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g ver. 12.

h ch. iii. 5.

1 Cor. vi. 11. Eph. v. 20. Tit. iii. 5.

Heb. x. 22.

i ch. xv. 3.

thou knowest not now, but thou shalt P know hereafter. 8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, hIf I wash thee not, thou hast no 9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not part with me. my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. 12 So after he had 1 Matt. xxii. Washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was vi. 16. 1 Cor. set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have 3. Phil. ii. done to you? 131 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14 m If I then, your Lord and Galv. Master, have washed your feet; "ye also ought to wash

k ch. vi. 04.

8, 10. Luke

viii. 6: xii.

11. m Luke xxii. 27.

n Rom. xii. 10.

Pet. 5.

P render, understand afterwards.

q better, hath been bathed hath no need: see note.

rrender, yet.

t better, for this cause.

vv. 9, 10. (3) The great Act of Love, the laying aside My glory, and becoming in the form of a servant, that the washing of the Holy Spirit may cleanse men. afterwards] Taking up again the numbers used in the last note, (1) was known very soon, but (2) and (3) not till after the Spirit was given. 8.] The rash and

self-opinionated Apostle opposes to our Lord's afterwards his own never (literally, no, not for ever). In interpreting our Lord's answer, we must remember, that He replies more to the spirit of Peter's objection, than to his words. The same well-meaning but false humility would prevent him (and does prevent many) from stooping to receive at the hands of the Lord that spiritual washing which is absolutely necessary in order to have any part in Him, Rom. viii. 9, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me;' but the affirmative proposition, that those who are washed, have a part in Jesus, is not equally true; witness the example of Judas, who was washed, but yet had no part with Jesus. In the spiritual sense of washing, this is not so. Whoever is washed by Jesus, has part in Him. We are here in the realm of another and deeper logic: the act being no longer symbolic, but veritable.

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9.] The warm-hearted Peter, on learning that exclusion would be the consequence of not being washed, can hardly have enough of a cleansing so precious. There surely is implied in this answer an incipient apprehension of the meaning of our

sor, him that was betraying.

Lord's words. The expression, if I wash
thee not, has awakened in him, as the
Lord's presence did, Luke v. 8, a feeling
of his own want of cleansing, his entire
pollution. 10.] Reference appears
to be made to the fact that one who has
bathed, after he has reached his home,
needs not entire washing, but only to have
his feet washed from the dust of the way.
This bathing, the bath of the new birth,
but only yet in its foreshadowing, in the
purifying effect of faith working by love,
the Apostles, with one exception, had;
and this foot-washing represented to them,
besides its lesson of humility and brotherly
love, their daily need of cleansing from
daily pollution, even after spiritual re-
generation, at the hands of their divine
Master. See 2 Cor. vii. 1: James i. 21:
Acts xv. 8, 9: 2 Pet. ii. 22.
On ye

are clean, see note, ch. xv. 3.
12-20.] This act, a pattern of self-
denying love for His servants.

12. Know ye what I have done to
you?] These words are uttered, not so
much in expectation of an answer, as to
direct their attention to the following.

14.] The command here given must be understood in the full light of intelligent appreciation of the circumstances, and the meaning of the act. Bengel remarks, that one intent of our Lord's washing the feet of His disciples must necessarily be absent from any such deed on our part: viz. its symbolic meaning, pressed by our Lord on St. Peter, "If I wash

an example, o 16 P Verily,

Matt. xi. 29.

Phil. ii. 5.
1 Pet. ii. 21.

John ii. 6.

p Matt. x. 24.

Luke vi. 40.

ch. xv. 20.

one another's feet. 15 For I have given you that ye should do as I have done to you. verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord: neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 4 If ye know these things, y happy are ye if ye do a James i. 25. them. 18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have

:

Matt. xxvi. 23. ver. 21.

chosen but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that PSA. xli. 9. eateth bread with me [a hath] lifted up his heel against

с

xvi. 4. t Matt. x. 40: XXV. 40 Luke x. 16.

me. 19 s b Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is sch. xiv. 20: come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. 20 t Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me: and he that receiveth me receiveth

u render, There is no servant.

b

render, as usual, blessed.

render, From this time.

thee not, thou hast no part with Me." The command will rather find its fulfilment in all kinds of mutual condescension and help, than in any literal observance. "In these times," continues Bengel, "pontiffs and princes obey this injunction to the letter: but it would be a more wonderful thing to see a pontiff, for example, wash the feet of one equal, than of twelve poor beggars." The custom of literally and ceremonially washing the feet in obedience to this command, is not found before the fourth century. 15.] Notice that our Lord commands us to do, not "that which I have done to you," but "as, in like manner as, I have done to you." Our Lord's action was symbolical, and is best imitated in His followers by endeavouring, "if a man be overtaken in a fault, to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness:" Gal. vi. 1.

16, 17.] The proverbial expression, There is no servant greater than his lord, is used here in a different sense from that which it has in ch. xv. 20. Here it is, "if the Master thus humbles Himself, much more should His servants and messengers;" see Matt. x. 21; Luke vi. 40; and on ver. 17, Luke xii. 47, 48. The mere recognition of such a duty of humility, is a very much more easy matter than the putting it in practice. 18.] I say it not (viz. the "if ye do them") of you all: for there is one who can never be blessed. Our Lord repeats His words, "but not all," of ver. 10, and the sad recollection leads to His trouble in spirit, ver. 21. I know] The I is emphatic; and the reason of its emphasis is given in ver. 19. Connexion: It might be supposed that this treachery has come upon Me unawares;

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c render, as below, come to pass.

but it is not so: I (for my part) know whom I have selected (viz. the whole twelve; see ch. vi. 70, not only the true ones, as in ch. xv. 16, said when Judas was not present): but this has been done by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, declared in the Scriptures.' The words of the citation here are given freely, the LXX having, " magnified the lifting up of the heel against me."

This is another instance of the direct and unhesitating application of the words of the Psalms by our Lord to Himself. his heel] Bengel observes that this saying is pertinent to the washing of the feet, and also to the custom of reclining in eating bread. See on ver. 23. 19.] Now,

20.]

from this time, I announce it to you, that when it shall have happened, you may believe that I am (the Christ).' See ch. xvi. 1, and above on 66 I know," ver. 18. See Matt. x. 40. The connexion is very difficult, and variously set down. It has been generally supposed that the words were to comfort the Apostles for the disgrace of their order by Judas, or in prospect of their future labours. But then would not the words "whomsoever I send" have been expressed by "you?" Another view is to refer back to vv. 16, 17, and suppose the connexion to have been broken by the allusion to Judas. But is this likely, in a discourse of our Lord? I rather believe that the saying sets forth the dignity of that office from which Judas was about to fall: q. d. not only was he in close intercourse with Me (ver. 18), but invested with an ambassadorship for Me, and in Me, for the Father; and yet he will lift up his heel against Me.' And the con

u Matt. xxvi. him that sent me. 21 u When Jesus had thus said, he

21. Mark

xiv. 18. Luke was troubled in a spirit, and testified, and said, Verily,

xxii. 21.

x ch. xii. 27.

y Acts i. 17.

z ch. xix. 26: xx. 2: xxi. 7, 20, 24.

a Luke xxii. 3. ch. vi. 70.

d

e

verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. 22 Then the disciples looked one' on another, doubting of whom he spake. 23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, g that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. 25 He then h lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? 26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he it to Judas Iscariot, [ the son] of Simon. 27 a And 1 after the sop Satan entered into him. m Then said Jesus

gave

render, his spirit.

f render, maketh a sign.

i

• render, reclining at meat in.

8 The text is in confusion: some ancient authorities reading as above, while others have, and saith unto him, Say, who it is of whom he speaketh?

h render, leaning back.

knot expressed in the original.

1

i render, the.

more strictly, after the sop, then Satan m render, Jesus therefore said.

sideration of this dignity in all its privileges, as contrasted with the sad announcement just to be made, leads on to the troubling of our Lord's spirit in the next

verse.

21-30.] Contrast of the manifestations of love and hate. See notes on Matt. xxvi. 21-25. Mark xiv. 18-21. Luke xxii. 21-23. 21.] See above. This was one of those mysterious troublings of spirit, which passed over our Lord,-ch. xi. 33 and xii. 27.

We

The word testified implies the delivery of some solemn and important announcement. This was the first time He had ever spoken so plainly. All four Evangelists agree in the substance of the announcement. 22.] In Matthew and Mark they express their questioning in words. St. Luke's beginning to enquire among themselves would appear to imply the same. seem called on here to decide a much-controverted question,-where, in St. John's narrative, the institution of the Lord's Supper is to be inserted? I believe certainly before this announcement, as in Luke: and if before it, perhaps before the washing of the disciples' feet: for I see no break which would admit it between our ver. 1 and ver. 21. 23.] Since the captivity, the Jews lay at table in the Persian manner,

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on divans or couches, each on his left side
with his face towards the table, his left
elbow resting on a pillow and supporting
his head. Thus the second guest to the right
hand lay with his head near the breast
of the first, and so on.
whom Jesus

loved] The disciple meant is John himself,
see ch. xxi. 20; also designated thus, ch.
xix. 26; xxi. 7 (see Introduction to John,
§ i. 6). 24-26.] See note on Matt. ver.
23. Peter characteristically imagines that
John, as the beloved disciple, would know:
but he, not knowing, asks of the Lord.
25. leaning back on Jesus' breast] I
understand it, that John, who was before
lying close to the bosom of Jesus, now
leaned his head absolutely upon His breast,
to ask the question. This escaped the
notice of the rest at the table:-see on
Matt. as above. 26.] This represents
Matt. ver. 23, Mark ver. 20.
the sop,
probably a piece of the unleavened bread,
dipped in the broth made of bitter herbs.

27.] Bengel observes that it was after the sop, not with it, that Satan entered into him. Observe the word sop, in this sentence, stands for the act in which it played a principal part. This giving the sop was one of the closest testimonies of friendly affection.

The

unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. 28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. 29 For some of them thought, because Judas Phad the bch. xii. 6. bag, that Jesus [had] said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.

с

Now

31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. deh. xiv. 13.

• i. e. What.

..

d

P render, kept.

word then carries a graphic power and pathos with it: at that moment. Satan entered into him] See ver. 2 and note. Satan entered fully into him, took full possession of him,-so that his will was not only bent upon doing the deed of treachery, but fixed and determined to do it then and there. The words must be understood literally, not as merely betokening the decision of his mind in the direction of the devil's counsels. What thou doest (art doing) .] These words are not to be evaded, as being permissive or dismissive (this latter view is taken by Chrysostom, who says, "The words are not to be taken as commanding or exhorting, but as reproaching, and intimating that there was in him the wish to act decidedly, but as he was undecided, the Lord permits him to depart and do it"). They are like the saying of God to Balaam, Num. xxii. 20,-and of our Lord to the Pharisees, Matt. xxiii. 32. The course of sinful action is presupposed, and the command to go on is but the echo of that mysterious appointment by which the sinner in the exercise of his own corrupted will becomes the instrument of the purposes of God. Thus it is not "What thou art about to do," but-that which thou art doing, hast just now fully determined to put in present action, do quickly reproving his lingering, and his pretending (Matt. ver. 25) to share in the general doubt.

28.] Not even St. John who knew he was the traitor, but had no idea the deed was so soon to be done. Stier supposes St. John to exclude himself in saying "no man at the table," and that he knew. 29.] The first supposition agrees with ver. 1,-that it was "before the feast of the passover." Had it been the night of the passover, the next day being hallowed as a sabbath, nothing could have been bought. On the whole question see notes on Matt. xxvi. 17, and ch. xviii. 28. On the second supVOL. I.

1 Pet. iv. 11.

q omit.

The gift to the them to procure 30.] The re

position, see ch. xii. 5. poor might be, to help their paschal lamb. mark, and it was night, seems to be added to bring the whole narrative from ch. xiii. 1 to ch. xviii. 3 into precision, as happening on one and the same night. It is perhaps fanciful to see, as many have done, an allusion to the darkness in Judas's soul, or to the fact expressed in Luke xxii. 53, "this is your hour, and the power of darkness;" though doubtless there the Lord alludes to its being also night but I quite feel, with Meyer, that there is something awful in this termination-it was night.

31-XVI. 33.] HIS LOVE IN KEEPING AND COMPLETING HIS OWN. And herein, 31-XIV. 31.] He comforts them with the assurance that He is going to the Father.

31-38.] Announcement of the factits effect on Peter. Here commences that solemn and weighty portion of the Gospel (ch. xiii. 31-xvii. 26) which Olshausen not without reason calls the most holy place.' He beautifully remarks, These were the last moments which the Lord spent in the midst of His own before His Passion, and words full of heavenly meaning flowed during them from His holy lips :-all that His heart, glowing with love, had yet to say to His own, was compressed into this short space of time. At first the conversation with the disciples takes more the form of usual dialogue: reclining at the table, they mournfully reply to and question Him. But when (ch. xiv. 31) they had risen from the supper, the discourse of Christ took a higher form: surrounding their Master, the disciples listened to the Words of Life, and seldom spoke (only ch. xvi. 17, 29). Finally, in the sublime prayer of the great High Priest, the whole Soul of Christ flowed forth in earnest intercession for His own to His Heavenly Father.' Olsh. ii. 329. 31. Now is the Son of man glori

Q Q

e ch. xvii. 1, 4, 5, 6.

f ch. xii. 23.

g ch. vii. 34: viii. 21. h Lev. xix. 18.

32 [er If God be glorified in him,] God shall also glorify him in himself, and 'shall straightway glorify him. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: 8 and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I g go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. 34 h A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; Pet. as I [t have] loved you, that ye also love one another. 35i By this shall all men

ch. xv. 12,

17.

Eph. v. 2.

1 Thess. iv.

9. James

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i. 22. 1 John ii. 7, 8: iii.

11, 23: iv. 21.

11 John 5: if ye have love one to

iv. 20.

know that ye are my disciples, another. 36 Simon Peter said

romitted by many of the most ancient authorities: but probably by mistake in transcribing, from the two similar endings, in him . . . in him.

8 render, is.

☐ better, perceive.

fied] It was not that the presence of Judas, as some have thought, hindered the great consummation imported by this glorification, but that the work on which he was gone out, was the ACTUAL COMMENCEMENT of that consummation. "Now at length," says Lampe, "as if an obstacle were broken down, the rushing rivers of grace flow from the lips of Jesus." It is true that Judas's presence hindered the expression of these gracious words.

The

glorification is spoken of by anticipation, as if accomplished, because the deed was actually in doing, which was to accomplish it. The glorifying spoken of here, and in ver. 32, is not the same. This is the glorifying of God by Christ on earth, in His course of obedience as the Son of Man, which was completed by His death ("he became obedient even unto death," Phil. ii. 8). And His death was the transition-point between God being glorified in Him, and He being glorified in God-manifested to be the Son of God with power by His resurrection, and received up to the Father, to sit at the right hand of God. This latter (ver. 32) is spoken of by Him here as future, but immediate (straightway) on His death, and leads on to the address in ver. 33. in himself is in God (the Father), not in Christ. The word himself reflects back on the subject of the sentence: and in does not mean by means of,' but keeps its literal force;-by the resurrection of Him into that glory, which He had indeed before, but now has as the Son of Man, with the risen Manhood; so "glorify thou me with thyself," ch. xvii. 5. Grotius compares 1 Sam. ii. 30, which stands in the LXX, "them that glorify me I will glorify." Origen remarks, The Father recompenses to Him more than the Son of

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66

32.]

omit.

I render, saith.

Man hath done." 33. Little children] This term, here only used by Christ,-affectingly expresses His not only brotherly, but fatherly love (Isa. ix. 6) for His own, and at the same time their immature and weak state, now about to be left without Him. as I said unto the Jews] "He would not say this to his disciples before, but to those who rejected Him." Bengel. But naturally the two clauses, Ye shall seek Me and not find Me, and shall die in your sins,' also spoken to the Jews (ch. vii. 33; viii. 21), are here omitted and by this omission the connexion with ver. 34 is supplied ;—' Ye shall be left here: but, unlike the Jews, ye shall seek Me and shall find Me, and the way is that of Love,-to Me, and to one another -forming (ver. 35) an united Body, the Church, in which all shall recognize My presence among you as My disciples.' 34.] The newness of this commandment consists in its simplicity, and (so to speak) unicity. The same kind of love was prescribed in the Old Test. (see Rom. xiii. 8): -'as thyself' is the highest measure of love, and it is therefore not in degree that the new commandment differs from the old, nor in extent, but in being the commandment of the new covenant,-the firstfruit of the Spirit in the new dispensation (Gal. v. 22); see 1 John ii. 7, 8 (and note), where the word new is commented on by the Apostle himself. 35.] all men,

all the world, and the object is to be, not mere vain praise or display before the world, but that men may be attracted by the exhibition of the Spirit of Christ, and won over to Him. The world, notwithstanding this proof of His presence among them, shall hate them: see 1 John iii. 10-15. But among all men they themselves are also included-brotherly love is

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