boldly. Not only, He says, shall all emperors, kings, princes, or
others, ivho rage against God's toord, be condemned along icith their
judgment ; but the prijice of this icorld himself, who has more might
and strength in his little finger than tdl the luorld together. And
the Gospel shall not only be judge over flesh and blood, nay, not
only over some of Satan's angels or devils, but over the jxrince him-
self ivho has the whole world mightily in his hands, and is the all-
wisest, mightiest, and thereto the all-fiercest enemy of God and His
Christians, so that every thing tvhich is great, mighty, and wicked
among men is nothing in comparison tvitk him. Moreover, by His
word not only is the world's highest understanding, wisdom, and
power condemned, but also the wisdom and power which the
Prince of this world himself has and wields. Nay, He says, there
is no need of any further judgment or knowledge : he is already
condemned. So that the judgment of Christians, who have God's
word, and judge accordingly, shall stand and gain ground against
him, until at last he is utterly overthrown. For this judgment
against him is already won and confirmed : nay, he has long since
been cast out, and is imprisoned and held in chains and bonds
unto condemnation ; nor is any thing wanting, except that this
judgment and condemnation be made manifest and finally accom-
plished before all the world ; so that, being cast down forever tO'
hell with all his members, he shall no more be able to assail God's
word and Christendom. Therefore it behoves us not to dread or
care for their judgment and condemnation, because we hear that
it shall not harm us, but is already powerless, being condemned
by God's contrary judgment, so that they shall not work or effect
any thing against us, however fiercely they rage against us with
their condemnation, persecution, and murder, but must finally
and forever remain under condemnation, which is passed against
40
470 NOTE Y.
them both by God, and by us Avho judge after and by His word.
And Christendom shall maintain the supi-eme judgment, and shall
abide, as it has done hitherto, in despite of the Devil and the
world."
Calvin takes '/.Qloig to mean, not the judgment upon evil, but
the establishment of a right order ; although the declaration that
judgment has passed on the Prince of this world, as he himself
observes, favors the ordinary interpretation. " Those who take
the word judgment to mean condemnation, do so not without rea-
son ; for Christ soon subjected the Prince of this world to con-
demnation. Still it seems to me that a different sense is more in
keeping, viz. : that by the kindled light of the Gospel and the
victory of Christ whereby lie overthrew the kingdom of Satan,
the Spirit shows the condition of the world to have been estab-
lished in accordance with right and order : as if He had said, this
is the true restoration whereby all things are reformed, when
Christ Himself, by victory over Satan, obtains the entire sway.
Judgment therefore is opposed to a confused and disorderly state
of things. — The idea is, that while Satan holds the power, he
embroils and disarranges every thing, that the disorder of the works
of God maybe hideous and disgusting; but when he is ejected
from his tyranny by Christ, then the world, being restored, well-
adjusted order shines forth. Thus the Spirit convinces the world
of judgment, that is, that Christ, (the prince of iniquity having been
conquered), has restored to order those things which were scat-
tered and in ruins." Doubtless the condemnation of evil implies
the confirmation of that which is good ; but since the second
clause declares that judgment has been executed on the Prince of
this world, it is better to understand the same word in the same
sense in the first clause.
Beza renders agloig in the subjective sense of Judr/ment, so as
that the world is to be convinced of having judged erroneously.
" Lastly the world is convinced of judgment, i. e. it is brought to
know that I, whom it despised as a cai-penter's son, am indeed the
Son of God, who, the pains of death being loosed, will then be
exalted to the right hand of God. Because, said He, the Prince
of this world is judged: i. e. because by this very fact they shall
understand and know, that I exercise dominion in the world, the
devil being overcome, when they shall see that they all oppose
you in vain, since I shall arm you with that celestial might, by
NOTE Y. 471
which ye shall destroy every high thing that exalts itself against
the will of God, and shall lead every thought into the captivity
of obedience to Me." Among the many objections to this inter-
pretation, j?(f75rme??f in the first clause is taken in a different sense
from that of the verb Judging in the second. Besides it would be
a sorry anticlimax, after the conviction of sin and of righteous-
ness, to add what is implied in both the former, and much less
imi^ortant than either of them : and too much stress is laid on the
miraculous works of the Apostles, as evincing that the Prince of
this world had been judged; while the great act by which that
judgment is accomplished is left out of sight. The first of these
objections applies also to Bcza's second interpretation : the
world " in fine shall be reproved of judgment, because it denies
and opposes Him, to whom is committed all power in heaven and
earth ; since it rejects Him who bore our sin, who, now reigning,
justifies us by His own righteousness, who in fine has overcome
the devil." In Beza's third interpretation, — "Of the judgment,
finally, which from the Apostolic teaching and its efficacy, they
were made to know, is prepared for unbelievers, and is already to
some extent exhibited in Satan their prince," — xp/ots? is taken
in the right sense ; but the rest is vague and unsatisfactory.
Cartwright has better seized the meaning and force of the Com-
forter's third conviction. " Finally He will reprove the world of
the judgment and power delivered to Him in heaven and earth,
so that He, who was considered the meanest of all, will prove to
be a most glorious prince. In which work the Apostles also
wrought diligently in the Acts. Of this fact He adduces a power-
ful argument from the effects which follow, because the prince of
this world is judged, put to flight and conquered, power over death
and sin among believers is secured to Him, and every obstacle
which can oppose our salvation is removed : so that, freed from
our enemies, we may serve Him in holiness and righteousness all
the days of our life. Which first fact possesses a peculiar con-
soling power : that all, or the most powerful enemies of the church
have been vanquished and put to rout. Then the admonition that
we should examine whether we have put on the righteousness of
Christ : for if this is so, it follows that we are in Christ's power,
freed from the tyranny of sin, to labor and strive earnestly after
piety and holiness."
Lightfoot, as usual, is sensible and intelligent, in addition to his
472 NOTE Y.
vast learning. " That the devil was judged is well known, since
the Saviour conquered him Ijy the obedience of His death. (Ileb.
ii. 14.) And the first indication of this judgment and victory was,
when Christ rose from the dead : the next, when He freed the
-Gentiles from the bondage of Satan by means of the Gospel, and
consigned him to chains, as mentioned in Rev. xx. 1, 2, which pas-
.sage is the best comment upon these words. Both clearly prove
that Christ will judge the whole world, viz.: all in it who do not
believe, since now He has judged the prince of the world. And
here you Avill call to mind the opinion of the Jews respecting the
.Judgment under the Messiah : it was, that He would not judge
Israel at all, but the Gentiles only : indeed the Jews were to judge
the Gentiles, rather than to be themselves judged. But He who
has judged the Prince of this world, the author of unbelief, will
also judge all unbelievers."
Hammond, on the other hand, is as meagre as ever. " Thirdly,
He shall urge and work revenge upon Satan and his instruments,
who crucified Me, and retaliate destruction back upon them." It
is really surprising how so good a man should have had such a dim
apprehension of Christian truth, as he' perpetually evinces in his
Paraphrase and Kotes. From the fear of getting out of depth, he
wades about knee-deep in the sand.
Donne follows Calvin in understanding agloig as primarily
meaning order, but takes no account of the light thrown on the ob-
ject of the Comforter's conviction by the declaration upon whom
it had actually been exercised. Thus neglecting the clue which
might have kept him right, he wanders through a maze of his own
luxuriant fancies. " After those two convictions of the world, —
that they are all under sin, and so in a state of condemnation ;
and secondly that there is no righteousness, no justification to be
had to the Jew by the law, nor to the Gentile by nature, but that
there is righteousness and justification enough for all the world,
Jew and Gentile, in Christ ; in the third place the Holy Ghost is
to reprove, that is still, to convince the world, to acquaint the
"world with this mystery, that there is a means settled to convey
this righteousness of Christ upon the world, and then an account
to be taken of them who do not lay hold upon this means ; for both
these are Intended in this yvord J luh/ment. He shall rejirove them,
prove to them this double signification of judgment ; first, that
there is a judgment of order, of rectitude, of government, to which
NOTE Y . 473
purpose He hath established the Church: and then a judgment of
account, and of sentence and beatification upon them who did, and
malediction vipon them who did not apply themselves to the first
judgment, that is, to those orderly ways and means of embracing
Christ's righteousness, which were offered them in the Church.
God hath oirdered all things in measure and number and weight :
Let aU tlnn(]s he done decently and in order ; for God is the God of
order. — And this order is this judgment ; the court, the "tribunal,
the judgment-seat, in which all men's consciences and actions
must be regulated and ordered, the Church. —
" The order and judgment we speak of is an order, a judgment-
seat established, by which every man, howsoever oppressed with
the burden of sin, may, in the application of the promises of the
Gospel by the ordinance of preaching, and in the seals thereof in
the participation of the sacraments, be assured that he hath re-
ceived his absolution, his remission, his pardon, and is restored to
the innocency of his baptism, nay, to the integrity which Adam
had before the Fall, nay, to the righteousness of Christ Jesus Him-
self. — And this power of remission of sins is that order and that
judgment which Christ Himself calls by the name of the most or-
derly frame in this or the next world, a kingdom. — The Holy
Ghost reproves thee, convinces thee, of judgment, that is, offers
thee the knowledge that such a Church there is, a Jordan to wash
thine original leprosy iu baptism, a city upon a mountain to en-
lighten thee in the works of darkness, a continual application of
all that Christ Jesus said and did and suffered to thee. — And
make that benefit of this reproof, this conviction of the Holy
Ghost, that He convinces thee de judicio, assures thee of an orderly
Church established for thy relief, and that the application of thy-
self to this judgment, the Church, shall enable thee to stand up-
right in that other judgment, the last judgment; which is also
enwrapped in the signification of this woi'd of our text. —
" As God began all with judgment ; for He made all things in
measure, number, and weight; — as He proceeded with judgment
in erecting a judicial seat for our direction and correction, the
Church; so He shall end all with judgment, the final and general
judgment at the resurrection. — But was this work left for the
Holy Ghost ? Did not the natural man, that knew no Holy Ghost,
know this ? Truly, all their fabulous divinity, all their mythology,
their j\Iinos and their Ehadamanthus, tasted of such a notion as a
40*
474 NOTE Y.
judgment. And j-et the first planters of tlie Christian religion
found it hardest to fix this root o^ all other articles, that Christ
sliould come again to judgment. — But to say the truth, and all the
truth, howsoever the Gentiles had some glimmering of a judgment,
that is, an account to be made of our actions after this life, yet of
this judgment which we speak of now, which is a general judg-
ment of all together, and that judgment to be executed by Christ,
and to be accompanied with a resurrection of the body, — of this
the Gentiles had no intimation : this was left wholly for the Holy
Ghost to manifest. And of this, all the world hath received a full
convincing from Him ; because He hath delivered to the world
those Scriptures which do so abundantly, so irrefragably establish
it."
His conclusion is grand. After speaking of the terrors of the
Last Judgment, he adds, " Who can think of this, and not be tum-
bled into desperation '? But who can think of it twice, maturely,
and by the Holy Ghost, and not find comfort in it, when the same
light that shows me the judgment, shows me the Judge too ? Know-
ing therefore the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men, but know-
ing the comforts too we importune men, to this consideration, that,
as God precedes with judgment in this world, to give the issue with
•the temptation, and competent strength with the afHiction, as the
wise man expresses it, that God punishes His enemies with delib-
eration and requesting (as our former translation had it), and then
with how great circumspection will He judge His children ; so He
gives us a holy hope, that, as He hath accepted us in this first
judgment, the Church, and made us partakers of the word and
sacraments there, so He will bring us with comfort to that place,
which no tongue but the tongue of St. Paul, and that moved by
the Holy Ghost, could describe, and which he does describe so
gloriously and so pathetically : You are come to -Mount Sion, and
to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an in-
.numerahle company of angels, to the general assembly and Church
of the first-born icho are icritten in heaven, and to God the Judge of
all, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood
of sprinlding that speaks better things than thai of Abel."
Bossuet's Meditation on our verse is rhetorical, vague, and
empty, and has that air of unreality, not to say untruth, which so
often characterizes French eloquence. Indeed the denunciation
of the world is just what one might expect from a declaimcr living
NOTE Y. 475
in the midst of the Court of Louis the Fourteenth. " Jesus Christ
has said above: Now is the Judgment of this world: now is the
prince of this world cast out. How is it that Jesus Christ judged
the world at the time of His passion ? It was in permitting Him-
self to be judged, and making them see by the unjust judgment of
the world upon Jesus Christ, that all its judgments are void. The
Holy Spirit which has come down, confirms this judgment against
the world. What has the judgment of the world upon Jesus
Christ effected ? nothing else but a demonstration of its own ini-
quity. The doctrine of Jesus Christ, that men should believe
being humbled by the cross, is exalted more than eA-er, heaven
declares for it : and in default of the Jews the Gentiles have come
to receive it, and to compose the chosen people. It is the work
of the Holy Spirit, who descending in the form of a tongue, dis-
plays the efficacy of the AjDOstolic preaching. All nations hear
it: of all languages He has made one, to prove that the Gospel
unites all. The prince of this world is judged: all nations ha^e
agreed to his condemnation. Let us judge the world ; let us con-
demn the world. The authority which it has assumed of tyran-
nizing over us by its maxims and customs, has led to a condemna-
tion of the truth itself in the person of Jesus Christ. O world !
I detest thee ! the Holy Spirit has convicted thee of falsehood.
Let us not cling to any portion of the world ; its cause is wholly
bad. — Now it is by this that the world is judged. The life which
the Holy Spirit inspires in believers, condemns all its maxims.
There was no more avarice, when each one carried his goods to
the Apostles' feet : there Avere no more divisions, no jealousies,
â– when there was only one heart and one mind : there was no more
of sensual pleasure, when one would rejoice to be scourged for the
love of Jesus Christ : there was no more pride, when every thing
was submitted to^the leaders of the church, whom they regarded
as masters of all their desires and of themselves even more than of
their wealth. Let us then commence this Christian and ajiostolic
life, and let us convince by the Holy Spirit." The rule for the
extinction of pride in the last sentence but one is curious. Bos-
suet seems to have forgotten that the Apostles themselves were lia-
'ble to that vice, and how anxiously their Divine Master warns
them against it, how the example which He set before them for the
guidance of their lives was that of the Son of man, who came not
to be ministered to, hut to viinister. This is one of the primary fal-
476 NOTE Y.
lades in the Romisli A'iew of tlie Church, proceeding upon a kind
of assumption that they who enter the ministry, do thereby ac-
cpiire a sort of immunity from the ordinary sinfuhiess of mankind.
That such an assumption is utterly baseless, has been too plainly
proved by the miserable experience of eighteen centuries. For,
though there are certain sins to which the clergy are in some mea-
sure less exposed, and consequently less prone, their peculiar con-
dition has given birth to new forms of sin especially belonging to
it; among which are new shades and modifications of pride : and
even if this assumption were not thus groundless, the system built
upon it would be most injurious, no less to the Clergy, to whom
this submission is to be paid, than to the Laity, whose Christian
life under it ceases to be a rea^onahle service, and is never allowed
to emancipate itself from the swathing bands of rules and ordi-
nances. Moreover, though the advocates of such a system are apt
to boast of the manner in which it recognizes and inculcates the
great Christian duties of submission and self-sacrifice, yet in fact
this recognition is merely partial, stopping short at the outward
act, the act of submission to a visible superior, the act of giving up
outward possessions : and these acts, when they are performed ac-
cording to prescribed modes, in deference to authority, are far
from implying the spiritual realities, which alone can give them
true worth, and which strengthen and elevate the character of the
airent, while formal acts enfeeble and dwarf it.
Lampe, as he is wont, is clear and full, though he has too much
of that logical formalism which marks the Calviuistic school of the-
oloiiy. " Of judgment, He adds, which even in other times by the
prophets, was very frequently associated with the righteousness of
Christ and his reign, Ps. Ixxxix. 14, xcvii. 2, etc. — This judg-
ment is a part of the reign of Christ, and is begun in this life,
when not only a verdict of accpiittal is pronounced upon the elect
through the righteousness of Christ to quiet their consciences, but
also a law of faith and holiness is prescribed, usually and fitly call-
ed the judgments of the Lord, which when they neglect, they are
punished, but when they fulfil, they enjoy the favor of their joy-
-ful blaster ; while on the other hand the enemies of righteousness
and of Christ's kingdom are subjected to punishments sent upon
them, and are cut off. It is completed moreover in the future life,
where all must stand before the tribunal of Christ. They are con-
vinced of this judgment, therefore, to whom it is shown that Christ
NOTE Y. 477
really occupied His kingdom after His obedience was comjilete,
and thus whoever in the world wishes to be saved, ought to look
and flee to Christ, and yield "himself to Him. (Ps. ii. 1 2.) The
Scriptui'es mention a threefold judgment against Satan, the first
in Paradise, the next in the passion and death of Christ, the third
at the end of the world. Here he refers to the second, consisting
in this, that when eternal righteousness was procured by the
obedience of Christ, not only the pretended right of Satan in Christ
and the elect was fully pronounced against at the bar of God,
but even his sentence of condemnation was confirmed. This
judgment the Son demands from the Father. Zech. iii. 2. Thus
the devil having the poiver of death is destroyed. Heb. ii. 14.
These are the chains with which he is bound, not only that he
may no more injure the elect, but also that he may be reserved
unto punishment. Matt. xii. 29, Jude G. This judgment to be
sure is impending, yet the Saviour speaks of it in the perfect
tense, as if it were already accomplished, as well because it was
at the door, as because He refers to the time of the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, who convincing the world, was about to
publish this judgment as if it were already administered."
By some of the German rationalists, who were offended, both
by the mention of the Sjjirit of Evil in this passage, and by
the condemnation of the world implied in his being called its
Prince, explanations to evade these objections were devised.
Wetstein having already said in his note, " He shall judge the
unjust judge. Pilate will be tortured by the consciousness of
admitted crime, and will be removed from office : the devil in-
deed, from whom every sin originated, shall' be put out of His
kingdom, the darkness of ignorance and idolatry everywhere on
ea»th being dispelled by the light of the Gospel ;" it was suggest-
ed by some that 4;he Prince of this world in our passage must be
Pilate, and that what Wetstein had instanced as an example of the
judgment to be executed by the conviction of the Comforter, was
in fact its consummation. Bolten for Pilate substituted the San-
hedrim, " whose cause the Spirit of God was to prove to be bad
in the sight of the Jews, by means of the Apostles v,^hom He in-
spired and enabled to work miracles." But even J. E. E.
Schmidt, in his BlUiotheh fiiv Kritilc und Exegese des Neuen Tes-
taments (ii. 327), objected that " Jesus does not speak here merely
of His controversy with the Jews, but generally of his con-
478 NOTE T.
troversy with all the opposers of His purpose. To the Founder
of the kingdom of light the natural antagonist is the Prince
of the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom then subsisting iu
the world. — Jesus may indeed have referred at the same time
to His controversy with the Sandehrim ; for this opposition to His
purjjose might also be regarded as a work of the devil ; because it
resisted the establishment of the kingdom of light, and pro-
moted the continuance of the kingdom of darkness." Yet Titt-
mann, both here and in xii. 31, interjirets zov UQyovta xov
zoofiov TOViov to mean, " All those who, not only among the Gen-
tiles, but especially among the Jews, had power and opportunity
to hinder the spread of the Gospel ; viz. the Jewish Princes, the
Pharisees, Lawyers, and Priests. But this a.Q'^oiv zov y.oof.iov
TOVTOV was condemned '/.ey.oiTUt, inasmuch as his violence and
strength were broken and diminished, and thus his hatred, deeds,
and designs rendered vain and useless. And this was done by
the Holy Spirit, through the ministrj' of the Apostles, while they
taught that Jesus was the only true Messiah, that the Mosaic
economy was at an end, that there was no more need of rites pre-
scribed by the law, that faith in Jesus Christ was the only way of
obtaining salvation. And thus, although the Prince of this world
resisted, still the Gosj^el of Jesus Christ was proclaimed every-
where, in Jerusalem, in Palestine, throughout the world, and His
kingdom extended ; nay, in its turn, the vigor and strength of
Jewish malignity was crushed, especially in the destruction of the
temple and the overthrow of the Jewish state." This interpreta-
tion falls short of the true meaning of the passage, inasmuch as it
looks at little but the outward conflict which the Gospel had to
wage, without taking sufficient account of the spiritual conflict
against the power of evil, or of the dominion exercised by tiiat
power in the world. Eosenmiiller is better here : " The Devil is