1 John 3:24

And he that keepeth his commandments This looks back to the same phrase in 1 John 3:22, not to the conclusion of 1 John 3:23, which is parenthetical. Therefore -His" means God's, not Christ's.

dwelleth in him Better, abideth in Him: it is S. John's favourite word, which occurs twice in this verse (see on 1 John 2:24). "Let God be a home to thee, and be thou a home of God" (Bede). This mutual abiding expresses union of the strongest and closest kind: comp. 1Jn 4:13; 1 John 4:16; John 6:56; John 15:4-5. S. John once more insists on what may be regarded as the main theme of this exposition of Christian Ethics; that conductis not only not a matter of indifference, but is all-important. We may possess many kinds of enlightenment, intellectual and spiritual; but there is no union with God, and indeed no true knowledge of Him, without obedience: comp. 1 John 1:6 1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:6; 1Jn 2:29, 1 John 3:6-7; 1 John 3:9. -He that willeth to do His willshall know" (John 7:17).

and hereby Or, and herein, as in 1 John 3:16; 1Jn 3:19, 1 John 2:3; 1Jn 2:5, 1 John 4:9-10; 1 John 4:13; 1 John 4:17; 1 John 5:2. This probably refers to what follows; but the change of preposition in the Greek, a change obliterated in both A. V. and R. V., renders this not quite certain. S. John writes, not -here bywe know … bythe Spirit" (which would place the connexion beyond a doubt), but -here in(ἐν) we know … from(ἐκ) the Spirit".

we know Literally, we come to know; it is a matter of Christian experience.

by the Spirit Better, from the Spirit: this is the source from which the knowledge is derived. This is the first mention of the Spirit in the Epistle, although He is alluded to in 1 John 2:20.

which he hath given us Or, which He gave us. The verb is aorist, not perfect; and though this is a case where the English perfect might represent the Greek aorist, yet as the Apostle probably refers to the definite occasion when the Spirit was given, the aorist seems better. This occasion in S. John's case would be Pentecost, in that of his readers, their baptism. Thus in our Baptismal Service we are exhorted to pray that the child "may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost"; and in what follows we pray, "wash him and sanctify him with the Holy Ghost"; and again, "give Thy Holy Spirit to this infant, that he may be born again": after which follows the baptism.

It would be possible to translate -by the Spirit ofwhich He has given us", a partitive genitive, meaning - someof which" as in Macbeth, I. iii. 80,

"The earth hath bubbles as the water has,

And these are of them".

And in Bacon's Essays, Of Atheisme, "You shall have of them, that will suffer for Atheisme, and not recant". But the Greek genitive here is probably not partitive but the result of attraction. S. John commonly inserts a preposition (ἐκ) with the partitive genitive (2 John 1:4; John 1:24; John 7:40; John 16:17; Revelation 2:10; Revelation 11:9; comp. John 21:10). Tyndale here translates -Therby we knowe that ther abydeth in us ofthe sprete which He gave us", making -of the Spirit" (a portion of the Spirit) the nominative to -abideth"; which is grammatically possible, but scarcely in harmony with what precedes. The change from Tyndale's rendering to the one adopted in A. V., and (with change of -hath given" to -gave") in R. V. also, is due to Coverdale.

Once more (see note between 1 John 2:28-29 and on 1 John 3:10) we are led to a fresh section almost without knowing it. In the last six verses of this chapter (19 24) the transition from verse to verse is perfectly smooth and natural; so also in the previous six verses (13 18). Nor is the transition from 1 John 3:18 to 1 John 3:19 at all violent or abrupt. By a very gradual movement we have been brought from the contrast between love and hate to the gift of the Spirit. And this prepares the way for a new subject; or rather for an old subject treated from a new point of view. Like the doublings of the Maeander near which he lived, the progress of the Apostle at times looks more like retrogression than advance: but the progress is unmistakable when the whole field is surveyed. Here we seem to be simply going back to the subject of the antichrists (1 John 2:18-28); but whereas there the opposition between the Holy Spirit in true believers and the lying spirit in the antichrists is only suggested (1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 2:27), here it is the dominant idea.