no THE REV. PROFESSOR A. S. GEDEN, M.A., D.D., 



although, he reports a similar use at least on the part of others 

 (cp. xii. 19 ; xiv. 22). The world (o k6(tjjlo<;) in St. John's Gospel 

 is not, except in a few instances (e.g.y i. 9 f . ; xvi. 28, 33 ; xviii, 

 36), the mere physical universe, constituted of material sub- 

 stance, but the world of life, as tainted and dominated by moral 

 evil, from the control of which He has entered into the world to 

 save it (iii. 17 ; xii. 47). He is thus, while not of this world 

 as they to whom He speaks are (viii. 23), the hght of the world 

 (viii. 12). It is this world that knoweth not the Father (xvii. 25), 

 and from the evil of which He prays that His own m.ay be 

 delivered (xvii. 15). This metaphorical meaning of " the 

 world," with all its doctrinal importance and inferences, reappears 

 in the first Epistle of St. John, and is frequently employed by 

 St. Paul ; but it is absent from the Synoptic Gospels, and from 

 the first Epistle of Peter, although it occurs in the second. Nor 

 is it found in the book of the Revelation. 



Finally some of the greatest sayings of the Gospel, as reported 

 by the writer, if they are not in the strict sense parable or 

 metaphor, move within the region where suggestive simile and 

 literal .expression meet. Of such are words or phrases with a 

 double import or meaning, of which there are many in the 

 Apostle's record, and some of these were misunderstood by the 

 hearers in a way that seems to us strange. The bread from 

 heaven (vi. 33, 58), and the eating of the fiesh of the Son of Man 

 and drinking His blood (ver. 53) are examples. " Ye shall seek Me, 

 and shall not find ; and where I am, ye cannot come " (vii. 34 ; 

 cp. xiii. 33) ; " he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father " 

 (xiii. 9) ; " if a man keep My word, he shall never see death 

 (viii. 51), with many others, are instances in which the more 

 profound significance of the Speaker's words failed to reach the 

 thought and understanding of at least the more loud-voiced and 

 forward part of his audience. 



A last example to which I would refer is that in which the 

 utterance of spiritual truth seems to enter into nearest contact 

 with human prejudice and passion. Christ has been declaring 

 the conditions of eternal life, and meeting the controversial 

 charges which the Jews preferred against Him. Finally, as 

 they are still uncertain and perplexed by his declaration of 

 Abraham's vision of His day and gladness thereat (viii. 56), 

 which they interpret of bodily sight (ver. 57), He formulates His 

 own claims and asserts His own Divine prerogative and being : 

 " Before Abraham came to be I am " (viii. 58, Trplv ^A^paa/ju 



