explanations as if it were written by a Jew for foreign readers.1 (3) It also shows a minute acquaintance with the topography of Jerusalem, and with the geography of Palestine generally.2 Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." ix. 2: "And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?" 16: "Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because he keepeth not the sabbath. But others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them." x. 19-21: "There arose a division again among the Jews because of these words. And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the sayings of one possessed with a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" It is worthy of note that the Johannine variation from "the Pharisees and Sadducees" of the Synoptics, viz., "the chief priests and the Pharisees" (vii. 32; xi. 47, 57, &c.), finds its explanation in the fact (mentioned by Josephus, and implied in Acts v. 17) that the high priests belonged to the party of the Sadducees. Hence their unusual activity in consequence of the report that Lazarus had been raised from the dead (xii. 10), and their rudeness in debate, also mentioned by Josephus as characteristic of the Sadducees. xi. 49: "But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all." 1 (See above.) This accounts sufficiently for the frequent allusions to "the Jews" without supposing that the writer was a foreigner, especially in a place like Ephesus, where the Jews were hostile to the Christian faith. Cf. Paul's allusion to them in I Thess. ii. 14-16. from the trees"; Mark xi. 8: "branches, which they had cut from the fields"). xviii. I: "When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, himself and his disciples." 15: And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known unto the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest." xix. 13: "When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgement-seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.' 17: "And he went out, bearing the cross for himself, unto the place called The place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha." 41: "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was never man yet laid." i. 28: "These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing." i. 44: "Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter." ii. 1: 66 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee." iii. 23: "And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized." iv. 5: "So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." II: The well is deep." 20: "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain." 35: Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest." The depth of the well (fully 70 ft.), the proximity of Mount Gerizim, and the wide expanse of cornfields, are all examples of the writer's accuracy, as attested by the descriptions of modern travellers. xi. 54: 'Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed thence into the country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim." 66 66 (4) It is circumstantial in many of its statements, and graphic in its delineation of character, bearing the stamp of personal knowledge such as would be possessed by an eye-witness.1 1 Instances of minute detail are given below; but, speaking generally, we may say that it is to this Gospel we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge of the individualities of the apostles and other minor characters. Thomas, for example, would be to us merely a name, if it were not for what is recorded of him in this Gospel. The representation of Martha and Mary in chap. xi. fills up with marvellous delicacy the outline supplied by Luke x. 38-42; while in chap. ix. the character of the man born blind is evidently drawn from the life. i. 29: 'On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him." 35-43: 'Again on the morrow John was standing, and two of his disciples; and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where abidest thou? He saith unto them, Come, and ye shall see. They came therefore and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day it was about the tenth hour. One of the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ). He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him, and said, Thou art Simon the son of John: thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter). On the morrow he was minded to go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip: and Jesus saith unto him, Follow me." ii. 1: "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee." 20: "The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?" [With the help of Josephus it can be shown that Herod's temple was commenced about A. U.C. 735, i.e. B.C. 18. St Luke tells us (iii. 1) that our Lord's Baptism took place about the fifteenth year of Tiberius, which was in 781-2 A.U.C., or 28-9 A.D.-being about 47 years later. As the conversa tion referred to probably took place at the ensuing Passover, we have practically confirmation of the cursory statement in the text.]_ iv. 6: "And Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour." iv. 40: "So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them and he abode there two days." 52: "So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." vi. 16-24 (Circumstances of Christ's walking on the sea, and being sought by the multitude at Capernaum). x. 40; "And he went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John was at the first baptizing; and there he abode. xi. 6: "When therefore he heard that he was sick, he abode at that time two days in the place where he was." 39: 'Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days." xii. I: "Jesus therefore six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised from the dead." xviii. 10, 12, 13: "Simon Peter therefore having a sword drew it, and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. Now the servant's name was Malchus. So the band and the chief captain, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and bound him, and led him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was high priest that year.' xviii. 26: "One of the servants of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him?" xix. 25: "But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene." XX. I-10: "Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of 1 (5) While written in Greek, it is Hebraic in its style and structure, abounding in parallels and contrasts 1 both in expression and arrangement, and being marked by great simplicity of syntax; and it frequently quotes from the Old Testament, sometimes directly from the Hebrew.2 All that can be alleged against the apostolic authorship of the fourth Gospel, on account of its marked divergence from the other Gospels in the representation of Christ's character and teaching, is sufficiently met by the fact that "the synoptical Gospels contain the Gospel of the infant Church; that of St John the Gospel in its maturity. The first combine to give the wide experience of the many; the last embraces the deep mysteries treasured up by the one."3 the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, which came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again unto their own home.' " 1 E.g. there is a marked absence (as in Hebrew) of subordinate clauses. The usual conjunction is κaì (“and”), corresponding to the Hebrew -variously translated in our English Version, to bring out more precisely the connection in each case. The author also explains various Hebrew words, e.g. Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master)," "Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ)," Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter)" (i. 38, 41, 42). He also shows his knowledge of the Hebrew word Iscariot ("man of Kerioth") by applying the name not only to Judas himself (as in the other Gospels), but also to his father Simon (vi. 71, &c., R.V.), and alone of the Evangelists he gives Peter's patronymic as "son of John" (i. 42, &c., R.V., instead of "Bar-Jonah," Matt. xvi. 17)—meaning, according to its Hebrew original (Johanan), "son of the grace of God"-which lends new significance to our Saviour's words in addressing Peter by this name on several important occasions (i. 42; xxi. 15-17; Matt. xvi. 17). In keeping with the Hebraic character of the book is the prominence of the sacred numbers, three and seven, e.g. three Passovers (ii. 13; vi. 4; xi. 55), three visits to Galilee, three sayings on the Cross; seven miracles, seven-fold testimony to Christ, seven-fold affirmation of His claim I am" (see p. 74, notes 1, 2). .. 2 E.g. xii. 13, where John (like Matthew xxi. 9) preserves the Hebrew "Hosanna' instead of adopting the ooov on of the Septuagint (Ps. cxviii. 25). xiii. 18: "He that eateth my bread lifteth up his heel against me" (ἐπῆρεν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὴν πτέρναν αὐτοῦ), being a quotation from Ps. xli. 9, which, in the Septuagint, however, reads differently, viz., ἐμεγαλύνεν ἐπ' ἐμὲ πτερνισμόν. xix. 37: "They shall look on him whom they pierced" ("Οψονται εἰς δν ἐξεκέντησαν), being a quotation from Zech. xii. 10, which reads differently, however, in the Septuagint, viz., kal ἐπιβλέψονται πρὸς μὲ ἀνθ' ὧν κατωρχήσαντο. 3 Westcott's Introduction, chap. v. p. 253. If we suppose the fourth Gospel to have been written about 85 A.D., an interval of more than half-a-century would thus have elapsed since the death of Christ. During that time Christianity had spread into many lands and furnished subjects for reflection to many minds, while the Jewish expectations and prejudices which had clung to many of the early members of the Church had been in a great measure dissipated by the fall of Jerusalem. In these circumstances it was inevitable that the truths of the Gospel should be viewed in new lights and assume more speculative forms; and in Ephesus, as the great meeting-place of Oriental mysticism and Greek philosophy, the deeper questions and more theological aspects of the new religion would naturally claim a large measure of attention.1 We thus see that, as the other Gospels had reference to distinct types of thought for which they were severally adapted, so the fourth Gospel was designed to meet the demand for a more intellectual presentation of divine truth, which might serve as an antidote to the Gnostic speculations which were imperilling the recognition at one time of Christ's divinity, and at another time of His humanity. In God's providence a worthy exponent of this phase of the Gospel was found in the aged Apostle John, whose heart and mind had been so receptive of divine truth even in his youth as to win for him the place of closest fellowship with his Master, and who had since then enjoyed the teaching of the Holy Spirit for a longer period than any of his fellows, and amid more intellectual surroundings, and was thus singularly fitted for the great task which Providence had assigned to him.2 1 Cf. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians. (Chaps. xv., xvi.). 2 The higher social position, and, presumably, better education, of John and his brother (judging from his father's circumstances, his personal acquaintance with the high priest, and his mother's request for her two sons that they might sit the one on the right hand and the other on the left hand of the Saviour in His kingdom) are perhaps not without significance in this connec tion as helping to account for his wider 2. Date of Composition. 85-90 A.D., as indicated above. 3. Character and Contents. Many of the remarks that might have been made under this head have already found place in this chapter, and in the general discussion of the Gospels,1 where a contrast is drawn between the Synoptics and the fourth Gospel. On the whole, perhaps no fitter epithet can be found for this Gospel than that applied to it by Clement of Alexandria at the close of the second century, viz., the spiritual Gospel. It may also be described as the doctrinal or theological2 Gospel. It represents Christ's person and work not with special reference to the Past, or the Present, or the Future; but generally with reference to Eternity, in which Past, Present, and Future are alike included. Its great theme is set forth in the Prologue or Introduction, which strikes the keynote of the whole Gospel, representing Christ as the Manifestation of the divine Being, the only Source of life and light, in human form, and, as such, the object, on the one hand, of saving faith, and the occasion, on the other hand, of the world's unbelief. The whole book is an elaboration of this sublime thought, wrought out with a singular union of depth and simplicity, in close historical relation with the Lord's visits to Jerusalem at the national feasts, when He had occasion to press His claims, as the Revealer of the Father, upon the teachers of religion, discourses he attributes to the Saviour of his own leading idea of the "Word," or Logos, so prominent in his introduction, and mentioned also in his First Epistle (i. 1), and Apocalypse (xix. 13); (3) the presence in the Synoptics of germs of thought that are more fully developed in the Fourth Gospel (Matt. xi. 25-30; xxii. 41-45; Luke x. 21, 22); and (4) the circumstantial account that is given of some of the discourses, with the misunderstandings and interruptions which took place in the course of them, (e.g. chap. viii.). I Chap. ii. |