Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 20:30

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

30, 31. The Conclusion and Purpose of the Gospel

30. And many other signs truly ] The Greek cannot be exactly rendered without awkwardness: Therefore (as might be expected from what has been written here) many and other signs. The context shews that ‘signs’ must not be limited to proofs of the Resurrection: S. John is glancing back over his whole work ‘this book;’ and the ‘signs’ here, as elsewhere in this Gospel, are miracles generally. Comp. especially Joh 12:37. The expression ‘many and other’ points the same way; many in number and different in kind from those related. The signs of the Resurrection from the nature of the case were all similar in kind.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Other signs – Other miracles. Many were recorded by the other evangelists, and many which he performed were never recorded, Joh 21:25.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Joh 20:30-31

And many other signs truly did Jesus

The Evangelic record

ITS PARTIALNESS (Joh 20:30).

1. Christ was a worker. He had a wonderful mission to discharge within a brief time. Every day was crowded with deeds.

2. These deeds were signs

(1) Of His preternatural might.

(2) Of His matchless philanthropy.

(3) Of His immeasurable possibilities.

3. The recorded signs were only a small portion of what He accomplished; but

(1) They are sufficient for our purpose.

(2) They suggest a wonderful history for future study.

II. ITS PURPOSE (Joh 20:31). The facts of Christs life are written in order

1. To reveal Him.

(1) His power.

(2) His love.

(3) His transcendent excellence.

2. That men may believe in Him. How could they believe in Him of whom they have not heard. Faith in Him is at once

(1) The most essential, and

(2) The most practicable of all faiths. It is easier to believe in a person than in a proposition, and to believe in a transcendently good person than in any other.

3. That through faith men may have the highest life. What is this: Supreme sympathy with the supremely good. Man lost this at the Fall, and the loss is his guilt and ruin. The mission of Christ is to resuscitate it, and to fill souls with the love of God. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The miracles of Christ

1. Signs are miracles–a branch of evidence to which our religion appeals. The sufficiency of this evidence appears from universal acknowledgment. That the authors of all false religions have pretended miracles to establish their authority does not weaken the argument; for there could be no counterfeit coin were there no genuine mintage.

2. But what is a miracle? Not every extraordinary event, although popularly so denominated. There may be extraordinary floods, droughts, earthquakes, meteors, &c., and yet all may be resolved into natural laws operating under peculiar circumstances, without any special interposition of Deity. Hence, not every portent which an ignorant people call miraculous, is to be clothed with that character; nor every occasional remarkable effect which cannot be resolved into some known natural law, as the force of imagination in curing certain kinds of diseases and infirmities. But a miracle is the effect of the immediate interposition of God, contrary to or above the ordinary laws of nature, and that for the confirmation of some doctrine or message as from Himself.

3. The miracles of Jesus are presented to our consideration.

I. AS BEARING THE UNEQUIVOCAL CHARACTER OF REAL MIRACLES, AND THEREFORE AUTHENTICATING THE MISSION AND CLAMS OF CHRIST. Consider

1. Their number. A solitary instance might be accounted for by mistake, deception, exaggeration, or coincidence. But the number of the signs which Jesus did shuts out this objection. Many instances are recorded with names, places, times, &c.; whilst we have instances in which our Lord healed multitudes.

2. Their publicity. They were wrought in the sight of multitudes in broad day, and under the eye of a whole nation for nearly four years.

3. The character of the witnesses. Even the disciples were not over credulous; for Christ was the opposite of Him whom their imaginations had depicted as the true Messiah. In the multitude there was no eagerness to proclaim a lowly peasant, the Son of David, the King of Israel. And even the Pharisees and Sadducees, whose eye was sharpened by the mixed passions of hatred, envy, and fear, never denied the facts, and had to account for them by Satanic agency.

4. The nature of the works themselves. No class of events could bear stronger evidence of a supernatural character. They are not of a nature to be referred to the effects of imagination, occult laws of nature, never till then developed, nor to fortunate coincidences. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.

5. In the very age and places where these signs were wrought, multitudes believed on Christ who had motives for unbelief but none for credulity; and their conversion can only be accounted for from the overwhelming evidences of the real occurrence of the miracles upon which Christ placed the proof of His Divine mission.

II. AS ACCOMPANIED WITH INTERESTING CIRCUMSTANCES, AND AS MINISTERING POINTS OF IMPORTANT INSTRUCTION. In the works of Christ there are

1. Miracles which declare His Divinity.

(1) He wrought them, not in the name of another, but in His own. I say unto thee, Arise, &c. This distinguishes Him from prophets and apostles.

(2) He associates a miracle of healing with His authority as God to forgive sins.

(3) When He drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, He claimed as His own that Temple in which He often appeared as a common worshipper.

(4) And when He cast out devils, they are sometimes constrained to confess Him as the Son of God.

2. Miracles of impressive majesty. He was to appear among men in the utmost lowliness of condition, yet He was to gather a people who were to receive Him as, the Son of God. Such a task had been too difficult for the strongest faith, had there not been signs which should manifest His glory. The cloud which enveloped Him was dark; but it was the cloud of the Shechinah. Under His benediction bread multiplies, and thousands are fed; He walks upon the sea, and the yielding element sinks not beneath His footsteps; amidst the uproar of a storm He utters His simple command, Peace, be still! and the winds hear, and die away. At the mouth of the sepulchre He cries, Lazarus, come forth! And when finally He, the

Conqueror of death in His own dominion, appears, Thomas naturally exclaims, My Lord and my God!

3. Miracles of tenderness. The works of our Lord were uniformly benevolent; but some of them were characterized by circumstances of peculiar compassion, e.g., the feeding of the multitudes; the healing of the nobleman, and the raising of the widows son, &c.

4. Miracles designed to impress upon our minds some important doctrine. When our Lord provided for the tribute-money, He intended to teach subjection to fiscal laws. When He drove the traders from the Temple, He taught that the places and the acts of worship are to be kept free from the intrusions of secular things. The miraculous draught of fishes was designed to indicate the success of the apostles in their work of evangelizing all nations, &c.

5. Miracles involving the duty and necessity of faith; that is, a personal trust in His power and mercy, as in the case of the leper, the centurions servant, the child tormented with an evil spirit (Mar 9:1-50.), and the Syro-Phoenician woman.

6. Typical miracles, which symbolize something higher than themselves, great and illustrious as they were.

(1) Our Lords absolute power over nature indicated that the government of the natural world was placed in His hands as Mediator.

(2) Devils were subject to Him, which showed that He came to establish a dominion which should finally subvert the empire of Satan.

(3) When He was transfigured, He exhibited a type of that glory into which He was Himself about to enter, and into which He purposed to introduce His disciples.

(4) When the band came to apprehend Him, and He by putting forth a supernatural power arrested the arresters, He showed with what ease He can confound His adversaries.

(5) When, whilst in the act of dying, He rent the earth, and opened the graves, so that many of the saints came forth, He gathered the first-fruits of His people from the grave. And the miracle of His own resurrection was the type and pattern of our triumph over death.

Conclusion: Learn

1. The practical character of the holy Scriptures. These are written that ye might believe; but many other works were done which are not written in this book. Enough, however, is recorded for practical uses; the rest are reserved to the revelations of a future state. Let us remember that we are rather to improve what is recorded, than repine that not more has been written to gratify our curiosity.

2. The end for which they are written, that ye might believe, &c. These are the chief foundations of the Christian faith. The Son of God is the Divine designation; the Christ is the official name of the Redeemer of the world.

3. The consequence of a true faith in Christ is life. A mere doctrinal faith, however correct, cannot of itself lead to this result; but the personal trust which is exercised by a penitent heart obtains the life which is promised in Christ. The sentence of condemnation is reversed; and spiritual life, the result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, becomes the subject of present, daily, and growing experience. By this let us try our faith. (R. Watson.)

The silence of Scripture:

It is a very good old canon that in every work we are to regard the writers end, and if that simple principle had been applied to this Gospel, a great many of the features in it which have led to some difficulty would have been naturally explained. But this text may be applied very much more widely than to Johns Gospel.

I. We have here THE INCOMPLETENESS OF SCRIPTURE.

1. Take this Gospel first. It is not meant to be a biography; it is avowedly a selection, under the influence of a distinct dogmatic purpose. There is nothing in it about Christs birth, baptism, and selection of apostles, ministry in Galilee, parables, ethical teaching, and the Lords supper. Nearly half of it is taken up with the incidents of one week at the end of His life, and of and after the Resurrection. Of the remainder–by far the larger portion consists of conversations which axe hung upon miracles that seem to be related principally for the sake of these.

2. And when we turn to the other three, the same is true. Why was it that after the completion of the Scriptural canon there sprang up apocryphal gospels, full of childish stories of events which people felt had been passed over with strange silence? Is it not strange that the greatest event in the worlds history should be told in such brief outline? Put the Gospels down by the side of the biography of any man that has a name at all, and you will feel their incompleteness as biographies. And yet, although they be so tiny that you might sit down and read them all in an evening over the fire, is it not strange that they have stamped on the mind of the world an image so deep and so sharp, of such a character as the world never saw elsewhere?

3. And then, if you turn to the whole Book, the same thing is true. The silence of Scripture is quite as eloquent as its speech.

(1) Think, e.g., how many things are taken for granted which one would not expect to be taken for granted in a book of religious instruction: the Being of a God; our relations to Him; our moral nature, and the future life. Look at how the Bible passes by, without one word of explanation, the difficulties which gather round some of its teaching: the Divine nature of our Lord, e.g., the three Persons in the Godhead; the mystery of prayer; or of the difficulty of reconciling the Omnipotent will of God with our own free will, or of the fact of Christs death as the atonement for the sins of the whole world. Observe, too, how scanty the information on points on which the heart craves for more light: e.g., the future life!

(2) Nor is the incompleteness of Scripture as a historical book less marked. Nations and men appear on its pages abruptly, rending the curtain of oblivion, and then they disappear. It has no care to tell the stories of any of its heroes, except for so long as they were the organs of that Divine breath. It is full of gaps about matters that any sciolist or philosopher or theologian would have filled up for it.

II. THE MORE IMMEDIATE PURPOSE WHICH EXPLAINS ALL THESE INCOMPLETENESSES.

1. To produce in mens hearts faith in Jesus as the Christ and as the Son of God.

(1) The Evangelist avows that His work is a selection determined by the doctrinal purpose to represent Jesus as the Christ, the Fulfiller of all the expectations and promises of the old Covenant, and as the Son of God. And so it is ridiculous in the face of this statement for critics to say: The author of the fourth Gospel has not told us this, that, and the other incident therefore, He did not know it, consequently this Gospel is not to be trusted; and others might draw the conclusion that the other three Evangelists are not to be trusted because they do give it us; a blunder which would have been avoided if people had listened when he said: I knew a great many things about Jesus Christ, but I did not put them down here because I was not writing a biography, but preaching a gospel.

(2) But that is just as true about the whole New Testament. The four Gospels are written to tell us these two facts about Christ, and the rest of the New Testament is nothing more than the working out of their theoretical and practical consequence.

(3) As for the Old Testament whatever may be the conclusion as to dates and authorship, and whatever a man may believe about verbal prophecies, there is stamped unmistakably upon the whole system an attitude towards good things to come, and of a Person who will bring them. They that went before, and they that followed after, cried, Hosanna! Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord. That Christ towers up above the history of the world and the process of revelation, like Mount Everest among the Himalayas. To that great peak all the country on the one side runs upwards, and from it all the valleys on the other descend; and the springs are born there which carry verdure and life over the world.

2. Christ, the Son of God, is the centre of Scripture; and the Book is a unity, because there is driven right through it, like a core of gold, either in the way of prophecy and onward-looking anticipation, or in the way of history and grateful retrospect, the reference to Christ, the Son of God.

(1) And all its fragmentariness, its carelessness about persons, are intended, as are the slight parts in a skilful artists handiwork, to emphasize the beauty and the sovereignty of that one Central Figure on which all lights are concentrated, and on which the painter has lavished all the resources of his art.

(2) But it is not merely in order to represent Jesus as the Christ of God that these things are written, but that representation may become the object of our faith. Had the former been its sole intention, a theological treatise, e.g., would have been enough. But, if the object be that men should rest their sinful souls upon Him as the Son of God and the Christ, then there is no other way to accomplish that but by the history of His life and the manifestation of His heart. And so let us learn the wretched insufficiency of a mere orthodox creed, and on the other hand, the equal insufficiency of a mere creedless emotion.

III. THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF THE WHOLE. Scripture is not given to us merely to make us know something about God in Christ, nor only in order that we may have faith in the Christ thus revealed to us, but that we may have life in His name.

1. Life is deep, mystical, inexplicable by any other words than itself. It includes pardon, holiness, well-being, immortality, Heaven; but it is more than they all.

2. This life comes in our dead hearts and quickens them by union with God. That which is joined to God lives. You can separate your wills and your spiritual nature from Him, and thus separated you are dead in tresspasses and in sins. And the message which comes there is life in His name; i.e., in that revealed character of His by which He is made known to us as the Christ and the Son of God.

3. Union with Him in His Sonship will bring life into dead hearts. He is the true Prometheus who has come from Heaven with the fire of the Divine life in the reed of His humanity, and He imparts it to us all if we will. He lays Himself upon us, as the prophet laid himself on the little child in the upper chamber; and lip to lip, and beating heart to dead heart, He touches our death, and it is quickened into life.

4. The condition on which that great Name will bring to us life is simply our faith. Do trust yourself to Him, as He who came to fulfil all that prophet, priest, and king, sacrifice, altar, and temple of old times prophesied and looked for? Do you trust in Him as the Son of God who comes down to earth that we in Him might find the immortal life which He is ready to give? If you do, then the end that God has in view in all His revelation, has been accomplished for you. If you do not it has not. You may admire Him, be ready to call Him by many appreciative names, but unless you have learned to see in Him the Divine Saviour of your souls, you have not seen what God means you to see. But if you have, then all other questions about this Book, important as they are in their places, may settle themselves as they will; you have got the kernel, the thing that it was meant to bring you. Many an erudite scholar, who has studied the Bible all his life, has missed the purpose for which it was given; and many a poor old woman in her garret has found it. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Things not written and things written

Among thoughtful readers biography is the most popular branch of literature. It is popular in the best sense. It does not captivate the intellect of sensuousness at the expense of the reflective mind. Nor does it stimulate a fugitive moment to be followed by a lapse into deadness of sensibility. But it is popular by virtue of a genuine human quality that delights in a knowledge of others, and passes from their fellowship into a truer and wiser communion with its own private heart. Books are the best interpreters of the race, and biographies are the best of books. No wonder, then, that the basis of Christianity, as a revelation of infinite wisdom, is laid in the biography of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice

I. The statement THAT THAT RECORD OF OUR LORDS LIFE IS FRAGMENTARY, AND, AS TO ITS DETAILS, INCOMPLETE. The narrative, though four minds wrought on it most sympathetically and skillfully, is not exhaustive. Obviously, the limitation was a part of the plan, for it is uniform, no one of the evangelists transcending a boundary tacitly acknowledged. Nor is this restraint arbitrary as to its mode of action. Observe, then, that this restraint is not isolated as to one class of facts or to any special phase of Christs varied ministrations. It covers all. If we instance the miracles, only thirty-two are given, while we have many allusions to miraculous acts in such words as He healed many and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. We have the Sermon on the Mount, the discourses reported by St. John, and numerous parables, but His preaching is frequently spoken of in a general way, as He preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee. Of His private instructions, few examples are mentioned, while His domestic life during the three years of His ministry is dimly outlined. The eyes of those who beheld His glory saw more than they reported; and the hand of vigorous description, held in check by a higher Power, was allowed only such freedom of sweep as was consistent with the basic principle of New Testament literature. And what was that principle? Stated in a general way, it was the principle of biography as distinct from history. Biography proposes to interest us in a character. Everything is subordinate to that ruling idea. On this ground, then, we see the philosophy involved in the constructive art of the evangelists. They have but one end in view, and that is to describe a character. By reason of this end, their art must be exclusive no less than inclusive. Exclusive it must be, so as to shut off every divergence in the direction of history. Inclusive it will be, in order to do justice to the character portrayed. But this view may be expanded to a much wider reach. Not only had the evangelists to represent a very unique character in its human relations and aspects, but also the Divine nature underlying this character and imparting a peculiar significance to each and all its manifestations. If the Lord Jesus was the perfected type of humanity, He was also the image of God, the express image of the Father and the brightness of His glory. We are so constituted as to need images. Without them, the mind is inert. The sense-organs are inlets to certain images. Taken into the imagination, they are elaborated into endless shapes of beauty and splendour. Not a faculty, not even the conscience, is independent of them, and the most subtle of all mental operations–a process of abstraction–is an ultimate refinement of some concrete and pictorial idea. To this law of mind, Christ conformed when He appeared amongst men as the image of the Father. This being assumed, the evangelists come before us in a new attitude as biographers. Must the ordinary and accepted art-conditions of biography be fulfilled? Yes; for Christ is amen among men. But He is also a perfect man, an ideal of the human race. If so, the skill of biographical portraiture must be enhanced to meet the exceptional requirement. Is that all? Nay: He is not only an ideal man, but the Divine Man. St. John states the generic idea of them all when He says: Not written and these are written. Inspiration in them reveals itself in two ways: first, they carry the human heart of composition to its highest attainable point, and, secondly, they advance beyond the line of supreme human excellence. Not written applies to whatever would over excite the senses and the intellect acting through the senses. Not written refers to all that would address curiosity, the love of Novelty, and the strong proclivity to sensational gratification. Not written includes every activity of the imagination that terminates in self-luxury and expends itself in emotions that vanish when the thrill of treacherous nerves has subsided. Not written embraces that plethora of argument and logic by means of which no choice is left to the self-determining power of the soul, and its beliefs are created for it and not by its own freedom. Not written asserts the truth, that the inner eye may be dazzled, confused, irritated, and, at last, blinded, till it is dark with excessive light. And, hence, the art of the evangelist fell back into the previous method of the Lord Jesus, who uniformly acted on the law involved in not written. Therefore it was that He who spake as never man spoke adhered so rigidly to the wisdom of moderation. But, on the other hand, St. John says that certain things are written, and, hence, we inquire why are these written? The answer is

II. THAT THE LORD JESUS IS PRESENTED BY MEANS OF THESE THINGS AS THE OBJECT OF SAVING FAITH. St. John is clear and full: That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name. The object of the evangelists was not to give the history of Christ, but the personality of Christ as seen in His Divine character. A fixed principle of selection governs the evangelists in the incidents they narrate. The type of facts so chosen.is invariable. There is not a solitary exception. All these facts are typical of Him as the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Divine Redeemer of our race; and they ever converge to one point–faith in Him as the Saviour of sinners. So then in the things not written and in those written; in the spirit and mode of the narration; there is one end to which every fact is relative and necessary; viz., faith in Christ. Study Christs life in order to see how wisely and beneficiently He uses the acts of others to commend faith in Himself. This is one of the highest charms of His biography for this feature makes it our biography as well as His. Does He heal the centurions servant? Jesus stands aside, as it were, and puts the centurions faith in the foreground of the scene. I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel (Mat 8:10). So in the case of the Syro-Phoenician woman: O woman, great is thy faith (Mat 15:28). One of the most striking chapters in the Bible is the eleventh of Hebrews, which exhibits in a historic collocation the wonders of faith. Its illustrations, taken from successive ages of the Church, follow in stirring rapidity, and the summons, By faith, allow no break or lapse in attention. See, then, His complete adaptedness to man as the object of saving faith. If we believe in God surely we may and can believe in Him. Nor can we wonder that He reserved (see chap. 14.) this special mode of address to consummate the teaching of faith in Himself. The basis of faith had been laid, the superstructure built up, and now the final touch of strength and beauty is added: Ye believe in God; believe also in Me. Say you, that man is wrecked and ruined? So He is; utterly and hopelessly crushed by sin. But the grandeur of His place in the universe survives, the idea of humanity attests its imperishability in the midst of overthrow, and man walks forth from the gates of Eden a sublimer possibility than when he entered on its magnificence. Ages before the atonement was a fact it was a truth; and one of its glorious characteristics–the most indicative indeed of its Divineness, next to the Godhead of the atoning sufferer, was the power of the doctrine in anticipation of the accomplished reality. How shall we explain this phenomenon? It is to be accounted for by the position that faith occupies in the scheme of redemption. On this ground we see why the Abraham of a rude and idolatrous age could become the father of the faithful, and why Moses should transcend all statesmen and legislators. Through the senses to the soul was the law of Adamic life. Exactly in accord with this economy, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, forbidden to their taste, was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and to be desired to make one wise. The temptation was on the level of Adams dignity and it addressed itself directly to the foremost peculiarities of his constitution. So thus the law in Christ is through the spirit to the soul and its companion senses. Necessarily, therefore, faith is the instrumental means of salvation, since faith is the only possible organ through which the higher nature in man can act, and by which it can be developed. And hence the declaration of John 1Jn 5:4.): This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. It overcomes the senses, wherein dwells in a fastness as old as Eden and as mighty as the god of this world, the tyranny of evil. It overcomes their lusts and appetites. If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we have life through His name. To believe in Him is to believe in His Sonship as divinely, eternally, exclusively His Sonship, and in His humanity as holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. The two natures met and united in Him; they formed one Person; and that Person, after a life of humiliation exceptional in the records of humanity, and a life of service and ministration in all the offices of intelligence, philanthropy, and goodness, still more remarkable in the annals of the race, died as differently from all other deaths as His life had been unlike all other lives. To believe in Him is to believe that His death was vicarious, propitiatory, and satisfying as to all the needs of fallen man, and all the requirements of infinite truth, justice, and holiness. To believe in Him is to believe in the unabated sovereignty of law. Love is never supreme above law, but supreme through law. To believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, is to believe, not in mere truths and sentiments, nor simply in doctrines and duties, but in Him whose gracious and ever-blessed personality is the fount whence flows the force of all truth; the charm of all beauty; the wisdom of all knowledge; the tenderness of all benevolence; the sweetness of all sympathy; the largeness of all magnanimity, and the loftiness of all heroism, in the currents of this worlds arteries, and in each and every one of the channels of this new-made universe. To believe in Him is to render repentance efficient to its end, so that they who mourn find a beatitude in their tears. (A. A. Lipscombe, D. D.)

The main matter

I. THE DESIGN OF ALL SCRIPTURE IS TO PRODUCE FAITH. There is no text in the whole book which was intended to create doubt. Doubt is a seed self-sown, or sown by the devil, and it usually springs up with more than sufficient abundance without our care. Holy Scripture is the creator of a holy confidence by revealing a sure line of fact and truth. Observe, no part of Holy Scripture was written

1. To magnify the writer of it. Many human hooks are evidently intended to let you see how profound are the thoughts of their authors or how striking is their style. The inspired authors lose themselves in their theme, and hide themselves behind their Master. A most striking instance of this is found in St. Johns gospel. John was a man above all others fitted to write the life of Christ; and yet he has left out many interesting facts which the others have recorded, who did not actually see the facts as he did. He is silent because his speech would not serve the end it aimed at. And the most striking point is this–he omits, as if of set purpose, those places of the history in which he would have shone–the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus, the Transfiguration, &c. What a lesson is all this to us who write or speak for God!

2. To present a complete biography of Christ. Observe the difference between John and an ordinary biographer. I can point you to biographies stuffed full of letters and small talk, which might as well have been forgotten. How different here! The signs and wonders which Christ did are not written to make a book; they are not even written that you may be informed of all that Jesus did; these are written with the end–that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Matthew leaves out everything that does not bring out Christ in connection with the kingdom. Luke brings forth Jesus as the man; but when John brings forth Jesus as the Son of God he omits numbers of details that show our Lord in other aspects.

3. For the gratification of the most godly and pious curiosity. I would like to have acted to our Lord as Boswell did to Johnson. But the Holy Ghost did not send his servants to gather up interesting details and curious facts. You shall be told that which shall lead you to believe Christ to be the Son of God, but no more.

4. With the view of setting before us a complete example. It is true that the gospel sets before us a perfect character, and we are bound to imitate it; but that was not the first or chief design of the writers. Good works are best promoted, not as the first, but as the second thing. They come as the result of faith. See how John all through keeps to his design. His book contains a series of testimonies borne by persons led to faith in Jesus as the Christ. It begins with Andrews confession–We have found the Messias, and ends with Thomass–My Lord and my God.

II. THE GREAT OBJECT OF TRUE FAITH IS JESUS CHRIST. The text does not say, These are written that ye might believe the Nicene or the Athanasian creed. First, I am to believe in Jesus that He is the Christ, promised Messiah, anointed of God to deliver the human race. Next that He is the Son of God–not in the sense in which men are sons of God, but as the only begotten Son of God. Put the two together, that He, the Divine One, became man and was sent into the world to redeem us, and we have the right idea of Immanuel–God with us.

1. Believe this to be a matter of fact.

2. Accept it for yourself.

3. Yield yourself up to the grand truth which you have received.

4. Receive Jesus as being the Christ and the Son of God on the ground of the written Word. These are written, &c. Oh, says one, I could believe, but I do not feel as I ought. What have your feelings to do with the truth of the statement that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God? Experience cannot make a thing true; and frames and feelings cannot make a thing to be a lie which is in itself true.

III. THE TRUE LIFE OF A SOUL LIES IN CHRIST JESUS AND COMES TO THAT SOUL THROUGH FAITH IN HIM.

1. When a man has been found guilty of death, if by any means that sentence is removed, he obtains life, life in its judicial form. That is the first form of life that every man has who believes.

2. This judicial life is attended with an imparted life. God the Holy Spirit is with believers, breathing into them a new, holy, heavenly life.

3. This life grows. It continues to gather strength, and as it increases it s life more abundantly.

4. This life never dies; it is a living and incorruptible seed which abideth for ever. The life of saints on earth is the same as that of saints in heaven.

5. This life comes with believing.

(1) One person complains, I cannot tell exactly when I was converted, and this causes me great anxiety. Dear friend, this is a needless fear. Turn your inquiries in another direction–Are you alive unto God by faith? The date is a small matter.

(2) Well, says another, but I hardly know how I was converted. That again is minor matter. Our text does not state that the Bible was written that you and I might trace our faith in Christ to John, or to any one else. If you believe sincerely the mode in which you gained your faith need not be inquired into.

(3) But I have such conflicts within, cries one. Ah, there are no conflicts in dead men. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The quickening works:

Every man may be compared to a book, and every day adds a fresh page to it. Notice

I. THE RECORD. These are written.

1. The subjects of the publication are the wonderful works and sayings of our Lord. His deeds were such as no human power could accomplish. The miracles were performed

(1) As proofs of His Divinity.

(2) As acts of humanity.

(3) As illustrations of the works of salvation.

Their publicity is particularly mentioned in the text. They were done in the presence of the disciples. Imposture seeks concealment. The miracles said to every doubter, Come and see. Their number is also noted. Many other signs. And not only are the miracles recorded, but the savings. With what dignity, authority, power, does He speak!

2. The way by which the Divine will has been revealed has been by inspiring certain men to record it in writing. Many advantages are derived from this method–the advantages of

(1) Universality. A mans writings reach further than his voice.

(2) Appeal. To the law and the testimony we appeal. This is the judge that ends strife.

(3) Security and permanence.

The uttered word perishes; the letter written remains. What do we know of ancient history but through books? Let us be thankful, then, for two great blessings–the Book written in our own tongue, and for ability to read it.

II. THE REASON. These things are written that ye might believe

1. In the real existence of Jesus. Some have been so sceptical as to doubt whether such a person ever lived. They never doubt the existence of Caesar or Mahommed. But have we not much stronger proof of the existence of Christ?

2. In the true character of Jesus.

(1) As the Christ.

(2) As the Son of God.

III. THE RESULT. Some write books for pecuniary ends. John wrote that we might have life–not animal or intellectual, but spiritual and eternal. There are five signs of life–sensibility, activity, appetency, appropriateness, superiority to gravitation. Have we these signs spiritually? (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Christ, the source of life:

I remember once conversing with a celebrated sculptor, who had been hewing out a block of marble to represent one of our great patriots–Lord Chatham. There, said he, is not that a fine form? Now, sir, said I, can you put life into it? Else, with all its beauty, it is still but a block of marble. Christ, by His Spirit, puts life into a beauteous image, and enables the man He forms to live to His praise and glory. (Rowland Hill.)

The development of spiritual life:

I plant many seeds in my garden from which I do not look for blossoms the year that I plant them. Yet I nourish them and transplant them; and when the days of November commence to cut them down, I take them up, roots and all, and hide them in a dark frost-proof dwelling for the winter. There they rest till the spring comes, when I go and take those buried roots and stems and bring them forth out of their grave, and put them into a better soil. And before September comes round in the second year of their growth, they will do what they had not time to do in the first. It takes two summers to get a blossom on many plants. It takes I know not how long a series of summers to develop the highest blossoms and the truest fruit that we can bear. God takes us from this life and hides us in the grave; and then, in His good time, transplants us in another soil. The work is not done in this life. It is not done when you are converted, or even when you have gone on for forty years. Such is the pattern of that work which God is carrying forward, such is the majesty of that manhood which He means shall yet flame in glory in us, that He cannot accomplish His purpose in the narrow compass of our present life; so He buries us over the winter of death, and then puts us in a better soil and a better summer to take our next growth. And what there is beyond these, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive; but doubtless there are to be serial developments, infinite and endless. (H. W. Beecher.)

Trusting in Christ a sign of life:

Suppose there is a person here who does not exactly know his age, and he wants to find the register of his birth, and he has tried and cannot find it. Now, what is the inference that he draws from his not being able to tell the day of his birth? Well, I do not know what the inference may be, but I will tell you one inference he does not draw. He does not say, therefore, I am not alive. If he did, he would be an idiot, for if the man is alive he is alive, whether he knows his birthday or not. And if the man really trusts in Jesus, and is alive from the dead, he is a saved soul, whether he knows exactly when and where he was saved or not. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Faith, the sign of life:

See you yonder battle-field strewn with the men who have fallen in the terrible conflict! Many have been slain, many more are wounded, and there they lie in ghastly confusion, the dead all stark and stiff, covered with their own crimson, and the wounded faint and bleeding, unable to leave the spot whereon they had fallen. Surgeons have gone over the field rapidly, ascertaining which are corpses beyond the reach of mercys healing hand, and which are men faint with loss of blood. Each living man has a paper fastened conspicuously on his breast, and when the soldiers are sent out with the ambulances to gather up the wounded, they do not themselves need to stay and judge which may be living and which may be dead; they see a mark upon the living, and lifting them up right tenderly they bear them to the hospital, where their wounds may be dressed. Now, faith in the Son is Gods infallible mark, which He has set upon every poor wounded sinner, whose bleeding heart has received the Lord Jesus; though he faints and feels as lifeless as though he were mortally wounded, yet he most surely lives if he believes, for the possession of Jesus is the token which cannot deceive. Faith is Gods mark, witnessing in unspeakable language, This soul liveth. Tenderly, ye who care for the broken-hearted, lift up this wounded one. Whatever else we cannot see, if a simple trust in Jesus is discernible in a convert, we need fear no suspicions, but receive him at once as a brother beloved. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

Faith in Christ

Look at that locomotive as it snorts like a giant warhorse to its place in the station at the head of the train. You have in that engine power of amplest capacity to drag at swiftest pace the far-stretching carriages. Boiler, tubes, pistons, fire, steam–all are in perfect order; and that broad-brewed man gives assurance of tried ability to guide the charge committed to him. You look I carriage after carriage is filled, the hour has struck, the bell rung; and yet there is no departure, no movement, nor would be till crack of doom, if one thing remained as it now is. Aha! the lack is discovered; the uniting hooks that bind engine and train together were wanting. They have been supplied. Like two great hands they have clasped; and a screw has so riveted engine and carriage that they form, as it were, one thing, one whole; and away through the dark sweeps the heavy-laden train with its freight of immortals. Mark! no one ever supposes that it is the uniting hook, or link, or coupling, that draws the train. A child knows that it is the engine that draws it. Nevertheless, without that hook, or link, or coupling, all the power of the engine were of no avail; the train would stand still for ever. Exactly so is it in the relation of faith to Christ. It is not our faith that saves us, but Christ that saves us. (A. B.Grosart, D. D.)

Saving faith:

It is not the quantity of thy faith that shall save thee. A drop of water is as true water as the whole ocean; so a little faith is as true faith as the greatest. A child eight days old is as really a man as one of sixty years; a spark of fire is as true fire as a great flame; a sickly man is as truly living as a well man. So it is not the measure of thy faith that saves thee, it is the blood that it grips to that saves thee; as the weak hand of a child that leads the spoon to the mouth, will feed as well as the strong arm of a man; for it is not the hand that feeds thee, but the meat. So if thou canst grip Christ ever so weakly, He will not let thee perish. (T. Adams.)

Application of faith:

As it is no advantage for a wounded man to have the best medicine lying by his side unless it is applied to his wound, so little do the mercies of God profit us unless we have faith to apply them to our sinful hearts. (Cawdray.)

The gospel must be applied by faith

The other day a poor woman had a little help sent to her by a friend in a letter. She was in great distress, and she went to that very friend begging for a few shillings. Why, said the other, I sent you money yesterday, by an order in a letter! Dear, dear! said the poor woman, that must be the letter which I put behind the looking-glass! Just so; and there are lots of people who put Gods letters behind the looking-glass, and fail to make use of the promise which is meant for them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Son of God:

God has many sons. The children of Israel were called His sons, the judges of the theocracy and angelic existences; but Christ is called the Son of God in a unique sense. He was unique

I. IN HIS AGE. He was from everlasting, in the beginning with God, the First-born.

II. IN HIS CONSTITUTION He was God in a human personality–God-Man. God is in all intelligences, in all creatures; but He was in Christ in a sense in which He is in no other, giving omnipotence to His arm, omniscience to His intellect, ubiquity to His presence.

III. IN HIS MISSION. He is the Mediator between God and man; the only Saviour. There is none other name, &c. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 30. Many other signs truly did Jesus, c.] That is, besides the two mentioned here. Joh 20:19 Joh 20:26, viz. Christ’s entering into the house in a miraculous manner twice, notwithstanding the doors were fast shut: see on Joh 20:19. The other miracles which our Lord did, and which are not related here, were such as were necessary to the disciples only, and therefore not revealed to mankind at large. There is nothing in the whole revelation of God but what is for some important purpose, and there is nothing left out that could have been of any real use.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This passage plainly refers to whatsoever signs we read of in any part of St. Johns Gospel; and lets us know, that the evangelist could have added abundance more to the history of the miracles which Christ wrought upon the earth.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

30. many other signsmiracles.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And many other signs truly did Jesus,…. Besides these wonderful appearances to his disciples once and again, when the doors were shut about them: and which signs refer not to what was done before, but after his resurrection; and which he did,

in the presence of his disciples; for he appeared to, and conversed with no other but them after his resurrection:

which are not written in this book; of John’s Gospel; though they may be elsewhere; such as his appearing to the two disciples going to Emmaus, and to the eleven on a mountain in Galilee, and to five hundred brethren at once, which other inspired writers speak of: and many there are which he did; which are not particularly written in this, nor in any other book; for he was seen of his disciples forty days, and showed himself alive, by many infallible proofs; all of which are not recorded.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Many other signs ( ). Not only those described in the Synoptic Gospels or referred to in general statements, but many alluded to in John’s Gospel (John 2:23; John 4:45; John 12:37).

Are not written ( ). Periphrastic perfect passive indicative of , do not stand written, are not described “in this book.” John has made a selection of the vast number wrought by Jesus “in the presence of the disciples” ( ), common idiom in Luke, not in Mark and Matthew, and by John elsewhere only in 1Jo 3:22. John’s book is written with a purpose which he states.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

WHY JOHN WROTE THIS GOSPEL V. 30, 31

1) “And many other signs truly did Jesus,” (polla men oun kai alla semeia epoiesen ho lesous) “Then many other signs Jesus also did:” This is a summary statement of the purpose of which this Gospel was written. It recounted: 1) Prophetic, 2) Miraculous, and 3) the resurrection signs … three kinds by which men should trust in Him, as the Lamb of God, Joh 1:29.

2) “In the presence of his disciples,” (enopiso ton matheton) “Before or in the face to face presence of the disciples,” who were witnesses, His called, chosen, as well as in the presence of many in the world, Joh 15:16; Joh 15:26-27.

3) “Which are not written in this book:” (ha ouk estin gegrammena en to biblio touto) “Which are not written (inscribed or recounted) in this book,” Which means it was the last of the Gospels. Only a small amount of what He did and taught for more than three years of His active ministry could be recorded, Joh 21:25.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

30. Many other signs also Jesus did. If the Evangelist had not cautioned his readers by this observation, they might have supposed that he had left out none of the miracles which Christ had performed, and had given a full and complete account of all that happened. John, therefore, testifies, first, that he has only related some things out of a large number; not that the others were unworthy of being recorded, but because these were sufficient to edify faith. And yet it does not follow that they were performed in vain, for they profited that age. Secondly, though at the present day we have not a minute knowledge of them, still we must not suppose it to be of little importance for us to know that the Gospel was sealed by a vast number of miracles.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CHRIST S DEITY AND MANS SALVATION

Joh 20:30-31.

IF one wished to select a single text that would answer the main point of our query, perhaps Act 4:12 could not be surpassed, In none other is there salvation, for neither is there any other name under Heaven, that is given among men wherein we must be saved. It is not, however, our purpose to lay the whole emphasis upon the suggestion in solitary, and hence we have preferred to present Joh 20:30-31 as more adequately compassing our theme.

When the Jew discusses the question, Was Christ the Saviour? no man doubts that he is sincere; when the Gentile evinces skepticism upon the same subject, we know that his query is not necessarily the result of prejudice, and yet it may easily be lacking the element of sincerity which characterizes the descendant of Jacob. John Foster relates that two Unitarians called on an old member of the Society of Friends to find out his opinion of Christ. The Quaker replied to their questionings, as the Apostle says,

We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God (1Co 1:23-24).

There are three classes of persons presented in that reply: The Jews, who were prejudiced against Jesus because He came not as Scribes and Pharisees had said; the Greeks, whose uninspired philosophies scarce made provision for the appearance of the Son of God; and the believers, from both Jews and Greeks, who saw in Him the power of God and the wisdom of God.

While purposing to treat this subject in such candor and fairness that even the demands of the critical mind may be met, we confess in advance our purpose to bring our auditors to join with this third class and consent that Jesus is the solitary Saviour.

To that end we propose three questions:

IS JESUS THE SON OF GOD?

There are points of evidence that may here be properly introduced.

Permit the mention of three or four of these.

History should speak to this subject. If God was manifested in the Person of Jesus Christ it is quite incomprehensible that history should ignore or disregard that fact. The business of this branch of learning is to rehearse what has been. It is supposed also to lay the greatest importance upon the events of mightiest moment. What one could match the incarnation of God? And history has spoken to this subject. No matter where one does his reading, whether in Ancient, Mediaeval or Modern history, the Man of Nazareth meets him at every turn. The tale of His life, the record of His death, the report of His resurrection, the Institution He founded, like the scarlet thread in the cable of the English navy, have become inextricably woven into every great historical event of the centuries. The best history back of Christ is the Old Testament Scriptures. They are they which testify of Me, Skeptics, hard pressed for argument, have said, Josephus, the great historian, knows nothing of Jesus. But such a speech evinces ignorance and reveals a lack of logic. If Josephus had said not a word concerning Him there would be poor comfort for the infidel in that circumstance, seeing that Josephus was a Jew of the strictest type, and the most bigoted spirit. But, unfortunately for the statement, the book of Josephus gives such prominence to Jesus that we are almost compelled to believe that the strongest of his statements is an interpolation. Read again Book 18, chapter 3, section 3, of the Antiquities of the Jews. Now, there was about this time, Jesus, a wise Man, if it be lawful to call Him a man, for He was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to Him many of the Jews and many of the Greeks. He was Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned Him to the Cross, those who loved Him at the first did not forsake Him, for He appeared to them alive again the third day, as the Divine Prophets had foretold. These and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning Him, and the tribe of Christians, so named for Him, are not extinct at this day.

If that is an interpolation, let us not forget that in Antiquities of the Jews, 18:5-2, he relates the story of the beheading of John; and in 20:9-1, tells the story of James, the Just, who, he says, was the brother of Jesus, who claimed to be the Christ. No one disputes the validity of these latter chapters.

What is Mediaeval history but a record of the misinterpretation of the message of Jesus? What modern history ignores Him? Could we write the history of England and leave out Christ? How account for the changes that made a continent of barbarians to be a church going, Christ believing, nation? Could we write the history of America and leave out Christ? How account for the dreams and desires of Columbus? How explain the conduct of the Puritan Fathers? What disposition will you make of the uses to which the words Christ and Church are put, in the administration of the colonies and the establishment of the states, and the attempt to evangelize the Indians?

Can you write the history of India and leave out Christ? Who would attempt to do that and yet ignore Carey, Judson and Boardman? Can you write the history of China and leave out Christ? How will you explain the Boxer movement, not to speak of the long series of international conferences and complications involving the opening of Chinas doors to Christian missionaries? Can you write the history of Africa and leave out Christ? Who would dare, making no mention of Livingstone and Moffat, not to speak of the modern movements inaugurated by Christian missionaries? Can you write the history of the Isles of the Sea and leave out Christ? How will you explain why cannibalism ended and church spires sprang up on every hand?

The historian has not yet been born who has, or could ignore this Name and yet command the respect of men. If He be not the Son of God, what is the secret of His success in forcing Himself into all human affairs? He was born in no palace; He was schooled in no great university; He was promoted to no position of honor; He commanded no mighty armies; He discovered no continents; He engaged in no scientific investigations; His career ended with a Cross and not with a crown! Why has human history been compelled to accord Him such a place?

The Scriptures, also, testify to His Deity. Passing over the Old Testament prophecies regarding Him about which men might argue, we come to indisputable things. The New Testament asserts, She shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His Name JESUS; for it is He that shall save His people from their sins (R. V.). If the Bible is to be believed in what it declares, God spake out of Heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. If He were not self-deceived, His sentence is, I am in the Father and the Father in Me. If John were not deluded, his worthy testimony is this:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth (Joh 1:1; Joh 1:14).

Paul certainly seemed to be a sane man, and you cannot explain him unless you believe also that he was an inspired man; and that Apostle speaks of Jesus as being the effulgence of His Fathers glory, and the very image of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power.

But we will not go into the multiplication of texts to prove the Deity of Jesus. No good student of the Scripture denies their testimony, unless he has first derided their authority. I have read somewhere of two gentlemen who were discussing the Deity of Christ, and one of them said, If He were God it should have been more explicitly stated in the Bible. To this the other replied, How would you express it, to put it past dispute? Why, said the first, I would say that Jesus is the True God. You are very apt in the choice of words, answered his fellow, for they are in accord with the inspired St. John, who says, This is the True God, and eternal life.

Christians also are credible witnesses to His Deity. Experience has a testimony that cannot be gainsaid. Familiarity makes it possible for one to testify to facts. The world is full of people who claim to have an experience of the grace of Jesus, and a communion with Him which renders them competent to speak regarding His mission and character. Napoleon was profoundly impressed by the harmonious testimony of the multitude of believers. When John said,

That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life, * * that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us? (1Jn 1:1; 1Jn 1:3, R.V.).

he introduced a form of argument, the strength of which has ever been confessed. Who shall dispute what they say who speak from experience and delightful fellowship? Who shall stand before the millions on millions that bear one testimony concerning what Jesus is to their souls?

Dr. O. P. Gifford, while yet pastor in Chicago, spoke one day concerning that wonderful Ferris wheel, the plan and construction of which was such a compliment to the ability of the young engineer. He told how, when the wheel was put into place.

Mr. Ferris took his wife and a newspaper reporter and went down on a July day, when the wind was sweeping the earth with the strength of a hurricane, striking the wheel fairly on the face. Entering the car, Mr. Ferris closed the door behind him and gave the order to start the machinery, and suddenly the wheel began to move. The wind, like another Samson, seized it, pressed against it with mighty strength, strove to wrench it at every point, tore at the windows, shrieked like a maniac. But the great wheel moved on with scarce a shiver until it had completed its revolution, and Mr. Ferris, his wife, and the reporter stepped out. Mr. Ferris faith in the wheel was a scientific faith. He knew its mechanical construction; he knew also its strength; like the Apostle, he was persuaded that it was able to keep that which he had entrusted to it unto the end. Mrs. Ferris faith was purely personal. She knew little about the wheel; she believed in her husbands opinion, and counsel, and like Ruth of old, said, Where thou goest, I will go. Her confidence was not misplaced. The newspaper reporter entered with fear and trembling, filled with doubts. But he had been commanded and dared not refuse. When the wheel had gone its round and he found himself again on the earth, he had the faith of experience, and could testify also touching the ability of that wheel to keep what was committed to it. The followers of Jesus join with the Apostle and say, We know whom we have believed. Their experience with Him has proven His power. Through strain and storm, through suffering and sorrow, through temptation and trial they are kept. Who can gainsay the ground of their confidence in the Deity of the Man of Nazareth?

If there were time we would let His enemies bear witness also. Goethe, whose infidelity is well known, said, The human mind, no matter how much it may advance in intellectual culture and in the extent and depth of the knowledge of nature, will never transcend the height and moral culture of Christianity as it shines and glows in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Rousseau, another unbeliever, says, I confess that the purity of the Gospel has its influence on my heart. Is it possible that a Book at once so simple and sublime should be merely the work of man? Is it possible that the sacred personage whose history it contains should be Himself a mere man? What sweetness, what purity in His manners! What an affecting gracefulness in His delivery! What sublimity in His maxims! What profound wisdom in His discourses! What presence of mind in His answers! How great the command over His passions! Where is the man, where the philosopher who could so live and so die without weakness and without ostentation? If the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus were those of a God.

Strauss says, Jesus represents within the sphere of religion the culmination point, beyond which posterity can never go, yea, which it cannot even equal. He remains the highest model of religion within the reach of our thoughts. The words of Theodore Parker are interesting, There is God in the heart of this youththat mightiest heart that ever beat, stirred by the Spirit of God; how it wrought in His bosom! Renan concedes enough when he says, The day on which Jesus uttered this saying, God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth, He was truly the Son of God. Bob Ingersoll, blatant infidel as he was, still affirmed, For the Man Jesus I have infinite respect. Truly may one join with Moses in his wonderful Psalm of Deuteronomy 32, where concerning the expectation of unbelievers as compared with that of believers, he says, Their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

But our theme involves more.

IS HE THE SOLITARY SAVIOUR?

Is there no other person who can save? There was a day when the king put all the corn of Egypt into the hands of Joseph. Men must make their appeal to him or perish. Is it true of our Joseph that the stores of salvation are all in His hands? The Scriptures are strong; In none other is there salvation; for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men therein we must be saved (R. V.). Surely that phrase opposes the pretentions and promises of all others who essay to save. Dr. Chapman tells us that a friend of his was about to climb the Matterhorn. He was besieged by men waiting at the base of the mountain ready to guide him up the difficult way. But when he asked them to show their papers they all but one fell back. He came forward and presented his certificate which was signed by noted Americans and Englishmen, affirming that he had guided them up the Matterhorn in perfect safety. If the professed saviours of the world are asked to show their certificates of appointment, and their testimonials from the redeemed, they will be silenced. Jesus alone, by calling the roll of Heaven, including the great names of the Old and New Testament worthies (those of New Testament and modern times), can bring sufficient commendations and certificates to show that He is the all-sufficient Saviour.

There is no other way of salvation. Some willingly admit that Jesus is the only Son of God, but remind us that there are matters of merit which must be taken into account. They have done good works; shall they not therefore be saved? If a man does his best, will he miss Heaven and eternal bliss? Let it be remembered that no man has done his best. The Scriptures and experience speak one thing, There is none that doeth good, no not one. And let it be further remembered, By the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight. If one reply, But I am sorry for my sins, and have mourned them; will not that suffice to set me free? we are compelled to answer that sorrow never reveals the attributes of a saviour; it quite as often dooms men as it helps them. It has drowned many a soul; but by itself it has never saved one. Dr. Gordon says a very remarkable and yet Scriptural thing when he remarks, Jesus let only His wounds be touched after His resurrection. Whereby I perceive that we can be united to Christ only by His sufferings. Many to-day are trying to be saved by imitating the earthly life of Christ; many others are trying to be saved by imitating the death of Christ. The world is pretty nearly divided between these two classes those who are seeking salvation by copying Christs life, and those who are seeking salvation by copying His deaththe one looking for peace by self-morality and the other by self-mortification. Both are doomed to disappointment. Without shedding of blood is no remission. Even God, apart from Christ, cannot save, for, as Evangelist A. B. Earle said, God the Father and God the Spirit cannot save because they have no blood. It is the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son that cleanseth us from all sin. Self-morality is sorry stuff; self-mortification cannot mean self-redemption.

One of our missionaries relates the terrible suffering of a heathen who had for many years lived with his body immersed in water, and at a later time had hung on hooks piercing through his flesh, trying to make peace with God through his own wounds. We recoil from even the report; but our civilized America is full of men and women who are attempting salvation by self-infliction. Vain endeavor! It is not ours to make peace with God through our sufferings, but to take the peace which Christ has made by His own sufferings. It is not ours to effect peace at all, but to receive the peace already perfected. True, Godly sorrow worketh repentance, but not salvation. We do well to sing:

Weeping will not save meTho my face were bathed in tears,That could not allay my fears,Could not wash the sins of yearsWeeping will not save me.

Faith in Christ will save meLet me trust thy weeping Son,Trust the work that He has done;To His arms, Lord, help me runFaith in Christ will save me.

To Thomas, Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.

WHAT THEN IS ESSENTIAL?

That is the personal question; and we are never profited until we reach the personal question. These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

To believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is the first essential. Having seen that history accords Him that place; having remembered that the Scriptures affirm it; having listened to believers and even to the testimony of unbelievers, why should we imagine the voice heard from the heavens, This is My beloved Son, was other than the voice of God? The meaning of that language may not easily be misinterpreted. He meant by that speech to differentiate Him. Unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee?

No wonder the millions of Christians consent to this claim. Christ has made good!

Believe also that eternal life is with Him. This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. That proposition is plain; that declaration is decisive; that second step is absolutely essential.

But there remains another: Believe that He gives you salvation now. That, believing, ye may have life in His Name. He that believeth hath everlasting life. The men who have tested this declaration of the Scriptures have found salvation demonstrated in their own hearts; the women who have brought to Him loyalty have come into the knowledge of life; the little children who have sought Him have been received and saved.

There were clean-cut distinctions in the language of a little maid Dr. George F. Pentecost met in Scotland, and the very way of life may be traced in her words. At Aberdeen, one night after nearly all the people had gone from the service, and Pentecost was about to leave the hall, this lassie timidly approached him. When he said, What do you want? she reached up on tiptoe as he bent down and whispered into his ear, I want to get saved! You want to get saved? Aye, sir, I do, still whispering, but more intense in utterance. And why do you want to get saved? Because I am a sinner. How do you know you are a sinner? Who told you so? God says it in His Book, and I feel it right here, as she laid her hand on her little breast. Well, said Pentecost, do you think I can save you? She passed from the whisper to clear, ringing tones, her eyes striking fire. No, no, man, you cannot save me; no man can save a sinner! At his side, her hand in his, speaking as kindly as he knew how, he replied, You are quite right; no man can save you. Tell me, why then do you come to me? Again her voice was dropped to a whisper as she said, But Jesus can save me! Yes, replied Pentecost, but tell me how He can save you? Oh, sir, He died for me. To test her knowledge again, he asked, Then He is dead, is He? How can He save you if He is dead? The little thing, starting from her seat, her eyes suffused with tears, and yet flashing more fire than before, answered, He is not dead! He is not dead! Man, Jesus is not dead. He is Gods Son. Did you not tell us this night that God raised Him from the dead? Oh, man, I want to get saved. Do not fash me ; but tell me all about it. He did tell her, and she went away glad and thankful, for she knew that she had found Jesus, the worlds solitary Saviour and the Guide of her own soul.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

THE AIM OF THE GOSPEL

Text: Joh. 20:30-31

Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book:

but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name.

Queries

What are the other signs of Joh. 20:30?

May belief in Jesus deity be attained in any way except through the gospel record?

Paraphrase

Jesus did indeed perform many other signs in the presence of His disciples which have not been recorded in this book. The signs of Jesus which are recorded in this book have been written in order that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Anointed One, the Son of God, and that continuing to believe you may have life eternal in His name.

Summary

The purpose of the recorded gospel is to engender faith in the deity of Christ resulting in eternal life.

Comment

This is the climax of the Fourth Gospelnot the conclusion, but the climax. Chapter Twenty-one is the conclusion in the form of an epilogue.

It is quite clear from Johns statement here in Joh. 20:30-31 and from just a cursory reading of the other gospel accounts that none of the gospels ever set out to give, nor claimed to give, a full account of the life of Jesus. What they have recorded, however, is historically and factually accurate. The brevity of the accounts in no way denies their historicity!

But why are the gospel records so brief? Would it not be to our advantage to know every detail of Jesus life as a youngster and a growing man? It is also quite clear that the gospels are not intended to be complete biographies of Jesus life. We like the statement of R. C. Foster in his Life of Christ Syllabus: The narratives of the life of Christ are condensed in order to be the more effective. They are sufficient for the purpose of presenting adequate evidence, extensive enough to challenge a life-time of study, and yet not so voluminous as to overwhelm the reader with a mass of unnecessary records. The brevity of the scriptures is one of the foremost proofs of their divine inspiration. Contrast the gospel narratives with any biography in print, whether of Napoleon, Lincoln, or any other famous person!

The purpose of John has been all along to show that Jesus of Nazareth is the Incarnate Wordthe Very Son of God, co-equal with the Fatherindeed Immanuel, God with us! This was Johns stated purpose in his Prologue (Joh. 1:1-18). These climactic Joh. 20:30-31 show us that from start to finish the Fourth Gospel is a book of signs that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the first purpose of the book.

If the deity of Christ be established and told in a vivid and captivating way then men will be led to believe in Him and gain eternal life. This is the stated second purpose of the gospel record: to bring men to faith and salvation in obedience to the will of Christ (i.e., in His name). The purpose of the gospel record has just been vividly portrayed in the experience of Thomas: he has been brought to a complete faith in the deity of Jesus and commits his life unto Him. The Fourth Gospel began with the unfolding of the mystery of life which has its source in the Word. It closes with the offer of life to all who will accept Jesus.
It is worthy of note that John uses the present tense of the verb pisteuo (believe) and so literally it means to believe and keep on believing. Hendriksen says, Note: continue to believe. Remember Cerinthus, who was trying to undermine the faith of the Church in the deity of Christ! That faith must be strengthened. The enemy must be repulsed.

It may be that John had in mind, writing his gospel toward the end of the first century, a refutation and defense against Gnosticism. But the use of pisteuo in the present tense is so common an idiom of the New Testament writers simply to state the nature of saving faith that it seems beside the point to connect it with a refutation of Gnosticism.

Whatever the case, John climaxes his gospel with his version of the good confession. But, as Foster suggests, it now includes the profounder meaning of the crucified and risen Christ, and of the Son of God who has given final proof of His claims.

Quiz

Did the gospel writers intend to give a full account or biography of the life of Jesus? How do you know?

Why is the brevity of the gospel records more to our advantage?

What are the two purposes of the gospel record?

How do these two verses tie in with and climax the entire Fourth Gospel from start to finish?

SERMON NO. NINETEEN

(TOPICAL)
IMPERATIVES OF THE EMPTY TOMB

Mar. 16:1-7; 1Co. 15:57-58

Michelangelo, the immortal artist, stood in company with his fellow artists one day contemplating a masterful painting of the crucifixion of Christ. He was heard to say, Why do we fill our churches and art galleries with portrayals of the His crucifixion, as if it all ended there? He is risen, He is alive.

YES, CHRIST IS RISEN

Credible witnesses

Testimony of others is accepted as an indispensable source of knowing the truth of much of what we know

IN FACT A GREAT DEAL OF WHAT WE BELIEVE TO BE TRUE IS ACCEPTED ON THE TESTIMONY OF OTHERS BECAUSE WE DID NOT OURSELVES SEE IT!

The essential matter is to test and verify the credibility of the witnesses who testify

Competency

Were they eyewitnesses? YES

Were they credulous? NO

(1)

Thomas; Peter & John

(2)

even wrote of themselves that they did not believe He would rise from the dead!

Honesty

NOTHING TO GAIN & EVERYTHING TO LOSE BY THUS TESTIFYING TO HIS RESURRECTION (life, fortune, etc.)

No witnesses ever had more motive for denying what they saw with their own eyes, yet . . . we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Number of witnesses

apostles, women, 500 brethren who saw Jesus all at once . . . alive when Paul wrote I Cor.

There is a point reached where calling more eyewitnesses becomes ludicrous . . . WELL OVER 500 EYEWITNESSES SHOULD ESTABLISH THE FACT BEYOND ANY REASONABLE DOUBT!

To doubt the resurrection of Christ is unreasonable and irrational in the light of the evidence for it.

Conversion of enemies

A great company of the Hebrew priests became obedient to the faith (Act. 5:1-42)

THESE MEN WOULD HAVE CHECKED ALL THE EVIDENCE BEFORE THEY BECAME FOLLOWERS OF THE NAZARENE!

Saul of Tarsus

If there was ever a man in the first century who knew all arguments against the resurrection of Christ which the Jewish Sanhedrin could ever draw up, that man was the Apostle Paul, and yet in spite of all this he believed and preached it as his central theme in the face of persecution etc.

Two great unbelieving scholars set out to disprove Christianity . . . one the resurrection, the other the conversion of Saul of Tarsus . . . both met again as Christians

Also Governor Lew Wallace (author of Ben Hur) and Sir William Ramsay (converted archeologist, etc.)

Paul says that some even of Caesars own household became followers of the Way!

Contemporary history

Josephus (says He arose and appeared to His disciples); Tacitus (80 A.D.) Pliny; Suetonius (90 A.D.)

These and many other historians confirm the following facts concerning early Christianity of the 1st century

Christ was a real historic person and founder of Christianity

He was worshipped as one divine

Christians met on the 1st day of the week to celebrate the resurrection of their Christ

They were pure morally and were very influential in society

Christianity spread with astonishing rapidity

The church was terribly persecuted but the Christians, by their hope in a resurrection, withstood the persecutions

The Empty Tomb

Stands in overwhelming emptiness and silence as one of the most unanswerable points of evidence

Even unbelievers admit 3 things about Jesus

He lived as a historic personage

He was crucified and buried

His tomb was empty!

Many are the theories as to how it became empty

Disciples stole body (when heavily guarded by soldierswould they then die for their own lie! )

Enemies stole bodywhy didnt they produce the body later ! ! !

Jesus did not die but swooned and rolled back the stonenearly dead from beating then hanged on the cross for 6 hours

The answer given by those there and best qualified to know . .

Jewish authorities admitted tomb was empty

Then they bribed soldiers to tell a lie (if were not bribed and was not a lie why did not someone successfully refute the gospel accounts when they were published in the 1st century?)

Not even a good lie at that . . . DISCIPLE STOLE THE BODY WHILE WE WERE ASLEEP! HOW COULD THEY KNOW IF THEY WERE ASLEEP! IMAGINE SOMEONE TESTIFYING LIKE THIS ON THE WITNESS STAND IN OUR COURTS!

UNBELIEVERS SAY CHRIST WAS NOT RAISED FROM THE DEAD . . . I SAY PROVE IT!
THERE STANDS THE EMPTY TOMB IN PALESTINE TODAY!
IN THE N.T. THERE IS HISTORIC EVIDENCE WHICH WOULD BE ACCEPTED BY ANY COURT TODAY!
LET THE UNBELIEVER PRODUCE SOME EVIDENCE . . . THE QUESTION IS NOT COULD ITOR COULD IT NOT HAPPEN . . . THE QUESTION IS ONE OF FACT AND EVIDENCE . . . THE QUESTION IS DID IT . . . OR DID IT NOT HAPPEN
THE EVIDENCE SAYS YES IT DID HAPPEN AND THERE IS NO FACTUAL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY ! ! !
E.

The Existence of the Church and its institutions or ordinances

The church, the 1st day of the week of the Lords supper, baptism are all here . . . WHAT IS THE CAUSE BEHIND THESE MONUMENTS

If one should doubt that George Washington ever existed and did the mighty feats recorded of him . . . we would not only refer to historical testimony, but to the effects of his life and to the monuments erected in his memory!

DENY THE CREDIBILITY OF THE SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY CONCERNING JESUS, HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION AND YOU HAVE AN EFFECT (THE CHURCH), WITHOUT AN ADEQUATE CAUSE (THE RESURRECTION).

The church of the 1st century and ever afterward accepted the doctrine of the resurrection and practiced the ordinances

NOW THE PEOPLE OF THAT TIME WERE FULLY CAPABLE OF CHECKING THE TESTIMONIES OF THE APOSTLES AND OTHER PREACHERS . . . BUT THEY COULD NOT AND DID NOT REFUTE THEIR PREACHING AS BEING LIES!

No other truth could have so completely transformed the lives of so many millions through the ages

Indeed no other truth has . . . no other religion has!

YES, CHRIST IS ACTUALLY, FACTUALLY, HISTORICALLY RISEN FROM THE DEAD . . . SEEN BY EYEWITNESSES
IF THE EVIDENCE IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO PROVE THE HISTORICITY OF THE BODILY RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST . . . THEN EVIDENCE FROM HISTORY AND EYEWITNESSES IS OF NO VALUE AT ALL TO PROVE ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD! TESTIMONY IS COMPLETELY UNRELIABLE IF IT IS UNRELIABLE IN THIS CASE
THERE IS BETTER EVIDENCE, OF MORE CONVINCING CERTAINTY FOR THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS THAN ANY OTHER FACT OF HISTORY WHICH IS BEYOND OUR IMMEDIATE SENSORY PERCEPTIONS
MOST EVERONE BELIEVES THAT LEE HARVEY OSWALD MURDERED PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY . . . BUT THERE IS NOT NEARLY AS MUCH EVIDENCE FOR IT AS FOR THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST

II.

IMPERATIVES OF THE EMPTY TOMB

The Bible is Gods Word!

The Creator of the universe has expressed His nature, His will, His purpose for man.

He has demonstrated the unsearchable richness of His love

He has demonstrated that He will keep all His promises

He has demonstrated that there is POWER for the believer in this Word of His

Heaven is as real as the resurrection

He has gone to prepare a place of eternal rest and peace for us

There will be no tears, no death, no sin, no separation, no war there

A real place so glorious that human language is not adequate to fully describe it

Hell is as real as the resurrection

There is no rest there day or night

The smoke of their torment goeth up forever and ever

It is the dwelling place of all that is false, ugly, evil

It is a place of conscious remembrance and eternal regret

One in practice

In obedience to truth revealed, unity . . . in opinion, liberty . . . in all things love

Christ purchased the church with His blood . . . you must be saved by His blood . . . you must be a member of His church . . . to do so you must obey His plan of salvation

One Way of Salvation

He, His person, His accomplishment, His atonement, His commands . . . this is the one Way of salvation

No man has ever been given authority to add to or take away from His Word (Gal. 1:8-12)

Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, Be Immersed

Be faithful unto death (cf. Luk. 16:19-31)

A real place so terrible that human language is not adequate to fully describe it

Mans immortal spirit is as real as the resurrection

Man is not just flesh and bone and blood

He is a living soul, created in the spiritual image of God, his Maker

Man is morally free and responsible to make a choice between salvation or condemnation as it is offered to him by Gods grace

Christ is coming again just as surely as He came forth alive from the tomb

He is coming in time and in history (not in thought or feeling)

He comes with His angels to judge and render vengeance

No one knows the day nor the hour, but everyone will know when He does come, for every eye will see Him

There is only one church, the universal body of Christ, and that is the one which conforms in belief and practice to the church described in the New Testament

One in name

One in doctrine

Conclusion

THERE IS DIVINE POWER IN THE RESURRECTION (Php. 3:9-10)

The power of Christianity is not in the esthetic value of great cathedralsnor in somber ritual and traditionnor in emotional singing or heart-rending sermon illustrations

THE POWER IS IN THE FACT OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE TOMB . . . IN TIME AND IN HISTORY

It gives a hope that is alive (1Pe. 1:3)

It brings joy unspeakable and full of glory (1Jn. 1:1-4)

It sanctifies or purifies (1Jn. 3:1-24Act. 17:32)

It gives power to our witness for God (Act. 4:33)

It gives us a power to be steadfast and to labor (1Co. 15:58)

II.

AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE RESURRECTION

If Christ be not raised then preaching is foolishness, vain and useless

If Christ be not raised then faith and hope and love are senseless, vain and silly . . . if there be no life after death, let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!

III.

YOU MUST MAKE A CHOICE, YOU WILL MAKE A CHOICE, YOU HAVE MADE A CHOICE

Our only hope is in Christ and His resurrection

Gandhi, Joseph Smith, Martin Luther . . . their bones and their tombs are with us to this day . . . there is no hope in them

Philosophy, science and all the other schemes of men are helpless and hopeless

Let the so-called scientists and philosophers talk about prehistoric this and that all they want

AS FOR ME, I WANT MY LIFE HERE AND HEREAFTER FOUNDED ON HISTORIC CERTAINTIES I WILL TAKE THE HISTORICAL, EYEWITNESSED RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST OVER PRE-HISTORIC GUESSES ANY DAY

HOW ABOUT YOU?