The Continuing Rule of Christ in his Church, Represented by The Ministry, Spiritual Life and Patriarchal Age of John; or the Destiny of the Church in Respect of her Predominantly Internal Character and Immortal Spiritual Life
THE CONTINUING RULE OF CHRIST IN HIS CHURCH, REPRESENTED BY THE MINISTRY, SPIRITUAL LIFE AND PATRIARCHAL AGE OF JOHN; OR THE DESTINY OF THE CHURCH IN RESPECT OF HER PREDOMINANTLY INTERNAL CHARACTER AND IMMORTAL SPIRITUAL LIFE
Joh_21:20-23
(Joh_21:20-24, pericope for the third day after Christmas or for St. John the Evangelist’s day.)
20 Then [omit Then] Peter, turning about [turning round], seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which [who] also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, 21 Lord, which [who] is he that betrayeth thee? Peter [therefore] seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do [or, But how will it be with him?
ïὗôïò äὲôß
] ? 22Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow [Follow] thou me. 23Then went this saying [This report therefore went] abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die [dieth not, was not to die,
ïὐê ἀðïèíÞóêåé
]: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die [dieth not]; but, If t will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Joh_21:20. Following (also) [
ἀêïëïõèïῦíôá
].—The following of John is to be explained as the result of the involuntary drawing of love. It Proves however, that John did not understand the Lord as wishing to make Peter the recipient of an exclusively confidential communication.
Who also leaned on His breast at thesupper [
ï
͂
ò êáὶ ἀíÝðåóåí ἐí ôῷ äåßðíῷ ἐðὶ ôὸ óôῆèïò áὐôïῦ
].—Wherefore this addition? Interpretations:
1. It is intended to bring to mind the incident Joh_13:23 ff., when John inquired of the Lord on Peter’s behalf, and to demonstrate the fact that Peter has now grown far bolder, insomuch that he himself questions Christ, and that in behalf of John (Chrysostom and others).
2. It is designed as an intimation to this effect; namely that, peradventure, a lot so full of sufferings as Peter’s might not be intended for the disciple so pre-eminently loved by Jesus (Meyer). As if Jesus in partiality protected His particular friends from sufferings!
3. It is intended to assign the motive for John’s following. John, in referring to the fact that he was the confidant of Jesus at the Last Supper, doubtless means to intimate that it was allowable for him now, as the confidant of Jesus, freely to join Him. Peter himself had possibly understood the summons of Jesus as prefacing an instantaneous being “girded” by “another” for an entrance into the other world; John understood it as the prelude to a love-test to be administered at Christ’s withdrawal into concealment.
Joh_21:21. But how will it be with this (man)?
ïὖôïò äὲ ôß
; [sc.
ἔóôáé
]
Meaning op the question:
1. In accordance with the interpretation of the following as accomplished by martyrdom: How shall it be with this my fellow-combatant (Euthymius)?
2. In accordance with the literal interpretation of the following: Is he to be with us now? (Paulus).
3. What sort of a fate shall this man have in his calling? (Tholuck, Luthardt).
4. If Peter saw in the mysterious walk a test of joyful following, his first thought would be: John, without being called, exposes himself to a moment of difficulty. The question: Shall this man go too? had at the same time, then, the background: What shall become of this man?
Motive of the question:
1. Special love for John (Chrysostom, Erasmus, Luthardt).
2. A question prompted by curiosity and a certain jealousy (Lücke, Meyer).
3. Disapprobation of a supposed unauthorized accompanying (Paulus and others).
4. Curiosity and interest as to John’s fate. “A want of concentration, an excess of natural vivacity, was certainly involved in Peter’s ability to turn away his eyes so quickly from himself and his own destiny, and fasten them upon another.” Tholuck.
The self-consciousness with which Peter receives the disclosure and summons of the Lord, turns to compassion for John whose present and future task Jesus apparently fails to appoint. Between Jesus and John everything is understood of itself, tacitly, as it were, while between Jesus and Peter everything has to be expressed, discussed, in a degree stipulated. Now thinks Peter,—in all noble-mindedness, we may say,—the same course must be pursued with John, else will he come short in somewhat: he, therefore, must receive his instructions for now and for the future. Hence Christ, in His reproof, appeals to His will, not to a distinct instruction; while, indeed, indicating the substance of His will. [The words
ôß ðñὸò äÝ
in the next verse imply a gentle rebuke (Bengel: hoc Petri curiositatem in ordinem redigit), and remind Peter of the distinctness of each man’s position and calling. Hence “Do thou follow Me,” instead of inquiring after him. See Meyer and Alford.—P. S.]
Joh_21:22. If I will that he remain [
Ἐὰí áὐôὸí èÝëù ìÝíåéí ἕùò ἕñ÷ïìáé
,
ôß ðñüò óÝ
;]—As we do not read that Jesus sent John back, or that He returned with Peter and John from the mysterious walk, we must (contrary to our first edition) admit that Tholuck is right in here rejecting the literal interpretation: “If I choose to leave him behind until I return from My walk with thee (Mark, Exerc. exeg. Similarly Paulus).”
In these words, however, Christ enwraps the prophecy concerning John. That he remain—tarry,—
ìÝíåéí
“the opposite of
ἀêïëïõèåῖí
which was to be accomplished through martyrdom; therefore: to be preserved alive. Comp. Php_1:25; 1Co_15:6.” Meyer.
Till I come [
ἐùò ἔñ÷ïìáé
].
1. To lead him out of Galilee to apostolic activity (Theophyl).
2. In the destruction of Jerusalem (Wetstein and others)
3. Reference to the near Parousia of Christ (Lücke, [De Wette], Meyer).
4. In the destruction of Jerusalem as the beginning of the Parousia of Christ (Luthardt). [So also Bengel, Stier and Alford: “After the destruction of Jerusalem began that mighty series of events of which the Apocalypse is the prophetic record, and which is in the complex known as the coming of the Lord, ending, as it shall, with His glorious and personal Advent.” Bengel: “Joannes turn, quum Apocalypsin scripsit, Dominum, venire scripsit.”—P. S.]
5. Legendary interpretation: As expnessive of the mysterious surviving of the disciple until the end of the world. (Vulg.: Sic cum volo manere) see the Introduction [p. 12].
6. Hypothetical: Until the last coming (Rev_22:20). Tholuck: “The sentence hypothetically declares that not even the longest extension of the life-term of Peter’s fellow-disciple ought to be the occasion of jealousy.” [So also Trench, Miracles, p. 466, as quoted by Alford.—P. S.] Supposing the saying to be hypothetical, however, its prophetic meaning would be weakened.
7. The coming [of Jesus] to take [John to heaven] through the medium of an easy [natural] death (adventus gratiosus in artioulo mortis. Rupert, Grotius, Olshausen and others). [So also Lampe, Ewald, Wordsworth.] In opposition to this view Tholuck remarks: The characteristic
êáὶ ðáñáëÞøïìáé
is wanting. Nevertheless this interpretation alone forms a real antithesis; if
ἀêïëïõèåῖí
here mean: to follow the home-returning Jesus through the medium of martyrdom, and
ìÝíåéí
, on the other hand signify: to remain alive,—then to remain alive until I come, means also, until I come to take him. The destruction of Jerusalem, for instance, forms no contrast to martyrdom; neither does the Parousia itself. Such a contrast is presented, however, by a natural death. Natural death is the individual type, continuing throughout New Testament times, of the Parousia for the individual Christian (Mat_24:44; Joh_14:3, etc.); and this Parousia of Christ in the death of believers, is a warranty to them of their participation in the general Parousia (1Co_15:51; 1Th_4:15). Simultaneously with John’s remaining until the coming of Christ in the hour of his natural death, there is indicated, however, the remaining of the Johanneau type until the Parousia of Christ.
Joh_21:23. This saying therefore went abroad [
Ἐîῆëèåí ïὖí ïὖôïò ὁëüãïò åἰò ôïὺò ἀäåëöïὺò ὅôé ὀ ìáèçôὴò ἐêåῖíïò ïὐê ἀðïèíÞóêåé
].—The above mentioned tradition, which not even the Gospel has been able utterly to do away with. See the Introduction. According to Baur, that tradition grew out of the Revelation; the statement is entirely without foundation. The tradition to the effect that John did but slumber in the grave and moved the earth with his breath, was a synthesis of the fact of his death and the precipitate apodictic interpretation of Christ’s word.
Yet Jesus said not unto him [
ïὐê åἶðåí äὲ áὐôῷὁ
̓
Éçóïῦò
].—This defense of Christ’s word against a precipitate interpretation is of the highest importance. It warrants the sure conclusion that John was still living when this was written; that consequently, it must have been written by him. Had John been dead, another author would have expressed himself positively against the interpretation of the brethren, giving, very probably, a different interpretation at the same time. The disciple, however, would not anticipate the mysterious purport of Christ’s saying which was as yet unfulfilled.
[“So also Alford, whose note may be added: The following words are to me a proof that this chapter was written during John’s life-time. If written by another person after John’s death, we should certainly, in the refutation of this error, have read,
ἀðἐèáíåí ãὰñ
,
êáὶ ἐôÜöç
, as in Act_2:29.” This notion of John’s not having died, was prevalent in the ancient Church,—so that Augustine himself seems almost to credit the story of the earth of John’s tomb heaving with his breath. Tract 124:2. “The English sect of the ‘Seekers’ under Cromwell expected the reappearance of the Apostle as the forerunner of the coming of Christ.” Tholuck. See Trench on the Miracles, ed. 2, p. 467, note. The simple recapitulation of the words of the Lord shows that their sense remained dark to the writer, who ventured on no explanation of them; merely setting his own side of the apostolic duty over against that of Peter, who probably had already by following his Master through the Cross, glorified God, whereas the beloved disciple was, whatever that meant, to tarry till He came.” Wordsworth makes the following practical remark on Joh_21:23 : “The Holy Spirit, by commenting here on a fulfilled prophecy, that concerning Peter, teaches us to attend to the fulfilment of prophecy in our own times. And by only correcting an error with regard to an unfulfilled prophecy,—that concerning St. John, He teaches us not to speculate curiously on unfulfilled prophecies; but to wait patiently, till Christ comes to us in the events of history, and interprets His own prophecies by fulfilling them.”—P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The foregoing section should, above all, be valued as an eloquent token of the authenticity of this Gospel. Every later writer would, in one way or another, have labored after additional emphasis. See the last Exeg. Note.
2. The word of Jesus concerning John has been fulfilled, in a literal sense, in the circumstance of his dying a natural death at an advanced age. And it is in accordance with this fact, therefore, that we have to apply the saying in respect of its primary signification. That it, however, as well as the saying concerning Peter, was at the same time intended to designate John as a type of the post-temporal presence of Christ in the Church, is proved by the very fact that men gave vent to the feeling of the lofty significance of the saying, whose ideal sense they came short of, in mythical allegations touching the continuous on-living of John. See Exeg. Note to Joh_21:22. Further communications on this subject, as also concerning the dark counterpart of this tradition, the tradition of the Wandering Jew, see in Heubner, Joh. p. 542.
3. The higher sense of the saying, then, is expressive of a Johannean form of Christianity, just as the previous saying is significant of a Petrine form of the same. The words mean, therefore:
(1) There shall always be friends of God, friends of Christ, inward—subjective,—intuitive Christians, in accordance with the characteristic of John, representative of the innermost presence of Christ in the Church.
(2) In this form, the Christian spiritual life shall remain until Christ returns.
(3) The more the Petrine characteristic of the Church recedes, the more prominent will her Johannean characteristic become. The Church shall attain to maturity. She shall be a bride adorned with her ornaments, Rev_19:7-8.
4. Pauline Christianity may be regarded as a form of transition from the Petrine type to the Johannean. And so far as this, the schellingean distinction of the three Christian ages is correct. Only we must not identify Petrinism with Roman Catholicism, Paulinism with Protestantism (though in Protestantism, Paulinism has found its triumphant expression), and least of all must we make a synthesis of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, affirming said synthesis to represent Johannean Christianity.
The Petrine characteristic is the trait of the Church as influenced by law; as the confessing Church; the Pauline is the trait of the Church as influenced by the freedom of faith; as the witnessing Church; the Johannean, the trait of the Church as filled with the ideality of faith, working and keeping joyful holiday, the Church of the light, love and life of Christ, i.e. the Adorned Bride. These three degrees of development, however, denote but the one unitous post-temporal presence of the Spirit of Christ in the Church, in accordance with the ground-forms of that presence. Now the two primitively distinct ground-forms are Peter and John. See the discussions on this subject: Apostolisches Zeitalter, II., p. 649, and the concluding section of Schaff’s History of the Apostolic Church.
5. John’s free joining in the following which Christ commanded Peter is likewise a characteristic of the Johannean essence. It is the involuntary drawing of love’s impulse and friendship’s right; the perfect humanity of the life of faith. The expression of this ripe spiritual fellowship with the glorified Lord makes so ghostly and yet so human an impression upon the world, that John passes, almost untouched, through its persecutions. He is exiled, but not killed. His keenest sufferings, however, are prepared him by the misconceptions of external circles of [religious] fellowship themselves, these latter stamping the Petrine as the statutory essence. He too, in his own way, is nailed to the cross like Peter, but not with heathen nails—ah no! with Christian or Judo-Christian; and, insomuch as this is true, with silver nails.
6. Here, then, belongs also the entire import of all Christian mysticism and speculation, in respect of their pure, ideal form.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The solemnization of the resurrection of Jesus: A call to follow Him.—The following of Jesus not simply a following of the Crucified One, but also of the Risen One.—The disciples’ following of the Lord: 1. In its unity, 2. in its diversity.—How Peter, as he follows the Lord, hears the rustle of John’s foot behind him.—The question of Peter: Lord, but what shall this man do? 1. In the mouth of Peter himself: well-meant and yet not wholly warranted; 2. in the mouth of those who boast of Peter: ill-meant and unwarrantable.—How the most zealous servants of Christ frequently fail to understand His most intimate friends.—John, the friend of Jesus, the patriarch of all the friends of God and of Christ.—Christ’s presence in the world and Church through the medium of the love of His friends.—Friendship with Christ on earth an undying spring, enduring until the summer-time at the end of the world.—If I will that he tarry: Christ’s will the fate of His people (if we live, we live unto the Lord, etc.)—How the Lord has appointed such different careers to His people, yet deciding for all aright.—Christ can insure the longest life.—“What is that to thee?” In what sense we should concern ourselves about our Christian colleague, and in what sense we should avoid so doing: 1. As to his spiritual welfare, but not as to the external form thereof; 2. as to the will of God concerning his way, not as to a human regulation of his way; 3. in divine sympathy, not in human comparison or in human rivalry.—Christ’s conference with Peter in regard to the destiny of John: 1. The question of Peter; 2. the answer of Christ; 3. the proud interpretation of the disciples; 4. the modest correction of John.—The remaining of John until Christ’s coming again: 1. In its historical sense; 2. in its symbolical import.
Starke: Lange: It becomes evident from this, that when Christ said to Peter, Follow Me, He advanced a few paces from him, desiring, in a prophetic manner, in conformity to which a secret matter was sometimes presented in outward gestures, to lead Peter, while claiming from him a bodily following for a short distance only, to a spiritual following, and, in particular, to a following to the death of the cross.—Zeisius: We all have, alas, an innate propensity to concern ourselves unnecessarily about others, rather than about ourselves. Therefore flee curiosity, Sir_3:22. It is one of the infirmities of believers to discover a kind of jealousy when they perceive others to possess gifts of grace, either physical or spiritual, in a greater degree than themselves, Jon_4:1 f.—Bibl. Wirt.: Let every man wait on his vocation, not troubling himself as to what God will do or decree with others.—Lampe: Moreover, we perceive from these words 1. The humility of John, in not being willing to have so great honor ascribed to him; 2. his solicitude for the brethren, whom he sought to free from error.
Geriach: John worked inward in the Church rather than outward.—Braune: Inscrutable and mysterious are the ways by which God leads us, until we are come to the end of them. Therefore abide by the testimony of Scripture, and attend every man to his own affairs.—Gossner: Why is it only to me that such things are said? That man gets off more easily. Before one can turn round, people are ready with questions like this: What shall this one and that one do?
Johannes Mueller, Lebensgeschichte 1806, p. 34, writes: “The opinion now starting up again that the disciple whom Jesus loved, did not die, is found, if I mistake not, in Sulpitius Severus, also Hist. S., Lib. II. I have frequently met with it in Greek legends, monologues, and chronicles, with this addition, viz., that the dust upon his grave is moved by the breath of his mouth.” P. John 106: “In a work of the Patriarch Ephraim, of Antioch (p. 545, Photius, num. 229, p. 418 of the Augsburg Edition 1604) it is positively affirmed that John is still living; that he has vanished, and that in his grave nought was found but a delicious odor and a precious spring of healing balm. George of Alexandria informs us (Photius num. 96, p. 139) that to the monk Hesychius, a Syrian, there appeared St. Peter and St. John, and that the latter delivered a book to the young monk, who was afterwards called Chrysostom. Of the tradition’s having come into our parts also, thou wilt find a proof in Hübner’s Salzburg, Part. I., p. 317.”—He who has promised to follow the Saviour can do nothing else than await His orders, composing himself to rest and be active as His Lord wills, and more than once to labor till he is weary.
Heubner: The question as to ourselves should concern us so entirely to the exclusion of all else, as to keep us quiet when hundreds are threatening to get precedence of us. We, perhaps, think ourselves ripe (to go home), but there are reasons why God decrees otherwise with us.
Joh_21:23 : It results from this verse that the apostles could not have been of the decided opinion that they would live to see the coming of Christ; otherwise they could not have ascribed such a destiny to John as a special prerogative.—The spirit of John shall never perish; it shall ever renew itself—never shall there be wanting loving and beloved Johannean souls.
[Craven: From Augustine: Joh_21:22. Let action be perfected by following the example of My Passion, but let contemplation wait inchoate till at My coming it be completed.—From Chrysostom: Joh_21:22. Attend to the work committed to thee, and do it: if I will that he abide here, what is that to thee?
[From Burkitt: Joh_21:20-22. There are two great vanities in man with reference to knowledge,—the one a neglect to know what it is our duty to know; the other, a curiosity to know what it doth not belong to us to know.
Joh_21:23. How much the wisdom of God ought to be admired, in giving us a written word, and tying us to it, when we see erroneous traditions so soon on foot in the world, and our Saviour’s own speeches so much mistaken, and that by wise and holy men themselves in the purest times.—How great is the vanity and uncertainty of oral tradition!
[From M. Henry: Joh_21:21. Peter seems more concerned for another than for himself: so apt are we to be busy in other men’s matters, but negligent in the concerns of our own souls.—He seems more concerned about event than about duty.
Joh_21:22. Though Christ calls out some of His disciples to resist unto blood, yet not all. Though the crown of martyrdom is bright and glorious, yet the beloved disciple comes short of it.—It is the will of Christ, that His disciples should mind their own present duty, and not be curious in their inquiries about future events, concerning either themselves or others.—If we will closely attend to the duty of following Christ, we shall find neither heart nor time to meddle with that which does not belong to us.
Joh_21:23. Hence learn, The aptness of men to misinterpret the sayings of Christ. The grossest errors have sometimes shrouded themselves under the umbrage of incontestable truths; and the Scriptures themselves have been wrested by the unlearned and unstable.
[From Scott: Joh_21:22 : Follow thou Me; If we attend to this voice, even “death itself will be gain to us,” and we shall be ready for His coming.—[From Keble: Joh_21:21-22.
“Lord, and what shall this man do?
Ask’st thou, Christian, for thy friend?
If his love for Christ be true,
Christ hath told thee of his end:
This is he whom God approves,
This is he whom Jesus loves.
Ask not of him more than this,
Leave it in his Saviour’s breast,
Whether, early called to bliss,
He in youth shall find his rest,
Or armed in his station wait
Till his Lord be at the gate.”
[From A Plain Commentary (Oxford): Joh_21:22. Our Lord’s words to Peter are made up of rebuke and counsel.What is that to thee?—which of us has not deserved the rebuke?Follow thou Me! which of us does not require the counsel? The heart and eye are thus called away from the problem which perplexes, the prospect which discourages, the thoughts which distract and paralyze; and a plain duty is proposed instead. Not speculation, is enjoined, but practice; not knowledge, but goodness; not another man’s matters, but our own.—“This was a transient stumbling in one who, but lately recovered of a great disease, did not walk firmly. But it is the common track of most, to wear out their days with impertinent inquiries. There is a natural desire in men to know the things of others, and to neglect their own; and to be more concerned about things to come, than about things present.” (Leighton.)
[From Barnes: Joh_21:22. Hence we learn that 1. Our main business is to follow, and imitate the Lord Jesus Christ; 2. There are many subjects of religion on which a vain and impertinent curiosity is exercised; 3. Jesus will take care of all His beloved disciples, and we should not be unduly solicitous about them; 4. We should go forward to whatever He calls us, not envying the lot of any other man, and anxious only to do the will of God.
[From Jacobus: Joh_21:22. The intimation was that “John was to wait patiently, to linger on year after year in loneliness and weariness of spirit, to abide persecution, oppression and wrong (Rev_1:9), to endure the enmity of the wicked (1Jn_3:13), and the sight of heresies abounding in the Church (1Jn_2:18-26), as if to exemplify in himself all classes of the faithful, and the various modes of drinking the cup of Christ.”—Thou (emphatic); “They, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” 2Co_10:12.—Each must do his own duty, which is not another’s, and whether another shall do his own duty or not.—Christian liberality is cramped with many by the constant asking of this question, “What shall this man do?” when the question should be, “What shall I do?”
Joh_21:23. Let us fall back upon God’s word—study its precise terms—and bring out its very language more and more to the public understanding: and thus will many an error be stripped of its disguises, many a perversion of God’s will be exposed, and the Church shall “grow up in all things unto Him who is the Head.”
[From Owen: Joh_21:23. “John was earlier than the other disciples prepared for the death of martyrdom, as the most perfect sacrifice of obedience to God, and of love to God and man; but that was the very reason why he was not to taste the martyr’s death. John consummated in his life and natural death what the martyrs sealed in their final sacrifice, namely, the victorious manifestation of the love of God and man.” (Stier.)]
Footnotes:
Joh_21:20.—[The text. rec. inserts
äἐ
after
ἐðéóôñáöåὶò
, with
à
. D., so also Lange; but A. B. C. Vulg. omit it, so also Lachm., Tischond., Alf., Westc—P. S.]
Joh_21:21.—[The text. rec. omits
ïὑí
after
ôïῦôïí
, which is well supported by Orig.,
à
B. C. D. Vulg. Syr., and adopted by the critical edd.—P. S.]
Joh_21:22.—[Noyes: “If it be my will (
èÝëù
) that he remain till I come, what is it to thee?”]
Joh_21:22.—[Alford, to bring out the emphatic position of
óý
and
ìïé
more fully, translates: “Do thou follow Me.”—P. S.]
[So also Alford, who sees in this description of the beloved disciple a strong token of John’s hand having written this chapter. See chap, Joh_13:23.—P. S.]
[Lange: Was soil aber dieser?]
[Next to this might be ranked the unfounded view or Hengstenberg: the time of the decisive struggle between Christ and Rome, which commenced under Domitian.—P. S.]
