66 every man. He was in the world, and the world was brought into existence by "him: yet the world did not acknowledge him. He came to his own possessions: "yet his own servants received him not: but to those, whosoever [they were "that] did receive him, he gave right to become children of God, [since they are 'those] who believe on his name; who are born, not of bloods, nor of the will of "the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

"The Word even became flesh and, full of grace and truth, he made his "tabernacle among us; so that we beheld his glory, the glory certainly of the "Only-begotten from the Father.

"John bare testimony concerning him, and publicly declared, saying, This is "he of whom I said, He that is coming after me was brought into existence before me; assuredly he was prior to me.

46

"Also, out of his fulness we all have received, even grace upon grace.

"The law indeed has been given through Moses: the grace and the truth were "brought through Jesus Christ. No one hath ever beheld God. The Onlybegotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath fully explained [the "divine doctrine.]" John i. 1-18.1

THE Gospel of John is distinguished, by very observable peculiarities, from the compositions of the other evangelists. It has much less of narrative, and

'On account of the Hebraisms and other peculiarities in the diction of the Apostle John, I have thought it necessary to use more liberty in translating: but the reader who has carefully studied the sacred idioms, will perceive that, where the deviation from a verbal rendering may seem the greatest, it is in order to produce a closer adherence to the sense. The repetitions of the same phrase are not tasteful but they seem necessary to preserve fidelity.

Kai is rendered with some diversity; also, even, though, yet, so, that, &c. But these varieties will appear, I trust, to be required by the sense suggested in the construction; and they are fully warranted by the use of xaì in the LXX. to represent different Hebrew particles. See, on this fruitful and important word, Biel's Thesaur. Philol. and Schleusner, in both his Lexicons; also the ample and excellent disquisitions (for such they are upon kai) in Passow, Bretschneider, and Wahl, with the critique upon this very article in Wahl by Tholuck, in his Literarische Anzeiger, translated in Robinson's Biblical Repos. vol. i. p. 555; Andover, N. A. 1831.

On the different renderings of yívoμai, in vers. 3, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16, see Vol. II. p. 351.

Ver. 9. I have followed the numerous interpreters who understand Epxóμevov as agreeing with pws—ô, for these reasons: that the common construction with äv0pwлоv makes the final clause altogether redundant; that the expression to come into the world is, in this

is more largely occupied with the doctrines and discourses of the Lord Jesus. The topics also of the discourses possess a marked character, indicating that they have been selected with an especial view to the presenting of the most important truths, which, during

Gospel and other parts of the N. T. appropriated to express the mission of Christ as a Saviour to men; see chap. iii. 19; vi. 14; ix. 39; xii. 46; xvi. 28; xviii. 37. 1 Tim. i. 15. Heb. x. 5. 1 John iv. 9; that in chap. xviii. 37, the distinction is expressly made between being born and coming into the world; that the Scripture, in no instance, uses the phrase to come into the world, in the acceptation which, upon the common construction, must be given to it here and that the sense which the construction preferred affords, is weighty and well suited to the connexion.

Ver. 10. Acknowledge; the frequent sense of yvwokw. See chap. viii. 55; x. 14, 15, 27; xvii. 3. Matt. vii. 13. 2 Tim. ii. 19. LXX. Job xix. 13. Ps. i. 6. Jer. iii. 13.

ίδιοι.

Ver. 11, rà ïdia, of idiot. The metaphor is that of a sovereign over a state, or the head of a family over his household. See Esther v. 10; LXX.

Ver. 13. Bloods. The plural is probably used to denote all the degrees of consanguinity and lines of descent.

ἀληθῶς.

Ver. 14. c àλnowc. Hesych. "Certè; reverâ, verè, utpote." Schleusn. "Certè, profectò, utique," Biel; answering to the Caph veritatis. "-Cum nomine et [aut] participio e indicat aliquid referri ad qualitatem rei convenientem, ut decet, ut convenit, utpote, tanquam, als ein solcher der." Bretschn. "Sæpe, similitudinis particulis indicatur res ipsa; veluti Num. xi. 1. Neh. vii. 2.” Rosenm. in Deut. ix. 1. "Talem dólar qualem Pater habet: talis dóta est in nullo alio, qualis est in Filio Patris." Morus. There is no article before the second dóžav because of its apposition to the preceding; and this circumstance, by another rule of Greek propriety, causes the absence of the article before Movoyεvous. See Middleton on the Gr. Art. pp. 66, 71. The definite sense of both the nouns is apparent in the original, but it would not be so in English without the insertion of the article.

Ver. 15. See Vol. II. pp. 39-42.

Ver. 17. ""Ori, certè, verè, profectò, utique, sanè." Schleusn. signif. 11. "Servit rationi reddendæ, ita ut explicet rem et illustret rationem cur aliquid sit vel fiat." Bretschn.

his earthly ministry, Jesus himself had taught, concerning his own person, and the spiritual and never dying blessings which he confers upon those who believe on his name. Our being destitute of any certain knowledge of the human motive which dictated the selection, does not render the work less valuable; since we need nothing to increase a conviction arising from the truths themselves, of their supreme importance, and of our deep interest in them, unless it be that unrivalled and inimitable style of tenderness and force which marks the discourses of HIM who spake as never man spake. It should, indeed, the more excite our gratitude to the Spirit of grace and truth, the Spirit of Christ, to whose directing and inspiring influence we owe this unspeakable treasure.

The Introduction which the apostle prefixes to his work, has always been an object of peculiar attention, on the part both of friends and of enemies, for its beauty and sublimity, and for its evidently presenting a crowning epitome of the principal doctrines delivered in the whole. To arrive at a satisfactory interpretation of this important passage, I shall attempt a careful investigation of the terms which it employs, and of the force and intention of each phrase and proposition that has a relation to the subject of our inquiry.

I. "The LOGOs," or Word. That this term cannot with propriety be expressed by Wisdom, Reason, Speech, Creating-command, Emanation, or any other abstract term; but that it must refer to a personal subsistence; is manifest from the attributives of intelligence and active power connected with it, in the sequel of the passage. This is, also, admitted by

Mr. Cappe and Mr. Belsham. Dr. Stolz, far as he was from the acknowledgment of the principal truths of the gospel, found the evidence of the case such as obliged him to say; "This Word was not a being existing out of God, but it was inseparable from God: thus it was with God, as being no other than the Deity itself. This Logos, this Creating Word, which is the Deity itself, took the nature of man; wrought so intimately in a man that it may be said,-(alluding to Gen. i.)—this Word, this almighty-speaking Deity, became itself a man;--for the all-animating and enlightening Deity revealed itself in his humanity."" Bretschneider also, whose indulgence to the Neologist doctrines has been deplorably shown, affirms, that, "in direct contradiction to the assertions of those writers who identify the Logos with the Wisdom, in no part of the Septuagint, nor in the Apocryphal writings, nor in all the New Testament, is there a single passage in which Logos signifies Reason."3

The candid reader will refer to the reasons which have been advanced in a former part of this inquiry, for supposing that this term had grown into established use among the Jews in general, to designate the Messiah in the especial quality of a Mediator.

66

2 Erläuterungen, ii. 82, 87.

The

3 Darstellung der Dogmatik der Apocryph. Schriften des A. T. p. 254. De Wette, having translated the verse," In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with [bei] God, and the Word was God," gives this annotation upon the first clause, "That is, the speaking, self-revealing God; or, as others interpret it, Wisdom."

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Vol. I. pp. 522, 523; 571, 572. The reader will permit me to request that he would also, in connexion with the present argument, read over the citations from Philo, in that Volume, pp. 549-569. See also Supplementary Note [A], at the end of this Section.

ready manner, without any notice or explanation, in which the evangelist introduces the term, is a strong ground of presumption that it was familiar to the persons for whom his work was primarily intended. They were, most probably, the Christians of Ephesus and the coasts and islands of Asiatic and European Greece; of whom many, especially those of Jewish relationship, were likely to have intimate communications with the Jews and Christians of Egypt. Hence, the term in question would become well known to them. Or, if the hypothesis of a very early date to the Gospel of John be accepted, the supposition is highly probable that an increasing communication had rendered the language of the Alexandrian theology better known among the Jews of Jerusalem. We have even reason to believe that intercourse existed still earlier, between the Christians in Palestine and those Egyptian Jews who were likely to have in common use the language of Philo. A synagogue, or theological school of the Alexandrians existed at Jerusalem, in the earliest times of the apostolic history. With regard also to the native Jews of Judæa, we have before stated the probability, to say the least, that they sometimes designated the expected Messiah by the Targumical phrase, the Memra of Jah.

5

In

5 Acts vi. 9. The ancient Jewish synagogues are said to have been used for the purpose of instruction in their national literature, as well as for the reading and explaining of the law and the prophets to public assemblies. See Heinrichs in loc.

6

" See Vol. I. pp. 522-528. I believe that few of the readers of the former edition have not thought me more timid, not to say sceptical, than was needful, in the conclusions which I drew from the Targums. The most learned and penetrating among the Antisupernaturalists have not so restrained themselves. To the decided declarations of Bertholdt, (Vol. II. p. 430,) I annex the following,