the name _Memra_, or "Word" of the Lord. The
Alexandrian Jews also were in the habit of giving the title _Logos_,
which means both "Word" and "Reason," to an idea of God which perfectly
expressed all that God is. The Greek Stoics had {96} used the name in
a similar sense, and thus St. John, having realized that Jesus is truly
God made manifest, called Him by a name which every educated Jew and
Greek would understand. Unlike Philo, the great Alexandrian Jew who
tried to combine Greek philosophy with Jewish religion, St. John
teaches that this divine Word is a Person, and took human flesh and
revealed Himself as the Messiah. The whole Gospel shows how this
revelation met with increasing faith on the part of some, and
increasing unbelief and hatred on the part of others. The crises of
this unbelief are represented chiefly in connection with our Lord's
visits to Jerusalem, when He made His claims before the religious
leaders of Judaism. His revelation is attended by various forms of
_witness_. There is that of the apostle himself (i. 14); that of the
other apostles who also witnessed His "glory," as displayed by His
miracles (ii. 11). There is that of John the Baptist (i. 34); and when
we remember that there had existed at Ephesus an incomplete
Christianity which had only known the baptism given by John the Baptist
(Acts xix. 3), we see how fit it was that the apostle should record the
Baptist's testimony to Christ's superiority. There is the witness of
His works, and that which the Father Himself bore (v. 34-36). We
should notice that the miracles are called "signs," and are carefully
selected so as to give evidence to the reader concerning particular
aspects of our Lord's glory.[6] Even the Passion is described as
containing an element of glory (xii. 28, 32), it contains a secret
divine triumph (cf. Col. ii. 15), and is a stage towards the glory of
the Ascension. The "darkness" contends with the {97} divine "light,"
but cannot "suppress" it. After the "world" has done its worst, the
final victory of faith is seen in the confession of St. Thomas, "My
Lord and my God" (xx. 28).

We find other points of doctrine corresponding with the mystical
teaching that "eternal life" does not begin after the last judgment,
but may be enjoyed here and now by knowing "God and Jesus Christ whom
He hath sent" (xvii. 3). Thus the judgment is shown to be executed in
one sense by the mere division which takes place among men when