John 20:30,31

John 20:30-31. Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this hook: but these are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name. Almost every word of this statement is of the utmost importance. ‘Many other signs did Jesus:' hence it is only a selection that has been given in the book. The writer knows much more of a similar character and fitted to make a similar impression, but he has not deemed it necessary to tell it. What he has related are ‘signs,' not simply miracles of Divine power, but manifestations (now in deed, and now in word) of an inner meaning, illustrating the Divine in Him by whom the deeds are performed or the words spoken. ‘In the presence of His disciples:' why not in the presence of the world? Had they not been done in public as well as in private, before enemies as well as friends? They had: but it is not upon them as signs which ought to have convinced the unbelieving that the Evangelist has chiefly dwelt. As he recalled them, he once more beheld Jesus in the midst of the little band of His disciples, making manifest His glory to them alone; while they apprehended that glory, forgetful of everything but itself, and the feelings of admiration, wonder, delight, and love which it awakened in their hearts. They thought not of the world at the time; they saw only that all was done for them. So now in the vividness of John's recollection every ‘sign' appears exactly as at the moment when it was wrought, full of meaning to disciples; to others, nay, it is not necessary to mention them at all (comp. chap. John 17:9; 1 John 5:16). ‘But these are written:' that is, these ‘signs' are written. The Gospel then is a record of ‘signs,' and whatever else it contains must be regarded as subordinate to them. ‘That ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God:' words by which we are not to understand that the signs have been written in order that unbelieving readers may be led to acknowledge the claims of Jesus. The word ‘believe' is not used in the sense of being brought to faith, as if those addressed had not had faith before. They are already believers, disciples, friends. What has been aimed at is not the first formation but the deepening of faith within them (such as that of which we read in chap. John 2:11, where we are told that His disciples ‘believed' in Him), by which they are led into a truer knowledge of their Lord, as well as into a more intimate communion with Him and, in Him, with the Father. To make his readers rest in faith, so that faith shall not be a mere conclusion of the intellect, but the element and spirit of their lives, is what the writer has proposed to himself. ‘And that, believing, ye may have life:' not, that, being brought to faith through the record which he gives, they may obtain life in Jesus; but that, as already believing , in Him as the branch is in the vine, they may in Him enjoy that spiritual and eternal life which He possesses, and which He makes ever more and more largely the portion of His people, as their faith in Him deepens, and their fellowship with Him increases. Finally, ‘in His name:' not merely naming His name or confessing Him before men, but in His Name, in Himself as revealed, made known as what He is, the revelation of the Father, and possessed of all the glorious qualities belonging to the Son.

Such is the meaning of these words when they are looked at in the light of those rules of interpretation which are supplied by the Gospel; and, with this meaning, they set before us in the most definite manner the writer's own conception of the task which he had undertaken. They refer obviously, too, to the Gospel as a whole, and not to any single section. At this point, then, the narrative of the Fourth Gospel closes, having exhibited to us that ‘life' which was in the Word (chap. John 1:4), and having so set that Word before us that believers, dwelling upon His manifested glory, may be brought to a deeper knowledge of what He is, and to more and fuller life in Him.