The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. I — John Shaqi
The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. IDods, Marcus
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. I
Dods, Marcus
Bible. John; Bible. John -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Only, then, through what is personal, only through what is like
ourselves, only through what is moral, can God reveal Himself to us. Not
by marvellous displays of power that suddenly awe us, but by goodness
that the human conscience can apprehend and gradually admire, does God
reveal Himself to us. If we doubt God’s existence, if we doubt whether
there is a Spirit of goodness upholding all things, wielding all things,
and triumphant in all things, let us look to Christ. It is in Him we
distinctly see upon our own earth, and in circumstances we can examine
and understand, _goodness_; goodness tried by every test conceivable,
goodness carried to its highest pitch, goodness triumphant. This
goodness, though in human forms and circumstances, is yet the goodness
of One who comes among men from a higher sphere, teaching, forgiving,
commanding, assuring, saving, as One sent to deal with men rather than
springing from them. If this is not God, what is God? What higher
conception of God has any one ever had? What worthy conception of God is
there that is not satisfied here? What do we need in God, or suppose to
be in God, which we have not in Christ?
If, then, we still feel as if we had not sufficient assurance of God, it
is because we look for the wrong thing, or seek where we can never find.
Let us understand that God can best be known as God through His moral
qualities, through His love, His tenderness, His regard for right; and
we shall perceive that the most suitable revelation is one in which
these qualities are manifested. But to apprehend these qualities as they
appear in actual history we must have some sense for and love of them.
They that are pure in heart, they shall see God; they who love
righteousness, who seek with lowliness for purity and goodness, they
will find in Christ a God they can see and trust.
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