John 1:6-13

SECOND SECTION

The personal Light or Christ in His pre-historical Presence in the World, especially in His Old Testament Advent, testified by the Old Covenant as it is represented by John the Baptist

John 1:6-13

CONTENTS

(1) The Representative Of The Coming Of Christ, John The Baptist, John 1:6-8. (2) The Coming Of Christ Into The World, In Its General Groundwork And Its Historical Genesis, John 1:9 (3) The Relation Of Christ To The World And The Conduct Of The World Towards Him, Or The General Groundwork Of His Advent, John 1:10. (4) The Relation Of Christ To Israel, And Israel’s Conduct Towards Him, Or The Imperfect, Symbolical Advent, John 1:11. (5) Christ’s Gradual Breaking Through In The World In The Contrast Of The Elect To The Less Susceptible, Embodied—(a) In Faith, As The Beginning Of The Real Advent, John 1:12; (b) In The Consecration Of Birth And The Being Born Of God; The Development Of The Real Advent, John 1:13.

6There was [became, arose]47 a man sent48 from God, whose name was John 7:0 The same came for a [omit a] witness [testimony, εἰς μαρτυρίαν], to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe: 8He was not that [the] Light, 9but was sent [came, Lange: he was] to bear witness of that [the] Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man, that cometh into the world. [The true Light which lighteth (lighteneth, Shineth upon) every man, was coming (ἦν ἐρκόμενον) 10into the world.]49 He [It] was in the world, and the world was made by him [it]50, and the world knew him not [Lange: did not recognize it in him]. 11He came unto his own [his own possessions or inheritance, τὰ ἴδια], and his own [his own people, οἱ ἴδιοι]51 received him not. 12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons [children, τέκνα] of God, even to them that 13believe on [in] his name: Which [Who] were born, not of blood [bloods, ἐξ αἱμάτων], not of the [natural] will of the flesh, nor of the [moral] will of man, but of God.52

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

John 1:6. There was a man.—Ἐγένετο [fiebat], arose, came into being; not ἦν [erat], was, absolutely [comp. John 8:58, Greek. The Logos was from eternity, Abraham and John began to be in time.—P. S.]—Chrysostom: ἐγένετο . The life of John, so to speak, was lost in his mission (see John 1:23; comp. Isaiah 40:3).53 The appearance of John in this place is striking, and has been variously interpreted (see Meyer).54 In the introduction of the Baptist in this passage we see a representation of the whole prophetic testimony concerning Christ in concentrated, personal form, after the manner of this Gospel. The Baptist was the final recapitulation of all prophetic voices concerning Christ. The Old Testament had two sides—a hidden and a visible. The hidden side was the rise of the genealogical life of Christ itself, His Christological advent; the visible side was the prophetic testimony concerning this advent. And as the verbal prophecy anticipated the real prophecy, in the nature of the case, so the fulfilment of the verbal prophecy in John preceded the fulfilment of the real prophecy in Christ. John therefore here stands in the right place, the auroral radiance of the essential Light; the great witness of the advent of Christ; the forerunner.

[Whose name (was) John, i.e., Jehovah is merciful, from the Hebrew יוֹחָנָן for יְהוֹחָנָן, Ἰωάννης ; comp. the Greek Θεόδωρος. This significant name was given to the forerunner of our Saviour by divine direction, Luke 1:13. The evangelist laid stress on his own name, and saw in it a symbol of his relation to Christ as the disciple “whom Jesus loved,” John 20:2; John 21:20. Comp. Lampe and Hegstenberg.—P. S.].

John 1:7. The same came for witness.—Testimony: stronger here than preaching; stronger even than prophecy, as hitherto existing. John appeared first as a preacher, a preacher of repentance. But the preacher showed himself at the same time a prophet, announcing under divine impulse the approach of the Messianic kingdom. And then, in the miraculous manifestation at the baptism of Jesus, through the testimony of God, he became a witness of the person of Jesus of Nazareth, that He is the Messiah; so to speak, an apostle before the apostolate. As a prophet who, by divine commission, pointed to the Messiah, he completed the Old Testament prophecy in testimony. And for this testimony he was come. His mission rose into the office of forerunner. And even his martyrdom in the strict sense is in keeping. He sealed his preparatory preaching of repentance with his death (see John 1:33).

That [ἴνα, the aim of John’s testimony] all men through him might believe.—“Through John, not through the Light (Grotius), or through Christ (Ewald):” Meyer.55 In the divine purpose John was to lead over the faith of Israel to Christ.56 This Christ also signifies John 5:33 [where he calls John “the burning and shining light,” or candle rather, λύχνος, not φῶς.—P. S.] Through the unbelief of the Jews this gracious design failed; though in the truly devout, first of all in the noblest of John’s own disciples (John 1:35 sqq.) it was fulfilled; through them in all believers.

John 1:8. He was not the light.—[ἦν is emphatic and contrasted with μαρτυρήσῃ. The article before φῶς is likewise emphatic, the Light of the world, the Light of lights, comp. ὁ προφήτης, John 1:29; ὁ ἄρτος, John 6:32 ff.—P. S.] This is certainly not said merely with reference to the unbelieving disciples of John.57 But in the wider sense the nation itself was an unbelieving disciple of John, contenting itself with the brightness of the Baptist, instead of going through him to the true Light itself, John 5:35. So far, therefore, as it is implied that many, even the leaders, made the Baptist rather a hindrance than a help to faith, the words are written even against the disciples of John.

But (he was).—De Wette takes the ἀλλ’ ἵνα but in order to, imperatively; Lücke supplies ἦν, was; Meyer, ἠλθεν, came Since the preceding verse strongly pronounces that the whole prophetic existence of John was intended to rise into a testimony for the Messiah, we give Lücke the preference: “He was, that he might bear witness.” [So also Alford and Godet. Baümlein supplies ἐγένετο, γίνεται, “or the like;” which is not so strong. I prefer with Meyer to supply ἦλθε from John 1:7, since the phrase, εἶναι, ἵνα instead of εἷναι εἰς τό is quite unusual.—P. S.]

John 1:9. The true Light—was coming [ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ —ἐρχόμενον].—Various interpretations: (1) He (the Logos) or it (the Light) was the true Light; so the older expositors and Luther [E. V., which supplies τοῦτο before ἦν, that was the true light.—P. S.] But τὸ φῶς τὸ must be subject, not predicate; for in John 1:8 John was the subject. [So also Meyer.] (2) Ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον (coming into the world) is connected with πάντα ἄνθρωπον (every man), not with ἦν (was); Origen [Syr., Euseb., Chrys., Cyril, Vulg., Aug, [and most of the ancients, Luther,58 Calvin [E. V.], etc., Hölemann, Meyer.59 [This would make either ἄνθρωπον or ἐρχδμ. superfluous.] Meyer observes that it could not be connected with ἦν; for the Logos was already in the world when John appeared. But the Evangelist here evidently goes back to the entire relation of Christ to mankind, especially goes back to John 1:4. He had before spoken of the witness of the advent of Christ—now he depicts the advent itself. This is divided into two parts: (1) The relation of the coming Logos to man in general; (2) His relation to Israel. Hence we interpret: He was (from the beginning and in conflict with the darkness, John 1:5) coming, was on His advent to mankind. Therefore not (a) was come [ἦν ἐρχόμενον ἐλθόν]: Schöttgen, etc.; (b) just came (when John appeared): De Wette, Lücke [Alford]; (c) future: was on the point of coming [venturum erat]: Tholuck; or (d) was destined to come: Luthardt; desired to come: Ewald;60 nor (e) was coming then, in the time before His baptism: Hilgenfeld, who even here would mix Valentinian Gnosis into the anti-Gnostic Gospel;—but in a purely historical sense [=ἦλθε, came], instead of the imperfect: Bengel, Bleek, Köstlin [Hengstenberg, with reference to Malachi 3:1]; and with the peculiar Johannean significance: He was continually coming, continually on his way.61 Hence the participial form. The essence of this universal advent is to be recognized in the fact, that the Logos shines in every man in his religious and moral nature and experience, as the λόγος σπερματικός. That the expression “every man” needed not the addition: that cometh into the world, is evident. And the phrase: “to come into the world,” is not used of the natural birth of an ordinary man, but is reserved for Christ.

[Which lighteth (enlightens, illuminates) every man—ὃφωτίζειπάνταἄνθρωπον.—There is much force in the singular. Quisquis illuminatur, ab hac luce illuminatur (Bengel). Different interpretations: 1. The light of reason and intelligence (Cyril of Alex.). Better: Both the intellectual and moral light (reason and conscience) given to all men, as distinct from the spiritual light of saving grace given to believers. The former is the basis of the latter.62 2. The inward spiritual light given to all (Quakers). 3. The light of grace given to believers only, or to every one to whom Christ was preached (Crosby). 4. Intellectual and spiritual light sufficient for the salvation of Jews and Gentiles, though the majority are so blinded by sin as not to see Him. “Christ enlightens all as far as in Him lies” (Chrysostom, Hom. 8). Christ gives sufficient light to every man to leave him without excuse, but not sufficient to save (Arrowsmith, Ryle).—Comp. John 3:19 : “light is come into the world;” John 12:46 : “I am come a light into the world;” John 6:14 : “that prophet that should come into the world;” John 18:37.—P. S.]

The true [veritable, genuine] Light [τὸφῶςτὸἀληθινόν].—The real, essential Light in distinction from the outward, cosmical light, which, nevertheless, is His token and symbol. (See Milton’s Paradise Lost: the greeting to the light. Comp. John 8:12; John 9:5.)

[There is a nice difference between ἀληθής (wahr), true in opposition to false, and ἀληθινός (wahrhaftig), true in opposition to borrowed or imitated. This difference is obliterated in the E. V. The one expresses the harmony between thought and reality, word and fact; the other implies a contrast between the perfect original and a copy more or less imperfect. Ἀληθινός is a favorite term with Plato and John to signify that which is genuine, archetypal, original, true to the idea. It occurs eight times in the Gospel, ten times in the Apocalypse, three times in the first Epistle of John, but elsewhere only five times in the N. T. In this passage it stands in contrast not so much to the cosmical light (Dr. Lange), as to the borrowed intellectual and moral light of the Baptist and other human teachers; comp. John 5:35; Matthew 5:14, where believers generally as members of Christ are called the light of the world. It is lumen illuminans, as distinct from the lumen illuminatum.—P. S.]

John 1:10. It was in the world.—Not pluperfect (Herder [Tholuck, Olsh.]); nor “in the person of Jesus, when John was testifying” (Meyer); but referring to His infinite presence in mankind (Baumgarten-Crusius). The repetitions of the idea of the world (κόσμος) are to be distinguished thus: In the first case the word combines the material and the moral world in one; in the second, it means the material or visible world alone, up to the roots of its moral conduct; in the third, the moral world alone, but considered as resting upon and representing the visible. Meyer well says: (1) The world might have known Him (constitutional affinity); (2) it should have known Him (according to His claim). [Comp. Romans 1:19 ff., where Paul fully proves the guilt of Gentiles and Jews in rejecting the light of nature and the preparatory revelation of the O. T.—P. S.]

Knew him not.—The whole verse strictly reads: “It was in the world, and the world was made by it [or Him, δ ι’ αὐτοῦ], and the world knew Him (αὐτόν) not.” The change of gender is highly significant. In the light of the world, the world should have known the personal founder of the world, the Logos. The gradation in the three clauses is also expressed by the repetition of “and.” The world of heathenism knew not the light, still less Him, the personal character of the light. It took the divine for something impersonal, and sough to heal the wrong by fragmentary personifications, its gods [the altar at Athens “to the unknown God,” Acts 17:23.—P. S.]

John 1:11. He came unto his own house or inheritance [τὰ ἴδια, comp. John 16:32; John 19:27].—Here the discourse is no longer of the universal advent of Christ in the world (Corn. a Lapide, Kuinoel, etc.);63 but of the theocratic advent in Israel (Erasmus, Calvin, etc., Lücke, Meyer); yet of this advent considered as intended for mankind. Israel is God’s own people in the special sense, Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6; Sir 24:7 ff. It is not, however, the historical New Testament coming of Christ in Israel, which is here spoken of. The expression He came, as denoting the historical moving of the Logos in the history of the world, determines us against the more general conception of the “own.” Yet it must be kept well in mind, that in John particularly Israel stands not for itself alone, but as the medium for the entrance of Christ into the whole world. See John 10:16.

And his own people [οἱἴδιοι, comp. John 13:1]—i.e., the Jews. See Isaiah 6:0; Matthew 13:0; John 12:41; Acts 7:0; Acts 23:25; Romans 9:0 [The transfer of the relation of Jehovah to Israel as His peculiar people upon Christ, implies that, in the view of John, Christ was the Jehovah of the Old dispensation; comp. John 12:41; John 8:56.—P. S.]

[Received him not—οὐπαρέλαβον, stronger than οὐκἔγνω, which is said of the world in general, John 1:10. The fact that the Jews were the peculiar inheritance of Jehovah, doubled their guilt in rejecting the Messiah. Comp. the οὐκἠθελήσατε , Matthew 23:37; also Isaiah 1:3; Romans 10:21; and John 12:37. The negative expression here, as John 1:10 and John 1:5, reveals a holy grief on the part of John.64 Remember the tears of pity which the Saviour shed over unbelieving Jerusalem.—P. S.]

John 1:12. But as many as received him—[ὅσοι, whosoever, whatsoever persons, denotes the universality of Christ’s benefit without distinction of race, nationality or condition.—P. S.] No contradiction of the preceding words. His own, His people, as a whole, received Him not, but individuals. See Galatians 3:4. The antithesis: οὐπαρέλαβον and ἔλαβον should be observed. The Jews should παραλαμβάνειν, take Him in addition to the Old Testament, receive Him in pursuance of the true traditions. This they did not. Thus others’ receiving Him became the absolute λαμβάνειν, contrary to the outward, false tradition. Λαμβάνειν in John and Paul is a strong word, denoting the moral act of faith, comp. Romans 5:11.*

To them gave he power.—Opposed to the descent from Abraham and the relative sonship with God, of which the Jews boasted, John 8:0. ’Ἐ ξουσία is neither merely [the possibility (De Wette, Tholuck), nor the ability (Brückner, Heng., Godet),65 nor] the dignity or advantage, (Erasmus, etc.), nor the right, or privilege (Meyer),66 but the real power, the spiritual faculty (Lücke), and, at the same time, the real title. Sonship with God was growing, in its formation-state, in the Old Testament; there were only incipient sons of God, Galatians 4:1, but there were such really, and progressively, according to the advancing inwardness and depth of the Old Testament faith. This sonship with God, too, is connected indeed with a semen arcanum electorum et spiritualium (contrary to Meyer, see John 1:9); but this must be understood neither in a Gnostic sense, nor in a Hegelian, but in a Johannean, John 3:21. This incipient regeneration is also most certainly ethical, but not merely ethical; it is also substantial, though the antithesis between the eternal μονογενής and the regenerate τέκναθεοῦ by all means remains perfect, even after the advance of the latter to υἱοὶ θεοῦ. The distinctions: ethical theogony in John (according to Hase), legal adoption in Paul; υἱοθεσία first appearing in the kingdom of the Messiah in the Synoptists (Meyer), are of little use; unless it may be said that John emphasizes the ideal begetting, Paul the historical new creation. The Messianic kingdom begins with the children of God, not they with it. [To become—γενέσθαι.—Christ is the eternal, only begotten Son of God by nature; men become children of God by regeneration or a celestial birth; comp. Joh 3:3; 1 John 3:9; Gal 3:26; 1 Peter 1:23. Alford thinks that τέκνα θεοῦ is a more comprehensive expression than υἱοὶ τ. θ., as it involves the whole generation and process of our spiritual life and our likeness to God (1 John 5:5-7), while the other brings out rather our adoption and hope of inheritance (Romans 8:14 if.)—P. S.]

To them that believe in his name.—[Πιστεύουσιν, not πιστεύσασιν; faith being a continued act and habit of the children of God. Mark also the distinction between believing Christ, that He is, and believing in Christ, in His name, His revealed being, in His person, εἰς τὸ ὄνομα;the former is purely intellectual and historical, the latter is moral and implies trust in and appropriation of Christ as our Saviour. The same difference holds with regard to the existence of God, comp. James 2:19 : καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια πισ τεύουσιν.—P. S.]—Not “ætiological” [quippe qui credunt, Meyer], but “explicative;” for faith is not the cause of the gift of Christ, but the organ, causa instrumentalis [the subjective condition]. The clause describes λαμβάνειν. Faith in the name of the Logos [εἰςτὸὄνομααὐτοῦ] is faith in Christ, more definitely, in His name (Acts 2:36; Acts 3:16; Acts 4:12); and this definiteness of faith, in the evangelical acknowledgment of the personal truth in Christ, makes it saving, makes it the medium of the saving power of Christ, because the name of Christ denotes the concentrated expression of His nature in His gospel, in which truth and personal fact are one.67 So the name of God is to be understood: the revelation of God as a personal introduction of Himself to us. So the devout of the old covenant believed in the name of the Logos, in the essential contents and subject of the Messianic promises, John 2:23; John 3:18, etc.

John 1:13. Who were born, not of bloods.—It is confusing to ask whether οἴ refers to τέκνα θεοῦ68 or πιστεύοντες. The subject is in both cases the same. It is the πιστεύοντες in the historical sense who are spoken of. The Evangelist introduces the antithesis of the natural generation and regeneration, yet regarding the natural generation itself as advanced from the purely physical to the religiously consecrated theocratic generation. He first states the antithesis in general: οὐκἐξαἱμάτων,not of bloods. Augustine explains the plural from the twofold sex of man and woman;69 Hölemann refers it to the successive begettings of the theocratic genealogy; Meyer finds that the plural is the same as the singular.70 We find in the plural a premonition of an ethical distinction of αἵματα. In ethical matters αἷμα and αἷμα are not one and the same. And this the succeeding climax proceeds to say. According to Augustine [Theophyl., Schott, Olshausen] and others, θέλημα σαρκός denotes woman in distinction from man (ἀνδρός). [This would require rather the disjunctive οὔτε—οὔτε, neither—nor, than the adjunctive οὐδέ—οὐδέ, nor—nor yet; besides flesh is never used synonymously with woman.—P. S.]71 Mosheim distinguishes native Jews and proselytes; others, natural children and adopted (Starke);72 Lücke takes ἀνήρ as no more than ἄνθρωπος;73 Meyer regards the sentence as a rhetorical progress to greater definiteness: the term σαρκόζ referring to the sexual instinct, ἀνδρός to the procreative will of the man.74If this distinction be followed up, we must come involuntarily upon the track of the true interpretation. The common sensual desire knows nothing of procreative will, yet it doubtless has its θέλημα. Baumgarten Crusius, therefore, rightly asserts that the progress is from the sensual to the most noble;75 and we see here a progress from the sensual begettings of the heathen world to the theocratically consecrated begettings, which introduce a sacred theocratic genealogy (see Lange’s Leben Jesu iii. 558, and Posit. Dogm. pp. 514, 532). In this passage is reflected the Scripture doctrine of hereditary blessing. Of course the Evangelist tells us also that the consecrated births may indeed exhibit an approach to regeneration, and be the instrument of it, but that they are not able to effect it, and that regeneration, as a heavenly generation, forms a counterpart to the earthly.

[The difference between αἴματα, σάρξ and ἀνήρ is not very clear, but the conjunction οὐδέ—οὐδέ (nor—nor yet), as distinct from οὔτε—οὔτε (neither—nor, comp. Winer, p. 454 f., 7th ed.), indicates a rising climax from the general (αἵματα) to the particular, and here again from the lower and physical agency (δάρξ) to the higher and moral (ἀνήρ), although θέλημα is ascribed to both. In Matthew 16:17; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Ephesians 6:12; Galatians 1:16, flesh and blood together signify human nature in its weakness. In John 3:6 we have the same contrast between the natural birth from the flesh, and the supernatural birth from the Spirit. The threefold denial of all human agency in regeneration gives emphasis to the affirmation of the divine agency, which is expressed by but of God, ἀλλ’ ἐκ θεοῦ. This does not exclude mediate instrumentalities, through which, ordinarily, men are regenerated and converted. The affirmation may be analyzed so as to correspond to the three members of the negation: 1) not of blood, but of the seed of God (1 John 3:9), which is the word of God (1 Peter 1:23 : ἀναγεννημένοι … διά λόγου ζῶντος θεοῦ; James 1:18 : ἀπεκύησεν ἡμᾶς λόγῳ ; 2) nor of the will of the flesh, but of the Spirit (John 3:6 : γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος; 3) nor yet of the will of man, but of the will of God (James 1:18 : βουληθεὶς ; Ephesians 1:5 : κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ. Bengel analyzes differently: 1) ex cœlesti Patre; 2) ex amore divino; 3) ex Spiritu sancto. Grace does not descend through the channel of nature in any form, but a new creative act of God is necessary in every regeneration. Barnes, in his notes on John 1:13, confounds regeneration with conversion. Regeneration is an act of God, and may take place in infancy (think of John the Baptist leaping in the mother’s womb); conversion or change of mind (μετάνοια) is the act of man, by which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he turns, in conscious repentance and faith, from sin and Satan to God.—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1.The fact that a man (John) was designated the messenger of God even, so to speak, in his origin, Luke 1:15; Luke 1:44, announced the coming of another, in whom no issue between birth and new birth should exist. Yet the distinction is as clear as the connection. John, as man, became the messenger of God; the Logos, as messenger of God, Joh 3:31; 1 Corinthians 15:25, became man. In John and Mary appear the two summits of the Old Testament spirit, the highest aspiration of human nature in the train of the Spirit of God; in Mary the summit of fervent, humble, receptive piety; in John the summit of energetic, prophetic piety in the official service of the law. Yet in them the higher spirit works from below upward under the drawing from above. In Christ the divine is before, and in Him the nisus is from above downward under the drawing of the human longing, the need of life and salvation below. The Baptist is strongly conscious of this distinction, Matthew 3:11; John 3:31. And in accordance with this nature of Christ is the nature also of Christianity, the righteousness of faith in a righteous life.

2. The same came for witness, John the Baptist, the last, most distinct form of the Old Testament prophecy, and as such the witness of Christ in the history of the world, at the same time in his freedom from jealousy a witness to the Holy Ghost in the Old Testament. The death of John a martyrdom (witness-bearing) to his fidelity as forerunner.

3. Through John His noblest disciples came to believe, through them all succeeding disciples and Christians, (See Schleiermacher, Predigten I., p. 18.)

4. He was not the Light. An antithesis applying not only to the Old and New Testaments, but also to Christ, the fountain of light, and the Apostles and Christians, with the prophets, as receivers and bearers of the light.

5. The true Light was coming. The pre-Christian Advent. (1) Founded (a) in the nature of Christ: “The true Light, which lighteneth every man,” i.e., shines into him from within through the fundamental laws of personal, mental life, from without through nature and history; (b) in the nature of the world: Made by the Logos, standing by His presence. (2) Unfolding itself (a) in a general invisible force: The shining in the darkness, the lighting of every man; Christ’s being in the world [primordial religion]; (b) in historical theocratic form: Education of Israel for His possession, and His coming to His own (the Old Testament religion in its development).

6. Received Him not. The obduracy, a self-estrangement, as well as a hostile bearing towards the admission of the yearning Householder. The obduracy of Israel in its historical development and completion; the great warning to the Christian world; warning, and alas, still more, Matthew 24:38.

7. That believe in His name.—Respecting the name, see above in the exegesis of this passage. Appearance of the name of the Logos, in the more definite sense, with the Old Testament revelation (the Angel of the Lord and the Messiah). Faith in the objective Messiah was in the subject, incipient sonship. In the righteousness of faith lay a point of union between the word of God and the heart of man, a quickening germ of personal children of God, therefore the power to become sons. But this could be brought to decision and contemplation only by the historical appearance of Christ and by the redemption accomplished in Him. As the revelation of God strove from the first towards concentration in the Name, the making Himself personally, perfectly known, so true faith strives from the beginning after the concentrated receiving of a distinct personal life. Centripetal faith, living faith; centrifugal faith, dying or dead faith.

8. Who were born not of blood. The truth and the insufficiency of inherited privilege. The Biblical doctrine of covenant grace not yet duly received in the church. Its antagonism to the unchurchly conception of the relation between nature and spirit, and even to the Augustinian overstatement of original sin. Its antagonism to Pelagianism. (See Posit. Dogmatik., p. 514 sqq.)

9. But of God. First the righteousness of faith present; then circumcision as the symbol of regeneration. The idea of real regeneration develops itself with the idea of the personal Messiah. Its development or genesis is reciprocal with that of repentance, faith, the experience of grace, in the saving process as it advances from the outward to the inward.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

John the Baptist, the Old Testament Evangelist of the Light. (1) In his mission and his name; (2) in his testimony and his work; (3) in his retirement and disappearance before the Light itself.—The Old Testament Advent of Christ: 1. In its ultimate basis (He was in the world); 2. in its historical manifestation (He came to His own); 3. in its earnest of victory (As many as received Him); 4, in its last attestation (There was a man).—John and Christ, or the personal manifestation of the saving Light: 1. John, the attester of the Light; 2. Christ, the attested Light.—The Old and New Testaments, one light of revelation: 1. The Old in the day-light of the New; 2. The New in the dawn-light of the Old.—John and Christ, or the kernel of revelation, personal life.—The Son of God as the nameless Name: 1. The namelessness of the name, (a) in the world in general, (b) in Israel in particular; 2. the name of the nameless, (a) in its silent development (He was in the world; He came), (b) in its great works.—The Advent of Christ in the world, mistaken and yet perceived: Mistaken (a) by the heathen, (b) by the Jews. Yet perceived (a) by the yearnings of the devout in all the world, (b) by the hope of the faithful in Israel.—The name of the Light, its complete personal revelation in Christ.—Christ the name: 1. The name of the life in the world; 2. the name of the light in mankind; 3. the name of the salvation in the children of God.—Those who are becoming believers, are becoming children of God.—The power to become, or the freedom of the spirit, the groundwork of the new birth and nature.—The being born of blood and born of God considered: 1. In their antagonism; 2. in their essential distinction; 3. in their congenial connection; 4. in the Mediator of their union.—He who believes in the pollution of birth according to the Scriptures, must believe also according to the Scriptures in the consecration of birth.—The beginnings of the regeneration in the Old Covenant, a fore-shadowing of the eternal new birth of Christ from heaven.

Starke: Jesus alone had a fore-runner.—Like the aurora before the sun, so John, according to the word of prophecy, must bear himself before Christ.—Hedinger: Teachers and all Christians are indeed lights also, in virtue of their divine calling, fellowship with God, and holy living, yet their main object is to bear witness of the light in Christ, to lead to it by precept and example.—O glorious nobility! to be born of God, His child and heir!—Behold, what manner of love! 1 John 3:1.—Osiander: What is due to Christ alone, must not be attributed to any man.—The eternal light sends forth rays in the hearts of all men. He who is not enlightened, must ascribe it to himself and the dominion of darkness.—Canstein: Noble family helps not to sonship and salvation, but only the being born anew of God.—Mosheim : Men in the state of nature are not children of God, and therefore have no right to salvation.

Gerlach, after Augustine: Corrupt men are called the world, because they love the world more than its Creator. By love we dwell in a thing with the heart, and we have therefore deserved to bear the name of that wherein we dwell by love.

Heubner: John must prepare the way for the reception of the Light.—The light must came gradually, else it blinds.—The nobility of the children of God is attained only through the Spirit, through birth from God, through a proper spiritual generation.

[John 1:6. John the Baptist, the greatest of men before Christ, because he was nearest to Christ, and comprehended all the light of the preparatory revelations of Moses and the prophets.

John 1:7. Every minister only a borrowed light to lean men to Christ, the true Light.

John 1:8. Christ is the sun of the soul, the source of spiritual light, life and growth.—P. S.]

[John 1:9. Arrowsmith: Christ is the true Light; 1. The undeceiving Light, in opposition to all the false lights of the Gentiles ; 2. The real Light, in opposition, to ceremonial types and shadows; 3. The underived Light, in opposition to all borrowed light; 4. The supereminent Light, in opposition to all ordinary light.

John 1:10. Hengstenberg: The creature should shout for joy, if its Creator comes to redeem it.

John 1:11. It is disgraceful if the creature despises the creature; it is doubly disgraceful if the people of the Covenant despise the Lord of the Covenant.]

[John 1:13. The new (celestial, divine) birth constitutes the true nobility of grace, as contrasted with the aristocracy of natural birth, the aristocracy of money, the aristocracy of merit, the aristocracy of fame.—Regeneration: 1. Its origin; 2. Its growth; 3. Its manifestation; 4.Its end (the final resurrection).—The children of God the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the benefactors of the race.—Comp. the admirable description of Christian life in the Epistle to Diognetus, ch. v. and vi., composed soon after the Apostolic age. Christians in the world are there compared to the soul in the body: they are scattered through the world and dwell in the world, yet are not of the world: they are hated by the world, yet love and benefit it; they are imprisoned in the world, yet preserve it from corruption, they are sojourners in the perishing world, looking for an incorruptible dwelling in heaven.—P. S.]

Footnotes:

John 1:6; John 1:6. [The Greek here is ἐγένετο (became), which differs from ἦν (was), John 1:1, as the German ward (or geworden) does from war, but it cannot be well rendered in English. It is the antithesis between temporal or created existence which has a beginning, and implies previous non-existence, and eternal or uncreated existence, which has neither beginning nor end. The same distinction—John 8:58 : πρὶν ̓Αβραὰμ γενέσθαι, ἐγώ εἰμι.—P. S.]

John 1:6; John 1:6. [ἀπεσταλμένος does not belong to ἐγένετο ἀπεστάλη (Chrysostom, Hom. 6 p. 42, and Hengstenberg), but to ἄνθρωπος.—P. S.]

John 1:9; John 1:9. [So Lange, Ewald somewhat differently: Ja das wahrhaflige Licht, welches jeden Menschen erleuchtet, kam stets in die welt. Others translate: that was the true Light which, coming into the world, lighteth every man. ἐρχόμενον may be connected with ἄνθρωπον Vulg.: hominem venientem, Luth., E. V.), or better, with ἦν (Lange, Ewald). See the Exeg. Notes. In the latter case a comma should be made after ἄνθρωπον, as is done by Tischendorf, eighth ed.—P. S.]

John 1:10; John 1:10. [δἰ αν̓τον͂. Cod. א* read δἰ αν̓τόν, probably an error of the copyist.—P. S.]

John 1:11; John 1:11. [The E.V. obliterates the distinction between the neutral τὰ ἴδια, das Seine, his own things, possessions, inheritance, and the masculine οίἴδιοι, die Seinen, his own people, servants, subjects.—P. S.]

John 1:13; John 1:13. The difficulty of the passage has occasioned the omission of ον̓δὲ ἐκ θελ. σαρκ. in Cod. E and others; and of ον̓δὲ ἐκ θελ. ἀνθρ. in Cod. B. and others. Others, as Augustine, have transposed the clauses. [See Tischend. Oct. VIII. p. 743.]

[53][Hengstenberg adopts the construction of Chrysostom, which would have been more naturally expressed by ἀπεστάλη, and defends it by referring to Malachi 3:1; Malachi 3:13 : “Lo, I am sending my messenger,” etc., compared with the words of the Baptist, John 3:28 : ἀπεσταλμένος εἰμὶ ἔμπροσθεν αν̓τοῦ. I prefer the usual connection of ἀπεσταλμένος with ἄνθρωπος.—P. S.]

[54][The Baptist is mentioned in the Prologue to confirm the reality of the historical appearance of Christ: Brückner; as a brilliant exception from the terrible darkness spoken of John 1:5 : Ewald; to explain the rejection of Christ by His own people, John 1:10-11 : Meyer; to introduce the historic manifestation of the word: Alford. He is mentioned rather as the personal representative of the whole O. T. revelation in whom the law and the promise, Moses and Isaiah, were united and pointed directly to Christ. See Lange in the text.—P. S.]

[55][In the fifth edition of Meyer the reference to Ewald is omitted. In his Commentary, Ewald translates δἰ αν̓τοῦ durch ihn without explaining whether ihn is meant of John or of Christ.—P. S.]

[56][Ryle: “One of those texts which show the immense importance of the ministerial office through which the Holy Spirit is pleased to produce faith in man’s heart.—P. S.]

[57][Meyer denies the reference to the disciples of John entirely. Godet, on the contrary, defends it, and justly so, in view of John 1:20; John 3:25; and in view of the Gnostic sect of the Disciples of John in the second century, who held that John the Baptist was the true Messiah. (Clementis Rom. Recognitiones l. I. c. 54 and 60. Comp. the articles of Petermann, Mendüer and Zabier, in Herzog’s Encyclop. Vols. IX. p. 318 and XVIII. p. 341.) Only we must not suppose either that John wrote expressly, or exclusively against this error. See Dr. Lange above.—P. S.]

[58][In the first ed. Luther translated: “Das war ein wahr-haftig Licht, welches alle Menschen erleuchtet durch seine Zukunft in die Welt,” i.e., “which, coming into the world, lighteneth all men.” In the later editions he followed the Vulgate.—P. S.]

[59][Meyer, however, lays the emphasis on ἧν aderat, which is put first, and translates: “Vorhanden war das Licht das wahrhaftiqe, welches erleuchtet jeden Menschen, der in die Welt kommt,” the true light was in existence, etc. But there is no good reason why ἧν should be emphasized rather than ἀληθτνόν, and then ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἡν, John 1:10, would be a repetition of John 1:9. The old usual interpretation is preferable to Meyer’s, but both are to be rejected, because the phrase to come into the world for to be born, though Rabbinical (בָּעוֹלַםבֹּל בָּאֵי=all men), is not Scriptural, as applied to common men, but is reserved exclusively for the Messiah with the implied sense of præ-existence, John 3:19; John 3:3; John 6:14; John 11:27; John 12:46; John 18:37. Bengel: “Apud Hebræos frequens est periphrasis hominis, הבִא בִעולם veniens in mundum, sed in N. T. et. præcipue in in hoc libro id at solo Christo dicitur, sublimi significatu. Erat enim, ante etiam, quam veniret.”—P. S.]

[60][In his Commentary Ewald explains somewhat differently. He connects John 1:9 with John 1:4 : es kam damals immer in die Welt, it was at that time always coming into the world, so that every mortal, if he would, might have been guided by the light.—P. S.]

[61][Keim: “er war in stetem Kommen in die Welt.” Similarly Ewald, see preceding foot-note. ἦν ἐρχόμενον is stronger than ἦν, and implies a continued action, like the English, was coming, as distinct from came. Comp. ἦν βαπτίζων, John 1:28. Hengstenberg accounts for this circumlocution of the simpler imperf. by the emphasis laid on ἐρχόμενος as a term of the Messiah; comp. Matthew 3:11 : ὁ ὀπίσω μον ἐρχόμενος; John 11:3; John 1:15; John 1:27; John 1:30.—P. S.]

[62]

[Comp. the lines of Göthe:“War nicht das Auge sonnenhaft,

Wie könnten wir das Licht erblicken?Lebt’ nicht in uns des Gottes eigne Kraft,

Wie könnt’ uns Göttliches entzücken?”—P. S.]

[63][There is no Scripture proof that ἴδια (viz., δώματα, οἰκήματα) means the world, and ἴδιοι mankind in general; both expressions refer to Israel as the peculiar people of God, ἴδια to the nation as a whole, ἴδιοι to the individuals. George Campbell (on the Gospels). Alford and Barnes would understand τα ἴδια of Palestine or Judea, and οί ἴδιοι of its inhabitants.—P. S.]

[64]

[Something of this feeling of sadness, in view of the ingratitude of the world to Christ, pervades the hymn of the noble Novalis:

Wenn alle untreu werden,

So bleib ich Der dock treu,”

especially the second stanza:I could weep night and morningThat Thou hast died, and yetSo few will heed Thy warning,So many Thee forget.O loving and true-hearted,How much for us didst Thou!Yet is Thy fame departed,And none regards it now.—P. S.]

[65][Godet translates: “elle (la Parole) les a mis en position de devenir enfants de Dieu” and explains ἐξονσὶα to mean essentially the same with the Pauline νἱοθεσὶα, the filial relation to which man is restored by faith, yet not identical with regeneration, but a condition to it. “Car Dieu ne peut communiquer sa propre vie par le πνεν͂μα qu'ὰun homme avec qui il est reconcilié.… Mais une fοie que l' adoption a eu lieu, la regénération doit suivre… et c ést la le second privilège, resultant, du premier, que saint Jean exprime dans ces mots: ‘Devenir enfants de Dieu.’” But the second is rather explanatory of the first (ἐξονσὶα).—P. S.]

[66][In the fifth ed. Meyer explains: er ermätchtigte sie, he empowered them. Comp. John 5:27; John 17:2.—P. S.]

[67][Arrowsmith, quoted by Ryle: “The word ‘name’ in the Scripture is often put for person. The receivers of Christ are said to believe on His name, because the direct object of their faith is the person of Christ. It is not the believing that Christ died for all, or for me, or for the elect, or any such proposition, that saveth. It is believing on Christ. The person, or name of Christ, is the object of faith.”—P. S.]

[68][So Meyer, constructio κατα σύνεσιν, as in 2 John 1:1; Philemon 1:10; Galatians 4:19. But Lange is right.—P. S.]

[69][“Ex sanguinibus enim homines nascuntur maris et feminæ ?” Tract. II. § 14. Ewald translates the plural aus Blut und Blut, and explains: durch blosse Missching voun Zeugungs-stoffen. Wordsworth: human commixtures.—P. S.]

[70][The plural usage of αἶμα in the sense of this passage occurs only in Euripides, Ion John 705: ἄλλων τραφεὶς ̓ αἱμάτων, but often in the sense of murder, in the classics and in the LXX. See quotations in Meyer.—P. S.]

[71][Augustine, In Joh. Tract. II. § 14, quotes Genesis 2:22 and Ephesians 5:28-29 to show that caro may be used for uxor; bur these passages (as also Judges 7:0) are not to the point. Flesh here means human nature, male and female. “What is born of the fiesh is flesh,” John 3:6.—P. S]

[72][So Albert Barnes; “adopted by a pious man.” Without a shadow of proof. Ryle and Crosby refer “flesh” to man’s own and “man” to any foreign human agency. But this could have been much more clearly expressed.—P. S.]

[73][So also Alford, who quotes, with Lücke, the Homeric πατὴρ . But Meyer denies that ἀνήρ is ever generalized into ἄνθρωπος, least of all here where the act of generation is spoken of.—P.S.]

[74][Similarly God t: The will of the flesh is la volonté dominée par p imagination sensuelle, the will of man la volonté plus independante de la nature, la resolution virile.—P. S.]

[75][Nature (αἵματα), desire (σάρξ), will (ἀνήρ). But the difficulty is that θήλημα is used in the second as well as the third clause.—P. S.]

John 1:14; John 1:14. [Or, pitched his ten; Meyer, Ewald: zeltete; Godet: a dressé sa tente. The verb ἐσκήνωσεν (from σκηνή, tent), which John uses also of God’s dwelling with His people on the new earth (Revelation 21:3), was chosen in allusion to the Shekinah (שׁבִינָה, or שְׁבִינָא, a Rabbinical theological term from שָׁכַו to dwell), i.e., the indwelling or glorious presence of Jehovah in the holy of holies of the tabernacle and the temple, which typically pointed to the incarnation. This allusion is evident from the correspondence of the letters (Bengel: “eædem literæ in שכיה et σκηνὴ"), and from the following ἐθεασάμεθα τὴ δόξαν αὐτοῦ comp. Exodus 25:8 (where Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translate שָׁבַנְתִּי by σκηνώσω; Exodus 40:34; Leviticus 26:11-12; Ezekiel 37:27; Haggai 2:8; Revelation 7:15; Revelation 21:3. In the Apocryphal books the Shekinah was especially ascribed to the Sophia (Sir 24:8 : ἐν ̓Ιακὼβ κ́ατασκήνωσον), and the Logos. The humanity of Christ became the Shekinah of His divinity—P. S.]