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 their strength and the source of their victory. They conquer because they are strong, and they are strong because God's word is ever in their hearts. They have God's will, especially as revealed in Scripture, and in particular in the Gospel, as a permanentpower within them: hence the permanence of their victory. So long as they trust in this and not in themselves, and remember that their victory is not yet final, they may rejoice in the confidence which the consciousness of strength and of victory gives them.

It is plain from the context and from John 5:38; John 10:35; John 17:6; John 17:14; Revelation 1:9; Revelation 6:9, that -the word of God" here does not mean the Word, the Son of God. S. John never uses the term -Word" in this sense in the body either of his Gospel or of his Epistle, but only in the theological Introductions to each.

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