John 12:43

John 12:43. Because they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. It may seem at first sight as if these words were inconsistent with those of chap. John 5:44, and the apparent inconsistency is not to be removed either by giving to the word translated ‘glory' its etymological signification ‘opinion,' or by supposing that the faith of these rulers was not true. The solution of the difficulty is to be found in observing (1) that the ‘glory' here referred to is that of John 12:23; John 12:41, a glory involving the unity of Jesus and His people. Let the latter identify themselves with the former, take up His cross, have part in His sufferings and death, ‘confess' Him, and they shall also be partakers of His ‘glory.' This is not exactly the same glory as that of chap. John 5:44. (2) That the form of expression is not the same, here ‘of God,' ‘of men' there ‘from God,' the preposition used in the latter case leading more directly to the thought of glory offered by God, and deliberately rejected. The reflections of the Evangelist are at an end, and once more Jesus is introduced to us.