People's Commentary on the Gospel According to John

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THE Gospel of John is a complement to the Synoptic history. Without it the inspired portrait of the life of Jesus is incomplete. Hence a series of expository works upon the three Gospels seems to call for a similar work upon the Fourth Gospel. The kind reception given to my previous volumes on Matthew, Mark, and Luke has encouraged me to issue this one, to complete the series.

In attempting to explain the Fourth Gospel the devout student becomes painfully aware of the imperfection of his best conception of its truth. He is also conscious that it is extremely difficult and in fact impossible adequately to express the feelings and impressions which the study of this spiritual history makes upon the mind.

In preparing this volume the aim has been :

1. To give the results of the best critical scholarship clearly, concisely, yet free from those teachings and speculations which tend to unsettle faith in the Gospel record.

2. To aid the reader in finding the true meaning of the text, and,

3. To enable him more clearly to apprehend not only the peculiarities of the life which the Gospel describes, but also the atmosphere and life out of which it was written.

John's Gospel differs from the three earlier Gospels in many important respects. While like them it portrays the divine ministry of Jesus, it views that ministry not alone from the hills of Palestine, but also as it appears about a half a century later from the busy Grecian capital of Asia Minor, a great center of trade, wealth, and of Greek and Roman learning in the Roman Empire.

The leading theories of the most important critical schools of every shade of opinion respecting the authorship and interpretation of the

Fourth Gospel, from the times of the early Christian Fathers until the present, have been considered, and such results as seemed valuable have been wrought into this work. Special attention has been given to modern criticism and to the drift of the best scholarship of the present century. The brief sketch, in the Introduction, of the discussions respecting the authorship of the Gospel gives some indication of the scope and the result of these studies; while every page of the volume has been enriched by the learning and the devout and suggestive thinking of those who have sought to translate the deep spirituality of the Fourth Gospel into the Christian lives of their period.

The author acknowledges his indebtedness to the members of the Committee of Publication, to the Palestine Fund for permission to use its illustrations, to David C. Bell of Minneapolis for original photographs of Palestine scenes, and to other friends for valuable aid in the preparation of the work, and especially to the Rev. Moseley H. Williams, who has made many suggestions, while carefully reading the proofs.

EDWIN W. RICE.

Philadelphia, May, 1891.

CONTENTS OF JOHN'S GOSPEL.

THE PROLOGUE.

1:1-18.

I. PREPARATION FOR JESUS'S MINISTRY:

1. By John the Baptist.

2. By choice of disciples.

1:19-36.

1:37-51.

II. PUBLIC LABORS TO THE SECOND FEAST AT JERUSALEM :

1. Miracle at the marriage in Cana. 2:1-11.