《Nisbet’s Church Pulpit Commentary - John》(James Nisbet)

Commentator

With nearly 5,000 pages and 20 megabytes of text, this 12 volume set contains concise comments and sermon outlines, perfect for preaching, teaching, or just another perspective on a passage for any lay person.

James Nisbet compiled and edited the Church Pulpit Commentary. Over 100 authors wrote short essays, sermon outlines, and sermon illustrations for selected verses of the Bible. The authors include Handley Carr Glyn (H.C.G) Moule, F.D. Maurice, and many other bishops and pastors.

As with many commentaries of this nature, the New Testament contains substantially more comments than the Old Testament. This is not the famouse Pulpit Commentary. This is a different commentary. Not every verse includes a comment.

00 Introduction

John 1:6 Characteristics of the Baptist

John 1:6 Witnessing to the Light

John 1:10 Blindness of Heart

John 1:14 Emmanuel!

John 1:14 The Immensity of Divine Love

John 1:14 The Most Stupendous Fact in History

John 1:14 The Attractiveness of Religion

John 1:18 The Only-Begotten Son

John 1:18 The Revelation of God to Man

John 1:23 A Message for To-day

John 1:26; John 1:33 The Unknown Christ

John 1:29 The Lamb of God

John 1:35-37 A Repeated Effort

John 1:45-46 Experience the Test of Truth

John 1:45-46 Prejudice Overcome

John 2:2 The Social Life of the Christian

John 2:5 Knowledge from Obedience

John 2:8 The Transforming Power of Christ

John 2:8 Achievement

John 2:11 Manifestation of Glory

John 2:11 The Unexpected Miracle

John 2:15-17 ‘My Father’s House’

John 2:23-24 Imperfect Faith

John 2:25 Christ’s Knowledge of Man

John 3:1 Nicodemus

John 3:2-3 A Momentous Interview

John 3:7 New Birth

John 3:9 The Puzzled Inquirer

John 3:14 The Gift of the Cross

John 3:16 The Magna Charta of Christianity

John 3:16 Three Mysteries

John 3:19 Out of Darkness into Light

John 3:29 The Joy of the Bridegroom’s Friend

John 4:7 Christ’s Longing for Human Sympathy

John 4:24 Worship

John 4:24 Spiritual Religion

John 4:35 Look on the Fields

John 4:37 Sowing and Reaping

John 4:42 Reasons for Faith

John 4:48-50 The Nobleman’s Son

John 5:4 The Troubling of the Waters

John 5:14 The Pardon of Sin

John 5:19 Submission and Service

John 5:28-29 The Two Resurrections

John 5:39 The Testimony of the Scriptures

John 5:39 Bible Reading

John 5:39 The Devotional Study of Scripture

John 5:39 The Doctrinal Study of Scripture

John 5:39 Christ’s Fulfilment of the Scriptures

John 5:46 The Testimony of Moses

John 5:46 Christ in the Old Testament

John 6:4-5 Christ and the Great Company

John 6:4-5 Love, Power, Order

John 6:4-5 Superficial, yet Profound

John 6:11 Co-operation with God

John 6:12 All Need Supplied

John 6:12 Let Nothing be Lost

John 6:14 Prophecy Fulfilled

John 6:15 The King and the Kingdom

John 6:21 Christ’s Presence in Trouble

John 6:27 The Labour Question

John 6:28-29 The Work of Faith

John 6:35 Spiritual Food

John 6:35 The Bread of Life

John 6:37 The Golden Promise

John 6:39 Impersonal Resurrection

John 6:48 Mystery and Religion

John 6:51 The Eucharist

John 6:57 The Food of the Saints

John 6:57 Christ’s Gift

John 6:61 A Spiritual Plummet

John 6:63 Words of Life

John 6:67 Falling Away

John 6:67 A Touching Appeal

John 6:68 Abiding with Christ

John 6:70-71 The Downfall of Judas

John 7:13 Ashamed of Jesus

John 7:17 Knowledge and Love

John 7:17 Knowledge and Understanding

John 7:18 The Negation of Self

John 7:37 Thirst Assuaged

John 7:39 The Progressive Work of the Spirit

John 7:46 The Words of Jesus

John 7:46 Christ’s Teaching

John 8:9 Alone with Jesus

John 8:11 Moral Offences

John 8:12 The Light of the World

John 8:12 Christ and Social Progress

John 8:12 The Light Giver

John 8:12 Walking in the Light

John 8:12 The Followers’ Reward

John 8:12 ‘The Light of Life’

John 8:21 Seeking in Vain

John 8:31 Discipleship

John 8:32 Freedom through the Truth

John 8:36 Christ the Liberator

John 8:36 ‘Free Indeed’

John 8:46 The Sinlessness of Christ

John 8:46 The Mystery of Evil

John 8:48 A Blasphemous Charge

John 8:51 How to Escape Death

John 9:1-3 The Mystery of Suffering

John 9:4 The Brevity of Life

John 9:4 The Purpose of Life

John 9:25 ‘One Thing I Know’

John 9:35 ‘Do We Believe?’

John 9:38 Belief and Worship

John 9:39 For Judgment

John 9:39-41 Responsibility and Sin

John 10:3 ‘The Porter of the Door’

John 10:3 The First Days of Spiritual Life

John 10:3 The Calling of the Sheep

John 10:4 The Sheep and the Shepherd

John 10:4 The Guiding Shepherd

John 10:4 The Voice of the Shepherd

John 10:9 Christ the Door

John 10:10 Motives of Work for God

John 10:10 The Gift of Life

John 10:11 The Good Shepherd

John 10:11 The Divine Shepherd

John 10:11 The Ideal Shepherd

John 10:14 Individual Knowledge

John 10:14 The Gentleness of Christ

John 10:14 ‘That I may Know Him’

John 10:14-15 Fourfold Knowledge

John 10:16 ‘All Souls are Mine’

John 10:16 The Unfolded Flock

John 10:16 The Church’s Mission

John 10:19 Not Peace, but a Sword

John 10:28 A Cluster of Grapes

John 10:37-38 The Evidence of the Miracles

John 11:1 The Discipline of Sickness

John 11:5 A Loved Family

John 11:6 Divine Delay

John 11:9 Life and Work

John 11:11 He Giveth His Beloved Sleep

John 11:16 ‘That we may Die with Him’

John 11:16 Thomas, the Devoted Disciple

John 11:25 The Mourner’s Hope

John 11:28 Characteristics of the Master

John 11:35 The Tears of Christ

John 11:35 Tears of Sympathy

John 11:43-44 The Raising of Lazarus

John 11:52 The Gathered Ones

John 12:3 An Offering of Love

John 12:7 A Good Work

John 12:12-14 The Triumphal Entry

John 12:21 A Great Aspiration

John 12:24 Death the Fulfilment of Life

John 12:24 Life Through Death

John 12:26 A Life of Service

John 12:27-28 The Sanctification of Sorrow

John 12:29 Voices of God

John 12:29 A Divided Crowd

John 12:32 The Attractive Power of Christ

John 12:32 The Christian Ideal

John 12:32 The Majesty of the Divine Humiliation

John 12:32 ‘The Power of God’

John 13:1 Perfect Love

John 13:1 Unto the End

John 13:7 The Mystery of Faith

John 13:13 The Call to Service

John 13:17 Missionary Service

John 13:17 Knowledge and Practice

John 13:23 The Beloved Disciple

John 13:23 On Jesus’ Bosom

John 13:25 A Pattern of Intercession

John 13:34 The New Commandment

John 13:34-35 Christian Philanthropy

John 14:1 Trouble and its Remedy

John 14:1 His only Son, Our Lord

John 14:2 The Father’s House

John 14:2 Communion with the Departed

John 14:2 Many Mansions

John 14:2 Sufficiency of Revelation

John 14:2 Heaven

John 14:2 The Lord’s Departure

John 14:6 The Living Way

John 14:6 Characteristics of Truth

John 14:6 The Christ Life

John 14:6 Living in Christ

John 14:6 Characteristics of Life

John 14:8 On Knowing God

John 14:9 Power through Christ

John 14:12 Greater Works

John 14:15-17 The Mission of the Spirit of Truth

John 14:15-17 Another Comforter

John 14:15-17 Grounds of Comfort

John 14:15-17 Comforter, Advocate, Guide

John 14:17 The Indwelling Christ

John 14:19 Life through Christ

John 14:21-23 Coming and Abiding

John 14:26 The Divine Teacher

John 14:27 The Peace of Christ

John 15:4 Abiding in Christ

John 15:5 The Union of Christ and the Believer

John 15:5 Apart from the Vine

John 15:11 Christian Joy

John 15:15 Friends of Jesus

John 15:26-27 Witness-Bearing

John 15:26-27 Witnessing for Christ

John 15:27 Qualifications for Witness

John 16:5 Christ’s Sorrowful Surprise

John 16:7 Christ and His People

John 16:7 The Guidance of the Spirit

John 16:7 Before Pentecost

John 16:8 Conviction of Sin

John 16:8 The Holy Spirit and the World

John 16:8 Convictions of the Spirit

John 16:8-9 The Reproof of the Comforter

John 16:12 Many Things to be Revealed

John 16:13 Guidance and Truth

John 16:13 The Spirit and the Church

John 16:14 Spiritual Revelation

John 16:14 The Function of the Paraclete

John 16:16 Absent and Present

John 16:16 The Little While

John 16:20 The Problem of Suffering

John 16:22 Joy which Abides

John 16:23 ‘In My Name’

John 16:33 Two Contrasted Conceptions

John 17:2 The Authority of Christ

John 17:3 The Only True God

John 17:4 The Work of Life

John 17:11 Christian Unity

John 17:15 Holy Keeping

John 17:17 Christian Sanctity

John 17:19 The Consecration of Personality

John 17:19 Secrets of Sanctity

John 17:21 Our Unhappy Divisions

John 17:21 Visible Unity

John 17:22 ‘One with Him’

John 17:24 Christ’s Wish for His People

John 18:1 Gethsemane

John 18:1 The Shadowed Garden

John 18:36 Not of this World

John 18:36 The Church and the State

John 18:37 The King Jesus

John 19:5 Lessons from Calvary

John 19:9 Pilate’s Question

John 19:15 The Crucifixion of the King

John 19:26-27 The Most Pathetic Phrase in God’s Word

John 19:26-27 The Word of Tender Care

John 19:26-27 The Identity of Human and Divine Love

John 19:26-27 Bereavement

John 19:28 The Thirst of Christ

John 19:28 The Words of Simple Human Nature

John 19:28 The Crisis Reached

John 19:28 The Appeal from the Cross

John 19:28 The Thirst for Fellowship

John 19:28 Divine Thirst

John 19:30 The Finished Word

John 19:30 The Victory of the Passion

John 19:30 ‘’Tis Finished, All is Finished’

John 19:38-39 From Cowardice to Confession

John 20:1 The Visit of Mary Magdalene

John 20:1 The Empty Tomb

John 20:6-7 The Testimony of the Grave-clothes

John 20:8 Easter Thoughts

John 20:9 The Power of His Resurrection

John 20:11 What Mary saw through her Tears

John 20:17 ‘Touch Me Not’

John 20:17 Reverence for the Supernatural

John 20:19 The Lord’s Day

John 20:19 The Message of Peace

John 20:23 The Remission of Sins

John 20:24 The Absence of Thomas

John 20:27 The Appearance to Thomas

John 20:29 The Beatitude of Faith

John 21:1 Christ’s Resurrection Life

John 21:4 (r.v.) A Manifestation of the Risen Lord

John 21:6 The Right Side of the Ship

John 21:12 The Unchanging Christ

John 21:15 The Asking Christ

John 21:18 The Renewal of St. Peter

John 21:18 The Two Girdings

John 21:20 John the Evangelist

01 Chapter 1

Verse 6

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BAPTIST

‘There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.’

John 1:6

There are two things about John which we have to remember:—

I. He was a fearless man.—In those days, as now, people were very fond of having their own way; and John went into the midst of these people, and he told them of their sins, and did not spare one of them, whether it was a soldier, or statesman, or king.

II. He was a very humble man.—Men brave in the battlefield are generally the humblest in other things. John did not want anything himself; he wanted to be lost in Christ.

III. He was a burning and a shining light, but only so to prepare for the Sun of Righteousness. He was a burning light, full of the warmth of love; a shining light to light them on the path they ought to go. We all ought to be that. That ought be the object and calling of every one of us.

Rev. Canon Teignmouth Shore.

Illustration

‘A ship was wrecked at sea and a boat was launched with the passengers. But the night grew so terribly dark and the storm beat so fiercely that they gave themselves up as lost. At last, a sailor who knew the coast said he was acquainted with a creek into which they could run if they only had a light. But there was no light. Suddenly, however, they saw a little flicker, and it grew larger, and by its guidance, with a shout of joy, the brave sailors rammed the boat into the creek, and they were saved. That night a little girl, very young, had heard a wild cry above the storm out at sea, and with her little hands she rolled down an old tar-barrel by the shore. She had stuffed it with straw and set a match to it, saying, “Perhaps even my little light may save some one.” And it did. You never know what power you may be to save some shipwrecked life.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

WITNESSING TO THE LIGHT

Seven hundred years before, Isaiah foretold the office of John the Baptist (Isaiah 40:3), and the Old Testament itself ends with a prophecy of the great messenger of Christ (Malachi 3:1). He was the harbinger, the forerunner, the pioneer of the Lord: to prepare for Christ, to glorify Christ, was the object of his birth and the sum of his existence.

The secret of Christ-like living in public is Christ-like praying in secret; and most certainly John himself was a man of prayer. John was Christ’s witness—

I. By his words.

II. By his life.

III. In his death.

Christ expects all who love Him to be His witnesses. Let us never forget that our religion ought not only to be a possession to be enjoyed, but also a talent for which we are responsible, and a light which by all means we must spread.

—Rev. F. Harper.

Verse 10

BLINDNESS OF HEART

‘He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.’

John 1:10

These are the words in which the last of the Apostles summed up the direct and visible results of the Incarnation. He is above all impressed with the awful paradox that, when God became man, men were so blind as not to perceive it.

A sad text, and yet it has its consolations.

I. It teaches us that the Presence of our Lord does not depend on our faith, or our love, or our keenness of spiritual vision. He is in the world, although the world knows Him not; and therein have we our best hope for its daily progress from strength to strength.

II. So it is in the discipline of common life; so it is, above all, in that most sacred and blessed ordinance in which He has pledged His Presence to every weary and penitent soul. For in the tenderness of His unfaltering compassion He is there for grace and blessing, although we do not see His Face, although faith is too weak to realise how great a Guest is in our midst.