He was the Life and Light of Men. Word; and without him was not any Thing SECT. 2. ges in Philo; and shall only mention one more: (De Agricult. pag. 195.) Where he (d) Not so much as one fingle Being.] There is an Emphafis in the Words uɗe ev, which I thought it proper to exprefs in the Verfion, than which nothing can be more literal. (e) That which was in him was Life.] The most antient Fathers, that quote this Text, fo generally join the Words o yeyover, with this fourth Verfe, that I cannot but apprehend this to be the true Reading. (See Dr. Mill's Proleg.) But if any think it im-probable, that yeyove fhould have different Senfes here, and in the third Verfe, they will please to observe, that the full Sense of our Verfion is exprefs'd in the Paraphrafe, and that the Alteration here made is of very fmall Importance. That the Heathens fometimes speak of their Deities and Heroes, as the Light and Life of Mankind, Elsner hath fhewn on this Text. γεγονς (f) Did not apprehend it, & naleλaßev.] It might not seem so strange, that the World did not fully comprehend the fpiritual, fince it certainly doth not fully comprehend the material Light, nor indeed any of the most familiar Objects it discovers: But the Word is capable of other Senses, and is sometimes used, for apprehending, or laying hold of a Thing, 5. 8 JOHN came to testify of him, as the true Light. SECT. 2. Manner, as to fecure the Bleffings to which John I. 6. it would have led them. 6 There was a Man fent John; 7 The fame came for a Witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all Men thro him might believe. As this was the Cafe for many Ages, the Divine Wisdom was pleased to interpofe in from GOD, whofe Name was these latter Days, by a clearer and fuller Discovery; and for this Purpofe a Man, whofe Name was John, afterwards called the Baptift, was fent as a Meffenger from GOD; of whose miraculous Conception and important Ministry, a more particular Account 7 is elsewhere given: But here it may be fufficient to obferve in general, that tho' he was himself, in an inferior Senfe, "a burning "and shining Light;" (compare John v. 35.) yet he came only under the Character of a Servant, and for a Witness, that he might testify concerning Chrift the true Light, that all who heard his Difcourfes, might by his means be engaged to believe, and follow that Divine 8 Illumination. And accordingly he most readily confeffed, that he himself was not that Light, but only [came] to bear Witness con9 cerning it. The true Light, of which he fpake, was Chrift (g), even that Sun of Righ- that cometh into the World. teousness and Source of Truth, which coming into the World, inlighteneth every Man (h), dif 8 He was not that Light, but was fent to bear witness that Light, of 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every Man Thing, I Cor. ix. 24. Phil. iii. 12, 13. and fometimes for perceiving it, A&ts iv. 13. x. 34. Compare Acts xiv. 17. xvii. 25. Rom. i.20. which all illustrate the Evangelift's Affertion. (g) The true Light was Chrift.] The Original yet more clearly expreffes the Antithefis, between this, and the former Verfe: I have endeavoured to follow it in my Verfion, without fuppofing aulos understood here, to answer to sxevos there. I cannot but think the Conjecture of the learned Heinfius very elegant, that the w at the Beginning of this Verfe, might belong to the End of the former: The exact Conftruction then would be, He, viz. John, was not that Light, but he was, (that is, he exifted, and came,) that he might bear Witness to that Light: The true Light, &c. was in the World, &c. See Heinf. in loc. (b) Which coming into the World, inlighteneth every Man.] So I chuse to render it, tho' I acknowledge that our Verfion may be confiftent with the Truth, and that it most exactly suits the Order of the Words in the Original; but the other is alfo very Grammatical, φως ερχόμενον ως τον κοσμον, and fuggents an Idea more diftint from ver. 4. Not to urge, that the Phrafe of coming into the World, is with peculiar Emphafis ufed of Chrift, and especially under the Notion of a Light. Compare John xii. 46. I am come a Light into the World. John iii. 19. This is the Condemnation, that Light is come into the World. (i) The The World was made by him, yet knew him not. 10 He was in the World, and the World was made by him, and the World knew him not. and his own received him not. ΙΟ 9 difperfing his Beams, as it were, from one End SECT. 2. of the Heavens to the other, to the Gentile World, which was in Midnight Darkness, as John I. 9. well as to the Jews, who enjoyed but a Kind of Twilight. He was in the World in a Human Form; and tho' the World was made by him (i), yet the World knew and acknowII He came unto his own, ledged him not. Yea, he came into his II own [Territories,] even to the Jewish Nation, which was under fuch diftinguished Obligations to him, and to whom he had been fo exprefsly promised as their great Meffiah; yet his own [People] did not receive him (k) as they ought; but on the contrary, treated him in the most contemptuous and ungrateful Manner. Nevertheless the Detriment was theirs, and it was indeed unspeakably great to them; for to as many as received him, and by a firm and lively Faith believed on his Name, [even] to all of them, without any Exception, of even the pooreft or the vileft, be granted 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he Power to become the Sons of GOD, even to them that believe on his Name: (i) The World was made by him.] Some have fuppofed this particularly levelled against the Gnofticks, who maintained that the World was made by an evil Genius, and that the GOD of the Old Teftament, and the New, were different and contrary Perfons. It is certain, that Irenæus, and feveral others of the Fathers, with great Propriety have urged this Text against that mad Notion.-Eufebius exposes these Wretches in a very just and lively Manner, and makes Ufe of Words, which, if he had been our Contemporary, might have feemed directly levelled at a late unhappy Writer, who strangely took it into his Head to call himself The Moral Philofopher. But alas, every fucceeding Age has had its Moral Philofophers, who have attempted to remove that burthenfome Stone the Bible, and have found it returning upon them, fo as to grind them, and their Schemes, and their Confidence, to Powder. The Words my View are thefe: (Eufeb. Ecclef. Hift. Lib. v. cap. 28. in fin.) Athes apvno aμevos τον τε νόμου και τους προφήτας, ανόμου και αθεου διδασκαλίας, προφάσεις χαρίζος, εις εχαίου anwλHas oλegov xalarionoar. "Some" (who yet it feems pretended to be Chriftians,) abfolutely rejecting the Law and the Prophets, by a licentious and atheistical Doc"trine, which they introduced under a Pretence of magnifying the Divine Good"nefs, or the Gospel," (for xagilos Grace, may fignify either,) "have plunged "themselves into the loweft Gulf of Perdition." in (k) He came into his own [Territories,] yet his own [People] did not receive him.] It is so difficult to exprefs the Difference between esta idia, and or do, that few Verfions have attempted it; yet, as Grotius hath well obferved, the Energy of the Text cannot be understood without attending to it. That the Jewish Nation was, in fome peculiar Senfe, under the Care and Guardianfhip of Christ before his Incarnation, this Paffage seems strongly to intimate, and many learned Men have shewn it, in what appears to me a convincing Light. VOL. I B (1) Who 12 ΙΟ 13 Such as believe are Sons of GOD, and born of him. SECT. 2. granted the glorious Privilege of becoming the Sons of GOD; that is, he adopted them into John I. 12. GOD's Family, so that they became intitled to the present Immunities, and the future eternal Inheritance of his Children. And they who thus believed on him were poffeffed of these Privileges, not in Confequence of their being born of Blood, of their being descended from the Loins of the holy Patriarchs, or sharing in Circumcifion, and the Blood of the Sacrifices; nor could they afcribe it merely to the Will of the Flesh, or to their own fuperior Wisdom and Goodness, as if by the Power of corrupted Nature alone they had made themselves to differ ; nor to the Will of Man, or to the wisest Advice, and most powerful Exhortations, which their Fellow-Creatures might addrefs to them; but must humbly acknowledge, that they were born of GOD (1), and indebted to the efficacious Influences of his regenerating Grace, for all their Privileges, and for all their Hopes. Compare John iii. 1,-8. Tit. iii. 3,7. and Jam. i. 18. 13 Which were born, not of Blood, nor of the Will of the Flesh, nor of the Will of Man, but of GOD. 14 And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt a mong (1) Who were not born of Blood, &c. but of GOD.] I am fenfible, this Verfe is liable to great Difficulty, and Ambiguity. It is an amazing Liberty, the Author of the new Tranflation, publish'd 1727. has taken with it, in explaining it of a Birth, which they had not from Circumcifion, nor from the Conftitution of the Body, nor from the Inftitution of Man, but from GOD. I readily allow, that xalar, of Bloods, may include Circumcifion, but cannot confine it to that: Patriarchal Descent, and the Blood of Sacrifices, were fo much. depended upon by the Jews, that one would suppose them included. Dr. Whitby, with many others, takes the Will of the Flesh, to fignify carnal Descent, and the Will of Man, Adoption; which I fhould prefer to the Opinion of Meff. L'Enfant and Beaufobre, who, without any Reafon affigned, understand by thofe born of the Will of Man, Profelytes, as opposed to native Jews; a Sense, in which I never could find the Phrafe ufed. The Paraphrafe I have given, keeps the Ideas diftinct; answers the frequent Signification of Flesh elfewhere; (compare John iii. 6. Rom. vii. 25. viii. 3, 8, 12. and Gal. v. 17.) and conveys an important and edifying Sense, very agreeable to the Tenor of Scripture. But I fubmit it to the Reader, without pretending that it is the only Interpretation the Words will bear. I hope, he will always carefully distinguish between the Text and the Paraphrafe, and remember how very different a Regard is owing to the one, and the other. (m) Was i mong us, (and we beheld Truth. II The Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us. (m) Was made Flefh.] Flesh often fignifies, Man in this infirm and calamitous State. (n) Pitched his Tabernacle among us.] There is fo visible a Reference in the Word toxnvσev, to the dwelling of the Shekinah in the Tabernacle of Mofes, that it was very proper to render it by the Word I have used. (0) Full of Grace and Truth.] It is plain, that those Words, and we beheld his Glory, the Glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, are to be confidered as a Parenthesis; and these are to be joined with the preceding thus, He dwelt among us-full of Grace and Truth. But the Length of the Paraphrafe made it inconvenient to transpose them. (p) The most fubftantial Bleffings.] That Truth is fometimes used, not so much in Oppofition to Falfehood, as to Hieroglyphicks, Shadows, and Types, an attentive Reader must often have obferved. See Heb. viii. 2. ix. 24. and Dan. vii. 16. Compare Col. ii. 17. |