10 - 1Jn 1:10
Ἐὰν εἴπωμεν ὅτι οὐχ ἡμαρτήκαμεν, ψεύστην ποιοῦμεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἡμῖν. With 1Jn 1:9 the author has developed his thought in a logically clear and precise manner. The two deductions which he has drawn from the Θεὸςφῶς [“God is light”] in relation to the Christian life have been plainly exhibited, each in an antithetical form. Returning now once more to the idea already touched in 1Jn 1:8, that self-justification excludes from the kingdom of God, it is evident that he has no logical interest in doing so, but is moved by purely practical reasons, and aims only at edification. In fact, as the whole letter is directed to Christians as such, members of the kingdom of God, it was important for the apostle to lay the utmost stress upon what was the fundamental condition of this, the acknowledgment of sin. Hence the resumption of the subject now before us. Not, indeed, that this resumption is at all tautological; the idea is so ordered that, in harmony with the very solemn purpose of the verse, its characteristics are more keen and more penetrating than in 1Jn 1:8. We would not, indeed, lay stress on the ἁμαρτάνειν [“to sin”] being used instead of the ἔχεινἁμαρτίαν [“having sin”] above. The former refers rather to individual sinful acts, and the latter to sinfulness in general; and that the former is here selected has its reason probably in the τὰςἁμαρτίαςὁμολογεῖν [“confess sin”] of 1Jn 1:9, which also referred, of course, to individual sinful acts. But as to matter of fact, this can hardly be of much significance here. The pith of the verse obviously lies rather in the words ψεύστηνποιοῦμεναὐτόν [“confess sin”]. Till now, the verbs ψεύδεσθαι [“make him a liar”] and πλανάν [“deceive”] had been used only to make prominent the sin which we ourselves in our own person bring upon ourselves by a false condition of our hearts. Here the emphasis is laid upon a much heavier sin into which we fall: we make God Himself a sinner. So blasphemous is the denial of our sinfulness that we thereby degrade God, who is the φῶς [“light”] and ἀλήθεια [“truth”], into the domain of darkness and the lie. And here we have not to think only of the fact that God expressly declares in the utterances of the Old and New Testament Scriptures the sinfulness of man, and therefore that we make the Scripture, the word of God which οὐδύναταιλυθῆναι [“cannot be broken” cf. Joh 10:35; Psa 82:6], lie to us. All the spiritual institutions of the divine economy, the ἀφιέναιτὰςἁμαρτίας, [“forgiveness of sin”] the καθαρίζεινἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας [“cleansing from sin”], His entire government and work upon earth, yea, the whole manifestation of the Son of God, which was based upon the presupposition of human, sin, is reduced to one comprehensive lie. And thereby all possible fellowship with Him is broken off: ὁλόγοςαὐτοῦοὐκἔστινἐνἡμῖν [“his word is not in us”]. That the λόγοςΘεοῦ [“word of God”] here does not mean the personal Logos, the Son of God, is plain enough if we consider that in the preceding context nothing had been said of any indwelling of the Son in us. Nor must we regard the sayings of the Old Testament as intended by the words; for not only is there nothing here to suggest such an allusion, but it is a fact that the apostle in this Epistle generally refers very little to the Old Testament, so that the Epistle in this respect is in a certain contrast with the Gospel and the Apocalypse, which are pervaded with formal allusions to the ancient Scriptures. But then, again, we are not to think of specific sayings of Christ, as if λόγοςαὐτοῦ [“his word”] were simply equivalent to ῥήματααὐτοῦοὐκἔστινἐνἡμῖν: [“hissayingsare not in us”] that would mean only that we observe not His commandments, or that they do not dwell in us. The λόγος [“word”] means to say more than the mere ῥήματα [“sayings”] would say. We must be guided by such passages as Joh 8:31: ἐάνὑμεῖςμείνητεἐντῷλόγῳτῷ ἐμῷ, ἀληθῶςμαθηταίμουἐστὲ; [“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples”]; or Joh 5:38: τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦοὐκἔχετε μένονταἐναὐτῷ; [“you do not have His word abiding in you”]; or, so far as the analogy of the matter goes without the word, Joh 6:63: τὰ ῥήματαἃ ἐγὼλαλῶ ὑμῖνπνεῦμάκαὶζωή [“thesayingsthat I speak to you are spirit and life”]. As in all these places, so here also, ὁλόγοςαὐτοῦ [“his word”] is the aggregate collective internal unity of the entire divine announcement; not, indeed, as to the external words, but these words as they are spirit and life, as a power laying fast hold upon men. The words of God, as they have been revealed in the incarnate Logos, are the divine ἀλήθεια [“truth”] comprehended in a definite form. Thus what was said above, καὶ ἡ ἀλήθειαοὐκἔστινἐνἡμῖν [“and the truth is not in you”], corresponds to our expression, ὁλόγοςαὐτοῦοὐκἔστινἐνἡμῖν [“his word is not in you”]; only that this latter specifies, instead of the purely objective idea of the truth, the means whereby that absolute truth is implanted in our nature.