Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“If ye were blind--wanted light to discern My claims, and only waited to receive it. ye should have no sin--none of the guilt of shutting out the light. ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth--Your claim to possess light, while rejecting Me, is that whi…”

“I am come that they might have life, and . . . more abundantly--not merely to preserve but impart LIFE, and communicate it in rich and unfailing exuberance. Yet it is only an echo of all His teaching; and He who uttered these and like words must be either a bl…”

“It is the riches and the poverty of "the Word made flesh"--one glorious Person reaching at once up to the Throne and down even to the dust of death, "that we might live through Him." A candid interpretation of the words, "for the sheep," ought to go far to est…”

“Here lay the glory of His sacrifice, that it was purely voluntary. The claim of "power to take it again" is no less important, as showing that His resurrection, though ascribed to the Father, in the sense we shall presently see, was nevertheless His own assert…”

“There was a division . . . again among the Jews for these sayings--the light and the darkness revealing themselves with increasing clearness in the separation of the teachable from the obstinately prejudiced.”

“Jesus walked . . . in Solomon's porch--for shelter. This portico was on the east side of the temple, and JOSEPHUS says it was part of the original structure of Solomon [Antiquities, 20.9.7].”

“I give unto them eternal life--not "will give them"; for it is a present gift. It is a very grand utterance, couched in the language of majestic authority.”

“It is a general expression of an admitted truth, and what follows shows for what purpose it was uttered, "and none is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." The impossibility of true believers being lost, in the midst of all the temptations which they ma…”

“I and my Father are one--Our language admits not of the precision of the original in this great saying. "Are" is in the masculine gender--"we (two persons) are"; while "one" is neuter--"one thing." Perhaps "one interest" expresses, as nearly as may be, the pur…”

“This He says to meet the imputation of unwarrantable assumption of the divine prerogatives [LUTHARDT]. for which of those works do ye stone me?--"are ye stoning (that is, going to stone) me?"”

“It is never said of Christ that "the word of the Lord came to Him"; whereas this is the well-known formula by which the divine commission, even to the highest of mere men, is expressed, as John the Baptist (Lu 3:2).”

“She "anointed THE LORD," says the Evangelist--led doubtless to the use of this term here, as he was about to exhibit Him illustriously as the Lord of Life.”

“(See Greek.) Remarkable language this, which from creature lips would have been intolerable. It means that the glory of GOD manifested in the resurrection of dead Lazarus would be shown to be the glory, personally and immediately, of THE SON.”

“No wonder that those miserable skeptics who have carped at the ethical system of the Gospel, as not embracing private friendships in the list of its virtues, have been referred to the Saviour's peculiar regard for this family as a triumphant refutation, if suc…”

“When he heard he was sick, he abode two days still . . . where he was--at least twenty-five miles off. Beyond all doubt this was just to let things come to their worst, in order to display His glory. But how trying, meantime, to the faith of his friends, and h…”

“"The phrase here employed, 'our friend Lazarus,' means more than 'he whom Thou lovest' in Joh 11:3, for it implies that Christ's affection was reciprocated by Lazarus" [LAMPE].”

“"It is beautifully congruous to the divine decorum that in presence of the Prince of Life no one is ever said to have died" [BENGEL]. that ye may believe--This is added to explain His "gladness" at not having been present.”

“Here, however, though alleged by many interpreters there is nothing of the sort. He perceives clearly how this journey to Judea will end, as respects his Master, and not only sees in it peril to themselves, as they all did, but feels as if he could not and car…”

“Bethany was nigh Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs--rather less than two miles; mentioned to explain the visits of sympathy noticed in the following words, which the proximity of the two places facilitated.”

“Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him--true to the energy and activity of her character, as seen in Lu 10:38-42. (See on Lu 10:38-42). but Mary sat . . . in the house--equally true to her placid character.”

“Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died--As Mary afterwards said the same thing (Joh 11:32), it is plain they had made this very natural remark to each other, perhaps many times during these four sad days, and not without having their confiden…”

“But I know that even now, &c.--Energetic characters are usually sanguine, the rainbow of hope peering through the drenching cloud. whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee--that is, "even to the restoration of my dead brother to life," for that …”

“As death comes by sin, it is His to dissolve it; and as life flows through His righteousness, it is His to communicate and eternally maintain it (Ro 5:21). The temporary separation of soul and body is here regarded as not even interrupting, much less impairin…”

“I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, &c.--that is, And having such faith in Thee, I can believe all which that comprehends. While she had a glimmering perception that Resurrection, in every sense of the word, belonged to the Messianic office and…”

“The Jews . . . followed her . . . to the grave--Thus casually were provided witnesses of the glorious miracle that followed, not prejudiced, certainly, in favor of Him who wrought it. to weep there--according to Jewish practice, for some days after burial. f…”