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CHAPTE ,R II

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THE INTERNAL EVI .DENCE

OF THE FOURT H GOSPEL

BY CAN0 N G. OSBORNE TROOP, M. A.,

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MONTREAL,

CANADA

. . The whole Bible is stamped with the Divine ''Hall-Mark'';

but the Gospel according to St. John is primits inter pares.
Th~ot1gh it, as through a transparency, we gaze entrance d
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into the very h-oly of holies, where shines in unearthly glory

'_'the great visio,n of the face of Christ''. Yet man's per":"
ve,rsity has made it the '''sto rm center'' of New Testament
criticism, doub ,tless for the very reason that it bears such
unwavering testimony both to the deit,y of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ, and to His perfect .humanity. The
Christ of th.e Fourth Gospel i,s no unhistoric, ideali ,zed vision
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of the later, dreaming cl1urch, but is, as it practically claims
to be, the Picture drawn by ''the disciple wh6m Jesus loved'',
an eye:-witness of 'the blood and water that flowed from His
pierced .side. These may appear to be mere unsupported
sta tement s, and as such will at once be dismissed by a seientific rec\der. Nevertl1eless th ,e appeal of this article is to the
instinct of the ''one flock'' of the ''one Shepherd''. ''They
l,now His ,voic e'' , . . . ''a stranger wi1l they not follow.'' '
. l . . There , is one passage in this Gospel that flashes like
1ightning -it dazzles our eyes by its very glo~y. To the
bro~eii-h'earted Martha the Lord Jesus says with startling
suddenness, ''/ am the resurrecti ,on, and th ,e Jife; he that
b,elieveth on M e, though he die, yet shall he live; , and whosoeve:,r l'iv.eth and belie,ve,th in, Me, shall .never die;''
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l 't is ho,mbly but confidently subn1itted that these words
are utterly beyond the reach of human invent ion. It ~ould
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The Internal Ev idence of . th.e .Fourth Gospel

never have entered the heart of man to say, '''I 1ani tl1e resurli.
f
e,"
rection and the life." . ''There is a resurrection
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wou ld have been a gre .at and notable saying> but tliis Speaker
identifies Himself with tl1e resurrection and with life eternal.
The words can only be born from above, alld He who t1tters
them is worthy of the utmost adoration of ,the surrendered
soul.
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In an earlier chapter John . records a certain question

addres .sed to and answered by our Lord in a manner wl1ich
has no counterpart in the world's lit~rature.
''\IVhat shall
we ,do," th e eager people cry; ''What s.hall we do tl1at we
might work the w,orks of God .?'' ''This is the work of . God'',
our ~Lor ,d repli es, ''th at ye h elieve on Him ,hom He hath
sent'' (.John 6: 28, 29). I ventur e to say that . SUc,l1 an
answer to , ,such a question has no p,a,rallel. This is, the work
of God that ye accept ME. I am the Root of the tree which
'be,a rs the , onily fruit pleasing to God. Ou .r L.ord state :s the
conv erse of this , in ch.apter 16, when He says tha t the Hol:y
.Spirit will conv ict tI1e world of sin .
~ because tl1ey
believe no,t on ME.'' T11e root ,of all evil . i.s unbe'lief in
Ch1~ist. Tl1e condemnin ,g sin of the " rorl d ]_ie,s in the rej ection
of the Redeemer.
Ber e we have th e root of righteousness
~nd t11e root of sin in the acceptan ,ce or rejection 0 His
wondro11s personality.
This - is unique, and .pr,oclaims, tl1e
Speal<er to be '''separate from sinners'' tho ugl1 ''tl1e Lord hatl1.

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laid on Him the iniquity of us all.'' Truly, .

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''He is His own best evidence,

His witness is within.''
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2. Pass on to the fourtee~th chapter, so loved o:f all

Christians.
Listen to that Voice, which is as the voice of
many waters, as it soiunds in the ears of the troubled disciples:
''Let not your h eart be troubled ; ye believe in~ God, believe
al'so in ME. In My Father~s house are many mansions : if it
were no ,t so, I would have told yoit. I go to prepare a pl.ace

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The Funda.nientals

for you,. And if I ,go and prepare a place for you, I W11l
come again, and receive ,you unto Mys,elf; th,at where I am,
the 'r'e ye may be also.''
Who is he who dares to say: ''Y e believe in Go,d, 'believ,e
also in Me''? He ventures thus t-o speak because He is the
Father's Son. Mants son is m,an: can God's Son he anything
lesls than God? Elsewhere in this , Gospel He says = ''I and
the Fath ,er are one''. Th e fourteenth chapter ,reveals the
Lord Jesus as completely at home in the heavenly company.
He spe,aks of His Father and of the Holy S15irit as Himself
be,ing ,one of the utterly ho ly Family. He knows ,all about His
Father's house with its many mansions ,.. He was familiar
with it 'before the world was. Mark well, too, the exquisite
touch of transparent truthfulness:
''If it were not so, I
would h,ave told you.'' An ear-witnes ,s, alone could have
caught an d preserved th,at touching , par enthe ,sis, and who
more likeJy than the disciple w'hom Jesus lov ed ?
As we leave this famous chapter let us not forge .t to
note the , wondrous words in verse 23 :, ''If a man Jove Me,
he will keep My words; and . My Father will J,ove h'i,m, an,d
WE will come unto him an,d make our abode with him,"
This saying can only he characterized as blasphemous, if
i,t be not the true utte~ance o.f one equ,al with God. ,On the
other han 1d, does lany rea .son.able man s,eriously think that
such words origi nated in the mind o,f a forger ? ''E ,very one
that is of the truth heareth My voice'', an ,d surel ,y t'hat voice
is here~
3,. When we come to chapter 17 we pas ,s in,deed int,o the
v ery , inner ch.amber of th e King of kings. It r,ecords the
high-priest 'ly pr .ayer of our Lord, when He ''lift ,ed up, H 'is eyes
to he,aven and said, Father, the hour is come, ,glorlf ,y Thy
Son that Thy Son may al ,so glorify Thee.'' Let any man
propose to himself the awful task of _forging such a prayer,
an ,d putting it jnto the mouth of an imaginary Christ. The
brain reels at t'he very, thought of it. It is, however , per1

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The Intertial Evidence of the F 01trth Gospel

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f ectly natural that St. John should record it. It must have
fallen upon the ears of himself and his fellow-disciples amidst
an awe- ,stricken silence in which they could hear the ve,ry
throbbing of their listening hearts. For their very hearts
were listening through their ears as the Son poured out His
sott.l unto the Father.
It is a rare p,rivilege, and o,ne from
which most men woul d se:nsitively s,hrin,k, to listen even t:o a
f ellow- man alo,ne with God. Yet the Lor d Jesus in the
midst of His disciples laid bare His very soul before His
Father, as really as if He had been alone with Him. He
prayed with the cross and its awful death full in view, but
in the prayer there is no slightest hint of failure or regret,
and , there is no trace of confession of sin or need of forgiveness,. Thiese ;;tre a]J indelible marks of genuineness. It would
have been impossible for a sinful man to conceive such a
prayer. But all is consistent with the character of Him who
' 'spake as never man spake'', and . could challenge the world
to convict Him of sin.
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With such thoughts in mind let us now look more closely

into the words of the pray ,er, itself.
''Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy
Son also may glorify Thee: As Thou hast given Him power
over all fle,sh, th.at He should g,ive eternal l.ife to as many
as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sen,t.,''
Here we have again the calm ,placing of' Himself on a
level with the Father in conne ction with etern .al ]jf e. And
it is n ot out of place to recall the co ns,i,ste,n cy of this utterance
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with that of ten-called ' Joh,annine ,'' sa.yin,g recorded in St.
Matthew and St. Luk e: ' 'Atl things ar ,e d,elivered unto Me
of My Father: and no man knOweth the Son,. but the Father ;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he
to whomsoever the Son will.eth to reveal Him.''
We rea d al,so in St. J,ohn 14: 6: ' 'No man cometh unto
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The' Fu1idame1itals
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the
Father
but
by
Me,'
An~
as
we
reverentI
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proceed
further
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in tl1e prayer We find Hirn saying: ''And now, 0 Father,
glorify Thou Me with Thine own &elf, with the glory which
I h~d with Thee before the world was;''
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These word$ are natural to the Father's Son as we know
and worshiP, Hjm, but they are beyond the reach of an uni.nspired man, and Who can imagine a forger inspired of the
Holy Ghost? Such words would, however, be graven upon
th~ very heart of an ear-witneSs such as the disciple whom
JeSU ,S love,d. \ :
We hav e' jn this prayer also the fuller r,evelation of 'the
''011e flock'' and ''one Shepherd'' pictured in chaP,ter ten:
''Nei ther pray .I . for these a'lone, but for them also which
shall believe on Me through their word; .that they . all may
be Qne; as- Thou, Fath.er, art iti Me, and I in Thee_.that they
also ma)y be 0 1rw in u,s: That ,the wor,ld ma,y ,believe that Thou
hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have
give,n th ,em; that they may be 0 ne, even as we ar ,e one ,: I in
them, and Thou in Me,, that they may be per e,c,ted into one;
and thit the world may know that Thou hast s~t Me, and
hast loved the,n, as Thou , hast iloved Me , "
, In these holy words there breathes a cry for such a;,unity
as neve1 ,enter ed i'nt 0 the heart ,of mortal man to dream 0
It is no, cold and formal ecclesiastical unity, such as that
suggested by the curious and unhap py 1nistranslation of' ''one
fold'' for ''one flock''' in St John 10: 16. It is the living
unity of th~ living flock with the li.ving Shepherd o~ the
living God. ..~t is actually the same aS .the unity subsisting
between th,e Fathe r and the ,Son. And ac,cording to St. Pau]
in Rom. 8: 19',, the , creation is waiting for , its revelati on. The
one Sl1epher,d .has from the beginning had His one flock in
ans~er to His prayer, ,~ut 'the worl,d has[ no t yet s~en it, and
is therefore &till unconvinced that o,ur Jesus is. indeed the
Sent of God. The world has seen th,e Catholic Church and
the Roman Cath,olic Chur,
c
h,
but
the
H
0,
l
y
Catholic
C,
h
urch

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The Internal Evidence of the Fourth Gospel

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as yet . has seen but God's. FOr the H.oly CathOliC

aD.d the Shepherd's one flock are one and ' the same,
world wi.11not se e either ''till He come4'' The H oily
Church is ari. object of faith and not _of sight, and
so is the one flock. I.n spite of all attempts at elimination
and organization wheat .and tares toget her grow, and sheep
and wolves-in-sheep's-clothing
are found together in the
e arthly pasture grounds. . But when the Good Shepherd
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retu rns He will bring His beautiful flock with Him, and
ev en tUa:lly the world will see and belie ve. ''O the Qepth
of the riches bot h of the wisdom and knowledge of God I
How u11sea1-chable .a1~eHi .s judgments, land ,His ways] pa.st
no eye
Church
&nd the
Catholic

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Tl1e rhystery of tl1is spiritual unity lies hidden in the highptie stly prayer, but we may feel sure that no forg'er could
ever discover it, for many of those who profess and call
them s,elves Christia ns a1..e bli.11dto. it even yet.

4. The ''Christ be ore Pilate'' o~ 'St. Jo,hn is also stamped

with every ma:rk of sincerity and truth. What n1ere human
imagination could evolve the noble words : ''My kingdom
is not of tl1is w1orl. d ;,if My -kingd o1n \tVere.of t.his world, th,en
would My servants fight, that I shotil d n,.ot be delivered to
the Jews: b,ut now is My kingdom not from hence .
. To this end was I born, and fo r this catlse came I into the
world, that I Should bear wit:tless unto the truth. . Every . one
that is 01f the truth heare~h My voice'' .? --~

T 'l1e who le wondrous story of th,e bet ,rayal, the _denial, the
trial , the Condemnati on and crucifixion 9f the Lord Jesus, as
given - through St. J oh n, b re.ithes with the . living sympathy
of an eye-witness.
The account, moreover, is as wonder ul
in the delicacy of its reserve as .,iri the Simplicity of its recital.
It is entirely . free from sensationalism and every forn1 o,f
exaggeration. 1t is calm and j11dicial in the highest degree.
If it is, written by the inspired disciple whom Jesus loved, all
is natural and easily ''understanded of the people''; while on
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The Fundamentals

any other ] suppos i tion,I it is fraught with difficu]t,ies that can.

not be explained away. ''I am not credulous enough to be
an unbeliever, .'' is a wise saying in this as in many similar
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c onnectlo ns.
5. The Gospel opens and closes with surpassing grandeur.
With Divine dignit y it li,nks itself with the opening words Of
Ge.nesis .: ''In the beginnin ,g was the Word, and the, Word
was with God, and the Word was God. And the
Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we bel1e1d His
glory, the glory as of the OnJy Begotten of the Father, full
of grace a.nd truth .." What a Jifelike contra .st with thjs sublime
descriptio ,n is found in the introduction of John the Baptist :
''There came a man sent from God whose name was John''.
In the incarnation Christ did not b~come a man but man.
Moreover in this St. Paul and St. John are in entire agreement.
''There is one God'', says St. Paul to Timothy; ''one
Mediator also between God and man Himself Man Christ
Jesus.'' The reality 0 f the Divine Red eemer's human natur e
is beautifully manifested in the to,uching interview between
the weary Saviour and the guilt .Y Samaritan woman at the
wel] ; as also in His perfect human friendship with Mary and
Martha and their brother Lazarus. culminating in the price1

less words, ''Jesus wept''.

. And so by the bitter way of the Cross the grandeur of
the incarn ,ation pas .ses into the glory of the t 'esurrecti on.. The
la st two chapters are alive with thrilling incident. If any one
wi shes to form a true conception of what those brief chapters
contain, Jet him read ''Jesus and the Resurrection,'' by the
saintly Bi shop of Durham (Dr. Handley Moule) and his cup
of holy joy will fill to overflowing. At the empty tomb we
breathe the air of the unseen kingdom, and presently we gaze
enraptured on the f ace. of the Cru cified but r.isen and ever ..
living King. Mary Magdalene, standing in her broken-hearted
despair, is all unconscious of the wondrous fact that holy
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The /HteNlal Evidence of the Fourth Gospel

anteJs are right jn f root of her and standing behind . her is her
l:ivin,g Lord an d Master.
Slowly but surely th ,e glad s,tory
spreads from lip to lip and h.eart to heart, until even the
ho,nes't bu.t stu.bborn Tho,m.as is brou.ght to his k,nees,, crying in
a burst of remorseful~ adoring joy, ''My Lord and my God I''
Then comes the lovely story of the f ruitiess all-night toil
of the seven fishermen,, the ap,pearance at dawn 0 f' the
Stranger on the beach, the miraculous draught of fishes, the
glad cry . of recognition, ''It is the Lord!'' the never-to-beforgotten break:ast with the risen Saviour, and Hi.s searching
interview with Peter, passing into the mystery of St. John's
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ol,da~.
In all these sw,i.ftly-drawn , outlines

we: fe,el 0 urselves

inStinctively in the , presence of the truth . We are crowned
with . the Saviour 's beatitu ,de: ''Blessed ar ,e they tl1at h,ave
not seen, and yet have believed,'' and we are ready to yield
a ,glad ass,ent to the statement which closes ch,apter tw enty:
'' Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His
,d iscip les,., which are no t written in this 1 book ; b,ut th,ese are
written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, , the
Son of God; an,d th.at 'believing ,ye might have lif e in, :Hi.s
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