Notes, Critical and Explanatory, on the Holy Scriptures

The neuter is put for the masculine to express the universality of the prin- ciple, by which victory is obtained. Every one who is a child of God, can over- come the world by faith, which furnishes him with motives and means to resist temptation.

The means of victory. 5 1 Cor. XV. 57. Without this faith no one can efi'ectually resist the many temptations that beset him. The unbeliever has no motive sufficient to influence him in extreme cases, and no power to control the violent impulses of corrupt nature. s Baptized by John, and instituting baptism.

AVliich He shed for the expiation of sin. The water and blood, which after death issued from His side, when it was pierced with a spear, may also be alluded to.

G. P. " that believe," &c. The Alexandrian and Vatican and many minor manuscripts, as also the Syriac versions, have the Vulgate reading, which is adopted by critics generally.

G. P. "in Him that is true, in His Son."

G. P. " because the Spirit is truth." According to this reading, the testimony of the Spirit is urged on account of His truth. The matter of his testimony is the Incarnation of Christ, His baptism, and His death for sinners. ^o The authenticity of this verse is strongly controverted among Protestants. Being read in the Vulgate, which, in all its parts, was sanctioned by the Council of Trent, Catholics generally maintain it. Some indications of it are found in the writings of Tertullian and St. Cyprian, and it was specially employed in an address of African bishops to the Arian king Huneric, in the fifth century. It must have been omitted from a very early period in the manuscripts, since it is not found in the most ancient, nor in the Syriac or Arabic versions. The Britan- nic, Dublin, and Ravian contain it. The testimony given in heaven is the mani- festation of the Divine counsels to the saints.