Bible Commentaries

Agnosticism, Positivism and Materialism

John 1:1

John outstrips Genesis. He begins the record of the world anew, but starts from a deeper starting-point. In Genesis the history of the world arises out of the God of Creation. In John there is a deeper starting-point: history commences with the God of redemption.

I. This, then, is the first assertion we have to consider—Redemption is older than Creation. God the Saviour is a more fundamental fact than God the Creator. Redemption was not an incidental sequel of creation, but creation was the means to work out the eternal idea of redemption. Creation was the means of carrying out the eternal idea of redeeming love. John says in his wonderful Revelation that there stood before him the Lamb slain. Slain when? "Slain from the foundation of the world." This world was established on sacrifice.

II. The infinite reach and astounding sweep of this assertion draws our attention all the more forcibly to the uncompromising positiveness and stark dogmatism of it. There is certainly something wrong either with John or with this present generation, for the present age prides itself on being sure of as little as possible. It is typical of the age that its most pretentious system of knowledge calls itself Agnosticism, that John 1:4

If we were asked suddenly what we thought of life, what we thought of the world in which we lived, a good many of us would answer that we do not think much about it, and possibly that would be the truest answer that many of us could give. A little work, a little recreation, a little sleep—for some more, for others less, of each—that seems to be for us life. And yet we are not quite satisfied. There is a lurking suspicion that life means more; perhaps a self-consciousness that, many years ago, it did mean more to us. Is there not something wrong with such a conception of life? Has the best which we can conceive of in life no other meaning than the gaining of prizes such as we worked for at school, such as the few who are more fortunate can still gain? Surely the revelation of Jesus Christ throws a light across our conception of life; it makes such an idle view of it seem dwarfed and incomplete.

I. Think of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, coming to earth in the form of John 1:4-5

I. A Great Conception of Jesus Christ.—"In Him was life." John is not dealing with a theory, but with a fact John had pressed very closely to Him, had leaned upon His bosom and beheld His glory. There, with a clearness which forced itself upon him, was a Divine humanity. Those who assert that the incarnation of God is impossible, are bound also to assert that such a life as that of Jesus was impossible. "In Him was life." (1) The words point to "life" as the ultimate fact in the world, the basis of all things else. John saw the secret of the world when he saw Jesus Christ The invisible God stood revealed—revealed as a throbbing life. Thus the truth came. All things were made by Him, and without Him there was not anything made that was made. (2) Then there is the other truth, that the infinite life is in intimate contact with finite life. (3) And there is yet another truth, that the whole world is governed by a moral purpose. Since Christ is its life, it must find its unity and meaning in that life.

II. The Great Purpose of the Work of Jesus Christ.—"And the life was the light of men." It might seem at first sight as if there were a sudden descent, a weakening of the expression, in the transition from "life" to "light". This feeling arises partly from failing to realise what a large thought the idea of "light" is in the mind of the Apostle John. (1) In his writings it alternates with "love" as an adequate designation of the rich complexity and immaculate purity of God's moral nature. When applied to man it denotes participation in the moral nature of God. (2) Then again, light takes it natural place with John as the product of life. Christ came to save men from their sins, to reconstruct the ruined nature of John 1:5

Judging from the main portion of the history of the world, so far, justice is always in jeopardy, peace walks amid hourly pitfalls, and of slavery, misery, meanness, the craft of tyrants, and the credulity of the populace in some of their protean forms, no voice can at any time say, They are not. The clouds break a little, and the sun shines out—but soon and certain the lowering darkness falls again, as if to last for ever. Yet is there an immortal courage and prophecy in every sane soul that cannot, must not, under any circumstances, capitulate.

—Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas.

References.—I:5.—H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iii. p1. Expositor (4th Series), vol. ii. p322.

God-sent Men

John 1:6

The Lord has given to every man something which distinguishes him from every other man; find out that something; that is your business. You are not one of a mob, you have a soul, an identity, a personality of your own; you can do what nobody else can do just in the same way and in the same measure; find out what that John 1:6

"What's in a name? "says Shakespeare,—"a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." It is no disadvantage to have a common name. You may have a common name and not be a common man. The term "common man" needs definition. By the term "common man" is sometimes meant a vulgar, or an uncultivated or a low-born man—I mean an obscure John 1:8

Wesley, in his journal for1764 , tells of a woman at Walsall who wished to come and hear him, but dared not, as she had heard a great deal of evil about him. "This morning," however, she told a neighbour, "I dreamed I was praying earnestly, and I heard a voice saying, "See the eighth verse of the first chapter of St. John". I waked and got my Bible and read, He was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of that Light. I got up and came away with all my heart."

References.—I:8.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. John 1:11

As to our spiritual wants, though they exist in all, they are so feeble in themselves, and so trodden under foot, and crushed by our carnal appetites and worldly practices, you might as well expect that a field of corn, over which a regiment of cavalry has been galloping to and fro, will rise up and meet the sun, as that of ourselves we shall seek food for our spiritual wants. Even when the Bread of life came down from heaven, we turned away from it and rejected it. Even when He came to His own, His own received Him not.

—A. J. C. Hare, Guesses at Truth.

References.—I:11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii. No1055. H. A. Thomas, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. p20. C. Bradley, Faithful Teaching, p127. F. Bourdillon, Plain Sermons for Family Reading (2Series), p66. E. A. Bray, Sermons, vol. i. p22. Expositor (6th Series), vol. i. p376; ibid. vol. x. p356; ibid. vol. xii. p424. I:11-13.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi. No1212; vol. xxxviii. No2259.

John 1:12

I cannot go back to search for the shadow of the mystery under its types and figures, because the substance itself is come; and I find more enjoyment of it by simply giving myself up to that which is to be had from a Christ, not as human under Jewish prophecies, but as come in the flesh, and made man in every one who receives Him.

—William Law (Letter xxvii).

References.—I:12.—T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iii. p9. R. Allen, The Words of Christ, p173. H. D. Rawnsley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlviii. p165. T. F. Crosse, Sermons (2Series), p1. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xii. No669 and vol. xxx. No1757. Expositor (6th Series), vol. v. p46; ibid. vol. vii. pp36 , 272. I:12 , 13.—G. P. McKay, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p195. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (9th Series), p293. I:13.—Expositor (4th Series), vol. iii. pp183 , 360; ibid. vol. iv. p412; ibid. (7th Series), vol. v. p209.

The Word Made Flesh (For Christmas Day)

John 1:14

The birth of Jesus Christ has two aspects: The Nativity itself, the most stupendous fact in history; the Incarnation, a Revelation of Eternity, the great doctrine of our religion.

The birth of that little Babe in the stable of the humble inn at Bethlehem—there is the event. "The Word became flesh"—there is the doctrine, and the mystery. God became Man. He took not on Him the nature of angels, yet the angels thrilled with tumults of joy at the thought of millions of sinners who would be saved. Is not that cause enough for Christmas gladness—for a joy as that of the angels? The mystery itself we cannot fathom; of that we say: "I will seek to believe rather than to reason; to adore rather than to explain; to give thanks rather than to penetrate; to love rather than to know; to humble myself rather than to speak". And, believing it—out of the thousand lessons it involves let us take this one to our hearts: the Incarnation—the basis of all noble conceptions of human life; the grandeur of that human nature which God has given us; the sacredness, the majesty, the lofty privileges, the immeasurable possibilities of man.

I. Look at man in the light of nature. We look upwards at the myriads of planets, and a sense of our own nothingness tempts us to think of ourselves as the creatures of a passing moment, the prey of blind forces in the blinding whirl of chance. We look downwards at the earth, wrinkled with innumerable graves—the very dust composed of the decay of unnumbered organisms; and we are tempted to believe that nothing remains for us but "dust to dust". We look around, and, seeing the vanity and vileness of mankind, not savage tribes alone, but communities nominally Christian tainted by greed, by dishonesty besotted by drink, the bondslaves of base and brutal passions, we are tempted to despise our race—our own selves. It is such thoughts that drive men into the devil's gospel of despair, and lead so many to cry wearily "that life is not worth living". But—II. Turn from the shadows—face the sun! Turn your eyes from the phenomena of evil and ruin, and behold the manger cradle of Bethlehem! Look at man in the light of the Incarnation, and see how all is changed! Jesus, Who is Christ the Lord, was the Perfect John 1:14

Great is our Lord, and great is His power, Jesus the Son of God and Son of man. Ten thousand times more dazzling bright than the highest Archangel is our Lord and Christ. By birth the Only-begotten and Express Image of God; and in taking our flesh, not sullied thereby, but raising human nature with Him, as He rose from the lowly manger to the right hand of power,—raising human nature, for Man has redeemed us, Man is set above all creatures, as one with the Creator, Man shall judge man at the last day. So honoured is this earth, that no stranger shall judge us, but He who is our fellow, who will sustain our interests, and has full sympathy in all our imperfections. He who loved us, even to die for us, is graciously appointed to assign the final measurement and price upon His own work. He who best knows by infirmity to take the part of the infirm, He who would fain reap the full fruit of His passion, He will separate the wheat from the chaff, so that not a grain shall fall to the ground. He who has given us to share His own spiritual nature, He from whom we have drawn the life's blood of our souls, He our brother will decide about His brethren. In that His second coming, may He in His grace and loving pity remember us, who is our only hope, our only salvation!

—J. H. Newman.

John 1:14

St. Thomas Aquinas, for all his learning and holiness, feared thunder and lightning with an excessive shrinking. On all occasions, when assailed by this terror, he used to comfort himself with the sacred words: "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us ".

—St. Francis de Sales.

The soul's the way. Not even Christ Himself

Can save man else than as he holds man's soul;

And, therefore, did He come into our flesh,

As some wise hunter, creeping on his knees,

With a torch, into the blackness of the cave,

To face and quell the beast there—take the soul,

And so possess the whole John 1:14

Christmas approaches, a charmed time to me. I hear its music afar off—the song of the angels, the breathing of the bells, but most the Divine song from out the central glory. It has begun, it is descending in the sloping line from the Infinite—a wave ebbing from the other side of the ocean to break ere long on the high shore of the world, faint with distance..... And on Christmas morn I know that they who sleep, but their hearts wake, will hear one full carol and feel the shining of the glory; but it will not stay, only the music will linger in them all day, and the glory will brood over their heart, and some Divine sentence from the lips of the King will come up every hour to make them wonder at its depth and meaning. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

—From James Smetham's Journal.

References.—I:14.—H. H. Scullard, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix." p54. J. S. Bartlett, Sermons, p130. H. Storey, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. p371. A. Whyte, The Scottish Review, vol. iii. p525. Bishop Gore, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. p24. F. B. Cowl, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xvii. p572. H. Bonar, Short Sermons for Family Reading, p1. F. Lynch, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. p236. W. C. Wheeler, Sermons and Addresses, p35. S. H. Fleming, Fifteen Minute Sermons for the People, p138. F. G. Lee, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvi. p301. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vii. No414 , and vol. xxxi. No1862. R. W. Church, Village Sermons (2Series), p20. Bishop Magee, The Gospel and the Age, p311. J. R. Illingworth, University and Cathedral Sermons, p181. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, pt. i. p48. R. J. Campbell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvi. p400. J. Martineau, Endeavours After the Christian Life, p116. R. J. Campbell, A Faith for To-day, p197. M. G. Glazebrook, Prospice, p107. Bishop Westcott, Village Sermons, p33. F. W. Farrar, Everyday Christian Life, p298. Archbishop Alexander, Church Family Newspaper, vol. xiv. p500. Expositor (5th Series), vol. ii. p187; ibid. vol. iv. p165; ibid. vol. ix. p86; ibid. (6th Series), vol. iv. p68; ibid. vol. vii. p71; ibid. vol. ix. p365; ibid. vol. x. p172. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. John 1:16

We read of Dr. Andrew Bonar:—

"On Sabbath, the17th of October, 1830 , while quietly sitting in a room which he shared with his brothers, reading Guthrie's Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ, he began to have a "secret joyful hope," that he really believed on the Lord Jesus. The fullness and freeness of Divine grace filled his heart. "I did nothing but receive," he says. No doubt of his acceptance in Christ ever again dimmed the clearness of his faith."

—Reminiscences, p. vi.

References.—I:16.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv. No858 , vol. vii. No415 , and vol. xx. No1169. A. Whyte, The Scottish Review, vol. iii. p525. C. S. Macfarland, The Spirit Christlike, p41. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. John 1:17

"When people read, the law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Christ, do they suppose it means that the law was ungracious and untrue? The law was given for a foundation; the grace (or mercy) and truth for fulfilment;—the whole forming one glorious trinity of judgment, mercy, and truth." In a note, appended to this paragraph from Frondes Agrestes (§ 76), Ruskin declares that all his "later writings, without exception, have been directed to maintain and illustrate the great truth expressed in this passage."

References.—I17—M. Biggs, Practical Sermons on Old Testament Subjects, p10. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi. No1862. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vi. p168. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. John 1:18

Two truths are brought before us in this passage: first, that God, essential or absolute Deity, is to us, in our present state of being, invisible: secondly, that Jesus Christ is the declaration of God to men.

I. God is invisible. Why is this? (1) It is naturally impossible for what is spiritual to be perceived by sense. There are powers in nature whose influence we perceive, yet themselves we never discern—such as electricity and gravitation. Much more are we unable to discern the spiritual. (2) Yet an immediate mental or spiritual vision of God is both conceivable, and expressly revealed in Scripture. (3) But the invisibility of God seems necessary in our present life viewed as a state of trial. (4) The invisibility of God seems to be connected with the aspect of the present life as a state of training or discipline.

II. Of the invisible God, Jesus Christ is the image or manifestation. How does Jesus manifest the Father? (1) By the constitution of His person. (2) By the moral beauty of His character and life. (3) By His sufferings and death. The noblest expression of love is that in which it assumes the form of suffering or selfsacrifice.

—J. Caird, The Preachers Magazine, vol. x. p321.

The Revelation of God to Man (For Trinity Sunday)

John 1:18

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the revelation to men of God.

I. What is meant by Revelation.—Etymologically the term means the drawing aside of a veil. Now, Christians believe that all knowledge is John 1:20

In J. M. Neale's sermon for Christmas Eve, published under the title, "Confessing and not Denying," there is this seasonable passage:—"We confess at this time in another way. There are three things which we principally put up to show our joy, as it is written, "O all ye green things upon the earth, bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever". These three things are, holly, yew, and laurel. By the holly we confess what our Lord was; by the yew we confess what we ought to be; by the laurel we confess what our Lord now John 1:29

These words of the Baptist are a strong assertion of the doctrine that the Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself as a true and proper sacrifice for the sins of the world. Let us use the text for three practical purposes:—I. It may serve to direct the sinner to the source of salvation. "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." Mark the sin. That is the sharpest sting wherewith your conscience pierces you, and your most earnest anxiety is to have that removed. Here, then, is one who taketh just that away. John 1:40

What do you know about Andrew? Some of you know everything that can be known, but taking the average Christian sleeper, what does he know about Andrew? Perhaps he did not know that Andrew was an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Very few people can name the Apostles in the order in which the names occur in the New Testament; I have never met a man who could do so. That is remarkable and painfully instructive. "One of the two who heard John speak, and followed the Saviour, was Andrew." Observe, he was a disciple of John the Baptist, he belonged to an earlier dispensation, but he was an open-minded John 1:40

The Lord Jesus Christ drew to Himself men of various types and of different gifts. The leading types of human character are presented in these men who formed the nucleus of the Christian Church—reminding us that there is a place for every man in the Lord's service, whatever his bent and gifts. Andrew was the first, or possibly the second, disciple Jesus ever had; and it was a proof of his strength of character that before any one else had acknowledged Jesus to be Messiah, or had even suspected that He could be, he left his master, John the Baptist, and went with John 1:40

J. H. Newman writes: "Andrew is scarcely known except by name; while Peter has ever held the place of honour all over the Church; yet Andrew brought Peter to Christ. And are not the blessed angels unknown to the world? and is not God Himself, the Author of all good, hid from mankind at large, partially manifested and poorly glorified, in a few scattered servants here and there? and His Spirit, do we know whence It cometh, and whither It goeth? and though He has taught men whatever there has been of wisdom among them from the beginning, yet when He came on earth in visible form, even then it was said of Him, "The world knew Him not". His marvellous providence works beneath a veil, which speaks but an untrue language; and to see Him who is the Truth and the Life, we must stoop underneath it, and so in our turn hide ourselves from the world. They who present themselves at kings" courts, pass on to the inner chambers, where the gaze of the rude multitude cannot pierce; and we, if we would see the King of kings in His glory, must be content to disappear from the things that are seen. Hid are the saints of God; if they are known to men, it is accidentally, in their temporal offices, as holding some high earthly station, or effecting some mere civil work, not as saints. St. Peter has a place in history, far more as a chief instrument of a strange revolution in human affairs, than in his true character, as a self-denying follower of his Lord, to whom truths were revealed which flesh and blood could not discern."

References.—I:40.—J. Keble, Sermons far the Saints" Days, p11. Expositor (4th Series), vol. iii. p230; ibid. (6th Series), vol. ix. p125.

The Missionary Spirit (For St. Andrew's Day)

John 1:40-41

I. A Brother's Testimony.—The fact before us is most striking and instructive. Out of the three first members of the Christian Church, one at least was brought to Jesus by the private, quiet word of a relative. He seems to have heard no public preaching. He saw no mighty miracle wrought. He was not convinced by any powerful reasoning. He only heard his brother telling him that he had found a Saviour himself, and at once the work began in his soul. The simple testimony of a warm-hearted brother was the first link in the chain by which St. Peter was drawn out of the world, and joined to Christ. The first blow in that mighty work by which St. Peter was made a pillar of the Church was struck by St. Andrew's words, "We have found the Christ". II. The Missionary Spirit.—Well would it be for the Church of Christ, if all its members were more like St. Andrew! Well would it be for souls if all men and women who have been converted themselves would speak to their friends and relatives on spiritual subjects, and tell them what they have found! How much good might be done! How many might be led to Jesus, who now live and die in unbelief! The work of testifying the Gospel of the grace of God ought not to be left to clergy alone. Thousands, humanly speaking, would listen to a word from a friend, who will not listen to a sermon. Every Christian ought to be a home-missionary, a missionary to his family, children, servants, neighbours, and friends.

III. Following Christ.—Let us take heed that we are among those who really follow Christ, and abide with Him. It is not enough to hear Him preached from the pulpit, and to read of Him as described in books. We must actually follow Him, pour out our hearts before Him, and hold personal communion with Him. Then, and not till then, we shall feel constrained to speak of Him to others.

References.—I:40 , 41.—C. Bickersteth, The Gospel of Incarnate Love, p3. T. T. Carter, Oxford Lent Sermons for1868 , p97. I:40-42.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. John 1:41

"Mystical, more than magical," says Carlyle in Sartor (Book iii. chap. ii.), "is that Communing of Soul with Soul, both looking heavenward: here properly Soul first speaks with Soul; for only in looking heavenward, take it in what sense you may, not in looking earthward, does what we can call Union, mutual Love, Society begin to be possible. How true is that of Novalis: "It is certain, my Belief gains quite infinitely the moment I can conceive another mind thereof!""

References.—I:41.—C. Perren, Revival Sermons in Outline, p281. J. Keble, Sermons for the Saints" Days, p1. C. S. Home, Relationships of Life, p31. A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions, p283. C. S. Robinson, Simon Peter, p114. I:41 , 46 , 49.—Expositor (6th Series), vol. iii. p277; ibid. (7th Series), vol. vi. p288; ibid. (4th Series), vol. i. p83.

Our Business and How to Do It

John 1:42

I. Here is our business—To bring men to Jesus. (1) It is the business of the preacher. Without that what is the good of it all? Our business is a failure—and no failure is so complete and dreary—unless we do bring men really to Christ, seeking Him as their very life, and finding in Him their joy, and their strength, and their all A new creature in Christ Jesus is the only thing worth preaching for. (2) Here is the business of the Church—to bring men to Christ. Let us thank God most devoutly for all the social work that has been undertaken; and that the Churches and Society generally are being stirred to face the great social problems which press upon us. But first and foremost, our business is to bring men to Christ. (3) And because this is our business it is your business. Ask yourself today this question, "Why am I a Christian?" It is that through you some other may find the Saviour. Nothing can keep our souls in health but seeking to bring others to the Saviour.

II. The incident teaches us how to do it (1) In Andrew we have a man who has found Jesus for himself. That is his authority. Our strength for service is in our having found Jesus for ourselves. (2) Then this messenger comes fresh from communion with Jesus. He is full of it—can think or talk of nothing else. His eye flashes, his face shines, his voice rings with the music of it "Simon, we have found Christ" The best elocution is communion with Jesus Christ Get full of it, and then the message will find its way out, in tongue, and look, and attitude. (3) Look at the man himself. He was a young convert, and had no learning. He could not argue about it, and he could not preach about it—all of which was a great mercy. Because he could do nothing else he had to stick to the point—"We have found Jesus". Then again he was a man of no great ability. (4) Andrew did not wait until he could talk to a crowd. He took the message to one. The world wants something more than preaching. It wants this holy buttonholing. (5) Neither did Andrew go forth vaguely thinking that he would like to do some good and wishing that an opportunity would present itself. The hardest thing in the world to find is an opportunity for anything—if you want it, the best way is to make it. "There's Simon," said he. I will go and find him." In this business be business-like. Think of some one soul. Begin with the one that is next to you.

—M. G. Pearse, The Preacher's Magazine, vol. xi. p549.

Nature Transformed By Grace

John 1:42

St. John gives us in this verse the first sketch, as it were, of a saintly character, in which nature was transformed by grace. He sets before us a prophecy which was made to a Galilean fisherman by One who spoke with His eye on the John 1:44; Galatians 1:19

"In the earlier ages of the Church," says an eminent writer, "the generality of the Apostles enjoyed only a general commemoration, which was celebrated on1May, and called the Feast of the Apostles." But changes were made before the close of the first Christian century, and a special day was appointed for doing honour to the memory of most of the members of the Apostolic College, while others of them were associated together for some reason or other in one celebration, such, for example, as St. Simon and St. John 6:5-14) and the introduction of certain Greeks to Jesus ( John 12:20-21). But that which especially characterises St. Philip in the Gospels is his one great desire for the true knowledge of God. "Lord, show us the Father," said Philip to Jesus, "and it sufficeth us." Such was Philip's supreme desire; and in the person of Christ Himself this desire had been met. "The revelation of the Gospel," says Dr. Stier, "is not God and Christ, but God in Christ." St. James figures conspicuously in the Acts of the Apostles and in contemporary history, but nothing is distinctively recorded of him in the Gospels during the time that he. attended with the other disciples upon our Lord; immediately after His Resurrection, however, the Lord specially manifested Himself to James ( 1 Corinthians 15:7). The Epistle of James is more than enough to show his character and to distinguish him among the Apostles of Jesus; for, though Christian doctrine is rather implied than distinctly brought out, it is a storehouse of Godly morality, and proves how holily and righteously he must have lived who wrote it. In the highest sense, he was indeed "the servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ".

References.—I:45.—Expositor (6th Series), vol. iv. p448; ibid. vol. x. p407. I:45 , 46.—W. H. Hutchings, Sermon-Sketches (2Series), p303. H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No1493 , p81. I:45-49.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. John 1:46

One of the most striking characteristics of the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ when on earth was the intense care and patience with which He dealt with individuals, and His ministry in this respect is in entire contrast to all the prior dealings of God with men in the previous dispensation. It has been truly said that there are many ways to Christ, but only one way to God. Men come to Christ by many diverse pathways, but once come into His presence, they find that He and He alone is the way to God and the way to the home of God's eternal love.

I want to speak of one who came to Jesus Christ at the commencement of Christ's ministry, and of whom Jesus Christ uttered words of commendation which were applied to no other one, I mean the case of Nathanael.

I. A State of Unrest.—This man was "an Israelite indeed," "a man versed in all the teachings of the old Mosaic Law, a man doubtless devoted to the ordinances of that primary revelation of God to John 1:46

Our rank in the scale of being is determined entirely by the objects in which we are interested.

—Spinoza.

References.—I:46.—W. M. Sinclair, Words from St. Paul (2Series), p161. M. Brokenshire, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliv. p394. C. Bickersteth, The Gospel of Incarnate Love, p12. T. L. Cuyler, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi. p30. H. P. Liddon, University Sermons (2Series), p1. A Scotch Preacher, The Strait Gate, p108. Phillips Brooks, The Mystery of Iniquity, p129.

John 1:47

Nathanael, as a genuine (ἀληθῶς) Israelite, free from prejudice, is contrasted with the majority of the Jews who were stubborn, suspicious, and distrustful of Jesus their Messiah (cf). Nathanael's nature, it is implied, was unwarped. When Philip said, Come and see, he put aside his inherited prejudice and went with his friend to inquire. The absence of δόλος has been usually taken to suggest a contrast between him and Jacob or Israel, who caught at God's blessing by guile. "Ισραηλείτης at any rate, seems to convey some implicit allusion to the patriarch. But may it not be to his vision of God at Bethel ( Genesis 28:12 f.) to which there is an evident allusion in verse51 (Ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man)? Dr. Abbott, in his Johannine Grammar (pp595-596), prefers indeed to connect the phrase with the vision at Penuel ( Genesis 32:30-31). "It was there that Jacob said, I have seen God face to face; and from this fact Philo, though erroneously, explains the name of "Israel," there given to Jacob, as seeing God." Probably both visions of God to "Israel" are blended in the thought of this passage. Nathanael, this ideal, straightforward, sincere disciple, is a better Jacob, and he has a better vision of God. To the writer's mind, he is evidently the type of all genuine disciples, for the address in verse51passes into the plural, indicating that a wider circle is in view. If the guile, from which he is declared to be free (cf. Psalm 32:2), were extended to cover man's relations to his fellow-men as well as to God, an apt illustration might be found in John Wesley's remark: "I am this day thirty years old, and till this day I know not that I have met with one person of that age, except in my father's house, who did not use guile, more or less".

—James Moffatt.

References.—I:47.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxv. No2068. H. C. Beeching, Seven Sermons to Schoolboys, p24. John Watson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. p401. H. Rix, Sermons, Addresses, and Essays, p40. Expositor (7th Series), vol. v. p191.

Outside Friends of Jesus

John 1:48

Jesus Christ was always surprising His disciples by saying to this or that man whom the disciples did not know, Let him come in. The disciples sometimes gave the Master sour looks, yea, looks of distrust and utter unbelief regarding His judgment of these people. They would have turned them away; they turned the children away, and when you turn the children away you turn the mothers away, and when you turn the mothers away you turn the fathers away. They were great at turning away people. Jesus Christ said, Let him come. Lord, what! this man? Yes, this man; let him come. But we know something about him. I know more than you know. Before any Philip amongst you saw this man I saw him, the shadow of the fig-tree could not conceal him; let him come. If this be done, who knows how many people may be included in the love of Christ that we never thought of in that connection? Who can count the flock of God? See how they pour down the hills, and rise up out of the valleys, an exceeding great host, elect, chosen, foreordained, children of eternity. Yet there are some persons who think they know who are fit to come to the Lord's table and who are not. They are the persons who know exactly how Many persons the Church of God can hold. Their temple floor is only so many hundred yards long and so many hundred yards wide, and beyond that accommodation all is outside. Outside what? Even some of us may be inside and may hardly know it. There is a word of cheer for you this hot noontide in the city of London. We may hardly venture to claim to be inside, yet we may be there; His mercy whom we adore as God endureth for ever. The Lord of the feast will find room for all His guests, and the guests shall be thousands of thousands, squared and cubed up to the ever enlarging John 1:48

"Depend upon it," says James Smetham, "in many of those old illuminated books, done by pious monks, ages ago, in retired abbeys standing silent among the corn-seas, there are wrought into the border of the Gospels and other books the whole life and soul and history of the men who did them; but tenderly veiled. I trust that under the fig leaves of the margin God saw many a Nathanael at his orisons."

John 1:49

Am I to go plowthering and sniffling for years in the immeasurable mass of "evidences"? Then God help me and help nineteen-twentieths of the race! But my full heart, it replies with the distinctness of a golden bell, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.

—James Smetham.

References.—I:49.—Archbishop Basil, Addresses and Sermons, pp100,112. I:60.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxiv. No2021. I:60 , 61.—W. T. Davison, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. p69. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv. No1478. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. John , p98. I:61.—J. Keble, Sermons for the Saints" Days, p329. H. Bushnell, Christ and His Salvation, p391. Expositor (7th Series), vol. v. p477.