1 John 1:4

4. ἡμεῖς ([424][425][426]) for ὑμῖν ([427][428][429]). ἡμῶν ([430][431][432]) for ὑμῶν ([433][434]).

[424] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[425] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[426] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[427] 5th century. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it. In the National Library at Paris. Part of the First and Third Epistles; 1 John 1:1 to 1 John 4:2; 3 John 1:3-14. Of the whole N.T. the only Books entirely missing are 2 John and 2 Thessalonians.

[428] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[429] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[430] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[431] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[432] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[433] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[434] 5th century. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it. In the National Library at Paris. Part of the First and Third Epistles; 1 John 1:1 to 1 John 4:2; 3 John 1:3-14. Of the whole N.T. the only Books entirely missing are 2 John and 2 Thessalonians.

4. καὶ ταῦτα γράφ. ἡμεῖς. He here refers to the Epistle as a whole in contrast to the Gospel, which is referred to in ἀπαγγέλλομεν (1 John 1:2-3). The purpose of his writing is stated in the Epistle at the outset, in the Gospel at the close (John 20:31). Both γράφομεν and ἡμεῖς are emphatic: it is a permanent message that is sent, and it is sent by Apostolic authority. Scriptio valde confirmat (Bengel). Only in this solemn Introduction does the Apostle use the first person plural: in the body of the Epistle he uses the singular, γράφω or ἔγραψα. The frequent use of this verb shews that in spite of its unusual form the document is rightly called an Epistle. The ‘to you’ of the A.V. and earlier Versions and vobis of the Vulgate must be omitted.

ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡμῶν ᾖ πεπλ. That our joy may be fulfilled. Tyndale in his first edition (1525) has ‘your’; in his second (1534) and third (1535) ‘our.’ “The confusion of ἡμ. and ὑμ. in the best authorities is so constant that a positive decision on the reading here is impossible” (Westcott). The Latin varies between nostrum and vestrum. Some copies insert gaudeatis et, and are followed doubtfully by Cranmer (who prints ‘ye may rejoyce, and that’ in italics within brackets), and without any marks of doubt by Wiclif and the Rhemish Version. Bede evidently read nostrum. He remarks, doubtless as the result of his own experience, that the joy of teachers is made full when by their preaching many are brought to the communion of the Church and of Him through whom the Church is strengthened and increased. Πεπληρωμένη must not be rendered as if it were πλήρης, all the less so as ‘joy fulfilled’ or ‘made full’ is one of S. John’s characteristic phrases. The active, πληρώσατέ μου τὴν χαράν occurs Philippians 1:11, but the passive with χαρά is peculiar to S. John (John 3:29; John 15:11; John 16:24; John 17:13; 2 John 1:12). Comp. especially ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα … ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν πληρωθῇ, and ταῦτα λαλῶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἵνα ἔχωσιν τὴν χαρὰν τὴν ἐμὴν πεπληρωμένην ἐν ἑαυτοῖς (John 15:11; John 17:13). Once more, as in 1 John 1:3. the Master’s prayer and the Apostle’s purpose are one and the same. ‘Our joy’ may mean either the Apostolic joy at the good results of Apostolic teaching; or the joy in which the recipients of the teaching share—‘yours as well as ours.’ In either case the joy is that serene happiness, which is the result of conscious union with God and good men, of conscious possession of eternal life (see on 1 John 5:13), and which raises us above pain and sorrow and remorse. The concluding words of the Introduction to the Epistle of Barnabas are striking both in their resemblance and difference: “Now I, not as a teacher, but as one of you, will set forth a few things, by means of which in your present case ye may be gladdened.”

The following profound thoughts struggle for expression in these four opening verses. ‘There is a Being who has existed with God the Father from all eternity: He is the Father’s Son: He is also the expression of the Father’s Nature and Will. He has been manifested in space and time; and of that manifestation I and others have had personal knowledge: by the united evidence of our senses we have been convinced of its reality. In revealing to us the Divine Nature He becomes to us life, eternal life. With the declaration of all this in our hands as the Gospel, we come to you in this Epistle, that you may unite with us in our great possession, and that our joy in the Lord may be made complete.’

We now enter upon the first main division of the Epistle, which extends to 1 John 2:28; the chief subject of which (with much digression) is the theme GOD IS LIGHT, and that in two parts: i. the Positive Side—WHAT WALKING IN THE LIGHT INVOLVES; THE CONDITION AND CONDUCT OF THE BELIEVER (1 John 1:5 to 1 John 2:11): ii. the Negative Side—WHAT WALKING IN THE LIGHT EXCLUDES; THE THINGS AND PERSONS TO BE AVOIDED (1 John 2:12-28). These parts will be subdivided as we reach them.