Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/494

 everything which  Jesus  did  and  taught  is  related  in  Holy  Scripture. St.John writes  thus  at  the  end  of  his  Gospel  (21,  15):  ‘‘There  are  also many other  things  which  Jesus  did,  which  if  they  were  written  every one, the  world  itself,  I think,  would  not  be  able  to  contain  the  books that should  be  written!”  Christian  revelation  is,  therefore,  only  partly contained in  Holy  Scripture.

In His  Discourse  with  Nicodemus  our  Lord  has  revealed  to  us  the chief truths  of  the  Christian  religion.

1. The  Holy  Trinity. The  words  of  our  Lord  imply  that  there are three  Persons  in  God: God  the  Father,  who  gave  His  only-begotten Son, and  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  whom  man  must  be  born  again.

2. The Incarnation.  The  only-begotten  Son  of  God,  who  came into the  world,  is  also  the  Son  of  Man,  the  divine  and  human  natures being in  Him  united  in  one  Person.

3. The  Sufferings  of  Christ. “As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in the  desert,  so  must  the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted  up.”  Jesus  therefore knew definitely  from  the  beginning  that  He  would  die  on  the  Cross; and His  bitter  Passion  and  Death  were  ever  before  Him! To offer Himself on  the  Cross  was  the  object  of  His  Incarnation!

4. The  Object  of  His  Passion  and  Death  is  also  clearly  stated  in the  words:  “that  the  world  may  be  saved  by  Him”,  and  “that  whosoever believeth in  Him  may  not  perish,  but  may  have  life  everlasting”. He willed to  suffer  and  die  in  order  to  save  man  from  eternal  loss,  and obtain happiness  for  him. He died  for  all  men,  and  is  therefore  the Redeemer of  the  whole  world.

5. The  infinite  Love  of  God.  Why  was  it  the  will  of  the  Son  of God  to  redeem  us? What was  the  motive  of  His  Incarnation  and  Death? It was,  in  a word,  His  infinite  and  divine  love  for  man. “God so  loved the world  as  to  give  His  only-begotten  Son!”  What! God, the  Most Holy, loved  the  world,  laden  with  sin  and  a curse! He loved  the  men who had  offended  Him  and  turned  against  Him  millions  of  times. And He loved  them  so  much  as  to  give  for  them  all  that  was  greatest  and dearest, even  His  only-begotten  Son,  to  suffer  for  them  humility,  poverty, persecution, and  even  a miserable  death  upon  the  Cross! O, unfathomable and inconceivable  love  of  God!

6. The  necessity  of  Baptism.  Only  he  who  is  born  again  of  water and of  the  Holy  Ghost  has  any  part  in  the  kingdom  of  God. By Baptism man  becomes  a member  of  God’s  kingdom  upon  earth,  i.  e. the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  an  heir  of  God’s  kingdom  in  heaven. Thus Baptism  is  absolutely  necessary  to  salvation.

7. Original  sin.  The  words  of  our  Lord  testify  to  the  existence of original  sin. They suppose  that  by  our  natural  birth  we  have  not that spiritual  divine  life  in  our  soul  which  was  given  to  our  first  parents in Paradise,  and  consequently  that  we  have  lost  the  principle  of  that