Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John Vol. 2

Contents

1. ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
2. To some it may appear far too long and full. But the
3. Divine inspiration, and is the Word of God. I entirely
4. Bible is little better than no Bible at all. Give me the
5. In preparing this Commentary I have made it a point
6. Tholuck, and Tittman, I have generally laid down their
7. Ignorance of Scripture is the root of everv error in
8. 8. The beginnings of some Christians very
9. EXPOSITOEY THOUGHTS
10. God. St. John tells us that " the Word was God." He
11. He is a strong foundation-stone, able to bear the weight of
12. It contains, firom time to time, explanatory com-
13. Several of the fathers dwell strongly on the immense import-
14. This is also shown by Suicer to be the view of Chrysostom,
15. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, was in nature, essence, and sub-
16. We must not suppose that the repetition of this second verse
17. Alford, and most modem commentators, that the expression in-
18. At this point, the remark of Bengel upon the whole passage
19. We have it in the words, " He was the true light which
20. Bake. He naade them sons and daughters of the Lord
21. Baptist's testimony, Andrew was led to beKeye in Jesus and
22. Some think, as Augustine, that Christ lighteth all that are
23. Terse and the contents of the latter part of the Ist chapter of
24. Christ gave His disciples the far higher privilege of being
25. It is to God's ftfifi^ace, preventing, calling, converting, renew-
26. He constantly manifested His divine nature during His
27. And the end for which He became flesh, was that He might
28. I and perfect man. Who, although He be God and man, yet He
29. For want of a clear understanding of this union of two natures
30. There is a difference of opinion among commentators as to the
31. Sonship now before us, we must carefully remember, is not to
32. Him without measure, full of kindness, love, and favour to man ;
33. We are taught, secondly, the vast superiority of Christ
34. He says Himself, " I and my Father are one." " He that
35. Him for His people. It is from Christ and Christ alone, that all
36. Ephes. V. 31.) In composition it also signifies " opposition,"
37. The sentence before us speaks of man, being written for man's
38. ^Baxter
39. John the Baptist was an eminent saint of God. There
40. God's promises. They were confident that they themselves
41. Jews to John than to Christ, both in tHe persons stmt, and in! . , r
42. Jjpf John the Baptist, as well as his a^earing in the wilderness,
43. He knew that the Jews were
44. Augustine says, " What John was to the first advent, Elias
45. His ministry they may nq^Jae found unprepare3?^
46. One thing is very clear from this verse. The Jews were not
47. Bengel remarks, that John is here specially "addressing
48. Let OS notice, firstly, in this passage, t/ie peculiar tuzme-^ ^
49. The sin that He took up and bore on the cross was the sin
50. Lamb of God, or have never sought Him by faith, that
51. I am aware the objection is often made, that ^^if Christ taketh
52. BrentiuB says, ''Although all the men in the world do not
53. Lord receiyed visible attestation firom heaven, and was publicly
54. He had begun from His earlyaget^ jKork miracles, neither /
55. Christian. / They describe the first beginnings of the
56. Ko sooner does Andrew become a disciple, than he tells
57. If, as many suppose, St. John was one of the two who this day
58. To apply the text, as many do, to our Lord's spiritual dwell-
59. or
60. Nifanius gives the names of three Popes who have so grossly
61. I saw thee under the fig tree, be-
62. The condescension of our Lord in living thirty years in such
63. Nathanael drew the inference that Messiah^s days were come,
64. Tyndale's, and Cranmer's versions, all render the expression as
65. Our Lord spoke of His second coming and kingdonL When He
66. Life. 4. Light. 5. The true light. 6. The only begotten of
67. On the contrary, it was intended „lo increase real joy and
68. Father in Heaven. He simply willed the change, and it
69. The one is a mere irreligious assembly for pleasure and recrea-
70. He would prove Himself the Messiah by some mighty act. And
71. Virgin Mary, and especially prayers entreating her to " command
72. At any rate the verse contains a
73. Christ*s voice, and do as He tells them, and then leave the result
74. Why does the wine after consecration taste Uke wine, jusf as it
75. John the Baptist, you hear of his strict diet, and so the first time
76. Adam and Christ, one cannot but feel that there is something
77. We see, for one thing, in this passage, how much Christ \
78. We seejlor another thing, in this passage, how men may
79. Lord saw clearly, if others around Him did not. Andrew,
80. V throughout His earthly ministry, may be doubted. We see her
81. His crucifixion, are points on which there is much difference of
82. His presence, not by exhibiting temporal power, but by insisting
83. JOHN, €HAP. II. Ill
84. They knew that Ue was light ^and they were wrong. For
85. If Both the expressions deserve particular notice, because many
86. Let it be noted, that as our Lord calls His own body a " tem-
87. Jerusalem. (jThe miracles which are related as having heenjL
88. The conversation between Christ and Nicodemus, which
89. Him, and hanged himself 1 This is a fact which ought not
90. God." Heaven may be reached without money, or rank, ^
91. And now let ns solemnly ask ourselves, Whether we
92. Rab-saris and Rab-shakeh. (2 Kinga xviii. 17.) The use of the
93. I am aware that some have thought that Nioodemus attached
94. Some think that to be "bora again,*' means to be admitted
95. No one can be literally " born of water." What then does the
96. The third, and much the least common interpretation, is to
97. There is no evading this conclusion^ unless we adopt the absurd
98. and in
99. With regard to the Lutheran writers, their avowed opinions
100. In leaving the whole subject^ there is one fact which I think
101. It is a noteworthy and striking fact^ that no doctrine has cx«
102. For another thing, it seems to me very strange to
103. Ws have in these verses the secoj^hpart of the conversa-
104. It is not true that God's love is "lower than hell." It is :-
105. The truth before us is the very foundation-stone of the
106. Nicodemus begin Bke a little child, by simply believing on Him
107. The last of these five opinions appears to me by far the most
108. The difficulty of the verse lies in the two expressions, " earth-
109. Prov. XXX. 34. According to this view, the verse must be t^en
110. The Greek word which we render *' but," I am inclined to
111. The mention of Moses, of whom the Pharisees thought so
112. The points of resemblance appear to me to be these.— .^
113. The salvation of the Gos pel is exceedingly full. It is not merely
114. Christiarjty open to the modern charges brought against it as
115. Son, that what sinner soever belie veth in Him should not perish
116. It should be observed that our Lord calls Himself " the only
117. Nicodemus another "^eaxeoly. thing." He shows him the main
118. His Son to be the salvation of the world."
119. Melancthon remarks that the sentence of God's condemnation,
120. The espression " this is the condemnation," is evidently very
121. God's siprht, and whose actions are consequently evil and un-
122. Xk whos e heart is honest, the m an wh o ja truly converted, however
123. Lord's address to Nicodemus are a most instructive test of the
124. John the Baptist were offended, bepauso the ministry of
125. Cbiist must and will become greater and greater, and
126. Lord's own eye, and by our Lord's own command, was not aa
127. Brentius, Lightfoot, and most of the Protestant commentators,
128. The changes which proper names undergo in passing from one
129. Controversies about baptism certainly appear to be among the
130. Cyril remarks on this verse, how admirably God can bring
131. Christ by a familiar illustration. In tracing it out, it is of great
132. Baw the successful progress of his mission, and seeing and hear-
133. Christ. To a decaying .chjirch the sun is going down, and the
134. They contain no truth which he was not likely to know. I sec
135. The notion of Augustine's, that "no man," in this sentence
136. Himself. As Quesnel says, **He spoke by the Holy Ghost, who
137. Spirit of the Son. As God, it is impossible that He can be
138. Son. It is that love to which our Lord refers in the words,
139. Many will go to hell, because their ministers never told them
140. But baptism was never meant to be exalted to the position
141. Our Redeemer is man as well as God, and God as well as
142. The reasons assigned for our Lord's not administering baptism
143. [He must needs go through Samaria.'] Many pious and pro-
144. Some think, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, Muscu-
145. Jesus, in the passage bef )re us, sat wearied on the well at the
146. The arrival of the Samaritan woman at this hour of the day gave
147. Sir, give me this water, that I thirst
148. Gospel. They should carefully copy their Master's exi
149. We should mark, lastly, Christie gracious willingness to
150. Pharisees, and Priests, to 'converse with and convert such a per-

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