1_Whosoever believeth _He confirms by another reason, that faith and brotherly love are united; for since God regenerates us by faith he must necessarily be loved by us as a Father; and this love embraces all his children. Then faith cannot be separated from love. The first truth is, that all born... [ Continue Reading ]
2_By this we know _He briefly shows in these words what true love is, even that which is towards God. He has hitherto taught us that there is never a true love to God, except when our brethren are also loved; for this is ever its effect. But he now teaches us that men are rightly and duly loved, whe... [ Continue Reading ]
3_His commandments are not grievous _This has been added, lest difficulties, as it is usually the case, should damp or lessen our zeal. For they who with a cheerful mind and great ardor have pursued a godly and holy life, afterwards grow weary, finding their strength inadequate. Therefore John, in o... [ Continue Reading ]
4_This is the victory _As he had said that all who are born of God overcome the world, he also sets forth the way of overcoming it. For it might be still asked, whence comes this victory? He then makes the victory over the world to depend on faith. (93) This passage is remarkable, for though Satan c... [ Continue Reading ]
5_Who is he that overcometh the world _This is a reason for the previous sentence; that is, we conquer by faith, because we derive strength from Christ; as Paul also says, “I can do all things through him that strengtheneth me,” (Philippians 4:13.) He only then can conquer Satan and the world, an... [ Continue Reading ]
6_This is he that came _That our faith may rest safely on Christ, he says the real substance of the shadows of the law appears in him. For I doubt not but that he alludes by the words _water and blood _to the ancient rites of the law. The comparison, moreover, is intended for this end, not only that... [ Continue Reading ]
7._There are three than bear record in heaven _The whole of this verse has been by some omitted. Jerome thinks that this has happened through design rather than through mistake, and that indeed only on the part of the Latins. But as even the Greek copies do not agree, I dare not assert any thing on... [ Continue Reading ]
8_There are three _He applies what had been said of water and blood to it’s own purpose, in order that they who reject Christ might have no excuse; for by testimonies abundantly strong and clear, he proves that it is he who had been formerly promised, inasmuch as water and blood, being the pledges a... [ Continue Reading ]
9_If we receive the witness_, or _testimony_, _of men _He proves, reasoning from the less to the greater, how ungrateful men are when they reject Christ, who has been approved, as he has related, by God; for if in worldly affairs we stand to the words of men, who may lie and deceive, how unreasonabl... [ Continue Reading ]
9_For this is the witness_, or _testimony_, _of God _The particle ὅτι does not mean here the cause, but is to be taken as explanatory; for the Apostle, after having reminded us that God deserves to be believed much more than men, now adds, that we can have no faith in God, except by believing in Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
11_That God hath given us eternal life _Having now set forth the benefit, he invites us to believe. It is, indeed, a reverence due to God, immediately to receive, as beyond controversy, whatever he declares to us. But since he freely offers life to us, our ingratitude will be intolerable, except wit... [ Continue Reading ]
12_He that hath not the Son _This is a confirmation of the last sentence. It ought, indeed, to have been sufficient, that God made life to be in none but in Christ, that it might be sought in him; but lest any one should turn away to another, he excludes all from the hope of life who seek it not in... [ Continue Reading ]
13_These things have I written unto you _As there ought to be a daily progress in faith, so he says that he wrote to those who had already believed, so that they might believe more firmly and with greater certainty, and thus enjoy a fuller confidence as to eternal life. Then the use of doctrine is,... [ Continue Reading ]
14_And this is the confidence _He commends the faith which he mentioned by its fruit, or he shews that in which our confidence especially is, that is, that the godly dare confidently to call on God; as also Paul speaks in Ephesians 3:12, that _we have by faith access to God with confidence_; and als... [ Continue Reading ]
15_And if we know _This is not a superfluous repetition, as it seems to be; for what the Apostle declared in general respecting the success of prayer, he now affirms in a special manner that the godly pray or ask for nothing from God but what they obtain. But when he says that all the petitions of t... [ Continue Reading ]
16_If any man _The Apostle extends still further the benefits of that faith which he has mentioned, so that our prayers may also avail for our brethren. It is a great thing, that as soon as we are oppressed, God kindly invites us to himself, and is ready to give us help; but that he hears us asking... [ Continue Reading ]
17_All unrighteousness _This passage may be explained variously. If you take it adversatively, the sense would not be unsuitable, “Though all unrighteousness is sin, yet every sin is not unto death.” And equally suitable is another meaning, “As sin is every unrighteousness, hence it follows that eve... [ Continue Reading ]
18_We know that whosoever is born of God _If you suppose that God’s children are wholly _pure _and free from all sin, as the fanatics contend, then the Apostle is inconsistent with himself; for he would thus take away the duty of mutual prayer among brethren. Then he says that those _sin not _who do... [ Continue Reading ]
19_We are of God _He deduces an exhortation from his previous doctrine; for what he had declared in common as to the children of God, he now applies to those he was writing to; and this he did, to stimulate them to beware of sin, and to encourage them to repel the onsets of Satan. Let readers obser... [ Continue Reading ]
20_And we know that the Son of God is come _As the children of God are assailed on every side, he, as we have said, encourages and exhorts them to persevere in resisting their enemies, and for this reason, because they fight under the banner of God, and certainly know that they are ruled by his Spir... [ Continue Reading ]
21_Keep yourselves from idols _Though this be a separate sentence, yet it is as it were an appendix to the preceding doctrine. For the vivifying light of the Gospel ought to scatter and dissipate, not only darkness, but also all mists, from the minds of the godly. The Apostle not only condemns idola... [ Continue Reading ]