Evening star., 1917-01-06
Ry Rev. H. T. Stevenson.


1ects for the Sunday school lessons
have been selected from the Gospel OF
John This supreme literary work of
the world" differs from the other three
gospels. that are called the synopttc
gospels, since they can be viewed to-
xether, because the author had a diff
ferent purpose in writing his gospel.
The others prepared lives of the
Christ primarily for unsaved men.
This gospel of tender and unearthly
beauty" was written to lead saved men.
whose faith had been corrupted by the
false teachings of the closing days
of the first Christian century concern
ing the character of Jesus, to a firmer
and larger faith and a more abundant
spiritual life
external facts of the Masters life, so
that men rejecting upon them woulo
reach their own conception OF the per
sonality and work of Jesus. John
Gospel seeks to impress the writer
idea of Jesus upon the believers. The
external events that he used, ana even
the discourses of the Master, were an
skillfully chosen and used TO estAphsh
that Jesus is the Christ, the son Oh
God, and that believing We may nave
life in His name"
The writer, whose name is not stated
in the gospel. but whom the TRADITION
of the centuries has claimed to be the
apostle John, who, if not the author.
certainly has filled the gospel with ms
own personality, has given to the world
the noblest and most winning oehhea-
tion of the Master that ever was
penned by an inspired man. He recog-
ntzed the uniuueness of Christianity
among the great religions of the world
in that the religion of Jesus rises or
falls with the character of Its founoer.
His book. which is the greatest ST. In ane
needs of men, because it presents the
very things in the career of Jesus that
CONFIRM mems faith IN the delty OF
the Lord and gives them energy
the program of the Christ for the
eyangelization of the world. II Is the
function of the preface to prepare the
leader for the reading of the oook, SO
Johns Gospel is opened ny pointtns thas
out the eternal existence OF CHRIST tnat
would prepare his readers to under
stand the manifestation or the Loro
glory among men.
The problems of the hour, ike those
of every transitional period, reVoiVeo
.round the character of Jesus. John,
as if by a law of spiritual gravitation,
drew near to Christ and battled Win
the Masters life, labor and lessons 10
demonstrate that Jesus was mot the
product of the forces that are resident
in human life and the order or the
world, but His personality is fdenticai
with the creative intelligence ana VIII
that Is the ground and source OF nu-
man life and the visible universe he
clearly perceived that the career Oh
Jesus with it's wondrous history, stu
pendous miracles and marvellous WORDS
forbade His life being CLASSIFIED as
simply human. The civilized worio
~has approved His contention, Tor IL
changed its calendar because the birth
of Jesus was the beginning of new
era of tremendous spiritual force
The history of such a life cannot
commence with Christ'S public minis
try, as in Mark. or with His marvellous
birth, as in Luke. or with Just a gem
ealogy. as in Matthew; so the starting
point of Johns gospel gives casual
explanation of the unique nature and
career of Jesus. for he traces it back
before the foundation of the world by
stating that TN the beginning was the
Word" Evidently John had the open
ing of Genesis in his mind when he
penned the opening words of the pro-
Ioeue of his gospel, for the amazing
correspondence is more than accidental,
if the moment described as "the begin
ming be pushed back far enough to
meet the demands of modern geology
until one is not able to find the heav-
ems and the earth because they had not
been created as yet. and at that period
the Word was In existence.
BY using the term logos-that is
translated Word-John, who would ex-
pressly exclude the eternity of matter.
clearly presents the eternal existence
of the Christ. Although the term
logos. or Word, may have been peb-
BILE taken from the brook of the Old
Testament Sculptures" or a phrase bor-
rowed. as Neander suggests, from the
current talk of Ephesus," and although