1 John 3

1 John 3:1

1 δέδωκεν NBC: ἔδωκεν A.

II. THE CHILDREN OF GOD AND THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL (iii. 1—12).

The section seems to fall most naturally into three parts:

1. The position present and future of the children of God (iii. 1-3). 2. The essential character of the children of God (4-9). 3. The outward manifestation of the children of God (10-12).

The thoughts are unfolded throughout in contrast with the corresponding thoughts as to the position, character, and manifestation of ’the children of the devil.’ The world knows not Christians. Sin is incompatible with Sonship of God. Active hatred is the sign of hostility to right.

1. The position present and future of the children of God (1—3).

The position of Christians is considered in regard both to the present (v. 1) and to the future (v. 2). They stand now to ’the Father’ in the relation of ‘children of God’ in title and in reality: on the other hand ’the world’ fails to recognise them. Their future is as yet unrevealed; but so much is known that it will answer to the open, transfiguring vision of God in Christ. Meanwhile therefore the thought of this transfiguration is the rule and inspiration of Christian effort (v. 3).

‘Behold (See) what manner of love the Father hath given to us, that we should be called children of God:—and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet manifested what we shall be. We know that if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him, because we shall see him even as he is.

And every one that hath this hope on him purifieth himself even as he is pure.

1. “Ἰδετε] Videte V., Ecce Aug., Behold, See. The use of the plural is remarkable, and elsewhere it is used only of something actually visible (Gal. vi. 11; yet comp. Acts xiii. 41, LXX). The image at the close of the last chapter (born of Him) seems to fill St John’s vision, and, as he pauses to dwell upon it himself, he invites his readers to contemplate the same truth as present before them in an intelligible shape.

ποταπὴν ἀγάπην] qualem caritatem (directionem Aug.) V., what manner of love truly divine in its nature. The word ποταπός, which is not found in the LXX, is rare in the New Testament. It is used to call attention to the character both of persons (Matt viii. 27; Luke vii. 39; 2 Pet. iii. 11) and of things (Mk. xiii. 1; Luke i. 29).

ὁ πατήρ] the Father. This title is chosen in order to illustrate and (in some degree) to explain the gift of love which God has bestowed on men.

δέδωκεν ἡ] dedit nobis V., hath given to us. Comp. John xiv. 27. The love is not simply exhibited towards believers, but imparted to them. The divine love is, as it were, infused into them, so that it is their own, and becomes in them the source of a divine life (Rom. xiii. 10). In virtue of this gift therefore they are inspired with a love which is like the love of God, and by this they truly claim the title of children of God, as partakers in His nature. Comp. c. iv. 7, 19. See also Leo, Serm. xii. § 1 (Migne, Patrol. Lat. LIV. p. 169): Diligendo itaque nos Deus ad imaginem suam nos reparat et, ut in nobis formam suæ bonitatis inveniat, dat unde ipsi quoque quod operatur operemur, accendens

ἵνα τέκνα θεοῦ κληθῶμεν, καὶ ἐσμέν. διὰ τοῦτο ὁ καὶ ἐσμέν NABC vg me the sytr: om. 5. The Latt. by a natural error read et simus (as depending on ut). Compare c. v. 20.

scilicet mentium nostrarum lucernas, et igne nos suae caritatis inflammans, ut non solum ipsum sed etiam quidquid diligit diligamus.

With δέδωκεν, which regards the endowment of the receiver, contrast κεχάρισται (Gal. iii. 18), ἐχαρίσατο (Phil. ii. 9) which regards the feeling of the giver.

ἡμῖν (ὑμῖν)] St John is here considering the blessing of love as actually realised in the Christian society. Contrast John iii. 16 ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον.

ἵνα…κληθῶμεν…] ut…nominemur (vocemur Aug.) V., that we should be called. The final particle has its full force. The divine gift of love which is appropriated by the believer forms the basis, the justification, of the divine title. The end of the blessing is that sonship may be real. For ἵνα compare c. 11 note.

Pelagii…condemnatur haeresis in eo quod dicitur a Deo nobis caritatem… dari qua adoptionem filiorum accipiamus (Bede).

τέκνα θεοῦ] filii Dei V., children of God not sons of God which comes from the Latin. The thought here is of the community of nature with the prospect of development (τέκνον, comp. 2 Pet. i. 4), and not of the position of privilege (νίος). The only place in St John’s writings where ‘son’ is used of the relation of man to God is Apoc. xxi. 7 in a free quotation from Zech. viii. 8.

The use of νίος is characteristic of St Paul’s Epistles to the Romans and Galatians: Rom. viii. 14, 19; Gal. iii. 26; iv. 6, 7. Comp. Heb. ii. 10, xii. 5 ff.; Rom. ix. 26; 2 Cor. vi. 18; Matt. v. 9, 45, xvii. 26; Luke vi. 35, xx. 36.

On the other hand the idea of ‘children of God’ (τέκνα θεοῦ) is not unfrequent in St John: vv. 2, 10, v. 2; John i. 12, xi. 52. See Additional Note.

By using θεοῦ in place of the simple pronoun αὐτοῦ St John, reciting the full name of Christians (v. 10; v. 2; John i. 12, xi. 52; Rom. viii. 16 ff., ix. 8; Phil. ii. 15), emphasises the idea of the nobility of the Christian’s position (‘children of Him who is God’).

κληθῶμεν] be called. The privilege is already enjoyed in the present and not only anticipated in the future. Christians are outwardly recognised as ‘God’s children’ in their services and intercourse with others. Such an open recognition of the title gives a solemn dignity to it.

It is worthy of notice that St John never uses καλεῖν of the Divine ‘call’ (John x. 3 φωνεῖ). Comp. John ii. 2.

καὶ ἐσμέν] and such we are. This parenthetical addition is an emphatic expression of the Apostle’s own faith. He has stated the historic position of Christians in the world, which depends on the Father’s gift of love. He affirms now that that historic position corresponds with a real fact. The name represents an absolute truth. For such an introduction of a reflective comment see i. 2 note; 2 John 2. The Latin by a natural error connects the ἐσμέν with ἵνα, ut nominemur…et simus.

διὰ τοῦτο] propter hoc V., For this cause (iv. 5), i.e. because we are children of God, and so share His nature, the world knoweth us not, seeing that it has shewn decisively its inability to recognise Him. The reference to the world at first sight seems to interrupt the current of thought, but St John’s whole argument proceeds on the supposition that men stand between two powers, God and the

world. He has shewn the relation in which they stand to God: he now shews the relation in which they stand to the world. At the same time the clause meets an objection which is likely to rise from a consideration of the character of Christians. If they are children of God, righteous and loving, may they not look for an immediate and decisive victory? So we are inclined to argue; and therefore the apostle at once points out that their likeness to God becomes the occasion of misunderstanding.

οὐ γινώσκει…οὐκ ἔγνω…] non novit…non novit…V., non cognoscit… non cognocit…Aug., the world knoweth us not does not enter into, come to understand, our principles and methods and character, for true knowledge of men requires sympathy (c. ii. 3 note). The conduct of Christians must be more or less a riddle to those who do not take account of that which is to them the spring of action. This follows from the fact that when the opportunity was given to the world for recognising the great features of the divine character it knew Him not (comp. c. iv. 8 note). The world failed to recognise God so far as He was manifested in creation and history (1 Cor. i. 21); and its failure was still more conspicuous when He was manifested in His Son (John xvi. 3). It is to this revelation specially that the Apostle refers. The ‘Him’ is God in Christ, as in ii. 29.

Augustine says, using an impressive image: [homines] amando delectationes peccatorum non agnoscebant Deum: amando quod febris suadebat injuriam medico faciebant.

Additional Note on iii. 1. Children of God.

The three phrases by which St John describes the new life.

St John uses several phrases to describe the relation of believers to God which require to be carefully considered in connexion with the contexts in which they occur.

The initial fact of the communication of the divine life is expressed by γεννηθῆναι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ (i). The essential connexion existing in virtue of this quickening is expressed by εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ (ii). In virtue of this connexion the believer becomes and is a τέκνον θεοῦ (iii).

i. ‘To be born (begotten) of God,’ (1) in the Perfect.

i. (1) The phrase γεννηθῆναι ἐκ τ. θ. is used commonly in the perfect (γεγέννηται, γεγεννημένος); that is, the initial fact of the new life is regarded in its abiding power.

This communicated life is

(a) shewn by certain signs, faith in Jesus as the Christ, righteousness and love:

1 John v. 1 πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστὶν ὁ χριστὸς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται. — ii. 29 πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγέννηται. — iv. 7 πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται.

and

(3) carries with it certain consequences, freedom from sin and victory:

1 John iii. 9 πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει. — οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτάνειν ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται. — v. 18 πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει. — 4 πᾶν τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ νικᾷ τὸν κόσμον.

Compare

John iii. 6 τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος.

(2) in the Aorist.

(2) The fact of the communication of the divine life is specially noticed:

Compare

1 John v. 18 ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ.

Compare also

John iii. 3 (7) ἐὰν μὴ τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν.

The aorist and perfect occur together 1 John v. 18; John iii. 5—8. See also Gal. iv. 23, 29.

The form of expression is not found in any of the other writers of the N.T. Yet compare St Paul’s use of γεννᾶν 1 Cor. iv. 15; Philem. 10; and St Peter’s use of ἀναγεννᾶν, 1 Pet. i. 3, 23.

ii. The phrase εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ is connected with a considerable group of similar phrases, εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου (c. iii. 8), ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ (iii. 12), ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου (ii. 16, note), ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας (ii. 21, note), ἐκ τῆς γῆς (John iii. 31, note), ἐκ τῶν κάτω, ἐκ τῶν ἄνω (viii. 23). It expresses the ideas of derivation and dependence, and so of a moral correspondence between the issue and the source.

(1) The characteristics of him who is thus vitally dependent upon God (1) signs (1 John v. 19, iv. 4, 6) are expressed both in a positive and in a negative form.

(a) positively:

3 John 11 ὁ ἀγαθοποιῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστίν.

(β) negatively:

1 John iii. 10 πᾶς ὁ μὴ ποιῶν δικαιοσύνην οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ.

(2) And corresponding declarations are made with regard to spirits (2) signs (1 John iv. 1): in spirits.

1 John iv. 2 πᾶν πνεῦμα ὁ ὁμολογεῖ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστίν.

Compare

1 John iv. 7 ἡ ἀγάπη ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστίν.

1 John ii. 16 πᾶν τὸ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ…οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ πατρός…

The nearest parallels in other writings of the N.T. are:

Acts v. 38 f. εἰ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐστίν.

1 Cor. i. 30 ἐξ αὐτοῦ [τοῦ θεοῦ] ὑμεῖς ἐστὲ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.

iii. The familiar title τέκνον θεοῦ, which describes the relation established by the new life, is of rarer occurrence in St John’s writings. iii. ‘Child of God.’

(1) The power of duly becoming a ‘child of God’ is given by the communication of the divine life. (1) The beginning.

(2) The position is realised through the gift of love.

1 John iii. 1…ἀγάπην δέδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ πατὴρ ἵνα τέκνα θεοῦ κληθῶμεν…

(3) Thus ’the children of God’ form a distinct body marked by righteousness and love. (3) The signs.

1 John iii. 10 ἐν τούτῳ φανερά ἐστιν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ…

Comp. c. v. 2; John xi. 52.

The idea of τέκνον as it is thus presented by St John includes the two notions of the presence of the divine principle and the action of human growth. The child is made to share in his Father’s nature (comp. 2 Pet. i. 4), and he uses in progressive advance the powers which he has received. The idea of ‘children’

‘To be of God,’

(2) signs in spirits.

(2) The growth and

(3) The signs.

This thought of progress will be traced through the whole picture which St John draws of the spiritual life. ‘From strength to strength’ is the law by which it is shaped.

distinct from that of ‘sons.’

It is therefore easily intelligible why St John never uses the title υἱός, the name of definite dignity and privilege, to describe the relation of Christians to God. He regards their position not as the result of an ‘adoption’ (οἰσθασία), but as the result of a new life which advances from the vital germ to full maturity.

1 John 3:2

2. Ἀγαπητοί] Carissimi V., Dilectissimi Aug., Beloved. The title (ii. 7 note) embodies the thought which has been just expressed. St John in the spirit of love addresses those who with him look forward to the issue of love. In doing this he takes up the words which he has just used, half in personal reflection (καὶ ἐσμέν); ‘Yes, now are we children, children with the promise of mature development.’ The change to which he thus looks forward will not be in the position of children, but in the conditions under which the relation will be shewn. The Christian has now, even in the present life, that which carries with it potentially infinite blessings, but the manifestation of his sonship is hindered by the circumstances in which he is placed. He will not be anything essentially different hereafter, but he will be what he is now essentially more completely, though in ways wholly beyond our powers of imagination.

νῦν…ἐσμέν, καὶ…] now are we and… The thought of what Christians are and the thought of what they will be are treated as parts of the same thought and not placed in contrast. The fact and the hope are both powerful for life.

οὔπω ἐφανερώθη…ἐὰν φανερωθῇ…] nondum apparuit…cum apparuerit…V., nondum manifestatum est (and apparuit)…cum apparuerit (and manifestatum fuerit) Aug., manifestatum est…si manifestaverit (one MS. manifestatus fuerit) Tert., nondum revelatum est…cum revelatum fuerit Ambr.

The main difficulty in this passage lies in the interpretation of the clause ἐὰν φανερωθῇ. The subject is not expressed; and the clause can be rendered either (1) if it shall be manifested i.e. what we shall be; or (2) if he shall be manifested. In

2 οἴδαμεν NABC vg the syrhl: + δέ 5 me syrvg.

favour of the first interpretation it is urged that the clause must refer back to the corresponding words (οὔπω ἐφανερώθη) which have immediately gone before: it is not yet manifested… if it shall be manifested…; unless such an explanation be obviously excluded by other considerations; and on the other hand it is answered rightly, I think, that this is in fact the case; that the words if it shall be manifested are altogether without force; or rather that they obscure the meaning. The knowledge which is affirmed is not dependent on any manifestation, but absolute. Christians already possess it; and their certainty so far is not conditioned by anything future. Or to put the thought somewhat differently: it cannot be said that the knowledge that we shall be like Christ (which is assumed) depends upon the manifestation of what we shall be. On the other hand there is an inspiring power in the assurance that our likeness to the Lord will be a likeness to His glorified Being, which will hereafter be shewn, though as yet we cannot understand what it is.

And further in support of the rendering if he shall be manifested it is to be noticed that the same phrase has been used in ii. 28 where the meaning is beyond all doubt. It may be added that this use of φανεροῦσθαι appears to rule the whole line of the apostle’s thought (ii. 28, iii. 8). Christ has been (was) manifested and He will be manifested. The past manifestations made some things clear and left some things dark (iii. 5, 8). The future manifestation will remove this darkness (comp. Col. iii. 4).

Even in the foregoing clause there is, as will be seen, something of this same thought. The manifestations of the Risen Christ have not completely illuminated our future.

οὔπω ἐφανερώθη] it is not yet made manifest. The aorist (ἐφανερώθη) appears to point back to some definite occasion on which the revelation might have been expected (compare ἔγνω ε. 1). Perhaps it is best to refer the word to the manifestations (comp. ii. 28 note) of the Risen Lord. These revelations of a changed and glorified humanity do not make known to us what we shall be. They only serve to shew that the limitations of the present mode of existence will be removed.

τί ἐσόμεθα] For the use of the direct interrogation, see Moulton’s Winer, pp. 210f.

οἴδαμεν] We know. Comp. c. v. 2, 18 notes. There is no opposition between this clause and that which immediately precedes such as is suggested by the δέ of the common text. The knowledge corresponds with the whole consciousness of the position of children.

ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ] similes ci, V., like him, like God in Christ. The image in which we were made will then be consummated in the likeness to which it was the divine purpose that we should attain. Compare the Essay on The Gospel of Creation, III. 1 (a).

This likeness of man redeemed and perfected to God is the likeness of the creature reflecting the glory of the Creator. Contrast Phil. ii. 6 τὸ εἶναι ἵσα θεῷ, said of the Son. Dispar est res, sed sicut ad similitudinem dicitur. Habemus ergo et nos imaginem Dei, sed non illam quam habet Filius æqualis patrii (Aug.).

ὅτι ὀψόμεθα…] quoniam cidebimus… V., because we shall see… The

causal particle is ambiguous… The likeness to God may be either (1) the necessary condition, or (2) the actual consequence of the Divine Vision. The argument may be: We shall see God, and therefore, since this is possible, we must be like Him; or, We shall see God, and in that Presence we shall reflect His glory and be transformed into His likeness. Both thoughts are scriptural; and perhaps the two thoughts are not very sharply distinguished here. It is true that likeness is, in this case, the condition of vision; and it is true also that likeness is the consequence of vision. We see that which we have the sympathetic power of seeing and we gain greater power of seeing, that is greater sympathy with the object of sight, by exercise of the power which we have. Augustine dwells upon this idea: Tota vita Christiani boni sanctum desiderium est. Quod autem desideras nondum vides; sed desiderando capax efficeris ut cum venerit quod videas implearis. …Deus differendo extendit desiderium, desiderando extendit animum, extendendo facit capaciorem. And again: Hæc est vita nostra ut desiderando exerceamur.

At the same time it may be urged that the verb (ἐσόμεθα), which describes a being and not a becoming (γενησόμεθα 1 Cor. xv. 37, 54; John x. 16), appears to mark a state which co-exists with the divine manifestation at the first, and does not follow from it. On the other hand the thought of the transfiguring virtue of the divine vision is familiar. Comp. 2 Cor. iii. 18; v. 4; Iren. iv. 38. 3 (a very fine passage).

In either case the central truth is the same. The great confidence of the believer is that he will see the full revelation of the glory of God in Christ, and therefore that when that is made he will be like Him. Time, indeed, before and after, has no place in the eternal.

Augustine strives to emphasise the thought of the verse: Ergo visuri sumus quandam visionem…præcellentem omnes pulcritudines terrenas, auri, argenti, nemorum atque camporum, pulcritudinem maris et aeris, pulcritudinem solis et lunæ, pulcritudinem stellarum, pulcritudinem angelorum: omnia superantem quia ex ipsa pulcra sunt omnia. Quid ergo nos erimus quando hæc videbimus! Quid nobis promissum est? Similes ci erimus, quoniam cidebimus eum sicuti est. Quomodo potuit lingua sonuit: cetera corde cogitentur.

Philo in a remarkable passage (de Abr. § 12, ii. pp. 9 f. M.) speaks of the vision of the ‘Father of all things,’ as man’s highest blessing: ὅτῳ ἐξεγένετο μὴ μόνον τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα ἐν τῇ φύσει δι’ ἐπιστήμης καταλαμβάνειν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν τῶν συμπάντων ὁρᾶν, ἐπ’ ἄκρον εὐδαιμονίας ἴστω προεληλυθῶς. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀνωτέρω θεοῦ πρὸς ὃν εἴ τις τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς τείναι ὄμμα ἔφθακε μονὴν εὐχέσθω καὶ στάσιν.

The main elements in the idea of the ‘vision’ of God seem to be a real knowledge, a direct knowledge, a continuous knowledge, a knowledge which is the foundation of service. The seat of the organ of spiritual sight is the ‘heart,’ the part of man which is representative of personal character (Eph. i. 18; Matt. v. 8). The ‘vision’ of God’s face appears in the hope of the righteous in the Psalms (Ps. xvii. 15; xi. 7 Hupfeld), while it is recognised as unattainable and unbearable by man in the present earthly life (Ex. xxxiii. 18 ff.). In the new Jerusalem it finds accomplishment, Apoc. xxii. 4, His servants (δοῦλοι) shall do Him service (λατρεύσουσιν) and they shall see His face and His name shall be on their foreheads. As He is light, they shall be made light (comp. Eph. v. 13), and when the sons of God are thus revealed the end of creation will be reached (Rom. viii. 18 ff.).

In treating of this final transfigu-

ἔχων τὴν ἐλπίδα ταύτην ἐπ’ αὐτῷ ἀγνίξει ἑαυτὸν καθὼς ration the Greek Fathers did not scruple to speak of men as being ‘deified’ (θεοποιεῖσθαι), though the phrase sounds strange to our ears (Athan. de Inc. Verbi iv. § 22).

καθὼς ἐστιν[ sicuti est V., even as He is. Hitherto the Divine in Christ has been veiled. Hereafter the Godhead will be plain as the Manhood, when, according to Christ’s prayer, His disciples shall see His Glory (John xvii. 24). It may be doubted whether it could be said of the Father that men shall see Him ‘as He is.’ Comp. 1 Cor. xiii. 12, ἄρτι δι’ ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι τότε πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον. Thomas Aquinas discusses at length (Sum. Theol. Suppl. Qu. xcii. art. 1) the question whether the human intellect can attain to seeing God in essence (ad videndum Deum per essentiam), and concludes in the affirmative.

‘The last words with which [Dr Arnold] closed his last lecture on the New Testament were in commenting on [this verse]. “So too,” he said, “in the Corinthians, For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Yes,” he added, with marked fervency, “the mere contemplation of Christ shall transform us into His likeness”’ (Life ii, 329 f.).

1 John 3:3

3. καὶ πᾶς…ἐπ’ αὐτῷ[ et omnis qui habet hanc spem in eo (ipso Aug.) V., And every one that hath this hope on Him. The practical conclusion from the great Christian hope of the assimilation of the believer to his Lord is given as a coordinate thought (καί). The conclusion itself is involved in the hope. He who looks forward to becoming like God hereafter must strive after His likeness now: Matt. v. 8; Gal. v. 5, ἐλπίδα δικαιοσύνης ἀπεκδεχόμεθα.

By employing the universal form of expression (πᾶς ὁ ἔχων) instead of the simply descriptive (ὁ ἔχων), St John deals with the exceptional presumption tion of men who regarded themselves as above the common law. In each case where this characteristic form of language occurs there is apparently a reference to some who had questioned the application of a general principle in particular cases (vv. 4, 6, 9, 10, 15; c. ii. 23, 27; iv. 7; v. 1, 4, 18; 2 John 9).

It is remarkable that this is the only place in which St John speaks of the Christian ‘Hope,’ a characteristic thought of St Paul and St Peter. St Peter speaks of a ’living hope’ as the result of a new birth (1 Pet. i. 3).

ἐπ’ αὐτῷ[ on Him, that is, as before, on God in Christ.

The phrase ἔχειν ἐλπίδα ἐπὶ τινι is not found elsewhere in the N. T. It is distinguished from ἐλπ. ἔχειν εἰς (Acts xxiv. 15) by the idea of ‘hope resting upon’ in place of ‘reaching unto’: and from the simple ‘hoping on’ (ἐλπίζειν ἐπὶ Rom. xv. 12; 1 Tim. iv. 10) by that of the enjoyment of possession. Comp. i. 3 note (κοινωνίαν ἔχειν).

ἀγνίξει ἑαυτὸν[ purificth himself. Personal effort is necessarily called out by a definite object of personal devotion. The believer’s act is the using what God gives. So Augustine writes: Quis nos castificat nisi Deus? Sed Deus te nolentem non castificat. Ergo quod adjungis voluntatem tuam Deo castificas teipsum. Castificas te non de te sed de illo qui venit ut habitet in te. Tamen quia agis ibi aliquid voluntate ideo et tibi aliquid tributum est.

Comp. James iv. 8; 1 Pet. i. 22; 2 Cor. vii. 1; 1 Tim. v. 22.

ἀγνίξει[ sanctificat V., castificat Aug., purificth. The thought probably is derived from the ceremonial purification required before the appearance in the Divine presence. Comp. John xi. 55 (Acts xxi. 24 ff.); Ex. xix. 10. The spiritual correlative is marked Heb. x 19 ff.

It is not easy to lay down sharply the distinction between ἁγνός, ἁγνίζειν and καθαρός, καθαρίζειν. As far as the usage of the N. T. is concerned, ἁγνός has a personal, an internal, reference which is wanting in καθαρός. Ἀγνός suggests the notion of shrinking from contamination, of a delicate sensibility to pollution of any kind, while καθαρός expresses simply the fact of cleanness. Ἀγνός marks predominantly a feeling, and καθαρός a state. Ἀγνεία comes as the result of an inward effort, καθαρότης by the application of some outward means. He of whom it is said that he ἁγνίζει ἑαυτόν not only keeps himself actually ‘pure,’ but disciplines and trains himself that he may move more surely among the defilements of the world (1 Tim. v. 22; 1 Pet. iii. 2). Both ἁγνός and καθαρός differ from ἅγιος in that they admit the thought or the fact of temptation or pollution; while ἅγιος describes that which is holy absolutely, either in itself or in idea. God can be spoken of as ἅγιος but not as ἁγνός, while Christ can be spoken of as ἁγνός in virtue of the perfection of His humanity. A man is ἅγιος in virtue of his divine destination (Heb. x. 10) to which he is gradually conformed (ἀγιάζεται, Heb. x. 14); he is ἁγνός in virtue of earthly, human discipline.

καθὼς ἐκ. ἁγνός ἐστιν] even as He (Christ) is pure. The pronoun ἐκεῖνος, as throughout the Epistle (ii. 6 note), refers to Christ. It is chosen here, though the preceding αὐτός refers to the same divine-human Person, in order to emphasise the reference to the Lord’s human life. It is in respect of this only that He can be spoken of as ἁγνός; and in respect of His true humanity it can be said of Him that “He is pure,” and not only that “He was pure.” The result of the perfection of His earthly discipline (Heb. v. 7 ff.) still abides in His

4 Πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρglorified state. For the change of pronouns compare v. 5; John v. 39; xix. 35.

2. The essential character of the children of God (iii. 4-9).

The character of children of God is seen in relation to sin and righteousness. Sin is in its nature irreconcileable with Christianity (vv. 4-6). Sin marks a connexion with the devil as righteousness with Christ (vv. 7, 8). Sin is impossible for the child of God (v. 9). The underlying thought of the action of false teachers (v. 7), who placed salvation in knowledge, is everywhere present.

1 John 3:4

4-6. The nature of sin is considered in itself as to its manifestation and its essence (v. 4); as to Christ both in His Work and in His Person (v. 5); and as to man negatively and positively (v. 6).

4 Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 And ye know that he was manifested, that he may take away sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Every one that abideth in him sinneth not; every one that sinneth hath not seen him neither knoweth him.

4. The transition of thought from vv. 1-3 lies in the idea of ‘purification.’ This effort corresponds with the fulfilment of man’s true destiny, which Christ has again made possible. He who commits sin does in fact violate the divine law; and, more than this, sin and violation of the divine law are absolutely identical. The first clause deals with the practical manifestation of sin and the second with the innermost essence of it.

In vv. 4, 5 the successive clauses are coordinated by καί…καί…καί. In vv. 6-8 clause follows clause without any conjunction.

4. Πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν…] Every one that…

Comp. v. 3 note. The constant repetition of this form in this group of verses is very impressive.

ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἀμ.] qui facit peccatum delictum Tert.) V., that doeth sin. The phrase is distinguished from the simple term ’that sinneth’ (ὁ ἁμαρτάνων v. 6) by adding the conception of the actual realisation of sin as something which is definitely brought about. This conception is emphasised by the addition of the article (τὴν ἁμαρτίαν). The man does not simply commit a sin (πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτίαν ποιῶν comp. v. 9; 1 Pet. ii. 22; 2 Cor. xi. 7), but realises sin in its completeness.

Compare cc. 8, 9, John viii. 34 (τὴν ἀμ.); and contrast James v. 15 κἂν ἁμαρτίας ἢ πεποιηκώς.

The corresponding phrase is ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην v. 7 (10), ii. 29. Sin as a whole (ἡ ἁμαρτία) answers to righteousness as a whole (ἡ δικαιοσύνη). For ἡ ἁμαρτία compare Rom. v. 12 (ἁμαρτία v. 13); 20f., vi. 1 ff.

καὶ τὴν ἀνομ. ποιεῖ] et iniquitatem facit V., doeth also lawlessness, violates a law which claims his loyal obedience (comp. Matt. xiii. 41; vii. 23 οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομ.). And, yet more than this, ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐστὶν ἡ ἀνομία, peccatum est iniquitas V., sin is lawlessness. Sin and lawlessness are convertible terms. Sin is not an arbitrary conception. It is the assertion of the selfish will against a paramount authority. He who sins breaks not only by accident or in an isolated detail, but essentially the ’law’ which he was created to fulfil.

This ’law’ which expresses the divine ideal of man’s constitution and growth has three chief applications. There is the ’law’ of each man’s personal being: there is the ’law’ of his relation to things without him: there is the ’law’ of his relation to God. To violate any part of this threefold law is to sin, for all parts are divine. (James ii. 10).

The Mosaic Law was directed in a representative fashion to each of these spheres of duty. It touched upon man’s dealing with himself: upon his treatment of creation (of men, animals and crops): upon his duty towards God. In this way it was fitted to bring home to men the divine side of all action.

The origin of sin in selfishness is vividly illustrated by St James (i. 14 f.), who shews also that the neglect of duty, the violation of the law of growth, is sin (James iv. 17). So St John lays down that ‘unrighteousness, the failure to fulfil our obligations to others, is sin (c. v. 17).

Other examples of the use of the article with both subject and predicate, when the two are convertible, occur: Apoc. xix. 10 ἡ μαρτυρία Ἰησοῦ ἐστὶν τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς προφητείας; Matt. vi. 22; 1 Cor. x. 4; xv. 56; Phil. iii. 19; comp. John i. 4; xv. 1; 2 Cor. iii. 17. The variations in Matt. xiii. 38 f. are instructive (ὁ ἀγρός ἐστιν ὁ κόσμος… ὁ θερισμὸς συντέλεια αἰῶνος).

It is interesting to notice that Bede observes the inadequacy of the Latin rendering: Virtus hujus sententiae, he says, facilius in lingua Graecorum, qua edita est epistola, comprehenditur, siquidem apud eos iniquitas ἀνομία vocatur… Omnes enim qui peccant prævaricationis (Ps. cxix. 119 Lat.) rei sunt, hoc est non solum illi qui datam sibi scriptæ legis scientiam contemnunt, sed et illi qui innocentiam legis naturalis quam in protoplasto omnes accepimus sive infirmitate sive negligentia sive etiam ignorantia corrumpunt.

For the change of order in the two clauses see v. 2 note.

1 John 3:5

5. Not only is sin a violation of the law of man’s being: it sets at

5 οἴδατε: οἴδαμεν ἄ the (lat).

ἐν αὖ. οὐκ ἔ.: οὐκ ἔ. ἐν αὖ. ἄ me the τὰς ἁμ. AB vg me syrhl: + ἡμῶν 5᾿C the (lat).

6 πᾶς ὁ ἁμ.: + καὶ vg syrvg.

naught Christ’s mission. His work was to take away sins: He Himself was sinless. Thus the most elementary knowledge shews that sin is utterly alien from the faith.

οἴδατε] scitis V., ye know. This appeal to the knowledge of Christians is characteristic of St John, though it is found also in St Paul: c. ii. 20f., iv. 2, 14f., v. 15, 18f. note; 3 John 12.

ἐκεῖνος ἐφαν.] ille apparuit V., manifestatus est Aug., He was manifested. The subject is not defined under any particular aspect (Lamb of God John i. 29, Son of God v. 8), but left in its fulness. For ἐκεῖνος see c. ii. 6 note. It will be observed that in this verse ἐκεῖνος and αὐτός are naturally referred to the same subject. Comp. John xix. 35.

ἐφανερώθη] was manifested. Comp. i. 2; ii. 28 notes. The ‘manifestation’ of the Lord includes the whole of His historical Life with its consequences: His Birth, and Growth, and Ministry, and Passion, and Resurrection, and Ascension. Each part of the Revelation contributed in some way to the removal of sins. The Redemption and Atonement were wrought out by His living as well as by His dying.

Compare Matt. viii. 17.

The idea of ‘manifestation’ in this connexion involves a previous being. Thus the term includes not only ὁ ἦν ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς but also ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ.

For the different phrases used by St John to describe the Incarnation see Additional Note.

ἵνα…ἄρη] ut peccatum (-ta Tert.) auferat Aug., ut peccata nostra tolleret V., that He may take away sins, not simply do away with the punishment of them. Comp. i. 9 note.

Tollit autem et dimittendo que facta sunt et adjuvando ne fiant et perducendo ad vitam ubi fieri omnino non possint (Bede).

For the sense of αἴρειν compare John i. 29 note; and Heb. x. 4 (ἀφαίρειν ἁμ.); id. 11 (περιελεῖν ἁμ.) notes. The dominant thought here is not that of the self-sacrifice of Christ, but of His utter hostility to sin in every shape. He came to remove all sins even as He was Himself sinless. It is true that Christ ’took away’ sins by ’taking them upon Him,’ by ‘bearing them,’ but the simple sense of ‘bearing’ appears to be foreign to the context here, though it has found strong support in the parallel passage in the Gospel.

The use of the plural ‘sins’ (τὰς ἁμ.) distinguishes the exact conception of Christ’s work here from that given in John i. 29 (’the sin of the world’). The idea is that of the manifold personal realisations of the sin of humanity which Christ takes away. The phrase stands without further definition (sins not oursins) in order to include the fulness of the truth expressed in c. ii. 2.

For the plural used absolutely see Rom. vii. 5; Col. i. 14; Heb. i. 3; (James v. 16; 1 Pet. ii. 24). [The common reading in Eph. ii. 1 is wrong.]

ἁμαρτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν] The clause is independent and not to be connected with ὅτι. For the statement and the form of expression compare John vii. 18 ἀδικία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν. This fact at once explains how Christ could take away sin, and how sin is incompatible with fellowship with Him. The tense (is not was) marks the eternal character of the Redeemer. All that belongs to His ‘perfected’ manhood (Heb. ii. 10, v. 9) ‘is’ in Him

ὁ ἐν αὐτῷ μένων οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει· πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων οὐχ no less than His unchanged Divinity. The ‘purity’ of v. 3 is traced back to its inherent source.

The emphasis is thrown upon ‘sin,’ so that the literal rendering would be: ‘sin in Him there is not.’

Additional Note on iii. 5. Aspects of the Incarnation.

Different aspects of the Incarnation.

The phrases which St John uses to describe the Incarnation fall into different groups corresponding with different aspects of the Fact. In regard to the Father, it is a ‘Sending,’ a ‘Mission’ (1). In regard to the Son, it is a ‘Coming’ (2). In regard to the form, it is in ‘Flesh’ (3). In regard to men, it is a ‘Manifestation’ (4).

1. MISSION.

2. The idea of the Mission of Christ, the Son, by the Father is expressed by two verbs, πέμπω, ἀποστέλλω. The former describes the simple relation of the Sent to the Sender: the last adds ’the accessory notions of a special commission and so far of a delegated authority in the person sent.’

(a) The use of πέμπω.

Πέμπω is not found in this connexion in the Epistles of St John (comp. Rom. viii. 3 only); and it is used in the Gospel only by the Lord in the participial form in three phrases ὁ πέμψας με (αὐτόν), ὁ πέμψας με πατήρ, ὁ πατήρ ὁ πέμψας με.

Of these phrases the simple ὁ πέμψας με is by far the most common. It is used in two connexions to express (a) some relation of Christ to Him Who sent Him, and (β) some relation of men to Christ as so sent.

(β) John v. 24 ὁ…πιστεύων τῷ π. μ.

The phrase ὁ πέμψας με πατήρ adds to the notion of ‘sending’ that of ii. ὁ πέμthe essential relation which gives authority to the mission.

• [viii. 16 (doubtful reading: comp. viii. 29) μόνος οὐκ εἰμί, ἀλλ’ ἐγώ καὶ ὁ π. μ. π.] - viii. 18 μαρτυρεῖ περὶ ἐμοῦ ὁ π. μ. π. - xii. 49 ὁ π. μ. π…ἐντολὴν δέδωκεν τί εἴπω… - xiv. 24 ὁ λόγος ὃν ἀκούετε…ἐστίν…τοῦ π. μ. π.

In the phrase ὁ πατὴρ ὁ πέμψας με the two notions of natural authority iii. ὁ πατὴρ and mission are dwelt on separately. It occurs ὁ πέμψας με.

John vi. 44 ἐὰν μὴ ὁ π. ὁ π. μ. ἐλκύσῃ αὐτόν.

The use of ἀποστέλλω differs from that of πέμπω by the fact that in St (b) The John (yet see Matt. x. 40; Mark ix. 37; Luke ix. 48, x. 16) it is found only use of in the finite forms, ἀπέστειλα, ἀπέσταλκα.

The aorist is by far the most common tense. This is used to describe i. Aorist. the fact of the specific Mission in some particular aspect:

1 John iv. 10 [ὁ θεὸς] ἀπέστειλεν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἱλασμὸν περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν.

Compare

And this Mission is presented as the object (α) of recognition (knowledge), or (β) of faith:

Comp. John iii. 34 …ἐσφράγισεν ὅτι…ὃν γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεός…

The perfect, which occurs but rarely, describes the Mission in its ii. Perfect, abiding continuance:

1 John iv. 9 τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἀπέσταλκεν ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα ζήσωμεν δι’ αὐτοῦ.

2. COMING.

3. The Coming of Christ, like the Mission, is regarded both as a simple fact realised historically once for all (ἦλθον), and as an abiding fact (ἥκω, ἐλήλυθα). It is also set forth as a present fact being realised at the moment, and as a future fact of which the fulfilment is potentially begun (ἔρχομαι)¹.

(a) Aor. ἦλθον.

The simple fact of Christ’s Coming is affirmed by St John both in respect of His true Divinity as the Word, and of His true humanity:

John i. 11 εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν [τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν].

1 John v. 6 ὁ ἐλθὼν δι’ ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός.

In the discourses of the Lord the fact of His Coming, the fact of the Incarnation, is connected with the manifold issues which it involved:

And the Lord bases the truth of His witness on His consciousness of the fact:

John viii. 14 ἀληθής ἐστιν ἡ μαρτυρία μου ὅτι οἶδα πόθεν ἦλθον καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγω (contrasted with πόθεν ἔρχομαι).

ἐξῆλθον.

The divine relation implied in this use of ‘came’ is expressed more distinctly by the verb ‘came forth’ (ἐξῆλθον). This is used in the Lord’s words with different prepositions (ἐκ, παρὰ):

John viii. 42 ἐγὼ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω.

And it is significant that St John and the disciples use the word with a yet different turn of thought (ἀπό):

John xiii. 3 εἰδὼς…ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθεν.

(b) Perf. ἐλήλυθα.

The perfect (ἐλήλυθα) serves to bring out the abiding significance of the fact of Christ’s Coming, the necessary effects which it has as distinguished

¹ The usage in John i. 9 ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν…ἐρχόμενον is unique. See note.

² It is of interest to compare the instances of the use of ἦλθον, ἐλήλυθα in the Synoptic Gospels:

Luke xii. 49 πῦρ ἦλθον βαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν.

Matt. xi. 19 || Luke vii. 33 ἦλθεν (Lk. ἐλήλυθεν) ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώ- που ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων.

from its general issues. So St John uses the tense in connexion with the testing power of Christ revealed as ’light’ and ‘in flesh’:

1 John iv. 2 πᾶν πνεῦμα ὁ ὁμολογεῖ Ἱ. Χ. ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστίν.

And the Lord thus speaks of the special character of His Coming:

xii.46 eyooos eic tov kocmoe hnoa. Xviii.37 eAhnvba eis tov kocmoiv aaprtvnoo Tg aAneia.

and generally:

John vii. 28 kai a’ epaovov ouk eAhnvba (viii. 42 ou8e a’ eμ. eλ). Xvi. 28 eGthov ek tov matpos kai eAhnvba eis tov kocmoV.

The verb ἥκω is used in this connexion twice only:

ἥκω.

John viii. 42 ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω.

1 John v. 20 ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἥκει.

It occurs also in quotations from the LXX. Hebr. x. 7, 9 (ἥκω); Rom. x. 26; Hebr. x. 37 (ἥξει); and of the future Coming of Christ; Apoc. ii. 25, iii. 3.

The present ἔρχομαι occurs to describe a Coming realised at the (c) Pres. moment: ἔρχομαι.

John viii. 14 πόθεν ἔρχομαι (contrasted with πόθεν ἦλθον), and as a future fact potentially included in the present:

John xiv. 3 πάλιν ἔρχομαι.

18, 28 (\xi \rho \chi \omega \mu \alpha) (\pi \rho \dot{\circ} s\dot{\upsilon}\mu \dot{a}s) xxi.22f.eosexoai.

2 John 7 οἱ μὴ ὁμολογοῦντες Ἱ. Χ. ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί.

Comp. John iii. 31 f. ὁ ἄνωθεν (ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ) ἐρχόμενος.

See also Apoc. i. 7, ii. 6, iii. 11, xxii. 7, 12, 20.

The passages John viii. 14, 42, xvi. 27 f. will repay particular study as illustrating the different forms.

3. The mode of Christ’s Coming is exhaustively set forth in the three 3. INCAR- phrases in which it is connected with ‘flesh.’ First there is the fundamental NATION. statement:

John i. 14 ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο.

And then this fact is connected with the past and present:

1 John iv. 2 (ὁμολογεῖν) Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα (ἐληλυθέναι), and with the future:

2 John 7 (ὁμολογεῖν) Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί.

The ‘manifestation’ (φανερωθῆναι) of the Lord is noticed by St John 4. MANI- in regard to the great crises in His progressive revelation. Thus it is said FESTATION. that He was ‘manifested’ by the Incarnation:

1 John i. 2 ἡ ζωὴ ἐφανερώθη.

iii. 5 ekeivos ephiavepwth iva ta s aaprtias apn. 8 ephiavepwth o vios tov teov iva xovt a ypa tov diaabov.

and when He was openly presented to the people:

So also ‘He was manifested’ and ‘He manifested Himself’ in the new life after the Resurrection:

John xxi. 14 ἐφανερώθη Ἰησοῦς τοῖς μαθηταῖς.

and Christians still look for a manifestation in the future:

Completeness of the teaching.

It is not necessary to draw out in detail the teaching of these pregnant words. They offer the fullest view which man can gain of the Person of the Lord in its absolute unity, truly human and truly divine. St John says both ’the Word became flesh’ and ‘Jesus Christ came in flesh’; and further he speaks of ‘Jesus Christ coming in flesh.’ Again he says equally ’the Life was manifested,’ ’the Life which was with the Father,’ and ‘He [Jesus Christ] was manifested,’ and ’the Son of God was manifested.’ Now one aspect of the Lord’s Person, now another is brought forward without change. There is nothing in the least degree formal in the different statements: they spring directly out of the immediate context as answering to one sovereign conception: and when put together they combine to produce a final harmony, the fulness of apostolic teaching, upon the central Truth of the Gospel. The least variation adds something to the completeness of the idea; and the minute correspondences bring an assurance that the result which the combination of the different phrases suggests answers to the thought of the Apostle which underlay all that he wrote.

1 John 3:6

6. This verse flows directly from the last clause of v. 5. True fellowship with Christ, Who is absolutely sinless, is necessarily inconsistent with sin; and, yet further, the practice of sin excludes the reality of a professed knowledge of Christ. ‘No one that abideth in Him sinneth.’ μένων] St John speaks of ‘abiding’ in Christ and not simply of ‘being’ in Christ, because his argument rests on the efficacy of continuous human effort. Comp. ii. 5 note.

οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει] sinneth not. The commentary on this phrase is found in c. i. 6. It describes a character, ‘a prevailing habit’ and not primarily an act. Comp. Tit. iii. 11; Hebr. x. 26. Each separate sinful act does as such interrupt the fellowship, and yet so far as it is foreign to the character of the man, and removed from him (ii. 1), it leaves his character unchanged. This is the truth which Augustine partially expresses when he says that the sin spoken of is the violation of love: for love may be taken fairly to express the essence of the Christian character. Comp. c. v. 18 note.

Compare John xiii. 10.

Bede describes the fact as it is practically embodied when he says: in quantum in eo manet in tantum non peccat; but he leaves out of sight the internal spiritual character.

πᾶς ὁ ἁμ…οὐδὲ ἔγνωκεν αὐτόν] The interruption of the formal parallelism is characteristic of St John. Instead of saying ’every one that sinneth abideth not in (is cut off from) Him,’ he substitutes a predicative clause which carries back the mind of the reader to an earlier stage of the fatal failure, as if he would say: ‘In such a case there is no question of ‘abiding.’ The conditions of fellowship have never been satisfied. Such a one hath not seen Christ (God in Christ) nor yet come to know Him.’

Compare i. 6 f. (‘fellowship with Him,’ ‘fellowship one with another’); i. 8, 9, ii. 4 f. (’the truth is not in us,’ ’the love of God is perfected’); vv. 7, 8; iv. 5, 6 a; 7 b. 8; v. 10. In ii. 23 there is a perfect correspondence.

οὐχ ἑώρ…αὐτόν] non ridit eum nec cognorit eum V., hath not seen… neither knoweth. The first word describes the immediate and direct vision of Christ; and the second the personal and detailed appropriation of the truth so presented to the eyes. ‘Seeing’ expresses briefly the fullest exertion of our utmost faculties of gaining new elements of truth from without: ‘knowing’ (ἐγνωκέναι), the apprehension and coordination of the truth within. ‘Knowing’ is less direct and immediate and therefore forms the climax here.

ἑώρακεν] Comp. c. iv. 20; 3 John 11; John i. 18, v. 37, vi. 46, xiv. 7, 9 (Heb. xi. 27).

The use of the word here in connexion with Christ seems to point to some teachers who appealed to their personal sight of the Lord (comp. i. 1 ff.; John xix. 35, xx. 29) as giving authority to their false doctrine. Of such in spite of outward intercourse it could be said that ’they had not seen Christ’ (comp. 2 Cor. v. 16).

οὐδὲ ἔγνωκεν] ’neither hath come to know,’ i.e. neither knoweth. The point regarded is present and not past. Comp. ii. 3 note.

The statement leaves on one side the question of the indefectibility of grace. It deals with the actual state of the man. Past sight and past knowledge cease to be unless they go forward.

7 τεκνία ΝΒ νς syrr; παιδία AC me syrhlmg. μή τις Α. — τὴν δίκ. Ν*.

Luther expressed the truth when he said ‘He who is a Christian is no Christian.’

7, 8. From considering the nature of sin St John passes on to consider the personal spiritual source with which it is connected as righteousness is connected with Christ. Sin is the sign of dependence on the devil whose works Christ came to abolish.

7 Little children, let no one lead you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous: 8 he that doeth sin is of the devil, because the devil sinneth from the beginning. Unto this end the Son of God was manifested that he may destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:7

7. Τεκνία] Filioli V., Little children. See ii. 12 note. The tenderness of the address is called out by the peril of the situation.

μηδεὶς πλανάτω] nemo vos seducat V., let no one, even with the most plausible signs of authority (ii. 26), lead you astray. The question is one of action not of opinion. Comp. i. 8 note.

ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δίκ.] he that doeth righteousness, he who gives effect to it in life, who realises it in conduct (c. ii. 29). Compare ‘doeth sin’ (v. 4 note), ‘doeth the truth’ (c. i. 6 note).

‘To do righteousness’ is more than ’to do righteous acts’ (ποιεῖν δίκαια, comp. 1 Pet. iii. 12 ποιεῖν κακά, James iv. 17 καλὸν π.), or even than ’to do the acts of righteousness’ (ποιεῖν τὰ δίκαια, comp. v. 22 π. τὰ ἀρεστά, Rom. iii. 8 π. τὰ κακά); and it differs from ‘doing that which is righteous’ (π. τὸ δίκαιον, comp. Rom. xiii. 3 f. π. τὸ ἀγαθόν, τὸ κακόν) by presenting the idea in a less abstract form. Compare Col. iv. 1 (τὸ δίκαιον, τὴν ἰσότητα); iii. 5 (ἀκαθαρσίαν, τὴν πλεονεξίαν).

The exact phrase is different in form from the negative phrase (v. 10 note). ‘Righteousness’ here is the virtue in its completeness and unity (τὴν δικαιοσύνην): in v. 10 δικαιοσύνη expresses any particular manifestation of righteousness. Comp. ii. 29; Matt. v. 5.

δίκαιός ἐστιν] Righteousness is the sign of divine sonship (c. ii. 29). The ‘doing righteousness’ reveals the character and does not create it. The man who is righteous is recognised by his actions. The personal character underlies the deeds. The form of the sentence may be compared with John iii. 31 he that is of the earth is of the earth and speaketh of the earth.

καθώς] sicut V., even as. Christ (ἐκεῖνος c. ii. 6 note) is the One Type of righteousness. The Christian’s righteousness, like that of his Master, must extend to the fulness of life. Comp. v. 3; ii. 6; iv. 17; John xiii. 15; xv. 12; xvii. 14.

Augustine (whom Bede transcribes) remarks on this comparison between the righteousness of the believer and the righteousness of Christ (see v. 2): Videtis quia non semper sicut ad parilitatem et æqualitatem refertur… Habemus et nos imaginem Dei, sed non illam quam habet Filius æqualis Patri.

δίκαιός ἐστιν] ii. 29; iv. 17; v. 3 notes. Christ gave the complete example of the fulfilment of all man’s offices. In Him righteousness was and is the expression of love.

1 John 3:8

8. The opposite to v. 7 is expressed with characteristic variations in the parallelism:

(a) (\dot{\sigma}\pi .\tau \dot{\eta}\nu \delta \iota \kappa .| \dot{\sigma}\pi \omega \omega \tau \eta \nu \dot{\alpha}\mu .) (b) (\delta \text{ikai} \circ \varepsilon \text{etiv} \parallel \text{ek tov} \delta \text{ia} \beta . \varepsilon \text{etiv}) (c) (\kappa a\theta \omega s\dot{\epsilon}.\delta .\dot{\epsilon}.||\dot{\sigma}\tau \dots \dot{\sigma}\delta i\dot{\alpha}\beta .\dot{\alpha}\mu .)

The spiritual affinity (b) is in the

8 ὁ ποιῶν: ὁ δὲ π. A me (lat).

one case described by the personal character, in the other, directly; while man’s character is shown to be in each case though under different relations (καθὼς, ὅτι), a reflection of his spiritual master (c).

ὁ π. τὴν ἀμ.] v. 4 note.

ἐκ τοῦ διαβ. ἐστίν] ex (de, a, all.) diabolo est V., is of the devil, draws from him the ruling principles of his life, as his child. Comp. ii. 16 note; and Additional Note on v. 1. The phrase finds a parallel in was of the evil one, c. 12; and John viii. 44 ye are of your father, the devil. Compare ’to be of the things below’ John viii. 23; to be of the world xvii. 16, &c., c. ii. 16. Additional Note on v. 10.

It will be noticed that as St Paul traces back sin to the act of the typical representative of mankind, Adam (Rom. v. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 22), so St John traces it back yet further to a spiritual origin.

Augustine remarks that the devil is not treated in Scripture as the author of any being: Neminem fecit diabolus, neminem genuit, neminem creavit. Sed quicunque fuerit imitatus diabolum quasi de illo natus sit filius diaboli imitando non proprie nascendo. In this connexion it is remarkable that Origen, while he distinctly notices that in relation to the devil St John says ἐστὶν ἐκ and not γεγέννηται ἐκ (γεγεννημένος ἐστὶν ἐκ) (in Joh. xx. § 13, iv. 325), elsewhere gives ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγέννηται (γεγέννηται) (Hom. ix. in Jer. § 4, iii. 181; Sch. in Jer. xii. 10, iii. 290; Hom. vi. in Ezech. § 3, iii. 377, Lat.) in quoting the verse freely.

For St John’s teaching on the powers of evil see Additional Note on ii. 13.

ὅτι…ἁμαρτάνει] because…the beginning. The force of the argument lies in the recognition of the state of things at the first dawn of human history. From the very beginning we see a power in action hostile to God. Between these two, as between light and darkness, there can be no middle term. He who does not belong to the one belongs to the other. Character reveals the choice. The position of ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς at the head of the clause emphasises the thought. Contrast i. 1; ii. 7; iii. 11; and compare ii. 24 note.

ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς] ab initio V., a primordio Tert., from the beginning. Comp. i. 1; ii. 7 notes. Sin exists before man.

ἁμαρτάνει] sinneth. See v. 6 note. His sinful action is continuous and present: subjunkit verbum praesentis temporis quia ex quo ab initio coepit diabolus peccare nunquam desiit (Bede).

eis τοῦτο] in hoc V. (ideo, idcirco all.), unto this end, which has been included in the preceding clauses and is defined by what follows.

ἐφανερώθη] See v. 5 note.

ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ] the Son of God. The title of dignity is now expressed for the first time in the Epistle to bring out the nature of the conflict (c. iv. 4). Hitherto the Christ has been spoken of under the title ’the Son’ (ii. 22, 23, 24), or more fully ‘His (i.e. the Father’s) Son’ (i. 3). Henceforward ’the Son of God’ is His most common name (iv. 15; v. 5, 9 ff., 20). The spiritual adversary of man has a mightier spiritual antagonist. A second Adam answers to the first Adam: the Son of God to the devil.

λύσῃ] dissolvat V., solvat Aug., destroy. ‘The works of the devil’ are

τὰ ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου. ⁹ πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ, ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ represented as having a certain consistency, and coherence. They shew a kind of solid front. But Christ by His coming has revealed them in their complete unsubstantiality. He has ‘undone’ the seeming bonds by which they were held together.

The word λύειν occurs literally in this sense Acts xxvii. 41. Comp. Eph. ii. 14; John ii. 19, and 2 Pet. iii. 10—12; and Acts v. 38; Gal. ii. 18; Rom. xiv. 20 &c. (καταλύειν).

The transition to the figurative sense is seen in Acts xiii. 43 (λυθείσης τῆς συναγωγῆς), ii. 24. Comp. Ign. Eph. 13 καθαιροῦνται αἱ δυνάμεις τοῦ Σατανᾶ καὶ λύεται ὁ ὄλεθρος αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ὁμονοίᾳ ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως.

The two objects of the ‘manifestation’ of Christ (vv. 5, 8) cover the whole work of redemption, ’to take away sins,’ ’to destroy the works of the devil.’

In this connexion ’the works of the devil’ are gathered up in ‘sin’ which is their spring. This the devil has wrought in men and in the world, and men make his works their own. Comp. John viii. 41. These works under different aspects are spoken of as ‘works of darkness’ (Rom. xiii. 12; Eph. v. 11), and ‘of the flesh’ (Gal. v. 19). They stand opposed to ’the works of God’ (John ix. 3) and ’the works of the Christ’ (Matt. xi. 2). Augustine brings the thought of ‘destroying the works of the devil’ into connexion with man’s natural and spiritual births: Si cum nullo peccato nascimur, quid est quod cum infantilibus ad baptismum curritur ut absolventur? Ergo duas nativitates attendite fratres, Adam et Christi… Nativitas illa trahit secum peccatum, nativitas ista liberat a peccato.

1 John 3:9

9. The antagonism of the Christian to sin is now placed in its last and decisive aspect. Two things are affirmed of him: ‘he doeth no sin’ and ‘he cannot sin.’ The first fact follows from the permanence of the vital power by which he is animated. The second from the nature of that power, that it is of God. In the second case the ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ is placed emphatically first; ‘he cannot sin, because it is of God, and of no other, that he hath been born.’

⁹ Every one that is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him; and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God.

ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ] qui natus est ex Deo V., that is begotten of God. Comp. ii. 29. The phrase occurs here first in the epistle in its full form. Comp. iv. 7, v. 1 (4), 18.

John i. 13. (iii. 3, 5 ff.).

The exact form is important. The perfect (ὁ γεγεννημένος) marks not only the single act (aor. ἐγεννήθησαν John i. 13; c. v. 18) but the continuous presence of its efficacy. ‘He that hath been born and still remains a child of God.’ See Additional Note on v. 1.

ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ] Compare v. 4 note. A fine phrase of Athenagoras will serve as a comment on this view of the Christian life: οἷς ὁ βίος ὡς πρὸς στάθμην τὸν θεὸν κανονίζεται (‘Christians for whom the conception of God is the ideal standard of life’) …ὕστε τούτους, μηδ’ εἰς ἔννοιάν ποτε τοῦ βραχυτάτου ἐλευσομένους ἁμαρτήματος (Leg. pro Christ. c. 31).

σπέρμα αὐτοῦ] semen ipsius V., his seed, the principle of life which He has given continues to be the ruling principle of the believer’s growth. God gives, as it were, of Himself to the Christian. He does not only work upon him and leave him. The germ of the new life is that out of which the mature man will in due time be developed. Comp. John i. 13.

The instrument by which this vital element is conveyed is the ‘word’: James i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23; Luke viii. 12, 15.

The absence of the article (σπέρμα not τὰ σπέρμα) directs attention to the character of the divine principle and not to the divine principle communicated in the particular case. See r. 10 note.

οὐ δύναται ὡμ.] he cannot sin. The ideas of divine sonship and sin are mutually exclusive. As long as the relationship with God is real (ὅτι ἐκ θεοῦ γεγένν.) sinful acts are but accidents. They do not touch the essence of the man’s being. The impossibility of sinning in such a case lies in the moral nature of things. Comp. John v. 19, 30, xii. 39, xiv. 17, &c.

Augustine again insists that the reference is to the great commandment of love: Est quoddam peccatum quod non potest admittere ille qui natus est ex Deo, et quo non admisso solvuntur cetera, quo admisso confirmantur cetera. Quod est hoc peccatum? Facere contra mandatum Christi, contra testamentum novum (John xiii. 34). The explanation is true so far as love is the determining element in the Christian character.

3. The outward manifestation of the children of God (10—12).

The spiritual affinities of men are shown by two patent signs, righteousness and love (r. 10); and these signs correspond to two archetypal patterns, the Gospel, that is, the Life of Christ (r. 11), and the history of Cain (r. 12).

In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil: every one that doeth not righteousness is not of God, and he that loveth not his brother. ¹¹ Because this is the message which ye heard from the beginning that we should love one another: ¹² not as Cain was of the wicked one and slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

1 John 3:10

10. Life reveals the children of God. They bear characteristic marks which stamp their action and their feeling, their conduct and the motive of their conduct. They embody rightcousness in deed. They acknowledge the ties which Christ has established among Christians and so potentially among men. They practically realise the law of man’s original constitution, and the law of man’s redemption.

Ἐν τούτῳ] In hoc V. (Ex hoc F.), In this, in this fact of the essential sinlessness of the Christian’s life, which is followed out into its main aspects in the verse which follows (comp. c. ii. 3 note).

τὰ τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ] filii Dei V., the children of God. See v. 1 note.

St John divides the world sharply into two classes. Looking at the spiritual characteristics of life he admits no intermediate class. For him there is only light and darkness, and no twilight. He sees only ’life’ and ‘death.’ φανερά] manifesti V., manifestati Aug., manifest, so that all men may see what they are: Matt. xii. 16; Acts vii. 13; 1 Cor. xi. 19. That which is in its essence secret is thus revealed before the eyes of men. Comp. Mark iv. 22; 2 Cor. v. 10f.

τὰ τέκνα τοῦ διαβόλου] filii diaboli V., the children of the devil. The phrase is unique. Compare Eph. ii. 3 τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς. 2 Pet. ii. 14 κατάρας τέκνα. And also: Matt. xiii. 38

10 ὁ μὴ ποιῶν δικ. NABC me syrr (lat): ὁ μὴ ὧν δίκαιος vg the syrhlmg. δικαιοσύνην NB: τὴν δικ. AC. Comp. v. 7. 11 ἀγγελία AB vg: ἐπαγγελία NC me the syrr (lat). Comp. i. 5.

οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ; xxiii. 15 υἱὸς γεέννης; Acts xiii. 10 υἱὲ διαβόλου.

πᾶς ὁ μὴ π. δ.] Every one… Compare v. 3 note. By expressing the characterisation of Divine sonship in a negative form, St John enforces the necessary universality of the condition which he lays down, and gives a pointed warning against those who trusted in the Christian name. It is not only true that every one that doeth righteousness ‘hath been born of God’ (ii. 29) and ‘is of God’ (3 John 11) and shares the character of Christ (v. 7), but it is true also that to do righteousness is a necessity for him who is of God. A Christian must be active and not passive only. To fail either in deed or in word (c. iv. 3 ὁ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ) is fatal to the reality of the divine connexion.

ὁ μὴ ποιῶν δικ.] qui non est justus V. (qui non facit justitiam F.), that doeth not righteousness. It has been already noticed (v. 7 note) that the phrase used here is different from that used in v. 7, ii. 29. Here ‘righteousness’ (δικαιοσύνη) expresses that which bears a particular character: in the former passage ‘righteousness’ (ἡ δικαιοσύνη) expresses the idea realised in its completeness. The same general distinction is to be observed in the use of other like words in the Epistle: ἁμαρτία vv. 5, 9, v. 16f.; ἡ ἁμαρτία vv. 4, 8; ἀγάπη iv. 8, 16; ἡ ἀγάπη (ii. 5, 15), iii. 16, iv. 7, 10, 12, 16ff. (v. 3); ζωή v. 15, v. 11, 13, 16, 20; ἡ ζωή i. 2, ii. 25, iii. 14, v. 12; ἀλήθεια 3 John 3; ἡ ἀλήθεια i. 6, 8, ii. 4, 21, iii. 19, iv. 6, v. 6; 2 John 1, 2; 3 John 8.

The full force of the article will also be felt in the following places: i. 6 ἐν τῷ σκότει, ii. 9 ἐν τῷ φωτί, iii. 4 ἡ ἀνομία, iv. 18 τῇ γλώσσῃ, v. 10 τὴν μαρτυρίαν (v. 21 τῶν εἰδώλων). On the other hand the absence of the article in the following places is significant: in ii. 18 ἐσχάτη ὥρα, v. 9 σπέρμα. From the nature of the case anarthrous forms occur in predicates and negative sentences: yet see iii. 4, v. 6.

οὐκ ἔ. ἐ. τ. θ.] Comp. iv. 3 note; Additional Note on v. 1.

καὶ ὁ μὴ ἀγ. τ. ἀδ.] and he that loveth not his brother. Comp. ii. 10 note. This clause is not a mere explanation of that which precedes but the expression of it in its highest Christian form. Righteousness involves the fulfilment of all law, of relations to God and to man, both personally and socially. The love of Christian for Christian, resting on the sense of a divine fellowship (c. i. 3) carries forward to its loftiest embodiment the righteousness which man can reach.

Augustine says in striking words which were adopted by Bede: Quidquid vis habe; hoc solum [caritatem] non habeas: nihil tibi prodest. Alia si non habeas hoc habe, et implesti legem.

11, 12. The revelation of character is traced back to the type given in the portraiture of the first fulfilment of man’s ideal in the Gospel, and of the first sin after the Fall.

1 John 3:11

11. ὅτι…] Because… The whole aim of the Gospel is the creation and strengthening of love. To this Christ’s life of sacrifice pointed from first to last. The record of His life is the message of the Gospel.

ἡ ἀγγελία] adnuntiatio V., mandatum F., repromissio (ἐπαγγελία) Lucf., the message. Comp. i. 5 note.

ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς] from the beginning. See ii. 7 note. The first tidings of Christianity contain this lesson.

ἵνα ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλ.] ut diligatis alterutrum V., diligamus in cecem Aug., that we lose one another… The words do not simply give the contents of the message, but its aim, its purpose. The fundamental declaration of Christ’s Life and Work is directed to this end, that men should be moved by it to self-sacrifice. For this use of ἵνα see v. 23; iv. 21; John xiii. 34; xv. 12, 17. The particle not unfrequently expresses an effort or an aim suggested by the words which precede: c. v. 3; iv. 17; 2 John 6; John iv. 34; vi. 29; viii. 56; xv. 13; xvii. 3. Sometimes it indicates a divine purpose which is not at once obvious: v. 1; i. 9; John xii. 23; xvi. 2, 32.

The phrase ’to lose one another’ (v. 23 note) differs in shade of meaning from ’loving the brethren’ (v. 14). ‘Loving one another’ expresses the full social energy of the Christian life: ’loving the brethren’ points to the personal feeling of one towards the body.

1 John 3:12

12. οὐ καθὼς…] not as… The construction is irregular and elliptical. Comp. John vi. 58. The clause without the negative would have run on naturally with v. 10 … ’that loveth not his brother, even as Cain was of the evil one and slew his brother.’ Cain shewed his dependence on the devil by want of love and hatred of righteousness. But the insertion of v. 11, the positive rule of Christians, leads to the insertion of the negative before the typical example of the opposite character. ‘We do not (or We shall not) present the type of selfishness, even as Cain was of the evil one…’ ‘The case is not with us as it was with Cain; he was of the evil one…’ The use of the direct negative οὐ requires that the sentence should be treated as independent and not connected with ἵνα (μηδὲ ὦμεν ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ καθὼς Καίν…).

The history of the first death naturally attracted wide attention as presenting in a representative and impressive form the issues of selfishness, self-will, sin. Comp. Jude 11; Heb. xi. 4; xii. 24. Philo discusses the history in a special book. In Clem. Hom. iii. 25 it is said of Cain: φονεὺς ἦν καὶ ψεύστης καὶ μετὰ ἁμαρτίων ἡσυχάζειν μηδὲ ἐπὶ τῷ ἄρχειν θέλων.

ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ ἦν] ex maligno erat V., was of the evil one. Comp. v. 8 ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστίν note; ii. 13 τὸν πονηρὸν note. The name is chosen here in order to connect the works of Cain (πονηρὰ ἦν) with their spiritual source.

ἔσφαξεν] occidit V., slew. The word occurs elsewhere in the N. T. only in the Apocalypse. It expresses properly the slaughter of a victim. Here it seems to point to the deliberate determination of the murder.

καὶ χάριν τίνος…] et propter quid V., and wherefore… This unusual mode of expression (comp. v. 17), appears to be adopted in order to bring out sharply that the murder of a brother came from hatred of righteousness. Cain lost practical sympathy with his brother; and so in the end he slew him.

This use of χάριν occurs in this place only in the writings of St John. Elsewhere in the N. T. it stands (as generally) after its case. It expresses

III

¹³ Μὴ θαυμάζετε, ἀδελφοί, εἰ μισεῖ ὑμᾶς ὁ κόσμος.

13 μὴ θανμ. ABCᵉˢʳᵉʳᵛ vg me the syrhl: +καὶ’ μὴ θανμ. NC* syrvg. NABC vg: +μου 5 me the syrr.

ἀδελφοί commonly an object aimed at (Eph. iii. 1, 14; 1 Tim. v. 14; Gal. iii. 19, Lgtft. &c.), but also an antecedent ground (Luke vii. 47).

ὅτι…] because… The explanation given is an interpretation of the history in Gen. iv. The sacrifices (Heb. xi. 4) answered to the characters of the brothers, and God’s judgment upon them gave occasion for the open revelation of character which followed.

Augustine traces the temptation of Cain to envy: Qui invidet non amat. Peccatum diaboli est in illo… Cecidit enim et invidit stanti. Non ideo voluit dejicere ut ipse staret sed ne solus caderet.

III. BROTHERHOOD IN CHRIST AND THE HATRED OF THE WORLD (iii. 13-24).

There appear to be three main divisions of the section:

1. Hatred and love (13-15). 2. The manifestation of love (16-18). 3. The fruit of love (19-24).

St John starts from the thought of hatred as the characteristic of the world. Over against this is love, the necessary sign of the presence of the new life of Christians. This love must be moulded on the pattern of Christ’s sacrifice, and extend to the fulness of life. And the fruit of love is confidence, which issues in perfect sympathy.

1. Hatred and love (13-15).

The thought of Cain leads to the consideration of the Cain-like character. Hatred is the mark of the world, which is ‘dead’ (13). Love among Christians is the sign of a new life (14). And consequently hatred among Christians is the sign not only of the absence of life but of the destruction of life (15).

¹³ Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren: he that loveth not abideth in death. ¹⁵ Every one that hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 3:13

13. Love has been presented as the necessary mark of the Christian. Still it is met by hatred. This however cannot but be so. Love is the sign of a change from death to life. They who remain in death must shew their real nature (hatred) towards the living. Terrible as Cain’s history is, it is still realised in essence.

Μὴ θαυμάζετε] Nolite mirari V., Marvel not. For the thought compare John xv. 18 ff., xvi. 1 ff.

The words occur again John v. 28, and in another form John iii. 7 μὴ θαυμάσῃς. The latter place is the only example in the Gospel or Epistles (John xix. 24 is not strictly parallel) of the imperative construction of μή with aor. subj. which occurs more frequently than the construction with pres. imp. in the Apocalypse (vi. 6, vii. 3, x. 4, xi. 2, xxii. 10). A comparison of John iii. 7 with the present passage brings out the difference of meaning in the two constructions. There the thought is of the special feeling aroused by the single statement, here of the continuous feeling stirred by the whole temper of men (comp. ii. 15, iv. 1). Comp. 1 Pet. ii. 17; John ii. 16 note.

For θαυμάζειν εἰ see Mark xv. 44.

ἀδελφοί] brethren. This is the only place in the Epistle where this title of address is used (ii. 7 is a false reading). It contains an implicit argument. By emphasising the new relation in which Christians stand one to another it implies that this position of necessary

¹⁴ ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν ὅτι μεταβεβήκαμεν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τὴν ζωήν, ὅτι ἀγαπῶμεν τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς· ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν

14 τοὺς ἀδ. + ἡμῶν ℵ syrvg. me syrr.

ὁ μὴ ἀγ. ℵAB vg.: + τὸν ἀδελφόν [αὐτοῦ] 5°C mutual affection is characteristic of them as distinguished from other men (’the world’). The title is common in St James (ἀδελφοί, ἀδελφοί μου), and not unfrequent in St Paul and in the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is not found in the first Epistle of St Peter or St Jude.

The three forms which St John borrows from the family to express Christian relations preserve each their proper meaning. ‘Brethren’ expresses the idea of Christian equality in virtue of the common life: ‘Children’ (τεκνία) that of spiritual dependence in the order of the new life with the prospect of growth: ‘Little ones’ (παιδία) that of subordination and immaturity. In contrast with these ‘Beloved’ is simply the personal manifestation of feeling.

εἰ μισεῖ] si odit V., if…hateth you. This is assumed as a fact (comp. c. iv. 11; v. 9; John xv. 18); and by the order the stress is thrown here upon the verb and not (as in John xv. 18 ff.) upon the pronoun or the subject. Hatred is characteristic of ’the world’ (mundus V., hic mundus F.).

1 John 3:14

14. ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν] nos scimus V. We (ἡμεῖς) as distinguished from the world, know by the essential nature of our faith, by our own inward experience…The fact that we are conscious of a love for Christians as Christians is a proof to us that we have entered upon a new life: that we now first truly live. The passage has been made: the new sphere of being has been gained. Life is not future but present. Compare the simple οἴδαμεν in c. 2.

μεταβεβήκαμεν] translatī sumus V., have passed… Comp. John v. 24 (xiii. 1). This love was indeed the acceptance in faith of Christ’s ‘word’ (c. ii. 7, iii. 11).

ἐκ τοῦ θ. εἰς τὴν ζ.] de morte in vitam V., out of death into life. Death and life are regarded as the two spheres in which men move, and they are presented in their substantive fulness ’the death which is truly death,’ ’the life which is truly life’ (ὁ θάνατος, ἡ ζωή). ‘Ὁ θάνατος is found here and in the following clause in St John’s Epistles; in the Gospel it occurs only in the parallel v. 24 (xi. 13 is different). ‘Ὁ θάνατος is personified in Apoc. i. 18. vi. 8, ix. 6, xx. 13 f. (xxi. 4). Compare Acts ii. 24; Rom. v. 12 ff., viii. 2; 1 Cor. xv. 21 ff.; 2 Cor. iv. 12; 2 Tim. i. 10 (opposed to ζωή); Heb. ii. 14. For ἡ ζωή compare i. 2 note; John v. 24; Matt. vii. 14 (opposed to ἡ ἀπώλεια), xviii. 8 f., xix. 17; (Mark ix. 43, 45); Acts iii. 15; 2 Cor. v. 4. The depth of the expression is lost both in Latin and in English.

‘To enter into life’ (εἰσελ. εἰς τὴν ζ.) is a phrase characteristic of St Matthew (xviii. 8 f., xix. 17; comp. vii. 14) and of St Mark (ix. 43, 45). In this largest sense ’life’ (ἡ ζωή) is the fulfilment of the highest idea of being; perfect truth in perfect action. Compare 2 Tim. i. 10 καταργήσαντος μὲν τὸν θάνατον φωτίσαντος δὲ ζωὴν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν, where in the second member the thought is of ’life’ in the abstract and not of the Christian fulfilment of the whole conception of life.

ὅτι…ὅτι…] quoniam…quoniam… V., that…because. . Active love is the sign of life and not the ground of life. Comp. Luke vii. 47. The connexion is ‘we know because…’ and not ‘we have passed because…’.

τοὺς ἀδ.] the brethren. The simple phrase (3 John 5, 10) is more expres-

15 ἑαυτοῦ B.

αυτῷ B: ἑαυτῷ NAC.

sive than ‘our brethren.’ This is the only place in which the exact words occur (ἀγ. τοὺς ἀδελφούς). Elsewhere St John says ἀγ. ἀλλήλους (v. 11 note). Ἁγ. τὸν ἀδ. occurs ii. 10; iii. 10; iv. 20.

See Additional Note.

In view of the imperfection of Christians Augustine says: Viget [gloria caritatis] sed adhuc in hieme: viget radix sed quasi aridi sunt rami. Intus est medulla quæ viget, intus sunt folia arborum, intus fructus; sed æstatem expectant.

ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν] qui non diligit V., he that loceth not. The omission of his brother, according to the true text, strengthens the thought. The feeling is regarded in its completest form.

μένει ἐν τῷ θ.] abideth (permanet F.) in death. There is a moral vis inertiae. It is not said that he dies. Death is his natural state. It follows that love and life are convertible terms.

Compare John iii. 36.

Additional Note on iii. 14. Titles of believers.

The titles of believers in the New Test. Christians.

The different names which are given to Christians in the Apostolic writings offer an instructive study of the original conception of the Gospel. The origin of the historic Gentile name ‘Christians’ (Χριστιανοί, comp. Pompeiani) is noticed in Acts xi. 26; and it is used as familiarly known by Agrippa (Acts xxvi. 26) and by St Peter (1 Pet. iv. 16; comp. Tac. Ann. xv. 44). From the time of Ignatius this name, with the correlative for ‘Christianity’ (Χριστιανισμός), passed into general use (comp. Ign. ad Magn. 4, 10; ad Rom. 3; Mart. Polyc. 10); but it was natural that in the first age of the Church it should not be used by believers among themselves.

Four titles: disciples, brethren, saints, believers.

Four terms find more or less currency in the N. T. which express different aspects of the Christian view of the Christian position: ’the disciples’ (οἱ μαθηταί), ’the brethren’ (οἱ ἀδελφοί), ’the saints’ (οἱ ἄγιοι), ’the believers’ (οἱ πιστοί, οἱ πιστεύοντες). These fall into two pairs, of which the first pair, ‘disciples,’ ‘brethren,’ marks predominantly traits of personal relationship, and the second pair, ‘saints,’ ‘faithful,’ traits of general character.

The earliest title is that of ’the disciples.’ This answers to ‘master,’ ’teacher’ (διδάσκαλος), and passed from the Jewish schools to the followers of Christ during His lifetime. It was used both in a wider sense for all who attached themselves to Him (John ii. 11 ff.; vi. 61, 66; vii. 3) and also in a narrower sense for ’the twelve’ (John xiii. 5 ff.). After the Ascension it is still employed absolutely in the narrative of the Acts to describe believers generally (vi. 1, 2, 7; ix. 19, 25, 38; xi. 26, 29; xiii. 52; xiv. 20, 22, 28; xviii. 23, 27; xix. 9, 30; xx. 1; xxi. 4, 16); and so it is found in the record of a speech of St Peter (xv. 10) and of a speech of St Paul (xx. 30). The discipleship is once connected with the human teacher (ix. 25 οἱ μ. αὐτοῦ) and once with the Lord (ix. 19). It is remarkable that in one place (xix. 1) those who had only received John’s Baptism are spoken of as disciples. The title does not occur in the Epistles or in the Apocalypse.

It is significant that the first title given to the body of believers after the Ascension is ’the brethren’ (Acts i. 15 true text); and from this time onwards it occurs in all the groups of Apostolic writings. Thus in the Acts it is found in the narrative: ix. 30; x. 23; xi. 29; xiv. 2; xv. 1, 3, 22, 32 f., 40; xvi. 2, 40; xvii. 10; xviii. 18, 27; xxi. 7, 17; xxviii. 14 f.; and once in the record of St Paul’s words: xv. 36. Twice in the same book it is used of unconverted Jews: xxii. 5 (St Paul’s words); xxviii. 21. St Paul uses the title throughout his Epistles: 1 Thess. iv. 10; v. 26 f.; 1 Cor. viii. 12; xvi. 20; Gal. i. 2; Rom. xvi. 14; Phil. iv. 21; Eph. vi. 23; Col. iv. 15; 1 Tim. iv. 6; 2 Tim. iv. 21. In the writings of St John it occurs: 1 John iii. 14; 3 John 5, 10; John xxi. 23. St Peter uses the abstract term ’the brotherhood’ (ἡ ἀδελφότης, 1 Pet. ii. 17; v. 9). The singular is not uncommonly used (e.g. Rom. xvi. 23; 1 Cor. vii. 15), and especially with a personal pronoun, ’thy brother,’ ‘his brother’ (e.g. Rom. xiv. 10; 1 John ii. 9 ff.). Compare c. ii. 9 note.

The general idea of ’the believers’ is expressed in three different forms which convey shades of difference in the application of the common meaning: ’the believers’ (οἱ πιστοί), ’they that believe’ (οἱ πιστεύοντες), ’they that believed’ (οἱ πιστεύσαντες). The first (οἱ πιστοί) is found Acts x. 45 (οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς πιστοί); 1 Tim. iv. 12; comp. Eph. i. 1; 1 Tim. iv. 3; 1 Pet. i. 21. ‘They that believe’ (οἱ πιστεύοντες) occurs: 1 Pet. ii. 7; 1 Thess. i. 7; ii. 10 f.; 1 Cor. i. 21; Rom. iii. 22; Eph. i. 19. ‘They that believed’ (οἱ πιστεύσαντες) occurs: Acts ii. 44; iv. 32; 2 Thess. i. 10; Hebr. iv. 3. In the two last phrases the historic reference to the act of belief still remains.

The title ’the saints’ is characteristic of St Paul and of the Apocalypse. It occurs four times in the Acts, twice in connexion with St Paul’s conversion (Acts ix. 13 τοὺς ἁγίους σου; xxvi. 10), and twice in connexion with the episode of St Peter’s visit to Lydda (ix. 32) and Joppa (ix. 41). It is found also once in St Jude (Jude 3); but not in any other of the Catholic Epistles (comp. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9). In St Paul it is frequent and distributed throughout his Epistles: 1 Thess. iii. 13; 2 Thess. i. 10; 1 Cor. vi. 1 f.; xiv. 33; xvi. 1, 15; 2 Cor. i. 1; viii. 4; ix. 1, 12; xiii. 12; Rom. xii. 13; xv. 25 f., 31; xvi. 2, 15; Phil. i. 1; iv. 22; Eph. i. 1, 15, 18; iv. 12; vi. 18; Col. i. 2, 4, 12, 26; Philem. 5, 7. It is found also in Hebr. vi. 10; xiii. 24. In the

1. The disciples.

2. The brethren.

3. The believers.

4. The saints.

Apocalypse it is found: v. 8; viii. 3 f.; xi. 18; xiii. 7, 10: xiv. 12; xvii. 6; xviii. 20; xix. 8.

General relation of the titles.

The main differences of conception between the four titles are evident. Christians stand in the position of learners in the school of their Lord. The lesson which they have to learn surpasses all others. But the relation to the Divine Master is at once embodied in a new relation to fellow-believers. So the title ’the disciples’ is soon lost in that of ’the brethren.’ In the same way the title of ’the faithful,’ which corresponds to ‘disciples,’ is far less common and characteristic than ’the saints’ (’the holy’) which marks the recognised consecration of believers.

The titles in connexion.

But while these broad distinctions are obvious, it is not easy to seize the exact force of the particular titles except that of ’the faithful’ on each occasion, or even when they come near together, as ‘disciples’ and ‘brethren;’ Acts xi. 29; xviii. 27; xxi. 16 f.: ‘disciples’ and ‘saints;’ Acts ix. 38, 41: ‘brethren’ and ‘saints;’ 1 Cor. xvi. 15, 20; Rom. xvi. 14 f.; Eph. vi. 18, 23. It seems not unlikely that the title ’the brethren,’ was carried over from the ‘Israel according to the flesh’ to the spiritual Israel, and was specially used of the Jewish congregations. This view is supported by Acts xxii. 5; xxviii. 21. But in any case the title was soon extended more widely: Acts xv. 1.

1 John 3:15

15. The hatred of ’the world’ can cause no marvel: it is, in a certain sense, natural. But hatred may find place among ’the brethren’ (ii. 9, 11). There are Cains in the new family. Such hatred is essentially identical with murder, not simply as being the first step towards it but as involving the same moral position. It is moreover in the man himself the destruction of that life which is love.

πᾶς ὁ…] Every one that hateth… though he bear the name of Christ. Comp. c. iii. 3.

ἀνθρωποκτόνος] homicida V., murderer. The word is used of the devil, John viii. 44. Among men Cain is the type.

οἴδατε] ye know. Comp. c. v. 18 note.

πᾶς…οὐκ…] Comp. ii. 19 note.

πᾶς ἀνθρωποκτόνος] Omnis inquit homicida: scilicet non solum ille qui ferro verum et ille qui odio fratrem insequitur (Bede).

ζ. αἱ. ἐν αὐτῷ μέν.] eternal life abiding in him. The addition of the last words brings out the thought that ’eternal life’ must (under the circumstances of our present life) be a continuous power, and a communicated gift (comp. John vi. 53).

The whole phrase is unique. Elsewhere ’the word’ (ii. 14; John v. 38; comp. xv. 7), the ‘unction’ (ii. 27), ’the seed of God’ (iii. 9), ’the love of God’ (iii. 17), ’the truth’ (2 John 2), are said to ‘abide’ in the believer; and so also God (v. 24, iv. 12, 13, 15 f.) and Christ (John vi. 56, xv. 5). Even to the last man has not ’life in himself.’ This is the divine prerogative alone.

2. The manifestation of love (vv. 16-18).

It has been shewn that love is the sign of the Christian life. It is now shewn that love must be fashioned after the pattern of Christ who made it known in sacrifice (v. 16). Such love extends to the common intercourse of life (v. 17); and must be at once active and real (v. 18).

¹⁶ In this we know love, because he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷ But whosoever has the world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his heart from him, how abideth the love of God in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and truth.

16 τὴν ἀγ. + τοῦ θεοῦ vg.

θεῖναι NABC: τιθέναι 5

1 John 3:16

16. Ἐν τούτῳ] In this, see c. ii. 3 note. The truth which has been enunciated, the self-sacrificing character of love, as opposed to the murderous character of hatred, opens the way to the most complete revelation of love. The ’this,’ as elsewhere, looks both backwards and forwards.

ἐγνώκαμεν] cognoscimus V., cognoscimus Aug., ice know as the result of divine teaching: we have learnt and now hold the lesson for ever. This knowledge of experience is contrasted with the knowledge of intuition (οἶδατε) in c. 15. Comp. John xv. 13.

τὴν ἀγάπην] See Additional Note.

ἐκεῖνος] He, Christ. See ii. 6 note.

τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἔθηκεν] animam suam posuit V., laid down His life. The phrase is peculiar to St John, John x. 11 (note), 15, 17 ff., xiii. 37 ff., xv. 13.

This is the only passage in the Epistle in which St John uses ὑπὲρ in behalf of (comp. 3 John 7). It occurs in the Gospel in similar connexions not unfrequently: vi. 51; x. 11, 15; xi. 50 ff.; xiii. 37 f.; xv. 13; xvii. 19; xviii. 14. Contrast περὶ c. ii. 2; iv. 10.

The image appears to be that of divesting oneself of a thing (John xiii. 4). Compare ‘animam ponere,’ ‘deponere.’ καὶ ἡμεῖς ὀφείλομεν] and ice ought… as a consequence of this knowledge; but St John regards the duty as included in the knowledge (and we ought) and not as logically deduced from it wherefore we ought. Comp. c. 3. The obligation lies in the perception of the relation in which we stand to one another and to Christ. That which constrains us is not only

His example, but the truth which that example reveals. Comp. c. 7. For ὀφείλομεν see ii. 6 note. Ignatius speaking of himself in the spirit of this passage says to the Ephesians: ἀντίψυχον ὑμῶν ἐγώ (ad Eph. 21; comp. ad Smyrn. 10; ad Polyc. 2, 6). The words addressed by St John to the young Robber sound like an echo of it: ἂν δέῃ τὸν σὸν θάνατον ἐκὼν ὑπομενῶ, ὡς ὁ Κύριος τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· ὑπὲρ σοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀντιδώσω τὴν ἐμήν (Euseb. H. E. iii. 23).

Additional note on iii. 16. St John’s conception of love (ἀγάπη).

1. The verb ἀγαπᾶν occurs throughout Greek literature from Homer downwards. The noun ἀγάπη belongs to Biblical literature exclusively. It occurs first in the LXX, where it is found in 2 Sam. xiii. 15, thirteen times in Eccles. and Cant., and in Jer. ii. 2. It is not found in the Pentateuch; nor is it quoted from Philo or Josephus. The word is used in all the books of the New Testament except the Gospel of St Mark. Acts, and the Epistle of St James (in the Synoptic Gospels only Matt. xxiv. 12; Luke xi. 42). The collateral form ἀγάπησας occurs in the LXX. and later Greek writers but not in the New Testament.

The one compound of ἀγαπwhich is recorded is the Homeric ἀγαπήνωρ.

2. The words ἀγαπᾶν, ἀγάπη are used to describe the feeling of

I. God (the Father) for

(1) The Son:

John iii. 35 ὁ πατὴρ ἀγαπᾷ τὸν υἱόν.

— xvii. 23 …καθὼς ἐμὲ ἠγάπησας.

(2) The world:

(3) Men:

1 John iv. 10 αὐτὸς [ὁ θεὸς] ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς.

Comp. Apoc. xx. 9 τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἠγαπημένην.

Φιλεῖν is found in a corresponding connexion in regard to

(1) The Son:

John v. 20 ὁ πατὴρ φιλεῖ (v.l. ἀγαπᾷ) τὸν υἱόν.

(2) Men:

John xvi. 27 ὁ πατὴρ φιλεῖ ὑμᾶς.

II. The Son, for

(1) The Father:

(2) The disciples:

severally xi. 5 ἠγάπα δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν Μόρθαν…

xiii. 23; xix. 26; xxi. 7, 20 (εἰς τῶν μαθητῶν) ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς.

Apoc. iii. 9 ὅτι ἐγὼ ἠγάπησά σε.

xiii. 34; xv. 9, 12 ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς· μείνατε…

[— 9 μείνατε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐμῇ]?

Apoc. i. 5 τῷ ἀγαπῶντι ἡμᾶς.

Compare the use of φιλεῖν for the feeling of Christ towards men severally.

John xi. 3 ἴδε ὃν φιλεῖς ἀσθενεῖ.

Apoc. iii. 19 ἐγὼ ὅσους ἐὰν φιλῶ, ἐλέγχω.

III. Men for

(1) God (the Father):

1 John ii. 15 οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρός ἐν αὐτῷ.

(2) Christ:

John viii. 42 εἰ ὁ θεὸς πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἦν ἠγαπᾶτε ἂν ἐμέ.

• xiv. 15 ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με… - 21 .. ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με· ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν με… - 23 ἐὰν τις ἀγαπᾷ με… - 24 ὁ μὴ ἀγαπῶν με… - 28 εἰ ἠγαπᾶτέ με ἐχάρητε ἂν… - [— xv. 9 μείνατε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐμῇ…]? - xxi. 15 f. Σίμων Ἰωάνου ἀγαπᾷς με…;

(3) The brethren:

John xiii. 34; xv. 17 (ἐντολήν) ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους.

1 John ii. 10; iv. 21 ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφόν…

2 John 1 οὖς ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ.

3 John 1 ὃν ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ.

(4) Life:

(5) Evil (darkness):

John iii. 19 ἠγάπησαν…μᾶλλον τὸ σκότος ἢ τὸ φῶς.

1 John ii. 15 μὴ ἀγαπᾶτε τὸν κόσμον μηδὲ τὰ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ· ἐὰν τις ἀγαπᾷ τὸν κόσμον…

So φιλεῖν is used of the feeling of men for

(1) Christ:

John xvi. 27 ὑμεῖς ἐμὲ πεφιλήκατε.

Comp. 1 Cor. xvi. 22 εἴ τις οὐ φιλεῖ τὸν κύριον.

(2) Life:

John xii. 25 ὁ φιλῶν τὴν ψυχήν.

(3) Evil:

Apoc. xxii. 15 ὁ φιλῶν…ψεῦδος.

Comp. John xv. 19 ὁ κόσμος ἂν τὸ ἴδιον ἐφίλει.

Φιλεῖν is not used by St John of the feeling of man for the Father or for man (Matt. x. 27; Tit. iii. 15).

Φιλία occurs only James iv. 4 ἡ φιλία τοῦ κόσμου ἔχθρα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστίν.

3. The words ἀγαπᾶν, ἀγάπη are also used absolutely.

1 John iii. 1 ποταπὴν ἀγάπην δέδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ θεός…

2 John 3 ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ ἀγάπῃ.

3 John 6 ἐμαρτύρησάν σου τῇ ἀγάπῃ.

4. From a consideration of these passages it will be seen that ἀγαπᾶν, ἀγάπη are an expression of character, determined, as we are forced to conceive of things, by will, and not of spontaneous, natural emotion.

In this sense ’love’ is the willing communication to others of that which we have and are; and the exact opposite of that passion which is the desire of personal appropriation (ἐρᾶν, ἔρως).

5. God Himself is love. The creation and preservation of the world are in essence a continuous manifestation of His love; but, as things are, His love is characteristically made known through redemption, that is the consummation of the divine counsel of creation in spite of the intrusion of sin (1 John iii. 16; iv. 9). So it is that the revelation of the divine love is referred to an absolute (eternal) moment (ἠγάπησας, ἠγάπησεν) both in relation to the Son and also to the world and to men.

6. At the same time God who is love is also the source of love (1 John iv. 7). He endows believers with love (1 John iii. 1, 16 f.; iv. 9, 12, 16; 2 John 6); and this love becomes in them a fountain of moral energy, issuing necessarily in self-sacrifice (John xv. 13; 1 John iii. 16).

On the other hand the love of evil is so far moral suicide.

7. It is of interest to notice that ’love’ is connected by St Paul with each Person of the Holy Trinity:

ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ· 2 Thess. iii. 5; 2 Cor. xiii. 13; Rom. v. 5; (Eph. ii. 4).

ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ χριστοῦ· 2 Cor. v. 14; Rom. viii. 35; Eph. iii. 19.

ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πνεύματος· Rom. xv. 30.

In each case the thought appears to be of the love of which God is the source rather than the object. But the love of God in man becomes in him a spring of love. On the idea of ’the love of God’ see c. ii. 5 note.

1 John 3:17

17. St John turns from considering the greatness of our obligation to notice the ordinary character of failure. By the transition he suggests that there is a danger in indulging ourselves in lofty views which lie out of the way of common experience. We may therefore try ourselves by a far more homely test. The question is commonly not of dying for another but of communicating to another the outward means of living. If we are found wanting here, we need look no further for judgment.

ὃς δ’ ἂν ἔχῃ] Qui habuerit V. Comp. ii. 5 note.

τὸν βίον τοῦ κόσμου] substantiam citæ V., facultates mundi Aug., the life of the world ’the substance of the world’ as contrasted with ’life eternal’ (c. 15). Comp. Luke xv. 12 (τὸν βίον); ii. 16 note. The phrase includes all the endowments which make up our earthly riches, wealth, station, intellect. It has been finely said of a great teacher that ‘he was tender to dulness as to all forms of poverty.’ θεωρῇ] behold as a spectacle on which he allows his eyes to rest. This

18 τεκνία ΝABC (vg) syrhl: +μου 5- syrvg me the (vg). - τῇ 5Ν.

τῇ γλ. ABC:

is the only place where the verb occurs in St John’s Epistles; and elsewhere in the Epistles it is found only in Heb. vii. 4. Comp. Apoc. xi. 11 f. The word is common in the Gospel of St John and is always used with its full meaning. See John ii. 23 note.

χρείαν ἔχοντα] necesse habere V., egere F., esurientem, egentem Aug. The rendering of the Vulgate is suggested by ii. 27. See note there for the absolute use of χρ. ἔχειν.

κλείση τὰ σπλ.] clauserit viscera sua ab eo V., shuts up his heart from him so that the destitute brother can find no access to his sympathy. The phrase ’to shut up the heart’ is apparently unique. It expresses the interposition of a barrier between the sufferer and the tender feelings of his brother. Comp. Ps. lxxvii. 10 (קפץ רה συνέχει τους αἰκτιρμούς LXX.). Τὰ σπλάγχνα is found here only in the writings of St John (it occurs in St Luke and St Paul).

πῶς…;] how doth…? The interrogative construction is similar to that in v. 12.

ἡ ἀ. τοῦ θ.] caritas Dei V., dilectio Dei Aug., the love of God, the love of which God is at once the object and the author and the pattern. Comp. ii. 5 note.

μένει] abide…as a continuous active power. Comp. v. 15.

1 John 3:18

18. Τεκνία] Filioli V., Little children. The word of address is changed (v. 13). The father now pleads with those who draw their being from him.

μὴ…λόγῳ μηδὲ τῇ γλ.] not…with word, neither with the tongue, in theory as opposed to action; with mere outward expression as opposed to the genuine movement of our whole being.

λόγῳ…ἐν ἔργῳ…] with word…in deed… The slight change of construction marks the difference between the instrument and the sphere of the manifestation of love. It must find scope in our true and full life. For ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ ἄλ. compare John iv. 23 f. ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθεία.

‘If love depends on a word, when the word ceaseth the love ceaseth. Such was the love of Balak and Balaam’ (Jalkut Reub. 145. 4: Schoettgen). The passage quoted from Aboth v. 22 is wholly different in sense.

3. The fruit of love (vv. 19—24).

As St John has spoken of the necessity and of the pattern of love so now he goes on to speak of its fruit. The fruit of love is confidence. Such confidence stills the condemnation which the heart pronounces against the believer (vv. 19, 20). It finds its expression in prayers, which are necessarily answered, because they are the voice of obedient love (vv. 21—23). It issues in the fulness of sympathy (v. 24).

¹⁹ In this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him, ²⁰ whereinsoever our heart may condemn us; because God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness towards God, ²¹ and whatsoever we ask we receive from him, because we observe his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. ²² And this is his commandment, that we should believe the name

19’ Ἐν τούτῳ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι ἐκ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐσμέν, καὶ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ πεί- σομεν τὴν καρδίαν ἡμῶν 20’ ὅτι ἐὰν καταγινώσκῃ ἡμῶν ἐν ἕ. ΝΑΒC: - ἐν 5’. 19 ἐν τ. ΑΒ γg me syrhl: + καὶ’ ἐν τ. ΝC the syrvg.

γνωσόμεθα ΝΑΒC me the: γινώσκομεν 5’ γg syrr. τὴν κ. Α*Β the syrvg: τὰς κ. ΝΑ**C γg me syrhl.

of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, even as he gave us commandment. 21 And he that observeth his commandments abideth in him and he in him; and in this we know that he abideth in us, from the Spirit which he gave us.

1 John 3:19

19. Ἐν τούτῳ] In this, the consciousness of active and sincere love of the brethren, resting upon and moulded by the love of Christ.

γνωσόμεθα] cognoscemus V., we shall know, perceive. The future expresses the dependence of the knowledge upon the fulfilment of the specified condition. Again it is to be noticed that the knowledge which comes through outward experience stands in contrast with the knowledge which belongs to the idea of faith v. 14 (οἴδαμεν).

ἐκ τῆς ἂλ. ἐσμέν] ex veritate sumus V., are of the truth, draw the power of our being from the Truth as its source. Comp. ii. 16. Christ Himself is revealed as the Truth, in whom the right relations of man to man and to God and to the world are perfectly presented (comp. John xviii. 37). So far then as the Christian is like Him, he is ‘of the truth.’ The conception of being ‘a child of the Truth’ is different from that of being ‘a child of God,’ though practically the two are identical. In the latter case the thought is of the presence of the divine principle as divine: in the former, of the fulfilment of all the offices of man.

καὶ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ…] and, as a consequence of the knowledge of our complete dependence upon the Truth, we shall assure our hearts before Him, i.e. in the presence of God. The antecedent is supplied by the reader.

The simple pronoun (αὐτός) naturally describes the one Sovereign Lord, just as the isolating and defining pronoun (ἐκεῖνος) describes Christ.

The phrase ‘before Him’ in conspectu ejus V., coram ipso Aug. stands emphatically first in order to mark the essential character of the Christian life. It is lived out in the very sight of God. The believer feels himself to be always before His eyes. In that Presence (comp. ii. 28) if not before, he comes to find what he is. Comp. 2 Cor. v. 10 (φανερωθῆναι); 1 Thess. iii. 13.

πείσομεν…ὅτι ἐὰν καταγινώσκῃ…ὅτι μείζων…πάντα] suademus (suadeamus, suadebimus) quoniam si reprehenderit nos (male senserit Aug.) cor nostrum major est Deus corde nostro et nocit omnia V., (we) shall assure our heart before Him whereinscover our heart condemn us, because God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. The many conflicting interpretations of this passage spring out of the different translations of (1) the verb πείσομεν, and (2) the double conjunction or relative ὅτι (ὅ τι).

1. Thus if we take the sense persuade for the verb, there are two groups of renderings possible: the first (α) in which the clauses which follow give the substance of that of which we are satisfied; and the second (β) in which this substance is supposed to be supplied by the reader.

(α) In the first case there are two possible views:

(α) The second ὅτι may be simply resumptive: We shall persuade our heart, that, if our heart condemn us, that, I say, God is greater…

20 ὅτι μ. NBC syrvg: om. ὅτι A vg me the.

κύριος (for θεός) C.

(b) Or the first ὅτι may be taken as the relative: We shall persuade our heart, whereinsoever our heart condemn us, that God is greater…

Against both these interpretations it may be urged, as it seems with decisive force, that the conclusion is not one which flows naturally from the premiss. The consciousness of a sincere love of the brethren does not furnish the basis of the conviction of the sovereign greatness of God.

(β) If the substance of that of which we shall be persuaded is mentally supplied, as, ’that we are of the truth,’ or ’that our prayers are heard,’ there are again two possible interpretations:

(a) The second ὅτι may be taken as resumptive in the sense because: we shall persuade our heart, because if our heart condemn us, because I say God is greater…

(b) Or again the first ὅτι may be taken as the relative: we shall persuade our heart whereinsoever our heart condemn us, because God is greater…

It appears to be a fatal objection to both these views that just that has to be supplied which the sense given to the verb leads the reader to expect to be clearly expressed. And further it may be remarked that while the use of a resumptive ὅτι is quite intelligible after the introduction of a considerable clause it is very unnatural after the insertion of a few words.

2. If on the other hand the verb be taken in the sense ‘we shall assure,’ ‘we shall still and tranquillise the fears and misgivings of our heart,’ there are yet two modes of completing the sentence:

(a) The second ὅτι may be taken as resumptive in the sense of because: we shall assure our hearts, because if our heart condemn us, because, I say,

God is greater. Such a resumptive use of the particle has however been shewn to be very harsh.

(β) There remains then the adoption of the first ὅτι as the relative: We shall assure our heart, whereinsoever our heart condemn us, because God is greater…

This sense falls in completely with the context and flows naturally from the Greek.

But an ambiguity still remains. In what sense is the superior greatness of God to be understood? Is it the ground of our exceeding need? or of our sure confidence? Both interpretations can be drawn from the words. (1) We shall then, and then only, still our heart, in whatsoever it may condemn us, because we know that the judgment of God must be severer than our own judgment, and so apart from fellowship with Him we can have no hope. Or (2) We shall then still our heart in whatsoever it may condemn us, because we are in fellowship with God, and that fact assures us of His sovereign mercy. The latter sense seems to be required by the whole context. See below.

πείσομεν] The nearest parallel in the N. T. to the sense of the word which has been adopted here is Matt. xxviii. 14. Comp. 2 Macc. iv. 45.

τὴν καρδίαν] our heart, the seat of the moral character. It occurs only in this passage in the Epistles of St John. Comp. Rom. ii. 15; Eph. i. 18.

The singular (which St John always uses in the Gospel and Epistle) fixes the thought upon the personal trial in each case. See Additional Note.

Additional Note on iii. 19. The nature of man.

Limitation of St John’s view of man’s nature.

i. Flesh (σάρξ).

St John does not, like St Paul, give any definite analysis of the constitution or of the spiritual experience of man. But he recognises the same elements in human nature. Like St Paul, he distinguishes ’the flesh,’ ’the soul,’ ’the spirit,’ ’the heart.’ But it is worthy of notice that the characteristic intellectual faculties are rarely noticed by him. ‘Understanding’ (διάνοια) occurs only once in the most remarkable passage 1 John v. 20; and ‘mind’ (νοῦς) is found only in the Apocalypse (xiii. 18; xvii. 9). ‘Conscience’ (συνείδησις) is nowhere mentioned by St John (contrast [John] viii. 8). In St Paul these words are not unfrequent. For St John’s use of γινώσκειν see c. ii. 3 note.

The term ‘flesh’ (σάρξ) describes the element with the characteristics of the element (comp. 1 Cor. xv. 39). It includes all that belongs to the life of sensation, all by which we are open to the physical influences of pleasure and pain, which naturally sway our actions.

As applied to human nature ‘flesh’ describes humanity so far as it is limited and defined by earthly conditions. In ‘flesh’ lies the point of connexion between man and the lower world. Through flesh come the temptations which belong to sense.

The word is used of mankind (as in O. T.) John xvii. 2 (πάσα σάρξ) to describe them under the aspect of earthly transitoriness.

‘Flesh’ is contrasted with ‘spirit,’ not as evil with good, but as the ruling element of one order with the ruling element of another: John iii. 6; vi. 63.

By ‘flesh’ we are united to earth; and by ‘spirit’ to heaven.

‘The will of the flesh’ (John i. 13) is the determination which belongs to the earthly powers of man as such.

‘The desire of the flesh’ (1 John ii. 16) is the desire which, as it springs out of man’s present earthly constitution, is confined within the earthly sphere and rises no higher.

‘Judgment after the flesh’ (John viii. 15) is external, superficial, limited by what catches the senses (comp. 2 Cor. v. 16).

Thus the idea of evil attaches to the flesh not in virtue of what it is essentially, but from the undue preponderance which is given to it. The flesh serves for the manifestation of character. It ministers to other powers. It becomes evil when it is made supreme or dominates. It does not include the idea of sinfulness, but it describes human personality on the side which tends to sin, and on which we actually have sinned.

Use of ‘flesh’ in relation to Christ.

The essential conception of σάρξ is seen in its application to Christ

(1) in His Person:

John i. 14 ὁ λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο.

1 John iv. 2 ἐληλυθῶς ἐν σαρκί.

2 John 7 ἐρχόμενος ἐν σαρκί.

Compare 1 Tim. iii. 16 ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί.

And

(2) in His Work:

53 (\phi a\gamma e\bar{\nu}\tau \eta \nu) aopka tov vloov tov avpawov kai piev auov to aia. 56 o Tpawvov mov thv aopka kai mivov mov to aia.

In these passages ‘flesh’ is seen to describe the element of Christ’s perfect humanity

It may be added that while σῶμα is found in St John (John ii. 21; xx. 12, &c.), it is never used metaphorically, and it does not occur in the epistles (Apoc. xviii. 13=mancipiorum). In the Apocalypse σάρξ is found only in the plural.

The sense of the word represented by ‘soul,’ ’life’ (ψυχή) is often ii. Soul obscure in other apostolic writers from the complex nature of the living ’life’ man; but in St John it is used only for the personal principle of our (ψυχή). present earthly life, the vital energy of the σάρξ (yet notice John x. 24).

It is used

(1) of men generally:

John xii. 25 (comp. Luke xiv. 26; xvii. 33).

xiii. 37 f. τιθέναι τὴν ψυχήν.

xv. 13 id.; I John iii. 16 id.; 3 John 2.

And

(2) of Christ:

John xii. 27; x. 11, 15, 17 τὴν ψ. τιθέναι.

I John iii. 16 id.

With the phrase τιθέναι τὴν ψυχήν ὑπέρ (x. 11, 15; comp. Matt. xx. 28) must be contrasted (δοῦναι) τὴν σάρκα ὑπέρ (vi. 51).

In the Apocalypse ψυχή is used in the most unusual sense of disembodied ‘souls’; vi. 9; xx. 4.

While the ‘soul’ (ψυχή) expresses the sum of man’s present vital iii. Spirit powers, the ‘spirit’ (πνεῦμα) describes the quickening element which (πνεῦμα). belongs to a heavenly sphere (comp. Rom. viii. 10) as the flesh describes the earthly element: John iii. 6 (5); vi. 63.

It is used of the Lord: John xiii. 21 (comp. xii. 27); xi. 33.

Compare the phrases ’to become in spirit,’ ‘in spirit,’ found in the Apocalypse: i. 10 (ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι); iv. 2 (id.); xvii. 13 (ἐν πνεύματι); xxi. 10 (id.).

The sense the ‘breath of life’ is wholly distinct: John xix. 30 (comp. Matt. xxvii. 50; Lk. viii. 55); Apoc. xi. 11 (πνεῦμα ζωῆς); xiii. 15 (δοῦναι πν. τῇ εἰκόνι).

The seat of individual character, of personal feeling and moral determination, is the ‘heart’ (καρδία). The elements already considered are (καρδία). morally colourless in themselves, they are generic and not individual. The mention of the heart is comparatively rare in St John. But he shews that it is the seat of sorrow (John xvi. 6), of joy (xvi. 22), of distress generally (xiv. 1, 27), and also of purpose (xiii. 3), and spiritual discernment (xii. 40, Lxx.).

The most remarkable passage in which he describes the office of the heart is in 1 John iii. 19-21. In this the heart appears as representing the whole conscious moral nature of man. The heart in fact includes the conscience, and covers the whole range of life. It takes account not only of the abstract rule but of all the personal circumstances which go to characterise action.

Compare Apoc. ii. 23; xvii. 17; xviii. 7.

1 John 3:20

20. ὅτι ἐάν] whereinsoever. The words balance the ‘all things’ which follows. The form ὅτι ἐάν does not occur as the true text elsewhere in N. T. (Col. iii. 23 ὁ ἐάν), but always

²¹ ἀγαπητοί: ἀδελφοί Ν. ἡ κ. ΑΒ (lat): + ἡμῶν 5ΝC vg syrr me the. μὴ κατ. BC: + ἡμῶν 5ΝΔ vg me the syrr. ἔχομεν: ἔχει Β.

ὅτι ἄν (John ii. 5, xiv. 13, xv. 16). This however does not appear to be a decisive objection. In John ii. 5, xv. 16 ἐάν is an early variant (ΝΔ).

καταγινώσκῃ] reprehenderit V., male senserit Aug., condem. The word is used of the internal judgment of conscience (Ecclus. xiv. 2) as distinguished from the formal sentence of the judge (κατακρίνω).

Comp. Gal. ii. 11.

μείζων ἐ. ὁ θ. τῆς κ. ἡ.] major est Deus corde nostro V., God is greater than our heart, justly able to sway and control it. He is the Supreme Sovereign over the whole man. Nothing in man can stand against His judgment and will. The context requires that this sovereignty should be regarded under the aspect of love, as exercised for the calming of human doubts. The supposition that ‘greater’ means more searching and authoritative in condemnation than the heart is at variance with the tenor of the passage and also with the natural sense of ‘greater.’ γινώσκει π.] norit omnia V., knoweth all things, watches (to use human language) the course and spring of action (John ii. 25 note), not only this failure and that on which the heart dwells, but these and all else, and with this knowledge offers us His love and assures us of it.

Thus the meaning of the whole passage will be: The sense within us of a sincere love of the brethren, which is the sign of God’s presence with us, will enable us to stay the accusations of our conscience, whatever they may be, because God, who gives us the love, and so blesses us with His fellowship, is greater than our heart; and He, having perfect knowledge, forgives all on which the heart sadly dwells.

1 John 3:21

21. Ἀγαπητοί] Carissimi V., Dilectissimi Aug. Comp. c. ii. 7 note. The tender address follows naturally from the thought of the fears and hopes of Christians. The sense of misgiving (the condemnation of the heart) and the sense of duty done (the acquittal of the heart) severally involve special applications of the divine revelation. In the one case this revelation brings assurance, and in the other effectual prayer.

ἐὰν ἡ καρδία μὴ καταγ.] si cor nostrum non reprehenderit V. (male senserit Aug.), if our heart condemn us not. This evidently is the converse case to ‘if our heart condemn us.’ It does not imply a claim to sinlessness, nor yet an insensibility to the heinousness of sin, but the action of a lively faith which retains a real sense of fellowship with God, and this carries with it confidence and peace.

The change in the order of the words in the parallel clauses marks a change of emphasis. In the first clause stress is laid on the fact of condemnation (ὅτι ἐὰν καταγινώσκῃ ἡ καρδία): in the second on the moral faculty which pronounces no condemnation (ἐὰν ἡ καρδία μὴ καταγ.).

παρρησίαν ἔχομεν] fiduciam habemus V., we have boldness, so as to express without reserve all our wants. Compare c. v. 14 (ii. 28, iv. 17); John vii. 4 note. The thought here is of the boldness with which the son appears before the Father, and not of that with which the accused appears before the Judge.]

πρὸς τ. θ.] ad Deum V., towards God. Compare Acts xxiv. 16; Rom. iv. 2 (πρὸς θ.), v. 1; 2 Cor. iii. 4; Phil. iv. 6.

22 αἰτώμεθα Ν. Comp. v. 14 f. λαμβάνωμεν Α: comp. for similar confusion c. iv. 17 (Ν) 13: accipiemus vg the syrhl. ἀπ’ αὐ. ΝABC: παρ’ αὐ. 5. τηρῶμεν ΝΑ. 23 πιστεύσωμεν 5B: πιστεύωμεν ΝAC. τῷ ὀν. τοῦ υἱ. αὐ. Ἱ. Χ. NBC vg me the syrr: τῷ ὀν. αὐ. Ἱ. Χριστῷ Α (all. τῷ υἱῷ αὐ. Ἱ. Χ.).

1 John 3:22

22. καὶ ὁ ἂν αἰτῶμεν] et quodcunque petierimus V., and whatsoever we ask… The expression of our wants is followed by the satisfying of them. The words describe the actual present experience of the believer (αἰτῶμεν) and the assertion is absolute. Every prayer is granted. But Augustine rightly adds: Discernamus exauditiones Dei. Invenimus enim quosdam non exauditos ad voluntatem exauditos ad salutem; et rursus quosdam invenimus exauditos ad voluntatem et non exauditos ad salutem.

Here the thought is of the actual perception of the gift by the believer in time (λαμβάνομεν): in St Mark xi. 24 (ἐλάβετε) the thought is of the divine response in the eternal order. For λαμβ. ἀπό see c. ii. 27 note.

ὅτι…τηροῦμεν] because we observe… Obedience is not alleged as the ground but as the assurance of the fulfilment. The answer to prayer is given not as a reward for meritorious action, but because the prayer itself rightly understood coincides with God’s will (comp. John viii. 29, xi. 42). The sole object of the believer is to do thoroughly the part which has been assigned to him: his petitions are directed to this end and so are necessarily granted. Comp. John xv. 7.

τηροῦμεν…ποιοῦμεν] keep…do…The eyes of the believer are turned watchfully to discern (τηροῦμεν) the will of God for the future, and at the present he is engaged in executing that which is pleasing to Him. Under this twofold aspect right action is presented both as a work of obedience and as a work of freedom, as enjoined and also as spontaneous.

For the sense of τηρεῖν see John xvii. 12 note, and for τηρεῖν τ. ἐντ. c. ii. 3 note. Τηρεῖν and ποιεῖν occur again together in v. 2, 3.

τὰ ἀρεστά] ea quæ sunt placita V., the things that are pleasing… not simply ’things pleasing,’ but definitely those which correspond with our position and duty.

Compare John viii. 29.

ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ] coram eo V., in His sight. Comp. Hebr. xiii. 21; Acts iv. 19; 1 Pet. iii. 4; 1 Tim. ii. 3; v. 4. But we find ἀρεστὰ αὐτῷ John viii. 29.

The slight shade of difference between ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ (v. 19) and ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ seems to be expressed by the phrases ‘in His presence’ and ‘in His sight.’ The latter phrase accentuates the thought of the Divine regard. Comp. John xii. 37 (ἔμπ. αὐ.) and xx. 30 (ἐνώπ. τ. μ.).

1 John 3:23

23. καὶ αὕτη ἐ. ἡ ἐντ. αὐ.] And this is his commandment. The ’things that are pleasing,’ the many ‘commandments’ are summed up in one commandment, which includes faith and practice, the power of action and the form of action, faith and love. Comp. ii. 4 f.; 2 John 6.

ἡ ἐντολή…ἵνα…] Comp. John xiii. 34, xv. 12, 17.

ἵνα πιστεύσωμεν…] that we believe … Faith also is a work, John vi. 29, and therefore the proper object of command; and it may be regarded either as unceasingly continuous and progressive (πιστεύωμεν) or as exercised at a critical moment when the

ὀνόματι τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀγαπῶμεν whole tenor of life is determined (πιστεύσωμεν). This is the first place in the Epistle in which the exercise of faith is mentioned. Afterwards πιστεύω occurs not unfrequently.

On the whole the reading πιστεύσωμεν is the more likely here. In this case the decisive act of faith is treated as the foundation of the abiding work of love; at the same time the present πιστεύωμεν gives an excellent sense, faith and love being presented as simultaneous in their present development.

The tenses of the verb (πιστεύω) appear to be used with significant exactness by St John; and the instances of the occurrence of the different forms will repay examination.

1 Present: the immediate, continuous exercise of faith:

John x. 38 (dat.), vi. 29, xvi. 9 (εἰς), xx. 31 (ὅτι), iv. 42, x. 25 f., xii. 39 (xix. 35), xx. 31 (abs.).

imper.: John iv. 21, x. 37, xiv. 11; 1 John iv. 1 (dat.); John xii. 36, xiv. 1 (εἰς).

partic. (ὁ πιστεύων, οἱ πιστεύοντες): John v. 24; 1 John v. 10 (dat.); John iii. 16, 18, 36, vi. 35, 40, 47, vii. 38 f., xi. 25 f., xii. 44, 46, xiv. 2, xvii. 20; 1 John v. 10, 13 (εἰς), 1 John v. 1, 5 (ὅτι); John iii. 15, vi. 64 (abs.).

2 Imperfect: the continuous exercise of faith in the past:

John v. 46 (dat.), vii. 5, xii. 11, 37 (εἰς).

3 Aorist: the definite, decisive act of faith:

John ii. 22, iv. 50, vi. 30, x. 38; 1 John iii. 23 (dat.); John ii. 11, 23, iv. 39, vii. 31, 48, viii. 30, ix. 36, x. 42, xi. 45, xii. 42 (εἰς); John viii. 24, ix. 18, xi. 42, xiii. 19, xvii. 8, 21 (ὅτι); John i. 7, iv. 4, 53, v. 44, xi. 15, 40, xiv. 29 (abs.).

partic.: John xx. 29 (abs.).

4 Perfect: the past exercise of faith continued into the present:

John viii. 31 (dat.); John iii. 18, 1 John v. 10 (εἰς); John vi. 69, xi. 27, xvi. 27 (ὅτι); John xx. 29; 1 John iv. 16 (1) (abs.).

The differences come out clearly where different tenses stand in close connexion; e.g. John vi. 29 f., vii. 5, 31, xii. 37, 42; 1 John v. 10.

πιστ. τῷ ὀνόματι] believe the name… The phrase is remarkable. It is equivalent to ‘believe as true the message which the name conveys.’ The full title, His Son Jesus Christ (c. i. 3 note), is a compressed Creed. Contrast ‘believe in the name’ v. 13; John i. 12, ii. 23, iii. 18. Comp. v. 10. The translation of A. V. probably comes from the Vulgate which gives credamus in nomine, the rendering elsewhere of πιστεύειν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα (John i. 12, ii. 23, iii. 18). See Additional Note on the names of Christ in this Epistle.

ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλ.] diligamus alterutrum V., love one another: v. 11 note, iv. 7, 11, 12; 2 John 5; John xiii. 34 (ἐντολὴν καινὴν δίδωμι); xv. 12, 17. The exact words are used (contrast v. 14) in which Christ Himself gave the commandment on the eve of His Passion, when He fulfilled the ideal of love. The subject to ἔδωκεν is supplied naturally from the preceding clause.

Compare Rom. xiii. 10.

Multum facit qui multum diligit… Bene facit qui communitati magis quam suae voluntati servit (Thom. a Kempis, De Imit. I. 15, 2).

Additional Note on iii. 23. The Names of the Lord.

The names of the Lord in the Epistles.

The idea of ’the Name.’

The special names: His Son Jesus Christ,

Something has been already said on the use of the Divine Names in the Epistles of St John (Additional Note on i. 2). It is however of deep interest to study in detail the exact relation of the several Names of the Lord to the contexts in which they occur. Such an inquiry will leave, I believe, a strong conviction in the mind of the student that each Name is perfectly fitted to present that aspect of the Lord’s Person which is dominant at the particular point in the Apostle’s exposition of the Truth.

Here, as elsewhere in the Bible, the Name has two distinct and yet closely connected meanings. It may express the revelation of the Divine Being given by a special title; or the whole sum of the manifold revelations gathered up together so as to form one supreme revelation. It is used in the latter sense in regard to the revelation of God in Christ in 3 John 7 ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος, where τὸ ὄνομα, ’the Name’ absolutely, includes the essential elements of the Christian Creed, the complete revelation of Christ’s Person and Work in relation to God and man (comp. Acts v. 41; John xx. 31). In ii. 12 διὰ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ the term is more limited. The Person Who is present to St John through the paragraph is Christ as He lived on earth and gave Himself for those whom He called brethren (ii. 6; comp. Hebr. ii. 11 ff.). In iii. 23, v. 13 the exact sense of ’the Name’ is defined by the words which follow.

From the Name thus generally referred to or defined we pass to the actual Names used. The full title His Son Jesus Christ (ὁ νίος αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦς Χριστός) is found i. 3, iii. 23, v. 20. The divine antecedent is differently described in the three cases, and this difference slightly colours the phrase. In i. 3 it is ’the Father’ (compare 2 John 3 παρὰ θεοῦ πατρός, καὶ παρὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρός); in iii. 23, ‘God’; and in v. 20, ‘He that is true.’ Thus in the three cases the Sonship of Jesus Christ is regarded in relation to God as the Father, to God as God, and to God as perfectly satisfying the divine ideal which man is able to form. Bearing these secondary differences in mind we see that the whole phrase includes the two elements of the confession, or the two confessions, which St John brings into prominence: ‘Jesus [Christ] is the Son of God’ (iv. 15, v. 5); and ‘Jesus is the Christ’ (v. 1; comp. ii. 22). It is in other words ’the Name’ written out at length.

The constituents of this compressed phrase are all used separately by St John:

(1) Jesus:

Jesus, ii. 22 o apvovmevos oti ‘Inosovs ovk eotiv o xpiotós. v.1 o πιστεύων οτι ‘Iησούς εστιν o xριστός. iv. 3 o μη ὅμολογει τόν ‘Iησούν.

In these passages it is obvious that the central thought is of the Lord in His perfect, historical, humanity. The use of the definite article in the last example probably conveys a reference to v. 2.

(2) Christ:

Christ,

2 John 9 ἡ διδαχὴ τοῦ χριστοῦ.

The title seems to point back to the long preparation under the Old Covenant which checks impatience (προάγων) under the New.

(3) Jesus Christ:

Jesus Christ, ii. 1 npaklntov exouev…Inoov Xpiortov dikaiov. v. 6 o eAov di vdaos kai aiaatos, Iyovs Xpiotos. 2 John 7 o i μn oμoλ. ‘Iησον Xριστον ερχόμενον εναρκί.

Here the idea of the Messianic position of the Lord is no less important for the full sense than that of His true humanity.

In iv. 15 ὅτι Ἰησοῦς [Χριστός] ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ the reading is doubtful. The adoption of Χριστός adds to the completeness of the thought.

For the clause iv. 2 ὁμολ. Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἑλ. see note. In spite of the close verbal parallel of these words with 2 John 7 the use of Ἰησοῦς Χριστός here seems to be differentiated from the sense there by ἐληλυθότα as contrasted with ἐρχόμενον.

(4) the Son:

the Son, ii. 22 o apovouveos tov matépa kai tov viov. 23 o apv. tov viov oude tov matépa exei. 23 o omooyov tov viov kai tov matépa exei. 24 ev twi wai ev twi matri meveite. iv. 14 o πατηρ ἀπέσταλκεν τόν υίόν. v. 12 o (\xi \chi \omega \nu) tov viov (\xi \chi \varepsilon \iota) thv (\zeta \omega \eta \nu)

In all these cases the central thought is that of the absolute relation of sonship to fatherhood. The argument turns upon essential conceptions of son and father. Comp. John v. 19 note.

(5) the Son of God:

the Son of God, iii. 8 eφavepóθη o viòs tov θεoù iva λύση τα εργα tov diαβóλov. v. 10 o πιστεύων εις τόν υίον τοῦ θεοῦ. 12 o u’ xov tov viov tov oeo. 13 tois mnt. eis to ovoua tov vioo tov oeo. 20 oidaev oti o vios tov oeo nkei.

With these passages must be compared iv. 10 aπeστ. tov viov a’toov, v. 9 ff. o vios a’toov, where the immediate antecedent is ὁ θεός. In all these cases the idea of

Christ’s divine dignity is equally prominent with that of sonship in relation to a father.

Compare also v. 18 ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ.

Jesus His Son,

(6) Jesus His (God’s) Son:

The double title brings out the two truths that ’the blood’ of Christ can be made available for men and is efficacious.

His Son, His only Son.

(7) His (God’s) Son, His only Son:

The uniqueness of the gift is the manifestation of love.

In connexion with these titles it must be added that the title ’the Son’ in various forms is eminently characteristic of the first and second Epistles, in which it occurs 24 (or 25) times (22 or 23+2), more times than in all the Epistles of St Paul.

It is remarkable that the title ‘Lord’ (κύριος) is not found in the Epistles (not 2 John 3). It occurs in the narrative of the Gospel and is frequent in the Apocalypse. It occurs also in all the other epistles of the N. T. except that to Titus.

The absence of the title may perhaps be explained by the general view of the relation of Christ to the believer which is given in the Epistles. The central thought is that of fellowship. For the same reason the conception of external organization is also wanting in the Epistle.

1 John 3:24

24. The obedience, which is the rule of the Christian life, issues in abiding fellowship with God. This verse is closely connected with v. 22, while v. 23 is in thought parenthetical.

ἡμῖν ἈABC vg me the syrr: om. 5. ²⁴ καὶ ἐν τ.: om. καὶ Ἀ* the. οὗ ἡμ. ἔδ. ABC (lat): οὗ ἔδ. ἡμ. Ἀ vg me the syrr.

καὶ ὁ τηρῶν…] And he that obserseth… These words take up ὅτι τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρ. in v. 22, so that the reference is to ’the commandments of God,’ and not directly to the one commandment of Christ v. 23. Our prayers are granted because they spring out of that spirit which strives after perfect sympathy; and, more than this, our obedience is the pledge of a personal fellowship.

ἐν αὐτῷ μένει…] i.e. in God. See c. iv. 15 note.

Bede says with singular force: Sit ergo tibi domus Deus et esto domus Dei: mane in Deo, et maneat in te Deus.

ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν] in this we know, perceive… The love which the Christian feels and which is the spring of his obedience, assures him of God’s fellowship with him. In other words,

God has given him of His Spirit. The use of the two prepositions ‘in (ἐν) this,’ ‘from (ἐκ) the Spirit,’ shews that the two clauses are not in apposition. Γινώσκομεν is repeated in thought before ἐκ τοῦ πν. c. iv. 6.

ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος] This is the first mention of the Spirit in the Epistle. Afterwards the references are not unfrequent. It is remarkable that the Name never occurs with the epithet ‘Holy’ in the Epistles or Apocalypse of St John.

οὗ…ἔδωκεν] which he gave when we became Christians. Comp. c. iv. 13; John xiv. 16; Acts v. 32, viii. 18, xv. 8; 2 Cor. i. 21 f.

Augustine draws a striking conclusion from the truth that the Spirit of God is the source of man’s life: Contemne te cum laudaris. Ille in te laudetur qui per te operatur.