It

Spirit was even then in operation; the life was begun. is in operation still; nor shall it cease till the end come, and all who have been the subjects of it enter into the full fruition of that life of which this quickening was the commencement. And our Lord adds a remark relative to His own Divine power. Again He refers to that equal sharing of authority between the Father and the Son, which is the main topic of the discourse. That life-giving power which He shared with the Father from all eternity, was by the Father given and continued to Him when He came down to earth. Then He takes up that other point which He is intent on proving, the authority also to execute judgment. This delegating of authority refers to our Lord as man, just as the prerogative of quickening the dead belongs to Him as God.' He who is shortly to stand before Jewish and Roman judgment-seats, and be arraigned and condemned and crucified, shall hereafter judge His judges, judge the world. Though He is a man, indeed because He has become man, inasmuch as He is a man, He shall undertake this office."

CLIII.

THE SAME SUBJECT-continued.

St. John v. 28, 29.

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

This point of the judgment to come our Lord now takes up, and proceeds to dwell upon it, as He has already set

1 Compare the terms and titles in vv. 25 and 27. "If Christ had been a mere man, it would have been ridiculous in Him to call Himself the Son of man;' but being God and man, it then became, in His own assumption of it, a peculiar and mys

terious title. So, if Christ had been a mere man, His saying, 'My Father is greater than I, . . . would have been as unmeaning." - Coleridge, Table Talk.

2 Aug. Ser. cxxvii. 10.

forth that former point concerning His quickening power. Again He adopts the formula He was in the habit of employing, when calling attention from great and wondrous things to things greater and more wondrous still. They marvelled at what He had told them of a moral resurrection: He tells them of a physical resurrection at which they should marvel even more; not the particular resurrection of some, but the general resurrection of all; not the invisible resurrection of the soul, but the visible resurrection of the body. Not that the one is in itself more wonderful or more of a Divine work than the other, but that the former was in a measure more intelligible to them; they might have had something like an experience of it: but the latter was altogether beyond the range of their experience, almost of their imagination. The action of spirit on spirit they might in a measure comprehend, but the action of spirit upon matter they could hardly realize. And as this is altogether future,2 our Lord simply says "The hour is coming." He does not add, when speaking of the spiritual resurrection, "and now is." A time is coming-when we know not, for "of that day and hour knoweth no man "-a time fixed in the eternal mind, when the actual dead shall hear the voice of Him who, being very God, became also very Man, and shall come forth, clothed with such bodies as it shall please their Creator to give them, and shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive their sentence, of acceptance or of condemnation, according to the deeds done in the body. According as they were here, doers of good or practisers of evil, so shall be the event of their resurrection hereafter. Of the many that sleep in the dust of the earth, some shall awake, as Daniel prophecies, to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."

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1 v. 20 above. St. John i. 50; iii. 7, 9, 12.

2 Acts xvii. 31.

31 Cor. xv. 35–53.

Rev. xxii. 12. Note also another difference between the terms of vv. 25 and 28: now only those hear that will; then all shall hear, whether

they will or no.

as

The same distinction is observed in the original words of v. 29 (both rendered in the E. V. by the same word) as in S. John iii. 20, 21.

Dan. xii. 2. See also vii. 13, upon the Lord's title as Judge, and St. Matt. xxv, 31.

CLIV.

CHRIST CITES FOUR TESTIMONIES TO HIMSELF.

St. John v. 30-35.

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

Here our Lord declares that the judgment to come, of which He had been speaking, shall be according to the evidence. Men shall be judged according to their works. And this judgment is just; for Christ, the Heavenly Judge, cannot, like imperfect judges of the earth, be swayed by any private motives. The Son can have no will of His own independent of the Father.' But the Jews, His hearers, might say that this was all self-praise, that they had no witness for this but Himself, no testimony besides His own; and that, proverbially, no man is accounted an impartial, credible, and true witness in his own case. Our Lord therefore, anticipating such objection, proceeds to show, that what He had testified of Himself is confirmed by the testimony of the Father, of John the Baptist, of His own works, and of the Scriptures. First, of the Father, for He it is who is here

We may notice here the transition from the third person to the first. What our Lord had said already (vv. 19 ff.) regarding the identity in nature and attributes of the Father and the Son, was in a general way, and in the third person; such as might have been employed by another in speaking of Him: here, however, He re

peats it in the first person, asserting it directly of Himself; thus declaring Himself to be the Son of God.

2 So on another occasion our Lord similarly anticipated a complaint expressed in a proverb, St. Luke iv. 23. Further on in this Gospel we find what He here supposes actually fulfilled, St. John viii. 13.

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implied. And our Lord adds what seems to be a formula of solemn asseveration 2 as to the truth of what He has said. To this testimony of the Father our Lord reverts presently; but now He proceeds to that of John the Baptist, reminding them of their mistake and of his answer. He bare witness unto Him who is the truth.5 He bare a true witness that Jesus is the Christ. Our Lord however adds that He adduces human testimony not for His own sake, but for theirs. It is on their account, not on His own, that he appeals to John. He needs not human testimony to confirm that which the divine word and divine works proved abundantly; but He condescends to adduce what haply they might listen to, if by any means He could induce them to believe and be saved. Therefore He cites a witness for whom they professed respect. And He enlarges somewhat upon this; bearing in return a striking testimony to him; applying the term and title, which the Jews were in the habit of giving to eminent teachers, to one whom they seemed half ready to obey.

6

CLV.

THE SAME SUBJECT-continued.

St. John v. 36-40.

But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And

Law,'" &c. The original word signifies torch, derived light; not as that other word in ch. i. 18, which signifies the source of light. Augustine (Ser. cxxviii. 2) refers to Ps. cxxxii. 17. See Ex. xxvii. 20; 2 St. Pet. i. 19. Every Dâk-traveller in India is familiar with the torch of the country; an iron rod bound round with rags, and fed from time to time with oil poured on; "burning and shining."

the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

3

He appeals next to the miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst of them, as they themselves also knew. By these He accomplished the will of the Father. These bare witness that the Father had sent Him.' But as though this were not enough, our Lord taking up again what He has already glanced at,2 appeals to the direct testimony of the Father. He who sent Him bare witness that He had sent Him. True they had, as they might urge, neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape, but they had a more sure word of prophecy, and that should be enough. They had it at least in their hands, but not in their hearts. They had it, and yet they had it not. Had the word of the Father been abiding in them, instead of being overborne and silenced by their prejudices and passions, they would have believed in the Son whom He had sent. But when conscience, enlightened by the Word, whispered within them, "Is not this He of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write?" they would silence the question by some argument or answer fetched from the armoury of their ignorance or their pride. Yet, adds the Saviour, "Search the Scriptures." This is the last testimony to which He appeals, one whose authority they acknowledged, and which was in their hands. These would be found to testify concerning Him that He was what He claimed to be. From first to last they testify of Him. For "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." And the Lord thence reproves their inconsistency who think they have life in the Scriptures, and yet will not come to Him of whom the Scriptures testify that they may have life.

St. John x. 37, 32; xv. 24.

2 v. 32 above.

32 St. Pet. i. 16-19.

St. Luke xvi. 31.