CCCXC.

THE SAME SUBJECT—continued.

St. John x. 25-30.

Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.

1

Here is the Lord's answer to those who questioned Him with no intention of believing, with no desire of becoming His Disciples, His Sheep. He refers to His recent allegory. He had given them marks of His sheep which He here repeats. They hear His voice. They follow Him. Could this be said of any of these? And if not, why not? Not surely from any unwillingness on His part to become their Shepherd, but because they were unwilling to become His sheep. They believed not, for they were not of His sheep. That they were not of His sheep was proved by their unbelief. 'My sheep hear my voice." But they would not hear His voice. Therefore they were not His sheep. The Lord having thus occasion to mention again the subject of His sheep, adds another note concerning Himself and them. As the shepherd knows his sheep, and all their needs, so "the Lord knoweth them that are His." And as we have here a mark of the shepherd's care, so have we also the duty declared of the sheep. They hear His voice. They give heed to the word spoken. They follow Him, whithersoever He leads, even by the way of the Cross, even "without the camp. This is the career of Christ's sheep. One thing further He tells us concerning these, concerning His deal'See the original word, not causal, but conjunctive. 2 Heb. xiii. 13.

2

ings with them. Though, as "sheep in the midst of wolves," they may even lose their lives for His sake, they shall keep it unto life eternal. They shall not perish for ever.1 They shall find the life of the world to come. Here He is glancing at the final security of His flock. Observe how He connects them with Himself; their safety with His hand. They are in His hand whence it is impossible to pluck them, the hand, which is the emblem of power and of protection." And as though this were not enough to assure their hearts, He adds that reference to the Father, which marks His perfect concord with the Son on earth. He is greater than their foes. He is omnipotent. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" None, whether man or devil, can pluck them out of His hand. If they are in My hand, then they are in His hand; for "I and my Father are one." With this plain announcement of His Divinity the Lord crowns His discourse. They had said, "If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." And so He does. He had indeed told them plainly enough by His Divine work. Now He adds this direct word. I and my Father are one essence.5 It seems strange that any in the face of this should ever attempt to strip the Son of His honour, to despoil Him of His Divinity, to deny His Godhead, to displace Him from the throne which here He claims.

CCCXCI.

THE SAME SUBJECT-continued.

St. John x. 31-33.

Jesus

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my

1 See the original.

2 Wisd. iii. 1-9.

3 St. John vi. 39.

4 The word man is not in the original.

5 "The plurality of the verb, and

the neutrality of the noun, with the distinction of the Persons, speak a perfect identity of their essence."— Pearson On the Creed, p. 172. By the are, as Bengel says, Sabellius is refuted, by the one Arius.

Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

Stoning was, with the Jews, the penalty for blasphemy. But the charge must first be proved, and the punishment inflicted solemnly, after careful trial, and sentence of those in authority. These tumultuous zealots were only gratifying a private passion of revenge. Yet does their conduct contribute, though they meant not so, to confirm the truth of God. It is a testimony to the claims of Christ. They saw the plain meaning of His words, which more modern misbelievers affect otherwise to understand. However these have tried to explain them away, His contemporaries understood His assertions as nothing short of a claim to Divinity; that He is "of one substance with the Father." Nor did He contradict, or charge them here with misrepresenting Him. Those therefore who in later times deny this doctrine, must reject even the unconscious testimony of His foes. Against such resolute unbelief, surely the very stones in these men's hands cry out. The stones were probably large blocks lying hard by for the repairs of the Temple. Once before, under like circumstances, they had attempted such lawless and summary proceedings.3 The Lord, to open any spring of gratitude in those hearts of stone, reminds them of benefits received; if haply the remembrance of His former benefits might disarm their present rage. His works were works of mercy and of power. Either consideration should have weighed with men who were the subjects of such works." And observe, He does not shrink from His former statement. He still claims that union with the Father. The works were not done without Him. The Jews cannot deny the fact of the miracles, or of the mercy manifested in them. But neither consideration seems to have affected them. This one wild idea of blasphemy gets possession of their minds. They are

The Nicene Creed.

* Maldonatus, cited in A Plain

Commentary.

3 St. John viii. 59.

4 The word in v. 32 rendered "which" may be rendered "for what sort."

intoxicated with such a passion; and it expels every thought of reason, every sentiment of gratitude.

CCCXCII.

THE SAME SUBJECT continued.

St. John x. 34-42.

Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there.

As there seems now a lucid interval, a momentary lull in this storm, and they appear for the moment inclined to listen to reason (though neither are the stones laid aside nor their prejudice), He proceeds to address to them such an argument as they might understand. The Law here is not to be restricted to those Five Books of Moses, but comprises the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures. In that Law from which lay no appeal, they would find that even men had been called gods. Judges on the earth, unjust judges even,' inasmuch as they had received their commission from

1 Compare St. John xii. 34; xv. 25. The reference being in each case, as here, to the Book of Psalms, viz. to Ps. cx. 4, and xxxv. 19, severally.

1

2 So we find from the place referred to they were, Ps. lxxxii. See also Ex. iv. 16; vii. 1; xviii. 19.

God, were yet regarded as His vice-gerents, and might in some sense be so spoken of. If such might, without incurring this charge of blasphemy, be so styled,-much more might He; not one "to whom the word of God came," but the very Word of God Himself; consecrated and commissioned directly by the Father.' If it was not blasphemy so to speak of the less, much less was it blasphemy to claim such a title for the greater. So much for their baseless charge. The Lord then appeals to the evidence of His works. He did not require their faith without a reason. Their prejudice against what He says, should at least give way before what He does. Thus might they know and perceive the justice of His claims.3 But all in vain. Reason and argument, mercy and miracle, divine power and divine pity, seem alike thrown away upon these men, whose hearts were hard as the stones they held in their hands. Again they attempt to apprehend Him, but (for that His hour was not yet come) again He exerts His divine power; preserving for the present that life which now they took in intent, as afterwards in reality. And He returns to that other Bethany, where prepared hearts were awaiting Him. There, far away from the malice and clamour of the capital, He received many who resorted to Him for His higher teaching and blessing. These were the men whom the Baptist had prepared for the Christ. They with teachable hearts reasoned for Him, as the prejudiced men of Jerusalem reasoned against Him. Two things present themselves to their honest minds. They considered that Christ far exceeded John Baptist's power . . . and that He exactly answered John Baptist's testimony."

The word Him is not in the original. It would perhaps be better to supply the word Me.

2 For the correct reading, and its explanation, see Alford.

3 St. John v. 36; xiv. 8-11; xv. 24.

4 St. John viii. 59.

4