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In his Confessions (7: 9:), Augustine has a fine comment on the essential difference
between philosophy and revelation, and with this we must bring the present article to a
close.
"Thou procurest for me by means of one puffed up with most unnatural pride, certain
books of the Platonists, translated from Greek into Latin. And therein I read, not indeed
in the very words, but to the very same purpose, enforced by many and diverse reasons,
that, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God: the same was in the beginning with God: all things were made by Him, and
without Him was nothing made: that which was made by Him is life, and the life was
the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not
. . . . . BUT THAT HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN . . . . . but as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, as many as believed in His name; this I
read not. Again, I read there that God the Word was born, not of flesh, nor of blood, nor
of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. BUT THAT THE WORD
WAS MADE FLESH, and dwelt among us, I read not there."
Augustine puts his finger on the crux of the matter. Human reason could go so far as
to see the necessity for the Logos--for all God's ways are wrought with reason--but it
could never penetrate the mystery of godliness and discover that "God was manifest in
the flesh". The glorious fact that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself"
was the secret of the God of Love, and it was this secret that was John's message, both in
Gospel and Epistle.
#4.
The Structure of the Gospel as a Whole.
The Key of the Eight Signs.
pp. 125 - 128
In our previous studies we have merely cleared the way for the blessed task which
now lies before us: an examination of the teaching of this fourth record of the earthly life
and ministry of the Son of God. Our first duty is to see the book as a whole, in order to
discover its theme and the way in which that theme is elaborated, illustrated and proved.
At the very beginning of this Gospel we are at once struck by its unique point of view.
Let us compare the way in which it opens with that of the other Gospels.
MATTHEW . . . This gospel opens with the words: "The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham" (Matt. 1: 1).
MARK . . .
The writer here omits all reference to genealogy, and opens with the
words: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God"
(Mark 1: 1).