INTRODUCTION TO 1 JOHN 4 In this chapter the apostle cautions against seducing spirits; advises to try them, and gives rules by which they may be known, and by which they are distinguished from others; and then returns to his favourite subject, brotherly love. He exhorts the saints not to believe e... [ Continue Reading ]
BELOVED, BELIEVE NOT EVERY SPIRIT,.... The apostle having mentioned the word "spirit" in the latter part of the preceding chapter, takes an occasion from thence to return to what he had been suggesting in the "second" chapter, concerning the many antichrists that then were, and whom he points out, a... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREBY KNOW YE THE SPIRIT OF GOD,.... This is a rule by which believers may know whether a man professing to have the Spirit of God, and to be called and sent by him, and whether the, doctrine he preaches, is of him or not: EVERY SPIRIT THAT CONFESSETH THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH, IS OF... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EVERY SPIRIT THAT CONFESSETH NOT,.... The proper deity and sonship of Christ, his true and real humanity, and his Messiahship; or any of his offices, doctrines, and ordinances; or his satisfaction and righteousness; or that peace, pardon, justification, life, and salvation, are by him; all which... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ARE OF GOD, LITTLE CHILDREN,.... This, with what follows, is said for the comfort of the saints, and to deliver them from the fears of being drawn aside by the delusions of the false prophets, and antichrists; since they belonged to God, were his elect, and therefore could not be finally and tota... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE OF THE WORLD,.... That is, the false prophets and teachers that were gone into the world, and had the spirit of antichrist in them; these were as they were when they came into the world, under the pollution, guilt, and dominion of sin, in a state of unregeneracy, carnality, and darkness; th... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE OF GOD,.... Not only as the chosen of God, the children of God, regenerated ones, and believers, but as ministers of the Gospel; they were chosen, and called, and sent of God to preach the Gospel, and were qualified for it, by gifts received from him, and had their doctrine from him, as well... [ Continue Reading ]
BELOVED, LET ITS LOVE ONE ANOTHER,.... The apostle having finished what he proposed to say concerning the trying of spirits, returns to his former exhortation to brotherly love, and which comes with fresh force and strength; for since worldly men follow, hear, embrace, and cleave to the false teache... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT LOVETH NOT, KNOWETH NOT GOD,.... If a man loves not the children of God, those that are born of him, he does not know, so as to love God, the Father of them; for to pretend love to God, the begetter of them, whom he sees not, and not love those who are begotten by him, and are visible object... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THIS WAS MANIFESTED THE LOVE OF GOD TOWARDS US,.... The love of God here spoken of, and instanced in, is not his general love to all his creatures, which is shown in the make of them, and in the support of them in their beings, and in his providential care of them, and kindness to them; but his s... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREIN IS LOVE,.... The love of God, free love, love that cannot be matched: herein it is manifested, as before; this is a clear evidence of it, an undoubted proof, and puts it out of all question: NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD: the love of God is antecedent to the love of his people; it was when theirs wa... [ Continue Reading ]
BELOVED, IF GOD SO LOVED US,.... As to send his Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, and to obtain eternal life for us through his sufferings and death: the apostle uses the same language his Lord and master did, John 3:16; WE OUGHT ALSO TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER; for those who are the object... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME,.... The same is said by the Evangelist John, John 1:18; but here it is observed with a different view, and upon another account; there it signifies that no man has seen and looked into the counsels and designs of God, and been able to make a discovery and declaratio... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREBY KNOW WE THAT WE DWELL IN HIM, AND HE IN US,.... That there is a communion between God and us, and a communication of his love and grace to us, and an exercise of grace upon him; for God dwells in his people by his Spirit and grace, and they dwell in him by the exercise of faith and love upon... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE HAVE SEEN, AND DO TESTIFY,.... This seems to be particularly said of the apostles, who had a clear discerning of the love and grace of God, manifested in the mission of Christ into the world; for though no man had seen his nature and his person, yet they had seen his love, and the exceeding r... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER SHALL CONFESS THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD,.... The only begotten of the Father; that he is not a mere man, as the Jews, and Ebion and Cerinthus said, but a divine person, equal with the Father; which contains all that relates to the dignity of his person, and his fitness for his office as... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE HAVE KNOWN AND BELIEVED,.... Or have a full assurance and knowledge of, and faith in, THE LOVE THAT GOD HATH TO US; shown as in many instances, so more especially in sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the Saviour of us, and that we might live through him. GOD IS LOVE... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREIN IS OUR LOVE MADE PERFECT,.... Or love with us; which some understand of the love of God towards his people, and which is shed abroad in them: this indeed removes all fear of an awful judgment, and renders that amiable and desirable; and such who are interested in it, shall stand in that day w... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE,.... In the love of the brethren; where that is, there is no fear: so far as that prevails and gains ground, fear removes; not the filial fear of God, the new covenant grace of fear, which is the beginning of wisdom, and is consistent with faith, hope, love, and spiritual jo... [ Continue Reading ]
WE LOVE HIM, BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. Lest love to God, and so to one another, should be thought to be of ourselves, and too much be ascribed unto it, the apostle observes, that God's love to us is prior to our love to him; his love is from everlasting, as well as to everlasting; for he loves his... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN SAY I LOVE GOD, AND HATETH HIS BROTHER,.... Than which profession nothing can be more contradictory, not black and white, or hot and cold in the same degree: HE IS A LIAR; it is not truth he speaks, it is a contradiction, and a thing impossible: FOR HE THAT LOVETH NOT HIS BROTHER WHOM HE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS COMMANDMENT HAVE WE FROM HIM,.... Either "from God", as the Alexandrian copy and the Vulgate Latin version read; and that to love the brethren is a commandment of God, is clear from 1 John 3:23; or from Christ, for it is also a command of his, even his new commandment, which he has given, a... [ Continue Reading ]