1 John 2:1-6. Obedience to God by Imitation of Christ 1 6. The Apostle is still treating of the condition and conduct of the believer as determined by his walking in the light; there is no break between the two Chapter s. Having shewn us that even Christians constantly sin, he goes on (1) to point... [ Continue Reading ]
_My little children_ The diminutive form (τεκνία) does not at all imply that he is addressing persons of tender age: it is a term of endearment. Wiclif has -litil sones" as a rendering of the _filioli_of the Vulgate; Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Genevan Version all waver between -babes" (which is far t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 1:5 to 1 John 2:28. God is Light 1 John 1:5 to 1 John 2:11. What Walking in the Light involves This section is largely directed against the Gnostic doctrine that to the man of enlightenment all conduct is morally indifferent. Against every form of this doctrine, which sapped the very founda... [ Continue Reading ]
_And He is the propitiation_ Or, _And He_ HIMSELF _is_ A _propitiation_: there is no article in the Greek. Note the present tense throughout; -we _have_an Advocate, He _is_a propitiation": this condition of things is perpetual, it is not something which took place once for all long ago. In His glori... [ Continue Reading ]
_hereby we do know that we know Him_ Or, HEREIN _we_ COME TO KNOW _that we know Him_: in the Greek we have the present and perfect of the verb which means -to come to know, perceive, recognise" (γινώσκειν); the perfect of which, -I have come to know" = -I know." Comp. the Collect for the First Sunda... [ Continue Reading ]
The previous statement is enforced by denying the opposite of it. The construction, -he that saith," -he that loveth," &c. now takes the place of -if we say," -if we walk," &c., but without change of meaning; and this continues down to 1 John 2:11, after which both constructions cease and a new divi... [ Continue Reading ]
The statement in 1 John 2:3 is still further emphasized by taking the opposite of 1 John 2:4; but with this we do not return to 1 John 2:3, but have an expansion of it. _His word_ A wider expression than -His commandments", covering the sum total of the revelation of God's will: comp. 1 John 2:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He that saith_ He who declares his position is morally bound to act up to the declaration which he has made. To profess to abide in God involves an obligation to imitate the Son, who is the concrete expression of God's will. -To abide" is another of the Apostle's very favourite expressions, a fact... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brethren_ The true reading is BELOVED. This form of address is specially suitable to this section (1 John 2:7), in which the subject of _love_appears. In the second part of the Epistle, in which love is the main topic, this form of address becomes the prevailing one (1 John 3:2; 1 John 3:21; 1 John... [ Continue Reading ]
Love of the Brethren 7 11. Walking in the light involves not only fellowship with God and with the brethren (1 John 1:5-7), consciousness and confession of sin (1 John 1:8-10), obedience by imitation of Christ (1 John 2:1-6), but also _love of the brethren_. In nothing did Christ more express the Fa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true_ Or, _Again_, AS _a new commandment I write unto you_ A THING WHICH _is true_. Or, _Again, a new commandment write I unto you_, NAMELY THAT WHICH _is true_. It is difficult to decide between these three renderings; but the third is simp... [ Continue Reading ]
For the fifth time the Apostle indicates a possible inconsistency of a very gross kind between profession and conduct (1Jn 1:6; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10; 1 John 2:4). We shall have a sixth in 1 John 4:20. In most of these passages he is aiming at some of the Gnostic teaching already prevalent. And th... [ Continue Reading ]
The form of these three verses is similar to that of 1 John 2:3, and still more so to 1 John 1:8-10. In each of these three triplets a case is placed between two statements of the opposite to it; confession of sin, obedience, and love, between two statements of denial of sin, disobedience, and hate.... [ Continue Reading ]
_abideth in the light_ Not only has entered into it but has made it his _abode:_see on 1 John 2:24. _there is none occasion of stumbling in him_ There are several ways of taking this. 1. He has _in him_nothing likely to ensnare _him_or cause _him_to stumble. 2. He has _in him_nothing likely to cause... [ Continue Reading ]
_is in darkness and walketh in darkness_ THE _darkness_is his home and the scene of his activity. -The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble" (Proverbs 4:19). _knoweth not whither he goeth_ Literally, _where he is going:_the adverb (ποῦ) is properly one of rest, -where... [ Continue Reading ]
Threefold Statement of Reasons for Writing "Hitherto St John has stated briefly the main scope of his Epistle. He has shewn what is the great problem of life, and how the Gospel meets it with an answer and a law complete and progressive, old and new. He now pauses, as it were to contemplate those w... [ Continue Reading ]
The Things and Persons to be Avoided These are summed up under two heads: i. _The World and the Things in the World_(15 17); ii. _Antichrists_(18 26). The section begins with a _threefold statement_of the happy experiences which those addressed have had in the Gospel, and gives these as a reason fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_fathers_ The older men among his readers: comp. Judges 17:10; Judges 18:19; 2Ki 2:12; 2 Kings 6:21; 2 Kings 13:14. The address stands alone in N. T. The nearest approaches to it are Ephesians 6:4 and Colossians 3:21, where the actual fathers of children are addressed. S. Augustine thinks that _all_... [ Continue Reading ]
_because ye are strong_ Strong in the spiritual warfare in which they have already won the victory: comp. Hebrews 11:34, where, however, -strong in war" probably refers to actual warfare between the Jews and other nations. _the word of God abideth in you_ An echo of John 15:7. This is the secret of... [ Continue Reading ]
The Things to be Avoided; the World and its Ways Having reminded them solemnly of the blessedness of their condition as members of the Christian family, whether old or young, and having declared that this blessedness of peace, knowledge, and strength is his reason for writing to them, he goes on to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Love not the world_ The asyndeton is remarkable. S. John has just stated his premises, his readers" happiness as Christians. He now abruptly states the practical conclusion, without any introductory -therefore". As was said above on 1 John 2:2, we must distinguish between the various meanings of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Proof of the preceding statement by shewing the fundamental opposition in detail. _all that is in the world_ Neuter singular: in 1 John 2:15 we had the neuter plural. The _material_contents of the universe cannot be meant. To say that these did not originate from God would be to contradict the Apost... [ Continue Reading ]
_and the world passeth away_ Or, IS PASSING AWAY; as in 1 John 2:8: the process is now going on. We owe the verb _-pass_away" here to Coverdale: it is a great improvement on Tyndale's - _vanisheth_away." Comp. -The fashion of this world _is passing away_" (1 Corinthians 7:31), where the same verb is... [ Continue Reading ]
The Persons to be Avoided; Antichrists 18. _Little children_ Or, _Little ones_. It is difficult to see anything in this section specially suitable to children: indeed the very reverse is rather the case. The same word (παιδία) is used here as in 1 John 2:14 and John 21:5. S. John's readers in gener... [ Continue Reading ]
The relation of these antichristian teachers to the Church of Christ. They were formerly nominal members, but never real members of it. They are now not members in any sense. Note the repetition, so characteristic of S. John, of the key-word -us", which means the Christian Church. It occurs 5 times... [ Continue Reading ]
_But ye have an unction from the holy One_ Better, as R.V., AND _ye have an_ ANOINTING (as in 1 John 2:27) _from the Holy One_. S. John, in his manner, puts two contrasted parties side by side, the Antichrist with his antichrists, and the Christ with His christs; but the fact of there being a contra... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have not written_ Literally, as in _1Jn 2:13-14; 1 John 2:26_, _I wrote not_, or, _did not write_: it is the aorist in the Greek. But (whatever may be true of 1 John 2:13) what we have here is almost certainly the _epistolary aorist_, which may be represented in English either by the present or b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who is a liar_ More accurately, as R.V., _Who is_ THE _liar_: the A.V. here again follows the earlier English Versions. But we must beware of exaggerating the article in _interpretation_, although it is right to _translate_it. It merely marks the passage from the abstract to the concrete: -Every li... [ Continue Reading ]
The previous statement is emphasized by an expansion of it stated both negatively and positively. The expansion consists in declaring that to deny the Son is not merely to do that, and indeed not merely to deny the Father, but also (οὐδέ) to debar oneself from communion with the Father. So that we n... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let that therefore abide in you_ The -therefore" is undoubtedly to be omitted: it is a mistaken insertion in many of those inferior MSS. which omit the second half of 1 John 2:23. This verse begins with a very emphatic pronoun; AS FOR YOU (in contrast to these antichristian liars), _let that abide... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this is the promise that he hath promised us_ Or, _and the promise which He promised us is this_: the aorist had better be retained, and -this" is probably the predicate, referring to what follows (comp. John 5:22; 1 John 1:5; 1 John 5:14) and not the subject, referring to what precedes. This v... [ Continue Reading ]
_These things have I written unto you_ -These things" probably mean the warnings about the antichrists, not the whole Epistle. -I have written", or -I wrote", is the epistolary aorist as in 1 John 2:21. _that seduce you_ Better, THAT LEAD YOU ASTRAY, i.e. that are endeavouring to do so. It is the a... [ Continue Reading ]
The Place of Safety; Christ 27. _But the anointing which ye have received_ As in 1 John 2:2, we have the false and the true Christians put side by side in contrast; but this does not justify us in turning S. John's simple -and" (καί) into -but". As in 1 John 2:24, we have the pronoun put first with... [ Continue Reading ]
_And now_ Introducing the practical conclusion: comp. John 17:5, where Jesus, -having accomplished the work given Him to do", prays, - _And now_, O Father, glorify Thou Me". So also in Acts 7:34; Acts 10:5. See on 2 John 1:5. Haupt thinks that -And now" introduces the new division of the Epistle, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:29 to 1 John 3:12. The Children of God and the Children of the Devil 29. _If ye know that he is righteous_ This probably does not mean Christ, although the preceding verse refers entirely to Him. -To be born of Christ", though containing "nothing abhorrent from our Christian ideas", is not... [ Continue Reading ]
1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12. God is Love There seems to be no serious break in the Epistle from this point onwards until we reach the concluding verses which form a sort of summary (1 John 5:13-21). The key-word -love" is distributed, and not very unevenly, over the whole, from 1 John 3:1 to 1 John... [ Continue Reading ]