First the apostle announces his message that God is light and only light (1 John 1:5). Then follows (down to chap. 1 John 2:2) a universal statement of the evangelical conditions of fellowship with Him in holiness. In chap. 1 John 2:3-6 the knowledge of God is exhibited as a stimulant to perfect obe... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:1-3. MY LITTLE CHILDREN: instead of giving the antithesis to the third ‘if any man say,' St. John, the father of the churches of that time, directly addresses those whose character formed that antithesis; and changes the calm statement into affectionate exhortation. THESE THINGS I WRITE U... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fellowship in the knowledge of God: obedience, love, and union, 1 John 2:3_. The best account that can be given of this section- more aphoristic than any other is that it lays down certain principles, and introduces certain terms, which become the keynotes of the remainder: each begins here, and r... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:4. HENCE HE THAT SAITH, I KNOW HIM the ‘we' has become ‘he,' according to St. John's habit of changing the phrase and making its force more keen and direct, AND KEEPETH NOT HIS COMMANDMENTS, IS A LIAR, AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM. We are sent back to chap. 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10; as he l... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:5. BUT WHOSO KEEPETH HIS WORD: this phrase is our Lord's, both in St. John's Gospel and in the Apocalypse. Examination will show that the ‘keeping' is more interior than the ‘doing,' including that sacred reverence for the principle of obedience which is its permanent or abiding safeguard i... [ Continue Reading ]
_The new commandment, which is also old: that of brotherly love, 1 John 2:7_. 1 John 2:7. Beloved introducing a new view of the subject by a term appropriate, NO NEW COMMANDMENT WRITE I UNTO YOU, BUT AN OLD COMMANDMENT WHICH YE HAD FROM THE BEGINNING. The apostle had spoken of ‘commandments' and of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Testimony to the reality of their religion; addressed to the church generally, and specially under two aspects._ 1 John 2:12-13. I WRITE UNTO YOU, LITTLE CHILDREN, BECAUSE YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN YOU FOR HIS NAME'S SAKE. The apostle, in the act of writing the Epistle, now ceases to distinguish betwe... [ Continue Reading ]
_The love of the world: renounced in the Fellowship of the Father. This exhortation is addressed to all, the tone of contrast being now again resumed._ 1 John 2:15. LOVE NOT THE WORLD, NEITHER THE THINGS THAT ARE IN THE WORLD. IF ANY MAN LOVE THE WORLD, THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IS NOT IN HIM. Fellowsh... [ Continue Reading ]
_The antichrists as errors of the darkness: their mark and character, with the protection against them._ 1 John 2:18. LITTLE CHILDREN: the address is to all; and with reference to the several characteristics acknowledged in them, their knowledge of the Father and of Him who was from the beginning,... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:19. This verse stands alone, as containing a preliminary encouragement. They went out from us, but they were not of us. They literally left us, for they were in our fellowship, and received in the Church the doctrines they perverted; but they had not the life of our doctrine, and were not o... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:20. AND YE HAVE AN UNCTION FROM THE HOLY ONE, AND YE KNOW ALL THINGS. There is no ‘but' here: the verse introduces a new consolation; and that is the fact of the impartation of the Holy Ghost to all the members of the spiritual fellowship, as a Spirit of consecration generally, and particul... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:22-23. WHO IS THE LIAR, BUT HE THAT DENIETH THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST? If every lie comes from another source than the truth, what is that source? Our Saviour said of one:' He is a liar, and the father of it' (John 8:44). And this was preceded by, ‘Ye are of your father the devil,' who ‘abod... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:24-25. AS FOR YOU, LET THAT ABIDE IN YOU WHICH YE HEARD FROM THE BEGINNING. IF THAT WHICH YE HEARD FROM THE BEGINNING ABIDE IN YOU, YE SHALL ALSO ABIDE IN THE SON AND IN THE FATHER. AND THIS IS THE PROMISE THAT HE PROMISED US, EVEN LIFE ETERNAL. The false teachers introduced novelties: thei... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:26-27. The blessedness of ‘eternal life' has brought this sad protest against error to an end. But the writer's heart is lull, and he introduces a final exhortation and encouragement, in the same tone that has been felt throughout, that of confidence in his readers. THESE THINGS HAVE I WRI... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:28. But throughout this Epistle the human side is never forgotten, while all is referred finally to the indwelling of the Son. AND NOW, MY LITTLE CHILDREN, ABIDE IN HIM: THAT, WHEN HE SHALL BE MANIFESTED, WE MAY HAVE BOLDNESS, AND NOT BE ASHAMED FROM HIM AT HIS COMING. This ends the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
_The glory and dignity of regeneration and adoption, both hire and hereafter._ 1 John 2:29. IF YE KNOW THAT HE IS RIGHTEOUS, YE PERCEIVE THAT EVERY ONE ALSO WHO DOETH RIGHTEOUSNESS IS BEGOTTEN OF HIM. This sentence is strictly transitional, and therefore of necessity may be interpreted with referenc... [ Continue Reading ]
The apostle now introduces a new order of thought, governed by the idea of regeneration as the gift of life in Christ to individual man. He first (down to chap. 1 John 3:3) dilates on its glory as a birth of God; as the design of His love; as including both the privileges and the reality of sonship;... [ Continue Reading ]