_HE WARNETH THEM NOT TO BELIEVE ALL TEACHERS WHO BOAST OF THE SPIRIT, BUT TO TRY THEM BY THE RULES OF THE FAITH DELIVERED BY THE APOSTLE: AND BY MANY REASONS, EXHORTETH TO BROTHERLY LOVE._ _Anno Domini 90._ BECAUSE the Gnostics and other heretics, in the first age, to gain the greater credit to th... [ Continue Reading ]
BELIEVE NOT EVERY SPIRIT,— By _the spirits,_ understand not the men pretending to inspiration, nor the doctrines which they delivered, but the spirits from whence the doctrines proceeded; namely, _first,_ the Spirit of God; _secondly,_ the spirit of the man himself; or, _thirdly,_ a demon, or wicked... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREBY KNOW YE THE SPIRIT, &C.— _Hereby you may discern,_ &c. Heylin. There are two ways of interpreting what St. John has here laid down as a rule by which to _try the spirits:_ 1. Their acknowledging that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; or, 2. Their acknowledging that Jesus, who came in the fl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAVE OVERCOME THEM:— From this and several other passages it appears, that the Christians to whom St. John wrote, had not yet been drawn aside by the false teachers, though they were in imminent danger thereof: there had been frequent contests between them; but by steadfastness in the faith, thr... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE OF THE WORLD:— False prophets and corrupt teachers are of the world, as long as a worldly spirit influences them; therefore speak they from that worldlydisposition, suiting their hearers, and consulting worldly interests; and as they sooth men in their prejudices, flatter them, and make the... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE OF GOD:— When the apostles had given clear proofs of a divine mission, by numerous and beneficent miracles which they worked; by the exercise of various spiritual gifts themselves, and by imparting spiritual gifts and miraculous powers to others; when their lives were so holy, their labours s... [ Continue Reading ]
BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER:— St. Jerome tells us, that when this blessed evangelist had continued at Ephesus to extreme old age, and was with difficulty carried to the church between the arms of some of the disciples, being unable to pronounce more words, he was wont, every time they assembled... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD IS LOVE.— God is the most benevolent of all beings, full of love to his depending creatures; so that in him there is nothing wanting to the highest perfection of love. See 1 John 4:9, &c. He is the great fountain and exemplar of love; he recommends it by his law, and produces and cherishes i... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THIS WAS MANIFESTED THE LOVE OF GOD, &C.— All the blessings of Providence are effects of the divine love to man; but St. John has said, 1 John 4:8 that _God is Love itself;_ and to illustrate that, he here pitches upon the most remarkable proof and instance of God's love to man. The love of God w... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THAT HE LOVED US,— St. John's meaning is, that God loved us for it. See 1 John 4:19. Men are generally very ready to love those by whom they are first loved: now, such was the astonishing love of God to men, that, when they were sinners and enemies, he so loved the world, as to send his most bel... [ Continue Reading ]
WE OUGHT ALSO TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.— We, as his children, ought to imitate the infinitelyamiableexampleofourcommonFather,andsincerelyandaffectionately love one another. Sometimes the love of God the Father, sometimes the love of God the Son, is proposed to our imitation.... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD, &C.— "God himself is an invisible Spirit, whom no man hath seen nor can see with his bodily eyes. But as he is the great Fountain of benevolence, _if we love one another_ with cordiality and entire sincerity, it appears that _God dwelleth in us, and that his love is perfected i... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREBY KNOW WE, &C.— "By this we have a comfortable evidence of a mutual inhabitation between God and us, of our dwelling by faith and love inunion and communion, through Jesus Christ, with him; and of his dwelling by gracious manifestations and influences in our souls; because he has freely afforde... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE HAVE SEEN, &C.— "And animated and sealed by this Spirit, as we have seen and known by undoubted evidence ourselves, so we courageously testify to others, how hazardous soever the bearing that testimony may be, that the great almighty Father of all hath sent Jesus his eternal and only-begotten... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER SHALL CONFESS— See on 1 John 4:2. The confession here required must have been sincere, otherwise it would have been of no moment. Confessing Jesus to be the Son of God, or the Messiah, implied their taking him for their Head and Lord, whom they were to love, imitate, and obey. Together wit... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREIN IS OUR LOVE MADE PERFECT,— _Herein is love perfected in us_ (so it should be rendered), even by our thus dwelling in love, and thereby dwelling in God: and having this plain token of God's love to us, wemay assuredly hope to appear with humble confidence before him in the awful day of judgmen... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE, &C.— "This perfect love is of such a delightful nature, that though it be ever attended with a holy filial reverence of God, and cautious filial fear of offending; yet there is no distrustful or terrifying fear of God in it, as if he were our enemy. But this perfect love to... [ Continue Reading ]
WE LOVE HIM, &C.— Some would read this, _Let us therefore love him:_ and their reasons for it are, because the connection is by this interpretation rendered more easyand obvious; and the word αγαπωμεν, may be indifferently understood, either in the indicative or subjunctive mood: and as the word αγα... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE THAT LOVETH NOT HIS BROTHER, &C.— By _brother_ is all along to be understood a real Christian; and if Christian professors are what their religion obliges them to be, that is, more holy than other men, we ought in reason to love them with a greater degree of affection than others. It is intim... [ Continue Reading ]