Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIVMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIV
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
Dear brethren, I bring that Cross to you now, and pray you to see there
Christ's real work for us, and for the world. He has taught us, but He
has done more. He has not only spoken, He has died. He has not only
shown us the path on which to walk, He has made it possible for us to
walk in it. He is not merely one amongst the noble band that have
guided and inspired and instructed humanity, but He stands alone—not
_a_ Teacher, but _the_ Redeemer, 'the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sins of the world.'
If He is a Teacher, take His teachings, and what are they? These, that
He is the Son of God; that 'He came from God'; that He 'went to God';
that He 'gives His life a ransom for many'; that He is to be the Judge
of mankind; that if we trust in Him, our sins are forgiven and our
nature is renewed. Do not go picking and choosing amongst His
teachings, for these which I have named are as surely His as
'Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,'
or any other of the moral teachings which the world professes to
admire. Take the whole teachings of the whole Christ, and you will
confess Him to be the Redeemer of your souls, and the Life-giver by
whom, and by whom alone, we enter the Kingdom of God.
WIND AND SPIRIT
'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and them hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every
one that is born of the Spirit.'—JOHN iii. 8.
Perhaps a gust of night wind swept round the chamber where Nicodemus
sat listening to Jesus, and gave occasion for this condensed parable.
But there is occasion sufficient for it in the word 'Spirit,' which,
both in the language in which our Lord addressed the ruler of the
Sanhedrim, and in that which John employed in recording the
conversation, as in our own English, means both 'spirit' and 'breath.'
This double signification of the word gives rise to the analogies in
our text, and it also raises the question as to the precise meaning of
the text. There are two alternatives, one adopted by our Authorised and
Revised Version, and one which you will find relegated to the margin of
the latter. We may either read 'the wind bloweth' or 'the Spirit
breathes.' I must not be tempted here to enter into a discussion of the
grounds upon which the one or the other of these two renderings may be
preferred. Suffice it to say that I adhere to the rendering which lies
before us, and find here a comparison between the salient
characteristics of the physical fact and the operations of the Divine
Spirit upon men's spirits.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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