53 - 1Jn 3:24a

1Jn 3:24a

Καὶ ὁ τηρῶν τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ, ἐν αὐτῷ μένει, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν αὐτῷ. As generally throughout the Epistle, so especially in the passage before us, 1Jn 3:22-24, the apostle recurs again and again to the Lord’s last discourses. The fundamental ideas are the same in both: the observance of the divine commands, specifically those of faith and brotherly love; the answers to prayer; the abiding in God; and, finally, if we include 1Jn 3:24b, the mission of the Holy Ghost. We may compare, moreover, Joh 14:11, the requirement of the faith that God is in Christ, corresponding here to faith in Him as the Son of God; and then as the result of that faith, Joh 14:14-15, John 15:1-27, ὅ,τιἄναἰτήσητε τοῦτο ποιήσω [“whatever you ask this I will do”], corresponding here to 1Jn 3:22, ὃ ἐὰν αἰτῶμεν λαμβάνομεν [“whatever we ask we will receive”]. And again, Joh 14:15-16a, ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με, τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσατε.καὶ ἐγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα, καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν [If you love me, you will keep my commandments.I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter], corresponding here to 1Jn 3:24, the mention of the gift of the Spirit in connection with the τηρεῖντὰςἐντολὰς [“to keep the commandments”]. And the μένειν [“abide”], finally, is really the fundamental idea, as of the last discourses of Jesus, so also of the Epistle before us. In Joh 14:16 the Spirit is sent ἵνα μένῃ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν [“that he may abide with you”] in John 15:1-27 the μένειν ἐνἀμπέλῳ [“to abide in the vine”] is the centre of the whole parabolical discourse; compare, in proof, Joh 15:4, μείνατε ἐν ἐμοὶ, κᾀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν [“abide in me and I also in you”]; Joh 15:7ἐὰν μείνητε ἐν ἐμοὶ, καὶ τὰ ῥήματά μου ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ, ὃ ἐὰν θέλητε αἰτήσεσθε, κ.τ.λ. [“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, etc.”]; Joh 15:10ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσητε, μενεῖτε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ μου [“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love”]. And as here, at the end of the section, the μένειν ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν ὑμῖν [“abide in him and he in you”] is made prominent, so it forms the conclusion of the last discourses of our Lord, the theme of the second part of the high-priestly prayer, that the relation between God and Christ, as it is expressed in the words ἐγώ ἐνσοὶκαὶ σύ ἐν ἐμοί [“I in you and you in me”], is, as it were, to be the pattern of our relation to God, and to find its reflection in us. These simple citations testify abundantly that there and here the thoughts in detail and as a whole correspond. For the furtherance of a definite view of the spirit of the passage, we have yet to decide whether the pronouns in1Jn 3:24 refer to the Father or to Christ. If, as we have established, the last words of1Jn 3:23 have Christ for their subject, it seems obvious that in this verse also He is the subject. But Christ had come into consideration in what precedes only as the giver of one commandment, that of brotherly love; on the other hand, at the beginning of1Jn 3:23 the Father was mentioned as the proper νομοθέτης [“lawgiver”],and therefore theτηρεῖντὰςἐντολὰς [“to keep the commandments”]may well refer to the latter; and it is in favour of this that in1Jn 4:13, where a part of our verse is repeated almost literally, the pronouns decidedly must, according to the connection, point to the Father, while certainly the Son, on the other hand, is often in the second chapter the subject of theμένειν [“abide”],as He almost always is in the Gospel. InJohn 15:1-27this is absolutely the case; compare Joh 15:4,μείνατε ἐν ἐμοὶ [“abide in me”],and the often-repeatedμείνατε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ μου [“you will abide in my love”]. InJohn 17:1-26,it is true, it begins to be common to the Father and the Son,Joh 17:21,ἵνααὐτοὶἐνἡμῖνὦσι [“that they may be in you”]; but afterwards, in Joh 17:23, the Son alone comes forward as the subject: ἐγὼ ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ σὺ ἐν ἐμοὶ [“I in them, and you in me”].

Thus we have once more reached the end of a division. The thesis with which the apostle set out in 1Jn 2:28 ff. was, that our abiding in God, or, more definitely, our sonship to God, must be made manifest in works in order that we may be capable of confidence at the day of judgment. Has this thesis been now actually demonstrated? It has been shown that the idea of the εἶναι ἐκτοῦΘεοῦ [“to be of God”], as well as the requirements of the judgment day, must lead to most scrupulous and complete works of righteousness, to full and perfect deeds of love; and thus that everyone who would profess to be of God must exhibit these deeds. But the converse has not been established, though this is quite necessary, namely, that he who doeth these works is necessarily a child of God. It might, indeed, be thought that there could be such a practice of righteousness without the divine sonship; this latter having been rightly defined as not a mere ethical deportment of man, but as a substantial change in his nature preceding and laying the foundation or that deportment. If I am therefore to enjoy the full parrhesia at the final bar, I must have exhibited not merely a thus and thus well-ordered deportment, but must have the assurance that this deportment could be the result only of a divine sonship or regeneration; and thus the one must help the assurance of the other. And this demonstration, that the ποιεῖν τὴνδικαιοσύνην [“to practice righteousness”] is not only necessary, but also the certain evidence of the γεγεννήσθαιἐκτοῦΘεοῦ [“having been born of God”], it was the apostle’s purpose to establish; for otherwise he would, in 1Jn 2:29, have been obliged to write πάςὁγεγεννημένοςἐκτοῦΘεοῦ ποιεῖτὴνδικαιοσύνην [“everyone who has been born of God practices righteousness”], but not πάς ὁποιῶντὴνδικαιοσύνην, ἐξαὐτοῦγεγένηται [“everyone who practices righteousness is born of him”]. It is plain from what has been said that the thesis of 1Jn 2:28 ff. has not been fully established, but only in its first principle; we yet want the argument that the ποιεῖν τὴνδικαιοσύνην, ἀγαπᾶν τοὺςἀδελφούς [“to practice righteousness, is to love the brothers”], which have been seen in chapter 3 to be so necessary, are also a certain testimony of regeneration from above. The close of the section now ended points in a preliminary and preparatory way to this internal change of sentiment, of which the works give certain testimony; for, instead of expressions which describe the external conduct, it chooses simply those, as we have seen, which refer to the inner mind. That we, in the consciousness of upright walking before God (ποιεῖν τὴνδικαιοσύνην [“to practice righteousness”]) and before the brethren (ἀγαπᾶν [“to love”]), attain to confidence, and the more perfect that consciousness is to all the more perfect confidence, has been already shown; but how far and in what sense this our conduct lays the foundation of confidence, how far it is the absolutely sure evidence of fellowship with God, has yet to be shown. When the apostle enters upon this question, and gives us to know (γνώσκειν [“to know”]) that we in this way are united with God, he furnishes the complement of the third chapter. The new section, whose theme is contained in 1Jn 3:24b, will be, so far as we can now perceive, co-ordinated with the third chapter, but only as subordinate to the theme announced in 1Jn 2:28 ff.

1Jn 3:24b

Καὶ ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν ὅτι μένει ἐν ἡμῖν, ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος οὗ ἡμῖν ἔδωκεν. The contents of the new section are preliminarily determined by two points in1Jn 3:24, the mention of theπνεῦμα [“Spirit”],at the close, and theγινώσκετεὅτιμένειἐνἡμῖν [“you know that he abides in us”]. This latter must be compared at once with the beginning of the second main division,1Jn 2:28, where we read,καὶ νῦν τεκνία μένετε ἐν αὐτῷ [“and now, little children, abide in him”],thus the precise converse of our present passage. This is of importance for the whole matter of the section. For we have already become persuaded that these two phrases are not identical, but that theμένεινἐνΘεῷ[“abide in God”]makes prominent the human relation in the Christian estate, and theμένειν Θεόνἐνἡμῖν [“God abide in you”] the divine. Now, at the close of 1Jn 2:1-29 it was strictly in keeping that we should hear the exhortation to abide in God, for there the apostle’s aim was to show that it was our duty to approve our fellowship with God by works; therefore the question was of the human relation. But our new section begins with God’s abiding in us, because the apostle is about to point to the fact that our works make it evident that we are born of God,—that is, that God had begun and was carrying on His work within us. Thus the very expression leads us at once to the subject which our study of the previous train of thought in the Epistle gave us reason to expect in the new section. The second element is the mention of theπνεῦμα [“Spirit”]. That this will be a leading idea in the new part is shown by this, that in1Jn 3:13, at the close, namely, of the development here beginning, the clause is repeated: it must therefore have been reckoned by the writer as containing its substance. And this is all the more striking as the ideaπνεῦμα [“Spirit”],not failing, indeed, in the detailed discussion, is nevertheless only found at the beginning of it, and afterwards altogether retreats from view.

Let us, in order to harmonize these facts, take a preliminary glance at the sequel. It is obvious at once that the two main themes which we have hitherto found in each section of the Epistle recur here also: 1Jn 3:1-6 treat of our relation to the Lord ; 1Jn 3:7-12, of our relation to the brethren; 1Jn 3:13-16 then give us a supplementary summary from one point of view, or, more strictly speaking, the essence of the two discussions. It is of the nature of such a resumé that the thoughts which are summed up should he reduced to the briefest expression; in it, therefore, we shall be able most easily to perceive the substance of the two preceding sections. The former is comprehended in this, that God has sent His Son, and the confession of this divine act guarantees fellowship with God; the second is comprehended in this, that God is love, and he who hath this love must, again, have fellowship with God. Thus fellowship with God and consciousness of it—for our verse shows that the γινώσκεινὅτιμένειἐνἡμῖν [“to know that he abides in us”] is the apostle’s point—rests upon the acknowledgment and appropriation of a divine act and of the divine nature of love. But where the acknowledgment of the divine act in the incarnation of Christ exists, there, as 1Jn 3:16 show, must the Holy Ghost have wrought it; similarly, where love to the brethren exists, there, according to 1Jn 3:7-12, it must have resulted from the love of God, and thus again have been produced by the same Holy Spirit. Accordingly, the argument of the apostle is generally this: where there is a true confession of the incarnate Son of God, it is the effect of the operation of the Holy Spirit; where love exists, it is the outflowing of a divine love imparted first, and consequently is wrought of God: he, therefore, who is the subject of this confession and this love is in fellowship with God, and hath the Holy Ghost, who is the sole agent of all the operations of God in man. This, therefore, perfectly establishes the thesis laid down in 1Jn 2:28 ff. According to 1Jn 3:3, the apostle requires that our ποιεῖν τὴνδικαιοσύνην [“to practice righteousness”] should spring from the example of Christ the incarnate (1Jn 3:5, φανερωθῇ [“may be made known”]), and now exalted (1Jn 3:2), Son of God. But where the true acknowledgment of the Son of God exists, it must be of the operation of the Holy Spirit (1Jn 4:1-6); if, therefore, in this confession, and urged by it, we practise righteousness, we have in ourselves the evidence that we are in God, and God in us. Similarly, brotherly love shows, inasmuch as it can be only the expression of a divinely-wrought love (1Jn 4:7-12) if it demonstrates its reality by works (1Jn 3:11-18), that we are of God. 1Jn 3:1-24 and 1Jn 4:1-21 thus together contain, in fact, the effectual demonstration of 1Jn 2:28-29. Their relation to each other is also, as we have already seen, this: that 1Jn 3:1-24 shows the necessity of deeds, 1Jn 4:1-21 the security of the confident argument based upon them. The exposition of the details will abundantly confirm all this.