Barnes New Testament Notes

Verse 24. Verily, verily. An expression denoting the great importance of what he was about to say. We cannot but admire the wisdom by which he introduces the subject of his death. They had seen his triumph. They supposed that he was about to establish his kingdom. He told them that the time had come in which he was to be glorified, but not in the manner in which they expected. It was to be by his death. But as they would not at once see how this could be, as it would appear to dash their hopes, he takes occasion to illustrate it by a beautiful comparison. All the beauty and richness of the harvest results from the fact that the grain had died. If it had not died it would never have germinated or produced the glory of the yellow harvest. So with him. By this he still keeps before them the truth that he was to be glorified, but he delicately and beautifully introduces the idea still that he must die.

A corn. A grain.

Of wheat. Any kind of grain -- wheat, barley, &c. The word includes all grain of this kind.

Into the ground. Be buried in the earth, so as to be accessible by the proper moisture.

And die The whole body or substance of the grain, except the germ, dies in the earth or is decomposed, and this decomposed substance constitutes the first nourishment of the tender germ -- a nutriment wonderfully adapted to it, and fitted to nourish it until it becomes vigorous enough to derive its support entirely from the ground. In this God has shown his wisdom and goodness. No one thing could be more evidently fitted for another than this provision made in the grain itself for the future wants of the tender germ.

Abideth alone. Produces no fruit. It remains without producing the rich and beautiful harvest. So Jesus intimates that it was only by his death that he would be glorified in the salvation of men, and in the honours and rewards of heaven, Heb 2:9: "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour." Php 2:8,9: "He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him," Heb 12:2: "Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." See also Eph 1:20-23.