The main subject still continues, that GOD IS LOVE; and that from this truth flows the moral obligation on Christians not only to love God but one another. But, as in Chap. 3, there are subdivisions, each of which has a unity in itself as well as intimate and subtle relations to the whole. These sub... [ Continue Reading ]
The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error 1 6. This section is an amplification of the sentence with which the preceding chapter ends. We certainly have the Holy Spirit as an abiding gift from God, for otherwise we could not believe and confess the truth of the Incarnation. As usual, S. John thin... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12. God is Love There seems to be no serious break in the Epistle from this point onwards until we reach the concluding verses which form a sort of summary (1 John 5:13-21). The key-word -love" is distributed, and not very unevenly, over the whole, from 1 John 3:1 to 1 John... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hereby know ye_ Or, _Herein ye know_: the verb may be either indicative or imperative (comp. 1 John 2:27; 1 John 2:29). The indicative is preferable, in spite of the imperatives in 1 John 4:1: comp. 1 John 3:16; 1Jn 3:19; 1 John 3:24, which are very closely parallel to this. -Ye know" is literally... [ Continue Reading ]
_confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh_ On overwhelming evidence (AB, Coptic, Aethiopic, Vulgate, &c.) we must omit the words -that Christ is come in the flesh", retaining only CONFESSETH NOT JESUS: the additional words are an obvious interpolation by one who wished to make the two s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye are of God_ As in 1 John 2:20 the Apostle passes abruptly from the false teachers to his true children with an emphatic pronoun, made still more emphatic here by the asyndeton. _Ye_, in marked contrast to them, _are of God_. _and have overcome them_ By withstanding the seducers they have proved... [ Continue Reading ]
_They are of the world_ This follows, though it has not yet been stated, from their not being -of us" (1 John 2:19): for there is no middle position. The verse is another reminiscence of the Lord's farewell discourses: -If ye were of the world, the world would love its own" (John 15:19; comp. John 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_We are of God_ -We" with great emphasis, like -ye" in 1 John 4:4, in contrast to the false prophets. -We" is probably not equivalent to -ye", viz. all true believers: -we" means the Apostles. See on 1 John 4:14 and on 1 John 1:4. The opposition here is not between true and false _Christians_, but b... [ Continue Reading ]
Love is the Mark of the Children of the God who is Love 7. _Beloved, let us love one another_ See on 1 John 3:2. The transition seems abrupt, as if the Apostle had summarily dismissed an unwelcome subject. But the connexions of thought in S. John's writings are often so subtle, that it is rash to as... [ Continue Reading ]
_knoweth not God_ Literally, _knew not God_, i.e. never attained to a knowledge of Him. This is a remarkable instance of S. John's habit of not making the second part of an antithesis the exact counterpart of the first, but an advance beyond it. Instead of saying -is not born of God" he says -never... [ Continue Reading ]
_In this was manifested_ Or, for the sake of uniformity with 1 John 4:10_; 1Jn 4:13; 1 John 4:17_, HEREIN _was manifested:_we have the same Greek in all four verses. -Herein" plainly refers to what follows: comp. 1 John 3:16 and see on 1 John 3:19. For -manifest" see on 1 John 1:2. This is a second... [ Continue Reading ]
_Herein is love_ -Herein" again refers to what follows: Love in Its full perfection is seen, not in man's love to God, but in His to man, which reached a climax in His sending His Son to save us from our sins. The superiority of God's love does not lie merely in the fact of its being Divine. It is f... [ Continue Reading ]
_Beloved_ For the sixth and last time the Apostle uses this appropriate address: see on 1 John 3:2. No address of any kind occurs again until the last verse of the Epistle. _if God so loved us_ As in 1Jn 3:13, 1 John 5:9, the fact is stated gently, but without any doubt (εἰ with the indicative): he... [ Continue Reading ]
_No man hath seen God at any time_ Better, as R. V., _No man hath_ BEHELD _God at any time_: a different verb (τεθέαται) is used here from that used in 1 John 4:20 and in John 1:18 (ἑώρακαν) where we have exactly the same statement. The verb used here implies something of gazing and contemplation: o... [ Continue Reading ]
This should be compared with 1 John 3:24, to which it is closely parallel. There, as here, the gift of the Spirit is the proof of God's abiding presence: but there this is connected with keeping His commandments; here it is connected with the special duty of brotherly love. _he hath given us of his... [ Continue Reading ]
_And we have seen and do testify_ Better, as R. V., _And we have_ BEHELD _and_ BEAR WITNESS: see on 1 John 4:12 and 1 John 1:2. -We" is emphatic, and, as in the Prologue, means S. John and the other Apostles. See on 1 John 1:4. With their own eyes they saw the Son working out His mission as the Savi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whosoever shall confess_ This was what the false prophets refused to do: see on 1 John 4:2: also on 1 John 5:1. _dwelleth in him_ Better, ABIDETH _in him_: see on 1 John 2:24. _and he in God_ The communion is of the closest description: comp. 1 John 3:24; John 6:56; John 14:20; John 15:5. Even Apo... [ Continue Reading ]
_And we have known and believed_ Literally, _And we have_ COME TO KNOW AND HAVE _believed_. This is the natural order; progressive knowledge leads up to faith. But sometimes faith precedes knowledge (John 6:69). In either case each completes the other. Sound faith is intelligent; sound knowledge is... [ Continue Reading ]
_Herein is our love made perfect_ Better, as the margin, _Herein is_ LOVE WITH US _made perfect_; or, as R. V., _Herein is love_ MADE PERFECT WITH US. Most earlier English Versions agree with the latter collocation. The meaning seems to be that love, which is of God (1 John 4:7), takes up its abode... [ Continue Reading ]
Proof of the preceding statement that perfect love will give us boldness, by shewing the mutually exclusive nature of love and fear. Love moves towards others in the spirit of self-sacrifice: fear shrinks from others in the spirit of self-preservation. The two are to be understood quite generally; n... [ Continue Reading ]
_We love him_ Omit -Him", which is a later addition to the true text: some authorities for -Him" add -God", and some have -God" for -He" in the next clause. No accusative is expressed, and none, whether -God" or -one another", is to be understood: Christian love of every kind is meant. Authorities a... [ Continue Reading ]
_If a man say_ We return to the form of statement which was so common at the beginning of the Epistle (1 John 1:6; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10). The case here contemplated is one form of the man that feareth _not_. His freedom from fear is caused, however, not by the perfection of love, but by presumpti... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this commandment have we_ The Apostle drives home his arguments for the practice of brotherly love by the fact that God has commanded all who love Him to love their brethren. Some take -Him" to mean Christ. But this is unlikely, as Christ has not been mentioned for several verses: although it m... [ Continue Reading ]