“And the Father himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you; for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.”
In the words of John 5:37-38, I see enough to enable me to believe that its words embody the mind of Christ. If I could not say this, I should say, “The apostle has here put on record a saying of Christ’s; I have not yet been able to recognize the mind of Christ in it; therefore I conclude that I cannot have understood it, for to understand what is true is to know it true.” I have yet seen no words credibly reported as the words of Jesus, concerning which I dared to say, “His mind is not therein, therefore the words are not his.” The mind of man can receive any word only in proportion as it is the word of Christ, and in proportion as he is one with Christ. To him who does verily receive his word, it is a power, not of argument, but of life. The words of the Lord are not for the logic that deals with words as if they were things; but for the spiritual logic that reasons from divine thought, dealing with spiritual facts. And no thought can be conveyed save through the symbolism of the creation. The heavens and the earth are around us that it may be possible to speak of the unseen by the seen; for the outermost husk of creation has correspondence with the deepest things of the Creator. There are things with which an enemy hath meddled; but there are more things with which no enemy could meddle, and by which we may speak of God. They may not have revealed him to us, but at least when he is revealed, they show themselves so much of his nature, that we at once use them as spiritual tokens to help convey to other minds what we may have seen of the unseen. Belonging to this sort of mediation are the words of the Lord quoted by St. John above.
Commentary
by Dale Darling
I see enough.
The mind of man can receive any word only in proportion as it is the word of Christ, and proportion as he is one with Christ. The words of the Lord are not for the logic that deals with words as if they were things; but for the spiritual logic that reasons from divine thought, dealing with spiritual facts.
Spiritual facts: Thy Word is Truth. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
I see enough.
What we have, according to John a microbe worth relative to the volume of the universe, multiplied by infinity, is enough to know that we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
For many years, when I read a passage, I asked, "Is this true or not true?" Knowing enough to believe Thy Word is Truth, I realize - a purposeful change of tense - the Truth in my mind, or heart, or soul, or strength, are not in agreement due to lazy darkness or confusion or self-pity or: all things of the world.
The prayer, "Father, replace the lies with Jesus: Truth," ensues, results in, "For all I can do, I will live by faith for the next five minutes." As it turns out, each next five minutes became Thy Will be done. Faithful today becomes available tomorrow. How I long to live in the eternal present, O Lord.
When I read Scripture, I have come to know it expresses spiritual facts. Paul writes about what is, as the Gospel authors also wrote, inspired by God. John had to stop writing, and said as much, knowing It is enough.
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ my Lord.