1 John 2

1 John 2:7

7. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you.] This charge, that I lay upon you, of loving one another, though it be now newly and freshly urged by me, yet in regard of the first original of it is very ancient, even as old as the eternal law of God itself. Bp. Hall. The commandment of love might be called an “old commandment,” as being a branch of the law of nature, and a known precept of the Jewish religion: although in other respects it might be called “a new commandment,” because urged from a new motive, and enforced by a new example. Burkitt.

1 John 2:8

8. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, &c.] Again, it is in some respects a new commandment that I write unto you; even in the same sense that our Saviour so called it; in that it is daily renewed unto you, and vehemently reinforced upon you by God, even that ye should strive and labour unto that, which was really and perfectly performed by Christ, and justly and duly required of you; because it is not now with you as it was wont: the darkness of your ignorance and unbelief is passed, and the light of truth now shineth clearly in your eyes. Bp. Hall. The 7th and 8th verses contain a very useful piece of instruction, expressed in a manner somewhat obscure and enigmatical on purpose to excite that attention, which they will soon reward by a discovery of their meaning. Probably they were designed to be more especially understood of the great precept, inculcated immediately after them, of universal good will: an original duty of mankind, but strangely forgotten throughout the earth, till our Saviour taught it more clearly, and enforced it more strongly, than had ever been done before. Yet they are equally applicable to

1 John 2:9

9—11. He that saith he is in the light, &c.] Wherefore it is an effect of the most malicious prejudice and stupid ignorance of plain truth, for any man to profess himself a true disciple of Christ, while he harbours revengeful thoughts and uncharitable principles towards other men. On the contrary, a kind behaviour and tender disposition towards all our brethren is one of the best instances of Christian perfection, and secures us from all the scandal and mischievous effects of a censorious and persecuting temper. Pyle.

1 John 2:12

12—14. I write unto you, little children, &c.] The sense of these three verses may be thus expressed: The cautions I here give you ought to be equally regarded by all degrees of Christian professors. The new converts and younger Christians are to consider themselves as newly put into a state of salvation, the pardon of sin, and the favour of God, through Jesus Christ; and to endeavour to confirm themselves in it by the careful practice of true Christian virtue. Such as are come to more maturity in their profession, and are in the strength and vigour of their age, have a great advantage, and ought to employ the utmost of that vigour in resisting the strongest temptations of the devil, and perfecting their conquest over him and all his wicked instruments. And the aged Christians cannot but have so clear a knowledge of God, and the revelation of His will by Jesus Christ, during the long season from their first conversion, that it would be utterly

1 John 2:13

13.—him that is from the beginning.] That eternal Son of God, which was before all worlds. Bp. Hall. Christ, that is from the beginning of the world, though He was born as man here on earth, not many years since. Dr. Wells.

1 John 2:15

15. Love not the world, &c.] Endeavour to wean your affections from all immoderate desires of the pleasures, riches, dignities, and preferments of the world. Shew no sinful compliance to attain them; love them not in any higher degree, than to be ready to part with any of them, for the sake of Christ and His religion. For all such immoderate affections of temporal things are utterly inconsistent with the love of God and true religion. Pyle.

—If any man love the world.] If any man’s heart be set upon the world. Bp. Hall.

The felicity of a future state is provided for those only who have made themselves fit for it, through the help of God’s grace, by an innocent behaviour and religious frame of soul; neither of which is consistent with being attached and given up to the things here below. A heart and affections tied down to them will grow like them; become earthy and base, insensible of pious and virtuous movements, unmet for “the inheritance of the saints in light,” Col. i. 12. “If any man love the world” inordinately, “the love of the Father is not in him.” They are different spirits, thwarting each other continually: and we have only to choose of which we will be; for of both we cannot. Abp. Secker.

1 John 2:16

16. For all that is in the world, &c.] For all those things, wherewith the hearts of worldly men are taken up, which are reduced to those three heads, carnal lusts and concupiscences, covetous desires, proud and ambitious thoughts and affections, are such as are utterly abhorring from God, and are the mere baits of the world. Bp. Hall.

The Apostle means, that immoderate fondness for the pleasures of sense, unreasonable delight in beholding the increase of our wealth, haughty complacency in pre-eminence and power, are not dispositions proceeding from God, nor consistent with a spirit of true religion. We cannot indeed preserve ourselves from being solicited, perhaps from being moved and disquieted, by some or other of the temptations that surround us; but from yielding to them, through Divine assistance, we may. Abp. Secker.

By the “lust of the flesh,” is meant sensuality and intemperance, unruly appetites, and irregular pleasures. By “the lust of the eyes,” is meant the love of vain magnificence and superfluous wealth, an eager pursuit and an excessive fondness of it. The desire of riches

is called “the lust of the eyes,” because in superfluous and misspelled wealth there is nothing to be found, besides feeding the eyes with an unprofitable object. “When goods increase,” says Solomon, “what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes!” Speaking of covetousness he says, “The eye is never satisfied with riches.” And hence covetousness, or coveting what belongs to others, is sometimes called “an evil eye.” By “the pride of life” is meant power; power obtained by unlawful means, or exercised in an imperious and oppressive manner. Thus the vices, which the Apostle comprises under the love of the wicked world, are these: sensuality and intemperance, covetousness and rapaciousness, ambition and overbearing insolence. That they, who are addicted to these vices, love the world too much, and that their love of it cannot be consistent with the love of God, are truths plain and undeniable. They themselves either renounce all pretensions to religion; or, if they call themselves Christians, are self-condemned, and know that they have no right to that name; or else are ignorant in the highest degree of the nature and spirit of Christianity. Dr. Jortin.

1 John 2:17

17.—he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.] Inasmuch as he shall be rewarded with an happy immortality in the life to come. Dr. Wells.

1 John 2:18

18. Little children, it is the last time: &c.] Ye are fallen into the last stage of the world; neither shall there be any new state of things betwixt this and the final judgment: and, as ye have heard that, in the last times of the church, antichrist shall come, no know now, that accordingly many antichrists, who are direct opposers of the Saviour of the world, the Son of God, are already come; whereby it is made evident that this is that last time which was foretold of. Bp. Hall.

The word “antichrist” is no where found but in St. John’s 1st and 2d Epistles. It may have two meanings: for, if the preposition “anti” denotes in place of, the name will signify one who puts himself in the place of Christ; consequently “antichrist” is a false Christ. But if the preposition denotes opposition, “antichrist” is one who opposeth Christ. The persons, to whom this Epistle was written, had heard of the coming of “antichrist,” in both senses of the name. For the first sort were foretold by our Lord, Matt. xxiv. 5; and the second, Matt. xxiv. 11. From what St. John hath written, ver. 22 of this chapter, and chap. iv. 3, and 2 Epist. ver. 7, by “antichrist” he appears to mean those false prophets or teachers, who were foretold by our Lord to arise about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and who were now gone abroad. Some of these denied the humanity of Jesus Christ, others denied the divinity: and as both sorts opposed Christ, by denying the redemption of the world through His

We must beware of the deceits of seducers. After Anno DOMINI 90.

antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

1 John 2:19

19. They went out from us.] “From us,” Christians of Judea, Acts xv. 1; and “from us” the Apostles, Acts xv. 24: “but they were not of us,” but were “false brethren,” Gal. ii. 4; and “false Apostles,” 2 Cor. xi. 13. “For if they had been of us,” agreeing with us the Apostles and true churches of Christ, in the doctrine and truth of the Gospel, “they would no doubt have continued with us,” preaching that doctrine which we teach. The persons, censured in the chapters referred to above, for preaching doctrines opposite to, and destructive of, Christianity, were doubtless some of the many antichrists, which St. John speaks of here: and they also divided and separated themselves from the church, and became hereticks under the

names of Corinthians, Nazarenes, and Ebionites. Cerinthus spread his heresy in Asia, the province of St. John, saith Theodoret, and was contemporary with the Apostle; whence the church desired him to write against Cerinthus and the Ebionites. Dr. Whitby.

1 John 2:20

20. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, &c.] But however specious their pretences may now be, I hope you are so fully instructed in the great truths, so sensible of the noble privileges of your religion, and so confirmed in it by the gifts and endowments of the Holy Ghost, as not to be much in danger of being perverted by them. Pyle.

1 John 2:21

21. — and that no lie] That is, none of those false doctrines, which are taught by the antichrists or hereticks, is any branch “of the truth” of the Gospel. On account of such your knowledge it is, that I stand not to prove the falsity of their doctrines; but only, by mentioning them to you as false doctrines, exhort you to persevere in the true faith. Dr. Wells.

1 John 2:22

22. Who is a liar but he that denieth &c.] There is no such liar, no such dangerous false teacher, as he who denies, &c. Dr. Hammond.

— He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.] The Son directly, the Father by consequence; because He hath testified of Christ by miracles, and a voice from heaven, which testimony of the Father is not true, if Jesus be not the Christ. Dr. Hammond.

To deny the Father here, is not to deny Him to be the true God, as the heathens did: but let, to deny the truth of His testimony, see chap. v. 10; John iii. 33: 2dly, to deny the doctrine of the Father, or that doctrine which proceedeth from Him; “for He, whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God,” John iii. 34. Whence it is evident, that he who denieth the Son, cannot thus retain the true knowledge of the Father: see John i. 18; Matt. xi. 27. By Him alone can we come acceptably to the Father, so as to have life; for He is “the way, and the truth, and the life,” John xiv. 6. And by Him alone are we taught how to “worship the Father in spirit and in truth,” John iv. 23, 24. Hence Christ so often tells the Jews, they therefore wanted the true knowledge of the Father, because they knew not Him, John viii. 19; xiv. 7; xvi. 3. Dr. Whitby.

1 John 2:23

23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

23. Whosoever denieth the Son.] Whosoever denies Jesus to be truly the Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds or created beings, as do the Corinthians and Ebionites, the same hath not a right and saving knowledge of the Father, but doth by consequence deny the Father, by denying Jesus to be His true Son. Dr. Wells.

— [but] he that acknowledgeth the Son &c.] These words are generally printed in our version in italics:

1 John 2:24

24.—from the beginning.] Of the Gospel preached to you by the Apostles of Christ. Dr. Wells. —ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.] That is, in the love and favour of the Son, and of the Father, and in communion with both. The Son appears to be placed here before the Father, partly to intimate that they are equal in essence and dignity, as in the apostolical benediction, “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” is mentioned before “the love of God” the Father; and partly because no man cometh to, or continueth in, the Father, but by the Son, who is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” See John xiv. 23, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Burkitt.

1 John 2:26

26.—concerning them that seduce you.] That endeavour to seduce you. Dr. Wells.

1 John 2:27

27. But the anointing] Namely, the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Wells. —ye need not that any man teach you.] Any new doctrine, any new fundamental principles of faith. Burkitt. Abundance of fanaticism, and enthusiasm, and other mischiefs have been brought into the church of Christ, by the misinterpreting and misspplying of those texts, which speak of the gifts of the Spirit, which some men so understand, as to make no distinction between the times then and the times now. They read for instance a prophecy in Joel, that when “the last days should come, God would pour His Spirit upon all flesh, and their young men should see visions, and their old men dream dreams,” Joel 5. 28; Acts ii. 17. And again, that in those days, as the Prophet Jeremiah says, “every man shall no more teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord,” Jer. xxxi. 34. And accordingly they find the matter of fact true, for St. John speaks to all the Christians to whom he writes in these terms, “The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but the same anointing teacheth you all things, and is truth.” Hence they conclude, that in these days, which are the last days, the Spirit of God is poured upon all flesh, and that every one hath a right to expect immediate impulses and revelations, as to what he is to believe and to practise: that by this assistance of the Spirit, every brother may understand the mysteries of the holy Scriptures, without the troublesome way of studying human learning; nay, and may take upon himself the pastoral office, and become a guide and teacher of others, without any warrant from human authority, merely upon the impulse of the Spirit of God. These consequences have been drawn from these and such texts of Scripture: and so far have they been promoted and improved by several amongst us, that reason, and prudence, and all acquired learning, are rather accounted by them hisdrances to the work of God’s church, than any ways contributing to it. Nay, they are arrived to a pitch above the Scriptures themselves, which they look upon as a dead letter in comparison of the light within them, the witness, the anointing which they have received from above; which is the only measure with them of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil. The colour, which these enthusiastic people derive from this their notion, from the letter of some passages in the Old and New Testament, would quite vanish, if they would but take care to distinguish between the effects of the Spirit, which belonged to the converting of the world, and those which were to be His constant permanent operations among such as were already Christians. There is no one will deny but the Apostles, and those in their times, had these inspirations, these revelations they speak of: and the texts, that they produce, are some of them plain promises and predictions of them, and some of them plain proofs that those promises were made good. They did see visions, and were endued with extraordinary talents of wisdom and knowledge, without human methods, and might expect particular impulses of the Holy Ghost upon occasions, where they wanted either light or direction: and all this was indeed little enough for the discharge of that great work they had upon their hands, namely, the bringing of the world over from Judaism and heathenism to Christianity. But that being once done, and the Gospel of Christ, and all things pertaining to it, being plainly left in writing by the Apostles or apostolical men, as there would be from henceforward no need of those assistances of the Spirit, so it would be a vain thing to expect them. We are not to desire those immediate revelations, nor to expect that God should vouchsafe them, if we prayed for them. God hath declared all His will, that is arcessary for us to know, by our Saviour and His Apotles: and the rules which they have given us, together with our own natural light and reason, and the other outward means and helps of instruction, which are every day at hand among us, are sufficient, abundantly sufficient, to guide and direct us, both as to belief and practice, through all the cases and emergencies that can ordinarily happen to us. And in extraordinary cases God will take care, some way or other, that we shall not be at a loss. And therefore to pretend to the Spirit in these days, either for preaching, or praying, or prophesying, or denouncing God’s judgments, or for any other thing, in such a way as implies immediate inspiration; or to set up a light within us, contrary to the light of reason, or different from the light of Scripture without us; is the extreme of folly, enthusiasm, and madness. Aly. Sharp.

1 John 2:29

29. If ye know that he is righteous.] As in Himself, so on account of His being the Author of righteousness