John 10:24

Joh_10:24-39

Then came the Jews round about Him

The scene and circumstances

Here in this bright colonnade, decked for the feast with glittering trophies, Jesus was walking up and down, quietly, and apparently without companions, sometimes, perhaps, gazing across the valley of Kidron at the whited sepulchres of the prophets whom generations of Jews had slain, and enjoying the mild winter sunlight, when, as though by a preconcerted movement, the Pharisaic party and their leaders suddenly surrounded and began to question Him.

Perhaps the very spot where He was walking, recalling as it did the memories of their ancient glory--perhaps the memories of the glad feast which they were celebrating, as the anniversary of a splendid deliverance wrought by a handful of brave men, who had overthrown a colossal tyranny--inspired their ardent appeal. How long, they impatiently inquired, dost Thou hold our souls in painful suspense? If Thou really art the Messiah, tell us with confidence. Tell us here, in Solomons porch, now, while the sight of these shields and golden crowns, and the melody of these citherns and cymbals, recall the glory of Judas the Asmonaean--wilt thou be a mightier Maccabaeus, a more glorious Solomon? Shall these citrons and fair boughs and palms, which we carry in honour of this days victory, be carried some day for Thee? It was a strange, impetuous, impatient appeal, and is full of significance. It forms their own strong condemnation, for it shows distinctly that He had spoken words and done deeds which would have justified and substantiated such a claim had He chosen definitely to assert it. And if He had in so many words asserted it--in the sense which they required--it is probable that they would have instantly welcomed Him with tumultuous acclaim. The place where they were speaking recalled the most glorious scenes of their ancient monarchy; the occasion was rife with the heroic memories of one of their bravest and most successful warriors; the political conditions which surrounded them were exactly such as those from which the noble Asmonaean had delivered them. One spark of that ancient flame would have kindled their inflammable spirits into such a blaze of irresistible fanaticism as might for a time have swept away both the Romans and Herods. But the day for political deliverances was past; the day for a higher, deeper, wider deliverance had come. For the former they yearned; the latter they rejected. Passionate to claim in Jesus an exclusive temporal Messiah, they repelled Him with hatred as the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. That He was the Messiah in a sense far loftier and more spiritual than they had ever dreamed His language had again and again implied: but a Messiah in the sense they required He was not, and would not be. And therefore He does not mislead them by saying, I am your Messiah, but He refers them to His repeated teaching, which showed how clearly such had been His claim, and to the works which bore witness to that claim. Had they been sheep of His flock, they would have heard His voice, and then He would have given them eternal life. (Archdeacon Farrar.)

Christs account of Himself

I. THE NATURE OF HIS CREDENTIALS.

1. His sayings. He had often told them who He was (Joh_10:25).

2. His miracles. These had been signs that they should have understood (Joh_10:25; Joh_10:33).

3. His acceptance by the pious. Jehovahs flock and His own sheep had recognized Him; an indirect testimony that He was no imposter (Joh_10:27).

4. His ability to save. He could and did bestow eternal life on those who believed and followed Him (Joh_10:23).

II. THE DIGNITY OF HIS PERSON.

1. The Fathers Commissioner (Joh_10:26).

2. The Fathers Shepherd (Joh_10:29).

3. The Fathers Son (Joh_10:36).

4. The Fathers equal (Joh_10:30; Joh_10:33). The Jews understood this (Joh_10:33).

III. THE VINDICATION OF HIS PRETENSIONS.

1. The charge preferred against Him. Blasphemy, in making out Himself, a man, to be God (Joh_10:33).

2. The punishment proposed for Him. Stoning, the penalty prescribed by the law for such offenders.

3. The answer returned by Him.

(1) Scriptural--drawn from their own holy writings.

(2) Logical. If Gods Word called civic rulers gods, it could not be blasphemy for Gods Son to call Himself Son of God.

(3) Final. They could not reply to it except by violence; and He withdrew Himself beyond the reach of such machinations, Learn

1. The sufficiency of the existing evidences for Christ and

Christianity.

2. The irreconcilable antagonism between the unrenewed heart and Christ.

3. The ease with which objections and objectors to Christ can be answered.

4. The certainty that evil men can never achieve a final triumph over Christ. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

Religious scepticism

I. IT DOES NOT LACK EVIDENCE (Joh_10:24-25).

1. Christs works were such as no mere man had ever performed or could ever accomplish--productions of Divine power, expressions of Divine benevolence.

2. If these in His day were sufficient evidence, how much more His moral works in Christendom since. For eighteen centuries they have been multiplying. To sceptics who say, How long are we to be held in doubt? we answer, If you are sincere in your inquiries, you need not be held in suspense a moment longer.

II. IT LACKS SYMPATHY WITH TRUTH (Joh_10:26-27). This, and not lack of evidence, is the cause of scepticism. The Jews sympathy was with the formulae and conventionalities of religion and not with the truth. The wish is evermore father of the thought. Men are atheists because they do not like to retain God in their thoughts--anti-Christians because they do not like Christ. He is too pure, too honest. Are men responsible for this lack of sympathy? As well ask, Are men responsible for being truthful, just, virtuous? Conscience is bound to answer in the affirmative.

III. IT EXPOSES TO ENORMOUS LOSS (Joh_10:23). This implies

1. That they, the sceptics, would not have eternal life--goodness, freedom, perfection, joy--that the absence of which meant to perish.

2. That they would not have eternal security. His sheep would be safe in His and the Fathers hands from ruin and misery. But those who were not His sheep would be in a perilous condition.

Conclusion: See here

1. How hypocritical is scepticism. They professed to be in search of truth, whereas they only wanted a pretext to destroy truth.

2. How irrational is scepticism. It refuses to accept the most overwhelming evidence in favour of truth--the mighty and ever multiplying works of Christ.

3. How immoral is scepticism. It springs from the state of the heart--destitution of sympathy with Christ.

4. How egregiously foolish is scepticism. It risks eternal life and security. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The works of the Christ

We are dealing with the truth of the Divinity of the Christ, as it has been proclaimed by Christendom ever since the day when He lived and died on this earth. We are endeavouring to test the weight of evidence in favour of such a tremendous claim. And in order to do this effectually we are summoning certain witnesses before us that they may bear their testimony for or against it. The works of a man, like his character and words, are very eloquent. They speak for or against him. The works of the Christ. This, then, is our witness today. They are the works of One the beauty of whose character and words is acknowledged by all men whose judgment is worth having. They bear witness of Me, says the Christ. What do they say? Do they justify or condemn, do they speak for or against Him?

I. And, first of all, we want to know WHAT THIS WITNESS IS. The works of the Christ are many and manifold. There are works of love, of sympathy, of mercy; there are works of wisdom, of power, of greatness; there are works of warning, of judgment, of condemnation. Which of these shall we summon as our witness today? No; our Lord Himself narrows the issue for us. He points to certain of His works and by them will be judged, The works that I do in My Fathers name. It is quite clear that He is speaking of His miracles. The miracles of the Christ! Oh, some will say, no one believes in miracles nowadays. If you have no ether witness but this your case must surely fall to the ground. Miracles do not happen! Why is a miracle impossible? Hume denies the possibility of a miracle because it is contrary to all experience. Mr. Mill, the greatest of modern logicians, shows theft after all this statement is really worth nothing. He tells us that it only means that you cannot prove a miracle to a person who does not believe in a Being with supernatural powers. If by all experience he literally means all he is simply begging the question. No one ever supposed for a moment that miracles have been experienced by all. The philosopher Rousseau tells us that objections to miracles from their improbability cannot reasonably be urged by any man who seriously believes in a living God. But others urge, a miracle is impossible because it is a violation of the laws of nature. But is it? Let us ask what is meant by violating natures laws. What is a miracle? It is a lower law suspended by a higher. And who shall say this cannot be? To say so were to contradict daily experience. For instance, we can, we do continually counteract the great law of gravitation by a higher law. A miracle is impossible. No, not to any man who believes in a God at all. And we are taking this for granted. Very few deny it. Yea more, we live in a world of miracles. We cannot see, writes James Hinton, who was at once a man of science and a philosopher, and they do not always go together, that we walk in the midst of miracles, and draw in mysteries with every breath. A miracle is impossible. Nay, the miracles of the Christ are not a discredited witness: they are not impossible or improbable. On the contrary, miracles are natural and reasonable, and under certain circumstances they are to be expected. But, you say, were not His character and His words enough? Nay, they might be for us, but not for them. In those early days many among men knew but little of His character, and heard only a few of His words. There was need of other credentials in those days, plainer and more striking, to support the claim which Jesus made. We need them not. The miracles of the Christ were like the bells of the Church, that ring before the service begins, and call men by their music to come and worship. But the bells cease when the congregation has assembled and the act of worship commenced. And so we say that it was to be expected that a supernatural revelation, brought by a supernatural Teacher, should, in the absence of all earthly power and greatness, be accompanied by supernatural signs, to attest the truth of the Messenger and of the message He delivered unto men. If, then, these miracles are neither impossible nor improbable, what can we learn about the nature of the witness they give? First, then, I would have you bear in mind that they, too, like the other witnesses we have called, are well-authenticated facts. They are facts which His disciples believed in, and who were so likely to know as they? They are facts, for even His enemies admitted their reality. The Jews did not deny them. Secondly, the miracles of Christ are to be expected. They were the natural accompaniments of His mission of love, the embodiments of His character and words, in harmony with all else that we are told of Him. They were perfectly natural and ordinary in Him, they were His, His powers or faculties, His capacities, just as sight and speech are ours. Thirdly, the miracles of the Christ are unique. No other religion was ever founded upon miracles, as is Christianity. Whence, then, hath this Man this wisdom and these mighty works? Christendom answers, He is the Son of the Living God. Yea, Jesus Himself tells us, The works which the Father hath given Me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of Me that the Father hath sent Me. But as in the first days of Christianity, so still men refuse to believe this. They offer us other solutions instead. Renan, for instance, says He deluded His disciples. Others tell us that the Christ was enabled to do His miracles by His greater knowledge of the laws of science. But can we accept this solution? Or, again, we are told that these miracles are the outcome of the imagination of the disciples--that miracles were in the air, so to speak. Moreover, are we really entitled to take for granted, as do so many, that at the time the Gospels were written there was a predisposition in the minds of men to accept what was extraordinary? In his book on miracles Mr. Litton writes with considerable force, No mistake is greater than to suppose that the period at which the Gospels appeared was favourable to imposture of this kind. It was an age of literature and philosophy, the diffusion of which was promoted by the union of the civilized world under one sceptre. In Palestine learning had especially taken the form of critical inquiries into the integrity and genuineness of ancient books. But there are others who accept the force of this reasoning, and say the miracles of the Christ are the creation of a later age. But, as has been well pointed out by the same writer, such a man must have been a forger surpassing all the world has ever known in cleverness. Once more, it is said that the results attributed to miraculous power were in reality brought about by the forces of His personal qualities. His strength of will, His beauty of character, His personal attraction, influenced men, and worked upon them wonderful cures. But even if it were so with the miracles of which men and women were the subjects, how will this account for the stilling of the storm or the withering of the fig tree. There is only one alternative. Jesus Himself tells us what it is, If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. Shall we believe Him or shall we reject Him? (C. J.Ridgeway, M. A.)

My sheep hear My voice

The order of thought

The reference to those who believe not (Joh_10:26) because they were not of His sheep, introduces the contrast between them and those who were, and the position of the true members of the flock is expanded in this pair of parallel clauses. One member of each pair refers to the act or state of the sheep; the other to the act or gift of the good Shepherd. The pairs proceed in a climax from the first response of the conscience which recognizes the Divine voice, to the eternal home which is in the Fathers presence.

1. My sheep hear My voice,…and I know them.

2. And they follow Me,…and I give unto them eternal life.

3. And they shall never perish;…Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.

By reading successively the clauses printed in the ordinary type, we trace the progress of the human act and state; by reading in the same way those printed in italics, we trace the progress of the Divine gift; by reading each pair in the order of the text, we see how at each stage the gift is proportioned to the faculty which can receive it. (Archdeacon Watkins.)

The sheep and the shepherd

While far from flattering this emblem is very consolatory, for of all creatures none are so weak and helpless as sheep, and none are the subjects of such care.

I. THE PROPRIETOR OF THE SHEEP. My. They are Christs

1. By choice.

2. By the Fathers gift. We often value a gift for the donors sake irrespective of its intrinsic worth.

3. He bought them. We value that for which we have to pay.

4. By capture. A man esteems that which he procures with risk of life and limb. When we were astray He sought, found, rescued us.

5. By the cheerful surrender of ourselves to Him. We would not belong to another if we might; not even to ourselves. All this is

(1) A great honour. To belong to a king carries distinction.

(2) A guarantee of safety.

(3) The stamp of sanctity. We are the Lords separated flock.

(4) The key to duty.

II. THE MARKS OF THE SHEEP.

1. Their ear mark: Hear My voice.

(1) They hear spiritually.

(2) They hear Christ in the ministry, Bible, providences, etc., and they distinguish His voice from that of strangers.

(3) They hear obediently.

2. Their foot mark: They follow Me--not are driven. They follow Christ

(1) As the Captain of their salvation.

(2) As their Teacher.

(3) As their Example.

(4) As their Commander and Prince. Whatsoever He saith unto you do it.

III. THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SHEEP. It does not look very large, but it is amazingly blessed. I know them, the reverse of which is I never knew you. He knows us

1. Personally.

2. Thoroughly.

3. Helpfully.

(1) Our sins that He may forgive them.

(2) Our diseases that He may heal them, etc. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Answering the call

In a beautiful English churchyard is a small grave remarkable for its simplicity. It is evidently the resting place of a little lad who loved his Saviour. The inscription is as follows: Freddy!… Yes, Father! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christ knows us thoroughly

You have a watch, and it will not go, or it goes very irregularly, and you give it into the hands of one who knows nothing about watches, and he says, I will clean it for you. He will do it more harm than good. But here is the person who made the watch. He says, I put every wheel into its place; I made the whole of it from beginning to end. You feel the utmost confidence in entrusting that man with your watch. It often cheers my heart to think that since the Lord made me He can put me right. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christs sheep

I. THE MARKS.

1. They know His voice. This is universal in the East. They hear it

(1) In conversion.

(2) At the time of duty.

(3) In affliction.

(4) In the hour of death.

2. They follow Him

(1) That they may get pardon.

(2) To obtain the living water.

(3) To share His unspeakable love.

(4) To commune with Him in prayer.

(5) To learn from His example.

II. THE BLESSINGS.

1. Christ knows them. The world does not; the Church may not; but Christ does, whatsoever their state or condition.

2. Christ gives them eternal life. This implies

(1) Daily pardon.

(2) Spiritual life.

3. Christ keeps them safely.

(1) They are in His land.

(2) In His Fathers land.

(3) To all eternity. (Pulpit Analyst.)

The sheep of Christ

These are known

I. BY HEARING. The most important of all the senses, and of scriptural emblems, is the ear. (Isa_55:1-13) Faith cometh by hearing. The sheep hear

1. Christs personal voice. He still speaks in the Scriptures. Many do not recognize that voice, as a stranger would not recognize your childs voice in a letter; but every syllable becomes audible to you. The word of battle is to the soldier not the voice of the trumpeter, but the call of his general.

2. The voice of truth. No voice but Christs is, because nothing else is permanent.

3. The voice of grace and of love.

4. The voice of power over the world, the flesh and the devil. Hence it imparts courage to the Christian soldier to go on conquering and to conquer.

II. BY PERSONAL APPEARANCE, as we are able to distinguish our friends and children. Christ knows His sheep.

1. In whatever condition of life, rich or poor, healthy or unhealthy, in sorrow or in joy.

2. Whatever company they may keep.

3. Whithersoever they go.

4. Whatsoever they do. The knowledge in this aspect of it is admonitory and encouraging.

III. BY FOLLOWING. They follow Christs example

1. In obedience to His earthly parents.

2. In conformity to all the righteousness of religion.

3. In nonconformity to the world. (H. Cooke, D. D.)

They follow Me.--Christs flock often addressed by the seductive voice of strangers. They are promised the treasures, honours, and pleasures of the world. They are told that there are other and smoother ways of reaching heaven. But there is none but this: following Christ.

I. In HOLINESS. Be ye holy for I am holy.

II. In LOVE. By this shall all men know, etc.

III. In SELF-DENIAL. If any man will come after Me, etc.

IV. In MEEKNESS. Let this mind be in you, etc. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)

Believers must not go before Christ

With my brother I was once climbing the Cima di Jazi, one of the mountains in the chain of Monta Rosa. When nearly at the top, we entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded their axes on the frozen snowed slope. My brother, seeing the slope still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice overhanging a precipice of several thousand feet, rushed onward. I shall never forget their cry of agonized warning. He stood for a moment on the summit, and then, the snow yielding, he began to fall through; one of the guides, at great risk, had rushed after him, and seizing him by the coat, drew him down to a place of safety. So Christ is our guide amid the mists and the difficult place of light. It is not ours to go before Him. Where He leads we may go, when He stops, we should stop. It is at our peril if we go a step beyond. (Newman Hall.)

The test of piety

A little girl was once asked what it was to be a Christian, and she wisely answered, It is to do just what Jesus would do if He was a little girl and lived at our house. I give unto them eternal life

Final perseverance

This doctrine has been found in this passage. But we must carefully distinguish between the certainty of Gods promises and His infinite power on the one hand, and the weakness and variableness of mans will on the other. If man falls at any stage in his spiritual life, it is not from want of Divine grace, nor from the overwhelming power of adversaries, but from his neglect to use that which he may or may not use. We cannot be protected against ourselves in spite of ourselves. He who ceases to hear and to follow is thereby shown to be no true believer (1Jn_2:19). The difficulty in this case is only one form of the difficulty involved in the relation of an infinite to a finite being. The sense of the Divine protection is at any moment sufficient to inspire confidence, but not to render effort unnecessary (comp. Joh_6:37; Joh_6:39-40; Joh_6:44). St. Paul combines the two thoughts, Php_2:12, etc.). (Bp. Westcott.)

The security of believers

I. IN WHAT SENSE THEY ARE SECURE.

1. From the condemnation of the law.

2. From the power of temptation.

3. From the dominion of Satan.

4. From everlasting death.

II. THE GROUNDS OF THIS SECURITY.

1. Negatively. Not their own

(1) Righteousness.

(2) Prudence.

(3) Strength.

(4) Fidelity. Nor

(5) The efficacy of the means of grace.

(6) The security of the asylum, i.e., the Church, to which they have betaken themselves.

2. Positively.

(1) The covenant of redemption.

(2) The work of Christ.

(3) The indwelling of the Spirit.

(4) The fidelity of God.

III. INFERENCES.

1. Not that we may live in sin and yet be saved, because the security of believers is a security from sin. This is the great distinction between the doctrine of perseverance and Antinomianism. As it is a contradiction to say that God saves the lost, so it is to say that He preserves those who indulge in sin.

2. Not that we may neglect the means of grace. For the security promised is as much security from negligence as from every other evil.

3. This truth is adapted

(1) To fill the heart with abounding gratitude and love to God.

(2) To produce peace and a filial spirit.

(3) To engender alacrity in the service of God and in working out our salvation. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

Life eternal

I. THE PAST HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD.

1. They had lost eternal life. Every one fell in Adam.

2. They could not have obtained life except by its being given. God never works an unnecessary miracle. If the soul could save itself God would let it do what it could.

3. Eternal life is not secured by merit. That which is given is unmerited. Man merits nothing but death; life is Gods free gift.

4. Those who now have it would have perished but for Christ. Sin made all men heirs of wrath.

5. Gods people have many enemies who would pluck them out of His hand. They were once in the hand of the enemy.

II. THEIR PRESENT STATE. Notice here

1. A gift received--life. Distinguish between existence and life. Existence may be a curse. This life is

(1) Spiritual; as distinguished from the existence of a stone, and from vegetable, animal, and intellectual life.

(2) Mysterious. You who have mental life cannot explain to a horse what it is, neither can one explain spiritual life to those who have it not.

(3) Divine. We are made partakers of the Divine nature.

(4) Heavenly in its nature, origin and end.

(5) Energetic. It is the spring of all activity.

(6) Eternal.

(7) Free.

2. Preservation secured.

(1) They shall never perish. Some of their notions, comforts, and experiences may, but they never shall.

(2) They shall never perish. The life in them shall not be starved, beaten, or driven out.

(3) Never? position guaranteed--in Christs land.

A place of

(1) Honour. We are the jewel He wears on His finger.

(2) Love. I have graven thee on the palms of my hands.

(3) Power. Christs hand encloses all His people.

(4) Property. The saints are in my hand.

(5) Protection.

(6) Use.

III. THEIR OUTLOOK INTO THE FUTURE. Eternal life comprehends all the future. Your spiritual existence will flourish when empires decay, when the heart of this world shall grow cold, when the pulse of the sea shall cease to beat, and the suns bright eye grow dim with age. When, like a moments foam which melts into the wave that bears it the whole universe shall have gone, it shall be well with you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The eternal life of Christs flock

1. The shepherd owns the flock.

2. The shepherd tends his flock.

3. As the effect of the shepherds training and watchful care the sheep learn to know him.

4. The flock follow the shepherd wherever he may lead them.

I. THE SHEEP IN THEIR RELATION TO THE SHEPHERD IMAGE THE MEMBERS OF THE SPIRITUAL FOLD IN THEIR RELATION TO JESUS CHRIST, THE SHEPHERD AND BISHOP OF THEIR SOULS.

1. The Good Shepherd is the proprietor of His spiritual flock. The earthly image cannot be pressed beyond proper limits. The sheep on the Judaean hills were beasts, and their shepherd was a man. Between Christ and His sheep there is no such gulf. Though He is the Creator and they are creatures yet He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are of one nature. In that nature He has vanquished their enemies and has become their Proprietor as well as their Brother.

2. The ownership of the Good Shepherd in the sheep is ever the same. Time, circumstances, death cannot break it.

II. THE GOOD SHEPHERD GIVES HIS SHEEP ETERNAL LIFE. He has given His life for them; He also gives it to them. Errors to be guarded against

1. That eternal life means everlasting existence in heaven. It is this but it is more, even the union and communion of love between God and man originated and perfected by Jesus Christ.

2. That it is something future. On the contrary Christ says explicitly that the believer hath it. It is a present possession and a continuous power.

III. THEREFORE THE SHEEP OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD shall never perish.

1. There are at least two enemies of the flock.

(1) The flesh, the wolf within the fold, the traitor within the citadel.

(2) The spirit of this world.

2. The combined attacks of these foes are vain. For Christ

(1) protects,

(2) guides,

(3) feeds His sheep. Hence Goodness and mercy follow them all the days of their life. (E. V. Gerhart D. D.)

Eternal life

By what aids can we conceive of it. Some men say, describe a circle; let the sun be the centre, and let the line of circumference pass through the most distant planet. Let this be as one cycle of existence, and let such cycles be innumerable: this is everlasting life. Traverse the woods and forests of our planet during the season of leaf fall, count the fallen leaves, and repeat this through endless years: this is everlasting life. Visit the deserts and seashores of our globe, number the sands, and let each grain represent a century: this is everlasting life. Separate the waters of this globe into drops, the waters of all pools and lakes, of all brooks and rivers, of all oceans and seas; let each drop represent a century: this is everlasting life. But these illustrations represent duration only, continued existence might be a curse. The life which Jesus promises is pure life and holy, peaceful life and happy, true life and godly; life in a garden more paradisaical than that of Eden; life in a country better far than Canaan; life in a city more sacred than Jerusalem, more magnificent than Nineveh, Athens, or Rome; life in a kingdom to which the kingdoms of this world yield no comparison; and life in a home as peaceful and as pure as the heart of God. (S. Martin.)

The Almighty hand

I have read of a father and son who worked in a deep mine, and one day when they were together in a basket in which the miners were drawn up from the pit to the surface, the son overbalanced himself and fell out of the basket; his father seized hold of part of his clothing and thus prevented his sudden fall. But, alas! this was only for a short time. Crying loudly for help, the father held on to his sons clothing as long as he was able, and then his hand falling in its power to bear up so heavy a burden, relaxed its hold, and his son fell and perished. Only the hand of Jesus is all-sufficient and almighty, and it never fails. (R. Brewin.)

The safety of the saints

A swallow having built its nest upon the tent of Charles V, the emperor generously commanded that the tent should not be taken down when the camp removed, but should remain until the young birds were ready to fly. Was there such gentleness in the heart of a soldier towards a poor bird which was not of his making, and shall the Lord deal hardly with his creatures when they venture to put their trust in Him! Be assured He hath a great love to those trembling souls that fly for shelter to His royal courts. He that buildeth his nest upon a Divine promise shall find it abide and remain until he shall fly away to the land where promises are lost in fulfilments. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The safety of the saints

Plutarch, in relating Alexanders wars, says, that when he came to besiege a certain people who dwelt upon a rock, they jeered him, and asked him whether his soldiers had wings or not; unless your soldiers can fly in the air we fear you not. Such is the safety of Gods people; he can set them upon a rock, so high that no ladder can be found long enough to scale their habitations, nor any artillery or engine strong enough to batter them down, so that unless their adversaries have more than eagles wings to soar higher than God Himself, they cannot do them the least annoyance; their place of defence is the munition of rocks, safe enough from all dangers.

The least saints shall not perish

They that work in gold or silver let fall many a bit to the ground, yet they do not intend to lose it so, but sweep the shop, and keep the very sweepings safe, so that which they cannot at present discover the refiner brings to light. Thus, the world is Gods workshop, many a dear child of God suffers and fails to the ground by banishment, imprisonment, sorrow, sickness, etc., but they must not be lost thus, God will search the very sweepings, and gather them out of the very trash, and preserve them. What though they be slightly set by here in this world, and lie amongst the pots, no better accounted of than the rubbish and refuse of the earth? God will find a time to make them up amongst the rest of His jewels.

Believers need not fear that they shall perish

A man crossed the Mississippi on the ice, and fearing it was too thin, began to crawl on his hands and knees in great terror; but when he gained the opposite shore, all worn out, another man drove past him gaily, sitting upon a sledge loaded with pig iron. That is just the way most Christians go up to the heavenly Canaan, trembling at every step lest the promises shall break under their feet, when really they are secure enough for us to hold our heads and sing with confidence as we march to the better land.

The safety of the saints

Not long before he died James Janeway blessed God for the assurance of His love, and said he could now as easily die as shut his eyes, adding Here I am longing to be silent in the dust and to enjoy Christ in glory. It is not worth while to weep for me. Then, remembering how busy the devil had been about him, he thanked God for rebuking him. (Memoir of J. Janeway.)

The safety of the saints

I want to talk to you about heaven, said a dying parent to a member of his family, we may not be spared to each other long. His beloved daughter exclaimed, Surely you do not think there is any danger. He replied, calmly, Danger, my darling! Oh, do not use that word. There can be no danger to the Christian whatever may happen. All is right! All is well! God is love! All is well! Everlastingly well! Everlastingly well! (Jn Stevenson.)

My Father which gave them Me.--If He was given them, then

I. HE IS THEIR ABSOLUTE PROPRIETOR. This is undeniable. All souls are His.

II. IT MUST BE IN HARMONY WITH THEIR OWN FREE CONSENT. Souls cannot be given away as material objects can. They are essentially free, and the great Father would not outrage the nature of His offspring.

III. IT IS NOT IN SUCH A WAY AS TO INVOLVE THE RENUNCIATION OF HIS CLAIM UPON THEM. When we give a thing away, we cease to have any right to it. God will never relinquish His right to the existence, love, reverence and service of souls. Indeed in this passage Christ tells us that they are still in His Fathers hand. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

God an impregnable Refuge

The French were very proud of the stronghold of Metz, and over one of the principal entrances to it was this inscription, deeply cut in the stone, This fortress has been nine times besieged, but has never been taken. But when the Prussian army swept over the borders of France and laid seige to this far-famed place of defence, it was not long before those who had taken shelter within its walls found that their hiding place was not a safe one, and soon the flag of the victorious Germans floated above its walls, and the French soldiers within it fell into the hands of their enemies. God is a strong refuge, and will never give up those who trust in Him. (R. Brewin.)

The safety of believers

Backed by the Almighty! As the little constable in the Bay State said to the fellow who threatened him, If you shake me you shake the whole State of Massachussetts. It is a great thing to be not a forlorn little wheel that mast be turned by hand, but one geared into the machinery of Gods eternal laws of moral order.

I and My Father are One

The Divinity of Christ

That Christ in such assertions claimed absolute Divinity is evident from the conduct of the Jews. In scarcely any other case did they seek to lay violent hands upon Him. When He exposed their sins they restrained their rage and waited for their revenge. But at such assertions as these their pent-up wrath burst forth in indignation at His presumption, or in violent action. Now, if they had been misunderstood Jesus would have explained them away; but instead of that He accepts the interpretation of His words and proceeds to argue from it, and, further, it was for standing by this interpretation that He died. We have here a claim to

I. UNITY OF NATURE. The mysterious thing is that He who made this claim was a man with whom the Jews had been long familiar. He had been in being before His human nature was formed (Joh_3:53; Joh_17:5). He had come forth from the Father to assume that human nature, and now clad in it He was conscious of no change in His Divine nature. This unity

1. Implies absolute equality with the Father (Php_2:6). There is not one perfection to be found in the First person of the Godhead that does not exist undimmed in splendour in the Second. We are to conceive of Christ as possessing all the Fathers self-sufficiency, eternity, omnipotence, holiness, etc., All that the Father hath is Mine.

2. Is claimed by Christ through His Sonship. It is as the Son He always regards Himself, even when speaking most strongly of His equality. It is not a separate independent equality, but equality through union; therefore One with the Father because Son of the Father--possessing the Fathers nature by virtue of Sonship. This relation is never lost sight of, and all His claims to Divinity are founded upon it. This shows that He is Son not merely through His incarnation, but eternally. If Son in human nature only, He cannot be in any special sense Son of the Father, still less only begotten.

3. Preserves the distinction between the Father and the Son. Unity is not identity. One in all that is essential to the Godhead, but two distinct persons. When the words were uttered the distinction was evident: the Father was in heaven on the throne of Majesty; the Son was on earth in the form of a Servant.

4. Does not contradict the assertion, My Father is greater than! (Joh_14:23), because just before He had claimed unity with the Father (chap.

14:10, 11). It is simply a recognition of the filial relation. The Fathers glory is undenied; the Sons is from the Father (chap. 5:26). In this sense only can the Father be greater, and this is consistent with perfect union and equality.

5. Is confessedly mysterious. Let us not then seek to break irreverently through and gaze; but reverently and joyfully accept the truth that we have a Saviour so qualified to save.

II. UNITY OF PURPOSE. Between such a Father and such a Son there can be no collision--unity of nature must embrace unity of will. We should not need to dwell upon this, but for the perversion of the doctrine of the atonement, which has been represented as implying an unwillingness of God to pardon, which had to be propitiated by the sacrifice of Christ. The New Testament nowhere teaches this God-dishonouring tenet (Joh_3:16). The purpose to save is represented as originating with the Father, and voluntarily accepted by the Son. In the execution of that purpose Jesus repeatedly testifies that He came to do His Fathers will. The Son died, not because the Father was unwilling, but unable to save them otherwise.

III. UNITY OF ACTION. (verse 37, etc.). This so follows from the former part of the subject, that there is no need to enlarge upon it. The Bible abounds with illustrations of it--in Creation, Providence, and redemption. Conclusion: Jesus makes this unity the type of that which should exist between His people and Himself, and amongst ourselves (Joh_17:20-23). (W. S.Dewstoe)

.

The Divinity of Christ

The oneness of our Lord with the Father is demonstrated by the following line of argument.

I. DIVINE NAMES ARE GIVEN TO HIM.

1. God. This term is used sometimes in a secondary sense of Moses Exo_7:1), and magistrates, etc. (Exo_22:23; Psa_32:1; Psa_32:6), because of some imperfect resemblance they bear to God in some one particular. But it is in no secondary or figurative sense that Christ bears this Mat_1:23; Joh_1:1; Joh_20:23; Act_20:23; 1Ti_3:16; Heb_1:3; 2Pe_1:1); and as if to shut out this sense He is called the Mighty God, God over all, The true God, The great God.

2. Jehovah, the incommunicable name, significant of eternal, independent, and immutable existence (Isa_6:5 cf. Joh_12:41; Jer_23:5-6; Joe_2:32 cf. Rom_10:13; Isa_11:3 cf. Mat_3:3; Isa_3:13-14 cf. 1Pe_2:7; 1Pe_2:3; Zec_12:1; Zec_12:10 cf. Joh_19:37).

II. DIVINE PERFECTIONS ARE ASCRIBED TO HIM.

1. Eternal existence (Isa_9:6; Mic_5:2; Joh_1:2; Is

44:6 cf. Rev_1:11; Rev_2:3; Rev_22:13).

2. Omnipresence (Mat_13:20; Mat_23:20; Joh_3:13).

3. Omniscience (Joh_2:24-25; Joh_21:17; Col_3:3; Rev_2:23 cf. 1Ki_3:32).

4. Omnipotence (Isa_9:6; Rev_1:3; Php_3:21).

5. Immutability (Heb_1:10-12; Heb_13:3).

6. Every attribute of the Father (Joh_16:15; Col_2:9).

III. DIVINE WORKS ARE PERFORMED BY HIM.

1. Creation (Joh_1:3-10; Eph_3:9; Col_1:16; Heb_1:2-10).

2. Providential government (Mat_23:13; Luk_10:22; Joh_3:35; Joh_17:2; Act_10:36; Rom_14:9; Eph_1:22; Col_1:17; Heb_1:3; Rev_17:14).

3. The forgiveness of sins (Mat_9:2-7; Mar_2:7-10; Col_3:13).

4. The final dissolution and renewal of all things (Heb_1:12; Php_3:21; Rev_21:5).

5. The resurrection and universal judgment (Joh_5:22; Joh_5:27-29;Php_3:20-21; Mat_25:31-32; Act_10:42; Act_17:31; Rom_16:10; 2Ti_4:1).

IV. DIVINE WORSHIP IS PAID TO HIM.

1. This worship is recognized as the distinguishing peculiarity of New Testament saints (Act_9:14; Act_9:21; 1Co_1:2; Rom_10:12-13).

2. This worship has been actually paid by inspired men (Luk_24:51, Act_1:24; Act_7:59-60; 2Co_12:3; 2Co_12:9; 1Th_3:11-12; 2Th_2:16-17; 1Ti_1:2; Rev_1:5).

3. Angels have joined in this worship (Heb_1:6; Rev_5:11-12).

4. Every creature in the universe will offer it (Php_2:9-11; Rev_5:13-14).

V. DIVINE EQUALITY IS CLAIMED BY HIM. (Joh_14:9; Joh_16:15; Joh_10:30) This claim we must acknowledge, or accept the terrible alternative that He was destitute of the human excellencies of humility and truthfulness.

VI. HIS NAME IS CONJOINED WITH THAT OF THE FATHER.

1. In the promises He made (Joh_14:21-23).

2. In the embassy of the apostles (Tit_1:1-16; Gal_1:1).

3. In the designation of the Churches addressed (1Co_1:2; Eph_1:1.; Php_1:1; Php_1:1-30 and 2Th_1:1).

4. In benedictions besought (1Ti_1:2; 1Th_3:11; 2Th_2:16-17; 1Co_13:14).

5. In the worship of heaven (Rev_5:13; Rev_7:10). To associate the Creator with a creature in such a way would forever destroy the infinite distinction between God and man. (B. Field.)

The oneness of Christ with the Father

What kind of unity is that which the context obliges us to see in this solemn statement? Is it such a unity as that which our Lord desired for His followers in His intercessory prayer; a unity of spiritual communion, of reciprocal love, of common participation in an imparted heaven-sent nature (Joh_17:11; Joh_17:22-23)? Is it a unity ofdesign and cooperation, such as that which, in varying degrees, is shared by all true workers with God (1Co_3:3)? How would either of these lower unities sustain the full sense of the context, which represents the hand of the Son as one with the hand, i.e., with the love and power of the Father, securing to the souls of men an effectual preservation from eternal ruin? A unity like this must be a dynamic unity, as distinct from any mere moral or intellectual union, such as might exist between a creature and its God. Deny this dynamic unity, and you destroy the internal connection of the passage; admit it, and you admit, by necessary implication, a unity of Essence. The power of the Son, which shields the redeemed from the foes of their salvation, is the very power of the Father; and this identity of power is itself the outflow and manifestation of a oneness of nature. Not that at this height of contemplation the person of the Son, so distinctly manifested just now in the work of guarding His redeemed, melts away into any mere aspect or relation of the Divine Being in His dealing with His creatures. As St. Augustine observes, the unum saves us from the charabdis of Arianism; the sumus is our safeguard from the Scylla of Sabellius. The Son within the incommunicable unity of God is still Himself; He is not the Father but the Son. Yet this personal subsistence is in the mystery of the Divine life strictly compatible with unity of essence; the Father and the Son are one Thing. (Canon Liddon.)

Christs two natures

The picture produced in the stereopticon is fuller, rounder, and more natural than the same picture seen without the use of that instrument. But to produce the stereoscopic picture there must be two pictures blended into one by the use of the stereopticon, and both the eyes of the observer are brought into requisition at the same time, looking each through a separate lens. Thus Christ is only seen in His true and proper light when the record of His human nature and the statement of His divine are blended. It is a fiat unfinished Christ with either left out. But it is as seen in the Word, with the moral and mental powers of our being both engaged in the consideration, and thus only, that we get the full and true result. (Pulpit Treasury.)

Christ entitled to Divine honours

The Emperor Theodosius being seduced from the truth by Arian teachers, Bishop Amphilocus, at Rome, took the following eccentric means of convincing him of his error. Theodosius had raised his son, Arcadius, to the dignity of Caesar. Together in royal state they received the homage of their subjects. Amphilochus, on one of these occasions presented himself and bowed his knee before the emperor, but took no notice of his son. Theodosius, offended, exclaimed: Know you not that I have made my son the partner of my throne? The bishop thereupon turned on Arcadius, put his hands upon his head, and invoked a blessing upon him, and then turned to go away. Naturally dissatisfied with patronage in place of homage, Theodosius asked in angry tones if that was all the respect the bishop paid to an occupant of the throne, but the latter replied: Sire, you are angry with me for not paying your son equal honour with yourself; what must God think of you for encouraging those who insult His equal Son in every part of your empire?

The unity of God to be believed

Out of the harbour of Goodwin Sands the pilot cannot make forth, they say, unless he so steer his ship that he bring two steeples so even in his sight that they appear one. So it is here. (J. Trapp.)

The unity of God

Sitting lately, says one, in a public room at Brighton, where an infidel was haranguing the company upon the absurdities of the Christian religion, I could not but be pleased to see how easily his reasoning pride was put to shame. He quoted those passages I and My Father are one ; I in them and thou in Me ; and that there are three persons in one God. Finding his auditors not disposed to applaud his blasphemy, he turned to one gentleman, and said with an oath, Do you believe such nonsense? The gentleman replied, Tell me how that candle burns? Why, answered he, the tallow, the cotton, and the atmospheric air produce the light. Then they make one light, do they not? Yes. Will you tell me how they are one in the other, and yet but one light? No, I cannot. But you believe it? He could not say he did not. The company instantly made the application, by smiling at his folly; upon which the conversation was changed. (Anecdotes on New Testament Texts.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 10:24-26. Then came the Jews round about him, &c. — Here the Jews came and required him to put them out of doubt, by telling them plainly, whether he was the Messiah or not: Jesus knowing that it was not information they were seeking, but an opportunity of accusing him to the Romans, as a seditious person, who aspired to be a king, directed them, as before, to form a judgment of him from his actions. Jesus answered, I told you, and ye believed not — What our Lord had been lately saying of himself, (see the preceding verses,) as the good shepherd, was equivalent to a declaration of his being the Messiah. Besides, he had already performed those miracles which were to characterize and distinguish the Messiah, such as cleansing the lepers, giving sight to the blind, &c.; and if they had but followed the dictates of their own rabbis, or of their own unprejudiced reason, they must have acknowledged that he had sufficiently established his claim to the title of the Messiah. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep — Because ye do not, will not follow me: because ye are proud, unholy, lovers of praise, lovers of the world, lovers of pleasure, not lovers of God. The reason why ye do not believe in me is not that the proofs of my mission are insufficient, but because ye are not of an humble and teachable disposition, free from worldly passions, and willing to receive the doctrine that comes from God. Persons of this character easily know, by the nature of my doctrine and miracles, who I am, and consequently readily believe in and follow me.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

IV

How Christ Putteth Thomas’ Unbelief To Shame, And Changeth The Doubting Disciple Into The Most Joyful Confessor

Joh_10:24-29

(Joh_20:24-31, is the pericope for St. Thomas’ Day).

24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see [I see, ἴδω] in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print25 of the nails, and thrust [put] my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, [Jesus cometh, ἔρχεται], the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust [put] it into 28 my side; and be [become, γίνου]26 not faithless, but believing. And Thomas27 an swered and said unto him, My Lord and my God [!] 29Jesus saith unto him, Thomas [omit Thomas]28 because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The second appearance of Christ, on the first Sunday after the resurrection-day, in the midst of the disciples, at Jerusalem, is entirely in accordance with the festival circumstances. The Easter-Sunday was the third day of the paschal celebration. The next Friday, therefore, was the eighth. The disciples were not permitted to set out on their homeward journey on the Sabbath. On Sunday they either would not, or could not, set out, because this had now become their feast-day, and Thomas was not yet pacified (Leben Jesu II., p. 1704). It was probably the evening before their departure for Galilee, whither, as the place where all His disciples should see Him again, Christ had at first ordered the apostles. See Comm. on Matthew, chap. 28.

Joh_20:24. But Thomas, one of the twelve. [θωμᾶς δὲ εἶς ἐκ τῶν δώδεκα, ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος].—See Joh_11:16; Joh_14:5; Matt. chap. 10. His absence from the circle of disciples on the first Easter Sunday gives rise to the inference that he was wandering about, solitary and gloomy.

Joh_20:25. But he said unto them, etc. [ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς. Ἐὰν μὴ ἴδω ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ τὸν τύπον τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω τὸν δάκτυλόν μου εἰς τὸν τύπον29 τῶν ἥλων, καὶ βάλω μου τὴν χεῖρα εἰς τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσω]. We must distinguish between the strong expression of Thomas, and his thought itself. The testimony of his fellow-disciples does not suffice for him; he must first see the Risen One with his own eyes, and by touch convince himself of His corporality, and of the identity of that corporeality with the Crucified One, before he can believe. On the fact that nothing, therefore, can be deduced from the expression of Thomas militating against the nailing down of the feet of the Crucified One, comp. Tholuck, p. 442.

[Thomas has a place among the apostles, inferior indeed to John and Peter, yet an important one. He represents, within the Church, the principle: intellectus præcedit fidem, which is not necessarily incompatible with the higher principle: fides præcedit intellectum. He represents honest, earnest, inquiring, truth-loving skepticism, or that rationalism which anxiously craves tangible evidence, and embraces it with joy when presented. This is essentially distinct from the worldly, frivolous skepticism of indifference or hostility to truth, which ignores or opposes the truth in spite of evidence. The former wants knowledge in order to faith, the latter knowledge without or against faith. The inquiring spirit of Thomas, having a moral motive and a spiritual aim, is a wholesome, propelling principle in the Church, and indispensable in scientific theology; it dispels prejudice, ignorance and superstition, and promotes knowledge and intelligence. Yet, practically and spiritually, it is defective as compared with the childlike spirit of faith with which alone we can enter the kingdom of heaven, and hence it is gently rebuked by our Lord. For salvation we must go to Christ, not as reasoning logicians, or learned theologians, or pleading lawyers, or calculating merchants, but as the child goes to the mother’s bosom, as heart goes to heart, and love to love—with unbounded confidence and trust. Faith is the true mother of true knowledge in divine things, and even in philosophy, which starts in love of wisdom, and consequently implies its existence. It is only in a very qualified sense, in matters of historical inquiry and philosophic and scientific research, that doubt may be called the father of knowledge, according to the principle of Cartesius: De omnibus dubitandum est.—P. S.]

Joh_20:26. And after eight days [μεθ̓ ἡμέρας ὀκτώ].—That the disciples already attribute a particular importance to Sunday, is evidenced by the numeric completeness of their assembly.

[This is the beginning of the history of the Lord’s Day, which to this day has never suffered a single interruption in Christian lands, except for a brief period of madness in France during the reign of terror. Sunday is here pointed out by our Lord Himself and honored by His special presence as the day of religion, and public worship, and so it will remain to the end of time. God’s Word and God’s Day are inseparable companions, and the pillars of God’s Church.—P. S.]

That Thomas is an unbeliever willing to believe, his presence at this time seems to prove. Manifestly, the same place is meant as that in which they were eight days before. They were within again, in the same house. “Olshausen erroneously makes Galilee the scene of the appearance” (Meyer). “To celebrate the Resurrection-day” (Luthardt). Meyer: "There is nothing to indicate this.” It seems at least to be indicated by the fact that they were still tarrying in Jerusalem on this day, and probably waiting for the Lord.

Joh_20:27. Therefore saith He to Thomas [εἶτα λέγει τῷ θωμᾷ].—Immediately after the peace-greeting Christ turns to Thomas, for it is with him that He has now to do, since he, in his doubting spirit, is a hindrance to the whole Church. Christ’s acquaintance with Thomas state of mind and singular demand is not to be referred to a mediate knowledge on the part of Christ (through the disciples, Lücke); it is the fruit of an immediate knowledge.—Reach hither thy finger, etc. [φέρε τὸν δάκτυλόν σου ὦδε καὶ ἴδε τὰς χεῖράς μου, καὶ φέρε τὴν χεῖρά σου καὶ βάλε εἰς τὴν πλευράυ μου].—A triumphant challenge which, with loving irony, accedes to his demand, in order to the infusing of a salutary shame into him who made it and who is now obliged to recognize the identity of personality by higher marks,—especially by the Lord’s knowledge of the deplorable state of his soul, and by His voice. Bengel: Si Pharisæus ita dixisset: “nisi videro,” etc., nil impetrasset; sed discipulo pridem probato nil non datur.

[The Lord is silent about the print of the nails, which would have recalled the malice of His crurifiers, and points simply to the wounds as the abiding monument of His dying love to Thomas and to all. The words “Reach hither thy hand and put it into My side,” seem to imply that the wound in His side was as large as a man’s hand. Some infer also that His resurrection-body was bloodless. Wordsworth: “The wounds which Satan inflicted in malice and scorn on our Lord’s crucified Body, have been converted by His controlling power and wisdom into proofs of His Resurrection, and marks of His personal identity. They have become indelible evidences of His power, graven, as it were, with an iron pen on the Rock of Ages, to be read by the eyes of Angels and men for eternity; and they remain for ever, as glorious trophies of His victory over death and sin, and over Satan himself.”—P. S.]

And become not faithless [καὶ μὴ γίνου ἄπιστος, ἀλλὰ πιστός],—γίνου not: be not faithless, Meyer. He had not been faithless hitherto, but he was in danger of becoming so.30 Tholuck: “Religious belief which demands the support of sensuous perception runs the risk of making an entire loss of faith.” Nevertheless, the sincere heart that needs and craves belief, receives even in the hour of temptation the right signs which transport it beyond the danger that threatens it. Such was the experience of Thomas. His faith was saved; the great sign of Christ’s appearance quickly made the sickly plant burst forth into fairest bloom.

Joh_20:28. My Lord and my God! [ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου! An address of Thomas to Christ (the nom. with the art. for the vocative, as often in the New Testament; compare Christ’s address to His Father, Mar_15:34 : ὁ θεός μου, ὁ θεός μου. The highest apostolic confession of faith in the Lordship and Divinity of Christ,—an echo of the beginning of this Gospel: “The Word was God,” Joh_1:1, and an anticipation of its close, Joh_20:30-31. Thomas, says Augustine, behold and touched Christ as Man, and confessed Him to be God, whom he did not see nor touch.—P. S.]—Weakening interpretation of Theodore of Mopsuestia: “Quasi pro miraculo factodeum, collaudat.” Alleging the expression to be addressed admiringly to God. Similarly the Socinians and Paulas [and Unitarians]. Against this view we cite 1. εἶπεν αὐτῷ [to Jesus, not to God], 2. the reference of the words: ὁ κύριός μου to Christ. Erasmus: Agnovit Christus, utique repulsurus, si falso dictus fuisset Deus.31 The excitement of feeling in which Thomas utters the adoring word in glorification of Christ, does not lessen the definiteness of his acknowledgment of Christ’s divinity; it detracts merely from the definiteness of his dogmatical conception of it.

Ver.29. Thou believest[“Οτι ἑώρακάς με πεπίστενκας]—According to Lachmann and Meyer, [Ewald], πεπίστευκας, should be read as a question. Lücke objects against this view: It infuses into the words a tone of doubt as to the faith of Thomas. The doubt might indeed be expressive of this thought: Thinkest thou now that thou didst believe because thou hast seen Me outwardly? Seeing did but help thy faith to be born. However, Jesus designs not merely to recognize the faith of Thomas (as He did the faith of the disciples, Joh_16:31), but also to institute a contrast between the road travelled by his faith and the faith of others. Thou believest. The Perfect; properly, thou hast believed [πεπίστευκας], hast become believing—a believer.—Blessed are [μακάριοι]—properly they that saw not, and believed; [or, who never saw, and yet became believers, οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες, και πιστεύσαντες],—Meyer: The Aorists indicate, not habitude (Lücke), but those who have believed [have become believers without first having viewed] from the time the μακαριότης is predicated of them.32 The saying is so constructed as 1.to intimate a peculiar praise of the other disciples who first believed, as well as to touch them, likewise, in its blame; 2. it, however, does not exclude Thomas (from this blessedness) inasmuch as he too commenced to believe before he had seen ;33 it establishes 3. a general rule destined for the beatification of the believing Church of a later period; at bottom, however, it Isaiah 4. generally declarative of the innermost essence of faith. Tholuck discovers a distinction of a degree of faith higher than that supported by sensuous perception: “That faith, namely, which, supported by the Word and the inner demonstrative power of the Word, believes, as St. Paul has it, παρ’ ἐλπίδα ἐπ’ ἐλπίδι, Rom_4:18; comp. Joh_4:48.” There might be question of a higher way of faith; but the degree of faith attained by Thomas should certainly not be designated as a lower one. Baur seeks to contra-distinguish faith resting upon external events and that faith which is abstractly certain of what it holds; according to this view, Christ called blessed the quasi-faith of modern spiritualists, who claim that they are satisfied with mere abstract religious ideas and are able to do without those facts in which the ideas have been realized! Christianity, however, is the indissoluble synthesis of idea and fact, and an idea belief which pretends to discredit the belief in facts is a kind of platonizing mythologism, wherever it may start up with grand mien in these days. Meyer more correctly distinguishes belief in something which has occurred, with and without one’s own sensuous perception. Christ did not reject that belief which seeks and finds confirmation in the way of doubt and investigation; neither, therefore, did He reject the corresponding way of belief; He did, however, point out the danger of that way, in which it is possible for doubt to separate itself from a trust in spiritual experience, and, in consequence of the impulse alter sensuous experience, to turn into unbelief and apostasy.

[Alford: “Wonderful indeed, and rich in blessing for us who have not seen Him, is this, the closing word of the Gospel. For these words cannot apply to the remaining Ten: they, like Thomas, had seen and believed.” Stier: “All the appearances of the forty days were mere preparations for the believing without seeing.” 1Pe_1:8, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The character of Thomas, and its import for the Church. See the citations of the Exeg. Note on Joh_20:24 [and my note on Joh_20:25.—P. S.]

2. The correct element in Thomas’ expectation: That the body of the Risen One would of necessity be indubitably recognizable by the stigmata of the Crucified One.

3. The doubt of Thomas: (1) wherein allied to unbelief ; (2) wherein distinct from the same. Thomas comes into the congregation of the believing disciples.

4. The manifestation of Christ for Thomas. The confession of Thomas. The ascription of blessedness to those who see not and yet believe. See Exeg. Note to Joh_20:29.

5. On the eighth day, or the repeated sanction of Sunday.

[6. Mary Magdalene and Thomas. Wordsworth :“From the two examples of Mary Magdalene and St. Thomas respectively, as described by St. John in this chapter, we learn two several duties to Christ, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven. The case of Mary Magdalene (Joh_5:17) was very different from that of St. Thomas. She acknowledged His bodily Resurrection, and clung with joy to His human Body risen from the grave, and was satisfied with His visible presence, and wished to retain that. She had yet to learn—and we by her—to see Him that is invisible; to touch Him by faith; to ascend to Him with heart and mind, and to cling to the hem of the garment of Him our great High Priest in heaven, and adore Him as God. Therefore our Lord said to her, ‘Touch me not, for I am not ascended; touch me by faith. That is the touch, which I require; that is the touch, by which I am to be held, and by which you may have My Presence with you.’ But St. Thomas would not believe that He was risen indeed; or, if risen, that He was risen in the same human body as that which he wore before, and at His crucifixion. This was, what he was to learn, and we by him, faith in our Lord’s Resurrection; faith in our own future Resurrection; faith in the identity of our own bodies to rise hereafter. Therefore Christ, who had said ‘Touch Me not’ to Mary, said ‘Touch Me’ to St. Thomas. Thus we are taught the true faith in His Divinity, Humanity and Personality, by His providential and gracious correction of the too material yearnings of a woman’s love, of the too spiritual doubts of an Apostle’s fears.”—P. S.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Thomas. His nature. His sin. His worth. His salvation. His Easter-festival. His confession. His example.—The Thomas-souls in the Church of disciples: 1. How they are a detention to the Church; 2. how they are worthy of its indulgence and clemency; 3. how they finally conduce to its confirmation in the faith.—The order of Christianity: 1 First believing without seeing; 2. then seeing in order to become perfect in believing.—Christ the Master, also Thomas’ Master.—Also the Master of Thomas-natures.—The certainty of Christ’s resurrection is mighty enough to shame every sincere doubter.—The difference betwixt solitude and solitude: 1. A solitude of Magdalene, who first saw the Lord (pure grief, constant seeking). 2. A solitude of Thomas who saw Him last (gloomy, repining and brooding).—Thomas’ doubt converted into a blessing to the faith of Christendom.—Thomas the character-portrait of honest doubters. 1. He holds fast the possibility of belief; 2. he put himself in the way of attaining belief.

Starke: Zeisius: How perilous it is to forsake the assemblies of the saints! therefore doth the Apostle exhort: Let us not forsake, etc., Heb_10:25.—It is a blessed hour when, whilst men are fooling away the time with the world, Jesus doth please to come unto us, Mat_25:10.—It is one of the duties of Christians gladly to guide others to Christ while themselves resorting to Him, 2Co_11:2.—Osiander: Those who are filled with spiritual joy, desire to make others sharers in the same, Php_2:18; Php_2:28.—Canstein: It is a transcendent grace of God, that He makes so much allowance for the manner of speech of the weak and tempted, Job_38:1 f.—Ibid: Mark, on Sunday Christ did several times appear unto the Apostles, on Sunday the disciples were assembled together; and so the first day in the week has been from that time consecrate, as the Lord’s Day, in memory of the resurrection of Christ and the ensuing outpouring of the Holy Ghost, Act_20:7; 1Co_16:2; Rev_1:10.—Jesus in the midst, all the disciples round about Him: one has as much part in Him as another, 1Ti_2:4.—Canstein: God exercises the most watchful care over the weak and tempted, and is most eager to help them, Luk_24:15.

Gerlach: He who pinneth faith to bodily sight, to the earthly and visible, doth himself expose it to change, since all things visible are temporal, and only the invisible is eternal, 2Co_4:18.—And so every faith that still hath need of sight, that still hath need of sensuous helps and props, cometh short of being a saving faith.

Braune: Thomas is just such a witness of the resurrection as we could desire.—Pope Leo the Great (440–401) was right in saying, with reference to the doubting of the disciples, and to that of Thomas in particular, that they doubted to the end that we might not need to doubt.—The disciples likewise believed not in the beginning; believed not on the strength of the tidings brought by the others; they believed not for joy. Thomas believed not—could not, would not, believe, for sorrow. Love for the Lord was the ground of that joy and of this sorrow,—not godless love of the world.—Thomas, doubtless, suffered many pangs in his faithless melancholy beside the comforted disciples—pangs inflicted upon him by his self-willed demand for proof. Doubts as to the legitimacy of his demand, as well as in regard to the statement of the disciples, augmented his grief.—Then entered Jesus with His familiar: Peace be with you! That is the salutation of the Risen One now and always. The greeting is for all, but for one, in particular: Jesus approaches Thomas, etc. Of so much importance does the Redeemer count the solitary individual who still believes not, though all the others are already believing.—Jesus does not censure inquiry, examination, investigation; He only reprehends the arbitrary and stubborn demand for proof, such as Thomas put forth.—He does not want credulity or thoughtless superstition, but neither does He like self-willed unbelief; He desires a faith that reposes upon the word of life and the idea of that truth which makes the spirit free.—Happy are all they in whose heart and life unbelief is but a passing shadow, driven away by the pursuing breath of the Spirit!

Gossner: When these words were so positively heard: “No man can live that seeth God,” intercourse with God was very difficult. Enoch held close intercourse with God before the deluge, but forasmuch as he carried it to a greater extent than was possible for men, God took him, that he might come unto the true enjoyment of communion with Him. All this was different now,—all purely spiritual things became palpable in the forty days after Easter. Shadow gave place to substance. “Feel Me and see,” etc.—The doors are bolted unto the world when the Lord visiteth His people.—The Saviour will let none of His people be lost. He waits for the slow, who come eight days behindhand with their faith. Yet the reprimand that He administered to Thomas, shows that He does not approve of the weakness and hardness of belief which mingled in the demand of that disciple; and it is at the same time an intimation to the effect that his hardness of belief might easily have degenerated into perfect unbelief.

Heubner: When a man is not found in the fellowship of the faithful, much good is speedily let slip. When a man mingles in the society of the wicked, much is speedily corrupted. Be not unbelieving, etc. This command manifestly presupposes that the exercise or non-exercise of faith is dependent upon a man’s will.—Faith built on seeing is little worth. For this reason, however, no demand is here made for blind faith. There is a difference between skepticism and the spirit of examination.—“From the beginning God hath instructed His people by faith, but we are continually deviating further and further from this way of faith; wise men labor with all their strength to the end that not faith but knowledge may have the mastery in the case of every truth contained in the Holy Scriptures.” (Bengel.)

[Craven: From Augustine: Joh_20:27. He might, had He pleased, have wiped all spot and trace of wound from His glorified body; but He had reasons for retaining them. He showed them to Thomas, who would not believe except he saw and touched, and He will show them to His enemies, to convict them.——From Chrysostom: Joh_20:25. As to believe directly, and any how, is the mark of too easy a mind, so is too much inquiring of a gross one: and this is Thomas’ fault.

Joh_20:27. Consider the mercy of the Lord, how for the sake of one soul, He exhibits His wounds. But he did not appear to him (Thomas) immediately, but waited till the eighth day, in order that the admonition being given in the presence of the disciples might kindle in him greater desire, and strengthen his faith for the future.

Joh_20:27. Note how that before they receive the Holy Ghost faith wavers, but afterward is firm.

Joh_20:29. If any one then says. Would that I had lived in those times, and seen Christ doing miracles! let him reflect, Blessed are they that, have not seen, and yet have believed.——From Gregory: Joh_20:24-25. It was not an accident that that particular disciple was not present. The Divine mercy ordained that a doubting disciple should, by feeling in his Master the wounds of the flesh, heal in us the wounds of unbelief. The unbelief of Thomas is more profitable to our faith than the belief of the other disciples ; the touch by which he is brought to believe, confirming our minds in belief beyond all question. [He causeth not only the wrath of enemies, but the weakness and errors of believers, to serve Him.—E. R. C]——From Theophylact: Joh_20:28. He who had been before unbelieving, after touching the body showed himself the best divine; for he asserted the twofold nature and one Person of Christ; by saying My Lord, the human nature; by saying, My God, the divine; and by joining them both, confessed that one and the same Person was Lord and God. [The skeptic convinced is often the firmest and most intelligent believer.—E. R. C]

[From Burkitt: Joh_20:24. We know not what we lose, when we absent ourselves from the assembly of God’s people. Such views of a crucified, raised Jesus may be communicated to others, as would have confirmed our faith and established our joy, had we been present.

Joh_20:25. How strangely rooted unbelief is in the hearts of holy men, insomuch that they desire the objects of faith should fall under the view of their senses.

Joh_20:28. The convincing condescension of Christ turns unbelief into a rapture of holy admiration and humble adoration.

Joh_20:29. By how much our faith stands in less need of the external evidence of sense, the stronger and the more acceptable it is, provided what we believe be revealed in the word of God.

[From M. Henry: Joh_20:24. Absenters for a time must not be condemned as apostates forever; Thomas is not Judas.

Joh_20:25. We have seen the Lord; The disciples of Christ should endeavor to build up one another in their most holy faith, both by repeating what they have heard, to those that were absent, that they may hear it at second hand; as also by communicating what they have experienced.

Joh_20:26. A very melancholy week, we have reason to think, Thomas had of it, drooping, and in suspense, while the other disciples were full of joy; and it was owing to himself and his own folly: he that slips one tide, must stay a good while for another.—Thomas with them; When we have lost one opportunity, we should give the more earnest heed to lay hold on the next, that we may recover our losses. It is a good sign if such a loss whet our desires, and a bad sign if it cool them.—Observe, Christ did not appear to Thomas, for his satisfaction, till He found him in society with the rest of His disciples.—Peace be unto you; This was no vain repetition, but significant of the abundant and assured peace which Christ gives, and of the continuance of His blessings upon His people, for they fail not, but are new every morning, new every meeting. [The soul that hath heard its Saviour once speak Peace to it, craveth again and yet again, the comfortable word.—E. M.]

Joh_20:27. There is not an unbelieving word in our tongues, no, nor thought in our minds, at any time, but it is known to the Lord Jesus, Psa_78:21.—For the confirmation of our faith, He hath instituted an ordinance on purpose to keep His death in remembrance, and in that ordinance, wherein we show the Lord’s death, we are called, as it were, to put our finger into the print of the nails.

Joh_20:28. In faith there must be the consent of the will to gospel-terms as well as the assent of the understanding to gospel-truths.—My; This is the vital act of faith, He is mine, Son_2:16.

Joh_20:29. Christ owns Thomas as a believer. Sound and sincere believers, though they be slow and weak, shall be graciously accepted of the Lord Jesus.—“One proselyte is more acceptable to God than all the thousands of Israel that stood before Mt. Sinai; for they saw and received the law, but a proselyte sees not, and yet receives it.” (A Rabbi quoted by Lightfoot).

From Scott: Joh_20:24-29. Unbelief is the source of almost all our sins and disquietudes. We all have too much copied the example of Thomas’ incredulity, by refusing to believe the word of God, and rely on His help, even when our experience of His care has been abundant; and we are often apt to demand such proof of His truths, and of His will, as we have no right to expect.

[From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): Joh_20:25. It must have been a gaping and a ghastly wound,—that wound in our Saviour’s side,—that St. Thomas should have proposed to “thrust his hand” therein!

Joh_20:26. But when He thus appeared for the second time, we may be well assured that He designed more than the removal of unbelief from the mind of a single disciple. He vouchsafed this appearance for the sake of confirming the faith of all the others,—and of ourselves.

Joh_20:27. Having “convinced” the disciple, He proceeds to “rebuke” him,—which now He may do with good effect; whereas before, rebuke would have been fruitless.

Joh_20:28. “Minds of every natural complexion are called to the exercise of Christian faith. The principle of faith,—the disposition to receive the word of God as such, to embrace and to walk by it,—is not indeed the gift of nature, but of grace; but its operation in each individual mind is modified by that mind’s peculiar cast or temperament; and to every class of mind there are sufficient motives presented for the willing and saved.” (Dr. W. H. Mill.)

Joh_20:29. The blessedness of faith without the evidence of sense,—this it is of which our Lord here assures us; and of this, St. John (concerning whom it is expressly related that “he saw and believed”), St. Peter, St. Thomas and all the rest, were perforce destitute. “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed: who, against the things of sense, the temptations of the world and Satan, against the perplexities of the natural mind, the misgivings of a fearful, and the lacerations of a wounded, heart, have opposed a firm faith in facts remote in Time, but indelible and eternal in effect.” (Dr. W. H. Mill.)

[From Barnes: Joh_20:25. Many are like Thomas. Many now are unwilling to believe because they do not see the Lord Jesus, and with just as little reason as Thomas had.——From Jacobus: Joh_20:24. Observe 1. How much is often lost by absence from a single social meeting; 2. This is often excused on the ground of divers hindrances, but is commonly traceable to the want of a lively piety; 3. Such absentees often miss the Saviour’s appearing, and His wonderful communications of the Holy Spirit.——From Owen: Joh_20:29. If any are disposed to regard it as an inferior privilege, to accept this truth (of the resurrection) through faith rather than sight, this great utterance of Jesus should fully correct such an erroneous view.]

Footnotes:

[25]Joh_20:25 — Lachmann, in accordance with Cod. A., etc., Origen, Vulgate, reads here τόπον instead of τύπον. Meyer supposes the τύπον of the Recepta to be a mechanical repetition. But the reading τόπον can also have arisen from exegetical grounds. It weakens the solemnity of the expression. [Tischendorf, ed. 8, reads είς τὸν τόπον τῶν ή́λων into the place of the nails,” but Alford, Westcott and Hon, like Lange, retain τύπον, print.—P. S.]

[26]Joh_20:27.—[Thomas was doubtful, hut not unbelieving; he was anxious and ready to believe, and only waiting for tangible evidence. See Exes.—P. S.]

[27]Joh_20:28 —The καί before ἀπεκρίθη, the ὁ before Θωμᾶς are not firmly established.

[28]Joh_20:29.—Θωμα, which the text. rec. inserts after ἑώρακάς με, is omitted by A. B. C. D. X, Tischend., Alt, Westcott.—P. S.]

[29][Tischendorf reads τόπον, place. Grotius says: τύπος, videtur τόπος impletur.—P. S.]

[30][So also Wordsworth: “Remark γίνου: Do not become unbelieving. Thomas was doubtful, not unbelieving. Our Lord warns us, through him, that if we miss opportunities of having our scruples removed, if we close our eyes to the evidences lie gives us of truth, our doubts will be hardened into unbelief.”—P. S.]

[31][So also Meyer, Alford, and the best exegetes generally. The Sociaian view is worse than absurd, it turns an. act of adoration into an irrelevant and profane exclamation unrebuked by the Lord! There is no instance of such profane use of the name of God in exclamations.—P. S.]

[32][Alford: “The aorists, as often in such sentences (see Luk_1:45) indicate the present state of those spoken of, grounded in the past.”—P. S.]

[33][And inasmuch as the other apostles also first saw before they believed. Bengel: “Non negatur beatitudo Thomæ, sed rara et lauta prædicatur sors eorum, qui citra visum credunt, nam etiam cæteri apostoli, cum vidissent, demum credidere.”—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:24 The people who surrounded Jesus might have been seeking clarity, or they might have been hostile. In Luke 21:20 and Heb 11:30, the same word describes how Jerusalem and Jericho were surrounded before being destroyed; in Acts 14:20 it refers to Paul’s disciples rallying around him after he was injured.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 10:24. Ἐκύκλωσαν, came round about) How gratifying that would have been to the Saviour, if they had done so in faith!—καὶ ἔλεγον, and they were saying) owing to the unreasonable impulse of a murmuring nature.—αἴρεις, dost thou raise up) keep in suspense; i.e. Thou dost worry to death, Thou dost wear our life out. Let the phrase, Joh 10:18 [οὐδεὶς αἴρει αὐτήν, “no man taketh it away”—My life]; but it was they that were wretchedly worrying themselves to death. He had been long staying amongst them, especially after the Feast of Tabernacles.—εἰπέ, tell us) As if indeed He had never told them and showed who He was: see Joh 10:25, “I told you, and ye believed not.” Presently after He speaks openly at Joh 10:30; Joh 10:36; Joh 10:38, “I and My Father are one:—Say ye, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?—that ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” We often think, If I could hear or read this or that, expressed in this or that way, I would be able to believe. But God alone knows how it is most fitting to speak with us, in order to cherish and exercise our faith.—παῤῥησίᾳ, plainly) freely, in express terms.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_10:24. Οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι] Here too the standing party of opposition.

ἐκύκλωσαν] encircled Him. The word graphically sets forth the urgency and obtrusiveness of the Jews; but neither implies that Jesus had been deserted by His followers (Lange), nor represents the Ἰουδαῖοι as pushing in between Him and His disciples, and so enclosing Him in their midst (Godet).

ἔλεγον αὐτῷ] This speak they out of a false heart, with a view to accusing and destroying Him, Luther. According to Hengstenberg, they really vacillated between an inclination and disinclination to believe. But see Joh_10:26; Joh_10:31. They desire an express and thoroughly direct declaration, though not as if making a last attempt to induce Jesus to take up the rôle of a political Messiah (Lange).

τ. ψυχ. ἡμ. αἴρεις] αἴρειν not in the sense of take away (Nonnus: ὑποκλέπτεις φρένα; Elsner: enecas); but in that of lift up. It denotes to excite the soul, which, according to the connection, may be due to very different mental influences (Eur. Ion. 928; Hec. 69; Aesch. Sept. 198; Soph. O. R. 914; Pro_19:18; Philo, de Monarch. I. p. 218; Joseph. Antt. 3:2. 3; 3:5. 1); in this case, by strained expectation, which thou causest us. The explanation: ἀναρτᾷς μεταξὺ πίστεως κ. ἀπιστίας (Euth. Zigabenus, and many others), is an approximation to the sense, but is not the precise signification of the words.

εἰ σὺ εἶ, etc.] if thou, and so forth, as in Luk_22:67.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 10:24 . Here the Jews ἐκύκλωσαν αὐτόν , “ringed Him round,” preventing His escape and with hostile purpose; cf. Plutarch’s Them. , xii. 3. Their attitude corresponded to the peremptory character of their demand: Ἕως πότε τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν αἴρεις ; Beza renders αἴρεις by “suspendis, i.e. , anxiam et suspensam tenes?” For which Elsner blames him and prefers “why do you kill us with delay?” But αἴρω occurs not infrequently in the sense of “disturb”. Soph., Oed. Tyr. , 914, αἴρει θυμὸν Οἰδίπους , Oedipus excites his soul; Eurip., Hecuba , 69, τί ποτʼ αἴρομαι ἔννυχος οὕτω δείμασι ; cf. Virgil, Aeneid , iv. 9, “quae me suspensam insomnia terrent?” “Why do you keep us in suspense?” is a legitimate translation. “If Thou art the Christ tell us plainly.” παρρησίᾳ , in so many words, devoid of all ambiguity; cf. Joh 16:29 . This request has a show of reasonableness and honesty, as if they only needed to hear from Himself that He was the Christ. But it is never honest to ask for further explanation after enough has been given. Nothing more surely evinces unwillingness to believe. Besides, there was always the difficulty that, if He categorically said He was the Christ, they would understand Him to mean the Christ of their expectation.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then came the Jews--the rulers. (See on Joh 1:19).

How long dost thou make us to doubt?--"hold us in suspense" (Margin).

If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly--But when the plainest evidence of it was resisted, what weight could a mere assertion of it have?

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 24. How long dost than make us to doubt?] Or, How long dost thou kill us with suspense? Ἑως ποτε την ψυχην ἡμων αιρεις, literally, How long wilt thou take away our life? Mr. Markland would read αιωρεις for αιρεις, which amounts nearly to the same sense with the above. The Jews asked this question through extreme perfidiousness: they wished to get him to declare himself king of the Jews, that they might accuse him to the Roman governor; and by it they insolently insinuated that all the proofs he had hitherto given them of his Divine mission were good for nothing.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. The Jews therefore surrounded him. This was undoubtedly a cunning attack on Christ, at least on the part of those with whom the scheme originated. For the common people might, without any fraud, desire that Christ would openly declare that God had sent him to be a deliverer; but a few persons, by trick and stratagem, wished to draw this word from him amidst the crowd, that he might be killed by a mob, or that the Romans might lay hands on him.

How long dost thou keep our soul in suspense? By complaining of being kept in suspense, they pretend that they are so ardently desirous of the promised redemption, that their minds are eagerly and incessantly occupied by the expectation of Christ. And this is the true feeling of piety, to find nowhere else than in Christ alone, what will satisfy our minds, or give them true composure; as he himself says,

Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you, and your souls shall find rest, (Matthew 11:28, 29.)

Therefore, those who come to Christ ought to be prepared in the same manner as those men pretend to be. But they are wrong in accusing Christ, as if he had not hitherto confirmed their faith; for it was entirely their own fault that they had not a full and perfect knowledge of him. But this is always the case with unbelievers, that they choose rather to remain in doubt than to be founded on the certainty of the word of God. Thus, in our own day, we see many who voluntarily shut their eyes, and spread the clouds of their doubt, in order to darken the clear light of the Gospel. We see also many light spirits, who fly about in idle speculations, and never find, throughout their whole life, a permanent abode.

Tell us plainly. When they demand that Christ shall declare himself freely, or openly and boldly, their meaning is, that he may no longer convey his meaning indirectly, and in a circuitous manner. Thus they charge his doctrine with obscurity, which, on the contrary, was abundantly plain and distinct, if the men who heard it had not been deaf. Now this history warns us, that we cannot avoid the artifices and slanders of wicked men, if we are called to preach the Gospel. Wherefore, we ought to be on the watch, and not to be surprised at it as a new thing, when the same thing happens to us as to our Master.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(24) Then came the Jews round about him.—The words mean literally, they encircled Him. It is again the impression of one who saw what he records. He remembers how they stood in a circle round our Lord, and watched Him with eager eyes as they asked their question.

How long dost thou make us to doubt?—Literally, How long dost Thou lift up our souls? or, as the margin, “How long dost Thou keep us in suspense?” The words exactly express what was probably the real state of fluctuation in which many of these Jews then were. They do not in the true sense “believe” (Joh_10:25-26), and they soon pass to the other extreme of seeking to stone Him (Joh_10:31); but in many of them the last miracle, and the words accompanying it, had left a conviction that He was more than human, and not possessed by a demon. (See Note on Joh_10:21.) Two months have passed away, not, we may believe, without many an earnest thought and much anxious weighing of evidence concerning Him. And now the Feast of Dedication has come, and what thoughts have come with it? It is the Feast of Lights, and He had declared Himself the Light of the world. It is the Feast of Freedom, telling how the Maccabees had freed their nation from the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes, and He has declared that “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Joh_8:36). It is the feast which commemorates the cleansing of the Temple, and His first public appearance in the Temple was to cleanse it and claim it as His Father’s house. May there not be, then, a close connection between the statement that “it was the Feast of the Dedication,” and the question, “How long dost thou excite our souls?” Was He, the question would seem to ask, really the Messiah or not? though by the Messiah they mean only a temporal prince. Was He, like the Judas of whom they were thinking, raised up as a deliverer from the Roman power, to give them the freedom which had long been the national dream?

If thou be the Christ, tell us.—Comp. Note on Luk_22:67.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. Then came the Jews round about, &c.] Better, The Jews therefore compassed Him about (Luk_21:20; Heb_11:30; Rev_20:9) and kept saying to Him. They encircled Him in an urgent and obtrusive manner, indicating that they were determined to have an answer.

How long dost thou make us to doubt?] The margin is better with hold us in suspense. The literal meaning is How long dost Thou excite our mind? If Thou art the Christ tell us with openness (see on Joh_7:4). They put a point-blank question, as the Sanhedrin do at the Passion (Luk_22:67). Their motives for urging this were no doubt mixed, and the same motive was not predominant in each case. Some were hovering between faith and hostility and (forgetting Joh_8:13) fancied that an explicit declaration from Him might help them. Others asked mainly out of curiosity: He had interested them greatly, and they wanted His own account of Himself. The worst wished for a plain statement which might form material for an accusation: they wanted Him to commit Himself.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then came the Jews round about him,.... Who might be walking there on the same account, and seeing Jesus, took this opportunity, and got about him in great numbers, and hemmed him in; having a design upon him to ensnare him, if possible:

and said unto him, how long dost thou make us doubt? or as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions literally render it, "how long dost thou take away our soul?" that is, deprive us of the knowledge of thee; Nonnus renders it, "wherefore dost thou steal away our minds with words?" so Jacob when he went away privately, without the knowledge of Laban, is said to steal away the heart of Laban, as it is in the Hebrew text, in Gen 31:20 (o). In like manner the Jews charge Christ with taking away their soul, or stealing away their heart, or hiding himself from them; not telling them plainly, who he was: therefore say they,

if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly; freely, boldly, openly, in express words; this they said, not as desirous of knowing who he was, or for the sake of information, but in order to ensnare him; that should he say he was not the Christ, as they might hope he would, for fear of them, now they had got him by himself, hemmed him in, it would then lessen his credit among the people; and should he say he was the Messiah, they would have whereof to accuse him to the Roman governor, as an enemy to Caesar, as one that set up for king of the Jews.

(o) See De Dieu in loc.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

Ver. 24. How long dost thou make us to doubt?] They lay the blame upon him as if (Heraclitus-like) he were a dark doctor; when themselves were blind, and did shut the windows lest the light should come in unto them. God’s ministers must look for the like measure. Howbeit God darkens their doctrine sometimes (as he dealt by Ezekiel) for the sins of the people.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tell us plainly - The Messiah was predicted as a shepherd. Jesus had applied that prediction to himself. They supposed that that was an evidence that he claimed to be the Messiah. He also performed miracles, which they considered as evidence that he was the Christ, Joh 7:31. Yet the rulers made a difficulty. They alleged that he was from Galilee, and that the Messiah could not come from thence, Joh 7:52. He was poor and despised. He came contrary to the common expectation. A splendid prince and conqueror had been expected. In this perplexity they came to him for a plain and positive declaration that he was the Messiah.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. St. John the Baptist had told them several times who Jesus was. See John chap. i. He himself had not only owned it in plain terms to the Samaritan woman, (John iv. 26.) but he had frequently delivered this truth so openly to them, that he came from heaven, that he was sent into the world that all men should be saved by believing in him, that he was the Son of God, and one with the Father, that they easily perceived he made himself God: but these men would have him to declare it again, that they might accuse him. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Our Saviour was at this time within three months of his crucifying: he had often before told them that he was the Light of the world, the true Shepherd; he had preached doctrine to them, from whence they might easily have concluded what he was; he had wrought works among them which none could do but by a Divine power; but he had been very wary of telling them in plain terms that he was the Messiah, the Christ; when at any time he had so declared himself to his disciples, or they had owned him as such, he still laid a charge upon them to tell no man of it, Mat 16:20, &c. They therefore come to him, demanding a plain resolution in the case, as some of their minds were in some suspense about it. It was but a captious question; for had he denied it, besides that it had been the denial of a truth which he came to bear a testimony unto, they had had a great advantage to have lessened his reputation amongst those who had believed on him as such. Had he affirmed it, he had brought himself in danger of the Roman governor; for the Jews indeed expected a Messiah, a Christ, but to be a temporal prince, to deliver them from their enemies; and for him to have declared himself such a Christ as they expected, had been fatal to him. He therefore answers with his usual prudence and wariness to this question.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Make us to doubt—A very peculiar expression in the Greek: How long dost thou take [or bear away] our soul? It is as if they would say, just as our soul is ready to surrender to you, you utter some doctrine which veers it away.

If thou be the Christ—The Messiah.

Tell us plainly—Do not ascend into thy lofty expatiations about Father, and Son, and laying down life, but avow thyself Messiah, and exert thy wonderful powers in delivering us from the Romans.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then the Jews came round about him. Not necessarily (with Godet) separating him from his disciples, but in a threatening and imperative fashion, demanding an immediate answer. It is probable that he had absented himself for two months in the neighborhood, had even been in Peraea, (cf. Lu 9) and met the multitudes coming up to the feasts. The palin peran tou Iordanou of ver. 40, is best understood by his having been there before. The difficulty of his making retrospective reference to the similitude and allegory of the first part of this chapter is removed by the simple supposition that he saw in this group of his interrogators many of those who had heard his former discourse. And said unto him, How long dost thou hold our soul in suspense? airein th ; used in the sense of "lift up the soul," and so used in similar connection in the classics (Eurip., "Ion," 928; "Hec.," 69; Aeschylus, "Sept.," 198; also Josephus, " Ant.," 3:2. 3)If thou art the Christ (simple supposition), tell us plainly. Observe in Joh_16:25 our Lord"s own contrast between speaking en paroimiaiv and speaking parrhsia , with open, clear utterance. They had heard his parables, and say, "Let him drop all reserve, and deliver himself in categoric form." Archdeacon Watkins has well recalled the various utterances which fell on the more susceptible of the Jerusalemites. This was the Feast of Lights, and has he not called himself the Light of the world? This was a feast commemorative of freedom from the Syrian yoke, and had he not said, "If the Son set you free, ye shall be free indeed"? " This was the Feast of the Purification of the Temple; had not his first act been a cleansing of the courts of the temple? We cannot wonder at the summons and challenge of the people.

Vers. 24-26. The explanation of unbelief.

Jesus knew well what must be the end of such discussions as that here recorded. Irritation and hostility were increased. A growing number of the Jews committed themselves to the cause of Christ"s adversaries. And the selfish reasons for their opposition were multiplied. Yet the Lord continued the controversies, knowing that the issue to which they needs must lead was one which was foreseen in the Divine counsels, and one which would be the means of bringing to pass his own benevolent designs. There was little attempt on his part at conciliation; he knew that any such attempt would be in vain.

I UNBELIEF IS NOT TO BE JUSTIFIED ON THE GROUND OF DEFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE FOR FAITH. Jesus refers the Jews to two amply sufficient grounds for believing in him.

1. His own assertion, "I told you." The value of such an assertion depends upon the character of him who makes it. There are those whose statements concerning themselves are worthless; but, on the other hand, there are those whose statements carry immediate conviction to those who know them. Jesus always spoke the truth, and he could not be mistaken upon a point such as this, his own nature and mission.

2. His own works, done in his Father"s Name. It was not questioned by the Lord"s contemporaries that he wrought miracles. If they caviled at them, they attributed them to the power of darkness an absurdity which was its own refutation. These signs and wonders, wrought by Jesus, have lost nothing of their significance by the lapse of time; whatever evidential value they had, when Jesus first appealed to them, they possess today. Their very character renders them an everlasting and ever-valid witness to him who wrought them. They can neither be denied nor misinterpreted.

II THE EXPLANATION OF UNBELIEF LIES IN THE DEFICIENCY OF SPIRITUAL SYMPATHY. That there are honest and sincere unbelievers, is not questioned. But for the most part there is in those who reject Christ"s claims a lack of that sympathy which assists in a just appreciation of the holy and benevolent Savior. Jesus spoke of the questioners and cavilers as "not of his sheep." They had not those dispositions of teachableness and humility which are conducive to Christian discipleship. Such a disposition as our Lord here attributes to his adversaries is most unfavorable to a fair judgment upon the claims and evidences which are found sufficient by many of the wisest and the most virtuous of men. Only Christ"s own "sheep" know his voice, and distinguish it as the Divine voice from the voice of strangers. These only "follow" him, and accordingly have every opportunity of acquainting themselves with his character and the manifestations of his purposes.

III IT IS THIS UNSYMPATHIZING UNBELIEF THAT LEADS MEN TO CALUMNIATE AND TO OPPOSE CHRIST. This chapter shows us how this principle acted in our Lord"s days. We have but to observe what is passing around us, in order to explain upon the same principle the blasphemies and the violent opposition with which our Lord Christ is still assailed. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. The Jews … said. The ruling class. They came, not for information, but to secure ground for accusation.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

24. ἐκυκλ. οὗν] The Jews therefore compassed Him about (Luk 21:20; Heb 11:30; Rev 20:9) and kept saying to Him. For change of tense comp. Joh 4:27; Joh 4:30. They encircled Him in an urgent manner, indicating that they were determined to have an answer. ‘Therefore’ means ‘because of the good opportunity.’

ἕως πότε κ.τ.λ.] How long dost Thou excite our mind, or hold our mind in suspense? If Thou art the Christ tell us with openness (see on Joh 7:13). They put a point-blank question, as the Sanhedrin do at the Passion (Luk 22:67). Their motives for urging this were no doubt mixed, and the same motive was not predominant in each case. Some were hovering between faith and hostility and (forgetting Joh 8:13) fancied that an explicit declaration from Him might help them. Others asked mainly out of curiosity: He had interested them greatly, and they wanted His own account of Himself. The worst wished for a plain statement which might form material for an accusation: they wanted Him to commit Himself.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24.] ψυχὴν αἴρεις is generally explained, ‘keep us in doubt,’ αἰωρεῖς, ἀναρτᾷς μεταξὺ πίστεως κ. ἀπιστίας, But there is some question whether ψ. αἴρ. is ever so used. In Josephus, it signifies ‘to uplift the soul,’ ‘raise the courage;’ ἐπὶ τὸν κίνδ. τὰς ψ. ἠρμένοι, Antt. iii. 2. 3; 5. 1. So also Aquila, Pro 19:18, πρὸς τὸ θανατῶσαι αὐτὸν μὴ ἄρῃς ψ. σου. See also Psa 85:4; 142:8 (LXX). These usages, however, as all the examples adduced in the ., are confined to the act of a man on his own soul: when the term applies to effects produced on another, it seems to imply any strong excitement of mind, whether for hope or fear. How long dost thou excite our minds?

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. ἐκύκλωσαν οὖν αὐτὸν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. “The Jews (see on 1:19) surrounded Him,” sc. that they might settle the question as to His claims.

ἕως πότε τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν αἴρεις; “How long dost thou hold us in suspense?” This rendering of the R. V. is probably accurate, although no exact parallel for ψυχὴν αἴρειν in this sense has been produced. We have the phrase at Psa 25:1, Psa 86:4, meaning “lift up my soul,” and so Josephus uses it (Antt. III. ii. 3). Here it is, “How long do you excite our spirits,” i.e. arouse our expectations?—in other words, keep us in suspense. The expression is idiomatic Greek, and has survived in modern Greek: ὡς πότε θὰ μᾶς βγάζεις τὴν ψυχήν, “How long will you plague us?”1

εἰ σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστός κτλ. “If thou be the Christ, etc.,” σύ being emphatic, “If you are really the Christ.”

εἰπὸν ἡμῖν παρρησίᾳ. Cf. Mat 26:63, Luk 22:67; and for παρρησίᾳ, see on 7:4.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Make us to doubt [την ψυχην ημων αιρεις] . Literally, lift up our soul. Excite us and inflame our hopes. Rev., hold us in suspense.

Plainly [παρρησια] . See on 7 13.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.