Digital Logos Edition
In this volume of nearly seventy addresses on the Gospel of John, Ironside compares the four Gospels to one another and shows how each communicates an important facet of the Gospel message. John, however, uniquely communicates the deity of Christ. From the beginning, through the discourses, to the end of the Gospel, John presents Jesus as the Eternal Word made flesh for the redemption of the world. This commentary on the Gospel of John reinforces Jesus’ deity not only in the stories and the discourses in the book itself, but in the joys and struggles of contemporary culture. Ironside pays as much attention to the text as he does the pastoral implications for today.
Harry Allen Ironside, one of the twentieth century’s greatest preachers, was born in Toronto, Canada on October 14, 1876. Though his education stopped with grammar school, his fondness for reading and a retentive memory put his learning to use. His scholarship was recognized in academic circles when he received honorary degrees from Wheaton College and Bob Jones University and was invited as frequent lecturer at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Ironside was appointed to the boards of numerous Bible institutes, seminaries, and Christian organizations. He also served as director of the Africa Inland Mission. Ironside preached widely throughout the United States and abroad. He served as pastor of Moody Memorial Church from 1930 to 1948, and during his lifetime, he preached more than 7,000 sermons to over 1.25 million listeners.
“The verse negatives the idea that a great many persons seem to have; that God is represented in Scriptures as a stern, angry Judge waiting to destroy men because of their sins, but that Jesus Christ, in some way or other, has made it possible for God to come out in love to sinners; in other words, that Christ loved us enough to die for us and, having atoned for our sins, God can now love us and be merciful to us. But that is an utter perversion of the gospel. Jesus Christ did not die to enable God to love sinners, but ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.’” (Pages 102–103)
“It tells us of His unchanging Personality. He was the same from all eternity; that is, He was the Eternal Son. He did not become the Son when He was born into the world, but ‘The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour.’ He did not become the Son after He was sent, He was the Son from the beginning.” (Page 14)
“Mr. Moody once said, ‘It is a peculiar thing, you cannot get any instruction in the Bible as to how to conduct a funeral, for Jesus broke up every funeral He ever attended, by raising the dead.’” (Page 454)
“A vine is of very little use other than as a fruit-bearer. You can not build houses with the wood of a vine. You can not make furniture from it. It is of very little use even as fuel, for when cast into the fire it flames up a moment or two, and then it is gone. A vine was intended to bear fruit.” (Page 646)
“The Word became flesh.’ ‘Became’ here is better than ‘was made.’ Strictly speaking, He was never ‘made’ anything, but in lowly grace He became flesh in order that He might reveal the Father to man and redeem man to God.” (Pages 15–16)