1 John 1

1 John 1:4

This epistle, and, in it, this testimony, do I write unto you for your encouragement in the profession of the gospel, which many Gnostics and false Christs are apt to shake you out of.

1 John 1:5

And this is the sum of the gospel preached by Christ which we now testify unto you: that all purity is required of you; that all God’s commands are pure; and that there is nothing which hath any degree of impurity in it which God in Christ doth not now abominate; but, on the other side, a far greater purity now required than before, which may sufficiently arm you against all the deceits of the Gnostics, which under the notion of Christian liberty are apt to lead you into all the impurity in the world.

[a] light] The word φῶς, light, is a figurative expression to signify the most perfect, immaculate purity; and σκότος, darkness, is directly the contrary, mixture of all impurity: the affirming of which concerning God, that he is perfect purity, without any mixture of impurity, is no such strange thing as that the apostle should introduce it with so much ceremony as here we see made use of. That which we have heard and seen, which we have looked on, and our hands have felt, ver. 1; What we have seen, we declare, ver. 3; and, This is that message which we declare, ver. 5. That which all this solemnity was thought fit to introduce was certainly somewhat either doubted of and questioned by the doctrines, or opposed and resisted by the lives of those to whom he writes. And that which seems most probable to be the full importance of it, is in the general to denote the great perfection of purity which is now commanded in the Christian law, and more particularly the great obligation that lies upon Christians not to make that profession a pretence or excuse for the favouring themselves in any degree of liberty or impurity. Christ came certainly from God to declare his will unto us; that God a God of all purity, and consequently his commandments which Christ came to reveal (like himself) made up of severe rules of purity: and then how contrary to all piety and Christianity must the Gnostic infusions necessarily be, which allow and practise all impurities, and make them a special part of their religion, and call themselves τέλειοι and γνωστικοί, perfect and knowing

1 John 1:6

If we say we are partakers of his purity, or have any likeness or conformity with him, and live in any impure course, as the Gnostics do, we neither speak nor act according to the gospel, which prohibits and interdicts all such ways as they daily and avowedly practise:

1 John 1:7

But if we live pure lives, as he is perfectly pure, then we partake with Christ of his graces, and resemble him in his purity, (see ver. 3. and ver. 6;) and the death of Christ is beneficial (to us, who thus imitate his purity) to cleanse us from all the guilt of past sins and present infirmities.

1 John 1:8

All these men’s pretensions to perfection are a perfect cheating of themselves. Whosoever conceive, as the Gnostics do, (calling themselves The perfect, &c.,) that such actions as are done by them are reconcilable with perfection or innocence, they most miserably deceive themselves, and must know that they are so far from any state of perfection that they act quite contrary to the rule which the gospel gives for the regulating of men’s lives.

1 John 1:9

The only way is to repent, and acknowledge what we have done amiss, and then God, having promised pardon to all humble penitents upon sincere reformation, is obliged in fidelity and justice to make good this promise to you, to free you from all punishment of sin; and no other course but this will render you capable of his mercy.

1 John 1:10

Nay, they that live such lives as these men,

[b] make him a liar] What it is to make God a liar hath no great difficulty in it; it is certainly to deny the truth of that which God hath somewhere affirmed; and so it is used ch. v. 10. The greater question is, wherein the truth of this affirmation here is founded, that if we say we have not sinned, we thus deny the truth of what God hath affirmed, or give God the lie. The best way of deciding this will sure be taken from the context, where, ver. 6, the foundation of this speech is laid. There it is, If we say we have fellowship or partnership with God, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. There certainly we may discern who are the we that are here spoken of, viz. not the apostle, and the pious Christians, (for the first person doth not always signify so, but is used to personate any other that the apostle would speak of, see note [d] on Rom. vii,) but those that are supposed to walk in darkness, that is, to go on in unchristian sins, and yet to pretend partnership with God, that is, to a state of great innocence and perfection. These are certainly the Gnostic heretics, whose character that is, to live in all carnality and uncharitableness, &c., and yet to pretend themselves to be the most perfect men: of those he there saith, that they lie notoriously, their foul actions and pretensions to perfection are very contrary, and they do not the truth; they live contrary to that rule of life which as Christians they have received to live by. To these same persons he proceeds, ver. 7, to tell the positive truth, contrary to their lie, that if they walk in the light, that is, live Christian lives of purity and charity, then they may truly be said to have partnership with him, (as the king’s MS. seems to have read αὐτοῦ, and not ἀλλήλων, and as is most agreeable with ver. 6,) that is, to be blameless, pious, perfect men; and then for any frailties or forsaken sins, the blood of Christ is accepted as a sacrifice of expiation for such. This is again said, (both in the former and latter part of it, ver. 8, 9,) but with some little change of the phrase, which must be interpreted by analogy with the former. If we say ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔχομεν, we have not sin, that is all one with the precedent, we have partnership with him; for sinlessness is that property of God’s which they pretended to be communicated to them: and then though there be nothing in that verse answerable to their walking in darkness, ver. 6, yet the persons being still supposed the same that are spoken of in both verses, the impious carnal Gnostics, this of their wicked lives is supposed in the 8th verse, having been already, ver. 6, sufficiently expressed: and so as of them, whose lives of carnality and pretensions of perfection were so contrary, it had been affirmed, ver. 6, that they lie, and do not the truth; so in that 8th verse, it is said with little change, they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them, which only adds to the former the consideration of their danger that they thus brought upon themselves, they flattered themselves to their ruin; whereas, ver. 9, if they would acknowledge their sins and danger, and forsake them, and fly to God for pardon upon repentance, he having promised it to such, would be faithful and just to forgive them their sins, would deal with them according to his promise. And then follows, ver. 10, If we say that we have not sinned, (which is directly all one with we have not sin, ver. 8, (see note [a] on ch. iii.)