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he is offended ; he also that received seed aruong the thorns is he that heareth the word ; and the care of this world , and the deceitfuluess of riches , choke the word , and he becouieth unfruitful ;" we never experience the least difficulty in understanding his meaning . Our attention is not directed to a word in the
abstract , or one of the constituent parts of a sentence , which is , however , its primitive sense ; but we uuderstand some one of the derivative senses following easily fro in the primary sense , suggested by the circumstances in which the speaker stood , aud finding its explanation ia other parts of the New Testament . What is the Christian Volume itself , but a record of the word ? And who that reads
this inestimable volume , but must be familiar with such phrases as the word of truth , the word of Christ , the word of life , the word of God , the word of his grace /—these being only fuller expressions for that quoted from Matt , xiii ., the word simply ; that instruction
which was communicated by God through Jesus Christ ; grace , truth , life , and some other words expressing a leading feature of that instruction , and by a common figure in language being placed for the whole . This imiy be admitted to be a common , perhaps the prevailing sense of the expression iu the N . T . But the term
Ao < yQ <; t or Word , may be less restricted . Before the truths of Christianity were proclaimed , "God had spoken to the fathers by the prophets ; " * consequently , " the word of God came" to these , iu agreement with the frequent expression at the opening of the prophecies , e . g . Jer . i . 2 , 4 ; Ezek . i . 3 ; Hos . i . 1 ; Joel
i . 1 , &c , &c . But , eyeu prior to tire dispensation of Moses , " or the communications to the patriarchs , God uttered his word in the creation : •' God said , Let there be light ; and there was light . " + " By the word ( hoy < p ) of the Lord were the heavens made , and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth-.
We seem to be travelling a pretty safe road when we take the writings of a . uy author to explain himself . Now , there weems strong internal evidence to shew that the beginning of the First Epistle of John coutains a similar train of thought to that which we find iu the exordium of his Gospel . These two productions of one author were , at any rate , written at
• Heb . i . 1 . "t Gen . i 3 , compare with which the striking und beautiful sentiment of the Apostle Paul , 2 Cor . iv . 6 . 1 Ps . xxxiii . 6 .
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no great distance of time from each other , aud not improbably were written very near each other . Remarkable similarity of expression may be found in them , and this is particularly true of the first paragraphs . They have in common the words ccpXQy beginning , Xsyoq , word , % & ) V } , life ; and the phrase irpoq rov 0 £ ov , with the Deity , bears too close a resemblance to irpoq tov WocTEpa , with the Father , to be overlooked .
Let us then consider the translation and interpretation of the introductory verses of the First Epistle of John , which appear to furnish some peculiar clue to the meauing : «* That which was from the beginning , that which we have heard , that which we have seen with our eyes , that which we have looked upon , and our hands have handled , [ not of , but ] in relation to the word of life , ( for the life has been manifested , and we have seen and bear witness , and shew to you that eternal life which was with the Far ther , and has been manifested to us ; that which we have seen and heard . ) we
declare unto you . " This passage would , I think , other considerations apart , appear particularly easy ; and the followiug remarks occur iu connexion with it . 1 . The Apostle does not say , u We have seen , we have haudled the word of life , " as our version , from the unfortunate rendering of wef * , has seemed to countenance , but " that which we have
seen , " &c , in . relation to , concerning , the word of life ; and it is singular that this error was not observed by so accurate a reasoner as the late Rev . T . Kenrick , iu whose Exposition , Vol . II . p . 209 , 1 st ed ., will be found au argument derived from this misinterpretation , in favour of the opinion that c \ oyoq , the Word , denotes the person of Jesus Christ . But other translators and expositors have fallen into the same mistake .
2 . The expression eternal life which occurs in this passage , is one which occurs often in this Apostle ' s writings , and invariably signifies , so far as lam aware , not a person , but the distinguishing principle of the Christian religion , or that promised gift which the Father authorized the Sou to bestow on those who obey him : e . g . John vi . 68 ; 1 John iL 25 . 3 . As to the word otpx *} , that is of so indefinite a nature iu itself , that its sense must evidently be taken from the conuexion in which it is used . 1 apprehend that in this Epistle itself it is used in opposite senses -. thus , while ch . ii . 7 , 24 , iii . 11 , and 2 John ver . 6 , ueem clearly
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Miscellaneous Correspondence . 121
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Vol . in . K
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1829, page 121, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2569/page/49/
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