John and His Writings

u't V\UrV (Qornell Ittiueraitg Cibtarg Stljata. New ^ork THE GIFT OF ALFRED C. BARNES 1889 r^ ly The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029342437 BOOKS BY THE RAMF, AUTHOR Biblical Introduction Series JOHN AND HIS WRITINGS By D. A. HAYES ProfcMor of New Teitament Interpretation in the Graduate School of Theology Garrett Biblical Institute THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN NEW YORK CINCINNATI b s A^fli '-\ Copyright, 1917, by D. A. HAYES ;_) The Bible text used in this volume is taken from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright, igoi, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. First Edition Printed January, 1917 Reprinted, February, 1919 ;- 1 '. I 111 ^f T 1 )1 :n' TO WILLIAM DAVID SCHERMERHORN MY FORMER PUPIL AND PRESENT ASSOCIATE A MAN OF JOHANNINE EXPERIENCE AND LIFE CONTENTS PAGE Foreword g PART I. THE APOSTLE JOHN I. John the Little Known 15 II. John the Unrecorded and Disregarded 22 III. John in the New Testament 26- IV. John in Tradition and Legend 34 V. John the Son of Thunder 44 VI. John the Saint and Seer 55 PART II. THE MOST REMARKABLE GOSPEL: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN I. Some Remarkable Estimates 77 II. Some Remarkable Omissions 80 III. Some Remarkable New Features 89- IV. A Remarkable Work of Art 92 V. Other Remarkable Characteristics 97 VI. Occasion and Aim iio- VII. Contents 114 VIII. The Johannine Authorship Disputed 119 IX. Discoveries Favorable to Authenticity 127 X. Was John an Early Martyr? 129 XI. Claims of John the Presbyter 136 XII. Evidence Favorable to Authenticity 142 XIII. Opposition and Defense; Conclusion 151 PART III. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN I. What Shall We Call It? 159 II. Relation to the Fourth Gospel 163 III. Genuineness and Date 172 IV. Heresies Combated 173 V. A Final and Crowning Revelation 176 VI. The Epistle of Love i77 VII. The Epistle of Knowledge 180 VIII. The Epistle of the Incarnation 184 IX. The Epistle of the Atonement 186 X. The Epistle of Personal Experience 188 7 8 CONTENTS PAGB XI. The Epistle of Fellowship 189 XII. The Epistle of Purity 19.2 XIII. The Epistle of Victory 196 PART IV. THE MINOR EPISTLES OP JOHN I. General Character 205 II. The External Evidence 205 III. The Internal Evidence 207 IV. John the Elder 208 V. The Person Addressed in the Second Epistle 209 VI. Some Notes on the Second Epistle 211 VII. Notes on the Third Epistle 214 VIII. Value of These Epistles 216 PART V. THE APOCALYPSE I. Relation to the Other Johannine Writings 223 II. The External Evidence 237 III. The Date 244 IV. General Characteristics of the Apocalyptical Lit- erature 247 V. The Jewish Apocalypses 252 VI. The Apocai^ypse of John and the Jewish Apocalypses 257 VII. A Mysterious Revelation 260 VIII. The Fourfold Assurance of the Beginning and the Fearful Threat at the End 265 IX. Two Reasons Why the Inspiration of the Book has Been Doubted 268 X. Some Curiosities of Exegesis 270 XI. Best General Attitude toward the Book 276 XII. Different Schools of Interpretation 277 XIII. Best System of Interpretation 279 XIV. General Characteristics 285 XV. Salient Features of Its Teaching 303 XVI. How to Read the Apocalypse 307 XVII. A Fitting End of the Bible 310 Bibliography 315 Indexes 319 FOREWORD At the close of our volume on Paul and His Epistles we said that John was the greatest theologian of the apostolic times ; and, while we recognized that the Pauline influence had dominated the thought and life of the church at large, and we believed that it ought to do so until the missionary and evangelistic work of the church was done, we prophesied that then the Johannine theology would be the supreme influence in the days of the church's edification and consummation in love. That prophecy indi- cates our estimate of the final position to be accorded the apostle John. We believe that as the church grows in grace and becomes more and more like its Lord it will more and more agree with him that John is the disciple most worthy of its love. There is a disposition at the present time with a certain class of writers to emphasize the dependence of John upon Paul, and these writers try to make it appear that the author of the Johannine books was a disciple of Paul even more fully than he was a disciple of Jesus. We believe that John always was a receptive soul and that he probably learned much from Paul, as from every other strong per- sonality with whom he came into contact, but the supreme influence in all his more mature life was that of the Master. For the most part he was one of the quiet in the land, and he stood nearest to the Master, and he saw deepest into the Master's spirit and truth, and he meditated longest upon these things, and in the end he formulated more fully than any other the essentials of the new faith ; and as far as he went we believe that he has spoken the final word in this field. lo FOREWORD Paul was taught by the Spirit, but John had had the additional advantage of the three years of teaching by the Incarnate Lord. After Pentecost the Spirit of Jesus led him into all the truth. His personal experience and the history of the church taught him "new significance and fresh result" from many of his early memories of the Master's teaching and life. At last he was prepared to write the consummation of the New Testament revelation, the final residuum of the first century's experience in the origin and the development of Christian truth. After Peter had been crucified and Paul had been beheaded, John was left to carry on the work and to perfect the faith for an- other entire generation in the church. What Jesus had taught in the first third of the century and what Peter and Paul had preached in the second third of the century John meditated upon through the last third of the century, and in this period he wrote the epistles, the Apocalypse, and the Gospel. They represent the highest reach of apostolic inspiration. This book will be perfect anathema in the eyes of those who are accustomed to treat the Johannine literature as anonymous or pseudonymous, and to regard the contents of these books as composed mainly of "such stuff as dreams are made of." We believe that the church tradition is vera- cious and trustworthy which assigns the authorship of the five Johannine books to the apostle John. We believe that the fourth Gospel is no romance, to be interpreted either allegorically or rationalistically. We believe in its historical trustworthiness, and we follow the apostle John as our supreme authority both as to fact and to faith. There was the old parallel of the two pictures of Socrates given us in the Memorabilia of Xenophon on the one hand and the Dialogues of Plato on the other, with the two pictures of Jesus furnished us by the synoptic Gospels on the one hand and the fourth Gospel on the other. It used to be a commonplace of criticism to affirm that the former FOREWORD II picture in the two cases was the prosaic, historical, and reliable one, while the latter was poetical, idealistic, and imaginative. It is interesting to see that there is a tendency at present among the classical scholars to revise that opinion and to believe that Plato, after all, has given us the truer picture of the great master; and we confidently expect that the final judgment in the case of the Gospels will be favorable to the greater value of that presentation of the Master's life and teaching which belongs to the one who loved him most and served him longest upon the earth. As his Gospel is better than any one of the synoptics, so we regard his first epistle as better than any one of the epistles of Paul. The difference in their writings marks the difference in the men. Paul is the greatest of the scribes, learned in the law ; John is the greatest of the seers, learned in love. Paul deals with syllogisms; John deals with intuitions. Paul argues and convinces ; John sees and declares. Paul is an advocate; John is a prophet. Paul proves with inevitable logic ; John proclaims with irrefuta- ble insight. Paul's proofs press upon each other like waves dashing over fortifications of sand on the beach. John's thought moves calmly and majestically like the ripples which spread outward in ever-widening circles till they are lost to sight, when you drop a pebble into the dimpling surface of the sleeping lake. Paul's epistles are treatises, arguing from premises to conclusions in logical order and formal structure. John's epistles are serenely unconscious of system and superior to formal argument. John makes confident affirmation of truth which he is sure will be self-attesting. He only has to utter it and let it stand. His sentences are like the Sequoia of the Pacific Coast, every one a giant which stands alone. Great spiritual intuitions are expressed with uttermost simplicity in giant sublimity of strength. The genius of John is most in evidence in the ease with which he unites the historical with the ideal, grasps the meaning — 12 FOREWORD of all phenomena, and sees the ultimate truth behind the surface event in the Apocalypse, the epistle, and the Gospel.

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