The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. IIDods, Marcus
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. II
Dods, Marcus
Bible. John; Bible. John -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
But in His endeavours to gain the confidence of men there is discernible
no anger at their incredulity. Again and again He brings forward reasons
why His word should be believed. He appeals to their knowledge of His
candour: “If it were not so, I would have told you.” It was the _truth_
He came into the world to bear witness to. Lies enough were current
already. He came to be the Light of the world, to dispel the darkness
and bring men into the very truth of things. But with all His
impressiveness of asseveration there is no anger, scarcely even wonder
that men did not believe, because He saw as plainly as we see that to
venture our eternal hope on His word is not easy. And yet He answered
promptly and with authority the questions which have employed the
lifetime of many and baffled them in the end. He answered them as if
they were the very alphabet of knowledge. These alarmed and perturbed
disciples ask Him: “Is there a life beyond? is there another side of
death?” “Yes,” He says, “through death I go to the Father.” “Is there,”
they ask, “for us also a life beyond? shall such creatures as we find
sufficient and suitable habitation and welcome when we pass from this
warm, well-known world?” “In My Father’s house,” He says, “are many
mansions.” Confronted with the problems that most deeply exercise the
human spirit, He without faltering pronounces upon them. For every
question which our most anxious and trying experiences dictate He has
the ready and sufficient answer. “He is the Truth.”
But more than this is contained in His words. He says not merely “I
speak the truth,” but “I am the Truth.” In His person and work we find
all truth that it is essential to know. He is the true Man, the
revelation of perfect manhood, in whom we see what human life truly is.
In His own history He shows us our own capacities and our own destiny.
An angel or an inanimate law might _tell_ us the truth about human life,
but Christ is the Truth. He is man like ourselves. If we are
extinguished at death, so is He. If for us there is no future life,
neither is there for Him. He is Himself human.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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