1 John 5

Chap. V. Ver. 1—21. The evidences of regeneration, and the witnesses to Christianity.—The proposition, * Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,” seems to require some elucidation. Certainly it is not a man saying that he believes, without his faith be evinced by good works. It is faith that worketh by love, as St. James has abundantly proved, which alone can either justify or sanctify the believer. Faith is evidenced by love, and by good works; resisting the snares and temptations of the world; “and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” So that true faith, genuine love, and good works, are inseparably connected. It may seem that St. John was guilty of great tautology (if we may so express it) in harping on this his favourite string—love to God and to the brethren.

So wholly was his heart engrossed with this topic, as tradition reports, that when he (Saint John the Evangelist) was much in years, and unable to preach, he used to be led to the church at Ephesus, and to address them in these simple words—“Little children, love one another.” We now come to a passage relative to the Holy Trinity, the authenticity of which has been much disputed, and has been given up by some of the ablest advocates of that doctrine, as will be seen in our notes. To us it appears, that the internal evidence arising from the context is in favour of the passage; but the external, arising from the collation of nearly 150 manuscripts, the ancient versions, &c. is decidedly against it.

One thing, however, is certain, that, in the words disputed, nothing is stated but what may be proved from other passages of Scripture; nor is there reason to believe, that either the insertion or omission was made with any design to corrupt the Scriptures. The former might be done by way of explanatory note, or the latter through inadvertence. The testimony here borne is to the truth of Christianity, in whatever way it may be explained. The Father bare witness to the Son, by the works which the latter performed in his name, and by a miraculous voice from heaven; the Son (or Word) bore witness to himself, by the miracles which he wrought in his own name; and the Holy Spirit also bare witness in his miraculous gifts, and the inspiration of the sacred writings: and the second series of witnesses, however their evidences may be explained, are certainly to the same effect.

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and that life is in his Son.” Now he that believeth in the Son of God, “hath the witness in himself”—not an imaginary conceit—not an unfounded persuasion, but an evidence in his own heart from the work of God’s Holy Spirit, who has created therein a love to holiness in all its branches. “The gospel of Christ (says the amiable Dr. Watts) is like a seal or signet of such inimitable and divine engraving, that no created power can counterfeit it; and when the Spirit of God has stamped this gospel on the soul there are so many holy and happy lines drawn or impressed thereby—so many sacred signatures and divine features stamped on the mind, that give certain evidence both of a heavenly signet, and a heavenly operator.”

But “there is a sin unto death,” and this forms an awful and important subject of inquiry. The nature of it is thus stated by Dr. Doddridge:—‘There is…. such an apostacy from Christianity, as is attended with blaspheming the operations of the Spirit of God, and ascribing them to Satan;”—an apostacy like that mentioned by St. Paul as irrecoverable, ((Hebrews 6:4-6),) and attended with the horrid aggravation of ascribing the operations of God’s Holy Spirit to the devil. ((Matthew 11:31-32).) “I say not,” says St. John, who probably witnessed the awful denunciation of Christ—“I say not that he (or any man) shall pray for it; and yet he does not absolutely forbid it. For we may not be able absolutely to ascertain the fact, nor must we attempt to restrain the divine.” The concluding admonition of this Epistle, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols,” has been supposed by some to prove it was addressed to Gentiles, the Jews having long since given up idolatry.

But are there no idols but images of metal, wood, or stone? Are there no idols of flesh and blood? Or is Mammon, the god of this world, no longer worshipped? May God preserve us all from idols! This short Epistle, and that which follows, being written neither to any church by name, nor to the churches at large, but to private persons, had probably been kept for a considerable time in the possession of the families to whom they were originally sent, and were not discovered till long after the [Reena] release, and after the death of the persons to whom they had been sent. When first discovered, all immediate vouchers for their genuineness were necessarily gone; and the church of Christ, ever on its guard professing to be the work ascribed to writing Apostles, hesitated to receive them into the number of Scriptures, until it was fully ascertained that they were divinely inspired. They were not generally known and acknowledged as the inspired production of St. John, in the earliest ages, in the decided manner that the preceding Epistle was; but their coincidence with it in sentiment, manner, and language, satisfied all at an early period, that they were written by the same person. ]—B.

Ver. 6. After a godly sort.—Margin, “a sort worthy of God;" i.e. in a manner and with a temper suited to God’s service. Ver. 9. Who loveth to have, &c.—“Who loveth the presidency,” or chief place, doubtless in the church, of which Diotrephes was most probably an officer; and being one, magnified himself in his office; he loved such pre-eminence, and behaved haughtily in it.]—Bagster.

Ver. 14. Our friends.—[Instead of friends, an appellation used nowhere else as a mutual address among Christians, several MSS. read brethren.]—B.

tions, when what was true in them might be adduced to good purpose, without destructive—the abuse of the doctrines of grace, by “turning the grace of God into lasciviousness;” and the “denying (or renouncing) the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ:” or, as some render it, “our only Sovereign (or Master) and Lord, Jesus Christ.” By way of caution and alarm, the aged apostle reminds the brethren of the following facts, as showing the awful nature and extreme danger of apostacy: namely, 1. The fall of the rebel angels, who, without the hope of a Redeemer, are confined in chains of darkness to the day of judgment.

2. The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by fire from heaven, and their inhabitants consigned to the same “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels,” ((Matthew 25:41):) the awful judgments whereby the unbelieving Israelites were destroyed, after their escape from Egypt. From all which we may collect that the men here referred to were unbelievers like the last named—lustful as the Sodomites, and proud and rebellious as the apostate angels: filthy dreamers, that defile the flesh, and speak evil of dignities. On this last point St. Jude adverts to the same circumstance alluded to by St. Peter, namely, the contest between Michael and Satan, relative to the body of Moses. Michael, the archangel, is first mentioned by the prophet Daniel, and is, by very able expositors, supposed to be the Son of God, as Captain of the Lord’s host.

But our translators, and most expositors of this Epistle, refer us to the prophecy of Zechariah, (1 John 3:1), &c.; the relation of which to the passage before us, we confess ourselves unable to demonstrate. But the great point argued by St. Jude is, the criminality of reviling those temporal rulers (whether the sovereign or his deputies) under whom Providence has been pleased to place us; and the hatred and persecution which has thereby been brought on peaceful Christians, is probably far more than has been supposed. But this is not all: these men are described as murderers, for they have gone in the way of Cain: covetous, for they have copied the error of Balaam; and, being rebellious against God, perish in “the gainsaying of Core,”

or rather Korah. ((Numbers 16:1), &c.) In the black list of follies and vices, which here follows, we shall notice only the reference to the agape, or “love feasts,” which originally, according to Dr. Benson, were “frugal meals provided by the richer Christians to entertain the poor, the fatherless, the widows, and strangers.” They were generally held immediately before or after the Lord’s Supper, and very early subjected to abuse, as we find, not only by St. Jude, but by St. Paul: To these feasts such men were spots, or blemishes; that is, a disgrace and reproach. The apostle now quotes a prophecy, which he ascribes, and doubtless truly, to the holy “Enoch, the seventh from Adam.” It is well known, that a book under that title existed in the primitive church.

This book has been recently discovered, and translated by Archbishop Lawrence, of which the following is the passage quoted by our apostle in verse 14: “Behold, he comes with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and to reprove all the carnal, for every thing which the sinful and ungodly have done and committed against him.” Finally, St. Jude affectionately exhorts his brethren to remember the warnings which they had received from the other apostles, in their well known epistles, and, by a careful attention to the Scriptures, and other means of grace, to build up themselves in their most holy faith; and by praying under the influences of the Holy Spirit, to guard themselves against the danger of apostacy—to prepare for all the public and private trials of the present state, and the solemnities of eternal judgment.

The Epistle finally concludes with a prayer and doxology to Christ: “To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Notes on the verses

Ver. 6. This is he that came by water and blood—That is, he was baptized first by water, and then by blood, and in both cases did the Holy Spirit bear witness. See (Matthew 3:17); xvii. 5; compare note on ver. 8, below. See also (John 12:28). Ver. 7, 8. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.—“The probability is, (says Dr. Pye Smith,) that this passage was originally a marginal comment on ‘the Spirit, the water, and the blood;’ and was introduced, by the ignorance or the predilection of transcribers, into the text of the Vulgate Latin version. There is no authority for it whatsoever in any manuscripts of the Greek original, except one, which is too modern to be of much value. But it should be recollected, that critical disquisition upon the authenticity of any document, should be carried on with the most rigorous impartiality, and without either favour or disfavour to particular doctrines which the document might affect; that many who have denied the doctrines of the Trinity and the divine nature of the Saviour, have admitted the common reading of these texts; and that many other persons who reject [this] passage….

are fully convinced of the truth of those doctrines, because they believe the general tenor of Scripture, and the declaration of particular passages, both numerous and forcible, to be in their favour.” Omitting the doubtful words, the passage reads thus: “There are three that bear record, the spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one.” In consequence of the above facts, the disputed words were omitted in several Protestant editions of the New Testament by Luther and Erasmus; and since, by Newcome, Griesbach, and others; also in several editions of the English Bible, in the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI, and Queen Elizabeth, they are either placed within brackets, (as by Doddridge,) or printed in a smaller type, as of doubtful authority.

In some copies, also, the 8th verse is placed before the 7th. On the other hand, it is but justice to acknowledge, that the number of MSS. which have been examined and collated, makes but a small proportion of those existing, many of which are locked up in the libraries of the Catholic and Greek churches; so that it is yet possible, as the late Bishop Middleton suggests, that some future inquiries may materially change the state of the question.

Ver. 7. These three are one.—The witnessing of the Father and the Holy Spirit to the mission of Christ, as also his own witness to the truth, are clearly and repeatedly referred to in the New Testament; and their union is no less inculcated in (Matthew 28:19), and other scriptures. Ver. 8. These three agree in one—i.e. in the same testimony; but what may be meant by these three witnesses, is by no means clear. Doddridge explains them of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, the baptismal water, and the sacramental blood; so Macknight. But the expression might, perhaps, be referred to the scene of Christ’s death, when the departing spirit of our Saviour, and the blood and water flowing from his side, bore a united witness to the reality of his death. See (John 19:30, 34, 35). The Holy Spirit also bare witness to the efficacy of Christ’s death and atonement, by raising him from the dead. See (1 Timothy 3:16). 1 Peter iii. 18.

Ver. 13. On the name—i.e. the person and character of the Son of God, in passage (Matthew 28:19).—And that ye may believe—with more assured con-

Ver. 14. This is the confidence that we have in him.—Doddridge, “towards

Ver. 18. Toucheth him not.—Macknight, “Layeth not hold on him;” i.e. does not claim him as his own. Ver. 19. The whole world lieth in wickedness.—Macknight, “Under the wicked one.” [Or, in the wicked one; is embraced in his arms where it lies fast asleep, and carnally secure, deriving its heat and power from its infernal fosterer. “In this short expression,” says Wesley, “the horrible state of the world is painted in the most lively colours; a comment on which we have in the actions, conversations, contracts, quarrels, and friendships of worldly men.”]—Bagster.

Not only was the Pagan world sunk into universal idolatry, but also the Jews themselves were sunk into a spirit of infidelity, no less dreadful and offensive. Ver. 20. This is the true God, and eternal life—Commentators are much divided, whether this sentence refers to Christ only, as both the true God and eternal life, (see Doddridge;) or whether the former member of the sentence refers to the Father, as “the true God,” and the latter to the Son, as “eternal life.” He exhorteth a certain honourable matron, with her children, to persevere in Christian love and belief, lest they lose the reward of their former profession: and to have nothing to do with those seducers that bring not the true doctrine of Christ.

Ver. 1—13. St. John commends a certain pious matron and her sons, and exhorts them to perseverance.—There seems no reason to question that this and the following epistle were written by St. John, though being addressed to private individuals might occasion them not to be received and recognised in the church so early as some others. They are generally supposed to have been written about the same time as the preceding, with which they correspond both in matter and style. The writer calls himself “The Elder,” to which appellation he appears well entitled, as being now, probably, the only survivor of the apostles, and much advanced in years, which accounts for the use of his favourite appellation—“My little children.”

The chief topics here mentioned are enlarged on in the preceding Epistle, viz., love to the brethren, and caution against deceivers and impostors. “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is (or has) come in the flesh.” This corresponds with (1 John 2:1-3), of the first Epistle; and both passages refer to the rise of a heresy, even in the apostolic age, which supposed that Jesus Christ was possessed of human nature merely in appearance; and consequently that, in fact, he neither “died for our sins, nor rose again for our justification.” This was the doctrine of the Gnostics, or at least of many of them: and their objection to the humanity of our Lord seems to have arisen from the notion that all matter was in itself essentially depraved, and

Ver.

1. The elect lady—(Gr. Eklekte Kuria, which some, with the Peshito Syriac and Arabic versions, render, “to Kyria the elect,” considering Kuria a proper name; while others, with the Vulgate, render, “to the Lady Electa,” considering Eklekte a proper name, which seems more correct.)—B. The learned Lord Barrington conceived, that by this lady St. John meant a Christian church, which he did not think proper to name. The notion seems to have originated with Jerome, and was adopted by Hammond and Whitby; but it appears to us to be unfounded, and has not, we believe, at present, any advocates. Those here referred to, who denied that Christ was “come in the flesh,” were probably the first Gnostics.

See Dict. of Religions, &c. in Ver. 3. Grace be—Gr. “shall be”—with you. Ver. 5. And now.—(The mode of address here shows, that it was a person, not a church, as some suppose, to whom the Apostle wrote.)—Bagster. Jeth Gains for his piety, and hospitality to teachers: 9

A. M. cir. ie iw report of Demetrius. The elder unto the well beloved Gaius, whom I love * in the truth. 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thy soul prospereth. Ver. 1—14. Gaius commended for his piety and hospitality to Christian teachers.—Several persons of this name are men-

name: Ver. 2. Above all things.—Doddridge, “In every respect.” A. M. For many deceivers are entered into the

the creation of the evil principle. They were also ashamed of the doctrine of the cross, and therefore some of them feigned the strange idea, that Simon, the Cyrenian, was crucified instead of Jesus. Thus, though they admitted the divine mission of Jesus Christ, they denied that Christ (or the Messiah) was really come in the flesh, which St. John pronounces to be the mark of a deceiver and an antichrist, meaning thereby an enemy to Christ. He cautions, therefore, the elect lady to whom he wrote, against being drawn aside from the truth by these deceivers. “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought;” that is, that we do not lose our ministerial labour; from which we infer that the venerable apostle had been her Christian adviser, and probably, also, the instructer of her children.

He then cautions her against showing such deceivers even the rights of hospitality; though it would certainly be straining of the text to include in this prohibition the duties of humanity, to which all our fellow creatures are entitled. To admit such heretics, however, to our family and table conversation, might be injurious to our own peace, and destructive to the principles of our children and domestics, if not our own. At the same time, the countenance thereby given to such men might promote both the fundamental errors which they taught, and the immoralities they practised; for they are always spoken of, not as mistaken, but as wicked men.

Ver. 7. For many deceivers are entered, &c.—Instead of are entered into, many excellent MSS. have, are gone out. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.—Macknight, “The deceiver and the antichrist; which the learned Granville Sharp explains of ‘the spirit of antichrist himself, (i.e. Satan,) at the first mover and instigator, either by himself or his angels, of all other deceivers.”—G. Sharp on the case of Saul, &c.—Antichrist is a general name used by this apostle for all who opposed the truth and authority of Christ. Ver. 8. Which we have wrought.—Margin, “gained.” It is added, “Some copies read, Which ye have gained, and that ye received,” &c. The copies here alluded to are, five of Stephen’s MSS., the Alexandrian, and other MSS., the Vulgate, second Syriac, and Ethiopian versions.

Ver. 10. Neither bid him God speed.—Doddridge, “Good success”—i.e. in his propagation of error. Ver. 12. Face to face.—Gr. “Mouth to mouth.” THE THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN. even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; one of the New Testament; this is thought to be the one mentioned in (Romans 16:23), who had been remarkably hospitable.

Ver. 4. Walk in truth.—Doddridge, “in the truth,” i.e. of the gospel. Jude is supposed to have been the Apostle, called also Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus, brother of James the Less, (ver. 1,) and the brother, or near relative, of our Lord. Some hesitation, however, as to the genuineness of this Epistle, seems to have prevailed in the church, which was at length fully removed; though some learned modern writers, apparently on very slight grounds, have endeavoured to revive it. It is objected, that he calls Lebbeus not an Apostle, but “a servant of Jesus Christ;” but so also does Paul, in his inscription to the Philippians; and the word apostle is omitted in the Epistle to Philemon, and in that to the Thessalonians; neither does John, in his Epistles, use the word apostle, nor mention his own name. Jude is also supposed to quote apocryphal books—for there is no evidence that this was really the case; but does not St.

Paul quote heathen poets, and Jewish tradi-

3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Ver. 1—25. The apostle Jude exhorts the believers to whom he wrote, to adhere steadfastly to the truth, and to contend against false teachers and their erroneous doctrines.—This apostle (though his name was the same) must always be carefully distinguished from that Judas who betrayed his Master. On the contrary, this apostle was zealous on his

Ver. 1. Jude—(Greek, Judas)—the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James—Who, as we find in (Matthew 10:3), was also called Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus. This book, like the 2d of Peter, and some other Epistles, was at first scrupled, and by some rejected from the sacred canon, chiefly, as we believe, on account of its reference to the prophecy of Enoch, (of which in its place,) and perhaps some other apocryphal book; but, in our view of the subject, this is no reason for rejecting an inspired book, for the prophets themselves quote several books now lost, (Joshua 10:13). Their quotations can only sanction what they quote, and that as to matters of fact only, unless they quote them as inspired. The authority of this book, however, is rejected only by such as reject St. Peter’s second Epistle, which it very much resembles; nor can we reject either of them as inspired, without regarding them as forgeries, which is utterly improbable, as may be seen in Horne, and most writers upon the Canon. —Bagster.

Ver. 3. The common salvation—i.e. the salvation of Christ, common to both Jews and Gentiles. out at all sanctioning the fables which they contained, or inducing a suspicion that he was not an inspired writer? ((Acts 17:23). (1 Corinthians 15:33). (2 Timothy 3:8). (Titus 1:12).) These are the principal objections; and they amount to nothing against the internal evidence, and the general current of antiquity.

Lardner shows, that it is found in all the ancient catalogues of the sacred writings of the New Testament; is considered genuine by Clement of Alexandria; and is quoted, as St. Jude’s production, by Tertullian, by Origen, and by the greater part of the ancients mentioned by Eusebius. Its genuineness is fully established by the matter contained in it, which is every way worthy of an inspired Apostle of Jesus Christ; and, as Macknight truly observes, there is no error taught, no evil practice enjoined, for the sake of which any impostor could be induced to impose a forgery of this kind on the world. —Bagster.

Ver. 19, 24. Cities about them in like manner, giving them

behalf, and in opposition to all antichristian errors.

He therefore here exhorts the brethren to whom he wrote, to “contend earnestly for the faith, which was once delivered to the saints;” that is, for the great and fundamental truths of the gospel. In contending for truth, we of course oppose error; and two errors are here especially stated, as the most dangerous and

Ver. 4. Crept in.—Doddridge, “glided in.”—Of old ordained.—Literally, ‘proscribed.” (Beza, olim prescripti.) Doddridge, “registered;” an allusion, as some think, to a custom among the Romans, of posting up in the forums the names of persons accused of certain crimes, with warrants for their apprehension, and sometimes for killing them. Such men, that is, wicked teachers or preachers, are proscribed in many parts of the word of God.

See (Psalms 50:16). Some, however, refer this to the ancient prophecies respecting such men. See verse 14, &c.— The only Lord—(Greek, despotes,)—Master. See note on 2 Peter ii. 1—God.—This word (Theion) is wanting in several MSS., and in the Vulgate. Doddridge reads it, “God the only Sovereign, and our Lord Jesus Christ;” Pye Smith, “Our only Sovereign and Lord Jesus Christ.” Macknight adheres to the common version, but admits the others to be equally just. Ver. 5. Destroyed them that believed not.—See (Hebrews 4:1-3). Ver. 6. Their first estate.—Margin, “principality.” Doddridge adheres to the former; but Macknight observes they amount to the same meaning—their original state was that of leaders, or princes, in the heavenly host.

But left their own habitation—More strictly, we conceive, the station assigned to them; which, we presume, was a voluntary act, and constituted their rebellion. This and the following verses may be compared with the 2d Epistle of