FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[1]I venture to call attention to the rendering "very." It enables the translator to mark the important distinction between two words: αληθης,factuallytrue and real, as opposed to that which in point of fact is mendacious; αληθινος,ideallytrue and real, that which alone realizes the idea imperfectly expressed by something else. This is one of St. John's favourite words. In regard to αγαπη I have not had the courage of my convictions. The word "charity" seems to me almost providentially preserved for the rendering of that term. It is not without a purpose that ερως is so rigorously excluded from the New Testament. [So also from the Epp. of Ignatius.] The objection that "charity" conveys to ordinary English people the notion of mere material alms is of little weight. If "charity" is sometimes a littlemetallic, is not "love" sometimes a littlemaundering? I agree with Canon Evans that the word, strictly speaking, should be always translated "charity" when alone, "love" when in regimen. Yet I have not been bold enough to put "God is charity" for "God is love."[2]Cary'sDante,Paradiso, xxv. 117. Stanley'sSermons and Essays on the Apostolic Age, 242.[3]Apoc. ii. 24.[4]John xiii. 30 cf. 1 John ii, 11.[5]εσκηνωσεν εν ἡμιν.[6]This characteristic of St. John's style is powerfully expressed by the great hymn-writer of the Latin Church."Hebet sensus exors styli;Stylo scribit tam subtili,Fide tam catholicâ,Ne de Verbo salutariPosset quicquam refragariPravitas hæretica."Adam of St. Victor, Seq.xxxii.[7]John xii. 20-34, especially ver. 24.[8]Acts i. 13.[9]Acts iii. 4, v. 13, viii. 14.[10]Gal. ii. 9.[11]Acts iii. 4, iv. 13, viii. 14. The singular and interesting manuscript of Patmos (Αι περιοδοι του θεολογου) attributed to St. John's disciple, Prochorus, seems to recognise that St. John's chief mission was not that of working miracles. Even in a kind of duel of prodigies between him and the sinister magician of Patmos, the following occurs. "Kynops asked a young man in the multitude where his father then was. 'My father is dead,' he replied, 'he went down yonder in a storm.' Turning to John, the magician said,—'Now then, bring up this young man's father from the dead.' 'I have not come here,' answered the Apostle, 'to raise the dead, but to deliver the living from their errors.'"[12]Gal. ii. 9; Acts xxi. 17,sqq.[13]John xxi. 7.[14]Ibid., vers. 17, 18, 19.[15]The beginning of old age would account sufficiently for the anticipation of death in 2 Peter i. 13, 14, 15.[16]δοξασει ver. 19. The lifelikeshall(notshould) is part of the many minute but vivid touches which make the whole of this scene so full of motion and reality—"I go a fishing" (ver. 3); "abouttwo hundred cubits" (ver. 8); the accurate αιγιαλος (ver. 4. See Trench,On Parables, 57; Stanley,Apostolic Age, 135).[17]διορατικωτερος. S. Joann. Chrysost.—Hom. in Joann.[18]Euseb. H. E., iii. 23. See other quotations in Bilson,Government of Christ's Church, p. 365.[19]Ap. Euseb. H. E., v. 20.[20]Adv. Hæres., lib. iii., ch. 1.[21]ἱερευς το πεταλον πεφορεκως—"Pontifex ejus (sc.Domini) auream laminam in fronte habens." So translated by S. Hieron.Lib. de Vir. Illust., xlv. The πεταλον is the LXX. rendering of צִיץ, the projecting leaf or plate of radiant gold (Exod. xxviii. 26, xxxix. 30), associated with the "mitre" (Lev. viii. 9). Whether Polycrates speaks literally, or wishes to convey by a metaphor the impression of holiness radiating from St. John's face, we probably cannot decide.[22]Acts xix. 20, 21. In this description of Ephesus the writer has constantly had in view the passages to which he referred in theSpeakers Commentary, N.T., iv., 274, 276. He has also studied M. Renan'sSaint Paul, chap, xii., and the authorities cited in the notes, pp. 329, 350.[23]St. John ii. 2, iv. 14.[24]"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against," etc. Eph. vi. 12-17.[25]Saint Paul, Renan, 318, 319.[26]For the almost certain reference here to the Chaldean Sybil Sambethe, see Apoc ii. 20, Archdeacon Lee's note inSpeaker's Commentary, N.T., iv. 527, 534, 535, and Dean Blakesley (art.Thyatira, Dict. of the Bible).[27]1 John iv. 1, 3.[28]1 John ii. 7, ii. 24, iii. 11; 2 John vv. 5, 6. The passage in ii. 24 is a specimen of that simple emphasis, that presentation of a truth or duty under two aspects, which St. John often produces merely by an inversion of the order of the words. "Ye—what yeheardfrom the beginning let it abide in you. If what from thebeginningye heard abide in you" (ὁ ηκουσατε απ' αρχης ... ὁ απ' αρχης ηκουσατε). The emphasis in the first clause is upon thefactof their havingheardthe message; in the second upon this feature of the message—that it was given in thebeginningof Christianity amongst them, and kept unchanged until the present time. Cf. εντολη παλαια (ii. 7) with αρχαιος = "of the early Christian time," in Polycarp,Ep. ad Philipp., i.[29]Acts xviii. 18-21. To these general links connecting our Epistles with Ephesus, a few of less importance, yet not without significance, may be added. (1) The name of Demetrius (3 John 12) is certainly suggestive of the holy city of the earth-mother (Acts xix. 24, 38). Vitruvius assigns the completion of the temple of Ephesus to an architect of the name, and calls him "servus Dianæ." (2) St. John in his Gospel adopts, as if instinctively, the computation of time which was used in Asia Minor (John iv. 6, xix. 4—Hefel.Martyrium S. Polycarp. xxi.). On the same principle he speaks in the Apocalypse of "day and night" (Apoc. iv. 8, vii. 15, xii. 10, xiv. 11, xx. 10); St. Paul, on the other hand, speaks of "night and day" (1 Tim. v. 5). It is a very real indication of the accuracy of the report of words in the Acts that, while St. Luke himself uses either form indifferently (Luke ii. 37, xviii. 2), St. Paul, as quoted by him, always says "night and day" (Acts xx. 31, xxvi. 7). (3) Is it merely fanciful to conjecture that the unusual αγαθοποιων (3 John 11) may be an allusion to the astrological language in which alone the term is ever used outside a very few instances in the sacred writers? "He only is under a good star, and has beneficent omens for his life." Balbillus, one of the most famous astrologers of antiquity, the confidant of Nero and Vespasian, was an Ephesian, and almost supreme in Ephesus, not long before St. John's arrival there. Sueton.,Neron., 36.[30]Aïa-so-Louk, a corruption of ἁγιος θεολογος,holy theologian(or ἁγια θεολογου,holy city of the theologian). Some scholars, however, assert that the word is often pronounced and writtenaiaslyk, with the common Turkish terminationlyk. SeeS. Paul(Renan, 342, note 2).[31]Bengel, on Acts xix. 19, 20, finds a reference to manuscripts of some of the synoptical Gospels and of the Epistles in 2 Tim. iv. 13, and conjectures that, after St. Paul's martyrdom, Timothy carried them with him to Ephesus.[32]Renan's curious theory that Rom. xvi. 1-16 is a sheet of the Epistle to the Ephesians accidentally misplaced, rests upon a supposed prevalence of Ephesian names in the case of those who are greeted. Archdeacon Gifford's refutation, and his solution of an unquestionable difficulty, seems entirely satisfactory. (Speaker's Commentary, in loc., vol. iii., New Testament.)[33]It has become usual to say that the Epistle does not advert to John iii. or John vi. To us it seems thateverymention of the Birth of Godisa reference to John iii. (1 John ii. 23, iii. 9, iv. 7, v. 1-4.) The word αιμα occursonceonly in the fourth Gospel outside the sixth chapter (xix. 34; for i. 13 belongs to physiology). Four times we find it in that chapter—vi. 53, 54, 55, 56. Each mention of the "Blood" in connection with our Lorddoesadvert to John vi.[34]The masc. part. οι μαρτυρουντες is surely very remarkable with the three neuters (το πνευμα, το ὑδωρ, το αιμα) 1 John v. 7, 8.[35]1 John i. 7, v. 6, 8.[36]See note A. at the end of this Discourse, which shows that there are, in truth,foursuch summaries.[37]ὁ ακηκοαμεν.[38]ὁ εωρακαμεν τοις οφθαλμοις ἡμων.[39]John xx. 20.[40]ὁ εθεασαμεθα, 1 John i. 1. The same word is used in John i. 14.[41]John xix. 27 would express this in the most palpable form. But it is constantly understood through the Gospel. The tenacity of Doketic error is evident from the fact that Chrysostom, preaching at Antioch, speaks of it as a popular error in his day. A little later, orthodox ears were somewhat offended by some beautiful lines of a Greek sacred poet, too little known among us, who combines in a singular degree Roman gravity with Greek grace. St. Romanus (A.D.491) represents our Lord as saying of the sinful woman who became a penitent,την βρεξασαν ιχνηἁ ουκ ἑβρεξε βυθοςψιλοις τοτε τοις δακρυσιν."Which with her tears, then pure,Wetted the feet the sea-depth wetted not."(Spicil. Solesmen.Edidit T. B. Pitra,S. Romanus, xvi. 13,Cant. de Passione.120.)[42]1 John i. 2. The Life with the Father = John i. 1, 14. The Life manifested = John i. 14 to end.[43]The A.V. (1 John v. 6-12) obscures this by a too great sensitiveness to monotony. The language of the verses is varied unfortunately by "bear record" (ver. 7), "hath testified" (ver. 9), "believeth not the record" (ver. 10), "this is the record" (ver. 11).[44]1 John ii. 2-29, iii. 7, iv. 3, v. 20.[45]John xv. 26.[46]John xiv., xv., xvi., Cf. vii. 39. The witness of the Spirit in the Apostolic ministry will be found John xx. 22.[47]John i. 19.[48]John i. 16, 31, 33.[49]John ii. 9, iv. 46.[50]John iii. 5.[51]John iv. 5, 7, 11, 12, v. 1, 8, vi. 19, vii. 35, 37, ix. 7, xiii. 1, 14, xix. 34, xxi. 1, 8. In the other great Johannic book water is constantly mentioned. Apoc. vii. 7, xiv. 7, xvi. 5, xxi. 6, xxii. 1, xxii. 17. (Cf. the το ὑδωρ, Acts x. 47.)[52]John i. 19, 29, 32, 34, 35, 36, 41, 45, 47, xix. 27.[53]John xv. 27.[54]John iii. 2. The Baptist's final witness (iii. 25, 33, iv. 39, 42, v. 15, vi. 68, 69, vii. 46, xix. 4, 6). Note, too, the accentuation of the idea ofwitness(John v. 31, 39). It is to be regretted that the R.V. also has sometimes obscured this important term by substituting a different English word,e.g., "the word of the woman whotestified" (John iv. 39).[55]John viii. 18, xii. 28.[56]Ibid. viii. 17, 18.[57]Ibid. xv. 26.[58]Ibid. v. 39, 46, xix. 35, 36, 37.[59]Ibid. v. 36.[60]This sixth witness (1 John v. 10) exactly answers to John xx. 30, 31.[61]ὁ πιστευων εις τον υιον, κτλ (v. 10). The construction is different in the words which immediately follow (ὁ μη πιστευων τω θεγ), not even giving Him credence, notbelieving Him, much lessbelieving on Him.[62]The view here advocated of the relation of the Epistle to the Gospel of St. John, and of the brief but complete analytical synopsis in the opening words of the Epistle, appears to us to represent the earliest known interpretation as given by the author of the famous fragment of the Muratorian Canon, the first catalogue of the books of the N. T. (written between the middle and close of the second century). After his statement of the circumstances which led to the composition of the fourth Gospel, and an assertion of the perfect internal unity of the Evangelical narratives, the author of the fragment proceeds. "What wonder then if John brings forward each matter, point by point, with such consecutive order (tam constanter singula), even in his Epistles saying, when he comes to write in his own person (dicens in semetipso), 'what we have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears, and our hands have handled, these things have we written.' For thus, in orderly arrangement and consecutive language he professes himself not only an eye-witness, but a hearer, and yet further a writer of the wonderful things of the Lord." [So we understand the writer. "Sic enim non solum visorem, sed et auditorem, sed et scriptorem omnium mirabilium Domini, per ordinem profitetur." The fragment, with copious annotations, may be found inReliquæ Sacræ, Routh, Tom. i., 394, 434.][63]For whatever reason, four classical terms (if we may so call them) of the Christian religion are excluded, or nearly excluded, from the Gospel of St. John, and from its companion document.Church,gospel,repentance, occur nowhere.Graceonly once (John i. 14; see, however, 2 John 3; Apoc. i. 4; xxii. 21),faithas a substantive only once. (1 John v. 4, but in Apoc. ii. 13-19; xiii. 10; xiv. 123.)[64]ἡν δε νυξ. John xiii. 30.[65]John xix. 5.[66]Canon. Murator. (apud Routh.,Reliq. Sacræ, Tom. i., 394).[67]εν τοπω ἡσυχω λεγομενω καταπαυσις.[68]This passage is translated from the Greek text of the manuscript of Patmos, attributed to Prochorus, as given by M. Guérin. (Description de l'Isle de Patmos, pp. 25-29.)[69]"Proprium est credentis ut cum assensu cogitet." "The intellect of him who believes assents to the thing believed, not because he sees that thing either in itself or by logical reference to first self-evident principles; but because it is so far convinced by Divine authority as to assent to things which it does not see, and on account of the dominance of the will in setting the intellect in motion." This sentence is taken from a passage of Aquinas which appears to be of great and permanent value.Summa Theolog.2a, 2æquæst. i. art. 4. quæst. v. art. 2.[70]Acts xx. 30.[71]τας βεβηλους κενοφωνιας, και αντιθεσεις της ψευδωνυμου γνωσεως. 1 Tim. vi. 20. The "antitheses" may either touch with slight sarcasm upon pompous pretensions to scientific logical method; or may denote the really self-contradictory character of these elaborate compositions; or again, their polemical opposition to the Christian creed.[72]μυθοις και γενεαλογιαις απεραντοις. 1 Tim. i. 3, 4.[73]Irenæus quotes 1 Tim. i. 4, and interprets it of the Gnostic 'æons.'Adv. Hæres., i. Proœm.[74]Few phenomena of criticism are more unaccountable than the desire to evade any acknowledgment of the historical existence of these singular heresies. Not long after St. John's death, Polycarp, in writing to the Philippians, quotes 1 John iv. 3, and proceeds to show that doketism had consummated its work down to the last fibres of the root of the creed, by two negations—no resurrection of the body, no judgment. (Polycarp,Epist. ad Philip., vii.) Ignatius twice deals with the Doketæ at length. To the Trallians he delivers what may be called an antidoketic creed, concluding in the tone of one who was wounded by what he was daily hearing. "Be deaf then when any man speaks unto you without Jesus Christ, who is of Mary, who truly was born, truly suffered under Pontius Pilate, truly was crucified and died, truly also was raised from the dead. But if some who are unbelieving say that He suffered apparently,as if in vision, being visionary themselves, why am I a prisoner? why do I choose to fight with wild beasts?" (Ignat.,Ep. ad Trall., iv. x.) The play upon the name doketæ cannot be mistaken (λεγουσιν το δοκειν πεπονθεναι αυτον, αυτοι οντες το δοκειν). Ignatius writes to another Church—"What profited it me if one praiseth me but blasphemeth my Lord, not confessing that He bears true human flesh. They abstain from Eucharist and prayer, because they confess not that the Eucharist is flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Ep. ad Smyrn., v. vi. vii.)[75]The elder Mr. Mill, however, appears to have seriously leaned to this as a conceivable solution of the contradictory phenomena of existence.[76]Lifevol. ii., 359, 360.[77]Much use has here been made of a truly remarkable article in theSpectator, Jan. 31st, 1885.[78]2 Cor. v. 13-15.[79]John i. 43.[80]1 John iv. 19.[81]1 John ii. 3.[82]1 John iii. 4, v. 17.[83]Every one who reads Greek should refer to the magnificent passage,S. Joann. Chrysos., in Joann., Homil.ii. 4.[84]1 John iv. 2; 2 John v. 7. See notes on the passages.[85]Psalm lviii. 18.[86]John vi. 53.[87]Apoc. xxi. 19, 20.[88]1 John i. 6, cf. John iii. 21. In the LXX. the phrase is only found once, and is then applied to God: αληθειαν εποιησας (Neh. ix. 33). It is characteristic of St. John's style thatdoing a lieis found in Apoc. xxi. 27, xxii. 15.[89]Apoc. xxii. 8.[90]1 John v. 18.[91]Ibid. 19.[92]ἡκει, "has come,—and is here."—Ibid. 20.[93]S. Joann. Chrysost., in Johan., Homil. iii., Tom. viii., 25, 36, Edit. Migne.[94]Huther, while rejecting with all impartial critics the interpolation (1 John v. 7), writes thus: "when we embrace in one survey the contents of the Epistle as a whole, it is certainly easy toadapt the conceptionof the three Heavenly witnesses to one place after another in the document. But it does not follow that the mention of it just here would be in its right place." (Handbuch über der drei Briefe des Johannes.Dr. J. E. Huther.)[95]1 John ii. 20.[96]1 John i. 7, iii. 3.[97]1 John ii. 6.[98]"Imitate not that which is evil, but that which is good" (3 John 12). A comparison of this verse with John xxi. 24 would lead to the supposition that the writer of the letter is quoting the Gospel, and assumes an intimate knowledge of it on the part of Caius. See Discourse XVII. Part ii. of this vol.[99]See note A at the end of this discourse.[100]1 John iv. 9.[101]απεσταλκεν.[102]απεστειλεν.[103]1 John iv. 20.[104]1 John iv. 16.[105]πεπιστευκαμεν την αγαπην, 1 John iv. 16.[106]For the aor. conj. in this place as distinguished from the pres. conj. cf. John v. 20, 23, vi. 28, 29, 30. Professor Westcott's refined scholarship corrects the error of many commentators, "that the Apostle is simply warning us not to draw encouragement for license from the doctrine of forgiveness." The tense is decisive against this, the thought is of the singleactnot of thestate.[107]εαν τις ἁμαρτη, 1 John ii. 1.[108]In Epist. Johann., Tract. I.[109]1 John ii. 12, is, of course, an important exception.[110]1 John iii. 19, 20.[111]See Prof. Westcott's valuable note on 1 John v. 15. The very things literally asked for would be τα αιτηθεντα, not τα αιτηματα.[112]2 John 11.[113]3 John 10.[114]Mart. Ignat., i.S. Hieron, de Script. Eccles., xvii.[115]ὁ λεγων, 1 John ii. 4, 6, 9.[116]Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes., xv., cf. 1 John ii. 14, iv. 9, 17, iii. 2.[117]S. Ignat. Epist. ad Philad., iv.; cf.Epist. ad Smyrn., vii.;Epist. ad Ephes., xx.[118]The most elaborate passage in the Ignatian remains is probably this. "Your Presbytery is fitted together harmoniously with the Bishop as chords with the cithara. Hereby in your symphonious love Jesus Christ is sung in concord. Taking your part man by man become one choir, that being harmoniously accordant in your like-mindedness, having received in unity the chromatic music of God (χρωμα Θεου λαβοντες), ye may sing with one voice through Jesus Christ unto the Father."—Epist. ad Ephes., iv. The same image is differently applied,Epist. ad Philad., i.[119]The story is given by Socrates. (H. E., vi. 8.)[120]1 John iv. 7, 12.[121]1 John ii. 6, 9, i. 7-10, ii. 1, 2.[122]1 John i. 7, ii. 2, iv. 3, 6; 2 John 7-11; 3 John 9, 10.[123]1 John iii. 19, v. 14, 15, iv. 2, 3, v. 4, 5, 18.[124]These sentences do not go so far as the mischievous and antiscriptural legend of later ascetic heretics, who marred the beauty and the purpose of the miracle at Cana, by asserting that John was the bridegroom, and that our Lord took him away from his bride.Acta Johannis, XXI.Act. Apost. Apoc., Tisch., 275).[125]This legend no doubt arose from the promise—"if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them" (Mark xvi. 18)."Virus fidens sorbuit." Adam of St. Victor,Seq.XXXIII.[126]"Aurum hic de frondibus,Gemmas de silicibus,Fractis de fragminibus,Fecit firmas."—Ibid.There is something interesting in the persistency of legends about St. John's power over gems, when connected with the passage, flashing all over with the light of precious stones, whose exquisite disposition is the wonder of lapidaries. Apoc. xxi, 18, 22.[127]See note B at the end of the Discourse.[128]1 John v. 18.[129]Ibid. v. 19.[130]Ibid. v. 20.[131]Said by Luther of Psalm xxii. 1.[132]See the noble and enthusiastic preface to the washing of the disciples' feet (John xiii. 1, 2, 3).[133]The phrase probably means the Logos, the Personal "Word who is at once both the Word and the Life." For the double genitive, the second almost appositional to the first, conf. John ii. 21, xi. 13. This interpretation would seem to be that of Chrysostom. "If then the Word is the Life; and if this Christ who is at once the Word and the Life became flesh; then the Life became flesh." (In Joan. Evang.v.)[134]Gen. i. 1; Prov. viii. 23; Micah v. 2.[135]Cf. John vi. 36, 40. The word is applied by the angel to the disciples gazing on the Ascension, Acts i. 11. The Transfiguration may be here referred to. Such an incident as that in John vii. 37 attests a vivid delighted remembrance of the Saviour's very attitude.[136]Luke xxiv. 39; John xx. 27.[137]Gospel i. 1-14; 1 John i. 1; Apoc. i. 9.[138]"He hath a name written whichno one knoweth but He Himself,—and His name is calledThe Word of God" (Apoc. xix. 12, 13). Gibbons' adroit italics may here be noted. "The Logos,TAUGHTin the school of AlexandriaBEFOREChrist 100—REVEALEDto the Apostle St. John,Anno Domini, 97" (Decline and Fall, ch. xxi.). Just so very probably—though whether St. John ever read a page of Philo or Plato we have no means of knowing.[139]The following table may be found useful:—THE WORD IN ST. JOHN IS OPPOSED.(A) To the Gnostic Word, created and temporalas(A) Uncreated and Eternal. "In the beginning was the Word."(B) To the Platonic Word, ideal and abstractas(B) Personal and Divine. "The Word was God." "He"—"His."(C) To the Judaistic and Philonic Word—the type and idea of God in creation ...as(C) Creative and First Cause. "All things were made by Him."(D) To the Dualistic Word— limitedly and partially instrumental in creation.as(D) Unique and Universally Creative. "Without Him was not anything made that hath been made."(E) To the Doketic Word—impalpable and visionaryas(E) Real and Permanent. "The Word became flesh."[140]Vie de Jesus, Int. 4.[141]The appeal to the senses ofseeingandhearingis a trait common toallthe group of St. John's writings (John i. 14, xix. 35; 1 John i. 1, 2, iv. 14; Apoc. i. 2). The true reading (καγω Ιωαννης ὁ ακουων και βλεπων ταυτα. Apoc. xxi. 8, wherehearingstands beforeseeing) is indicative of John's style.[142]1 John v. 6-12.[143]That the "Acts of Paul and Thecla" are of high antiquity there can be no rational doubt. Tertullian writes: "But if those who read St. Paul's writings rashly use the example of Thecla, to give licence to women to teach and baptize publicly, let them know that a presbyter of Asia Minor, who put together that piece, crowning it with the authority of a Pauline title, convicted by his own confession of doing this from love of St. Paul, was deprived of his orders." (Tertullian,De Baptismo, xvii.) On which St. Jerome remarks—"We therefore relegate to the class of apocryphal writings, the περιοδος of Paul and Thecla, and the whole fable of the baptized lion. For how could it be that the sole real companion of the Apostle" (Luke) "while so well acquainted with the rest of the history, should have known nothing of this? And further, Tertullian, who touched so nearly upon those times, records that a certain presbyter in Asia Minor, convicted beforeJohnof being the author of that book, and confessing that as a σπουδαστης of the Apostle Paul he had done this from loving devotion to that great memory, was deposed from his ministry." (St. Hieron.,de Script. Eccles., VII.) See the mass of authority for the antiquity of this document, which gives a considerable degree of probability to the statement about St. John, inActa Apost. Apoc., Edit. Tischendorf.—Proleg. xxi., xxvi.[144]John iii, 24, 25.[145]Those who are perplexed by the identity in style and turn of language between the Epistle and the discourse of our Lord in St. John's Gospel may be referred to the writer's remarks inThe Speakers Commentary(N. T. iv. 286-89). It should be added that the Epp. to the Seven Churches (Apoc. ii., iii.)—especially to Sardis—interweave sayings of Jesus recorded by the Synoptical evangelists,e.g., "as a thief," Apoc. iii. 3, cf. Mark xiii. 37; "book of life," Apoc. iii. 5, cf. Luke x. 20; "confessing a name," Apoc. iii. 5, cf. Matt. x. 32; "He that hath an ear," Apoc. iii. 6, 13, 22, and ii. 7, 11, 17, 29. This phrase, found in each of the seven Epp., occurs nowhere in the fourth Gospel, but constantly in the Synoptics. Cf. Matt. x. 27, xi. 15, xiii. 19, 43; Mark iv. 9, 23, vii. 16; Luke viii. 8, xiv. 35; cf. also "giving power over the nations," Apoc. ii. 26—with the conception in Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 29, 30. The wordrepentanceis nowhere in the fourth Gospel, nor given as part of our Lord's teaching; but we find it Apoc. ii. 5, 16, iii. 3, 19. If the author of the fourth Gospel was also the author of the Apocalypse, his choice of the style which he attributes to the Saviour was at least decided by no lack of knowledge of the Synoptical type of expression, and by no incapacity to use it with freedom and power.[146]John xi. 16.[147]

[1]I venture to call attention to the rendering "very." It enables the translator to mark the important distinction between two words: αληθης,factuallytrue and real, as opposed to that which in point of fact is mendacious; αληθινος,ideallytrue and real, that which alone realizes the idea imperfectly expressed by something else. This is one of St. John's favourite words. In regard to αγαπη I have not had the courage of my convictions. The word "charity" seems to me almost providentially preserved for the rendering of that term. It is not without a purpose that ερως is so rigorously excluded from the New Testament. [So also from the Epp. of Ignatius.] The objection that "charity" conveys to ordinary English people the notion of mere material alms is of little weight. If "charity" is sometimes a littlemetallic, is not "love" sometimes a littlemaundering? I agree with Canon Evans that the word, strictly speaking, should be always translated "charity" when alone, "love" when in regimen. Yet I have not been bold enough to put "God is charity" for "God is love."

[2]Cary'sDante,Paradiso, xxv. 117. Stanley'sSermons and Essays on the Apostolic Age, 242.

[3]Apoc. ii. 24.

[4]John xiii. 30 cf. 1 John ii, 11.

[5]εσκηνωσεν εν ἡμιν.

[6]This characteristic of St. John's style is powerfully expressed by the great hymn-writer of the Latin Church.

"Hebet sensus exors styli;Stylo scribit tam subtili,Fide tam catholicâ,Ne de Verbo salutariPosset quicquam refragariPravitas hæretica."Adam of St. Victor, Seq.xxxii.

[7]John xii. 20-34, especially ver. 24.

[8]Acts i. 13.

[9]Acts iii. 4, v. 13, viii. 14.

[10]Gal. ii. 9.

[11]Acts iii. 4, iv. 13, viii. 14. The singular and interesting manuscript of Patmos (Αι περιοδοι του θεολογου) attributed to St. John's disciple, Prochorus, seems to recognise that St. John's chief mission was not that of working miracles. Even in a kind of duel of prodigies between him and the sinister magician of Patmos, the following occurs. "Kynops asked a young man in the multitude where his father then was. 'My father is dead,' he replied, 'he went down yonder in a storm.' Turning to John, the magician said,—'Now then, bring up this young man's father from the dead.' 'I have not come here,' answered the Apostle, 'to raise the dead, but to deliver the living from their errors.'"

[12]Gal. ii. 9; Acts xxi. 17,sqq.

[13]John xxi. 7.

[14]Ibid., vers. 17, 18, 19.

[15]The beginning of old age would account sufficiently for the anticipation of death in 2 Peter i. 13, 14, 15.

[16]δοξασει ver. 19. The lifelikeshall(notshould) is part of the many minute but vivid touches which make the whole of this scene so full of motion and reality—"I go a fishing" (ver. 3); "abouttwo hundred cubits" (ver. 8); the accurate αιγιαλος (ver. 4. See Trench,On Parables, 57; Stanley,Apostolic Age, 135).

[17]διορατικωτερος. S. Joann. Chrysost.—Hom. in Joann.

[18]Euseb. H. E., iii. 23. See other quotations in Bilson,Government of Christ's Church, p. 365.

[19]Ap. Euseb. H. E., v. 20.

[20]Adv. Hæres., lib. iii., ch. 1.

[21]ἱερευς το πεταλον πεφορεκως—"Pontifex ejus (sc.Domini) auream laminam in fronte habens." So translated by S. Hieron.Lib. de Vir. Illust., xlv. The πεταλον is the LXX. rendering of צִיץ, the projecting leaf or plate of radiant gold (Exod. xxviii. 26, xxxix. 30), associated with the "mitre" (Lev. viii. 9). Whether Polycrates speaks literally, or wishes to convey by a metaphor the impression of holiness radiating from St. John's face, we probably cannot decide.

[22]Acts xix. 20, 21. In this description of Ephesus the writer has constantly had in view the passages to which he referred in theSpeakers Commentary, N.T., iv., 274, 276. He has also studied M. Renan'sSaint Paul, chap, xii., and the authorities cited in the notes, pp. 329, 350.

[23]St. John ii. 2, iv. 14.

[24]"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against," etc. Eph. vi. 12-17.

[25]Saint Paul, Renan, 318, 319.

[26]For the almost certain reference here to the Chaldean Sybil Sambethe, see Apoc ii. 20, Archdeacon Lee's note inSpeaker's Commentary, N.T., iv. 527, 534, 535, and Dean Blakesley (art.Thyatira, Dict. of the Bible).

[27]1 John iv. 1, 3.

[28]1 John ii. 7, ii. 24, iii. 11; 2 John vv. 5, 6. The passage in ii. 24 is a specimen of that simple emphasis, that presentation of a truth or duty under two aspects, which St. John often produces merely by an inversion of the order of the words. "Ye—what yeheardfrom the beginning let it abide in you. If what from thebeginningye heard abide in you" (ὁ ηκουσατε απ' αρχης ... ὁ απ' αρχης ηκουσατε). The emphasis in the first clause is upon thefactof their havingheardthe message; in the second upon this feature of the message—that it was given in thebeginningof Christianity amongst them, and kept unchanged until the present time. Cf. εντολη παλαια (ii. 7) with αρχαιος = "of the early Christian time," in Polycarp,Ep. ad Philipp., i.

[29]Acts xviii. 18-21. To these general links connecting our Epistles with Ephesus, a few of less importance, yet not without significance, may be added. (1) The name of Demetrius (3 John 12) is certainly suggestive of the holy city of the earth-mother (Acts xix. 24, 38). Vitruvius assigns the completion of the temple of Ephesus to an architect of the name, and calls him "servus Dianæ." (2) St. John in his Gospel adopts, as if instinctively, the computation of time which was used in Asia Minor (John iv. 6, xix. 4—Hefel.Martyrium S. Polycarp. xxi.). On the same principle he speaks in the Apocalypse of "day and night" (Apoc. iv. 8, vii. 15, xii. 10, xiv. 11, xx. 10); St. Paul, on the other hand, speaks of "night and day" (1 Tim. v. 5). It is a very real indication of the accuracy of the report of words in the Acts that, while St. Luke himself uses either form indifferently (Luke ii. 37, xviii. 2), St. Paul, as quoted by him, always says "night and day" (Acts xx. 31, xxvi. 7). (3) Is it merely fanciful to conjecture that the unusual αγαθοποιων (3 John 11) may be an allusion to the astrological language in which alone the term is ever used outside a very few instances in the sacred writers? "He only is under a good star, and has beneficent omens for his life." Balbillus, one of the most famous astrologers of antiquity, the confidant of Nero and Vespasian, was an Ephesian, and almost supreme in Ephesus, not long before St. John's arrival there. Sueton.,Neron., 36.

[30]Aïa-so-Louk, a corruption of ἁγιος θεολογος,holy theologian(or ἁγια θεολογου,holy city of the theologian). Some scholars, however, assert that the word is often pronounced and writtenaiaslyk, with the common Turkish terminationlyk. SeeS. Paul(Renan, 342, note 2).

[31]Bengel, on Acts xix. 19, 20, finds a reference to manuscripts of some of the synoptical Gospels and of the Epistles in 2 Tim. iv. 13, and conjectures that, after St. Paul's martyrdom, Timothy carried them with him to Ephesus.

[32]Renan's curious theory that Rom. xvi. 1-16 is a sheet of the Epistle to the Ephesians accidentally misplaced, rests upon a supposed prevalence of Ephesian names in the case of those who are greeted. Archdeacon Gifford's refutation, and his solution of an unquestionable difficulty, seems entirely satisfactory. (Speaker's Commentary, in loc., vol. iii., New Testament.)

[33]It has become usual to say that the Epistle does not advert to John iii. or John vi. To us it seems thateverymention of the Birth of Godisa reference to John iii. (1 John ii. 23, iii. 9, iv. 7, v. 1-4.) The word αιμα occursonceonly in the fourth Gospel outside the sixth chapter (xix. 34; for i. 13 belongs to physiology). Four times we find it in that chapter—vi. 53, 54, 55, 56. Each mention of the "Blood" in connection with our Lorddoesadvert to John vi.

[34]The masc. part. οι μαρτυρουντες is surely very remarkable with the three neuters (το πνευμα, το ὑδωρ, το αιμα) 1 John v. 7, 8.

[35]1 John i. 7, v. 6, 8.

[36]See note A. at the end of this Discourse, which shows that there are, in truth,foursuch summaries.

[37]ὁ ακηκοαμεν.

[38]ὁ εωρακαμεν τοις οφθαλμοις ἡμων.

[39]John xx. 20.

[40]ὁ εθεασαμεθα, 1 John i. 1. The same word is used in John i. 14.

[41]John xix. 27 would express this in the most palpable form. But it is constantly understood through the Gospel. The tenacity of Doketic error is evident from the fact that Chrysostom, preaching at Antioch, speaks of it as a popular error in his day. A little later, orthodox ears were somewhat offended by some beautiful lines of a Greek sacred poet, too little known among us, who combines in a singular degree Roman gravity with Greek grace. St. Romanus (A.D.491) represents our Lord as saying of the sinful woman who became a penitent,

την βρεξασαν ιχνηἁ ουκ ἑβρεξε βυθοςψιλοις τοτε τοις δακρυσιν.

"Which with her tears, then pure,Wetted the feet the sea-depth wetted not."

(Spicil. Solesmen.Edidit T. B. Pitra,S. Romanus, xvi. 13,Cant. de Passione.120.)

[42]1 John i. 2. The Life with the Father = John i. 1, 14. The Life manifested = John i. 14 to end.

[43]The A.V. (1 John v. 6-12) obscures this by a too great sensitiveness to monotony. The language of the verses is varied unfortunately by "bear record" (ver. 7), "hath testified" (ver. 9), "believeth not the record" (ver. 10), "this is the record" (ver. 11).

[44]1 John ii. 2-29, iii. 7, iv. 3, v. 20.

[45]John xv. 26.

[46]John xiv., xv., xvi., Cf. vii. 39. The witness of the Spirit in the Apostolic ministry will be found John xx. 22.

[47]John i. 19.

[48]John i. 16, 31, 33.

[49]John ii. 9, iv. 46.

[50]John iii. 5.

[51]John iv. 5, 7, 11, 12, v. 1, 8, vi. 19, vii. 35, 37, ix. 7, xiii. 1, 14, xix. 34, xxi. 1, 8. In the other great Johannic book water is constantly mentioned. Apoc. vii. 7, xiv. 7, xvi. 5, xxi. 6, xxii. 1, xxii. 17. (Cf. the το ὑδωρ, Acts x. 47.)

[52]John i. 19, 29, 32, 34, 35, 36, 41, 45, 47, xix. 27.

[53]John xv. 27.

[54]John iii. 2. The Baptist's final witness (iii. 25, 33, iv. 39, 42, v. 15, vi. 68, 69, vii. 46, xix. 4, 6). Note, too, the accentuation of the idea ofwitness(John v. 31, 39). It is to be regretted that the R.V. also has sometimes obscured this important term by substituting a different English word,e.g., "the word of the woman whotestified" (John iv. 39).

[55]John viii. 18, xii. 28.

[56]Ibid. viii. 17, 18.

[57]Ibid. xv. 26.

[58]Ibid. v. 39, 46, xix. 35, 36, 37.

[59]Ibid. v. 36.

[60]This sixth witness (1 John v. 10) exactly answers to John xx. 30, 31.

[61]ὁ πιστευων εις τον υιον, κτλ (v. 10). The construction is different in the words which immediately follow (ὁ μη πιστευων τω θεγ), not even giving Him credence, notbelieving Him, much lessbelieving on Him.

[62]The view here advocated of the relation of the Epistle to the Gospel of St. John, and of the brief but complete analytical synopsis in the opening words of the Epistle, appears to us to represent the earliest known interpretation as given by the author of the famous fragment of the Muratorian Canon, the first catalogue of the books of the N. T. (written between the middle and close of the second century). After his statement of the circumstances which led to the composition of the fourth Gospel, and an assertion of the perfect internal unity of the Evangelical narratives, the author of the fragment proceeds. "What wonder then if John brings forward each matter, point by point, with such consecutive order (tam constanter singula), even in his Epistles saying, when he comes to write in his own person (dicens in semetipso), 'what we have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears, and our hands have handled, these things have we written.' For thus, in orderly arrangement and consecutive language he professes himself not only an eye-witness, but a hearer, and yet further a writer of the wonderful things of the Lord." [So we understand the writer. "Sic enim non solum visorem, sed et auditorem, sed et scriptorem omnium mirabilium Domini, per ordinem profitetur." The fragment, with copious annotations, may be found inReliquæ Sacræ, Routh, Tom. i., 394, 434.]

[63]For whatever reason, four classical terms (if we may so call them) of the Christian religion are excluded, or nearly excluded, from the Gospel of St. John, and from its companion document.Church,gospel,repentance, occur nowhere.Graceonly once (John i. 14; see, however, 2 John 3; Apoc. i. 4; xxii. 21),faithas a substantive only once. (1 John v. 4, but in Apoc. ii. 13-19; xiii. 10; xiv. 123.)

[64]ἡν δε νυξ. John xiii. 30.

[65]John xix. 5.

[66]Canon. Murator. (apud Routh.,Reliq. Sacræ, Tom. i., 394).

[67]εν τοπω ἡσυχω λεγομενω καταπαυσις.

[68]This passage is translated from the Greek text of the manuscript of Patmos, attributed to Prochorus, as given by M. Guérin. (Description de l'Isle de Patmos, pp. 25-29.)

[69]"Proprium est credentis ut cum assensu cogitet." "The intellect of him who believes assents to the thing believed, not because he sees that thing either in itself or by logical reference to first self-evident principles; but because it is so far convinced by Divine authority as to assent to things which it does not see, and on account of the dominance of the will in setting the intellect in motion." This sentence is taken from a passage of Aquinas which appears to be of great and permanent value.Summa Theolog.2a, 2æquæst. i. art. 4. quæst. v. art. 2.

[70]Acts xx. 30.

[71]τας βεβηλους κενοφωνιας, και αντιθεσεις της ψευδωνυμου γνωσεως. 1 Tim. vi. 20. The "antitheses" may either touch with slight sarcasm upon pompous pretensions to scientific logical method; or may denote the really self-contradictory character of these elaborate compositions; or again, their polemical opposition to the Christian creed.

[72]μυθοις και γενεαλογιαις απεραντοις. 1 Tim. i. 3, 4.

[73]Irenæus quotes 1 Tim. i. 4, and interprets it of the Gnostic 'æons.'Adv. Hæres., i. Proœm.

[74]Few phenomena of criticism are more unaccountable than the desire to evade any acknowledgment of the historical existence of these singular heresies. Not long after St. John's death, Polycarp, in writing to the Philippians, quotes 1 John iv. 3, and proceeds to show that doketism had consummated its work down to the last fibres of the root of the creed, by two negations—no resurrection of the body, no judgment. (Polycarp,Epist. ad Philip., vii.) Ignatius twice deals with the Doketæ at length. To the Trallians he delivers what may be called an antidoketic creed, concluding in the tone of one who was wounded by what he was daily hearing. "Be deaf then when any man speaks unto you without Jesus Christ, who is of Mary, who truly was born, truly suffered under Pontius Pilate, truly was crucified and died, truly also was raised from the dead. But if some who are unbelieving say that He suffered apparently,as if in vision, being visionary themselves, why am I a prisoner? why do I choose to fight with wild beasts?" (Ignat.,Ep. ad Trall., iv. x.) The play upon the name doketæ cannot be mistaken (λεγουσιν το δοκειν πεπονθεναι αυτον, αυτοι οντες το δοκειν). Ignatius writes to another Church—"What profited it me if one praiseth me but blasphemeth my Lord, not confessing that He bears true human flesh. They abstain from Eucharist and prayer, because they confess not that the Eucharist is flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Ep. ad Smyrn., v. vi. vii.)

[75]The elder Mr. Mill, however, appears to have seriously leaned to this as a conceivable solution of the contradictory phenomena of existence.

[76]Lifevol. ii., 359, 360.

[77]Much use has here been made of a truly remarkable article in theSpectator, Jan. 31st, 1885.

[78]2 Cor. v. 13-15.

[79]John i. 43.

[80]1 John iv. 19.

[81]1 John ii. 3.

[82]1 John iii. 4, v. 17.

[83]Every one who reads Greek should refer to the magnificent passage,S. Joann. Chrysos., in Joann., Homil.ii. 4.

[84]1 John iv. 2; 2 John v. 7. See notes on the passages.

[85]Psalm lviii. 18.

[86]John vi. 53.

[87]Apoc. xxi. 19, 20.

[88]1 John i. 6, cf. John iii. 21. In the LXX. the phrase is only found once, and is then applied to God: αληθειαν εποιησας (Neh. ix. 33). It is characteristic of St. John's style thatdoing a lieis found in Apoc. xxi. 27, xxii. 15.

[89]Apoc. xxii. 8.

[90]1 John v. 18.

[91]Ibid. 19.

[92]ἡκει, "has come,—and is here."—Ibid. 20.

[93]S. Joann. Chrysost., in Johan., Homil. iii., Tom. viii., 25, 36, Edit. Migne.

[94]Huther, while rejecting with all impartial critics the interpolation (1 John v. 7), writes thus: "when we embrace in one survey the contents of the Epistle as a whole, it is certainly easy toadapt the conceptionof the three Heavenly witnesses to one place after another in the document. But it does not follow that the mention of it just here would be in its right place." (Handbuch über der drei Briefe des Johannes.Dr. J. E. Huther.)

[95]1 John ii. 20.

[96]1 John i. 7, iii. 3.

[97]1 John ii. 6.

[98]"Imitate not that which is evil, but that which is good" (3 John 12). A comparison of this verse with John xxi. 24 would lead to the supposition that the writer of the letter is quoting the Gospel, and assumes an intimate knowledge of it on the part of Caius. See Discourse XVII. Part ii. of this vol.

[99]See note A at the end of this discourse.

[100]1 John iv. 9.

[101]απεσταλκεν.

[102]απεστειλεν.

[103]1 John iv. 20.

[104]1 John iv. 16.

[105]πεπιστευκαμεν την αγαπην, 1 John iv. 16.

[106]For the aor. conj. in this place as distinguished from the pres. conj. cf. John v. 20, 23, vi. 28, 29, 30. Professor Westcott's refined scholarship corrects the error of many commentators, "that the Apostle is simply warning us not to draw encouragement for license from the doctrine of forgiveness." The tense is decisive against this, the thought is of the singleactnot of thestate.

[107]εαν τις ἁμαρτη, 1 John ii. 1.

[108]In Epist. Johann., Tract. I.

[109]1 John ii. 12, is, of course, an important exception.

[110]1 John iii. 19, 20.

[111]See Prof. Westcott's valuable note on 1 John v. 15. The very things literally asked for would be τα αιτηθεντα, not τα αιτηματα.

[112]2 John 11.

[113]3 John 10.

[114]Mart. Ignat., i.S. Hieron, de Script. Eccles., xvii.

[115]ὁ λεγων, 1 John ii. 4, 6, 9.

[116]Ignat. Epist. ad Ephes., xv., cf. 1 John ii. 14, iv. 9, 17, iii. 2.

[117]S. Ignat. Epist. ad Philad., iv.; cf.Epist. ad Smyrn., vii.;Epist. ad Ephes., xx.

[118]The most elaborate passage in the Ignatian remains is probably this. "Your Presbytery is fitted together harmoniously with the Bishop as chords with the cithara. Hereby in your symphonious love Jesus Christ is sung in concord. Taking your part man by man become one choir, that being harmoniously accordant in your like-mindedness, having received in unity the chromatic music of God (χρωμα Θεου λαβοντες), ye may sing with one voice through Jesus Christ unto the Father."—Epist. ad Ephes., iv. The same image is differently applied,Epist. ad Philad., i.

[119]The story is given by Socrates. (H. E., vi. 8.)

[120]1 John iv. 7, 12.

[121]1 John ii. 6, 9, i. 7-10, ii. 1, 2.

[122]1 John i. 7, ii. 2, iv. 3, 6; 2 John 7-11; 3 John 9, 10.

[123]1 John iii. 19, v. 14, 15, iv. 2, 3, v. 4, 5, 18.

[124]These sentences do not go so far as the mischievous and antiscriptural legend of later ascetic heretics, who marred the beauty and the purpose of the miracle at Cana, by asserting that John was the bridegroom, and that our Lord took him away from his bride.Acta Johannis, XXI.Act. Apost. Apoc., Tisch., 275).

[125]This legend no doubt arose from the promise—"if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them" (Mark xvi. 18).

"Virus fidens sorbuit." Adam of St. Victor,Seq.XXXIII.

[126]

"Aurum hic de frondibus,Gemmas de silicibus,Fractis de fragminibus,Fecit firmas."—Ibid.

There is something interesting in the persistency of legends about St. John's power over gems, when connected with the passage, flashing all over with the light of precious stones, whose exquisite disposition is the wonder of lapidaries. Apoc. xxi, 18, 22.

[127]See note B at the end of the Discourse.

[128]1 John v. 18.

[129]Ibid. v. 19.

[130]Ibid. v. 20.

[131]Said by Luther of Psalm xxii. 1.

[132]See the noble and enthusiastic preface to the washing of the disciples' feet (John xiii. 1, 2, 3).

[133]The phrase probably means the Logos, the Personal "Word who is at once both the Word and the Life." For the double genitive, the second almost appositional to the first, conf. John ii. 21, xi. 13. This interpretation would seem to be that of Chrysostom. "If then the Word is the Life; and if this Christ who is at once the Word and the Life became flesh; then the Life became flesh." (In Joan. Evang.v.)

[134]Gen. i. 1; Prov. viii. 23; Micah v. 2.

[135]Cf. John vi. 36, 40. The word is applied by the angel to the disciples gazing on the Ascension, Acts i. 11. The Transfiguration may be here referred to. Such an incident as that in John vii. 37 attests a vivid delighted remembrance of the Saviour's very attitude.

[136]Luke xxiv. 39; John xx. 27.

[137]Gospel i. 1-14; 1 John i. 1; Apoc. i. 9.

[138]"He hath a name written whichno one knoweth but He Himself,—and His name is calledThe Word of God" (Apoc. xix. 12, 13). Gibbons' adroit italics may here be noted. "The Logos,TAUGHTin the school of AlexandriaBEFOREChrist 100—REVEALEDto the Apostle St. John,Anno Domini, 97" (Decline and Fall, ch. xxi.). Just so very probably—though whether St. John ever read a page of Philo or Plato we have no means of knowing.

[139]The following table may be found useful:—

[140]Vie de Jesus, Int. 4.

[141]The appeal to the senses ofseeingandhearingis a trait common toallthe group of St. John's writings (John i. 14, xix. 35; 1 John i. 1, 2, iv. 14; Apoc. i. 2). The true reading (καγω Ιωαννης ὁ ακουων και βλεπων ταυτα. Apoc. xxi. 8, wherehearingstands beforeseeing) is indicative of John's style.

[142]1 John v. 6-12.

[143]That the "Acts of Paul and Thecla" are of high antiquity there can be no rational doubt. Tertullian writes: "But if those who read St. Paul's writings rashly use the example of Thecla, to give licence to women to teach and baptize publicly, let them know that a presbyter of Asia Minor, who put together that piece, crowning it with the authority of a Pauline title, convicted by his own confession of doing this from love of St. Paul, was deprived of his orders." (Tertullian,De Baptismo, xvii.) On which St. Jerome remarks—"We therefore relegate to the class of apocryphal writings, the περιοδος of Paul and Thecla, and the whole fable of the baptized lion. For how could it be that the sole real companion of the Apostle" (Luke) "while so well acquainted with the rest of the history, should have known nothing of this? And further, Tertullian, who touched so nearly upon those times, records that a certain presbyter in Asia Minor, convicted beforeJohnof being the author of that book, and confessing that as a σπουδαστης of the Apostle Paul he had done this from loving devotion to that great memory, was deposed from his ministry." (St. Hieron.,de Script. Eccles., VII.) See the mass of authority for the antiquity of this document, which gives a considerable degree of probability to the statement about St. John, inActa Apost. Apoc., Edit. Tischendorf.—Proleg. xxi., xxvi.

[144]John iii, 24, 25.

[145]Those who are perplexed by the identity in style and turn of language between the Epistle and the discourse of our Lord in St. John's Gospel may be referred to the writer's remarks inThe Speakers Commentary(N. T. iv. 286-89). It should be added that the Epp. to the Seven Churches (Apoc. ii., iii.)—especially to Sardis—interweave sayings of Jesus recorded by the Synoptical evangelists,e.g., "as a thief," Apoc. iii. 3, cf. Mark xiii. 37; "book of life," Apoc. iii. 5, cf. Luke x. 20; "confessing a name," Apoc. iii. 5, cf. Matt. x. 32; "He that hath an ear," Apoc. iii. 6, 13, 22, and ii. 7, 11, 17, 29. This phrase, found in each of the seven Epp., occurs nowhere in the fourth Gospel, but constantly in the Synoptics. Cf. Matt. x. 27, xi. 15, xiii. 19, 43; Mark iv. 9, 23, vii. 16; Luke viii. 8, xiv. 35; cf. also "giving power over the nations," Apoc. ii. 26—with the conception in Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 29, 30. The wordrepentanceis nowhere in the fourth Gospel, nor given as part of our Lord's teaching; but we find it Apoc. ii. 5, 16, iii. 3, 19. If the author of the fourth Gospel was also the author of the Apocalypse, his choice of the style which he attributes to the Saviour was at least decided by no lack of knowledge of the Synoptical type of expression, and by no incapacity to use it with freedom and power.

[146]John xi. 16.

[147]

Back to Index Next