John 13:1 - Exposition

Now before the Feast of the Passover ; a phrase far more applicable to the 13-14th of Nisan than to the 14-15th, even though the Lord was desiring then to eat the Passover with a great desire before he suffered; therefore "before" the Passion, which would coincide with it. This supplies a chronological note, which is not exhausted by the mysterious and pathetic act which is described, but embraces the entire communion of soul with his disciples, and with the Father in their presence, detailed in Jn 13-17. Commentators have differed greatly as to the reference of this phrase—whether to the εἰδώς , as Kling and Luthardt, or to the ἀγαπήσας , as Wieseler and Tholuck; both these interpretations limit the meaning of the passage. Christ's knowledge that his hour was come was not kept from him till that moment, nor was his love to his own disciples limited or qualified by the advent of the Passover. It is far better, with Westcott, Coder, Meyer, and Lange, to take the phrase, πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἐορτῆς , with the principal verb, ἠγάπησεν . This becomes mere obvious if εἰς τέλος be taken, as it generally is taken, in Greek, to mean "unto the uttermost," "absolutely" "perfectly." Godet and Lucke add to the idea of ἀγαπάω here the manifestation, or proof, of the intensity and tenderness of the Divine love. Meyer doubts this signification of ἀγαπάω . The whole of the intervening sentence is in apposition with the subject of the sentence. The evangelist was eye-witness of the manner and look of his Lord, and ventured to say what was passing in his mind. He was justified by what followed, and threw back into the spirit of this strange and solemn action the account which the Lord afterwards gave of himself. Throughout the whole passage we detect; the extraordinary blending of Divine and human of which John was the witness. Jesus knowing (as he did know) that the hour was £ come —an hour for which he had been long waiting, and to which frequent reference has been made. The crisis has arrived, the breach with the authorities was final, the disciples themselves were trembling in doubt, the great law had been uttered, the glorification of the Son of man must now be accomplished by departure rather than by longer ministry, by death rather than by universal acclaim— that — ἵνα here notes the Divine purpose, or what is not infrequently introduced by ἵνα , "the contemplated result" (see Canon Evans on "the use of ἵνα in the New Testament," Expositor, vol. 3., 2nd series)— he , Jesus, the Son of man, should depart out of this world (this is one theme of the following discourse, one of its key-notes, John 14:12 ; John 16:28 ; John 17:11 , and many other passages) unto the Father. If so, death was not an ending of life, but a departure to the Father—a coming into closer and more intimate relations and communion with the Father than was possible, even for him, in this sinful and evil world. Frequently the demonstrative pronoun is used to designate this transitory, perilous, sad state of being. Further, Jesus having loved his own , his very own, whom the Father had given him, who were and would continue in the world , and have tribulation there (see John 15:18-20 ; John 16:1-4 , John 16:33 ; John 17:11 , John 17:14 , John 17:18 ), and all the more so because of his departure and the cessation of his earthly manifestation and ministry. Here the sentence ends with the climacteric expression, He loved them utterly ; i.e. he manifested, and that before the Paschal Lamb should be slain for them, his absolute, extreme, unutterable love. Archdeacon Watkins has made an interesting suggestion, that εἰς τέλος represents, in Greek, the Hebrew idiom of the repetition of the action of the verb; whereas the LXX . often presents this Hebraism in literal Greek, as Genesis 20:17 , yet in Amos 9:8 a similar reduplication is Grecized by the phrase εἰς τέλος ; and that what St. John, a Hebrew writing in Greek, meant by the use of it was simply," He loved them with a fullness of love." This usage is confirmed by 1 Thessalonians 2:16 , by later Greek and by classical usage. It probably means in Luke 18:5 "at last," but not necessarily so even there. Margin of Revised version gives "to the uttermost."