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John Chapter
Twenty
John 20
In chapter 20 we have, in a summary of several of the
leading facts among those which took place after the resurrection of Jesus, a
picture of all the consequences of that great event, in immediate connection
with the grace that produced them, and with the affections that ought to be
seen in the faithful when again brought into relationship with the Lord; and at
the same time, a picture of all God's ways up to the revelation of Christ to
the remnant before the millennium. In chapter 21 the millennium is pictured to
us.
Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons, appears first in
the scene-a touching expression of the ways of God. She represents, I doubt
not, the Jewish remnant of that day, personally attached to the Lord, but not
knowing the power of resurrection. She is alone in her love: the very strength
of her affection isolates her. She was not the only one saved, but she comes
alone to seek-wrongly to seek, if you will, but to seek-Jesus, before the
testimony of His glory shines forth in a world of darkness, because she loved
Himself. She comes before the other women, while it was yet dark. It is a
loving heart (we have already seen it in the believing women) occupied with
Jesus, when the public testimony of man is still entirely wanting. And it is to
this that Jesus first manifests Himself when He is risen. Nevertheless her
heart knew where it would find a response. She goes away to Peter and to the
other disciple whom Jesus loved, when she does not find the body of Christ.
Peter and the other disciple go, and find the proofs of a resurrection
accomplished (as to Jesus Himself) with all the composure that became the power
of God, great as the alarm might be that it created in the mind of man. There
had been no haste; everything was in order: and Jesus was not there.
The two disciples, however, are not moved by the same
attachment as that which filled her heart, who had been the object of so mighty
a deliverance [1] on the Lord's part. They see, and, on these
visible proofs, they believe. It was not a spiritual understanding of the
thoughts of God by means of His word; they saw and believed. There is nothing
in this which gathers the disciples together. Jesus was away; He had risen.
They had satisfied themselves on this point, and they go away to their home.
But Mary, led by affection rather than by intelligence, is not satisfied with
coldly recognising that Jesus was again risen. [2] She thought Him still dead, because she did
not possess Him. His death, the fact of her not finding Him again, added to the
intensity of her affection, because He Himself was its object. All the tokens
of this affection are produced here in the most touching manner. She supposes
that the gardener must know who was in question without her telling him, for
she only thought of one (as if I inquired of a beloved object in a family,
"How is he?"). Bending over the sepulchre, she turns her head when He
approaches; but then the Good Shepherd, risen from the dead, calls His sheep by
her name; and the known and loved voice-mighty according to the grace which
thus called her-instantly reveals Him to her who heard it. She turns to Him,
and replies, "Rabboni-my Master."
But while thus revealing Himself to the beloved remnant,
whom He had delivered, all is changed in their position and in His relationship
with them. He was not going now to dwell bodily in the midst of His people on
earth. He did not come back to re-establish the kingdom in Israel. "Touch
me not," says He to Mary. But by redemption He had wrought a far more
important thing. He had placed them in the same position as Himself with His
Father and His God; and He calls them-which He never had, and never could have
done before-His brethren. Until His death the corn of wheat remained alone.
Pure and perfect, the Son of God, He could not stand in the same relationship
to God as the sinner; but, in the glorious position which He was going to
resume as man, He could, through redemption, associate with Himself His
redeemed ones, cleansed, regenerated, and adopted in Him.
He sends them word of the new position they were to have
in common with Himself. He says to Mary, "Touch me not; but go to my
brethren, and tell them that I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God
and your God." The will of the Father-accomplished by means of the
glorious work of the Son, who, as man, has taken His place, apart from sin,
with His God and Father-and the work of the Son, the source of eternal life to
them, have brought the disciples into the same position as Himself before the
Father.
The testimony borne to this truth gathers the disciples together. They
meet with closed doors, unprotected now by the care and power of Jesus, the
Messiah, Jehovah on earth. But if they had no longer the shelter of the
Messiah's presence, they have Jesus in their midst, bringing them that which
they could not have before His death-"Peace."
But He did not bring them this blessing merely as their
own portion. Having given them proofs of His resurrection, and that in His body
He was the same Jesus, He sets them in this perfect peace as the starting point
of their mission. The Father, eternal and infinite fountain of love, had sent
the Son, who abode in it, who was the witness of that love, and of the peace
which He, the Father, shed around Himself, where sin had no existence. Rejected
in His mission, Jesus had-on behalf of a world where sin existed-made peace for
all who should receive the testimony of the grace which had made it; and He now
sends His disciples from the bosom of that peace into which He had brought
them, by the remission of sins through His death, to bear testimony to it in
the world.
He says again, "Peace be unto you," to send
them forth into the world clothed and filled with that peace, their feet shod
with it, even as the Father had sent Him. He gives them the Holy Ghost for this
end, that according to His power they might bear the remission of sins to a
world that was bowed down under the yoke of sin.
I do not doubt that, speaking historically, the Spirit
here is distinguished from Acts 2, inasmuch as here it is a breath of inward
life, as God breathed into the nostrils of Adam a breath of life. It is not the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Thus Christ, who is a quickening Spirit,
imparts spiritual life to them according to the power of resurrection. [3] As to the general picture figuratively
presented in the passage, it is the Spirit bestowed on the saints gathered by
the testimony of His being risen and His going to the Father, as the whole
scene represents the assembly in its present privileges. Thus we have the
remnant attached to Christ by love; believers individually recognised as
children of God, and in the same position before Him as Christ; and then the
assembly founded on this testimony, gathered together with Jesus in the midst,
in the enjoyment of peace; and its members, individually constituted, in
connection with the peace which Christ has made, a witness to the world of the
remission of sins-its administration being committed to them.
Thomas represents the Jews in the last days, who will
believe when they see. Blessed are they who have believed without seeing. But
the faith of Thomas is not concerned with the position of sonship. He
acknowledges, as the remnant will do, that Jesus is his Lord and his God. He was
not with them in their first church gathering.
The Lord here, by His actions, consecrates the first day
of the week for His meeting together with His own, in spirit here below.
The evangelist is far from exhausting all that there was
to relate of that which Jesus did. The object of that which he has related is
linked with the communication of eternal life in Christ; first, that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God; and, second, that in believing we have life through
His name. To this the Gospel is consecrated.
[1]
"Seven demons." This represents the complete possession of this poor
woman by the unclean spirits to whom she was a prey. It is the expression of
the real state of the Jewish people.
[2] It
is impossible to me, in giving great principles for the help of those who seek
to understand the word, to develop all that is so deeply touching and
interesting in this twentieth chapter, on which I have often pondered with
(through grace) an ever-growing interest. This revelation of the Lord to the
poor woman who could not do without her Saviour, has a touching beauty, which
every detail enhances. But there is one point of view to which I cannot but
call the reader's attention. There are four conditions of soul presented here
which, taken together, are very instructive, and each in the case of a
believer:- 1st. John and Peter, who see and believe, are really believers; but
they do not see in Christ the only centre of all the thoughts of God, for His
glory, for the world, for souls. Neither is He so for their affections,
although they are believers. Having found that He was risen, they do without
Him. Mary, who did not know this, who was even culpably ignorant, could
nevertheless not do without Jesus. She must possess Himself. Peter and John go
to their home; this is the centre of their interests. They believe indeed, but
self and home suffice them. 2nd. Thomas believes, and acknowledges with true
orthodox faith, on incontestable proofs, that Jesus is his Lord and his God. He
truly believes for himself. He has not the communications of the efficacy of
the Lord's work, and of the relationship with His Father into which Jesus
brings His own, the assembly. He has peace perhaps, but he has missed all the
revelation of the assembly's position. How many souls-saved souls even-are
there in these two conditions! 3rd. Mary Magdalene is ignorant in the extreme.
She does not know that Christ is risen. She has so little right sense of His
being Lord and God, that she thinks some one might have taken away His body.
But Christ is her all, the need of her soul, the only desire of her heart.
Without Him she has no home, no Lord, no anything. Now to this need Jesus
answers; it indicates the work of the Holy Ghost. He calls His sheep by her
name, shews Himself to her first of all, teaches her that His presence was not
now to be a Jewish bodily return to earth, that He must ascend to His Father,
that the disciples were now His brethren, and that they were placed in the same
position as Himself with His God and His Father-as Himself, the risen Man,
ascended to His God and Father. All the glory of the new individual position is
opened to her. 4th. This gathers the disciples together. Jesus then brings them
the peace which He has made, and they have the full joy of a present Saviour
who brings it them. He makes this peace (possessed by them in virtue of His
work and His victory) their starting-point, sends them as the Father had sent
Him, and imparts to them the Holy Ghost as the breath and power of life, that
they may be able to bear that peace to others. These are the communications of
the efficacy of His work, as He had given to Mary that of the relationship to
the Father which resulted from it. The whole is the answer to Mary's attachment
to Christ, or what resulted from it. If through grace there is affection, the
answer will assuredly be granted. It is the truth which flows from the work of
Christ. No other state than that which Christ here presents is in accordance
with what He has done, and with the Father's love. He cannot, by His work,
place us in any other.
[3]
Compare Romans 4-8 and Colossians 2 and 3. Resurrection was the power of life
which brought them out of the dominion of sin, that had its end in death, and
that was condemned in the death of Jesus, and they dead to it, but not
condemned by it, sin having been condemned in His death. This is a question,
not of guilt, but of state. Our guilt, blessed be God, was put away too. But
here we die with Christ, and resurrection presents us (Romans, as quoted,
unfolds the side of death; Colossians adds resurrection. Romans is death to
sin, Colossians to the world) living before God in a life in which Jesus-and we
by Him-appeared in His presence according to the perfection of divine
righteousness. But this supposed His work also.
── John Darby《Synopsis of John》
John 20
Chapter Contents
The sepulchre found to be empty. (1-10) Christ appears to
Mary. (11-18) He appears to the disciples. (19-25) The unbelief of Thomas.
(26-29) Conclusion. (30,31)
Commentary on John 20:1-10
(Read John 20:1-10)
If Christ gave his life a ransom, and had not taken it
again, it would not have appeared that his giving it was accepted as
satisfaction. It was a great trial to Mary, that the body was gone. Weak
believers often make that the matter of complaint, which is really just ground
of hope, and matter of joy. It is well when those more honoured than others
with the privileges of disciples, are more active than others in the duty of
disciples; more willing to take pains, and run hazards, in a good work. We must
do our best, and neither envy those who can do better, nor despise those who do
as well as they can, though they come behind. The disciple whom Jesus loved in
a special manner, and who therefore in a special manner loved Jesus, was
foremost. The love of Christ will make us to abound in every duty more than any
thing else. He that was behind was Peter, who had denied Christ. A sense of
guilt hinders us in the service of God. As yet the disciples knew not the
Scripture; they Christ must rise again from the dead.
Commentary on John 20:11-18
(Read John 20:11-18)
We are likely to seek and find, when we seek with
affection, and seek in tears. But many believers complain of the clouds and
darkness they are under, which are methods of grace for humbling their souls,
mortifying their sins, and endearing Christ to them. A sight of angels and
their smiles, will not suffice, without a sight of Jesus, and God's smiles in
him. None know, but those who have tasted it, the sorrows of a deserted soul,
which has had comfortable evidences of the love of God in Christ, and hopes of
heaven, but has now lost them, and walks in darkness; such a wounded spirit who
can bear? Christ, in manifesting himself to those that seek him, often outdoes
their expectations. See how Mary's heart was in earnest to find Jesus. Christ's
way of making himself known to his people is by his word; his word applied to
their souls, speaking to them in particular. It might be read, Is it my Master?
See with what pleasure those who love Jesus speak of his authority over them.
He forbids her to expect that his bodily presence look further, than the
present state of things. Observe the relation to God, from union with Christ.
We, partaking of a Divine nature, Christ's Father is our Father; and he,
partaking of the human nature, our God is his God. Christ's ascension into
heaven, there to plead for us, is likewise an unspeakable comfort. Let them not
think this earth is to be their home and rest; their eye and aim, and earnest
desires, must be upon another world, and this ever upon their hearts, I ascend,
therefore I must seek the things which are above. And let those who know the
word of Christ, endeavour that others should get good from their knowledge.
Commentary on John 20:19-25
(Read John 20:19-25)
This was the first day of the week, and this day is
afterwards often mentioned by the sacred writers; for it was evidently set
apart as the Christian sabbath, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection. The
disciples had shut the doors for fear of the Jews; and when they had no such
expectation, Jesus himself came and stood in the midst of them, having
miraculously, though silently, opened the doors. It is a comfort to Christ's
disciples, when their assemblies can only be held in private, that no doors can
shut out Christ's presence. When He manifests his love to believers by the
comforts of his Spirit, he assures them that because he lives, they shall live
also. A sight of Christ will gladden the heart of a disciple at any time; and
the more we see of Jesus, the more we shall rejoice. He said, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost, thus showing that their spiritual life, as well as all their
ability for their work, would be derived from him, and depended upon him. Every
word of Christ which is received in the heart by faith, comes accompanied by
this Divine breathing; and without this there is neither light nor life.
Nothing is seen, known, discerned, or felt of God, but through this. After
this, Christ directed the apostles to declare the only method by which sin
would be forgiven. This power did not exist at all in the apostles as a power
to give judgment, but only as a power to declare the character of those whom
God would accept or reject in the day of judgment. They have clearly laid down
the marks whereby a child of God may be discerned and be distinguished from a
false professor; and according to what they have declared shall every case be
decided in the day of judgment. When we assemble in Christ's name, especially
on his holy day, he will meet with us, and speak peace to us. The disciples of
Christ should endeavour to build up one another in their most holy faith, both
by repeating what they have heard to those that were absent, and by making
known what they have experienced. Thomas limited the Holy One of Israel, when
he would be convinced by his own method or not at all. He might justly have
been left in his unbelief, after rejecting such abundant proofs. The fears and
sorrows of the disciples are often lengthened, to punish their negligence.
Commentary on John 20:26-29
(Read John 20:26-29)
That one day in seven should be religiously observed, was
an appointment from the beginning. And that, in the kingdom of the Messiah, the
first day of the week should be that solemn day, was pointed out, in that
Christ on that day once and again met his disciples in a religious assembly.
The religious observance of that day has come down to us through every age of
the church. There is not an unbelieving word in our tongues, nor thought in our
minds, but it is known to the Lord Jesus; and he was pleased to accommodate
himself even to Thomas, rather than leave him in his unbelief. We ought thus to
bear with the weak, Romans 15:1,2. This warning is given to all. If
we are faithless, we are Christless and graceless, hopeless and joyless. Thomas
was ashamed of his unbelief, and cried out, My Lord and my God. He spoke with
affection, as one that took hold of Christ with all his might; "My Lord
and my God." Sound and sincere believers, though slow and weak, shall be
graciously accepted of the Lord Jesus. It is the duty of those who read and
hear the gospel, to believe, to embrace the doctrine of Christ, and that record
concerning him, 1 John 5:11.
Commentary on John 20:30,31
(Read John 20:30,31)
There were other signs and proofs of our Lord's resurrection,
but these were committed to writing, that all might believe that Jesus was the
promised Messiah, the Saviour of sinners, and the Son of God; that, by this
faith, they might obtain eternal life, by his mercy, truth, and power. May we
believe that Jesus is the Christ, and believing may we have life through his
name.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on John》
John 20
Verse 3
[3]
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
Peter went out — Of
the city.
Verse 6
[6] Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and
seeth the linen clothes lie,
Peter seeth the linen clothes lie — and the napkin folded up - The angels who ministered to him when he
rose, undoubtedly folded up the napkin and linen clothes.
Verse 8
[8] Then
went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he
saw, and believed.
He saw —
That the body was not there, and believed - That they had taken it away as Mary
said.
Verse 9
[9] For
as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
For as yet —
They had no thought of his rising again.
Verse 10
[10] Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
They went home —
Not seeing what they could do farther.
Verse 11
[11] But
Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down,
and looked into the sepulchre,
But Mary stood —
With more constancy. Mark 16:9.
Verse 16
[16]
Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni;
which is to say, Master.
Jesus saith to her, Mary — With his usual voice and accent.
Verse 17
[17]
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but
go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;
and to my God, and your God.
Touch me not — Or
rather, Do not cling to me (for she held him by the feet,) Matthew 28:9. Detain me not now. You will have
other opportunities of conversing with me. For I am not ascended to my Father -
I have not yet left the world. But go immediately to my brethren - Thus does he
intimate in the strongest manner the forgiveness of their fault, even without
ever mentioning it. These exquisite touches, which every where abound in the
evangelical writings, show how perfectly Christ knew our frame.
I ascend — He
anticipates it in his thoughts, and so speaks of it as a thing already present.
To my Father and your Father, to my God and your God - This uncommon expression
shows that the only - begotten Son has all kind of fellowship with God. And a
fellowship with God the Father, some way resembling his own, he bestows upon
his brethren. Yet he does not say, Our God: for no creature can be raised to an
equality with him: but my God and your God: intimating that the Father is his
in a singular and incommunicable manner; and ours through him, in such a kind
as a creature is capable of.
Verse 19
[19] Then
the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and
stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Verse 21
[21] Then
said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so
send I you.
Peace be unto you —
This is the foundation of the mission of a true Gospel minister, peace in his
own soul, 2 Corinthians 4:1.
As the Father hath sent me, so send I you — Christ was the apostle of the Father, Hebrews 3:1. Peter and the rest, the apostles of
Christ.
Verse 22
[22] And
when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost:
He breathed on them — New
life and vigour, and saith, as ye receive this breath out of my mouth, so
receive ye the Spirit out of my fulness: the Holy Ghost influencing you in a
peculiar manner, to fit you for your great embassy. This was an earnest of
pentecost.
Verse 23
[23] Whose
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye
retain, they are retained.
Whose soever sins ye remit — (According to the tenor of the Gospel, that is, supposing them to repent
and believe) they are remitted, and whose soever sins ye retain (supposing them
to remain impenitent) they are retained. So far is plain. But here arises a
difficulty. Are not the sins of one who truly repents, and unfeignedly believes
in Christ, remitted, without sacerdotal absolution? And are not the sins of one
who does not repent or believe, retained even with it? What then does this
commission imply? Can it imply any more than, 1. A power of declaring with
authority the Christian terms of pardon; whose sins are remitted and whose
retained? As in our daily form of absolution; and 2. A power of inflicting and
remitting ecclesiastical censures? That is, of excluding from, and re-admitting
into, a Christian congregation.
Verse 26
[26] And
after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then
came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you.
After eight days — On
the next Sunday.
Verse 28
[28] And
Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
And Thomas said, My Lord and my God — The disciples had said, We have seen the Lord. Thomas now not only
acknowledges him to be the Lord, as he had done before, and to be risen, as his
fellow disciples had affirmed, but also confesses his Godhead, and that more
explicitly than any other had yet done. And all this he did without putting his
hand upon his side.
Verse 30
[30] And
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are
not written in this book:
Jesus wrought many miracles, which are not
written in this book — Of St. John, nor indeed of the other
evangelists.
Verse 31
[31] But
these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
But these things are written that ye may
believe — That ye may be confirmed in believing.
Faith cometh sometimes by reading; though ordinarily by hearing.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on John》
Chapter 20. Rise and Appear
Private Quiet
time
Group Fellowship
I. Jesus Raised
from the Dead
II. Mary of
Magdalene
III. Jesus
Gives Peace
── Chih-Hsin Chang《An Outline of The New Testament》