What makes the Commandments of God easy. “Every one that hath faith that Jesus is the Christ hath been begotten of God; and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth him that hath been begotten of Him. Herein we get to know that we love the children of God, whenever we love God, and do His command... [ Continue Reading ]
A reiteration of the doctrine that love for God = love for the brethren. Where either is, the other is also. Love for God is the inner principle, love for the brethren its outward manifestation. The argument is “an irregular Sorites” (Plummer): Every one that hath faith in the Incarnation is a chil... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ ἀγ. τ. Θεοῦ, here objective genitive; contrast 1 John 2:5. ἴνα ecbatic (see Moulton's _Gram_. of _N.T. Gk._, i. pp. 206 9), where the classical idiom would require τὸ ἡμᾶς τηρεῖν. _Cf._ John 17:3; Luke 1:43. τὰς ἐντ., the two commandments “love God” and “love one another” (_cf._ 1 John 3:23, where... [ Continue Reading ]
The reason why “His commandments are not heavy”. Punctuate οὐκ εἰσίν, ὅτι πᾶν, κ. τ. λ. The neut. (πᾶν τὸ γεγ.) expresses the universality of the principle, “drückt die unbedingte Allgemeinheit noch stärker aus als ‘Jeder, der aus Gott geboren ist' ” (Rothe). _Cf._ John 3:6. τὸν κόσμον, the sum of a... [ Continue Reading ]
St. John says: “Everything that hath been begotten of God conquereth the world”. But he has already said: “Every one that hath faith that Jesus is the Christ hath been begotten of God” (1 John 5:1). So now he asks: “Who is he that conquereth the world but he that hath faith that Jesus is the Son of... [ Continue Reading ]
οὗτος, _i.e._, this Jesus who is the Son of God, the Messiah whom the prophets foretold and who “came” in the fulness of the time. ὁ ἐλθών, not ὁ ἐρχόμενος. His Advent no longer an unfulfilled hope but an historic event. διά, of the _pathway_ or _vehicle_ of His Advent. Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, “Jesus Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
The Threefold Testimony to the Incarnation. “This is He that came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood. And it is the Spirit that testifieth, because the Spirit is the Truth. Because three are they that testify the Spirit and the water and t... [ Continue Reading ]
The Water (the Lord's consecrated Life) and the Blood (His sacrificial Death) are testimonies to the Incarnation, but they are insufficient. A third testimony, that of the Spirit, is needed to reveal their significance to us and bring it home to our hearts. Without His enlightenment the wonder and g... [ Continue Reading ]
According to the Jewish law threefold testimony was valid (Deuteronomy 19:15; _cf._ Matthew 18:16; John 8:17-18). Read (as in 1 John 3:20) ὅ, τι μεμαρτύηκεν, “what He hath testified concerning His Son,” _i.e._ the testimony of His miracles and especially His Resurrection (Romans 1:4). The variant ἥν... [ Continue Reading ]
Our attitude to the Threefold Testimony. “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God what He hath testified concerning His Son. He that believeth in the Son of God hath the testimony in himself. He that believeth not God hath made Him a... [ Continue Reading ]
A subtle and profound analysis of the exercise of soul which issues in assured faith. Three stages: (1) “Believe God” (πιστεύειν τῷ Θεῷ, _credere Deo_), accept His testimony concerning His Son, _i.e._, not simply His testimony at the Baptism (Matthew 3:17) but the historic manifestation of God in Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
The Testimony of the Incarnation. _cf._ 1 John 1:2. ἔδωκεν, “gave,” aorist referring to a definite historic act, the Incarnation.... [ Continue Reading ]
μή with the participle does not necessarily make the case hypothetical (_cf._ note on 1 John 2:4). St. John would have only too many actual instances before him in those days of doctrinal unsettlement.... [ Continue Reading ]
The purpose for which St. John wrote his Gospel was that we might believe in the Incarnation, and so have Eternal Life (John 20:31); the purpose of the Epistle is not merely that we may have Eternal Life by believing but that we may _know that we have it_. The Gospel exhibits the Son of God, the Epi... [ Continue Reading ]
The Epistle is finished, and the Apostle now speaks his closing words. “These things I wrote to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even to you that believe in the name of the Son of God. And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we request anything according to His will... [ Continue Reading ]
παρρησία, see note on 1 John 2:28. As distinguished from αἰτεῖν the middle αἰτεῖσθαι is to pray _earnestly_ as with a personal interest (see Mayor's note on James 4:3). The distinction does not appear here, since αἰτεῖν αἰτήματα (cognate accusitive) is a colourless periphrasis for αἰτεῖσθαι. A large... [ Continue Reading ]
An amplification of the second limitation. “We have our requests” not always as we pray but as we would pray were we wiser. God gives not what we ask but what we really need. _cf._ Shak., _Ant. and Cleop._ i. ii.: “We, ignorant of ourselves, Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers Deny us... [ Continue Reading ]
After the grand assurance that prayer is always heard, never unanswered, the Apostle specifies one kind of prayer, _viz._, Intercession, in the particular case of a “brother,” _i.e._ a fellow-believer, who has sinned. Prayer will avail for his restoration, with one reservation that his sin be “not u... [ Continue Reading ]
A gentle warning. “Principiis obsta.” Also a reassurance. “You have sinned, but not necessarily ‘unto death'.”... [ Continue Reading ]
Our Security through the Guardianship of Christ. οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει, see note on 1 John 3:6. The child of God may fall into sin, but he does not continue in it; he is not under its dominion. Why? Because, though he has a malignant foe, he has also a vigilant Guardian. ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, _i.e._, Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
The Certainties of Christian Faith. St. John has been speaking of a dark mystery, and now he turns from it: “Do not brood over it. Think rather of the splendid certainties and rejoice in them.”... [ Continue Reading ]
Our Security in God's Embrace. ὁ κόσμος : “Non creatura sed seculares nomines et secundum concupiscentias viventes” (Clem. Alex.). See note on 1 John 2:15. τῷ πονηρῷ, masc. as in previous verse κεῖται, in antithesis to οὐχ ἅπτεται. On the child of God the Evil One does not so much as lay his hand, t... [ Continue Reading ]
The Assurance and Guarantee of it all the fact of the Incarnation (ὅτι ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἥκει), an overwhelming demonstration of God's interest in us and His concern for our highest good. Not simply a historic fact but an abiding operation not “came (ἦλθε),“but” hath come and hath given us”. Our faith... [ Continue Reading ]
_Filioli, custodite vos a simulacris_ (Vulg.). The exhortation arises naturally. “This” this God revealed and made near and sure in Christ “is the True God and Life Eternal. Cleave to Him, and do not take to do with false Gods: guard yourselves from the idols.” St. John is thinking, not of the heath... [ Continue Reading ]