THE LIFE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS (12)
[p. 250] THE LIFE WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS (12)
John 20: 30, 31; John 1: 4; John 3: 14 - 16
JT It is thought that these verses of John 20, which we may regard as the closing verses of the book, chapter 21 having the nature of an appendix, will help us in taking up the whole gospel in relation to our subject, which is life. They come in after Thomas’ remarkable address to the Lord Jesus, “My Lord and my God”. It is not simply a formal statement as to His Godhead; He is addressed as God. The Lord’s answer finishes the matter of Thomas’ unbelief. And then we have these two verses in which signs are spoken of: “Many other signs therefore also Jesus did before his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name” (verses 30, 31). The subject of life comes in as linked to the truth of the Person of Christ. It is thought that John’s gospel is par excellence the section of Scripture that deals with our subject; and not only does it treat of life in relation to those who form the assembly, but also in its universal bearing extending on to the millennium. The epistles generally present life in regard to the saints in this dispensation, but the gospel by John treats of it in its universal bearing.
The introductory remark in chapter 1: 4, that life in Christ was the light of men, confirms that the universal aspect is in mind. But this verse is basic as to the whole subject. The One who is spoken of in the first three verses, who is presented to us as the Word, who was in the beginning, who was with God and who was God, through whom all things received being, is presented in verse 4 in relation to life: “In [p. 251] him was life, and the life was the light of men”. It is thought that the two verses in chapter 20, and this one in chapter 1 which we read, will help us in further pursuing our subject in this gospel. The verse in chapter 1 contemplates life abstractly in the Son, but nevertheless in a substantial sense, because it is said to be light. It is that by which light is afforded us.
JS Does Thomas arrive at this fact of the deity of Christ by experience?
JT It is remarkable that he addresses the Lord in this way, covering the great opening statements in the gospel as to His deity. No doubt he represents the Jews in the last days, and how the deity of Christ will be apprehended by them in view of the millennium — “My Lord and my God”, he says. The Spirit of God had in mind that the thought of life should extend on into the millennium, as it will have a public application there, and Christ will be apprehended as God. It is, in effect, a confession from his soul, only it is an address to the Lord — “My Lord and my God”.
ANW You would say that the prime truth of christianity is who this Person is?
JT That is what I thought, and that life is made to attach to it as the great thought following it in this gospel.
RWS Is the first part of verse 29, “Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed”, millennial? and is “Blessed they who have not seen and have believed”, our own times?
JT Yes, clearly. Thomas represents the Jews. His part in chapter 20 is millennial in the sense of the Jewish side of it. The nations, as having part in the millennial day, are seen in the next chapter; that is, the one hundred and fifty-three fishes. They were taken in the net, “great fishes”, but Thomas, as a type, does not belong to them. He belongs to the Jewish nation. He is connected with the second manifestation recorded in this gospel. The first [p. 252] manifestation (chapter 20: 19 - 23), refers to the assembly; the second, represented by Thomas, refers to Israel; and the third is in the one hundred and fifty-three fishes — the manifestation in Galilee.
JS In the first the Lord breathed into the disciples.
JT That refers to the assembly — the inner circle, which is the greatest.
APT The great draft of fishes, that is, of men, will be the result from the preaching of the gospel after the assembly is taken up. We read of an immense number in Revelation 7 — “a great crowd, which no one could number”.
JTJr What would you say as to the order in which Thomas speaks? He says “Lord” first.
JT There is a certain correspondence between his address to the Lord and the message that the Lord had sent through Mary to the disciples: “... my Father and your Father, ... my God and your God”, chapter 20: 17. This indicates a circle having the greatest and most intimate family relation with God. In Ephesians, Paul bows his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named; and the first of these families is clearly in mind in the message through Mary, in which the Lord says to His brethren, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. Now in what Thomas says, he has missed that. He was not with the other disciples when the message came. He represents the Jews coming in later, but nevertheless with light as to Christ; but “my God” comes after “my Lord”. The latter would be a kingdom reference. Instead of “my Father” in the inner circle, it is “my Lord” and then “my God”. The light that comes to Thomas is by the sign seen in the Lord’s body; that is, he is on lower ground. It is not a revelation that he gets, but what is evident in the Lord personally; it is what he witnesses under the Lord’s direction. The Lord says to him, “Bring thy finger here and see my hands; and bring thy hand and put it into my side; and be not unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God”. It is just light that comes to him through what is in Christ’s body. It is regarded, I think, as a sign here. He gets light through a sign, whereas the other disciples, in the early part of the chapter, get light through a message, involving a revelation, which is a higher thing; besides it is in a heavenly setting: “I ascend”. It should be noted, however, that in the message and also in what Thomas says the final thought is God.
ANW While each is called a manifestation, yet the first is an inner one.
JT Just so; the disciples were again within, but evidently on a lower level, for there was an unbelieving one among them, who necessarily detracted from the occasion. Any characteristic unbeliever here today detracts from this occasion. But Thomas’ unbelief was dispelled by the sign afforded by what was in the Lord’s own Person.
JS Is it Israel coming into the light of sonship in Thomas?
JT It is the kingdom first. They said to Him, “Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It is not yours to know times or seasons”, Acts 1: 6, 7. He implied that it was a question of the Spirit, of availing themselves of Him and all that His coming involved and also of their own service and testimony in which they would realise His presence and power. According to what he said to the Lord, Thomas would be ready for the kingdom; “My Lord” involves the kingdom.
CAM Do you think that on earth, in the kingdom, there will be something that will correspond to this in the Lord being seen by [p. 254] Israel?
JT The prophets afford abundant evidence of that. “What are those wounds in thy hands?” Zechariah 13: 6, for instance; and there will be other such questions that will bring out the truth. The truth will come out as to who He is.
LES I was thinking of that scripture in Zechariah 13: “They shall call on my name, and I will answer them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Jehovah is my God” (verse 9).
JT Psalm 24 also speaks of how He will be regarded in that day: “Lift up your heads, ye gates; yea, lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is he, this King of glory? Jehovah of hosts, he is the King of glory”, Psalm 24: 9, 10. Such scriptures as these show how the Jews will come to know Him.
CAM That is very helpful, because it shows that the Lord Jesus, having come into this condition in which Thomas saw Him, will be made known to them by-and-by.
JT John 3: 36 alludes to their present insubjection. Prior to that it says, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand” (verse 35). That is the present economy. And then verse 36 says, “He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him”. The word ‘subject’ in that verse is akin to the idea of believing, but it is a stronger suggestion; the Jews were insubject with hostility. Their unbelief implied contumacy. They will have to come to the acknowledgment of the Lord and who He is, and become subject to Him. “He that is not subject to the Son shall not see life” — that is at the present time. They are under wrath now, but they will become subject to Christ through faith.
CAM It will not be appearance only then; they will be affected by [p. 255] witness.
JT I think so — undoubtedly there will be a powerful ministry to bring them round to the truth of His Person. Matthew will go on into the last days. He records that the disciples had to go to Galilee to see the Lord. And in speaking to them there He makes a great deal of His commandments. He is seen there in kingly dignity.
WR Do you have the insubject state in chapter 6 in those who turned away back?
JT Well, they represent that sort of thing; they went away back. They murmured against the Lord; they represent the irresponsive state of things that develops because of the truth; especially the truth of the death of Christ in relation to life.
ANW Thomas, at subsequent meetings, would need adjustment, would he not, to fit in assembly-wise?
JT He would indeed! He would be behind in assembly service. The loss he sustained through his absence at the first meeting was most serious. The experience of it could hardly be exactly realised again.
JS It was eight days after. Is that not significant?
JT Yes; the number indicates that another time or dispensation is contemplated.
LES Thus Thomas misses the essential features of christianity, for typically he is going into the restored kingdom of Israel.
JT Yes; he is behind. Paul had said that he was an abortion, but he was not to be blamed for that, but Thomas is to be blamed for being behind the time. Paul was before the time; he was ready for the blessing of Israel, but he came in for the assembly; he was before the time. Thomas was behind the immediate blessing, so that the Lord says to him, “Blessed they who have not seen and have believed” (verse 29). In principle and type Thomas missed this.
[p. 256] We are reminded in what is before us how the greatest advantage may be missed through carelessness.
RWS He was called Didymus, meaning twin. Why is that?
JT During the first meeting with the Lord as risen he may have been visiting his natural brother! Evidently nature was involved in the twin relation. Dispensationally Thomas missed the crowning feature of the present period — the revelation of the Father. Indeed, we may add, the heavenly side of the truth and the state that attaches to it, expressed in the Lord breathing into the disciples.
CHH Would it be a permanent loss to him that Thomas did not have the Holy Spirit breathed into him?
JT That is another important point — that he missed such a unique and touching experience. Dispensationally and spiritually the scene depicted in John 20: 19 - 23 stands by itself unrepeated.
ANW Thomas would be in the upper room at Pentecost, but he missed the breathing.
JT The intimacy implied in breathing has a very special value; the corresponding action at Pentecost was powerful, the “sound” being described as a “violent impetuous blowing”. It was powerful, having relation to what is public. And there was the appearance of cloven tongues as of fire that sat on each of them; therefore it was external. Of course, it was the Spirit of God coming in, but the external side is stressed; whereas John 20 is internal, the intimate relation between the Lord and the disciples being noted.
AAT From what you said about Thomas exclaiming, “My Lord and my God” it seems he did not know Him as Son of God.
JT The thought of the Son of God is immediately added: “... that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”. This is involved in the [p. 257] teaching of the book; that is, a teaching linked up with the signs. The signs are stressed, and Thomas had the benefit of most of them, but it did not introduce him into the elevated family relationship that belongs to the assembly, and those who form it. The title Son of God is noted throughout this gospel, being involved in the testimony of John the baptist and confirmed in the Lord’s own public ministry.
CHH Would the ‘ye’ in verse 31 go beyond the assembly, and will these signs, as recorded, have value to the remnant?
JT I would think so. I think all the gospels will be used of the Spirit in the instruction of the remnant; they go beyond this dispensation; they go “over the wall”, as we might say. The gospels include the millennium. The testimony of the humanity of Christ here, His manhood in flesh and blood, His death and resurrection, must go beyond our dispensation.
CAM The preaching in that day will involve the general truth of each gospel, would you say? Take, for instance, Luke’s gospel; repentance and forgiveness preached to all the nations. Would the blessedness of such a gospel be proclaimed then?
JT That is what I was thinking. Matthew 10 shows that the testimony of the twelve apostles will be presented to Israel; they were to go to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”.
ABP Would the signs that are recorded by John be the opening up of the life that was in Christ, which would shed its light upon men?
JT That is how it works out. The word ‘life’ in John 20: 31, connected with chapter 1: 4, is to be borne in mind throughout, as suggested earlier, “that believing ye might have life in his name”. The signs of this gospel help us in the understanding of the great subject of life.
ABP The light would be the result of the movements of life? “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”. Would that life be expressed in detail in His movements?
JT That is the idea of it. The substance, so to speak, that was there, as in movement was light. There is substance in the sun. Light is the effect of it. This thought, as applied to Christ, we can understand: “The life was the light of men”. Men are in view; the bearing of this verse is universal. But the actual breaking up of the truth begins properly, I think, in chapter 4, after John was cast into prison. The Lord’s ministry did not properly begin until John was cast into prison. So the practical working out of the truth begins with the Spirit in the believer, welling up into everlasting life. That is the tangible idea of its application in the believer — subjectively and objectively. As objective it is in Christ; as subjective it is by the Spirit in the believer.
JTJr “They who have not seen and have believed”, chapter 20, would be inward, one getting things spiritually. It is not a sight matter.
JT It is the faith period — the Spirit making all good inwardly. It involves a circle. The Lord came to where the disciples were, we are told. They were immediately in His mind. And the doors were shut for fear of the Jews. This protects the inner circle from Jewish elements. They would fit in with Thomas, but not with the first appearing. And of course that brings up the whole matter of assembly formation; that it is an inner circle, according to Ephesians 4: “... with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love; using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”. This is general exhortation, based on the three circles immediately mentioned: “There is one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling”. That is the first circle; then, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism”
— the second circle; then, “one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”. It is not stated, one Father and God, but God and Father — it is the Father as in the government of the universe — the third concentric circle is implied. I think we are helped in taking up these things in this order, having assembly formation in view. We shall in this way come to understand the inner circle of which we have been speaking. “We have both access by one Spirit to the Father”. This is not the Jew and gentile as in these manifestations in John 20 and 21, but the Jew and gentile brought together in christianity in one Spirit.
AR The inner circle would be barred to the Jew as such.
JT That is for us to see to — “fear of the Jews” shows there is a judgment as to them. Evidently it existed in the disciples. They were conscious of the danger in that; thus the doors were shut. Notice it is doors; the reference would be to their hearts. The issues of life are out of the heart, and that would imply John’s gospel.
Ques Would these three circles of which you were speaking take definite form?
JT Yes. The universe involves the idea of three. Indeed, it marks the Godhead — three Persons. Three heavens are mentioned. In the ark of Noah there were three stories; in the tabernacle there were three spheres — the court, the holy place and the holiest; and in the temple which Solomon built there were three such spheres also. It is a divine way; it exists eternally, I would think.
DP In what circle would John the baptist be?
JT The least one of us here today is greater than he. That fact helps us at once. We have to just place him that way. No one born of woman is greater than he. So that he has a great place in that sense. John the evangelist greatly enhances the general [p. 260] testimony to John the baptist, presenting him as most feelingly and humbly speaking of Christ as from heaven, whose voice as the Bridegroom caused the joy of his heart to be fulfilled. You can hardly tell the difference between what he says in chapter 3 and what John the evangelist says himself by the Spirit. John the baptist will surely have a great place in nearness to Christ and the assembly in the graded distinctions of the coming glories.
ANW He is the friend of the Bridegroom and is not of the bride.
JT Clearly that was understood by him. He says, “He must increase, but I must decrease”, John 3: 30. He is not aspiring to anything beyond what God, according to the discrimination and counsel of His love, had given him.
CHH Would the words ‘through all’, in the third circle of Ephesians 4, include the remnant and the nations in the millennium?
JT “One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”, suggests the outer circle, but it goes beyond “my Father and your Father” of John 20. I would say that Ephesians 4 alludes to the Governor of the universe. It is a present state of things involving the worlds, as well as this world that we are in — that God is over everything. Hebrews 11 says, “The worlds were framed by the word of God”. God’s mind entered into that operation; but the worlds are governed, or controlled. They do not come into John 20. In the message to the disciples through Mary the Lord is not alluding to the government of the world; He is alluding to the highest of all the divine families — His brethren, who are associated with Him as ascending to His Father and their Father, His God and their God. But Ephesians 4 takes account of all things as they are now. The one God and Father is Governor of all; He is over everything, but He is in us all. I [p. 261] think we should all be sympathetic with God as over all things. Everything is kept going by Him — all the worlds. Hebrews contemplates the worlds — not simply world — as framed by the word of God, and they are functioning. Whatever God has in His mind as to them, they are functioning, and He is looking after them. Even as regards the nations now, the government of the world externally is under the Father. He carries it on in an indirect way, but still, He carries it on.
JTJr The thought of three comes down to the physical system around us — the air, the land and the sea.
JT These are the three component parts of our immediate physical environment.
CAM The breathing of which we have been speaking, would connect with the atmospheric sphere.
JT Yes; the first heaven; the expanse included the air. God called the expanse heavens. That is in addition to what God had primarily created. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. What is spoken of as the expanse in Genesis 1 is additional. It was made on the second day. Government, in a general sense, enters into that. But the heaven of heavens is another matter, involving the realm of God. Paul speaks of the third heaven, which is spiritual. Paul said he did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body as caught up there. Satan is said to be in heaven; but it would be the lower or atmospheric heaven — out of which he and his angels are to be cast; Revelation 12: 7 - 9. He is spoken of as the prince of the power of the air.
CAM The place the assembly has in these three spheres in Ephesians 4 is very wonderful. It is the most exalted.
JT But I think it is well to bear in mind that Ephesians 4 bears on the present state of things — just what we are in today — not what will be eternally.
As was already said, the “one God and Father of all” refers to the present state of things, inclusive of the worlds beyond us, because everything must be taken into account. You cannot put even the second circle into the eternal state of things because it includes baptism; baptism is administered down here. And the first circle is viewed as it exists now, for the idea of hope is in it.
NFL If the Father is over all, how extensive is the authority of the Son, spoken of in John 3: 35? It says, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in his hand”.
JT Well, the Father is over all. It is simply that He has given all things into the hand of the Son; He is not giving them away. The Father remains in the economy as the Father.
ANW Would that statement you are now dwelling on bear on the apostle’s word to the Athenians “... for in him we live and move and exist”, Acts 17: 28?
JT That refers to physical life. Even unconverted people live and move and have their being in God. Everything, in that sense, is under God, even the very growth of a blade of grass. God does it; God gives a grain of wheat, as it grows, a body as it has pleased Him; 1 Corinthians 15: 37, 38.
ABP Does the “in us all” in Ephesians 4, morally coincide with “in all” in 1 Corinthians 15: 28; that the assembly is brought into moral accord with that now?
JT I think so; that God may be all in all.
WCR The apostle Paul says of the Lord, in Romans 9: 5, “... of whom, as according to flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever”. How does that fit in with Ephesians 4?
JT He is over all in a mediatorial sense. But personally, He has part in Godhead and thus He is equal with the Father and He acts as God in His [p. 263] own right. God is one, although there are three divine Persons. Each of the Persons can act as God. As to the Jews, the way they are presented in Romans is very remarkable — it bears solemnly against those who are destroying them now.
LES Paul, before Agrippa, spoke of “our whole twelve tribes serving incessantly day and night”, Acts 26: 7.
JT And James writes to the twelve tribes, so we must not lose those thoughts, because God is looking to His people of today to hold the truth as to the Jews when others are destroying them. Although they are suffering wrath from Him, as 1 Thessalonians 2: 14 - 16 says, yet He will not allow others to touch them with impunity. They have a mark from God as Cain had and to their slayers shall be meted out vengeance; Genesis 4: 13 - 15.
RWS Who are the men referred to in the passage, “The tabernacle of God is with men”? Is that an allusion to the assembly?
JT Men is abstract. The tabernacle of God is the assembly. The nations, of course, are in mind in relation to the millennium, but Revelation 21: 3 goes beyond the thousand years. The saved nations shall walk in the light of the holy city, and these nations, if we take those who form them individually, are men. But as I said, the verse quoted goes beyond the millennium, and I would think that all who are saved, including the saved nations, will merge into a spiritual condition; flesh and blood does not enter into the kingdom of God. God can do what is needed for the completion of His purposes. If He can change us in the twinkling of an eye, He can change the nations too. So all those who have part in the eternal state of things will, as to condition, be patterned after Christ, I would think.
RWS I was inquiring as to it because it is a tabernacle, not the grand idea of the temple.
[p. 264] JT It shows, I think, that God comes near to men. It is not a fixed idea; it is movable; love in God would act thus. God moves, as it were, in relation to men in His tabernacle. The assembly is the tabernacle, I think, thoroughly constituted in sympathy with God. So that it is available and made mediatorially suitable for divine service among men.
GVD Will you say more as to John 1: 4, “The life was the light of men”.
JT We read it, and it helps in what we are saying. It is a question of life; we are brought into the assembly but we are dealing with life; and the beginning of it is Christ. In Him was — not is — it would refer to Him as here in the flesh. I do not think “In him was life”, refers to Him in deity before incarnation; it refers to Him as Man, but of course, still a divine Person, God Himself; the life was there substantially, and therefore it could become light. But I think this depends upon movement.
CAM I am glad you made that remark. It must be understood that verse 4 refers to Christ as Man.
JT It is what He is as Man that is in mind.
CAM Would you say that God in this way has brought Himself within the range of man so that He might be known?
JT Life in which men have part is not what God has or is in His essential or abstract Being; to say we have part in the essential Being of God would imply that we have part in Deity, which, of course, is not true. Of course, He is the living God, but this refers to what He is morally and relatively — in full result involving incarnation, for in this way only, through redemption, could He be in relationship with men; but God in His essential abstract Being dwells in light unapproachable, whom no man has seen, nor is able to see. Thus John 1: 4 refers to Christ as Man. The life which God purposed for man is presented [p. 265] in a divine Person as Man and as in Him it becomes the light of men.
LES The footnote relative to this verse helps. It says, “This latter is a reciprocal proposition, i.e., it can also be read ‘the light of men was the life’”.
JT Yes; the life is substantial. It has the same value as the substance. It is not simply a reflection. The life is light and then the light becomes life in the christian. What is life in Jesus as Man becomes light to us, but then it becomes life also in us, and the life in us is just what it is in Christ. It is not simply light; it is changed into substance by the Spirit.
WR The Lord says in John 17, “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world” (verse 6). Does not that suggest the work of God in its completeness?
JT “Have manifested thy name”. That is a more advanced thought than life. Later the Lord says, “... that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them” (verse 26). That is wonderful! That is a higher thought than we are dealing with. What we are speaking of now is that Christ had become Man, and there was that in Him called life, and that life is light to men; not to angels, but to men. It is restricted; the reciprocal idea is restricted to men, but it becomes substantial in them as it is in Christ.
JAP I would like to inquire about the term “originator of life”, which Peter uses.
JT It means, as the note says, “one who begins and sets a matter on”. The life that believers have, originated and was exemplified in Christ. It comes through Him. “The originator of life ye slew”, (Acts 3: 15), is a most remarkable statement. The Originator of life became subject to death, but that is because He came to die. He was also the Originator of faith; faith began with Him and was exemplified in Him. These things could not be predicated of [p. 266] God, but of Him who was God, a divine Person become Man.
CAM Would you say that the life spoken of in this verse is communicable?
JT Yes; it is communicable, but only through redemption; it cannot be ours save through redemption. The Lord says, “I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly” (John 10: 10); that can only be through His death and resurrection and the gift of the Spirit. “Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone”, John 12: 24. It is through His death and resurrection that we come into this life, and the Spirit makes it tangible in us. It is a real thing. That which is true in Him is true in us — a most remarkable and most blessed fact.
APT “All things received being through him, and without him not one thing received being which has received being”, John 1: 3. Does that refer to His activity in Deity in creation?
JT That is right.
APT And does verse 4 refer to what He is as Man in communicating life to us?
JT Quite so; He is the light of men. He has come within the range of men. So it goes on to say, “The light appears in darkness” (verse 5). It is just what we are saying — Jesus in manhood here: “and the darkness apprehended it not”.
FNW Does the thought of substance in the believer correspond to what is in Christ as “the shining forth”, as is said in 2 Corinthians 4: 6: “God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”?
JT Quite so.
CAM This word ‘life’ seems to require the Greek language to show the different ideas it implies.
[p. 267] The Lord gave up His life, but that is a different word.
JT Yes; what we are speaking of is not animal life. There are two words, one for animal life, implying the idea of breath in a physical sense, and one signifying life as involving moral and spiritual conditions, including the term “eternal life”. This latter is the word employed in John 1: 4.
CN Is the life we are considering the expression of obedience to God’s will?
JT Chapter 12 has a thought similar to that “I have not spoken from myself, but the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what I should say and what I should speak; and I know that his commandment is life eternal. What therefore I speak, as the Father has said to me, so I speak” (verses 49, 50).
CN I wanted to have it made clear in my mind what you meant by saying that this life involved movement.
JT It does. What I have just read confirms in measure what you say; the Lord did whatever the Father said: “As the Father has said to me, so I speak”, and He further says, “I know that his commandment is life eternal”. But the parts of this phrase are not reciprocal; “his commandment” and “life eternal” are not of equal value; the latter results from the former. In the conflict relative to eternal life fifty years ago a well-known brother asserted that it was obedience. It involves obedience but it is more than that. And in the passage before us the Father’s commandment is more than eternal life. Hence the Son says to the Father, in chapter 17, “This is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” (verse 3). That is more than obedience. Obedience is essential, but the knowledge of God is also essential to the realisation of eternal life.
CHH And love [p. 268] would be essential.
ABP In what way would life be expressed in the changing of the water to wine in the first sign; John 2? I am linking it on with chapter 1: 4 — the movements of life in Christ.
JT There were six stone water-vessels there. The fact that they were there and called vessels would link on with Exodus 12, where it is said that when the Israelites came out of Egypt they asked of the Egyptians utensils and they gave them to them; these referred to what was in Egypt that could be used by God’s people and at Cana of Galilee these water-vessels were usable in the same sense. As filled with water to the brim, the water is turned into wine. This is typically a millennial scene, wine being a symbol of earthly joy, but it contemplates life as it will be experienced in that day. This was the beginning of the signs recorded in this gospel. They manifested Christ’s glory; and His disciples believed on Him.