John xx. 29. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Jerusalem. me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. of Christ were still visible, bearing testimony to his identity, The question whether St. Thomas, at the moment of his con- The exclamation of the Apostle was Ὁ Κύριος μοῦ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς μs, in the nominative, which is frequently put for the vocative, in pure, as well as in Hellenistic Greek. It seems, however, preferable to read the passage où el, understood, Thou art my Lord, even my God; or, as the word Kupios corresponds to the principal names, given in the Old Testament to the manifested God of Israel, it would be better to interpret the exclamation accordingly, as if he had said, -, or as the Jews were accustomed to omit the ineffable name, and substitute in its place, he might have used only the latter b. It seems, however, more probable, that on the present occasion he would omit the substituted term, and express himself in the very language of the Scriptures, : . This was the name given to the manifested God of the Old Testament, and the exclamation of the apostle therefore may be more fully rendered-Thou art the Lord Jehovah, the manifested God of my fathers. It is true that the word "pоσкvviw, in the original, which is rendered by our translators by the term worship, is used by the Evangelist to denote civil respect, or the homage due to persons of rank and dignity. But the word is one of general import; and the cases in which it must be understood of religious adoration on the one hand, or of civil homage on the other, can be discriminated only by attending to the circumstances in each instance. To assist in determining the true sense in the examples under consideration, let the following remarks be considered. 1. Out of sixty places in which this word occurs in the New Testament, there are only two or three in which it indisputably bears the inferior sense; there are forty-three in which it is manifestly to be understood of religious worship: and the remaining instances are those of application to Christ, the genuine import of which we are desirous of ascertaining. 2. Our Lord, during the whole of his public ministry, evi Mt.xxviii16 SECTION XXXI. Christ appears to a large number of his Disciples on a MATT. xxviii. ver. 16, 17. and part of ver. 18. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into Galilee. a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but 18. John xxi. 1. And Jesus came and spake with them ". SECTION XXXII. Christ appears again at the Sea of Tiberias-His conversation with Peter 35 JOHN XXI. 1-24. After these things, Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself. dently made it a principle of his conduct, to disavow and refuse all earthly eminence. The repeated attempts which were made to invest him with the regal dignity, he inflexibly discountenanced. Even when he was accosted with an epithet which be might have accepted very inoffensively, he rebuked the person who gave it, because he perceived it was the language of compliment rather than of sincere conviction: "Why callest thou me good?" On the contrary, he never refused acknowledgments of spiritual supremacy. He openly claimed to be called Lord and Master, the Son of God, and the King of his Church. A translation of the New Testament into Hebrew has been lately published by the London Society for Promoting the Conversion of the Jews; in this translation the words of St. This Hebrew tran אדוני ואלהי Thomas are rendered literally slation, so far as I am able to judge, appears to be executed with ability and faithfulness. Horsley's Letters in reply to Dr. Priestley, p. 239. Sermon on the Adoration of our Lord Jesus Christ, vindicated from the charge of Idolatry. By Dr. Pye Smith. 8vo. 1811. 33 Beza reads this passage de idioraoav, they did not doubt any longer. The Prussian version reads, pooεkúvηoav avrų, oi de idioraσav, they worshipped him, even those who had doubted. In which sense it should be oi Tε. Grotius interprets it, but some had heretofore doubted. Bishop Pearce conjectures, that those who doubted did so because they might be at a greater distance from him than others; and therefore could not so well distinguish. 3 St. Matthew's words are καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλάλησεν avroic; implying, that when our Lord first appeared to them it was at a distance: poσeλlwv is rendered by Grotius accedens. -See Townson, p. 167. and Bowyer, p. 136. 35 The contents of this section are very curious, and important. So little did the apostles anticipate their future elevation, as the reformers of the religion of the world, that they bad absolutely returned to their former occupation as fishermen of Galilee. Humble and unambitious, they appear to have as much forgotten all the splendid hopes and expectations of the past, as they were ignorant of their future high destinies. John xxi. 2. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Galilee. Didymus, and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time 7 that Jesus shewed himself So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, 36 The number of fishes caught was the number of the thou- 37 These words may either refer to the third appearance which St. John relates, or the third appearance Christ made to the apostles when all, or most of them, were together. He manifested himself to ten of them, John xx. 19. again to eleven of them, ver. 26. and at this time to seven, see ch. xxi. 2. But when the accounts of all the Evangelists are collated, we shall find that our Saviour distinctly revealed himself eleven times after his resurrection. Joh. xxi.16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Galilee. Jonas, lovest thou me ? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him, the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee? Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee 3, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 38 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. Acts i. 4. Christ SECTION XXXIII. appears to his Apostles at Jerusalem, and commis LUKE XXIV. 44-49. ACTS i. 4, 5. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but 38 Peter was now in the act of girding on his dry clothes, and our Lord, according to his custom, spoke from the object before him. 39 This command was given for the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah, (ch. ii. 3.) “that out of Sion should go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." On the feast of Pentecost the publication of the law on Mount Sinai took place; and on its approaching anniversary a new, and spiritual law, was to be delivered to the world, the substance and substitute of the former figurative economy. The injunction of our Lord evidently shews an appointed analogy between the old and new dispensations. The time when this address was spoken by our Lord cannot be exactly ascertained. There is reason, Acts i. 4. wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye Galilee. have heard of me : 5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be La. xxiv.44. 45. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me Then opened he their understanding, that they might 46. And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it 47. 48. 49. And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. SECTION XXXIV. Christ leads out his Apostles to Bethany, within sight of MATT. XXviii. 18-20. MARK XVii. 15-20. 50-53. ACTS i. 6-12 40. Lu. xxiv.50. And he led them out as far as to Bethany", LUKE XXIV. however, to believe, that what is related in this, and the follow- 40 The arrangement of the contents of this section has been Cranfield is of opinion, that from ver. 18. of Matt. xxviii.— from ver. 15 to 19. of Mark xvi.-and from ver. 50 to 52. in Luke xxii. must be referred to the address of our Lord to his disciples, on the occasion of his ascension into heaven. The speech of our Lord in St. Matthew, he observes, begins thus: "All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth." Some harmonists have made this clause to have been spoken on the mountain in Galilee, separating it from the remaining part of the speech; but, whenever it was uttered, the rest of the speech PP |