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.
A man in a sickly state of _body_ has sometimes to make it matter of
consideration, or even of consultation, what he shall eat. Were anyone
to take the same thought about his spiritual condition, and seriously
ponder what would bring health to his spirit, what would rid it of
distaste for what is right, and give it strength and purity to delight
in God and in all good, he would probably conclude that a clear and
influential exhibition of God’s goodness, and of the fatal effects of
sin, a convincing exhibition, an exhibition in real life, of the
unutterable hatefulness of sin, and inconceivable desirableness of God;
an exhibition also which should at the same time open for us a way from
sin to God—this, the inquirer would conclude, would bring life to the
spirit. It is such an exhibition of God and of sin, and such a way out
of sin to God, as we have in Christ’s death.
5. How are we to avail ourselves of the life that is in Christ? As the
Jews asked, _How_ can this man give us His flesh to eat? Our Lord
Himself uses several terms to express the act by which we make use of
Him as the Bread of Life. “He that believeth on Me,” “He that cometh to
Me,” “He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life.”
Each of these expressions has its own significance. Belief must come
first—belief that Christ is sent to give us life; belief that it
depends upon our connection with that one Person whether we shall or
shall not have life eternal. We must also “come to Him.” The people He
was addressing had followed Him for miles, and had found Him and were
speaking to Him, but they had not _come_ to Him. To come to Him is to
approach Him in spirit and with submissive trust; it is to commit
ourselves to Him as our Lord; it is to rest in Him as our all; it is to
come to Him with open heart, accepting Him as all He claims to be; it is
to meet the eye of a present, living Christ, who knows what is in man,
and to say to Him “I am Thine, Thine most gladly, Thine for evermore.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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