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Christ, as well as after. It was the despairing language of the prophet of old, "Lord, who hath believed our report ?" And another prophet complains, that "they rejected the word of the Lord." Jerem. viii. 9. Yet, as the Jews are mentioned distinctively in the next verse, they are probably not referred to in this.

It appears to me difficult to conceive, in what other sense than that proposed in the above interpretation it can be said, that the word was in the heathen world, that that world was made through him, and that it knew him not. The Arian hypothesis, that the world was made by the λoyos, Word, and that he sometimes appeared in it in an assumed human form,* is quite gratuitous, and without scriptural authority, or rather contrary to it. And the Athanasian interpretation, which maintains, that God the Son was in the world, that the world was made through him, and that the world knew him not, appears to me altogether destitute of proof and consistency.

* Where is he said to have appeared in the heathen world?

+ Justin Martyr, Irenæus, &c., often observed, that the supreme God, being essentially a 'spiritual and invisible Being, could not be seen and heard by men, and was not the personage who was said to appear and speak to the patriarchs; but that it was the 20yos, who habituated himself from the first to be man. In the opinion of these writers, therefore, the essential nature of the supreme Being, and of the Xoyos, must be generically different.

VERSE THE ELEVENTH.

V

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.w

To the Jews, his peculiar inheritance, he came in former times by Moses and the prophets, but more especially, at last, by Jesus Christ.

w The Jews were always prone to desert the law of God, and they particularly rejected the Messenger of the great counsel -Jesus Christ.

COMMENTARY.

"He came to his own inheritance.”—The expression EIS Ta dia, according to its scriptural use, means the Esther home or family. See Ruth v. 10. "Nevertheless Ha-. man refrained himself; and when he came home, &c." eigendwo eis ta idia, in the Septuagint. See also Act. xxi. 6, Israel, as the elect and peculiar people of God, was denominated "his inheritance," and "the lot of his inheritance." See Ps. lxxviii. 71, Deut. xxxii. 9. The word of God, therefore, in his special communications to the chosen race, might be said to come to his own home and inheritance. These special communications actually took place from the time of Moses to the last of the prophets, besides those which were common to them and the other nations of the world, as explained in the foregoing verse. Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20. "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them." But the Jews proved little less disobedient and rebellious than the Gentiles. Consult the second chapter of the epistle to the Romans. They often rejected the

counsel of God against themselves. And, last of all, they, as a nation, rejected him that was to come, the great Messenger of the covenant, Jesus, the Word become flesh, whom God had appointed to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins. Of the Jews' rejection of the word of God we have many instances on record. Ps. cvi. 24, 25. They believed not his word; but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord." Jerem. viii. 9. "Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them ?"

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But if we consider the connection of these words, and their bearing on the evangelist's main object, namely, the instrumentality of the Word of God in the revelation and establishment of the gospel dispensation, which, by an indirect personification, often used in the scriptures, was personally identified with Jesus Christ, its sole representative "in these last days," we shall conclude that they are to be referred primarily and chiefly to the mission of Jesus, the Christ, and to the rejection of him by his countrymen. This was probably more prominent in the view of the writer than the conduct of their forefathers in remoter times; and his words, so understood, have a more evident connection with that which follows.

VERSES THE TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,z even to them that believe on his namea: which were born b not of blood, c nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. f

e

d

* The word of God, manifested in, and operating through his representative, Jesus Christ.

y Conferred the privilege and honour.

z A denomination peculiar to Christians.

a Who believe in him.

b Brought into the spiritual condition of sons.

c Natural descent.

d The Levitical or old covenant. e Human appointment or authority.

f By the will and authority of God.

COMMENTARY.

"But as many as received him."-Whoever believed, whether Jews or Gentiles; for under the gospel dispensation, all those who believe equally participate of its peculiar privileges.

"Received him."-Received the word of God-God's actual manifestation of his gracious interposition in the gospel through Jesus Christ. This again is an indirect personification of God's active power and goodness, manifested in a specific dispensation of favour, and by a particular organ or instrument for carrying his intentions into effect. The reception of the organ of manifestation implies the reception of that which was conveyed-the provisions of God's almighty power and goodness in the gospel. "To receive God" is an expression which is not used in the New Testament. It is not uncommon to say "to receive the grace or favour of God, to receive Christ, to receive his disciples, to receive the word, to receive the Holy Spirit, &c."

It may be therefore presumed that the supposed deity of Jesus Christ was not contemplated by the writer, when he used this phraseology. It is true that we observe the following manner of speaking in John xiii. 20. "He that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." But this is a singular example; and it is evident that the word "receiveth" in the last clause, is used in adaptation to the former clause. "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me": then follows a kind of antithesis," and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me."*

To receive Christ as the representative of the word of God, is to admit his claims as a messenger sent from God. John v. 43. “I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not, &c." John i. 16. 17. "For of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses; but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Acts xi. 1. "And the Apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God." viii. 14.

Colos. ii. 6. "As ye therefore have received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk ye in him, &c."-" To receive Christ", and "to believe on his name" [that is, in him; for the expression is a Hebrew idiom] are in the main the same thing-to acknowledge his Messiaship and divine mission and authority. Rom. x. 8. 9. "The Word is nigh unto thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart; that is the word of faith, which we

*It may be observed that in the original two different words, λαμβάνω and δεχομαι, are used in the New Testament in the signification here intended. Compare Matth. x. 40. with John xiii. 10.

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