17 But a whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
tyrs surrendered their lives in the cause of the Church and of truth. In like manner we ought to be ready to hazard our lives, and even to lay them down, if in that way we may promote the cause of truth, and secure the salvation of sinners, or serve our Christian brethren. In what way this injunction*was understood by the primitive Christians may be perceived from what the world is reported to have said of them (Tertull., Apol., c. 39): " Behold, how they love one another: they are ready to die for one another." So Eusebius (JSccl. Mist., vii., 22) says of Christians that " in a time of plague they visited one another, and not only hazarded their lives, but actually lost them in their zeal to preserve the lives of others." We are not, indeed, to throw away our lives; we are not to expose them in a rash, reckless, imprudent manner; but when, in the discharge of duty, we are placed in a situation where life is exposed to danger, we are not to shrink from the duty, or to run away from it. Perhaps the following would embrace the principal instances of the duty here enjoined by the apostle: (1.) We ought to have such love for the Church that we should be willing to die for it, as a patriot is willing to die for his country. (2.) We ought to have such love for Christians as to be willing to jeopard our lives to aid them— as in case of a pestilence or plague, or when they are in» danger by tire or flood or foes. (3.) We ought to have such love for the truth as to be willing to sacrifice our lives rather than deny it. (4.) We ought to have such love for the cause of our Master as to be willing to cross oceans and snows and sands; to visit distant and barbarous regions, though at imminent risk of our lives, and though with the prospect that we shall never see our country again. (5.) We ought to have such love for the Church that we shall engage heartily and constantly in services of labor and self-sacrifice on its account, until, our work being done, exhausted nature shall sink to rest in the grave. In one word, we should regard ourselves as devoted to the service of the Kedeemer— living compassion from him, how b dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let c us not or dying, to be found engaged in his cause. If a case should actually occur where the question would arise whether a man must abandon his Christian brother or die, he ought not to hesitate; in all cases he should regard his life as consecrated to the cause of Zion and its friends. Once, in the times of primitive piety, there was much of this spirit in the world; how little, it is to be feared, does it prevail now!
17. But whoso liath tMs worloVs good. Has property — called "this world's good," or a good pertaining to this world, because it is of value to us only as it meets our wants this side of the grave; and perhaps, also, because it is sought supremely by the men of the world. The general meaning of this verse, in connection with the previous verse, is that if we ought to be willing to lay down our lives for others, we ought to be willing to make those comparatively smaller sacrifices which are necessary to relieve them in their distresses; and that if we are unwilling to do this we can have no evidence that the love of God dwells in us. H And seeth his brother have need. Has need of food, of raiment, of shelter; sees him sick and poor, and unable to provide for his own wants and those of his family. H And shutteth up 7ns bowels of compassion from him. The bowels, or upper viscera, embracing the heart, and the region of the chest generally, are in the Scriptures represented as the seat of mercy, piety, compassion, because when the mind feels compassion it is that part which is affected. Comp. Notes on Isa. xvi. 11. If How dwelleth the love of God in him? How can a man love God who does not love those who bear his image? See Notes on chap. iv. 20. On the general sentiment here, see Notes on James ii. 14-16. The meaning is plain that we can not have evidence of piety unless we are ready to do good to others, especially to our Christian brethren. See Notes on Matt. xxv. 45, and Gal. vi. 10.
18. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue. By mere profession; by mereiy saying that we love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19 And hereby a we. know that
1 But in deed and in truth. In such acts as shall show that our professed love is sincere and real. Let ns do the deed of love, whether any 1 1 i 1 i i u* is said about it or not. See Notes on Matt. vi. 3.
19. And hereby. Gr., by this; that is, by the fact that we have true love to others, and that we manifest it by a readiness to make sacrifices to do them good. 1[ We know that we are of the truth. That we are not deceived in what we profess to be; that is, that we are true Christians. To be of the truth stands opposed to cherishing false and delusive hopes. 1 And shall assure our hearts before him. Before God, or before the Saviour. In the margin, as in the Greek, the word rendered shall assure is persuade. The Greek word is used as meaning to persuade, for example, to the reception and belief of truth; then to persuade any one who has unkind or prejudiced feelings toward us, or to bring over to kind feelings, to conciliate, and thus to pacify or quiet. The meaning here seems to be that we shall in this wray allay the doubts and trouble of our minds, and produce a state of quiet and peace, to wit, by the evidence that we are of the truth. Our consciences are often restless and troubled in view of past guilt; but in thus furnishing the evidence of true piety by love to others we shall pacify an accusing mind and conciliate our own hearts, and persuade or convince ourselves that we are truly the children of God. See Rob., Lex., sub voce ttei^u), I. b. In other words, though a man's heart may condemn him as guilty, and though he knows that God sees and condemns the sins of his past life, yet the agitations and alarms of his mind may be calmed down andsoothed by evidence that he is a child of God, and that he will not be finally condemned. A true Christian does not attempt to conceal the fact that there is much for which his own heart and conscience might justly accuse him, but he finds, notwithstanding all this, evidence that he is a child of God, and he is persuaded that all will be well.
we are of the truth, and shall ' assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemn us,
20. For if our heart condemn us. We can not hope for peace from any expectation that our own hearts will never accuse us, or that we ourselves can approve of all that we have done. The reference here is not so much to our past lives as to our present conduct and deportment. The object is to induce Christians so to live that their hearts will not condemn them for any secret sins while the outward deportment >may be unsullied. The general sentiment is, that if they should so live that their own hearts would condemn them for present insincerity and hypocrisy, they could have no hope of peace, for God knows all that is in the heart. In view of the past— when the heart accuses us of what we have done— we may find peace by such evidences of piety as shall allay the troubles of an agitated soul (ver. 9), but we can not have such peace if our hearts condemn us for the indulgence of secret sins, now that we profess to be Christians. If our hearts condemn us for present insincerity and for secret sins, we can never " persuade " or soothe them by any external act of piety. In view of the consciousness of past guilt we may find peace; we can find none if there is a present purpose to indulge in sin. 1 God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all tilings. We can not hope to find peace by hiding any thing from his view, or by any supposition that he is not acquainted with the sins for which our consciences trouble us. He knows all the sins of which we are conscious, and sees all their guilt and aggravation as clearly as we do. He knows more than this. He knows all the sins which we ifave forgotten; all those acts which we endeavor to persuade ourselves are not sinful, but which are evil in his sight; and all those aggravations attending our sins which it is impossible for us fully and distinctly to conceive. He is more disposed to condemn sin than we are; he looks on it with less allowance than we do. We can not hope, then, for a calm mind in any supposition that God does not see our sins as clearly as we do, or in any hope that he will look on them
God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart *condemn us not, then have we confidence h toward God.
22 And whatsoever c we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
with more favor and indulgence. Peace can not be found in the indulgence of sin in the hope tl^at God will not perceive or regard it, for we can sooner deceive ourselves than we can him; and while, therefore (ver. 19), in reference to the past we can only "persuade" our hearts or soothe their agitated feelings by evidence that we are of the truth now, and that our sins are forgiven, in reference to the present and the future the heart can be kept calm only by such a course of life that our own hearts and our God shall approve the manner in which we live.
21. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not. If we so live as to have an approving conscience; that is, if we indulge in no secret sin, if we discharge faithfully every known duty, if we submit without murmuring to all the allotments of divine Providence. If Then have we confidence toward Ood. Comp. Notes on ver. 19; chap. i. 28; Acts xxiv. 16. The apostle evidently does not mean that we have confidence toward God on the ground of what we do, as if it were meritorious, or as if it constituted a claim to his favor; but that we may so live as to have evidence of personal piety, and that we may look forward with a confident hope that we shall be accepted of him in the great day. The word here rendered confidence(Trappvariav) means properly boldness; usually boldness or openness in speaking our sentiments. See Notes on chap. ii. 28. The confidence or boldness which we have toward our Maker is founded solely on the evidence that he will graciously accept us as pardoned sinners, not in the belief that we deserve his favor.
22. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him. If we are truly his children,
23 And this d is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and Jove one another, as he gave Tis commandment.
24 And he « that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby ^ we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
and ask in a proper manner. See Notes on Matt. vii. 7. Comp. Mark xi. 24; Luke xi. 9; xviii. 1, seq.; John xiv. 13; xv. 7; 1 John v. 14. The declaration here made must be understood with these limitations: (1) That we ask in a proper manner (James iv. 3); and (2) that the thing asked shall be such as it will be consistent for God to give; that is, such as he shall see to be best for us (1 John v. 14. See Notes on this latter passage). 1" Because we keep his commandments. Not that this is the meritorious ground of our being heard, but that it furnishes evidence that we are his children, for he hears his children as such. If And do those things that are pleasing in his sight. As a parent is disposed to bestow favors on obedient, affectionate, and dutiful children, so God is on those who please him by their obedience and submission to his will. We can have no hope that he will hear us unless we so live as to please him.
23. And this is 7iis commandment. His commandment by way of eminence; the leading, principal thing which he enjoins on us; the commandment which lies at the foundation of all true obedience. If That we should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. See Notes on Mark xvi. 16. Comp. John xvi. 1; Acts xvi. 31. If And love one another, etc. This follows from the other, and hence they are mentioned as together constituting his commandment. See Notes on John xiii. 35.
24. And he that keepeth his commandments, etc. See Notes on John xiv. 23. If And hereby we know that he abideth in us. That is, this is another certain evidence that we are true Christians. The Saviour had promised (John xiv. 23) that he would come and take up his abode with his people. John says that we have proof that lie does this by the Spirit which he has given us; that is, the Holy Spirit is imparted to his people to enlighten their minds, to elevate their affections, to sustain them in times of trial, to quicken them in the performance of duty, and to imbue them with the temper and spirit of the Lord Jesus. When these effects exist, we may be certain that the Spirit of God is with us; for these are the "fruits of that Spirit," or these arc the effects which he prodaces in the lives of men. Comp. Notes on Gal. v. 22, 23. On the evidence of piety here referred to, see Notes on Rom. viii. 9, 14, 16. No man can be a true Christian in whom that Spirit does not constantly dwell, or to whom he is not "given." And yet no one can determine that the Spirit dwells in him except by the effects produced in his heart and life. In the following chapter the apostle pursues the subject suggested here, and shows that we should examine ourselves closely to see whether the "Spirit" to which we trust as furnishing evidence of piety is truly the Spirit of God or is a spirit of delusion.
There are two principal subjects discussed in this chapter:
I. The method by which we may determine that we have the Spirit of God. Ver. 1-6. The apostle had said (chap. ill. 24) that it could be determined that God dwells in them by the Spirit which he has given them; but as it is probable that the teachers of error, the persons whom John regarded as "Antichrist" (chap, ii. 18, 19), would lay claim to the same thing, it was important to know how it could be ascertained that the Spirit of God had been really given to them, or how it could be determined that the spirit that was in them was not the spirit of Antichrist, the very thing against which he would guard them. In doing this he (1) cautions them against trusting to every kind of spirit, or supposing that every spirit which animated even the professed friends of religion was the" Spirit of God (ver. 1); and (2) he shows them how it might be determined that they had really the Spirit of God, or what would be the effect of the influences of the Spirit on the mind. This evidence consisted of the following things: (a) They had the Spirit of God who confessed that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh (ver. 2); (b) they who denied that had not the Spirit of God, and the denial of this was the real spirit of Antichrist (ver. 3); (c) they who had the Spirit of God had not the spirit of this world (vs. 4, 5); and (d) they who had the Spirit of God would hear those who were his apostles, or who were sent by him (ver. 6).
II. The duty, power, and influence of love. Ver. 7-21. This is a favorite subject with John, and he here considers it at length as a subject that was essential in determining the evidences of piety. The duty and value of love are enforced by the following considerations: (l.)Love has its origin in God, and every one who has true love is born of God. Vs. 7, 8. (2.) God has shown his great love to us by giving his Son to die for us, and as he has so loved us we ought also to love one another. Ver. 9-11. (3.) If we love one another it furnishes the best evidence that God dwells in us. Ver. 12-15. (4.) God is love; and if we have true love, we dwell in him and he dwells in us. Ver. 16. (5.) Love will furnish us great advantage in the day of judgment, by giving us confidence when we come before him. Ver. 17. (6.) Love will cast out all fear, and will make our minds calm in view of the events which are to come. Ver. 18. (7.) The very fact that he has first manifested his love to us should lead us to the exercise of love. Ver. 19. (8.) A man can not truly love God and yet hate his brother. Ver. 20. (9.) It is the solemn command of God that he who loves God should love his brother also. Ver. 21.
1. Beloved, believe not every spirit. Do not confide implicitly in every one who professes to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Comp. Matt. xxiv. 4, 5. The true and the false teachers of religion alike claimed to be under the influence of the Spirit of God, and it was of importance that all such pretensions should be examined. It was not to be admitted because any one claimed to have been sent from God that therefore he was sent. Every such claim should be
BELOVED, believe a not every spirit, but try h the spirits whether they are of God; because e many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every d spirit that COllfeSS-
subjected to the proper proof before it was conceded. All pretensions to divine inspiration or to being authorized teachers of religion were to be examined by the proper tests, because there were many false and delusive teachers who set up such claims in the world. H But try the spirits whether they are of God. There were those in the early Christian Church who had the gift of" discerning spirits " (see Notes on 1 Cor. xii. 10), but it is not certain that the apostle refers here to any such supernatural power. It is more probable, as he addresses this command to Christians in general, that he refers to the ability of doing this by a comparison of the doctrines which they professed to hold with what was revealed, and by the fruits of their doctrines in their lives. If they taught what God had taught in his Word, if their lives corresponded with his requirements, and if their doctrines agreed with what had been inculcated by those who were admitted to be true apostles (ver. 6), they were to receive them as what they professed to be. If not, they were to reject them and hold them to be impostors. It may be remarked that it is just as proper and as important now to examine the claims of all who profess to be teachers of religion as it was then. In a matter so momentous as religion, and where there is' so much at stake, it is important that all pretensions of this kind should be subjected to a rigid examination. No man should be "received as a religious teacher without the clearest evidence that he has come in accordance with the will of God, nor unless he inculcate the very truth which God has revealed. See Notes on Isa. viii. 20; and Acts xvii. 11. TJ Because many false prophets are gone out into the world. The word prophet is often used in the New Testament to denote religious instructors or preachers. See Notes on Rom. xii. 6. Comp. Notes on 2 Pet. ii. 1. Such false teachers evidently abounded in the times here referred to. See Notes on chap. ii. 18. The meaning is that many had gone out into the world pretending to be true teachers of religion, but who inculcated most dangerous doctrines, and it was their duty to be on their guard against them, for they had the very spirit of Antichrist. Ver. 3.
2. Hereby. Gr., " By this;" that is, by the test which is immediately specified. If Know ye the Spirit of God. You may discern who are actuated by the Spirit of God. T Every spirit. Every one professing to be under the influence of the Spirit of God. The apostle uses the word spirit here with reference to the person who made the claim, on the supposition that every one professing to be a religious teacher was animated by some spirit or foreign influence, good or bad. If the Spirit of God influenced them, they would confess that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh; if some other spirit, the spirit of error and deceit, they would deny this. *fi That confesseth. That is, that makes a proper acknowledgment of this; that inculcates this doctrine, and that gives it a due place and prominence in his instructions. It can not be supposed that a mere statement of this in words would show that they were of God in the sense that they were true Christians; but the sense is that if this constituted one of the doctrines which they held and taught, it would show that they were advocates of truth, and not apostles of error. If they did not do this (ver. 3), it would be decisive in regard to their character and claims. If That Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Benson and some others propose to render this, "That Jesus, who came in the flesh, is the Christ." But this is liable to serious objections: (l.)It is not the obvious interpretation. (2.) It is unusual to say that u Jesus had come in the flesh," though the expression "the Son of God has cojne in the flesh," or "God was manifested in the flesh," would be in accordance with the usage of the New Testament. (3.) This would not meet the real point in the case. The thing denied does not appear to ctli that Jesus Christ is come in I eth not that Jesus Christ is come the flesh, is of God: j in the flesh, is not of God: and
3 And every spirit that confess- j this is that spirit of antichrist,
have been that Jesus was the Messiah, for their pretending to be Christian teachers at all implied that they admitted this, but that the Son of God was really a man, or that he actually assumed human nature in permanent union with the divine. The point of the remark made by the apostle is that the acknowledgment was to be that Christ had assumed human nature; that he was really a man as he appeared to be; that there was a real incarnation, in opposition to the opinion that he came in appearance only, or that he merely seemed to be a man, and that he suffered and died in appearance only. That this opinion was held by many, see the Introd., § 3, 2. It is quite probable that the apostle here refers to such sentiments as those just mentioned— the doctrines of the Docctce— and that he meant to teach that it was indispensable to proper evidence that any one came from God that he should maintain that Jesus was truly a man, or that there was a real incarnation of the Son of God, and that he suffered in reality, and not in appearance only. John always regarded this as a very important point, and often refers to it: John xix. 34, 35; xx. 25-27; 1 John v. 6. This is as important to be held now as it was then, for the fact that there was a real incarnation is essential to all just views of the atonement. If he were not truly a man, if he did not literally shed his blood on the cross, of course all that was done was in appearance only, and the whole system of redemption as revealed was merely a splendid illusion. There is little danger that this opinion will be held now, for those who depart from the doctrine laid down in the New Testament in regard to the person and work of Christ are more disposed to embrace the opinion that he was a mere man; but still it is important that the truth that he was truly incarnate should be held up constantly before the mind, for in no other way can we obtain just views of the atonement. H Is of God. This does not necessarily mean that every one who confessed this was personally a true Christian, for it is clear that a doctrine might be acknowledged to be true and yet that the heart might not be changed; nor does it mean that the acknowledgment of this truth was all which it was essential to believe in order that one might be recognized as a Christian; but it means that it was essential that this truth should be admitted by every one who truly came from God. They who taught this held a truth which he had revealed, and which was essential to be held; and they thus showed that they did not belong to those to whom the name "Antichrist" could be properly given. Still, whether they held this doctrine in such a sense and in such connection with other doctrines as to show that they were sincere Christians was quite another question, for it is plain that a man may hold and teach the true doctrines of religion and yet have no evidence that he is a child of God.
3. And every spirit that confesseth not, etc. That is, this doctrine is essential to the Christian system, and he who does not hold it can not be regarded either as a Christian or be recognized as a Christian teacher. If he were not a man, then all that occurred in his life, in Gethsemane, and on the cross, was in appearance only, and was assumed only to delude the senses. There were no real sufferings; there was no shedding of blood; there was no death on the cross, and, of course, there was no atonement. A mere show, an appearance assumed, a vision, could not make atonement for sin; and a denial, therefore, of the doctrine that the Son of God had come in the flesh was in fact a denial of the doctrine of expiation for sin. The Latin Vulgate here reads qui solvit Jesum — " who dissolves or divides Jesus;" and Socrates (II E., vii., 32) says that in the old copies of the New Testament it is written o \6ti tuv 'Inaovv — "who dissolves or divides Jesus;" that is, who separates his true nature or person, or who supposes that there were two Christs, one in appearance and one in reality. This reading was early found in some MSS., and is referred to by many of the fathers (see Wetstein), but it has
whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome" them: because greater is he that is in you, than, he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world ^therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
no real authority, and was evidently introduced, perhaps at first from a marginal note, to oppose the prevailing errors of the times. The common reading, " who confesseth not," is found in all the Gr. MSS., in the Syriac versions, in the Arabic; and, as Liicke says, the other reading is manifestly of Latin origin. The common reading in the text is that which is sustained by authority, and is entirely in accordance with the manner of John. 1[ And this is that spirit of Antichrist. This is one of the things which characterize Antichrist. John here refers not to an individual who should be known as Antichrist, but to a class of persons. This does not, however, forbid the idea that there might be some one individual, or a succession of persons in the Church, to whom the name might be applied by way of eminence. See Notes on chap. ii. 18. Comp. Notes on 2 Thess. ii. 3, seq. 1" Whereof ye have heard that it should come. See Notes on chap. ii. 18.
4. Ye are of God. You are of his family; you have embraced his truth, and imbibed his spirit. 1[ Little children. See Notes on chap. ii. 1. *[[ And have overcome them. Have triumphed over their arts and temptations; their endeavors to draw you into error and sin. The word "them" in this place seems to refer to the false prophets or teachers who collectively constituted Antichrist. The meaning is that they had frustrated or thwarted all their attempts to turn them away from the truth. If Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. God, who dwells in }7our hearts, and by whose strength and grace alone you have been enabled to achieve this victory, is more mighty than Satan, who rules in the hearts of the people of this world, and whose seductive arts are seen in the efforts of these false teachers. The apostle meant to say that it was by no power of their own that they achieved this victory, but it was to be traced solely to the fact that God dwelt among them, and that he had preserved them by his grace. What was true then is true now. He who dwells in the hearts of Christians by his Spirit is infinitely more mighty than Satan, "the ruler of the darkness of this world," and victory, therefore, over all his arts and temptations will be sure. In his conflicts with sin, temptation, and error, the Christian should never despair, for his God will insure him the victory.
5. They are of the world. This was one of the marks by which those who had the spirit of Antichrist might be known. They belonged not to the Church of God, but to the world. They had its spirit; they acted on its principles; they lived for it. Comp. Notes on chap. ii. 15. If llierefore speak they of the world. Comp. Notes on chap. iii. 31. This may mean either that their conversation pertained to the things of this world, or that they were wholly influenced by the love of the world, and not by the Spirit of God, in the doctrines which they taught. The general sense is that they had no higher ends or aims than they have who are influenced only by worldly plans and expectations. It is not difficult to distinguish, even among professed Christians and Christian teachers, those who are heavenly in their conversation from those who are influenced solely by the spirit of the world. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and the general turn of a man's conversation will show what " spirit is within him." H And the world heareth them. The people of the world — the gay, the rich, the proud, the ambitious, the sensual — receive their instructions and recognize them as teachers and guides, for their views accord with their own. See Notes on John xv. 19. A professedly religious teacher may always determine much about himself by knowing what class of people are pleased with him. A professed Christian of any station in life may determine much about his evidences of piety by asking himself what kind
6 We are of God: lie that knoweth God, heareth us; he that is not of God, heareth not us. Here-
of persons desire his friendship and wish him for a companion.
G. We are of God. John here doubtless refers to himself, and to those who taught the same doctrines which he did. He takes it for granted that those to whom he wrote would admit this, and argues from it as an indisputable truth. He had given them such evidence of this as to establish his character and claims beyond a doubt, and he often refers to the fact that he was what he claimed to be as a point which was so well established that no one would call it in question. See John xix. 35; xxi. 24; 3 John 12. Paul, also, not unfrequently refers to the same thing respecting himself; to the fact— a fact which no one would presume to call in question, and which might be regarded as the basis of an argument— that he and his fellowapostles were what they claimed to be. See 1 Cor. xv. 14, 15; 1 Thess. ft 1-11. Might not, and should not, all Christians so live that the same thing might be assumed in regard to them in their intercourse with their fellow-men? that their character for integrity and purity was so clear that no one would be disposed to call it in question? There are such men in the Church now; why might they not all be such? If lie that knoweth God, heareth us. Every one that has a true acquaintance with the character of God will receive our doctrine. John might assume this, for it was not doubted, he presumed, that he was an apostle and a good man; and if this were admitted, it would follow that those who feared and loved God would receive what he taught. 1 Hereby. By this; to wit, by the manner in which they receive the doctrines which we have taught. U Know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. We can distinguish those who embrace the truth Yrom those who do not. Whatever pretensions they might set up for piety, it was clear that if they did not embrace the doctrines taught by the true apostles of God they could not be regarded as his friends; that is, as true'Christians. It may be added that the same test is applicable now. They who do not receive the
by a know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love * one an-
plain doctrines laid down in the Word of God, whatever pretensions they may make to piety, or whatever zeal they may evince in the cause which they have espoused, can have no wellfounded claims to the name Christian. One of the clearest evidences of true piety is a readiness to receive all that God has taught. Comp. Matt, xviii. 1-3; Mark x. 15; James i. 19-21.
7. Beloved, let us love one another. This verse introduces a new topic, the consideration of which occupies the remainder of the chapter. See the Analysis. The subject is one on which John dwells more than on any other — that of love. His own character peculiarly inclined him to the exercise of love, and the remarkable affection which the Lord Jesus had shown for him seems to have had the effect to give this grace a peculiar prominence in his views of what constituted true religion. Comp. John xiii. 23. On the duty here enjoined, see Notes on John xiii. 34, 35, and 1 John iii.11,23. ^For love is of God. (l.)All true love has its origin in God. (2.) Real love shows that we have his Spirit, and that we belong to him. (3.) It assimilates us to God, or 'makes us more and more like him. What is here said by the apostle is based on the truth of what he elsewhere affirms (ver. 8), that God is love. Hatred, envy, wrath, malice — all have their source in something else than God. He neither originates them, commends them, nor approves them. H And every one that loveth, is born of God. Is a regenerated man. That is, every one who has true love to Christians as such, or true brotherly love, is a real Christian. This can not mean that every one that loves his wife and children, his classmate, his partner in business, or his friend— his house or his farm, or his horses or his hounds — is a child of God; it must be understood as referring to the point under discussion. A man may have a great deal of natural affection toward his kindred, a great deal of benevolence in his character toward the poor and needy, and still he may have none of the love to which John refers. He may have no real love to God, to the other: for love is of God; and every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God a is love.
9 In this6 was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that c we might
Saviour, or to the children of God as such, and it would be absurd for such a one to argue because he loves his wife and children that therefore he loves God, or is born again.
8. He that loveth not, knoweth not God. Has no true acquaintance with God; has no just views of him, and no right feelings toward him. The reason for this is implied in what is immediately stated, that " God is love," and of course if they have no love reigning in their hearts they can not pretend to be like him. H For God is love. He is not merely benevolent; he is benevolence itself. Comp. Notes on 2 Cor. xiii. 11. Never was a more important declaration made than this; never was more meaning crowded into a few words than in this short sentence— God is love. In the darkness of this world of sin, in the sorrows that come now upon the race and that will come upon the wicked hereafter, we have the assurance that a God of infinite benevolence rules over all; and though we may not be able to reconcile all that occurs with this declaration, or see how the things which he has permitted to take place are consistent with it, yet in the exercise of faith on his own declarations we may find consolation in believing that it is so, and may look forward to a period when all the universe will see it to be so. In the midst of all that occurs on the earth of sadness, sin, and sorrow, there are abundant evidences that God is love. In the original structure of things before sin entered, when all was pronounced "good;" in the things designed to promote happiness, where the only thing contemplated is happiness, and where it would have been as easy to have caused pain; in the preservation of a guilty race, and in granting that race the opportunity of another trial; in the ceaseless provision which God is making in his providence for the wants of unnumbered millions of his creatures; in the arrangements made to alleviate sorrow, and to put an end to it; in the gift of a Saviour more than all, and in the offer of eternal life on terms simple and easy to be complied with — in all these things, which are the mere expression of love, not one of which would have been found under the government of a malignant being, we see illustrations of the sublime and glorious sentiment before us, that " God is love." Even in this world of confusion, disorder, and darkness, we have evidence sufficient to prove that he is benevolent; but the full glory and meaning of that truth will be seen only in heaven. Meantime let us hold on to the truth that he is love. Let us believe that he sincerely desires our good, and that what seems dark to us may be designed for our welfare; and amid all the sorrows and disappointments of the present life let us feel that our interests and our destiny are in the hands of a God of love.
9. In this was manifested the love of God. That is, in an eminent manner, or this was a most signal proof of it. The apostle does not mean to say that it has been manifested in no other way, but that this was so prominent an instance of his love that all the other manifestations of it seem to be absorbed and lost in this. H Because that God sent his only-begotten So?i, etc. See Notes on John iii. 16. H That we might live through him. He died that we might have eternal life through the merits of his sacrifice. The measure of that love, then, which was manifested in the gift of a Saviour is to be found (1) in the worth of the soul;
(2) in its exposure to eternal death;
(3) in the greatness of the gift; (4) in the intensity of his sorrows for us; and (5) in the immortal blessedness and joy to which he will raise us. Who can estimate all this? All these things will magnify themselves as we draw near to eternity; and in that eternity to which we go, whether saved or lost, we shall have an ever-expanding view of the love
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to oe the propitiation a for our sins.
11 Beloved, if b God so love'd us, we ought also to love one another.
12 No c man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected d in us.
13 Hereby 'know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, be-
if this had done all that love can do. 1 Not that we loved Ood. Not that wc were in such a state that we might suppose he would make such a sacrifice for us; but just the opposite. If we had loved and obeyed him, we might have had reason to believe that he would be willing to show his love to us in a corresponding manner. But we were alienated from him. We had even no desire for his friendship and favor. In this state he showed the greatness of his love for us by giving his Son to die for his enemies. See Notes on Rom. v. 7, 8. H But that he loved us. Not that he approved our character, but that he desired our welfare. He loved us, not with the love of complacency, but with the love of benevolence. If And sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. On the meaning of the word propitiation, see Notes on Rom. iii. 25. Comp. Notes on 1 John ii. 2.
11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (1.) Because he is so much exalted above us, and if he has loved those who were so inferior and so unworthy, we ought to love those who are on a level with us; (2) because it is only in this way that we can show that we have his Spirit; and (3) because it is the nature of love to seek the happiness of all. There are much stronger reasons why we should love one another than there were why God should love us, and unless we do this we can have no evidence that we are his children.
12. No man hath seen Ood at any time. See Notes on John i. 18, where the same declaration occurs. The statement seems to be made here In order to introduce a remark to show in what way we may know that we have any true knowledge of God. The idea is, "He has never indeed been seen by nnfttal eyes — we are not then to expect to become acquainted with what he is in that way; but there is a method by which we may be assured that we have a true knowledge of him, and that is by evidence that we love one another, and by the presence of his Spirit in our hearts. We can not become acquainted with him by sight, but wc. may by love." 1 If we love one another, God dwelleth in tis. Though we can not see him, yet there is a way by which we may be assured that he is near us, and that he even dwells in us. That way is by the exercise of love. Comp. Notes on John xiv. 23, 24. If And his love is perfected in us. Is carried out to completion. That is, our love for each other is the proper exponent of love to him reigning in our hearts. The idea here is not that we are absolutely perfect, or even that'our love is perfect, whatever may be true on those points, but that this love to others is the proper carrying out of our love toward him; that is, without this our love to him would not have accomplished what it was adapted and designed to do. Unless it produced this effect, it would be defective or incomplete. Comp. ver. 17. The general sense is this: " We claim to have the love of God in our hearts, or that we are influenced and controlled by love. But however high and exalted that may seem to be as exercised toward God, it would be defective — it would not exert a fair influence over us — unless it led us to love our Christian brethren. It would be like the love which we might profess to have for a father if it did not lead us to love our brothers and sisters. True love will diffuse itself over all who come within its range, and will thus become complete and entire." This passage, therefore, can not be adduced to demonstrate the doctrine of sinless perfection, or to prove that Christians are ever absolutely perfect in this life. It proves only that love to God is not complete, or fully developed, unless it lead those who- profess to have it to love each other. See Notes on Job i. 1. On the meaning of the Greek cause he hath given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to he the Saviour of the
15 Whosoever a shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God * is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
word here used (teXeiow), see Notes on Phil. hi. 12. Comp. Notes on Heb. ii. 10.
13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him. Here is another, or an additional evidence of it. T] Because he hath given us of his Spirit. He has imparted the influences of that Spirit to our souls, producing " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," etc. Gal. v. 22, 23. It was one of the promises which the Lord Jesus made to his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them after he should be withdrawn from them (John xiv. 16, 17, 26; xv. 26; xvi. 7); and one of the Clearest evidences which we can have that we are the children of God is derived from the influences of that Spirit on our hearts. See this sentiment illustrated in the Notes on Rom. viii. 16.
14. And we have seen. See Notes on chap. i. 1. T[ And do testify. See Notes on chap. i. 3. That is, we who are apostles bear witness to you of this great truth, that God has sent his Son to be a Saviour. Comp. Notes on John xx. 31. The reason why this is referred to here is not quite apparent, but the train of thought in the passage would seem to be this: The writer is discoursing of the love of God, and of its manifestation in the gift of the Saviour, and of the proper influence which it should have on us. Struck with the greatness and importance of the subject, his mind adverts to the evidence on which what he was saying rested— the evidence that the Father had really thus manifested his love. That evidence was that he had actually seen him who had been sent, and that he had thus had the clearest demonstration that what he deemed so important had really occurred.
15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God. In the true sense, and from the heart. This will always prove that a man is a Christian. But the passage can not mean that if he merely say so in words, or if he do it insincerely, or without any proper sense of the truth, it will prove that he is a Christian. On the meaning of the sentiment here expressed, see Notes on ver. 2. Comp. Notes on Rom. x.10.
16. And we have known and believed, etc. We all have assurance that God has loved us, and we have the fullest belief in the great fact of redemption by which he has manifested his love to us. H God is love. See Notes on ver. 8. It is not uncommon for John to repeat an important truth. He delights to dwell on such a truth as that which is here expressed; and who should not? What truth is there on which the mind can dwell with more pleasure? what is there that is better fitted to win the heart to holiness? what that will do more to sustain the soul in the sorrows and trials of this life? In our trials; in the darkness which is around us; in the perplexities which meet and embarrass us in regard to the divine administration; in all that seems to us incomprehensible in this world and in the prospect of the next, let us learn to repeat this declaration of the favored disciple, uGod is love." What trials may wre not bear if we feel assured of that? what dark cloud that seems to hang over our way and to involve all things in gloom will not be bright if from the depths of our souls we £an always say, as he did, uGod is love?" 1 And he that dwelleth iii love, etc. Religion is all love. God is love; he has loved us; we are to love him; we are to love one another; we are to love the whole world. Heaven is filled with love, and there is nothing else there. The earth is filled with love just as far as religion prevails, and would be entirely if it should prevail every where. Love would remove all the corrupt passions, the crimes, the jealousies, the wars on the earth, and would diffuse around the globe the bliss of heaven. If a man, therefore, is actuated by this,
17 Herein is l our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love: but
perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment. He that fcareth, js not made perfect in lope. 19 We love him, because he a first loved us.
he has the spirit of the heavenly world reigning in his soul, and lives in an atmosphere of love.
17. Herein is our love made perfect. Marg., love with us. The margin accords with the Greek (piS' hfuav). The meaning is, "The love that is within us, or in us, is made perfect." The expression is unusual, but the general idea is that love is rendered complete or entire in the manner in which the apostle specifies. In this way love becomes what it should be, and will prepare us to appear with confidence before the judgement-seat. Compare Notes on ver. 12. If That we may have boldness in the day of judgment. By the influence of love in delivering us from the fear of the wrath to come. Ver. 18. The idea is that he who has true love to God will have nothing to fear in the day of judgment, and may even approach the awful tribunal where he is to receive the sentence which shall determine his everlasting destiny without alarm. 1[ Because as he is, so are we in this world. That is, we have the same traits of character which the Saviour had, and, resembling him, we need not be alarmed at the prospect of meeting him.
18. There is no fear in love. Love is not an affection which produces fear. In the love which we have for a parent, a child, a friend, there is no fear. If a man had perfect love to God, he would have no fear of any thing— for what would he have to dread V He would have no fear of death, for he would have nothing to dread beyond the grave. It is guilt that makes men fear what is to come; but he whose sins are pardoned, and whose heart is filled with the love of God, has nothing to dread in this world or the world to come. The angels in heaven, who have always loved God and one another, have no fear, for they have nothing to dread in the future; the redeemed in heaven, rescued from all danger, and filled with the love of God, have nothing to dread; and as far as that same love operates on earth, it delivers the soul now from all apprehension of what is to come. *[[ But perfect love casteth out fear. That is, love that is complete, or that is allowed to exert its proper influence on the soul. As far as it exists, its tendency is to deliver the mind from alarms. If it should exist in any soul in, an absolutely perfect state, that soul would be entirely free from all dread in regard.to the future. H Because fear hath torment. It is a painful and distressing emotion. Thus men suffer from the fear of poverty, of losses, of bereavement, of sickness, of death, and of future woe. From all these distressing apprehensions that love of God which furnishes an evidence of true piety delivers us. 1 He thatfeareth, is not made perfect in love. He about whose mind there lingers the apprehension of future wrath shows that love in his soul has not accomplished its full work. Perhaps it never will on any soul until we reach the heavenly world,though there are many minds so full of love to God as to be prevailingly delivered from fear.
19. We love him, because he first loved us. This passage is susceptible of two explanations, either (1) that the fact that he first loved us is the ground or reason why we love him; or (2) that as a matter of fact we have been brought to love him in consequence of the love which he has manifested toward us, though the real ground of our love may be the excellence of his own character. If the former be the meaning, and if that were the oidy ground of love, then it would be mere selfishness(comp.Matt.v.46,47),andit can not be believed that John meant to teach that that is the only reason of our love to God. It is true, indeed, that that is a proper ground of love, or that we are bound to love God in proportion to the benefits which we have received from his hand. But, still, genuine love to God is something which can not be explained by the mere fact that we have received favors from him. The true, the original ground of love to God, is the excellence of his own character, apart from
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how a can he love God whom he hath not seen.
21 And this commandment have we from him, That h he who loveth God love his brother also.
the question whether we are to be benefited or not. There is that in the divine nature which a holy being will love, apart from the benefits which he is to receive, and from any thoughts even of his own destiny. It seems to me, therefore, that John must have meant here, in accordance with the second interpretation suggested above, that the fact that we love God is to be traced to the means which he has used to bring us to himself, but without saying that this is the sole, or even the main reasonwhy we love him. It was his love manifested to us by sending his Son to redeem us which will explain the fact that we now love him; but, still, the real ground or reason why we love him is the infinite excellence of his own character. It should be added here that many suppose that the Greek words rendered " we love " (j;/xeT§ ayaTru>/x£v) are not in the indicative, but in the subjunctive, and that this is an exhortation—"let us love him, because he first loved us." So the Syriac, the Arabic, and the Vulgate read it; and so it is understood by Benson, Grotius, and Bloomfield. The main idea would not be essentially different; and it is a proper ground of exhortation to love God because he has loved us, though the highest ground is because his character is infinitely worthy of love.
20. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother. His Christian brother; or, in a larger sense, any man. The sense is that no man, whatever may be his professions and pretensions, can have any true love to God unless he love his brethren. If He is a liar. Comp. Notes on chap. i. 6. It is not necessary, in order to a proper interpretation of this passage, to suppose that he intentionally deceives. The sense is that this must be a false profession. If For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, etc. It is more reasonable to expect that we should love one whom we have seen and known personally than that we should love one whom we have not seen. The apostle is arguing from human nature as it is, and every one feels that we are more likely to love one with whom we are familiar than one who is a stranger. If a professed Christian, therefore, does not love one who bears the divir.e image whom he sees and knows, how can he love that God whose image he bears whom he has not seen? Comp. Notes on chap. iii. 17.
21. And this commandment have we from him. That is, the command to love a brother is as obligatory as that to love God. If one is obeyed, the other ought to be also; if a man feel that one is binding on him, he should feel that the other is also; and he can never have evidence that he is a true Christian unless he manifest love to his brethren as well as love to God. See Notes on James ii. 10. If That he who loveth God love his brother also. See Notes on John xiii. 34, 35. Comp. John xv. 12, 17.
This chapter embraces the following subjects: I. A continuance of the discussion about love. Ver. 1-3. These verses should have been attached to the previous chapter. II. The victory which is achieved over the world by those who are born of God. The grand instrumentality by which this is done is by the belief that Jesus is the Son of God. Vs. 4, 5. III. The evidence that Jesus is the Son of God, or the means by which that truth is so believed as to secure a victory over the world. Ver. 4-12. In this part of the chapter the apostle goes fully into the nature of this evidence, or the ways in which the Christian becomes so thoroughly convinced of it as to give to faith this power. He refers to these sources of evidence: (a) The witness of the Spirit. Ver. 6. (b) The record borne in heaven. Ver. 7— if that verse be genuine, (c) The evidence borne on earth, by the Spirit, the water, and the blood— all bearing witness to that one truth, (d)
WHOSOEVER "believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we
The credit which is due to the testimony of God, or which the soul pays to it. Ver. 8. (<?) The fact that he who believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself. Ver. 10. (/) The amount of the record, that God lias given to us eternal life through his Son. Vs. 11, 12. IV. The reason why all this was written by the ^apostle. Ver. 13. It was that they might know that they had eternal life, and might believe on the name of the Saviour. V. The effect of this in leading us to the throne of grace with the assurance that God will hear us and will grant our requests. Vs. 14, 15. VI. The power of prayer, and the duty of praying for those who have sinned. The encouragement to this is that there are many sins which are not unto death, and that we may hope that God will be merciful to those who have not committed the unpardonable offense. Vs. 16, 17. VII. A summary of all that the apostle had said to them, or of the points of which they were sure in the matter of salvation. Ver. 18-20. They knew that those who are born of God do not sin; that the wicked one can not permanently injure them; that they were of God while all the world lay in wickedness; that the Son of God had come, and that they were truly united to that Saviour who is the true God, and who is eternal life. VIII. An exhortation to keep. themselves from all idolatry. Ver. 21.
1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ. Is the Messiah; the anointed of God. On the meaning of the word Christ, see Notes on Matt. i. 1. Of course it is meant here that the proposition that "Jesus is the Christ" should be believed or received in the true and proper sense in order to furnish evidence that any one is born of God. Comp. Notes on chap. iv. 3. It can not be supposed that a mere intellectual acknowledgment of the proposition that Jesus is the Messiah is all that is meant, for that is not the proper meaning of the word believe in the Scriptures. That word, in its ' justseuse,implies that the truth which I is believed 6hould make its fair and legitimate impression on the mind, or that we should feel and act as if it were true. See Notes on Mark xvi. j 16; Heb. xi. 1. If, in the proper sense J of the phrase, a man do believe that Jesus is the Christ, receiving him as he is revealed as the anointed of God and as a Saviour, it is undoubtedly true that that constitutes him a Christian, for that is what is required of a man in order that he may be saved. See Notes on Acts viii. 37. If Is born of God. Or, rather, "is begotten of God." See Notes on John iii. 3. H-Swd every one that loveth him that begat. That loves that God who has thus begotten those whom he has received as his children, and to whom he sustains the endearing relation of Father. If Loveth him also that is begotten of him. That is, he will love all the true children of God— all Christians. See Notes on chap. iv. 20. The general idea is that as all Christians are the children of the same Father; as they constitute one family; as they all bear the same image; as they share his favor alike; as they are under the same obligation of gratitude to him, and are bound to promote the same common cause, and are to dwell together in the same home forever, they should therefore love one another. As all the children in a family love their common father, so it should be in the great family of which God is the Head.
2. By this we know that we love the children of Gbd, etc. This is repeating the same truth in another form. "As it is universally true that if we love him who has begotten us we shall also love his children, or our Christian brethren, so it is true also that if we love his children it will follow that we love him." In other places the apostle says that we may know that we love God if we love those who bear his image. Chap. iii. 14. He here Bays that there is another way of determining what we are. We may have undoubted evidence that we love Cod, and from that, as the basis of an argument, we may infer that we have love God, and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that a we keep his commandments:
and his commandments are not6 grievous. 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh c the world: and this true love to his children. Of the fact that Ave may have evidence that we love God, apart from that which we derive from our love to his children, there can be no doubt. We maybe conscious of it; we may find pleasure in meditating on his perfections; we may feel sure that we are moved to obey him by true attachment to him, as a child may in reference to a father. But, it may be asked, how can it be inferred from this that we truly love his children? Is it not easier to ascertain this of itself than it is to determine whether we love God? Comp. chap. iv. 20. To this it may be answered that we may love Christians from many motives: we may love them as personal friends; we may love them because they belong to our church or sect or party; we may love them because they are naturally amiable; but the apostle says here that when we are conscious that an attachment does exist toward Christians, we may ascertain that it is genuine, or that it does not proceed from any improper motive,by the fact that we love God. We shall then love them as his children, whatever other grounds of affection there may be toward them. 1 And keep his commandments. See Notes on John xiv. 15.
3. For this is the love of God, that we keep 7iis commandments. This constitutes true love; this furnishes the evidence of it. 1 And his commandments are not grievous. Gr., heavy (fiaptiai); that is, difficult to be borne as a burden. See Matt. xi. 30. The meaning is, that his laws are not unreasonable; that the duties which he requires are not beyond our ability; that his government is not oppressive. It is easy to obey God when the heart is right; and those who endeavor in sincerity to keep his commandments do not complain that they are hard. All complaints of this kind come from those who are not disposed to keep his commandments. They, indeed, object that his laws are unreasonable; that they impose improper restraints; that they are not easily complied with; that the divine government is one of severity and injustice. But no such complaints come from true Christians. They find his service easier than the service of sin, and the laws of God more mild and more easy to be complied with than were those of fashion and honor which they once endeavored to obey. The service of God is freedom; the service of the world is bondage. No man ever yet heard a true Christian say that the laws of God requiring him to lead a holy life were stem and "grievous." But who has not felt this in regard to the inexorable laws of sin? What votary of the world would not say this if he spoke his real sentiments? Comp. Notes on John viii. 32.
4. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. The world, in its maxims and precepts and customs, does not rule him, but he is a freeman. The idea is that there is a conflict between religion and the world, and that in the heart of every true Christian religion secures the victory, or triumphs. In John xvi. 33 the Saviour says, " Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." See Notes on that verse. He obtained a complete triumph over him "who rules the darkness of the world," and laid the foundation for a victory by his people over all vice, error, and sin. John makes this affirmation of all who are born of God. "Whatsoever," ©r, as the Greek is, "Every thing which is begotten of God" (ttuv to ytytvrifUvov); meaning to affirm undoubtedly that in every instance where one is truly regenerated there is this victory over the world. See Notes on James iv. 4; 1 John ii. 15, 16. It is one of the settled maxims of religion that every man who is a true Christian gains a victory over the world, and consequently a maxim as settled that where the spirit of the world reigns supremely in the heart there is no true religion. But, if this be a true principle, how many professed Christians are there who are strangers to all claims of piety; for how many are there who are wholly governed by the is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the spirit of this world! 1 And this is the victory. This is the source or means of the victory which is thus achieved. If Even our faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (vcr. 5). He overcame the world (John xvi. 33), and it is by that faith which makes us one with him, and that imbues us with his Spirit, that we are able to do it also. 5. Who is he? etc. Where is there one who can pretend to have obtained a victory over the world except he who believes in the Saviour? All else are worldly, and are governed by worldly aims and principles. It is true that a man may gain a victory over one worldly passion; that he may subdue some one evil propensity; that he may abandon the gay circle, may break away from habits of profaneness; that he may leave the company of the unprincipled and polluted; but still, unless he have faith in the Son of God, the spirit of the world will reign supreme in his soul in some form. The appeal which John so confidently made in his time may be as confidently made now. We may ask, as he did, where is there one who shows that he has obtained a complete victory over the world except the true Christian? Where is there one whose end and aim is not the present life? Where is there one who shows that his purposes in regard to this world are made subordinate to the world to come? There are those now, as there were then, who break away from one form of sin, and from one circle of sinful companions; there are those who change the ardent passions of youth for the soberness of middle or advanced life; there are those who see the folly of profaneness and of gayety and intemperance; there are those who are disappointed in some scheme of ambition, and who withdraw from political conflicts; there are those who are satiated with pageantry, and who, oppressed with the cares of state, as Diocletian and Charles V. were, retire from public life; and there are those whose hearts are crushed and broken by losses, and by the death, or what is worse than death, by the ingratitude of their children, and who cease to cherish the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? G This is he that came a by water fond hope that their family will be honored and their name perpetuated in those whom they tenderly loved — but still there is no victory over the world. Their deep dejection, their sadness, their brokenness of spirit, their lamentations, and their want of cheerfulness, all show that the spirit of the world still reigns in their hearts. If the calamities which have come upon them could be withdrawn, if the days of prosperity could be restored, they would show as much of the spirit of the world as they ever did, and would pursue its follies and its vanities as greedily as they had done before. Not many years or months elapse before the worldly mother who has followed one daughter to the grave will introduce another into the gay world with all the brilliancy which fashion prescribes. Not long will a worldly father mourn over the death of a son before, in the whirl of business and the exciting scenes of ambition, he will show that his heart is as much wedded to the world as it ever was. If such sorrows and disappointments conduct to the Saviour, as they sometimes do; if they lead the troubled mind to seek peace in his blood, and support in the hope of heaven, then a real victory is obtained over the world, and then, when the hand of affliction is withdrawn, it is seen that there has been a work of grace in the soul that has effectually changed all its feelings, and secured a triumph that will be eternal.
6. This is he. This Son of God referred to in the previous verse. The object of the apostle in this verse, in connection with verse 8, is to state the nature of the evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. He refers to three well-known things on which he probably had insisted much in his preaching— the water and the blood and the Spirit. These, he says, furnished evidence on the very point which he was illustrating, by showing that that Jesus on whom they believed was the Son of God. "This," says^ie, u is the same one, the very person to whom the well-known and important testimony is borne; to him, and him alone, these undisputed things apper- tain, and not to any other who should claim to be the Messiah, and they all agree on the same one point." Ver. 8. H That came (6 i\$d>v). This does not mean that when he came into the world he was accompanied in some way by water and blood, but the idea is that the water and the blood were clearly manifest <*uring his appearing on earth, or that they were remarkable testimonials in some way to his character and work. An embassador might be said to come with credentials; a warrior might be said to come with the spoils of victory; a prince might be said to come with the insignia of royalty; a prophet comes with signs and wonders; and the Lord Jesus might also be said to have come with power to raise the dead, to heal diseases, and to cast out devils; but John here fixes the attention on a fact so impressive and remarkable in his view as to be worthy of special remark — that he came by water and blood. T[ By water. There have been many opinions in re- fard to the meaning of this phrase, ee Pool's Synopsis. Compare also Liicke, in loc. A mere reference to some of these opinions may aid in ascertaining the true interpretation. (1.) Clement of Alexandria supposed that by water regeneration and faith were denoted, and by blood the public acknowledgment of that. (2.) Some, and among them Wetstein,have held that the words are used to denote the fact that the Lord Jesus was truly a man, in contradistinction from the doctrine of the Docetai, and that the apostle means to say that he had all the properties of a human being — a spirit or soul, blood, and the watery humors of the body. (3.) Grotius supposes that by his coming "by water" there is reference to his pure life, as water is the emblem of purity; and he refers to Ezek. xxxvi. 25; Isa. i. 16; and Jer. iv. 14. As a sign of that purity, he says that John baptized him. John i. 28. A sufficient objection to this view is that as in the corresponding word blood there is undoubted reference to blood literally, it can not be supposed that the word water in the same connection would be used figuratively. Moreover, as Liicke (p. 287) has remarked, water, though a symbol of purity, is never used to denote purity itself, and therefore can not here refer to the pure life of Jesus. (4.) Many expositors suppose that the reference is to the baptism of Jesus, and that by his " coming by water and blood," as in the latter there is undoubted reference to his death, so in the former there is reference to his baptism, or to his entrance on his public work. Of this opinion were Tertullian, CEcumenius, Theophylact, among the fathers, and Capellus, Heumann, Stroth, Lange, Ziegler, Clarke, Bengel, Rosenmuller, Macknight, and others among the moderns. A leading argument for this opinion, as alleged, has been that it was then that the Spirit bare witness to him (Matt. iii. 16), and that this is what John here refers to when he says, "It is the Spirit that beareth witness," etc. To this view Liicke urges substantially the following objections: (a) That if it refer to baptism, the phrase would much more appropriately express the fact that Jesus came baptizing others, if that were so, than that he was baptized himself. The phrase would be strictly applicable to John the Baptist, who came baptizing, and whose ministry was distinguished for that (Matt. iii. 1); and if Jesus had baptized in the same manner, or if this had been a prominent characteristic of his ministry, it would be applicable to him. Comp. John iv. 2. But if it mean that he was baptized, and that he came in that way "by water," it was equally true of all the apostles who were baptized, and of all others, and there was nothing so remarkable in the fact that he was baptized as to justify the prominence given to the phrase in this place, (b) If reference be had here, as is supposed in this view of the passage, to the "witness" that was borne to the Lord Jesus on the occasion of his baptism, then the reference should have been not to the "water" as the witness, but to the " voice that came from heaven" (Matt, iii. 17), for it was that which was the witness in the case. Though this occurred at the time of the baptism, yet it was quite an independent thing, and was important enough to have been referred to. See Liicke, Commentar. in loc. These objections, however, are not insuperable. Though Jesus did not come baptizing others himself (John iv. 2), and though the phrase would have expressed that if he had, yet, as Christian baptism began with him, as this WW the first act in his entrance on public life, as it was by this that he was set apart to his work, and as he designed that this should be always the initiatory rite of his religion, there was no impropriety in saying that his " coming, or his advent in this world, was at the beginning characterized by water and at the close by blood. Moreover, though the "witness" at his baptism was really borne by a voice from heaven, yet his baptism was the prominent thing", and if we take the baptism to denote all that in fact occurred when he was baptized, the objections made by Liicke here vanisn. (5.) Some by the "water" here have understood the ordinance of baptism as it is appointed by the Saviour to be administered to his people, meaning that the ordinance was instituted by him. So Beza, Calvin, Piscator, Calovius, Wolf, Beausobre, Knapp, Liicke, and others understand it. According to this, the meaning would be that he appointed baptism by water as a symbol of the cleansing of the heart, and shed his blood to effect the ransom of man, and thus it might be said that he "came by water and blood;" to wit, by these two things as effecting the salvation of men. But it seems improbable that the apostle should have grouped these things together in this way. For (a) the "blood" is that which he shed, which pertained to him personally, which he poured out for the redemption of man; and it is clear that, whatever is meant by the phrase "Ae came" his coming by "water" is to be understood in some sense similar to his coming by "blood," and it seems incredible that the apostle should have joined a mere ordinance of religion in this way with the shedding of his blood, and placed them in this manner on an equality, (b) It can not be supposed that John meant to attach so much importance to baptism as would be implied by this. The shedding of his blood was essential to the redemption of men; can it be supposed that the apostle meant to teach that baptism by water is equally necessary? (c) If this be understood of baptism, there is no natural connection between that and the "blood" referred to; nothing by which the one would suggest the other; no reason why they should be united. If he had said that he "came" by the appointment of two ordinances for the edification of his Church, "baptism and the supper" however singular such a statement might be in some respects, yet there would be a connection— a reason why they should be suggested together. But why should baptism and the blood shed by the Saviour on the cross be grouped together as designating the principal things which characterized his coming into the world? (6.) There remains, then, but one other interpretation— to wit, that the apostle refers to the "water and the blood" which flowed from the side of the Saviour when he was pierced by the spear of the Roman soldier. John had himself laid great stress on this occurrence, and on the fact that he had himself witnessed it (see Notes on John xix. 34, 35); and as in these epistles he is accustomed to allude to more full statements made in his Gospel, it would seem most natural to refer the phrase to that event as furnishing a clear and undoubted proof of the death of the Saviour. This would be the obvious interpretation, and would be entirely clear if John did not immediately speak of the "water " andthe " blood" as separate witnesses, each as bearing witness to an important point — as separate as the " Spirit " and the "water," or the "Spirit" and the "blood;" whereas, if he refer to the mingled water and blood flowing from his side, they both witness only the same fact — to wit, his death. There was no special significance in the water— no distinct testifying to any thing different from the flowing of the blood; but together they bore witness to the one fact that he actually died. But here he seems to suppose that there is some special significance in each: " Not by water only, but by water and blood." "There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one." These considerations seem to me to make it probable, on the whole, that the fourth opinion, above referred to, and that which has been commonly held in the Christian Church, is correct, and that by the "water" the baptism of the Saviour is intended: his baptism as an emblem of his own purity; as significant of the nature of his religion; as a rite which was to be observed in his and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit a that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear
Church at all times. That furnished an important attestation to the fact that he was the Messiah (comp. Notes on Matt. iii. 15), for it was by that that he entered on his public work, and it was then that a remarkable testimony was borne to his being the Son of God. He himself "came" thus by water as an emblem of purity; and the water used in his Church in all ages in baptism, together with the "blood" and the "Spirit," bears public testimony to the pure nature of his religion. It is possible that the mention of the "water" in his baptism suggested to John also the water which flowed from the side of the Saviour at his death, intermingled with blood, and that though the primary thought in his mind was the fact that Jesus was baptized, and that an important attestation was then given to his Messiahship, yet he may have incidentally adverted to the fact that water performed so important a part, and was so important a symbol through all his work: water at his introduction to his work, as an ordinance in his Church, as symbolical of the nature of his religion, and even at his death, as a public attestation, in connection with flowing blood, to the fact that he truly died — died in reality, and not, as the Docetae pretended, in appearance only, thus completing the work of the Messiah, and making an atonement for the sins of the world. Comp. Notes on John xix. 34, 35. If And blood. Referring, doubtless, to the shedding of his blood on the cross. He "came" by that; that is, he was manifested by that to men, or that was one of the forms in which he appeared to men, or by which his coming into the world was characterized. The apostle means to say that the blood shed at his death furnished an important evidence or " witness " of what he was. In what way this was done, see Notes on ver. 8. If Not by water o?ily, but by water and blood. John the Baptist came " by water only;" that is, he came to baptize the people, and to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus was distinguished from him in the fact that his ministry was characterized by the shedding of blood, or that the shedding of his blood constituted one of the peculiarities of his work. U And it is the Spirit. Evidently the Holy Spirit. H That beareth witness. That is, he is the great witness in the matter, confirming all others. He bears witness to the soul that Jesus came "by water and blood," for that would not be received by us without his agency. In what way he does tnis, see Notes on ver. 8. 1 Because the Spirit is truth. Is so eminently true that he may be called truth itself, as God is so eminently benevolent that he may be called love itself. See Notes on chap. iv. 8.
7. For there are three that bear record in heaven, etc. There are three that witness, or that bear witness— the same Greek word which in ver. 8 is rendered bear witness {ixap-rvpowTts:). There is no passage of the New Testament which has given rise to so much discussion in regard to its genuineness as this. The supposed'importance of the verse in its bearing on the doctrine of the Trinity has contributed to this, and has given to the discussion a degree of consequence which has pertained to the examination of the genuineness of no other passage of the New Testament. On the one hand, the clear testimony which it seems to bear to the doctrine of the Trinity has made that portion of the Christian Church which holds the doctrine reluctant in the highest degree to abandon it; and on the other hand, the same clearness of the testimony to that doctrine has made those who deny it not less reluctant to admit the genuineness of the passage. It is not consistent with the design of these Notes to go into a full investigation of a question of this sort; and all that can be done is to state, in a brief way, the results which have been reached in an examination of the question. Those who are disposed to pursue the investigation further can find all that is to be said in the works referred to at the bottom of the page.* The portion of the passage in vs. 7, 8 whose genuineness is disputed is included in brackets in the following quotation, as it stands in the common editions of the New Testament: " For there are three that bear record [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth J, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one." If the disputed passage, therefore, be omitted as spurious, the whole will read, "For there are three that bear record, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one." The reasons which seem to me to prove that tlie.passage included in brackets is spurious, and should not be regarded as a part of the inspired writings, are briefly the following: I. It is wanting in all the earlier Greek manuscripts, for it is found in no Greek MS. written before flic sixteenth century. Indeed, it is found in only two Gree.k manuscripts of any age, one the Codex Montfortianus, or Brittanicus, written in the beginning of the sixteenth century,and the other the Codex Ravian us, which is a mere transcript of the text taken partly from the third edition of Stephen's New Testament, and partly from the Complutensian Polyglot. But it is incredible that a genuine passage of the New Testament should be wanting in all the early Greek manuscripts. II. It is wanting in the earliest versions, and, indeed, in a large part of the versions of the New Testament which have been made in all former times. It is wanting in both the Sy riac versions — one of which was made probably in the first century— in the Coptic, Armenian, Sclavonic, Ethiopic, and Arabic. III. It is never quoted by the Greek fathers in their controversies on the doctrine of the Trinity — a passage which would be so much in point, and which could not have failed to be quoted if it were genuine; and it is not referred to by the Latin fathers until the time of Vigilius, at the end of the fifth century. If the passage were believed to be genuine, nay, if it were known at all to be in existence, and to have any probability in its favor, it is incredible that in all the controversies which occurred in regard to the divine nature, and in all the efforts to define the doctrine of the Trinity, this passage should never have been referred to. But it never was, for it must be plain to any one who examines the subject with an unbiased mind that the passages which are relied on to prove that it was quoted by Athanasius, Cyprian, Augustine, etc. (Wctstein, ii., p. 725), are not taken from this place, and are not such as they would have made if they had been acquainted with this passage and had designed to quote it. IV. The argument against the passage from the external proof is confirmed by internal evidence, which makes it morally certain that it can not be genuine, (a) The connection does not demand it. It does not contribute to advance what the apostle is saying, but breaks the thread of his argument entirely. He is speaking of certain things which bear " witness " to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah; certain things which were well known to those to whom he was writing — the Spirit and the water and the blood. How does it contribute to strengthen the force of this to say that in heaven there are "three that bear witness"— three not before referred to, and having no connection with the matter under consideration? (6) The language is not such as John would use. He does, indeed, elsewhere use the term Logos, or Word (6 Xo'yos) (John i. 1, 14; 1 John i. 1), but it is never in this form, " The Father, and the Word;" that is, the terms "Father" and "Word" are never used by him, or by any of the other sacred writers, as correlative. The word Son (o ulos) is the term which is correlative to the Father in every other place as used by John, as well as by the other sacred writers. See 1 John i. 3; ii. 22, 23, 24; iv. 14; 2 John iii. 9, and the Gospel of John, passim. Besides, the correlative of the term Logos, or Word, with John is not Father, but Ood. See John i. 1. Comp. Rev. xix. 13. (c) Without this passage the sense of the argument is clear and appropriate. There are three, says John, that bear witness that Jesus is the Messiah. These are referred to in ver. 6, and in immediate
record in heaven, the Father," the | witness in earth, the Spirit/ and Word, h and the Holy Ghost: c and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear the water, « and the blood: /and these three agree in one. 9 If we receive the witness of
connection with this, In the argument (ver. 8), it is affirmed that their testimony goes to one point, and is harmonious. To say that there are other witnesses elsewhere, to say that they are one, contributes nothing to illustrate the nature of the testimony of these three— the water and the blood and the Spirit; and the internal sense of the passage, therefore, furnishes as little evidence of its genuineness as the external proof. V. It is easy to imagine how the passage found a place in the New Testament. It was at first written, perhaps, in the margin of some Latin manuscript, as expressing the belief of the writer of what was true in heaven as well as on earth, and with no more intention to deceive than we have when we make a marginal note in a book. Some transcriber copied it into the body of the text, perhaps with a sincere belief that it was a genuine passage, omitted by accident; and then it became too important a passage in the argument for the Trinity ever to be displaced but by the most clear critical evidence. It was rendered into Greek, and inserted in one Greek manuscript of the 16th century, while it was wanting in all the earlier manuscripts. VI. The passage is now omitted in the best editions of the Greek Testament, and regarded as spurious by the ablest critics. See Griesbach and Hahn. On the whole, therefore, the evidence seems to me to be clear that this passage is not a genuine portion of the inspired writings, and should not be appealed to in proof of the doctrine of the Trinity. One or two remarks may be made, in addition, in regard to its use. (1.) Even on the supposition that it is genuine, as Bengel believed it was, and as he believed that some Greek manuscript would yet be found which would contain it,* yet it is not wise to adduce it as
* "Et tameu etiam atque etiam sperare licet, si non antographum Joanneum, at alios vetustissimos codices Grsecos, qui hanc periocham habeant, in occultis providentise divinse forulis adhuc latentes suo tempore productum iri."
a proof-text. It would be much easier to prove the doctrine of the Trinity from other texts than to demonstrate the genuineness of this. (2.) It is not necessary as a proof-text. The doctrine which it contains can be abundantly established from other parts of the New Testament,by passages about which there can be no doubt. (3.) The removal of this text does nothing to weaken the evidence for the doctrine of the Trinity, or to modify that doctrine. As it was never used to shape the early belief of the Christian world on the subject, so its rejection and its removal from the New Testament will do nothing to modify that doctrine. The doctrine was embraced* and held and successfully defended without it, and it can and will be so still.
8. And there are three that bear witness in earth. This is a part of the text which, if the reasoning above is correct, is to be omitted. The genuine passage reads (ver. 7), "For there are three that bear record [or witness — fxapTvpovpris;], the Spirit, and the water, and the blood." There is no reference to the fact that it is done "in earthy The phrase was introduced to correspond with what was said in the interpolated passage, that there are three that bear record "in heaven." If The Spirit. Evidently the Holy Spirit. The assertion here is that that Spirit bears witness to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. Ver. 5. The testimony of the Holy Ghost to this fact is contained in the following things: (1.) He did it at the baptism of Jesus. See Notes on Matt. iii. 16, 17. (2.) Christ was eminently endowed with the influences of the Holy Spirit, as it was predicted that the Messiah would be, and as it was appropriate he should be. Isa. xi. 2; lxi. 1; Luke iv. 18; John iii. 34. (3.) The Holy Spirit bore witness to his Messiahship, after his ascension, by descending, according to his promise, on his apostles, and by accompanying the message which they delivered with saving power to thousands in Jerusalem. Acts ii. (4.) He still bears men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of the same testimony in every revival of religion, and in the conversion of every individual who becomes a Christian, convincing them that Jesus is the Son of God. Comp. John xvi. 14, 15. (5.) He does it in the hearts of all true Christians, for "no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost." 1 Cor. xii. 3. See Notes on that passage. The Spirit of God has thus always borne witness to the fact that Jesus is the Christ, and he will continue to do it to the end of time, convincing yet countless millions that he was sent from God to redeem and save lost men. IT And the water. See Notes on ver. 6. That is, the baptism of Jesus, and the scenes which occurred when he was baptized, furnished evidence that he was the Messiah. This was done in these ways: (1.) It was proper that the Messiah should be baptized when he entered on his work, and perhaps it was expected; and the fact that he was baptized showed that he had in fact entered on his work as Redeemer. See Notes on Matt. iii. 15. (2.) An undoubted attestation was then furnished to the fact that he was "the Son of God" by the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and by the voice that addressed him from heaven. Matt. iii. 16, 17. (3.) His baptism with water was an emblem of the purity of his own character and of the nature of his religion. (4.) Perhaps it may be implied here, also, that water used in baptism now bears witness to the same thing, (a) as it is the ordinance appointed by the Saviour; (&) as it keeps up his religion in the world; (c) as it is a public symbol of the purity of his religion; (d) and as, in every case where it is administered, it is connected with the public expression of a belief that Jesus is the Son of God. Comp. Acts viii. 37. If And the blood. There is undoubted allusion here to the blood shed on the cross; and the meaning is that that blood bore witness also to the fact that he was the Son of God. This it did in the following respects: (1.) The shedding of the blood showed that he was truly dead — that his work was complete— that he died in reality, and not in appearance only. Sec Notes on John xix.
God, which he hath testified of his Son.
34,35. (2.) The remarkable circumstances that attended the shedding of this blood — the darkened sun, the earthquake, the rending of the veil of the temple— showed in a manner that convinced even the Roman centurion that he was the Son of God. See Notes on Matt, xxvii. 54. (3.) The fact that in dying he has made an atonement for sin' was an important "witness" for the Saviour, showing that he had done that which the Son of God only could do, by disclosing a way by which the sinner may be par-' doned and the polluted soul be made pure. (4.) Perhaps, also, there may be here an allusion to the Lord's Supper as designed to set forth the shedding of this blood; and the apostle may mean to have it implied that the representation of the shedding of the blood in this ordinance is intended to keep up the conviction that Jesus is the Son of God. If so, then the general sense is that that blood — however set before the eyes and the hearts of men, on the cross, or by the representation of its shedding in the Lord's Supper — is a witness in the world to the truth that Jesus- is the Son of God, and to the nature of his religion. Comp. Notes on 1 Cor. xi. 26. %And these three agree in one. ii<s to 'iv s'mti. They agree in one thing; they bear on one and the same point, to wit, the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. All are appointed by God as witnesses of this fact; and all harmonize in the testimony which is borne. The apostle does not say that there are no other witnesses to the same thing; nor does he even say that these are the most important or decisive which have been furnished; but he says that these are important witnesses, and are entirely harmonious in their testimony.
9. If we receive the witness of men. As we are accustomed to do, and as we must do in courts of justice and in the ordinary daily transactions of life. We are constantly acting on the belief that what others say is true; that what the members of our families and our neighbors say is true; that what is reported by travelers is true; that what we read in -books, and what is sworn to in courts of justice, is true. We could not get along a single day
10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness a in himself: he that belie veth not God, hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and b this life is in his Son.
12 He c that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.
if we did not act on this belief; nor are we accustomed to call it in question unless we have reason to suspect that it is false. The mind is so made that it must credit the testimony home by others; and if this should cease even for a single day, the affairs of the world would come to a pause. T[ The witness of God is greater. Is more worthy of belief; as God is more true and wise and good than men. Men may be deceived, and may undesignedly bear witness to that which is not true — God never can be; men may, for sinister and base purposes, intend to deceive — God never can; men may act from partial observation, or from rumors unworthy of credence — God never can; men may desire to excite admiration by the marvelous — God never can. Men have deceived others — God never has; and though, from these causes, there are many instances where we are not certain that the testimony borne by men is true, yet we are always certain that that which is borne by God is not false. The only question on which the mind ever hesitates is whether we actually have his testimony or certainly know what he bears witness to. When that is ascertained, the human mind is so made that it can not believe that God would deliberately deceive a world. See Notes on Heb. vi. 18. Comp. Titus i. 2. If For this is the witness of God, etc. The testimony above referred to— that borne by the Spirit and the water and the blood. Who that saw his baptism, and heard the voice from heaven (Matt. iii. 16, 17), could doubt that he was the Son of God? Who that saw his death on the cross, and that witnessed the amazing scenes which occurred there, could fail to join with the Roman centurion in saying that this was the Son of God? Who that has felt the influences of the Eternal Spirit on his heart ever doubted that Jesus was the Son of God? Comp. Notes on 1 Cor. xii. 3. Any one of these is sufficient to convince the soul of this: all combined bear on the same point, and confirm it from age to age.
10. He that believeth on the Bon of God hath the witness in himself. The evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. Comp. Notes on Rom. viii. 16. This can not refer to any distinct and immediate revelation of the fact that Jesus is the Christ to the soul of the individual, and is not to be understood as independent of the external evidence of that truth, or as superseding the necessity of that evidence; but the " witness" here referred to is the fruit of all the evidence, external and internal, on the heart, producing this result; that is, there is the deepest conviction of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. There is the evidence derived from the fact that the soul has found peace by believing on him; from the fact that the troubles and anxieties of the mind on account of sin have been removed by faith in Christ; from the new views of God and heaven which have resulted from faith in the Lord Jesus; from the effect of this in disarming death of its terrors; and from the whole influence of the Gospel on the intellect and the affections— on the heart and the life. These things constitute a mass of evidence for the truth of the Christian religion whose force the believer can not resist, and make the sincere Christian ready to sacrifice any thing rather than his religion; ready to go to the stake rather than to renounce his Saviour. Comp. Notes on 1 Pet. iii. 15. Ifife that believeth not God, hath made him a liar. Comp. Notes on chap. i.10. II Because he believeth not the record, etc. The idea is that in various ways — at his baptism, at his death, by the influences of the Holy Spirit, by his miracles, etc. — God had become a witness that the Lord Jesus was sent by him as a Saviour, and that to doubt or deny this partook of the same character as doubting or denying any other testimony; that is, it was practically charging him who bore the testimony with falsehood.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ° ye may know that ye have eternal life, and
that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
14 And this is the confidence that we have l in him, that, if we
11. And this is the record. This is the ram or the amount of the testimony (fiaprvpia) which God has given respecting him. 1 That God hath pivot to its eternal life. Has provided, through the Saviour, the means of obtaining eternal life. See Notes on John v. 24; xvii. 2, 3. \And this life is in his iSon. Is treasured up in him, or is to be obtained through him. See John i. 4; xi. 25; xiv. 6; Col. iii. 3.
12. He that hath the Son, hath life. See Notes on John v. 24. John evidently designs to refer to that passage in the verse before us, and to state a principle laid down by the Saviour himself. This is the sense of all the important testimony that had ever beeh borne by God on the subject of salvation, that he who believes in the Lord Jesus already has the elements of eternal life in his soul, and will certainly obtain salvation. Comp. Notes on John xvii. 3. If And he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life. He that does not believe on him will not attain to eternal life. See Notes on John iii. 36; Mark xvi. 16.
13. These things have I written unto yon. The things in this Epistle respecting the testimony borne to the Lord Jesus. "!f That believe on the name of the Son of God. To believe on his name is to believe on himself — the word name often being used to denote theperson. See Notes on Matt, xxviii. 19. If That ye may know that ye have eternal life. That you may see the evidence that eternal life has been provided, and that you may be able, by self-examination, to determine whether you possess it. Comp. Notes on John xx. 31. If And that ye may believe, etc. That you may continue to believe, or may persevere in believing. He was assured that they actually did believe on him then; but he was desirous of so setting before them the nature of religion that they would continue to exercise faith in him. It is often one of the most important duties of ministers of the Gospel to present to real Christians such views of the nature, the claims, the evidences, and the hopes of religion, as will be adapted to secure their perseverance in the faith. In the human heart, even when converted, there is such a proneness to unbelief; the religious affections so easily become cold; there are so many cares pertaining to the world that are fitted to distract the mind; there are so many allurements of sin to draw the affection! away from the Saviour, that there is need of being constantly reminded of the nature of religion in order that the heart may riot be wholly estranged from the Saviour. No small part of preaching, therefore, must consist of the restatement of arguments with which the mind has been before fully convinced; of motives whose force has been once felt and acknowledged; and of the grounds of hope and peace and joy which have already on former occasions diffused comfort through the soul. It is not less important to keep the soul than it is to convert it; to save it from coldness and dcadness and formality than it was to impart to it the elements of spiritual life at first. It may be as important to trim a vine, if one would have grapes, as it is to set it out; to keep a garden from being overrun with weeds in the summer as it was to plant it in the spring.