{"commentary":{"id":"adam-clarke","name":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clarke","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"92e28c9363c876d215e296f2fe04abb3ab7e34a2aacebdf06bd62ae79c6e3dba","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":57,"totalNumberOfChapters":854,"totalNumberOfVerses":13318,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"JHN","commentaryId":"adam-clarke","name":"John","commonName":"John","introduction":"Preface to the Gospel According to St. JohnWith A Short Account of His Life John, the writer of this Gospel, was the son of a fisherman named Zebedee, and his mother's name was Salome. Compare Mat 27:56, with Mar 15:40, and Mar 16:1. His father Zebedee was probably of Bethsaida, and with his sons James and John followed his occupation on the sea of Galilee. The call of these two brothers to the apostleship is related, Mat 4:21, Mat 4:22; Mar 1:19, Mar 1:20; Luk 5:1-10. John is generally supposed to have been about 25 years of age when he began to follow our Lord. Theophylact makes him one of the relatives of our Lord, and gives his genealogy thus: \"Joseph, the husband of the blessed Mary, had seven children by a former wife, four sons and three daughters-Martha, (perhaps, says Dr. Lardner, it should be Mary), Esther, and Salome, whose son John was; therefore Salome was reckoned out Lord's sister, and John was his nephew.\" If this relationship did exist, it may have been, at least in part, the reason of several things mentioned in the Gospels: as the petition of the two brothers for the two chief places in the kingdom of Christ; John's being the beloved disciple and friend of Jesus, and being admitted to some familiarities denied to the rest, and possibly performing some offices about the person of his Master; and, finally, our Lord's committing to him the care of his mother, as long as she should survive him. In a MS. of the Greek Testament in the Imperial Library of Vienna, numbered 34 in Lambecius's Catalogue, there is a marginal note which agrees pretty much with the account given above by Theophylact: viz. \"John the evangelist was cousin to our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh: for Joseph, the spouse of the God-bearing virgin, had four sons by his own wife, James, Simon, Jude, and Joses, and three daughters, Esther, and Thamar, and a third who, with her mother, was called Salome, who was given by Joseph in marriage to Zebedee: of her, Zebedee begot James, and John also the evangelist.\" The writer of the MS. professes to have taken this account from the commentaries of St Sophronius. This evangelist is supposed by some to have been the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana in Galilee: see Joh 2:1. John was with our Lord in his transfiguration on the mount, Mat 17:2; Mar 9:2; Luk 9:28; during his agony in the garden, Mat 26:37; Mar 14:33; and when he was crucified, Joh 19:26. He saw our Lord expire upon the cross, and saw the soldier pierce his side with a spear, Joh 19:34, Joh 19:35. He was one of the first of the disciples that visited the sepulchre after the resurrection of Christ; and was present with the other disciples, when Jesus showed himself to them on the evening of the same day on which he arose; and likewise eight days after, Joh 20:19-29. In conjunction with Peter, he cured a man who had been lame from his mother's womb, for which he was cast into prison, Act 3:1-10. He was afterwards sent to Samaria, to confer the Holy Ghost on those who had been converted there by Philip the deacon, Acts 8:5-25. St. Paul informs us, Gal 2:9, that John was present at the council of Jerusalem, of which an account is given, Act 15:4, etc. It is evident that John was present at most of the things related by him in his Gospel; and that he was an eye and ear witness of our Lord's labors, journeyings, discourses, miracles, passion; crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. After the ascension he returned with the other apostles from mount Olivet to Jerusalem, and took part in all transactions previously to the day of pentecost: on which time, he, with the rest, partook of the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, by which he was eminently qualified for the place he afterwards held in the apostolic Church. Some of the ancients believed that he went into Parthia, and preached the Gospel there; and his first epistle has been sometimes cited under the name of the Epistle to the Parthians. Irenaeus, Eusebius, Origen, and others, assert that he was a long tune in Asia, continuing there till Trajan's time, who succeeded Nerva, a.d. 98. And Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, a.d. 196, asserts that John was buried in that city. Jerome confirms this testimony, and says that John's death happened in the 68th year after our Lord's passion. Tertullian and others say that Domitian having declared war against the Church of Christ, in the 15th year of his reign, a.d. 95, John was banished from Ephesus, and carried to Rome, where he was immersed in a cauldron of boiling oil, out of which however he escaped unhurt; and that afterwards he was banished to the isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea, where he wrote the Apocalypse. Domitian having been slain in a.d. 96, his successor Nerva recalled all the exiles who had been banished by his predecessor; and John is supposed to have returned the next year to Ephesus, being then about ninety years of age. He is thought to have been the only apostle who died a natural death, and to have lived upwards of 100 years. Some say, having completed 100 years, he died the day following. This Gospel is supposed by learned men to have been written about a.d. 68 or 70; by others, a.d. 86; and, by others, a.d. 97; but the most probable opinion is that it was written at Ephesus about the year 86. Jerome, in his comment on Galatians 6, says that John continued preaching when he was so enfeebled with old age that he was obliged to be carried into the assembly; and that, not being able to deliver any long discourse, his custom was to say, in every meeting, My dear children, love one another! The holy virgin lived under his care till the day of her death, which is supposed to have taken place fifteen years after the crucifixion. John is usually painted holding a cup in his hand, with a serpent issuing from it: this took its rise from a relation by the spurious Procorus, who styles himself a disciple of St. John. Though the story is not worth relating, curiosity will naturally wish to be gratified with it. Some heretics had privately poisoned a cup of liquor, with which they presented him; but after he had prayed to God, and made the sign of the cross over it, the venom was expelled, in the form of a serpent! Some of the first disciples of our Lord, misunderstanding the passage, Joh 21:22, Joh 21:23, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? believed that John should never die. Several in the primitive Church were of the same opinion; and to this day his death is doubted by persons of the first repute for piety and morality. Where such doctors disagree, it would be thought presumption in me to attempt to decide; otherwise I should not have hesitated to say that, seventeen hundred years ago he went the way of all flesh, and, instead of a wandering lot in a miserable, perishing world, is now glorified in that heaven of which his writings prove he had so large an anticipation, both before and after the crucifixion of his Lord. Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. 24) treats particularly of the order of the Gospels, and especially of this evangelist: his observations are of considerable importance, and deserve a place here. Dr. Lardner has quoted him at large, Works, vol. iv. p. 224. \"Let us,\" says he, \"observe the writings of this apostle which are not contradicted by any. And first of all must be mentioned, as acknowledged of all, the Gospel according to him, well known to all the Churches under heaven. And that it has been justly placed by the ancients the fourth in order, and after the other three, may be made evident in this manner. Those admirable and truly Divine men, the apostles of Christ, eminently holy in their lives, and, as to their minds, adorned with every virtue, but rude in language, confiding in the Divine and miraculous power bestowed upon them by our Savior, neither knew, nor attempted to deliver the doctrine of their Master with the artifice and eloquence of words. But using only the demonstration of the Divine Spirit, working with them, and the power of Christ performing by them many miracles, they spread the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven all over the world. Nor were they greatly concerned about the writing of books, being engaged in a more excellent ministry, which was above all human power. Insomuch that Paul, the most able of all in the furniture both of words and thoughts, has left nothing in writing, beside some very short (or a very few) epistles; although he was acquainted with innumerable mysteries, having been admitted to the sight and contemplation of things in the third heaven, and been caught up into the Divine Paradise, and there allowed to hear unspeakable words. Nor were the rest of our Savior's followers unacquainted with these things, as the seventy disciples, and many other beside the twelve apostles. Nevertheless, of all the disciples of our Lord, Matthew and John only have left us any memoirs: who too, as we have been informed, were compelled to write by a kind of necessity. For Matthew having first preached to the Hebrews, when he was about to go to other people, delivered to them in their own language the Gospel according to him, by that writing supplying the want of his presence with those whom he was then leaving. And when Mark and Luke had published the Gospels according to them, it is said that John, who all this while had preached by word of mouth, was at length induced to write for this reason. The three first written Gospels being now delivered to all men, and to John himself, it is said that he approved them, and confirmed the truth of their narration by his own testimony; saying there was only wanting a written account of the things done by Christ in the former part, and the beginning of his preaching. And certainly that observation is very true. For it is easy to perceive that the other three evangelists have recorded only the actions of our Savior for one year after the imprisonment of John, as they themselves declare at the beginning of their history. For, after mentioning the forty days' fast, and the succeeding temptation, Matthew shows the time of the commencement of his account in these words: When he had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed out of Judea into Galilee. In like manner, Mark: Now after that John, says he, was cast into prison, Jesus came into Galilee. And Luke, before he begins the account of the acts of Jesus, gives a like hint in this manner: that Herod added yet this, above all, that he shut up John in prison. For these reasons, as is said, the Apostle John was entreated to relate, in the Gospel according to him, the time omitted by the four evangelists, and the things done by our Savior in that space, before the imprisonment of the Baptist; And they add, farther, that he himself hints as much, saying, This beginning of miracles did Jesus: as also in the history of the acts of Jesus he makes mention of the Baptist as still baptizing in Aenon, nigh unto Salem. And it is thought that he expressly declares as much, when he says, For John was not yet cast into prison. John, therefore, in the Gospel according to him, relates the things done by Christ while the Baptist was not yet cast into prison. But the other three evangelists relate the things that followed the Baptist's confinement. Whoever attends to these things will not any longer think the evangelists disagree with each other, forasmuch as the Gospel according to John contains the first actions of Christ, while the others give the history of the following time. And for the same reason John has omitted the genealogy of our Savior according to the flesh, it having been recorded before by Matthew and Luke; but he begins with his divinity, which had been reserved by the Holy Ghost for him, as the most excellent person.\" The whole of this chapter, with the preceding and following, may be profitably consulted by the reader. See also Lardner, Works, vol. iv. 224, and vi. 156-222. Besides the Gospel before us, John is generally reputed to have been the author of the three epistles which go under his name, and of the Apocalypse. The former certainly breathe the genuine spirit of this apostle; and are invaluable monuments of his spiritual knowledge and deep piety, as well as of his Divine inspiration: as the Gospel and Epistles prove him to have been an evangelist and apostle, his book of Revelations ranks him among the profoundest of the prophets. Learned men are not wholly agreed about the language in which this Gospel was originally written. Some think St. John wrote it in his own native tongue, the Aramean or Syriac, and that it was afterwards translated, by rather an unskilful hand, into Greek. This opinion is not supported by strong arguments. That it was originally written in Greek is the general and most likely opinion. What the design of St. John was, in writing this Gospel, has divided and perplexed many critics and learned divines. Some suppose that it was to refute the errors taught by one Cerinthus, who rose up at that time, and asserted that Jesus was not born of a virgin, but was the real son of Joseph and Mary; that, at his baptism, the Christ, what we term the Divine nature, descended into him, in the form of a dove, by whose influence he worked all his miracles; and that, when he was about to suffer, this Christ, or Divine nature, departed from him, and left the man Jesus to suffer death. See Irenaeus, advers. Haereses. Others suppose he wrote with the prime design of confuting the heresy of the Gnostics, a class of mongrels who derived their existence from Simon Magus, and who formed their system out of Heathenism, Judaism, and Christianity; and whose peculiar, involved, and obscure opinions cannot be all introduced in this place. It is enough to know that, concerning the person of our Lord, they held opinions similar to those of Cerinthus; and that they arrogated to themselves the highest degrees of knowledge and spirituality. They supposed that the Supreme Being had all things and beings included, in a certain seminal manner, in himself; and that out of Him they were produced. From God, or Bythos, the infinite Abyss, they derived a multitude of subaltern governors, called Aeons; whom they divided into several classes, among which we may distinguish the following nine. Πατηρ, Father; Χαρις, Grace; Μονογενης, First-begotten; Αληθεια, Truth; Λογος, Word; Φως, Light; Ζωη, Life; Ανθρωπος, Man; and Εκκλησια, Church; all these merging in what they termed Πληρωμα, Fulness, or complete round of being and blessings: terms which are of frequent occurrence in John's Gospel, and which some think he has introduced to fix their proper sense, and to rescue them from being abused by the Gnostics. But this is not very likely, as the Gnostics themselves appealed to St. John's Gospel for a confirmation of their peculiar opinions, because of his frequent use of the above terms. These sentiments, therefore, do not appear to be tenable. Professor Michaelis has espoused the opinion, that it was written against the Gnostics and Sabians, and has advanced several arguments in its favor; the chief of which are the following. \"The plan which St. John adopted, to confute the tenets of the Gnostics and the Sabians, was first to deliver a set of aphorisms, as counterpositions to these tenets; and then to relate such speeches and miracles of Christ as confirmed the truth of what he had advanced. We must not suppose that the confutation of the Gnostic and Sabian errors is confined to the fourteen first verses of St. John's Gospel; for, in the first place, it is evident that many of Christ's speeches which occur in the following part of the Gospel, were selected by the evangelist with a view of proving the positions laid down in these fourteen verses; and, secondly, the positions themselves are not proofs, but merely declarations made by the evangelist. It is true that for us Christians, who acknowledge the Divine authority of St. John, his bare word is sufficient; but as the apostle had to combat with adversaries who made no such acknowledgment, the only method of convincing them was to support his assertion by the authority of Christ himself. \"Some of the Gnostics placed the 'Word' above all the other Aeons, and next to the Supreme Being: but Cerinthus placed the 'Only begotten' first, and then the 'Word.' Now St. John lays down the following positions: - \"1. The Word and the Only begotten are not different, but the same person, Joh 1:14. 'We beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father.' This is a strong position against the Gnostics, who usually ascribed all the Divine qualities to the Only begotten. The proofs of this position are: the testimony of John the Baptist, Joh 1:18, Joh 1:34; Joh 3:35, Joh 3:36; the conversation of Christ with Nicodemus, Joh 3:16, Joh 3:18, in which Christ calls himself the only begotten Son; the speech delivered by Christ to the Jews, John 5:17-47; and other passages, in which he calls God his Father. \"2. The Word was never made, but existed from the beginning, Joh 1:1. The Gnostics granted that the Word existed before the creation; but they did not admit that the Word existed from all eternity. The Supreme Being, according to their tenets, and, according to Cerinthus, the only begotten Son likewise, as also the matter from which the world was formed, were prior in existence to the Word. This notion is contradicted by St. John, who asserts that the Word existed from all eternity. As a proof of this position may be alleged perhaps what Christ says, Joh 8:58. \"3. The Word was in the beginning with God, Joh 1:1, Joh 1:2. The Gnostics must have maintained a contrary doctrine, or St. John, in confuting their tenets, would not have thought it necessary to advance this position, since God is omnipresent, and therefore all things are present with him. \"4. The Word was God, Joh 1:1. The expression, God, must be here taken in its highest sense or this position will contain nothing contrary to the doctrine of the Gnostics. For they admitted that the Word was an Aeon, and therefore a deity in the lower sense of the word. The proofs of this position are contained in the 5th, 10th, (Joh 10:30), and 14th (Joh 14:7, Joh 14:11) chapters. \"5. The Word was the creator of all things, Joh 1:3, Joh 1:10. This is one of St. John's principal positions against the Gnostics, who asserted that the world was made by a malevolent being. The assertion, that the Word was the creator of the world, is equivalent to the assertion, that he was God in the highest possible sense. In whatever form or manner we may think of God, the notion of Creator is inseparable from the notion of Supreme Being. We argue from the creation to the Creator; and this very argument is one proof of the existence of God. \"6. In the Word was life, Joh 1:4. The Gnostics, who considered the different attributes or operations of the Almighty, not as so many separate energies, but as so many separate persons, considered Life as a distinct Aeon from the Word. Without this Aeon, the world, they said, would be in a state of torpor; and hence they called it not only Life, but the Mother of the living; from this Aeon, therefore, might be expected the resurrection of the dead and eternal life. The proofs of this position are in Joh 3:15, Joh 3:21; the whole of the sixth, and the greatest part of the eighth chapter, as also Joh 14:6, Joh 14:9, Joh 14:19. But no part of St. John's Gospel is a more complete proof of this position than his full and circumstantial account of the resurrection of Lazarus, which the other evangelists had omitted.\" - See more in Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament. And, for a general account of the Logos, see John 1, at the end. Though it is likely that the Gnostics held all these strange doctrines, and that many parts in John's Gospel may be successfully quoted against them, yet I must own I think the evangelist had a more general end in view than the confutation of their heresies. It is more likely that he wrote for the express purpose of giving the Jews, his countrymen, proper notions of the Messiah and his kingdom; and to prove that Jesus, who had lately appeared among them, was this Christ. His own words sufficiently inform us of his motive, object, and design, in writing this Gospel: These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through his name, Joh 20:31. This is a design as noble as it is simple; and every way highly becoming the wisdom and goodness of God.","order":43,"numberOfChapters":21,"sha256":"628ae5c4b8c08f47357bbfc7e14f738e181b4ec66ea0a55a0281818e135991b4","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/JHN/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"JHN","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":21,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/JHN/21.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"JHN","chapter":21},"totalNumberOfVerses":746},"chapter":{"number":16,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":1,"content":["These things have I spoken - Particularly what is mentioned in the two last chapters.\nBe offended - Ἱνα μη σκανδαλισθητε, That ye should not be stumbled. May not fall away from the faith, nor receive any injury to your souls, as that man does to his body who stumbles, or falls over a stone, or block, in the way which he has not discovered. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["They shall put you out of the synagogues - They will excommunicate you, and consider you as execrable, and utterly unworthy to hold any commerce with God by religion; or with man by civil fellowship. See on Joh 9:22 (note). In these excommunications they were spoiled of all their substance, see Ezr 10:8, and see also Heb 10:34, and deprived of their character, their influence, and every necessary of life. Though the Jewish people had the most humane laws, yet they were a most vindictive and cruel people.\nThat whosoever killeth you, etc. - This Paul found; for more than forty Jews bound themselves under a curse that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him, Act 23:12, Act 23:13; and agreeably to this, it is said, in that Tract of the Talmud which is entitled Bammidbar, R. xxi. ad. Num 25:13 : \"He who sheds the blood of the ungodly, is equal to him who brings an offering to God.\" What the Zealots did is notorious in history. They butchered any person, in cold blood, who, they pretended to believe, was an enemy to God, to the law, or to Moses; and thought they were fulfilling the will of God by these human sacrifices. We had the same kind of sacrifices here in the time of our Popish Queen Mary. May God ever save our state from the Stuarts! \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Because they have not known the Father - See on Joh 15:25 (note). Ignorance of the benevolence of God, and of the philanthropy of Christ, is the grand fountain whence all religious persecution and intolerance proceed. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["At the beginning - I would not trouble you by speaking of these things pointedly at first, when I chose you to be my disciples, but have referred them to the present time, lest you should be discouraged; and now only declare them because it is absolutely necessary that you should be put upon your guard. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["None of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? - In Joh 13:3, Peter had asked, Lord, thither goest thou? - and Thomas much the same in Joh 14:5, both of whom had received an answer. But now, at the time when Jesus was speaking this, none of them asked this question, because their hearts were filled with sorrow: Joh 16:6. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["It is expedient - that I go away - In other places he had showed them the absolute necessity of his death for the salvation of men: see Mat 20:19; Mat 26:2; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:33, Luk 9:44; Luk 18:32. This he does not repeat here, but shows them that, by the order of God, the Holy Spirit cannot come to them, nor to the world, unless he first die; and consequently men cannot be saved but in this way. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["He will reprove - Ελεγξει, He will demonstrate these matters so clearly as to leave no doubt on the minds of those who are simple of heart; and so fully as to confound and shut the mouths of those who are gainsayers. See Act 2:1, etc.\nThe world - The Jewish nation first, and afterwards the Gentile world; for his influences shall not be confined to one people, place, or time. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["Of sin - Of the sin of the Jews in not receiving me as the Messiah, though my mission was accredited by the very miracles which the prophets foretold: see Isa 35:3-6. This was literally fulfilled on the day of pentecost, when the Spirit was given; for multitudes of Jews were then convinced of this sin, and converted to God. See Act 2:37.\nIf we take this prediction of our Lord in a more general sense, then we may consider that it is one of the grand offices of the Holy Spirit to convince of sin, to show men what sin is, to demonstrate to them that they are sinners, and to show the necessity of an atonement for sin; and in this sense the phrase, περι ἁμαρτιας, may be understood, and in this sense it is used in multitudes of places in the Septuagint, but the words, because they believe not in me, restrict the meaning particularly to the sin of the Jews in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Of righteousness - Of my innocence and holiness, because I go away to my Father; of which my resurrection from the dead, and my ascension to heaven, shall be complete proofs. Christ was treated by the Jews as an impostor; as a magician; as one possessed by the devil; as a wicked person, seducer, and destroyer of the law. His vindication from these charges he chiefly referred to the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, who, by his influences on the minds of the people, and by his eloquence and energy in the ministry of the apostles, convinced both the Jews and the Gentiles that the sentence of the Jewish rulers was unjust and infamous, and that the very person whom they had crucified was both Lord and Christ - Lord, the great governor of the universe; and Christ, the Lord's anointed, the promised Messiah. It was a matter of the utmost consequence to the Christian cause to have the innocence and holiness of its founder demonstrated, and the crime of the Jews in putting him to death made manifest to the world. This also has been literally fulfilled: the universe that has heard of him believes the righteousness and innocence of Jesus; and the Jews, his persecutors, are confounded and execrated throughout the habitable globe. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["Of judgment - Of the false judgment of the Jews in condemning the Lord Jesus, who, as some think, is intended here by the ruler of this world: see Joh 14:30. Others think that Satan is meant whose usurped power over the world was now to be greatly restrained, and by and by totally destroyed: see Joh 12:31; Col 2:15; Rev 11:15; Rev 12:10, Rev 12:11. Perhaps our Lord's meaning is, that as a most astonishing judgement, or punishment, was now about to fall upon the Jews, in consequence of their obstinate infidelity, the Holy Ghost, by the ministry of the apostles, should demonstrate that this judgment, severe as it might seem, was amply merited by this worst of all people; and may we not say that their continuance in the same crime sufficiently vindicates the judgment of God, not only in its being poured out upon them at first, but in continuing to pursue them?\nIt is necessary to observe that it was one office of the Spirit to convince of a judgment to come; and this he did particularly by the apostles, in declaring that God had appointed a day in which he would judge the world by him whom he had appointed for that purpose: Act 17:31. And we find that while Peter was asserting this doctrine at Caesarea, Act 10:42, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Jews and the Gentiles which were present, Act 10:44, etc., and many were converted unto the Lord.\nOne general exposition may be given of these three verses. The Holy Spirit will convince the world of sin committed, and guilt and condemnation thereby incurred. Of righteousness - of the necessity of being pardoned, and made righteous through the blood of the Lamb, who, after being offered up for sin, went to the Father, ever to appear in his presence as our intercessor: and of judgment - of the great day thereof, when none shall be able to stand but those whose sins are pardoned, and whose souls are made righteous. In all that our Lord says here, there seems to be an allusion to the office of an advocate in a cause, in a court of justice; who, by producing witnesses, and pleading upon the proof, convicts the opposite party of sin, demonstrates the righteousness of his client, and shows the necessity of passing judgment upon the accuser.\nThe faith of the Gospel discovers unto us three different states of man: it shows him:\n1. Under sin, in which there is nothing but infidelity towards God, because there is no faith in Jesus Christ.\n2. Under grace, in which sin is pardoned, and righteousness acquired by faith in Christ; who is gone to the Father to carry on, by his intercession, the great work of redemption.\n3. In the peace and glory of heaven, where Christ will reign with his members; the devil, with his angels and servants, being banished into hell by the last judgment.\nThus, in the Christian revelation, we are made acquainted with three grand truths, which contain the sum and substance of all true religion.\nThe first is the general corruption of human nature, and the reign of sin till the coming of Christ.\nThe second is the reparation of our nature by the Lord Jesus, and the reign of righteousness by his grace: Rom 5:21.\nThe third is the condemnation of sinners, and the total destruction of the kingdom of sin, and of all the power of the devil, by the last judgment. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["Ye cannot bear them now - In illustration of these three points, Christ had many things to say; but he found that his disciples could only bear general truths; yet, in saying what he did, he sowed the seeds of the whole system of theological knowledge, and heavenly wisdom, which the Holy Spirit of this truth afterwards watered and ripened into a glorious harvest of light and salvation, by the ministry of the apostles. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that the things which the apostles could not bear now were such as these:\n1. The institution of the Christian Sabbath, and the abolition of the Jewish.\n2. The rejection of the whole Jewish nation, at the very time in which they expected to be set up and established for ever.\n3. The entire change of the whole Mosaic dispensation, and the bringing the Gentiles into the Church of God. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["He will guide you - He will consider your feeble infant state; and, as a father leads his child by the hand, so will the Holy Spirit lead and guide you.\nThe Vulgate, and some copies of the Itala, read, He will Teach you all truth; but this and more is implied in the word ὁδηγησει, he will lead; besides, this reading is not acknowledged by any Greek MS.\nHe shall not speak of himself - He shall teach nothing contrary to what I have taught you:\nBut whatsoever he shall hear - Of the Father and me, that he shall speak, and thus show the intimate consent between himself, the Father, and Christ. It is one conjoint testimony, in which the honor and glory of the holy Trinity, and man's salvation are equally concerned.\nAnd he will show you things to came - He will fully explain every thing that may now appear dark or difficult to you; will give you such a knowledge of futurity as shall, in all necessary cases, enable you to foretell future events; and shall supply every requisite truth, in order to make the new covenant revelation complete and perfect. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["All things that the Father hath are mine - If Christ had not been equal to God, could he have said this without blasphemy?\nAnd show it unto you - As Christ is represented the Ambassador of the Father, so the Holy Spirit is represented the ambassador of the Son, coming vested with his authority, as the interpreter and executor of his will. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["A little while - He had but a few hours to live.\nAnd ye shall not see me - I shall be hidden from your view in the grave.\nAgain a little while - In three days after my death:\nYe shall see me - I will rise again, and show myself to you. Or, As I am going by my ascension to the Father, in a short time, ye shall see me personally no more; but in a little while I shall pour out my Spirit upon you, and others through your ministry; and ye shall see me virtually in the great and wonderful work which shall then take place in the hearts and lives of men.\nThis may also refer to his coming again to destroy the Jewish state, and also to judge the world; but how can this latter be said to be in a little while? Because a thousand years are but as a day in the sight of God: Psa 90:4. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["What is this that he saith - They knew from what he had said that he was to die, but knew not what he meant by their seeing him again in a little time. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["Ye shall weep and lament - To see me crucified and laid in the grave.\nBut the world shall rejoice - The chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, and persecuting Jews in general, will triumph, hoping that their bad cause is crowned with success.\nBut your sorrow shall be turned into joy - When ye see me risen from the dead.\nIt is very evident that our Lord uses the word world, in several parts of this discourse of his, to signify the unbelieving and rebellious Jews. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["For joy that a man is born - Ανθρωπος is put here for a human creature, whether male or female; as homo among the Romans denoted either man or woman. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["Your joy no man taketh from you - Or, shall take away. Some excellent MSS. and versions read the verb in the future tense. Our Lord's meaning appears to have been this: that his resurrection should be so completely demonstrated to them, that they should never have a doubt concerning it; and consequently that their joy should be great and permanent, knowing that the atonement was made, the victory gained, and the kingdom of heaven opened to all believers. Therefore it is said, Act 4:33, that with great power did the apostles give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["Ye shall ask me nothing - Ye shall then be led, by that Spirit which guides into all truth, to consider me in the character of Mediator in the kingdom of God, and to address your prayers to the Father in my name - in the name of Jesus the Savior, because I have died to redeem you - in the name of Christ the Anointer, because I have ascended to send down the gift of the Holy Ghost. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name - Ye have not as yet considered me the great Mediator between God and man; but this is one of the truths which shall be more fully revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.\nAsk - In my name; and ye shall receive - all the salvation ye thus request; the consequence of which shall be that your joy shall be full - ye shall be thoroughly happy in being made completely holy. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["In Proverbs - That is, words which, besides their plain, literal meaning, have another, viz. a spiritual or figurative one. I have represented heavenly things to you through the medium of earthly.\nThe time cometh - viz. the interval from his resurrection to his ascension, which consisted of forty days, during which he instructed his disciples in the most sublime mysteries and truths of his kingdom. Act 1:3. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you - I need not tell you that I will continue your intercessor: I have given you already so many proofs of my love that ye cannot possibly doubt this: besides, the Father himself needs no entreaty to do you good, for he loves you, and is graciously disposed to save you to the uttermost, because ye have loved me and believed in me as coming from God, for the salvation of the world. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":28,"content":["I came forth from the Father - With whom I existed from eternity in glory.\nAm come into the world - By my incarnation.\nI leave the world - By my death.\nAnd go to the Father - By my ascension. These four words contain the whole economy of the Gospel of man's salvation, and a consummate abridgment of the Christian faith. This gave the disciples a key to the whole of our Lord's discourse; and especially to that part, Joh 16:16, that had so exceedingly embarrassed them, as appears by Joh 16:17, Joh 16:18. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":29,"content":["Lo, now speakest thou plainly - The disciples received more light now, on the nature of Christ's person and office, than they had ever done before. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":30,"content":["Now are we sure that thou knowest all things - Is not the following the meaning of the disciples? We believe that thou art not only the Messiah who camest out from God, but that thou art that God who searchest the heart and triest the reins, and needest not to be asked in order to make thee acquainted with the necessities of thy creatures; for thou perfectly knowest their wants, and art infinitely disposed to relieve them. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["Do ye now believe? - And will ye continue to believe? Ye are now fully convinced; and will ye in the hour of trial retain your conviction, and prove faithful and steady? \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":32,"content":["The hour cometh - Ye shall shortly have need of all the faith ye profess: ye now believe me to be the Omniscient; but ye will find difficulty to maintain this faith when ye see me seized, condemned, and crucified as a malefactor. Yea, your faith will be then so shaken that ye shall run away, each striving to save himself at his own home, or among his kindred. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":33,"content":["That in me ye might have peace - I give you this warning as another proof that I know all things, and to the end that ye may look to me alone for peace and happiness. The peace of God is ever to be understood as including all possible blessedness - light, strength, comfort, support, a sense of the Divine favor, unction of the Holy Spirit, purification of heart, etc., etc., and all these to be enjoyed in Christ.\nIn the world ye shall have tribulation - Or, as most of the very best MSS. read, εχετε, ye have - the tribulation is at hand; ye are just about to be plunged into it.\nBut be of good cheer - Do not despond on account of what I have said: the world shall not be able to overcome you, how severely soever it may try you.\nI have overcome the world - I am just now going by my death to put it and its god to the rout.\nMy apparent weakness shall be my victory; my ignominy shall be my glory; and the victory which the world, the devil, and my adversaries in general, shall appear to gain over me, shall be their own lasting defeat, and my eternal triumph. - Fear not!\nLuther writing to Philip Melancthon, quotes this verse, and adds these remarkable words: \"Such a saying as this is worthy to be carried from Rome to Jerusalem upon one's knees.\"\n\nOne of the grand subjects in this chapter, the mediation of Christ, is but little understood by most Christians. Christ having made an atonement for the sin of the world, has ascended to the right hand of the Father, and there he appears in the presence of God for us. In approaching the throne of grace, we keep Jesus as our sacrificial victim, continually in view: our prayers should be directed through him to the Father; and, under the conviction that his passion and death have purchased every possible blessing for us, we should, with humble confidence, ask the blessings we need; and, as in him the Father is ever well pleased, we should most confidently expect the blessings he has purchased. We may consider, also, that his appearance before the throne, in his sacrificial character, constitutes the great principle of mediation or intercession. He has taken our nature into heaven; in that he appears before the throne: this, without a voice, speaks loudly for the sinful race of Adam, for whom it was assumed, and on whose account it was sacrificed. On these grounds every penitent and every believing soul may ask and receive, and their joy be complete. By the sacrifice of Christ we approach God; through the mediation of Christ God comes down to man.\n\n"]}],"introduction":"Christ warns his disciples, and foretells the persecutions they should receive from the Jews, Joh 16:1-4. Foretells his death, and promises them the Comforter, Joh 16:5-7. Points out his operations among the Jews, and in the world, Joh 16:8-11. His peculiar influences on the souls of the disciples, Joh 16:12-15. Speaks figuratively of his death and resurrection, at which his disciples are puzzled, Joh 16:16-18. He explains and illustrates the whole by a similitude, Joh 16:19-22. Shows himself to be the Mediator between God and man, and that all prayers must be put up in his name, Joh 16:23-28. The disciples clearly comprehend his meaning and express their strong faith in him, Joh 16:29, Joh 16:30. He again foretells their persecution, and promises them his peace and support, Joh 16:31-33. \n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/JHN/16.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"JHN","chapter":16},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/JHN/17.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"JHN","chapter":17},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/JHN/15.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"JHN","chapter":15},"numberOfVerses":28}