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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible</h1>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<P><FONT SIZE=+3>John</FONT></P>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC43001.HTM">Chapter 1</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43002.HTM">Chapter 2</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43003.HTM">Chapter 3</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43004.HTM">Chapter 4</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43005.HTM">Chapter 5</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43006.HTM">Chapter 6</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43007.HTM">Chapter 7</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC43008.HTM">Chapter 8</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43009.HTM">Chapter 9</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43010.HTM">Chapter 10</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43011.HTM">Chapter 11</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43012.HTM">Chapter 12</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43013.HTM">Chapter 13</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43014.HTM">Chapter 14</A>
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<LI><A HREF="MHC43015.HTM">Chapter 15</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43016.HTM">Chapter 16</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43017.HTM">Chapter 17</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43018.HTM">Chapter 18</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43019.HTM">Chapter 19</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43020.HTM">Chapter 20</A>
<LI><A HREF="MHC43021.HTM">Chapter 21</A>
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<P><B>AN</B></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=+2>EXPOSITION,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=+1>W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N S,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=-1>OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=+3><B>S T. J O H N.</B></FONT>
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<P>
It is not material to enquire when and where this gospel was written;
we are sure that it was given by inspiration of God to John, the
brother of James, one of the twelve apostles, distinguished by the
honourable character of <I>that disciple whom Jesus loved,</I> one of
the first three of the worthies of the Son of David, whom he took to be
the witnesses of his retirements, particularly of his transfiguration
and his agony. The ancients tell us that John lived longest of all the
twelve apostles, and was the only one of them that died a natural
death, all the rest suffering martyrdom; and some of them say that he
wrote this gospel at Ephesus, at the request of the ministers of the
several churches of Asia, in opposition to the heresy of Corinthus and
the Ebionites, who held that our Lord was a <I>mere man.</I> It seems
most probable that he wrote it before his banishment into the isle of
Patmos, for there he wrote his <I>Apocalypse,</I> the close of which
seems designed for the closing up of the canon of scripture; and, if
so, this gospel was not written after. I cannot therefore give credit
to those later fathers, who say that he wrote it in his banishment, or
after his return from it, many years after the destruction of
Jerusalem; when he was ninety years old, saith one of them; when he was
a hundred, saith another of them. However, it is clear that he wrote
last of the four evangelists, and, comparing his gospel with theirs, we
may observe,
1. That he <I>relates</I> what they had <I>omitted;</I> he <I>brings up
the rear,</I> and his gospel is as the <I>rearward</I> or <I>gathering
host;</I> it gleans up what they has passed by. Thus there was a
<I>later</I> collection of Solomon's wise sayings
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+25:1">Prov. xxv. 1</A>),
and yet far short of what he delivered,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+4:32">1 Kings iv. 32</A>.
2. That he gives us more of the <I>mystery</I> of that of which the
other evangelists gave us only the <I>history.</I> It was necessary
that the matters of fact should be first settled, which was done in
their <I>declarations of those things which Jesus began both to do and
teach,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+1:1,Ac+1:1">Luke i. 1; Acts i. 1</A>.
But, this being done out of the mouth of two or three witnesses,
<I>John goes on to perfection</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+6:1">Heb. vi. 1</A>),
<I>not laying again the foundation,</I> but building upon it, leading
us more within the veil. Some of the ancients observe that the other
evangelists wrote more of the <B><I>ta somatika</I></B>--the
<I>bodily</I> things of Christ; but John writes of the <B><I>ta
pneumatika</I></B>--the <I>spiritual</I> things of the gospel, the life
and soul of it; therefore some have called this gospel the <I>key of
the evangelists.</I> Here is it that a <I>door</I> is <I>opened in
heaven,</I> and the first voice we hear is, <I>Come up hither,</I> come
up higher. Some of the ancients, that supposed the four living
creatures in John's vision to represent the for evangelists, make John
himself to be the <I>flying eagle,</I> so <I>high</I> does he
<I>soar,</I> and <I>so clearly</I> does he <I>see</I> into divine and
heavenly things.</P>
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