1 John 4:21

21. For ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ([754][755][756]) [757] and Vulgate have ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. [758] omits from τόν to τόν: homoeoteleuton.

[754] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[755] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[756] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[757] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[758] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

Once more note that [759] very rarely supports a doubtful reading, and never an impossible one, excepting the accidental omission in 1 John 4:21.

[759] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

The main subject still continues, that God is Love; and that from this truth flows the moral obligation on Christians not only to love God but one another. But, as in chap. 3, there are subdivisions, each of which has a unity in itself as well as intimate and subtle relations to the whole. These subdivisions are mainly two: The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error (1–6); Love as the Mark of the Children of the God who is Love (7–21). If we are asked as to the relation which this chapter bears to the preceding one, the answer would seem to be something of this kind. Chap. 3. insists upon the necessity of deeds in order to prove our relationship to God (1 John 3:3; 1 John 3:7; 1 John 3:10; 1 John 3:16-18; 1 John 3:22); chap. 4. points out the certainty of our relationship to God as attested by our deeds (1 John 4:4; 1 John 4:6-7; 1 John 4:12-13; 1 John 4:15-17). The one gives us the evidence of our sonship, viz. deeds of righteousness towards God (1 John 3:1-10) and deeds of love towards men (1 John 3:11-21): the other shews us the source of our sonship, viz. possession of the Spirit as proved by confession of the Incarnation (1 John 4:1-6) and by love of the brethren (1 John 4:7-21).

21. καὶ τ. τ. ἐντ. ἔχ. ἀπ ̓ αὐτοῦ. The Apostle drives home his arguments for the practice of brotherly love by the fact that God has commanded all who love Him to love their brethren. So also S. Paul, here again in harmony with S. John: ‘The whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ (Galatians 5:14). Some take ‘Him’ to mean Christ. But this is unlikely, as Christ has not been mentioned for several verses: although it must be admitted that S. John is so full of the truth that ‘I and My Father are one’, that he makes the transition from the Father to the Son and from the Son to the Father almost unconsciously. Where has God given this commandment? In the whole Law, which is summed up in loving God with all one’s heart and one’s neighbour as oneself (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18; Luke 10:27). The Apostle thus anticipates a possible objection. A man may say, ‘I can love God without loving my brother, and I can prove my love by keeping His commandments’ (John 14:15). ‘Nay’, says S. John, ‘your own argument shews your error: you cannot keep His commandments without loving your brother’. Thus then we have two revelations of God: our brother, who is His image; and commandment, which is His will. Not to love our brother is a flagrant violation of both. As Pascal puts it, we must know men in order to love them, but we must love God in order to know Him.

ἵνα … ἀγαπᾷ. “The final particle (ἵνα) gives more than the simple contents of the commandment. It marks the injunction as directed to an aim” (Westcott). See on 1 John 1:9.