INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. 183 dogmatic aim, and that it was directed, not only against Cerinthus, but against all who denied that Jesus was properly the Christ, the Son of God, and who were thus misleading the Christian churches, for whose benefit John wrote. Herder embraced a similar view. Olshausen says, that he recognizes for the leading aim of the evangelist, what he himself declares it to be, chap. xx. 31, namely, to spread before the eyes of the world the life of Christ, the Son of God; but not for the Jews only, as Matthew, nor for the heathen only, as Mark and Luke, but for all those, among both Jews and heathen, who, according to their ability and inclination, busied themselves with deep speculations upon divine things, and which we, with an expression, connecting truth and falsehood together in their strife, are accustomed to call Gnostic mysteries. Milman says, that "this Gospel was written, we conceive, not against any peculiar sect or individual, but to arrest the spirit of Orientalism, which was working into the essence of Christianity, destroying its beautiful simplicity, and threatening altogether to change both its design and its effect upon mankind. In some points, it necessarily spoke the language, which was common alike, though not precisely with the same meaning, to the Platonism of the west, and the Theogonism of the east, but its sense was different and peculiar." There are two proofs, that John had reference to the philosophical elements, which, under various names and forms, were working unfavorably to Christianity in the east. One is, the direct assertion of the early Christian writers, as Irenæus, Epiphanius, and Philaster. Thus Irenæus says, that "John, being desirous to extirpate the errors, sown in the minds of men by Cerinthus, and some time before by those called Nicolaitans, published his Gospel; in which he acquaints us that there is one God, who made all things by his word; and not, as they say, one, who is the Creator of the world, and another, who is the Father of the Lord; one, the Son of the Creator, and another, the Christ from the super-celestial abode, who descended upon Jesus, the Son of the Creator, but remained impassible, and afterwards fled back to his own pleroma, or fulness." And again, "as John, the disciple of our Lord, assures us, saying, 'But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name;' guarding against these blasphemous notions that divide the Lord, so far as it is in their power;" alluding to a philosophical theory, which made Jesus and Christ two distinct beings, though mysteriously united during his ministry. The second proof of reference being made to the philosophy of that day, is, the use by John himself, in his Gospel, and also in his Epistles, of those terms, which were current in the Gnostic and other speculations of the age; for example, Logos, Life, Light, Grace, Darkness, Only-begotten, Truth, Fulness, &c. The date of John's Gospel has been fixed by some at about 68 or 70, 1 184 INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. A. D., while others have contended for a much later period, as 95 or 98, A. D. It is generally supposed, that he composed it at Ephesus, in Asia Minor, where he resided during the last part of his life, and that he designed it more particularly for the benefit of the Christian churches of that region; hence he gives frequent explanations of Jewish terms and customs. The following passages in this Gospel have been regarded by some critics as of doubtful authority, or as certainly spurious, viz. chapters v. 3, 4, vii. 53, viii. 11, and xxi. 24, 25. See notes upon these passages. John was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the younger brother of James the Elder, or Greater. His occupation was that of fishing on the Lake of Galilee. His father's family seems to have been in good circumstances, as hired servants are spoken of, Mark i. 20, and his mother was one who ministered of her substance to Jesus. Mark xv. 40, 41. He was, probably, first a disciple of John the Baptist, John i. 35, 37, 40. He afterwards followed Christ as his apostle, was the youngest of the Twelve, and perhaps partly from this circumstance, as well as on account of the affectionateness of his disposition, was especially cherished and beloved by our Lord. He, with Peter and James, was distinguished by the particular regard of their Master on several occasions. He was present at Jesus' trial and crucifixion, and received the parting bequest of his mother to his filial care. He was banished, according to tradition, in the reign of Domitian, between A. D. 90 and 100, to the Island of Patmos, in the Ægean Sea, and there wrote the book of the Revelation. But he afterwards returned under Trajan, and dwelt at Ephesus, where he is said to have died at the advanced age of 90 or 100 years. As his brother James was the first apostolic martyr, Acts xii. 2, so John is the last survivor of that "glorious company," and the only one, as is reported, who died a natural and peaceful death. It is a current story, that when he was weighed down by the infirmities of old age, and was unable to preach, that he was led to the church, and addressed the people with the laconic exhortation, "My children, love one another." To those who were wearied by the repetition of this simple sentence, and asked him why he said this, and nothing further, he replied, "Because it was the command of our Lord, and, that if they did nothing else, this alone was enough." Jerome, a Latin father, characterizes John as follows: "He was at once apostle, evangelist, and prophet;-apostle, in that he wrote letters to the churches, as a master; evangelist, as he wrote a book of the Gospel, which no other of the twelve apostles did, except St. Matthew; prophet, as he saw the revelation in the Island of Patmos, where he was banished by Domitian. His Gospel, too, differs from the rest. Like an eagle, he ascends to the very throne of God, and says, 'In the beginning was the Word.'" THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN. CHAPTER I. The Introduction of the Gospel, the Testimony of John the Baptist to the Messiahship of Jesus, and the Calling of some of the Apostles. IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 2 and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with CHAPTER I. The proem, or preface of this Gospel, chap. i. 1-18, is exceedingly difficult to interpret, and has never been explained with entire satisfaction. Many different theories have been advanced, and hardly any two writers have agreed in the same view of the subject. Indeed, so many disputes, divisions, and bloody persecutions, have arisen, in regard to the nature of Christ, in connexion with this portion of the Scriptures, that we may well join with some one, who has uttered the desire, that all who have been alienated by the Gospel of John, might be reconciled by the testament of John, "My children, love one another." With an acknowledgment, then, of the very great obscurity of this passage, the following exposition is submitted, as the most intelligible and satisfactory, when all considerations, affecting it, have been candidly weighed. The first important point is, to learn, if possible, the purpose of John in writing these verses, so different from the other histories of Jesus, and from most of his own writings; for it is to be supposed, that the Gospels were written as much with a distinct object, as the Epistles. If Paul, too, wrote with a dogmatic or polemic aim, in reference to existing Jewish and heathen controversies, why is it incredible that John, though of a different temperament, should also have done the same to some extent, if he saw fatal errors threatening the sim plicity of the gospel? Learned men, of almost every sect, have given ån interpretation, founded on the view presented in the introduction, though with great varieties of application. The following scheme, accordingly, is proposed, as a key to the meaning of this paragraph. John wishes to "set bounds to the unlimited speculations of the Asiatics,” — speculations of infinite forms and shades, now coming to a head in the Platonism of Philo, and now in the Gnosticism of Cerinthus; here in the Spiritualism of Marcion, and there in the Judaism of the Ebionites. But he had not time to attack, and follow up in detail, each single heresy of this wide-branching, hundred-headed monster; and hence he is obliged to teach the truth, but to let the error go unnoticed. Hence the almost abrupt, condensed, striking, but consequently obscure, sentences to us, who are not familiar with the opinions of those times, with which he introduces his Gospel. By nature, the apostle of love was not a controversialist, and we may readily conceive, that he wished to "refute error by teaching the truth," and took refuge from the turmoil of dispute in those sublime declarations, that soared to the throne of Heaven, asserting the supremacy of God the Father, the derived nature of the Son, the purposes of revelation, and the obstacles of ignorance and disobedience, which it was obliged to surmount. The reasons for the above view are, the God. All things were made by him; and without him was not 3 any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life 4 explicit declarations of the Christian fathers to this effect, and the peculiar phraseology of John, so similar to the speculative nomenclature of that day; which he has employed to some extent in his Epistles, and which is occasionally found in the writings of Paul, as where he speaks, 1 Tim. i. 4, of "fables and endless genealogies," (i. e. the derivation, lineage of æons;) chap. iv. 7, "of profane and old wives' fables;" chap. vi. 20, " of profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science, (yvos, hence Gnostics,) falsely so called;" and Col. ii. 8, "of philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of this world." In order to prepare the way still further for a just interpretation, it will be necessary to sketch briefly some of those philosophical notions, against which John directed his preface, and also the general strain of his Gospel, and which led him to state, chap. xx. 31, what was his leading design in writing this life of Christ. Platonism, or the western philosophy, assigned the creation of the world not to the supreme God, but to a subordinate being, called logos, or word. This word, or creative energy, was invested with personal qualities, and regarded as a distinct being from God. On the other hand, Gnosticism, or the oriental philosophy, maintained that there was one Supreme Intelligence, from whom came various emanations or æons, one of which was technically called logos, another light, another life, &c.,- terms, which John employs in his proem, and throughout his Gospel, more frequently than the other writers. See also 1 John i. 1. "Every expression becomes clear, when regarded as an appeal to the Hebrew Scriptures, in opposition to the idols and fantasies of a false philosophy." 1. According to the preceding explanations, the purpose of this verse is to assert, that the creative energy, power, or wisdom, Prov. iii. 19, viii. 22-31, often personified, and called, in the Hebrew Scriptures, the word of God, Ps. ciii. 20, cv. 19, cxlvii. 15, 18, by which all things were made, 2 Pet. iii. 5, upheld, and directed, was not a distinct intelligence, as the Platonic Christians asserted, or an inferior aon, or personal emanation from the knowua, fulness of God, as the Gnostic believers held, but belonged to the very nature and essence of the Deity himself. John does not stop to specify the errors he would sweep away, but with one strong sentence establishes the counter position, that the divine attributes, concerned in the creation of things, were not separate intelligences, but essentially belonged to the Deity himself. In the beginning was the word. Or, Logos. It was not a derived, a distinct being, but originally, always existed. This was contrary to the philosophical speculation, that the Logos, at a certain period, emanated from the Supreme Deity.— And the Word was with God. Or, was God's. The preposition with, in the original, more properly means belonging to. The Logos, the Word, or intelligent power, is stated by the evangelist, in this step of his proposition, to belong to God, as a part of his nature, not to be a separate agent, or person from him, which was the belief of divers heretics of the time. And the Word was God. Still an additional idea. So far from the Word, or creative energy, having originated in time, or being derived from the Supreme Deity, it constituted the Supreme Deity himself, 5 was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and 6 the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent without beginning, and without separation or distinction from his own nature. — In this place, as well as elsewhere, in the Bible, we are too apt, with our colder temperament, to forget the figurative, bold, ardent style of oriental writers. Norton has given, in his Statement of Reasons, the following passage, conforming in its general character to this introduction of John's Gospel, which happily illustrates its highly poetical cast, and indicates the true mode by which it should be interpreted. "Goodness is seated on the throne of God, and directs his omnipotence. It is the blessedness of all holy and happy beings to contemplate her, the Supreme Beauty, and become more and more conformed to her image. It is by her, that the universe is attuned, and filled with harmony. She descended from heaven, and in the person of Christ displayed her loveliness; and called men to obey her laws, and enter her kingdom of light and joy. But she addressed those whom their vices and bigotry had made blind and deaf. She was rejected, despised, hated, persecuted, crucified." 2. The same was in the beginning with God. To give the thought a more impressive emphasis, he repeats that this Logos, or divine wisdom, which many were fond of severing from the Supreme Intelligence, was with, belonged to, that Intelligence, by a necessary, essential union. But according to the Trinitarian hypothesis, if the Word, in the first verse, means Christ, and he is God, the evangelist is then only laboring upon a self-evident proposition that God is God; or upon a self-contradictory one, that one being is another being; or again, as in this verse, that that one being is with, or belongs to, himself. 3. All things were made by him. Or, by it, referring to the creative power. It was a current idea among the Gnostic Christians, that the world was not created by the Most High God, but by demiurgus, a spirit, descending from the eons, which were themselves derived from the Deity. But John, on the contrary, declares, that so far from the creation being the work of an inferior agent, who, according to Cerinthus, had formed it out of eternal matter, it was the handiwork of the great and supreme Intelligence himself. And without him was not any thing made, &c. A yet broader assertion, designed to cover all possible cases. Part of the universe was not made by a good, and part by an evil, being, as some philosophers assert, but God is the exclusive Creator of heaven and earth, and all that is therein. 4. In him was life. Life, according to the tenets of this false philosophy, was one of the highest æons; Light was another of the same order, and Darkness an antagonist being, or æon, to Light. But John shows, that Light and Life were not particular and separate spirits, but were inherent in the creative Word, in God, and were derived from him, and him alone, to bless mankind. 5. And the light shineth in darkness. The Deity had caused his Light to shine upon the benighted, but they had not received or admitted his revelations. There had been ages of blindness, in which man had not opened his eyes to this allilluminating Light; but it still shone. Comprehended. Among the various meanings suggested for this word, in the original, perhaps that of admitted, by Campbell, is the best. 6. There was a man sent from God, &c. One of the current heresies was, that the eon Light descended upon |