1 Some ancient authorities omit and was carried up into heaven. Some ancient authorities omit worshipped him, and.

in Jerusalem until this power should come upon them. Then they would have a divine guidance in their apostolic

work.

50. Over against Bethany. In the retirement behind the Mount of Olives, not on its summit.

51. While he blessed them.

as far as human vision was concerned.

Better, "while he was blessing them." Up into heaven. He went upward, This phenomenal movement proves nothing as to heaven's locality. 52. Worshipped. This worship must have been divine worship, for he was unseen. 53. Great joy - blessing God. In happy expectation of orders to march.

191

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO

ST. JOHN.

CHAPTER I.

1. The divinity, humanity, and office of Jesus Christ. 15. The testimony of John. 39. The calling of Andrew,

Peter, etc.

1 IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of

men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

1 Or, through. 2 Or, was not any thing made.

1

IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

2 God. The same was in the beginning with 3 God. All things were made by him; and without him 2 was not any thing made that 4 hath been made. In him was life; and 5 the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the 6 darkness apprehended it not. There

That which hath been made was life in him; and the life, etc. 3 Ör, overcame. See chap. 12:35 (Gr.).

1. In the beginning. The likeness to the opening of the Book of Genesis is evident. The "beginning' and the action of "the Word," and the shining forth of the light," make a parallel between the material world's creation and the spiritual renewal of man. In Genesis, the words "in the beginning" refer to the beginning of "the heavens and the earth: " here they refer to the beginning of the new life of man. At the time of that beginning, the Word was God. At a time subsequent to that beginning, the Word became flesh (verse 14). Many, however, consider the "beginning" here to refer to eternal existence. The Word. The fourteenth verse shows that Christ is here meant. John wrote his Gospel long after the other Gospels, when the Gnostic heresy was spreading, which used the Greek expression for "Word" (Logos) in a very false semi-rabbinical, semi-pagan way regarding Christ. He therefore shows that Christ, as the true " Word" of God, was a person, and came into the earth out of the Godhead. The rabbinical notion of the Logos would deny personality, and the pagan notion would put the Logos in a lower rank of divinities. Gnosticism was an attempt to harmonize all parties, Christian, Jewish, and pagan, exchanging the simplicity of the gospel for a philosophic eclecticism. It was the earliest attempt to subordinate revelation to the conclusions of independent reason. Even in Paul's day, it had begun to show itself, or the elements that formed it were at work, in the Judaizing teachers among the Galatians (for example), and the philosophic teachers of the Colossians.

"The Word" is a most striking title for Christ; as it awakens the analogy between mind and speech on one hand, and the incomprehensible God, and God manifest in the flesh, on the other. In seeing Christ, we see the mind of God (John 14:9). The Greek word Logos (" Word ") is the translation of the "Debura" and "Memra" of the Targums, which, doubtless, existed (though unwritten) in John's day. John shows that what they counted to be a power was a person. Was with God. Existing independently of the creation (Christ is, therefore, not God in a manner only subjective to us), and yet fulfilling in the Godhead the idea of association. And the Word was God. Not divine, but God. He was as much God as was "God" with whom he was. Here is the mystery, which we can accept, while we cannot solve it.

2. The same was in the beginning with God. This is repeated in order to start again the story of Christ's coming, after the parenthesis to show that the Word was God.

3. All things were made by him. Rather, "through him" (as in margin). God made all things through the Word, the personal fact being shadowed forth in Gen. 1, by the phrase, " And God said." An intensely strong sentence, to show that Christ was the mediator of the entire creation.

4. In him was life, etc. Christ had life in him (that is, to impart). He was a life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). It was this imparted Christ-life which was the only light sinful man had. Darkness reigned over the moral creation, except as that Christ-life shone forth.

5. Apprehended. In Old Version, "comprehended." Both wrong. The margin says, "overcame," and yet refers to chap. 12:35, where it is translated "overtake." "To come up with, and so catch," is the meaning of KaTaλaμßávo (see chap. 6: 17). It is here said that the light of the Christ-life is not followed by any darkness, as is the case with the material light upon our earth. Through Christ, God made the material worlds, and their light followed by darkness; but Christ himself was the life which enlightened men's hearts, where no darkness follows. The material world is thus separated altogether from the spiritual, and yet he who was the agent in the material creation is the life-giver of the spiritual creation. In this way both errors of Gnosticism are met, the mingling of the material and spiritual, and the separation between the Creator and Christ.