ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ Α ́. a 2 b a ὃ 4 Luke 24. 39. 30 27 ἀπό τ John 1. 1, 14. & 20. Ι. 140 ἦν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ὁ ἀκηκόαμεν, ὃ ἑωράκαμεν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν, ἐθεασάμεθα, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν, περὶ τοῦ Λόγου τῆς ζωῆς, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἐφανερώθη, καὶ ἑωράκαμεν, καὶ μαρτυροῦμεν, καὶ ἀπαγγέλλομεν ὑμῖν τὴν CH. I. 1.] St. John begins this Epistle without any mention of himself, or of those to whom it is addressed. He appears to be unconscious of his own individuality, and that of his readers, and to be absorbed in the contemplation of the Divine Glory and infinite love and condescension of Christ. His heart is hot within him, and he speaks with his tongue. So it had been in his Gospel. There also he is full of the subject; and gives utterance to the great truths which struggled within him for vent, and exclaims, "In the beginning was the Word." In like manner, the Apostle St. Paul, in writing on the same subject to the Hebrews, does not begin the Epistle with any mention of himself or of them; but withdraws himself and them from the eye of the reader, and displays Christ. In the language of the commencement of this Epistle, and in that of the Gospel, St. John appears to revert to the opening words of the Old Testament. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. i. 1). There was the beginning of the visible world. St. John had described in his Gospel the spiritual Genesis. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him." (John i. 1-3.) And now in his Epistle he begins with Him Who had no beginning, but is and has been from Eternity. S. Clement of Alexandria (Adumbrat. p. 1009) observes, that “ this Epistle begins with a spiritual proem, following that of the Gospel of St. John, and in unison with it." He therefore supposed the Epistle to have been written after the Gospel. See above, p. 98, note. The harmony subsisting between the beginning of St. John's Gospel and that of his Epistle, in declaring the doctrines of the Pre-existence, Divinity, and Creative Power of the Everlasting WORD, and of His Incarnation,-in opposition to the Heretics of Apostolic times, who denied those doctrines,-was observed also, in ancient times, by Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, in Eusebius, vii. 25. 2 Pet. 1. 16. b John 1. 1, 2. Rom. 16. 26. Col. 1. 26. 2 Tim. 1. 10. Tit. 1. 2. ȧкnкóαμev] what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes. Having declared the eternal pre-existence of Christ, St. John next proceeds here, as in his Gospel, to assert the reality of His Humanity. See John i. 1-14. 8 0eaσáμela] what we looked at: spectavimus, as a déqua or spectaculum; attracting and riveting our attention. See John i. 14; iv. 35; the word bearea is applied to the action of the Apostles gazing at our Lord ascending into heaven, Acts i. 11. | - ô îv à¤2 àpxñs] That which was from the beginning (cp. 2 Thess. ii. 13). A statement directed against the false doctrines of those who said, as the Ebionites did, that Jesus was a mere man ; or, as the Cerinthians, that he was merely inhabited by Christ as a spiritual emanation for a time. καὶ αἱ χεῖρες ἡμῶν ἐψηλάφησαν] and our hands did handle, or feel. Observe the aorist. He refers to his own act and that of the Apostles after the Resurrection, in obedience to Christ's words, "Handle Me, Feel Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have." (Luke xxiv. 39.) Here therefore is an addition to the statement concerning the humanity of the Everlasting Word. He had a true body, and the same body before and after His Resurrection; and we felt that Body. Here then is a reply to the false teaching of the followers of Simon Magus and the Docete, who said, that our Lord's human body was a visionary phantom. This notion is confuted by St. John's scholar, S. Ignatius (ad Smyrn. c. 1 and c. 2), who says that οἱ ἄπιστοι λέγουσιν αὐτὸν (i. e. Christ) τὸ δοκεῖν πεπονθέναι, aurol To dokeîv ŎVTES, where see Bp. Pearson's note, p. 433, Jacobson, and ibid. c. 3, where S. Ignatius relates that our Lord said to St. Peter and others after His Resurrection, "AáßETE, ψηλαφήσατέ με, καὶ ἴδετε, ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ δαιμόνιον ἀσώματον, καὶ εὐθὺς αὐτοῦ ἥψαντο, καὶ ἐπίστευσαν, κρατηθέντες τῇ σαρκὶ AUTOû, Kal TŶ πVeúμaтI, c. 4, and c. 5, and ad Trall. c. 10, and c. 11; and cp. S. Polycarp, ad Philipp. c. 7, and S. Irenæus, i. 20. On the word nλapậy, see Gen. xxvii. 12. 21, 22, and Dean Trench, Synon. xvii., and Luke xxiv. 39, and on Heb. xii. 18. The clue to the right understanding of this proæmium, and of the other doctrinal portions of St. John's Epistles, is to be found in a reference to the errors of those false Teachers to whom St. John alludes as antichrists (ii. 18), who endeavoured to seduce his disciples (ii. 26; cp. iii. 7), and denied that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (iv. 1-3), and that Jesus is the Christ, and who denied the Father and the Son (ii. 22). See Tertullian, c. Marcion.; Præscr. c. 15, and c. 33. S. Jerome, Prolog. in Matt. S. Athanas. c. Arian. Órat. iii. vol. i. p. 539; and compare the remarks of Bp. Bull, Jud. Eccl. Cath. cap. ii. vol. vi. pp. 33-47, ed. Oxon. 1827, and above, Introduction to this Epistle, pp. 98103, and the preliminary note to 2 Pet. ii. 1, p. 86, and Dr. Waterland on the Trinity, ch. vi. vol. v. ed. 1823, where this subject is well treated with reference to this prooemium and other portions of this Epistle, as directed against Ebion, Cerinthus, and the Docete; and cp. Dr. Burton, Bampton Lectures, Lect. vi. p. 168. TEрl Toû Adyov Três (wĥs] concerning the Logos, or Word, of Life; that is, concerning the Word, whose essential quality is Life. For in Him is the Life, He "is the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John i. 4; xiv. 6). He is "the Resurrection and the Life" (John xi. 25). This appears to be a prophetic protest against those false Teachers, who separated the Life (w) from the Logos, and made them to be like two Emanations or Eons, distinct from, and subordinate to, the only-begotten Son of God; as was done by some Gnostic Teachers. See Irenæus, i. 1, and cp. Waterland, vol. v. p. 183. The preposition repì, concerning, defines the subject of the whole sentence, and has a connexion with awayyéλλoμev in v. 3. On this use of repì, cp. ii. 26; v. 9, 10. 1 Thess. i. 9. 2. Kal ʼn Swǹ pavepúon] and the Life was manifested. St. John uses kal to introduce a parenthesis here, as in the beginning of his Gospel (i. 14). The word épavepwon had been employed by St. Paul in the same sense as here, with reference to the Incarnation; see on 1 Tim. iii, 16. St. John saw the pavépwois, or Epiphany of the Life, when he beheld Christ raising Lazarus and others from the Dead, and when he saw Christ risen from the Grave, by His own power, according to His own Word, John ii. 19; and he heard Him say, "I am the Resurrection and the Life" (John xi. 25); "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (xiv. 6); "I am He that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore (Rev. i. 18). This verse is parenthetical: cp. Winer, § 63. ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον, ἥτις ἦν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ ἐφανερώθη ἡμῖν,— ὁ ἑωράκαμεν καὶ ἀκηκόαμεν, ἀπαγγέλλομεν καὶ ὑμῖν, ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς κοινωνίαν ἔχητε μεθ ̓ ἡμῶν· καὶ ἡ κοινωνία δὲ ἡ ἡμετέρα μετὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ μετὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· 4 4 καὶ ταῦτα γράφομεν ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν ἦ πεπληρωμένη. e d * Καί ἐστιν αὕτη ἡ ἀγγελία, ἣν ἀκηκόαμεν ἀπ ̓ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀναγγέλλομεν ὑμῖν, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν, καὶ σκοτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδεμία. 6 Ἐὰν εἴπωμεν ὅτι κοινωνίαν ἔχομεν μετ ̓ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τῷ σκότει περιπατῶ μεν, ψευδόμεθα, καὶ οὐ ποιοῦμεν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. 7 Ἐὰν δὲ ἐν τῷ φωτὶ περιπατῶμεν, ὡς αὐτὸς ἔστιν ἐν τῷ φωτὶ, κοινωνίαν ἔχομεν μετ ̓ ἀλλήλων, καὶ τὸ αἷμα Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ καθαρίζει ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἁμαρτίας. Thy (why Thy alwviov] the Life eternal: said in opposition to those Heretics who denied the eternal pre-existence of Christ. Dr. Waterland, v. p. 188. πрds TÒν Пαтéрa] with the Father. There is no exact equivalent in English to pòs here; its meaning is best explained by St. John's own words, & Aóyos hν πрds TÒν Oedv, i. e. united to God and ever abiding in and with Him. John i. 1, where see note. This statement is made in opposition to those false Teachers, who separated Jesus from Christ, as Cerinthus did, and said that the Logos was the Son of the Only-begotten, but was not the Only-begotten of the Father; and that the Logos was a separate Eon, estranged from God. Cp. Greg. Nazian. Orat. xliv. Dr. Waterland, v. pp. 181. 188, and Tillemont, ii. p. 17. 3. 8 éwрákaμev] what we have seen a word here repeated thrice, for greater assurance of the truth of the reality of Christ's Humanity, in opposition to the Docete; and of His distinct Personality. See Tertullian, c. Praxeam, c. 15. καὶ ἡ κοινωνία] and our communion is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ; a declaration of the truth against those who divided Jesus from Christ, and who denied His Divine Sonship, and rejected the doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God, by virtue of which He dwells in us (John i. 14), and we have communion with Him and with the Father. Not one of these false Teachers acknowledged that the Word was made Flesh. S. Irenæus, iii. c. 11. See Introduction, p. 100. The de, but, in this clause, is not to be unnoticed. The kal, and, adds something, and the dè is slightly adversative. Cp. 2 Pet. i. 5. The sentence may be thus paraphrased, And, remember, our communion is not like an ordinary human association, and much less like an heretical association, but our communion is even with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. So glorious is it! 4. Kal Taûta ypápoμer] and we write these things to you, in order that your joy may be filled up to the full. The Tλhpwua Xápitos, or fulness of grace (John i. 16), flowing from the Everlasting Word, in whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead (Col. i. 19), brings with it a paua xapas, a fulness of joy, very different from that fictitious λńрwμa, plenitude, or fulness, imagined by the Gnostics, and peopled by them with visionary Eons, into which, according to them, the spiritual men, such as they deemed themselves, would be received hereafter. See Irenæus, i. 6; iii. 11, and above, note on John i. 16. Col. ii. 9. Observe the perfect tense, Tenλnpwuévn, indicating that the joy will be filled up, and will continue so to be. See note below, iii. 9. 5--7.] On the antithetical character and rhythmical structure of these sentences, see above, Introduction, p. 105. 5. ἡ ἀγγελία] the message. So A, B. G, K, and Griesb., Scholz, Lach., Tisch. Elz. has ayyeλía. ¿ Oeds pûs éσTw] God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all: a sentence opposed to the error of most of the Gnostics, who asserted the existence of two hostile Deities, one a God of Light, the other of Darkness. S. Irenæus, i. 25. 28, Grabe. Theodoret, Hæret. fab. procm. S. Epiphan. Hær. xxvi. Cp. Ittig, Hæres. p. 34, and note above, John i. 5, and Bp. Andrewes, iii. pp. 371-376. Almost all the Gnostics adopted the theory of Dualism, derived from the Magians, and afterwards developed by the Marcionites and Manichæans. 6. ear elπwμev] if we say as many of the Gnostics do-that we have communion with Him, and if we walk in darkness, we lie. They alleged that, by reason of the spiritual seed in them, and of their superior spiritual knowledge, and communion with the light, they were free to act as they chose, and were not polluted thereby, and were not guilty of sin. (Irenæus, i. 6. 20.) Some of them even ventured to extol the workers of the most audacious acts of darkness, such as Cain, Korah, and Judas, as persons gifted with superior freedom of thought, and intrepidity of action (see on Jude 11); and to affirm that, since the soul could not attain to perfection except by knowledge, it was even requisite for men to make themselves familiar with all manner of evil, in order that by an universal empiricism of evil they might arrive the sooner at their ultimate consummation. See Irenæus (i. 25. 4, ed. Stieren; p. 103, ed. Grabe: ii. 32, ed. Stieren; p. 187, Grabe), and cp. Blunt on the Heresies of the Apostolic age; Lectures, ch. ix. p. 179, and below on ii. 3; iii. 9. 7. aurós] ipse, He Himself,-emphatic: He Himself Who is our Head is (OTI, exists) in the Light; consequently we His members ought to be in the Light also. κοινωνίαν ἔχομεν μετ ̓ ἀλλήλων] we have communion with one another. Here is a reply to those who would restrain Catholic communion to their own sect. St. John says that, "If we walk in the light we have communion one with another; and truly our communion is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ," v. 3. If we walk in the light, and communicate with the Father and the Son, in the Catholic Faith, "once for all delivered to the Saints" (Jude 3), and in the Christian Sacraments, we hold communion with all the Saints of every age and every nation in the Church. This is true Catholic communion, and those who are members of it are the true Catholics. Cp. Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. ix. p. 357, and the authorities quoted in Theophilus Anglicanus, part ii. ch. viii. καὶ τὸ αἷμα Ἰησοῦ] and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Some MSS., e. g. B, C, and Versions omit Xpirou, but it is found in A, G, H, and in most Cursives, and the Syriac and Vulg., and it imparts completeness to the doctrinal statement here, which declares that Jesus is the Christ against the Cerinthians-and that He is the Son of Godagainst the Ebionites-and that He shed His blood on the crossagainst the Simonians and Docete--and that it cleanseth from all sin-against those who deny pardon on earth to deadly sin after Baptism (see on Heb. vi. 4)—and it cleanseth us if we walk in the light against the antinomian Gnostics, who changed the grace of God into lasciviousness (Jude 4), and alleged that a man might walk in darkness, and yet be clean from all guilt of sin. Tertullian (de Pudicitiâ, c. 18) cites this passage from v. 5, and part of ch. ii. 1, and connects it with v. 16, expounding it in somewhat a Montanistic sense; to which he had been tempted by the vicious use made by some of God's grace in Christ. But St. John himself affirms, that he declares the all-sufficient efficacy of Christ's cleansing blood, not in order that any one may sin, or be at ease when he has sinned, but in order that men may not sin (ii. 1); inasmuch as no less a sacrifice than the death of the Son of God was required to propitiate the offended justice of God for sin (see below on ii. 2, and iv. 10); and no less a price than His blood, to ransom us from the bondage of Satan, to which we were reduced by sin. Thus he shows the heinousness of sin in God's sight; and displays the ingratitude of those who continue in sin, which cost the Son of God such bitter sufferings. He says that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us; that is, it is ever cleansing us from all sin: that blood which was shed once for all on the cross for the sins of the World, is always being effectually applied to individuals, in the washing away of the guilt of original sin by the Sacrament of Baptism; and in the cleansing of them from actual sin, on the condition of their faith and repentance, in the administration of the Sacrament of His 8 5 Εὰν εἴπωμεν ὅτι ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔχομεν, ἑαυτοὺς πλανῶμεν, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια 1 Kings 8.46. ἐν ἡμῖν οὐκ ἔστιν. 9 Ἐὰν ὁμολογῶμεν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, πιστός ἐστι καὶ δίκαιος ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡμῶν τὰς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ καθαρίσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀδικίας. 10 Ἐὰν εἴπωμεν ὅτι οὐχ ἡμαρτήκαμεν, ψεύστην ποιοῦμεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν. 2 Chron. 6. 36 a Rom. 8. 34. Καὶ ἐάν τις ἁμάρτῃ, παράκλητον ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν 1 2. 24, 25. δίκαιον, 25 καὶ αὐτὸς ἱλασμός ἐστι περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν· οὐ περὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου. b John 4. 42. Rom. 3. 25. 2 Cor. 5. 18. * Καὶ ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν, ὅτι ἐγνώκαμεν αὐτὸν, ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν. ch. 4. 10, 14. Body and Blood, and in the Ministry of Reconciliation. See above on Matt. xvi. 18; xviii. 18. 2 Cor. v. 18; and below, ii. 2; iv. 10. 8. éаvтoùs πλаv@μev] we are leading ourselves astray from the right road in which we were,-if we say that we have not sin, and therefore do not need the application of Christ's cleansing blood, mentioned in v. 7. 9. πιστός ἐστι He is faithful in fulfilling His promises of forgiveness through Christ. (See Luke xxiv. 47. Acts ii. 38, 39; v. 31. 1 Cor. i. 9; x. 13. 1 Thess. v. 24. Heb. x. 23; xi. 11.) And He is also just, in order to forgive us our sins. Observe this sense of iva, not used for wore, but in its natural meaning, in order that, see Winer, § 53, p. 409, and declaring the gracious truth, that God's attributes of faithfulness and justice, or righteousness, are exercised in order to our pardon. He in His love to us has provided a ransom for us (see iv. 10), by which His justice is fully satisfied, by reason of the infinite value of the price paid for our redemption, namely, the blood of His well-beloved Son, Whose death was the reconciliation of an offended God, and the satisfaction made to a just God, Who is therefore able to justify the sinner, without any impeachment of His own justice. See above on Rom. iii. 26, and below on iv. 10. And on the sense of dikalos, righteous, cp. 2 Thess. i. 5. 2 Tim. iv. 8. 1 Pet. ii. 23. 10. Ti oux μapтhкaμev] that we have not sinned, and are not sinners. On this sense of the perfect, see below, iii. 9. ·Yeborny TоLOûμev avтór] we make Him a liar; we constitute and treat Him as such; because He has given His Son for the purpose of tasting death for every one (Heb. ii. 10), which could not be said, if there was any one who was not liable to the penalty of sin, which is death. Rom. v. 12; vi. 23. On this use of row, see on 2 Cor. v. 21, and below, v. 10. Hence it appears that the Church of Rome, in its new dogma of the Immaculate Conception, ascribing sinlessness to the blessed Virgin Mary, is chargeable with this sin among others, that it imputes falsehood to God. Cp. notes above on Matt. xii. 48. Acts xx. 27. Gal. i. 8, 9. Rom. viii. 3. he does not give encouragement, or afford security, to the future On the meaning of the word waράкλŋтos, a word only used This doctrinal statement concerning Jesus Christ our Advocate with the Father, is made by St. John in opposition to the tenets of the Cerinthians and others,-especially in Asia, St. John's province, who invoked Angels as Mediators between God and Man, and thus derogated from the dignity of Christ our only Mediator and Advocate. 1 Tim. ii. 5. See above on Col. ii. 18. Lest any should become careless by hearing that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, the Apostle quells their presumption and inspires them with fear. God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins, if you grieve over your sins, and confess and repent of your sins. My little children, he adds, I write these things unto you, in order that ye may not sin. But if, through human infirmity, ye have been betrayed into some sin, ye may not therefore despair. No. Ye have an Advocate with the Father. First, then, take heed that ye do not sin; and if ye have fallen into sin, condemn yourselves, and fly to your Advocate, cry to Him. He will plead for you to the Judge. S. Augustine, Tract. i. on this Epistle, in the third volume of S. Augustine's Works in the Benedictine Edition. CH. II. 1, 2. TEKvía μov] My little children. An address of endearment ;--" diminutivum, amoris causâ." (Bengel.) It is not expressive of littleness in them, but of his tender love toward them; a love like that of a Mother for her offspring. Cp. John xiii. 33, and St. Paul's words, Gal. iv. 19. This term of endearment is used seven times in this Epistle, ii. 1. 12. 28; iii. 7. 18; iv. 4; v. 21. And this appellation TeKvía μov, 66 my little children," is addressed to all St. John's hearers and readers of every age. Cp. Bengel here, and below on ii. 12. It comes with special propriety from him who was now aged, and survived all the Apostles; who said to his fugitive scholar, Tí μe peuуEIS, TÉKVOV Toy σEаUтоÛ Tатépa; (Clem. Alex. ap. Euseb. iii. 23,) and whose often-repeated sermon in the Church was "filioli, diligite alterutrum (S. Jerome in Galat. vi.). Observe St. John's meekness. He had lain in the bosom of Jesus, and had imbibed heavenly mysteries from His mouth; but he humbleth himself. He does not set himself apart from sinners, and represent himself as their advocate, but he puts himself in the number of sinners, and says, "we have an Advocate with the Father." S. Augustine. I write these things, not in order that you may presume on God's grace, and pervert it into an occasion for sin, and abuse your Christian liberty, as the heretical Teachers and their disciples do (1 Pet. ii. 16. 2 Pet. ii. 19. Jude 4); but in order that ye may not sin; and yet, since the flesh is weak, we have the comforting assurance that if any man shall have sinned (auápry, aorist; not quaprávy, present) we have an advocate with (pòs, see i. 2, "apud ") the Father, Jesus Christ; being righteous, and prevailing by His righteousness (see 2 Cor. v. 21), and He Himself (airos) is propitiation for our sins; but not for ours only, but for the whole world. "Observe the tense of the verb here; he does not say táv TIS auaprávy, "si quis peccet," if any one sin; but he says, éáv ris auápry," si quis peccaverit" (Vulg.), if any one have sinned: Compare the words of St. James, iii. 2, "In many things we all offend," and Bp. Andrewes, v. 430. Observe avròs here, emphatic, as used in the nominative. He Himself, He and He alone, is the propitiation for our sins: see above, Matt. i. 21; viii. 17: here i. 7; ii. 6. On ixaσuòs, "a propitiatory sacrifice implying offence and On the use of repl, for, on account of, see on Gal. i. 4. St. John says, that Christ Himself is the propitiation for St. John here declares the doctrine of Universal Redemption 3. καὶ ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν] And by this we know that we 1 c ch. 1. 6. & 4.20. d John 13 35. & 14. 21, 23. ch. 4. 12, 13. e John 15. 4, 5. 1 Pet. 2. 21. f ch. 3. 11. 2 John 5. g John 1. 9. & 8. 12. & 13. 34. & 15. 12. Rm. 13. 12. 1 Thess. 5. 5, 8. c 4 Ο λέγων, Εγνωκα αὐτὸν, καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ μὴ τηρῶν, ψεύστης ἐστὶ, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἡ ἀλήθεια οὐκ ἔστιν. 54 Ος δ ̓ ἂν τηρῇ αὐτοῦ τὸν λόγον, ἀληθῶς ἐν τούτῳ ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ τετελείωται. Ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν, ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐσμέν. e 6 Ο λέγων ἐν αὐτῷ μένειν, ὀφείλει, καθὼς ἐκεῖνος περιεπάτησε, καὶ αὐτὸς οὕτως περιπατεῖν. 7 Αγαπητοὶ, οὐκ ἐντολὴν καινὴν γράφω ὑμῖν, ἀλλ ̓ ἐντολὴν παλαιὰν, ἣν εἴχετε ἀπ ̓ ἀρχῆς· ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ παλαιὰ ἔστιν ὁ λόγος ὃν ἠκούσατε ἀπ ̓ ἀρχῆς. 8 * Πάλιν ἐντολὴν καινὴν γράφω ὑμῖν, ὅ ἐστιν ἀληθὲς ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἡ σκοτία παράγεται, καὶ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ἤδη φαίνει. who vaunted knowledge, and despised obedience. Cp. 1 Tim. vi. 20. 2 Pet. i. 5. Hence the frequent occurrence of the word yσk in this Epistle, where it is found about twenty-five times; see ii. 4, 5. 13, 14. 18; iii. 16. 19, 20. 24; iv. 2. 6, 7, 8. 13. 16; v. 2. 20; and of olda, which occurs about twelve times: see ii. 20, 21; iii. 2.5 14, and passim. St. Peter repeats the word inlyvwσis for a like reason; see 2 Pet. i. 2. Throughout the Epistle St. John assures those who are trained in the saving verities of the Christian Faith, and who bring forth the fruits of Faith in holiness of life, that they know all things; they are the genuine Gnostics. Indeed, knowledge in the full Christian sense of the word implies love. See Didymus here, who observes that to "know the Lord" means in the language of Holy Scripture, "to fear, to love, to obey Him." St. John also declares, that those persons, who vaunt knowledge, and pervert the truth of Christ, and do not keep His commandments, know nothing, but are blind, and walk in darkness. See ii. 11. 2 Pet. i. 9; and cp. Dr. Hammond here, p. 824. The word yvwokw, signifying experimental knowledge, is distinguished from olda, which has a wider signification. The Gnostic heretics asserted it to be a duty, γινώσκειν πάντα, το have experimental knowledge of all things evil as well as good; see on i. 6: and they professed eidévai πávra, to have scientific knowledge of all things, however transcendental and mysterious. Compare below, ii. 29, as to the distinction between the two words, εἰδέναι and γινώσκειν. ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν] if we keep His commandments. The word Tnpeiv, to keep, implies watchfulness, as an essential requisite for obedience. the Law of God from the time of the Law and the Prophets, and even from the beginning of the world; and so S. Cyril in Catenâ, and Cassiodor., Complex. p. 127, and Ecumen., and Theophy lact, and Bp. Andrewes, v. 468, where he shows that the commandment of Love delivered in the Gospel is also in the Law of Moses and of Nature: it is in fact a necessary consequence of the Attributes of God Himself. And see Bp. Sanderson, iii. p. 315, and Dr. Hammond here. 8. máλ] Again; said with some intimation of correction of what has been just spoken. In another respect the commandment of Love to God, and of all men in God, is a new one, kawǹ, not véa (see on Eph. iv. 23, 24. Col. iii. 10), that is, it is made new, renewed, by Christ the second Adam, the Son of God, Who came from heaven to make all to be one new man in Himself (Eph. ii. 15), and Who has made all things new (2 Cor. v. 17. Rev. xxi. 5), and in Whom each of us is a new creature (Gal. vi. 15), and Who has given us the Holy Ghost in the Sacrament of the New Birth (John iii. 5), to renew us in the spirit of our minds (Tit. iii. 5), and Who is the Mediator of the New Covenant, and writes it by His Spirit in our hearts (Heb. viii. 8; ix. 15), and gives us a new name (Rev. ii. 17), and has made us citizens of the new Jerusalem (Rev. iii. 12; xxi. 2), and has encouraged us to look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Pet. iii. 13), and has thus given us new obligations, new motives, and new powers, to fulfil the law of Love, and has displayed new measures of largeness in its fulfilment, by His own precepts and example. Therefore, as St. John relates in his Gospel, our Lord Himself had said, A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. How do John xiii. 34. 5. év TOUT] by this we know that we are in Him. we know that we are in God? The answer is, by obedience. β. ὁ λέγων ἐν αὐτῷ μένειν] he who saith that he abideth in Him. Observe the frequent occurrence of the word μévw, to abide, to wait with patience and perseverance,-in this and in the Second Epistle of St. John. It is repeated twenty-six times. The duty of abiding patiently in God, by faith and obedience in evil days, is characteristically inculcated by this beloved disciple, who survived his brother Apostles, and whose life was prolonged for near forty years after the destruction of Jerusalem, even to the age of a hundred years and more, and who, in days of persecution from without, and of rebuke and blasphemy from within (see v. 18), waited patiently and stedfastly as a faithful witness to the true faith in Christ's Incarnation and Godhead, and who had received a special charge from Christ to tarry (μévei) till He came, and took him to Himself. See above on John xxi. 22, 23. KalwṢ ékeivos TeρIETάrnoe] as He walked. Observe the emphatic exeiros, He, spoken with feelings of reverence and adoration. "The Name" is the Name of Christ (3 John 7), "the Way" is the Way of Christ (Acts ix. 2, and note, Acts xx. 25); so, in this Epistle, the pronoun HE, is CHRIST. See iii. 3. 5. 7. 16; iv. 17. Mark also the use of the aorist, weрieжáтnσe. Christ's walking was one act of undeviating obedience to God. 7. ἀγαπητοί, οὐκ ἐντολὴν καινήν] Beloved (so the best MSS. and Editions. Elz. has adeλpol), I write not a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning. Do not listen to those false guides and Judaizing Teachers, who traduce the Gospel as a novelty; and who would limit the mercies of God, and the offices of Love, to their own sect or nation. The Christian Doctrine of Love of God, and of Love of all men in God, is the true doctrine from the beginning. Cp. Matt. v. 17. 2 John 5, "I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another." Cp. Clemens Alex. in Adumbrat. here, and Didymus, who say that Love is ὅ ἐστιν ἀληθὲς ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν] which thing is true in Him (Christ) and in you. What is it that is here declared to be true? Not the commandment (evroλ); the difference of gender precludes that interpretation. Nor is it simply the substance of the commandment that is asserted to be true; but the substance of it as new. Cp. Lücke, 2nd edition, and Huther here. This new life of love is not a deceit, as the novel knowledge of those is, who say that they know God, and yet do not keep His commandments, especially this great commandment of all-Love; and who therefore lie (see v. 4), and do not the truth (see i. 6). Cp. v. 27, where àλnès is put as here in contrast to the vedos, or lie, of the Gnostic pretenders to illumination, whose works of darkness belied their professions. But this new life of Love to God and of Love to man in God is true, genuine, really and vitally subsisting, and visibly manifested, and effectually energizing in Christ, Who is the New Man, and in you, who are new creatures in Him; in Him Who is the Head, and in you His Members; for Love is the element which knits all together in one another and in Him, and is therefore the bond of perfectness. Col. iii. 14. ὅτι ἡ σκοτία παράγεται] because the darkness is passing away (see v. 17), and the true light already shineth. Therefore this old commandment which ye have from the beginning is, in a certain sense, new: it is renewed and restored in Christ and the Gospel; because the darkness of error and sin which usurped its place and clouded it over, is now passing by (rapdyerai), being dispersed by the sunshine of the Gospel, as mists and clouds are by the sun's rays; and the light that is true shineth. Observe the adjective aλnowòv, true, as opposed to what is counterfeit and false; see above on John xvii. 3, and below, v. 20. The Gnostics pretended to have light, to have special illumination; but their light is a false light, it is the light of "wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness" (Jude 13), The darkness is the darkness of the Old Man; the light is 3 h 1 Cor. 2. 2 Pet. 1. ch. 3. 14, 15. 9 » Ο λέγων ἐν τῷ φωτὶ εἶναι, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ μισῶν, ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἡr: 19.2 ἐστὶν ἕως ἄρτι. 10 : ̔Ο ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ φωτὶ μένει, καὶ σκάνδαλον ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν. i John 12. 35. 2 Pet. 1. 10. 11 κ Ὁ δὲ μισῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστὶ, καὶ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ περι- κ ch. 3. 14. πατεῖ, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε ποῦ ὑπάγει, ὅτι ἡ σκοτία ἐτύφλωσε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ. 1 Luke 24. 47. Acis 4. 12. 12 Γράφω ὑμῖν, τεκνία, ὅτι ἀφέωνται ὑμῖν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι διὰ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. 18 Γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν ἀπ ̓ ἀρχῆς· γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, & 13. 38. ὅτι νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν· ἔγραψα ὑμῖν, παιδία, ὅτι ἐγνώκατε τὸν Πατέρα. that of the New Man. As the Apostle says, "Ye were sometime Darkness, but now are ye Light in the Lord. Walk as Children of the Light." Eph. v. 8. 14. 1 Thess. v. 5, 6. S. Augustine. At your Baptism ye were enlightened (èpwrloonTe. See on Heb. vi. 4; x. 32). Ye became children of Light (see on Eph. v. 8); ye were engrafted into Christ; and if any man is in Christ, says St. Paul, he is a new creature; the old things passed away (map0e); behold, all things are become new. See on 2 Cor. v. 17, which text affords an excellent comment on St. John's meaning here. Hence we see how natural is the transition to what follows in this place concerning the baptismal duties, consequent on the baptismal privileges, of all those who by their baptismal burial of the old man, and by their baptismal incorporation into the New Man, passed from the world of Darkness to that of Light. 10. kal σkávdaλov év avtý oỷk čOTIV] and there is no stumblingblock in him. A significant saying. Observe èv aửrê, in him. Whosoever hateth his brother, walketh in darkness, and carrieth his own stumbling-blocks in himself; he hath them in his own heart, in his own evil passions, envy, hatred, and malice. There fore he must fall: so to speak, he carries his fall along with him. As S. Cyprian well says (de Zelo, § 4), He who hates his brother is his own enemy. He is the enemy of his own soul. If you hate your brother he may avoid you, but you cannot fly from yourself. Wherever therefore you are, you have an adversary within you, you have an enemy always in your own bosom; but whosoever loveth his brother, abideth in the light, and there is no stumbling-block in him. He has the element of light around him, and he has no stumbling-block in him. eighth, the octave of the first. Compare the note on the Beati- Compare the prophetic declarations of Ezek. xiv. 3. These men have set up their idols in their own heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their own face; cp. v. 7. Idols and stumbling-blocks are usually external, and erected by others, but these men bring forth idols and stumbling-blocks for themselves out of their own hearts. So great is their sin and blindness. ὅτι ἀφέωνται ὑμῖν] because your sins have been forgiven you for His Name's sake. This is the ground of his general address to all his spiritual children; the forgiveness of their sins through Christ. That forgiveness had been imparted to them by Christ at their Baptism. See Matt. xvi. 19. Acts ii. 38; xxii. 16. Eph. v. 26, and Bp. Pearson, Art, ix., "those who are received into the Church by the sacrament of Baptism, receive the remission of their sins of which they were guilty before they were baptized." Cp. Bp. Wilson here. The beauty and force of these expressions are obvious and the preposition év is to be taken in its literal sense; which is well expressed by Bengel : "he who hates his brother is a stumbling-block to himself. But he who loves, walks at ease and has a clear road before him." 12. ypάpw iμiv, TEKvía] I write to you, my little children, whom I have begotten in Christ (cp. note above, ii. 1). The word TeKvía, little children, is to be distinguished from the word raidía in v. 18. Thus the beloved disciple, the Apostle and Evangelist, St. John, instructs Christian Preachers to build their addresses, in Sermons and Exhortations to their spiritual children, on the foundation of the "One Baptism for the remission of sins.” The word TeKvía describes the spiritual relation in which all his hearers and readers stand to the Apostle, their spiritual father. See v. 1. Cp. 1 Cor. iv. 14, тékvа μον аyажптά. 1 Cor. iv. 17. Eph. v. 1. 1 Thess. ii. 7. 11. Philem. 10. Accordingly, the Church of England says by the mouth of her Bishops, in the Order for Confirmation of her TeKvía, " Almighty and everlasting God, Who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these Thy servants, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins." But the word waidía, children, describes their childhood as compared with the maturer age of others here mentioned, viz., young men and fathers. This distinction may be marked in English by prefixing "my" to the translation of TEKVÍA. Observe now the order of the address here; 13. ypάow iμiv, raтépes] I write to you, fathers, because ye have known Him Who is from the beginning,-the Everlasting Word, the Son of God, made flesh for us. He repeats this statement, for greater emphasis and assurance, against the delusions of the false Teachers, who in their professions of superior know. ledge, pretended to reveal a temporal origin of Christ some of them asserting that Jesus was a mere man; and others, that Christ was an emanation who resided only for a season in Jesus. They pretend to know, and they disseminate their false knowledge; and they profess to instruct you, who are wiser than they are; for ye have known Him that is from the beginning (1 John i. 1. John viii. 25), whereas they in their ignorance impute a beginning to Him Who is from Eternity. He first says, гpápw vuiv, Teкvía. This is the general address, applicable to all. They are all dear to him as his little children. Next this arrangement follows: Γράφω ὑμῖν, πατέρες. Γράφω ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι, Εγραψα ὑμῖν, παιδία. Then the following: Εγραψα ὑμῖν, πατέρες. Εγραψα ὑμῖν, νεανίσκοι. Παιδία, ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστὶ, ν. 18. St. John condemns those who under a pretence of knowledge separated Jesus from Christ, and divided Christ from the Only-begotten; and severed the Only-begotten from the Word. S. Irenæus, iii. 18, ed. Grabe. St. John here begins with fathers; then descends to young men; and from them to children. Lastly, the series is summed up by the same address as that which began the series,-καὶ νῦν, τεκνία, μένετε ἐν αὐτῷ, ν. 28. Thus the whole series takes the form of seven, and is closed by an He declares the important truth, that the highest degree of knowledge to which Christian fathers can attain, is the knowledge of the everlasting Son. And the beginning of all knowledge in which all Christian children are to be instructed, is the knowledge of God as their Father. God the Father is the Original of all blessings which descend through God the Son, by God the Holy Ghost (see on 2 Cor. xiii. 13). His Name is first spoken in Baptism. That name begins the Creed. And every Christian soul, made God's child by adoption, cries Abba, Father (Gal. iv. 6), and all say with one voice, "Our Father, which art in heaven." Matt. vi. 9. ypápw iμîv, veavíoкoi] I write to you, young men, because ye have overcome the Wicked one. This saying is also repeated (see v. 14), for the same reason as the former. "Flee youthful lusts," says St. Paul to his son in the faith when young (2 Tim. ii. 22); and divine grace triumphs in young men, when by its means they, young as they are, conquer the Old Serpent (Rev. xii. 9; xx. 2). In the seven Epistles of the Apocalypse there is a sevenfold promise to him that overcometh. See on Rev. ii. 1. This address of St. John to young men comes with special force and beauty from him who was the youngest of Christ's Apostles, and the Disciple "whom Jesus loved," and who proved his own love for young men in a remarkable manner, as is recorded by Clemens Alexandrinus, quoted by Eusebius, iii. 20, and Chrysostom, Parænesis ad Theodorum lapsum, i. 11. - ĕypaya duîv, raidía] I write to you, children, because ye have known the Father: see above, the last note but one. |