_HE WARNETH THEM NOT TO BELIEVE ALL TEACHERS WHO BOAST OF THE SPIRIT,
BUT TO TRY THEM BY THE RULES OF THE FAITH DELIVERED BY THE APOSTLE:
AND BY MANY REASONS, EXHORTETH TO BROTHERLY LOVE._
_Anno Domini 90._
BECAUSE the Gnostics and other heretics, in the first age, to gain the
greater credit to th... [ Continue Reading ]
BELIEVE NOT EVERY SPIRIT,— By _the spirits,_ understand not the men
pretending to inspiration, nor the doctrines which they delivered, but
the spirits from whence the doctrines proceeded; namely, _first,_ the
Spirit of God; _secondly,_ the spirit of the man himself; or,
_thirdly,_ a demon, or wicked... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREBY KNOW YE THE SPIRIT, &C.— _Hereby you may discern,_ &c.
Heylin. There are two ways of interpreting what St. John has here laid
down as a rule by which to _try the spirits:_ 1. Their acknowledging
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; or, 2. Their acknowledging
that Jesus, who came in the fl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAVE OVERCOME THEM:— From this and several other passages it
appears, that the Christians to whom St. John wrote, had not yet been
drawn aside by the false teachers, though they were in imminent danger
thereof: there had been frequent contests between them; but by
steadfastness in the faith, thr... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE OF THE WORLD:— False prophets and corrupt teachers are of
the world, as long as a worldly spirit influences them; therefore
speak they from that worldlydisposition, suiting their hearers, and
consulting worldly interests; and as they sooth men in their
prejudices, flatter them, and make the... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE OF GOD:— When the apostles had given clear proofs of a divine
mission, by numerous and beneficent miracles which they worked; by the
exercise of various spiritual gifts themselves, and by imparting
spiritual gifts and miraculous powers to others; when their lives were
so holy, their labours s... [ Continue Reading ]
BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER:— St. Jerome tells us, that when
this blessed evangelist had continued at Ephesus to extreme old age,
and was with difficulty carried to the church between the arms of some
of the disciples, being unable to pronounce more words, he was wont,
every time they assembled... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD IS LOVE.— God is the most benevolent of all beings, full of
love to his depending creatures; so that in him there is nothing
wanting to the highest perfection of love. See 1 John 4:9, &c. He is
the great fountain and exemplar of love; he recommends it by his law,
and produces and cherishes i... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THIS WAS MANIFESTED THE LOVE OF GOD, &C.— All the blessings of
Providence are effects of the divine love to man; but St. John has
said, 1 John 4:8 that _God is Love itself;_ and to illustrate that, he
here pitches upon the most remarkable proof and instance of God's love
to man. The love of God w... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THAT HE LOVED US,— St. John's meaning is, that God loved us for
it. See 1 John 4:19. Men are generally very ready to love those by
whom they are first loved: now, such was the astonishing love of God
to men, that, when they were sinners and enemies, he so loved the
world, as to send his most bel... [ Continue Reading ]
WE OUGHT ALSO TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.— We, as his children, ought to
imitate the
infinitelyamiableexampleofourcommonFather,andsincerelyandaffectionately
love one another. Sometimes the love of God the Father, sometimes the
love of God the Son, is proposed to our imitation.... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD, &C.— "God himself is an invisible Spirit, whom
no man hath seen nor can see with his bodily eyes. But as he is the
great Fountain of benevolence, _if we love one another_ with
cordiality and entire sincerity, it appears that _God dwelleth in us,
and that his love is perfected i... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREBY KNOW WE, &C.— "By this we have a comfortable evidence of a
mutual inhabitation between God and us, of our dwelling by faith and
love inunion and communion, through Jesus Christ, with him; and of his
dwelling by gracious manifestations and influences in our souls;
because he has freely afforde... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE HAVE SEEN, &C.— "And animated and sealed by this Spirit, as
we have seen and known by undoubted evidence ourselves, so we
courageously testify to others, how hazardous soever the bearing that
testimony may be, that the great almighty Father of all hath sent
Jesus his eternal and only-begotten... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER SHALL CONFESS— See on 1 John 4:2. The confession here
required must have been sincere, otherwise it would have been of no
moment. Confessing Jesus to be the Son of God, or the Messiah, implied
their taking him for their Head and Lord, whom they were to love,
imitate, and obey. Together wit... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREIN IS OUR LOVE MADE PERFECT,— _Herein is love perfected in us_
(so it should be rendered), even by our thus dwelling in love, and
thereby dwelling in God: and having this plain token of God's love to
us, wemay assuredly hope to appear with humble confidence before him
in the awful day of judgmen... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE, &C.— "This perfect love is of such a
delightful nature, that though it be ever attended with a holy filial
reverence of God, and cautious filial fear of offending; yet there is
no distrustful or terrifying fear of God in it, as if he were our
enemy. But this perfect love to... [ Continue Reading ]
WE LOVE HIM, &C.— Some would read this, _Let us therefore love him:_
and their reasons for it are, because the connection is by this
interpretation rendered more easyand obvious; and the word
αγαπωμεν, may be indifferently understood, either in the
indicative or subjunctive mood: and as the word αγα... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE THAT LOVETH NOT HIS BROTHER, &C.— By _brother_ is all along
to be understood a real Christian; and if Christian professors are
what their religion obliges them to be, that is, more holy than other
men, we ought in reason to love them with a greater degree of
affection than others. It is intim... [ Continue Reading ]