And since this light, of which the Speech was the source, has been conveyed from him to us, it ought to serve as a mirror, in which we may clearly behold the divine power of the Speech","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":619,"text":"Acts 17:27","label":"Acts 17:27","href":"/act/17/#v27","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.5.1","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"And the light shineth in darkness","excerpt":"5. And the light shineth in darkness. It might be objected, that the passages of Scripture in which men are called blind are so numerous and that the blindness for which they are condemned is but too well known. For in all their reasoning faculties they miserably fail. How comes it that there are so many labyrinths of errors in the world, but because men, by their own guidance, are led only to vanity and lies? But if no light appears in men, that testimony of the divinity of Christ, which the Evangelist lately mentioned, is destroyed; for that is the third step, as I have said, that in the life of men there is something more excellent than motion and breathing. The Evangelist anticipates this question, and first of all lays down this caution, that the light which was originally bestowed on men must not be estimated by their present condition; because in this corrupted and degenerate nature light has been turned into darkness. And yet he affirms that the light of understanding is not wholly extinguished; for, amidst the thick darkness of the human mind, some remaining sparks of the brightness still shine.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.5.2","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"And the darkness did not comprehend it","excerpt":"And the darkness did not comprehend it. Although by that small measure of light which still remains in us, the Son of God has always invited men to himself, yet the Evangelist says that this was attended by no advantage, because seeing, they did not see, (Matthew 13:13.) For since man lost the favor of God, his mind is so completely overwhelmed by the thralldom of ignorance, that any portion of light which remains in it is quenched and useless. This is daily proved by experience; for all who are not regenerated by the Spirit of God possess some reason, and this is an undeniable proof that man was made not only to breathe, but to have understanding. But by that guidance of their reason they do not come to God, and do not even approach to him; so that all their understanding is nothing else than mere vanity. Hence it follows that there is no hope of the salvation of men, unless God grant new aid; for though the Son of God sheds his light upon them, they are so dull that they do not comprehend whence that light proceeds, but are carried away by foolish and wicked imaginations to absolute madness.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.i.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":256,"text":"Matthew 13:13","label":"Matthew 13:13","href":"/mat/13/#v13","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.6.1","start":6,"end":6,"heading":"There was a man","excerpt":"6. There was a man. The Evangelist now begins to discourse about the manner in which the Son of God was manifested in flesh; and that none may doubt that Christ is the eternal Son of God, he relates that Christ was announced by John the Baptist, as his herald. For not only did Christ exhibit himself to be seen by men, but he chose also to be made known by the testimony and doctrine of John; or rather, God the Father sent this witness before his Christ, that they might more willingly receive the salvation offered by him.\n\nBut it might at first sight appear ridiculous that Christ should receive testimony from another, as if he needed it; while, on the contrary, he declares that he does not seek testimony from man, (John 5:34.) The answer is easy and obvious, that this witness was appointed, not for the sake of Christ, but for our sake. If it be objected that the testimony of man is too weak to prove that Christ is the Son of God, it is likewise easy to reply, that the Baptist is not adduced as a private witness, but as one who, having received authority from God, sustained the character rather of an angel than of a man. Accordingly, he receives commendation not for his own virtues, but for this single circumstance, that he was the ambassador of God. Nor is this at variance with the fact, that the preaching of the gospel was committed to Christ, that he might be a witness to himself; for the design contemplated by the preaching of John was, that men might attend to the doctrine and miracles of Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":723,"text":"John 5:34","label":"John 5:34","href":"/jhn/5/#v34","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.7-8.1","start":7,"end":8,"heading":"He came for a testimony","excerpt":"7. He came for a testimony. The end of his calling is briefly noticed; which was, that he might prepare a Church for Christ, as, by inviting all to Christ, he shows plainly enough that he did not come on his own account.\n\n8. He was not that light. So far was John from needing commendation, that the Evangelist gives this warning, lest his excessive brightness might obscure the glory of Christ. For there were some who gazed so eagerly upon him that they neglected Christ; just as if a person, enraptured with beholding the dawning of the day, would not deign to turn his eyes towards the sun. In what sense the Evangelist employs the word light we shall immediately see. All the godly, indeed, are light in the Lord, (Ephesians 5:8,) because, in consequence of their being enlightened by his Spirit, they not only see for themselves, but likewise direct others by their example to the way of salvation. The apostles likewise are peculiarly called light, (Matthew 5:14,) because they go before, holding out the torch of the Gospel, to dispel the darkness of the world. But here the Evangelist speaks of him who is the only and eternal source of illumination, as he immediately shows more clearly.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":720,"text":"Ephesians 5:8","label":"Ephesians 5:8","href":"/eph/5/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":957,"text":"Matthew 5:14","label":"Matthew 5:14","href":"/mat/5/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.9.1","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"The true light was","excerpt":"9. The true light was. The Evangelist did not intend to contrast the true light with the false, but to distinguish Christ from all others, that none might imagine that what is called light belongs to him in common with angels or men. The distinction is, that whatever is luminous in heaven and in earth borrows its splendor from some other object; but Christ is the light, shining from itself and by itself, and enlightening the whole world by its radiance; so that no other source or cause of splendor is anywhere to be found. He gave the name of the true light, therefore, to that which has by nature the power of giving light\n\nWhich enlighteneth every man. The Evangelist insists chiefly on this point, in order to show, from the effect which every one of us perceives in him, that Christ is the light. He might have reasoned more ingeniously, that Christ, as the eternal light, has a splendor which is natural, and not brought from any other quarter; but instead of doing so, he sends us back to the experience which we all possess. For as Christ makes us all partakers of his brightness, it must be acknowledged that to him alone belongs strictly this honor of being called light","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.10.1","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"He was in the world","excerpt":"10. He was in the world. He accuses men of ingratitude, because of their own accord, as it were, they were so blinded, that the cause of the light which they enjoyed was unknown to them. This extends to every age of the world; for before Christ was manifested in the flesh, his power was everywhere displayed; and therefore those daily effects ought to correct the stupidity of men. What can be more unreasonable than to draw water from a running stream, and never to think of the fountain from which that stream flows? It follows that no proper excuse can be found for the ignorance of the world in not knowing Christ, before he was manifested in the flesh; for it arose from the indolence and wicked stupidity of those who had opportunities of seeing Him always present by his power. The whole may be summed up by saying, that never was Christ in such a manner absent from the world, but that men, aroused by his rays, ought to have raised their eyes towards him. Hence it follows, that the blame must be imputed to themselves.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.11.1","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"He came into his own","excerpt":"11. He came into his own. Here is displayed the absolutely desperate wickedness and malice of men; here is displayed their execrable impiety, that when the Son of God was manifested in flesh to the Jews, whom God had separated to himself from the other nations to be His own heritage, he was not acknowledged or received. This passage also has received various explanations. For some think that the Evangelist speaks of the whole world indiscriminately; and certainly there is no part of the world which the Son of God may not lawfully claim as his own property. According to them, the meaning is: “When Christ came down into the world, he did not enter into another person’s territories, for the whole human race was his own inheritance.” But I approve more highly of the opinion of those who refer it to the Jews alone; for there is an implied comparison, by which the Evangelist represents the heinous ingratitude of men. The Son of God had solicited an abode for himself in one nation; when he appeared there, he was rejected; and this shows clearly the awfully wicked blindness of men. In making this statement, the sole object of the Evangelist must have been to remove the offense which many would be apt to take in consequence of the unbelief of the Jews. For when he was despised and rejected by that nation to which he had been especially promised, who would reckon him to be the Redeemer of the whole world? We see what extraordinary pains the Apostle Paul takes in handling this subject.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.12.1","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"But to as many as received him","excerpt":"12. But to as many as received him. That none may be retarded by this stumbling-block, that the Jews despised and rejected Christ, the Evangelist exalts above heaven the godly who believe in him; for he says that by faith they obtain this glory of being reckoned the sons of God. The universal term, as many, contains an implied contrast; for the Jews were carried away by a blind vaunting, as if they exclusively had God bound to themselves. The Evangelist declares that their condition is changed, because the Jews have been rejected, and their place, which had been left empty, is occupied by the Jews; for it is as if he transferred the right of adoption to strangers. This is what Paul says, that the destruction of one nation was the life of the whole world, (Romans 11:12;) for the Gospel, which might be said to have been banished from them, began to be spread far and wide throughout the whole world. They were thus deprived of the privilege which they enjoyed above others. But their impiety was no obstruction to Christ; for he erected elsewhere the throne of his kingdom, and called indiscriminately to the hope of salvation all nations which formerly appeared to have been rejected by God.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":766,"text":"Romans 11:12","label":"Romans 11:12","href":"/rom/11/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.12.2","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"He gave them power","excerpt":"He gave them power. The word ἐξουσία here appears to me to mean a right, or claim; and it would be better to translate it so, in order to refute the false opinions of the Papists; for they wickedly pervert this passage by understanding it to mean, that nothing more than a choice is allowed to us, if we think fit to avail ourselves of this privilege. In this way they extract free-will from this phrase; but as well might they extract fire from water. There is some plausibility in this at first sight; for the Evangelist does not say that Christ makes them sons of God, but that he gives them power to become such. Hence they infer that it is this grace only that is offered to us, and that the liberty to enjoy or to reject it is placed at our disposal. But this frivolous attempt to catch at a single word is set aside by what immediately follows; for the Evangelist adds, that they become the sons of God, not by the will which belongs to the flesh, but when they are born of God. But if faith regenerates us, so that we are the sons of God, and if God breathes faith into us from heaven, it plainly appears that not by possibility only, but actually — as we say — is the grace of adoption offered to us by Christ. And, indeed, the Greek word, ἐξουσία is sometimes put for ἀξίωσις, (a claim,) a meaning which falls in admirably with this passage.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.13.1","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"Who were born not of blood","excerpt":"13. Who were born not of blood Some think that an indirect reference is here made to the preposterous confidence of the Jews, and I willingly adopt that opinion. They had continually in their mouth the nobleness of their lineage, as if, because they were descended from a holy stock, they were naturally holy. And justly might they have gloried in their descent from Abraham, if they had been lawful sons, and not bastards; but the glowing of faith ascribes nothing whatever to carnal generation, but acknowledges its obligation to the grace of God alone for all that is good. John, therefore, says, that those among the formerly unclean Gentiles who believe in Christ are not born the sons of God from the womb, but are renewed by God, that they may begin to be his sons. The reason why he uses the word blood in the plural number appears to have been, that he might express more fully a long succession of lineage; for this was a part of the boasting among the Jews, that they could trace their descent, by an uninterrupted line, upwards to the patriarchs.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.13.2","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"","excerpt":"It may be thought that the Evangelist reverses the natural order by making regeneration to precede faith, whereas, on the contrary, it is an effect of faith, and therefore ought to be placed later. I reply, that both statements perfectly agree; because by faith we receive the incorruptible seed, (1 Peter 1:23,) by which we are born again to a new and divine life. And yet faith itself is a work of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in none but the children of God. So then, in various respects, faith is a part of our regeneration, and an entrance into the kingdom of God, that he may reckon us among his children. The illumination of our minds by the Holy Spirit belongs to our renewal, and thus faith flows from regeneration as from its source; but since it is by the same faith that we receive Christ, who sanctifies us by his Spirit, on that account it is said to be the beginning of our adoption.\n\nAnother solution, still more plain and easy, may be offered; for when the Lord breathes faith into us, he regenerates us by some method that is hidden and unknown to us; but after we have received faith, we perceive, by a lively feeling of conscience, not only the grace of adoption, but also newness of life and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit. For since faith, as we have said, receives Christ, it puts us in possession, so to speak, of all his blessings. Thus so far as respects our sense, it is only after having believed — that we begin to be the sons of God. But if the inheritance of eternal life is the fruit of adoption, we see how the Evangelist ascribes the whole of our salvation to the grace of Christ alone; and, indeed, how closely soever men examine themselves, they will find nothing that is worthy of the children of God, except what Christ has bestowed on them.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":298,"text":"1 Peter 1:23","label":"1 Peter 1:23","href":"/1pe/1/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.14.1","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"And the Speech was made flesh","excerpt":"14. And the Speech was made flesh. The Evangelist shows what was that coming of Christ which he had mentioned; namely, that having been clothed with our flesh, he showed himself openly to the world. Although the Evangelist touches briefly the unutterable mystery, that the Son of God was clothed with human nature, yet this brevity is wonderfully perspicuous. Here some madmen amuse themselves with foolish and trivial subtleties of this sort: that the Speech is said to have been made flesh, because God sent his Son into the world, according to the conception which he had formed in his mind; as if the Speech were I know not what shadowy image. But we have demonstrated that that word denotes a real hypostasis, or subsistence, in the essence of God.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.14.2","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"","excerpt":"The word Flesh expresses the meaning of the Evangelist more forcibly than if he had said that he was made man. He intended to show to what a mean and despicable condition the Son of God, on our account, descended from the height of his heavenly glory. When Scripture speaks of man contemptuously, it calls him flesh. Now, though there be so wide a distance between the spiritual glory of the Speech of God and the abominable filth of our flesh, yet the Son of God stooped so low as to take upon himself that flesh, subject to so many miseries. The word flesh is not taken here for corrupt nature, (as it is often used by Paul,) but for mortal man; though it marks disdainfully his frail and perishing nature, as in these and similar passages, for he remembered that they were flesh, (Psalm 78:39;) all flesh is grass, (Isaiah 40:6.) We must at the same time observe, however, that this is a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole; for the lower part includes the whole man. It was therefore highly foolish in Apollinaris to imagine that Christ was merely clothed with a human body without a soul; for it may easily be proved from innumerable passages, that he had a soul as well as a body; and when Scripture calls men flesh, it does not therefore deprive them of a soul.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":784,"text":"Psalm 78:39","label":"Psalms 78:39","href":"/psa/78/#v39","status":"detected"},{"at":819,"text":"Isaiah 40:6","label":"Isaiah 40:6","href":"/isa/40/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.14.3","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"And we beheld his glory","excerpt":"And we beheld his glory. for though all men might have beheld the glory of Christ, yet it was unknown to the greater part on account of their blindness. It was only a few, whose eyes the Holy Spirit opened, that saw this manifestation of glory. In a word, Christ was known to be man in such a manner that he exhibited in his Person something far more noble and excellent. Hence it follows that the majesty of God was not annihilated, though it was surrounded by flesh; it was indeed concealed under the low condition of the flesh, but so as to cause its splendor to be seen.\n\nAs of the only-begotten of the Father. The word as does not, in this passage, denote an inappropriate comparison, but rather expresses true and hearty approbation; as when Paul says, Walk as children of light, he bids us actually demonstrate by our works that we are the children of light. The Evangelist therefore means, that in Christ was beheld a glory which was worthy of the Son of God, and which was a sure proof of his Divinity. He calls him the Only-begotten, because he is the only Son of God by nature; as if he would place him above men and angels, and would claim for him alone what belongs to no creature.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.14.4","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Full of grace","excerpt":"Full of grace. There were, indeed, other things in which the majesty of Christ appeared, but the Evangelist selected this instance in preference to others, in order to train us to the speculative rather than the practical knowledge of it; and this ought to be carefully observed. Certainly when Christ walked with dry feet upon the waters, (Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:48; John 6:19,) when he cast out devils, and when he displayed his power in other miracles, he might be known to be the only-begotten Son of God; but the Evangelist brings forward a part of the approbation, from which faith obtains delightful advantage, because Christ demonstrated that he actually is an inexhaustible fountain of grace and truth. Stephen, too, is said to have been full of grace, but in a different sense; for the fullness of grace in Christ is the fountain from which all of us must draw, as we shall have occasion shortly afterwards to explain more fully.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":341,"text":"Matthew 14:26","label":"Matthew 14:26","href":"/mat/14/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":356,"text":"Mark 6:48","label":"Mark 6:48","href":"/mrk/6/#v48","status":"detected"},{"at":367,"text":"John 6:19","label":"John 6:19","href":"/jhn/6/#v19","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.15.1","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"John testifieth","excerpt":"15. John testifieth. He now relates what was the preaching of John. By using the verb testifieth (μαρτυρεῖ) in the present tense, he denotes a continued act, and certainly this doctrine must be continually in force, as if the voice of John were continually resounding in the ears of men. In the same manner he afterwards uses the word cry, to intimate that the doctrine of John was in no degree obscure or ambiguous, and that he did not mutter among a few men, but openly, and with a loud voice, preached Christ. The first sentence is intended to convey the statement, that he was sent for the sake of Christ, and therefore that it would have been unreasonable that he should be exalted, while Christ was lying low.\n\nThis is he of whom I spoke. By these words he means that his intention was, from the beginning, to make Christ known, and that this was the design of his public discourses; as, indeed, there was no other way in which he could discharge his office as ambassador than by calling his disciples to Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iv.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.15.2","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"Who, coming after me","excerpt":"Who, coming after me. Though John the Baptist was older than Christ by a few months, yet he does not now speak of age; but as he had discharged the office of prophet for a short period before Christ appeared in public, so he makes himself the predecessor with respect to time. With respect, therefore, to public manifestation, Christ came after John the Baptist. The words which follow might be literally rendered, he was made before me, for he was before me; but the meaning is, that Christ was justly preferred to John, because he was more excellent. He therefore surrenders his office to Christ and — as the proverb runs — “delivers to him the torch,” or gives way to him as his successor. But as he arose later in the order of time, John reminds his hearers that this is no reason why he should not be preferred to himself, as his rank deserved. Thus, all who are superior to others, either in the gifts of God or in any degree of honor, must remain in their own rank, so as to be placed below Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iv.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.16.1","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"And out of his fullness","excerpt":"16. And out of his fullness. He begins now to preach about the office of Christ, that it contains within itself an abundance of all blessings, so that no part of salvation must be sought anywhere else. True, indeed, the fountain of life, righteousness, virtue, and wisdom, is with God, but to us it is a hidden and inaccessible fountain. But an abundance of those things is exhibited to us in Christ, that we may be permitted to have recourse to him; for he is ready to flow to us, provided that we open up a channel by faith. He declares in general, that out of Christ we ought not to seek any thing good, though this sentence consists of several clauses. First, he shows that we are all utterly destitute and empty of spiritual blessings; for the abundance which exists in Christ is intended to supply our deficiency, to relieve our poverty, to satisfy our hunger and thirst. Secondly, he warns us that, as soon as we have departed from Christ, it is ill vain for us to seek a single drop of happiness, because God hath determined that whatever is good shall reside in him alone. Accordingly, we shall find angels and men to be dry, heaven to be empty, the earth to be unproductive, and, in short, all things to be of no value, if we wish to be partakers of the gifts of God in any other way than through Christ. Thirdly, he assures us that we shall have no reason to fear the want of any thing, provided that we draw from the fullness of Christ, which is in every respect; so complete, that we shall experience it to be a truly inexhaustible fountain; and John classes himself with the rest, not for the sake of modesty, but to make it more evident that no man whatever is excepted.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iv.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.16.2","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"And, grace for grace","excerpt":"And, grace for grace. In what manner Augustine explains this passage is well known - that all the blessings which God bestows upon us from time to time, and at length life everlasting, are not granted as the reward due to our merits, but that it proceeds from pure liberality that God thus rewards former grace, and crowns his own gifts in us. This is piously and judiciously said, but has nothing to do with the present passage. The meaning would be more simple if you were to take the word for (ἀντὶ) comparatively, as meaning, that whatever graces God bestows on us, proceed equally from the same source. It might also be taken as pointing out the final cause, that we now receive grace, that God may one day fulfill the work of our salvation, which will be the fulfillment of grace. For my own part, I agree with the opinion of those who say that we are watered with the graces which were poured out on Christ; for what we receive from Christ he does not bestow upon us as being God, but the Father communicated to him what would flow to us as through a channel. This is the anointing with which he was anointed, that he might anoint us all along with him. Hence, too, he is called Christ, (the Anointed,) and we are called Christians.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iv.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.17.1","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"For the Law was given by Moses","excerpt":"17. For the Law was given by Moses. This is an anticipation, by which he meets an objection that was likely to arise; for so highly was Moses esteemed by the Jews that they could hardly receive anything that differed from him. The Evangelist therefore shows how far inferior the ministry of Moses was to the power of Christ. At the same time, this comparison sheds no small luster on the power of Christ; for while the utmost possible deference was rendered to Moses by the Jews, the Evangelist reminds them that what he brought was exceedingly small, when compared with the grace of Christ. It would otherwise have been a great hindrance, that they expected to receive from the Law what we can only obtain through Christ.\n\nBut we must attend to the antithesis, when he contrasts the law with grace and truth; for his meaning is, that the law wanted both of them. The word Truth denotes, in my opinion, a fixed and permanent state of things. By the word Grace I understand the spiritual fulfillment of those things, the bare letter of which was contained in the Law. And those two words may be supposed to refer to the same thing, by a well-known figure of speech, (hypallage;) as if he had said, that grace, in which the truth of the Law consists, was at length exhibited in Christ. But as the meaning will be in no degree affected, it is of no importance whether you view them as united or as distinguished. This at least is certain, that the Evangelist means, that in the Law there was nothing more than a shadowy image of spiritual blessings, but that they are actually found in Christ; whence it follows, that if you separate the Law from Christ, there remains nothing in it but empty figures. For this reason Paul says that","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iv.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.18.1","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"No man hath ever seen God","excerpt":"18. No man hath ever seen God. Most appropriately is this added to confirm the preceding statement; for the knowledge of God is the door by which we enter into the enjoyment of all blessings; and as it is by Christ alone that God makes himself known to us, hence too it follows that we ought to seek all things from Christ. This order of doctrine ought to be carefully observed. No remark appears to be more common than this, that each of us receives, according to the measure of his faith, what God offers to us; but there are few who think that we must bring the vessel of faith and of the knowledge of God with which we draw.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iv.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.18.2","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"","excerpt":"When he says that no man hath seen God, we must not understand him to refer to the outward perception of the bodily eye; for he means generally, that as God dwells in inaccessible light, (1 Timothy 6:16,) he cannot be known but in Christ, who is his lively image. This passage is usually explained thus that as the naked majesty of God is concealed within himself, he never could be comprehended, except so far as he revealed himself in Christ; and therefore that it was only in Christ that God was formerly known to the fathers. But I rather think that the Evangelist here abides by the comparison already stated, namely, how much better our condition is than that of the fathers, because God, who was formerly concealed in his secret glory, may now be said to have rendered himself visible; for certainly when Christ is called the lively image of God, (Hebrews 1:3,) this refers to the peculiar privilege of the New Testament. In like manner, the Evangelist describes, in this passage, something new and uncommon, when he says that the only-begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, hath made known to us what was formerly concealed. He therefore magnifies the manifestation of God, which has been brought to us by the gospel, in which he distinguishes us from the fathers, and shows that we are superior to them; as also Paul explains more fully in the Third and Fourth chapters of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. For he maintains that there is now no longer any veil, such as existed under the Law, but that God is openly beheld in the face of Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iv.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":188,"text":"1 Timothy 6:16","label":"1 Timothy 6:16","href":"/1ti/6/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":855,"text":"Hebrews 1:3","label":"Hebrews 1:3","href":"/heb/1/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.18.3","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"","excerpt":"When he says that the Son was in the bosom of the Father, the metaphor is borrowed from men, who are said to receive into their bosom those to whom they communicate all their secrets. The breast is the seat of counsel. He therefore shows that the Son was acquainted with the most hidden secrets of his Father, in order to inform us that we have the breast of God, as it were, laid open to us in the Gospel.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.iv.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.19.1","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"And this is the testimony","excerpt":"19. And this is the testimony. Hitherto the Evangelist has related the preaching of John about Christ; he now comes down to a more illustrious testimony, which was delivered to the ambassadors of the Priests, that they might convey it to Jerusalem. He says, therefore, that John openly confessed for what purpose he was sent by God. The first inquiry here is, for what purpose the Priests put questions to him. It is generally believed that, out of hatred to Christ, they gave to John an honor which did not belong to him; but this could not be the reason, for Christ was not yet known to them. Others say that they were better pleased with John, because he was of the lineage and order of the priesthood; but neither do I think that this is probable; for since they expected from Christ all prosperity, why did they voluntarily contrive a false Christ? I think, therefore, that there was another reason that induced them. It was now a long time since they had the Prophets; John came suddenly and contrary to expectation; and the minds of all were aroused to expect the Messiah. Besides, all entertained the belief that the coining of the Messiah was at hand.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.v.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.20.1","start":20,"end":20,"heading":"And he confessed, and denied not","excerpt":"20. And he confessed, and denied not. That is, he confessed openly, and without any ambiguity or hypocrisy. The word confess, in the first instance, means generally, that he stated the fact as it really was. In the second instance, it is repeated in order to express the form of the confession. He replied expressly, that he was not the Christ","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.v.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.21.1","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"Art thou Elijah?","excerpt":"21. Art thou Elijah? Why do they name Elijah rather than Moses? It was because they learned from the prediction of Malachi 4:2, 5, that when the Messiah, the Sun of Righteousness, should arise, Elijah would be the morning star to announce his approach. But the question is founded on a false opinion which they had long held; for, holding the opinion that the soul of a man departs out of one body into another, when the Prophet Malachi announced that Elijah would be sent, they imagined that the same Elijah, who lived under the reign of king Ahab, (1 Kings 17:1,) was to come. It is therefore a just and true reply which John makes, that he is not Elijah; for he speaks according to the opinion which they attached to the words; but Christ, giving the true interpretation of the Prophet, affirms that John is Elijah, (Matthew 11:14; Mark 9:13.)","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.v.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":115,"text":"Malachi 4:2, 5","label":"Malachi 4:2","href":"https://openwordbible.org/mal/4/","status":"detected"},{"at":115,"text":"Malachi 4:2, 5","label":"Malachi 4:5","href":"https://openwordbible.org/mal/4/","status":"detected"},{"at":551,"text":"1 Kings 17:1","label":"1 Kings 17:1","href":"/1ki/17/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":820,"text":"Matthew 11:14","label":"Matthew 11:14","href":"/mat/11/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.21.2","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"Art thou a Prophet?","excerpt":"Art thou a Prophet? Erasmus gives an inaccurate explanation of these words by limiting them to Christ; for the addition of the article (ὁ προφήτης, the prophet) carries no emphasis in this passage; and the messengers afterwards declare plainly enough, that they meant a different prophet from Christ; for they sum up the whole: by saying, (verse 25,) if thou art neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a Prophet. Thus we see that they intended to point out different persons. Others think that they inquired if he was one of the ancient prophets; but neither do I approve of that exposition. Rather do they by this term point out the office of John, and ask if God had appointed him to be a prophet. When he replies, I am not, he does not for the sake of modesty tell a lie, but honestly and sincerely detaches himself from the company of the prophets. And yet this reply is not inconsistent with the honorable attestation which Christ gives him. Christ bestows on John the designation of prophet, and even adds that he is more than a prophet, (Matthew 11:9;) but by these words he does nothing more than demand credit and authority for his doctrine, and at the same time describes, in lofty terms, the excellence of the office which had been conferred on him. But in this passage John has a different object in view, which is, to show that he has no special message, as was usually the case with the prophets, but that he was merely appointed to be the herald of Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.v.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":1042,"text":"Matthew 11:9","label":"Matthew 11:9","href":"/mat/11/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.23.1","start":23,"end":23,"heading":"The voice of him who crieth","excerpt":"23. The voice of him who crieth. As he would have been chargeable with rashness in undertaking the office of teaching, if he had not received a commission, he shows what was the duty which he had to perform, and proves it by a quotation from the Prophet Isaiah 60:3. Hence it follows that he does nothing but what God commanded him to do. Isaiah does not, indeed, speak there of John alone, but, promising the restoration of the Church, he predicts that there will yet be heard joyful voices, commanding to prepare the way for the Lord. Though he points out the coming of God, when he brought back the people from their captivity in Babylon, yet the true accomplishment was the manifestation of Christ in flesh. Among the heralds who announced that the Lord was at hand, John held the chief place.\n\nTo enter into ingenious inquiries, as some have done, into the meaning of the word Voice, would be frivolous. John is called a Voice, because he was enjoined to cry. It is in a figurative sense, undoubtedly, that Isaiah gives the name wilderness to the miserable desolation of the Church, which seemed to preclude the return of the people; as if he had said, that a passage would indeed be opened up for the captive people, but that the Lord would find a road through regions in which there was no road. But that visible wilderness, in which John preached, was a figure or image of the awful desolation which took away all hope of deliverance. If this comparison be considered, it will be easily seen that no torture has been given to the words of the prophet in this application of them; for God arranged everything in such a manner, as to place before the eyes of his people, who were overwhelmed with their calamities, a mirror of this prediction.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.v.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":254,"text":"Isaiah 60:3","label":"Isaiah 60:3","href":"/isa/60/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.24.1","start":24,"end":24,"heading":"Were of the Pharisees","excerpt":"24. Were of the Pharisees. He says that they were Pharisees, who at that time held the highest rank in the Church; and he says so in order to inform us, that they were not some contemptible persons of the order of the Levites, but men clothed with authority. This is the reason why they raise a question about his baptism. Ordinary ministers would have been satisfied with any kind of answer; but those men, because they cannot draw from John what they desired, accuse him of rashness for venturing to introduce a new religious observance.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vi.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.25.1","start":25,"end":25,"heading":"Why then dost thou baptize?","excerpt":"25. Why then dost thou baptize? By laying down those three degrees, they appear to form a very conclusive argument: if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet; for it does not belong to every man to institute the practice of baptism. The Messiah was to be one who possessed all authority. Of Elijah who was to come, they had formed this opinion, that he would commence the restoration both of the royal authority and of the Church. The prophets of God, they readily grant, have a right to discharge the office committed to them. They conclude, therefore, that for John to baptize is an unlawful novelty, since he has received from God no public station. But they are wrong in not acknowledging him to be that Elijah who is mentioned by Malachi 4:5; though he denies that he is that Elijah of whom they foolishly dreamed.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vi.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":747,"text":"Malachi 4:5","label":"Malachi 4:5","href":"https://openwordbible.org/mal/4/","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.26.1","start":26,"end":26,"heading":"I baptize with water","excerpt":"26. I baptize with water. This ought to have been abundantly sufficient for the correction of their mistake, but a reproof otherwise clear is of no advantage to the deaf; for, when he sends them to Christ, and declares that Christ is present, this is a clear proof not only that he was divinely appointed to be a minister of Christ, but that he is the true Elijah, who is sent to testify that the time is come for the renovation of the Church. There is a contrast here which is not fully stated; for the spiritual baptism of Christ is not expressly contrasted with the external baptism of John, but that latter clause about the baptism of the Spirit might easily be supplied, and shortly afterwards both are set down by the Evangelist.\n\nThis answer may be reduced to two heads: first, that John claims nothing for himself but what he has a right to claim, because he has Christ for the Author of his baptism, in which consists the truth of the sign; and, secondly, that he has nothing but the administration of the outward sign, while the whole power and efficacy is in the hands of Christ alone. Thus he defends his baptism so far as its truth depends on anything else; but, at the same time, by declaring that he has not the power of the Spirit, he exalts the dignity of Christ, that the eyes of men may be fixed on him alone. This is the highest and best regulated moderation, when a minister borrows from Christ whatever authority he claims for himself, in such a manner as to trace it to him, ascribing to him alone all that he possesses.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vi.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.26.2","start":26,"end":26,"heading":"One standeth in the midst of you","excerpt":"One standeth in the midst of you. He indirectly charges them with stupidity, in not knowing Christ, to whom their minds ought to have been earnestly directed; and he always insists earnestly on this point, that nothing can be known about his ministry, until men have come to him who is the Author of it. When he says that Christ standeth in the midst of, them, it is that he may excite their desire and their exertion to know him. The amount of what he says is, that he wishes to place himself as low as possible, lest any degree of honor improperly bestowed on him might obscure the excellence of Christ. It is probable that he had these sentences frequently in his mouth, when he saw himself immoderately extolled by the perverse opinions of men.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vi.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.27.1","start":27,"end":27,"heading":"Who coming after me","excerpt":"27. Who coming after me. Here he says two things; first, that Christ was behind him in the order of time; but, secondly, that he was far before him in rank and dignity, because the rather preferred him to all. Soon after he will add a third statement, that Christ was preferred to all others, because he is in reality more exalted than all others.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vi.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.28.1","start":28,"end":28,"heading":"These things were done in Bethabara","excerpt":"28. These things were done in Bethabara. The place is mentioned, not only to authenticate the narrative, but also to inform us that this answer was given amidst a numerous assembly of people; for there were many who flocked to John’s baptism, and this was his ordinary place for baptizing. It is likewise supposed by some to be a passage across Jordan, and, from this circumstance, they derive the name, for they interpret it the house of passage; unless, perhaps, some may prefer the opinion of those who refer to the memorable passage of the people, (Joshua 3:13,) when God opened up a way for them in the midst of the waters, under the direction of Joshua. Others say that it ought rather to be read Betharaba. Instead of Bethabara, some have inserted here the name Bethany, but this is a mistake; for we shall afterwards see how near Bethany was to Jerusalem. The situation of Bethabara, as laid down by those who have described the country, agrees best with the words of the Evangelist; though I have no wish to dispute about the pronunciation of the word.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vi.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":553,"text":"Joshua 3:13","label":"Joshua 3:13","href":"/jos/3/#v13","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.29.1","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"Behold the Lamb of God","excerpt":"Behold the Lamb of God. The principal office of Christ is briefly but clearly stated; that he takes away the sins of the world by the sacrifice of his death, and reconciles men to God. There are other favors, indeed, which Christ bestows upon us, but this is the chief favor, and the rest depend on it; that, by appeasing the wrath of God, he makes us to be reckoned holy and righteous. For from this source flow all the streams of blessings, that, by not imputing our sins, he receives us into favor. Accordingly, John, in order to conduct us to Christ, commences with the gratuitous forgiveness of sins which we obtain through him.\n\nBy the word Lamb he alludes to the ancient sacrifices of the Law. He had to do with Jews who, having been accustomed to sacrifices, could not be instructed about atonement for sins in any other way than by holding out to them a sacrifice. As there were various kinds of them, he makes one, by a figure of speech, to stand for the whole; and it is probable that John alluded to the paschal lamb. It must be observed, in general, that John employed this mode of expression, which was better adapted to instruct the Jews, and possessed greater force; as in our own day, in consequence of baptism being generally practiced, we understand better what is meant by obtaining forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ, when we are told that we are washed and cleansed by it from our pollutions. At the same time, as the Jews commonly held superstitious notions about sacrifices, he corrects this fault in passing, by reminding them of the object to which all the sacrifices were directed. It was a very wicked abuse of the institution of sacrifice, that they had their confidence fixed on the outward signs; and therefore John, holding out Christ, testifies that he is the Lamb of God; by which he means that all the sacrifices, which the Jews were accustomed to offer under the Law, had no power whatever to atone for sins, but that they were only figures, the truth of which was manifested in Christ himself.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.29.2","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"Who taketh away the sin of the world","excerpt":"Who taketh away the sin of the world. He uses the word sin in the singular number, for any kind of iniquity; as if he had said, that every kind of unrighteousness which alienates men from God is taken away by Christ. And when he says, the sin Of The World, he extends this favor indiscriminately to the whole human race; that the Jews might not think that he had been sent to them alone. But hence we infer that the whole world is involved in the same condemnation; and that as all men without exception are guilty of unrighteousness before God, they need to be reconciled to him. John the Baptist, therefore, by speaking generally of the sin of the world, intended to impress upon us the conviction of our own misery, and to exhort us to seek the remedy. Now our duty is, to embrace the benefit which is offered to all, that each of us may be convinced that there is nothing to hinder him from obtaining reconciliation in Christ, provided that he comes to him by the guidance of faith.\n\nBesides, he lays down but one method of taking away sins We know that from the beginning of the world, when their own consciences held them convinced, men labored anxiously to procure forgiveness. Hence the vast number of propitiatory offerings, by which they falsely imagined that they appeased God. I own, indeed, that all the spurious rites of a propitiatory nature drew their existence from a holy origin, which was, that God had appointed the sacrifices which directed men to Christ; but yet every man contrived for himself his own method of appeasing God. But John leads us back to Christ alone, and informs us that there is no other way in which God is reconciled to us than through his agency, because he alone takes away sin. He therefore leaves no other refuge for sinners than to flee to Christ; by which he overturns all satisfactions, and purifications, and redemptions, that are invented by men; as, indeed, they are nothing else than base inventions framed by the subtlety of the devil.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.30.1","start":30,"end":30,"heading":"This is he of whom I said","excerpt":"30. This is he of whom I said. He comprehends every thing in a few words, when he declares that Christ is the person who, he said, was to be preferred to him; for hence it follows that John is nothing more than a herald sent on his account; and hence again it is evident that Christ is the Messiah. Three things are here stated; for when he says that a man cometh after him, he means that he himself was before him in the order of time, to prepare the way for Christ, according to the testimony of Malachi,\n\nBehold, I send my messenger before my face, (Malachi 3:1.)\n\nAgain, when he says that he was preferred to himself, this relates to the glory with which God adorned his Son, when he came into the world to fulfill the office of a Redeemer. At last, the reason is added, which is, that Christ is far superior in dignity to John the Baptist. That honor, therefore, which the Father bestowed upon him was not accidental, but was due to his eternal majesty. But of this expression, he was preferred to me, because he was before me, I have already Spoken.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":553,"text":"Malachi 3:1","label":"Malachi 3:1","href":"/mal/3/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.31.1","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"And I knew him not","excerpt":"31. And I knew him not. That his testimony may not be suspected of having been given either from friendship or favor, he anticipates such a doubt, by affirming that he had no other knowledge of Christ than what he had obtained by divine inspiration. The meaning, therefore, amounts to this, that John does not speak at his own suggestion, nor for the favor of man, but by the inspiration of the Spirit and the command of God.\n\nI came baptizing with water; that is, I was called and appointed to this office, that I might manifest him to Israel; which the Evangelist afterwards explains more fully, and confirms, when he introduces John the Baptist, testifying that he had no knowledge of Christ but what he had obtained by oracle; that is, by information or revelation from God. Instead of what we find here, I came to baptize, he there states expressly (verse 33) that he was sent; for it is only the calling of God that makes lawful ministers, because every person who of his own accord, thrusts himself forward, whatever learning or eloquence he may possess, is not entitled to any authority, and the reason is, that he is not authorized by God. Now since it was necessary that John, in order that he might lawfully baptize, should be sent by God, let it be inferred from this, that it is not in the power of any man whatever to institute sacraments, but that this right belongs to God alone, as Christ, on another occasion, in order to prove the baptism of John, asks if it was from heaven, or from men, (Matthew 21:25.)","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.32.1","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"I saw the Spirit, descending like a dove","excerpt":"32. I saw the Spirit, descending like a dove. This is not a literal but a figurative mode of expression; for with what eyes could he see the Spirit? But as the dove was a certain and infallible sign of the presence of the Spirit, it is called the Spirit, by a figure of speech in which one name is substituted for another; not that he is in reality the Spirit, but that he points him out, as far as human capacity can admit. And this metaphorical language is frequently employed in the sacraments; for why does Christ call the bread his body, but because the name of the thing is properly transferred to the sign? especially when the sign is, at the same time, a true and efficacious pledge, by which we are made certain that the thing itself which is signified is bestowed on us. Yet it must not be understood that the dove contained the Spirit who fills heaven and earth, (Jeremiah 23:24,) but that he was present by his power, so that John knew that such an exhibition was not presented to his eyes in vain. In like manner, we know that the body of Christ is not connected with the bread, and yet we are partakers of his body.\n\nA question now arises, why did the Spirit at that time appear in the form of a dove? We must always hold that there is a correspondence between the sign and the reality. When the Spirit was given to the apostles, they saw cloven tongues of fire, (Acts 2:3,) because the preaching of the gospel was to be spread through all tongues, and was to possess the power of fire. But in this passage God intended to make a public representation of that mildness of Christ of which Isaiah speaks in lofty terms,\n\nThe smoking flax he will not quench, and the bruised reed he will not break, (Isaiah 42:3.)","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":875,"text":"Jeremiah 23:24","label":"Jeremiah 23:24","href":"/jer/23/#v24","status":"detected"},{"at":1378,"text":"Acts 2:3","label":"Acts 2:3","href":"/act/2/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.33.1","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending","excerpt":"33. Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending. Here a difficult question arises; for if John did not know Christ, why does he refuse to admit him to baptism? To a person whom he did not know he would not say, I ought rather to be baptized by thee, (Matthew 3:14.) Some reply, that he knew him to such an extent as to regard him with the reverence due to a distinguished Prophet, but was not aware that he was the Son of God. But this is a poor solution of the difficulty, for every man ought to obey the calling of God without any respect of persons. No rank or excellence of man ought to prevent us from doing our duty, and therefore John would have shown disrespect to God and to his baptism, if he had spoken in this manner to any other person than the Son of God. it follows that he must have previously known Christ.\n\nIn the first place, it ought to be observed, that the knowledge here mentioned is that which arises from personal and long acquaintance. Although he recognizes Christ whenever he sees him, still it does not cease to be true that they were not known to each other according to the ordinary custom of men, for the commencement of his knowledge proceeded from God. But the question is not yet fully answered; for he says that the sight of the Holy Spirit was the mark by which he was pointed out to him. Now he had not yet seen the Spirit, when he had addressed Christ as the Son of God. For my own part, I willingly embrace the opinion of those who think that this sign was added for confirmation, and that it was not so much for the sake of John as for the sake of us all. John indeed saw it, but it was rather for others than for himself. Bucer appropriately quotes that saying of Moses,","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":254,"text":"Matthew 3:14","label":"Matthew 3:14","href":"/mat/3/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.34.1","start":34,"end":34,"heading":"I saw and testified","excerpt":"34. I saw and testified. He means that what he declares is not doubtful; because God was pleased to make him fully and thoroughly acquainted with those things of which he was to be the witness to the world; and it is worthy of notice, that he testified that Christ was the Son of God, because he who gives the Holy Spirit must be the Christ, for to no other belongs the honor and the office of reconciling men to God.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.vii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.35-37.1","start":35,"end":37,"heading":"Behold the Lamb of God!","excerpt":"36. Behold the Lamb of God! Hence appears more clearly what I have already stated, that when John perceived that he was approaching the end of his course, he labored incessantly to resign his office to Christ. His firmness too gives greater credit to his testimony. But by insisting so earnestly, during many successive days, in repeating the commendation of Christ, he shows that his own course was nearly finished. Here we see also how small and low the beginning of the Church was. John, indeed, prepared disciples for Christ, but it is only now that Christ begins to collect a Church. He has no more than two men who are mean and unknown, but this even contributes to illustrate his glory, that within a short period, without human aid, and without a strong hand, he spreads his kingdom in a wonderful and incredible manner. We ought also to observe what is the chief object to which John directs the attention of men; it is, to find in Christ the forgiveness of sins. And as Christ had presented himself to the disciples for the express purpose that they might come to him, so now when they come, he gently encourages and exhorts them; for he does not wait until they first address him, but asks, What do you seek? This kind and gracious invitation, which was once made to two persons, now belongs to all. We ought not therefore to fear that Christ will withdraw from us or refuse to us easy access, provided that he sees us desirous to come to him; but, on the contrary, he will stretch out his hand to assist our endeavors. And how will not he meet those who come to him, who seeks at a distance those who are wandering and astray, that he may bring them back to the right road?","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.viii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.38.1","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"Rabbi","excerpt":"38. Rabbi. This name was commonly given to persons of high rank, or who possessed any kind of honor. But the Evangelist here points out another use of it which was made in his own age, which was, that they addressed by this name the teachers and expounders of the word of God. Although, therefore, those two disciples do not yet recognize Christ as the only Teacher of the Church, yet, moved by the commendation bestowed on him by John the Baptist, they hold him to be a Prophet and teacher, which is the first step towards receiving instruction.\n\nWhere dwellest thou? By this example we are taught that from the first, rudiments of the Church we ought to draw such a relish for Christ as will excite our desire to profit; and next, that we ought not to be satisfied with a mere passing look, but that we ought to seek his dwelling, that he may receive us as guests. For there are very many who smell the gospel at a distance only, and thus allow Christ suddenly to disappear, and all that they have learned concerning him to pass away. And though those two persons did not at that time become his ordinary disciples, yet there can be no doubt that, during that night, he instructed them more fully, so that they soon afterwards became entirely devoted to him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.viii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.39.1","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"It was about the tenth hour","excerpt":"39. It was about the tenth hour; that is, the evening was approaching, for it was not more than two hours till sunset. The day was at that time divided by them into twelve hours, which were longer in summer and shorter in winter. But from this circumstance we infer that those disciples were so eagerly desirous to hear Christ, and to gain a more intimate knowledge of him, that they gave themselves no concern about a night’s lodging. On the contrary, we are, for the most part, very unlike them, for we incessantly delay, because it is not convenient for us to follow Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.viii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.40.1","start":40,"end":40,"heading":"Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother","excerpt":"40. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. The design of the Evangelist, down to the end of the chapter, is to inform us how gradually the disciples were brought to Christ. Here he relates about Peter, and afterwards he will mention Philip and Nathanael. The circumstance of Andrew immediately bringing his brother expresses the nature of faith, which does not conceal or quench the light, but rather spreads it in every direction. Andrew has scarcely a spark, and yet, by means of it, he enlightens his brother. Woe to our indolence, therefore, if we do not, after having been fully enlightened, endeavor to make others partakers of the same grace. We may observe in Andrew two things which Isaiah requires from the children of God; namely, that each should take his neighbor by the hand, and next, that he should say,\n\nCome, let us go up into the mountain of the Lord, and he will teach us, (Isaiah 2:3.)\n\nFor Andrew stretches out the hand to his brother, but at the same time he has this object in view, that he may become a fellow-disciple with him in the school of Christ. We ought also to observe the purpose of God, which determined that Peter, who was to be far more eminent, was brought to the knowledge of Christ by the agency and ministry of Andrew; that none of us, however excellent, may refuse to be taught by an inferior; for that man will be severely punished for his peevishness, or rather for his pride, who, through his contempt of a man, will not deign to come to Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ix.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":886,"text":"Isaiah 2:3","label":"Isaiah 2:3","href":"/isa/2/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.41.1","start":41,"end":41,"heading":"We have found the Messiah","excerpt":"41. We have found the Messiah. The Evangelist has interpreted the Hebrew word Messiah (Anointed) by the Greek word Christ, in order to publish to the whole world what was secretly known to the Jews. It was the ordinary designation of kings, as anointing was observed by them as a solemn rite. But still they were aware that one King would be anointed by God, under whom they might hope to obtain perfect and eternal happiness; especially when they should learn that the earthly kingdom of David would not be permanent. And as God raised their minds, when subdued and weighed down by various calamities, to the expectation of the Messiah, so he more clearly revealed to them that his coming was at hand. The prediction of Daniel is more clear and forcible than all the rest, so far as relates to the name of Christ; for he does not, like the earlier Prophets, ascribe it to kings, but appropriates it exclusively to the Redeemer, (Daniel 9:25, 26.) Hence this mode of expression became prevalent, so that when the Messiah or Christ was mentioned, it was understood that no other than the Redeemer was meant. Thus we shall find the woman of Samaria saying, the Messiah will come, (John 4:25;) which makes it the more wonderful that he who was so eagerly desired by all, and whom they had constantly in their mouths, should be received by so small a number of persons.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ix.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":930,"text":"Daniel 9:25, 26","label":"Daniel 9:25–26","href":"/dan/9/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":1179,"text":"John 4:25","label":"John 4:25","href":"/jhn/4/#v25","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.42.1","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"Thou art Simon","excerpt":"42. Thou art Simon. Christ gives a name to Simon, not as men commonly do, from some past event, or from what is now perceived in them, but because he was to make him Peter, (a stone.) First, he says, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. He repeats the name of his father in an abridged form; which is common enough when names are translated into other languages; for it will plainly appear from the last chapter that he was the son of Johanna or John. But all this amounts to nothing more than that he will be a very different person from what he now is. For it is not For the sake of honor that he mentions his father; but as he was descended from a family which was obscure, and which was held in no estimation among men, Christ declares that this will not prevent him from making Simon a man of unshaken courage. The Evangelist, therefore, mentions this as a prediction, that Simon received a new name. I look upon it as a prediction, not only because Christ foresaw the future steadfastness of faith in Peter, but because he foretold what he would give to him. He now magnifies the grace which he determined afterwards to bestow upon him; and therefore he does not say that this is now his name, but delays it till a future time.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.ix.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.43.1","start":43,"end":43,"heading":"Follow me","excerpt":"43. Follow me. When Philip was inflamed by this single word to follow Christ, we infer from it how great is the efficacy of the word of God; but it does not appear indiscriminately in all, for God addresses many without any advantage, just as if he struck their ears with a sound which vanished into air. So then the external preaching of the word is in itself unfruitful, except that it inflicts a deadly wound on the reprobate, so as to render them inexcusable before God. But when the secret grace of God quickens it, all the senses must be affected in such a manner that men will be prepared to follow wherever God calls them. We ought, therefore, to pray to Christ that he may display in us the same power of the Gospel. In the case of Philip, there was no doubt a peculiarity about his following Christ; for he is commanded to follow, not like one of us, but as a domestic, and as a familiar companion. But still the calling of all of us is illustrated by this calling of Philip.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.x.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.44.1","start":44,"end":44,"heading":"Was of Bethsaida","excerpt":"44. Was of Bethsaida. The name of the city appears to have been mentioned on purpose, that the goodness of God to the three Apostles may be more illustriously displayed. We know how severely, on other occasions, Christ threatens and curses that city, (Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13.) Accordingly, when God brought into favor with him some out of a nation so ungodly and wicked, we ought to view it in the same light as if they had been brought out of the lowest hell. And when Christ, after having drawn them out of that deep gulf, honors them so highly as to make them Apostles, it is a distinguished favor and worthy of being recorded.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.x.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":252,"text":"Matthew 11:21","label":"Matthew 11:21","href":"/mat/11/#v21","status":"detected"},{"at":267,"text":"Luke 10:13","label":"Luke 10:13","href":"/luk/10/#v13","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.45.1","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"Philip findeth Nathanael","excerpt":"45. Philip findeth Nathanael. Though proud men despise these feeble beginnings of the Church, yet we ought to perceive in them a brighter display of the divine glory, than if the condition of the Kingdom of Christ had been in every respect, from the outset, splendid and magnificent; for we know to how rich a harvest this small seed afterwards grew. Again, we see in Philip the same desire of building which formerly appeared in Andrew. His modesty, too, is remarkable, in desiring and seeking nothing else than to have others to learn along with him, from Him who is a Teacher common to all.\n\nWe have found Jesus. How small was the measure of Philip’s faith appears from this circumstance, that he cannot utter a few words about Christ without mingling with them two gross errors. He calls him the son of Joseph, and says, that Nazareth was his native town, both of which statements were false; and yet, because he is sincerely desirous to do good to his brother, and to make Christ known, God approves of this instance of his diligence, and even crowns it with good success. Each of us ought, no doubt, to endeavor to keep soberly within his own limits; and, certainly, the Evangelist does not mention it as worthy of commendation in Philip, that he twice disgraces Christ, but relates that his doctrine, though faulty and involved in error, was useful, because it nevertheless had this for its object, that Christ might be truly known. He foolishly says that he was the son of Joseph, and ignorantly calls him a native of Nazareth, but yet he leads Nathanael to no other than the Son of God who was born in Bethlehem, (Matthew 2:1,) and does not contrive a false Christ, but only wishes that they should know him as he was exhibited by Moses and the Prophets. We see, then, that the chief design of doctrine is, that those who hear us should come to Christ in some way or other.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.x.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":1623,"text":"Matthew 2:1","label":"Matthew 2:1","href":"/mat/2/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.46.1","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?","excerpt":"46. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? At first, Nathanael refuses, the place of Christ’s nativity (as described by Philip) having given him offense. But, first of all, he is deceived by the inconsiderate discourse of Philip; for what Philip foolishly believed Nathanael receives as certain. Next, there is added a foolish judgment arising from hatred or contempt of the place. Both of these points ought to be carefully observed by us. This holy man was not far from shutting out against himself all approach to Christ. Why was this? Because he rashly believes what Philip spoke incorrectly about Christ; and next, because his mind was under the influence of a preconceived opinion that no good thing could come out of Nazareth. If then we are not carefully on our guard, we shall be liable to the same danger; and Satan labors every day, by similar obstacles, to hinder us from coming to Christ; for he has the dexterity to spread many falsehoods, the tendency of which is to excite our hatred or suspicion against the Gospel, that we may not venture to taste it. And next, he ceases not to try another method, namely, to make us look on Christ with contempt; for we see how many there are who take offense at the degradation of the cross, which appears both in Christ the head and in his members. But as we can hardly be so cautious as not to be tempted by those stratagems of Satan, let us at least remember immediately this caution:\n\nCome and see. Nathanael allowed his twofold error to be corrected by this expression which Philip uttered. Following his example, let us first show ourselves to be submissive and obedient; and next, let us not shrink from inquiry, when Christ himself is ready to remove the doubts which harass us. Those who read these words not as a question, but as an affirmation, Some good thing may come out of Nazareth, are greatly mistaken. For, in the first place, how trivial would such an observation be? And next, we know that the city Nazareth was not at that time held in estimation; and Philip’s reply shows plainly enough that it was expressive of hesitation and distrust.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.x.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.47.1","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"Behold, one truly an Israelite","excerpt":"47. Behold, one truly an Israelite. It is not on Nathanael’s own account that Christ bestows on him this commendation, but under his person he holds out a general doctrine. For, since many who boast of being believers are very far from being actually believers, it is of great importance that some mark should be found for distinguishing the true and genuine from the false. We know how haughtily the Jews gloried in their father Abraham, and how presumptuously they boasted of the holiness of their descent; and yet there was scarcely one in a hundred among them who was not utterly degenerate and alienated from the faith of the Fathers. For this reason, Christ, in order to tear the mask from hypocrites, gives a short definition of a true Israelite, and, at the same time, removes the offense which would afterwards arise from the wicked obstinacy of the nation. For those who wished to be accounted the children of Abraham, and the holy people of God, were shortly afterwards to become the deadly enemies of the Gospel. That none may be discouraged or alarmed by the impiety which was generally found in almost all ranks, he gives a timely warning, that of those by whom the name of Israelites is assumed there are few who are true Israelites.\n\nAgain, as this passage contains a definition of Christianity, we must not pass by it slightly. To sum up the meaning of Christ in a few words, it ought to be observed that deceit is contrasted with uprightness and sincerity; so that he calls those persons sly and deceitful who are called in other parts of Scripture double in heart, (Psalm 12:2.) ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.xi.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.48.1","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"Whence knowest thou?","excerpt":"48. Whence knowest thou? Though Christ did not intend to flatter him, yet he wished to be heard by him, in order to draw forth a new question, by the reply to which he would prove himself to be the Son of God. Nor is it without a good reason that Nathanael asks whence Christ knew him; for to meet with a man of such uprightness as to be free from all deceit is an uncommon case, and to know such purity of heart belongs to God alone. The reply of Christ, however, appears to be inappropriate; for though he saw Nathanael under the fig-tree, it does not follow from this that he could penetrate into the deep secrets of the heart. But there is another reason; for as it belongs to God to know men when they are not seen, so also does it belong to Him to see what is not visible to the eyes. As Nathanael knew that Christ did not see him after the manner of men, but by a look truly divine, this might lead him to conclude that Christ did not now speak as a man. The proof, therefore, is taken from things which are of the same class; for not less does it belong to God to see what lies beyond our view than to judge concerning purity of heart. We ought also to gather from this passage a useful doctrine, that when we are not thinking of Christ, we are observed by him; and it is necessary that it should be so, that he may bring us back, when we have wandered from the right path.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.xi.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.49.1","start":49,"end":49,"heading":"Thou art the Son of God","excerpt":"49. Thou art the Son of God. That he acknowledges him to be the Son of God from his divine power is not wonderful; but on what ground does he call him King of Israel? for the two things do not appear to be necessarily connected. But Nathanael takes a loftier view. He had already heard that he is the Messiah, and to this doctrine he adds the confirmation which had been given him. He holds also another principle, that the Son of God will not come without exercising the office of King over the people of God. Justly, therefore, does he acknowledge that he who is the Son of God is also King of Israel And, indeed, faith ought not to be fixed on the essence of Christ alone, (so to speak,) but ought to attend to his power and office; for it would be of little advantage to know who Christ is, if this second point were not added, what he wishes to be towards us, and for what purpose the Father sent him. The reason why the Papists have nothing more than a shadow of Christ is, that they have been careful to look at his mere essence, but have disregarded his kingdom, which consists in the power to save.\n\nAgain, when Nathanael calls him King of Israel, though his kingdom extends to the remotest bounds of the earth, the confession is limited to the measure of faith. For he had not yet advanced so far as to know that Christ was appointed to be King over the whole world, or rather, that from every quarter would be collected the children of Abraham, so that the whole world would be the Israel of God. We to whom the wide extent of Christ’s kingdom has been revealed ought to go beyond those narrow limits. Yet following the example of Nathanael, let us exercise our faith in hearing the word, and let us strengthen it by all the means that are in our power; and let it not remain buried, but break out into confession.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.xi.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.50.1","start":50,"end":50,"heading":"Jesus answered","excerpt":"50. Jesus answered. He does not reprove Nathanael as if he had been too easy of belief, but rather approving of his faith, promises to him and to others that he will confirm it by stronger arguments. Besides, it was peculiar to one man that he was seen under a fig-tree by Christ, when absent and at a distance from him; but now Christ brings forward a proof which would be common to all, and thus — as if he had broken off from what he originally intended — instead of addressing one man, he turns to address all.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.xi.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.51.1","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"You shall see heaven opened","excerpt":"51. You shall see heaven opened. They are greatly mistaken, in my opinion, who anxiously inquire into the place where, and the time when, Nathanael and others saw heaven opened; for he rather points out something perpetual which was always to exist in his kingdom. I acknowledge indeed, that the disciples sometimes saw angels, who are not seen in the present day; and I acknowledge also that the manifestation of the heavenly glory, when Christ ascended to heaven, was different from what we now behold. But if we duly consider what took place at that time, it is of perpetual duration; for the kingdom of God, which was formerly closed against us, is actually opened in Christ. A visible instance of this was shown to Stephen, (Acts 7:55,) to the three disciples on the mountain, (Matthew 17:5,) and to the other disciples at Christ’s ascension, (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9.) But all the signs by which God shows himself present with us depend on this opening of heaven, more especially when God communicates himself to us to be our life.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.xi.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":730,"text":"Acts 7:55","label":"Acts 7:55","href":"/act/7/#v55","status":"detected"},{"at":783,"text":"Matthew 17:5","label":"Matthew 17:5","href":"/mat/17/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":849,"text":"Luke 24:51","label":"Luke 24:51","href":"/luk/24/#v51","status":"detected"},{"at":861,"text":"Acts 1:9","label":"Acts 1:9","href":"/act/1/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"calvin.JHN.1.51.2","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Ascending and descending on the Son of man","excerpt":"Ascending and descending on the Son of man. This second clause refers to angels. They are said to ascend and descend, so as to be ministers of God’s kindness towards us; and therefore this mode of expression points out the mutual intercourse which exists between God and men. Now we must acknowledge that this benefit was received through Christ, because without him the angels have rather a deadly enmity against us than a friendly care to help us. They are said to ascend and descend on the son of man, not because they minister to him, but because — in reference to him, and for his honor — they include the whole body of the Church in their kindly regard. Nor have I any doubt that he alludes to the ladder which was exhibited to the patriarch Jacob in a dream, (Genesis 28:12;) for what was prefigured by that vision is actually fulfilled in Christ. In short, this passage teaches us, that though the whole human race was banished from the kingdom of God, the gate of heaven is now opened to us, so that we are fellow-citizens of the saints, and companions of the angels, (Ephesians 2:19;) and that they, having been appointed to be guardians of our salvation, descend from the blessed rest of the heavenly glory to relieve our distresses.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom34.vii.xi.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":767,"text":"Genesis 28:12","label":"Genesis 28:12","href":"/gen/28/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":1078,"text":"Ephesians 2:19","label":"Ephesians 2:19","href":"/eph/2/#v19","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null}]},{"work_id":"henry","author":"Matthew Henry","short_name":"Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"title":"Commentary on the Whole Bible, Volume V (Matthew to John)","edition_short":"Matthew Henry, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments","author_url":"/commentators/henry/","divisions":"verse","work_url":"/works/henry/","entries":[{"id":"henry.JHN.1.1.1","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"Of whom he speaks—The Word","excerpt":"I. Of whom he speaks—The Word—ho logos. This is an idiom peculiar to John's writings. See 1 John i. 1; v. 7; Rev. xix. 13. Yet some think that Christ is meant by the Word in Acts xx. 32; Heb. iv. 12; Luke i. 2. The Chaldee paraphrase very frequently calls the Messiah Memra—the Word of Jehovah, and speaks of many things in the Old Testament, said to be done by the Lord, as done by that Word of the Lord. Even the vulgar Jews were taught that the Word of God was the same with God. The evangelist, in the close of his discourse (v. 18), plainly tells us why he calls Christ the Word—because he is the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and has declared him. Word is two-fold: logos endiathetos—word conceived; and logos prophorikos—word uttered. The logos ho eso and ho exo, ratio and oratio—intelligence and utterance. 1. There is the word conceived, that is, thought, which is the first and only immediate product and conception of the soul (all the operations of which are performed by thought), and it is one with the soul. And thus the second person in the Trinity is fitly called the Word; for he is the first-begotten of the Father, that eternal essential Wisdom which the Lord possessed, as the soul does its thought, in the beginning of his way, Prov. viii. 22. There is nothing we are more sure of than that we think, yet nothing we are more in the dark about than how we think; who can declare the generation of thought in the soul? Surely then the generations and births of the eternal mind may well be allowed to be great mysteries of godliness, the bottom of which we cannot fathom, while yet we adore the depth. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":90,"text":"1 John i. 1","label":"1 John 1:1","href":"/1jn/1/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":103,"text":"v. 7","label":"1 John 5:7","href":"/1jn/5/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":109,"text":"Rev. xix. 13","label":"Revelation 19:13","href":"/rev/19/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":174,"text":"Acts xx. 32","label":"Acts 20:32","href":"/act/20/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":187,"text":"Heb. iv. 12","label":"Hebrews 4:12","href":"/heb/4/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":200,"text":"Luke i. 2","label":"Luke 1:2","href":"/luk/1/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":530,"text":"v. 18","label":"John 1:18","href":"/jhn/1/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":1275,"text":"Prov. viii. 22","label":"Proverbs 8:22","href":"/pro/8/#v22","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.1.2","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"His existence in the beginning","excerpt":"1. His existence in the beginning: In the beginning was the Word. This bespeaks his existence, not only before his incarnation, but before all time. The beginning of time, in which all creatures were produced and brought into being, found this eternal Word in being. The world was from the beginning, but the Word was in the beginning. Eternity is usually expressed by being before the foundation of the world. The eternity of God is so described (Ps. xc. 2), Before the mountains were brought forth. So Prov. viii. 23. The Word had a being before the world had a beginning. He that was in the beginning never began, and therefore was ever, achronos—without beginning of time. So Nonnus.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":448,"text":"Ps. xc. 2","label":"Psalms 90:2","href":"/psa/90/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":504,"text":"Prov. viii. 23","label":"Proverbs 8:23","href":"/pro/8/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.1-2.1","start":1,"end":2,"heading":"His co-existence with the Father","excerpt":"2. His co-existence with the Father: The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Let none say that when we invite them to Christ we would draw them from God, for Christ is with God and is God; it is repeated in v. 2: the same, the very same that we believe in and preach, was in the beginning with God, that is, he was so from eternity. In the beginning the world was from God, as it was created by him; but the Word was with God, as ever with him. The Word was with God, (1.) In respect of essence and substance; for the Word was God: a distinct person or substance, for he was with God; and yet the same in substance, for he was God, Heb. i. 3. (2.) In respect of complacency and felicity. There was a glory and happiness which Christ had with God before the world was (ch. xvii. 5), the Son infinitely happy in the enjoyment of his Father's bosom, and no less the Father's delight, the Son of his love, Prov. viii. 30. (3.) In respect of counsel and design. The mystery of man's redemption by this Word incarnate was hid in God before all worlds, Eph. iii. 9. He that undertook to bring us to God (1 Pet. iii. 18) was himself from eternity with God; so that this grand affair of man's reconciliation to God was concerted between the Father and Son from eternity, and they understand one another perfectly well in it, Zech. vi. 13; Matt. xi. 27. He was by him as one brought up with him for this service, Prov. viii. 30. He was with God, and therefore is said to come forth from the Father.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":212,"text":"v. 2","label":"John 1:2","href":"/jhn/1/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":637,"text":"Heb. i. 3","label":"Hebrews 1:3","href":"/heb/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":773,"text":"ch. xvii. 5","label":"John 17:5","href":"/jhn/17/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":907,"text":"Prov. viii. 30","label":"Proverbs 8:30","href":"/pro/8/#v30","status":"detected"},{"at":1051,"text":"Eph. iii. 9","label":"Ephesians 3:9","href":"/eph/3/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":1102,"text":"1 Pet. iii. 18","label":"1 Peter 3:18","href":"/1pe/3/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":1321,"text":"Zech. vi. 13","label":"Zechariah 6:13","href":"/zec/6/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":1335,"text":"Matt. xi. 27","label":"Matthew 11:27","href":"/mat/11/#v27","status":"detected"},{"at":1408,"text":"Prov. viii. 30","label":"Proverbs 8:30","href":"/pro/8/#v30","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.3.1","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"His agency in making the world","excerpt":"3. His agency in making the world, v. 3. This is here, (1.) Expressly asserted: All things were made by him. He was with God, not only so as to be acquainted with the divine counsels from eternity, but to be active in the divine operations in the beginning of time. Then was I by him, Prov. viii. 30. God made the world by a word (Ps. xxxiii. 6) and Christ was the Word. By him, not as a subordinate instrument, but as a co-ordinate agent, God made the world (Heb. i. 2), not as the workman cuts by his axe, but as the body sees by the eye. (2.) The contrary is denied: Without him was not any thing made that was made, from the highest angel to the meanest worm. God the Father did nothing without him in that work. Now, [1.] This proves that he is God; for he that built all things is God, Heb. iii. 4. The God of Israel often proved himself to be God with this, that he made all things: Isa. xl. 12, 28; xli. 4; and see Jer. x. 11, 12. [2.] This proves the excellency of the Christian religion, that the author and founder of it is the same that was the author and founder of the world. How excellent must that constitution needs be which derives its institution from him who is the fountain of all excellency! When we worship Christ, we worship him to whom the patriarchs gave honour as the Creator of the world, and on whom all creatures depend. [3.] This shows how well qualified he was for the work of our redemption and salvation. Help was laid upon one that was mighty indeed; for it was laid upon him that made all things; and he is appointed the author of our bliss who was the author of our being.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":35,"text":"v. 3","label":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":285,"text":"Prov. viii. 30","label":"Proverbs 8:30","href":"/pro/8/#v30","status":"detected"},{"at":331,"text":"Ps. xxxiii. 6","label":"Psalms 33:6","href":"/psa/33/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":460,"text":"Heb. i. 2","label":"Hebrews 1:2","href":"/heb/1/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":792,"text":"Heb. iii. 4","label":"Hebrews 3:4","href":"/heb/3/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":890,"text":"Isa. xl. 12, 28","label":"Isaiah 40:12","href":"/isa/40/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":890,"text":"Isa. xl. 12, 28","label":"Isaiah 40:28","href":"/isa/40/#v28","status":"detected"},{"at":907,"text":"xli. 4","label":"Isaiah 41:4","href":"/isa/41/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":923,"text":"Jer. x. 11, 12","label":"Jeremiah 10:11–12","href":"/jer/10/#v11","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.4.1","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"The original of life and light that is in him","excerpt":"4. The original of life and light that is in him: In him was life, v. 4. This further proves that he is God, and every way qualified for his undertaking; for, (1.) He has life in himself; not only the true God, but the living God. God is life; he swears by himself when he saith, As I live. (2.) All living creatures have their life in him; not only all the matter of the creation was made by him, but all the life too that is in the creation is derived from him and supported by him. It was the Word of God that produced the moving creatures that had life, Gen. i. 20; Acts xvii. 25. He is that Word by which man lives more than by bread, Matt. iv. 4. (3.) Reasonable creatures have their light from him; that life which is the light of men comes from him. Life in man is something greater and nobler than it is in other creatures; it is rational, and not merely animal. When man became a living soul, his life was light, his capacities such as distinguished him from, and dignified him above, the beasts that perish. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord, and it was the eternal Word that lighted this candle. The light of reason, as well as the life of sense, is derived from him, and depends upon him. This proves him fit to undertake our salvation; for life and light, spiritual and eternal life and light, are the two great things that fallen man, who lies so much under the power of death and darkness, has need of. From whom may we better expect the light of divine revelation than from him who gave us the light of human reason? And if, when God gave us natural life, that life was in his Son, how readily should we receive the gospel-record, that he hath given us eternal life, and that life too is in his Son!","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":67,"text":"v. 4","label":"John 1:4","href":"/jhn/1/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":558,"text":"Gen. i. 20","label":"Genesis 1:20","href":"/gen/1/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":570,"text":"Acts xvii. 25","label":"Acts 17:25","href":"/act/17/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":640,"text":"Matt. iv. 4","label":"Matthew 4:4","href":"/mat/4/#v4","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.5.1","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"The manifestation of him to the children of men","excerpt":"5. The manifestation of him to the children of men. It might be objected, If this eternal Word was all in all thus in the creation of the world, whence is it that he has been so little taken notice of and regarded? To this he answers (v. 5), The light shines, but the darkness comprehends it not. Observe,\n\n(1.) The discovery of the eternal Word to the lapsed world, even before he was manifested in the flesh: The light shineth in darkness. Light is self-evidencing, and will make itself known; this light, whence the light of men comes, hath shone, and doth shine. [1.] The eternal Word, as God, shines in the darkness of natural conscience. Though men by the fall are become darkness, yet that which may be known of God is manifested in them; see Rom. i. 19, 20. The light of nature is this light shining in darkness. Something of the power of the divine Word, both as creating and as commanding, all mankind have an innate sense of; were it not for this, earth would be a hell, a place of utter darkness; blessed be God, it is not so yet. [2.] The eternal Word, as Mediator, shone in the darkness of the Old-Testament types and figures, and the prophecies and promises which were of the Messiah from the beginning. He that had commanded the light of this world to shine out of darkness was himself long a light shining in darkness; there was a veil upon this light, 2 Cor. iii. 13.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":235,"text":"v. 5","label":"John 1:5","href":"/jhn/1/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":750,"text":"Rom. i. 19, 20","label":"Romans 1:19–20","href":"/rom/1/#v19","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.5.2","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"The disability of the degenerate world to receive this discovery","excerpt":"(2.) The disability of the degenerate world to receive this discovery: The darkness comprehended it not; the most of men received the grace of God in these discoveries in vain. [1.] The world of mankind comprehended not the natural light that was in their understandings, but became vain in their imaginations concerning the eternal God and the eternal Word, Rom. i. 21, 28. The darkness of error and sin overpowered and quite eclipsed this light. God spoke once, yea twice, but man perceived it not, Job xxxiii. 14. [2.] The Jews, who had the light of the Old Testament, yet comprehended not Christ in it. As there was a veil upon Moses's face, so there was upon the people's hearts. In the darkness of the types and shadows the light shone; but such as the darkness of their understandings that they could not see it. It was therefore requisite that Christ should come, both to rectify the errors of the Gentile world and to improve the truths of the Jewish church.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":359,"text":"Rom. i. 21, 28","label":"Romans 1:21","href":"/rom/1/#v21","status":"detected"},{"at":359,"text":"Rom. i. 21, 28","label":"Romans 1:28","href":"/rom/1/#v28","status":"detected"},{"at":501,"text":"Job xxxiii. 14","label":"Job 33:14","href":"/job/33/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.6.1","start":6,"end":6,"heading":"a man sent of God","excerpt":"1. We are here told concerning him, in general, that he was a man sent of God. The evangelist had said concerning Jesus Christ that he was with God and that he was God; but here concerning John that he was a man, a mere man. God is pleased to speak to us by men like ourselves. John was a great man, but he was a man, a son of man; he was sent from God, he was God's messenger, so he is called, Mal. iii. 1. God gave him both his mission and his message, both his credentials and his instructions. John wrought no miracle, nor do we find that he had visions and revelations; but the strictness and purity of his life and doctrine, and the direct tendency of both to reform the world, and to revive the interests of God's kingdom among men, were plain indications that he was sent of God.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":395,"text":"Mal. iii. 1","label":"Malachi 3:1","href":"/mal/3/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.7.1","start":7,"end":7,"heading":"The same came for a witness","excerpt":"2. We are here told what his office and business were (v. 7): The same came for a witness, an eye-witness, a leading witness. He came eis martyrian—for a testimony. The legal institutions had been long a testimony for God in the Jewish church. By them revealed religion was kept up; hence we read of the tabernacle of the testimony, the ark of the testimony, the law and the testimony: but now divine revelation is to be turned into another channel; now the testimony of Christ is the testimony of God, 1 Cor. i. 6; ii. 1. Among the Gentiles, God indeed had not left himself without witness (Acts xiv. 17), but the Redeemer had no testimonies borne him among them. There was a profound silence concerning him, till John Baptist came for a witness to him. Now observe, (1.) The matter of his testimony: He came to bear witness to the light. Light is a thing which witnesses for itself, and carries its own evidence along with it; but to those who shut their eyes against the light it is necessary there should be those that bear witness to it. Christ's light needs not man's testimony, but the world's darkness does. John was like the night watchman that goes round the town, proclaiming the approach of the morning light to those that have closed their eyes, and are not willing themselves to observe it; or like that watchman that was set to tell those who asked him what of the night that the morning comes, and, if you will enquire, enquire ye, Isa. xxi. 11, 12. He was sent of God to tell the world that the long-looked-for Messiah was now come, who should be a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel; and to proclaim that dispensation at hand which would bring life and immortality to light. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":55,"text":"v. 7","label":"John 1:7","href":"/jhn/1/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":503,"text":"1 Cor. i. 6","label":"1 Corinthians 1:6","href":"/1co/1/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":516,"text":"ii. 1","label":"1 Corinthians 2:1","href":"/1co/2/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":592,"text":"Acts xiv. 17","label":"Acts 14:17","href":"/act/14/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":1448,"text":"Isa. xxi. 11, 12","label":"Isaiah 21:11–12","href":"/isa/21/#v11","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.8.1","start":8,"end":8,"heading":"He was not that light","excerpt":"3. We are here cautioned not to mistake him for the light who only came to bear witness to it (v. 8): He was not that light that was expected and promised, but only was sent to bear witness of that great and ruling light. He was a star, like that which guided the wise men to Christ, a morning star; but he was not the Sun; not the Bridegroom, but a friend of the Bridegroom; not the Prince, but his harbinger. There were those who rested in John's baptism, and looked no further, as those Ephesians, Acts xix. 3. To rectify this mistake, the evangelist here, when he speaks very honourably of him, yet shows that he must give place to Christ. He was great as the prophet of the Highest, but not the Highest himself. Note, We must take heed of over-valuing ministers, as well as of under-valuing them; they are not our lords, nor have they dominion over our faith, but ministers by whom we believe, stewards of our Lord's house. We must not give up ourselves by an implicit faith to their conduct, for they are not that light; but we must attend to, and receive, their testimony; for they are sent to bear witness of that light; so then let us esteem them, and not otherwise. Had John pretended to be that light he had not been so much as a faithful witness of that light. Those who usurp the honour of Christ forfeit the honour of being the servants of Christ; yet John was very serviceable as a witness to the light, though he was not that light. Those may be of great use to us who yet shine with a borrowed light.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":95,"text":"v. 8","label":"John 1:8","href":"/jhn/1/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":501,"text":"Acts xix. 3","label":"Acts 19:3","href":"/act/19/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.9.1","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"Christ was the true Light","excerpt":"1. Christ was the true Light (v. 9); not as if John Baptist were a false light, but, in comparison with Christ, he was a very small light. Christ is the great light that deserves to be called so. Other lights are but figuratively and equivocally called so: Christ is the true light. The fountain of all knowledge and of all comfort must needs be the true light. He is the true light, for proof of which we are not referred to the emanations of his glory in the invisible world (the beams with which he enlightens that), but to those rays of his light which are darted downwards, and with which this dark world of ours is enlightened. But how does Christ enlighten every man that comes into the world? (1.) By his creating power he enlightens every man with the light of reason; that life which is the light of men is from him; all the discoveries and directions of reason, all the comfort it gives us, and all the beauty it puts upon us, are from Christ. (2.) By the publication of his gospel to all nations he does in effect enlighten every man. John Baptist was a light, but he enlightened only Jerusalem and Judea, and the region round about Jordan, like a candle that enlightens one room; but Christ is the true light, for he is a light to enlighten the Gentiles. His everlasting gospel is to be preached to every nation and language, Rev. xiv. 6. Like the sun which enlightens every man that will open his eyes, and receive its light (Ps. xix. 6), to which the preaching of the gospel is compared. See Rom. x. 18. Divine revelation is not now to be confined, as it had been, to one people, but to be diffused to all people, Matt. v. 15. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":30,"text":"v. 9","label":"John 1:9","href":"/jhn/1/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":1339,"text":"Rev. xiv. 6","label":"Revelation 14:6","href":"/rev/14/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":1440,"text":"Ps. xix. 6","label":"Psalms 19:6","href":"/psa/19/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":1507,"text":"Rom. x. 18","label":"Romans 10:18","href":"/rom/10/#v18","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.10.1","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"Christ was in the world","excerpt":"... Now observe here, (1.) What reason Christ had to expect the most affectionate and respectful welcome possible in this world; for the world was made by him. Therefore he came to save a lost world because it was a world of his own making. Why should he not concern himself to revive the light that was of his own kindling, to restore a life of his own infusing, and to renew the image that was originally of his own impressing? The world was made by him, and therefore ought to do him homage. (2.) What cold entertainment he met with, notwithstanding: The world knew him not. The great Maker, Ruler, and Redeemer of the world was in it, and few or none of the inhabitants of the world were aware of it. The ox knows his owner, but the more brutish world did not. They did not own him, did not bid him welcome, because they did not know him; and they did not know him because he did not make himself known in the way that they expected—in external glory and majesty. His kingdom came not with observation, because it was to be a kingdom of trail and probation. When he shall come as a Judge the world shall know him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.11.1","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"He came to his own","excerpt":"3. He came to his own (v. 11); not only to the world, which was his own, but to the people of Israel, that were peculiarly his own above all people; of them he came, among them he lived, and to them he was first sent. The Jews were at this time a mean despicable people; the crown was fallen from their head; yet, in remembrance of the ancient covenant, bad as they were, and poor as they were, Christ was not ashamed to look upon them as his own. Ta idia—his own things; not tous idious—his own persons, as true believers are called, ch. xiii. 1. The Jews were his, as a man's house, and lands, and goods are his, which he uses and possesses; but believers are his as a man's wife and children are his own, which he loves and enjoys. He came to his own, to seek and save them, because they were his own. He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, for it was he whose own the sheep were. Now observe,","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":23,"text":"v. 11","label":"John 1:11","href":"/jhn/1/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":535,"text":"ch. xiii. 1","label":"John 13:1","href":"/jhn/13/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.11.2","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"His own received him not","excerpt":"(1.) That the generality rejected him: His own received him not. He had reason to expect that those who were his own should have bidden him welcome, considering how great the obligations were which they lay under to him, and how fair the opportunities were which they had of coming to the knowledge of him. They had the oracles of God, which told them beforehand when and where to expect him, and of what tribe and family he should arise. He came among them himself, introduced with signs and wonders, and himself the greatest; and therefore it is not said of them, as it was of the world (v. 10), that they knew him not; but his own, though they could not but know him, yet received him not; did not receive his doctrine, did not welcome him as the Messiah, but fortified themselves against him. The chief priests, that were in a particular manner his own (for the Levites were God's tribe), were ring-leaders in this contempt put upon him. Now this was very unjust, because they were his own, and therefore he might command their respect; and it was very unkind and ungrateful, because he came to them, to seek and save them, and so to court their respect. Note, Many who in profession are Christ's own, yet do not receive him, because they will not part with their sins, nor have him to reign over them.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":590,"text":"v. 10","label":"John 1:10","href":"/jhn/1/#v10","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.12.1","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"The true Christian's description and property","excerpt":"(2.) That yet there was a remnant who owned him, and were faithful to him. Though his own received him not, yet there were those that received him (v. 12): But as many as received him. Though Israel were not gathered, yet Christ was glorious. Though the body of that nation persisted and perished in unbelief, yet there were many of them that were wrought upon to submit to Christ, and many more that were not of that fold. Observe here,\n\n[1.] The true Christian's description and property; and that is, that he receives Christ, and believes on his name; the latter explains the former. Note, First, To be a Christian indeed is to believe on Christ's name; it is to assent to the gospel discovery, and consent to the gospel proposal, concerning him. His name is the Word of God; the King of kings, the Lord our righteousness; Jesus a Saviour. Now to believe on his name is to acknowledge that he is what these great names bespeak him to be, and to acquiesce in it, that he may be so to us. Secondly, Believing in Christ's name is receiving him as a gift from God. We must receive his doctrine as true and good; receive his law as just and holy; receive his offers as kind and advantageous; and we must receive the image of his grace, and impressions of his love, as the governing principle of our affections and actions.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":148,"text":"v. 12","label":"John 1:12","href":"/jhn/1/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.12.2","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"The privilege of adoption","excerpt":"First, The privilege of adoption, which takes them into the number of God's children: To them gave he power to become the sons of God. Hitherto, the adoption pertained to the Jews only (Israel is my son, my first-born); but now, by faith in Christ, Gentiles are the children of God, Gal. iii. 26. They have power, exousian—authority; for no man taketh this power to himself, but he who is authorized by the gospel charter. To them gave he a right; to them gave he this pre-eminence. This power have all the saints. Note, 1. It is the unspeakable privilege of all good Christians, that they are become the children of God. They were by nature children of wrath, children of this world. If they be the children of God, they become so, are made so Fiunt, non nascuntur Christiani—Persons are not born Christians, but made such.—Tertullian. Behold what manner of love is this, 1 John iii. 1. God calls them his children, they call him Father, and are entitled to all the privileges of children, those of their way and those of their home. 2. The privilege of adoption is entirely owing to Jesus Christ; he gave this power to them that believe on his name. God is his Father, and so ours; and it is by virtue of our espousals to him, and union with him, that we stand related to God as a Father. It was in Christ that we were predestinated to the adoption; from him we receive both the character and the Spirit of adoption, and he is the first-born among many brethren. The Son of God became a Son of man, that the sons and daughters of men might become the sons and daughters of God Almighty.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":283,"text":"Gal. iii. 26","label":"Galatians 3:26","href":"/gal/3/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":873,"text":"1 John iii. 1","label":"1 John 3:1","href":"/1jn/3/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.13.1","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"The privilege of regeneration","excerpt":"... Now here we have an account of the original of this new birth. 1. Negatively. (1.) It is not propagated by natural generation from our parents. It is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of corruptible seed, 1 Pet. i. 23. Man is called flesh and blood, because thence he has his original: but we do not become the children of God as we become the children of our natural parents. Note, Grace does not run in the blood, as corruption does. Man polluted begat a son in his own likeness (Gen. v. 3); but man sanctified and renewed does not beget a son in that likeness. The Jews gloried much in their parentage, and the noble blood that ran in their veins: We are Abraham's seed; and therefore to them pertained the adoption because they were born of that blood; but this New-Testament adoption is not founded in any such natural relation. (2.) It is not produced by the natural power of our own will. As it is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, so neither is it of the will of man, which labours under a moral impotency of determining itself to that which is good; so that the principles of the divine life are not of our own planting, it is the grace of God that makes us willing to be his. Nor can human laws or writings prevail to sanctify and regenerate a soul; if they could, the new birth would be by the will of man. But, 2. Positively: it is of God. This new birth is owing to the word of God as the means (1 Pet. i. 23), and to the Spirit of God as the great and sole author. True believers are born of God, 1 John iii. 9; v. 1. And this is necessary to their adoption; for we cannot expect the love of God if we have not something of his likeness, nor claim the privileges of adoption if we be not under the power of regeneration.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":223,"text":"1 Pet. i. 23","label":"1 Peter 1:23","href":"/1pe/1/#v23","status":"detected"},{"at":500,"text":"Gen. v. 3","label":"Genesis 5:3","href":"/gen/5/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":1437,"text":"1 Pet. i. 23","label":"1 Peter 1:23","href":"/1pe/1/#v23","status":"detected"},{"at":1539,"text":"1 John iii. 9","label":"1 John 3:9","href":"/1jn/3/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":1554,"text":"v. 1","label":"1 John 5:1","href":"/1jn/5/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.14.1","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"The word was made flesh","excerpt":"[1.] The word was made flesh. Forasmuch as the children, who were to become the sons of God, were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, Heb. ii. 14. The Socinians agree that Christ is both God and man, but they say that he was man, and was made a God, as Moses (Exod. vii. 1), directly contrary to John here, who saith, Theos en—He was God, but sarxegeneto—He was made flesh. Compare v. 1 with this. This intimates not only that he was really and truly man, but that he subjected himself to the miseries and calamities of the human nature. He was made flesh, the meanest part of man. Flesh bespeaks man weak, and he was crucified through weakness, 2 Cor. xiii. 4. Flesh bespeaks man mortal and dying (Ps. lxxviii. 39), and Christ was put to death in the flesh 1 Pet. iii. 18. Nay, flesh bespeaks man tainted with sin (Gen. vi. 3), and Christ, though he was perfectly holy and harmless, yet appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. viii. 3), and was made sin for us, 2 Cor. v. 21. When Adam had sinned, God said to him, Dust thou art; not only because made out of the dust, but because by sin he was sunk into dust. His fall did, somatoun ten psychen, turn him as it were all into body, made him earthly; therefore he that was made a curse for us was made flesh, and condemned sin in the flesh, Rom. viii. 3. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":176,"text":"Heb. ii. 14","label":"Hebrews 2:14","href":"/heb/2/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":302,"text":"Exod. vii. 1","label":"Exodus 7:1","href":"/exo/7/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":424,"text":"v. 1","label":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":688,"text":"2 Cor. xiii. 4","label":"2 Corinthians 13:4","href":"/2co/13/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":741,"text":"Ps. lxxviii. 39","label":"Psalms 78:39","href":"/psa/78/#v39","status":"detected"},{"at":800,"text":"1 Pet. iii. 18","label":"1 Peter 3:18","href":"/1pe/3/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":858,"text":"Gen. vi. 3","label":"Genesis 6:3","href":"/gen/6/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":972,"text":"Rom. viii. 3","label":"Romans 8:3","href":"/rom/8/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":1012,"text":"2 Cor. v. 21","label":"2 Corinthians 5:21","href":"/2co/5/#v21","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.14.2","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"He dwelt among us","excerpt":"... He dwelt among us. He was in the world, not as a wayfaring man that tarries but for a night, but he dwelt among us, made a long residence, the original word is observable, eskenosen en hemin—he dwelt among us, he dwelt as in a tabernacle, which intimates, First, That he dwelt here in very mean circumstances, as shepherds that dwell in tents. He did not dwell among us as in a palace, but as in a tent; for he had not where to lay his head, and was always upon the remove. Secondly, That his state here was a military state. Soldiers dwell in tents; he had long since proclaimed war with the seed of the serpent, and now he takes the field in person, sets up his standard, and pitches his tent, to prosecute this war. Thirdly, That his stay among us was not to be perpetual. He dwelt here as in a tent, not as at home. The patriarchs, by dwelling in tabernacles, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth, and sought the better country, and so did Christ, leaving us an example, Heb. xiii. 13, 14. Fourthly, That as of old God dwelt in the tabernacle of Moses, by the shechinah between the cherubim, so now he dwells in the human nature of Christ; that is now the true shechinah, the symbol of God's peculiar presence. And we are to make all our addresses to God through Christ, and from him to receive divine oracles.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":999,"text":"Heb. xiii. 13, 14","label":"Hebrews 13:13–14","href":"/heb/13/#v13","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.14.3","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"The glory as of the only begotten of the Father","excerpt":"[3.] What the glory was: The glory as of the only begotten of the Father. The glory of the Word made flesh was such a glory as became the only begotten Son of God, and could not be the glory of any other. Note, First, Jesus Christ is the only begotten of the Father. Believers are the children of God by the special favour of adoption and the special grace of regeneration. They are in a sense homoiousioi—of a like nature (2 Pet. i. 4), and have the image of his perfections; but Christ is homousios—of the same nature, and is the express image of his person, and the Son of God by an eternal generation. Angels are sons of God, but he never said to any of them, This day have I begotten thee, Heb. i. 5. Secondly, He was evidently declared to be the only begotten of the Father, by that which was seen of his glory when he dwelt among us. Though he was in the form of a servant, in respect of outward circumstances, yet, in respect of graces, his form was as that of the fourth in the fiery furnace, like the Son of God. His divine glory appeared in the holiness and heavenliness of his doctrine; in his miracles, which extorted from many this acknowledgment, that he was the Son of God; it appeared in the purity, goodness, and beneficence, of his whole conversation. God's goodness is his glory, and he went about doing good; he spoke and acted in every thing as an incarnate Deity. Perhaps the evangelist had a particular regard to the glory of his transfiguration, of which he was an eye-witness; see 2 Pet. i. 16-18. God's calling him his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased, intimated that he was the only begotten of the Father; but the full proof of this was at his resurrection.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":424,"text":"2 Pet. i. 4","label":"2 Peter 1:4","href":"/2pe/1/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":695,"text":"Heb. i. 5","label":"Hebrews 1:5","href":"/heb/1/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":1507,"text":"2 Pet. i. 16-18","label":"2 Peter 1:16–18","href":"/2pe/1/#v16","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.14.4","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Full of grace and truth","excerpt":"[4.] What advantage those he dwelt among had from this. He dwelt among them, full of grace and truth. In the old tabernacle wherein God dwelt was the law, in this was grace; in that were types, in this was truth. The incarnate Word was every way qualified for his undertaking as Mediator; for he was full of grace and truth, the two great things that fallen man stands in need of; and this proved him to be the Son of God as much as the divine power and majesty that appeared in him. First, He has a fulness of grace and truth for himself; he had the Spirit without measure. He was full of grace, fully acceptable to his Father, and therefore qualified to intercede for us; and full of truth, fully apprized of the things he was to reveal, and therefore fit to instruct us. He had a fulness of knowledge and a fulness of compassion. Secondly, He has a fulness of grace and truth for us. He received, that he might give, and God was well pleased in him, that he might be well pleased with us in him; and this was the truth of the legal types.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.15.1","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"What his testimony was","excerpt":"2. What his testimony was. He appeals to what he had said at the beginning of his ministry, when he had directed them to expect one that should come after him, whose forerunner he was, and never intended any other than to lead them to him, and to prepare his way. This he had given them notice of from the first. Note, It is very comfortable to a minister to have the testimony of his conscience for him that he set out in his ministry with honest principles and sincere intentions, with a single eye to the glory and honour of Christ. Now what he had then said he applies to this Jesus whom he had lately baptized, and who was so remarkably owned from heaven: This was he of whom I spoke. John did not tell them that there would shortly appear such a one among them, and then leave them to find him out; but in this he went beyond all the Old-Testament prophets that he particularly specified the person: \"This was he, the very man I told you of, and to him all I said is to be accommodated.\" Now what was it he said?","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.15.2","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"For he was before me","excerpt":"(2.) He here gives a good reason for it: For he was before me, protos mou en—He was my first, or first to me; he was my first Cause, my original. The First is one of God's names, Isa. xliv. 6. He is before me, is my first, [1.] In respect of seniority: he was before me, for he was before Abraham, ch. viii. 58. Nay, he was before all things, Col. i. 17. I am but of yesterday, he from eternity. It was but in those days that John Baptist came (Matt. iii. 1), but the goings forth of our Lord Jesus were of old, from everlasting, Mic. v. 2. This proves two natures in Christ. Christ, as man, came after John as to his public appearance; Christ, as God, was before him; and how could he otherwise be before him but by an eternal existence? [2.] In respect of supremacy; for he was my prince; so some princes are called the first; proton, \"It is he for whose sake and service I am sent: he is my Master, I am his minister and messenger.\"","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":179,"text":"Isa. xliv. 6","label":"Isaiah 44:6","href":"/isa/44/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":298,"text":"ch. viii. 58","label":"John 8:58","href":"/jhn/8/#v58","status":"detected"},{"at":343,"text":"Col. i. 17","label":"Colossians 1:17","href":"/col/1/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":445,"text":"Matt. iii. 1","label":"Matthew 3:1","href":"/mat/3/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":530,"text":"Mic. v. 2","label":"Micah 5:2","href":"/mic/5/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.16.1","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"We have received grace for grace","excerpt":"1. We have received grace for grace. Our receivings by Christ are all summed up in this one word, grace; we have received kai charin—even grace, so great a gift, so rich, so invaluable; we have received no less than grace; this is a gift to be spoken of with an emphasis. It is repeated, grace for grace; for to every stone in this building, as well as to the top-stone, we must cry, Grace, grace. Observe,\n\n(1.) The blessing received. It is grace; the good will of God towards us, and the good work of God in us. God's good will works the good work, and then the good work qualifies us for further tokens of his good will. As the cistern receives water from the fulness of the fountain, the branches sap from the fulness of the root, and the air light from the fulness of the sun, so we receive grace from the fulness of Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.16.2","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"The manner of its reception","excerpt":"(2.) The manner of its reception: Grace for grace—charin anti charitos. The phrase is singular, and interpreters put different senses upon it, each of which will be of use to illustrate the unsearchable riches of the grace of Christ. Grace for grace bespeaks, [1.] The freeness of this grace. It is grace for grace' sake; so Grotius. We receive grace, not for our sakes (be it known to us), but even so, Father, because it seemed good in thy sight. It is a gift according to grace, Rom. xii. 6. It is grace to us for the sake of grace to Jesus Christ. God was well pleased in him, and is therefore well pleased with us in him, Eph. i. 6. [2.] The fulness of this grace. Grace for grace is abundance of grace, grace upon grace (so Camero), one grace heaped upon another; as skin for skin is skin after skin, even all that a man has, Job ii. 4. It is a blessing poured out, that there shall not be room to receive it, plenteous redemption: one grace a pledge of more grace. Joseph-He will add. It is such a fulness as is called the fulness of God which we are filled with. We are not straitened in the grace of Christ, if we be not straitened in our own bosoms. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":482,"text":"Rom. xii. 6","label":"Romans 12:6","href":"/rom/12/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":627,"text":"Eph. i. 6","label":"Ephesians 1:6","href":"/eph/1/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":832,"text":"Job ii. 4","label":"Job 2:4","href":"/job/2/#v4","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.17.1","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"We have received grace and truth","excerpt":"2. We have received grace and truth, v. 17. He had said (v. 14) that Christ was full of grace and truth; now here he says that by him grace and truth came to us. From Christ we receive grace; this is a string he delights to harp upon, he cannot go off from it. Two things he further observes in this verse concerning this grace:—(1.) Its preference above the law of Moses: The law was given by Moses, and it was a glorious discovery, both of God's will concerning man and his good will to man; but the gospel of Christ is a much clearer discovery both of duty and happiness. That which was given by Moses was purely terrifying and threatening, and bound with penalties, a law which could not give life, which was given with abundance of terror (Heb. xii. 18); but that which is given by Jesus Christ is of another nature; it has all the beneficial uses of the law, but not the terror, for it is grace: grace teaching (Tit. ii. 11), grace reigning, Rom. v. 21. It is a law, but a remedial law. The endearments of love are the genius of the gospel, not the affrightments of law and the curse. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":37,"text":"v. 17","label":"John 1:17","href":"/jhn/1/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":57,"text":"v. 14","label":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":745,"text":"Heb. xii. 18","label":"Hebrews 12:18","href":"/heb/12/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":918,"text":"Tit. ii. 11","label":"Titus 2:11","href":"/tit/2/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":948,"text":"Rom. v. 21","label":"Romans 5:21","href":"/rom/5/#v21","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.18.1","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"The insufficiency of all other discoveries","excerpt":"(1.) The insufficiency of all other discoveries: No man hath seen God at any time. This intimates, [1.] That the nature of God being spiritual, he is invisible to bodily eyes, he is a being whom no man hath seen, nor can see, 1 Tim. vi. 16. We have therefore need to live by faith, by which we see him that is invisible, Heb. xi. 27. [2.] That the revelation which God made of himself in the Old Testament was very short and imperfect, in comparison with that which he has made by Christ: No man hath seen God at any time; that is, what was seen and known of God before the incarnation of Christ was nothing to that which is now seen and known; life and immortality are now brought to a much clearer light than they were then. [3.] That none of the Old-Testament prophets were so well qualified to make known the mind and will of God to the children of men as our Lord Jesus was, for none of them had seen God at any time. Moses beheld the similitude of the Lord (Num. xii. 8), but was told that he could not see his face, Exod. xxxiii. 20. But this recommends Christ's holy religion to us that it was founded by one that had seen God, and knew more of his mind than any one else ever did.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":226,"text":"1 Tim. vi. 16","label":"1 Timothy 6:16","href":"/1ti/6/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":321,"text":"Heb. xi. 27","label":"Hebrews 11:27","href":"/heb/11/#v27","status":"detected"},{"at":964,"text":"Num. xii. 8","label":"Numbers 12:8","href":"/num/12/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":1023,"text":"Exod. xxxiii. 20","label":"Exodus 33:20","href":"/exo/33/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.18.2","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"The all-sufficiency of the gospel discovery","excerpt":"(2.) The all-sufficiency of the gospel discovery proved from its author: The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. Observe here,\n\n[1.] How fit he was to make this discovery, and every way qualified for it. He and he alone was worthy to take the book, and to open the seals, Rev. v. 9. For, First, He is the only-begotten Son; and who so likely to know the Father as the Son? or in whom is the Father better known than in the Son? Matt. xi. 27. He is of the same nature with the Father, so that he who hath seen him hath seen the Father, ch. xiv. 9. The servant is not supposed to know so well what his Lord does as the Son, ch. xv. 15. Moses was faithful as a servant, but Christ as a Son. Secondly, He is in the bosom of the Father. He had lain in his bosom from eternity. When he was here upon earth, yet still, as God, he was in the bosom of the Father, and thither he returned when he ascended. In the bosom of the Father; that is, 1. In the bosom of his special love, dear to him, in whom he was well pleased, always his delight. All God's saints are in his hand, but his Son was in his bosom, one in nature and essence, and therefore in the highest degree one in love. 2. In the bosom of his secret counsels. As there was a mutual complacency, so there was a mutual consciousness, between the Father and Son (Matt. xi. 27); none so fit as he to make known God, for none knew his mind as he did. Our most secret counsels we are said to hide in our bosom (in pectore); Christ was privy to the bosom-counsels of the Father. The prophets sat down at his feet as scholars; Christ lay in his bosom as a friend. See Eph. iii. 11.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":311,"text":"Rev. v. 9","label":"Revelation 5:9","href":"/rev/5/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":467,"text":"Matt. xi. 27","label":"Matthew 11:27","href":"/mat/11/#v27","status":"detected"},{"at":574,"text":"ch. xiv. 9","label":"John 14:9","href":"/jhn/14/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":661,"text":"ch. xv. 15","label":"John 15:15","href":"/jhn/15/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":1352,"text":"Matt. xi. 27","label":"Matthew 11:27","href":"/mat/11/#v27","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.19.1","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"Who they were that sent to him, and who they were that were sent","excerpt":"I. Who they were that sent to him, and who they were that were sent. 1. They that sent to him were the Jews at Jerusalem, the great sanhedrim or high-commission court, which sat at Jerusalem, and was the representative of the Jewish church, who took cognizance of all matters relating to religion. One would think that they who were the fountains of learning, and the guides of the church, should have, by books, understood the times so well as to know that the Messiah was at hand, and therefore should presently have known him that was his forerunner, and readily embraced him; but, instead of this, they sent messengers to cross questions with him. Secular learning, honour, and power, seldom dispose men's minds to the reception of divine light. 2. They that were sent were, (1.) Priests and Levites, probably members of the council, men of learning, gravity, and authority. John Baptist was himself a priest of the seed of Aaron, and therefore it was not fit that he should be examined by any but priests. It was prophesied concerning John's ministry that it should purify the Sons of Levi (Mal. iii. 3), and therefore they were jealous of him and his reformation. (2.) They were of the Pharisees, proud, self-justiciaries, that thought they needed no repentance, and therefore could not bear one that made it his business to preach repentance.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":1096,"text":"Mal. iii. 3","label":"Malachi 3:3","href":"/mal/3/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.20.1","start":20,"end":20,"heading":"John disowns himself to be the Christ","excerpt":"... [1.] John disowns himself to be the Christ (v. 20): He said, I am not the Christ, who was now expected and waited for. Note, The ministers of Christ must remember that they are not Christ, and therefore must not usurp his powers and prerogatives, nor assume the praises due to him only. They are not Christ, and therefore must not lord it over God's heritage, nor pretend to a dominion over the faith of Christians. They cannot created grace and peace; they cannot enlighten, convert, quicken, comfort; for they are not Christ. Observe how emphatically this is here expressed concerning John: He confessed, and denied not, but confessed; it denotes his vehemence and constancy in making this protestation. Note, Temptations to pride, and assuming that honour to ourselves which does not belong to us, ought to be resisted with a great deal of vigour and earnestness. When John was taken to be the Messiah, he did not connive at it with a Si populus vult decipi, decipiatur—If the people will be deceived, let them; but openly and solemnly, without any ambiguities, confessed, I am not the Christ; hoti ouk eimi ego ho Christos—I am not the Christ, not I; another is at hand, who is he, but I am not. His disowning himself to be the Christ is called his confessing and not denying Christ. Note, Those that humble and abase themselves thereby confess Christ, and give honour to him; but those that will not deny themselves do in effect deny Christ, ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":48,"text":"v. 20","label":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.21.1","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"He disowns himself to be Elias","excerpt":"... [2.] He disowns himself to be Elias, v. 21. The Jews expected the person of Elias to return from heaven, and to live among them, and promised themselves great things from it. Hearing of John's character, doctrine, and baptism, and observing that he appeared as one dropped from heaven, in the same part of the country from which Elijah was carried to heaven, it is no wonder that they were ready to take him for this Elijah; but he disowned this honour too. He was indeed prophesied of under the name of Elijah (Mal. iv. 5), and he came in the spirit and power of Elias (Luke i. 17), and was the Elias that was to come (Matt. xi. 14); but he was not the person of Elias, not that Elias that went to heaven in the fiery chariot, as he was that met Christ in his transfiguration. He was the Elias that God had promised, not the Elias that they foolishly dreamed of. Elias did come, and they knew him not (Matt. xvii. 12); nor did he make himself known to them as the Elias, because they had promised themselves such an Elias as God never promised them. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":41,"text":"v. 21","label":"John 1:21","href":"/jhn/1/#v21","status":"detected"},{"at":516,"text":"Mal. iv. 5","label":"Malachi 4:5","href":"https://openwordbible.org/mal/4/","status":"detected"},{"at":575,"text":"Luke i. 17","label":"Luke 1:17","href":"/luk/1/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":624,"text":"Matt. xi. 14","label":"Matthew 11:14","href":"/mat/11/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":907,"text":"Matt. xvii. 12","label":"Matthew 17:12","href":"/mat/17/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.21.2","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"He disowns himself to be that prophet","excerpt":"... [3.] He disowns himself to be that prophet, or the prophet. First, He was not that prophet which Moses said the Lord would raise up to them of their brethren, like unto him. If they meant this, they needed not ask that question, for that prophet was no other than the Messiah, and he had said already, I am not the Christ. Secondly, He was not such a prophet as they expected and wished for, who, like Samuel and Elijah, and some other of the prophets, would interpose in public affairs, and rescue them from under the Roman yoke. Thirdly, He was not one of the old prophets raised from the dead, as they expected one to come before Elias, as Elias before the Messiah. Fourthly, Though John was a prophet, yea, more than a prophet, yet he had his revelation, not by dreams and visions, as the Old-Testament prophets had theirs; his commission and work were of another nature, and belonged to another dispensation. If John had said that he was Elias, and was a prophet, he might have made his words good; but ministers must, upon all occasions, express themselves with the utmost caution, both that they may not confirm people in any mistakes, and particularly that they may not give occasion to any to think of them above what is meet.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.22-23.1","start":22,"end":23,"heading":"Affirmatively","excerpt":"(2.) Affirmatively. The committee that was sent to examine him pressed for a positive answer (v. 22), urging the authority of those that sent them, which they expected he should pay a deference to: \"Tell us, What art thou? not that we may believe thee, and be baptized by three, but that we may give an answer to those that sent us, and that it may not be said we were sent on a fool's errand.\" John was looked upon as a man of sincerity, and therefore they believed he would not give an evasive ambiguous answer; but would be fair and above-board, and give a plain answer to a plain question: What sayest thou of thyself? And he did so, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Observe,\n\n[1.] He gives his answer in the words of scripture, to show that the scripture was fulfilled in him, and that his office was supported by a divine authority. What the scripture saith of the office of the ministry should be often thought of by those of that high calling, who must look upon themselves as that, and that only, which the word of God makes them.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":94,"text":"v. 22","label":"John 1:22","href":"/jhn/1/#v22","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.23.1","start":23,"end":23,"heading":"He was the voice","excerpt":"[3.] He gives such an account of himself as might be profitable to them, and might excite and awaken them to hearken to him; for he was the voice (see Isa. xl. 3), a voice to alarm, an articulate voice to instruct. Ministers are but the voice, the vehicle, by which God is pleased to communicate his mind. What are Paul and Apollos but messengers? Observe, First, He was a human voice. The people were prepared to receive the law by the voice of thunders, and a trumpet exceedingly loud, such as made them tremble; but they were prepared for the gospel by the voice of a man like ourselves, a still small voice, such as that in which God came to Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 12. Secondly, He was the voice of one crying, which denotes, 1. His earnestness and importunity in calling people to repentance; he cried aloud, and did not spare. Ministers must preach as those that are in earnest, and are themselves affected with those things with which they desire to affect others. Those words are not likely to thaw the hearers' hearts that freeze between the speaker's lips. 2. His open publication of the doctrine he preached; he was the voice of one crying, that all manner of persons might hear and take notice. Doth not wisdom cry? Prov. viii. 1. Thirdly, It was in the wilderness that this voice was crying; in a place of silence and solitude, out of the noise of the world and the hurry of its business; the more retired we are from the tumult of secular affairs the better prepared we are to hear from God. Fourthly, That which he cried was, Make straight the way of the Lord; that is, 1. He came to rectify the mistakes of people concerning the ways of God; it is certain that they are right ways, but the scribes and Pharisees, with their corrupt glosses upon the law, had made them crooked. Now John Baptist calls people to return to the original rule. 2. He came to prepare and dispose people for the reception and entertainment of Christ and his gospel. It is an allusion to the harbingers of a prince or great man, that cry, Make room. Note, When God is coming towards us, we must prepare to meet him, and let the word of the Lord have free course. See Ps. xxiv. 7.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":151,"text":"Isa. xl. 3","label":"Isaiah 40:3","href":"/isa/40/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":654,"text":"1 Kings xix. 12","label":"1 Kings 19:12","href":"/1ki/19/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":1226,"text":"Prov. viii. 1","label":"Proverbs 8:1","href":"/pro/8/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.25.1","start":25,"end":25,"heading":"The enquiry which the committee made about it","excerpt":"(1.) The enquiry which the committee made about it: Why baptizest thou, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias, nor that prophet? v. 25. [1.] They readily apprehended baptism to be fitly and properly used as a sacred rite or ceremony, for the Jewish church had used it with circumcision in the admission of proselytes, to signify the cleansing of them from the pollutions of their former state. That sign was made use of in the Christian church, that it might be the more passable. Christ did not affect novelty, nor should his ministers. [2.] They expected it would be used in the days of the Messiah, because it was promised that then there should be a fountain opened (Zech. xiii. 1), and clean water sprinkled, Ezek. xxxvi. 25. It is taken for granted that Christ, and Elias, and that prophet, would baptize, when they came to purify a polluted world. Divine justice drowned the old world in its filth, but divine grace has provided for the cleansing of this new world from its filth. [3.] They would therefore know by what authority John baptized. His denying himself to be Elias, or that prophet, subjected him to this further question, Why baptizest thou? Note, It is no new thing for a man's modesty to be turned against him, and improved to his prejudice; but it is better that men should take advantage of our low thoughts of ourselves, to trample upon us, than the devil take advantage of our high thoughts of ourselves, to tempt us to pride and draw us into his condemnation.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":128,"text":"v. 25","label":"John 1:25","href":"/jhn/1/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":670,"text":"Zech. xiii. 1","label":"Zechariah 13:1","href":"/zec/13/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":713,"text":"Ezek. xxxvi. 25","label":"Ezekiel 36:25","href":"/ezk/36/#v25","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.26.1","start":26,"end":26,"heading":"The account he gave of it","excerpt":"[1.] He owned himself to be only the minister of the outward sign: \"I baptize with water, and that is all; I am no more, and do no more, than what you see; I have no other title than John the Baptist; I cannot confer the spiritual grace signified by it.\" Paul was in care that none should think of him above what they saw him to be (2 Cor. xii. 6); so was John Baptist. Ministers must not set up for masters.\n\n[2.] He directed them to one who was greater than himself, and would do that for them, if they pleased, which he could not do: \"I baptize with water, and that is the utmost of my commission; I have nothing to do but by this to lead you to one that comes after me, and consign you to him.\" Note, The great business of Christ's ministers is to direct all people to him; we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. John gave the same account to this committee that he had given to the people (v. 15): This as he of whom I spoke. John was constant and uniform in his testimony, not as a reed shaken with the wind. The sanhedrim were jealous of his interest in the people, but he is not afraid to tell them that there is one at the door that will go beyond him. First, He tells them of Christ's presence among them now at this time: There stands one among you, at this time, whom you know not. Christ stood among the common people, and was as one of them. Note, 1. Much true worth lies hid in this world; obscurity is often the lot of real excellency. Saints are God's hidden ones, therefore the world knows them not. 2. God himself is often nearer to us than we are aware of. The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. They were gazing, in expectation of the messiah: Lo he is here, or he is there, when the kingdom of God was abroad and already among them, Luke xvii. 21. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":333,"text":"2 Cor. xii. 6","label":"2 Corinthians 12:6","href":"/2co/12/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":908,"text":"v. 15","label":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.27.1","start":27,"end":27,"heading":"He tells them of Christ's preference above himself","excerpt":"... Secondly, He tells them of Christ's preference above himself: He comes after me, and yet is preferred before me. This he had said before; he adds here, \"Whose shoe-latchet I am not worthy to loose; I am not fit to be named the same day with him; it is an honour too great for me to pretend to be in the meanest office about him,\" 1 Sam. xxv. 41. Those to whom Christ is precious reckon his service, even the most despised instances of it, an honour to them. See Ps. lxxxiv. 10. If so great a man as John accounted himself unworthy of the honour of being near Christ, how unworthy then should we account ourselves! Now, one would think, these chief priests and Pharisees, upon this intimation given concerning the approach of the Messiah, should presently have asked who, and where, this excellent person was; and who more likely to tell them than he who had given them this general notice? No, they did not think this any part of their business or concern; they came to molest John, not to receive any instructions from him: so that their ignorance was wilful; they might have known Christ, and would not.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":334,"text":"1 Sam. xxv. 41","label":"1 Samuel 25:41","href":"/1sa/25/#v41","status":"detected"},{"at":466,"text":"Ps. lxxxiv. 10","label":"Psalms 84:10","href":"/psa/84/#v10","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.28.1","start":28,"end":28,"heading":"Notice is taken of the place where all this was done","excerpt":"Lastly, Notice is taken of the place where all this was done: In Bethabara beyond Jordan, v. 28. Bethabara signifies the house of passage; some think it was the very place where Israel passed over Jordan into the land of promise under the conduct of Joshua; there was opened the way into the gospel state by Jesus Christ. It was at a great distance from Jerusalem, beyond Jordan; probably because what he did there would be least offensive to the government. Amos must go prophesy in the country, not near the court; but it was sad that Jerusalem should put so far from her the things that belonged to her peace. He made this confession in the same place where he was baptizing, that all those who attended his baptism might be witnesses of it, and none might say that they knew not what to make of him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":90,"text":"v. 28","label":"John 1:28","href":"/jhn/1/#v28","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.29.1","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"That he is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world","excerpt":"1. That he is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, v. 29. Let us learn here,\n\n(1.) That Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, which bespeaks him the great sacrifice, by which atonement is made for sin, and man reconciled to God. Of all the legal sacrifices he chooses to allude to the lambs that were offered, not only because a lamb is an emblem of meekness, and Christ must be led as a lamb to the slaughter (Isa. liii. 7), but with a special reference, [1.] To the daily sacrifice, which was offered every morning and evening continually, and that was always a lamb (Exod. xxix. 38), which was a type of Christ, as the everlasting propitiation, whose blood continually speaks. [2.] To the paschal lamb, the blood of which, being sprinkled upon the door-posts, secured the Israelites from the stroke of the destroying angel. Christ is our passover, 1 Cor. v. 7. He is the Lamb of God; he is appointed by him (Rom. iii. 25), he was devoted to him (ch. xvii. 19), and he was accepted with him; in him he was well pleased. The lot which fell on the goat that was to be offered for a sin-offering was called the Lord's lot (Lev. xvi. 8, 9); so Christ, who was to make atonement for sin, is called the Lamb of God.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":70,"text":"v. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":425,"text":"Isa. liii. 7","label":"Isaiah 53:7","href":"/isa/53/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":584,"text":"Exod. xxix. 38","label":"Exodus 29:38","href":"/exo/29/#v38","status":"detected"},{"at":865,"text":"1 Cor. v. 7","label":"1 Corinthians 5:7","href":"/1co/5/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":925,"text":"Rom. iii. 25","label":"Romans 3:25","href":"/rom/3/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":963,"text":"ch. xvii. 19","label":"John 17:19","href":"/jhn/17/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":1136,"text":"Lev. xvi. 8, 9","label":"Leviticus 16:8–9","href":"/lev/16/#v8","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.29.2","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"That Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world","excerpt":"(2.) That Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world. This was his undertaking; he appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Heb. ix. 26. John Baptist had called people to repent of their sins, in order to the remission of them. Now here he shows how and by whom that remission was to be expected, what ground of hope we have that our sins shall be pardoned upon our repentance, though our repentance makes no satisfaction for them. This ground of hope we have—Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. [1.] He takes away sin. He, being Mediator between God and man, takes away that which is, above any thing, offensive to the holiness of God, and destructive to the happiness of man. He came, First, To take away the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, to vacate the judgment, and reverse the attainder, which mankind lay under, by an act of indemnity, of which all penitent obedient believers may claim the benefit. Secondly, To take away the power of sin by the Spirit of his grace, so that it shall not have dominion, Rom. vi. 14. Christ, as the Lamb of God, washes us from our sins in his own blood; that is, he both justifies and sanctifies us: he takes away sin. He is ho airon—he is taking away the sin of the world, which denotes it not a single but a continued act; it is his constant work and office to take away sin, which is such a work of time that it will never be completed till time shall be no more. He is always taking away sin, by the continual intercession of his blood in heaven, and the continual influence of his grace on earth. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":161,"text":"Heb. ix. 26","label":"Hebrews 9:26","href":"/heb/9/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":1053,"text":"Rom. vi. 14","label":"Romans 6:14","href":"/rom/6/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.30.1","start":30,"end":30,"heading":"That this was he of whom he had spoken before","excerpt":"2. That this was he of whom he had spoken before (v. 30, 31): This is he, this person whom I now point at, you see where he stands, this is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man. Observe, (1.) This honour John had above all the prophets, that, whereas they spoke of him as one that should come, he saw him already come. This is he. He sees him now, he sees him nigh, Num. xxiv. 17. Such a difference there is between present faith and future vision. Now we love one whom we have not seen; then we shall see him whom our souls love, shall see him, and say, This is he of whom I said, my Christ, and my all, my beloved, and my friend. (2.) John calls Christ a man; after me comes a man—aner, a strong man: like the man, the branch, or the man of God's right hand. (3.) He refers to what he had himself said of him before: This is he of whom I said. Note, Those who have said the most honourable things of Christ will never see cause to unsay them; but the more they know him the more they are confirmed in their esteem of him. John still thinks as meanly of himself, and as highly of Christ, as ever. Though Christ appeared not in any external pomp or grandeur, yet John is not ashamed to own, This is he whom I meant, who is preferred before me. And it was necessary that John should thus show them the person, otherwise they could not have believed that one who made so mean a figure should be he of whom John had spoken such great things. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":50,"text":"v. 30, 31","label":"John 1:30–31","href":"/jhn/1/#v30","status":"detected"},{"at":370,"text":"Num. xxiv. 17","label":"Numbers 24:17","href":"/num/24/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.31.1","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"He protests against any confederacy or combination with this Jesus","excerpt":"... (4.) He protests against any confederacy or combination with this Jesus: And I knew him not. Though there was some relation between them (Elisabeth was cousin to the virgin Mary), yet there was no acquaintance at all between them; John had no personal knowledge of Jesus till he saw him come to his baptism. Their manner of life had been different: John had spent his time in the wilderness, in solitude; Jesus at Nazareth, in conversation. There was no correspondence, no interview between them, that the matter might appear to be wholly carried on by the direction and disposal of Heaven, and not by any design or concert of the persons themselves. And as he hereby disowns all collusion, so also all partiality and sinister regard in it; he could not be supposed to favour him as a friend, for there was no friendship or familiarity between them. Nay, as he could not be biassed to speak honourably of him because he was a stranger to him, he was not able to say any thing of him but what he received from above, to which he appeals, ch. iii. 27. Note, They who are taught believe and confess one whom they have not seen, and blessed are they who yet have believed. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":1041,"text":"ch. iii. 27","label":"John 3:27","href":"/jhn/3/#v27","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.31.2","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"The great intention of John's ministry and baptism was to introduce Jesus Christ","excerpt":"... (5.) The great intention of John's ministry and baptism was to introduce Jesus Christ. That he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. Observe, [1.] Though John did not know Jesus by face, yet he knew that he should be made manifest. Note, We may know the certainty of that which yet we do not fully know the nature and intention of. We know that the happiness of heaven shall be made manifest to Israel, but cannot describe it. [2.] The general assurance John had that Christ should be made manifest served to carry him with diligence and resolution through his work, though he was kept in the dark concerning particulars: Therefore am I come. Our assurance of the reality of things, though they are unseen, is enough to quicken us to our duty. [3.] God reveals himself to his people by degrees. At first, John knew no more concerning Christ but that he should be made manifest; in confidence of that, he came baptizing, and now he is favoured with a sight of him. They who, upon God's word, believe what they do not see, shall shortly see what they now believe. [4.] The ministry of the word and sacraments is designed for no other end than to lead people to Christ, and to make him more and more manifest. [5.] Baptism with water made way for the manifesting of Christ, as it supposed our corruption and filthiness, and signified our cleansing by him who is the fountain opened.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.32.1","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"That this was he upon whom the Spirit descended from heaven like a dove","excerpt":"3. That this was he upon whom the Spirit descended from heaven like a dove. For the confirming of his testimony concerning Christ, he here vouches the extraordinary appearance at his baptism, in which God himself bore witness to him. This was a considerable proof of Christ's mission. Now, to assure us of the truth of it, we are here told (v. 32-34),\n\n(1.) That John Baptist saw it: He bore record; did not relate it as a story, but solemnly attested it, with all the seriousness and solemnity of witness-bearing. He made affidavit of it: I saw the Spirit descending from heaven. John could not see the Spirit, but he saw the dove which was a sign and representation of the Spirit. The Spirit came now upon Christ, both to make him fit for his work and to make him known to the world. Christ was notified, not by the descent of a crown upon him, or by a transfiguration, but by the descent of the Spirit as a dove upon him, to qualify him for his undertaking. Thus the first testimony given to the apostles was by the descent of the Spirit upon them. God's children are made manifest by their graces; their glories are reserved for their future state. Observe, [1.] The spirit descended from heaven, for every good and perfect gift is from above. [2.] He descended like a dove—an emblem of meekness, and mildness, and gentleness, which makes him fit to teach. The dove brought the olive-branch of peace, Gen. viii. 11. [3.] The Spirit that descended upon Christ abode upon him, as was foretold, Isa. xi. 2. The Spirit did not move him at times, as Samson (Judg. xiii. 25), but at all times. The Spirit was given to him without measure; it was his prerogative to have the Spirit always upon him, so that he could at no time be found either unqualified for his work himself or unfurnished for the supply of those that seek to him for his grace.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":341,"text":"v. 32-34","label":"John 1:32–34","href":"/jhn/1/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":1405,"text":"Gen. viii. 11","label":"Genesis 8:11","href":"/gen/8/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":1496,"text":"Isa. xi. 2","label":"Isaiah 11:2","href":"/isa/11/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":1557,"text":"Judg. xiii. 25","label":"Judges 13:25","href":"/jdg/13/#v25","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.33.1","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"That he was told to expect it","excerpt":"(2.) That he was told to expect it, which very much corroborates the proof. It was not John's bare conjecture, that surely he on whom he saw the Spirit descending was the Son of God; but it was an instituted sign given him before, by which he might certainly know it (v. 33): I knew him not. He insists much upon this, that he knew no more of him than other people did, otherwise than by revelation. But he that sent me to baptize gave me this sign, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, the same is he. [1.] See here what sure grounds John went upon in his ministry and baptism, that he might proceed with all imaginable satisfaction. First, He did not run without sending: God sent him to baptize. He had a warrant from heaven for what he did. When a minister's call is clear, his comfort is sure, though his success is not always so. Secondly, He did not run without speeding; for, when he was sent to baptize with water, he was directed to one that should baptize with the Holy Ghost. Under this notion John Baptist was taught to expect Christ, as one who would give that repentance and faith which he called people to, and would carry on and complete that blessed structure of which he was now laying the foundation. Note, It is a great comfort to Christ's ministers, in their administration of the outward signs, that he whose ministers they are can confer the grace signified thereby, and so put life, and soul, and power into their ministrations; can speak to the heart what they speak to the ear, and breathe upon the dry bones to which they prophesy. [2.] See what sure grounds he went upon in his designation of the person of the Messiah. God had before given him a sign, as he did to Samuel concerning Saul: \"On whom thou shalt see the Spirit descend, that same is he.\" This not only prevented any mistakes, but gave him boldness in his testimony. When he had such assurance as this given him, he could speak with assurance. When John was told this before, his expectations could not but be very much raised; and, when the event exactly answered the prediction, his faith could not but be much confirmed: and these things are written that we may believe.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":268,"text":"v. 33","label":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.34.1","start":34,"end":34,"heading":"That he is the Son of God","excerpt":"4. That he is the Son of God. This is the conclusion of John's testimony, that in which all the particulars centre, as the quod erat demonstrandum—the fact to be demonstrated (v. 34): I saw, and bore record, that this is the Son of God. (1.) The truth asserted is, that this is the Son of God. The voice from heaven proclaimed, and John subscribed to it, not only that he should baptize with the Holy Ghost by a divine authority, but that he has a divine nature. This was the peculiar Christian creed, that Jesus is the Son of God (Matt. xvi. 16), and here is the first framing of it. (2.) John's testimony to it: \"I saw, and bore record. Not only I now bear record of it, but I did so as soon as I had seen it.\" Observe, [1.] What he saw he was forward to bear record of, as they, Acts iv. 20: We cannot but speak the things which we have seen. [2.] What he bore record of was what he saw. Christ's witnesses were eye-witnesses, and therefore the more to be credited: they did not speak by hear-say and report, 2 Pet. i. 16.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":176,"text":"v. 34","label":"John 1:34","href":"/jhn/1/#v34","status":"detected"},{"at":532,"text":"Matt. xvi. 16","label":"Matthew 16:16","href":"/mat/16/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":782,"text":"Acts iv. 20","label":"Acts 4:20","href":"/act/4/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.35-36.1","start":35,"end":36,"heading":"John's testimony to Christ, the next day after","excerpt":"II. Here is John's testimony to Christ, the next day after, v. 35, 36. Where observe, 1. He took every opportunity that offered itself to lead people to Christ: John stood looking upon Jesus as he walked. It should seem, John was now retired from the multitude, and was in close conversation with two of his disciples. Note, Ministers should not only in their public preaching, but in their private converse, witness to Christ, and serve his interests. He saw Jesus walking at some distance, yet did not go to him himself, because he would shun every thing that might give the least colour to suspect a combination. He was looking upon Jesus—emblepsas; he looked stedfastly, and fixed his eyes upon him. Those that would lead others to Christ must be diligent and frequent in the contemplation of him themselves. John had seen Christ before, but now looked upon him, 1 John i. 1. 2. He repeated the same testimony which he had given to Christ the day before, though he could have delivered some other great truth concerning him; but thus he would show that he was uniform and constant in his testimony, and consistent with himself. His doctrine was the same in private that it was in public, as Paul's was, Acts xx. 20, 21. It is good to have that repeated which we have heard, Phil. iii. 1. The doctrine of Christ's sacrifice for the taking away of the sin of the world ought especially to be insisted upon by all good ministers: Christ, the Lamb of God, Christ and him crucified. 3. He intended this especially for his two disciples that stood with him; he was willing to turn them over to Christ, for to this end he bore witness to Christ in their hearing that they might leave all to follow him, even that they might leave him. He did not reckon that he lost those disciples who went over from him to Christ, any more than the schoolmaster reckons that scholar lost whom he sends to the university. John gathered disciples, not for himself, but for Christ to prepare them for the Lord, Luke i. 17. So far was he from being jealous of Christ's growing interest, that there was nothing he was more desirous of. ...","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":60,"text":"v. 35, 36","label":"John 1:35–36","href":"/jhn/1/#v35","status":"detected"},{"at":867,"text":"1 John i. 1","label":"1 John 1:1","href":"/1jn/1/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":1207,"text":"Acts xx. 20, 21","label":"Acts 20:20–21","href":"/act/20/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":1278,"text":"Phil. iii. 1","label":"Philippians 3:1","href":"/php/3/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":1990,"text":"Luke i. 17","label":"Luke 1:17","href":"/luk/1/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.37.1","start":37,"end":37,"heading":"Their readiness to go over to Christ","excerpt":"I. Andrew and another with him were the two that John Baptist had directed to Christ, v. 37. Who the other was we are not told; some think that it was Thomas, comparing ch. xxi. 2; others that it was John himself, the penman of this gospel, whose manner it is industriously to conceal his name, ch. xiii. 23, and xx. 3.\n\n1. Here is their readiness to go over to Christ: They heard John speak of Christ as the Lamb of God, and they followed Jesus. Probably they had heard John say the same thing the day before, and then it had not the effect upon them which now it had; see the benefit of repetition, and of private personal converse. They heard him speak of Christ as the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world, and this made them follow him. The strongest and most prevailing argument with a sensible awakened soul to follow Christ is that it is he, and he only, that takes away sin.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":86,"text":"v. 37","label":"John 1:37","href":"/jhn/1/#v37","status":"detected"},{"at":169,"text":"ch. xxi. 2","label":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":295,"text":"ch. xiii. 23, and xx. 3","label":"John 13:23","href":"/jhn/13/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.38.1","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"The kind notice Christ took of them","excerpt":"2. The kind notice Christ took of them, v. 38. They came behind him; but, though he had his back towards them, he was soon aware of them, and turned, and saw them following. Note, Christ takes early cognizance of the first motions of a soul towards him, and the first step taken in the way to heaven; see Isa. lxiv. 5; Luke xv. 20. He did not stay till they begged leave to speak with him, but spoke first. What communion there is between a soul and Christ, it is he that begins the discourse. He saith unto them, What seek ye? This was not a reprimand for their boldness in intruding into his company: he that came to seek us never checked any for seeking him; but, on the contrary, it is a kind invitation of them into his acquaintance whom he saw bashful and modest: \"Come, what have you to say to me? What is your petition? What is your request.\" Note, Those whose business it is to instruct people in the affairs of their souls should be humble, and mild, and easy of access, and should encourage those that apply to them. The question Christ put to them is what we should all put to ourselves when we begin to follow Christ, and take upon us the profession of his holy religion: \"What seek ye? What do we design and desire?\" Those that follow Christ, and yet seek the world, or themselves, or the praise of men, deceive themselves. \"What seek we in seeking Christ? Do we seek a teacher, ruler, and reconciler? In following Christ, do we seek the favour of God and eternal life?\" If our eye be single in this, we are full of light.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":40,"text":"v. 38","label":"John 1:38","href":"/jhn/1/#v38","status":"detected"},{"at":305,"text":"Isa. lxiv. 5","label":"Isaiah 64:5","href":"/isa/64/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":319,"text":"Luke xv. 20","label":"Luke 15:20","href":"/luk/15/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.38.2","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"Their modest enquiry concerning the place of his abode","excerpt":"3. Their modest enquiry concerning the place of his abode: Rabbi, where dwellest thou? (1.) In calling him Rabbi, they intimated that their design in coming to him was to be taught by him; rabbi signifies a master, a teaching master; the Jews called their doctors, or learned men, rabbies. The word comes from rab, multus or magnus, a rabbi, a great man, and one that, as we say, has much in him. Never was there such a rabbi as our Lord Jesus, such a great one, in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. These came to Christ to be his scholars, so must all those that apply themselves to him. John had told them that he was the Lamb of God; now this Lamb is worthy to take the book and open the seals as a rabbi, Rev. v. 9. And, unless we give up ourselves to be ruled and taught by him, he will not take away our sins. (2.) In asking where he dwelt, they intimate a desire to be better acquainted with him. Christ was a stranger in this country, so that they meant where was his inn where he lodged; for there they would attend him at some seasonable time, when he should appoint, to receive instruction from him; they would not press rudely upon him, when it was not proper. Civility and good manners well become those who follow Christ. And, besides, they hoped to have more from him than they could have in a short conference now by the way. They resolved to make a business, not a by-business of conversing with Christ. Those that have had some communion with Christ cannot but desire, [1.] A further communion with him; they follow on to know more of him. [2.] A fixed communion with him; where they may sit down at his feet, and abide by his instructions. It is not enough to take a turn with Christ now and then, but we must lodge with him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":732,"text":"Rev. v. 9","label":"Revelation 5:9","href":"/rev/5/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.39.1","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"The courteous invitation Christ gave them to his lodgings","excerpt":"4. The courteous invitation Christ gave them to his lodgings: He saith unto them, Come and see. Thus should good desires towards Christ and communion with him be countenanced. (1.) He invites them to come to his lodgings: the nearer we approach to Christ, the more we see of his beauty and excellency. Deceivers maintain their interest in their followers by keeping them at a distance, but that which Christ desired to recommend him to the esteem and affections of his followers was that they would come and see: \"Come and see what a mean lodging I have, what poor accommodations I take up with, that you may not expect any worldly advantage by following me, as they did who made their court to the scribes and Pharisees, and called them rabbin. Come and see what you must count upon if you follow me.\" See Matt. viii. 20. (2.) He invites them to come immediately and without delay. They asked where he lodged, that they might wait upon him at a more convenient season; but Christ invites them immediately to come and see; never in better time than now. Hence learn, [1.] As to others, that it is best taking people when they are in a good mind; strike while the iron is hot. [2.] As to ourselves, that it is wisdom to embrace the present opportunities: Now is the accepted time, 2 Cor. vi. 2.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":807,"text":"Matt. viii. 20","label":"Matthew 8:20","href":"/mat/8/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.39.2","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"Their cheerful and (no doubt) thankful acceptance of his invitation","excerpt":"5. Their cheerful and (no doubt) thankful acceptance of his invitation: They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day. It had been greater modesty and manners than had done them good if they had refused this offer. (2.) They readily went along with him: They came and saw where he dwelt. Gracious souls cheerfully accept Christ's gracious invitations; as David, Ps. xxvii. 8. They enquired not how they might be accommodated with him, but would put that to the venture, and make the best of what they found. It is good being where Christ is, wherever it be. (2.) They were so well pleased with what they found that they abode with him that day (\"Master, it is good to be here\"); and he bade them welcome. It was about the tenth hour. Some think that John reckons according to the Roman computation, and that it was about ten o'clock in the morning, and they staid with him till night; others think that John reckons as the other evangelists did, according to the Jewish computation, and that it was four o'clock in the afternoon, and they abode with him that night and the next day. Dr. Lightfoot conjectures that this next day that they spent with Christ was a sabbath-day, and, it being late, they could not get home before the sabbath. As it is our duty, wherever we are, to contrive to spend the sabbath as much as may be to our spiritual benefit and advantage, so they are blessed who, by the lively exercises of faith, love, and devotion, spend their sabbaths in communion with Christ. These are Lord's days indeed, days of the Son of man.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":378,"text":"Ps. xxvii. 8","label":"Psalms 27:8","href":"/psa/27/#v8","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.40-41.1","start":40,"end":41,"heading":"Andrew brought his brother Peter to Christ","excerpt":"II. Andrew brought his brother Peter to Christ. If Peter had been the first-born of Christ's disciples, the papists would have made a noise with it: he did indeed afterwards come to be more eminent in gifts, but Andrew had the honour first to be acquainted with Christ, and to be the instrument of bringing Peter to him. Observe,\n\n1. The information which Andrew gave to Peter, with an intimation to come to Christ.\n\n(1.) He found him: He first finds his own brother Simon; his finding implies his seeking him. Simon came along with Andrew to attend John's ministry and baptism, and Andrew knew where to look for him. Perhaps the other disciple that was with him went out to seek some friend of his at the same time, but Andrew sped first: He first findeth Simon, who came only to attend on John, but has his expectations out-done; he meets with Jesus.\n\n(2.) He told him whom they had found: We have found the Messias. Observe, [1.] he speaks humbly; not, \"I have found,\" assuming the honour of the discovery to himself, but \"We have,\" rejoicing that he had shared with others in it. [2.] He speaks exultingly, and with triumph: We have found that pearl of great price, that true treasure; and, having found it, he proclaims it as those lepers, 2 Kings vii. 9, for he knows that he shall have never the less in Christ for others sharing. [3.] He speaks intelligently: We have found the Messias, which was more than had yet been said. John had said, He is the Lamb of God, and the Son of God, which Andrew compares with the scriptures of the Old Testament, and, comparing them together, concludes that he is the Messiah promised to the fathers, for it is now that the fulness of time is come. Thus, by making God's testimonies his meditation, he speaks more clearly concerning Christ than ever his teacher had done, Ps. cxix. 99.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":1245,"text":"2 Kings vii. 9","label":"2 Kings 7:9","href":"/2ki/7/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.42.1","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"He brought him to Jesus","excerpt":"(3.) He brought him to Jesus; would not undertake to instruct him himself, but brought him to the fountain-head, persuaded him to come to Christ and introduced him. Now this was, [1.] An instance of true love to his brother, his own brother, so he is called here, because he was very dear to him. Note, We ought with a particular concern and application to seek the spiritual welfare of those that are related to us; for their relation to us adds both to the obligation and to the opportunity of doing good to their souls. [2.] It was an effect of his day's conversation with Christ. Note, the best evidence of our profiting by the means of grace is the piety and usefulness of our conversation afterwards. Hereby it appeared that Andrew had been with Jesus that he was so full of him, that he had been in the mount, for his face shone. He knew there was enough in Christ for all; and, having tasted that he is gracious, he could not rest till those he loved had tasted it too. Note, True grace hates monopolies, and loves not to eat its morsels alone.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.42.2","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"Christ called him by his name","excerpt":"2. The entertainment which Jesus Christ gave to Peter, who was never the less welcome for his being influenced by his brother to come, v. 42. Observe,\n\n(1.) Christ called him by his name: When Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jona. It should seem that Peter was utterly a stranger to Christ, and if so, [1.] It was a proof of Christ's omniscience that upon the first sight, without any enquiry, he could tell the name both of him and of his father. The Lord knows them that are his, and their whole case. However, [2.] It was an instance of his condescending grace and favour, that he did thus freely and affably call him by his name, though he was of mean extraction, and vir mullius nominis—a man of no name. It was an instance of God's favour to Moses that he knew him by name, Exod. xxxiii. 17. Some observe the signification of these names: Simon—obedient, Jona—a dove. An obedient dove-like spirit qualifies us to be the disciples of Christ.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":135,"text":"v. 42","label":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42","status":"detected"},{"at":802,"text":"Exod. xxxiii. 17","label":"Exodus 33:17","href":"/exo/33/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.42.3","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"He gave him a new name: Cephas","excerpt":"(2.) He gave him a new name: Cephas. [1.] His giving him a name intimates Christ's favour to him. A new name denotes some great dignity, Rev. ii. 17; Isa. lxii. 2. By this Christ not only wiped off the reproach of his mean and obscure parentage, but adopted him into his family as one of his own. [2.] The name which he gave him bespeaks his fidelity to Christ: Thou shalt be called Cephas (that is Hebrew for a stone), which is by interpretation Peter; so it should be rendered, as Acts ix. 36. Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas; the former Hebrew, the latter Greek, for a young roe. Peter's natural temper was stiff, and hardy, and resolute, which I take to be the principal reason why Christ called him Cephas—a stone. When Christ afterwards prayed for him, that his faith might not fail, that so he might be firm to Christ himself, and at the same time bade him strengthen his brethren, and lay out himself for the support of others, then he made him what he here called him, Cephas—a stone. Those that come to Christ must come with a fixed resolution to be firm and constant to him, like a stone, solid and stedfast; and it is by his grace that they are so. His saying, Be thou steady, makes them so. Now this does no more prove that Peter was the singular or only rock upon which the church is built than the calling of James and John Boanerges proves them the only sons of thunder, or the calling of Joses Barnabas proves him the only son of consolation.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":137,"text":"Rev. ii. 17","label":"Revelation 2:17","href":"/rev/2/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":150,"text":"Isa. lxii. 2","label":"Isaiah 62:2","href":"/isa/62/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":483,"text":"Acts ix. 36","label":"Acts 9:36","href":"/act/9/#v36","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.43-44.1","start":43,"end":44,"heading":"Philip was called immediately by Christ himself","excerpt":"I. Philip was called immediately by Christ himself, not as Andrew, who was directed to Christ by John, or Peter, who was invited by his brother. God has various methods of bringing his chosen ones home to himself. But, whatever means he uses, he is not tied to any. 1. Philip was called in a preventing was: Jesus findeth Philip. Christ sought us, and found us, before we made any enquiries after him. The name Philip is of Greek origin, and much used among the Gentiles, which some make an instance of the degeneracy of the Jewish church at this time, and their conformity to the nations; yet Christ changed not his name. 2. He was called the day following. See how closely Christ applied himself to his business. When work is to be done for God, we must not lose a day. Yet observe, Christ now called one or two a day; but, after the Spirit was poured out, there were thousands a day effectually called, in which was fulfilled ch. xiv. 12. 3. Jesus would go forth into Galilee to call him. Christ will find out all those that are given to him, wherever they are, and none of them shall be lost. 4. Philip was brought to be a disciple by the power of Christ going along with that word, Follow me. See the nature of true Christianity; it is following Christ, devoting ourselves to his converse and conduct, attending his movements, and treading in his steps. See the efficacy of the grace of it is the rod of his strength. 5. We are told that Philip was of Bethsaida, and Andrew and Peter were so too, v. 44. These eminent disciples received not honour from the place of their nativity, but reflected honour upon it. Bethsaida signifies the house of nets, because inhabited mostly by fishermen; thence Christ chose disciples, who were to be furnished with extraordinary gifts, and therefore needed not the ordinary advantages of learning. Bethsaida was a wicked place (Matt. xi. 21), yet even there was a remnant, according to the election of grace.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":929,"text":"ch. xiv. 12","label":"John 14:12","href":"/jhn/14/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":1502,"text":"v. 44","label":"John 1:44","href":"/jhn/1/#v44","status":"detected"},{"at":1869,"text":"Matt. xi. 21","label":"Matthew 11:21","href":"/mat/11/#v21","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.45.1","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"The joyful news that Philip brought to Nathanael","excerpt":"(1.) The joyful news that Philip brought to Nathanael, v. 45. As Andrew before, so Philip here, having got some knowledge of Christ himself, rests not till he has made manifest the savour of that knowledge. Philip, though newly come to an acquaintance with Christ himself, yet steps aside to seek Nathanael. Note, When we have the fairest opportunities of getting good to our own souls, yet ever then we must seek opportunities of doing good to the souls of others, remembering the words of Christ, It is more blessed to give than to receive, Acts xx. 35. O, saith Philip, we have found him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, Observe here, [1.] What a transport of joy Philip was in, upon this new acquaintance with Christ: \"We have found him whom we have so often talked of, so long wished and waited for; at last, he is come he is come, and we have found him!\" [2.] What an advantage it was to him that he was so well acquainted with the scriptures of the Old Testament, which prepared his mind for the reception of evangelical light, and made the entrance of it much the more easy: Him of whom Moses and the prophets did write. What was written entirely and from eternity in the book of the divine counsels was in part, at sundry times and in divers manners, copied out into the book of the divine revelations. Glorious things were written there concerning the Seed of the woman, the Seed of Abraham, Shiloh, the prophet like Moses, the Son of David, Emmanuel, the Man, the Branch, Messiah the Prince. Philip had studied these things, and was full of them, which made him readily welcome Christ. [3.] What mistakes and weaknesses he laboured under: he called Christ Jesus of Nazareth, whereas he was of Bethlehem; and the Son of Joseph, whereas he as but his supposed Son. Young beginners in religion are subject to mistakes, which time and the grace of God will rectify. It was his weakness to say, We have found him, for Christ found them before they found Christ. He did not yet apprehend, as Paul did, how he was apprehended of Christ Jesus, Phil. iii. 12.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":55,"text":"v. 45","label":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45","status":"detected"},{"at":543,"text":"Acts xx. 35","label":"Acts 20:35","href":"/act/20/#v35","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.46.1","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"The objection which Nathanael made","excerpt":"(2.) The objection which Nathanael made against this, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? v. 46. Here, [1.] His caution was commendable, that he did not lightly assent to every thing that was said, but took it into examination; our rule is, Prove all things. But, [2.] His objection arose from Ignorance. If he meant that no good thing could come out of Nazareth it was owing to his ignorance of the divine grace, as if that were less affected to one place than another, or tied itself to men's foolish and ill-natured observations. If he meant that the Messiah, that great good thing, could not come out of Nazareth, so far he was right (Moses, in the law, said that he should come out of Judah, and the prophets had assigned Bethlehem for the place of his nativity); but then he was ignorant of the matter of fact, that this Jesus was born at Bethlehem; so that the blunder Philip made, in calling him Jesus of Nazareth, occasioned this objection. Note, The mistakes of preachers often give rise to the prejudices of hearers.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":95,"text":"v. 46","label":"John 1:46","href":"/jhn/1/#v46","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.46.2","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"The short reply which Philip gave to this objection: Come and see","excerpt":"(3.) The short reply which Philip gave to this objection: Come and see. [1.] It was his weakness that he could not give a satisfactory answer to it; yet it is the common case of young beginners in religion. We may know enough to satisfy ourselves, and yet not be able to say enough to silence the cavils of a subtle adversary. [2.] It was his wisdom and zeal that, when he could not answer the objection himself, he would have him go to one that could: Come and see. Let us not stand arguing here, and raising difficulties to ourselves which we cannot get over; let us go and converse with Christ himself, and these difficulties will all vanish presently. Note, It is folly to spend that time in doubtful disputation which might be better spent, and to much better purpose, in the exercises of piety and devotion. Come and see; not, Go and see, but, \"Come, and I will go along with thee;\" as Isa. ii. 3; Jer. i. 5. From this parley between Philip and Nathanael, we may observe, First, That many people are kept from the ways of religion by the unreasonable prejudices they have conceived against religion, upon the account of some foreign circumstances which do not at all touch the merits of the case. Secondly, The best way to remove the prejudices they have entertained against religion is to prove themselves, and make trial of it. Let us not answer this matter before we hear it.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":892,"text":"Isa. ii. 3","label":"Isaiah 2:3","href":"/isa/2/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":904,"text":"Jer. i. 5","label":"Jeremiah 1:5","href":"/jer/1/#v5","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.47.1","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"Our Lord Jesus bore a very honourable testimony to Nathanael's integrity","excerpt":"(1.) Our Lord Jesus bore a very honourable testimony to Nathanael's integrity: Jesus saw him coming, and met him with favourable encouragement; he said of him to those about him, Nathanael himself being within hearing, Behold an Israelite indeed. Observe,\n\n[1.] That he commended him; not to flatter him, or puff him up with a good conceit of himself, but perhaps because he knew him to be a modest man, if not a melancholy man, one that had hard and mean thoughts of himself, was ready to doubt his own sincerity; and Christ by this testimony put the matter out of doubt. Nathanael had, more than any of the candidates, objected against Christ; but Christ hereby showed that he excused it, and was not extreme to mark what he had said amiss, because he knew his heart was upright. He did not retort upon him, Can any good thing come out of Cana (ch. xxi. 2), an obscure town in Galilee? But kindly gives him this character, to encourage us to hope for acceptance with Christ, notwithstanding our weakness, and to teach us to speak honourably of those who without cause have spoken slightly of us, and to give them their due praise.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":847,"text":"ch. xxi. 2","label":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.47.2","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"He commended him for his integrity","excerpt":"[2.] That he commended him for his integrity. First, Behold an Israelite indeed. It is Christ's prerogative to know what men are indeed; we can but hope the best. The whole nation were Israelites in name, but all are not Israel that are of Israel (Rom. ix. 6); here, however, was an Israelite indeed. 1. A sincere follower of the good example of Israel, whose character it was that he was a plain man, in opposition to Esau's character of a cunning man. He was a genuine son of honest Jacob, not only of his seed, but of his spirit. 2. A sincere professor of the faith of Israel; he was true to the religion he professed, and lived up to it: he was really as good as he seemed, and his practice was of a piece with his profession. He is the Jew that is one inwardly (Rom. ii. 29), so is he the Christian. Secondly, He is one in whom is no guile—that is the character of an Israelite indeed, a Christian indeed: no guile towards men; a man without trick or design; a man that one may trust; no guile towards God, that is, sincere in his repentance for sin; sincere in his covenanting with God; in whose spirit is no guile, Ps. xxxii. 2. He does not say without guilt, but without guile. Though in many things he is foolish and forgetful, yet in nothing false, nor wickedly departing from God: there is no allowed approved guilt in him; not painted, though he have his spots: \"Behold this Israelite indeed.\" 1. \"Take notice of him, that you may learn his way, and do like him.\" 2. \"Admire him; behold, and wonder.\" The hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees had so leavened the Jewish church and nation, and their religion was so degenerated into formality or state-policy, that an Israelite indeed was a man wondered at, a miracle of divine grace, like Job, ch. i. 8.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":248,"text":"Rom. ix. 6","label":"Romans 9:6","href":"/rom/9/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":767,"text":"Rom. ii. 29","label":"Romans 2:29","href":"/rom/2/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":1122,"text":"Ps. xxxii. 2","label":"Psalms 32:2","href":"/psa/32/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.48.1","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"Whence knowest thou me?","excerpt":"(2.) Nathanael is much surprised at this, upon which Christ gives him a further proof of his omnisciency, and a kind memorial of his former devotion.\n\n[1.] Here is Nathanael's modesty, in that he was soon put out of countenance at the kind notice Christ was pleased to take of him: \"Whence knowest thou me, me that am unworthy of thy cognizance? who am I, O Lord God?\" 2 Sam. vii. 18. This was an evidence of his sincerity, that he did not catch at the praise he met with, but declined it. Christ knows us better than we know ourselves; we know not what is in a man's heart by looking in his face, but all things are naked and open before Christ, Heb. iv. 12, 13. Doth Christ know us? Let us covet to know him.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":369,"text":"2 Sam. vii. 18","label":"2 Samuel 7:18","href":"/2sa/7/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":647,"text":"Heb. iv. 12, 13","label":"Hebrews 4:12–13","href":"/heb/4/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.48.2","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"Christ's further manifestation of himself to him","excerpt":"[2.] Here is Christ's further manifestation of himself to him: Before Philip called thee, I saw thee. First, He gives him to understand that he knew him, and so manifests his divinity. It is God's prerogative infallibly to know all persons and all things; by this Christ proved himself to be God upon many occasions. It was prophesied concerning the Messiah that he should be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, that is, in judging the sincerity and degree of the fear of God in others, and that he should not judge after the sight of his eyes, Isa. xi. 2, 3. Here he answers that prediction. See 2 Tim. ii. 19. Secondly, That before Philip called him he saw him under the fig-tree; this manifests a particular kindness for him. 1. His eye was towards him before Philip called him, which was the first time that ever Nathanael was acquainted with Christ. Christ has knowledge of us before we have any knowledge of him; see Isa. xlv. 4; Gal. iv. 9. 2. His eye was upon him when he as under the fig-tree; this was a private token which nobody understood but Nathanael: \"When thou wast retired under the fig-tree in thy garden, and thoughtest that no eye saw thee, I have then my eye upon thee, and saw that which was very acceptable.\" It is most probable that Nathanael under the fig-tree was employed, as Isaac in the field, in meditation, and prayer, and communion with God. Perhaps then and there it was that he solemnly joined himself to the Lord in an inviolable covenant. Christ saw in secret, and by this public notice of it did in part reward him openly. Sitting under the fig-tree denotes quietness and composedness of spirit, which much befriend communion with God. See Mic. iv. 4; Zech. iii. 10. Nathanael here in was an Israelite indeed, that, like Israel, he wrestled with God alone (Gen. xxxii. 24), prayed not like the hypocrites, in the corners of the streets, but under the fig-tree.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":557,"text":"Isa. xi. 2, 3","label":"Isaiah 11:2–3","href":"/isa/11/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":609,"text":"2 Tim. ii. 19","label":"2 Timothy 2:19","href":"/2ti/2/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":935,"text":"Isa. xlv. 4","label":"Isaiah 45:4","href":"/isa/45/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":948,"text":"Gal. iv. 9","label":"Galatians 4:9","href":"/gal/4/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":1690,"text":"Mic. iv. 4","label":"Micah 4:4","href":"/mic/4/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":1702,"text":"Zech. iii. 10","label":"Zechariah 3:10","href":"/zec/3/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":1807,"text":"Gen. xxxii. 24","label":"Genesis 32:24","href":"/gen/32/#v24","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.49.1","start":49,"end":49,"heading":"Nathanael hereby obtained a full assurance of faith","excerpt":"(3.) Nathanael hereby obtained a full assurance of faith in Jesus Christ, expressed in that noble acknowledgment (v. 49): Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel; that is, in short, thou art the true Messiah. Observe here, [1.] How firmly he believed with the heart. Though he had lately laboured under some prejudices concerning Christ, they had now all vanished. Note, The grace of God, in working faith, casts down imaginations. Now he asks no more, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? For he believes Jesus of Nazareth to be the chief good, and embraces him accordingly. [2.] How freely he confessed with the mouth. His confession is made in form of an adoration, directed to our Lord Jesus himself, which is a proper way of confessing our faith. First, He confesses Christ's prophetical office, in calling him Rabbi, a title which the Jews commonly gave to their teachers. Christ is the great rabbi, at whose feet we must all be brought up. Secondly, He confesses his divine nature and mission, in calling him the Son of God (that Son of God spoken of Ps. ii. 7); though he had but a human form and aspect, yet having a divine knowledge, the knowledge of the heart, and of things distant and secret, Nathanael thence concludes him to be the Son of God. Thirdly, He confesses, \"Thou art the king of Israel; that king of Israel whom we have been long waiting for.\" If he be the Son of God, he is king of the Israel of God. Nathanael hereby proves himself an Israelite indeed that he so readily owns and submits to the king of Israel.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":114,"text":"v. 49","label":"John 1:49","href":"/jhn/1/#v49","status":"detected"},{"at":1082,"text":"Ps. ii. 7","label":"Psalms 2:7","href":"/psa/2/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.50.1","start":50,"end":50,"heading":"Christ hereupon raises the hopes and expectations of Nathanael","excerpt":"(4.) Christ hereupon raises the hopes and expectations of Nathanael to something further and greater than all this, v. 50, 51. Christ is very tender of young converts, and will encourage good beginnings, though weak, Matt. xii. 20.\n\n[1.] He here signifies his acceptance, and (it should seem) his admiration, of the ready faith of Nathanael: Because I said, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? He wonders that such a small indication of Christ's divine knowledge should have such an effect; it was a sign that Nathanael's heart was prepared beforehand, else the work had not been done so suddenly. Note, It is much for the honour of Christ and his grace, when the heart is surrendered to him at the first summons.\n\n[2.] He promises him much greater helps for the confirmation and increase of his faith than he had had for the first production of it.\n\nFirst, In general: \"Thou shalt see greater things than these, stronger proofs of my being the Messiah;\" the miracles of Christ, and his resurrection. Note, 1. To him that hath, and maketh good use of what he hath, more shall be given. 2. Those who truly believe the gospel will find its evidences grow upon them, and will see more and more cause to believe it. 3. Whatever discoveries Christ is pleased to make of himself to his people while they are here in this world, he hath still greater things than these to make known to them; a glory yet further to be revealed.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":116,"text":"v. 50, 51","label":"John 1:50–51","href":"/jhn/1/#v50","status":"detected"},{"at":217,"text":"Matt. xii. 20","label":"Matthew 12:20","href":"/mat/12/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.51.1","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Verily, verily I say unto you","excerpt":"Secondly, In particular: \"Not thou only, but you, all you my disciples, whose faith this is intended for the confirmation of, you shall see heaven opened;\" this is more than telling Nathanael of his being under the fig-tree. This is introduced with a solemn preface, Verily, verily I say unto you, which commands both a fixed attention to what is said as very weighty, and a full assent to it as undoubtedly true: \"I say it, whose word you may rely upon, amen, amen.\" None used this word at the beginning of a sentence but Christ, though the Jews often used it at the close of a prayer, and sometimes doubled it. It is a solemn asseveration. Christ is called the Amen (Rev. iii. 14), and so some take it here, I the Amen, the Amen, say unto you. I the faithful witness. Note, The assurances we have of the glory to be revealed are built upon the word of Christ. Now see what it is that Christ assures them of: Hereafter, or within awhile, or ere long, or henceforth, ye shall see heaven opened.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":669,"text":"Rev. iii. 14","label":"Revelation 3:14","href":"/rev/3/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.51.2","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"The Son of man","excerpt":"a. It is a mean title that Christ here takes to himself: The Son of man; a title frequently applied to him in the gospel, but always by himself. Nathanael had called him the Son of God and king of Israel: he calls himself Son of man, (a.) To express his humility in the midst of the honours done him. (b.) To teach his humanity, which is to be believed as well as his divinity. (c.) To intimate his present state of humiliation, that Nathanael might not expect this king of Israel to appear in external pomp.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.51.3","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Ascending and descending upon the Son of man","excerpt":"... (b.) Others take it figuratively, as speaking of a state or series of things to commence from henceforth; and so we may understand it, [a.] Of Christ's miracles. Nathanael believed, because Christ, as the prophets of old, could tell him things secret; but what is this? Christ is now beginning a dispensation of miracles, much more great and strange than this, as if heaven were opened; and such a power shall be exerted by the Son of man as if the angels, which excel in strength, were continually attending his orders. Immediately after this, Christ began to work miracles, ch. ii. 11. Or, [b.] Of his mediation, and that blessed intercourse which he hath settled between heaven and earth, which his disciples should be degrees be let into the mystery of. First, By Christ, as Mediator, they shall see heaven opened, that we may enter into the holiest by his blood (Heb. x. 19, 20); heaven opened, that by faith we may look in, and at length may go in; may now behold the glory of the Lord, and hereafter enter into the joy of our Lord. And, Secondly, They shall see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Through Christ we have communion with and benefit by the holy angels, and things in heaven and things on earth are reconciled and gathered together. Christ is to us as Jacob's ladder (Gen. xxviii. 12), by whom angels continually ascend and descend for the good of the saints.","source_url":"https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc5.John.ii.html","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":580,"text":"ch. ii. 11","label":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":872,"text":"Heb. x. 19, 20","label":"Hebrews 10:19–20","href":"/heb/10/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":1310,"text":"Gen. xxviii. 12","label":"Genesis 28:12","href":"/gen/28/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null}]},{"work_id":"bengel","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","short_name":"Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"title":"Gnomon of the New Testament, Vol. II (Gospels according to St Luke and St John)","edition_short":"Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1857-58","author_url":"/commentators/bengel/","divisions":"verse","work_url":"/works/bengel/","entries":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.1.1","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"in principio","excerpt":"John’s style, especially in this passage, is pre-eminent for its simplicity, nicety [acute refinement, ‘subtilitas’], and sublimity. The Beginning here means that time, when all things began to be and were created by the Word, ver. 3. ... In like manner, none is higher [goes further back]. In the beginning of the heaven and the earth, God created the heaven and the earth: in the same beginning of the heaven and the earth, and of the world, ver. 10, already the Word was in existence, without any beginning or commencement of itself. The Word itself is purely eternal; for it is in the same manner that the eternity of the Word and of the Father is described.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":227,"text":"ver. 3","label":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":444,"text":"ver. 10","label":"John 1:10","href":"/jhn/1/#v10","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.1.2","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"God","excerpt":"Not only was He with God, but also was God. The absence of the Greek article, especially in the predicate, does not weaken its signification, as meaning the true God. ... Further, in this passage the same signification is confirmed from the fact, that there was then no creature, in relation to which the Word could be called God [in a lower sense] ; it must therefore be here meant in an absolute sense. ... In this stronghold of the faith, in this most sure centre, we stand unmoved, and we fortify ourselves against all enticements which try to draw us off in a quite contrary direction [to other and irrelevant arguments].","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.1.3","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"the Word","excerpt":"This is set down a third time, with the greatest force. The three clauses are arranged in a gradation [an ascending climax: The Word was in the beginning; the Word was with God; the Word was God]: the Article here is the distinguishing mark of the Subject. The Godhead of the Saviour had been openly declared in the Old Testament: Jer. xxiii. 6, “The Lord our righteousness,” Jehovah-Tsidkenu ; Hos. i. 7, “I will save them by the Lord their God ;” Ps. xxiii. 1, “The Lord, Jehovah, is my Shepherd ;” and the proofs of it are taken for granted in the New Testament, for instance, Heb. i. Accordingly Matthew, Mark, and Luke make their aim, rather to prove that Jesus, who is real man, is the Christ. And when in consequence some began at last to doubt as to the Godhead of Christ, John asserted it, and wrote in this book a kind of supplement to the Gospels, as in the Apocalypse he wrote one supplementary to the prophets.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":331,"text":"Jer. xxiii. 6","label":"Jeremiah 23:6","href":"/jer/23/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":395,"text":"Hos. i. 7","label":"Hosea 1:7","href":"/hos/1/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":449,"text":"Ps. xxiii. 1","label":"Psalms 23:1","href":"/psa/23/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.2.1","start":2,"end":2,"heading":"He","excerpt":"He alone. The He comprises [includes in its application] the whole of the verse immediately preceding it, as He, in the 7th verse, comprises the 6th verse. ... This, being repeated [from ver. 1], is now put in antithesis to His subsequent mission to men. The three weighty truths, put dividedly in the preceding verse, are repeated and brought together in one in this verse. He, the Logos, who was God, was in the beginning, and was with God. A remarkable antithesis, comp. ver. 14, as also 1 John ii. 1 [which contain the same antithetic contrast. ] ... Moreover the very congeries of this second verse manifestly supports this antithesis, the appellation of Logos being intermitted between ver. 2 and 14.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":187,"text":"ver. 1","label":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":474,"text":"ver. 14","label":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":491,"text":"1 John ii. 1","label":"1 John 2:1","href":"/1jn/2/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":692,"text":"ver. 2","label":"John 1:2","href":"/jhn/1/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.3.1","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"all things","excerpt":"A large word, by which the world, i.e. the whole totality of things created is denoted, ver. 10. All things, which are outside of God, were made; and all things which were made, were made by the Logos. ... This sentence expresses something more than that immediately preceding. The Subject is, Not even one thing: The Predicate is, without Him was made, which was made.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":88,"text":"ver. 10","label":"John 1:10","href":"/jhn/1/#v10","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.4.1","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"life","excerpt":"After the consideration of being [esse], the next consideration is as to living [vivere]. Then [the result of life entering the world] there is no death, there is then no nature devoid of grace. ... The Subject: the Life, bestowing life on all things, which were alive. ... Light and Life together: ch. viii. 12, “ He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life: 1 Tim. vi. 16, “ Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto:” Phil. ii. 15, 16, “ Ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.” ... Of all men in the state of innocency, from which there ought not to be separated the consideration as to the Logos. Men: nowhere is this expression used for Adam and his wife ; so it denotes mankind. The evangelist here is come from the whole to the part—from those things which were made, or which were alive, to rational beings.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":303,"text":"viii. 12","label":"John 8:12","href":"/jhn/8/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":398,"text":"1 Tim. vi. 16","label":"1 Timothy 6:16","href":"/1ti/6/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":498,"text":"Phil. ii. 15, 16","label":"Philippians 2:15–16","href":"/php/2/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.5.1","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"in darkness","excerpt":"From this verse the doctrine of evil and its rise, receives much light. ... For it is a privation, which men have incurred [ To wit, that state of the human race is expressed by this word, which has prevailed since Adam’s transgression down to the appearance of the true Light.—V.g.] It is in the darkness that the glory of the Light is the more conspicuously seen. ... The Light was always nigh at hand, even in the Old Testament, ready to apply a remedy to darkness and sin. ... Men, it seems, were too much averse from the Light, as well as too deeply sunk in darkness.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.6.1","start":6,"end":6,"heading":"","excerpt":"The answer is, There is no introduction: the treatise itself [ipsa tractatio, the handling of the subject itself] begins with the beginning of the book. For in ver. 6 the Evangelist already describes the office of John, in bearing witness of the Light: and in the first five verses, he records what before had always been the nature and principle of the Light. Therefore up to this point a summary has been given of those things, which evidently preceded John; nor can these by any means be referred to the action of Jesus immediately succeeding John, as Artemonius, p. 412, refers it; and now there is unfolded by the Evangelist a more copious description of recent [new] events. Both [the things preceding John, and the things then from that point occurring] are most orderly in their arrangement. ... The definition of a prophet. ... That is, an interpreter [exponent] of the grace of God. The greatness of John [is hereby implied], of whom mention is made immediately after the preceding statements [ver. 1-5]. Greater knowledge was brought into the world through John, than had been in all previous ages.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":160,"text":"ver. 6","label":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":1004,"text":"ver. 1-5","label":"John 1:1–5","href":"/jhn/1/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.7.1","start":7,"end":7,"heading":"for a witness","excerpt":"What Matthew, Mark, and Luke term a Gospel, this John for the most part terms a testimony or witness : the former term expresses the relation to the promise, that went before : the latter expresses the altogether certain knowledge of him, who announces it: the former is used in reference to Christ as He was manifested ; the latter, with reference to the Glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when raised from the dead: accordingly, in the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles, both are often employed. Testimony applies to a thing, known for certain by witnesses, a thing not falling under the eyes at least of the hearers, and yet all important to them: accordingly to it answers faith. ... They need Testimony, who were in darkness.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.8.1","start":8,"end":8,"heading":"That One","excerpt":"Some had suspected, that John was the Light : ... that One points out a more remote object.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.9.1","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"was","excerpt":"The Light itself, moreover, was that true light, which enlighteneth. ... There follows immediately the declaration, which enlighteneth, etc. This forms an antithesis to John, [who was only] a lamp, a witness. ... every one, and wholly, so far as a man doth not withdraw himself from His influence: whosoever is enlightened at all, is enlightened by this Light. The singular number here has great force. ... Not even one is excluded. ... Who by himself [when left to himself] is in darkness: every man has a more august sound, than all men, ver. 7. John was but a man, ver. 6. The Light, so far as it is light, is contradistinguished from man. ... Among the Hebrews it is a frequent periphrasis for a man. ... but in the New Testament, and especially in this book, this phrase is used of Christ alone, and in an exalted sense. For He was, even before that He came.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":540,"text":"ver. 7","label":"John 1:7","href":"/jhn/1/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":568,"text":"ver. 6","label":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.10.1","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"He was in the world","excerpt":"The evangelist adds this, lest any one should so understand the expression, coming into the world, as if the Light had not been previously in the world at all. Three times in this verse world is repeated ; three times it is said of the human race, as in the previous verse, but not to the exclusion of the other creatures, at least in the first place. ... The name world in the sacred writings implies THE IMPIOUS SILLINESS [futilitatem, emptiness] OF THE HUMAN RACE. Camer. note in John xvii.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.11.1","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"His own","excerpt":"From the world, the whole, the discourse goes down to the part. ... The time, moreover, of His coming into the world and to His own is one and the same, namely after the coming of John; ver. 6, 7.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":186,"text":"ver. 6, 7","label":"John 1:6–7","href":"/jhn/1/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.12.1","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"","excerpt":"In ver. 12 and 13 mere external differences are taken away most effectually. ... This is the Glory of Christ, the Only-begotten Son. ... but the filiation itself is this power, or, in other words, dignity. A great fact! ... Two weighty truths are set before us, of which the former is elucidated in ver. 13 ; the second in ver. 14, where the manifestation of the Word in the flesh is not so much recorded as it was accomplished, but rather as it was believed: which view the series of things down from ver. 6 proves.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":3,"text":"ver. 12","label":"John 1:12","href":"/jhn/1/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":299,"text":"ver. 13","label":"John 1:13","href":"/jhn/1/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":323,"text":"ver. 14","label":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":502,"text":"ver. 6","label":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.13.1","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"not of bloods","excerpt":"the Hebrew idiom often has bloods in the Plural number, even when only one man is spoken of: but when the subject treated of is generation, it does not call it the blood or bloods of the parents. But for the commendation of a noble lineage, the term blood is frequent among the ancient writers, as it is in the usage of the present day: and thence it is that bloods denote variety of origins, in consequence of which various prerogatives [privileges] are either sought after, or even enjoyed, in the world. ... To the natural generation of men is opposed generation of God.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.14.1","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"flesh","excerpt":"Flesh (besides that it denotes as to us our corrupt nature, estranged-from the Spirit of God, ver. 13), denotes the human body, or, as in this place, the man himself, denominated from his visible part. Comp. 1 Tim. iii. 16, “Great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh.’ ... John Baptist, before that he was born of Elizabeth, had no existence: but the Word was, before that His mother Mary—before that Abraham—before that the world at all was brought into being: and in His own time the Word was made flesh: i.e. assumed a human nature, in such a way, however, that there were not two Messiahs, but one; not two sons of God, but one—V.g.]","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":94,"text":"ver. 13","label":"John 1:13","href":"/jhn/1/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":208,"text":"1 Tim. iii. 16","label":"1 Timothy 3:16","href":"/1ti/3/#v16","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.14.2","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"dwelt among us","excerpt":"He dwelt as in a tabernacle [tent] with us; truly, but not long, giving us a view of [the opportunity of seeing] Himself. ... the flesh was His tabernacle and temple: Heb. ix. 11 [Christ being come, an high-priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building]; John ii. 21 [“ The temple of His body” destroyed, and then in three days raised up again by Him]. ... we, the apostles, especially Peter, James, and John, Luke ix. 32. [These three, at the transfiguration, “saw His glory.”] The apostles, in speaking of that which they had seen, are wont to speak in the plural number: a usage which tends to the greater confirmation [of the things which they attest].","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":167,"text":"Heb. ix. 11","label":"Hebrews 9:11","href":"/heb/9/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":339,"text":"John ii. 21","label":"John 2:21","href":"/jhn/2/#v21","status":"detected"},{"at":494,"text":"Luke ix. 32","label":"Luke 9:32","href":"/luk/9/#v32","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.14.3","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"","excerpt":"There is hereby intimated the reality and unity of the Divine generation. ... Truth is grace clad with a promise, and put forth in exercise. ... This grace and truth is by nature unknown to the sons of wrath, and to the untruthful: but it falls to us [is bestowed on us] in the well-beloved Son, in whom the Father is well pleased, Matt. iii. 17.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":332,"text":"Matt. iii. 17","label":"Matthew 3:17","href":"/mat/3/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.15.1","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"bears witness","excerpt":"From this point the testimony of John is described more at large; and the whole passage, from ver. 15 to 28, is indeed composed of two members, but, however, both parts fall on the one day: for, in ver. 19, it is not said on the following day, or any like expression: and the discourse, ver. 29, etc., which John spake on the following day, has reference to the former part of the whole passage, rather than to the latter. Moreover, the following days are so closely connected with this one day, that the baptism of the Lord, and His sojourn in the wilderness, ought not to be interposed or subjoined, but be placed before. Therefore John in testifying of Him, and crying out [ver. 15], This is He of whom I spake, must either then have had Jesus before his eyes, after He had returned from the wilderness—comp. ver. 29, 36, “ John seeth Jesus coming unto Him: looking upon Jesus as He walked”—or at least have heard previously striking reports concerning Him.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":94,"text":"ver. 15","label":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":198,"text":"ver. 19","label":"John 1:19","href":"/jhn/1/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":287,"text":"ver. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":677,"text":"ver. 15","label":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":812,"text":"ver. 29, 36","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":812,"text":"ver. 29, 36","label":"John 1:36","href":"/jhn/1/#v36","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.15.2","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"was made","excerpt":"This is not said of His Divine nature, but of the office of the Christ : ... In this sense: He who was behind my back is now before my face, and has outstripped me, and left me behind Him. ... This is the idea: [I said that] He who was coming after me outstripped and left me behind, because He was far before me. The infinite excellence of His person is the foundation of His precedency, so to speak, in office.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.16.1","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"","excerpt":"The evangelist confirms the fact, that to this prediction of John the Baptist the event corresponded, and that the priority of office fell to Christ; for the statement in this verse is that of the Evangelist; since the Baptist would not be likely to call Jesus the Christ so openly as ver. 17 does: ... The Accusative is understood, all that was to be received out of His fulness, and [specially] grace for grace.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":285,"text":"ver. 17","label":"John 1:17","href":"/jhn/1/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.17.1","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"the law","excerpt":"producing wrath [Rom. iv. 15], and having a shadow [Heb. x. 1]: the moral and ceremonial law. ... The law is not Moses’ own: [but] grace and truth are Christ’s own. ... To grace and truth the law gives way, ch. iv. 23 [The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him]. ... Previously the world had neither known, nor had had grace.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":17,"text":"Rom. iv. 15","label":"Romans 4:15","href":"/rom/4/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":52,"text":"Heb. x. 1","label":"Hebrews 10:1","href":"/heb/10/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":211,"text":"iv. 23","label":"John 4:23","href":"/jhn/4/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.18.1","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"God","excerpt":"Whom grace and truth exhibit as love [in essence]. ... not even Moses, much less those earlier than the time of Moses, nor Jacob, nor Isaiah, nor Ezekiel: not even the angels saw Him in such manner as the Son. See the note on Rom. xvi. 25, etc. [The revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began]. ... no one hath seen: no one hath declared [God]: The Son hath seen, the Son hath declared, [God] ch. iii. 32 [What He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth]. ... both by His words and by the sight of Himself [as God manifest in the flesh].","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":226,"text":"Rom. xvi. 25","label":"Romans 16:25","href":"/rom/16/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":425,"text":"iii. 32","label":"John 3:32","href":"/jhn/3/#v32","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.18.2","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"in the bosom","excerpt":"The bosom here is divine, paternal, fruitful, mild, secret, spiritual. Men are said to be in the loins, who are about to be born: they are in the bosom, who have been born. The Son was in the bosom of the Father; because He was never not-born. The highest degree of unity, and the most intimate knowledge are signified by immediate sight [the seeing God face to face].","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.19.1","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"","excerpt":"the Jews) Matthew, Mark, and Luke rarely employ the appellation Jews; John most frequently: no doubt the cause is, they supposed, as their first readers, Jews: John, believers of the Gentiles. ... from Jerusalem) that seat of religion. ... priests and Levites) With the testimony of John to the people is interwoven his testimony to the rulers. This embassy, sent forty days at least after the baptism of Jesus [to allow for the forty days’ temptation subsequent to the baptism], indicates, that the preaching of John began not at a long interval before the baptism of Jesus. Otherwise the embassy would have been sent earlier. ... that they should ask) in the public name, ch. v. 38 [Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth]. ... who art thou?) with that baptism of thine, ver. 25.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":678,"text":"v. 38","label":"John 5:38","href":"/jhn/5/#v38","status":"detected"},{"at":788,"text":"ver. 25","label":"John 1:25","href":"/jhn/1/#v25","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.20.1","start":20,"end":20,"heading":"","excerpt":"he confessed) the truth. Comp. ver. 8; ch. v. 33. ... he denied not) Whilst he denied himself, he did not deny Christ [Ps. cxviii. 15, 16 (Perhaps Beng. means Ps. cxix. = cxviii. in the Septuag.)] ... By thus limiting his speech [to the denial that he was the Christ] he gives a handle to the thought arising, that the Christ is not far off. ... the Christ) they had suspected that John was the Christ.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":31,"text":"ver. 8","label":"John 1:8","href":"/jhn/1/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":43,"text":"v. 33","label":"John 5:33","href":"/jhn/5/#v33","status":"detected"},{"at":119,"text":"Ps. cxviii. 15, 16","label":"Psalms 118:15–16","href":"/psa/118/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.21.1","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"","excerpt":"John had said, I am not the Christ. ‘They persevere in asking about the subject: it would have been better for them to have asked about the predicate, Who is the Christ? Where is He? But John presently leads on the conversation to this. ... I am not) He was a second Elijah; he was not the Tishbite himself, about whom their enquiry was. He rejects from himself all things [all the characters, which their conjectures attributed to him], in order that he may confess Christ, and bring the enquirers to Christ. ... the Prophet) that one, of whom Deut. xviii. 15, 18, spake [The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken, etc.] The article has reference to the promise of the prophet, who was about to teach all things, and to the expectation of the people. Yet they supposed Him not only to be distinct from Christ, but even inferior to Elias, as is evident from the gradually descending climax here, and in ver. 25 [Christ—Elias— that prophet]: although the people afterwards regarded the prophet as the same as Messiah the King, ch. vi. 14, 15 [Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world; When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make him a king, etc.]; and again, on the contrary, they looked on the prophet as a distinct person from the Christ, ch. vii. 40, 41. [Many said, Of a truth this is the Prophet ; others said, This is the Christ.] ... art thou) they enumerate all those of whose coming prophecy had foretold.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":545,"text":"Deut. xviii. 15, 18","label":"Deuteronomy 18:15","href":"/deu/18/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":545,"text":"Deut. xviii. 15, 18","label":"Deuteronomy 18:18","href":"/deu/18/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":993,"text":"ver. 25","label":"John 1:25","href":"/jhn/1/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":1120,"text":"vi. 14, 15","label":"John 6:14–15","href":"/jhn/6/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":1465,"text":"vii. 40, 41","label":"John 7:40–41","href":"/jhn/7/#v40","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.22-23.1","start":22,"end":23,"heading":"","excerpt":"may give an answer) The people had demanded an answer, and especially the Jewish chief priests. ... concerning) Each man himself ought) to know himself [and, if he has any undertaking in particular, he ought, to have in readiness a reason [to give] of his undertaking.—V. g.] ... I the Voice) An abbreviated mode of expression ; J am that person, of whom it has been said; the Voice of one crying. John was also himself crying. ... Isaiah the prophet) Formerly, saith he, there were prophets: now the kingdom of God is nearer at hand.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.24.1","start":24,"end":24,"heading":"of the Pharisees","excerpt":"who made a great point of Jewish baptism; and acknowledged the baptism of John to be a thing of great moment, not to be administered except by one having a Divine mission. The evangelist is wont to set down certain, as it were, parentheses, as to causes, as to place, as to occasions, as to ends, as to effects, as to hindrances, of things, actions and speeches, and similar decisions, by means of which the subjects, which are in hand, may the more clearly be understood, ver. 28, 45; il, 24; iv. 8; vi. 4; vii. 5, 39; viii. 20, 27; ix. 14, 22; x. 22, 23; xi. 13, 30: xii. 33.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":473,"text":"ver. 28, 45","label":"John 1:28","href":"/jhn/1/#v28","status":"detected"},{"at":473,"text":"ver. 28, 45","label":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.26-27.1","start":26,"end":27,"heading":"","excerpt":"in the midst of you) especially at the time of His baptism. ... Hath taken His stand [statuit sese]. ... ye know not) He addresses the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who had not been present at the baptism of Jesus: and he whets their desires, that they may be anxious to become acquainted with Him. ... Himself.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.28.1","start":28,"end":28,"heading":"","excerpt":"in Bethabara) Therefore they had come a long way, ver. 19. ... beyond, in relation to Jerusalem. ... where) Where he was wont to baptize. ... The Bethany here was one beyond Jordan, which had ceased to exist before Origen’s time.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":50,"text":"ver. 19","label":"John 1:19","href":"/jhn/1/#v19","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.29.1","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"","excerpt":"coming to him) after His baptism, as we have seen [and indeed not on the very day of His baptism, on which Jesus was immediately led up into the wilderness (Matt. iv.1.) In this place, it seems, Jesus began to walk publickly, ver. 36, 43, after His return from the wilderness full of victory (we say flushed with victory, victoriae plenum) Jesus came to John in such a way, that John could point Him out close at hand: and yet Jesus did not begin the conversation with him.—V. g. ... the Lamb of God) He calls Him the Lamb, [as being] innocent, [and] about to be immolated ; [One] who renders active and passive obedience, 1 Pet. 1. 19 [the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot]. ... the article has respect to the prophecy delivered concerning Him under this figure, Isa. liii. 7 [He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth]; also under the type of the Paschal lamb. Moreover the passover itself was then near, ch. ii. 13. John being divinely instructed, calls Him the Lamb of God: although at that early time the exact understanding of this appellation would escape, if not John himself, at least his hearers.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":157,"text":"Matt. iv.1","label":"Matthew 4:1","href":"/mat/4/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":226,"text":"ver. 36, 43","label":"John 1:36","href":"/jhn/1/#v36","status":"detected"},{"at":226,"text":"ver. 36, 43","label":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43","status":"detected"},{"at":623,"text":"1 Pet. 1. 19","label":"1 Peter 1:19","href":"/1pe/1/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":803,"text":"Isa. liii. 7","label":"Isaiah 53:7","href":"/isa/53/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":1021,"text":"ii. 13","label":"John 2:13","href":"/jhn/2/#v13","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.29.2","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"","excerpt":"of God) The Lamb of God, whom God gave and approved of; and concerning whom He Himself bears such testimony, This is the only Lamb, this is the only victim pleasing to Me, Heb. x. 5, etc. “ Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me; In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure, Then said I, Lo I come to do Thy will O God.” So Ps. li. 17, The sacrifices of God [mean those] which God acknowledges [as pleasing to Him], Luke i. 26, the Lord’s Christ. ... the sin) The singular number, with the article, [gives it] the greatest force. ['There was] the one plague, which seized on all; He bore the whole; He did not so bear one part [of our sin], as not to bear the other. The same singular number is interposed between Plurals, Isa. liii. 6, 8, 12, “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all:” whereas in ver. 5, “ He was wounded for our transgressions ;’—“ for the transgression of My people was He stricken ;” “He bare the sin of many.” Sin and the world are equally widely extended.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":172,"text":"Heb. x. 5","label":"Hebrews 10:5","href":"/heb/10/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":383,"text":"Ps. li. 17","label":"Psalms 51:17","href":"/psa/51/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":475,"text":"Luke i. 26","label":"Luke 1:26","href":"/luk/1/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":782,"text":"Isa. liii. 6, 8, 12","label":"Isaiah 53:12","href":"/isa/53/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":782,"text":"Isa. liii. 6, 8, 12","label":"Isaiah 53:6","href":"/isa/53/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":782,"text":"Isa. liii. 6, 8, 12","label":"Isaiah 53:8","href":"/isa/53/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":866,"text":"ver. 5","label":"John 1:5","href":"/jhn/1/#v5","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.30-31.1","start":30,"end":31,"heading":"","excerpt":"a man) Great, peerless ... prior [to me]) Notes, ver. 15. ... I knew Him not by face, just as yourselves [knew Him not], ver. 26. “There standeth one among you, whom ye know not;” at the time that I said, There cometh after me: see Matt. iii. 14, notes. This manifestly tends to prove that John was divinely instructed to testify as to Christ Jesus. ... that) expresses not the sole end, but still the primary one, why he came baptizing with water; Acts xix. 4: “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saving unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” ... baptizing) The connecting link of [i.e. of the previous words with] the words of John the Baptist, after the parenthesis of the Evangelist, presently to be observed.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":49,"text":"ver. 15","label":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":121,"text":"ver. 26","label":"John 1:26","href":"/jhn/1/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":232,"text":"Matt. iii. 14","label":"Matthew 3:14","href":"/mat/3/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":449,"text":"Acts xix. 4","label":"Acts 19:4","href":"/act/19/#v4","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.32.1","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"","excerpt":"bare record) as concerning a fact seen by himself and not by the people. The words which follow [comp. ver. 34] were part of his record [testimony]: the words which are spoken, ver. 29, etc. [comp. ver. 15, 27], were part of his demonstration [the clear proof of Jesus’ Messiahship, which John demonstrated] from the record. The Evangelist interposes this in the midst of the connected words of the Baptist, as a sort of parenthesis ; ... I beheld. ... from heaven) Construe this with ... descending. ... The descent, at least in its last and lowest part, was equally determinate [in its direction] towards Jesus, as its abiding on Him. ... abode) with a considerable stay [continuance].","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":103,"text":"ver. 34","label":"John 1:34","href":"/jhn/1/#v34","status":"detected"},{"at":177,"text":"ver. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":198,"text":"ver. 15, 27","label":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":198,"text":"ver. 15, 27","label":"John 1:27","href":"/jhn/1/#v27","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.33-34.1","start":33,"end":34,"heading":"","excerpt":"I knew Him not, before that I saw the Spirit descending. ... He that sent me) God. ... I saw the Spirit descending. ... I became a witness [I bare record]. ... the Son of God) And so the Messiah. The reference is to that which is stated: Matt. 11. 17. [Namely, how Jesus in His baptism, was proclaimed the Son of Gon, and in His temptation asserted Himself to be the Son of God: thus this very truth, that He is the Son of Gon, is explained more at length in the first verses. Also these verses have a fitting place here, as intended to designate that Person, of whom John the Baptist bare record, by the mission divinely entrusted to him. The events which- precede the entrance (the coming forward) of John the Baptist, namely, the nativity and baptism of Christ, etc. these the Evangelist has most dexterously interwoven with the rest.—Harm., p. 154.]","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":238,"text":"Matt. 11. 17","label":"Matthew 11:17","href":"/mat/11/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.35-36.1","start":35,"end":36,"heading":"","excerpt":"on the following day) Great days! The first the day of the record borne as to Jesus being Messiah ; ver. 15, 163; the second, the day of his testimony concerning the same Person, and at the same time as to His suffering [passion]; ver. 29, 30; the third, this day, that of the three disciples joining Him; the fourth, that of Philip and Nathanael being brought over to Him, ver. 43. Add ch. ii. 1, 12 [on the third day ;—after this He went to Capernaum, etc., and continued there not many days]. The care of this Evangelist in marking times is remarkable. ... two) about to be witnesses. ... as He walked) He was not now coming to John, as He was, ver. 29: for [to have come] oftener, would not have been becoming. To have done so once was condescension enough.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":100,"text":"ver. 15, 163","label":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":100,"text":"ver. 15, 163","label":"John 1:163","href":"/jhn/1/#v163","status":"detected"},{"at":231,"text":"ver. 29, 30","label":"John 1:29–30","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":374,"text":"ver. 43","label":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43","status":"detected"},{"at":391,"text":"ii. 1, 12","label":"John 2:1","href":"/jhn/2/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":391,"text":"ii. 1, 12","label":"John 2:12","href":"/jhn/2/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":648,"text":"ver. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.37.1","start":37,"end":37,"heading":"followed","excerpt":"of their own accord from behind. [Here were] the first commencements of the Christian Church. At the beginning Jesus invited disciples with a kind of milk-like [‘lactea, alluring] sweetness. [You will not find that He “appointed certain hours for instructing disciples ; but all His conversation presented [the aspect of one] continued instruction and lasting training, at one time the handle [for instruction] being given by a marriage ; at another time, in overwhelming straits on the water ; at another time in a case of household need ; at another time when some one was sick; at another time, on the occasion of some lapse on the part of the disciples. Immediately, as it were, on the highway (before the public, and on the spot “in trivio”) He taught, reproved, bent, bore with, admonished, tried, strengthened, established them, and opened out to them one part of the truth after another, and freed them from one false conception after another, commencing from these first [earliest] times all along to His ascension. Harm., p. 157.]","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.38.1","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"","excerpt":"He was aware it was Himself they sought. He means therefore, What seek ye with Me? not, Whom seek ye? By this question He touched their heart. He showed that He knew that they were seeking something; and He gives them the opportunity of begging [from Him] what they would. ... Also the interpretation being added, shows that the disciples assigned it to Him in the restricted signification. ... we ask, where thou art stopping, where thou hast thy home [mansion, residence]. They are desirous of His intimacy.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.39.1","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"","excerpt":"they saw) They might have seen proofs of the Messiah in His dwelling; which was simple, quiet, neat, silent, and frugal, without any costly array of vases and books, (comp. 2 Kings iv. 10 [Elisha’s “little chamber on the wall” of the Shunammite, containing “a bed, table, stool, and candlestick,”]) in a word, worthy of Himself and of Him alone. ... they abode) Constancy becomes disciples. ... day) O happy day ! ... hour) Andrew made haste, even though late in the evening, to tell the [glad] tidings to his brother. [These incidents preceded sunset by two hours.—V. g.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":173,"text":"2 Kings iv. 10","label":"2 Kings 4:10","href":"/2ki/4/#v10","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.41.1","start":41,"end":41,"heading":"","excerpt":"findeth) With the festival-like [joyous] freshness of those days beautifully corresponds the word findeth, which is used here more frequently [than elsewhere ]. ... first) It is to be presumed, that both of them sought Simon by different roads. ... his brother) He afterwards became superior to Andrew, who, it is probable, was the elder born ; ver. 44 [the order there is, “ Andrew and Peter” ]. ... we have found) ver. 45, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write” [Philip to Nathanael]. A great and joyful ... treasure-found, expected by the world for about forty centuries. They had learned from John, that He was close at hand. ... which) This is an addition of the Evangelist, as at ver. 42.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":345,"text":"ver. 44","label":"John 1:44","href":"/jhn/1/#v44","status":"detected"},{"at":416,"text":"ver. 45","label":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45","status":"detected"},{"at":720,"text":"ver. 42","label":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.42.1","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"","excerpt":"having gazed earnestly at him [fixing His eye upon him] An effectual look. ... Simon, son of Jona) These names no one had told the Saviour: and so by this address by name He took complete possession of Peter; comp. ver. 48 [His similarly winning Nathanael by showing His omniscience, “ Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, Tsaw thee.” ... Cephas) Peter was ever afterwards called by this name, which is a Syriac one, especially when he was staying in Syria.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":215,"text":"ver. 48","label":"John 1:48","href":"/jhn/1/#v48","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.43-44.1","start":43,"end":44,"heading":"","excerpt":"would go forth) and He did go forth, which ch. ii. 1 implies. By comparing with this ch. ii., especially the 11th verse, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory,” etc., it is evident that the word for going forth is significant. He went forth to action, to the carrying on of His work. ... Bethsaida) This seems to be mentioned for this reason, because Nathanael’s native country was neighbouring, ver. 49, ch. xxi. 2, “ Nathanael of Cana in Galilee.”","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":47,"text":"ii. 1","label":"John 2:1","href":"/jhn/2/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":447,"text":"ver. 49","label":"John 1:49","href":"/jhn/1/#v49","status":"detected"},{"at":460,"text":"xxi. 2","label":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.45.1","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"","excerpt":"findeth) Philip, after being called, immediately sets himself to gain another [makes a gain on his talent, ‘ lucrifacit”]. ... Nathanael) It is probable that he was admitted among the apostles, and that he was the same person as he who is called Bartholomew, by a secondary name derived from his father, 'Tolomeus, as Simon from Jona [Bar-Jona], James and John from Zebedee [“ the sons of Zebedee”]: For Judas also was called Lebbeus or Thaddeus. Certainly at Matt. x. 3 [the list of the apostles], he is joined to Philip; and at John xxi. 2, Nathanael is put down in the midst of the apostles, immediately after Thomas ; comp. Acts i. 13, “Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew :” and it seems likely, that his name would have been submitted to the apostles casting of lots [as a candidate for the vacant apostleship, to which Matthew was elected by lot], Acts i. 23, [whereas Barsabas and Matthias were the only two submitted to it], had he not been already among the apostles. He was certainly a friend of the Lord equally dear [to Him], as a friend can be dear to a prince, though not employed on his embassies. ... saith) with a loud voice, ver. 48, and a joyous voice. ... we have found) I, Andrew, and Peter.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":460,"text":"Matt. x. 3","label":"Matthew 10:3","href":"/mat/10/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":530,"text":"John xxi. 2","label":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":628,"text":"Acts i. 13","label":"Acts 1:13","href":"/act/1/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":862,"text":"Acts i. 23","label":"Acts 1:23","href":"/act/1/#v23","status":"detected"},{"at":1151,"text":"ver. 48","label":"John 1:48","href":"/jhn/1/#v48","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.46.1","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"","excerpt":"can anything? Therefore there were many worthless characters. Comp. as to that whole region, ch. vii. 52, “Search and look; for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet” [the Pharisees to Nicodemus]. Nathanael’s question is however more modest and cautious, than if he categorically denied [that anything good could come from Galilee]. Christ did not owe His excellency to His native land on earth [His excellency was not to be set down to the account of His earthly country]. He came from heaven. ... good) But how great a Good, Christ! ch. vii. 12, “Some said, He is a good man.” ... come and see) The best remedy against preconceived opinions. What Jesus the day before had replied to the disciples [ver. 39], “ Come and see” : that now Philip replies to others. ... see, i.e. you will see. Often an imperative after an imperative has the force of a future; Gen. xvii. 1, “ Walk before Me, and be thou perfect”= and thus thou shalt be, Amos v. 4, “ Seek ye Me and ye shall live.” See Glass. Phil. Can. xliii. de Verbo.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":97,"text":"vii. 52","label":"John 7:52","href":"/jhn/7/#v52","status":"detected"},{"at":535,"text":"vii. 12","label":"John 7:12","href":"/jhn/7/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":696,"text":"ver. 39","label":"John 1:39","href":"/jhn/1/#v39","status":"detected"},{"at":854,"text":"Gen. xvii. 1","label":"Genesis 17:1","href":"/gen/17/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":932,"text":"Amos v. 4","label":"Amos 5:4","href":"/amo/5/#v4","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.47.1","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"","excerpt":"concerning Him, not immediately to Him ... truly) An affirmation showing intimate knowledge. ... an Israelite) one worthy to see angels ascending and descending, as Jacob did [on the ladder in his dream], ver. 51; comp. Gen. xxviii. 12. No mere creature could bear the name, Israel, unless it were divinely given him; so vast [comprehensive] it is: the guileless, ... are worthy of it. [A pre-eminent virtue truly is guilelessness. —V. g.] This speech contains a proof 1) of His omniscience ; 2) of His benignity. Nathanael had been hasty; ver. 46, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” The Lord gives to him Himself as the Good.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":205,"text":"ver. 51","label":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51","status":"detected"},{"at":220,"text":"Gen. xxviii. 12","label":"Genesis 28:12","href":"/gen/28/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":540,"text":"ver. 46","label":"John 1:46","href":"/jhn/1/#v46","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.48.1","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"","excerpt":"whence) Jesus does not answer this question, but shows that He knows even more about Nathanael. ... a fig-tree) An emblem of peace and Gospel security [1 Kings iv. 25; Mic. iv. 4]. ... I saw thee) with the Divine eye. Nathanael is reminded of the meditations, which he had had at that time, truly worthy of an Israelite and free from guile.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":152,"text":"1 Kings iv. 25","label":"1 Kings 4:25","href":"/1ki/4/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":168,"text":"Mic. iv. 4","label":"Micah 4:4","href":"/mic/4/#v4","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.49.1","start":49,"end":49,"heading":"","excerpt":"he answered) Considerate quickness in believing brings with it a blessed [sumptuous] portion: slowness is censured, Luke xxiv. 25, “ O fools, and slow of heart to believe.” ... Thou art the Son of God) ch. vi. 69, “ We believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” Now Nathanael himself confesses more than he had heard from Philip: and retracts his doubt as to the goodness of Jesus. ... the Son—the King) A confession as to the person and office of Christ. ... Thow art the King of Israel) and so my King also, since Thou dost acknowledge me to be a genuine Israelite.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":116,"text":"Luke xxiv. 25","label":"Luke 24:25","href":"/luk/24/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":206,"text":"vi. 69","label":"John 6:69","href":"/jhn/6/#v69","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.50.1","start":50,"end":50,"heading":"","excerpt":"I saw) The repetition confirms [the assertion]: as at ch. iv. 17, 18. ... The same figure [the interrogation expressing surprise, rather than a query] occurs, Luke xxii. 52. At the same time the admiration of the Lord at the prompt faith of Nathanael is expressed; as in Matt: viii. 10, at the faith of the centurion ; and the Lord shows by a new proof, that Nathanael is intimately known to Him, and He [thereby] confirms his faith. ... greater things) concerning which [see what is contained] in the following verse, and in ch. xxi. 25 [There are also many other things, which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written]. [To him that hath it is given. There is a perpetual (principle of) increase (in the case) of Divine gifts, works, and testimonies: ch. v. 20, 35 (The Father showeth Him all things, that Himself doeth: and He will show Him greater works than these;—John was a burning and a shining light, etc., But I have greater witness than that of John). Ch. xiv. 12 “He that believeth on Me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father.” Avail yourself of the means which first offer themselves: if you do not so, you are wanting to yourself by delaying.— V. g. ... thou shalt see) In this word is contained [the assurance of ] Nathanael’s staying with Jesus.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":58,"text":"iv. 17, 18","label":"John 4:17–18","href":"/jhn/4/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":159,"text":"Luke xxii. 52","label":"Luke 22:52","href":"/luk/22/#v52","status":"detected"},{"at":530,"text":"xxi. 25","label":"John 21:25","href":"/jhn/21/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":863,"text":"v. 20, 35","label":"John 5:20","href":"/jhn/5/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":863,"text":"v. 20, 35","label":"John 5:35","href":"/jhn/5/#v35","status":"detected"},{"at":1073,"text":"xiv. 12","label":"John 14:12","href":"/jhn/14/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.51.1","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"","excerpt":"But why [is it repeated twice? Jesus spake in the name of the Father and in His own: add the note on 2 Cor. i. 20 [The promises of God—are in Him, Amen]: and His Word is Truth with the Speaker and with believers; 1 John ii. 8 [A new commandment,—which thing is true in Him and in you]: [both] in substance and in words. ... you) [Plur.] To thee and the rest. ... heaven open) i.e. Ye shall see the greatest signs, which are to show, that heaven is open. The Lord has descended from heaven, and now stays on [“ versatur in,” walks familiarly on] earth: and thence His heavenly messengers will have much to do; for they will have to attend on their Lord. ... the angels of God) The same beings, whom the Only-begotten Son of God has as His ministering servants. ... ascending and descending) Ascending is put in the first place: therefore there will be a staying of angels on earth. Jacob saw some such vision, Gen. xxviii. 12. How much more [shall] Israelites without guile under the New Testament [see it].","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern/gnomonofnewtesta0000mern_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":101,"text":"2 Cor. i. 20","label":"2 Corinthians 1:20","href":"/2co/1/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":213,"text":"1 John ii. 8","label":"1 John 2:8","href":"/1jn/2/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":909,"text":"Gen. xxviii. 12","label":"Genesis 28:12","href":"/gen/28/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null}]},{"work_id":"ryle","author":"J. C. Ryle","short_name":"Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"title":"Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. John, Vol. I","edition_short":"Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, for Family and Private Use, with the Text Complete.…","author_url":"/commentators/ryle/","divisions":"verse","work_url":"/works/ryle/","entries":[{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.1.1","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"In the beginning, &c.","excerpt":"This wonderful verse contains three things. It tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ, here called the Word, is eternal, — that He is a distinct Person from God the Father, and yet most intimately united to him, — and that He is God. The term \" God,\" be it remembered, in the second clause, is to be taken personally, for God the Father, and in the third to be taken essentially, as signifying the Divine Being.\n\nThe expression, \" in the beginning,\" means in the beginning of all creation. It is like the first verse of Genesis, \"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.\" (Gen. i. 1.)","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":585,"text":"Gen. i. 1","label":"Genesis 1:1","href":"/gen/1/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.1.2","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"The Word","excerpt":"The expression, \"the Word,\" is a very difficult one, and is peculiar to St. John, I see no clear proof that it is used by any other New Testament writer. The texts, Acts xx. 32, and Heb. iv. 12, are, to say the least, doubtful proofs. That it here signifies a \" person,\" and not a spoken word, and that it is applied to our Lord Jesus Christ, is clear from the after sentence, \" The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.\" That it was a term familiar to the Jews is undeniable. But why this particular name is used by St. John, both here and in his other writings, is a point on which commentators have differed greatly.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":165,"text":"Acts xx. 32","label":"Acts 20:32","href":"/act/20/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":182,"text":"Heb. iv. 12","label":"Hebrews 4:12","href":"/heb/4/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.1.3","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"The Word","excerpt":"Some think, as Melancthon, Rollock, Gomarus, and Scott, that Christ is called \" the Word,\" because He is the speaker, utterer, and interpreter of God the Father's will. It is written in this very chapter, that \" the only begotten Son hath declared the Father.\" It is also written, that \" God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,\" (Heb. i. 1,)\n\nI think the last of these views the simplest and most satisfactory. All of them are at best only conjectures. There is probably something about the expression which has not yet been discovered.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":345,"text":"Heb. i. 1","label":"Hebrews 1:1","href":"/heb/1/#v1","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.1.4","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"The word was with God.","excerpt":"This sentence means, that from all eternity there was a most intimate and ineffable union between the first and second Persons in the blessed Trinity, — between Christ the Word, and God the Father. And yet, though thus ineffably united, the Word and the Father were from all eternity two distinct Persons. \" It was He,\" says Pearson, to whom the Father said, \" Let us make man in our image.\" (Gen. i. 26.)\n\nThe truth contained in this sentence, is one of the deepest and most mysterious in the whole range of Christian theology. The nature of this union between the Father and the Son, we have no mental capacity to explain. Augustine draws illustrations from the sun and its rays, and from fire and the light of fire, which, though two distinct things, are yet inseparably united, so that where the one is the other is. But all illustrations on such subjects halt and fail. Here, at any rate, it is better to believe than to attempt to explain. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":393,"text":"Gen. i. 26","label":"Genesis 1:26","href":"/gen/1/#v26","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.1.5","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"The Word was God.","excerpt":"This sentence means that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, was in nature, essence, and substance very God, and that \"as the Father is God, so also the Son is God.\" It seems impossible to assert Christ's divinity more distinctly than it is here asserted. The sentence cannot possibly mean that the Father is God, since no one ever thought of disputing that. Nor yet can it possibly mean that the title of God was conferred on some being inferior to God and uncreated, as the princes of this world are called \" gods.\" He who is here called God, is the same who was uncreated and eternal. There is no inferiority in the Word to God the Father. The Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one. To maintain in the face of such a text, as some so-called Christians do, that our Lord Jesus Christ was only a man, is a mournful proof of the perversity of the human heart.\n\nThe whole verse, honestly and impartially interpreted, is an unanswerable argument against three classes of heretics. It confutes the Arians, who regard Christ as a Being inferior to God. — It confutes the Sabellians, who deny any distinction of Persons in the Trinity, and say that God sometimes manifested Himself as the Father, sometimes as the Son, and sometimes as the Spirit, and that the Father and the Spirit suffered on the cross! — Above all it confutes the Socinians and Unitarians who say that Jesus Christ was not God but man, a most holy and perfect man, but only a man.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.1-5.1","start":1,"end":5,"heading":"JOHN I. 1—5.","excerpt":"Would we know, for one thing, the exceeding sinfulness of sin? Let us often read these first five verses of St. John's Gospel. Let us mark what kind of Being the Redeemer of mankind must needs be, in order to provide eternal redemption for sinners. If no one less than the Eternal God, the Creator and Preserver of all things, could take away the sin of the, world, sin must be a far more abominable thing in the sight of God than most men suppose. The right measure of sin's sinfulness is the dignity of Him who came into the world to save sinners. If Christ is so great, then sin must indeed be sinful !\n\nWould we know, for another thing, the strength of a true Christian's foundation for hope ? Let us often read these first five verses of St. John's Gospel. Let us mark that the Saviour in whom the believer is bid to trust is nothing less than the Eternal God, One able to save to the uttermost all that come to the Father by Him. He that was \" with God,\" and \" was God,\" is also \" Emmanuel, God with us.\" Let us thank God that our help is laid on One that is mighty. (Psalm lxxxix. 19.) In ourselves we are great sinners. But in Jesus Christ we have a great Saviour, He is a strong foundation-stone, able to bear the weight of a world's sin. He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. (1 Peter ii. 6.)","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":1074,"text":"Psalm lxxxix. 19","label":"Psalms 89:19","href":"/psa/89/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":1299,"text":"1 Peter ii. 6","label":"1 Peter 2:6","href":"/1pe/2/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.2.1","start":2,"end":2,"heading":"The same was in the beginning, &c.","excerpt":"This verse contains an emphatic repetition of the second clause of the preceding verse. St. John anticipates the possible objection of some perverse mind, that perhaps there was a time when Christ, the Word, was not a distinct Person in the Trinity. In reply to this objection, he declares that the same Word who was eternal, and was God, was also from all eternity a Person in the Godhead distinct from God the Father, and yet with Him by a most intimate and ineffable union. In short, there never was a time when Christ was not \" with God.\"\n\nThere are two passages in the Old Testament which throw strong light on the doctrine of this verse. The one is in the Book of Proverbs viii. 22 — 31. The other is in Zechariah xiii. 7. The passage in Proverbs seems intended to explain the verse before us. The passage in Zechariah contains an expression which is almost a parallel to the expression \" with God.\" \" Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord.\" \"The man that is my fellow,\" according to the best commentators, means the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and a reference to Poole's Synopsis will show that the words signify \" the man that is near me, or joined to me.\"\n\nArrowsmith says, \" Ask the sun, if ever it were without its beams. Ask the fountain, if ever it were without its streams. So God was never without His Son.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":670,"text":"Proverbs viii. 22","label":"Proverbs 8:22","href":"/pro/8/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":710,"text":"Zechariah xiii. 7","label":"Zechariah 13:7","href":"/zec/13/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.3.1","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"All things...made by him.","excerpt":"This sentence means that creation was the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, no less than of God the Father. \"By him were all things created.\" (Coloss. i. 16.) \" Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth.\" (Heb. i. 10.) Now He that made all things must needs be God.\n\nThe expression, we must carefully remember, does not imply any inferiority of God the Son to God the Father, as if God the Son was only the agent and workman under another. Nor yet does it imply that creation was in no sense the work of God the Father, and that He is not the maker of heaven and earth. But it does imply that such is the dignity of the eternal Word, that in creation as well as in every thing else. He co-operated with the Father. \" What things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.\" (John v. 19.) \"By whom also He made the worlds.\" (Heb. i. 2.) When we read the expression \" by me kings reign,\" (Prov. viii. 15,) we do not for a moment suppose, that kings are superior in dignity to Him by whom they reign.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":140,"text":"Coloss. i. 16","label":"Colossians 1:16","href":"/col/1/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":226,"text":"Heb. i. 10","label":"Hebrews 1:10","href":"/heb/1/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":811,"text":"John v. 19","label":"John 5:19","href":"/jhn/5/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":860,"text":"Heb. i. 2","label":"Hebrews 1:2","href":"/heb/1/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":923,"text":"Prov. viii. 15","label":"Proverbs 8:15","href":"/pro/8/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.3.2","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"Without him was not anything made, &c.","excerpt":"This sentence appears added, to show the utter impossibility of our Lord Jesus Christ being no more than a created being. If not even the slightest thing was created without Him, it is plain that He cannot possibly be a creature Himself\n\nThe fathers raised curious speculations about the origin of evil from the expression now before us. \" If nothing was made without Christ,\" they argued, \"from whence came sin?\" The simplest answer to this question is, that sin was not among the things which were originally created at the beginning. It came in afterwards, at the fall, \"By one man sin entered into the world.\" (Rom. v. 12.) That it could not have entered without divine permission, and that its entrance has been overruled to the display of divine mercy in redemption, are undeniable truths. But we have no right to say that sin was among the \"all things,\" which were \"made by Christ.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":615,"text":"Rom. v. 12","label":"Romans 5:12","href":"/rom/5/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.4.1","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"In Him was life.","excerpt":"This sentence means that in the eternal counsels of the Trinity, Christ was appointed to be the source, fountain, origin, and cause of life. From Him all life was to Now. As to the kind of \" life\" which is here meant, there is much difference of opinion among commentators.\n\nSome think as Cyril, Theophylact, Chemnitius, and Calvin, that the expression refers specially to the continued preservation of all created things by Christ's providence. Having created all things, He keeps all alive and in order.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.4.2","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"In Him was life. / The life was the light of men.","excerpt":"Some think, as Luther, Melancthon, Brentius, Flacius, Lightfoot, Lampe, and Pearce, that the expression applies solely to spiritual life, and that it is meant to declare that Christ alone is the source of all life to the souls of men, whether in time or eternity. He was the creator of all things, and He also was the author of new creation. To this opinion I decidedly incline. For one thing, natural life seems already included in the preceding verse about creation. For another thing, it is the view which seems to agree best with the conclusion of the verse, and to be in harmony with the words, \"With thee is the fountain of life : in thy light we shall see light.\" \" God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.\" (Psalm xxxvi. 9; 1 John v. 11.)\n\n[The life was the light of men.] This sentence means that the life which was in Christ, was intended before the fall to be the guide of man's soul to heaven, and the supply of man's heart and conscience, — and that since the fall of man it has been the salvation and the comfort of all who have been saved. It is those and those only who have followed Christ as their light, who have lived before God and reached heaven. There has never been any spiritual life or light enjoyed by men, excepting from Christ.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":739,"text":"Psalm xxxvi. 9","label":"Psalms 36:9","href":"/psa/36/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":755,"text":"1 John v. 11","label":"1 John 5:11","href":"/1jn/5/#v11","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.5.1","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"The light shineth in darkness.","excerpt":"This sentence means that the spiritual light which Christ, the source of life, offers to man, has always been neglected since the fall, and is still neglected by unregenerate men. It has been like a candle shining in a dark place, a light in the middle of a world of darkness, — making the darkness more visible. Unregenerate men are darkness itself about spiritual things. \"Ye were darkness.\" (Ephes. v. 8.)","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":395,"text":"Ephes. v. 8","label":"Ephesians 5:8","href":"/eph/5/#v8","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.5.2","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"The darkness comprehended it not.","excerpt":"This sentence means that the natural heart of man has always been so dark since the fall, that the great majority of mankind have neither understood, nor received, nor laid hold upon the light offered to them by Christ.\n\nThe difference in the tenses of the two verbs used in this verse is very remarkable. About the \" light\" the present tense is used ; \" It shineth now as it has always shone ; it is still shining.\" — About the \" darkness\" the past tense is used ; \" It has not comprehended the light ; it never has comprehended it from the first, and does not comprehend it at the present day.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.6.1","start":6,"end":6,"heading":"There was a man sent from God....John.","excerpt":"This is a short and striking description of John the Baptist, He was the messenger whom God promised to send before Messiah's face. He was born when his parents were aged, by God's miraculous interposition. He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. He received a special commission from God to preach the baptism of repentance, and to proclaim the immediate coming of Christ. In short, he was specially raised up by God to prepare the way for the Messiah. For all these reasons he is here called \" a man sent from God.\" It is, in one sense, the common mark of all true ministers of the \"Gospel. Ignorant, blind, and unconverted ministers may be ordained and sent by man. But they are not \" sent from God.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.6-13.1","start":6,"end":13,"heading":"JOHN I. 6—13.","excerpt":"We see, lastly, in these verses, the vast privileges of all who receive Christ, and believe on Him. We are told that \"as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.\"\n\nChrist will never be without some servants. If the vast majority of the Jews did not receive Him as the Messiah, there were, at any rate, a few who did. To them He gave the privilege of being God's children. He adopted them as members of His Father's family. He reckoned them His own brethren and sisters, bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh. He conferred on them a dignity which was ample recompense for the cross which they had to carry for His sake. He made them sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.\n\nPrivileges like these, be it remembered, are the possession of all, in every age, who receive Christ by faith, and follow Him as their Saviour. They are \" children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.\" (Gal. iii. 26.) They are born again by a new and heavenly birth, and adopted into the family of the King of kings. Few in number, and despised by the world as they are, they are cared for with infinite love by a Father in heaven, who, for His Son's sake, is well pleased with them. In time He provides them with everything that is for their good. In eternity He will give them a crown of glory that fadeth not away. These are great things ! But faith in Christ gives men an ample title to them. Good masters care for their servants, and Christ cares for His.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":945,"text":"Gal. iii. 26","label":"Galatians 3:26","href":"/gal/3/#v26","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.7.1","start":7,"end":7,"heading":"Came for a witness.","excerpt":"This does not mean, as it might at first sight appear, \" came to be a witness.\" The Greek word which we translate \"witness,\" does not mean \" a person,\" but the testimony which a witness bears.\n\n[To hear witness of the light.] This means, to testify concerning Jesus Christ the light of the world, that He was the promised Messiah, the Lamb of God, the Bridegroom, the Almighty Saviour, to whom all dark souls ought to apply.\n\n[All men.] This cannot of course signify \" all mankind.\" It means all who heard John's testimony, and all Jews who were really looking for a Redeemer. One end of John the Baptist's testimony was that all such should believe on Christ the true light.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.8.1","start":8,"end":8,"heading":"He was not that light.","excerpt":"This expression would be more literally rendered, \"' He was not the light,\" the promised light of sinners, the light of the world. The Greek article \" the,\" is used in a similar emphatic manner, to denote eminence and distinction, in the following passages. \" That bread.\" John vi. 32. \"That prophet.\" John i. 21—25. \"That day.\" 1 Thess. v. 4. \" That way.\" Acts ix. 2.\n\nLet it be noted that our Lord himself calls John the Baptist at a later period, \" The burning and shining light.\" (John v. 35.) But it is a curious fact that the Greek word there rendered \"light,\" is not the one used here. It is a word which is frequently translated \" candle.\" John the Baptist was a \" candle,\" but not the light itself Believers are called \" the light of the world.\" (Matt. v. 14,) but only as members of Christ the light, and borrowing light from him. Christ alone is the great sun and fountain of all light, the light itself","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":273,"text":"John vi. 32","label":"John 6:32","href":"/jhn/6/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":302,"text":"John i. 21","label":"John 1:21","href":"/jhn/1/#v21","status":"detected"},{"at":329,"text":"1 Thess. v. 4","label":"1 Thessalonians 5:4","href":"/1th/5/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":357,"text":"Acts ix. 2","label":"Acts 9:2","href":"/act/9/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":485,"text":"John v. 35","label":"John 5:35","href":"/jhn/5/#v35","status":"detected"},{"at":756,"text":"Matt. v. 14","label":"Matthew 5:14","href":"/mat/5/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.9.1","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"That was the true light.","excerpt":"The force of the expression \" true \" in this sentence, is well brought out by Arrowsmith in his commentary on this verse. He says that Christ is \" the true light \" in four respects. Firstly, He is undeceiving light, the true light in opposition to all the false lights of the Gentiles. — Secondly, He is real light, true in opposition to ceremonial types and shadows. — Thirdly, He is underived light, true in opposition to all light that is borrowed, communicated, or participated from another.— Fourthly, He is supereminent light, true in opposition to all that is ordinary and common.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.9.2","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"Which lighteth every man....cometh....world.","excerpt":"Some think, as Chrysostom, and Brentius in his Homilies, and Lightfoot, that Christ is really given to be the light of all mankind. They think that when it is said. He \" lighteth every man,\" it means that He shines sufficiently for the salvation of all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, (like the sun shining upon all creation,) though the majority of men are so blinded by sin that they do not see Him. Yet Christ is for every man. \" He lighteth all,\" says Chrysostom, \" as far as in Him lies.\" — \"There is power and good will in the light,\" says Chemnitius, \" to illumine all ; but some love darkness rather than light.\" Arrowsmith says, \" Christ doth dispense to every one light sufficient to leave him without excuse. But Christ doth not dispense to every one converting light sufficient to bring him to salvation.\"\n\nI believe this last view to be the most probable one, though I confess that it is not unattended by difficulties. But I rest in the conclusion that Christ is offered as a light to all the world, and that every one born into the world will prove at last to have been in some way indebted to Christ, even though not saved.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.10.1","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"He was in the world, &c....knew him not.","excerpt":"This verse describes the unbelief of the whole world before Christ's incarnation. He \"was in the world \" invisibly, before He was born of the Virgin Mary, as in the days of Noah. (1 Pet. iii. 19.) He was to be seen in His works and in His providential government of all things, if men had only had eyes to see Him. And yet the very world which He had made, the work of his hands, did not acknowledge, believe, or obey Him. It knew Him not. At Athens, Paul found an altar \" to the unknown God.\"\n\nThat the expression applies to Christ before His incarnation, and not after, is said by Lampe to be the unanimous opinion of Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Cyril, Theodoret, Beda, Theophylact, and Euthymius.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":180,"text":"1 Pet. iii. 19","label":"1 Peter 3:19","href":"/1pe/3/#v19","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.11.1","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"He came unto his own,...received him not.","excerpt":"This verse describes the unbelief of the Jewish nation after the incarnation of Christ, and during His ministry among them. He came to a people who were peculiarly His own, by their redemption from Egypt, by their introduction into the land of Canaan, and by their possession of the law of Moses, and the covenants, and yet they did not believe on Him, or receive Him, but actually rejected and slew Him.\n\nThere is a peculiarity about the Greek words rendered \" his own,\" in this verse, which ought not to be overlooked. The first \" his own \" is in the neuter gender, and means literally \" his own things.\" The second \"his own\" is in the masculine gender, and means \"his own men, servants or subjects.\" It is probably meant to show that our Lord came to a people whose land, territory, cities, temple, were all His own property, and had been originally granted by Himself. The Jews, Palestine, Jerusalem, the temple, were all Christ's peculiar possession. Israel was \"His inheritance.\" (Psalm lxxviii. 71.)— This made the sin of those who \"received Him not,\" even more sinful.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":987,"text":"Psalm lxxviii. 71","label":"Psalms 78:71","href":"/psa/78/#v71","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.12.1","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"As many as received Him.","excerpt":"This expression signifies, \"as many as believed on Christ, and acknowledged Him as the Messiah.\" It is only another form of the expression at the end of the verse, \"believed on His name.\" To receive Christ is to accept Him with a willing heart, and to take Him as our Saviour. It is one of many forms of speech, by which that justifying faith which unites the sinner's soul to Christ is expressed in the Bible. To believe on Christ with the heart, is to receive Him, and to receive Him is to believe on Him. — St. Paul says to the Colossians, \" As ye have received Christ, so walk ve in Him.\" (Col. ii. 6.)\n\nThe Greek word rendered, \" As many as,\" is literally, \"whosoever,\" \" whatsoever persons.\" Glassius remarks, that the expression denotes the universality of the benefits which Christ conferred. \" Whosoever \" received Him, Pharisees, Sadducees, learned or unlearned, male or female, Jews or Gentiles, to them He gave the privilege of sonship to God.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":594,"text":"Col. ii. 6","label":"Colossians 2:6","href":"/col/2/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.12.2","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"To them gave he power to become the sons of God.","excerpt":"The word \"power\" in this sentence requires careful guarding against misrepresentation. It means, as the marginal reading says, \" right or privilege.\" It does not mean strength or ability. It does not mean that Christ confers on those who receive Him a spiritual and moral strength, by which they convert themselves, change their own hearts, and make themselves God's children. No doubt Christ gives to all His people all needful grace to supply all the wants of their hearts, and the necessities of their position. No doubt He gives them strength to carry the cross, fight the good fight, and overcome the world. But that is not the truth taught in the words before us, and must be sought in other places. The words before us only mean that Christ confers the privilege of adoption on all believers, and did so especially on His first disciples. While their unbelieving fellow-countrymen were boasting of being children of Abraham, Christ gave His disciples the far higher privilege of being children of God.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.13.1","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"Which were born, &c., &c....of God.","excerpt":"The birth here spoken of is the new birth, or regeneration, that complete change of heart and nature which takes place in a man when he becomes a real Christian. It is a change so great that no other figure but that of birth can fully express it. It is as when a new being, with new appetites, wants, and desires is brought into the world. A person born of God is \" a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.\" (2 Cor. V. 17.)\n\nThe persons who believe on Christ's name are said to be born \" not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.\" The interpretation of this expression which is usually given by commentators appears to me neither correct nor seemly. The true meaning of the words, I believe, is this. Believers did not become what they are \" by blood,\" that is by descent from Abraham or blood connection with godly people. Grace does not descend from parent to child. — Nor yet did believers become what they are by the will of the flesh, — that is by the efforts and exertions of their own natural hearts. Nature can never change itself. \" That which is born of the flesh is flesh.\" — Nor yet did believers become what they are by the will of man, — that is by the acts and deeds of others. Neither ordained ministers, nor any one else, can confer grace upon another. Man cannot regenerate hearts. — Believers become what they are solely and entirely by the grace of God. It is to God's free grace, preventing, calling, converting, renewing and sanctifying, that they own their new birth. They are born of God, or, as the third chapter says more distinctly, \" born of the Spirit.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":446,"text":"2 Cor. V. 17","label":"2 Corinthians 5:17","href":"/2co/5/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.14.1","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"JOHN I. 14.","excerpt":"The main truth which this verse teaches is the reality of our Lord Jesus Christ's incarnation, or being made man, St. John tells us that \" the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.\"\n\nThe plain meaning of these words is, that our divine Saviour really took human nature upon Him, in order to save sinners. He really became a man like ourselves in all things, sin only excepted. Like ourselves, he was born of a woman, though born in a miraculous manner. Like ourselves, He grew from infancy to boyhood, and from boyhood to man's estate, both in wisdom and in stature. (Luke ii. 52.) Like ourselves, he hungered, thirsted, ate, drank, slept, was wearied, felt pain, wept, rejoiced, marvelled, was moved to anger and compassion. Having be come flesh, and taken a body, He prayed, read the Scriptures, suffered being tempted, and submitted His human will to the will of God the Father. And finally, in the same body. He really suffered and shed His blood, really died, was really buried, really rose again, and really ascended up into heaven. And yet all this time He was God as well as man !","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":571,"text":"Luke ii. 52","label":"Luke 2:52","href":"/luk/2/#v52","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.14.2","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"And the word was made flesh.","excerpt":"This sentence means that the eternal Word of God, the second Person in the Trinity, became a man, like one of ourselves in all things, sin only excepted This He accomplished, by being born of the Virgin Mary, after a miraculous manner, through the operation of the Holy Ghost And the end for which He became flesh, was that He might live and die for sinners.\n\nThe expression \" the \"Word,\" shows clearly that \" the Word \" who \" was with God and was God,\" must be a Person. It could not reasonably be said of any one but a Person, that He became \" flesh and dwelt among us.\" Whether St. John could have found any other name for the second Person of the Trinity equally proper, we need not trouble ourselves to inquire. It certainly would not have been accurately correct to say that \" Jesus was made flesh,\" because the name Jesus was not given to our lord till after His incarnation. Nor yet would it have been correct to say, \" In the beginning was Christ,\" because the name Christ belongs to the times after the fall of man.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.14.3","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Dwelt among us.","excerpt":"The Greek word rendered dwelt, means literally \" tabernacled,\" or \" dwelt in a tent.\" The sentence does not mean that Christ dwelt in His human body as in a tabernacle, which He left when He ascended up to heaven. \" Christ,\" says Arrowsmith, \"continueth now, and shall for ever, as true man as when He was born of the Virgin Mary. — He so took human nature as never to lay it down again.\" The sentence only means that Christ dwelt among men on earth for thirty-three years. He was on earth so long conversing among men, that there could be no doubt of the reality of His incarnation. He did not appear for a few minutes, like a phantom or ghost. He did not come down for a brief visit of a few days, but was living among us in His human body for the duration of a whole generation of men. For thirty-three years He pitched His tent in Palestine, and was going to and fro among its inhabitants.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.14.4","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"The glory as of the only begotten of the Father.","excerpt":"This sentence means \" such glory as became and was suitable to one who is the only begotten Son of God the Father.\" These words will hardly apply to Christ's miracles. They seem to confine the glory which John says \" we beheld,\" to the vision of glory which he and his two companions saw when Christ was transfigured, and they heard the Father saying, \" This is my beloved Son.\"\n\nLightfoot's paraphrase of this expression is worth reading though he does not apply the passage to the transfiguration \" We saw His glory as what was worthy, as became, the only begotten Son of God. He did not glisten in any worldly pomp or grandeur, according to what the Jewish nation fondly dreamed their Messiah would do. But He was dressed with the glory of holiness, grace, truth, and the power of miracles.\"\n\nWe must carefully remember that the adverb \" as \" in this place, does not imply comparison, or similitude, as if John only meant that the Word's glory was like that of the only begotten Son of God. Chrysostom says, \" The expression ' as ' in this place does not belong to similarity or comparison, but to confirmation and unquestionable definition, as though he said, we beheld glory such as it was becoming and likely that He should possess, who is the only begotten and true Son of God and King of all.\" He also remarks that it is a common manner of speaking, when people are describing the appearance of a king in state, to say that \" he was like a king,\" meaning only that he was a real king.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.14.5","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"Full of Grace and Truth.","excerpt":"Some think that the words describe especially the spiritual riches that Christ brought into the world, when He became incarnate, and set up His kingdom. He came full of the gospel of grace, in contradistinction to the burdensome requirements of the ceremonial law. He came full of truth, of real, true, solid comfort, in contradistinction to the types, and figures, and shadows of the law of Moses. In short the full grace of God, and the full truth about the way of acceptance, were never clearly seen until the Word became flesh, dwelt among us on earth, opened the treasure-house, and revealed grace and truth in His own person.\n\nI decidedly prefer the second of these two views. The first is truth, but not the truth of the passage. The second appears to me to harmonize with the 17th verse, which follows almost immediately, where the law and the gospel are contrasted, and we are told that \" grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.15.1","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"He that cometh after me....preferred before....was before me.","excerpt":"The first \" before,\" signifies before in place, position, or dignity. The Greek adverb so rendered, is used forty-nine times in the New Testament, but never once in the sense of \" before in point of time or age.\"\n\nThe second \" before,\" signifies before in point of time or existence. \" He was existing before me, at the time when I was not.\" The expression is certainly remarkable and uncommon, but there is another exactly like it in this Gospel, \" It hated me before it hated you,\" where the literal rendering would be, \"it hated me first of you.\"\n\nThe sentence \" he was before me,\" is a distinct statement of Christ's pre-existence. He was born at least six months after John the Baptist, and was therefore younger in age than John. Yet John says, \" He was before me. He was existing when I was born,\" If he had meant only, that our Lord was a more honourable person than himself, he would surely have said, \" He is before me.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.15-18.1","start":15,"end":18,"heading":"JOHN I. 15—18.","excerpt":"We are taught, thirdly, that it is Christ alone who has revealed God the Father to man. It is written that \" no man hath seen God at any time : the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.\"\n\nThe eye of mortal man has never beheld God the Father. No man could bear the sight. Even to Moses it was said, \" Thou canst not see my face : for there shall no man see me, and live.\" (Exod. xxxiii. 20.) Yet all that mortal man is capable of knowing about God the Father is fully revealed to us by God the Son. He, who was in the bosom of the Father from all eternity, has been pleased to take our nature upon Him, and to exhibit to us in the form of man, all that our minds can comprehend of the Father's perfections. In Christ's words, and deeds, and life, and death, we learn as much concerning God the Father as our feeble minds can at present bear. His perfect wisdom, — His almighty power, — His unspeakable love to sinners, — His incomparable holiness, — His hatred of sin, could never be represented to our eyes more clearly than we see them in Christ's life and death. In truth, \" God was manifest in the flesh,\" when the Word took on Him a body. \"He was the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person.\" He says Himself, \" I and my Father are one.\" \" He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.\" \"In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.\" (Coloss. ii. 9.) These are deep and mysterious things. But they are true. (1 Tim. iii. 16 ; Heb. i. 3 ; John x. 30 ; xiv. 9.)","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":413,"text":"Exod. xxxiii. 20","label":"Exodus 33:20","href":"/exo/33/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":1417,"text":"Coloss. ii. 9","label":"Colossians 2:9","href":"/col/2/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":1491,"text":"1 Tim. iii. 16","label":"1 Timothy 3:16","href":"/1ti/3/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":1508,"text":"Heb. i. 3","label":"Hebrews 1:3","href":"/heb/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":1520,"text":"John x. 30","label":"John 10:30","href":"/jhn/10/#v30","status":"detected"},{"at":1533,"text":"xiv. 9","label":"John 14:9","href":"/jhn/14/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.16.1","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"Of His fulness have all we received.","excerpt":"This sentence means, \" all we who believe on Jesus, have received an abundant supply of all that our souls need out of the fall store that resides in Him for His people. It is from Christ and Christ alone, that all our spiritual wants have been supplied.\"\n\nWaterland, in his book on the Trinity, calls particular attention to this expression. He thinks that it was specially used with a view to the strange doctrines of the Gnostics in general, and the Cerinthians in particular, whose heresies arose before St. John's Gospel was written. They seem to have held that there was a certain fulness or plenitude of the Deity, into which only certain spiritual men, including themselves, were to be received, and from which others who were less spiritual, though they had grace, were to be excluded. \" St. John,\" says Waterland, \" here asserts, that all Christians, equally and indifferently, all believers at large, have received of the plenitude or fulness of the divine Word, and that not sparingly, but in the largest measure, even grace upon grace.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.16.2","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"Grace for grace.","excerpt":"6. Some think that it means \" accumulated grace, abundant grace, grace upon grace.\" This is the view of Schleusner, Winer, Bucer, Pellican, Musculus, Gualter, Poole, Nifanius, Pearce, Burkitt, Doddridge, Bengel, A. Clarke, Tittman, Olshausen, Barnes, and Alford.\n\nBrentius, Bullinger, Aretius, Jansenius, Hutcheson, Gill, Scott, and Henry, give several views, but signify their adhesion to no one in particular.\n\nOn the whole, I am inclined to think that the sixth and last is the correct view. I admit fully that the Greek preposition, here rendered ''for,\" is only found in three senses in the Greek Testament,— viz. : \" In the room or place of.\" (Matt. li. 22.) \" In return for.\" .(Rom. xii. 17.) and \"On account of\" (Acts xii. 23 ; Ephes. V. 31.) Ill composition it also signifies \" opposition,\" but with that we have nothing to do here. In the present case I think the meaning is \" grace in the place of grace, constant, fresh, abundant supplies of new grace, to take the place of old grace, and therefore unfailing, abundant grace, continually filling up and supplying all our need.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":685,"text":"Rom. xii. 17","label":"Romans 12:17","href":"/rom/12/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":721,"text":"Acts xii. 23","label":"Acts 12:23","href":"/act/12/#v23","status":"detected"},{"at":736,"text":"Ephes. V. 31","label":"Ephesians 5:31","href":"/eph/5/#v31","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.17.1","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"For the law was given, &c.","excerpt":"This verse seems intended to show the inferiority of the law to the Gospel. It does so by putting in strong contrast the leading characteristics of the Old and New dispensations, — the religion which began with Moses, and the religion which began with Christ.\n\nBy Moses was given the law, — the moral law, full of high and holy demands, and of stern threatenings against disobedience ; — the ceremonial law, full of burdensome sacrifices, ordinances, and ceremonies, which never healed the worshipper's conscience, and at best were only shadows of good things to come.\n\nBy Christ, on the other hand, came grace and truth, — grace by the full manifestation of God's plan of salvation, and the offer of complete pardon to every soul that believes on Jesus, — and truth, by the unveiled exhibition of Christ Himself, as the true sacrifice, the true Priest, and the true atonement for sin.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.18.1","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"No man hath seen God, &c.","excerpt":"This verse seems intended to show the infinite personal superiority of Christ to Moses, or to any other saint that ever lived.\n\nNo man hath ever seen God the Father ; neither Abraham nor Moses, nor Joshua, nor David, nor Isaiah, nor Daniel. All these, however holy and good men, were still only men, and quite incapable of beholding God face to face, from very weakness. What they knew of God the Father, they knew only by report, or by special revelation, vouchsafed to them from time to time. They were but servants, and \" The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth.\" (John xv. 15.)\n\nChrist on the other hand, is the only begotten Son, which if in the bosom of the Father. He is one who is most intimately united from all eternity to God the Father, and is equal to Him in all things. He, during the time of His earthly ministry here, fully showed to man all that man can bear to know concerning His Father. He has revealed His Father's wisdom, and holiness, and compassion, and power, and hatred of sin, and love of sinners, in the fullest possible way. He has brought into clear light the great mystery how God the Father can be just, and yet justify the ungodly. The knowledge of the Father which a man derived from the teaching of Moses, is as different from that derived from the teaching of Christ, as twilight is different from noon-day.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":572,"text":"John xv. 15","label":"John 15:15","href":"/jhn/15/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.18.2","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"Which is in the bosom of the Father; declared","excerpt":"The expression, \" Which is in the bosom of the Father,\" is doubtless a figurative one, mercifully accommodated to man's capacity. As one who lies in the bosom of another is fairly supposed to be most intimate with him, to know all his secrets, and possess all his affections, so is it, we are to understand, in the union of the Father and the Son. It is more close than man's mind can conceive.\n\nThe Greek word rendered \" declared,\" means literally, \"hath expounded.\" It is the root of the words, which are well known among hterary students of the Bible, \" exegesis and exegetical.\" The idea is that of giving a full and particular explanation. (Acts XV. 14.) Whether the \" Declaring of God the Father,\" here described, is to be confined to Christ's oral teaching about the Father, or Whether it means also that Christ has in His Person given a visible representation of many of the Father's attributes, is a doubtful point. Perhaps both ideas are included in the expression.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":646,"text":"Acts XV. 14","label":"Acts 15:14","href":"/act/15/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.19.1","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"This is the record. / When","excerpt":"The Greek word translated \"record,\" is the same that is rendered •' witness\" in the 7th verse. The sentence means, \" this is the testimony that John bore.\"\n\n[When.] This word raises the question, \" At what time was this testimony of John borne?\" It appears to have been after our Lord Jesus Christ's baptism, and at the end of His forty days' temptation in the wilderness. The 29th verse tells us, that \" the next day John seeth Jesus coming to him.\" It is worthy of notice that nowhere in the Gospels do we find \"days \"so carefully marked, as in that portion of the first chapter of St. John, which we have now begun.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.19.2","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"To ask him, Who art thou?","excerpt":"We can hardly suppose that these Priests and Levites were ignorant that John was the son of a priest, Zacharias, and therefore a Levite himself. Their inquiry seems to refer to John's office. \" What did he profess to be ? Did he assume to be the Messiah ? Did he claim to be a prophet? What reason could he assign for his having taken up his remarkable position as a preacher and a baptizer at a distance from Jerusalem ? What account could he give of himself and his ministry ?\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.19-28.1","start":19,"end":28,"heading":"JOHN I. 19—28.","excerpt":"We have, for one thing, in these verses, an instructive example of true humility. That example is supplied by John the Baptist himself.\n\nJohn the Baptist was an eminent saint of God. There are few names which stand higher than his in the Bible calendar of great and good men. The Lord Jesus Himself declared that \"Among them that are born of woman there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.\" (Matt. xi. 11.) The Lord Jesus Himself declared that he was \" a burning and a shining light.\" (John v. 35.) Yet here in this passage we see this eminent saint lowly, self-abased, and full of humility. He puts away from himself the honour which the Jews from Jerusalem were ready to pay him. He declines all flattering titles. He speaks of him.J self as nothing more than the '.' voice of one crying in the wilderness,\" and as one who \" baptized with water.\" He proclaims loudly that there is One standing among the Jews far greater than himself. One whose shoe-latchet he is not worthy to unloose. He claims honour not for himself but for Christ. To exalt Christ was his mission, and to that mission he steadfastly adheres.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":404,"text":"Matt. xi. 11","label":"Matthew 11:11","href":"/mat/11/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":498,"text":"John v. 35","label":"John 5:35","href":"/jhn/5/#v35","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.20.1","start":20,"end":20,"heading":"He confessed, and denied not; but confessed","excerpt":"This is a peculiar form of speech, implying a very positive, unmistakeable, emphatic asseveration. It gives the idea of a man shrinking with holy indignation from the very thought of being regarded as the Christ ; — \" Pain me not by suggesting that such an one as I can be the Christ of God. I am one far inferior to Him.\"\n\nBengel says on this verse, \"Whilst John denied himself, he did not deny Christ.\" — Luther makes some excellent remarks on the strong temptation which was here put in John's way, to take honour to himself, and the humility and faith which he showed in overcoming it.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.21.1","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"Art thou Elias?","excerpt":"This question was not an absurd and unnatural one, as some commentators have thought fit to say. It was based upon that prophecy of Malachi, which speaks of God \"sending Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord.\" (Mai. iv, 5 ) The manner, dress, and ministry of John the Baptist, as well as his appearing in the wilderness, constituted a great similarity between him and Elijah, and suggested the idea that John might possibly be Elijah. \" If this man,\" thought the Priests and Levites, \" is not the Christ, perhaps he is his forerunner, the prophet Elijah.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.21.2","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"And he saith, I am not.","excerpt":"This answer of John's deserves particular notice, and involves a grave difficulty. How could John say, \" I am not Elias,\" when Christ says distinctly in another place, \"This is Elias.\" How shall we reconcile these two statements ? — To me it seems impossible to explain John's words, except on the simple theory, that there are two comings of Elijah the prophet. The first was only a coming in spirit and in power, but not a literal coming. The second will be a literal and real appearance on earth of him whom Elisha saw taken up into heaven. The first coming took place at Christ's first advent, and was fulfilled by John the Baptist going before Messiah's face in the spirit and power of Elijah. The second coming of Elijah will take place at the second advent of Jesus Christ, and will be fulfilled by Elijah himself once more coming as a prophet to the tribes of Israel.\n\nIt is of this second, future, literal coming of Elias that John speaks in this place. When he says, \" I am not Elias,\" he means, \" I am not that Elijah you mean, who was taken up to heaven 900 years ago. The coming of that Elijah is yet a future thing. I am the forerunner of the first advent in humiliation, not of the second advent in glory. I am not the herald of Christ coming to reign, as Elijah will be one day, but the herald of Christ coming to suffer on the cross. I am not come to prepare the way for a conquering King, such as you fondly expect, but for a meek and lowly Saviour, whose great work is to bear our sins and to die. I am not the Elias you expect.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.21.3","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"Art thou that prophet?","excerpt":"There are two views of this question. Some think, as Augustine and Gregory, that the words should be as our marginal reading has them, \" Art thou a prophet?\" Others think, as Cyril and Chrysostom, that the question referred to \"the prophet,\" of whom Moses foretold that he would come. (Deut. xviii. 15.) I decidedly prefer the latter view. It seems very improbable that John the Baptist would entirely deny that he was a prophet. — Besides this, it seems not unreasonable that the Jews would ask whether he was \" the great prophet foretold by Moses.\" And to this question, John answers most truly, that he was not. — It admits of doubt, whether the Jews who questioned him, clearly saw that the \"prophet like unto Moses,\" and the \" Messiah,\" were to be one and the same. It rather looks as if they thought \" Christ \" and \" the prophet\" were two different persons.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":286,"text":"Deut. xviii. 15","label":"Deuteronomy 18:15","href":"/deu/18/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.22.1","start":22,"end":22,"heading":"An answer to them that sent us.","excerpt":"This expression confirms the opinion already given, about the character of those who questioned John. They were not idle inquirers, but a formal deputation sent down from the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, with a c immission to find out who John was, and to make a report of what they discovered.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.23.1","start":23,"end":23,"heading":"He said, I am the voice, &c.","excerpt":"John the Baptist's account of himself in this verse, consists of a reference to Scripture. He reminds the Priests and Levites who wanted to know who he was, of Isaiah's prophecy concerning the times of the Messiah. (Isaiah xl. 3.) They would there find Isaiah saying, with the abruptness of an inspired prophet, and speaking as if he saw what he was describing, \"The voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness 1\" That means, \"I hear in spirit, as I look forward to Messiah's time, a man crying in a wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,\" — \" That prophecy,\" says John the Baptist, \" is this day fulfilled in me. I am the person whom Isaiah saw and heard in vision. I am come to prepare the way for Messiah, like a man going before a King in a desert country, to prepare a road for his master. I am come to make ready the barren hearts of the Jewish nation for Christ's first advent, and the kingdom of God. I am only a voice. I do not come to work miracles. I do not want disciples to follow me, but my master. The object of my mission is to be a herald, a crier, a warning voice to my fellow-countrymen, so that when my master begins His ministry they may not be found unprepared.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":216,"text":"Isaiah xl. 3","label":"Isaiah 40:3","href":"/isa/40/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.23.2","start":23,"end":23,"heading":"The voice","excerpt":"The expression \" voice,\" has often been remarked as a beautiful illustration of the general character of John's ministry. He was eminently a humble man. He was one who desired to be heard, and to awaken attention by the sound of his testimony, but not to be seen or visibly honoured.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.24.1","start":24,"end":24,"heading":"And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.","excerpt":"The object of this verse is somewhat doubtful. Some think that it refers to the verse preceding, which contains a quotation from Isaiah. They which were sent, being Pharisees, and not Sadducees or Herodians, should have seen and admitted the Scriptural character of John's mission. Some think, as Bengel, that it refers to the following verse, in which a question was raised about baptism. They which were sent, being Pharisees, were specially strict about ceremonies, ordinances, and forms. Therefore they were not satisfied with a reference to Scripture. They asked John's authority for baptizing. Some think that it refers generally to the notorious enmity and dislike with which the Pharisees regarded John the Baptist all through his ministry. Our Lord says in another place, \" They rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him.\" (Luke vii. 30.) The text before us would then mean, that they which asked all these questions, asked them with a thoroughly unfriendly spirit, and with no real desire to learn God's truth, because they were Pharisees.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":846,"text":"Luke vii. 30","label":"Luke 7:30","href":"/luk/7/#v30","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.25.1","start":25,"end":25,"heading":"Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not, &c.","excerpt":"This verse evidently implies that John's questioners expected the Messiah, or his forerunner, to baptize whenever he appeared. It is not unlikely, as Lightfoot says, that the idea arose from the text in Ezekiel, describing Messiah's time, \" Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean,\" &c. (Ezek. xxxvi. 24.)\n\nLuther thinks, that this verse shows that the questioners who came to John, now changed their tone. Hitherto they had flattered. Now they began to threaten.\n\nOne thing is very clear from this verse. The Jews were not unacquainted with baptism as a religious ordinance. It was one of the ceremonies, according to Lightfoot, by which proselytes were admitted into the Jewish Church. Moreover it is worthy of notice, that when proselytes were so admitted, their children were baptized together with them. It was not therefore the fact of John baptizing, which the Pharisees here called in question, but his authority for administering baptism.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":313,"text":"Ezek. xxxvi. 24","label":"Ezekiel 36:24","href":"/ezk/36/#v24","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.26.1","start":26,"end":26,"heading":"I baptize with water: but, &c.","excerpt":"The answer of John the Baptist here reported is very elliptical, and the full meaning of what he said must be supplied from other places. He seems to say, \" I do not baptize by my own authority, but by a commission fro n One far higher than either you or I. I only baptize with water ; and I do not do it to make disciples for myself, but for my master. I form no party. I ask no man to follow me. I tell all whom I baptize to believe on that Mighty One who is coming after me. I am only the servant of One far greater than myself, who is even now standing among you, if you had eyes to see him. He is one so much above me in nature and dignity, that I am not worthy to be his humblest servant. He can baptize hearts, and will fulfil the promises about Messiah, to which you are vaguely referring. In the mean time I only baptize with water all those who profess repentance and willingness to receive my master. — I baptize for another and not for myself.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.26.2","start":26,"end":26,"heading":"There standeth one among you.","excerpt":"I doubt whether these words literally mean, \"There is standing in the crowd of you m • hearers.\" I prefer the sense, \" there is already living and abiding among you in this land of Judaea one greater than I.\" I think this the sense because of the words in the 29th verse, \" John seeth Jesus coming to him,\" which seem to imply that he was not with him the previous clay. — The thought seems parallel to that contained in the words, ,\" The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.\" — \" The messenger of God cometh suddenly to his temple.\" (Mai. iii. i ; Luke xvii. 20.) All serve to point to the same truth, viz. — that when Messiah came the first time, He came quietly, without noise, without display, without the nation of the Jews knowing it, so that he \"stood among them,\" and yet they were not aware of His presence.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":556,"text":"Luke xvii. 20","label":"Luke 17:20","href":"/luk/17/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.27.1","start":27,"end":27,"heading":"Coming after...preferred before. / Shoe's latchet...worthy to unloose.","excerpt":"The remarks made on the 15th verse apply fully to this expression. John declares, that though his master, in point of time, began his ministry after him, in point of dignity he was far above him. To exalt Christ, and abase himself, seem ideas never long out of John's mind.\n\n[Shoe's latchet... .worthy to unloose.] This is evidently a proverbial expression. \"I am so interior to Him that came after me, that in comparison with him, I am like the humblest servant compared to his master.\" To be not fit to carry a person's shoes, in our times, is a well-known proverb, describing inferiority.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.28.1","start":28,"end":28,"heading":"These things...done in Bethabara.","excerpt":"In hot countries like Palestine, it was evidently important for John the Baptist to be near a supply of water, suited to the baptism of the multitudes who came to him. If Beth-barah, spoken of in Gideon's history is the same place, it is worthy of notice that it is specially mentioned as near \" waters.\"(Judges vii. 24.)\n\nThe name of the place ought always to be dear to the hearts of Christians. It is the place where the first disciples of Jesus were made, and the foundation of the Christian church was laid. It was here, \" the next day,\" that Jesus was publicly proclaimed as the \"Lamb of God.\" It was here, ''the day after,\" that Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus. Here then the Church of Christ, properly so called, began.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":305,"text":"Judges vii. 24","label":"Judges 7:24","href":"/jdg/7/#v24","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.29.1","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"The Lamb of God.","excerpt":"There can be no reasonable doubt that John gave this name to our Lord because He was the true sacrifice for sin, the true antitype of the passover lamb, and the lamb prophesied of by Isaiah. (Is. liii. 7.) The idea that he only refers to the quietness and meekness of our Lord's personal character is utterly unsatisfactory. He is describing our Lord's official character as the great propitiation for sin.\n\nThe expression, \" Lamb of God,\" according to some, signifies \" that eminent, great, divine, and most excellent Lamb.\" It is a well-known Hebraism to describe anything very great as a thing \" of God.\" Thus we read of \" thunderings of God,\" and \"trembling of God,\" (Exod. ix. 28; 1 Sam. xiv. 15.) — According to others i signifies the Lamb which God has provided from all eternity, and which God has long covenanted and promised to send into the world to be slain for sinners. Both views make good doctrine, but the second seems the preferable one.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":672,"text":"Exod. ix. 28","label":"Exodus 9:28","href":"/exo/9/#v28","status":"detected"},{"at":686,"text":"1 Sam. xiv. 15","label":"1 Samuel 14:15","href":"/1sa/14/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.29.2","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"Taketh away.","excerpt":"The Greek word so rendered, is given in the marginal reading, \" beareth.\" Both ideas are included. It means \" taketh away by his expiatory death.\" The Lamb of God \" beareth \" the sin of the world by taking it upon Himself He allowed our guilt to be laid upon Him, and carried it away like the scapegoat, so that there was none left. It is one of the many expressions which describe the great Scripture truth, that Christ's death was a vicarious sacrifice for sin. He became our substitute. He took upon Him our sin. He was made sin for us. Our sins were imputed to Him. He was made a curse for us.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.29.3","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"Of the world.","excerpt":"It is almost needless to say that there are two views of this expression. Some say, that it only means, that Christ takes away the sins of Gentiles as well as Jews, and that it does not mean the sin of any but the elect. Others say, that it really means that Christ \"taketh away\" the sin of all mankind, that is, that He made an atonement sufficient for all, and that all are salvable, though not all saved, in consequence of His death.\n\nI decidedly prefer the latter of these two views. I hold as strongly as any one, that Christ's death is profitable to none but to the elect who believe on His name. But I dare not limit and pare down such expressions as the one before us. I dare not say that no atonement has been made, in any sense, except for the elect. I believe it is possible to be more systematic than the Bible in our statements. When I read that the wicked who are lost, \" deny the Lord that bought them,\" (2 Peter ii. 1,) and that \" God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,\" (2 Cor. V. 19,) I dare not confine the intention of redemption to the saints alone. Christ is for every man.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":920,"text":"2 Peter ii. 1","label":"2 Peter 2:1","href":"/2pe/2/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":1004,"text":"2 Cor. V. 19","label":"2 Corinthians 5:19","href":"/2co/5/#v19","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.29-34.1","start":29,"end":34,"heading":"JOHN I. 29—34.","excerpt":"Let us notice, firstly, in this passage, the peculiar name which John the Baptist gives to Christ. He calls Him \"The Lamb of God.\"\n\nThis name did not merely mean, as some have supposed, that Christ was meek and gentle as a lamb. This would be truth no doubt, but only a very small portion of tho truth. There are greater things here than this ! It meant that Christ was the great sacrifice for sin, who was come to make atonement for transgression by His own death upon the cross. He was the true Lamb which Abraham told Isaac at Moriah God would provide. (Gen. xxii. 8.) He was the true Lamb to which every morning and evening sacrifice in the temple had daily pointed. He was the Lamb of which Isaiah had prophesied, that He would be \" brought to the slaughter.\" (Isaiah liii. '7.) He was the true Lamb of which the passover lamb in Egypt had been a vivid type. In short, He was the great propitiation for sin which God had covenanted from all eternity to send into the world. He was God's Lamb.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":557,"text":"Gen. xxii. 8","label":"Genesis 22:8","href":"/gen/22/#v8","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.30.1","start":30,"end":30,"heading":"This is he of whom I said. / A man...he was before me.","excerpt":"These words appear to have been spoken in our Lord's presence, and to have been specially intended to point the multitude to Him. \"This person before you is He of whom I have repeatedly spoken in my ministry, as the coming One who is far greater than myself. You see Him now before you.\"\n\n[A man.Jie was before me.] ' The human and divine natures of our Lord are here brought together by John in one sentence, \"He of whom I spake to you is a man, and yet at the same time He is One who was before me, because He has existed from all eternity.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.31.1","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"I knew him not. / That he should be made manifest to Israel, &c.","excerpt":"This means \"I was not acquainted with Him in time past. There has been no private collusion or arrangement between Him and me. I did not even know Him by sight until the day when He came to be baptized.\" The difficulty connected with these words of John will be considered fully at the 33d verse.\n\n[That he should be made manifest to Israel, &c.] John here declares that the great end of his ministry was, that this wonderful Person, whom he had just pointed out, should be manifested and made known to the Jews. He did not come to form a party of his own, or to baptize in his own name. The whole object of his preaching and baptizing was now before his hearers, it was simply to make known to Israel the Mighty One, the Lamb of God, whom they now saw.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.32.1","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"And John bare record.","excerpt":"These words seem to denote a public and solemn testimony borne by John to the fact, that our Lord had been visibly acknowledged by God the Father as the Messiah. If his hearers would have further proof that this Person, to whom he was pointing them, was really the Christ, he would tell them what he had seen with his own eyes. He would bear witness that he had seen visible proofs that this Person was really the Messiah.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.32.2","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"Like a dove","excerpt":"I cannot satisfy myself that the expression \" like a dove \" in this verse, means that any dove was really seen by John, when our Lord was baptized. All the four Gospel-writers describe an appearance \"like a dove.\" St. Luke distinctly speaks of \"a bodily shape.\" That something visible was seen by John is plain, and that its appearance descending on our Lord, resembled the downward flight of a dove, is also plain. But I am unable to see that the Holy Ghost took upon Him the actual form of a dove.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.32.3","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"It abode upon him.","excerpt":"We must beware of supposing for a moment, that this vision of the Spirit descending was meant to imply, that our Lord first received the grace of the Holy Ghost at that particular time, or that He had not received it before in the same degree. We must not doubt that the Holy Ghost dwelt in Jesus \" without measure \" from the very time of His incarnation. The vision was meant to show the Church, that when Christ's ministry began, a fuller revelation of all Three Persons in the Trinity was made at once to mankind. It was meant at the same time to be a formal testimony to John the Baptist that the Messiah was before him, — that this was the promised Saviour whom God had anointed with the Holy Ghost and sent into the world, ^-that the time of Christ's ministry had begun, — that He who had the Spirit to bestow on men was before him, — and that His entrance on His public work was attested by the presence both of the Father and the Holy Ghost, in short, by a manifestation of all three Persons in the Trinity at one time.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.33.1","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"I knew him not.","excerpt":"The Greek word so rendered, both here and in the 31st verse, is literally, \"I had not known him.\" There is a difficulty connected with the expression which demands explanation. St. Matthew tells us, that when our Lord came to John to be baptized, John said to him, \" I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?\" (Matt. iii. 14,) showing plainly by these words that he knew He was before him. And yet here we find John saying, \" I knew him not.\" How can this apparent inconsistency be reconciled ?","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":328,"text":"Matt. iii. 14","label":"Matthew 3:14","href":"/mat/3/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.33.2","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.","excerpt":"The remarkable description of our Lord, here given by John the Baptist, has received three very different interpretations.\n\nSome think that it means, \" This is He who shall institute Christian baptism, with which the gift of the Holy Ghost shall be connected. His baptism shall be like mine, a baptism of water. But it shall not be a baptism of water only, as mine is, but a baptism accompanied by the regenerating grace of the Spirit.\"\n\nSome think that it means, \" This is He who shall baptize with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, and confer miraculous gifts on the church.\"\n\nSome think it means, \"This is He who shall baptize the hearts of men, which neither thou canst do nor any other human minister. He has the prerogative of giving spiritual life. He is the giver of- the Holy Spirit to all who believe on Him.\"\n\nI am decidedly of opinion that this third view is the correct one. It is the only one which seems at all answerable to the majesty of the person spoken of, the dignity of the speaker, and the solemnity of the occasion. — To say, \"This is He who shall institute Christian baptism \" seems a very lame and impotent account of the expression. — To say, \" This is He who shall bestow miraculous gifts at the day of Pentecost,\" is a degree better, but gives a picture of our Lord's office confined to a single generation. — But to say, \" This is He who, in every age of the church, will baptize the hearts of his people by the Holy Ghost, and by this baptism continually replenish the ranks of His mystical body,\" is saying that which exactly suits the occasion, and describes our Lord's work in the world in a worthy manner.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.34.1","start":34,"end":34,"heading":"I saw, and bare record, &c.","excerpt":"This means, \" I saw perfectly, and from that time have distinctly and unhesitatingly testified that the person whom you now see before you is the Christ, the Son of the living God. From the day of His baptism I have been fully convinced that this is the Messiah.\"\n\nJohn here declares his own firm conviction of our Lord's divinity and eternal generation. He was satisfied that our Lord was not the son of Mary only, but the Son of God.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.35.1","start":35,"end":35,"heading":"The next day. / John stood.","excerpt":"Let St. John's particularity in noting days at this period of our Lord's history, be observed again in this verse. If, as many suppose, St. John was one of the two who this day followed Jesus and became His disciples, we can well understand that it was a memorable day to him.\n\n[John stood.] This expression seems to imply that there was some particular spot near Bethabara, where John the Baptist was in the habit of standing, to preach, and to receive those who came to be baptized. While he \"stood \" here, the event which follows took place.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.35-42.1","start":35,"end":42,"heading":"JOHN I. 35—42.","excerpt":"We see, for one thing, in these verses, what good is done by continually testifying of Christ.\n\nThe first time that John the Baptist cried, \" Behold the Lamb of God,\" no result appears to have followed. We are not told of any who heard, inquired, and believed. But when he repeated the same words the next day, we read that two of His disciples \"heard him speak and followed Jesus.\" They were received most graciously by Him whom they followed. \"They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day.\" Truly it was a day in their lives most eventful, and most blessed ! From that day they became fast and firm disciples of the new-found Messiah. They took up the cross. They continued with Him in His temptations. They followed Him whithersoever He went. One of them at least, if not both, became a chosen apostle, and a master builder in the Christian temple. And all was owing to John the Baptist's testimony, \" Behold the lamb of God.\" That testimony was a little seed. But it bore mighty fruits.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.36.1","start":36,"end":36,"heading":"Looking upon Jesus as he walked.","excerpt":"This probably means that he saw Jesus walking among the crowd of persons who were attracted to Bethabara, alone, without followers, and as yet not recognized by any one as the Messiah.\n\nStier remarks, \"John saw Jesus walking, in silent meditation, waiting for His hour, and His Father's commands ; in full preparation for the world and its sin : equipped for the testimony to the truth, with that armour, which has been tested and approved in His first great spiritual conflict ; and for the utterance of the new words of God, which the Father has given Him.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.36.2","start":36,"end":36,"heading":"He saith, Behold, &c.","excerpt":"This seems to have been a second public proclamation of our Lord's office and character, a partial repetition of what had been said the day before ; and yet, as the event shows, a more effective proclamation. The same truth may do good the second time that it is preached, which does nothing the first time.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.37.1","start":37,"end":37,"heading":"Heard...speak...followed.","excerpt":"The three steps described in this verse, are very noteworthy. John the Baptist \"speaks.\" The disciples \" hear,\" After hearing they \"follow Jesus.\" This is a succinct summary of God's way of saving myriads of souls.\n\nRollock on this verse remarks, \"We learn by this example, how powerful is the preaching of Christ, — yea, one or two words about Christ and the cross, how powerful are they in changing the hearts of men ! Preach, if you like, about the great deeds of kings and generals, and their courage and glory ; — these things will please men for a little time, but they will not convert them. But preach concerning Him that was crucified, a subject apparently ignominious and foolish, — and then the story of the cross, which is foolishness to them that perish, will be the power and wisdom of God to them that believe.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.38.1","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"What seek ye?","excerpt":"We cannot doubt that our Lord knew perfectly well the hearts and motives of these two disciples. In asking this question, therefore, He spoke partly for their encouragement, and partly to stir them up to self-inquiry. \" What seek ye ? Is there anything that I can do for you, any truth that I can teach you, any burden that I can take away ? If so, speak, and be not afraid.\" — \" What seek ye ? Are you sure that you are following me with right motives? Are you sure that you are not regarding me as a temporal ruler ? Are you sure that you are not, like other Jews, seeking riches, honour, greatness, in this world ? Prove your own selves, and be sure that you are seeking the right object.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.38.2","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"Where dwellest thou?","excerpt":"This question seems to imply a desire for conversation and private communion. \"We would fain know more of Thee. We are drawn to Thee by John the Baptist's proclamation. We would like to go aside with Thee from the crowd, and inquire of Thee more privately and quietly, at thy dwelling, about the things which are upon our heart\"?.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.39.1","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"Come and see.","excerpt":"The great affability, and condescension of these first words of our Lord's after His public appearance as Messiah, ought not to be overlooked. The very first thing that we hear Him saying, after He has been publicly proclaimed as the \"Lamb of God,\" is ''Come and see.\" It is a pleasant type of what He has been ever saying to the sons of men from that; day down to this. \" Come and see who I am, and what I am. Come and be acquainted with me.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.39.2","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"Abode with him that day...tenth hour.","excerpt":"The Jewish day began at six o'clock in the morning. The tenth hour therefore means, four o'clock in the afternoon. At this late hour of the day, His disciples found it impossible to conclude their conversation with Jesus, and therefore remained in the same lodging with Him all night.\n\nMany commentators, from Augustine downwards, make the natural remark, that this evening must have been a blessed evening for these two disciples ; and that it would have been pleasant if the conversation had been given to us 1 Yet if it had been good for us to know the conversation, it would doubtless have been recorded. There are no deficiencies in Scripture.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.40.1","start":40,"end":40,"heading":"One of the two...was Andrew.","excerpt":"The priority of Andrew to Peter ought not to be overlooked, Peter, to whom the Church of Rome boastfully attributes a primacy among the apostles was neither converted nor made acquainted with Christ, so soon as his brother.\n\nWho the other of these two disciples was, we are not told. It is highly probable, as Chrysostom and Theophylact conjecture, that it was St. John himself. On seven other occasions in this Gospel he humbly withholds his name. (John xiii. 23 ; xix. 26, 35 ; XX. 2 ; xxi. 7, 20, 24.) It is therefore very likely that he withheld it here. — The supposition of Musculus, and others, that the other disciple was a person of less zeal and sincerity than Andrew, and is therefore not named, appears to me improbable.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":450,"text":"John xiii. 23","label":"John 13:23","href":"/jhn/13/#v23","status":"detected"},{"at":466,"text":"xix. 26, 35","label":"John 19:26","href":"/jhn/19/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":466,"text":"xix. 26, 35","label":"John 19:35","href":"/jhn/19/#v35","status":"detected"},{"at":480,"text":"XX. 2","label":"John 20:2","href":"/jhn/20/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":488,"text":"xxi. 7, 20, 24","label":"John 21:20","href":"/jhn/21/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":488,"text":"xxi. 7, 20, 24","label":"John 21:24","href":"/jhn/21/#v24","status":"detected"},{"at":488,"text":"xxi. 7, 20, 24","label":"John 21:7","href":"/jhn/21/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.41.1","start":41,"end":41,"heading":"He first. / We have found.","excerpt":"This expression must either mean that Andrew was the first of the two disciples who brought a brother to Jesus. — or that he was the first disciple, speaking generally, who spoke to others of the Messiah, when he had found Him, — or that he was the first to tell his brother Peter, and Peter was not the first to tell him about Christ.\n\n[ We have found.] This expression implies an unexpected and joyful discovery. The evening's conversation which Andrew had held with Jesus, had convinced him that He was indeed the Christ.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.41.2","start":41,"end":41,"heading":"The Messias...interpreted...the Christ.","excerpt":"It is almost needless to remark, that these names mean the \" anointed one.\" The first is Hebrew, and the second is Greek. Kings, prophets, and priests, in the Old Testament, were anointed, and our Lord as the Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church was called the Anointed One, not because He was really anointed with oil, but because he was \" anointed with the Holy Ghost.\" (Acts x. 38.)\n\nThe extent of Andrew's religious knowledge ought not to be overlooked. Poor and humble in station as he was, he seems, like all the Jews, to have known what the Old Testament prophets had foretold about Messiah, and to have been prepared to hear of a person appearing in the character of Messiah. It is one of many expressions in the Gospels which show that the lower orders among the Jews were far better acquainted with the letter of the Old Testament Scriptures, than the poor in our own day generally are with the letter of the New Testament, or indeed of any part of the Bible.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":376,"text":"Acts x. 38","label":"Acts 10:38","href":"/act/10/#v38","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.42.1","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"When Jesus beheld...said...Thou art Simon.","excerpt":"Our Lord here displayed His perfect knowledge of all persons, names, and things. He needed not that any should tell Him who and what a person was. This knowledge was supposed by the Jews to be a peculiar attribute of Messiah, whenever He came. He was to be one of \" quick understanding.\" (Isaiah xi. 3.) Enough for us to know that it is a peculiar attribute of God. He alone knows the hearts of men. Our Lord's perfect knowledge of all hearts was one among many proofs of His divinity. The same knowledge appears again in His address to Nathanael, in this chapter, ver. 47, and in His conversation with the Samaritan woman. (John iv. 18, etc.) — The effect produced in both cases, is very worthy of notice.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":289,"text":"Isaiah xi. 3","label":"Isaiah 11:3","href":"/isa/11/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":565,"text":"ver. 47","label":"John 1:47","href":"/jhn/1/#v47","status":"detected"},{"at":625,"text":"John iv. 18","label":"John 4:18","href":"/jhn/4/#v18","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.42.2","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"Cephas","excerpt":"If it be asked why our Lord gave Simon this new name, the best answer appears to be that it was given with a special reference to the change which grace was to work in Simon's heart. Naturally impulsive, unstable, and unsteady, he was finally to become a firm, solid stone in the Church of Christ, and to testify his unshaken adherence to Christ by suffering martyrdom.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.43.1","start":43,"end":43,"heading":"The day following.","excerpt":"This is the fourth successive day which is specially named by St. John, and its events described. The first contained John the Baptist's reply to the priests and Levites, — the second, his public announcement of our Lord as the Lamb of God, — the third, the calling of Andrew and his companion, and Peter, — the fourth describes the calling of Philip and Nathanael.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.43.2","start":43,"end":43,"heading":"Follow me.","excerpt":"This simple sentence describes the direct quickening voice of an almighty Saviour. It is evident that the power of the Holy Ghost accompanied our Lord's words, and that as soon as they were spoken, Philip, like Matthew the publican, arose, left all, and became a disciple. In conversion God acts as a sovereign. One is called in one way, and another in another. .Rollock observes on this verse, \" This teaches us that Christ is able to call any one whom He pleases into the kingdom of heaven, without the ministry either of angel or man.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.43-51.1","start":43,"end":51,"heading":"JOHN I. 43—51.","excerpt":"Let us observe, as we read these verses, how various are the paths by which souls are led into the narrow way of life.\n\nWe are told of a man, named Philip, being added to the little company of Christ's disciples. He does not appear to have been moved, like Andrew and his companions, by the testimony of John the Baptist. He was not drawn, like Simon Peter, by the out-spoken declaration of a brother. He seems to have been called directly by Christ Himself, and the agency of man seems not to have been used in his calling. Yet in faith and life he became one with those who were disciples before him. Though led by different paths, they all entered the same road, embraced the same truths, served the same Master, and at length reached the same home.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.44.1","start":44,"end":44,"heading":"Philip...of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.","excerpt":"This verse seems to make it probable that Philip's conversion and calling took place at Bethsaida. Andrew and Peter having been converted and become companions of Jesus on His way to Galilee, would appear to have taken Him to their own native place, Bethsaida.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.45.1","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"Him...Moses...prophets did write.","excerpt":"Here, as in the case of Andrew, we should notice the familiarity with the general contents of Scripture which a poor Jew like Philip possessed. He thoroughly understood that \" Moses and the prophets\" held forth the promise of a coming Redeemer, and that a better Priest, Prophet, and King were foretold in their writings. \" The Old Testament,\" as the Church of England Article wisely declares, \"is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old Testament and New, everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ.\" We must beware, in these latter days, of despising the Old Testament. It is one by-path to infidelity.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.45.2","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.","excerpt":"Philip here describes our Lord according to the common report about Him, and in all probability according to his own present knowledge. His heart was at present better than his head. The miraculous conception of Christ was hidden from him. Yet it is not unworthy of remark, that this ignorant account of our Lord was very likely the cause of Nathanael's doubt and prejudice, exhibited in the next verse. The mistakes of young converts are often mighty stumbling-blocks in the way of other people's souls. We must not, however, despise Philip because of his mistake. Rollock remarks, \" I had rather a man should stammer and babble about Christ, providing he does it sincerely and from his heart, and has before i him as an object the glory of God and salvation of men, than say many things eloquently about Christ, for ostentation and vain glory.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.46.1","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?","excerpt":"This question shows the low estimate in which Nazareth, where our Lord had been brought up, was held. It was an obscure town in a corner of Galilee, not far from the borders of the province, and its reputation seems to have been very bad. Nathanael could not remember any prophecy about Messiah coming out of Nazareth. and at once stumbled at the idea of Him whom \"Moses and the prophets\" had described, belonging to such a contemptible place.\n\nThe condescension of our Lord in living thirty years in such a place as Nazareth, is strongly brought out by Nathanael's question.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.46.2","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"Come and see.","excerpt":"How common this expression was among the Jewish religious teachers has been already noticed. Philip's wisdom in not arguing and reasoning with Nathanael, should be observed. Ford gives a good quotation from Adam, \" Little good comes by disputing. Pride is generally at the bottom of it, and not charity or love of truth; and it is seldom managed with decency or candour enough to produce any good effect. Let fall a word in season, and wait in patience till the rain drops on it from heaven.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.47.1","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"In whom is no guile.","excerpt":"It is very likely that in using this expression our Lord referred to the 32nd Psalm, where the character of the godly man is described. He is not only one whose iniquities are forgiven, but one \"in whose lips there is no guile.\" The expression implies a true heart, a really converted man, a genuine son of Abraham by faith, as well as a son according to the flesh.\n\nHutcheson observes, \" The true mark of a true Israelite m spirit, is not sinlessness or perfection, but sincerity.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.48.1","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"When...under the fig tree, I saw thee.","excerpt":"The common opinion about this expression is, that Nathanael was praying or holding communion with God under the fig-tree. It may be so. We are told nothing about it, and are entirely left to conjecture. If it had been good for us to know, it would have been told us. Sufficient for us to understand that when Nathanael thought he was alone and no eye upon him, the Lord Jesus, by His divine power of seeing and knowing all things, was perfectly acquainted with all that Nathanael said, thought, and did. His \" eyes are in every place.\" (Prov. xv. 3.)","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":537,"text":"Prov. xv. 3","label":"Proverbs 15:3","href":"/pro/15/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.49.1","start":49,"end":49,"heading":"Thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.","excerpt":"These words are the outburst of a heart convinced at once that Jesus was the Messiah. They are a noble confession that our Lord was that divine Person who was promised to come into the world to redeem sinners, and that King who was prophesied of as the future Gatherer and Ruler of the tribes of Israel. Whether Nathanael clearly understood the nature of our Lord's kingdom at this time, may be reasonably doubted. But that he saw, like Peter, that He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, we cannot doubt. The restoring of the kingdom to Israel was a subject which we know from other passages of Scripture, was one of the last which the first disciples were able to understand aright. (Acts i. 6.)\n\nThe history of Nathanael's calling at this point should be compared with that of the woman of Samaria, in the fourth chapter of this Gospel. It is striking to observe that a discovery and conviction of our Lord's perfect knowledge of the most secret things, was in both cases the turning point.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":689,"text":"Acts i. 6","label":"Acts 1:6","href":"/act/1/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.49.2","start":49,"end":49,"heading":"King of Israel","excerpt":"It should not be forgotten, that the title \" King of Israel,\" was one which our Lord never refused during His ministry, though He never took to Himself His great power and actually reigned.\n\nThe angel Gabriel foretold that, the \" Lord God would give unto Him the throne of His father David, and that He would reign over the house of Jacob, and that of His kingdom there would be no end.\" (Luke i. 32, 33.) When the wise men came from the East, they inquired for him who was born \" King of the Jews.\" (Matt. ii. 2.) When our Lord was crucified, the title over His head was, \" King of the Jews.\" All this shall yet be literally true. Christ shall yet be King in Zion, and reign over the gathered and restored tribes of Israel at His second coming. And then the words of Nathanael shall be seen completely fulfilled He shall be acknowledged by all as the \" Son of God, and King of Israel.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":389,"text":"Luke i. 32, 33","label":"Luke 1:32–33","href":"/luk/1/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":501,"text":"Matt. ii. 2","label":"Matthew 2:2","href":"/mat/2/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.50.1","start":50,"end":50,"heading":"Believest thou?","excerpt":"It admits of a question whether this expression would not be better rendered, as it might be with perfect grammatical correctness, \"thou believest.\" It would then be very like our Lord's words to Thomas, \" Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.\" (John xx. 29.) The sense would be, \" Because I said I saw thee under the fig-tree thou believest. It is well. Great is thy faith. But I tell thee for thy comfort and encouragement, that thou shalt one day see far greater proofs of my divinity and Messiahship than these.\" Wycliffe's, Tyndale's, and Cranmer's versions, all render the expression as an affirmation, and not as a question. Aretius maintains the same view.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":255,"text":"John xx. 29","label":"John 20:29","href":"/jhn/20/#v29","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.51.1","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Verily, verily, I say unto you.","excerpt":"This expression is peculiar to St. John's Gospel, and very remarkable. It is the word which is familiar to all Christians, \" Amen,\" twice repeated. It is found twentyfive times in this Gospel, always at the beginning of a sentence, and always used by Christ. In every place it implies a very solemn, emphatic assertion of some great truth, or heart-searching fact. No other writer in the New Testament, except St. John, ever gives the double \"Amen.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.51.2","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels...Son of man.","excerpt":"This prediction is very remarkable. It should be carefully observed, that it is not addressed to Nathanael alone. The preceding verse says, \"thou shalt see.\" The present verse says, \" ye shall see,\" — that is, \" thou and all my other disciples.\"\n\nAbout the true meaning of the prediction, commentators differ exceedingly. Arguing, as nearly all do, that the words plainly refer to Jacob's vision of the ladder reaching from heaven to earth, (Gen. xxviii. 12,) they disagree about the way in which the prediction is fulfilled.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":442,"text":"Gen. xxviii. 12","label":"Genesis 28:12","href":"/gen/28/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.51.3","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels...Son of man.","excerpt":"The only true and satisfactory view, I behove, is that which makes the whole prediction apply to events which are still future. Our Lord spoke of His second coming and kingdom. When He comes the second time to take His great power and reign, the words of this text shall be literally fulfilled. His believing people shall see heaven open, and a constant communication kept up between heaven and earth, — the tabernacle of God with men, and the angels visibly ministering to the King of Israel, and King of all the earth.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/expositorythough05ryle/expositorythough05ryle_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null}]},{"work_id":"westcott","author":"B. F. Westcott","short_name":"Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"title":"The Gospel According to St. John: The Authorised Version with Introduction and Notes","edition_short":"London: John Murray, 1892","author_url":"/commentators/westcott/","divisions":"verse","work_url":"/works/westcott/","entries":[{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.1.1","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"","excerpt":"The first sentence of the Gospel offers a perfect example of the stately symmetry by which the whole narrative is marked. The three clauses of which it consists are set side by side (...and... and...); the Subject (the Word) is three times repeated; and the substantive verb three times occupies the same relative position. The symmetry of form corresponds with the exhaustiveness of the thought. The three clauses contain all that it is possible for man to realise as to the essential nature of the Word in relation to time, and mode of being, and character: He was (1) in the beginning: He was (2) with God: He was (3) God. At the same time these three clauses answer to the three great moments of the Incarnation of the Word declared in v. 14. He who \"was God,\" became flesh: He who \"was with God,\" tabernacled among us (comp. 1 John i. 2) : He who \"was in the beginning,\" became (in time).\n\nThis revelation is the foundation of the whole Gospel of St John. It sets aside the false notion that the Word became \"personal \" first at the time of Creation or at the Incarnation. The absolute, eternal, immanent relations of the Persons of the Godhead furnish the basis for revelation. Because the Word was personally distinct from \"God\" and yet essentially \"God,\" He could make Him known. Compare an interesting passage of Irenaeus, ii. 30. 9.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":740,"text":"v. 14","label":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":830,"text":"1 John i. 2","label":"1 John 1:2","href":"/1jn/1/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.1.2","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"In the beginning","excerpt":"The phrase carries back the thoughts of the reader to Gen. i. i, which necessarily fixes the sense of the beginning. Here, as there, \"the beginning\" is the initial moment of time and creation ; but there is this difference, that Moses dwells on that which starts from the point, and traces the record of divine action from the beginning (comp. 1 John i. 1, ii. 13), while St John lifts our thoughts beyond the beginning and dwells on that which \" was \" when time, and with time finite being, began its course. Comp. Prov. viii. 23. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":344,"text":"1 John i. 1","label":"1 John 1:1","href":"/1jn/1/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":357,"text":"ii. 13","label":"1 John 2:13","href":"/1jn/2/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":516,"text":"Prov. viii. 23","label":"Proverbs 8:23","href":"/pro/8/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.1.3","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"the Word","excerpt":"6. The personal titles \" the Word \" and \"the Word of God \" must be kept in close connexion with the same terms as applied to the sum of the Gospel in the New Testament, and with the phrase \"the word of the Lord\" in the prophecies of the Old Testament. The Word, before the Incarnation, was the one source of the many divine words; and Christ, the Word Incarnate, is Himself the Gospel.\n\n7. The evangelist uses the title Word and not Son here, because he wishes to carry his readers to the most absolute conceptions.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.1.4","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"was with God","excerpt":"... The personal being of the Word was realised in active intercourse with and in perfect communion with God. Compare Gen. i. 26, where the same truth is expressed under distinct human imagery. The Word \"was with God\" before He revealed God. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":118,"text":"Gen. i. 26","label":"Genesis 1:26","href":"/gen/1/#v26","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.1.5","start":1,"end":1,"heading":"the Word was God","excerpt":"The predicate (God) stands emphatically first, as in iv. 24. It is necessarily without the article inasmuch as it describes the nature of the Word and does not identify His Person. ... No idea of inferiority of nature is suggested by the form of expression, which simply affirms the true deity of the Word.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.1-18.1","start":1,"end":18,"heading":"The Prologue (i. 1—18)","excerpt":"Though the narrative of St John's Gospel is not marked off by any very distinct line from the introductory verses, it has been generally acknowledged that i. i— 18 forms an introduction to the whole work. This conclusion appears to be completely established by a careful analysis of the contents of the section, which present in a summary form the main truths that are illustrated by the records of the history. The first verse appears to stand by itself: the remaining verses give an outline of the relations of the Word to Creation.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.1-18.2","start":1,"end":18,"heading":"Reflections on the Prologue","excerpt":"4. Though the purely speculative is absent from the Prologue, as it is from the Gospel generally, the treatment of the subject is such that the Evangelist supplies the clues for the prosecution of the highest problems so far as man can pursue them. This he does (1) By opening a momentary vision of the Godhead itself in which can be seen the Immanent Trinity, (2) By shewing the relation of Creation to the Creator as Preserver, (3) By the declaration of the fact of the Incarnation, in which the Unity of the Finite and the Infinite is realised. And the more the Prologue is studied under these aspects, the more conspicuous become its originality and exhaustiveness.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.2.1","start":2,"end":2,"heading":"","excerpt":"2. In passing from the thought of the Personal Being of the Word in Himself to the revelation of the Word, the Evangelist brings the revelation into the closest connexion with the essential Nature of the Word by the repetition in combination of the three clauses of the 1st verse : The same was in the beginning (with God. At the moment of creation that relation, which was eternally, was actually effective. Creation itself was (in some sense) the result of the eternal fellowship expressed in the relation of the Word to God.\n\nThe same'] Literally, This [Word] ; He who has just been declared to be God. The pronoun implies and emphasizes the whole previous definition. Comp. vi. 46, vii. 18, &c.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":678,"text":"vi. 46","label":"John 6:46","href":"/jhn/6/#v46","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.3.1","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"All things","excerpt":"The exact form expresses all things taken severally, and not all things regarded as a defined whole. The thought to be brought out is that of the vast multiplicity of created things (spirits, matter, &c.). Of all these no one came into being without the Word. For this reason the term \"the world\" is purposely avoided.\n\nwere made] Literally, became. Creation itself is represented as a \"becoming \" in contrast with the \" being \" emphasized before. The same contrast recurs in vv. 6, 9.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":476,"text":"vv. 6, 9","label":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":476,"text":"vv. 6, 9","label":"John 1:9","href":"/jhn/1/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.3.2","start":3,"end":3,"heading":"without him","excerpt":"Literally, apart from Him (comp. xv. 5). Creation is set forth under a twofold aspect, as depending on the divine Agency and on the divine Presence. It is first called into being by the Word, and then sustained in being by Him (Heb. i. 3). Compare the use of in Him, Col. i. 16, 17 ; Acts xvii. 28.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":33,"text":"xv. 5","label":"John 15:5","href":"/jhn/15/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":228,"text":"Heb. i. 3","label":"Hebrews 1:3","href":"/heb/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":267,"text":"Col. i. 16, 17","label":"Colossians 1:16–17","href":"/col/1/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":284,"text":"Acts xvii. 28","label":"Acts 17:28","href":"/act/17/#v28","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.3-4.1","start":3,"end":4,"heading":"...that was made (hath been made). In him was life...","excerpt":"The original words admit two very distinct divisions. The last clause of v. 3 may be taken either (1) with the words which precede, as A.V., or (2) with the words which follow. It would be difficult to find a more complete consent of ancient authorities in favour of any reading, than that which supports the second punctuation : Without Him was not anything made. That which hath been made in Him was life. See Note at the end of the Chapter.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":73,"text":"v. 3","label":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.4.1","start":4,"end":4,"heading":"the life was the light of men","excerpt":"The works of the Word supplied for a time, from within and from without, that which He supplied more completely by His personal manifestations (ix. 5, note), and afterwards by His historical Presence (viii. 12, xii. 46), and yet more completely by His Presence through the Spirit in the Church. He is Himself, however revealed, the Light of men and of the world (viii. 12, ix. 5).\n\nthe light] the one light. It must be observed that the Word is not here spoken of directly as \"the Light of men.\" He is \"the Light\" through the medium of \"Life.\" In part and according to the divine constitution of things He is made known, and makes Himself known, in and through the vital processes of creation.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.5.1","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"","excerpt":"5. In v. 4 the divine essence and the divine purpose of creation are declared from the side of God ; in v. 5 the Evangelist describes the actual state of things from the side of man. The description holds good generally. It embraces the experience of Judaism and Heathendom, of pre-Christian and post- Christian times. The truth which found its most signal fulfilment in the historical Presence of Christ, was established in various ways both before and after it. The conflict of Light and Darkness which represents one aspect of the history of the Gospel, represents also one aspect of all human history.\n\nthe light) It is probable that the word must be taken in a somewhat wider sense in this clause than in the last, so as to include not only the manifestations of the Word (as \"Life\") through \"Nature\" in the widest sense of the term, but also the Personal manifestations of the Word. It is impossible for us to judge how far the two series of manifestations may be in fact united. Comp. Ps. xxxvi. 9.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":6,"text":"v. 4","label":"John 1:4","href":"/jhn/1/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":104,"text":"v. 5","label":"John 1:5","href":"/jhn/1/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":992,"text":"Ps. xxxvi. 9","label":"Psalms 36:9","href":"/psa/36/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.5.2","start":5,"end":5,"heading":"in darkness; comprehended (overcame) it not","excerpt":"in the darkness. Side by side with the light the darkness appears suddenly and without preparation. An acquaintance with the history of the Fall is evidently presupposed. The perfect fellowship of man and God has been broken. Man in his selfwill has separated, isolated himself. He has made for himself, so to speak, an atmosphere of darkness, by seeking to sever his life from the Source of life. For all that is without God, apart from Him, is darkness. Comp. 1 John i. 5.\n\ncomprehended (overcame) it not] The verb in the original has received two very different renderings — overcame and apprehended. It is found again in a parallel passage, xii. 35, that darkness overtake you not; and also in an old reading of vi. 17, the darkness overtook them. In these cases the sense cannot be doubtful. The darkness comes down upon, enwraps men. As applied to light this sense includes the further notion of overwhelming, eclipsing. The relation of darkness to light is one of essential antagonism. If the darkness is represented as pursuing the light it can only be to overshadow and not to appropriate it. And this appears to be the meaning here. The existence of the darkness is affirmed, and at the same time the unbroken energy of the light. But the victory of the light is set forth as the result of a past struggle; and the abrupt alteration of tense brings into prominence the change which has passed over the world. It could not but happen that the darkness when it came should seek to cover all ; and in this attempt it failed : the light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness overcame it not.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":462,"text":"1 John i. 5","label":"1 John 1:5","href":"/1jn/1/#v5","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.6-8.1","start":6,"end":8,"heading":"","excerpt":"6 — 8. The office of prophecy is shewn through the work of the Baptist; of whom the Evangelist speaks in regard to his personality (v. 6), the end of his mission (v. 7), his nature (v. 8). The abrupt introduction of John is explained by the fact that the review of the revelation, preparatory to the Incarnation, starts from the last, that is the most intelligible, stage in it. The Baptist — a priest and a Nazarite — was the completed type of the Prophet (Matt. xi. 9 f. and parallels) ; and it was by the Baptist, an interpreter of the Old Dispensation and herald of the New, that St John himself was guided to Christ (vv. 35 ff.).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":132,"text":"v. 6","label":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":163,"text":"v. 7","label":"John 1:7","href":"/jhn/1/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":182,"text":"v. 8","label":"John 1:8","href":"/jhn/1/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":458,"text":"Matt. xi. 9","label":"Matthew 11:9","href":"/mat/11/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":622,"text":"vv. 35","label":"John 1:35","href":"/jhn/1/#v35","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.7.1","start":7,"end":7,"heading":"for witness; all men","excerpt":"On the idea of \"witness\" see Introd. The office of the prophet in the fullest sense is to make known Another. This office had been fulfilled \"in many parts and in many fashions\" by all God's messengers in earlier times, and at last eminently by the Baptist (comp. iii. 30). He came, as his predecessors, but with a clearer charge, to bear witness concerning the Light, to interpret to men the signs of a divine will and guidance without them and within them, and then to point to Him who was Himself the Life and the Light. In this way provision was made for leading men in human ways to recognise the divine.\n\nall men] The prophets had prepared the way for the extension of the divine call beyond Israel (comp. Isai. xlix. 6). The Baptist at last delivered a message which in its essence was universal. As the last prophet, the last interpreter of the Law, he carried the preparatory discipline to its final application. He spoke to men as men ; outward descent, national privileges, disappeared from their place in the divine order from the time of his preaching. The basis of his preaching was repentance— inner self-renunciation — the end was faith. In this connexion it is to be noticed that the conception of faith is sharpened by being left in an absolute form : that all men might believe (contrast -v. 12) through him (John). There can be but one adequate object of faith, even God made known in the Son. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":264,"text":"iii. 30","label":"John 3:30","href":"/jhn/3/#v30","status":"detected"},{"at":712,"text":"Isai. xlix. 6","label":"Isaiah 49:6","href":"/isa/49/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":1308,"text":"v. 12","label":"John 1:12","href":"/jhn/1/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.8.1","start":8,"end":8,"heading":"He was not that (the) Light","excerpt":"From this passage and other similar passages (v. 20, iii. 26 ff.) it has been plausibly argued that the Evangelist was familiar with some who unduly exalted the Baptist. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":46,"text":"v. 20","label":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.9.1","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"That was (There was) the true Light ...that cometh (coming) into the world","excerpt":"But it seems best to take it more literally and yet more generally as describing a coming which was progressive, slowly accomplished, combined with a permanent being, so that both the verb (was) and the participle (coming) have their full force, and do not form a periphrasis for an imperfect. The mission of John was one and definite ; but all along up to his time \"the Light\" of which he came to witness continued to shine, being revealed in many parts and in many ways. There was the Light, the true Light, which lighteth every man; that Light was, and yet more, that Light was coming into the world. The same idea of a constant, continuous coming of the Word to men is found in vi. 33, 50, where \"that cometh\" stands in marked contrast with \" that came. Taken in relation to the context, the words declare that men were not left alone to interpret the manifestations of the Light in the Life around them and in them. The Light from whom that Life flows made Himself known more directly. From the first He was (so to speak) on His way to the world, advancing towards the Incarnation by preparatory revelations. He came in type and prophecy and judgment.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.9.2","start":9,"end":9,"heading":"","excerpt":"In this relation the Light is characterized as (1) the true Light, and (2) that which lighteth every man. The former expression (1) marks the essential nature of the Light as that of which all other lights are only partial rays or reflections, as the archetypal Light (see iv. 23, vi. 32, xv. i). The \" true light \" in this sense is not opposed to a \" false light,\" but to an imperfect, incomplete, transitory light.\n\nThe latter (2) describes the universal extent of its action. The words must be taken simply as they stand. No man is wholly destitute of the illumination of \" the Light.\" In nature, and life, and conscience it makes itself felt in various degrees to all. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.10.1","start":10,"end":10,"heading":"He was in the world","excerpt":"Comp. v. 5, note. It is impossible to refer these words simply to the historical Presence of the Word in Jesus as witnessed to by the Baptist. The whole scope and connexion of the passage requires a wider sense. The Word acts by His Presence as well as by His special Advent. The continuance and progress of things, no less than their original constitution, are fitted to make Him known.\n\nthe world'] the sum of created being, which belongs to the sphere of human life as an ordered whole considered apart from God, and in its moral aspect represented by humanity. See Note at the end of the Chapter.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":6,"text":"v. 5","label":"John 1:5","href":"/jhn/1/#v5","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.11.1","start":11,"end":11,"heading":"","excerpt":"11. The Evangelist now passes from the universal action of the Word as the Light to His special action. Creation and mankind were His, and not unvisited by Him ; but in \" the world \" and in humanity one spot and one people were in a peculiar sense devoted to Him. The land of Israel was \" His own home,\" and the children of Israel were \" His own people.\" The Word came to the holy land and to the holy nation, and they \" received Him not.\"\n\ncame'] The word forms a climax when combined with those which precede: was, was in the world, came to His own; and in this connexion it appears to contain an allusion to the technical sense of \"he that cometh.\" Comp. ix. 39. The tense seems necessarily to mark a definite advent, the Incarnation, which consummated the former revelations of the Word to Israel. It does not seem possible that the manifestations before the Incarnation and separate from it could be so spoken of. Nor is there anything in this interpretation which detracts from the force of v. 14. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":658,"text":"ix. 39","label":"John 9:39","href":"/jhn/9/#v39","status":"detected"},{"at":997,"text":"v. 14","label":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.12.1","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"","excerpt":"12. The Jews as a nation did not receive Christ as Him for whose advent they had been disciplined; but this national rejection was qualified by the personal belief of some. These however believed as men, so to say, and not as Jews. They became on an equality with those who believed from among the heathen. The Christian Church was not, as it might have been, the corporate transfiguration of the old Church, but was built up of individuals. To these, whether Jews or Gentiles by ancestry, as many as received Him [Christ] gave right to become children of God. The privilege of Israel (Ex. iv. 22) was extended to all the faithful.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":586,"text":"Ex. iv. 22","label":"Exodus 4:22","href":"/exo/4/#v22","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.12.2","start":12,"end":12,"heading":"power (right)","excerpt":"As far as we can conceive of \" this right to become children,\" it lies in the potential union with the Son, whereby those who receive Him are enabled to realise their divine fellowship. They are adopted — placed, if we may so speak, in the position of sons — that so they may become children actually. Comp. 2 Pet. i. 3, 4 ; Gal. iv. 6. The fruit is not given at once, but the seed. It is of God to give, but man must use His gift, which faith appropriates. It is thus important to observe how throughout the passage the divine and human sides of the realisation of Sonship are harmoniously united. The initial act is at once a \"begetting\" and a \"reception \". The growth follows from the use of a gift. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":308,"text":"2 Pet. i. 3, 4","label":"2 Peter 1:3–4","href":"/2pe/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":325,"text":"Gal. iv. 6","label":"Galatians 4:6","href":"/gal/4/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.13.1","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"","excerpt":"13. The spring of the new life to which the believer has \"right\" lies solely in God. The beginning of it cannot be found in the combination of the material elements, by which physical life is represented, nor in the natural instinct, in obedience to which beings are reproduced, nor in the will of the rational man. This appears to be the meaning of the threefold negation. The progress is from that which is lowest in our estimate of the origin of life to that which is highest. At the same time the three clauses naturally admit a moral interpretation. The new birth is not brought about by descent, by desire or by human power.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.13.2","start":13,"end":13,"heading":"were born","excerpt":"Literally, were begotten, as 1 John ii. 29, iii. 9, iv. 7, v. 1, 4, 18. The thought is of the first origin of the new life, and not of the introduction of the living being into a new region. The phrase appears to be parallel with as many as received. The act of reception coincided with the infusion of the divine principle, by which the later growth became possible.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":29,"text":"1 John ii. 29","label":"1 John 2:29","href":"/1jn/2/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":44,"text":"iii. 9","label":"1 John 3:9","href":"/1jn/3/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":52,"text":"iv. 7","label":"1 John 4:7","href":"/1jn/4/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":59,"text":"v. 1, 4, 18","label":"1 John 5:1","href":"/1jn/5/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":59,"text":"v. 1, 4, 18","label":"1 John 5:18","href":"/1jn/5/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":59,"text":"v. 1, 4, 18","label":"1 John 5:4","href":"/1jn/5/#v4","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.1","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"","excerpt":"The Incarnation, which has been touched upon in v. 11 in its relation to the whole course of revelation, is now presented in its essential character. In the former place the Advent was considered in reference to particular promises (He came) and to a chosen people: now it is revealed in its connexion with humanity. Thus there is no retrogression or repetition, but a distinct progress in the development of thought. The special aspect of Messiah's coming, followed by the national failure to recognise His coming, prepares the way for the universal aspect of it.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":48,"text":"v. 11","label":"John 1:11","href":"/jhn/1/#v11","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.2","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"was made (became) flesh","excerpt":"Owing to the inherent imperfection of human language as applied to the mystery of the Incarnation, both these words are liable to misinterpretation. The word became must not be so understood as to support the belief that the Word ceased to be what He was before; and the word flesh must not be taken to exclude the rational soul of man. The clear apprehension of the meaning of the phrase, so far as we can apprehend it, lies in the recognition of the unity of the Lord's Person, before and after the Incarnation. His Personality is divine. But at the same time we must affirm that His humanity is real and complete. He, remaining the same Person as before, did not simply assume humanity as something which could be laid aside: He became flesh. He did not simply become \"a man:\" He became \"man.\" ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.3","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"became","excerpt":"The phrase the Word became flesh is absolutely unique. The phrases which point towards it in St John (1 John iv. 2), in the Epistle to the Hebrews (ii. 14), and in St Paul (Rom. viii. 3 ; Phil. ii. 7 ; i Tim. iii. 16) fall short of the majestic fulness of this brief sentence, which affirms once for all the reconciliation of the opposite elements of the final antithesis of life and thought, the finite and the infinite.\n\nbecame] This term forms a link between this verse and verse 3. As \"all things became through the Word,\" so He Himself \"became flesh\" The first creation and the second creation alike centre in Him. By His own will He \"became\" that which first \"became\" through and in Him.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":102,"text":"1 John iv. 2","label":"1 John 4:2","href":"/1jn/4/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":173,"text":"Rom. viii. 3","label":"Romans 8:3","href":"/rom/8/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":188,"text":"Phil. ii. 7","label":"Philippians 2:7","href":"/php/2/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.4","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"we beheld; his glory","excerpt":"The abode of the Word among men was only for a brief space, but yet such that those near Him could contemplate His glory at leisure and calmly. His historical Presence was real if transitory. And while the appearance of the Lord was in humility, yet even under the limitations of His human form, those who looked patiently could see the tokens of the divine revelation made through Him. Comp. Luke ix. 32; 2 Pet. i. 16 ff.; 1 John iv. 14.\n\nhis glory] The word \"glory\" carries on the parallel between the divine Presence in the Tabernacle and the divine Presence by the Word Incarnate among men. From time to time the Lord manifested His glory in the wilderness (Exod. xvi. 10, xxiv. 16, xl. 34, &c.) ; in the Temple of Solomon (1 K. viii. 11); and to the prophets (Isai. vi. 3. Comp. ch. xii. 41 ; Ezek. i. 28, &c. ; Acts vii. 55) ; and even so Christ's glory flashed forth at crises of His history. It is not possible for us to define exactly in what way this majesty was shewn, by signs, by words, by events. Comp. Luke ix. 31 f. It is enough that the Evangelist records his own experience. The Son of Man had a glory which corresponded with His filial relation to the Father, even when He had laid aside His divine glory (xvii. 5).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":393,"text":"Luke ix. 32","label":"Luke 9:32","href":"/luk/9/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":406,"text":"2 Pet. i. 16","label":"2 Peter 1:16","href":"/2pe/1/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":424,"text":"1 John iv. 14","label":"1 John 4:14","href":"/1jn/4/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":662,"text":"Exod. xvi. 10","label":"Exodus 16:10","href":"/exo/16/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":677,"text":"xxiv. 16","label":"Exodus 24:16","href":"/exo/24/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":687,"text":"xl. 34","label":"Exodus 40:34","href":"/exo/40/#v34","status":"detected"},{"at":765,"text":"Isai. vi. 3","label":"Isaiah 6:3","href":"/isa/6/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":788,"text":"xii. 41","label":"John 12:41","href":"/jhn/12/#v41","status":"detected"},{"at":798,"text":"Ezek. i. 28","label":"Ezekiel 1:28","href":"/ezk/1/#v28","status":"detected"},{"at":817,"text":"Acts vii. 55","label":"Acts 7:55","href":"/act/7/#v55","status":"detected"},{"at":1017,"text":"Luke ix. 31","label":"Luke 9:31","href":"/luk/9/#v31","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.5","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"the glory as of","excerpt":"Rather, glory as of... This glory of the Incarnate Word is described as being \" glory as of an only son from his father,\" a glory, that is, of one who represents another, being derived from him, and of the same essence with him. The particle of comparison and the absence of articles in the original shew that the thought centres in the abstract relation of father and son ; and yet in the actual connexion this abstract relation passes necessarily into the relation of \" the Son\" to \"the Father.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.6","start":14,"end":14,"heading":"full of grace and truth","excerpt":"... For a moment the Evangelist had rested upon the glorious memories of that which he had seen (comp. 1 John i. 1, 2). Now he goes on to characterize Christ's Presence by its inward marks. Each of the two elements is laid open in vv. 16, 17. The combination recalls the description of Jehovah, Exod. xxxiv. 6 (Ps. xxv. 10); and is not unfrequent in the O.T. : Gen. xxiv. 27, 49, xxxii. 10; Ps. xl. 10, 11, Ixi. 7. As applied to the Lord, the phrase marks Him as the Author of perfect Redemption and perfect Revelation. Grace corresponds with the idea of the revelation of God as love (1 John iv. 8, 16) by Him who is Life; and Truth with that of the revelation of God as light (1 John i. 5) by Him who is Himself Light.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":103,"text":"1 John i. 1, 2","label":"1 John 1:1–2","href":"/1jn/1/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":231,"text":"vv. 16, 17","label":"John 1:16–17","href":"/jhn/1/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":295,"text":"Exod. xxxiv. 6","label":"Exodus 34:6","href":"/exo/34/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":311,"text":"Ps. xxv. 10","label":"Psalms 25:10","href":"/psa/25/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":361,"text":"Gen. xxiv. 27, 49","label":"Genesis 24:27","href":"/gen/24/#v27","status":"detected"},{"at":361,"text":"Gen. xxiv. 27, 49","label":"Genesis 24:49","href":"/gen/24/#v49","status":"detected"},{"at":380,"text":"xxxii. 10","label":"Genesis 32:10","href":"/gen/32/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":391,"text":"Ps. xl. 10, 11","label":"Psalms 40:10–11","href":"/psa/40/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":407,"text":"Ixi. 7","label":"Psalms 61:7","href":"/psa/61/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":586,"text":"1 John iv. 8, 16","label":"1 John 4:16","href":"/1jn/4/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":586,"text":"1 John iv. 8, 16","label":"1 John 4:8","href":"/1jn/4/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":679,"text":"1 John i. 5","label":"1 John 1:5","href":"/1jn/1/#v5","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.15.1","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"","excerpt":"15. The testimony of John is introduced in the same manner as before, as representing the final testimony of prophecy. John gave not only a general witness to \" the Light,\" but also pointed out the true position which Christ occupied towards himself in virtue of His Nature.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.15.2","start":15,"end":15,"heading":"He that cometh after me is preferred before me; for (because) he was before me","excerpt":"The words express the Baptist's witness to Christ from the moment when His Messiahship was signified. As soon as He was manifested He took up a position in advance of His Forerunner, though the Forerunner had already been long labouring. The witness of the Baptist before Christ's Baptism was simply in general terms, \" He that cometh after me is mightier than I \" (Matt. iii. 11; Luke iii. 16); but St John gives his recognition of the actual present majesty of his successor. \" After\" and \"before \" are both used in a metaphorical sense from the image of progression in a line. He who comes later in time comes \"after; \" and he who advances in front shews by that his superior power. The supposed reference to the pre-existence of the Word, as if the Baptist said, \" He that cometh after me in respect of my present mission hath already been active among men before I was born,\" seems to be inconsistent with the argument which points to a present consequence (is now come to be) of an eternal truth (He was before me).\n\nfor (because) he was before me The precedence in dignity (iii. 33) which Christ at once assumed when He was manifested, was due to His essential priority. He was in His essence (viii. 58) before John, and therefore at His revelation He took the place which corresponded with His nature.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":366,"text":"Matt. iii. 11","label":"Matthew 3:11","href":"/mat/3/#v11","status":"detected"},{"at":381,"text":"Luke iii. 16","label":"Luke 3:16","href":"/luk/3/#v16","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.16.1","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"fulness","excerpt":"... St Paul says that \"all the fulness dwelt\" in Christ (i. 19), and more definitely, that \" all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him,\" \"and ye,\" he continues, addressing the Christians to whom he is writing, \"are in Him, fulfilled...\" (ii. 9 f.). Here St Paul's thought is evidently that the whole sum of the divine attributes exists together in Christ, and that each Christian in virtue of his fellowship with Him draws from that \"fulness\" whatever he needs for the accomplishment of his own part in the great life of the Church, And so, from another point of sight, the Church itself, made up of the many parts, thus severally perfected, is \" the body of Christ,\" His \"fulness\" realising in actual fact that which answers to the whole divine power in its Head (Eph. i. 23). St John's idea in the present passage is the same: Christians receive from Christ, as from a spring of divine life, whatever they severally require according to their position and work. All is in Him, and all in Him is available for the believer. ...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":768,"text":"Eph. i. 23","label":"Ephesians 1:23","href":"/eph/1/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.16.2","start":16,"end":16,"heading":"all we; and grace for grace","excerpt":"The addition of all here (as compared with v. 14) appears to place us in a new company. The circle of the eye-witnesses passes into the larger fellowship of the Christian Church. Speaking from the centre of the new Society the Apostle can say \"We all — whether we saw Christ's glory or not — can attest the reality of His gifts. We all received of His fulness, when we were admitted into His fold, and at each succeeding crisis of our spiritual life.\" The essential universality of the blessing excludes the special claims of every select body. Comp. iii. 34.\n\nreceived] The verb is without any direct object, since of his fulness is not partitive. The conception of \" the fulness \" however at once suggests one: \"we all received that which answered to our wants.\"\n\nand grace for grace) Each blessing appropriated became the foundation of a greater blessing. To have realised and used one measure of grace was to have gained a larger measure (as it were) in exchange for it. Thus this clause is not an explanation of that which has preceded, but a distinct addition to it. The phrase is illustrated by a saying in 'Aboth' iv. 5, \"the reward of a precept is a precept.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":43,"text":"v. 14","label":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":551,"text":"iii. 34","label":"John 3:34","href":"/jhn/3/#v34","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.17.1","start":17,"end":17,"heading":"the law was given by (through)... and truth came by (through)...","excerpt":"The Law is represented as an addition to the essential scheme of redemption. Comp. Gal. iii. 19 ; Rom. v. 20. It was \"given\" for a special purpose. On the other hand, the Gospel \"came\", as if, according to the orderly and due course of the divine plan, this was the natural issue of all that had gone before. Judaism was designed to meet special circumstances ; Christianity satisfies man's essential nature.\n\ngrace and truth Grace and Truth are now presented under the aspect of their complete embodiment. The Gospel is spoken of as \"grace, so far as it is the revelation of God's free love, and as \"truth,\" so far as it presents the reality and not the mere images or shadows of divine things. Comp. iv. 23. In both respects it was contrasted with the Law. The Law had a reward for obedience (Gal. iii. 12), and consequently brought a knowledge of sin (Rom. iii. 20; comp. vi. 14); and on the other hand, it had only the shadow of the good things to come (Heb. x. i ; Col. ii. 17). This exact and subtle correspondence of St John's teaching with that of the other apostolic writings is to be noticed. The word \"grace\" does not occur elsewhere in his writings except in salutations, 2 John 3 ; Rev. i. 4, xxii. 21.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":83,"text":"Gal. iii. 19","label":"Galatians 3:19","href":"/gal/3/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":98,"text":"Rom. v. 20","label":"Romans 5:20","href":"/rom/5/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":702,"text":"iv. 23","label":"John 4:23","href":"/jhn/4/#v23","status":"detected"},{"at":795,"text":"Gal. iii. 12","label":"Galatians 3:12","href":"/gal/3/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":855,"text":"Rom. iii. 20","label":"Romans 3:20","href":"/rom/3/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":875,"text":"vi. 14","label":"John 6:14","href":"/jhn/6/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":970,"text":"Col. ii. 17","label":"Colossians 2:17","href":"/col/2/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":1195,"text":"Rev. i. 4","label":"Revelation 1:4","href":"/rev/1/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":1206,"text":"xxii. 21","label":"Revelation 22:21","href":"/rev/22/#v21","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.18.1","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"","excerpt":"18. This last verse justifies the claim of the Gospel to be the Truth, while it lays down the inherent limitations of human knowledge. It is impossible, so far as our experience yet goes, for man to have direct knowledge of God as God. He can come to know Him only through One who shares both the human and divine natures, and who is in vital fellowship both with God and with man. In Christ this condition is satisfied. He who as the Word has been declared to be God, who as the Son is one in essence with the Father, even He set forth that which we need to know. It is tacitly assumed throughout, as it will be observed, that \"the Truth\" and \" the knowledge of God \" are identical terms.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.18.2","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"No man hath seen God at any time (ever yet seen)","excerpt":"Comp. 1 John iv. 12. In both places the original of \"God\" is without the article. By this manner of expression thought is turned to the divine Nature rather than to the divine Person : \" God as God\" (comp. i. 1 ...). The Theophanies under the Old Dispensation did not fall under this category. Comp. Exod. xxxiii. 12 ff. (xxxii. 30). Even Christ Himself was not \" seen \" as God. The perception of His true divine Nature was not immediate, but gained by slow processes (xiv. 9). The words set aside the false views of Judaism and Heathenism (v. 37, 1 John v. 20 f.). They do not deny the possibility of a true knowledge of God, but of a natural knowledge of God, such as can be described by \"sight.\" The sight of God is the final transfiguration of man (1 John iii. 2). The simple act of vision is marked here, while in the Epistle it is the calm sight of beholding. Comp. xiv. 9, xii. 45.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":6,"text":"1 John iv. 12","label":"1 John 4:12","href":"/1jn/4/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":206,"text":"i. 1","label":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":300,"text":"Exod. xxxiii. 12","label":"Exodus 33:12","href":"/exo/33/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":548,"text":"1 John v. 20","label":"1 John 5:20","href":"/1jn/5/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":753,"text":"1 John iii. 2","label":"1 John 3:2","href":"/1jn/3/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":872,"text":"xiv. 9","label":"John 14:9","href":"/jhn/14/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.18.3","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"which is in the bosom","excerpt":"The image is used of the closest and tenderest of human relationships, of mother and child (Num. xi. 12), and of husband and wife (Deut. xiii. 6), and also of friends reclining side by side at a feast (comp. xiii. 23), and so describes the ultimate fellowship of love. The exact form of the original words is remarkable. The phrase is not strictly \"in the bosom,\" but \"into the bosom \". Thus there is the combination (as it were) of rest and motion, of a continuous relation, with a realisation of it. The \" bosom of the Father\" (like heaven) is a state and not a place.\n\nThe words, as used by the Evangelist, may point to the exaltation of the ascended Christ ; but in connexion with \" God the only Son \" it is more natural to take them as an absolute description of the nature of the Son, so that the participle will be timeless. In fact the Ascension of Christ is essentially connected with the divine glory which He had \" before the foundation of the world \" (xvii. 5).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":92,"text":"Num. xi. 12","label":"Numbers 11:12","href":"/num/11/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":131,"text":"Deut. xiii. 6","label":"Deuteronomy 13:6","href":"/deu/13/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":208,"text":"xiii. 23","label":"John 13:23","href":"/jhn/13/#v23","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.18.4","start":18,"end":18,"heading":"hath declared him","excerpt":"More exactly he declared Him, once and for ever. The word which occurs here is constantly used in classical writers of the interpretation of divine mysteries. Cf. Gen. xli. 8, 24; Lev. xiv. 57. The absence of the object in the original is remarkable. Thus the literal rendering is simply, he made declaration. Comp. Acts xv. 14.\n\nThe position of the object of the former clause (God) at the beginning of the sentence, leads naturally to the supplying of it in thought here ; or rather suggests that which corresponds with it in connexion with the new verb, \" the truth concerning Him, revealed as a Father, as man could bear the revelation.\" The knowledge of God, which Christ had as God, He set forth to men as man. Comp. Matt. xi. 27. Men hear from Him that which He saw. Comp. vi. 45 f. note.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":163,"text":"Gen. xli. 8, 24","label":"Genesis 41:24","href":"/gen/41/#v24","status":"detected"},{"at":163,"text":"Gen. xli. 8, 24","label":"Genesis 41:8","href":"/gen/41/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":180,"text":"Lev. xiv. 57","label":"Leviticus 14:57","href":"/lev/14/#v57","status":"detected"},{"at":316,"text":"Acts xv. 14","label":"Acts 15:14","href":"/act/15/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":723,"text":"Matt. xi. 27","label":"Matthew 11:27","href":"/mat/11/#v27","status":"detected"},{"at":780,"text":"vi. 45","label":"John 6:45","href":"/jhn/6/#v45","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.19.1","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"And","excerpt":"The conjunction takes up the references already made to John's testimony : vv. 15, 6, 7. Thus the history is bound up with the dogmatic Prologue, the transition lying in v. 17 (Jesus Christ) ; and so the loftiest thoughts pass at once and naturally into simple facts. It may be noticed also that the narrative evidently begins with the immediate, personal knowledge of the writer ; and perhaps from the fact to which he referred the beginning of his own faith.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":75,"text":"vv. 15, 6, 7","label":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":170,"text":"v. 17","label":"John 1:17","href":"/jhn/1/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.19.2","start":19,"end":19,"heading":"priests and Levites","excerpt":"The two classes representing the ecclesiastical side of the nation. The compound phrase is nowhere else used in the New Testament; and \" Levite\" occurs only in Luke x. 32 (with \"priest\" in significant connexion), and Acts iv. 36. The exact description of those sent marks the special knowledge of the Evangelist. It may be added that he nowhere uses the titles scribes and elders found in the other Gospels (viii. 3 is unauthentic). On the popular expectation of the Messiah see vii. 41, note.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":160,"text":"Luke x. 32","label":"Luke 10:32","href":"/luk/10/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":217,"text":"Acts iv. 36","label":"Acts 4:36","href":"/act/4/#v36","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.19-28.1","start":19,"end":28,"heading":"The Christ announced in answer to the official inquiries of the Jews (19—28)","excerpt":"This mission from Jerusalem, which is not mentioned by the Synoptists, took place, as has been seen, after the Baptism, and was probably caused by some rumours which arose from that event. It may be regarded as being, in some sense, a Temptation of John corresponding to the (simultaneous) Temptation of Christ. John refused the titles in which the hierarchical party expressed their false views, even as Christ refused to satisfy their expectations by the assumption of external power. The position which John occupies relatively to the Jewish teachers on the one side, and to Christ on the other, offers a remarkable picture of the religious circumstances of the time. Both negatively and positively the scene is a living picture of a crisis of transition. The answer of the Baptist to the people (Luke iii. 15 ff. ; Matt. iii. n) is distinct from, and yet perfectly harmonious with, St John's record.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":800,"text":"Luke iii. 15","label":"Luke 3:15","href":"/luk/3/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.19-34.1","start":19,"end":34,"heading":"i. The Testimony of the Baptist (i. 19—34)","excerpt":"The narrative of St John starts from the same point as the original Apostolic Gospel (compare Acts i. 22, x. 37, xiii. 24; Mark i. i); but, as belonging to a later period in the growth of the Church, it distinguishes more exactly than that did the relation of the Baptist both to the old Covenant and to Christ.\n\nThe first part of the Baptist's testimony is concerned with the popular expectations to which his preaching had given fresh life, and contains the announcement of the Christ (19 — 1% \\ The second part gives his personal recognition of the Christ who had now entered on His work (29 — 34). The verses which follow (35 — 37) form a transition, but belong most properly to the next section.\n\nThe circumstances of the Baptism of Christ are evidently presupposed as known ; and the Baptism itself had already taken place before the mission from Jerusalem. This follows both from the record of time (vv. 29, 35, &c.), and from the fact that the Baptist already \" knew \" Jesus as the Christ (v. 26, \" whom ye know not.\" Comp. v. 33).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":94,"text":"Acts i. 22","label":"Acts 1:22","href":"/act/1/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":106,"text":"x. 37","label":"Acts 10:37","href":"/act/10/#v37","status":"detected"},{"at":113,"text":"xiii. 24","label":"Acts 13:24","href":"/act/13/#v24","status":"detected"},{"at":907,"text":"vv. 29, 35","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":907,"text":"vv. 29, 35","label":"John 1:35","href":"/jhn/1/#v35","status":"detected"},{"at":998,"text":"v. 26","label":"John 1:26","href":"/jhn/1/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":1032,"text":"v. 33","label":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.19-34.2","start":19,"end":34,"heading":"","excerpt":"In comparing this section with the corresponding passage in the Synoptists, we notice :\n\ni. The Baptism and Temptation must precede i). 19. John knew Jesus as Messiah (v. 26), of which he was first assured at His Baptism (v. 33). And the succession of time (29, 35) leaves no interval for the Temptation, of which the Baptist would naturally have no knowledge. It is probable that v. 29 marks the return of the Lord from the Temptation.\n\nz. The testimony of John given in the Synoptists belongs to the time before the Baptism, and is addressed to a popular audience : that in St John, to special messengers (as it seems) from the Sanhedrin, and to the immediate disciples of the Baptist. The substance of the testimonies corresponds to these differences of circumstances. The former is general, and combined with the idea of judgment; the latter is carefully defined with regard to current belief, and stimulative to faith. Moreover, the testimony recorded by St John distinctly refers to the earlier testimony (v. 30).\n\n3. The particularity and exactness of St John's narrative, preserving the\" exact marks of time, and place, and look, and position, mark the work of an eye-witness.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":168,"text":"v. 26","label":"John 1:26","href":"/jhn/1/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":222,"text":"v. 33","label":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33","status":"detected"},{"at":381,"text":"v. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":1012,"text":"v. 30","label":"John 1:30","href":"/jhn/1/#v30","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","start":20,"end":20,"heading":"he confessed, and denied not","excerpt":"For the combination compare -v. 3, note. The first term (confessed) marks the readiness of the testimony; the second (denied not) the completeness of it. Both terms are used absolutely. A similar phrase is quoted from Josephus ('Antt.' vi. 7. 4), \"Saul confessed that he was guilty, and denied not the sin.\"\n\nbut confessed] and lie confessed. The substance of the confession is added to the statement of the fact of the confession.\n\n/ am not] The position of the pronoun, according to the true reading, is emphatic. \" / am not the Christ for whom you take me, but the Christ is indeed among you.\" Thus the answer is addressed rather to the spirit than to the form of the question. The emphatic insertion of the pronoun ... throughout the section is remarkable : I am the voice (v. 23); / baptize (v. 26); / am not worthy (v. 27); of whom I said (v. 30); I knew him not (vv. 31, 33); I came (v. 31); I have seen (v. 34). The relation of the Baptist to Christ is suggested everywhere.\n\nthe Christ] As some then supposed, Acts xiii. 25 ; Luke iii. 15, note.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":29,"text":"v. 3","label":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":778,"text":"v. 23","label":"John 1:23","href":"/jhn/1/#v23","status":"detected"},{"at":797,"text":"v. 26","label":"John 1:26","href":"/jhn/1/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":822,"text":"v. 27","label":"John 1:27","href":"/jhn/1/#v27","status":"detected"},{"at":846,"text":"v. 30","label":"John 1:30","href":"/jhn/1/#v30","status":"detected"},{"at":870,"text":"vv. 31, 33","label":"John 1:31","href":"/jhn/1/#v31","status":"detected"},{"at":870,"text":"vv. 31, 33","label":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33","status":"detected"},{"at":891,"text":"v. 31","label":"John 1:31","href":"/jhn/1/#v31","status":"detected"},{"at":912,"text":"v. 34","label":"John 1:34","href":"/jhn/1/#v34","status":"detected"},{"at":1019,"text":"Acts xiii. 25","label":"Acts 13:25","href":"/act/13/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":1035,"text":"Luke iii. 15","label":"Luke 3:15","href":"/luk/3/#v15","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.21.1","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"What then? Art thou Elias?","excerpt":"The construction of the original words adopted in A. V. is not found elsewhere in St John, though it occurs in St Paul (Rom. vi. 15, xi. 7). The words can also be rendered, What then (not Who) art thou ? What is the function which thou hast to discharge ? Art thou Elias?\n\nElias] Mai. iv. 5, the forerunner of the day of the Lord. Matt. xi. 14, xvii. 10 — 13. In a spiritual sense John was Elias (comp. Luke i. 1 7), yet not so as the Jews literally understood the promise. Thus the denial of the Baptist is directed to the Jewish expectation of the \"bodily return of Elijah, of which Lightfoot has collected interesting notices on Matt. xvii. 10. And at the same time the mission of the Baptist did not exhaust the promise of the coming of Elijah ; beyond that coming there was yet another : Matt. /. c . .... Comp. Luke ix. 30.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":120,"text":"Rom. vi. 15","label":"Romans 6:15","href":"/rom/6/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":133,"text":"xi. 7","label":"Romans 11:7","href":"/rom/11/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":331,"text":"Matt. xi. 14","label":"Matthew 11:14","href":"/mat/11/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":345,"text":"xvii. 10","label":"Matthew 17:10","href":"/mat/17/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":403,"text":"Luke i. 1","label":"Luke 1:1","href":"/luk/1/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":632,"text":"Matt. xvii. 10","label":"Matthew 17:10","href":"/mat/17/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":817,"text":"Luke ix. 30","label":"Luke 9:30","href":"/luk/9/#v30","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.21.2","start":21,"end":21,"heading":"that prophet","excerpt":"the prophet. The abruptness of the form of the question in the original is remarkable (The prophet art thou?). The reference is probably to Deut. xviii. 15, interpreted not of the Christ (Acts iii. 22, vii. 37), but in some lower sense. Comp. vii. 40, vi. 14. The general expectation often took a special shape, Matt. xvi. 14.\n\nhe answered, No] The replies grow shorter from time to time : \" I am not the Christ,\" \" I am not,\" \" No.\"","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":140,"text":"Deut. xviii. 15","label":"Deuteronomy 18:15","href":"/deu/18/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":188,"text":"Acts iii. 22","label":"Acts 3:22","href":"/act/3/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":202,"text":"vii. 37","label":"Acts 7:37","href":"/act/7/#v37","status":"detected"},{"at":243,"text":"vii. 40","label":"John 7:40","href":"/jhn/7/#v40","status":"detected"},{"at":312,"text":"Matt. xvi. 14","label":"Matthew 16:14","href":"/mat/16/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.22.1","start":22,"end":22,"heading":"Then said they...","excerpt":"They said therefore... This consequential (not temporal) then ... is very common in St John ; and it is necessary in most cases to give it the full rendering therefore in order to mark the connexion (often subtle) which the Evangelist indicates. The fresh question was a consequence of the former answer.\n\nWho art thou? that...] The same natural ellipsis occurs ix. 36.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.23.1","start":23,"end":23,"heading":"the voice","excerpt":"Or, a voice. The Baptist was simply \"a voice of one crying,\" not invested with a distinct personality (\" thou art to me No bird, but an invisible thing, A voice, a mystery\"). Moreover, the answer comes wholly from Isai. xl. 3, where the words herald the revelation of the glory of the Lord. In the Synoptists the quotation is applied to the Baptist : Matt. iii. 3 ; Mark i. 3 ; Luke iii. 4.\n\nin the wilderness] as once before in the triumphal march from Egypt. Comp. Ps. Ixviii. 7. In the original (Hebrew) these words are joined with the verb which follows, and it may be so here, make straight in the wilderness... In either case the moral application of the words is obvious.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":214,"text":"Isai. xl. 3","label":"Isaiah 40:3","href":"/isa/40/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":351,"text":"Matt. iii. 3","label":"Matthew 3:3","href":"/mat/3/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":366,"text":"Mark i. 3","label":"Mark 1:3","href":"/mrk/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":378,"text":"Luke iii. 4","label":"Luke 3:4","href":"/luk/3/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":467,"text":"Ps. Ixviii. 7","label":"Psalms 68:7","href":"/psa/68/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.24.1","start":24,"end":24,"heading":"they which were sent were of...","excerpt":"According to the oldest reading ... the translation is, they had been sent from...\n\nthe Pharisees'] and therefore men whose attention would be fixed on the solemn and startling rite with which the new movement was inaugurated.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.25.1","start":25,"end":25,"heading":"Why...then","excerpt":"They wished to condemn him from his own admission.\n\nbaptizest] The obvious symbolism of the rite — already adopted, as it seems, at the reception of proselytes — as marking spiritual defilement in the chosen people, would make it distasteful to legalists. It was however connected with the work of Messiah, Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ; Isai. lii. 15 ; Zech. xiii. i. Comp. Heb. x. 22.\n\nif thou he not that Christ... that prophet...] if thou art not the Christ... the prophet...","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":307,"text":"Ezek. xxxvi. 25","label":"Ezekiel 36:25","href":"/ezk/36/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":325,"text":"Isai. lii. 15","label":"Isaiah 52:15","href":"/isa/52/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":362,"text":"Heb. x. 22","label":"Hebrews 10:22","href":"/heb/10/#v22","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.26.1","start":26,"end":26,"heading":"I baptize with (in) water","excerpt":"The answer is in two parts, and suggestive rather than explicit. \" I baptize, because the form of this baptism shews that, however striking outwardly, it does not belong to the work of the Christ ; and still it is designed to prepare for the recognition of the Christ actually present in the midst of you. My work is the work of a servant, and the work of a herald. There is nothing to condemn in my conduct, if you consider what my baptism is, and what the Christ's baptism is, and know that He is among you, so that the preparatory rite has a just place.\" The order of the words in the Greek (comp. 31) shews that the first thought is of the baptism as such, and next of its special character. Comp. Acts i. 5.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":702,"text":"Acts i. 5","label":"Acts 1:5","href":"/act/1/#v5","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.26.2","start":26,"end":26,"heading":"but there standeth one among you...","excerpt":"In the midst of you standeth one...] The absence of the conjunction, according to the true text, and the position of the adjective ... at the beginning of the sentence, bring out sharply the opposition between the Baptist (I baptize) and his Successor.\n\nstandeth] The word ..., as distinguished from \" is,\" marks the dignity and firmness of the position which Christ was shewn to hold. (Mark xi. 25 ; i Thess. iii. 8, &c.)\n\nye know not] The ye is emphatic. St John had at this time recognised Jesus ; he knew Him, but his questioners did not.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":387,"text":"Mark xi. 25","label":"Mark 11:25","href":"/mrk/11/#v25","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.27.1","start":27,"end":27,"heading":"He it is... before me","excerpt":"The most probable text gives simply coming after me, which is to be taken closely with the words which precede.\n\nshoe's latchet] To loose this, or to \"carry the shoes\" (Matt. iii. n), was the business of a slave. Compare Mark i. 7, note.\n\nThe Pharisees hear words which might well move them to deeper questionings ; but for this they had no heart. It is enough to have discharged their specific duty.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":221,"text":"Mark i. 7","label":"Mark 1:7","href":"/mrk/1/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.28.1","start":28,"end":28,"heading":"Bethabara","excerpt":"This name (Judg. vii. 24 ?) is a mere correction, made as early as the end of the second century (Syr. vt.), for Bethany, which was probably an obscure village in Peraea, and not to be confounded with the Bethany (xi. 18) on the Mount of Olives. According to a possible derivation Bethany may mean \" the house of the boat \" as Bethabara \" the house of the passage,\" both equally marking the site of a ferry or ford across the Jordan.\n\nThe mention of the locality adds to the force of the preceding recital ; and incidentally shews that the date of the mission falls after the first stage of the ministry of the Baptist, when he had left \" the wilderness of Judaea\" (Matt. iii. i) and retired \"beyond Jordan.\" Compare x. 40, iii. 23.\n\nJohn was baptizing] The form of expression in the original, where the imperfect of the verb is represented by the imperfect of the substantive verb and the participle, is characteristic of the New Testament writers, and serves to emphasize the idea of continued action. Comp. viii. 18, v. 39, xi. i.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":11,"text":"Judg. vii. 24","label":"Judges 7:24","href":"/jdg/7/#v24","status":"detected"},{"at":1010,"text":"viii. 18","label":"John 8:18","href":"/jhn/8/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":1020,"text":"v. 39","label":"John 1:39","href":"/jhn/1/#v39","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.1","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"John (he) seeth...coming unto him","excerpt":"Compare -v. 36. Christ was probably coming directly from the Temptation. It was fitting that His active ministry should begin with the solemn recognition by His herald. The omission of the Temptation by St John can cause no difficulty except on the irrational supposition that he was bound to relate all he knew, and not that only which belonged to his design.\n\nsaith] No one is directly addressed. The words (as in v. 3 6) are spoken for those who \" had ears to hear them.\"\n\nBehold] \" Lo, here is before you ......\" Compare v. 47, xix. 5, 14; and contrast Luke xxiv. 39.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":9,"text":"v. 36","label":"John 1:36","href":"/jhn/1/#v36","status":"detected"},{"at":416,"text":"v. 3","label":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":525,"text":"v. 47","label":"John 1:47","href":"/jhn/1/#v47","status":"detected"},{"at":557,"text":"Luke xxiv. 39","label":"Luke 24:39","href":"/luk/24/#v39","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.2","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"the Lamb of God","excerpt":"It seems likely from the abrupt definiteness of the form in which the phrase is introduced that it refers to some conversation of the Baptist with his disciples, springing out of the public testimony given on the day before. The reference which he had made to Isaiah might naturally lead to further inquiries as to the general scope of the prophet ; and there can be no doubt that the image is derived from Isaiah liii. (comp. Acts viii. 32). But the idea of vicarious suffering endured with perfect gentleness and meekness, which is conveyed by the prophetic language (compare Jer. xi. 19), does not exhaust the meaning of the image. The lamb was the victim offered at the morning and evening sacrifice (Exod. xxix. 38 ff.), and thus was the familiar type of an offering to God. And yet more, as the Passover was not far off (ii. 12, 13), it is impossible to exclude the thought of the Paschal Lamb, with which the Lord was afterwards identified (xix. 36. Cp. i Pet. i. 19). The deliverance from Egypt was the most conspicuous symbol of the Messianic deliverance (Rev. xv. 3 ; Heb. iii. 3 ff. ; Ezek. xx. 33 ff.) ; and \"the lamb\" called up all its memories and its promises. And it has been plausibly conjectured that this thought may have been brought home by the sight of the flocks of lambs passing by to Jerusalem as offerings at the coming Feast. However this may have been, the title as applied to Christ, under the circumstances of its utterance, conveys the ideas of vicarious suffering, of patient submission, of sacrifice, of redemption, not separately or clearly defined, but significant according to the spiritual preparation and character of those before whom the words were spoken. A corresponding glimpse of Christ's sufferings is given by Symeon in Luke ii. 25 ff. ; and there can be no difficulty in believing that at this crisis the Forerunner had a prophetic insight into a truth which was afterwards hidden from the disciples (Matt. xvi. 21 ff).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":427,"text":"Acts viii. 32","label":"Acts 8:32","href":"/act/8/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":578,"text":"Jer. xi. 19","label":"Jeremiah 11:19","href":"/jer/11/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":705,"text":"Exod. xxix. 38","label":"Exodus 29:38","href":"/exo/29/#v38","status":"detected"},{"at":1065,"text":"Rev. xv. 3","label":"Revelation 15:3","href":"/rev/15/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":1078,"text":"Heb. iii. 3","label":"Hebrews 3:3","href":"/heb/3/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":1096,"text":"Ezek. xx. 33","label":"Ezekiel 20:33","href":"/ezk/20/#v33","status":"detected"},{"at":1766,"text":"Luke ii. 25","label":"Luke 2:25","href":"/luk/2/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":1948,"text":"Matt. xvi. 21","label":"Matthew 16:21","href":"/mat/16/#v21","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.3","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"the Lamb of God","excerpt":"It must be further noticed that the Lamb which the Baptist recognises was not one of man's providing. Christ is the Lamb of God, that is, the Lamb which God Himself furnishes for sacrifice (Gen. xxii. 8), while the accessory notions of \" fitness for,\" \"belonging to,\" are also necessarily included in the genitive.\n\nThe explanation which has been given of the definite article appears to be the most simple ; but it is possible that the article may represent some earlier and well-known use of the phrase, as in \" the prophet \" (v. 21), \" the root of David\" (Rev. v. 5). Nor can any stress be laid upon the fact that the application of the title to Christ is strange and unprepared. The title the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. v. 5 ; comp. Gen. xlix. 9) is not less singular ; and, according to many (but see Note on -v. 51), the title \"the Son of man\" rests upon the single passage of Daniel (vii. 13) in the Old Testament. The figure is found again in Rev. v. 6 ff. ... and in i Pet. i. 19 f.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":190,"text":"Gen. xxii. 8","label":"Genesis 22:8","href":"/gen/22/#v8","status":"detected"},{"at":529,"text":"v. 21","label":"John 1:21","href":"/jhn/1/#v21","status":"detected"},{"at":559,"text":"Rev. v. 5","label":"Revelation 5:5","href":"/rev/5/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":725,"text":"Rev. v. 5","label":"Revelation 5:5","href":"/rev/5/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":743,"text":"Gen. xlix. 9","label":"Genesis 49:9","href":"/gen/49/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":821,"text":"v. 51","label":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51","status":"detected"},{"at":957,"text":"Rev. v. 6","label":"Revelation 5:6","href":"/rev/5/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.4","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"which taketh away","excerpt":"It seems to be most in accordance with St John's usage to take this phrase as defining the character of \"the Lamb of God,\" and not as presenting Christ under a new aspect, \" even He that taketh away the sin of the world.\" The majority of the Old and Vulgate Latin copies, the Old Syriac and other early authorities, however, adopt the latter rendering by repeating \"Behold \" (Vulg. Ecce agnus Dei, Ecce qui tollit...). The word ... may mean either (1) taketh upon him, or (2) taketh away. But the usage of the LXX. and the parallel passage 1 John iii. 5, are decisive in favour of the second rendering (Vulg. qui tollit, all. qui aufert) ; and the Evangelist seems to emphasize this meaning by substituting another word for the unambiguous word of the LXX. .... It was however by \"taking upon Himself our infirmities\" that Christ took them away (Matt. viii. 1 7) ; and this idea is distinctly presented in the passage of Isaiah (liii. n). The present tense marks the future result as assured in the beginning of the work and also as continuous (comp. 1 John i. 7).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":540,"text":"1 John iii. 5","label":"1 John 3:5","href":"/1jn/3/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":846,"text":"Matt. viii. 1","label":"Matthew 8:1","href":"/mat/8/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":1051,"text":"1 John i. 7","label":"1 John 1:7","href":"/1jn/1/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.5","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"the sin of the world","excerpt":"The singular (as contrasted with the plural, 1 John iii. 5) is important, so far as it declares the victory of Christ over sin regarded in its unity, as the common corruption of humanity, which is personally realised in the sins of separate men. The parallel passage in the Epistle (I.e.) shews that the redemptive efficacy of Christ's Work is to be found in His whole Life (He was manifested) crowned by His Death. Of the two aspects of the Atonement, as (1) The removal of the punishment of sin, and (2) The removal of sin, St John dwells habitually on the latter. Yet see iii. 36 ; 1 John ii. 2.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":45,"text":"1 John iii. 5","label":"1 John 3:5","href":"/1jn/3/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":585,"text":"1 John ii. 2","label":"1 John 2:2","href":"/1jn/2/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.6","start":29,"end":29,"heading":"the sin of the world","excerpt":"The plural (sins'), which has been transferred into our own Prayer-Book from the early Western Service-Books (O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world), occurs in Latin quotations from the time of Cyprian (qui tollis peccata), but it is not found in any of the best MSS. of the Old Latin or of the Vulgate. It occurs also in the Morning Hymn of the Alexandrian Church (Gloria in excelsis), though not in immediate connexion with \" the Lamb of God,\" and this is probably the source of the liturgical use which slightly influenced the Latin texts.\n\nCreation summed up in humanity considered apart from (viii. 12, ix. 5, r John iv. 9), and so at last hostile to God (xiv. 17, xv. 1 8). Yet potentially the work of Christ extends to the whole world (vi. 33 ; 1 John ii. 2). Compare Additional Note on v. 10.\n\nThe Synoptists have preserved a trace of this extension of the work of Messiah from the Jews to mankind in the teaching of the Baptist (Matt. iii. 9). His call to confession and repentance included the idea of the universality of his message. He addressed men as men. Comp. v. 7 note.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":632,"text":"John iv. 9","label":"John 4:9","href":"/jhn/4/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":767,"text":"1 John ii. 2","label":"1 John 2:2","href":"/1jn/2/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":809,"text":"v. 10","label":"John 1:10","href":"/jhn/1/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":953,"text":"Matt. iii. 9","label":"Matthew 3:9","href":"/mat/3/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":1091,"text":"v. 7","label":"John 1:7","href":"/jhn/1/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29-34.1","start":29,"end":34,"heading":"The Christ revealed as the fulfilment of the Forerunner's work (29—34)","excerpt":"The inquiries made from Jerusalem would naturally create fresh expectation among John's disciples. At this crisis (the next day) the Lord, who had retired for a time after His Baptism (Luke iv. i), returned, and John solemnly marked Him out, not by name but by implication, as the promised Saviour.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.30.1","start":30,"end":30,"heading":"of whom","excerpt":"Literally, according to the true text, in behalf of whom ..., i.e. vindicating whose glorious office as compared with my own.\n\n/ ... said] The pronoun is purposely expressed : /, the prophetic messenger of His advent, declared His superior majesty.\n\nAfter me. ..which is come to be before me\"] See if. 15, note.\n\na man] The word chosen ... is emphatic, and here serves to give dignity to the person described .... Elsewhere, except in the sense of \" husband,\" it occurs in St John only in vi. 10, where the two terms ... are contrasted.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.31.1","start":31,"end":31,"heading":"I knew him not","excerpt":"I (emphatic), his precursor, trained for my work in the deserts (Luke i. 80) till the day for my mission came, knew Him not as Messiah (v. 26). From the narrative in St Luke it appears to be doubtful whether the Baptist had any personal knowledge of Jesus.\n\nbut that he should be made manifest] but apart from such special knowledge I had a distinct charge ; and I knew that my mission was to lead up to the present manifestation of the Christ to the chosen people.\n\nIsrael] The term is always used with the idea of the spiritual privileges attaching to the '•ace, i. (50) 49, iii. 10, xii. 13.\n\nThe popular belief that Messiah would be unknown till He was anointed by Elijah, is given in a very remarkable passage of Justin's ' Dialogue,' c. 8.\n\nam I come baptizing with (in) water] Rather, came I, fulfilling my initiatory work.\n\nThe order of the words differs from that in vv. 26, 33, so that the subordinate character of his baptism is here the predominant idea.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":65,"text":"Luke i. 80","label":"Luke 1:80","href":"/luk/1/#v80","status":"detected"},{"at":136,"text":"v. 26","label":"John 1:26","href":"/jhn/1/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":876,"text":"vv. 26, 33","label":"John 1:26","href":"/jhn/1/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":876,"text":"vv. 26, 33","label":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.32.1","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"bare record","excerpt":"bare witness. It is important to preserve the identity of language throughout: vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34.\n\nI saw] Rather, I have beheld ..., \"gazed on,\" with calm, steady, thoughtful gaze, as fully measuring what was presented to my eyes (1 John i. i). The perfect is found only 1 John iv. 12, 14. The aorist occurs frequently, i. 14, 38, &c. The verb in v. 34 is different ....\n\nthe Spirit descending] This communication of the Spirit to Christ belongs to the fulfilment under human conditions of His whole work. Hitherto that work had been accomplished in the perfection of individual Life. Messiah now enters on His public office, and for that receives, as true Man, the appropriate gifts. The Spirit by whom men are subjectively united to God descends upon the Word made Flesh, by whom objectively God is revealed to men.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":79,"text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","label":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":79,"text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","label":"John 1:19","href":"/jhn/1/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":79,"text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","label":"John 1:34","href":"/jhn/1/#v34","status":"detected"},{"at":79,"text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","label":"John 1:7–8","href":"/jhn/1/#v7","status":"detected"},{"at":274,"text":"1 John iv. 12, 14","label":"1 John 4:12","href":"/1jn/4/#v12","status":"detected"},{"at":274,"text":"1 John iv. 12, 14","label":"1 John 4:14","href":"/1jn/4/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":350,"text":"v. 34","label":"John 1:34","href":"/jhn/1/#v34","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.32.2","start":32,"end":32,"heading":"from (out of) heaven like (as) a dove","excerpt":"This definite revelation may be compared with that of the \" tongues of fire,\" Acts ii. 3. The word used of the Spirit \"moving on the face of the waters\" in Gen. i. 2, describes the action of a bird hovering over its brood, and the phrase is explained in the Talmud, \"The Spirit of God was borne over the water as a dove which broods over her young \" (' Chag.' 15 a). To those who had not \"eyes to see\" the outward phenomenon may not have appeared anything extraordinary, just as the articulate voice of God was said by such to be thunder (xii. 29). But Christ Himself, who \"saw\" this visible manifestation in its divine fulness (Matt. iii. 16; Mark i. 10), heard also the divine words as a definite message. The dove, as a symbol here, suggests the notion of (1) Tenderness, (2) Innocence, Matt. x. 1 6, (3) Gentle and tranquil movement.\n\nand it abode upon him] The transition to the finite verb gives emphasis to this fact. The phrase occurs Isai. xi. 2. The Spirit came to the prophets only from time to time (comp. 2 K. iii. 15), but with Christ it remained unchangeably.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":78,"text":"Acts ii. 3","label":"Acts 2:3","href":"/act/2/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":156,"text":"Gen. i. 2","label":"Genesis 1:2","href":"/gen/1/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":629,"text":"Matt. iii. 16","label":"Matthew 3:16","href":"/mat/3/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":644,"text":"Mark i. 10","label":"Mark 1:10","href":"/mrk/1/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":790,"text":"Matt. x. 1","label":"Matthew 10:1","href":"/mat/10/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":943,"text":"Isai. xi. 2","label":"Isaiah 11:2","href":"/isa/11/#v2","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.32-33.1","start":32,"end":33,"heading":"","excerpt":"5. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ at His Baptism is presented by St John simply as an objective sign to the Baptist. He does not speak of any communication of the Holy Spirit to Christ. The \"abiding\" is part of the sign, the completion of the \"descent.\" By a comparison of the other Gospels we see that the manifestation was a sign to Christ also as well as to the Baptist; just a? the words which contained the divine revelation (My beloved Son) were heard in their twofold application, as addressed to others, This is my beloved Son (Matt.), and as addressed to the Lord, Thou art my beloved Son (Mark, Luke). To the Baptist the sign shewed that his work was consummated by the open advent of Him whose way he was himself sent to prepare: to Christ, that the hour of His public ministry was come, a ministry commenced by an act of self-humiliation. At the same time we cannot but believe (so far as we realise the perfect humanity of Christ) that Christ at this crisis first became conscious as man of a power of the Spirit within Him corresponding to the new form of His work. See i. 33, note.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.33.1","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"And I knew him not","excerpt":"The phrase is solemnly repeated from v. 31. The mission and the sign of the fulfilment of the mission are treated in the same way.\n\nhe that sent me. ..the same (he) said] This detail is peculiar to St John. In what form this revelation was conveyed to the Baptist we cannot tell. He was conscious of a direct personal charge. This is brought out prominently by the repetition of the pronoun \"he ... said.\" Comp. v. 18.\n\nUpon whom] Rather, Upon whomsoever, so that the dependence of the Baptist's knowledge on the divine sign is placed in a stronger light.\n\nremaining] abiding, as v. 32. Both elements (the descent and the resting) in this sign are obviously significant. The Spirit \"descended\" for the fulfilment of a ministry on earth; He \"abode\" on Christ so that from henceforth that which was immanent in the \"Word\" — His \"glory\" — was continuously manifested to believers. The Son became the Giver of the Spirit who revealed Him, even as the Spirit enabled Him to reveal the Father. He Himself received the Spirit, as it was His office to baptize with the Spirit.\n\nThe \"abiding\" no less than the \"descent\" of the Spirit was an object of \"sight\" to the herald of Christ. He was enabled to discern in the Lord after His return from the Temptation the permanence of His divine endowment.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":37,"text":"v. 31","label":"John 1:31","href":"/jhn/1/#v31","status":"detected"},{"at":412,"text":"v. 18","label":"John 1:18","href":"/jhn/1/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":580,"text":"v. 32","label":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.33.2","start":33,"end":33,"heading":"baptizeth with (in) the Holy Ghost","excerpt":"the atmosphere, the element of the new life. Comp. iii. 5 ; Matt. iii. n, \"with the Holy Ghost and fire.\" The inward and outward purification are thus combined. The transference of the image of baptism to the impartment of the Holy Spirit was prepared by such passages as Joel ii. 28 (Acts ii. 17).\n\nThe \"descent,\" and \"abiding\" of the Spirit upon Him \"who was in the beginning with God \" illustrates the perfect order with which the divine counsel is accomplished. As \" the Son of Man\" (comp. v. 51), Christ was thus \"consecrated to His public Work. Such a consecration is spoken of as wrought by the Father before the Incarnation (x. 36), and by the Son before the Passion (xvii. 19).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":51,"text":"iii. 5","label":"John 3:5","href":"/jhn/3/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":272,"text":"Joel ii. 28","label":"Joel 2:28","href":"/jol/2/#v28","status":"detected"},{"at":285,"text":"Acts ii. 17","label":"Acts 2:17","href":"/act/2/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":494,"text":"v. 51","label":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.34.1","start":34,"end":34,"heading":"I saw, and bare record","excerpt":"Rather, I (emphatic) have seen as a fact, without the accessory notion of attentive observation (v. 32), and have given my witness that... So far my experience and my work are now completed. The sign for which I waited has been given ; the Messiah whom I was sent to herald has been revealed.\n\nthe Son of God] Dan. iii. 25. The phrase is to be interpreted according to the context in which it occurs of those who are in each case regarded as the direct representatives of God, as sometimes of kings, &c. (Ps. Ixxxii. 6); and so here it is used in the highest sense (comp. Ps. ii. 7). Some very early authorities (K, Syr. vt., &c.) read the chosen one of God.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":97,"text":"v. 32","label":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32","status":"detected"},{"at":310,"text":"Dan. iii. 25","label":"Daniel 3:25","href":"/dan/3/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":505,"text":"Ps. Ixxxii. 6","label":"Psalms 82:6","href":"/psa/82/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":572,"text":"Ps. ii. 7","label":"Psalms 2:7","href":"/psa/2/#v7","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.35.1","start":35,"end":35,"heading":"Again the next day after John stood","excerpt":"Again the next day John was standing. The picture is one of silent waiting. The hearts of all were full with thoughts of some great change. Was standing: compare vii. 37, xviii. 5, 16, 18, xix. 25, xx. n.\n\ntwo of his disciples'] Comp. viii. 17. One of them is identified (v. 40) as Andrew; and the other was evidently the Evangelist. This appears from the absence of all further designation, and from the fact that the narrative bears the marks of having been written by an eye-witness for whom each least detail had a living memory.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":235,"text":"viii. 17","label":"John 8:17","href":"/jhn/8/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":272,"text":"v. 40","label":"John 1:40","href":"/jhn/1/#v40","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.35-42.1","start":35,"end":42,"heading":"The work of the first day of Christ's Ministry. John's teaching crowned (35—42)","excerpt":"On this first day of His teaching Christ is recognised by those who have been already prepared to receive Him. The disciples of John are shewn in their true position towards him and his Successor. Christ is not said to have called any one to Himself. Two pairs of brothers, as it appears, form the first group of disciples, of whom the first pair are named, Andrew and Simon; and the second pair, John and James, are only faintly indicated. The first disciples become the first preachers.\n\nThe date is shortly before the Passover (ii. i, 12); and in accordance with this an early tradition fixed the beginning of Christ's Ministry at the venial equinox (' Clem. Hom.' I. 16).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.35-51.1","start":35,"end":51,"heading":"2. The Testimony of Disciples (i. 35—51)","excerpt":"The work of the Baptist passed naturally into the work of Christ. His testimony found a true interpretation from some of his disciples, and they first attached themselves to the Lord. Christ who had been announced and revealed was welcomed and followed.\n\nThe whole section consists of a series of examples of spiritual insight. Christ reveals His power by shewing His knowledge of men's thoughts (w. 42, 48); and the disciples recognise their Master by their experience of what He is (vv. 39, 41, 49). The incidents are a commentary on the words \"Come and see\" (w. 46, 39), and the promise with which the section closes opens the prospect of a more perfect divine vision (v. 51).\n\nThe very mixture of Hebrew (Simon, Nathanael) and Greek (Andrew, Philip) names seems to indicate the representative character of this first group of disciples ; and there is a progress in the confessions which they make : \"We have found the Messiah\" (v. 41): \" We have found him of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write...\" (v. 45): \"Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel\" (v. 49).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":485,"text":"vv. 39, 41, 49","label":"John 1:39","href":"/jhn/1/#v39","status":"detected"},{"at":485,"text":"vv. 39, 41, 49","label":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41","status":"detected"},{"at":485,"text":"vv. 39, 41, 49","label":"John 1:49","href":"/jhn/1/#v49","status":"detected"},{"at":672,"text":"v. 51","label":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51","status":"detected"},{"at":932,"text":"v. 41","label":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41","status":"detected"},{"at":1019,"text":"v. 45","label":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45","status":"detected"},{"at":1090,"text":"v. 49","label":"John 1:49","href":"/jhn/1/#v49","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.36.1","start":36,"end":36,"heading":"looking upon; as he walked","excerpt":"having looked on. The word ... describes one penetrating glance, as again in v. 42, the only other place where it is found in St John. Comp. Mark x. 21, 27; Luke xx. 17, xxii. 61.\n\nas he walked] no longer \"coming unto him\" (v. 29), but evidently (37, 38) going away. So for the last time the Baptist and the Christ were together ; and the Baptist gave by anticipation a commentary on his own sublime words (iii. 30) where he pointed his scholars to their true Lord.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":77,"text":"v. 42","label":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42","status":"detected"},{"at":141,"text":"Mark x. 21, 27","label":"Mark 10:21","href":"/mrk/10/#v21","status":"detected"},{"at":141,"text":"Mark x. 21, 27","label":"Mark 10:27","href":"/mrk/10/#v27","status":"detected"},{"at":157,"text":"Luke xx. 17","label":"Luke 20:17","href":"/luk/20/#v17","status":"detected"},{"at":170,"text":"xxii. 61","label":"Luke 22:61","href":"/luk/22/#v61","status":"detected"},{"at":224,"text":"v. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.36.2","start":36,"end":36,"heading":"Behold the Lamb of God!","excerpt":"The words are not at this time a new revelation (as -v. 29) and therefore the explanatory clause is omitted. They are a suggestion by the Baptist to those who had hitherto faithfully followed him, that now they were called away to a greater Master. The first disciples of Christ naturally came from among the Baptist's disciples. So the divine order was fulfilled, and the preparatory work had fruit. The new Church grew out of the old Church, as its proper consummation. The revelation of Christ as He was (v. 29) shewed to those whose souls were rightly disciplined that He would complete what the Baptist had begun. At the same time the disciples of the Baptist could leave their teacher only in obedience to his own guidance as he interpreted their thoughts. And the direction came not as a command, but in a form which tested their faith. The words spoken answered to their inmost thoughts, and so they could understand and obey them. But without this spiritual correspondence the decisive sentence could have no power of constraint, for it does not appear that St John even addressed them, but rather he spoke indefinitely (v. 29), and the message came home to them: He saith. ..and the two disciples heard him speak ..., and followed Jesus.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":53,"text":"v. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":508,"text":"v. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":1130,"text":"v. 29","label":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.37.1","start":37,"end":37,"heading":"followed","excerpt":"The word expresses the single act as their choice was made once for all. The circumstance has a significance for all time. Christ's first disciples were made by the practical interpretation of a phrase which might have been disregarded.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.38.1","start":38,"end":38,"heading":"Then (But) Jesus turned","excerpt":"as He was going away. This action hindered the two disciples from following Him silently and unperceived as they might have done (they . . . followed ... but Jesus ...).\n\nsaw them] beheld them. Comp. vi. 5.\n\nWhat seek ye?] Not whom? It is of interest to compare the first words of Christ recorded in the several Gospels. Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness (Matt. iii. 15). The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand: repent ye and believe the gospel (Mark i. 15).\n\nHow is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business ? (Luke ii. 49). The first words in the text followed by Come and ye shall see, the searching question and the personal invitation, are a parable of the message of faith.\n\nThey said (And they said)... Rabbi] The fresh recollection of the incident seems to bring back the original terms which had almost grown to be foreign words (w. 41, 42). The English Master is to be taken in the sense of \"Teacher.\" Comp. iii. 2, note.\n\ndwellest] Rather abide st, as -v. 39 (dwelt, abode).\n\nThe answer implies that if they could be with Christ, that, and nothing less than that, would satisfy their want. For a thing (what? v. 38) these first disciples substituted a Person. They were in need of Christ first and not of any special gift of Christ.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":200,"text":"vi. 5","label":"John 6:5","href":"/jhn/6/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":398,"text":"Matt. iii. 15","label":"Matthew 3:15","href":"/mat/3/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":509,"text":"Mark i. 15","label":"Mark 1:15","href":"/mrk/1/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":609,"text":"Luke ii. 49","label":"Luke 2:49","href":"/luk/2/#v49","status":"detected"},{"at":1015,"text":"iii. 2","label":"John 3:2","href":"/jhn/3/#v2","status":"detected"},{"at":1061,"text":"v. 39","label":"John 1:39","href":"/jhn/1/#v39","status":"detected"},{"at":1217,"text":"v. 38","label":"John 1:38","href":"/jhn/1/#v38","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.39.1","start":39,"end":39,"heading":"Come and see","excerpt":"According to the most probable reading, Come and ye shall see. The present imperative ... describes an immediate act contemplated as already begun. The act of faith goes first: knowledge is placed definitely after. The double repetition, So they came and saw, must be noticed.\n\nThey came... day... for it was...] They came therefore (So they came) . . .day . . .it was...\n\nthat day] that memorable day, from which the Christian society took its rise. Compare xx. 19 note.\n\nthe tenth hour] i.e. 10 a.m. Comp. iv. 6, note, and Additional Note on ch. xix. An early hour seems to suit best the fulness of the day's events. The mention of the time is one of the small traits which mark St John. He is here looking back upon the date of his own spiritual birth.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":508,"text":"iv. 6","label":"John 4:6","href":"/jhn/4/#v6","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.40.1","start":40,"end":40,"heading":"One of the two...","excerpt":"The other being St John; v. 35, note.\n\nheard John speak] Literally, heard from John, heard the great tidings from him, i.e. that Jesus was the Lamb of God. For the construction see vi. 45.\n\nAndrew] Compare vi. 8, xii. 22 ; Mark xiii. 3, where the same four disciples appear together as here. See note.\n\nSimon Peter's brother] Thus Peter is treated as the better known.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":25,"text":"v. 35","label":"John 1:35","href":"/jhn/1/#v35","status":"detected"},{"at":223,"text":"Mark xiii. 3","label":"Mark 13:3","href":"/mrk/13/#v3","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.40-42.1","start":40,"end":42,"heading":"","excerpt":"As to the relation of this meeting with St Peter to the call recorded in Matt. iv. 18 — 22 ; Mark i. 16 — 20; Luke v. i — ii, it may be observed that\n\n1. All the features are different.\n\n(2) Place — Judaea: Galilee.\n\n(b) Time — Close on the Baptism: Some time after.\n\n(c) Persons — Philip and Nathanael are not named by Synoptists.\n\n(d) Circumstances — A simple meeting : A miracle.\n\n2. The narrative in the Synoptists implies some previous connexion.\n\n3. This was the establishment of a personal relationship : that was a call to an official work. The former more naturally belongs to St John's scope, as giving the history of the growth of faith. The latter falls in with the record of the organization of the Church.\n\n4. The teaching in Galilee to which the call recorded in the Synoptists belongs was really the beginning of a new work, distinct from the Lord's first work at Jerusalem.\n\n5. The occupation of the disciples with their ordinary work after the first call finds a complete parallel in John xxi.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":73,"text":"Matt. iv. 18","label":"Matthew 4:18","href":"/mat/4/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":93,"text":"Mark i. 16","label":"Mark 1:16","href":"/mrk/1/#v16","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.1","start":41,"end":41,"heading":"first findeth his own brother","excerpt":"f indeth first his own brother. The words imply that someone else was afterwards found ; and from the form of the sentence we may conclude that this was the brother of the second disciple, that is James the brother of John. All this evidently took place on the same day (vv. 35, 43). findeth] The use of the word in this chapter is most remarkable. It occurs again in this verse and in 43 (44), and twice in v. 45 (46). The search and the blessing go together.\n\nWe have found] This was the result of their intercourse with Christ. The verb stands first, thus giving prominence to the search (v. 38) now joyously ended. It is otherwise in v. 45. The plural shews the sympathy but not the presence of St John.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":271,"text":"vv. 35, 43","label":"John 1:35","href":"/jhn/1/#v35","status":"detected"},{"at":271,"text":"vv. 35, 43","label":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43","status":"detected"},{"at":408,"text":"v. 45","label":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45","status":"detected"},{"at":592,"text":"v. 38","label":"John 1:38","href":"/jhn/1/#v38","status":"detected"},{"at":638,"text":"v. 45","label":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.2","start":41,"end":41,"heading":"Messias... interpreted the (omit) Christ","excerpt":"The Hebrew name is found only here and iv. 25. Compare v. 38 (Rabbi), note, v. 42 (Cephas); and contrast vv. 20, 25. On the form ... as representing the Aramaic ... see Delitzsch, 'Ztschr. f. Luth. Theol.' 1876, s. 603.\n\nThe announcement was an interpretation of the disciples' own experience. It does not appear that the title was used by the Baptist. The prerogatives of the Christ, the works of the Christ, were laid open, and it was the office of faith to recognise Him in whom they were found.\n\nThe title \"the Christ\" is found in the narrative of St John's Gospel, just as in the Synoptists. It is not unfrequently used by the people doubting and questioning (vii. 26 f., 31, 41 f., x. 24, xii. 34. Comp. ix. 22); and by the Baptist in answer to them (i. 20, 25, iii. 28) ; but very rarely in a confession of faith, as here and xi. 27. Comp. iv. 25, 29. The word is introduced wrongly in iv. 42, vi. 69. For the usage of St John himself see xx. 31; 1 John ii. 22, v. i ; 1 John 9; Rev. xi. 15, xii. 10, xx. 4. Comp. i. 17 note. Perhaps the Hebrew form is definitely preserved in order to connect the Lord with the Jewish hope and to exclude Gnostic speculations on the Aeon Christ.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":55,"text":"v. 38","label":"John 1:38","href":"/jhn/1/#v38","status":"detected"},{"at":76,"text":"v. 42","label":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42","status":"detected"},{"at":105,"text":"vv. 20, 25","label":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":105,"text":"vv. 20, 25","label":"John 1:25","href":"/jhn/1/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":710,"text":"ix. 22","label":"John 9:22","href":"/jhn/9/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":847,"text":"iv. 25, 29","label":"John 4:25","href":"/jhn/4/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":847,"text":"iv. 25, 29","label":"John 4:29","href":"/jhn/4/#v29","status":"detected"},{"at":954,"text":"1 John ii. 22","label":"1 John 2:22","href":"/1jn/2/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":986,"text":"Rev. xi. 15","label":"Revelation 11:15","href":"/rev/11/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":999,"text":"xii. 10","label":"Revelation 12:10","href":"/rev/12/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":1008,"text":"xx. 4","label":"Revelation 20:4","href":"/rev/20/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":1021,"text":"i. 17","label":"John 1:17","href":"/jhn/1/#v17","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.42.1","start":42,"end":42,"heading":"And he brought...And when Jesus beheld him he said","excerpt":"He brought.. .Jesus looked on him and said.\n\nbeheld him] Comp. v. 36 note.\n\nThou art] This is not necessarily a prophetic declaration by divine knowledge. It rather means simply \" this is your natural name.\" Some take the phrase interrogatively: Art thou... ? placing the old and the new in sharper contrast.\n\nson of Jona] Here and in ch. xxi. the best text gives son of John.\n\nthou shalt be called Cephas\"] Hereafter thou shalt win the name of Cephas. This promise received its fulfilment, Matt. xvi. 18 (Thou art Peter), where the earlier naming is implied. The title appears to mark not so much the natural character of the Apostle as the spiritual office to which he was called.\n\nCephas] The Aramaic name ... is found in the New Testament elsewhere only in i Cor. i. 12, iii. 22, ix. 5, xv. 5 ; Gal. i. 18, ii. 9, n, 14.\n\nby interpretation, A stone\"] The sense would perhaps be given better by keeping the equivalent proper name: by interpretation Peter, that is a stone, or rather a mass of rock detached from the living rock (Vulg. Cephas quod interpretatur Petrus).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":63,"text":"v. 36","label":"John 1:36","href":"/jhn/1/#v36","status":"detected"},{"at":491,"text":"Matt. xvi. 18","label":"Matthew 16:18","href":"/mat/16/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":799,"text":"Gal. i. 18","label":"Galatians 1:18","href":"/gal/1/#v18","status":"detected"},{"at":811,"text":"ii. 9","label":"Galatians 2:9","href":"/gal/2/#v9","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.43.1","start":43,"end":43,"heading":"The day following Jesus would go forth...and findeth...and saith","excerpt":"The next day (w. 29, 35) he was minded to go forth... and he/«<&/£...and Jesus saith... The transposition of the subject by the best authorities creates no real ambiguity. Compare xix. 5. The purpose is evidently spoken of as in accomplishment.\n\nThe coordination of the two clauses (he was minded, and he saith], which would commonly be placed in dependence, is characteristic of St John's style. Comp. ii. 13 if.\n\ngo forth into Galilee'] \"His hour was not yet come\" for a public manifestation at Jerusalem, and therefore He returned for a time to His usual place of abode.\n\nfindeth'] How and where \"Jesus found Philip\" must remain unknown; but the word implies that the meeting was not accidental. Compare vv. 43, 45 (46): v. 14. The Lord \"found\" those who were \"given\" to Him: xvii. 6 ff., vi. 37. Comp. iv. 23.\n\nPhilip] See vi. 5, 7, xii. 21 ff., xiv. 8, 9. These passages throw light on the character of the disciple whom Christ sought. The name Philip is pure Greek. Comp. xii. 20 f.\n\nFollow me] As a disciple bound to my service. The words are here first pronounced by Christ. Comp. Matt. viii. 22, ix. 9, xix. 21, and parallels; ch. xxi. 19, 22. The phrase in Matt. iv. 19 is different.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":403,"text":"ii. 13","label":"John 2:13","href":"/jhn/2/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":707,"text":"vv. 43, 45","label":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43","status":"detected"},{"at":707,"text":"vv. 43, 45","label":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45","status":"detected"},{"at":724,"text":"v. 14","label":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":806,"text":"iv. 23","label":"John 4:23","href":"/jhn/4/#v23","status":"detected"},{"at":978,"text":"xii. 20","label":"John 12:20","href":"/jhn/12/#v20","status":"detected"},{"at":1089,"text":"Matt. viii. 22","label":"Matthew 8:22","href":"/mat/8/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":1105,"text":"ix. 9","label":"Matthew 9:9","href":"/mat/9/#v9","status":"detected"},{"at":1112,"text":"xix. 21","label":"Matthew 19:21","href":"/mat/19/#v21","status":"detected"},{"at":1140,"text":"xxi. 19, 22","label":"John 21:19","href":"/jhn/21/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":1140,"text":"xxi. 19, 22","label":"John 21:22","href":"/jhn/21/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":1167,"text":"Matt. iv. 19","label":"Matthew 4:19","href":"/mat/4/#v19","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.43-51.1","start":43,"end":51,"heading":"The work of the second day of Christ's ministry. Christ's own work begun (43—51)","excerpt":"The record of the fulfilment of John's work in the attachment of his disciples to Christ is followed by the record of the beginning of Christ's work. Jesus now \" seeks\" and commands (v. 43), and reveals both His authority and His insight.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":183,"text":"v. 43","label":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.44.1","start":44,"end":44,"heading":"Bethsaida","excerpt":"Defined as Bethsaida of Galilee, xii. 21 ; and identified by Dr Thomson with Abu Zany on the west of the entrance of the Jordan into the lake, and by Major Wilson with Khan Minyeh ( Wilson, ' Sea of Galilee,' in Warren's 'Recovery of Jerusalem,' pp. 342, 387). Comp. Matt. xiv. 22 note; Mark viii. 22 note.\n\nThe notice of the home of Philip explains how he was prepared to welcome Christ. He knew and was in sympathy with Andrew and Peter; and probably he too with them had followed the Baptist.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":267,"text":"Matt. xiv. 22","label":"Matthew 14:22","href":"/mat/14/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":287,"text":"Mark viii. 22","label":"Mark 8:22","href":"/mrk/8/#v22","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.45.1","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"Philip findeth; Nathanael","excerpt":"Probably on the journey. Nathanael was \"of Cana in Galilee\" (xxi. a). The first disciple who \"found Christ,\" and the first disciple whom Christ \" found,\" became alike evangelists at once.\n\nNathanael] Theodore. He is probably to be identified with Bartholomew, for the following reasons :\n\n(1) The mention of him in this place and in xxi. 2 shews that he occupied a prominent position among the disciples. Those with whom he is classed in each place are Apostles.\n\n(2) No mention is made of Nathanael in the Synoptists, or of Bartholomew in St John; while the name Bartholomew is a patronymic (Son of Tolmai) like Barjona (Matt: xvi. 17), and Barjesus (Acts xiii. 6).\n\n(3) In the list of Apostles Bartholomew is coupled with Philip by St Matthew (x. 3), St Luke (vi. 14), St Mark (iii. 18), so that the six first are the six first called. In xxi. 2 Thomas is added, as in Acts i. 13.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":652,"text":"Acts xiii. 6","label":"Acts 13:6","href":"/act/13/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":871,"text":"Acts i. 13","label":"Acts 1:13","href":"/act/1/#v13","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.45.2","start":45,"end":45,"heading":"We have found","excerpt":"Here, in the original, the verb stands last. \"Him of whom Moses wrote and the prophets, we have found.\" This form of the sentence (contrast v. 41) seems to imply that Philip and Nathanael had often dwelt on the Old Testament portraiture of Messiah. By the use of the plural, Philip unites himself to the little group of disciples, and his words shew that he had been before in communication with them.\n\nMoses in the law] By types (ch. iii. 14 f.) and by more distinct words (Deut. xviii. 15. Comp. Acts iii. 22, vii. 37). Comp. v. 46.\n\nJesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph] i. e. in Jesus of Nazareth. Philip describes the Lord by the name under which He would be commonly known. Comp. Matt. xxi. 1 1 ; and ch. vi. 42 (vii. 42).","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":140,"text":"v. 41","label":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41","status":"detected"},{"at":435,"text":"iii. 14","label":"John 3:14","href":"/jhn/3/#v14","status":"detected"},{"at":475,"text":"Deut. xviii. 15","label":"Deuteronomy 18:15","href":"/deu/18/#v15","status":"detected"},{"at":498,"text":"Acts iii. 22","label":"Acts 3:22","href":"/act/3/#v22","status":"detected"},{"at":512,"text":"vii. 37","label":"Acts 7:37","href":"/act/7/#v37","status":"detected"},{"at":528,"text":"v. 46","label":"John 1:46","href":"/jhn/1/#v46","status":"detected"},{"at":686,"text":"Matt. xxi. 1","label":"Matthew 21:1","href":"/mat/21/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":711,"text":"vi. 42","label":"John 6:42","href":"/jhn/6/#v42","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.46.1","start":46,"end":46,"heading":"Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?","excerpt":"Literally, From Nazareth can any good thing be? i.e. can any blessing, much less such a blessing as the promised Messiah, arise out of a poor village like Nazareth, of which not even the name can be found in the Old Testament? Contrast Isai. ii. 3 (Z/ow). There is no evidence, unless the conduct of the Nazarenes to the Lord be such (Luke iv. 1 6 ff\".), that Nazareth had a reputation worse than other places in Galilee (Matt, xiii. 58; Mark vi. 6). It was proverbial, however, that \"out of Galilee ariseth no prophet\" (vii. 52) ; and the candour of Nathanael would not hide a misgiving even when it was to the dishonour of his own country. The phrase be out of ... denotes more than the simple home. It expresses the ideas of derivation and dependence, and so of moral correspondence. Comp. iii. 31 note, iv. 22.\n\nCome and see] Compare v. 39. The words contain the essence of the true solution of religious doubts. The phrase is common in Rabbinic writers .... See Wetstein on v. 40.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":236,"text":"Isai. ii. 3","label":"Isaiah 2:3","href":"/isa/2/#v3","status":"detected"},{"at":335,"text":"Luke iv. 1","label":"Luke 4:1","href":"/luk/4/#v1","status":"detected"},{"at":438,"text":"Mark vi. 6","label":"Mark 6:6","href":"/mrk/6/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":793,"text":"iii. 31","label":"John 3:31","href":"/jhn/3/#v31","status":"detected"},{"at":838,"text":"v. 39","label":"John 1:39","href":"/jhn/1/#v39","status":"detected"},{"at":979,"text":"v. 40","label":"John 1:40","href":"/jhn/1/#v40","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.47.1","start":47,"end":47,"heading":"coming","excerpt":"Nathanael at once accepted the challenge.\n\nof him] not to him, but to the bystanders, as reading the soul of the man approaching Him.\n\nIt will be noticed how the Lord interprets the thoughts of all whom He meets in these opening chapters of St John: St Peter (T;. 42), St Philip (v. 43), Nathanael (v. 47), the Blessed Virgin (ii. 4), Nicodemus (iii.), the Woman of Samaria (iv.). Compare ii. 25.\n\nan Israelite indeed] one, that is, who answers in character to the name which marks the spiritual privileges of the chosen nation — \"soldiers of God.\" There is already here a reference to Jacob's victories of faith (v. 51), which is made yet clearer by the second clause.\n\nindeed] Literally, in truth .... The adverb is characteristic of St John : iv. 42, vi. 14, vii. 40, viii. 31 ; 1 John ii. 5.\n\nin whom is no guile] who is frank, simple, with no selfish aims to hide, no doubts to suppress. In whom the spirit of Jacob — the supplanter — has been wholly transformed to the type of Israel. The future growth of St Peter had formed the main topic of Christ's welcome to him (v. 42), as here the present character of Nathanael.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":280,"text":"v. 43","label":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43","status":"detected"},{"at":299,"text":"v. 47","label":"John 1:47","href":"/jhn/1/#v47","status":"detected"},{"at":614,"text":"v. 51","label":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51","status":"detected"},{"at":782,"text":"1 John ii. 5","label":"1 John 2:5","href":"/1jn/2/#v5","status":"detected"},{"at":1075,"text":"v. 42","label":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.48.1","start":48,"end":48,"heading":"Whence knowest thou me?","excerpt":"Nathanael must have overheard the words spoken about him, and found in them some clear discernment of his thoughts (comp. ii. 25), which roused him to this question of surprise uttered without reserve.\n\nBefore that...] The love of Christ had anticipated the love of the friend in finding Nathanael.\n\nwhen thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee] This sentence, like the former one, points to some secret thought or prayer, by knowing which the Lord shewed His divine insight into the heart of man. He saw not that which is outward only, but that which was most deeply hidden. Compare iv. 19. There is nothing to shew whether Nathanael was still in meditation when Philip found him or not.\n\nthe fig tree] which would be in leaf about this time (Matt. xxi. 10 tt'., ch. ii. 13). The definite article (the fig-tree) calls up the exact scene. Compare Mic. iv. 4; Zech. iii. 10, &c. The form of the phrase ... implies that Nathanael had withdrawn under the fig-tree, for thought or prayer. This meditation turned (as we must suppose) upon the ideas recognised in the Lord's words. Augustine's narrative of the crisis of his own conversion is a singular commentary on the scene. He too had retired beneath a fig-tree for solitary thought when the voice from heaven \"Tolle, lege\" decided his choice. ' Confessiones,' viii. 12. 28. A passage is also quoted from the Jerusalem . Talmud (' Berachoth,' n. 8), in which R. Akiva is described as studying the law under a fig-tree.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":122,"text":"ii. 25","label":"John 2:25","href":"/jhn/2/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":745,"text":"Matt. xxi. 10","label":"Matthew 21:10","href":"/mat/21/#v10","status":"detected"},{"at":769,"text":"ii. 13","label":"John 2:13","href":"/jhn/2/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":848,"text":"Mic. iv. 4","label":"Micah 4:4","href":"/mic/4/#v4","status":"detected"},{"at":860,"text":"Zech. iii. 10","label":"Zechariah 3:10","href":"/zec/3/#v10","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.49.1","start":49,"end":49,"heading":"answered and saith unto him","excerpt":"answered him, according to the best text.\n\nRabbi] All prejudice and doubt is laid aside, and the title is given by instinct which before (T. 48) he had withheld.\n\nthou art the Son of God ; thou art the King (art King) of Israel] Thus Messiah was . described in relation to (1) His divine origin (2) His human sovereignty. Both attributes are implied in the conception of a kingdom of God. \"The 'true Israelite,' \" as it has been well said, \"acknowledges his king.\" Compare Peter's confession in Matt. xvi. 16, and in ch. vi. 68, 69, and that of Thomas in xx. 28.\n\nthe Son of God] The words are an echo of the testimony of the Baptist (v. 34). Nothing can be more natural than to suppose that the language of John had created strange questionings in the hearts of some whom it had reached, and that it was with such thoughts Nathanael was busied when the Lord \"saw\" him. If this were so, the confession of Nathanael may be, as it were, an answer to his own doubts.\n\nKing of Israel] As here at the beginning, so once again this title is given to Christ at the close of His ministry, xii. 13. Compare Matt, xxvii. 42; Mark xv. 32, where the mockery is made more bitter by the use of this theocratic phrase in place of the civil title, \" King of the Jews.\" See xviii. 33 note.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":495,"text":"Matt. xvi. 16","label":"Matthew 16:16","href":"/mat/16/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":521,"text":"vi. 68, 69","label":"John 6:68–69","href":"/jhn/6/#v68","status":"detected"},{"at":635,"text":"v. 34","label":"John 1:34","href":"/jhn/1/#v34","status":"detected"},{"at":1115,"text":"Mark xv. 32","label":"Mark 15:32","href":"/mrk/15/#v32","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.50.1","start":50,"end":50,"heading":"believest thou?","excerpt":"The words can also be taken affirmatively; but the same sense is given more forcibly by the question (comp. xvi. 31, xx. 29), which conveys something of surprise that the belief was accorded so readily, and something of warning that even this expression of belief did not exhaust the power of faith.\n\nsee greater things than these] actually experience greater proofs of my divine mission than are shewn in these revelations of thy thoughts. The plural (these things) marks the class and not the special incident. Comp. 3 John 4","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":108,"text":"xvi. 31","label":"John 16:31","href":"/jhn/16/#v31","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.51.1","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"he saith unto him...I say unto you...ye","excerpt":"The word is for Nathanael, but the blessing is for all believers.\n\nVerily, verify] i.e. Amen, Amen. The phrase is found in the New Testament only in the Gospel of St John (who never gives the simple Ameri), and (like the simple Amen in the Synoptists) it is used only by Christ. The word Amen is represented by in truth or truly in Luke iv. 25, ix. 27. In the LXX. the original word is retained only in responsive phrases (Neh. v. 13, viii. 6). Elsewhere it is translated, \"be it so\" ..., Ps. xli. 13, Ixxii. 19, Ixxxix. 52. The word is properly a verbal adjective, \"firm,\" \"sure.\" Comp. Isai. Ixv. 16 ... ; Rev. iii. 14 (the Amen). See Delitzsch, 'Ztschr. f. Luth. Theol.' 1856, ij. 422 ff.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":332,"text":"Luke iv. 25","label":"Luke 4:25","href":"/luk/4/#v25","status":"detected"},{"at":345,"text":"ix. 27","label":"Luke 9:27","href":"/luk/9/#v27","status":"detected"},{"at":423,"text":"Neh. v. 13","label":"Nehemiah 5:13","href":"/neh/5/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":435,"text":"viii. 6","label":"Nehemiah 8:6","href":"/neh/8/#v6","status":"detected"},{"at":489,"text":"Ps. xli. 13","label":"Psalms 41:13","href":"/psa/41/#v13","status":"detected"},{"at":502,"text":"Ixxii. 19","label":"Psalms 72:19","href":"/psa/72/#v19","status":"detected"},{"at":513,"text":"Ixxxix. 52","label":"Psalms 89:52","href":"/psa/89/#v52","status":"detected"},{"at":588,"text":"Isai. Ixv. 16","label":"Isaiah 65:16","href":"/isa/65/#v16","status":"detected"},{"at":608,"text":"Rev. iii. 14","label":"Revelation 3:14","href":"/rev/3/#v14","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.51.2","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"Hereafter (From henceforth)","excerpt":"This word must be omitted according to decisive authority. If it were genuine it would describe the communion between earth and heaven as established from the time when the Lord entered on His public ministry.\n\nheaven open] Rather, opened. The phrase is the symbol of free intercourse between God and man. Comp. Isai. Ixiv. i.\n\nangels ... ascending and descending'] The order is remarkable. The divine messengers are already on the earth though we see them not ; and they first bear the prayer to God before they bring down the answer from Him. So it was in the vision of Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 12), which furnishes the image here; and by the Incarnation that vision was made an abiding reality. That which was a dream to the representative of Israel was a fact for the Son of Man. Thus the reference is to the continuing presence of Christ (Matt, xxviii. 20), in whom believers realise the established fellowship of the seen and the unseen, and not to the special acts of angelic ministration to Christ alone during His earthly life. There is an interesting discussion of Jacob's vision in Philo, ' De Somn.' §§ 22 ff. pp. 640 ff.\n\nThe locality of the conversation may have been near Bethel or the ford Jabbok, so that the references to Jacob's history were forcibly suggested by the places made famous through the patriarch.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":579,"text":"Gen. xxviii. 12","label":"Genesis 28:12","href":"/gen/28/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.51.3","start":51,"end":51,"heading":"the Son of man","excerpt":"By the use of this title the Lord completes the revelation of His Person, which has been unfolded step by step in the narrative of this chapter, in which He has been acknowledged as the greater Successor of the Baptist (vv. 26 f.), the Lamb of God (w. 29, 36), the Son of God (-v-v. 34, 49), the Messiah (w. 41, 45), the King of Israel (v. 49). These titles had been given by others. He chooses for Himself that one which definitely presents His work in relation to humanity in itself, and not primarily in relation to God or to the chosen people, or even to humanity as fallen. If, as appears probable, the title was now first adopted, it is to be noticed that it was revealed in answer to a signal confession of faith (Matt. xiii. 12). See Additional Note.","source_url":"https://archive.org/stream/gospelaccordingt00westuoft/gospelaccordingt00westuoft_djvu.txt","locus":null,"cites":[{"at":220,"text":"vv. 26","label":"John 1:26","href":"/jhn/1/#v26","status":"detected"},{"at":280,"text":"v. 34, 49","label":"John 1:34","href":"/jhn/1/#v34","status":"detected"},{"at":280,"text":"v. 34, 49","label":"John 1:49","href":"/jhn/1/#v49","status":"detected"},{"at":337,"text":"v. 49","label":"John 1:49","href":"/jhn/1/#v49","status":"detected"},{"at":721,"text":"Matt. xiii. 12","label":"Matthew 13:12","href":"/mat/13/#v12","status":"detected"}],"quotes":[],"quotedIn":[],"inFull":null}]}],"citedBy":{"1":[{"id":"henry.JHN.1.14.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-henry","text":"v. 1","snippet":"Compare v. 1 with this."},{"id":"henry.JHN.20.28.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 20:28","href":"/jhn/20/#v28-henry","text":"ch. i. 1","snippet":"[1.] We must believe his deity—that he is God; not a man made God, but God made man, as this evangelist had laid down his thesis at first, ch. i. 1."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.2.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:2","href":"/jhn/1/#v2-bengel","text":"ver. 1","snippet":"This, being repeated [from ver. 1], is now put in antithesis to His subsequent mission to men."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.6.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6-bengel","text":"ver. 1-5","snippet":"The greatness of John [is hereby implied], of whom mention is made immediately after the preceding statements [ver. 1-5]."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.18.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:18","href":"/jhn/1/#v18-westcott","text":"i. 1","snippet":"By this manner of expression thought is turned to the divine Nature rather than to the divine Person : \" God as God\" (comp. i. 1 ...)."}],"2":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.6.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6-bengel","text":"ver. 1-5","snippet":"The greatness of John [is hereby implied], of whom mention is made immediately after the preceding statements [ver. 1-5]."}],"3":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.5.19.3","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 5:19","href":"/jhn/5/#v19-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 3","snippet":"( Ps. cii. 27 ), or that other, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made” ( c. i. 3 ); if the Father doeth certain things, and the Son seeth and imitateth Him?"},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.1.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1-bengel","text":"ver. 3","snippet":"The Beginning here means that time, when all things began to be and were created by the Word, ver. 3. ..."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.6.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6-bengel","text":"ver. 1-5","snippet":"The greatness of John [is hereby implied], of whom mention is made immediately after the preceding statements [ver. 1-5]."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-westcott","text":"v. 3","snippet":"For the combination compare -v. 3, note."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-westcott","text":"v. 3","snippet":"The words (as in v. 3 6) are spoken for those who \" had ears to hear them."}],"4":[{"id":"calvin.JHN.6.51.3","author":"John Calvin","author_dates":"1509-1564","tradition":"Reformed","era":"Reformation","died":1564,"ref":"John 6:51","href":"/jhn/6/#v51-calvin","text":"John 1:4","snippet":"I reply, though this power comes from another source than from the flesh, still this is no reason why the designation may not accurately apply to it; for as the eternal Word of God is the fountain of life, (John 1:4,) so his flesh, as a channel, conveys to us that life which dwells intrinsically, as we say, in his Divinity."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.6.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6-bengel","text":"ver. 1-5","snippet":"The greatness of John [is hereby implied], of whom mention is made immediately after the preceding statements [ver. 1-5]."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.5.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:5","href":"/jhn/1/#v5-westcott","text":"v. 4","snippet":"In v. 4 the divine essence and the divine purpose of creation are declared from the side of God ; in v. 5 the Evangelist describes the actual state of things from the side of man."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.19.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:19","href":"/jhn/3/#v19-westcott","text":"i. 4","snippet":"Comp. i. 4."}],"5":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.6.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:6","href":"/jhn/1/#v6-bengel","text":"ver. 1-5","snippet":"The greatness of John [is hereby implied], of whom mention is made immediately after the preceding statements [ver. 1-5]."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.29.2","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-bengel","text":"ver. 5","snippet":"The same singular number is interposed between Plurals, Isa. liii. 6, 8, 12, “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all:” whereas in ver. 5, “ He was wounded for our transgressions ;’—“ for the transgression of My people was He stricken ;” “He bare the sin of many."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.10.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:10","href":"/jhn/1/#v10-westcott","text":"v. 5","snippet":"Comp. v. 5, note."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.7.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:7","href":"/jhn/3/#v7-westcott","text":"i. 5","snippet":"The passage from the singular (I said unto thee) to the plural (ye must) ought not to be overlooked, comp. i. 5 1 ; and especially Luke xxii. 31, 33."}],"6":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.9.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:9","href":"/jhn/1/#v9-bengel","text":"ver. 6","snippet":"John was but a man, ver. 6."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.11.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:11","href":"/jhn/1/#v11-bengel","text":"ver. 6, 7","snippet":"The time, moreover, of His coming into the world and to His own is one and the same, namely after the coming of John; ver. 6, 7."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.12.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:12","href":"/jhn/1/#v12-bengel","text":"ver. 6","snippet":"… elucidated in ver. 13 ; the second in ver. 14, where the manifestation of the Word in the flesh is not so much recorded as it was accomplished, but rather as it was believed: which view the series of things down from ver. 6 proves."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.3.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3-westcott","text":"vv. 6, 9","snippet":"The same contrast recurs in vv. 6, 9."}],"7":[{"id":"henry.JHN.5.33.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 5:33","href":"/jhn/5/#v33-henry","text":"ch. i. 7","snippet":"John came to bear witness of the light (ch. i. 7); his business was to prepare his way, and direct people to him: Behold the Lamb of God."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.9.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:9","href":"/jhn/1/#v9-bengel","text":"ver. 7","snippet":"Who by himself [when left to himself] is in darkness: every man has a more august sound, than all men, ver. 7."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.11.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:11","href":"/jhn/1/#v11-bengel","text":"ver. 6, 7","snippet":"The time, moreover, of His coming into the world and to His own is one and the same, namely after the coming of John; ver. 6, 7."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.3.31.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 3:31","href":"/jhn/3/#v31-bengel","text":"i. 7","snippet":"He who is from above) These words, and on to the end of the chapter, the Evangelist seems to have appended, as in congruity with the feeling of the Baptist: comp. notes, ch. i. 7. ... above all) in dignity, excellence, and speech."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.6","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-westcott","text":"v. 7","snippet":"Comp. v. 7 note."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.32.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-westcott","text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","snippet":"It is important to preserve the identity of language throughout: vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34."}],"8":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.20.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-bengel","text":"ver. 8","snippet":"Comp. ver. 8; ch. v. 33. ... he denied not) Whilst he denied himself, he did not deny Christ [Ps. cxviii. 15, 16 (Perhaps Beng. means Ps. cxix. = cxviii. in the Septuag.)] ..."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.32.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-westcott","text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","snippet":"It is important to preserve the identity of language throughout: vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34."}],"9":[{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.3.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3-westcott","text":"vv. 6, 9","snippet":"The same contrast recurs in vv. 6, 9."}],"10":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.11.1","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 1:11","href":"/jhn/1/#v11-chrysostom","text":"ver. 10","snippet":"John) had said, speaking of the old times, that “the world knew him not” ( ver. 10 ); afterwards he comes down in his narrative to the times of the proclamation (of the Gospel), and says, “He came to His own, and His own received Him not,” now calling the Jews “His own,” as His peculiar people, or …"},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.11.2","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:11","href":"/jhn/1/#v11-henry","text":"v. 10","snippet":"He came among them himself, introduced with signs and wonders, and himself the greatest; and therefore it is not said of them, as it was of the world (v. 10), that they knew him not; but his own, though they could not but know him, yet received him not; did not receive his doctrine, did not welcome him as the Messiah, but fortified themselves against him."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.1.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1-bengel","text":"ver. 10","snippet":"In the beginning of the heaven and the earth, God created the heaven and the earth: in the same beginning of the heaven and the earth, and of the world, ver. 10, already the Word was in existence, without any beginning or commencement of itself."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.3.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:3","href":"/jhn/1/#v3-bengel","text":"ver. 10","snippet":"A large word, by which the world, i.e. the whole totality of things created is denoted, ver. 10."},{"id":"ryle.JHN.3.16.2","author":"J. C. Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"ref":"John 3:16","href":"/jhn/3/#v16-ryle","text":"John i. 10, 29","snippet":"The word, in my opinion, is so used in John i. 10, 29 ; vi. 33, 51 ; viii. 12. — Rom. iii. 19.— 2 Cor. v. 19.— 1 John ii. 2; iv."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.6","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-westcott","text":"v. 10","snippet":"Compare Additional Note on v. 10."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.17.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:17","href":"/jhn/3/#v17-westcott","text":"i. 10","snippet":"Comp. i. 10, xv. 19."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.19.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:19","href":"/jhn/3/#v19-westcott","text":"i. 10","snippet":"that... is come. . .and. . .] The two facts are placed simply side by side (comp. i. 10, ii, &c.), each in its independent completeness."}],"11":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.18.36.1","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 18:36","href":"/jhn/18/#v36-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 11","snippet":"( c. i. 11 ."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-westcott","text":"v. 11","snippet":"The Incarnation, which has been touched upon in v. 11 in its relation to the whole course of revelation, is now presented in its essential character."}],"12":[{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.7.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:7","href":"/jhn/1/#v7-westcott","text":"v. 12","snippet":"In this connexion it is to be noticed that the conception of faith is sharpened by being left in an absolute form : that all men might believe (contrast -v. 12) through him (John)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.2.23.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 2:23","href":"/jhn/2/#v23-westcott","text":"i. 12","snippet":"believed in (on) his name\"] Comp. i. 12 and viii. 30, note."}],"13":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.3.6.1","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 3:6","href":"/jhn/3/#v6-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 13","snippet":"It appears performing the work of God; for above he said of some, that, “they were begotten of God,” ( c. i. 13 ,) here He saith, that the Spirit begetteth them."},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.12.36.1","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 12:36","href":"/jhn/12/#v36-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 13","snippet":"Yet in the beginning the Evangelist saith, “Were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God” ( c. i. 13 ); that is, of the Father; while here Himself is said to beget them; that thou mayest understand that the operation of the Father and the Son is One."},{"id":"henry.JHN.3.3.2","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 3:3","href":"/jhn/3/#v3-henry","text":"ch. i. 13","snippet":"But this new birth has its rise from heaven (ch. i. 13) and its tendency to heaven: it is to be born to a divine and heavenly life, a life of communion with God and the upper world, and, in order to this, it is to partake of a divine nature and bear the image of the …"},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.12.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:12","href":"/jhn/1/#v12-bengel","text":"ver. 13","snippet":"Two weighty truths are set before us, of which the former is elucidated in ver. 13 ; the second in ver. 14, where the manifestation of the Word in the flesh is not so much recorded as it was accomplished, but rather as it was believed: which view the series of things down from ver. 6 proves."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.14.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-bengel","text":"ver. 13","snippet":"Flesh (besides that it denotes as to us our corrupt nature, estranged-from the Spirit of God, ver. 13), denotes the human body, or, as in this place, the man himself, denominated from his visible part."}],"14":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.1.1.3","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1-chrysostom","text":"ver. 14","snippet":"… on the same narratives, from that point detailing to us the history of the Baptist;) why, when they began with these matters, did John briefly and in a later place hint at them, saying, “the Word was made flesh” ( ver. 14 .); and, passing by everything else, His conception, His birth, His bringing up, His growth, at once discourse to us concerning His Eternal Generation?"},{"id":"calvin.JHN.15.24.1","author":"John Calvin","author_dates":"1509-1564","tradition":"Reformed","era":"Reformation","died":1564,"ref":"John 15:24","href":"/jhn/15/#v24-calvin","text":"John 1:14","snippet":"… by miracles, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, and by other demonstrations, he clearly proved that he was the Son of God, so that in him was plainly seen the majesty of the Only-begotten Son, as we have seen under John 1:14 It is commonly objected, that he did not perform more miracles or greater miracles than Moses and the Prophets."},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.17.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:17","href":"/jhn/1/#v17-henry","text":"v. 14","snippet":"He had said (v. 14) that Christ was full of grace and truth; now here he says that by him grace and truth came to us."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.2.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:2","href":"/jhn/1/#v2-bengel","text":"ver. 14","snippet":"A remarkable antithesis, comp. ver. 14, as also 1 John ii. 1 [which contain the same antithetic contrast. ] ..."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.12.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:12","href":"/jhn/1/#v12-bengel","text":"ver. 14","snippet":"Two weighty truths are set before us, of which the former is elucidated in ver. 13 ; the second in ver. 14, where the manifestation of the Word in the flesh is not so much recorded as it was accomplished, but rather as it was believed: which view the series of things down from ver. 6 proves."},{"id":"ryle.JHN.2.11.2","author":"J. C. Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-ryle","text":"John i. 14","snippet":"(John i. 14."},{"id":"ryle.JHN.3.6.2","author":"J. C. Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"ref":"John 3:6","href":"/jhn/3/#v6-ryle","text":"John i. 14","snippet":"In the first case, it means the natural body of man, as in John i. 14."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.1.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1-westcott","text":"v. 14","snippet":"At the same time these three clauses answer to the three great moments of the Incarnation of the Word declared in v. 14."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.11.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:11","href":"/jhn/1/#v11-westcott","text":"v. 14","snippet":"Nor is there anything in this interpretation which detracts from the force of v. 14. ..."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.16.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:16","href":"/jhn/1/#v16-westcott","text":"v. 14","snippet":"The addition of all here (as compared with v. 14) appears to place us in a new company."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.43.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43-westcott","text":"v. 14","snippet":"Compare vv. 43, 45 (46): v. 14."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.2.9-10.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 2:9–10","href":"/jhn/2/#v9-westcott","text":"i. 14","snippet":"Comp. i. 14, note. -His ignorance of the source from which the wine came did not lead to his inquiry, but rather gave weight to his spontaneous testimony to its excellence."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.2.11.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-westcott","text":"i. 14","snippet":"his glory'] The glory (comp. i. 14, note) is truly, inherently, Christ's glory."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.13.3","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:13","href":"/jhn/3/#v13-westcott","text":"i. 14","snippet":"Comp. i. 14, vi. 38."}],"15":[{"id":"henry.JHN.1.26.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:26","href":"/jhn/1/#v26-henry","text":"v. 15","snippet":"John gave the same account to this committee that he had given to the people (v. 15): This as he of whom I spoke."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.30-31.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:30–31","href":"/jhn/1/#v30-bengel","text":"ver. 15","snippet":"a man) Great, peerless ... prior [to me]) Notes, ver. 15. ..."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.32.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-bengel","text":"ver. 15, 27","snippet":"[comp. ver. 15, 27], were part of his demonstration [the clear proof of Jesus’ Messiahship, which John demonstrated] from the record."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.35-36.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:35–36","href":"/jhn/1/#v35-bengel","text":"ver. 15, 163","snippet":"The first the day of the record borne as to Jesus being Messiah ; ver. 15, 163; the second, the day of his testimony concerning the same Person, and at the same time as to His suffering [passion]; ver. 29, 30; the third, this day, that of the three disciples joining Him; the fourth, that of …"},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.19.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:19","href":"/jhn/1/#v19-westcott","text":"vv. 15, 6, 7","snippet":"The conjunction takes up the references already made to John's testimony : vv. 15, 6, 7."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.32.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-westcott","text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","snippet":"It is important to preserve the identity of language throughout: vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34."}],"16":[{"id":"calvin.JHN.7.38.3","author":"John Calvin","author_dates":"1509-1564","tradition":"Reformed","era":"Reformation","died":1564,"ref":"John 7:38","href":"/jhn/7/#v38-calvin","text":"John 1:16","snippet":"that we may all draw out of his fullness, (John 1:16."},{"id":"calvin.JHN.16.15.1","author":"John Calvin","author_dates":"1509-1564","tradition":"Reformed","era":"Reformation","died":1564,"ref":"John 16:15","href":"/jhn/16/#v15-calvin","text":"John 1:16","snippet":"When he says that all things that the Father hath are his, he speaks in the person of the Mediator, for we must draw out of his fullness, (John 1:16."},{"id":"henry.JHN.6.57.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 6:57","href":"/jhn/6/#v57-henry","text":"ch. i. 16","snippet":"The life of believers is had from Christ (ch. i. 16); it is hid with Christ (Col. iii. 4), we live by him as the members by the head, the branches by the root; because he lives, we shall live also."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.3.34.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 3:34","href":"/jhn/3/#v34-bengel","text":"John i. 16","snippet":"… of the Spirit is one, and that, made to Christ; under which we are contained, to whomsoever a measure is imparted, Eph. iv. 7, “ Unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ ;” John i. 16, “Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.6","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-westcott","text":"vv. 16, 17","snippet":"Each of the two elements is laid open in vv. 16, 17."}],"17":[{"id":"calvin.JHN.14.6.2","author":"John Calvin","author_dates":"1509-1564","tradition":"Reformed","era":"Reformation","died":1564,"ref":"John 14:6","href":"/jhn/14/#v6-calvin","text":"John 1:17","snippet":"… the saving light of heavenly wisdom, and by others to denote the substance of life and of all spiritual blessings, which is contrasted with shadows and figures; as it is said, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, (John 1:17."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.16.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:16","href":"/jhn/1/#v16-bengel","text":"ver. 17","snippet":"… the Baptist the event corresponded, and that the priority of office fell to Christ; for the statement in this verse is that of the Evangelist; since the Baptist would not be likely to call Jesus the Christ so openly as ver. 17 does: ..."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.14.6","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:14","href":"/jhn/1/#v14-westcott","text":"vv. 16, 17","snippet":"Each of the two elements is laid open in vv. 16, 17."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.19.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:19","href":"/jhn/1/#v19-westcott","text":"v. 17","snippet":"Thus the history is bound up with the dogmatic Prologue, the transition lying in v. 17 (Jesus Christ) ; and so the loftiest thoughts pass at once and naturally into simple facts."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"i. 17","snippet":"Comp. i. 17 note."}],"18":[{"id":"henry.JHN.1.1.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:1","href":"/jhn/1/#v1-henry","text":"v. 18","snippet":"The evangelist, in the close of his discourse (v. 18), plainly tells us why he calls Christ the Word—because he is the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and has declared him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.3.13.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 3:13","href":"/jhn/3/#v13-henry","text":"ch. i. 18","snippet":"They wrote by divine inspiration, and not of their own knowledge; see ch. i. 18."},{"id":"henry.JHN.4.24.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 4:24","href":"/jhn/4/#v24-henry","text":"ch. i. 18","snippet":"Christ came to declare God to us (ch. i. 18), and this he has declared concerning him; he declared it to this poor Samaritan woman, for the meanest are concerned to know God; and with this design, to rectify her mistakes concerning religious worship, to which …"},{"id":"henry.JHN.5.19.3","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 5:19","href":"/jhn/5/#v19-henry","text":"ch. i. 18","snippet":"This is expressed in the present tense, what he sees the Father do, for the same reason that, when he was here upon earth, it was said, He is in heaven (ch. iii. 13), and is in the bosom of the Father (ch. i. 18); as he was even then by his divine nature present in heaven, so the things done in heaven were present to his knowledge."},{"id":"henry.JHN.6.46.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 6:46","href":"/jhn/6/#v46-henry","text":"ch. i. 18","snippet":"And yet there is one intimately acquainted with the Father, he who is of God, Christ himself, he hath seen the Father, ch. i. 18."},{"id":"henry.JHN.13.23.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 13:23","href":"/jhn/13/#v23-henry","text":"ch. i. 18","snippet":"The Father loved the Son, and laid him in his bosom (ch. i. 18), and believers are in like manner one with Christ, ch. xvii. 21."},{"id":"henry.JHN.17.6.3","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 17:6","href":"/jhn/17/#v6-henry","text":"ch. i. 18","snippet":"The great design of Christ's doctrine, which was to manifest God's name, to declare him (ch. i. 18), to instruct the ignorant, and rectify the mistakes of a dark and foolish world concerning God, that he might be better loved and worshipped."},{"id":"henry.JHN.17.26.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 17:26","href":"/jhn/17/#v26-henry","text":"ch. i. 18","snippet":"The tendency of all his sermons and miracles was to advance his Father's honours, and to spread the knowledge of him, ch. i. 18."},{"id":"henry.JHN.18.37.2","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 18:37","href":"/jhn/18/#v37-henry","text":"ch. i. 18; xvii. 26","snippet":"To reveal it, to discover to the world that which otherwise could not have been known concerning God and his will and good-will to men, ch. i. 18; xvii. 26. 2."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.33.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33-westcott","text":"v. 18","snippet":"Comp. v. 18."}],"19":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.15.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15-bengel","text":"ver. 19","snippet":"From this point the testimony of John is described more at large; and the whole passage, from ver. 15 to 28, is indeed composed of two members, but, however, both parts fall on the one day: for, in ver. 19, it is not said on the following day, or any like expression: and the discourse, ver. 29, etc., which John spake on the following day, has reference to the former part of the whole passage, rather than to the latter."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.28.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:28","href":"/jhn/1/#v28-bengel","text":"ver. 19","snippet":"in Bethabara) Therefore they had come a long way, ver. 19. ... beyond, in relation to Jerusalem. ... where) Where he was wont to baptize. ..."},{"id":"ryle.JHN.4.1.1","author":"J. C. Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"ref":"John 4:1","href":"/jhn/4/#v1-ryle","text":"John i. 19","snippet":"(John i. 19—28."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.32.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-westcott","text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","snippet":"It is important to preserve the identity of language throughout: vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34."}],"20":[{"id":"henry.JHN.10.24.3","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 10:24","href":"/jhn/10/#v24-henry","text":"ch. i. 20","snippet":"… tell us plainly, not by parables, as, I am the light of the world, and the good Shepherd, and the like, but totidem verbis—in so many words, either that thou art the Christ, or, as John Baptist, that thou art not,\" ch. i. 20."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.8.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:8","href":"/jhn/1/#v8-westcott","text":"v. 20","snippet":"From this passage and other similar passages (v. 20, iii. 26 ff.) it has been plausibly argued that the Evangelist was familiar with some who unduly exalted the Baptist. ..."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"vv. 20, 25","snippet":"Compare v. 38 (Rabbi), note, v. 42 (Cephas); and contrast vv. 20, 25."}],"21":[{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.8.1","author":"J. C. Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"ref":"John 1:8","href":"/jhn/1/#v8-ryle","text":"John i. 21","snippet":"\"That prophet.\" John i. 21—25."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.3","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-westcott","text":"v. 21","snippet":"The explanation which has been given of the definite article appears to be the most simple ; but it is possible that the article may represent some earlier and well-known use of the phrase, as in \" the prophet \" (v. 21), \" the root of David\" (Rev. v. 5)."}],"22":[],"23":[{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-westcott","text":"v. 23","snippet":"The emphatic insertion of the pronoun ... throughout the section is remarkable : I am the voice (v. 23); / baptize (v. 26); / am not worthy (v. 27); of whom I said (v. 30); I knew him not (vv. 31, 33); I came (v. 31); I have seen (v. 34)."}],"24":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.4.1-2.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 4:1–2","href":"/jhn/4/#v1-bengel","text":"i. 24","snippet":"knew) even though none told Him the fact. ... heard) Comp. ch. iii. 25, 26. ... the Pharisees) who were likely to be displeased at it: ch. i. 24, “They which were sent to John, were of the Pharisees :” for the Pharisees’ wish was, that disciples should join themselves : Matt. xxiii. 15, “ Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte.” ... more) See again, ch. …"}],"25":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.19.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:19","href":"/jhn/1/#v19-bengel","text":"ver. 25","snippet":"Otherwise the embassy would have been sent earlier. ... that they should ask) in the public name, ch. v. 38 [Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth]. ... who art thou?) with that baptism of thine, ver. 25."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.21.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:21","href":"/jhn/1/#v21-bengel","text":"ver. 25","snippet":"Yet they supposed Him not only to be distinct from Christ, but even inferior to Elias, as is evident from the gradually descending climax here, and in ver. 25 [Christ—Elias— that prophet]: although the people afterwards regarded the prophet as the same as Messiah the King, ch. vi. 14, 15 [Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth …"},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"vv. 20, 25","snippet":"Compare v. 38 (Rabbi), note, v. 42 (Cephas); and contrast vv. 20, 25."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.5.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:5","href":"/jhn/3/#v5-westcott","text":"i. 25","snippet":"If further we regard the specific Biblical ideas . of water and spirit, when they are separated, it will be seen that water symbolizes purification (comp. i. 25, note) and spirit quickening : the one implies a definite external rite, the other indicates an energetic internal operation."}],"26":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.30-31.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:30–31","href":"/jhn/1/#v30-bengel","text":"ver. 26","snippet":"I knew Him not by face, just as yourselves [knew Him not], ver. 26."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-westcott","text":"v. 26","snippet":"The emphatic insertion of the pronoun ... throughout the section is remarkable : I am the voice (v. 23); / baptize (v. 26); / am not worthy (v. 27); of whom I said (v. 30); I knew him not (vv. 31, 33); I came (v. 31); I have seen (v. 34)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.31.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:31","href":"/jhn/1/#v31-westcott","text":"v. 26","snippet":"I (emphatic), his precursor, trained for my work in the deserts (Luke i. 80) till the day for my mission came, knew Him not as Messiah (v. 26)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.51.3","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51-westcott","text":"vv. 26","snippet":"By the use of this title the Lord completes the revelation of His Person, which has been unfolded step by step in the narrative of this chapter, in which He has been acknowledged as the greater Successor of the Baptist (vv. 26 f.), the Lamb of God (w. 29, 36), the Son of God (-v-v. 34, 49), the Messiah (w. 41, 45), the King of Israel (v. 49)."}],"27":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.32.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-bengel","text":"ver. 15, 27","snippet":"[comp. ver. 15, 27], were part of his demonstration [the clear proof of Jesus’ Messiahship, which John demonstrated] from the record."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-westcott","text":"v. 27","snippet":"The emphatic insertion of the pronoun ... throughout the section is remarkable : I am the voice (v. 23); / baptize (v. 26); / am not worthy (v. 27); of whom I said (v. 30); I knew him not (vv. 31, 33); I came (v. 31); I have seen (v. 34)."}],"28":[{"id":"henry.JHN.10.40.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 10:40","href":"/jhn/10/#v40-henry","text":"ch. i. 28","snippet":"He did not go thither merely for his own security, but to do good there; and he chose to go thither, where John at first baptized (ch. i. 28), because there could not but remain some impressions of John's ministry and baptism thereabouts, which would dispose them to receive Christ and his doctrine; for it was not three years since John was baptizing, and …"},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.24.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:24","href":"/jhn/1/#v24-bengel","text":"ver. 28, 45","snippet":"… as to place, as to occasions, as to ends, as to effects, as to hindrances, of things, actions and speeches, and similar decisions, by means of which the subjects, which are in hand, may the more clearly be understood, ver. 28, 45; il, 24; iv. 8; vi. 4; vii. 5, 39; viii. 20, 27; ix. 14, 22; x. 22, 23; xi. 13, 30: xii. 33."}],"29":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.6.51.2","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 6:51","href":"/jhn/6/#v51-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 29","snippet":"( c. i. 29."},{"id":"henry.JHN.19.36.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 19:36","href":"/jhn/19/#v36-henry","text":"ch. i. 29","snippet":"He is the Lamb of God (ch. i. 29), and, as the true passover, his bones were kept unbroken."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.15.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15-bengel","text":"ver. 29","snippet":"… the whole passage, from ver. 15 to 28, is indeed composed of two members, but, however, both parts fall on the one day: for, in ver. 19, it is not said on the following day, or any like expression: and the discourse, ver. 29, etc., which John spake on the following day, has reference to the former part of the whole passage, rather than to the latter."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.32.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-bengel","text":"ver. 29","snippet":"The words which follow [comp. ver. 34] were part of his record [testimony]: the words which are spoken, ver. 29, etc."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.35-36.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:35–36","href":"/jhn/1/#v35-bengel","text":"ver. 29, 30","snippet":"The first the day of the record borne as to Jesus being Messiah ; ver. 15, 163; the second, the day of his testimony concerning the same Person, and at the same time as to His suffering [passion]; ver. 29, 30; the third, this day, that of the three disciples joining Him; the fourth, that of Philip and Nathanael being brought over to Him, ver. 43."},{"id":"ryle.JHN.3.16.2","author":"J. C. Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"ref":"John 3:16","href":"/jhn/3/#v16-ryle","text":"John i. 10, 29","snippet":"The word, in my opinion, is so used in John i. 10, 29 ; vi. 33, 51 ; viii. 12. — Rom. iii. 19.— 2 Cor. v. 19.— 1 John ii. 2; iv."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.36.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:36","href":"/jhn/1/#v36-westcott","text":"v. 29","snippet":"as he walked] no longer \"coming unto him\" (v. 29), but evidently (37, 38) going away."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.36.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:36","href":"/jhn/1/#v36-westcott","text":"v. 29","snippet":"The words are not at this time a new revelation (as -v. 29) and therefore the explanatory clause is omitted."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.17.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:17","href":"/jhn/3/#v17-westcott","text":"i. 29","snippet":"Comp. ch. i. 29 ; 1 John ii. a)."}],"30":[{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.35-36.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:35–36","href":"/jhn/1/#v35-bengel","text":"ver. 29, 30","snippet":"The first the day of the record borne as to Jesus being Messiah ; ver. 15, 163; the second, the day of his testimony concerning the same Person, and at the same time as to His suffering [passion]; ver. 29, 30; the third, this day, that of the three disciples joining Him; the fourth, that of Philip and Nathanael being brought over to Him, ver. 43."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-westcott","text":"v. 30","snippet":"The emphatic insertion of the pronoun ... throughout the section is remarkable : I am the voice (v. 23); / baptize (v. 26); / am not worthy (v. 27); of whom I said (v. 30); I knew him not (vv. 31, 33); I came (v. 31); I have seen (v. 34)."}],"31":[{"id":"henry.JHN.1.30.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:30","href":"/jhn/1/#v30-henry","text":"v. 30, 31","snippet":"That this was he of whom he had spoken before (v. 30, 31): This is he, this person whom I now point at, you see where he stands, this is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-westcott","text":"vv. 31, 33","snippet":"The emphatic insertion of the pronoun ... throughout the section is remarkable : I am the voice (v. 23); / baptize (v. 26); / am not worthy (v. 27); of whom I said (v. 30); I knew him not (vv. 31, 33); I came (v. 31); I have seen (v. 34)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.33.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33-westcott","text":"v. 31","snippet":"The phrase is solemnly repeated from v. 31."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.2.11.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-westcott","text":"i. 31","snippet":"The word ... is frequent in St John, ch. i. 31, vii. 4, xxi. i, &c."}],"32":[{"id":"calvin.JHN.2.11.1","author":"John Calvin","author_dates":"1509-1564","tradition":"Reformed","era":"Reformation","died":1564,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-calvin","text":"John 1:32","snippet":"… angels announced to the shepherds that he was born in Bethlehem, (Luke 2:8,) when the star appeared to the Magi, (Matthew 2:2,) when the Holy Spirit descended on him in the shape of a dove, (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; John 1:32,) though these were miracles, yet, strictly speaking, they were not performed by him; but the Evangelist now speaks of the miracles of which he was himself the Author."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.33.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33-westcott","text":"v. 32","snippet":"remaining] abiding, as v. 32."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.34.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:34","href":"/jhn/1/#v34-westcott","text":"v. 32","snippet":"Rather, I (emphatic) have seen as a fact, without the accessory notion of attentive observation (v. 32), and have given my witness that..."}],"33":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.5.34.1","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 5:34","href":"/jhn/5/#v34-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 33","snippet":"( c. i. 33."},{"id":"henry.JHN.1.32.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-henry","text":"v. 32-34","snippet":"Now, to assure us of the truth of it, we are here told (v. 32-34),"},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-westcott","text":"vv. 31, 33","snippet":"The emphatic insertion of the pronoun ... throughout the section is remarkable : I am the voice (v. 23); / baptize (v. 26); / am not worthy (v. 27); of whom I said (v. 30); I knew him not (vv. 31, 33); I came (v. 31); I have seen (v. 34)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.31.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:31","href":"/jhn/1/#v31-westcott","text":"vv. 26, 33","snippet":"The order of the words differs from that in vv. 26, 33, so that the subordinate character of his baptism is here the predominant idea."}],"34":[{"id":"henry.JHN.1.32.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-henry","text":"v. 32-34","snippet":"Now, to assure us of the truth of it, we are here told (v. 32-34),"},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.32.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-bengel","text":"ver. 34","snippet":"The words which follow [comp. ver. 34] were part of his record [testimony]: the words which are spoken, ver. 29, etc."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.20.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:20","href":"/jhn/1/#v20-westcott","text":"v. 34","snippet":"… insertion of the pronoun ... throughout the section is remarkable : I am the voice (v. 23); / baptize (v. 26); / am not worthy (v. 27); of whom I said (v. 30); I knew him not (vv. 31, 33); I came (v. 31); I have seen (v. 34)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.32.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:32","href":"/jhn/1/#v32-westcott","text":"vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34","snippet":"It is important to preserve the identity of language throughout: vv. 7, 8, 15, 19, 34."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.49.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:49","href":"/jhn/1/#v49-westcott","text":"v. 34","snippet":"the Son of God] The words are an echo of the testimony of the Baptist (v. 34)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.51.3","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51-westcott","text":"v. 34, 49","snippet":"… His Person, which has been unfolded step by step in the narrative of this chapter, in which He has been acknowledged as the greater Successor of the Baptist (vv. 26 f.), the Lamb of God (w. 29, 36), the Son of God (-v-v. 34, 49), the Messiah (w. 41, 45), the King of Israel (v. 49)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.26.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:26","href":"/jhn/3/#v26-westcott","text":"i. 34","snippet":"The original expresses not only the fact, \"barest witness,\" but by the perfect, \"thou hast borne witness,\" marks the testimony as being yet effective: ch. i. 34."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.29.3","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:29","href":"/jhn/3/#v29-westcott","text":"i. 34","snippet":"Comp. i. 34."}],"35":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.6-8.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:6–8","href":"/jhn/1/#v6-westcott","text":"vv. 35","snippet":"… a Nazarite — was the completed type of the Prophet (Matt. xi. 9 f. and parallels) ; and it was by the Baptist, an interpreter of the Old Dispensation and herald of the New, that St John himself was guided to Christ (vv. 35 ff.)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.19-34.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:19–34","href":"/jhn/1/#v19-westcott","text":"vv. 29, 35","snippet":"This follows both from the record of time (vv. 29, 35, &c.), and from the fact that the Baptist already \" knew \" Jesus as the Christ (v. 26, \" whom ye know not."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.40.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:40","href":"/jhn/1/#v40-westcott","text":"v. 35","snippet":"The other being St John; v. 35, note."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"vv. 35, 43","snippet":"All this evidently took place on the same day (vv. 35, 43). findeth] The use of the word in this chapter is most remarkable."}],"36":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.15.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:15","href":"/jhn/1/#v15-bengel","text":"ver. 29, 36","snippet":"Therefore John in testifying of Him, and crying out [ver. 15], This is He of whom I spake, must either then have had Jesus before his eyes, after He had returned from the wilderness—comp. ver. 29, 36, “ John seeth Jesus coming unto Him: looking upon Jesus as He walked”—or at least have heard previously striking reports concerning Him."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.29.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-bengel","text":"ver. 36, 43","snippet":"In this place, it seems, Jesus began to walk publickly, ver. 36, 43, after His return from the wilderness full of victory (we say flushed with victory, victoriae plenum) Jesus came to John in such a way, that John could point Him out close at hand: and yet Jesus did not begin the …"},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-westcott","text":"v. 36","snippet":"Compare -v. 36."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.42.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42-westcott","text":"v. 36","snippet":"beheld him] Comp. v. 36 note."}],"37":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."}],"38":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"v. 38","snippet":"The verb stands first, thus giving prominence to the search (v. 38) now joyously ended."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"v. 38","snippet":"Compare v. 38 (Rabbi), note, v. 42 (Cephas); and contrast vv. 20, 25."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.3.2.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 3:2","href":"/jhn/3/#v2-westcott","text":"i. 38","snippet":"Rabbi] Such a style of address in the mouth of Nicodemus (v. 10) is significant (comp. i. 38)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.4.31.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 4:31","href":"/jhn/4/#v31-westcott","text":"i. 38","snippet":"Master] The original preserves the Hebrew form Rabbi (comp. i. 38) which has been translated here and in ix. 2, xi. 8."}],"39":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.46.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:46","href":"/jhn/1/#v46-bengel","text":"ver. 39","snippet":"What Jesus the day before had replied to the disciples [ver. 39], “ Come and see” : that now Philip replies to others. ... see, i.e. you will see."},{"id":"ryle.JHN.4.6.3","author":"J. C. Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"ref":"John 4:6","href":"/jhn/4/#v6-ryle","text":"John i. 39","snippet":"They say, therefore, that when the disciples followed Jesus, (John i. 39,) at the tenth hour, it was ten o'clock in the morning, and when the fever left the ruler's son at the seventh hour, it was seven o'clock in the evening."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.28.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:28","href":"/jhn/1/#v28-westcott","text":"v. 39","snippet":"Comp. viii. 18, v. 39, xi. i."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.38.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:38","href":"/jhn/1/#v38-westcott","text":"v. 39","snippet":"dwellest] Rather abide st, as -v. 39 (dwelt, abode)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.46.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:46","href":"/jhn/1/#v46-westcott","text":"v. 39","snippet":"Come and see] Compare v. 39."}],"40":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.35.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:35","href":"/jhn/1/#v35-westcott","text":"v. 40","snippet":"One of them is identified (v. 40) as Andrew; and the other was evidently the Evangelist."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.46.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:46","href":"/jhn/1/#v46-westcott","text":"v. 40","snippet":"See Wetstein on v. 40."}],"41":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.45.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45-westcott","text":"v. 41","snippet":"This form of the sentence (contrast v. 41) seems to imply that Philip and Nathanael had often dwelt on the Old Testament portraiture of Messiah."}],"42":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.41.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-bengel","text":"ver. 42","snippet":"They had learned from John, that He was close at hand. ... which) This is an addition of the Evangelist, as at ver. 42."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.36.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:36","href":"/jhn/1/#v36-westcott","text":"v. 42","snippet":"The word ... describes one penetrating glance, as again in v. 42, the only other place where it is found in St John."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"v. 42","snippet":"Compare v. 38 (Rabbi), note, v. 42 (Cephas); and contrast vv. 20, 25."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.47.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:47","href":"/jhn/1/#v47-westcott","text":"v. 42","snippet":"The future growth of St Peter had formed the main topic of Christ's welcome to him (v. 42), as here the present character of Nathanael."}],"43":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.29.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-bengel","text":"ver. 36, 43","snippet":"In this place, it seems, Jesus began to walk publickly, ver. 36, 43, after His return from the wilderness full of victory (we say flushed with victory, victoriae plenum) Jesus came to John in such a way, that John could point Him out close at hand: and yet Jesus did not begin the …"},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.35-36.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:35–36","href":"/jhn/1/#v35-bengel","text":"ver. 43","snippet":"… the same Person, and at the same time as to His suffering [passion]; ver. 29, 30; the third, this day, that of the three disciples joining Him; the fourth, that of Philip and Nathanael being brought over to Him, ver. 43."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"vv. 35, 43","snippet":"All this evidently took place on the same day (vv. 35, 43). findeth] The use of the word in this chapter is most remarkable."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.47.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:47","href":"/jhn/1/#v47-westcott","text":"v. 43","snippet":"It will be noticed how the Lord interprets the thoughts of all whom He meets in these opening chapters of St John: St Peter (T;. 42), St Philip (v. 43), Nathanael (v. 47), the Blessed Virgin (ii. 4), Nicodemus (iii.), the Woman of Samaria (iv.)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.4.23.4","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 4:23","href":"/jhn/4/#v23-westcott","text":"i. 43","snippet":"Comp. i. 43 (findeth), note."}],"44":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"henry.JHN.11.1-2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 11:1–2","href":"/jhn/11/#v1-henry","text":"ch. i. 44","snippet":"It is here called the town of Mary and Martha, that is, the town where they dwelt, as Bethsaida is called the city of Andrew and Peter, ch. i. 44."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.41.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-bengel","text":"ver. 44","snippet":"… more frequently [than elsewhere ]. ... first) It is to be presumed, that both of them sought Simon by different roads. ... his brother) He afterwards became superior to Andrew, who, it is probable, was the elder born ; ver. 44 [the order there is, “ Andrew and Peter” ]. ... we have found) ver. 45, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write” [Philip to Nathanael]."}],"45":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"henry.JHN.14.9.2","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 14:9","href":"/jhn/14/#v9-henry","text":"ch. i. 45","snippet":"Philip, the first day he came to him, declared that he knew him to be the Messiah (ch. i. 45), and yet to this day did not know the Father in him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.21.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2-henry","text":"ch. i","snippet":"Nathanael is mentioned as one of them, whom we have not met with since, ch. i."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.24.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:24","href":"/jhn/1/#v24-bengel","text":"ver. 28, 45","snippet":"… as to place, as to occasions, as to ends, as to effects, as to hindrances, of things, actions and speeches, and similar decisions, by means of which the subjects, which are in hand, may the more clearly be understood, ver. 28, 45; il, 24; iv. 8; vi. 4; vii. 5, 39; viii. 20, 27; ix. 14, 22; x. 22, 23; xi. 13, 30: xii. 33."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.41.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-bengel","text":"ver. 45","snippet":"… both of them sought Simon by different roads. ... his brother) He afterwards became superior to Andrew, who, it is probable, was the elder born ; ver. 44 [the order there is, “ Andrew and Peter” ]. ... we have found) ver. 45, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write” [Philip to Nathanael]."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.41.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:41","href":"/jhn/1/#v41-westcott","text":"v. 45","snippet":"It occurs again in this verse and in 43 (44), and twice in v. 45 (46)."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.43.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:43","href":"/jhn/1/#v43-westcott","text":"vv. 43, 45","snippet":"Compare vv. 43, 45 (46): v. 14."}],"46":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.4.45.1","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 4:45","href":"/jhn/4/#v45-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 46","snippet":"( c. i. 46 ), and another, “Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet."},{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.7.40-43.1","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 7:40–43","href":"/jhn/7/#v40-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 46","snippet":"( c. i. 46."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"henry.JHN.21.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2-henry","text":"ch. i","snippet":"Nathanael is mentioned as one of them, whom we have not met with since, ch. i."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.47.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:47","href":"/jhn/1/#v47-bengel","text":"ver. 46","snippet":"Nathanael had been hasty; ver. 46, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"},{"id":"bengel.JHN.4.43-44.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 4:43–44","href":"/jhn/4/#v43-bengel","text":"i. 46","snippet":"His own country) John presupposes it as a fact known, from ch. i. 46, [Nathanael] “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” xix. 19, [the inscription over the cross, which would be well known] “Jesus of Nazareth,” etc., and from the other evangelists, that Nazareth was the country of …"},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.45.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45-westcott","text":"v. 46","snippet":"Comp. v. 46."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.4.22.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 4:22","href":"/jhn/4/#v22-westcott","text":"i. 46","snippet":"Comp. i. 46, note, vii. 22, 52, (x. 16)."}],"47":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"henry.JHN.3.21.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 3:21","href":"/jhn/3/#v21-henry","text":"ch. i. 47","snippet":"… short of doing good, the good he would do, yet he doeth truth, he aims honestly; he has his infirmities, but holds fast his integrity; as Gaius, that did faithfully (3 John 5), as Paul (2 Cor. i. 12), as Nathanael (ch. i. 47), as Asa, 1 Kings xv. 14."},{"id":"henry.JHN.6.64-65.2","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 6:64–65","href":"/jhn/6/#v64-henry","text":"ch. i. 47","snippet":"… believed, and who of the twelve should betray him; he knew from the beginning of their acquaintance with him, and attendance on him, when they were in the hottest pang of their zeal, who were sincere, as Nathanael (ch. i. 47), and who were not."},{"id":"henry.JHN.21.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2-henry","text":"ch. i","snippet":"Nathanael is mentioned as one of them, whom we have not met with since, ch. i."},{"id":"ryle.JHN.1.42.1","author":"J. C. Ryle","author_dates":"1816-1900","tradition":"Anglican (Evangelical)","era":"The 1800s","died":1900,"ref":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42-ryle","text":"ver. 47","snippet":"The same knowledge appears again in His address to Nathanael, in this chapter, ver. 47, and in His conversation with the Samaritan woman."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-westcott","text":"v. 47","snippet":"Compare v. 47, xix. 5, 14; and contrast Luke xxiv. 39."}],"48":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"henry.JHN.16.30.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 16:30","href":"/jhn/16/#v30-henry","text":"ch. i. 48, 49","snippet":"… the faith of the disciples here, as it made the first impression upon the woman of Samaria that Christ told her all the things that ever she did (ch. iv. 29), and upon Nathanael that Christ saw him under the fig-tree, ch. i. 48, 49."},{"id":"henry.JHN.21.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2-henry","text":"ch. i","snippet":"Nathanael is mentioned as one of them, whom we have not met with since, ch. i."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.42.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:42","href":"/jhn/1/#v42-bengel","text":"ver. 48","snippet":"Simon, son of Jona) These names no one had told the Saviour: and so by this address by name He took complete possession of Peter; comp. ver. 48 [His similarly winning Nathanael by showing His omniscience, “ Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, Tsaw thee.” ..."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.45.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:45","href":"/jhn/1/#v45-bengel","text":"ver. 48","snippet":"He was certainly a friend of the Lord equally dear [to Him], as a friend can be dear to a prince, though not employed on his embassies. ... saith) with a loud voice, ver. 48, and a joyous voice. ... we have found) I, Andrew, and Peter."}],"49":[{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"henry.JHN.9.35.2","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 9:35","href":"/jhn/9/#v35-henry","text":"ch. i. 49","snippet":"See ch. i. 49, Thou art the Son of God, that is, the true Messiah."},{"id":"henry.JHN.16.30.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 16:30","href":"/jhn/16/#v30-henry","text":"ch. i. 48, 49","snippet":"… the faith of the disciples here, as it made the first impression upon the woman of Samaria that Christ told her all the things that ever she did (ch. iv. 29), and upon Nathanael that Christ saw him under the fig-tree, ch. i. 48, 49."},{"id":"henry.JHN.21.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2-henry","text":"ch. i","snippet":"Nathanael is mentioned as one of them, whom we have not met with since, ch. i."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.43-44.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:43–44","href":"/jhn/1/#v43-bengel","text":"ver. 49","snippet":"Bethsaida) This seems to be mentioned for this reason, because Nathanael’s native country was neighbouring, ver. 49, ch. xxi. 2, “ Nathanael of Cana in Galilee.”"},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.51.3","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:51","href":"/jhn/1/#v51-westcott","text":"v. 34, 49","snippet":"… His Person, which has been unfolded step by step in the narrative of this chapter, in which He has been acknowledged as the greater Successor of the Baptist (vv. 26 f.), the Lamb of God (w. 29, 36), the Son of God (-v-v. 34, 49), the Messiah (w. 41, 45), the King of Israel (v. 49)."}],"50":[{"id":"chrysostom.JHN.6.61-62.1","author":"John Chrysostom","author_dates":"c. 347-407","tradition":"Patristic (Greek East)","era":"Early church","died":407,"ref":"John 6:61–62","href":"/jhn/6/#v61-chrysostom","text":"c. i. 50","snippet":"( c. i. 50."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"henry.JHN.21.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2-henry","text":"ch. i","snippet":"Nathanael is mentioned as one of them, whom we have not met with since, ch. i."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.2.11.2","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-bengel","text":"i. 50","snippet":"They believed the more fully [comp. ch. i. 50, “ Because I said, etc., believest thou?"}],"51":[{"id":"henry.JHN.1.50.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 1:50","href":"/jhn/1/#v50-henry","text":"v. 50, 51","snippet":"Christ hereupon raises the hopes and expectations of Nathanael to something further and greater than all this, v. 50, 51."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:2","href":"/jhn/2/#v2-henry","text":"ch. 1","snippet":"The disciples also were invited, those five whom he had called ( ch. 1), for as yet he had no more; they were his family, and were invited with him."},{"id":"henry.JHN.2.11.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 2:11","href":"/jhn/2/#v11-henry","text":"ch. i.","snippet":"Those whom he had called (ch. i.), who had seen no miracle, and yet followed him, now saw this, shared in it, and had their faith strengthened by it."},{"id":"henry.JHN.21.2.1","author":"Matthew Henry","author_dates":"1662-1714","tradition":"English Nonconformist (Presbyterian)","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1714,"ref":"John 21:2","href":"/jhn/21/#v2-henry","text":"ch. i","snippet":"Nathanael is mentioned as one of them, whom we have not met with since, ch. i."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.1.47.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 1:47","href":"/jhn/1/#v47-bengel","text":"ver. 51","snippet":"concerning Him, not immediately to Him ... truly) An affirmation showing intimate knowledge. ... an Israelite) one worthy to see angels ascending and descending, as Jacob did [on the ladder in his dream], ver. 51; comp."},{"id":"bengel.JHN.2.1.1","author":"Johann Albrecht Bengel","author_dates":"1687-1752","tradition":"Lutheran Pietist","era":"Puritans and the 1700s","died":1752,"ref":"John 2:1","href":"/jhn/2/#v1-bengel","text":"i. 51","snippet":"On the third day after the promise given, ch. i. 51."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.29.3","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:29","href":"/jhn/1/#v29-westcott","text":"v. 51","snippet":"Gen. xlix. 9) is not less singular ; and, according to many (but see Note on -v. 51), the title \"the Son of man\" rests upon the single passage of Daniel (vii. 13) in the Old Testament."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.33.2","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:33","href":"/jhn/1/#v33-westcott","text":"v. 51","snippet":"As \" the Son of Man\" (comp. v. 51), Christ was thus \"consecrated to His public Work."},{"id":"westcott.JHN.1.47.1","author":"B. F. Westcott","author_dates":"1825-1901","tradition":"Anglican","era":"The 1800s","died":1901,"ref":"John 1:47","href":"/jhn/1/#v47-westcott","text":"v. 51","snippet":"There is already here a reference to Jacob's victories of faith (v. 51), which is made yet clearer by the second clause."}]}}