That word is ours just now. God has given it to us just now. It is certainly true, then, that “the hour is come” that he should glorify us. So far, then, each one of us can sincerely and truly pray this prayer, every word: “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy son.”
Alonzo T. Jones
The last clause of the seventeenth verse is worthy of special attention. It contains the secret of the possibility of our success in the Christian life. It says that Abraham believed “God, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were.” This marks God’s power; it involves creative power." Ellet J. Waggoner
"But to be forgiven is to be made righteous. Forgiveness is not an imaginary thing, but is real. If I forgive a fellow man, it makes no difference in him; the effect is only upon him. But when God forgives us, He continues the same, but the forgiveness effects a change in us. It takes away the sin. But when sin is taken away, righteousness must take its place. A new life—the righteous life of Christ—is given in place of the old life of sin." Ellet J. Waggoner
"When God calls a man a sinner, he is a sinner; and when He calls a man righteous, he is righteous in reality, as much so as if he had never sinned. There is no virtue in mere intellectual assent. God never declares a person righteous simply because he makes an acknowledgment of the truth. And there is an actual, literal change from the state of sin to righteousness, which justifies God in making the declaration." Ellet J. Waggoner
"The statement is that whoever abides in Christ brings forth much fruit; while separate from Him we can do nothing. Doing nothing is made equivalent to not bearing fruit. So then bearing fruit in the vine is identical with doing something. There is nothing more passive than the bearing of fruit; and yet there is nothing in which more intense activity is shown than in a fruitful vine or tree. The tree can do nothing to make itself bear fruit, yet the bearing of fruit is a period of activity." Ellet J. Waggoner
"The great characteristic of faith is, that it works. We do not mean that works are attached to it, but works come from it. “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). Faith “works by love,” says Paul. There may be that which is called faith, but if no works come from it, it is not faith." Ellet J. Waggoner
"God does not propose to try to bring goodness out of evil, and He never will call evil good. What He proposes to do is to create a new heart in man, so that good can come from it. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10)." Ellet J. Waggoner