John, Chapter 13, verses 31-38
31 commandeth them to love one another, 36 and forewarneth Peter of his denialJohn, Chapter 14
1 Christ comforteth his disciples with the hope of heaven, 6 professeth himself the Way, the Truth and the Life, and one with the Father, 13 assureth their prayers in his name to be effectual, 15 requesteth love and obedience, 16 promiseth the holy Ghost the comforter, 27 and leaveth his peace with themJohn, Chapter 15
1 The consolation and mutual love between Christ and his members, under the parable of the vine, 18 A comfort in the hatred and persecution of the world, 26 The office of the holy Ghost, and of the apostlesJohn, Chapter 16
1 Christ comforteth his disciples against tribulation by the promise of the holy Ghost, and by his resurrection and ascension, 23 assureth their prayers made in his name to be acceptable to his Father, 33 Peace in Christ, and in the world afflictionJohn, Chapter 17
1 Christ prayeth to his Father to glorify him, 6 to preserve his apostles, 11 in unity, 17 and truth, 20 to glorify them and all other believers with him in heavenJohn, Chapter 18, verses 1-28
1 Judas betrayeth Jesus, 6 The officers fall to the ground, 10 Peter smiteth off Malchus' ear, 12 Jesus is taken and led unto Annas and Caiaphas, 15 Peter's denial, 19 Jesus examined before Caiaphas. His arraignment before PilateMatthew, Chapter 26, verses 57-75
57 is carried to Caiaphas, 69 and denied of Peter26
26:57 They led him away to Caiaphas - From the house of Annas, the father - in - law of Caiaphas, to whom they had carried him first. Mar 14:53; Luk 22:54; Joh 18:12.
26:58 But Peter followed him afar off - Variously agitated by conflicting passions; love constrained him to follow his Master; fear made him follow afar off. And going in, sat with the servants - Unfit companions as the event showed.
26:60 Yet found they none - On whose evidence they could condemn him to die. At last came two false witnesses - Such they were, although part of what they said was true; because our Lord did not speak some of those words at all; nor any of them in this sense.
26:64 Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man - He speaks in the third person, modestly, and yet plainly; Sitting on the right hand of power - That is, the right hand of God: And coming upon the clouds of heaven - As he is represented by Daniel, Dan 7:13-14. Our Lord looked very unlike that person now!But nothing could be more awful, more majestic and becoming, than such an admonition in such circumstances!
26:65 Then the high priest rent his clothes - Though the high priest was forbidden to rend his clothes (that is, his upper garment) in some cases where others were allowed to do it, Lev 21:10; yet in case of blasphemy or any public calamity, it was thought allowable. Caiaphas hereby expressed, in the most artful manner, his horror at hearing such grievous blasphemy.
26:67 Then - After he had declared he was the Son of God, the sanhedrim doubtless ordered him to be carried out, while they were consulting what to do. And then it was that the soldiers who kept him began these insults upon him.
26:72 He denied with an oath - To which possibly he was not unaccustomed, before our Lord called him.
26:73 Surely thou art also one of them, for thy speech discovereth thee - Malchus might have brought a stronger proof than this. But such is the overruling providence of God, that the world, in the height of their zeal, commonly catch hold of the very weakest of all arguments against the children of God.
26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear - Having now quite lost the reins, the government of himself.
John, Chapter 18, verses 28-40
19 Jesus examined before Caiaphas. His arraignment before Pilate, 36 His kingdom, 40 The Jews ask Barabbas to be let looseJohn, Chapter 19, verses 1-16
1 Christ is scourged, crowned with thorns and beaten, 4 Pilate is desirous to release him, but being overcome with the outrage of the Jews, he delivered him to be crucified18
18:28 They went not into the palace themselves, lest they should be defiled - By going into a house which was not purged from leaven, Deu 16:4. Mat 27:2; Mat 15:1; Luk 23:1.
18:31 It is not lawful for us to put any man to death - The power of inflicting capital punishment had been taken from them that very year. So the sceptre was departed from Judah, and transferred to the Romans.
18:32 Signifying what death he should die - For crucifixion was not a Jewish, but a Roman punishment. So that had he not been condemned by the Roman governor, he could not have been crucified. Joh 3:14.
18:36 My kingdom is not of this world - Is not an external, but a spiritual kingdom; that I might not be delivered to the Jews - Which Pilate had already attempted to do, Joh 18:31, andafterward actually did, Joh 19:16.
18:37 Thou sayest - The truth. To this end was I born - Speaking of his human origin: his Divine was above Pilate's comprehension.Yet it is intimated in the following words, I came into the world, that I might witness to the truth - Which was both declared to the Jews, and in the process of his passion to the princes of the Gentiles also. Every one that is of the truth - That is, a lover of it, heareth my voice - A universal maxim. Every sincere lover of truth will hear him, so as to understand and practise what he saith.
18:38 What is truth? - Said Pilate, a courtier; perhaps meaning what signifies truth? Is that a thing worth hazarding your life for?So he left him presently, to plead with the Jews for him, looking upon him as an innocent but weak man.
19
19:7 By our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God - Which they understood in the highest sense, and therefore accounted blasphemy.
19:8 He was the more afraid - He seems to have been afraid before of shedding innocent blood.
19:9 Whence art thou? - That is, whose son art thou?
19:11 Thou couldst have no power over me - For I have done nothing to expose me to the power of any magistrate. Therefore he that delivered me to thee, namely, Caiaphas, knowing this, is more blamable than thou.
19:13 Pilate sat down on the judgment seat - Which was then without the palace, in a place called, in Greek, the pavement, on account of a beautiful piece of Mosaic work, with which the floor was adorned: but in Hebrew, Gabbatha - Or the high place, because it stood on an eminence, so that the judge sitting on his throne might be seen and heard by a considerable number of people.
19:14 It was the preparation of the passover - For this reason both the Jews and Pilate were desirous to bring the matter to a conclusion.Every Friday was called the preparation, (namely, for the Sabbath.) And as often as the passover fell on a Friday, that day was called the preparation of the passover.
Matthew, Chapter 28, verses 3-20
1 Christ's resurrection is declared by an angel to the women, 9 He himself appeareth unto them, 11 The high priests give the soldiers money to say that he was stolen out of his sepulchre, 16 Christ appeareth to his disciples, 19 and sendeth them to baptize and teach all nations28
28:6 Come, see the place where the Lord lay - Probably in speaking he rose up, and going before the women into the sepulchre, said, Come, see the place. This clearly reconciles what St. John relates, Joh 20:12, this being one of the two angels there mentioned.
28:7 There shall ye see him - In his solemn appearance to them all together. But their gracious Lord would not be absent so long: he appeared to them several times before then. Lo, I have told you - A solemn confirmation of what he had said.
28:9 Hail - The word in its primary sense means, "Rejoice:" in its secondary and more usual meaning, "Happiness attend you."
28:10 Go tell my brethren - I still own them as such, though they so lately disowned and forsook me.
28:13 Say, his disciples came by night, and stole him while we slept - Is it possible, that any man of sense should digest this poor, shallow inconsistency? If ye were awake, why did you let the disciples steal him? If asleep, how do you know they did?
28:16 To the mountain where Jesus had appointed them - This was probably Mount Tabor, where, (it is commonly supposed,) he had been before transfigured. It seems to have been here also, that he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once.
28:18 All power is given to me - Even as man. As God, he had all power from eternity.
28:19 Disciple all nations - Make them my disciples. This includes the whole design of Christ's commission. Baptizing and teaching are the two great branches of that general design. And these were to be determined by the circumstances of things; which made it necessary in baptizing adult Jews or heathens, to teach them before they were baptized; in discipling their children, to baptize them before they were taught; as the Jewish children in all ages were first circumcised, and after taught to do all God had commanded them. Mar 16:15.
Mark, Chapter 15, verses 16-32, 43-47
15 Upon the clamour of the common people, the murderer Barabbas is loosed, and Jesus delivered up to be crucified, 17 he is crowned with thorns, 19 spit on and mocked, 21 fainteth in bearing his cross, 27 hangeth between two thieves, 29 suffereth the triumphing reproach of the Jews, 39 but confessed of the centurion to be the Son of God, 43 and is honourably buried by Joseph15
15:16 Praetorium - The inner hall, where the praetor, a Roman magistrate, used to give judgment. But St. John calls the whole palace by this name. Mat 27:27; Joh 19:2.
15:17 Purple - As royal robes were usually purple and scarlet, St. Mark and John term this a purple robe, St. Matthew a scarlet one. The Tyrian purple is said not to have been very different from scarlet.
15:21 The father of Alexander and Rufus - These were afterward two eminent Christians, and must have been well known when St. Mark wrote.
15:22 Mat 27:33; Luk 23:33; Joh 19:17.
15:24 St. Mark seems to intimate, that they first nailed him to the cross, then parted his garments, and afterward reared up the cross.
15:25 See note Mar 15:24
15:28 Isa 53:12.
15:29 Mat 27:39.
Matthew, Chapter 27, verses 33-66
26 and looseth Barabbas. Christ is crowned with thorns, 34 crucified, 40 reviled, 50 dieth and is buried, 66 his sepulchre is sealed and watched27
27:33 A place called Golgotha, that is, the place of a skull - Golgotha in Syriac signifies a skull or head: it was probablycalled so from this time; being an eminence upon Mount Calvary, not far from the king's gardens. Mar 15:22; Luk 23:33; Joh 19:17
27:34 They gave him vinegar mingled with gall - Out of derision: which, however nauseous, he received and tasted of. St. Mark mentions also a different mixture which was given him, Wine mingled with myrrh: such as it was customary to give to dying criminals, to make them less sensible of their sufferings: but this our Lord refused to taste, determining to bear the full force of his pains.
27:35 They parted his garments - This was the custom of the Romans.The soldiers performed the office of executioners, and divided among them the spoils of the criminals. My vesture - That is, my inner garment. Psa 22:18.
27:45 From the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the earth unto the ninth hour - Insomuch, that even a heathen philosopher seeing it, and knowing it could not be a natural eclipse, because it was at the time of the full moon, and continued three hours together, cried out, "Either the God of nature suffers, or the frame of the world is dissolved." By this darkness God testified his abhorrence of the wickednesswhich was then committing. It likewise intimated Christ's sore conflicts with the Divine justice, and with all the powers of darkness.
27:46 About the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice - Our Lord's great agony probably continued these three whole hours, at the conclusion of which be thus cried out, while he suffered from God himself what was unutterable. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? - Our Lord hereby at once expresses his trust in God, and a most distressing sense of his letting loose the powers of darkness upon him, withdrawing the comfortable discoveries of his presence, and filling his soul with a terrible sense of the wrath due to the sins which he was bearing. Psa 22:1.
27:48 One taking a sponge, filled it with vinegar - Vinegar and water was the usual drink of the Roman soldiers. It does not appear, that this was given him in derision, but rather with a friendly design, that he might not die before Elijah came. Joh 19:28.
27:50 After he had cried with a loud voice - To show that his life was still whole in him. He dismissed his spirit - So the original expression may be literally translated: an expression admirably suited to our Lord's words, Joh 10:18: No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself.He died by a voluntary act of his own, and in a way peculiar to himself. He alone of all men that ever were, could have continued alive even in the greatest tortures, as long as he pleased, or have retired from the body whenever he had thought fit. And how does it illustrate that love which he manifested in his death? Insomuch as he did not use his power to quit his body, as soon as it was fastened to the cross, leaving only an insensible corpse, to the cruelty of his murderers: but continued his abode in it, with a steady resolution, as long as it was proper. He then retired from it, with a majesty and dignity never known or to be known in any other death: dying, if one may so express it, like the Prince of life.
27:51 Immediately upon his death, while the sun was still darkened, the veil of the temple, which separated the holy of holies from the court of the priests, though made of the richest and strongest tapestry, was rent in two from the top to the bottom: so that while the priest was ministering at the golden altar (it being the time of the sacrifice) the sacred oracle, by an invisible power was laid open to full view: God thereby signifying the speedy removal of the veil of the Jewish ceremonies the casting down the partition wall, so that the Jews and Gentiles were now admitted to equal privileges, and the opening a way through the veil of his flesh for all believers into the most holy place.And the earth was shaken - There was a general earthquake through the whole globe, though chiefly near Jerusalem: God testifying thereby his wrath against the Jewish nation, for the horrid impiety they were committing.
27:52 Some of the tombs were shattered and laid open by the earthquake, and while they continued unclosed (and they must have stood open all the Sabbath, seeing the law would not allow any attempt to close them) many bodies of holy men were raised, (perhaps Simeon, Zacharias, John the Baptist, and others who had believed in Christ, and were known to many in Jerusalem,) And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, went into the holy city (Jerusalem) and appeared to many - Who had probably known them before: God hereby signifying, that Christ had conquered death, and would raise all his saints in due season.
27:54 The centurion - The officer who commanded the guard; and they that were with him feared, saying, Truly this was the Son of God - Referring to the words of the chief priests and scribes, Mat 27:43: He said, I am the Son of God.
27:56 James - The less: he was so called, to distinguish him from the other James, the brother of John; probably because he was less in stature.
27:57 When the evening was come - That is, after three o'clock; the time from three to six they termed the evening. Mar 15:42; Luk 23:50; Joh 19:38.
27:62 On the morrow, the day that followed the day of the preparation - The day of preparation was the day before the Sabbath, whereon they were to prepare for the celebration of it.The next day then was the Sabbath according to the Jews.But the evangelist seems to express it by this circumlocution, to show the Jewish Sabbath was then abolished.
27:63 That impostor said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again - We do not find that he had ever said this to them, unless when he spoke of the temple of his body, Joh 2:19, Joh 2:21. And if they here refer to what he then said,how perverse and iniquitous was their construction on these words, when he was on his trial before the council? Mat 26:61. Then they seemed not to understand them!
27:65 Ye have a guard - Of your own, in the tower of Antonia, which was stationed there for the service of the temple.
27:66 They went and secured the sepulchre, sealing the stone, and setting a guard - They set Pilate's signet, or the public seal of the sanhedrim upon a fastening which they had put on the stone.And all this uncommon caution was overruled by the providence of God, to give the strongest proofs of Christ's ensuing resurrection; since there could be no room for the least suspicion of deceit, when it should be found, that his body was raised out of a new tomb, where there was no other corpse, and this tomb hewn out of a rock, the mouth of which was secured by a great stone, under a seal, and a guard of soldiers.
Luke, Chapter 23, verses 32-49
27 He telleth the women that lament him the destruction of Jerusalem, 34 prayeth for his enemies, 39 Two evildoers are crucified with him, 46 His death23
23:34 Then said Jesus - Our Lord passed most of the time on the cross in silence: yet seven sentences which he spoke thereon are recorded by the four evangelists, though no one evangelist has recorded them all. Hence it appears that the four Gospels are, as it were, four parts, which, joined together, make one symphony. Sometimes one of these only, sometimes two or three, sometimes all sound together. Father - So he speaks both in the beginning and at the end of his sufferings on the cross: Forgive them - How striking is this passage! While they are actually nailing him to the cross, he seems to feel the injury they did to their own souls more than the wounds they gave him; and as it were to forget his own anguish out of a concern for their own salvation. And how eminently was his prayer heard! It procured forgivenessfor all that were penitent, and a suspension of vengeance even for the impenitent.
23:35 If thou be the Christ; Luk 23:37.If thou be the king - The priests deride the name of Messiah: the soldiers the name of king.
23:38 Mat 27:37; Mar 15:26; Joh 19:19.
23:39 And one of the malefactors reviled him - St. Matthew says, the robbers: St. Mark, they that were crucified with him, reviled him.Either therefore St. Matthew and Mark put the plural for the singular (as the best authors sometimes do) or both reviled him at the first, till one of them felt "the overwhelming power of saving grace."
23:40 The other rebuked him - What a surprising degree was here of repentance, faith, and other graces! And what abundance of good works, in his public confession of his sin, reproof of his fellow criminal, his honourable testimony to Christ, and profession of faith in him, while he was in so disgraceful circumstances as were stumbling even to his disciples! This shows the power of Divine grace. But it encourages none to put off their repentance to the last hour; since, as far as appears, this was the first time this criminal had an opportunity of knowing any thing of Christ, and his conversion was designed to put a peculiar glory on our Saviour in his lowest state, while his enemies derided him, and his own disciples either denied or forsook him.
23:42 Remember me when thou comest - From heaven, in thy kingdom - He acknowledges him a king, and such a king, as after he is dead, can profit the dead. The apostles themselves had not then so clear conceptions of the kingdom of Christ.
23:43 In paradise - The place where the souls of the righteous remain from death till the resurrection. As if he had said, I will not only remember thee then, but this very day.
23:44 There was darkness over all the earth - The noon - tide darkness, covering the sun, obscured all the upper hemisphere. And the lower was equally darkened, the moon being in opposition to the sun, and so receiving no light from it. Mat 27:45.
23:45 Mar 15:38.
23:46 Father, into thy hands - The Father receives the Spirit of Jesus: Jesus himself the spirits of the faithful.
23:47 Certainly this was a righteous man - Which implies an approbation of all he had done and taught.
23:48 All the people - Who had not been actors therein, returned smiting their breasts - In testimony of sorrow.
John, Chapter 19, verses 25-42
23 They cast lots for his garments, 26 He commendeth his mother to John, 28 He dieth, 31 His side is pierced, 38 He is buried by Joseph and Nicodemus19
19:25 His mother's sister - But we do not read she had any brother.She was her father's heir, and as such transmitted the right of the kingdom of David to Jesus: Mary, the wife of Cleopas - Called likewise Alpheus, the father, as Mary was the mother of James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas.
19:27 Behold thy mother - To whom thou art now to perform the part of a son in my place, a peculiar honour which Christ conferred on him. From that hour - From the time of our Lord's death.
19:29 A stalk of hyssop - Which in those countries grows exceeding large and strong. Psa 69:21.
19:30 It is finished - My suffering: the purchase of man's redemption.He delivered up his spirit - To God, Mat 27:50.
19:31 Lest the bodies should remain on the cross on the Sabbath - Which they would have accounted a profanation of any Sabbath,but of that in particular. For that Sabbath was a great day - Being not only a Sabbath, but the second day of the feast of unleavened bread (from whence they reckoned the weeks to pentecost:) and also the day for presenting and offering the sheaf of new corn: so that it was a treble solemnity.
19:34 Forthwith there came out blood and water - It was strange, seeing he was dead, that blood should come out; more strange, that water also; and most strange of all, that both should come out immediately, at one time, and yet distinctly. It was pure and true water, as well as pure and true blood. The asseveration of the beholder and testifier of it, shows both the truth and greatness of the miracle and mystery.
19:35 His testimony is true - Valid, unexceptionable. And he knoweth - And his conscience beareth him witness, that he testifieth this for no other end, than that ye may believe.
19:36 A bone of it shall not be broken - This was originally spoken of the paschal lamb, an eminent type of Christ. Exo 12:46.
19:37 They shall look on him whom they have pierced - He was pierced by the soldier's spear. They who have occasioned his sufferings by their sins (and who has not?) shall either look upon him in this world with penitential sorrow: or with terror, when he cometh in the clouds of heaven, Rev 1:7. Zec 12:10.
13
13:31 Jesus saith - Namely, the next day; on Thursday, in the morning.Here the scene, as it were, is opened, for the discourse which is continued in the following chapters. Now - While I speak this, the Son of man is glorified - Being fully entered into his glorious work of redemption. This evidently relates to the glory which belongs to his suffering in so holy and victorious a manner.
13:33 Ye cannot come - Not yet; being not yet ripe for it. Joh 7:34.
13:34 A new commandment - Not new in itself; but new in the school of Christ: for he had never before taught it them expressly.Likewise new, as to the degree of it, as I have loved you.
13:36 Peter saith, Lord, whither goest thou? - St. Peter seems to have thought, that Christ, being rejected by the Jews, would go to some other part of the earth to erect his throne, where he might reign without disturbance, according to the gross notions he had of Christ's kingdom. Thou canst not follow me now - But Peter would not believe him. And he did follow him, Joh 18:15.But it was afar off. And not without great loss.
13:38 The cock shall not have crowed - That is, cock crowing shall not be over, till thou hast denied me thrice - His three - fold denial was thrice foretold; first, at the time mentioned here; secondly, at that mentioned by St. Luke; lastly, at that recorded by St. Matthew and Mark.
14
14:1 Let not your heart be troubled - At my departure. Believe - This is the sum of all his discourse, which is urged till theydid believe, Joh 16:30. And then our Lord prays and departs.
14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions - Enough to receive both the holy angels, and your predecessors in the faith, and all that now believe, and a great multitude, which no man can number.
14:4 The way - Of faith, holiness, sufferings.
14:5 Thomas saith - Taking him in a gross sense.
14:6 To the question concerning the way, he answers, I am the way.To the question concerning knowledge, he answers, I am the truth.To the question whither, I am the life. The first is treated of in this verse; the second, Joh 14:7-17; the third, Joh 14:18, etc
14:7 Ye have known - Ye have begun to know him.
14:10 I am in the Father - The words that I speak, etc - That is, I am one with the Father, in essence, in speaking, and in acting.
14:11 Believe me - On my own word, because I am God. The works - This respects not merely the miracles themselves, but his sovereign, Godlike way of performing them.
14:12 Greater works than these shall he do - So one apostle wrought miracles merely by his shadow, Act 5:15; another by handkerchiefs carried from his body, Act 19:12; and all spake with various tongues. But theconverting one sinner is a greater work than all these.Because I go to my Father - To send you the Holy Ghost.
14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments - Immediately after faith he exhorts to love and good works.
14:16 And I will ask the Father - The 21st verse, Joh 14:21, shows the connection between this and the precedingverses. And he will give you another Comforter - The Greek word signifies also an advocate, instructer, or encourager. Another - For Christ himself was one. To remain with you for ever - Withyou, and your followers in faith, to the end of the world.
14:17 The Spirit of truth - Who has, reveals, testifies, and defends the truth as it is in Jesus. Whom the world - All who do not love or fear God, cannot receive, because it seeth him not - Having no spiritual senses, no internal eye to discern him; nor consequently knoweth him. He shall be in you - As a constant guest. Your bodies and souls shall be temples of the Holy Ghost dwelling in you.
14:18 I will not leave you orphans - A word that is elegantly applied to those who have lost any dear friend. I come to you - What was certainly and speedily to be, our Lord speaks of as if it were already.
14:19 But ye see me - That is, ye shall certainly see me. Because I live, ye shall live also - Because I am the living One in my Divine nature, and shall rise again in my human nature, and live for ever in heaven: therefore ye shall live the life of faith and love on earth, and hereafter the life of glory.
14:20 At that day - When ye see me after my resurrection; but more eminently at the day of pentecost.
14:21 He that hath my commandments - Written in his heart. I will manifest myself to him - More abundantly.
14:23 Jesus answered - Because ye love and obey me, and they do not, therefore I will reveal myself to you, and not to them. My Father will love him - The more any man loves and obeys, the more God will love him. And we will come to him, and make our abode with him - Which implies such a large manifestation of the Divine presence and love, that the former in justification is as nothing in comparison of it.
14:26 In my name - For my sake, in my room, and as my agent. He will teach you all things - Necessary for you to know. Here is a clear promise to the apostles, and their successors in the faith, that the Holy Ghost will teach them all that truth which is needful for their salvation.
14:27 Peace I leave with you - Peace in general; peace with God and with your own consciences. My peace - In particular; that peace which I enjoy, and which I create, I give - At this instant.Not as the world giveth - Unsatisfying unsettled, transient; but filling the soul with constant, even tranquillity. Lord, evermore give us this peace! How serenely may we pass through the most turbulent scenes of life, when all is quiet and harmonious within! Thou hast made peace through the blood of thy cross. May we give all diligence to preserve the inestimable gift inviolate, till it issue in everlasting peace!
14:28 God the Father is greater than I - As he was man. As God, neither is greater nor less than the other.
14:29 I have told you - Of my going and return.
14:30 The prince of this world is coming - To make his grand assault.But he hath nothing in me - No right, no claim, or power. There is no guilt in me, to give him power over me; no corruption to take part with his temptation.
14:31 But I suffer him thus to assault me,
- Because it is the Father's commission to me, Joh 10:18.
- To convince the world of my love to the Father, in being obedient unto death, Php 2:8.
Arise, let us go hence - Into the city, to the passover. All thathas been related from Joh 12:31, was done and said on Thursday, without the city. But what follows in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters, was said in the city, on the very evening of the passover just before he went over the brook Kedron.15
15:1 I am the true vine - So the true bread, Joh 6:32; that is, the most excellent.
15:2 Every one that beareth fruit, he purifieth - by obeying the truth, Pe1 1:22; and by inward or outward sufferings, Heb 12:10-11. So purity and fruitfulness help each other.That it may bear more fruit - For this is one of the noblest rewards God can bestow on former acts of obedience, to make us yet more holy, and fit for farther and more eminent service.
15:3 Ye are clean - All of you, to whom I now speak, are purged from the guilt and power of sin; by the word - Which, applied by the Spirit, is the grand instrument of purifying the soul.
15:4 Abide in me - Ye who are now pure by living faith, producing all holiness; by which alone ye can be in me.
15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches - Our Lord in this whole passage speaks of no branches but such as are, or at least were once, united to him by living faith.
15:6 If any one abide not in me - By living faith; not by Church communion only. He may thus abide in Christ, and be withered all the time, and cast into the fire at last. He is cast out - Of the vineyard, the invisible Church. Therefore he was in it once.
15:7 If ye abide in me, ye shall ask - Prayers themselves are a fruit of faith, and they produce more fruit.
15:8 So shall ye be my disciples - Worthy of the name. To be a disciple of Christ is both the foundation and height of Christianity.
15:9 Abide ye in my love - Keep your place in my affection. See that ye do not forfeit that invaluable blessing. How needless a caution, if it were impossible for them not to abide therein?
15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love - On these terms, and no other, ye shall remain the objects of my special affection.
15:11 That my joy might remain in you - The same joy which I feel in loving the Father, and keeping his commandments.
15:12 Your joy will be full, if ye so love one another.
15:13 Greater love - To his friends. He here speaks of them only.
15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you - On this condition, not otherwise. A thunderbolt for Antinomianism!Who then dares assert that God's love does not at all depend on man's works?
15:15 All things - Which might be of service to you.
15:16 Ye - My apostles, have not chosen me, but I have chosen you - As clearly appears from the sacred history: and appointed you, that ye may go and bear fruit - I have chosen and appointed you for this end, that ye may go and convert sinners: and that your fruit may remain - That the fruit of your labours may remain to the end of the world; yea, to eternity; that whatsoever ye shall ask - The consequence of your going and bearing fruit will be, that all your prayers will he heard.
15:19 Because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you - Because your maxims, tempers, actions, are quite opposite to theirs. For the very same reason must the world in all ages hate those who are not of the world.
15:20 Joh 13:16; Mat 10:24; Luk 6:40.
15:21 All these things will they do to you, because they know not him that sent me - And in all ages and nations they who know not God will, for this cause, hate and persecute those that do.
15:22 They had not had sin - Not in this respect.
15:23 He that hateth me - As every unbeliever doth, For as the love of God is inseparable from faith, so is the hatred of God from unbelief.
15:25 Psa 69:4.
15:26 When the Comforter is come, whom I will send from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me - The Spirit's coming, and being sent by our Lord from the Father, to testify of him, are personal characters, and plainly distinguish him from the Father and the Son; and his title as the Spirit of truth, together with his proceeding from the Father, can agree to none but a Divine person. And that he proceeds from the Son, as well as from the Father, may be fairly argued from his being called the Spirit of Christ, Pe1 1:11; and from his being here said to besent by Christ from the Father, as well as sent by the Father in his name.
16
16:2 The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think he doth God service - But, blessed be God, the time is so far past, that those who bear the name of Christ do not now generally suppose they do him service by killing each other for a difference in opinion or mode of worship.
16:3 They have not known the Father nor me - This is the true root of persecution in all its forms.
16:4 I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you - To bear the chief shock in my own person, and to screen you from it.
16:5 None of you asketh me - Now when it is most seasonable.Peter did ask this before, Joh 13:36.
16:7 It is expedient for you - In respect of the Comforter, Joh 16:7, etc, and of me, Joh 16:16, etc, and of the Father, Joh 16:23, etc
16:8 He - Observe his twofold office; toward the world, Joh 16:8, etc; toward believers, Joh 16:12, etc : will convince - All of the world - Who do not obstinately resist, by your preaching and miracles, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment - He who is convinced of sin either accepts the righteousness of Christ, or is judged with Satan. An abundant accomplishment of this we find in the Acts of the Apostles.
16:9 Of sin - Particularly of unbelief, which is the confluence of all sins, and binds them all down upon us.
16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father - Which the Spirit will testify, though ye do not then see me. But I could not go to him if I were not righteous.
16:11 The prince of this world is judged - And in consequence thereof dethroned, deprived of the power he had so long usurped over men. Yet those who reject the deliverance offered them will remain slaves of Satan still.
16:12 I have yet many things to say - Concerning my passion, death, resurrection, and the consequences of it. These things we have, not in uncertain traditions, but in the Acts, the Epistles, and the Revelation. But ye cannot bear them now - Both because of your littleness of faith, and your immoderate sorrow.
16:13 When he is come - It is universally allowed that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost dwell in all believers. And the internal agency of the Holy Ghost is generally admitted. That of the Father and the Son, as represented in this Gospel, deserves our deepest consideration.
16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine - Could any creature say this?
16:16 A little while and ye shall not see me - When I am buried: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me - When I am risen: because I go to my Father - I die and rise again, in order to ascend to my Father.
16:19 Jesus said to them - Preventing their question.
16:20 Ye will weep and lament - When ye see me dead; but your sorrow will be turned into joy - When ye see me risen.
16:22 Ye now therefore have sorrow - This gives us no manner of authority to assert all believers must come into a state of darkness. They never need lose either their peace, or love, or the witness that they are the children of God. They never can lose these, but either through sin, or ignorance, or vehement temptation, or bodily disorder.
16:23 Ye shall not question me about any thing - Which you do not now understand. You will not need to inquire of me; for you will know all things clearly. Whatsoever ye shall ask - Knowledge, love, or any thing else, he will give it - Our Lord here gives us a charte blanche. Believer, write down what thou wilt. He had said, Joh 14:13, I will do it, where the discourse was ofglorifying the Father through the Son. Here, speaking of the love of the Father to believers, he saith, He will give it.
16:24 Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name - For they had asked him directly for all they wanted.
16:26 At that day ye shall ask - For true knowledge begets prayer.And I say not that I will pray - This in nowise implies that he will not: it means only, The Father himself now loves you, not only because of my intercession, but also because of the faith and love which he hath wrought in you.
16:30 Thou knowest all things - Even our hearts. Although no question is asked thee, yet thou answerest the thoughts of every one. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God - They, as it were, echo back the words which he had spoken in Joh 16:27, implying, We believe in God; we believe also in thee.
17 In this chapter our Lord prays,
And again, Joh 17:24-26.
In his prayer he comprises all he had said from Joh 13:31,
and seals, as it were, all he had hitherto done, beholding things past, present, and to come. This chapter contains the easiest words, and the deepest sense of any in all the Scripture: yet is here no incoherent rhapsody, but the whole is closely and exactly connected.
17:1 Father - This simplicity of appellation highly became the only - begotten Son of God; to which a believer then makes the nearest approach, when he is fullest of love and humble confidence.The hour is come - The appointed time for it; glorify thy Son - The Son glorified the Father, both before and after his own glorification.When he speaks to the Father he does not style himself the Son of man.
17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh - This answers to glorify thy Son. That he may give eternal life, etc - This answers to that thy Son may glorify thee. To all whom thou hast given him - To all believers. This is a clear proof that Christ designed hissacrifice should avail for all: yea, that all flesh, every man, should partake of everlasting life. For as the Father had given him power over all flesh, so he gave himself a ransom for all.
17:3 To know - By loving, holy faith, thee the only true God - The only cause and end of all things; not excluding the Son and the Holy Ghost, no more than the Father is excluded from being Lord, Co1 8:6; but the false gods of the heathens;and Jesus Christ - As their prophet, priest, and king: this is life eternal - It is both the way to, and the essence of, everlasting happiness.
17:4 I have finished the work - Thus have I glorified thee, laying the foundation of thy kingdom on earth.
17:5 The glory which I had - He does not say received - He always had it, till he emptied himself of it in the days of his flesh.
17:6 I have manifested thy name - All thy attributes; and in particular thy paternal relation to believers; to the men whom thou hast given me - The apostles, and so Joh 17:12.They were thine - By creation, and by descent from Abraham. And thou hast given them me - By giving them faith in what I have spoken.So Joh 17:9.
17:7 Now they know that all things - Which I have done and spoken, are of thee - And consequently right and true.
17:8 They have received them - By faith.
17:9 I pray not for the world - Not in these petitions, which are adapted to the state of believers only. (He prays for the world at Joh 17:21, Joh 17:23, that they may believe - That they may know God hath sent him.) This no more proves that our Lord did not pray for the world, both before and afterward, than his praying for the apostles alone, Joh 17:6-19, proves that he did not pray for them also which shall believe through their word, Joh 17:20.
17:10 All things that are mine are thine, and that are thine are mine - These are very high and strong expressions, too grand for any mere creature to use; as implying that all things whatsoever, inclusive of the Divine nature, perfections, and operations, are the common property of the Father and the Son. And this is the original ground of that peculiar property, which both the Father and the Son have in the persons who were given to Christ as Mediator; according to what is said in the close of the verse, of his being glorified by them; namely, believing in him, and so acknowledging his glory.
17:11 Keep them through thy name - Thy power, mercy, wisdom, that they may be one - with us and with each other; one body, separate from the world: as we are - By resemblance to us, though not equality.
17:12 Those whom thou hast given me I have guarded, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition - So one even of them whom God had given him is lost. So far was even that decree from being unchangeable! That the Scripture might be fulfilled - That is, whereby the Scripture was fulfilled. The son of perdition signifies one that deservedly perishes; as a son of death, Joh 12:5;children of hell, Mat 23:15, andchildren of wrath, Eph 2:3,signify persons justly obnoxious to death, hell, wrath. Psa 109:8.
17:13 In the world - That is, before I leave the world.My joy - The joy I feel at going to the Father.
17:15 That thou wouldest take them out of the world - Not yet: but that thou wouldest keep them from the evil one - Who reigns therein.
17:17 Sanctify - Consecrate them by the anointing of thy Spirit to their office, and perfect them in holiness, by means of thy word.
17:19 I sanctify myself - I devote myself as a victim, to be sacrificed.
17:20 For them who will believe - In all ages.
17:21 As thou art in me - This also is to be understood in a way of similitude, and not of sameness or equality. That the world may believe - Here Christ prays for the world. Observe the sum of his whole prayer,
17:22 The glory which thou hast given me, I have given them - The glory of the only begotten shines in all the sons of God. How great is the majesty of Christians.
17:24 Here he returns to the apostles. I will - He asks, as having a right to be heard, and prays, not as a servant, but a Son: that they may behold my glory - Herein Is the happiness of heaven, Jo1 3:2.
17:25 Righteous Father - The admission of believers to God through Christ, flows even from the justice of God.
17:26 I have declared to them thy name - Thy new, best name of love; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me - That thou and thy love, and I and my love, may be in them - That they may love me with that love.
18
18:1 A garden - Probably belonging to one of his friends. He might retire to this private place, not only for the advantage of secret devotion, but also that the people might not be alarmed at his apprehension, nor attempt, in the first sallies of their zeal, to rescue him in a tumultuous manner. Kedron was (as the name signifies) a dark shady valley, on the east side of Jerusalem, between the city and the mount of Olives, through which a little brook ran, which took its name from it. It was this brook, which David, a type of Christ, went over with the people, weeping in his flight from Absalom. Mat 26:30; Mar 14:26; Luk 22:39.
18:2 Mar 14:43; Luk 22:47.
18:3 A troop of soldiers - A cohort of Roman foot.
18:6 As soon as he said, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground - How amazing is it, that they should renew the assault, after so sensible an experience both of his power and mercy!But probably the priests among them might persuade themselves and their attendants, that this also was done by Beelzebub; and that it was through the providence of God, not the indulgence of Jesus, that they received no farther damage.
18:8 If ye seek me, let these (my disciples) go - It was an eminent instance of his power over the spirits of men, that they so far obeyed this word, as not to seize even Peter, when he had cut off the ear of Malchus.
18:9 Joh 17:12.
18:10 Then Simon Peter - No other evangelist names him. Nor could they safely. But St. John, writing after his death, might do it without any such inconvenience.
18:13 Annas had been high priest before his son - in - law Caiaphas.And though he had for some time resigned that office, yet they paid so much regard to his age and experience, that they brought Christ to Annas first. But we do not read of any thing remarkable which passed at the house of Annas; for, which reason, his being carried thither is omitted by the other evangelists. Mat 26:57; Mar 14:53; Luk 22:54.
18:17 Art thou also - As well as the others, one of this man's disciples - She does not appear to have asked with any design to hurt him.
18:20 I spake openly - As to the manner: continually - As to the time: in the synagogue and temple - As to the place. In secret have I said nothing - No point of doctrine which I have not taught in public.
18:21 Why askest thou me - Whom thou wilt not believe?
18:22 Answerest thou the high priest so? - With so little reverence?
18:24 Now Annas had sent him to Caiaphas - As is implied Joh 18:13.Bound - Being still bound, Joh 18:12.
18:28 They went not into the palace themselves, lest they should be defiled - By going into a house which was not purged from leaven, Deu 16:4. Mat 27:2; Mat 15:1; Luk 23:1.