1 John 4:20

If a man say We return to the form of statement which was so common at the beginning of the Epistle (1 John 1:6; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10). The case here contemplated is one form of the man that feareth not. His freedom from fear is caused, however, not by the perfection of love, but by presumption. He is either morally blind or a conscious hypocrite. Comp. 1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:9.

loveth not As we have seen already (1 John 3:14-15), S. John treats not loving as equivalent to hating.

whom he hath seen S. John does not say -whom he can see", but -whom he has continually before his eyes". The perfect tense, as so often, expresses a permanent state continuing from the past. His brother has been and remains in sight, God has been and remains out of sight. -Out of sight, out of mind" is a saying which holds good in morals and religion as well as in society. And if a man fails in duties which are ever before his eyes and are easy, how can we credit him with performing duties which require an effort to bear in mind and are difficult? And in this case the seen would necessarily suggest the unseen: for the brotheron earth implies the Fatherin heaven. If therefore even the seen is not loved, what must we infer as to the unseen? The seen brother and the unseen God are put in striking juxtaposition in the Greek; -He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, the God whom he hath not seen cannot love". But in English this would be misunderstood.

how can he love With א B against AKL we should probably read cannot love: the -how" is perhaps a reminiscence of 1 John 3:17; comp. John 3:4; John 3:9; John 5:44; John 6:52; John 9:16; John 14:5. In a similar spirit Philo says parents may be regarded as -visible gods", and -it is impossible that the Invisible should be revered by those who have no reverence for the visible".