FELLOWSHIP IN THE
LIFE ETERNAL
AN
EXPOSITION OF THE
EPISTLES
OF
BY
GEORGE
G. FINDLAY, D.D.
HODDER
AND
[Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt,
UXORI DILECTISSIMAE
PER TRIGINTA TRES ANNOS
PRECUM ET LABORUM CONSORTI
COHEREDI GRATIAE
VITAE.
PREFACE
THE
Exposition here presented was first delivered
sixteen
years ago to the Headingley students of
that
time, and is published partly at their request.
Chapters
of it have appeared, occasionally, in the
pages
of the Expositor, the Wesleyan, Methodist Maga-
zine, and Experience; these have been carefully
revised
and re-written. The features of the work
and
the method of treatment will be apparent from
the
full Table of Contents that is furnished. I have
had
primarily in view the needs of theological
students
and preachers; but professional language
has
been avoided and matters of technical scholarship
kept
in the background, and I venture to hope that
the
interpretation may be of service to other readers
who
are interested in questions of New Testament
doctrine
and Christian experience. To no age since
his
own has
the
opening of the twentieth century is, in some
ways,
wonderfully near to the close of the first.
Amongst previous interpreters of the
Epistles of
John,
my debts—at least, my more immediate debts—
are
greatest to Lucke, Erich Haupt, Rothe, and
Westcott.
Lucke excelled in grammatical and logical
vii
viii PREFACE
acumen;
Haupt in analytic power and theological
reflexion;
Rothe was supreme in spiritual insight
and
fineness of touch; in Westcott there was a
unique
combination of all these gifts, though he may
have
been surpassed in any single one of them.
Neither
Lucke's nor Rothe's commentaries, unfortu-
nately,
have been translated from the German.
GEORGE
G. FINDLAY.
HEADINGLEY.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE
TWO LITTLE LETTERS (2 and 3 John) 3
Nature of the Two Notes—The Apostle
John's Correspondence—
Private or Public Letters?—Connexion
between 2 and 3 John—
Relation of both to I John—Causes of
their Survival.
CHAPTER
II
HOSPITALITY
IN THE EARLY CHURCH (2 and 3 John) 13
Importance of the Imperial Roman
Roads—Churches echeloned
along the Great Highways—W. M.
Ramsay upon Travelling at the
Christian Era—Hospitality an essential
Church Function—Enter-
tainment of Itinerant
Ministers—Abuse of Church Hospitality—
The Didache—
CHAPTER
III
THE
ELECT LADY (2 John) 23
The words e]klekth>
kuri<a—Theory
of Dr Bendel Harris—Vindication
of rendering "Lady"—Proof
of the Public Destination of 2 John-
Lady-ship
of the Church—The Apostle's relations to the Church in
question--Possibility of identifying
the “Elect Lady.”
CHAPTER IV
GAIUS,
DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES (3 John) 35
3 John full of Personalities—Three
Typical Characters of late
Apostolic Times—The Gaiuses of the
New Testament—Gaius of
ix
x CONTENTS
PAGE
Porgamum—His Characterization—The
name Demetrius—A Tra-
velling Assistant of St John—His
Visit to Gaius' Church—The
Triple Testimony to him—Diotrephes
the Marplot—Significance of
his Name—Nature of his Influence—His
Insolence toward the
Apostle—Indications of the State of
the Johannine Churches.
CHAPTER
V
THE
APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS 47
between the Friends—
The Apostle of Love—The Apostle of
Wrath—Combination of the
Mystical and Matter-of-fact—
this
Gnosticizing Error.
CHAPTER
VI
SCOPE
AND CHARACTER OF THE FIRST EPISTLE 59
The Letter a Written
Homily—Addressed to Settled Christians—St
John's Ministry that of
Edification—Complement of St Peter's
Ministry—Continuation of
the Epistle—Connexion of this with
its Ethical Strain—Comparison
of
the former—Absence of Epistolary
Formulae—"We" and "I" in
the Epistle—An Epistle
General—Traits of Johannine Authorship
—Relation of Epistle to Gospel of
John—Analysis of 1 John—
Appendix: Tables of Parallels.
DIVISION I: FELLOWSHIP
WITH GOD
(CHAPTER
1. 1-2. 27)
CHAPTER
VII
THE
MANIFESTED LIFE (1 John 1. 1-4) 83
Construction of the Passage—The
Eternal Life unveiled—Gnostic
Dualism of Nature and
Spirit—"In the Beginning" and "From
the Beginning"—Actuality of the
Manifestation—Competence of
the Witnesses—Fellowship of Men in
the Testimony—Fellowship
with God through the Testimony.
CONTENTS xi
CHAPTER VIII
PAGE
FELLOWSHIP
IN THE LIGHT OF GOD (1 John 1. 5-10) 95
The Gospel a Message about God,
proposing Fellowship with God
—The Old Gods and the New God—The
God of Philosophy—The
Incubus of Idolatry—God as Pure
Light —Light a Socializing
Power—One Light for all
Intelligence—Blindness to God the
mother of Strife—Cleansing through
the Blood of Jesus—Three
Ways of opposing the Light of God.
CHAPTER
IX
THE
ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION (1 John 2. 1, 2) 111
Aim
of the Gospel the Abolition of Sin—Perversion of the Doctrine
of Gratuitous Pardon—Ground of the
Apostle's Joy in his Children
—Case of a Sinning
Brother—Implication of the Society—Resort to
the Advocate—Discrepancy in
Paraclete—Advocate and High
Priest—Character and Competency title
of the Advocate—Disposition of the
Judge—The Advocate has
"somewhat to offer"—The
term Propitiation — Heathen and
Jewish Propitiations — The Scandal
of the Cross to Modern
Thought -- The Cost of the
Propitiation to its Offerer—Law
operative in Redeeming Grace—The
Advocate in the Sinner's place
—Universal Scope of the
Propitiation.
CHAPTER
X
THE
TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD (1 John 2. 3-6) 133
Elements of Fellowship with God—
Connexion of Ideas in chap. 2. 1-6
—Danger of Providing for Sin in
Believers—Loyalty the Test and
Guard of Forgiveness—What is keeping of Commands?—What the
Commands
to be kept?—Good Conscience of Commandment-keeper
—Falseness of Knowledge of God
without Obedience—Knowledge
translated into Love—Love the Soul
of Loyalty—"Perfecting" of
God's Love—"The
Commandments" and "the Word" of God—
Communion passing into
Jesus the Example of Life in God—The
Features of His Image.
CHAPTER
XI
THE
OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT (1 John 2. 7-11) 155
Teaching of last Paragraph familiar
to Readers—"The Command-
ment" Christ's Law of
Brother-love —
xii CONTENTS
PAGE
String—The Breaker of the Christian
Rule—The Sin of Hatred—
Its Course and Issue—The Scandal it
Creates—Life in the Light—
The Commandment of Love Old as the
Gospel—Old as Revelation
—Old as the Being of God—New as the
Incarnation and the Cross
—"New in Him, and in
You"—The Novelty of Christian Brother-
hood—Dawn of the World's New Day.
CHAPTER XII
RELIGION
IN AGE AND YOUTH (1 John 2. 12-14) 177
Pause in the Letter—"I
write," "I have written"—Little
Children, Fathers, Young Men—All
knowing the Father through
Forgiveness — The
"Fathers" deep in Knowledge of Christ-
Christology the Crown of Christian
Thinking—"Young Men" and
their Strength—Violence of
Passion—Allurements of Novelty—
Beacon Light of Scripture—The
Militant Strength of Young Men.
CHAPTER
XIII
THE
LOVE THAT PERISHES (1 John 2. 15-17) 195
The Rival Loves—"The
World" in
loathed—The Church and the
World--"All that is in the World"
—The Temptations in the Garden and
in the Desert—Physical
Appetite—Subjection of the Body — AEsthetic
Sensibility—The
Worlds of Fashion and of Art—Life's
Vainglory—Intellectual
Ambition — Pride of Wealth — The
Essence of Worldliness —
Transience of the Evil World—Of the
CHAPTER
XIV
THE
LAST HOUR (1 John 2. 18-27) 213
the Church—"Last Hour" of
the Apostolic Age—Ignorance of
Times and Seasons—Cyclical Course of
History—Etymology of
"Antichrist"—Gnostic
Denial of the Son of God — Separation
of "Jesus" from
"Christ"—Axiom of Gnosticism--Safeguards of
Faith—The Chrism of the Spirit—The
Witness of the Apostles—
The Promise of Christ.
CONTENTS xiii
DIVISION II: SONSHIP TOWARD GOD
(CHAPTER 2.
28-5. 12)
CHAPTER XV
PAGE
THE
FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE (1 John 2. 28-3. 3) 229
Main Division of the
Letter—Comparison of its two Halves—St
John awaiting Christ's Coming — New
Testament Horizon —
Confidence or Shame at the
Judgement-seat—Pauline and Johannine
Eschatology--"Begotten of
God"—Doing the Vital Thing—The
Righteous Father and Righteous
Sons--"Look, what Love!"—To
be, and to be called, God's
Children--Veiling of the Sons of
God—The Hope of Glory — Internal and
External Likeness to
Christ—Vision presumes Assimilation—Purification
by Hope.
CHAPTER XVI
THE
INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN (1 John 3. 4-9) 253
Hope awakens Fear—Five Reasons
against Sin in Believers—Sin
Ruinous—Sin Illegal—Deepening of
Sense of Sin in Scripture—The
Constitutional Objection to Sin—Sin
Unchristian — Bearing and
Removing Sin—Sinlessness of Sin's
A.bolisher — Sin and Christ
Incompatibles—Paradox of a Sinning
Christian—Sin Diabolical-
Extra-human Origin of Sin—The
Dominion of Satan—Its coming
Dissolution—"Children of the
Devil"--Sin Unnatural in God's
Child—The Facts of Saintship—The
Source of Saintship—The
Christian non possumus—
CHAPTER
XVII
LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS (1 John 3. 10-18) 273
Divine or Diabolic Sonship
"manifest"—Two Sorts of Men—
Personality of the Evil One—Marks of
Spiritual Parentage—Love
the Burden of the Gospel—Diligo, ergo sum--The Master of Love,
and His Lesson—Testing of Love by
Material Needs—Cain a
Prototype—Evil must hate
Good—Implicit Murder—Misanthropy.
CHAPTER
XVIII
CHRISTIAN
HEART ASSURANCE (1 John 3. 19-24) 289
Probing of the Uneasy
Conscience—Double Ground of Re-assurance
—Love, Faith's Saviour—Love, the
Touchstone of Knowledge-
xiv CONTENTS
PAGE
"We shall persuade our
Hearts"—The Scrutiny of God—Assurance
by the Spirit's Witness -- Peril of
Mysticism — Grammatical
Ambiguity in verses 19, 20—The
Apostle warning, not soothing—
Grounds for Self-reproach—Christian
Assurance and Prevailing
Prayer—God's Favour toward Lovers of
their Brethren.
CHAPTER
XIX
THE
TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS (1 John 4. 1-6) 311
False Spirits abroad in the World—A
Critical Epoch—Spurious
Inspiration — Some Popular
Prophets—The Criteria of True and
False Christianity—The Doctrinal
Test: the Person of Christ—
Test: the Consensus of Believers— The Historical Test: the
Authority of the Apostles—Papal
Claims versus the New Testament
—Modernism on its Trial.
CHAPTER
XX
THE
DIVINITY OF LOVE (1 John 4. 7-14) 327
Solidarity of Love in the
Universe—Love of, not only from God—
Love the "One Thing
needful"—Lovelessness of Man—Love and
other Attributes of the Godhead—The
Incarnation the Outcome of
God's Fatherhood—
Surrender of the Son by the Father
for Man's sake—The Conquests
of God's Father-love—Divine Love
" perfected " in Good Men—
Thwarted in Selfish Men.
CHAPTER
XXI
SALVATION
BY LOVE (1 John 4. 15-21) 343
Men love Him for sending His
Son—Chilling Effect of a minimizing
Christology—Faith reproduces the
Love it apprehends —Love
removes Fear of Judgement—Confidence
of the Christ-like—Fear a
Salutary Punishment—Learning Love
from God—The Lie of loving
God alone—Orthodoxy without
Charity—God no Monopolist.
CHAPTER
XXII
THE
CONQUERING FAITH (1 John 5. 1-5) 359
—The Centre of the
CONTENTS xv
PAGE
manism—A Real Incarnation and
Atonement—Love and Discipline
—Loving the Begetter in the Begotten—Depth
and Breadth of
Christian Love—The Anvil of
Character—Failure of Undisciplined
Churches—"His Commandments not grievous."
CHAPTER
XXIII
THE
THREE WITNESSES, AND THE ONE TESTIMONY
(1 John 5. 6-12) 377
Transcendental and Experimental in
Autobiography—The Three Heavenly
Witnesses—One Jesus Christ
—"Through Water and Blood"—The Lord's Baptism and
Cruci-
fixion—Crises of St John's Faith—The
Testimony of Pentecost—
Three Witnesses merged in
One—"Making God a
Liar"—Witness
of the Christian Consciousness.
THE EPILOGUE (CHAPTER 5.
13-21)
CHAPTER
XXIV
THE
ETERNAL LIFE, AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH (1 John
5. 13-17) 395
Postscript to the Letter—Purpose of
Gospel and Epistle—Faith and
Assurance of Faith—The Certainty of
Life Eternal—Practical Use
of Christian Assurance—"Asking
according to His Will" — The
Possibilities of Intercessory
Prayer—A Limit to Prayer—What is
the "Sin unto
Death"?—Mortal and Venial Sins—The Case of
Jeremiah and his People—The Mystery
of Inhibited Prayer.
CHAPTER
XXV
THE
APOSTOLIC CREED (1 John 5. 18-21) 415
The three-fold "We know"—
his Creed—"I believe in
Holiness"—The Blight of Cynicism—The
Son of God Keeper of God's Sons—The
Question of Entire Sanctifi-
cation—"I believe in
Regeneration"—A "World lying in the
Evil One"—Mystery of New Births—The
Christian Noblesse oblige
—"I believe in the
Christian Use of the
Understanding—The True God and the Idols
—Christ come to conquer.
INTRODUCTION
THE TWO
LITTLE LETTERS
THE SECOND AND THIRD EPISTLES
OF
Nature
of the two Notes—The Apostle John's Correspondence—Private
or
Public Letters?—Connexion between 2 and 3 John—Relation of both
to
1 John—Causes of their Survival.
"The Elder to the Elect
Lady and her children."--2 JOHN 1.
"The Elder to
Gaius the beloved."--3 JOHN 1.
CHAPTER I
THE TWO LITTLE LETTERS
THE
Second and Third Epistles of John are the
shortest
books, of the Bible. They contain in
the
Greek less than three hundred words apiece;
closely
written, each might cover a single sheet of
papyrus—to
this material the word "paper" (chartes)
refers
in 2 John 12. Together they barely fill a page
out
of the eight or nine hundred pages of the English
Bible.
These brief notes, or dispatches, appear to have
been
thrown off by the Apostle in the ordinary course
of
his Church-administration, and may have occupied
in
their composition but a few moments of his time; in
all
likelihood, he wrote scores of such letters, bearing
upon
public or private affairs, during his long presi-
dency
over the Christian societies of
a
happy providence, these two have been preserved to
us
out of so much that has perished with the occasion.
Doubt has been entertained, both in
ancient and
modern
times, as to whether these notes should
not
be ascribed to another "John the Elder," of
whose
existence some traces are found in the ear-
liest
Church history, rather than to the Apostle
of
that name; but their close affinity to the First
Epistle
of John sustains the general tradition as to
their
authorship and vindicates them for the beloved
Apostle.
The writer assumes, as matter of course, a
unique
personal authority, and that in a Church to
which
he does not belong by residence, such as no
Life
Eternal 3
4 THE TWO LITTLE LETTERS
post-apostolic
Father presumed to arrogate; that St
John
should have styled himself familiarly "the elder"
in
writing to his friends and children in the faith, is a
thing
natural enough and consistent with his tem-
perament.
Those scholars may be in the right who
conjecture
that "the Elder John" of tradition is
nothing
but a double of the Apostle John.
It was surely their slight and
fugitive character,
rather
than any misgiving about their origin, which
excluded
these writings from the New Testament of
the
other
quarters amongst the antilegomena, or disputed
Books
of Scripture. They were overshadowed by the
First
Epistle, beside which they look almost insignifi-
cant;
and to this fact it is due, as well as to their
brevity
and the obscurity of their allusions, that the
Second
and Third Epistles of John were seldom quoted
in
early times and are comparatively neglected by
readers
of the Bible.
These are notes snatched from the every-day
correspondence
of an Apostle. They afford us a
glance
into the common intercourse that went on
between
enemies
the Apostle of love certainly had, as the
First
Epistle shows). They add little or nothing to
our
knowledge of Johannine doctrine; but they throw
a
momentary light upon the state of the Churches
under
first
century and the intercommunion linking them
together;
they indicate some of the questions which
agitated
the first Christian societies, and the sort of
personalities
who figured amongst them. These brief
documents
lend touches of local colour and personal
feeling
to the First Epistle, which deals with doctrine
and
experience in a studiously general way. Taken
along
with the Apocalyptic Letters to the Seven
Churches,
they help us, in some sort, to imagine the
aged
Apostle in "his habit as he lived"—the most
retired
and abstracted of all the great actors of the
THE TWO LITTLE LETTERS 5
New
Testament. They serve to illustrate
disposition
and methods, and reveal something of the
nature
and extent of his influence. These scanty
lines
possess, therefore, a peculiar historical and bio-
graphical
interest; and their right interpretation is a
matter
of considerable moment.
The First Epistle of John appears
without Address,
Salutation,
or Farewell Greetings, without personal
notes
or local allusions of any kind. It is wanting in
the
ordinary features of a letter, and is in literary
form
a homily rather than an Epistle. The
two notes
attached
to it supply, to some extent, this defect.
They
stand in close relation to the major Epistle;
they
bring to our notice, in a slight but very
significant
fashion, persons and incidents belonging
to
the sphere of
when
it was written, and cast a vivid illumination
upon
one spot at least in the wide province over
which
the venerable Apostle presided and to which his
"catholic"
Epistle in all probability was addressed.
2
and 3 John therefore furnish, in default of other
material,
a kind of setting and framework to 1 John.
For
this reason they are discussed here, by way of
Introduction rather than sequel.
The Second and Third Epistles of
John are not,
properly
speaking, "private" letters. 3 John bears,
indeed,
a personal address; but it deals with public
matters;
and its contents, as the last sentence shows,
were
intended to reach others besides "Gaius the
beloved."
From early times it has been debated
whether
the "elect lady" of 2 John was a community,
or
an individual sister in the Church; the former
view,
held by most recent investigators, is much the
more
probable. The Apostle appeals to the Church in
question,
with deep solemnity, as to the "chosen lady"
of
"the Lord" (see Chap. III), even as in the Revelation
(21.
2, 9, and 22. 17) he describes the entire Church as
"the
bride, the Lamb's wife." This style of speech was
familiar
to the Asian Churches from the great passage
6 THE TWO LITTLE LETTERS
of
hallowed
the love of husband and wife by its analogy
to
the mystic tie uniting the Lord Christ with His
people;
the same figure is employed in 2 Corinthians
11.
2, 3, and in John 3. 29. Hence in the body of his
letter
you) interchangeably,
identifying the Church with its
members,
the "lady" with her "children"; and there
is
nothing in the contents of the note specific to the
circumstances
of a private family. The greater for-
mality
and fulness of the salutation of 2 John in
comparison
with 3 John points also to its larger
destination,
as addressed to the community and not
to
a single person.
the
one strictly private letter in the
New Testament;
the
difference between that writing and the Second of
John
every reader can appreciate.
These two should, in fact, be
designated "the Pastoral
Epistles
of John"; they hold amongst his writings a
position
resembling that of the letters to Timothy and
Titus
amongst those of
slighter
way, with questions of Church-order and
orthodoxy
akin to those which the Apostle of the
Gentiles
had to regulate at an earlier time in the same
district.
Nevertheless, and despite the public
stamp
and
purport of the documents, there breathes through
both
a tenderness of feeling and a personal intimacy
which
take fit expression in the farewell greeting of
3
John: "The friends salute thee.
Salute the friends
by
name." Whether addressed to few or many readers,
whether
designed for the household of faith or the
family
circle, these leaflets of the Apostle John are true
love-letters,—written
as from father to children, from
friend
to friends.
While these Epistles stand apart
from the other
writings
of
traceable
between them. In each at the outset "the
elder"
writes to those (or to him) whom he "loves
in
truth";
in each he speaks of himself as "very much
THE TWO LITTLE LETTERS 7
rejoiced"
(a combination of words unique in the New
Testament)
by what he has "found" (or "heard") as to
his
correspondents "walking in truth"—an expression
of
Johannine strain, but confined to these two letters.
To
Gaius,
"Greater
joy than this I have not, to hear of my
children
walking in the truth" (vers. 2, 3), as though
Gaius
himself belonged to those "children walking in
truth"
on whom he congratulated the Elect Lady in the
previous
letter. In both Epistles St John concludes by
saying
that he "has many things to write" to his
friends,
which he will not now set down "by paper
and
ink" (or "ink and pen"), because he "hopes to
come
to" them ("to see" his dear Gaius "immediately"),
—"and
mouth to mouth," he says, "we will talk."
Now
he would be a very stiff, stereotyped writer, who
should
echo himself thus precisely in two informal
letters
composed at any distance of time from each
other.
It is true that
is
limited and repetitive; but this is a different matter,
and
the Epistles are anything but constrained and
mechanical.
Letters so nearly identical in their setting
must
have been, one cannot but think, nearly simul-
taneous
in their composition. It was in the course of
one
and the same visitation that the Apostle John
expected
to see the "lady" of 2 John and "the beloved
Gaius"
of 3 John; he writes to both on the eve of
his
projected tour.
Both letters turn, it must be
further observed, on the
subject
of hospitality; they are concerned
with the
question
of the reception of travellers passing from
Church
to Church and claiming recognition as Christian
teachers
or missionaries (2 John 7-11, 3 John 5-10).
The
status of such persons was, as we shall see, a
critical
question in the
Lady
is sternly warned not to "receive into her house"
the
bearers of false teaching; and Gaius is highly
approved
for his entertainment of "brethren," per-
sonally
"strangers" to him, who "had gone out" on
8 THE TWO LITTLE LETTERS
the
service of "the name," by which conduct he has
shown
himself a "fellow-worker with the truth." At
the
same time Diotrephes, who has a predominating
voice
in Gaius' Church, is denounced because "he
refuses
to receive the brethren"—as, in fact, the
Apostle
declares, "he refuses us"; more than this,
"he
hinders those who wish" (like Gaius) to receive
the
accredited itinerants, "and drives them out of
the
Church." This state of things, manifestly, was
intolerable:
the Apostle "hopes to come" to the spot
"straightway";
and when he does come, he will
reckon
with Diotrephes (3 John 10, 14). He "has
written
a few words to the Church" (so Westcott
properly
renders the first clause of 3 John 9),
along
with this confidential note to Gaius; "but" he
is
doubtful what reception his public missive may
have:
"he [Diotrephes] receiveth not us"—does not
admit
our authority. The Epistle to Gaius is designed
to
supplement that addressed to the Church, and to
provide
against its possible failure.
The
Second Epistle of John is, we conclude, the
very
letter referred to in 3
John 9.
The more closely we
examine
the two, the more germane and twin-like they
appear.
The caution of 2 John and the commendation
of
3 John on the matter of hospitality match and fit
into
each other they would be naturally addressed to
the
same circle—to a Church which was, for some
reason
or other, disposed to welcome the wrong kind
of
guests, to entertain heterodox teachers and to shut
the
door against orthodox and duly accredited visitors.
The
action of Diotrephes, who instigated the exclusion
of
the Apostle's friends, is not indeed imputed to
heretical
leanings on his own part; he is taxed with
ambition,
and with disloyalty to apostolic rule—"loving
to
be first" and "in mischievous words prating about
us"
(3 John 9, 10). Gaius braved this man's displeasure
in
keeping an open door for
had
laid the Apostle thereby under great obligation;
the
service thus rendered to "the truth" was the more
THE TWO LITTLE LETTERS 9
valuable
because at this very time, as we learn from
the
Second Epistle (in agreement with the First),
"deceivers
and antichrists" were infesting the Asian
field,
who would not fail to take advantage of the open-
ing
afforded by the factious behaviour of Diotrephes.
The Demetrius of 3 John 12 is
introduced to Gaius,
at
the end of the note, apparently as bearing this Letter
(possibly
both letters) with him; the writer
tacitly
asks
on his behalf a continuance of the "well-doing"
(vers.
5, 11) by which Gaius had earned his praise and
confidence
already.
the
letter-carrier in his "few words to
the church";
but
prefers to commend him to private and unofficial
hospitality,
for fear of exposing Demetrius to the rebuff
the
Church might give him under the malign influence
of
Diotrephes. All the more was this likely, if the
same
Church, or some party in it, was in a mind to
admit
such enemies of the truth as those described
in
2 John 9-11. Demetrius, very probably, was sent
on
purpose to combat these deniers of the Incarnation,
pending
the Apostle's appearance on the scene.
Thus read, the two writings become
virtually parts
of
a single document. Like companion stereoscopic
pictures,
by their combination at the right focus they
reproduce
the situation and present a living whole.
The
correspondence of the opening and closing sen-
tences
of the two Epistles is not accidental, nor to be
accounted
for by the author's poverty in epistolary
matter;
it is due to the fact that he writes the one
note
directly after the other, in the same vein, in the
same
mood. 2 John is addressed, in the language of
severe
admonition combined with the highest appre-
ciation
of its Church status, to the body of the
endangered
Church, which was peculiarly dear to the
Apostle;
3 John, in terms of warm encouragement,
to
a generous-hearted disciple, a beloved and trusted
friend
of the writer's, belonging to the same Society,
but
not, as it appears, holding any official charge within
it.
The two present, in the main, the opposite sides of
10 THE TWO LITTLE LETTERS
the
same anxious situation; together, they prepare the
way
for the Apostle's approaching visit.
This view of the connexion of the
notes--which, by
the
way, is adopted by critics of such opposite schools
as
Theodor Zahn and P. W. Sehmiedel—helps to explain
their
survival. Forwarded on the same occasion to the
same
destination, this couple of papyrus leaves were
fastened
together and kept as the memorial of a notable
crisis
in the history of the local Church. They served
also
as a characteristic memento of the revered
Apostle,
who had thus interposed effectively at a
moment
when this Church, which had a traitor in the
camp,
was in danger of being captured by the Gnostic
antichrists,
at that time everywhere invading the com-
munities
of
imagine—for
we must use our imagination in construing
fragments
such as these—that the two sheets were
attached
to the standard copy of John's First (General)
Epistle
preserved by the Church in question; and that
they
passed into circulation from this centre along
with
the principal Letter. In this way Second and
Third
John came to be reckoned amongst the seven
"catholic"
Epistles (James–Jude), because of their
association
with the "catholic" First of John, although
they
were themselves of a manifestly local and limited
scope.
HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY
CHURCH
Importance
of the Imperial Roman Roads—Churches echeloned along
the
Great Highways—W. M. Ramsay upon Travelling at the Christian
Era—Hospitality
an essential Church Function—Entertainment of
Itinerant
Ministers—Abuse of Church Hospitality—The Didache—St
John's
Solicitude on the subject.
"If
any one comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, take him
not
into your house, and bid him not farewell; for he that bids him
farewell,
has fellowship with his evil works."--2 JOHN 10, 11.
"Beloved,
thou doest a faithful thing in whatsoever thou workest on
the
brethren,—and strangers withal; who have testified to thy love
before
the Church. And thou wilt do well in sending them forward in a
manner
worthy of God; for they have gone forth for the Name's sake,
taking
no help from heathen men. We therefore are bound to receive
such
as these hospitably, that we may show ourselves fellow-workers
with
the truth."--3 JOHN 5-8.
CHAPTER II
HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH
THE
Second and Third Epistles of John, we have
observed,
alike turn on the exercise of hospitality
within
the Church. To understand the matter and its
bearing
on Christian life and progress in early times,
one
must take account of the state of society under the
the
countries of which it was composed.
In three things the Romans excelled
all other peoples
—in
military discipline, in civil law, and in road-making.
By
these arts they won and built up their world-
dominion.
The whole south and west of
Africa,
engineered,
solidly built, and carefully guarded, which
converged
to the golden milestone in the Forum of
the
steamship and the railway, has travel been so practi-
cable
and so freely practised over so wide an area of
the
globe, as was the case in the flourishing age of the
Empire
when Christianity took its rise. The career of
the
Apostle Paul would have been impossible without
the
facilities for journeying which the imperial system
and
the pax Romana afforded, and without
the concep-
tion
of a single world-order and world-polity which
nations
round the Mediterranean shores formed at the
Christian
era one community, where "the field" of
13
14 HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH
"the
world" lay wide open to the sowers of the
Gospel
seed.1
These conditions of life impressed
on the organization
of
the Church from the first a missionary stamp, and
gave
it the catholic outlook which it has never been able
quite
to renounce or forget. Each local Church, as the
Acts
of the Apostles and the Pauline Epistles show, was
set
up as a station in the forward march of the body of
Christ.
At
along
with Asia Minor, had been evangelized,
cry
was, "I must see
visit
to the Roman Christians, he writes, "I hope to see
you
by the way, and by you to be sent
forward to
roads,
like so many Roman colonies of military occupa-
tion,
"from
They
were links in a continuous chain, kept in touch
with
each other and with the general advance of the
Christian
cause; they served as the means of trans-
mitting
messages and reinforcements all along the line.
The
Church was instituted as an international propa-
ganda;
its foundations were laid out by wise "master-
builders,"
governed by the idea of the Founder and
obedient
to His marching orders, "Go into all the
world,
and preach the good news to the whole creation."
Seeds
of the new life were borne by all the currents and
tides
of the age along the routes of government and
commerce,
which stretched from
and
from the
frontier
to frontier of the Empire. The Church-system
of
the New Testament is based on the two vital
principles
of local spiritual fellowship and world-
evangelism,—principles
which were applied with
freedom
and elasticity to the necessities of the situa-
tion
and the hour.
Under these circumstances it is
obvious that hospi-
1 See on the whole
subject the copious article of W. M. Ramsay in the
Extra
Volume of
(in
N.T.)."
HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH 15
tality
was no mere luxury, no external and secondary
grace
of Church life; it formed a conspicuous feature
of
early Christianity, and played a vital part in its
economy.
Ancient society generally gave to the rela-
tions
of guest and host a larger and more sacred place
than
they occupy amongst ourselves. The comforts
of
the modern hotel, or even of the village inn, were
then
unknown. Provision of this kind did not keep
pace
in the old civilization with the improvement in
roads
and conveyance, and fell far short of the require-
ments
of the travelling public. Another reason forbad
Christians
on their journeys to make use of the places
of
common entertainment: "the ancient inns" (says
Sir
W. M. Ramsay, in the article above referred to)
"were
little removed from houses of ill-fame. . . . The
profession
of inn-keeper was dishonourable, and their
infamous
character is often noted in Roman laws.”
This
fact alone made organized hospitality imperative
amongst
Christians; the Church could not expose its
members,
whether journeying on public or private
errands,
"to the corrupt and nauseous surroundings
of
the inns kept by persons of the worst class in
existing
society."
We can understand, therefore, the
stress that is laid
on
the virtue of hospitality in New Testament ethics,
and
the fact that filoceni<a (love of strangers) ranks with
filadelfi<a (love of brethren) in Hebrews 13. 1. Devotion
to
Christ and the Gospel blended with the affections of
a
humane and Christian heart in the cultivation of
this
grace; and worldly wealth was valued because it
supplied
the means for its exercise. A hospitable
disposition
is marked out in the Pastoral Epistles
(1 Tim. 3. 2; Tit. 1. 8) amongst the prime
qualifications
for
eldership in the local Churches; in 1 Peter 4. 8-10
"hospitality"
is represented as the due manifestation
of
"fervent love" on the part of those who are "good
stewards
of the manifold grace of God." Very signifi-
cantly
the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 5. 3-10 specifies
this
as the mark, at
16 HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH
who
deserves to be placed on the church-roll for
honourable
maintenance, that she shall have "shown
hospitality
to strangers" and "washed the saints' feet."
On
the other hand, "the messengers of the churches,"
who
were the first claimants on such attentions, are
described
(2 Cor. 8. 23) as "the glory of Christ," since in
their
movements His authority and the spread of
His
kingdom shine forth; those who have Christian
strangers
at their table are compared with the
"entertainers
of angels" (Heb. 13. 2).
While inter-Church communication was
thus carried
on
through letter and messenger in Apostolic and Post-
apostolic
times and missionaries were constantly being
forwarded
to the front, private Christians and their
families
(as in the case of
"the
household of Chloe": Acts 18. 2, 18; Rom. 16. 3;
1
Cor. 1. 11) migrated freely in search of employment
or
to escape persecution. With well-to-do people, in
the
age of the early
or
diversion or self-improvement was a fashionable
thing;
and Christians were affected by corresponding
motives.
Dr Dobschiitz observes, in his interesting
work
on the Christian Life in the
(p.
326), that "amongst the Christians of that period
[A.D.
50-150] there was developed a keen desire to move
about.
This was due to their release from former
narrow
notions of home, and to their striving after
fellowship
with the scattered companions of their
faith."
At
resort—he
thinks that the primitive "bishops" had for
their
most important office the direction and oversight
of
hospitality, while the care of the poor was relegated
to
the "deacons." All this goes to show the gravity of
the
question agitated in the community to which St
John
directed his Second and Third Epistles; for the
right
exercise of hospitality involved the comity and
communion
of the Churches generally, the maintenance
of
Apostolic authority and of unity in faith amongst
them,
and the continued propagation of the Gospel. On
HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH 17
these
accounts, and from their bearing on a matter
which
intimately affected all Churches, the short and
semi-private
notes preserved in 2 and 3 John fairly
deserve
the dignified title of "Catholic Epistles."
The reference in 3 John 7 to the
travellers whom the
Apostle
accredits, as going forth "taking nothing of
the Gentiles,"1 is interesting in this connexion. The
messengers
of the Gospel, it would seem, might in
some
instances have found entertainment on their way
with
unconverted Gentile hosts; they are commended
for
declining such proffers. Liberal men of culture, in
the
Graeco-Roman cities, here and there kept open
house
for philosophers or religious teachers of repute
travelling
their way, who chose to make themselves
agreeable;
toleration and breadth of view were affected
in
educated circles. By this time the Christian doctrine
held
a recognized footing in the Roman province of
the
rank of "the Asiarchs" (Acts 19. 31), the official
heads
of the provincial Pagan worship; and the pro-
fession
of faith in Christ, though proscribed by the
Government,
was not everywhere socially discreditable.
Christianity
was a phenomenon of the age, and had
become
an object of curiosity with the students of
religion
and the philosophical dilettanti, who were
tolerably
numerous amongst the leisured classes of
been
difficult for a distinguished advocate of this re-
markable
creed to find lodging and entertainment in
a
fashionable house, by paying the price due for
this
sort of patronage. One can understand the
temptation
thus presenting itself to "spoil the Egyp-
1 The term here used is not, according
to the corrected reading (e]qnikw?n
for
e]qnw?n of the T.R.), the common Greek word for Gentiles, but that
employed
in Matthew 5. 47, 6. 7, 18. 17, which signifies of Gentile state
or
disposition—i.e. heathen, Pagan by religion, rather than Gentile by
race.
The Apostle would not, we presume, forbid his agents to be
guests
with Gentiles who were friendly to the faith and disposed to
conversion;
to stay in a household that was decidedly heathen
in
character, was a different matter.
Life
Eternal 3
18 HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH
tians"
and to make the heathen contribute to the
furtherance
of the Gospel—especially in a neighbour-
hood
where, for any reason, Christian maintenance was
not
forthcoming or was grudgingly given.
When Gaius therefore opened his door
to
representatives,
despite the attempt of Diotrephes to
boycott
the latter, he made it possible for them to visit
a
Church from which otherwise they would have been
excluded,
since it was their strict rule to lodge in none
but
Christian homes. Following this maxim, mission-
aries
entering a new sphere of labour would be sup-
ported
by funds brought with them and by the labour
of
their own hands, or by help remitted from the
nearest
Christian station, as in the case of the Apostle
Paul
and his companions in
16).
At Thessalonica, as at
took
up their abode with the first whose "heart the
Lord
opened" to receive the Good News. But this
generous
"love of the stranger" became a peril to the
Churches.
Just as the charity of the brotherhood laid
it
open to imposition and the Apostle Paul was com-
pelled
to warn his converts, in one of his earliest letters,
against
idlers and mischief-makers who preferred to eat
the
Church's bread "for nought" (2 Thess. 3. 6-12),
so
their free-handed hospitalities exposed the Christian
societies
to invasion. "False brethren stole in" for
malicious
purposes (Gal. 2. 4), bringing with them
"commendatory
letters" (2 Cor. 3. 1) dishonestly ob-
tained:
"false apostles"
"deceitful
workers" and plausible as "angels of light"
(2
Cor. 11. 13-15). Such intruders--Judaean legalists of
the
worst type—dogged
part
of his ministry.
The danger incident to the misuse of
Christian
benevolence
toward strangers became aggravated in
later
times. The ancient Church Manual entitled
The Teaching of the
Twelve Apostles
(or briefly the
Didache) devotes two out of its
sixteen chapters to
this
subject; it gives striking evidence of the perpetua-
HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH 19
tion
of an itinerant ministry in the early Church, and
moreover
of the jealousy that proved to be needful in
dispensing
hospitality and in verifying the credentials
of
visitors pretending to the Christian name. This
Directory
seems to have been drawn up for the use
of
Syrian or
the
end of the first century; in that case it was con-
temporary
with the letters under review, though
belonging
to a distant province. It shows that the
right
ordering of hospitality was at this time a matter
of
universal interest, affecting the well-being of the
Christian
fellowship everywhere. The following are
the
chief instructions of the Didache
bearing on the
point:
(Chaps. xi, xii.) "Whosoever
comes, and teaches you the things
aforesaid
[in the previous chapters], receive him. But if the teacher
himself
turn aside and teach another doctrine, so as to overthrow
these
things, refuse to listen to him; but if he teach so as to increase
knowledge
and fear of the Lord, receive him as the Lord. As concerns
the
apostles1 and prophets, act according to the rule prescribed in
the
Gospel; let every apostle coming to you be received in the Lord.
Moreover,
he shall not stay just one day, but a second also, if there
be
need; but if he remain three days, he is a false prophet! And when
he
leaves you, let the apostle take nothing except bread sufficing him
till
he reaches his next lodging; if he ask for money, he is a false
prophet.
. . . Whoso saith in the Spirit, "Give me money, or other
things,"
you shall not listen to him; but if he bid you give for others,
who
are in want, let no one judge him. But let every one who comes in
the
name of the Lord be welcomed; afterwards you will get to know
him,
when you have tried him; for you will have understanding of
"right
and left." If the new-comer is on a
journey, help him as much
as
you can; and he shall tarry with you two or three days, if necessary
—not
more. And if he desires to settle with you, having a trade, let
him
"work and eat"; but if he has no trade, provide for him as your
judgement
may suggest, seeing to it that no Christian shall abide with
you
in idleness. But if he refuses these terms, he is a Christ-trafficker
[one,
that is, who makes a trade of his Christianity, and (as we should
say)
sponges on the Church]. Beware of such!"
1 The word apostle in still used in its wider N.T.
sense (compare Acts
14.
4,
mark
of early date.
20
HOSPITALITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH
to
fence his Churches, under circumstances somewhat
similar
to those above described. They were being
overrun
by a swarm of "false prophets" and "anti-
christs,"
acting more or less in concert with each other.
These
were errorists of a new school and type, the
forerunners
of second-century Gnosticism (see Chap. VI,
below).
In the second and fourth chapters of the First
Epistle
he denounces them at length and in definite
terms;
this whole writing is, as we shall see, a polemic
against
them. The Apostle warns "the Elect Lady
and
her children "against them in the Second Epistle:
"Many
deceivers have gone out into the world, who do
not
confess Jesus Christ as coming in flesh1 (comp. pp. 315–
317):
this is the deceiver and the antichrist. . . . Every
one
who goes forward and abides not in the doctrine
of
Christ, has not God" (vers. 7-9). The Incarnate
Godhead
of Jesus, he declares, is the test by which
the
character of the teachers of error will be detected,
through
the "chrism" (the "anointing") which con-
stitutes
true Christians and which they "have from
the
Holy One" (1 John 2. 26, 27; 4. 1-3). The First
Epistle
discloses this invasion threatening the entire
field
of
show
the "deceivers and antichrists" on the point of
gaining
entrance into one of the most important com-
munities
in this region, through the welcome that
might
be given to them in ignorance of their real
opinions
and designs, and under the influence of an
ambitious
man who has chosen to set himself against
the
Apostle's authority.
1 ]
confess
Jesus Christ as one coming in
flesh," i.e., do not confess Him
in
this sense, in this character; but in 1 John 4. 2, ]I.X. e]n sarki>
e]lhluqo<ta (Greek
perfect)—"which does not confess Jesus Christ as come
in
flesh," i.e., does not confess
the reality of His incarnation, denies
the
accomplished fact.
THE ELECT LADY
The
Words e]klekth> kuri<a—Theory of Dr Rendel Harris—Vindication of
rendering
"Lady"—Proof of the Public Destination of 2 John—Lady-
ship
of the Church—The Apostle's relations to the Church in question—
Possibility
of identifying the " Elect Lady."
"The Elder to the Elect Lady
and her children, whom I love in
truth—and
not I alone, but also all those who have known the truth—
for
the truth's sake that abideth in us, and it shall be with us for ever.
There
shall be with us grace, mercy, peace from God the Father, and
from
Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
I was greatly gladdened that I have
found some of thy children
walking
in truth, even as we received commandment from the Father.
And
now I beseech thee, Lady—not as though writing a new command-
ment
to thee, but that which we had from the beginning—that we love
one
another; and this is love, that we walk according to His command-
ments:
this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, that
in
it you should walk. . . . The children of thy Elect Sister salute thee."
—2
JOHN 1-6, 13.
CHAPTER III
THE ELECT LADY
SOME
reasons were given in Chapter I for holding
that
the Second Epistle of John was addressed to a
church and not to a private
Christian family, under the
title
of "The Elect Lady and her children." We have
proceeded
so far upon that supposition, which enabled
us
to bring 2 and 3 John into close connexion and
imparts
to their combined contents a solid and definite
meaning.
The case for the collective destination of
2
John rests on grounds additional to those previously
stated;
on those further considerations we will now
enter.
We venture to think not only that the Apostle
sent
this dispatch to a Christian community of his
charge
and that the "Elect Lady" of 2 John was a
personification
and not a person, but that it is possible
to
point, with some probability, to the very place of
destination.
The e]kleth> kuri<a of St John's Greek has received
many
interpretations.
1. Each of the terms has been read
as a proper noun,
qualified
by the other: "to Electa the
lady" (so
Grotius,
for instance); or, "to the elect Kyria" (or
"Cyria":
marginal rendering of the American
Revisers,
after
the ancient Syrian Version). But Eklekte
occurs
nowhere
else in Greek, Kyria rarely, as a
woman's
name;
an Greek grammar protests strongly against
the
second rendering above given. 3 John 1 exemplifies
the
order proper to the Greek words when a qualifying
23
24 THE ELECT LADY
epithet
is attached to a proper name: "to
Gaius the
beloved."
The title "elect" belongs alike to the kyria
and
her "sister" (ver. 13); for it is a designation
common
to the Christian state. Both are epithets;
they
describe by their combination the character and
status
of the party addressed. She is "elect"—that is,
"chosen
of God"—as much as to say, Christian;
simi-
larly
the body of Christian believers is addressed in
1
Peter 2. 9 as "a chosen
race." And she is a "lady"
or
even "the lady" (for the Greek noun, wanting the
definite
article, appears to be used of her by way of
eminence
and as a recognized title)—in virtue of her
rank
and dignity.
2. Another turn has been given to
the question by
that
brilliant scholar and fine spiritual thinker, Dr J.
Rendel
Harris.1 He maintains that kuri<a "was a term
of
endearment, and neither a title of dignity nor a
proper
name," and thinks that he "has completely
exploded
the two notions that the letter is addressed
either
to a church or a prehistoric Countess of Hunting-
don."
Egyptian exploration has discovered stores of
Greek
papyrus documents of the centuries preceding
and
following the Christian era, which throw an
unexpected
and sometimes startling light upon the
language
and literary forms of the New Testament
writings;
amongst these are hundreds of private letters,
upon
all sorts of business. Dr Rendel Harris cites two
of
these epistles in illustration of the Second of John,
both
of which are curiously interesting. The first (dated
in
the third century, A.D.) is a polite invitation from
a
gentleman named "Petosiris" to "my lady Serenia "
(“my
dear Serenia,” as the editors of the
Oxyrrhyncus
papyri
translate kuri<a), "to come up on the 20th to the
birthday
festival of the god"; Petosiris wants to know
whether
she will "come by boat or donkey," so that he
may
send accordingly. Twice in this short note of six
1 In a paper entitled "The
Problem of the Address to the Second
Epistle
of John," which appeared in the Expositor
for March, 1901;
Series
VI, vol. iii, pp. 194-203.
THE ELECT LADY 25
lines
the word kuri<a is repeated parenthetically by
Petosiris,
just as by John in verse 5 of our Epistle.
The
repetition may be, in both instances, a symptom of
tender
urgency, and the Egyptian letter has an air of
familiarity;
but the tone of entreaty need not detract
from
the respectfulness proper to the word, any more
than
when "Madam" or "My lady" is so used in
English;
one sees no sufficient reason for rendering
Petosiris'
salutation—much less
differently
worded—"My dear" instead of "My lady."
Tenderness
does not exclude courtesy; love enhances
the
dignity of the beloved and observes a delicate
respect.
In the other of Dr Harris' chief
examples, a father
absent
froth home and in concern at not hearing from
his
son, writes to him as "My son, Master (ku<rioj) Diony-
sitheon,"
and salutes him at the end of the letter as
"Sir son" (ku<rie ui[e<)! This touch of playfulness any
fond
father can understand. The Egyptian paterfamilias
quite
revels in polite expressions; in the course of his
letter
he calls his boy "My lord" as well as "Sir," vary-
ing
ku<rioj with despo<thj, and speaks of his wife
as "My
mistress
(despoi<na) your mother." There is nothing here
to
prove any radical change of verbal usage. Nor in
the
fact that, as Dr J. H. Moulton says,1 "The title
kyrios applied to a brother or
other near relation, is not
uncommon"
in the papyri. Formality, affectation,
habit—a
hundred different humours—dictate the ex-
change
of such titles amongst relatives or intimates, in
ancient
as in modern letters, without destroying their
proper
use or bringing them down to the level of mere
fondness.
3. The above parallels furnish, in
our opinion, no
reason
for stripping kyria in this instance
of its dignified
significance;
we need not doubt that when
addressed
his correspondent (matron, or church) as the
"elect
lady" he desired to show her, along with his
affection,
a proper deference and to mark out her
1 Expositor, February, 1903; Series
VI, vol. vii, p. 116.
26 THE ELECT LADY
eminence
amongst her "elect" sisters. While the
appellations
ku<rioj, kuri<a (our lord,
lady; sir, madam),
might
be and often were employed in familiar in-
tercourse,
like the corresponding terms amongst
ourselves,
at the same time they served to denote the
highest
social distinction and authority. A woman's
guardian
is called, in the papyri, her ku<rioj; a governor
or
state-official—sometimes the emperor himself—is
addressed
as ku<rie; occasionally ku<rioj is used even of a
god,
so that its application to the Jehovah of the Old
Testament,
and to Jesus Christ in the New, is not with-
out
Pagan parallels (see 1 Cor. 8. 5, 6). The highest
associations
attaching to kuri<a must surely have been
present
to
The qualifying adjunct
"elect" lifts us into the region
of
Christian calling and dignity. In such a combination
one
can hardly suppose that the Apostle indicates by
kuri<a nothing more than the
worldly rank of her to
whom
he writes; we surrender to Dr Harris' criticism,
without
any regret, the apostolic Countess of Hunting-
don.
On the other hand, kuri<a does not suggest emi-
nence
in personal Christian service. In that case the
lady
concerned must have been a person of very great
note
indeed; for the Apostle describes her as beloved
"not
only" by himself, "but" by "all who have known
the
truth"—by the Christian Church everywhere. It
would
be strange, if so, that her name is not given, and
that
we hear of her from no other quarter. On the
strength
of 2 John 1, it has been conjectured that Mary,
the mother of Jesus, was intended—she is
the one
woman of the New Testament to
whom such words in
their
full sense might apply; but every one sees the
anachronism
and incongruity of the suggestion. There
was
more than one church, however, in
which
so much could be said without exaggeration.
The closing salutation of verse 13
speaks for the
public
destination of 2 John. How odd, when one
comes
to think of it, for "the children" of a private
family
in
THE ELECT LADY 27
through
the Apostle John, and for him to close his
solemn
Epistle with this trivial message! But a
greeting
from, church to church is just in
apostolic style,
and
highly appropriate here (see
19,
20; Phil. 4. 21). 1 Peter 5. 13—addressed, amongst
others,
" to the elect sojourners of the dispersion . . .
in
that
is elect with you [viz., the sister church] in
saluteth
you." It is another anomaly, on the
domestic
theory
of 2 John, that while so many persons, of
two
distinct families, are referred to, the letter is as
barren
of personal names as 1 John; whereas 3 John,
as
is natural in a private letter, furnishes three such
names.
of
identify
the Church with Christ as His bride and spouse.
Now
kuri<a s the feminine of ku<rioj, Christ's own title
of
"the Lord." The correspondence was obvious to the
Greek
ear and eye; and the conception formed by St
Paul
and
the
Redeemer, and her supremacy in the Divine order
of
the world, is fitly expressed by ascribing to her a
lady-ship, understood as matching
in some sort His
lord-ship. The hateful perversion
by
Apostolic
doctrine of the Church has made us shrink, to
our
loss, from thoughts of the grandeur and authority
that
belong to the Christian communion in the light of
such
sayings as we have referred to; but they are there
none
the less, and must be reckoned with. What is
true
of the Church at large, may be applied in particu-
lar;
each limb partakes of the sacredness of the body.
Hence
status,
"I espoused you to one husband, to present you
a
chaste maiden to Christ" (2 Cor. 11. 2).
This mode of personification was by
no means strange
in
early times. Great communities, cities and kingdoms,
were
habitually represented under the image of a noble
28 THE ELECT LADY
woman;
their coins and medals bore the effigy of a
crowned
female head—like the figure of Britannia,
for
instance,
upon our own currency. In Isaiah 62. 4, 5 the
restored
God:
on the other hand, the "virgin daughter of
1-7
thrust from her "throne" and sitting in the dust;
and
by way of contrast to Christ's pure Bride, St John
presents,
in Revelation 17 and 18, the awful vision of
the
world's mistress, that other Madam—viz., the city
of
forehead
a name written, Mystery,
mother
of the harlots and of the abominations of the
earth,
. . . drunken with the blood of the saints," who
"says
in her heart, I sit a queen!"
In this vein of imagery, by way of
reminding the
Church
addressed of her dignity and the responsibilities
it
entails,
term
which in common speech denoted the mistress of
the
house, or even the empress sharing the world's
throne,
belongs to her whom the Lord Christ has set
by
His side, concerning whom He said through St
John,
addressing one of His least worthy Churches,
"He
that overcometh, I will give to him to sit with
me
in my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with
my
Father in His throne" (Rev. 3. 21); and to another
of
the Seven, "He that overcometh . . . to him will I
give
authority over the nations, and he shall rule them
with
a rod of iron . . . as I also have received of my
Father;
and I will give him the morning star" (Rev.
2.
26-28). Those pictures of the Church triumphant
unfold
and project into the future the image that is
suggested
here of the kuri<a, wedded partner with the
ku<rioj in the Father's house.
By substituting this idea
for
that of
primitive
"Countess of Huntingdon," we do not lose the
tenderness
of his expression; but we attribute to the
Apostle
a larger and sublimer sentiment, in exchange
for
the slight and common-place.
THE ELECT LADY 29
Reading the Epistle with this
conception of its des-
tination
in our minds, we find a fuller meaning in its
statements
and appeals. The
letter
is known and loved far and wide; "the truth"
of
Christianity is lodged with her, along with others
(ver.
2; comp. 1 Tim. 3. 15). "Some [not all] of" her
"children"
the Apostle has met with elsewhere, who
have
cheered him by their Christian consistency (ver. 4).
When
he "asks," in tones of personal urgency, that the
"love"
cherished between himself and this "lady" of
Christ
may be continued (vers. 5, 6; comp. 1 John 2.
7-14,
22-25),1 it is because there are "many deceivers"
abroad,
"who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in
flesh"—men
who reject with the fact the very idea of
the
Incarnation (ver. 7); their "teaching" would rob
the
Church of all that the Apostle had imparted to her
("See
that ye lose not the things which we
wrought,"
ver.
8, RV; comp. Gal. 4. 11), and of its own "full
reward"—would,
in fact, take away from the "lady"
her
Lord Himself (ver. 9). The crucial point of the
letter
is reached in verses 10, 11, when the Church is
warned
that the teachers above described must have no
entertainment
in any Christian house; and is told that
whoever
receives them, knowing their business, will be
counted
their accomplice (contrast herewith Matt. 10. 41).
The Apostle fears lest the
fellowship of his readers
with
himself and the rest of the Church should be
broken;
as it certainly will be, if "the deceiver and the
antichrist"
obtains a footing in the community and it
is
thus seduced from its loyalty to Christ. This solici-
tude,
and the urgent language of 2 John 5, 6, we can
better
understand if 3 John was written to the same
1 The thought of Christ's
"new commandment" of love (see John
13.
34) as the "old commandment" dating from the beginning is very
characteristic
of
"love"
and “commandment-keeping” (John 14. 15, 15. 10; 1 John 5. 3).
It
is worth observing that the combination "Grace, mercy, peace" of
this
salutation occurs besides only in 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy 1. 1,
addressed
to
30 THE ELECT LADY
quarter;
on this assumption (see Chapter I above) it
appears
that a leading officer of the Church intended
at
this very time is "prating about" the Apostle "with
wicked
words" and "is driving out of the Church"
those
who admit his representatives (3 John 9, 10).
What
but
a little of all he desires to say to his readers. He
"hopes
to come" to them soon, under such conditions
that
their "joy may be fulfilled" (ver. 12). This, of
course,
depends on the way in which the entreaty and
warning
of his letter are received (comp. 2 Cor. 2. 1, 2).
4. Granted that the "lady"
of
a church, one can hardly forbear
asking, What church?
There are indications affording
ground for a fair
conjecture.
In the first place, the Church in question
was
in this Apostle's province, for he writes both letters
to
Christians personally known to him and under his
authority;
it lay within the range of his visitations and
of
the journeyings of his delegates. This limits us to
the province of
of the Apocalypse.
Secondly, the Church we are seeking
must have been
amongst
the most prominent in the region, since it is
the
object of love on the part of "all who have known
the
truth" (ver. 1)—language which reminds us of
that
used by the Apostle Paul concerning the Church of
1.
8).1 Now, the first three cities on the Apocalyptic
list—
each
of them possessed a world-wide fame, in which the
Christian
communities planted there could not but par-
ticipate.
the
place of the Apostle's residence; the Ephesian
Church,
we may presume, was the "elect sister" of
1 Clement of
name
of
revived.
Dom Chapman argues ingeniously in The
Journal of Theol.
Studies (April and July, 1904),
for Thessalonica as the destination of
3
John, and
THE ELECT LADY 31
verse
13. There is something to be said in favour of
mercial
activity and in importance for Christian travel.
The
Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp show how large
a
place
Church
in post-apostolic days. But, on the whole, we
must
give our vote to
Compared with her rivals,
advantage
of lying fifteen miles from the coast, and out
of
the line of the great highways of
these
causes she lost her ascendancy in the second
century,
and makes no great figure in Christian history.
For
all that, up to the present time she was, as Pliny the
Younger
calls her, "the most renowned city of
In
dignity she was the queen.
the
seat of the powerful Attalid dynasty, from whom
residence
of the Proconsul and the official capital of the
province. This city gained new influence from the fact
that
it reared the first temple to the deity of Augustus
(B.C.
29), and thus became the centre in
of
the Caesar-worship, which was made the state-religion
of
the Empire. On this account probably (as Sir W. M.
Ramsay
has shown)
as
the place "where Satan's throne is"; to these con-
ditions,
again, it was due that in
of
the first “martyr" of the province was shed (Rev. 2. 13).
Ramsay,
whose work on The Letters to the Seven
Churches
marks
an epoch for the students of
on
St. Paul the Traveller did for the
students of
thus
describes
“No city of the whole of
posing
and dominating aspect. It is the one city of the land which
forced
from me the exclamation, A royal city! .
. . There is something
unique
and overpowering in its effect, planted as it is on its magnificent
hill,
standing out boldly in the level plain, and dominating the valley and
the
mountains on the south" (p. 295).
These conditions, unless imagination
deceives us, point
out
of the
32 THE ELECT LADY
2
John. While the name kuri<a might on occasion be
applied
to any
locality
within
epithet
spontaneously suggested itself, and to which
pre-eminently
it was appropriate. Ramsay has illus-
trated,
with abundant wealth of detail,
feeling
for local features and traditions; the Letters to
the
Seven Churches, as he reads them, teem with allu-
sions
of this nature. The unique address of his Second
Epistle,
if our conjecture be sound, is an example of the
same
aptitude on the Apostle's part. If there was one
city
above all others in
by
her neighbours, and would recognize herself through
her
history and situation, as "the elect lady," beyond
question
it was
Chapter
on
Authority, is in effect a
paraphrase of
This
grand title at once reflects the dignity attaching to
the
site and surroundings of the
and
the majesty which belongs to the Church herself as
Christ's
elect and the destined partner of His throne.
The censure passed upon the
Pergamenes in the
Apocalyptic
Letter (Rev. 2. 14-16) is in keeping with
the
apprehension disclosed in this Epistle. A
false
toleration was the bane of that
Church; she "holds
fast"
her Master's "name," and yet harbours disloyal
and
corrupting teachers, against whom the Lord will
"war
with the sword of His mouth." If 2
John be later
in
date than the Apocalypse (and this seems more likely),
then
the language of verses 10, 11 was grounded on
experience
of the mistaken charity of the Church of
Revelation
2.14-16 would show that this warning had
been
unheeded or forgotten. The worldly pride
of
in
Chapter IV) is silently corrected by the entreaty for
love toward her Apostle and
toward her "elect sister"
of
GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES
3
John full of, Personalities—Three Typical Characters of late Apostolic
Times—The
Gaiuses of the New Testament—Gaius of
Characterization—The
name Demetrius—A Travelling Assistant of St
John—His
Visit to Gaius' Church—The Triple Testimony to him-
Diotrephes
the Marplot—Significance of his Name—Nature of his In-
fluence—His
Insolence toward the Apostle—Indications of the State of
the
Johannine Churches.
"The
Elder to Gaius, the beloved, whom I love in truth. Beloved,
in
all things I pray that thou mayest be prosperous and in health,
even
as thy soul prospereth. For I have been greatly gladdened as
brethren
came and testified to thy truth, according as thou walkest in
truth.
A greater joy (or grace) I have not than these tidings, that I may
hear
of my own children walking in the truth. . . .
"I have written somewhat to the
Church; but Diotrephes, who loves
to
be first among them, does not receive us. On this account, if I come,
I
will call to remembrance the works that he doeth, with wicked words
prating
of us; and not contenting himself with this, he neither receives
the
brethren himself, and those wishful to do so he hinders and drives
out
of the Church. . . .
"To Demetrius witness has been
borne by all, and by the truth itself;
and
we bear witness besides, and thou knowest that our witness is true."
—3
JOHN 1-4, 9, 10, 12.
CHAPTER IV
GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES
THE
Third Epistle of John is as distinctly personal as
the
Second is general and impersonal in its terms.
The
three names of Gaius, Diotrephes,
Demetrius supply
the
topics of the letter, dividing its contents into three
paragraphs,
viz., verses 2-8; 9, 10; 11, 12. The person-
alities
they represent are sharply distinguished and
thrown
into relief in these brief, pregnant lines:
Gaius,
a sincere and lovable disciple, with liberal
means
keeping open heart and open house for
Christian
travellers, and proving himself a "good
steward
of God's manifold grace" under circumstances
that
severely taxed his generosity and tested his
fidelity;
Diotrephes, the ambitious Church officer,
greedy
of place and power, plying a clever, unscrupu-
lous
tongue, insolent toward authority above him and
overbearing
to those beneath him; Demetrius, the
active,
loyal, and justly popular minister and travel-
ling
assistant of the Apostle.
These three are typical characters
of later Apostolic
times.
The first appears to have been a private member
of
the local Church. The second held, under some title
or
other, an office enabling him to exercise a prepon-
derating
influence in the same community. The third
comes
from the Apostle's side; he belongs to that im-
portant body of agents employed in the primitive
Church
as "prophets," "teachers," or "evangelists,"
who
travelled from place to place, linking together the
Life Eternal 35
36 GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES
scattered
Christian societies by their visits of edification
land
breaking ground for the Gospel in new districts, a
body
formed in the first instance of what one may call
the
headquarters' staff and attaches of
the Apostolic
Chiefs.
Gaius and Demetrius stand for the sound and
staunch
constituency of the Johannine Churches, which
was
found both in the laity and the ministry, amid
the
settled life of city communities and in the wider
interplay
of activity and mutual service that went on
between
limb and limb of the great body of Christ.
Diotrephes
represents the tares amidst Christ's wheat;
he
is the prototype of the diseased self-importance,
the
local jealousies and false independence, that have
so
often destroyed the peace of Churches, making unity
of
action and a common discipline amongst them things
so
difficult to maintain.
1. GAIUS (Latin Caius) was a familiar personal name
of
this period. Originally a Latin praenomen (forename,
like
our Thomas or James), it spread with
Roman
influence
in the East, being frequently given to slaves
and
freedmen. In Greek circles it therefore bore a
somewhat
plebeian stamp; but amongst the Romans it
was
occasionally used for their distinctive appellation
by
persons of eminence, as by the emperor Gaius
(Caligula)
in the first century and the famous lawyer
Gaius
in the second. Three other Gaiuses are known
from
the New Testament: Gaius of Corinth,
whom St
Paul
baptized with his own hand (I Cor. 1. 14), subse-
quently
his host "and host of the whole church" (which
means,
we presume, that he entertained Christian
travellers
from all quarters: Rom. 16. 23) in that
city;
Gaius of Derbe, coupled with Timothy
(of Lystra), who
attended
the Apostle of the Gentiles when he carried
the
contributions of his Churches for the relief of the
Christian
poor in
Gaius, who along with
Aristarchus was seized by the
Ephesian
mob as Paul's accomplice, is the third of this
name
belonging to the Pauline circle (Acts 19. 29).
GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES 37
It is against probability to
identify
in
another region of the Church and at an interval
of
forty years, with
coincidence
of name is as little surprising as it would
be
to find two hospitable Methodist Smiths
in distant
counties
of
of
tradition suggesting that the Gaius of 3 John was
the Gaius of Acts 20. 4: the Apostolical Constitutions
(vii.
46) relates that Gaius of Derbe was appointed by
the
Apostle John Bishop of
falls
in with the view set forth in the last chapter, that
3
John, long with 2 John, was directed to the Church
of
conjecture
that Diotrephes was deposed by the Apostle
and
the worthy Gaius set in his place. The Apostolical
Constitutions, though not earlier
than the fifth century,
is
a work derived from older sources and contains
morsels
of genuine history. But the identification is
precarious,
considering the distance of time involved.
Moreover
children”
(ver. 4), whereas the Derbean Gaius was a
convert
of
to
Gaius’ age and his earlier services, such as would
have
been appropriate and almost inevitable in the
address
of 3 John, had he been associated with the
beginnings
of Christianity in
days
of he Gentile mission. We incline to think that
the
author of the Constitutions correctly
records the
name
of Gaius as raised to office by
ment
(registers of this kind were long extant), but has
by
a mistaken guess identified the Pergamene bishop
with
St Paul's earlier comrade.
Gaius of Pergamum (as we venture to
distinguish
him)
was, like Polycarp the martyr bishop of
like
simplicity of character. His steady "walk in the
truth"
has given to the Apostle the "greatest joy"
that
a Christian teacher can experience (vers. 3-5);
and
this at a time and in a region in which "many
38 GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES
antichrists"
are found, many who have "gone out" from
the
Apostolic fold into ways of error (1 John 2. 18-27;
2
John 7-11). Gaius is marked as "the beloved"
amongst
(ver.
1): four times in twelve verses is he so
addressed.
His
disposition was amiable, and his Christian character
had
developed in an altogether admirable way; the
Writer
can only wish that in other respects he "were
as
prosperous as he is in the matters of "the soul"
ver.
2). The emphasis thrown on health in
this con-
nexion
points to something amiss there; beside this,
the
behaviour of Diotrephes had brought trouble upon
Gaius,
whose expulsion was even attempted (vers. 9, 10).
Repeatedly1 Christians
had come from Gaius' neigh-
bourhood,
either emissaries of the Apostle or private
members
of the Church travelling or in migration,
having
all of them something to say in praise of him;
to
his "love," shown by unstinted hospitality, testi-
mony
has been borne "before the Church" of
ver.
6), since this kind of service was a matter of public
interest
and was indispensable to the furtherance of the
Gospel
(see Chap. II). Gaius' entertainment of strangers
was
indeed a signal act of faith (ver. 5), and constituted
him
a "fellow-worker with the truth" (ver. 8); he "will
be
doing well" in continuing to "send forward in a
manner
worthy of God" those who pass through his
city
marked with the stamp and token of Christ's
"name"
(vers. 5, 7). At the present time, it appears
that
Gaius was the one man of position in his Church
on
whom
whether
the companion letter (see Chap. I) addressed
to
the Church will be received (ver. 9); his was the one
door
that John's messengers could count on finding
open
to them when they came that way. But for
Gaius,
the Christian society in this place might have
severed
itself from the Apostolic communion, while
1 The present tense in the Greek participles
of verse 3 implies
repetition: "I was greatly gladdened as brethren
came from time
to
time and testified to thy faith," &c.
GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES 39
it
welcomed the Antichristian errorists (granting that
2
John is the letter intended in 3 John 9). An im-
portant
link would thus be broken in the chain of
Churches
running through
a
vital cord of Christendom.
There is nothing to indicate that
Gaius was a man of
intellectual
mark or popular gifts. He may have been
put
into office later, as tradition in the Apostolical
Con-
stitutions signifies; but we know
him only as a well-to-
do
and liberal-handed layman. Warmth of heart, sound
judgement
and unflinching loyalty—these were his con-
spicuous
qualities; by their exercise he rendered to the
will
be held in remembrance "wherever this gospel shall
be
preached."
2. By the side of Gaius stands
DEMETRIUS, introduced
with
this letter in his hand by the commendation of
verse
12, Demetrius' name is pure Greek—derived
from
that of Demeter (Latin Ceres), the goddess-
mother
of the fields and crops—and was fairly common
in
all ranks of life.
"the
silversmith" (Acts 19), is the only other Demetrius
in
the New Testament; his Ephesian residence and
ability
for public work are considerations favouring
the
notion of identity. One would like to think that
the
idol-Maker had become a witness for the true God;
but
there is no evidence of the fact.
The name "Demas," of
Colossians 4.14 and 2 Timothy
4.10,
is probably short for "Demetrius." That deserter
of
who
on the strength of this correspondence supposes
3
John to have been addressed to Thessalonica
with a
view
to the reinstating of "Demas," whose reception in
the
sisted
by Diotrephes out of loyalty to the Apostle of
1 See the articles of Dom
Chapman, 0.S.B., in the Journal of
Theological Studies, April and July, 1904,
referred to also on p. 30
above.
40 GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES
the
Gentiles! But this theory labours under many
improbabilities;
and we may take it that the Demetrius
of
3 John, whether connected with the old shrine-maker
of
of
had
not hitherto visited this particular Church.
Verse 11 leads up to the eulogy upon
Demetrius,
setting
him in contrast with Diotrephes (vers. 9, 10); in
the
latter Gaius will see "the bad" to be avoided; in the
former
"the good" to be "imitated." Since in verse 6
Gaius
is urged to continue his aid to "foreign brethren"
on
their travels, it seems that Demetrius is expected to
come
to him in this capacity, along with companions
whom
the Apostle is dispatching on farther errands.
From
the fact that Demetrius is praised as one
"attested
by the truth," we gather that he is visiting
Gaius'
Church in order to uphold the true Christian
doctrine
and practice, which were imperilled by the
action
of Diotrephes and by the inclination here
manifest
to entertain heretical teaching (2 John 9-11).
Demetrius,
if he gains a footing, will enforce the
warning
conveyed through 2 John, and may check the
insolence
of Diotrephes, pending the arrival of
himself
(3 John 10).
Three distinct testimonies are
adduced to this man's
work:
"To Demetrius witness hath been
given by all"
—words
implying a wide field of service, and an un-
qualified
approval of his work in the Church (comp.
1
Thess. 1. 8); "and by the truth
itself"—this signifying,
in
view of verse 4 and of 2 John 1, 2, not his integrity of
character,
but (objectively) "the truth" of Christianity
finding
itself reflected in Demetrius' teaching and life,
which
show him to be "of the truth" (1 John 3. 19)
and
worthily qualified as its exponent and champion.
decisive
weight with Gaius: "and we moreover bear
witness
(to him), and thou knowest that our witness is
true."
This triple commendation betrays an undertone
GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES 41
of
solicitude. The Apostle had some fear as to how his
representative
might be received (comp. ver. 9); Gaius
must
be prepared to give him unhesitating and energetic
support.
3. DIOTREPHES is the marplot of the
story, the evil
contrast
to Gaius and Demetrius. His name
supplies
some
clue to his character and attitude.
"Diotrephes" is as rare in
Greek as the companion
names
are common; we find it twice only in secular,
and
nowhere besides in sacred history. The word was
a
Homeric and poetic epithet, reserved for persons of
royal
birth, meaning Zeus-reared, nursling of
Zeus (the
king
of the gods); such an appellation would scarcely
occur
except in noble and ancient families. Diotre-
phes,
we imagine, belonged to the Greek aristocracy of
the
old royal city. Hence, probably, his "love to be
first;
and hence the deference yielded to him by the
local
patriotism and could ill brook dictation coming
from
the Seven Churches) has shown how keen a
rivalry
existed
amongst the leading cities of this province; and
if,
as we have seen reason to believe,
the
destination of 2 John and the seat of the mutiny
against
Apostolic order indicated in 3 John 9, 10, the
eminence
of this city as the historical capital of
and
the lively susceptibility of Greek civic communities
on
points of honour and precedence, help to explain the
perplexiug
situation. Diotrephes, with his high-flown
name,
appealed to and embodied the hereditary pride
and
long-established ascendancy of
ever
"loved to be first." While the title kuri<a (lady,
mistress) of 2 John 1 renders
kindly and courteous
deference
to Pergamene dignity, that dignity took in
the
behaviour of Diotrephes toward
ordinate
and schismatic expression. The Apocalyptic
Letter
assigns a melancholy eminence to
as
the place "where Satan's throne is" (Rev. 2. 13.)
42 GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES
Pride
of place was the sin of Diotrephes. Whether
he-was
Bishop of his Church, in the sense in which
Ignatius
of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna were a
generation
later, does not appear. It is questionable
whether
mon-episcopacy (the rule of a single bishop
placed
above the elders) existed at this date, though
its
foundation to
trephes
may have been that of personal force and
social
status, rather than of official right. In any case,
the
occurrence illustrates the tendency to concentrate
power
in a single hand, which gave rise to the Episco-
pate
of the second century. It is noticeable that the
matters
in which Diotrephes offends
to
admit travelling brethren and attempting1 to
"hinder"
and even "excommunicate" those who would
entertain
them—appear to have been originally a
principal
charge of the separated bishops, viz. the
superintendence
of hospitality and of inter-church
relations.
It is conceivable that Diotrephes was one of
the
first experiments in Episcopacy; and that, puffed
up
by his new office, he had rebelled against his father
in
Christ and refused to take direction from
How Diotrephes could have dared to
rail at
the
one surviving Apostolic "pillar" and the most
revered
and august figure of Christendom—"prating
against
us (or talking nonsense of us),"
the Apostle
writes,
"with wicked words"—what he could have
found
to say to
The
Apostle's extreme age may have given rise, in ill-
disposed
minds, to the reproach of senility; probably
St
Peter or
urged,
had grown to maturity and should no longer
be
kept in leading-strings. The Apostle, a dear and
venerable
relic, is stationary at
elsewhere
he learns through his agents—intermeddlers
1 The two last verbs of
verse 10 "do not necessarily express more than
the
purpose and effort" (Westcott) of Diotrephes,—a conative present.
GAIUS, DEMETRIUS, DIOTREPHES 43
like
Demetrius, who fill their master's ears with their
prejudices
and overrule the wiser and more responsible
men
upon the ground! Such "prating" would be
natural
enough in the circumstances; it was mis-
chievous
in itself, and most provoking to the great
Apostle. He intends to "come"; and has no
doubt
that
when he does so, he will be able to expose
Diotrephes’
misrepresentations and to call him to
account.
A double danger arose from the check
given to St
John’s
authority in
in
the way of his delegates. Not only would this
Church
be cut off from the general fellowship of
Christians,
but it might afford harbourage to the
Antichristian
doctrine, that was invading the Johan-
nine
fold. Against these two dangers the two minor
Epistles
are directed.
Gaius and Diotrephes represent the
loyal and disloyal
sections
of the Churches of Western Asia Minor;
Demetrius
is one of the "messengers of the Churches"—
travelling
apostles, prophets, or evangelists—who passed
from
one community to another and linked the Christian
societies
together. The "many deceivers" of 2 John 7
are
the heretical teachers who multiplied around the
thriving
Churches of this region towards the close of
the
first century, and were the forerunners of the great
Gnostic
leaders of the subsequent age; while
“children,”
who give him "joy" by "walking in the
truth,”
but must be warned lest they "lose the things
they
have wrought" and lest they "become partakers
in
the evil deeds" of "deceivers and antichrists" (2 John
2,
4, 8, 11; 3 John 4), form the bulk of the Christian
constituency
under
faithful
to the Apostolic doctrine and devoted to St
John
himself as their father in Christ, but are in danger
of
being misled by the plausibilities of the new
doctrine
and entangled by the craft and intrigues of
its
promoters.
THE
APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS
the
Friends—
Love—The
Apostle of Wrath—Combination of the Mystical and Matter-
of-fact—
flict
of the Church: Imperial Persecution,
Gnosticizing Error.
"I
John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and
kingdom and patience which are in
Jesus."—REVELATION 1. 9.
CHAPTER V
THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS
IN
his letters, if anywhere, a writer is wont to un-
bosom
himself. Our examination of the Epistles
should
therefore have brought us nearer to
personalty.
The material they yield for this purpose
is
indeed somewhat disappointing. A single page of
Apostle
has written. There is a veil about him,--a
reserve
never quite penetrated. We see John stand-
ing
by Peter's side in the first Christian movements
at
him
twenty years later counted as one of the three
"pillars"
of the mother Church (Gal. 2. 9); but not
a
word is quoted from his lips, nor a single act of
personal
initiative ascribed to him. From the pro-
minence
thus accorded to
any
notable doing on his part, the inference is that
the
force of his character was felt and his influence
exerted
throughout those earlier years in the counsels
of
the Apostolate and the inner circles of the Church,
rather
than in the field of its external activities.
their
friendship was of the kind often contracted
between
opposite natures, each meeting the defects
of
the other. Peter was the man of action,—impulsive,
demonstrative,
ready at a word to plunge into the sea,
to
draw the sword, to "go to prison and to death" with
his
Master; John was the man of reflexion,—quiet,
47
48 THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS
deliberate,
saying little, but observing, thinking, mean-
ing
much. "All members" of Christ's body "have not
the
same office"; and St John had other work to do
than
that of his compeers. The cousin of our Lord
(John
10. 25=Matt. 27. 56) and "the disciple whom Jesus
loved,"
his qualities of mind and heart secured for him
a
foremost place amongst the Twelve; and his type of
thought,
reflecting so much that others had compara-
tively
missed of what was deepest in the mind of Jesus,
impressed
itself on his fellow-workers from the outset.
The
Fourth Gospel, in its completed form the fruit of
sixty
years' meditation, contains the substance of St
John's
testimony "concerning the word of life" as he
delivered
it "from the beginning" (1 John 1. 1-3); and
this
teaching quietly and gradually permeated the
Christian
Society, through his converse with its leading
minds,
and through the manner in which he touched
the
secret springs of its life. In the writings of St
John's
last years the Church recognized accordingly
"that
which was from the beginning," "the message
which"
its children "had heard from the beginning"
(1
John 1. 1, 2. 7, 3. 11, &c.) through the same Apostle.
Where the Pauline and Johannine
theologies lean to
each
other, it may be presumed (though the fact is
not
commonly recognized) that the primary debt lay
on
supplied
the data and presuppositions for
doctrines
of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling Christ,
which
final
expression. It was given to this Apostle to pro-
nounce
the alpha and omega of mystical Christianity.
During the period covered by the
Acts of the Apostles,
in
which SS Peter and Paul played their glorious part
as
Christ's protagonists,
though
by no means inactive or ineffective there. When
Peter
asked the Master at the last, "Lord, and what
shall
this man do?—what is to become of John?" along
with
the affection prompting the inquiry, there was a
touch
of curiosity about the future of his friend, whose
THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS 49
moods
often drove Peter into impatience:1 what sort of
Apostle
could this dreamer make? The reply, "If I will
that
he tarry till I come—?" seems to signify that John
must
bide his time, that he would come late to his own.
So
the event proved. It was not until after the fall of
the
Gospel in the
great
founders had passed away, that the Apostle John
reached
his zenith and took his place at
already
an old man, in the centre of the catholic
Church,
attracting universal reverence and observance.
It
was by his writings finally—the Gospel and Epistles,
the
work of the last decade of the century, composed
when
the author was past eighty years of age (the
Apocalypse
was probably, in whole or in part, consider-
ably
earlier)—that he made his great contribution to
the
spiritual wealth of the Church and of mankind; of
public
speech or action on
traces
have remained. For these books it is still
reserved
to gain their complete sway over the Christian
mind.
To this day John tarries his Lord's
coming; he
knew
how to wait.
Every one thinks of
"Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God"
(1
John 4. 7), is his characteristic appeal. From John's
pen
comes the most endeared text of the New Testa-
ment:
"God so loved the world, that He
gave His Son,
the
Only-begotten." The Epistles issued from a heart
steeped
in the redeeming love of God. When he wrote
them,
the blessed Apostle had entered deeply into the
experience
of perfect love; he spoke out of his own
consciousness
in saying, "Whoso keepeth Christ's word,
truly
in him the love of God hath been perfected"; and
again,
"Herein is love made perfect with us . . . be-
cause
as He is, we too are in this world. There is no
fear
in love, but perfect love casteth out fear. . . . We
love,
because He first loved us" (1 John 2. 5, 4. 17-19).
Through
long pastoral service, and in the ripeness of
1 See Milligan-Moulton's Popular Commentary, on John 21. 21-23.
Life
Eternal 5
50 THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS
protracted
age,
grown
into a most tender, wise, discriminating fatherly
care,
which embraced all the flock of Christ but spent
itself
most upon the Churches of the Asian fold. Never
since
he died has the Church Universal possessed a
living
father in God to whom it could look up with the
affectionate
veneration that gathered round
person
at the close of the Apostolic age.
The love which attained perfectness
in the Apostle
John
was more than a general emotion, a devotion to
the
body of Christ at large. He was great in comrade-
ship
and friendship. The man that "loveth not his
brother
whom he hath seen" (1 John 4.
20), the Apostle
judges
incapable of love to the unseen Father. For
this
reason, amongst others, John was "the disciple
whom
Jesus loved"; to his tendance the Lord from
the
cross commended His widowed mother. Peter and
John,
constantly side by side in the Gospel story, are
significantly
found together on the Easter morning
(John
20. 2-10)—who knows how much
did
to save his companion from despair? His "love"
was,
we may be sure, a "bond of peace" in the
Apostolic
fellowship and through the anxious years of
the
Church's infancy.
The appeals and reasonings of the
First Epistle
reveal
the close ties of affection binding to the Apostle
the
members of his wide Asian flock; he sought in the
strengthening
and purifying of the spirit of love the
prophylactic
for the Church against intellectual error.
The
Second Epistle, in its few lines, exhibits the
writer's
watchful solicitude for each community of his
jurisdiction;
it conveys a grave and strong warning,
with
the tact that love imparts: the admonition begins
with
the entreaty, based on the old commandment,
"which
we had from the beginning, that we should
love
one another" (2 John 5; 1 John 2. 7, 8). In the
instances
of Gains and Demetrius, the Third Epistle
illustrates
the warmth of
the
way in which he turned to account the qualities
THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS 51
and
gifts of his helpers in Christ's service. One
imagines
that the Apostle John's success in the direc-
tion
of Church affairs was due to the strength and
multiplicity
of his personal attachments and to his
influence
over individual workers, rather than to any
skill
in organization and the management of business.
But
His
aspect is not always that of the mild and amiable
patriarch
of the Church, breathing out, "Little children,
love
one another!" It was a different John from this
who
would have called down "fire from heaven" upon
the
Samarian village that refused his Master hospi-
tality
(Luke 9. 51-56), and whom Jesus distinguished as
Boanerges (not from the loudness
of his voice, but from
the
sudden, lightning-like flame of his spirit), for whom,
along
with James his brother, their mother asked the
two
chief places right and left of the Messiah's throne
(Matt.
20. 20-28). Under the placid surface of
nature
there lay a slumbering passion, a brooding
ambition,
that blazed up on occasion with startling
vehemence.
Now it is the John Boanerges who re-
appears
lin the Apocalypse—strong in contempt and
hate
no less than in love, whose soul resounded through
its
whole compass to the "indignation of the wrath"
of
Almighty God, that thunders against the haters of
His
Christ and the murderers of His people. Nor in
Gospel
and Epistles is this Divine anger—love's counter-
part
in a world of sin—very far to seek. The chapter
which
tells how "God so loved the world," ends with
the
fearful words concerning the disobeyer of the Son,
"The
wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3. 36). The
holy
wrath of the Apostle flashes out against immoral
pretenders
to high Christian knowledge, when he ex-
claims
in the First Epistle, "If we say that we have
fellowship)
with God and walk in darkness, we lie";
"If
a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he
is
a liar", (1. 6, 2. 22, 4. 20). When he likes, the gentle
John
can be the most peremptory and dogmatic of
teachers
"He that knoweth God," he asserts, "heareth
52 THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS
us;
he who is not of God, heareth us not. By this we
know
the spirit of truth and the spirit of error" (4. 6;
see
Chap. XIX below).
The story about John and Cerinthus,
that when they
happened
to meet in the public baths at
Apostle
fled as if for life, crying, "Away, lest the bath
fall
in, while Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is
there!"
though unhistorical, has a point of attachment
in
St John's known disposition.
We discern the same strong
temperament—love with
its
possibilities of anger, notes of sharp severity break-
ing
through the winning and tender strain of the
Apostle's
converse—in the two minor Epistles: witness
the
stern exclusion of Antichristian teachers in 2 John
10,
11, and the denunciation of him who "greets" them
as
"partaker in their evil deeds"; witness the handling
of
Diotrephes in 3 John 9, 10. With all its breadth
and
its power of abstract thinking,
of
a simple order: he paints in black and white; he
sees
"light and darkness," "love and hate," the kingdom
of
God and of Satan everywhere in conflict (comp.
Chap.
XVII). He is with all his soul against the Devil
and
"his children," because he is for God and Christ.
He
recognizes no neutral tints, no half-lights; to his
mind,
the Lord loathes nothing so much as the luke-
warmness
of
3.
15, 16).
The constitution of the Apostle John
presents
another
striking contrast, in its union of the mystical
and
the matter-of-fact. Exactitude in detail, truth
and
vividness of local colour and dramatic force of
characterization,
are combined in the Fourth Gospel
with
the profoundest analysis and with transcendent
spiritual
power. No writer has a firmer grasp of the
actual
and a truer reverence for fact; the attempts
to
disprove the historicity of his witness break always
upon
the rock of the Johannine realism.
symbolism,
which gets free play in the Apocalypse
supplies
the link between the positive and the tran-
THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS 53
scendental
in his mind. He had both sight and insight;
the
world and life—above all, the life of Christ and
of
the Church—were full of "signs" for him; they
were
charged at each point with infinite meanings.
This
inner significance made outward occurrences sacred
to
the
more keen and precise.1
The same traits appear in the two
smaller letters.
3
John contains three portraits of Christian character,
drawn
in the briefest lines but with incisive force;
the
writer was a sure and penetrating judge of men
and
circumstances. 2 John indicates the author's
knowledge
of a Christian Society at some distance
from
himself,—its situation and dangers; the playful
yet
most serious way in which he styles the Church
of
the
"elect lady" and the
"elect
sister," is in
representation
illustrates the readiness, manifest
throughout
the Letters to the Seven Churches, with
which
the Apostle caught the significance of local
and
historical position and realized its bearing upon
the
character and fate of communities.
life-time
of storm and stress. He had been banished
to
the
Roman Government, "a life of toil and hopeless
misery"
more dreaded than death;2 the Apocalypse
was
the product of this experience. Meanwhile the
Gnostic
heresy—the most deadly corruption Christi-
anity
has ever known—was spreading like some
noxious
weed through the Asian Churches: 1 and 2
John
are both directed against this error; we per-
ceive
its early working at
through
the Letters of Revelation 2. In these conflicts
the
Apostle saw the fulfilment of his
Master's word.
“Now,”
he writes, "many Antichrists have arisen;
1 See e.g., John 2. 6, 4. 6, 9. 6, 11. 44, 18.18, 19.
33-35, 20. 6-8, 21. 11.
2 Chap. viii in W. M.
Ramsay's Letters to the Seven Churches.
54 THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS
from
which we know that it is the last hour" (1 John
2.
18), the "last hour" of the Apostolic era—nay, for
aught
he could tell, of human history itself (see
Chap.
XIV below). But
disturbed
by the omens of the time. Despite ap-
pearances,
he knows that "the world passeth away
and
the lust thereof," while "he that doeth the will
of
God abideth for ever" (1 John 2. 17, 18); he writes
to
a Church threatened with schism and perversion
from
the faith, expressing the love he bears toward
it
"for the truth's sake, which abideth in us and shall
be
with us for ever" (2 John 2). John's house of life—
Christ's
great house, the Church—is founded upon
the
rock; the storms beat against it in vain. The
facts
of Christianity are the fixed certainties of time.
"That
which was from the beginning, which we have
seen
with our eyes and our hands have handled—the
eternal
life which was with the Father and was
manifested
unto us" (1 John 1. 1, 2)—these realities of
God,
once planted in the world, will be destroyed by
no
violence of secular power and dissolved by no
subtlety
of scepticism. "We know that the
Son of
God
is come"—the event is final and decisive; "for
this
end was the Son of God manifested, that He
might
destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3. 8, 5. 20).
Jesus
Christ knows and has measured all opposing
forces,
and His mission will be carried through to
the
end; we "have confidence in Him" (comp. Chap.
XXV).
This note of perfect Christian assurance sounds
in
every line
sees
already the "victory that hath overcome the
world"
(5. 4).
So the Apostle John passed away,
leaving the
Church
in
by
foes and entering on a gigantic struggle. The
world
assailed her with overwhelming force in the
triple
form of political oppression, social seduction,
and
intellectual sophistry. He had prepared, in his
Gospel,
Epistles, and Revelation, weapons for this
THE APOSTLE JOHN IN HIS LETTERS 55
conflict
which stood his brethren in good stead, and
will
do so to the end of time. He died with the
calmest
assurance of his Master's triumph, with the
Hallelujahs
of the final coronation of Jesus ringing
in
his ears. We greet him under the character and
aspect
in which he chiefly wished to be regarded by
after-times:
"I John, your brother, and partaker
with
you
in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which
are
in Jesus."
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF THE
FIRST
EPISTLE
The
Letter a Written Homily—Addressed to Settled Christians—St
John's
Ministry that of Edification—Complement of St Peter's Ministry
—Continuation
of
—Connexion
of this with its Ethical Strain—Comparison of
Teaching
with
Absence
of Epistolary Formulae—"We" and "I" in the Epistle—
An
Epistle General—Traits of Johannine
Authorship—Relation of
Epistle
to Gospel of John—Analysis of 1 John—Appendix: Tables
of
Parallels.
"That which we have seen and
heard, we report to you also, that you
also may have
fellowship with us.
"These things we write, that
our joy may be made full.
"My little children, these
things I am writing to you, that you may
not
fall into sin.
"Beloved, it is no new
commandment that I write to you, but an old
commandment
. . the word which you heard. Again, a new command-
ment
I am writing to you, which thing is true in Him and in you.
"I write (have written) to you,
my little children, because your sins are
forgiven.
. . . I write (have written) to you, fathers, because you have
known
Him that is from the beginning. I write (have written) to you,
young
men, because you have overcome the Wicked One.
"These things I have written to
you concerning them that would lead
you
astray.
"These things I have written to
you, that you may know that you
have
eternal life,—to you that believe on the name of the Son of God."--
1
JOHN 1. 3, 4 ; 2. 1, 7, 8, 12-14, 26; 5.13.
CHAPTER VI
SCOPE
AND CHARACTER OF THE FIRST EPISTLE
THIS
is a homiletical Epistle, the address of a pastor
to
his flock who are widely scattered beyond the
reach
of his voice. The advanced age at which the
Apostle
John continued to minister from
the
Churchres of Asia, gradually contracted the range
of
his journeyings ; and the time came when he must
communicate
with his children "by paper and ink,"
instead
of "talking mouth to mouth," as he had loved
to
do (2 John 12; 3 John 13, 14). Substitute the word
“say”
for “write” in the passages heading this chapter,
and
one might imagine the whole discourse delivered
in
speech to the assembled Church. It is a specimen of
Apostolic
preaching to believers, a masterpiece in the
art
of edification.
gather,
was mainly of this nature (see pp. 47-49 above).
He
addresses himself "to those who believe on the
name
of the Son of God," in order "that they may
know
that they have eternal life" (5. 13), and in order
to
guard them from seductive error (2. 26, 4. 1-6). His
purpose
is to reassure the Christian flock in a troubled
time,
and to perfect the life of faith within the Church.
He
is not laying foundations, but crowning the edifice
of
Apostolic teaching already laid. The Fourth Gospel
has
the same intent, in a wider sense: "These
things
are
written, that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ,
the Son of God, and that through believing ye
59
60 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
may
have life in His name" (John 20. 31). The author
testifies,
appeals, and warns as he does, expressly
because the recipients of his
letter are already in-
structed
and practised Christian believers (2. 12-14).
The references to
(3.
1-11, 4. 13-23, 8. 14, 12. 2) and in Galatians 2. 9,
made
without any account of things said or done by
him,
indicate the peculiar regard cherished for this
Apostle
and the importance attached to his personality
and
influence (see pp. 47-49).
the
three "reputed to be pillars," although no distinct
part,
no formal office, is assigned to him in the
Apostolic
work of the early days, such as belonged
to
Peter and to James of
company
John was found on the morning of the Lord's
resurrection,
after Peter's disgraceful but bitterly re-
pented
denial of his Master, acting towards the stricken
man
a brother's part; "they ran both together," we are
told,
to the place of burial, "and the other disciple"
(probably
the younger man) "did outrun Peter, and
came
first to the sepulchre" (John 20. 3-10). The same
two
are consorting afterwards in
interested
in his comrade's future—during the Forty
Days
(John 21). "Peter and John," again, "were going
up
into the temple" some time after the Pentecost,
when
they met the lame beggar, who was healed by
Peter's
word; and they were companions in the con-
sequent
trial and imprisonment by the Sanhedrin
(Acts
3. 4.). The last occasion which brings them
together
in the narrative of the Acts (8. 14-25), is the
joint
visit to
of
"the Apostles which were at
the
disciples gathered by the preaching of Philip the
evangelist
in that city. Here, as before, it is Peter
whose
words are quoted, and who combats Simon, the
magician;
John's place was in the background, and his
work
of the retired, inconspicuous sort. The union of
these
two leaders, who belonged to the opposite poles
in
gifts and temperament, is significant for the unity of
THE FIRST EPISTLE 61
the
Apostolic company and of the mother Church. St
Peter
was the prompt, incisive speaker and bold leader;
as
the other was impetuous, as measured in the move-
ments
of his mind as his companion was eager and
demonstrative.
Both were men of large and warm
heart—equal
in their reverent love to their Lord and
in
appreciation for each other.1 The co-operation of
thoroughness,
staidness, and stability to the primitive
evangelism.
The former supplemented the work of
the
latter in
as
the "pastor and teacher," in
of
the great gifts of the ministry (Eph. 4. 11), follows
on
the "prophet" and the "evangelist."2
Having been the comrade of St Peter
at the beginning
of
the Apostolic era,
of
its
closing period. His office in this field was not to
plant
but to nourish and build up the Churches there
established,
and to direct the work of the Gospel in this
central
region. Through the success of St John's long-
continued
labours, following upon those of
most
prosperous province of the Church.
But this rich soil was rife with
heresy and contention;
rank
weeds marred its prolific growth.
foretold
to the elders of
ture
grievous wolves would enter in amongst them,"
and
that "of their own selves men would arise speaking
perverse
things, so as to draw away the disciples after
them"
(Acts 20. 29, 30)—his Pastoral Epistles mark the
beginnings
of the apostasy;
1 On
2 Remembering the close
friendship of SS Peter and John in their
early
days, one is surprised to find so few points of contact in their
Epistles.
In fact, as writers they show more affinity with
with
each other. They wrote each of them at an advanced period of
life,
after long separation. See the tables of comparison drawn out
in
the Appendix to this chapter.
62 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
diction
lamentably true.1 The Letters to the Seven
Churches
written very probably at an earlier time
than
our First Epistle, are sternly admonitory. The
minor
Epistles of this group show that the Apostle's
charge
was a difficult one (2 John 7-11, 3 John 9, 10;
see
Chaps. I and III above). "Many
false prophets"
and
"deceivers," "many antichrists, have gone out
into
the world" from the Churches that he ruled
(1
John 2. 18, 19, 4. 1); with pain and anger he writes
to
his flock "concerning those that seduce you" (2. 26).
The
First Epistle is severely polemical in certain pass-
ages;
it is so throughout. Through the
Gospel
of John the same defensive aim may be
traced.
The Apostle's vindication is made,
however, by positive
exhibition
of the truth more than by contradiction and
counter-argument,
by the setting forth in its living
power
of "the eternal life which was with the Father
and
was manifested to us."
instruction;
he thrusts out error by confronting it with
the
reality that it denies. Light, he conceives, is its
own
sufficient evidence; let it be seen in its glory and
felt
in its quickening power, and the reign of the
darkness
is ended. The shadows flee at sunrise! The
Epistle
moves through the contrasts of light and dark-
ness,
truth and falsehood, love and hatred, of God and
the
world, Christ and Antichrist, the Spirit of God
and
the spirits of error. A right discrimination is what
1 One might take the
words of 1 John 2. 18 and 4. 3—"You have
heard
that Antichrist is coming"—as an allusion to
of
2 Thessalonians 2, delivered about forty years before this time. But
this
anticipation was widespread in the Apostolic age. The curious
thing
is that the Apostle's language in the "antichrist" passages bears
little
or no traces of the eschatology of the Apocalypse; we find in
chap.
2. 18-28 and 4. 1-6 but a single parallel to the Book of Revelation
given
by the Reference Bibles,—the correspondence of 4. 1 ("try the
spirits")
with Rev. 2. 2; whereas the links of expression between St
John
and
takable.
The Pauline tradition was strong and pervasive in the Churches
of
Asia; this St Polycarp's Letter, sent from
goes
to show.
THE FIRST EPISTLE 63
the
author is striving to effect all along. He dreads
confusion
of thought and compromise,—the syncretism
between
Christianity and theosophy, the mixing of the
"old
leaven" with the "new lump," of "the love of
the
world" with "the love of the Father," which the
Gnostic
teachers would have brought about. Let the
opposing
forces once be clearly seen, and the Apostle's
readers
will know on which side to range themselves;
for
they "have an anointing from the Holy One," their
spiritual
instincts are sound and they "know that no
lie
is of the truth" (2. 20-27).
Blended with the doctrinal polemic
of the First
Epistle,
there is found a dominant strain of ethical
denunciation.
While the former is distinctly in evidence
in
certain leading passages--2. 18-27, 4. 1-6, 5. 5-8--the
latter
note is pervasive. The Apostle condemns the
moral
insensibility and insincerity, the disposition to
conform
to the world and to lower the standard of
Christian
purity, and above all the lack of brotherly
love
that appeared in some quarters amongst Christians.
It
is sometimes denied that there was any connexion in
the
writer's mind between these symptoms and the
error
of doctrine which he combats. But
passes
from one to the other of these forms of evil,
and
back again, in such a way as to show that they
formed,
to his thoughts, part of one and the same con-
flict
with "the world." He describes both the Doketic
errorists
and the antinomian moralists as "those who
seduce
you" (2. 28, 3. 7, 4. 1 ; comp. 2 John 9-11). St
John
relies on the same "anointing" of the Spirit
to
guard the understanding from false beliefs (2. 27,
4.
6), and to guard the heart from the corruptions of
sin
(3. 9, 24); it is "faith" in the incarnate Son of God
that
"conquers the world," with its lust and hate
(2.
14-17, 5. 3-5). The two poles on which the Epistle
practically
turns, are seen in verse 23 of chapter 3:
"that
we should believe the name of God's Son, Jesus
Christ,
and love one another as He gave us command."
Throughout
the writer's polemical and his positive
64 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
teaching
alike, his theology and ethics form a strict
unity.
The true Christian faith in Jesus Christ, and
the
true Christian life fashioned after Him, are vitally
and
eternally one. To sever this connexion would be
to
cut through the nerve of the Epistle.1
The Epistle, doctrinally considered,
is a re-assertion,
in
terms of antithesis to the rising Gnosticism of Asia
Minor,
of the established truth as to the manifestation
of
God in Christ, of the main principles and aims of
the
Christian life. The little children of the patriarch
Apostle
are bidden to recognize in his present communi-
cation
"what they have known from the beginning";
all
he desires is that the things they "heard from the
beginning
should abide in them" (2. 7, 13, 24, &c.). The
danger
comes from those who "go forward, and abide
not
in the doctrine of Christ" (2 John 9-11), from men
who
propagate, by insidious methods and with corrupt-
ing
moral effect, radical error respecting the person
and
Mission of Christ, and who commend their retro-
grade
teaching under the name of progress.
The agreement between the two
Ephesian Apostles
in
thought and spirit is profound. We are comparing,
it
must be remembered, one doctrinal Epistle with
many
in correlating the writings of
Paul,
although the addition of the Gospel of St John,
and
(with less certainty) of the Apocalypse, goes to
redress
the balance. The first glance shows that St
John's
range was limited and his modes of conception
and
statement comparatively simple; he had none of
the
fertility of idea and wealth of expression which
1 In disproof of the
connexion between
ethical
dehortations, the fact has been urged that Cerinthus, whom
tradition
identifies as his chief opponent, was an ascetic in morals. But
asceticism
is perfectly consistent with unbrotherliness, and with a
degree
of worldly conformity; and moral rigour in some directions
may
be compensated by licence in others. Moreover the principle
of
the evil of matter, which lay at the root of Doketism and Gnosticism,
breeds
at the same time in some natures a false asceticism, and in
others
antinomian indulgence. Of this double tendency,
Epistles
to the Colossians and to Timothy and Titus afford evidence.
THE FIRST EPISTLE 65
characterize
(see
also p. 52), aphoristic in style, studiously plain and
homely
in utterance; Paul was dialectical, imaginative,
involved
and periodic in the structure of his sentences,
creative
in his theological diction.
spell
lies in the intensity of his contemplative gaze, and
the
massiveness and transparency of his leading ideas.
with
the current of a mighty river, that pours now over
the
open plain, now through a tortuous pass or down a
thundering
fall; reading
one
looks into a pellucid lake, which mirrors sky and
mountain
from its still depths.
How far the one Apostle was debtor
to the other, it
is
impossible to say; probably the obligation lay upon
both
sides. The posthumous Apostle of Christ, "born
out
of due time," may well have learned from "the
disciple
whom Jesus loved" the Master's intimate teach-
ing
related in the Fourth Gospel, concerning the in-
dwelling
of the Holy Spirit and the union of the
heavenly
Vine with His branches, which is at the heart
of
Pauline doctrine. That the two men had met, we
know,
and that
at
an early stage (Gal. 2. 9). The communication of
delayed
to the end of the century, when his written
narrative
appeared (see p. 48)—his gospel, along with
Peter's,
had been making its way through the Church
orally
from the outset; and St Paul, with his keen
appreciation
and sympathetic spirit, is not the man to
have
been insensitive to the attraction of a nature like
gathering
what the favoured disciple was able to im-
part.
When the former writes in Galatians 2. 6,
"Those
of reputation" at
unto
me," he does not intimate, as some have inferred,
that
he learned nothing of the tradition of Jesus from
the
first-hand witnesses and profited in no respect by
intercourse
with the three honoured leaders whom he
Life
Eternal 6
66 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
names—to
have assumed such independence would
have
been a senseless pride. What he does intend to
say
is that the chiefs of the
no
new commission, no higher authority than he had
before;
"they added nothing to" his powers as Christ's
messenger
to the Gentiles and the steward of "the
gospel
of the uncircumcision" (see vers. 7, 8).
On the other hand, the Apostle John,
surviving Paul
and
becoming heir to his great work amongst the
Churches
in
decessor's
doctrine, and this Epistle (like the Apoca-
lypse)
is in conscious accord with Paulinism. On several
leading
points, it might seem that
another
form, at once concentrated and simplified, to
the
theology of St Paul.1 The
Pauline "justification"
and
"sanctification" reappear in the "forgiving of sins"
and
"cleansing from all unrighteousness" of 1 John 1.
7
and 9; "faith, hope, and love," with the last for the
greatest,
become the "perfect love" which "casts out
fear"
(4. 18), and the glorious hymn on charity of
1
Cor. 13 is crowned by the sentence of 1 John 4. 16,
"God
is love, and he that abideth in love abideth in God,
and
God in him"; the simple declaration of 1 John 3. 6,
"He
that abideth in Him (Christ) sinneth not," contains
the
answer to the prayer of 1 Thessalonians 5. 23, that
"the
God of peace would sanctify" Christian men "to
full
perfection," that their "spirit, soul, and body in
blameless
integrity may be preserved" until the Lord's
coming.
In other places, as partly in the passages
above
cited, the later writer deepens the idea or prin-
ciple
expressed by the earlier, as when the "mediator"
of
1 Timothy 2. 5 becomes the "advocate" of 1 John or
the
Pauline "adoption" (
sented
as a being "begotten of God"; those who receive
"a
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of
Christ" (Eph. 1. 17, 18) are described as having "an
1
to
that of Hebrews than of the Pauline
Epistles; see the comparisons in
the
Appendix to this chapter.
THE FIRST EPISTLE 67
unction
(chrism) from the Holy One" which
"abideth
in"
them, so that they "know" the truth and the lie,
and
"have no need that any one should teach" them
(1
John 2. 27); and
Apostolic
authority are reduced by
behalf,
to the brief assertion, "We are of God; he that
knoweth
God heareth us" (4. 6).
In both Apostles there is the same
awful sense of the
guilt
and universality of sin,
distinguished in Paul by a
conspicuous
vein of personal experience and psycho-
logical
analysis, in John by the realization of the magni-
tude
of sin as a world-mischief and its mysterious origin
in
powers of evil outside of humanity (1 John 2. 2, 16;
3.
8; 4. 14; 5. 17-19). Both therefore
treat the fact of
atonement through "the blood
of Jesus, God's Son," as
fundamental
to Christian thought and life (see 1 John
1.
7, 9); the word "propitiation" used in this connexion
(i[lasth<rion,
also
Hebrews 2. 17), is common property. For the
Apostle
Paul it was necessary to show how Christ's
atoning
sacrifice stood to "the law" of Moses, and how
it
bore upon the case of Jew and Gentile respectively;
ing
for penitent and believing Christians, is valid "for
the
whole world" (2. 2). It is remarkable that while
Paul
insists almost solely upon faith as
the subjective
condition
of justification, John lays stress upon the
confession of sin, since he had to
deal with antinomian
evasions
of the guilt of sin, where the former was con-
fronted
with a legal, self-justifying righteousness of
works;
instead of "faith" we read in 1 John 2. 23, and
4.
3, of "confessing Jesus" as "Son of God"—assenting
to
His claims (comp.
oftener
to the ethical pattern afforded by Christ's
earthly
course (2. 1, 6; 3. 3, 5-8; 4. 17), and employs
the
name of "Jesus" much more frequently—a thing to
be
expected of the Lord's companion of old days. He
appears
to think less than
and
the last judgement and the future glory of the
68 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
redeemed
(but see pp. 233-235), in his strong con-
sciousness
of "eternal life" as the believer's present
possession
(see 2. 28; 3. 3; 4. 17, on the one hand: on
the
other, 1. 2; 2. 17; 3. 15; 4. 15; 5. 13, 20). The elder
Apostle
distressingly felt the imperfection and burden
of
the present state; the younger dwells on the realities
subsisting
beneath it--the satisfying knowledge of God,
the
"perfecting of the love of God" in faithful men, and
their
unchanging fellowship with Christ—till temporal
conditions
are forgotten; for him, the world is already
"overcome,"
and "we have passed from death into life"
(1
John 1. 3; 3. 14 ; 5. 4, 5). "According
to
view,
the world exists indeed, but more as a semblance
than
a reality" (Westcott).
But these are differences of
emphasis and tone, due
partly
to temperament, partly to situation and horta-
tory
purpose; no real discrepancy or dogmatic dissent
is
implied in them. The fall of
this,
the disappearance of national Judaism and of the
Judaistic
controversies of the first generation have
placed
a gulf between the writings of Paul and those
of
John; in the Apocalypse alone the earlier situation
has
left its traces. By this time a new theological
world,
another phase of the
appeared.
In the substance of revealed truth these
two
master thinkers of the New Testament were at one
—in
their apprehension of God as "the Father" (whose
"grace"
shines more in Paul, His "love" in John), of
Jesus
Christ as the perfect man and head of humanity,
eternally
one with God (called more often “the Son of
God”
by John, "the Lord" by Paul), of the Holy Spirit
as
the Witnesser of God, the gift of the Father through
Christ,
the Divine inhabitant of the soul and the
Church,
and the inspirer of all good in man's regene-
rate
nature. By both the Christian life is realized as
essentially
a life of faith on the Son of God, which
effects
an inward union with the Redeemer and con-
sequent
fellowship with God, possession by His Spirit,
and
occupation in the service of His love. Their
THE FIRST EPISTLE 69
mysticism
is the same; and their universalism is the
same,
for both conceive the sacrifice of the cross and
the
message of the Gospel as designed for the whole
world—only
that for
Jew
and Gentile has sunk below the horizon.
The Epistle has no epistolary formulae,
either at the
beginning
(comp. Hebrews) or at the end (comp. James);
writer
and readers are well acquainted—they are his
"little
children" (2. 1, 12, 18, &c.), his "beloved" (2. 7;
3.
21; 4. 1, 7)—he will waste no word on the intro-
duction
of himself to them. His attitude is that of
an
aged father in Christ speaking to his sons—once
only
does he address the readers as "brethren" (3. 13);
some
are older, some younger amongst them, but all
are
as “children” in relation to himself (2. 12-14). It
never
occurs to him to give himself any title in the
First
Epistle (in the Second and Third, he is just "the
Elder,")
or to vindicate or insist upon his authority;
this
he assumes as matter of course, to be questioned
by
no one. Yet the author nowhere implies that he
was
founder of the Churches concerned, or the first
bearer
to them of the Gospel; he writes of "that
which
ye had from the beginning," "the word which ye
heard"
(2. 7, 18, 24; comp. 2 John 6); we could imagine
him
"testifying," as St Peter did (1 Pet. 5. 12) to
Christians
of Asia Minor who had received the Gospel
chiefly
through Pauline ministrations, "that this is the
true
grace of God," in which they must “stand fast.”
The
faith of these communities is of no recent date—
the
letter continually entreats them to "abide" in that
which
they "had heard from the beginning." The
errors
combated are such as belonged to a developed
Christianity
(see pp. 318, 319); they have sprung up in
settled
Churches and are perversions of the established
truths
of the Apostolic confession (1 John 2. 18, 19; 4. 1;
2
John 7-9).
Notwithstanding the omission of
names and per-
sonal
references, the First Epistle is properly a letter.
For
it runs in the first person singular throughout
70 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
(2.
1, 7, 12-14, 26; 5. 13; once "I say," instead of
"I
write" or "have written," in 5. 16). When there-
fore
in verse 4 of the preface
things
we write (gra<fomen
h[mei?j),
that our joy may be
made
full"1 he is surely thinking of his companions
in
the testimony of Jesus, the body of the original
"eye-witnesses
and ministers of the word," not a
few
of whom had by this time, with their own hand
or
by the pen of others, put their witness upon
record
and perpetuated the spoken by the written
testimony
(see p. 73). When he says, moreover,
"we
report to you also, that you also may have
fellowship
with us," it is because a multitude of
others
have by this date heard the good-news and
share
its blessings with the first believers, so that it is
spreading
into all the world (2. 2, 4. 14; comp.
1.
15,
chap.
5. 18-20, the Apostle speaks for his readers along
with
himself, indeed for the whole
Personal references are wanting upon
both sides—
with
respect to the receivers as much as to the sender
of
the letter; no allusions are made to local circum-
stances
or events, to specific doings or needs or requests
of
the readers. In this vagueness of horizon 1 John
resembles
the Epistle of James, or of Paul to the
Ephesians.
The editorial title, "Catholic
Epistle of
John,"
is therefore to some extent justified; the letter
is
"general" in the sense that it was not directed to
any
one particular Church. It is in striking contrast
with
the Letters to the Seven Churches of
2.
3.): there each community wears a distinct physiog-
1 The "unto
you" of the T.R. in this place is certainly spurious;
and
"your joy " is, almost
certainly, a textual corruption of "our
joy"
(R.V.). The satisfaction of those responsible for giving the
message
of Christ to the world would only be complete when provision
had
been made in writing for its safe
transmission, for the full and
exact
knowledge of it on the part of those distant in place or time
from
the primary witnesses; comp. Luke 1. 4; 2 Peter 1. 15; Revela-
tion
22. 18, 19; 2 Timothy 2. 2. Then the Apostle and his few remain-
ing
coevals will die content!
THE FIRST EPISTLE 71
nomy,
and praise or blame is meted out with strict
discrimination;
here everything is general and com-
prehensive,
addressed to classes of men and features
and
qualities of character. The dangers indicated, the
admonitions
given, are such as concerned Christians
everywhere,
surrounded by the "world" (2. 14-16) and
exposed
to the attractions of idolatry (5. 21); or such as
arose
from the heresies infesting all Churches in Western
18-27;
4. 1-6; 2 John 7-11; Chapters X, XIV, XIX).1
For the rest,
lay
nearest to his heart, the simplest and deepest
realities
of the Christian life—faith in the incarnate
Son
of God, cleansing from sin by His blood, union
with
Him in His Spirit, the brotherly love in which
character
is perfected after His example, the purifying
hope
of life eternal. The historical and the tran-
scendental
Christ are unified in the writer's mind, with-
out
effort or speculative difficulty.
how
"He walked" in the spotless beauty of His human
life
(2. 6; 3. 3, 5; 4. 17), while he recognizes Jesus as
"the
Son of God," "the Only-begotten," and declares
that
in Him we have, "manifested to us, the eternal
life
which was with the Father," the "Advocate with
the
Father," whose "blood" makes "propitiation for the
whole
world" (1. 2, 3, 7; 2. 2; 4. 9, 10, 14). He exhibits
the
naïve faith of the first disciples in combination
with
the theological reflexion brought about by contact
with
Greek thought and conflict with oriental theo-
sophy
under the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ
whom
He promised to guide them into all the truth.
The
experience of the youthful companion of Jesus has
grown
in John, without any breach of continuity, into
that
of the veteran Church leader, the deeply versed
pastor
and theologian.
Everything in this Epistle accords
with the witness
1 Haupt, with some other
interpreters, makes this abstractness a
ground
for supposing the Epistle written at
was
out of touch with his people.
72 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
of
tradition, that it was a circular letter and pastoral
charge
addressed by
gelist
to the wide circuit of Western Asian Churches
over
which he presided in the last period of his life,
and
that it was composed between the years 90 and 100
of
our Lord. The forms of Gnostic and Doketic error
to
which in various passages the writer refers, origi-
nated,
as many indications go to show, in the Churches
of
this province, and had become rife at the close of the
first
century, while
The Epistle rests upon the Gospel
history; it pre-
supposes
the knowledge of Jesus Christ which was the
common
property of the Church, as this was affected
by
the specific Johannine tradition and point of view
(see
particularly 1. 1, 2, 5 ; 2. 1, 6, 7, 13, 14, 24; 3. 1, 3, 5,
8,
11, 13, 15, 16, 23, 24; 4. 4, 5, 9-14, 21; 5. 6-12, 14, 18,
20).
Some have thought the Epistle written on pur-
pose
to accompany
as
a commendation and application thereof.2 The two
are
associated by so many identical or kindred expres-
sions
and turns of thought; their atmosphere and
horizon
are so much the same, that hardly any one
doubts
them to have been the product of the same
mind,—indeed
of the same state and stage of mind in
the
one author. The Fourth Gospel and the First
Epistle
of John were separated by no great interval
of
time, and designed for similar constituencies. But in
addressing
his “little children” and dwelling upon what
they
know so well of Christ and "the truth," the
Apostle
is referring, we may be sure, to no written
book;
he recalls the teaching received from his lips
and
printed ineffaceably upon their hearts. To this
familiar
witness of the old Apostle—a witness which he
1 The opening Discourses of Archbishop Alexander's
Commentary on
The Epistles of
to
this Epistle. Sir W. M. Ramsay's work on The
Letters to the Seven
Churches has, more recently,
thrown a flood of light over the field
of
the Apostle's later ministry.
2 The "we write" (emphatic h[mei?j) of verse 4 shows that
thinking
of his own (written) Gospel in particular; comp. p. 89.
THE FIRST EPISTLE 73
embodied
about this time in his written Gospel for
those
whom his spoken word might not reach—the
opening
sentences of the letter relate; at the same time
they
include in their reference ("we write") the testi-
mony
of fellow-witnesses, who by voice and book had
spread
in other regions the knowledge of Jesus. The
preface
to the Epistle is in effect a summary of the
Gospel
according to John, which had been for sixty
years
an oral Gospel and was at last put into written
shape—a
correspondence that is obvious when one
compares
1 John 1. 1-4 with John 1. 1-18, and 20. 30, 31,
the
opening and closing words of the Evangelist. The
revelation
of God in His Son Jesus Christ—a revelation
taking
place within the sphere of sight and sense—is
the
matter which the writer has to communicate.
That
manifestation, made in the first place to a circle
of
beholders of whom he was one, brings an eternal life
for
men, a life of fellowship with God and Christ, the
possessors
of which desire to make all men sharers with
themselves
therein. This is the basis of the Epistle
(1.
1-3)—a basis at once historical and transcendental—
and
it is the resumption of the Gospel. "The Gospel
gives
the historic revelation; the Epistle shows the
revelation
as it has been apprehended in the life of the
Society
and of the believer" (Westcott). On the whole,
it
seems probable that the Epistle was the earlier work
of
the two.
The First Epistle is so much of an
epistle, so un-
studied
and spontaneous in movement, that it lends
itself
ill to formal analysis. In this want of structure
it
is in signal contrast to the Apocalypse and the Gospel
of
fairly
close connexion may be traced.
I. The preface (1. 1-4) announces
that the writer pur-
poses,
by declaring more fully what he knows of "the
eternal
life" in Christ, to bring those to whom he writes
into
a more complete "fellowship" with God. He lays
down
therefore, first, the ground of this fellowship in the
nature
of God, the obstacle to it lying in personal sin,
74 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
and
the way in which sin is dealt with and removed
(1.
5-2. 2). He goes on to state the condition upon
which
union with God is maintained—viz. obedience
to
His word after the fashion of Jesus, above all to the
great
commandment of brotherly love (2. 3-11). He
congratulates
his readers, old and young, upon their
past
fidelity (2. 12-14); while he warns them against
friendship
with the world (2. 15-17), and bids them
especially
beware of teaching that would destroy their
faith
in Jesus as the Son of God, and in consequence
would
rob them of communion both with the Son and
with
the Father (2. 18-27). Here the letter might suit-
ably
have terminated, with the exhortation "Abide in
Him";
it appears already to have fulfilled the purpose
announced
at the beginning.
II. A new train of thought is
started in 2. 28, arising
out
of the fundamental idea of fellowship in the eternal
life
(1. 1-4), which can be traced, though with uncertain
connexion
here and there, as far as chapter 5. 5. As
fellowship supplied the key-note
of the first section, so
sonship—the filial and
brotherly character of Christian
believers,
maintained in face of the world's hatred—is
the
conception which binds together the paragraphs of
this
extended central section. In chap. 1. 5-2. 27 we
contemplate
"the eternal life manifested" as affording
the
ground of union between God and men; in chap. 2.
28-5.
5 we look upon it as manifested in the sons of
God
confronting an evil and hostile world.
The second movement starts at the
climax of the first:
at
Christ's "coming" His people will shine forth as
the
manifest "children of God"—which they are in fact
already,
but hiddenly and in preparation for their full
estate
(2. 28-3. 3). Sin is therefore alien to them,—nay,
impossible
in the light of their Divine birth and proper
character
(3. 4-9); sinners, haters of their brethren, are
"children
of the Devil" and brothers of Cain; the
world's
hatred of the Church springs from the ancient
seed
of death; Jesus, not Cain, is the first-born of the
new
stock (3. 10-16). Christian love must be shown in
THE FIRST EPISTLE 75
true
deeds, not empty words (3. 17, 18); such deeds give
the
heart an assurance of God's favour wanting other-
wise;
they confirm our faith in Christ by proving our
possession
of His Spirit (3. 19-24). With this Spirit of
truth
the spirits inspiring the false prophets abroad in
the
world are at war; their test lies in the confession
of
Jesus as the Son of God; the Church has overcome
them
by the power of God within it; the Apostolic
word
condemns them (4. 1-6). Love, after
all, is the seal
of
truth, and the mark of sonship from God—the love
displayed
in the redeeming mission of the Son of God,
which
binds us to love our brethren (4. 7-11) in the
love
of Christ the invisible God is seen, and the love of
Christian
souls is the impartation of God's nature to
them
(4. 12-16); its perfecting brings deliverance from
all
fear, enabling the Christian man to live, like his
Master,
a life of simple truth and loyalty (4. 17-21).
Thus
faith in Jesus the Son of God makes sons of
God,
who love God's children along with Himself, who
keep
God's commands and conquer the world (5. 1-5).
The
second division of the Epistle closes, like the first,
on
the note of victory (comp. John 16.
33, Rev. 19.-22.).
The two divisions are parallel
rather than consecu-
tive;
the same thoughts recur in both: the incom-
patibility
of sin with a Christian profession (1. 6-10;
3.
5-9); commandment-keeping the proof of love (2. 3-5;
5.
3, 4); Jesus the pattern of the new life (2. 6; 3. 3, 16);
brotherly
love the fruit of knowledge of God (2. 9-11;
3.
14; 4. 7-21); the enmity of the world toward God
(2.
15, 16; 3. 13); the seducers of the Church, and the
test
of their teaching in the confession of the Godhead
of
Jesus (2. 18-27; 4. 1-6). The office of the Holy Spirit,
and
the nature and extent of Christian sanctity, are
topics
conspicuous in the second division, where the son-
ship
of believers is set forth, while the forgiveness of
sin
and the keeping of God's commands figure chiefly
in
the two first chapters, which dwell on the theme of
fellowship
with God.
The rest of the Epistle has quite a
supplementary
76 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
character.
Chapter 5. 6-12 places a kind of seal1
on the
letter
as it draws to a close, by adducing "the Spirit"
as
"the witnesser"—first, in association with "the
water
and blood," to the truth of God's message con-
cerning
His Son, which the Apostle has now delivered
(vers.
6-9; comp. 1. 2: "We have seen and
do bear
witness"),
then as an internal testimony lodged in the
believer's
soul (vers. 10-13).
The paragraph upon Prayer and the
Sin unto Death
(vers.
14-17) stands detached, and seems to be an after-
thought,
which might naturally have occurred in the
passage
about confidence toward God and availing
prayer,
in chap. 3. 21, 22. We may call this the
postscript to the Epistle. It leads
up to the con-
cluding
section.
Verses 18-21, with their threefold
emphatic "We
know,"
are a summary of the writer's message and
testimony,
verses 18, 19 covering the ground of its second
chief
division (chap. 2. 28-5. 5: concerning
sonship),
and
verses 20, 21, of its first division (chap. 1. 5-2. 27:
concerning fellowship).
The disposition we have made of the
contents of
the
Epistle agrees in outline with that adopted by
Haupt
in his Commentary.2 The third of his divisions
(concerning witness) is so short, and
holds a position
so
much subordinate in comparison with the other
two,
that one prefers to reduce Haupt's threefold to
a
twofold principle of analysis, and to regard the
paragraphs
following verse 5 of chap. 5 as supplement-
ing
the main purport of the letter. The closing para-
graphs
(vers. 13-20) furnish a kind of Epilogue, as chap.
1.
1-1 was the Prologue. And the last sentence, "Little
1 The thought of
"witnessing" is a seal stamped on all
writings—the
Apocalypse along with the rest (see Rev. 1. 2, 9; 6. 9;
12.
11, 17; 19. 10; 22. 16, 20.
2 The First Epistle of
Theology. By Erich Haupt;
translated (T. and T. Clark), 1879. See
pp.
348-357, "The Chain of Thought."
This exposition remains in-
dispensable;
it is the most complete and thorough elucidation of the
Epistle
that we know, but suffers from its prolixity.
THE FIRST EPISTLE 77
children,
keep yourselves from the idols," takes the
place
of the Farewell in an ordinary letter.
In the printing of the text we
attempt to represent
the
Hebraistic parallelism which breaks through
its
peculiar cast. This is most strongly marked in the
First
Epistle.
APPENDIX.
The comparison of parallel passages
in the Epistles of Peter and John
throws
into relief the detachment of the Johannine writings. The Book
of
Revelation, despite its singularities, has much more in common with
the
Gospel and Epistles--and this in fundamental ideas and idiosyn-
crasies
of mind--than with any other writing of the New Testament.
The
following parallels are worth observing:--
1
Peter 1. 18-20 = 1 John 1. 7; 2
Peter 1. 4 = 1 John 3. 2;
“
2. 22 = “
3. 5; “ 2. 1 = “
4.1;
“
4, 2, 2 Peter “
3. 3 = “ 2.18 (?)
2.17 = “ 2. 16
“
5. 1 = 2 & 3 John
1
(?);
But the above are slight and
incidental correspondences. There are
more
definite signs of communion of thought between St James and
Compare James 1. 12 with 1 John 2. 25;
“ “ 1. 17 “
“ 1. 5;
“ “ 2. 15, 16 “ “
3. 17, 18;
“ “ 3. 2 “ “ 1.
8;
“ “ 4. 4
“ “ 2. 15.
complexion,
supply fewer parallels than one might expect:--
Heb. 1. 3 (purification of sins),
10. 2, 22 = 1 John 1. 7;
“ 2. 1-3
= 2 John 8;
“ 2. 9 (for every man) = 1 John 2. 2, 4. 14;
“ 2. 14 = “
3. 8;
“ 2. 17, 18 = “
2. 1, 4. 10;
“ 3. 6 (boldness, hope) = “
2 . 28, 3. 3, 4. 17;
“ 4. 12, 13 = “
3. 19, 20;
“ 4. 14 (Jesus, the Son of God) = “
1. 7, 5. 5;
78 SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF
Heb.
4. 15 = 1 John 2. 1, 3. 5;
“ 6.
6, 10. 26, 27 = “
5. 16;
“ 7.
25, 26, 9. 12, 14, 24, 25 = “
2. 1, 2;
“ 9.
26 7, = “
3. 5, 8;
“ 9.
28, 12. 14 = “
2. 28, 3. 2;
“ 10. 36, 11. 25, 26 = “ 2. 16, 17;
“ 11.
4 = “
3. 12;
“ 13.
1 =
“ 2. 10, 4. 20,
“ 13.
1 =
3 John 5-8.
The list for the Epistles of John
and the Apocalypse is very
different:—
Compare
1 John 1. 1, 2. 13, 14 with
Rev. 1. 8, 3. 14, 13. 8, 21. 6,
22.
13;
“ “ 1.2, 5, 5. 7-11 “ “
1.2, 9, 6. 9, 12. 17,
19.
10, 22. 16;
“ “ 1. 3, 4, 3 John 8
“ “ 1. 9-11, 22. 9;
“ “ 1.
6, 8, 10, 2. 4, 22, 4. 20 “
2. 2, 9, 3. 9;
“ “ 1. 7, 9, 3. 5, 4. 10, 5. 6
“ 1. 5, 5. 9, 7. 14;
“ “ 2. 1, 20, 3. 3, 5
“ “ 3. 7;
“ “ 2. 2, 4. 14 “ “
5. 9, 7. 9, 10;
“ “ 2. 3-5, 5. 3 “ “
12. 17, 14. 12;
“ “ 2.
6, 3. 3, 4. 17 “
“ 3. 4, 14. 4, 5;
“ “ 2. 8, 17 “ “ 21. 1, 5;
“ “ 2.10 “ “ 2.
14;
“ “ 2. 13, 14, 4. 4, 5. 4 “
“ 2, 7, 11, &c., 12. 11,
15.
2, 21. 7;
“ “ 2. 15 “
“ 18.4;
“ “ 2.16 “ “ 18. 14 (and context);
“ “ 2.
17 “
“ 18. 2, 3, &c.;
“ “ 2. 18 “
“ 1. 3, 22. 10;
“ “ 2. 20, 27
“ “ 1. 6, 5. 10, 20. 6;
“ “ 2.
20 “
“ 3. 18 (e]gxri?sai
k.t. l.);
“ “ 2.
26 (peri> t. planw<ntwn),
3. 7, 2 John
7, 9 “
“ 2. 20, 18. 23, 19. 20;
“ “ 2. 28, 3. 2, 21 “
“ 3.
4, 5, 6. 15-17, 22. 4;
“ “ 3.1, “
“ 3. 12, 21. 7;
“ “ 3. 3 “
“ 14. 4, 22. 14;
“ “
3. 7, 10
“ “ 22. 11;
“ “
3. 10
“ “ 2. 9, 3. 9;
“ “ 3.13 “
“ 6. 10, 17. 6, &c.;
“ “ 3. 15, 4. 18, 20
“ “ 21. 8, 22. 15;
“ “ 3. 16 “
“ 12. 11;
“ “ 4.
1, 3, 6 “
“ 2. 2, 16. 13, 14, 19.
20,
20.
10;
“ “ 4. 16 “ “ 7.
15, 21. 3;
“ “ 5. 6 “ “ 19. 13;
THE FIRST EPISTLE 79
Compare
1 John 5. 8 with
Rev. 11. 3;
“ “ 5. 13, 20 “
“ 2. 7, 13, 3. 5, 21. 6, 27
22.
14, &c.;
“ “ 5. 18 “ “ 3. 10;
“ “ 5.20 “
“ 3. 7, 6. 10, 19. 11;
“ “ 5. 21 “
“ 2. 14, 20;
“ 2 John 3 “
“ 1. 4;
“ “ 8 “
“ 2. 2-5, 25-27, 3. 3,
DIVISION I
FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
THE MANIFESTED
LIFE
Construction
of the Passage—The Eternal Life unveiled—Gnostic
Dualism
of Nature and Spirit—"In the beginning" and "From the
beginning"
— Actuality of the Manifestation — Competence of the
Witnesses—Fellowship
of Men in the Testimony—Fellowship with
God
through the Testimony.
"That which was
from the beginning.
That
which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes,
That
which we beheld, and our hands handled:
Concerning the word of
life.
And the life was manifested, and we
have seen it;
And we testify, and report to you,
the eternal life,
Which was with the Father,
and was manifested to us.
That
which we have seen and heard, we report to you also,
That you also may have fellowship
with us;
Yea,
and our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus
Christ.
And these things we write, that our
joy may be fulfilled."
1
JOHN 1. 1-4.
CHAPTER VII
THE MANIFESTED LIFE
WE
adopt the revised translation of the above
verses,
preferring however, in verse 1, the
marginal
"word of life" without the
capital. For it
is
on life1 rather than word that the stress of the
sentence
lies ("for the life was manifested,"
continues);
and Word must have stood alone to be
recognized
as a personal title, or could at most be
qualified
as it is in the Apocalypse (19. 13): "His
name
is
called The Word of God."
resembles
the "word of life" that
Philippians
"hold fast" (2. 16), "the words of life
eternal"
which St Peter declared his Master had
(John
6. 68), and "all the words of this life" which the
Apostles
were bidden to "speak in the temple to the
people"
(Acts 5. 20). It is synonymous with "the
Gospel,"
the message of the new life which those bear
witness
to and report who have first "heard" it and
proved
its life-giving power. "Concerning the word of
life"
stands in apposition to the four preceding relative
clauses
("that which we have heard . . . our hands
handled")
and states their general subject-matter and
import;
while the first clause, "That which was from
the
beginning," stands alone in sublime completeness.
The
verse should be read by itself as a title to the
writing,
a statement of the great matter of the writer's
1 Comp. bread of life; light of life; way, truth and
life, &c., in the
Fourth
Gospel.
Life
Eternal 83
84 THE MANIFESTED LIFE
thoughts,
of that on which his relations with his
readers
rest.
By construing the first verse thus
(see the text as
printed
above), we dispense with the brackets enclosing
the
second verse in the English Version. Parentheses
and
involved constructions are not much in
way.
The common punctuation treats the second verse
as
an eddy in the current, an idea that strikes the
writer
incidentally and by the way, whereas it belongs
to
the mid-stream of his thought. It constitutes, in
fact,
the centre of the passage. While verse 3 links
itself
with verse 1 by repeating its second line, it does so
with
a difference, with a scope beyond the intent of the
former
sentence.
seen
and heard" not by way of resuming the thread
of
an interrupted sentence, but striking once more the
key-note,
on which he plays a further descant. We
observe
here, at the outset, the peculiar manner of
our
author. His thought progresses by a kind of spiral
movement,
returning continually upon itself, but in
each
revolution advancing to a new point and giving a
larger
outlook to the idea that it seeks to unfold.
"Declare" in verses 2 and
3 should rather be
"report"
(a]pagge<llomen). The original verb signifies the
carrying
of tidings or messages from the authentic
source:
we are the bearers to you of the word we
received
from Him (comp. ver. 5; also 1 Cor. 14. 25,
1
Thess. 1. 9, for a]pagge<llw). When
verse
2 "we bear witness and report," in the former
expression
(as Haupt acutely says) the emphasis lies
on
the communication of truth, in the
latter on the
communication of truth.
Readers of the Greek will note the
expressive transi-
tion
from the perfect to the aorist tense and back
again,
that takes place in verses 1-3. In the words
"that
which we have heard and have seen with our
eyes,"
and
visible manifestation of the eternal life in Christ.
This
revelation is now a fixed possession, the past
THE MANIFESTED LIFE 85
realized
in the present; to its immovable certainty
the
Apostle reverts once again in verses 2 and 3. The
sudden
change of tense in the middle of verse 1, which
is
missed by our authorized rendering, transports us to
the
historical scene. We stand with the first disciples
before
the incarnate Son of God, gazing with wonder
on
His face and reaching out our hands to touch His
form,
as
hands handled." This turn of
phrase is a fine trait of
genuineness;
it is the movement of personal remem-
brance
working within and behind historical reflexion.
The
same witness speaks here who wrote the words
of
John 20. 19, 20: "Jesus came and
stood in the midst,
and
said, Peace be unto you! And when He had thus
said,
He showed unto them His hands and His side."
In
this wondrous human person, through its flesh and
blood
reality, the Apostle affirms in the name of all the
eye-witnesses:
"The life was manifested, the
eternal
life
that was with the Father was manifested to us."
While
e]qeasa<meqa (we beheld) signifies an intent, contem-
plative
gaze, e]yhla<fhsan (occurring in the New Testament
only
in Luke 24. 39, Acts 17. 27, and Heb. 12. 18, beside
this
passage) denotes not the bare handling,
but the
exploring
use of the hands that tests by handling.
So much for the verbal elucidation
of the passage.
Let
us look now at its substantial content.
1.
manifestation
of God. The secret of the universe stood
unveiled
before his eyes, the everlasting fact and truth
of
things, "that which was from the
beginning." Here
he
touched the spring of being, the principle that ani-
mates
creation from star to farthest star, from the
archangel
to the worm in the sod: "the life
was mani-
fested,
the life eternal which existed with the Father,
was
manifested" to us. If "the life" of this passage
is
identical with that of the prologue to the Gospel, it
has
all this breadth of meaning; it receives a limitless
extension
when it is defined as "that which was from
the
beginning"; it is "the life" that "was in" the
86 THE MANIFESTED LIFE
Eternal
Word, and "was the light of men" from the
dawn
of human consciousness.
The source of spiritual life to men
is that which
was,
in the first instance, the source of natural life to
all
creatures. Here lies the foundation-stone of the
Johannine
theology. It assumes the solidarity of being,
the
unity of the seen and unseen. It rules out from the
beginning
all dualistic and Doketic conceptions of the
world.
Gnostic metaphysics guarded "the eternal life"
—the
Christ or Son of God—from entanglement in the
finite,
by supposing that the Divine element descended
upon
Jesus at His baptism and parted from Him on the
cross;
tainty,
in the strongest and clearest terms possible the
identity
of the two—the fact that "the eternal was
manifested," that it took
visible, palpable form of flesh
and
blood in Jesus the Son of God (comp. ver. 7). This
life
of life, he tells us, the essential offspring of the
Deity,
became incarnate that it might hold fellowship
with
men; it was slain, that its blood might cleanse
them
from iniquity.
The sublime prelude of
beginning
was the Word," is not repeated here; it is
presumed.
In the beginning gives the
starting-point of
revelation,
from the beginning carries us along
its
process.
Throughout the creation and course of the
natural
universe, through the calling and history of
ancient
beginning,"
shaping itself into a message of life for men;
and
the incarnate revelation was its goal. It is the
fourth
verse rather than the first of the Gospel, which
supplies
the text for the Epistle: "that
which hath come
to
be, in Him was life; and the life was the light of men."
A
stream flowing underground, with the roots of a
thousand
plants drinking of its strength and with
verdure
and beauty marking out its hidden course, the
electric
current running silent, unsuspected, through
dark
and winding channels till it reaches the carbon-
points
where it bursts into splendour—these are images
THE MANIFESTED LIFE 87
of
the disclosure of God in Christ, as St John views it
in
relation to anterior dispensations. This was "the
mystery,"
as
eternal"—God's
secret lying deep at the heart of time,
lodged
and wrapped up in the world from its founda-
tion,
till it "was manifested" in the Only-begotten.
Such
was the life coming from the Father
that ap-
peared
to the eyes of the witnesses of Jesus, the one
life
and love pervading all things, the source and ground
of
finite being.
2. In the second place, observe the
energy with which
the
apostle asserts the actuality of the
revelation of the
life
of God in Jesus Christ. Thrice in three verses he
reiterates
"we have seen" it, twice "we have heard,"
and
twice repeats "the life was manifested."
The stupendous fact has always had
its doubters and
deniers.
In any age of the world and under any system
of
thought, such a revelation as that made by Jesus
Christ
was sure to be met with incredulity. It is equally
opposed
to the superstitions and to the scepticisms
natural
to the human mind. The mind that is not sur-
prised
and sometimes staggered by the claims of Christ
and
the doctrines of Christianity, that has not felt the
shock
they give to our ordinary experience and native
convictions,
has not awakened to their real import.
The
doubt which, like that of Thomas at the resurrec-
tion,
arises from a sense of the overwhelming magni-
tude,
the tremendous significance of the facts asserted,
is
worthier than the facile and unthinking faith that
admits
enormous theological propositions without
a
strain and treats the profoundest mysteries as a
commonplace.
strongest
evidence. He has not believed them lightly,
and
he does not expect others to believe them lightly.
This
passage goes to show that the Apostles were
aware
of the importance of historical truth; they were
conscientious
and jealously observant in this regard.
Their
faith was calm, rational and sagacious. They were
88 THE MANIFESTED LIFE
perfectly
certain of the things they attested, and be-
lieved
only upon commanding and irresistible evidence—
evidence
that covered the full extent of the case, evidence
natural
and supernatural, sensible and moral, scriptural
and
experimental, and practically demonstrative. But
the
facts they built upon are primarily of the spiritual
order,
so that without a corresponding spiritual sense
and
faculty they are never absolutely convincing.
Already
in
analysis
were being applied to the Gospel history and
doctrine.
The Godhead incarnate, the manifestation of
the
infinite in the finite, of the eternal in the temporal—
this
was impossible and self-contradictory; we know
beforehand,
the wise of the world said, that such things
cannot
be. And so criticism set itself to work upon the
story,
in the interests of a false philosophy. The incarna-
tion,
the miracles, the resurrection, the ascension—what
are
they but a beautiful poetic dream, a pictorial repre-
sentation
of spiritual truth, from which we must extract
for
ourselves a higher creed, leaving behind the super-
natural
as so much mere wrappage and imaginative
dress!
This rationalism loudly asserts to-day; and this
the
Gnosticism of the later apostolic age was already, in
its
peculiar method and dialect, beginning to make out.
The Apostle John confronts the
Gnostic metaphy-
sicians
of his time, and the Agnostic materialists of
ours,
with his impressive declaration. Behind him lies
the
whole weight of the character, intelligence and dis-
ciplined
experience of the witnesses of Jesus. Of what
use
was it for men at a distance to argue that this
thing
and that thing could not be? "I
tell you," says
the
great Apostle, "we have seen it with our eyes, we
have
heard Him with our very ears; we have touched
and
tested and handled these things at every point, and
we
know that they are so." As he puts
it, at the end of
his
letter, "we know that the Son of
God is come; and
He
hath given us an understanding, that
we may know
Him
that is true." The men who have founded Christi-
anity
and written the New Testament, were no fools.
THE MANIFESTED LIFE 89
They
knew what they were talking about. No dreamer,
no
fanatic, no deceiver since the world began, ever
wrote
like the author of this Epistle. Every physical
sense,
every critical faculty of a sound and manly under-
standing,
every honest conviction of the heart, every
most
searching and fiery test that can try the spirit of
man,
combine to assure us that the Apostles of Jesus
Christ
have told us the truth as they knew it about
Him,
and that things were even as they said and no
otherwise.
Ay, and God has borne witness to those
faithful
men through the ages since and put the seal to
their
testimony, or we should not be reading about
these
things to-day.
3. In the third place, there is
founded upon the facts
attested
by the Apostles, and derived from the eternal
life
revealed in Christ, a divine fellowship
for men. To
promote
this end
have
fellowship with us." To communicate these
truths,
to see this fellowship established amongst men,
is
the Apostle's delight, the business and delight of all
those
who share his faith and serve his Master: "these
things
we write, that our joy may be
fulfilled."1
We have a great secret in common—we
and the
Apostles.
The Father told it to Jesus, Jesus to them,
they
to us, and we to others. Those who have seen and
heard
such things, cannot keep the knowledge to them-
selves.
These truths belong not to us only, but to "the
whole
world" (2. 2); they concern every man who has
sins
to confess and death to meet, who has work to do
for
his Maker in this world and a pathway to find
through
its darkness and perils.
The Apostle John is writing to
Greeks, to men far re-
moved
from him in native sympathy and instinct; but
he
has long since forgotten all that, and the difference
between
Jew and Greek never appears to cross his mind
in
writing this letter. The only difference he knows is
between
those who "are of God" and those who "are
of
the world." In
1 On this reading see
note, p. 70.
FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
The
Gospel a Message about God, proposing Fellowship with God—
The
Old Gods and the New God — The God of Philosophy — The
Incubus
of Idolatry--God as pure Light—Light a Socializing Power
—One
Light for all Intelligence--Blindness to God the mother of
Strife—Cleansing
through the Blood of Jesus—
ing
the Light of God.
“And
this is the message which we have heard from Him, and
announce to you:
That God is light, and
darkness in Him there is none.
If
we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in the darkness,
We lie, and do not the
truth.
But if we walk in the light, as He
is in the light,
We
have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanseth
us from all sin.
If we say
that we have no sin,
We deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us:
If we
confess our sins,
He
is faithful and just, that He may forgive us our sins and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
If we say
that we have not sinned,
We make Him a liar, and
His word is not in us."
1
JOHN 1. 5-10.
CHAPTER VIII
FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
RELIGION,
as the Apostle John conceived it, con-
sistes
of two things: true knowledge of God,
and
fellowship
with God and with each other in that
knowledge.
To fellowship with God in His Son Jesus
Christ,
the writer has summoned his readers (vers. 3, 4).
For
such communion the facts of the Gospel have laid
the
foundation. To establish and perfect His com-
munion
with men is the end of all the disclosures which
the
Father has made of Himself to us "from the
beginning";
to realize this communion is "eternal
life."
message about God—to wit, "that God
is light, and in
Him
is no darkness at all."
When the Apostle says that this was
the message
which
he had "heard from Him" (from Christ), it does
not
appear that the Lord Jesus had at any time uttered
these
precise words and given them as a "message."
Jesus
Christ in a formal and mechanical way. But
everything
that he had heard from his Master, every-
thing
that he had learnt of Him, everything that Jesus
Christ
Himself was, seemed to him to be crying out:
"God
is light, God is light; and in that light there is
fellowship
for men."
Let us put ourselves in the position
of those who
heard
Christ's message from John's lips, the converted
95
96 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
idolaters
of the Asian cities. His readers, most of them,
were
reared in heathenism. They had been taught in
their
youth to worship Zeus and Hermes (Acts 14. 12),
Artemis
of the Ephesians (Acts 19. 34), Bacchus of
the
Philadelphians, Aphrodite of the Smyrnaeans, and
we
know not how many besides—gods stained, in the
belief
of their worshippers, with foul human vices,
gods
so evil in some of their characteristics that St
Paul
justly said concerning them: "The
things which
the
Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and
not
to God." They had gods that could cheat and lie,
gods
licentious and unchaste, gods spiteful and malig-
nant
towards men, quarrelsome and abusive towards
each
other. They had been accustomed to think of the
Godhead
as a mixed nature, like their own, only on a
larger
scale--good and evil, kind and cruel, pure and
wanton,
made of darkness and of light. Now, to hear
of
a God who is all truth, all righteousness and good-
ness,
in whom there is no trickery or wantonness, no
smallest
spice of malice or delight in evil, no
darkness
at all—a God to be absolutely
trusted and honoured—
this
was to the heathen of the Apostle's mission an
amazing
revelation.
Their philosophers, indeed,
conceived of the Divine
nature
as exalted above human desire and infirmity.
But
the philosophic conceptions of Plato or Plutarch
were
too speculative and ideal to affect the common
mind;
they were powerless to move the heart, to
possess
the imagination and will. These enlightened
men
scarcely attempted to overthrow the idols of
the
populace; and their teaching offered a feeble
and
slight resistance to the tide of moral corruption.
False
religions can be destroyed only by the real. The
concrete
and actual is displaced by the more actual,
never
by abstractions. It was faith in a living and
true
God, in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ
as the supreme fact of the universe, the en-
throned
Almighty and All-holy Will bent upon blessing
and
saving men, that struck down the idols, that trans-
FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD 97
formed
society and reversed the stream of history;
not
belief in "the Divine" as the highest category of
thought,
as the Substance behind phenomena, the
unknown
and unknowable depositary of the collective
powers
of nature. Such ideas, at the best, shed but a
cold,
glimmering light on the path of daily toil and suf-
fering;
they proved themselves nerveless and pithless,
all
too faint to encounter the shock of passion and to
master
the turbulence of flesh and blood. Not in the
name
of Pythagoras or Plato did the Greek find
salvation.
Since the providence of God has laid
upon the English
people
so much responsibility for the heathen world, we
should
attempt to realize what heathenism means and is.
We
must understand the incubus that it lays upon man-
kind,
the frightful mischief and misery of soul entailed
by
vile notions about God. To have untruth, cruelty,
wrong
imputed to the government of the universe,
involved
and imbedded in the Divine nature itself, to
have
the Fountain-head of being contaminated—what
evil
can there be so poisonous to society, so pregnant
with
all other evils, as this one? To own a treacherous
friend,
a thankless child, is wounding and maddening
enough—but
to have a wicked god! Nothing has
ever
given
such relief to the human mind as the announce-
ment
of the simple truth of this verse. To see the sky
washed
clean of those foul shapes, to have the haunting
idols,
with their wanton spells and unbounded powers
for
evil—those veritable "demons"—banished from the
imagination
and replaced by the pure image of God
incarnated
in Christ, and to know that the Lord of the
worlds
seen and unseen is the Father of men, and is
absolute
rectitude and wisdom and love, this was to
pass
out of darkness into marvellous light!
Such was the impression that our
religion made then,
and
makes now upon minds prepared to receive it
amongst
the heathen. God appeared in a character
new
and unconceived before, and realistic in the highest
degree.
Man's nature was invested with a glory, his
Life
Eternal 8
98 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
destiny
lighted up with a splendour of hope, that was
overwhelming
in its first effects. The Pagan world had
become
to multitudes like a prison-vault, stifling and
filled
with shapes of terror. But the door opens, the
shutters
fall, the sunshine and sweet breath of heaven
stream
in, and the prisoner's heart breaks for very joy!
Hence
the exultant note of the New Testament, the
keen
and eager sense of salvation that fills its pages.
It
is the joy of daybreak after fearful night, of health
after
deadly sickness, of freedom after bondage. Such
is
the gladness you may send, or yourself carry, to yon
Pagan
sitting afar off in darkness and the shadow
of
death. A like gladness comes to ourselves when,
behind
the shows and forms of religion, we gain a sight
of
what the great, good God really is. Then the day-
spring
from on high visits us; "for God who said,
Light
shall shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts."
1. So far our course in the reading
of this passage is
clear.
But when we pass from the negative to the
positive,
from the consideration of what God is not to
ask
ourselves what He is, as viewed under the symbol
of
"light," we are lost in the immensity of the Apostle's
thought.
This is one of those infinite words of
the
Bible, which have a meaning always beyond us,
however
far we track them.
The declaration, God is light, stands by the side of
other
pregnant sayings: God is love, God is
spirit, and
(in
the Epistle to the Hebrews) God is fire.
That
"God
is love" is a second definition found in this
Epistle
(4. 8). Of the two this is the more com-
prehensive,
as it is the fundamental assertion. Love
is
one thing; light is the blending of many things- in
one.
God is love; but love is not everything in God
(comp.
Chap. XX). Light, as we are now learning
better
than before, is a subtle and complex element,
full
of delicate, beautiful, and far-reaching mysteries.
In
the Divine light there is an infinite sum of per-
fections,
each with its own separate glory and
FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD 99
wonderfulness,
and all centring in the consummate
harmony,
the ineffable radiance and splendour of the
Deity.
We might say, with Westcott, that
"Physically light
embodies
the idea of splendour, glory intellectually,
of
truth; morally, of holiness." Combining these
aspects
of the truth, we arrive at the interpretation
that
God is light as He shines upon us in the beauty
of
His holiness, His manifested righteousness and love.
Light
signifies purity, truth, goodness; as darkness
signifies
foulness, falsehood, malice. There was plenty
of
these latter in the .heathen gods; there is none of
them
in ours. He is all love, all rectitude, all goodness
and
truth, and nothing in the least degree contrary
thereto.
And these qualities do not so much
belong to God,
or
distinguish Him and constitute His nature; they
are
constituted by His nature; they emanate from
Him.
Their existence in moral beings, and our
power
to conceive of them and to recognize them,
"come
down" from Him, "the Father of lights"
(James
1. 17).
Nor does the Apostle's message
simply declare that
there
are these luminous qualities in God, but that
they
are manifested to us. God is not only shining
yonder,
amongst the infinitudes, in His "light un-
approachable"—in
the burning depths of an insuffer-
able
glory; He has flung His heavens open, and shed
Himself
upon us. This metaphor speaks of the God
revealed
in Christ, of Immanuel, God with us! "I
am
come,"
said Jesus, "a light into the world." His coming
was
"the message." In the Incarnation ten thousand
voices
spoke; as, when the rays of dawn strike upon
the
sleeper's window, they say, "Day is come, the sun
is
here!" God whose glory is above the heavens, is
shining
here amongst us, upon the dullest and poorest
earthly
lot—shooting the glances of His love and pity
into
the eyes of our heart. "He gives the
light of the
knowledge
of His glory, in the face of Jesus Christ"
100 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
(2
Cor. 4. 6). There is nothing quiescent, nothing
grudging,
self-confined, exclusive about light. It is
penetrating
and diffusive, self-communicating yet self-
asserting,
streaming through the worlds — the all-
piercing,
all-informing, all-quickening and gladdening
element
of the universe. Such is God manifest to
mankind
in Jesus Christ.
2. Now it is evident that the
knowledge of God in
this
character, wherever it extends, creates fellowship.
ight is a social power. It is the
prime condition of
communion,
knitting together as by the play of some
swift
weaver's shuttle the vast commonwealth of
worlds
and setting all creatures of sense and reason
at
intercourse. With the daylight the forest awakes
to
song, and the city to speech and traffic. As the
household
in winter evenings draw round the cheerful
lamp
and the ruddy firelight; as the man of genial
nature,
rich in moral and intellectual light, forms about
him
a circle of kindred minds won by his influence and
learning
to recognize and prize each other, so the Lord
Jesus
Christ is the social centre of humanity. He is
the
only possible ground of a race-fellowship amongst
us,—the
Divine Firstborn and Elder Brother of the
peoples.
Christ is the love and wisdom of God in
human
personality, and therefore "the light of the
world."
This connexion of thought is
self-evident, so that in
verse
6 the Apostle can pass without explanation from
the
idea of light to that of fellowship. For what com-
munion
can there be "in the darkness"? Is not sin
the
disruption of all society, human and divine? When
God
said, "Let there be light," He said, Let there be
fellowship,
friendship — a commonwealth of thought
and
joy amongst all creatures. Along the path of
light
eye runs to meet eye, heart leaps to kindred
heart.
It is a thought full of awe and full
of joy, that in
the
light of God we share with God Himself,—"if
we
walk in the light, as He is in the light." God is
FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD 101
light,
and God is in the light. He sees and
acts in
no
other light than that of His own being; in the
same
light men may see and act. God creates around
Him
a light-sphere, wherein all holy souls dwell and
"walk"
with Him. Each planet subsists and moves
in
the same light as the sun from whom light pro-
ceeds,
holding fellowship with the lord of day and
with
its brother planets, in a universe formed by the
solar
effluence. Even so in the spiritual realm. There
is
one sun in the sky; there is one God in the
universe,—one
centre of rational and moral life for
all
creatures, one source of love and truth from
everlasting
to everlasting; He "filleth all in all, and
worketh
all in all." The light that pours in fiery
tide
from the heart of the sun, and that gleams on
the
cottage window and sparkles in the beads of
dew,
and glances on the mountain peak, and on the
globe
of
world,
is one light, bringing with it one life and
law.
The sun is in that light: so is the dancing
mote,
and the fluttering insect, and the laughing child,
and
the whirling, rushing globe. God is in the light:
so
is my believing soul and yours, so the spirits of
Abraham
and Isaac and all the just made perfect; so
the
bright squadrons of the angels and the tenants
of
the farthest outpost stars; so the vast body of the
universal
Church. There is one reason, one love, one
righteousness
for all intelligences—one Name to be
hallowed,
one Will to be done, "as in heaven so on
earth,"
one Father-hand that holds the stars in their
courses
and holds thy soul in life. "With
thee," says
the
Psalmist to his God, "is the fountain of life; in
thy
light we see light."
It is this light of God that alone
makes possible a
true
and enduring fellowship amongst men. "If
we
walk
in the light as He is in the light, we keep
fellowship
with one another"—i.e. with our fellows
also
walking in the light (comp. 2. 9-11; 3. 10-12, 23, 24;
4.
7-13). It often appears that religious interests divide
102 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
men,
while secular interests and material pursuits unite
them.
Christ once said that He had come to "bring
a
sword" and to "set men at variance" (Matt. 10. 34-36).
How
many blood-stained pages of history confirm this
presentiment.
But this is a transitional state of things.
After
all, no community has ever held together or
can
subsist in perpetuity without the religious bond.
Fraternity
means a common paternity. God is a
partner,
tacit or acknowledged, to every sound agree-
ment
amongst men. The use of the sacrifice and
sacrament
in compacts and of the oath in public
declarations,
notwithstanding their abuse, witnesses
to
this truth. The Eternal God is the rock and
refuge
of human society. The material and moral
laws
forming the framework of the house of life are
“the
everlasting arms underneath” and around us,
which
nurse and carry us, and fence us in with all
our
quarrels like birds in the nest, while they hold
us
to the heart of God.
It is therefore through ignorance of
God that men
and
nations fight each other; in the dark we stumble
against
our fellows, and rage at them. In the light of
Christ's
true fellowship we gain the larger human views,
the
warmer heart, that make hatred and strife impos-
sible.
Quarrels in the Church, due to causes that are
often
petty and ignoble in the extreme, are pursued
with
a peculiar rancour, just because those engaged in
them
are fighting against the God of peace and resist a
secret
condemnation. In such contention the bitterness
of
a heart not right with God finds vent and discharges
upon
others its spleen, the suppressed indignation due
to
the evil in itself. Envy, contempt, backbiting have
their
root in unbelief; irreverence towards God breeds
disregard
for men. So far as we see and feel what God
is,
we shall grow humble and tender towards our kind.
Under these conditions, as we gather
from the last
clause
of verse 7, it comes to pass that the sacrifice of
Jesus
Christ wins its full and decisive power over our
evil
nature: "The blood of Jesus His Son
cleanseth us
FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD 103
from all sin." Through continued fellowship with God
and
men, the cross of Christ gains increasing mastery
within
us. On the one hand, fellowship in the Divine
light
brings a deepening sense of sin, demanding a
renewed
confession and an ampler pardon; the old re-
pentance
and faith are convicted of shallowness, in the
clearer
knowledge of God. At the same time, we find
that
the atonement is not the means only, it is the end
of
our righteousness in Christ; it supplies the ideal of
our
service to God and man (comp. 3. 16, and Eph. 4.
32-5.
2), while it is the instrument by which we are
recovered
for that service. The cross of Jesus is the
alpha
and omega of salvation. We do not pass by it,
as
we enter the way of life; we have to lift it up and
bear
it with us to the end. "The blood of Jesus" is
sprinkled
on the conscience to rest there; it melts the
heart,
and melts into the heart. His death-blood, if we
may
so say, becomes the life-blood of our spirits. It
sinks-into
the nature, wounding and healing, burning
its
way to the quick of our being, to the dark springs
of
evil, until it reaches and "slays the dire root and seed
of
sin." The sacrifice of Christ is
the principle of our
sanctification, equally with our justification.
Accordingly, in verse 9 we find the
"cleansing from
sin"
of verse 7 (comp. p. 67), opening out into its two
elements
of forgiveness and moral renewal.
Both turn
upon
one condition (the subjective condition, as the
atonement
is the objective ground of salvation), viz.
the
acknowledgment—the continued acknowledgment
(o[mologw?men present tense)—of
personal sin, which is
nothing
else than the soul's yielding to the light of
God's
holy presence: "If we confess [go on to confess]
our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." In this
confession
penitence and faith meet. With
are
"cleansed from all sin,"
when with
"conformed to the death" of Christ
and "know the
fellowship
of His sufferings" (Phil. 3. 10). This thorough
cleansing,
the immaculate perfection of the believer
104 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
crucified
with His Lord, is the crown of a life of
walking
in the light.
The above is not a process carried
on in isolation, by
the
solitary fellowship of the soul with God: "We have
fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus His
Son
cleanseth us." There is a deep meaning in that
"and."
Christian fellowship and Christian perfection
are
things concomitant. Our social and individual
salvation
must be wrought out together. The goal is
one
to be sought for the Church, not the mere self—
for us, not simply for me.
3. It is possible, however, to
resist the light of the
knowledge
of God in Christ and to refuse the fellowship
which
it offers to us. And this resistance takes place
in
two ways: in the way of hypocrisy (ver. 6), or in
the
way of impenitence (vers.-8 and 10).
These fatal
methods
of dealing with religious light are marked out
by
three parallel sentences, each beginning with the
formula,
"If we say," as stating things which we may
say, but which can never
be. They constitute a triple
falsehood,
committed in the sheltering of sin. In
these
various
modes, "we lie and do not the truth," or "we
deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us," or (worst
of
all) "we make Him a liar and His word is not in us."
Light is a kindly, but often an
acutely painful thing.
There
are conditions of mind in which every ray of
Divine
truth is pointed with fire and excites a fierce
resentment.
The "arrows of the Almighty" burn and
rankle
in the rebellious spirit. The light searches us
out,
and shows us up. "If I had not come and spoken
unto
them," said Jesus of the Jewish Pharisees and
priests,
"they had not had sin: but now they have no
excuse
for their sin" (John 15. 22). With Him light
came
into the world, and men preferred darkness. The
preference
is their condemnation.
this
preference take a cowardly form in Judas, and a
defiant
form in the Jewish rulers.
(1) We may oppose the light of God treacherously,
by
pretending to accept it while nevertheless we hold
FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD 105
fast
our sins: "If we say that we have
fellowship with
Him,
and walk in darkness"—like the thief who bare
the
bag and who stole out at night from the supper-
table
of
of
love, to say to the priests, "What will ye give me,
and
I will betray Him unto you?"
The hypocrite is one who has been in
the company of
Jesus
and has seen the light, who knows the truth and
knows
his own sin,—knows at least enough to be aware
of
his double-dealing. And while practising his sin, he
professes
fellowship with God! The holy Apostle does
not
stand on ceremony with this sort of man, or palter
with
the deceitfulness of the human heart; he gives
him
the lie direct: "If we say this," he cries out, "we
lie,
and do not the truth." In such words one sees the
flash
of
the
Master called him and his brother James Boanerges,
sons
of thunder—the thunder not of brazen lungs but
of
a passionate heart. But the Apostle will not separate
himself
ever from such a one as this. He had known
a
traitor amongst the Twelve. He puts his supposition
in
the first person plural; he speaks as if such a state
were
possible to any of us,—possible to himself! At
the
table of the Last Supper he had said with the rest,
when
the treason was announced, "Lord, is it I?"
Which
of us can claim to have been always true to the
truth
of Christ? It is easy to "say" this or that; but
how
hard to "do the truth," to
put our best convictions
into
act and practice! Yet there is an infinite chasm
between
Judas and John, between the studied deceit of
the
canting professor of religion and the self-accusings
of
the scrupulous believer, whose loyalty finds flaws in
his
best service.
He who professes communion with God
while he
lives
in sin—the dishonest man, the unchaste man, the
malicious
and spiteful man—what does his profession
mean?
He virtually declares that God is like himself!
He
drags the All-holy One down to the level of Pagan
deities;
he brings to the Christian shrine the worship
106 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
due
to Belial or Mammon. He sees God through the
reek
of his own burning lusts. Such an one might
have
fellowship with Zeus or Hermes, or Artemis of
the
Ephesians; but not with the God and Father of
o
night-owl
holds fellowship with the mid-day sun! It
needs
clean hands and a pure heart to dwell in God's
holy
hill. If we walk in darkness, then we are in
darkness.
(2) There is a more open and radical
mode of opposi-
tion
to the accusing light of God,—by flat denial of
one's
sin, by taking the attitude of a bold impenitence.
This
denial appears in two distinct forms: as a general
denial of sin in
principle,
or as a particular and matter-
of-fact denial of one's actual sins. Such is
the distinc-
tion
that seems to lie in the carefully chosen expressions
of
verses 8 and 10: "If we say that we
have no sin,"
and
"If we say that we have not sinned."
in
which, as in heathen life to-day, the moral sense was
decayed
and conscience reduced to the lowest terms.
Hence
in converted men and believers in Christ the
sense
of sin, that "most awful and imperious creation of
Christianity,"
could only be formed by degrees. Men
might
and did deny the reality of sin; by all kinds
of
sophistries and evasions they deceived themselves
respecting
its import and criminality. Not a few
persons,
it may be supposed, had espoused Christianity
for
intellectual or sentimental reasons, with very super-
ficial
convictions upon this head. Allowing the distinc-
tion
of moral good and evil, they were slow to confess
sin;
they refused to admit an inherent depravity
involving
them in corruption and guilt. Their mis-
doings
were mistakes, frailties, venial errors,—anything
but
"sin." That is an ugly word,
and needless besides,
—a
bugbear, an invention of the priests!
hastens
to denounce these notions; they are self-
delusion,
the folly of men who extinguish the light that
is
in them, the ignorance of a shallow reason without
FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD 107
the
inward substance of truth (ver. 8). The denial
of
sin so familiar in naturalistic modern thought—
the
resentment so often met with against the word
itself—is
a revival, in some cases conscious and inten-
tional,
of Pagan sentiment, an express revolt against
the
authority of Jesus Christ.
This error has deep roots, and has
sometimes a
strange
recrudescence at an advanced stage of the
Christian
life. The man of "sinless perfection," who
imagines
he has nothing left to confess, nothing that
needs
forgiveness, verily "deceives himself"; rarely
does
he deceive his neighbour on this point,—never
his
God. "The truth is not in him": his moral
convictions,
his knowledge of the holiness of God, have
not
pierced to the heart of his iniquity. There is a
superficial
sanctification, serving thinly to cover a
stubborn
crust of impenitence, under which a world of
pride
and self-will lie hidden. As Rothe says: "In
fellowship
with Christ our eye becomes ever keener and
keener
for' sin, especially for our sin. It
is precisely
the
mature Christian who calls himself a great
sinner."
(3) The other form of impenitence
stigmatized by the
Apostle,
is the most extreme and shameless: "If
we
say
that we have not sinned"; and its consequence the
most
shocking "We make Him a liar!"
One may deny sin in general and
fence a good deal
upon
questions of principle and ethical theory, who
yet
when the word of God comes to him as a personal
message
and his memory and conscience are challenged
by
it, will admit practically that he has sinned and is
in
the sight of God a condemned man. David had,
doubtless,
argued with himself and deceived his own
heart
not a little in regard to his great transgression;
but
the prophet's home-thrust, "Thou art the man,"
broke
down his guard;" and David said unto Nathan,
I
have sinned against the LORD." To
contradict a
general
truth is one thing; to confront the personal
fact
is another.
108 FELLOWSHIP IN THE LIGHT OF GOD
But when a sinner, with his
transgressions staring
him
in the face and revealed in the accusing light of God's
word,
declares that he "has not sinned," what can be
done
for him, or said to him? The Apostle has only one
resource
with such a man: "God says that you
have
sinned,
that you have broken the law of your being
and
incurred the penalty of exile from His presence,
and
brought on yourself moral ruin and misery. You
say
that you have done nothing of the kind. If you
are
right, God is wrong; if you are true,
then God is
false. You make Him a liar!" That is
final
protest.
Every one who refuses to bow down at
the sight
of
the majesty of God in Christ and to make confession
before
that white, soul-searching splendour of holiness
and
love, before the final disclosure of human guilt
and
the Divine righteousness made in the spilt blood
of
Jesus, is doing this. He gives the lie to his Maker
and
Judge. Impenitence in men who have really
known
the Gospel, is the most callous insensibility, the
most
daring insolence, we can conceive.
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
Aim
of the Gospel the Abolition of Sin--Perversion of the Doctrine of
gratuitous
Pardon—Ground of the Apostle's Joy in his Children—Case
of
a Sinning Brother—Implication of the Society—Resort to the Ad-
vocate—Discrepancy
in
Advocate
and High Priest—Character and Competency of the Advocate
—Disposition
of the Judge—The Advocate has "somewhat to offer"--
The
term Propitiation — Heathen and Jewish Propitiations — The
Scandal
of the Cross to Modern Thought—The Cost of the Propitia-
tion
to its Offerer—Law operative in redeeming Grace—The Advocate
in
the Sinner' place—Universal Scope of the Propitiation.
"My little children, I write these things
to you that you may not sin.
And if any one should
sin,
We
have an Advocate with1 the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous ;
And He is, Himself, the propitiation
for our sins,
Not
however for ours only, but also for the whole world!"
1
John 2. 1, 2.
1 Pro>j to>n
pate<ra=almost
"addressing the Father." Of
the four Greek
prepositions
covered by the English with of
personal intercourse, su<n
signifies conjunction, meta< accompaniment, para< presence with (as in John
17.
5), pro<j converse with (comp. John 1. 1). Pro<j is adversus rather than
apud (Vulgate), and with the
accusative signifies either the direction of
motion,
or the relation between two objects [or attitude of one person
to
another]. We may fittingly call the preposition here pro<j pictorial"
(Alexander,
in Expositor's Bible). The expression
is ethical, not local.
CHAPTER IX
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
WE
are brought at the beginning of the second
chapter
to the position that what the Gospel
aims
at is the abolition of sin (comp.
Chaps. XVI and
XXV).
Every word
learned
from his Master and that he has to teach
to
others, tends and bends to this one point. Not
the
"forgiving of sins" alone, but the "cleansing"
of
man's life "from all unrighteousness" (1. 9)—to
this
the fidelity and the righteousness of God are
pledged
in the new covenant founded upon the death
of
Christ.
the
antinomianism which fastens itself in so many
insidious
forms upon the doctrine of Justifying Grace,
upon
the proffer of a gratuitous remission of sins.
Hence
the fatherly solicitude with which he states
the
object of his Epistle: "My little
children,1 I am
writing
these things to you, to the end that you
may
not sin." The danger, which is explicitly stated
in
verse 7 of the next chapter, is already in the
Apostle's
mind: "Little children, let no one
deceive
you.
The man that doeth righteousness is
righteous,
even
as He [i.e. Christ] is
righteous." Imputed
righteousness
that does not translate itself into actual
righteousness,
justification which bears no "fruit unto
1 This is the first time
that the characteristic compellation (tekni<a),
recurring
six times later on, appears. In this single instance (as the
genuine
text stands) is tekni<a qualified by the
appropriative mou.
111
112 THE
ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
sanctification,"
a forgiveness that fails to make a
man
thereafter clean from sin, is a wretched delusion;
it
is pictured in rough fashion by the proverb of
2
Peter 2. 22: "the sow" that
"washed herself, to roll
in
the mire!" The message of the Apostle will miss
its
mark, if it does not make its receivers "light in
the
Lord" and reproduce in them the image of Jesus
Christ
amongst men (comp. vers. 4, 28, 20; 3. 3, 10, 16,
24;
4. 7, 11-14, 20; 5. 18.
In the preface
different
way: "These things we write to you,
that
our
joy may be made full." He was writing, like
others,
out of an irrepressible delight in the truths
he
had learned, with the longing that his fellow-men
may
share them. But this first, instinctive aim implies
the
second, which is deliberate and reflective. He is
not
the man to take pen in hand simply to relieve
his
personal feelings and for the sake of self-ex-
pression: the knowledge that fills the world with
radiance
for himself, shines for all men; so far as
may
be, it shall radiate through him. But it must
shine
unto salvation. Where men remain impenitent
and
unsanctified under the Divine light, when they
deny
their sins outright or shelter them behind a
profession
of faith, they are worse men and not
better
for their knowledge; in such cases the
preacher's
delight in his message becomes sorrow
and
shame. "Greater joy," he
writes elsewhere, "I
have
not than this, that I hear of my children walk-
ing
in truth" (3 John 4). The joy that rises in St
John's
soul as, in putting pen to paper, he calls up
the
image of his children, will be "made complete"
and
the old man's cup of salvation filled to the
brim,
if the purpose of his letter be answered in
those
who read, if they realize the Christian char-
acter,
if sin be wiped out and done with for ever
in
them.
The Apostle's little children cannot
say "that they
have
not sinned," nor "that they have no sin" (1. 8, 10);
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 113
but
they understand that now, since they are forgiven
and
cleansed by the blood of God's Son, they must not
and
need not sin. "If," however, this unmeet contin-
gency
should occur, "if any should sin"—any of those
who
have tasted forgiveness and come into God's life—
if
such a man after all this should commit sin, are we
to
despair of him and count him as cut off from the
brotherhood
and for ever lost to God? No the Apostle
cries: "We have an Advocate before the Father—one
whose
intercession avails in this emergency (comp.
5.
16, 17): let us put the case into His hands."
Since, the hypothesis, "if any
one sin,"1 is contrasted
with
the purpose of the letter, "that you may not sin,"
it
is evident that this supposition concerns the readers;
the
possibility contemplated is that of some sin com-
mitted
by a Christian man—an act contradictory of his
calling—a
paradox in point of principle, but such as
must
practically be reckoned with (comp. Chap. XVI).
When
in passing from the consequent of the hypo-
thetical
sentence and showing how this sad eventuality
must
be met, the writer replaces the indefinite "any
one"
(tij)
by the communicative "we" (where we should
expect
"he has an Advocate"), he
does not thereby
identify
the pronouns, as though hinting that the "any
one"
might prove to be himself for example, or that
any reader might be found
in the offender's plight; he
is
thinking of the community as concerned in the
personal
lapse from grace and as seeking a remedy.
"If
one member suffers, all the members suffer with
it"
(1 Cor. 12. 26); "if any man"
amongst us "sins,"
all
are distressed; the comfort is that the Head of the
Church
feels our trouble—that "we have an Advocate
with
the Father," who will intervene in the case. It
1 Any other Greek writer
but
kai< in the e]a<n clause. The prevalence
of the conjunction kai<, the pre-
ference
of the simple copulative to the adversative and illative connexion
of
sentences is a marked syntactical feature of his style, giving it a Hebra-
istic
cast (comp. p. 77). The occurrence of in the last clause of verse 2
is
the more significant because of the rarity of this particle with
Life
Eternal 9
114 THE
ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
is
not, abstractly, "There is an
advocate"; with a
thankful
sense of our common possession in the
clete,
the Apostle writes, "We have an
advocate," as
when
the writer to the Hebrews (8. 1) concludes, in
his
climactic style, "Such a High Priest we have."
This turn of expression illustrates
the oneness of
believers
in Christ, and implies that sympathetic in-
volvement
of the society in the moral failure of the
individual
which
Galatians: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in
any
trespass,
you that are spiritual restore such an one in
a
spirit of meekness, looking to thyself, lest thou also
be
tempted" (6. 1). Remembering St Peter's fall and
recovery,
and the anticipatory prayer of Jesus for the
offender's
restoration,
hope
in these terms. The consolation was needed.
Amongst
the infant Churches gathered out of
heathenism
and surrounded by it, while the passions
and
habits of Gentile life ran strongly in the blood
of
the first converts, relapses were to be expected; the
utmost
tenderness and firmness were necessary in
dealing
with them.
The Apostle John admits that a truly
cleansed and
saved
man may lapse into sin; and yet he writes later
on,
in chap. 3. 6, 9 "Every one who abides in Him
[in
Christ] does not sin; every one that sinneth hath
not
seen Him, neither knoweth . . . Every one
who
is begotten of God, doth not commit sin, because
His
seed is in him; and he cannot sin, because he has
been
begotten of God." These contrary implications
cannot
be quite logically adjusted to each other. Sin
in
Christian believers has something monstrous about
it.
The contradiction is relieved, however, by observing
that
the verbs of chap. 3. 6-9 relating to sin run in the
present tense of the Greek,
which denotes a continued
or
even habitual action (o[ a[marta<nwn k.t.l.), whereas we
have
in our text (e]a<n tij a[ma<rt^) a subjunctive aorist,
which
imports a single occurrence and may include no
more
than the barest act of sin, once committed and
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 115
repented
of, such as was the memorable fall of Peter.
Indeed,
when Jesus Christ appears in the next clause
as advocate, this presupposes the
culprit's confession
and
petition for mercy; the Paraclete is invoked for
one
in admitted need and peril. Christ is no Advocate
for
the persistent wrong-doer, but for the sinner who
renounces
his offence and bemoans his fall. On the
penitent's
behalf He is ready to interpose; He makes
haste
to send the message, "Go, tell His disciples—and
Peter—He goeth before you
into
The
condition of 1. 9, "If we confess," is indispensable
for
the advocacy of the righteous Intercessor, as it is
for
the forgiveness of the righteous Judge.
1. In this connexion our Lord Jesus
Christ comes to
receive
a great title, which is given to Him ipso
nomine
only
in this single passage of the New Testament.
Virtually
He assumed it when at the Last Supper He
introduced
the Holy Spirit to the disciples as "another
Paraclete"
(John 14. 16). The Spirit of truth was sent
"from
the Father" to be the pleader of Christ's cause
against
the world and amongst men, and to be in this
capacity
the inspirer of His witnesses, not dwelling
visibly
with them as Jesus did, but veritably in them.
The term para<klhtoj—With its equivalent in
the
Latin advocatus—belonged to the sphere of
civil life,
and
was familiar in the usage of ancient courts. It
gassed
early as a loan-word into Jewish (Aramaic)
use,
and is found repeatedly in the Targums and the
Talmud;
it was probably current in Palestinian dialect.
So
in the Targum upon Job 33. 23, xFAyliq;raP; is anti-
thetical
to xrAOGyF.eqa (o[ kath<goroj or o[
kath<gwr,
the accuser;
see
Acts 23. 30, &c., Rev. 12. 10): "there appeareth one
angel
as defender amidst a thousand
accusers." Philo
employs
the word as in common vogue in the Hellen-
istic
Jewish vocabulary; he describes the Levitical high
priest
in language strikingly parallel to this verse of
to
the Father of the world to employ as advocate one
116 THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
who
is altogether perfect in virtue, to wit, a son of
God,
in order to secure both amnesty of sins and a
supply
of most abundant blessings."1 The "Paraclete
was
a figure recognized by our Lord's disciples, when
He
assigned this role to the Holy Spirit
as His repre-
sentative
and the Church's defender in face of the
accusing
world; its fitness is manifest when the like
part
is ascribed to the Lord Himself, intervening in
the
Father's presence as spokesman for His offending
brethren.
Our Lord's disciples had known Him in the
days
of His flesh as their "Advocate before the Father":
the
prayer reported in the 17th chapter of John's Gospel
was
one of many such pleadings; when on the cross
Jesus
prayed for His executioners, "Father, forgive
them;
they know not what they do!" His
intercession
was
virtually extended to " the whole world."
What He had been upon earth, they
knew Him still to
be—Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday and to-day, "who
maketh
intercession for us" (
"Paraclete"
is synonymous, therefore, with the "High
Priest
after the order of Melchizedek," who forms the
chief
subject of the Epistle to the Hebrews.2 All that
is
set forth in that lofty argument respecting the
character
and functions of "the great Priest who hath
passed
through the heavens," who hath
"entered in
once
for all into the holy place, having obtained an
eternal
redemption," may be carried over to the account
of
the Advocate here in view.
This rarer title, however, brings
the Mediator nearer
to
us. The High Priest is an exalted person, clothed
with
solitary and solemn dignity, "holy, guileless, unde-
filed,
separated from sinners, and made higher than the
(heavens,"—and
all this is true of our Paraclete; but
under
the latter designation He is pictured as approach-
1 ]Anagkai?on ga>r h#n to>n
i[erwme<non t&? tou? ko<smou patri> paraklh<t& xrh?sqai
teleiota<t& th>n a]reth>n
ui[& ?, pro<j te a]mnhsti<an a[marthma<twn kai>
xorhgi<an
a]gqonwta<twn
a]gaqw?n (De Vita Moysis,
673 C).
2 With Philo Judeeus, the
high priest is the para<klhtoj of
God;
comp. Heb. 5.1, &c.
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 117
able,
intimate, entering into and associating Himself
with
the case of the accused. While the High
Priest
in
his public duty, and acting upon his own initiative,
offers
sacrifice and makes intercession for the people's
sins,
the Advocate listens to each sinner's confession
and
meets the specific accusations under which he
labours.
The relationship of advocate and client con-
stituted
a settled personal tie involving acquaintance-
ship,
and often kinship, between the parties. The
para<klhtoj of the old
jurisprudence, in the best times
of
antiquity, was no hired pleader connected with his
client
for the occasion by his brief and his fee; he was
his
patron and standing counsel, the head of the order
or
the clan to which both belonged, bound by the
claims
of honour and family association to stand by
his
humble dependent and to see him through when
his
legal standing was imperilled; he was his client's
natural
protector and the appointed captain of his
salvation.
Such a Paraclete "we have"—"a merciful
and
faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God";
but
more than this, an interested, brotherly Pleader,
who
makes our suit personally His own. There is this
difference
further, that while the Priest is concerned
only
to interpose with his offering for sin, the Advocate
takes
into his account the entire situation and needs
of
his clansman. Any grave necessity or liability to
which
the client is exposed, constitutes a claim upon
him
for counsel and aid.
There are two personal conditions
determining the
success
of the Advocate in the pleading supposed.
(1)
There must be character and competency in
the
Paraclete. He is described as
"Jesus Christ the
righteous."
His name, with the record lying behind
it,
guarantees the worth of the person and His stand-
ing
with the Father; it is a pledge of kindness, skill,
authority,
of human affinity and Divine prerogative, of
power
and merit and suitability. If Jesus Christ speaks
for
us—being all that the Gospel reports of Him, all
that
118 THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
trust
and not be afraid. A gracious hand is stretched
out,
a mighty voice uplifted on behalf of sinning, suffer-
ing
men. He is wise no less than pitiful; He has not
embarked
on a lost cause, nor undertaken an imprac-
ticable
task. But the peculiar ground of confidence
present
to the Apostle's mind lies in the epithet di<kaioj:
our
Advocate for the brother whose sin we deplore,
is
"Jesus Christ the righteous!" This assures us not
merely
of the rectitude of our Mediator, but of His
status
and effective right as the sinless to plead for the
sinful.
We may rely upon the righteousness of His
action
in the matter in hand, and the soundness of
the
plea He advances. He is master of the law, know-
ing
and fulfilling all its conditions; His character and
antecedents
warrant us in assuming that He will urge
no
argument, He will take up no position in represent-
ing
our case, which justice does not approve while com-
passion
prompts it. What the Apostle Paul said of
God,
that in the forgiveness of the Gospel He is "just
Himself and the justifier of him
that is of faith in Jesus"
(
Advocate: He is righteous Himself, and righteously
pleads
the cause of transgressors.
This quality in the Paraclete makes
safe and sure the
remission
of sins. Pardon is not extracted by some over-
powering
appeal to pity, nor enforced by regard for the
person
of the Pleader; it is grounded upon strict right.
The
case is won by a Paraclete who could not lower
Himself
to advocate an unjust suit; while the Judge,
though
Father, is of such integrity that He will only
forgive
when and so far as He can be "faithful and
righteous"
(1. 9) in doing so. This is a vital point in St
John's
doctrine of Redemption. The realization of it
gives
a security, and a moral grandeur and power, to the
salvation
of the Gospel, which are wanting when this is
presented
in a one-sided, sentimental way—as though
redeeming
love acted in disregard of God's declared law
and
of the order of the universe.
(2) The other encouraging condition
of Jesus Christ's
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 119
advocacy
is afforded by the name of Him to whom it
is
addressed. The Paraclete appeals
on our behalf to "the
Father." The
Father cannot be implacable, hard to per-
suade,
or ready to raise occasions against us and to
press
the law to our disfavour. Where the judge is
absolutely
just and can come only to one conclusion,
much
still depends for the form of his decision, and the
mode
of execution that may be prescribed, on the kindli-
ness
or otherwise of his disposition. When
declares
that "we have a righteous Advocate before
the
Father," the case is not
that of love pleading with justice
—so
the Gospel has often been distorted; justice pleads
with love for our release!
"Here lies a key to the Apostle
Paul's rich doctrine of
Justification
by grace through faith,—in the fact that
God
is one, is Himself, and His whole self, in each act of
His
administration towards mankind. He is not divided
into
Judge and Father—righteousness and
mercy, law
and
love–acting now in one quality or office and now
in
another. He would not be just in His attitude and
dealings
with guilty men, not just either to them or to
Himself,
if He did not remember His paternal character,
if
the considerations attaching to fatherhood and filia-
tion
did not enter into His estimate and supply the
factors
upon which His judgements of condemnation
or
acquittal, favour or penalty, are based. The two
"forensic"
Epistles of Paul, those in which he argues
out
his doctrine of Justification in legal and dialectical
terms,
are prefaced by the wish of "Grace and peace
from
God our Father" (
of
deliverance from an evil world "according to the will
of
God our Father" (Gal. 1. 4).
forgotten
these ascriptions nor divested God of His
essential
Fatherhood, when he laid down his great
thesis
that "the righteousness of God
is revealed" in
the
Gospel, "of faith, for faith" (
an
artificial theology which divorces the juridical and
paternal
relationships in the Godhead, which makes the
Divine
Fatherhood less fundamental to the doctrine of
120 THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
the
Epistles than it is to the message of Jesus in the
Gospels.
For
to
forbid the assumption of any such schism in the God-
head
or discrepancy in Apostolic teaching. The advo-
cacy
that Christ exercises, the "propitiation" He presents,
are
offered to "the Father." The
nature of the expia-
tion,
and the matter of the Advocate's defence, are such
as
the Father justly requires, such as will satisfy Him
when
He meets His guilty and sin-confessing children,
such
that on the ground thus afforded, and in answer
to
the pleas advanced and reasons given, He may
righteously
forgive.
2. The competence of the Advocate
being established,
and
the favourable conditions evident under which He
appears,
it is necessary to examine the ground on which
He
presents Himself before the Father-judge.
Pardon is not to be obtained for the
guilty on the
before
asking, nor because of the interest and personal
merit
of the suitor. Otherwise it had been enough to
say,
"We have an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous;
let
Him only speak, and our suit is won!" The com-
plementary
sentence, "He is the propitiation for our
sins,"
would then have been surplusage. Men who hold
light
and easy notions about sin may be ready to sup-
pose
this, but neither Christ nor His Apostles so
imagined.
The general institutions of religion and
the
deeper instincts of conscience have dictated the
axiom
that the priest approaching God on behalf of the
guilty must have somewhat to offer (Heb. 8.
3); the
analogies
of human justice, at its best, vindicate this
principle.
The Pleader is simply "out of court," unless
there
is forthcoming a propitiation,—some satisfaction
to
the outraged character of God or (to put the same
thing
in another way) to the violated law of the uni-
verse,
and some guarantee thereby afforded on the
sinner's
part that the offence shall cease. The Paraclete
must
bring the propitiation with Him, or His plead-
ing
is null and void. God the Father is "faithful
and
righteous to forgive us our sins, if we confess"—
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 121
there
is the only condition required upon our part;
but
this suffices in virtue of the covenant sealed by
the
sacrifice of
expiation
made by "the blood of Jesus" (1. 7, 9).
The
pre-condition of Jesus Christ's successful advo-
cacy
it depended altogether on Himself to supply.
There
was no ground in humanity, outside of Him,
upon
which the Advocate could base a sufficient plea.
The
old ritual propitiations were unavailing, as the
writer
to the Hebrews pathetically shows; these offer-
ings
did but express the need for some real sin-offering;
they
appealed for and foreshadowed its accomplish-
ment.
"He is the propitiation"—He
and none else,
none
less.
The word i[lasmo<j [Hebrew MyriUPKi) (xrAPAKa), cover] is one
about
the meaning of which there should not be much
dispute.1 This precise term is employed but twice in
the
New Testament, here and in chap. 4. 10, where it
has
the same application to the person of the Redeemer:
God
"loved us, and sent His Son a propitiation for
our
sins." It is a term purely religious (as the verb
i[la<skomai, on which it rests, is
principally), used in
classical
Greek of the sacrifices or prayers which are
the
means of appeasing, or making propitious [i!lewj,
i[la<skomai, the offended gods. In
the Greek Old Testa-
ment i[la<skomai or e]cila<skomai, and their derivatives,
come
into
play, chiefly and distinctively, as the equivalents of
the
verb with its group of dependent nouns. It is
fairly
certain that this Hebrew word has not departed
far
from its radical meaning, to cover.
The root-idea
of
propitiation as expressed in the Jewish ritual was
That
of covering sin from the eyes of God,
of interposing
between
His wrath and the offensive object, so that His
punitive
anger should be averted and turned to favour.
But
there is this far-reaching difference between
1 See the art. Propitiation, by S. R. Driver, in
of the Bible. [Ilasmo<j signifies etymologically
the act or process of pro-
pitiating;
then, like some other nouns in -moj, the means or agency
effecting
propitiation.
122 THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
the
conception of Atonement presented in revelation
and
that prevailing in Gentile religions, that while men
elsewhere
are driven under the pressure of their guilt
to
invent appeasements for their gods, Jehovah Himself
prescribes
to
fitting
and just. Mercy was no less patent than justice
in
the forms of sacrifice instituted by the Mosaic cove-
nant;
if the God of Israel required to be placated, He
was
eminently placable, making overtures to trans-
gressors
and paving the way for their access to His
sanctuary.
While "propitiation" connotes anger in God,
a
just displeasure against sin carrying with it penal con-
sequences—and
this implication cannot be eliminated
by
any fair dealing with the word —Biblical Greek
carefully
avoids making God the object of i[la<skesqai,
i[lasmo<j, or the like, the
obvious construction in
the
terminology of natural religion. The Holy One
of
offered
Him: in His very anger He is gracious; the
appeasement
He gives order for and invites from His
sinning
people, proves His pity for them.
The appointment of the Son of God
under the new
covenant
as Priest and Mediator for the race, and the
provision
which constitutes Him the sacrificial lamb
of
God, develop this unique element of Old Testament
expiation
in the most astonishing way. The idea of
propitiation,
which assumed gloomy and revolting
forms
in the ethnic cults, is touched with a glorious
light
of Divine grace and condescension. It is amply
expounded
in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "At the con-
summation
of the ages " One "hath, been manifested,"
who
comes "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself"
—a
Being far above the angels and whose throne is
for
ever, yet "in all things made like to His brethren,
that
He might prove Himself a merciful and faithful
High
Priest in the things pertaining to God." Thus the
Son
of God qualifies "to make propitiation for the
sins
of the people" (Heb. 2. 17); and the sacrifice of
the
Cross is seen to be the goal of earlier revelation.
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 123
Hebrews
in this interpretation of the death of Jesus.
He
uses in his classical passage on the Atonement
(
has i[lasmo<j: "Whom God set
forth, in His blood, a
propitiatory
(victim) through faith."1
The heathen notion, natural to man's
guilty con-
science,
of the hostility of the gods who seek to avenge
themselves
on evil men and plan their ruin, is dispelled
by
this disclosure. Wrath against sin there is in the
Godhead—the
antipathy of the absolute Holiness to the
false
and impure, which burns everlastingly to consume
its
opposite. Propitiation cannot be forgone; God
cannot
deny Himself, nor the Fountain of law make
terms
with "lawlessness" (3. 4). But in wrath He
remembers
mercy toward His offspring. Beneath the
fire
of God's anger glows the fire of His love. If He
requires
a moral expiation, He shall provide it. If
sin
must be branded with a condemnation that other-
wise
would crush the sinner, there is the Son of His
love
who will submit Himself to that sentence as man
amongst
men, and bear its weight, who will die the
death
which transgression entails; and the Father "did
not
spare His own Son," when He confronted this
liability
and humbled Himself unto the death of the
cross,
but "gave Him up for us all" (
There is a paradox for human
language, a depth of
the
Godhead beyond our sounding, in the double aspect
1 [Ilasth<rion is the more concrete expression,
construed as accusative
masculine
(see Sanday and Headlam's Note ad loc.)
—"a propitiatory
person,"
" in a propitiatory character "; i[lasmo<j the more abstract-
"a
(means of) propitiation," one in whom propitiation is realized. The
distinction
between i[lasmo<j and its synonyms is well stated by Dr Driver
in
the article above referred to: "The
death of Christ is represented
in
the New Testament under three main aspects, as a lu<tron, ransoming
from
the power of sin and spiritual death; as a katallagh<, setting 'at
one,'
or reconciling God and man, and
bringing to an end the alienation
between
them; and as a i[lasmo<j, a propitiation, breaking down the
barrier
which sin interposes between God and man, and enabling God
again
to enter into fellowship with him."
124 THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
of
the i[lasmo<j, in the unity of the Divine wrath and
love,
the concidence of mercy and penalty, judicial
infliction
and fatherly restoration, that meet in the cross
of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Modern thought stumbles
and
struggles hard against this offence—its peculiar
ska<ndalon tou? strarou? and cross in the Cross;
but no
stumbling
at it will displace it. With whatever subtlety
such
words as "propitiation" and "reconciliation" are
explained
away, they remain in the lexicon of the New
Testament,
to assert the stern element of sin-avenging
justice
in the character of God. The death of Jesus
Christ
attests for ever the fearful consequences which
the
sin of our race, under the operation of Divine law,
has
brought upon those involved in it.
The Apostle's language recalls the
scene of the
Israelite
"day of Atonement" (MyriUPiKiha MOy; h[me<ra
e]cilasmou?),
the
"day of affliction" for the sins of
high
priest, after he has first filled the shrine with the
smoke
of incense, bearing the blood of the bullock slain
for
himself and his family to present it in the Most
Holy
Place (such sacrifice for Himself,
the writer to the
Hebrews
explains in chap. 7. 26-28, our High Priest had
no
need to make), then killing the goat which represented
the
guilty people in the sight of Jehovah, and carrying
its
blood in turn before the Presence. This blood of the
sin-offering
he sprinkled once on the golden lid of the
ark
which held the law (designated for this reason
the
"mercy-seat," tr,poKa, i[lasth<rion; see Heb. 9. 5), and
seven
times in the vacant space before it (Lev. 16; 23.
28-32),
which "blood of sprinkling" was called emble-
matically
the MyriUPKi, the covering of the
people's sins
from
before the face of God. This was the culminating
office
of the high-priestly service; its occasion was the
one
day of the year in which Aaron entered the Holy of
holies—alone,
and "not without blood"—to "make
reconciliation
for the sins of the people." The renewal
of
the favour of God toward
of
His covenant of grace with His people and of its
status
of adoption and privilege, were made conditional
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 125
upon
this yearly propitiation. The lesser, current sin-
offerings
and sacrifices, negotiated through other
priests,
were auxiliary and supplementary thereto;
they
realized for individuals and for minor occasions
what
was wrought in the solemn and collective expia-
tion
offered by the High Priest once in each year.
"The
blood of Jesus, God's Son," of which the Apostle
spoke
in such arresting words in chap. 1. 7, is the
substance,
“for the whole world,” of the true i[lasmo<j,
which
the blood of the animal victim slain by Aaron on
the
day of Atonement represented typically for the
nation
of
while
that served as "a remembrance made of sins year
by
year" (Heb. 10. 1-3).
Paul's
"atonement" or "reconciliation" (katallagh<, Rom.
5.
1-11, &c.); both terms are associated with the
Hebrew rPeKi and its congeners and equivalents. But
while
the Pauline expression signifies the restoring of
peace between estranged and
contending parties, the
Johannine
imports the restoring of favour toward the
condemned
and banished; with
those
who were in the enemy's camp brought over and
received
on amnesty into the service against which
formerly
they had borne arms—"translated out of the
kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of
God's
love" (Col. 1. 13), like himself who was "before a
blasphemer
and persecutor" of his Lord, but "had ob-
tained
mercy"; the other Apostle looks on a company of
the
once sin-stained and leprous, who were driven from
the
sanctuary with the "dogs" that "are without," but
"have
washed their robes and made them white in the
Lamb's
blood," and now "have the right to come to
the
tree of life, and enter in by the gates into the city"
(Rev.
22. 14, 15).
But how great the cost at which this
right was won
by
the Advocate! Here was the task and labour of His
mission—to
"take away the sin of the world." Other
126 THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
aid
our heavenly Friend could render to men with com-
parative
ease. Hunger and disease, madness, even death,
as
the record tells, Jesus had power to remedy by a
stroke
of His authority. But a lifting of the eyes
to
heaven, a sentence of blessing,—and five loaves
become
food for five thousand men; a mere rebuke,—
and
wind and waves lie down hushed at His feet and
the
storm is gone; a command from the holy lips of
Jesus,—and
the demons quit their tormented prey, the
convulsed
frame and frenzied brain are restored to
sanity;
a single word, "Lazarus, come forth!"—and
the
sheeted dead issues from the tomb, and gropes his
way
back a living, breathing man. These things were
no
such great achievement for our Paraclete, seeing He
was
the Lord of nature from eternity, one with the
world's
Creator. But when it came to the putting away
of
sin, this was a different matter. Power is of no
avail
in moral affairs, in what touches conscience and
character;
nor is goodwill of any efficacy, without a
fast
and wise direction of its impulses. Here lay the
redeemer's
problem, the quaestio vexata of the
ages—
how
to set guilty and evil men right with God! Let
those
who make light of sin, who deem human trans-
gression
a venial thing and suppose that our heavenly
Father,
being gracious and sovereign, might well con-
done,
out of mere prerogative and by way of com-
passion
and magnanimity, the offences of His creatures,
—let
those who so regard the Divine government and
turn
the grace of God into a soft indulgence, consider
what
befell our Advocate in dealing for sinners with
the
eternal Righteousness.
The laws of physical nature, which
express one side
of
the Divine character and embody great principles of
its
working, are not gentle in their treatment of mis-
doers,
nor in their, treatment of those affected by the
misdoing
of others. Mechanics, chemistry, physiology,
biology
proclaim the fact that "the way of trans-
gressors
is hard"—hard for themselves, and for all
connected
with them. Throughout the regions of
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 127
natural
law, sloping upward toward the moral, "every
transgression
and disobedience receiveth a just recom-
pense
of reward," and "the mills of God" grind, swiftly
or
slowly, retribution with the most exact and infallible
certainty
of sequence. No defiance, no negligence, is
overlooked
or fails of its amercement. In these vast
provinces
of God's kingdom, lawlessness is searched out
and
visited with a sleepless and exemplary chastise-
ment.
When one enters into the spiritual sphere of
existence,
the forces of love and remedial grace come
into
play; but they do not neutralize nor supersede the
principle
of retribution pervading the government of
God;
lower laws may be subordinated, they are not
over-ridden
or set at nought when we pass into the
higher
and more complex conditions of life. From the
fall
of a stone, flung heedlessly, which maims a child, or
the
flight of an arrow pointed by hatred at an enemy's
breast,
up to the sufferings of the Redeemer under the
load
of a world's sin, there is one God, one law, one
element
of righteousness and truth, that "worketh all
things
in all."
When our Advocate stepped forth to
shield trans-
gressors,
when Jesus Christ "came into the world to
save
sinners," He engaged Himself to a work of incon-
ceivable
pain and difficulty. There was a "chastisement
of
our peace" to be laid upon Him, without which God
could
not be truly reconciled to the world, nor the
world
to God. Neither the Divine nature nor the
human
conscience would allow this obligation to be
evaded.
The Paraclete, if He is really to stand by us
and
go through with our case, though He be the eternal
Son
of God, cannot get away from this necessity; no
favour,
no prerogative exempts Him from the conse-
quences,
when He has once become the surety for
sinners.
He must pay the price of our
redemption.
God
the Father will not spare the Son of His love the
shame
and suffering thus incurred—cannot spare Him,
in
His utter love and pity, since the law that yokes
these
consequences to transgression and determines
128 THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
such
effects from such causes, is integral with His own
being.
In the consent of the Son to endure the cross to
which
men's sin brought Him, the Father sees the image
of
His own righteousness and mercy; He recognizes
there
the oneness of love and justice inherent in His
holiness,
which constitutes the offering of
"perfect
sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins
of
the whole world." In virtue of the complete accord
between
the act of Jesus in yielding Himself to the
cross
and the laws of moral being that proceed from
the
nature of God, this sacrifice became (to use
strong
expression) "an odour of sweet smell" (Eph. 5. 2),
a
veritable propitiation in the estimate of God.
Having espoused our cause, the
righteous Advocate
goes
to all lengths with it. He holds back from no
exertion,
no cost that the case demands. His honour,
His
blood are at His brethren's service; "the Good
Shepherd
lays down His life for the sheep" (John 10. 11).
He
"emptied Himself" in descending to a bondman's
place;
lower still, "He humbled Himself even to the
death
of the cross,"—to the nethermost of ignominy and
anguish
(Phil. 2. 7, 8). What the sacrifice cost Him,
what
it cost to God who "spared not His own Son," is
a
reckoning infinitely beyond our moral calculus. The
scene
of
mystery
of Divine grief over human sin. There the
Redeemer
wrestles with His task, now pressing in its
appalling
weight on His human consciousness. He
shrank
back in such horror that, if we read the story
aright,
the blood forced itself from His tortured veins.
"Father,"
He cries, "if it be possible, let this cup pass!"
Thrice
the petition is addressed to the All-righteous and
All-merciful,
by the Son of His good pleasure. Was the
Father
deaf to the cry of those quivering lips? Had
there
been any other way, had it been possible upon less
exacting
terms to undo man's transgression, would not
that
way have been discovered? No; it was not
possible
with
God to pass over sin without atonement, to accept
the
plea of our Advocate without propitiation rendered.
THE ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION 129
The Priest must become Himself the
victim, for His
intercession
to prevail. No goats or calves of the stall
shall
He lay upon the altar. He must "by the sacrifice
of Himself put away sin" and
"enter in the right of His
own blood once for all into the
eternal
redemption for us" (Heb. 9. 12, 26): "HIMSELF
is
the propitiation for our sins"—au]to>j
i[lasmo<j e]stin. The
Advocate
throws His life into the plea; He speaks by His
blood.
He steps, as one should say, from the pleaders'
bench
into the dock to cover the prisoner's person with
His
own. He puts His unspotted holiness and
the
wealth
of His being at the service and in the place of
the
criminal, meeting in his stead the brunt of condem-
nation,
so that by sharing his penalty, in such form as
is
possible and fitting to innocence, He may save him
from
its fatal issue and recover him for goodness and
for
God.
Such a propitiation can be of no
mere local validity,
of
no limited interest and operation. The grandeur of
the
person rendering it, the moral glory and essential
humanity
of the sacrifice, bespeak for it a universal
scope. A "propitiation,"
sins
only, but indeed touching the whole world." The
Church's
Paraclete is the world's Redeemer. Jesus
Christ
the righteous is the champion and vindicator of
our
race. His sin-offering, presented by the Son of man
for
man, avails without limit; it covers in its merits
and
significance all the families of mankind and the
ages
of time; He has "obtained an eternal" and a
world-embracing
"redemption"; even as "there is one
God"—so,
one
Mediator between God and men, Himself man, viz.
Christ
Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all." The
universal
expirtion of sin has been made, one that
countervails
and counteracts sin in its deepest and
broadest
working—not as a specific Jewish liability,
but
as the a tribute of the race. So this Paraclete
stands
forth a the friend and healer of His kind every-
where,
the Sin -bearer of humanity. He wears on his
Life
Eternal 10
130 THE
ADVOCATE AND THE PROPITIATION
official
breastplate not the names of the twelve tribes
of
In
His perpetual intercession Jesus Christ bears the
weight
of the world's cares and sins before the Father
of
men. His earthly experience, in life and death, has
made
Him competent to be "a priest for ever" and
"for
the whole world."
The words that first directed the
Apostle John to his
Master
were those spoken in his hearing by the Baptist
on
the
beyond
the Jewish horizon and showed a faith outleap-
ing
the bounds of the speaker's ancestry and rearing
and
a knowledge of things revealed otherwise than by
flesh
and blood: "Behold the Lamb of God,
which
taketh
away the sin of the world!"
(John 1. 29). That
patient
Lamb of God, who submitted Himself for the
Baptist's
ordination, had filled the Apostle's life with
His
presence. He had displayed many an unlooked-for
attribute
of power, and received many a name of
honour
from His disciples' lips since that day. But this
is
still His distinctive glory; the act on which the
kingship
of Jesus Christ for ever rests, is that by His
righteous
sacrifice of love He has "taken away the sin
of
the world." The eternal song of angels and of men
is
that to which
"Worthy
is the Lamb that hath been slain, to receive
the
power and riches and wisdom and might and
honour
and glory and blessing!"
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
Elements
of Fellowship with God—Connexion of Ideas in chap. 2. 1-6—
Danger
of providing for Sin in Believers—Loyalty the Test and Guard
of
Forgiveness—What is keeping of
Commands?—What the Commands
to
be kept?—Good Conscience of Commandment-keeper—Falseness of
Knowledge
of God without Obedience—Knowledge translated into Love
—Love
the Soul of Loyalty--"Perfecting" of God's Love—"The Com-
mandments"
and "the Word" of God—Communion passing into
with
God—Mutual Indwelling—Jesus the Example of Life in God—The
Features
of His Image.
"And
in this we know that we have come to know Him:
If we keep His commandments.
He who saith, I have come to know
Him, and keepeth not
His commandments,
Is a liar, and in him the truth is not;
But whosoever is keeping His word,
Verily in him the love of God bath been perfected.
In
this we know that we are in Him:
He who saith that he abideth in Him,
Is bound, even as He walked,
so to walk also himself."
1
JOHN 2. 3-6.
CHAPTER X
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
THE
fellowship with God, which
as
the purpose of the Christian revelation, now
resolves
itself into knowledge (ver. 3) of and love to
God (ver. 5), with commandment-keeping for its test
(vers.
3-5), and a fixed abiding in God for
its result
(vers.
5, 6), while the walk of Jesus supplies its pattern
and
standard (ver. 6).
The goal of fellowship with God has
been in view
throughout
and already preoccupies the mind of the
reader.
So that when at this point the writer speaks
of
"having known Him," of "keeping His commands "
or
"His word," of "being in Him," "abiding in Him,"
there
should be no doubt that "God," or "the Father,"
is
meant by the pronoun,1 although "Jesus Christ"
(vers.
1, 2) is the nearest grammatical antecedent, and
is
therefore by some interpreters assumed under the
au]to<n k.t.l. of vers. 3-6. But the
predicates para<klhtoj
and i[lasmo<j, given to Christ in the foregoing verses,
assigned
to Him a relatively subordinate, mediating
position;
"the Father," before whom the Advocate
pleads
and to whom "the propitiation" is offered
remains
the commanding presence of the context.
Hence
when, at the close of this paragraph, "Jesus
Christ
the righteous" has to be referred to again (in
1 In the parallel
passage, chap. 5. 2, 3, at ai[ e]ntolai> au]tou? God's com-
mands;
so o[ lo<goj au]tou? in 1. 10 = o[ lo<goj t. qeou? of 2. 14 — never t.
xristou?, or the like, in this Epistle.
133
134 THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
ver.
6), a distinct pronoun is employed; He is brought
in
as e]kei?noj, ille, that (other)
one; comp. 3. 3, 5, 7,
4.
17.1
Fellowship with God is the true end
of man's exist-
ence
(1. 3). This comes through "the life" that "was
manifested"
in Jesus, God's Son (1. 2), but manifested
in
conflict with its opposite as "light" confronting and
revealing
"darkness" (1. 5 ff.). Sin is "the darkness,"
even
as "God is light"; sin is the death of man's life of
fellowship
with God. This cause has severed mankind
from
God everywhere. Verse 2 of the second chapter
completed
the circle of thought which set out from
verse
5 of the first, since it brings "the whole world"
under
the scope of that "propitiation" rendered by
Jesus
Christ, our righteous Advocate, which removes
the
bar put by man's sin against his communion with
God,
which restores the Divine light to a world
estranged
from God and ignorant of Him.
With the former circle of ideas
rounded off (1. 5-
2.
2),
wider
circuit concentric with the first (2. 3-17), setting
out
again from the original point. In the first move-
ment
of this new flight the primary conception of the
Epistle
is taken up again, with a change of accent
and
expression, viz. that of the opposition of light and
darkness
raised by the Gospel message. Verses 3-5 in
this
chapter are parallel to verses 6 and 7 of chapter 1;
but
the second representation, both on its positive and
negative
sides, is more explicit and matter-of-fact than
the
first: "fellowship" opens out into "knowledge"
and
"love"; "walking in the light '' is translated into
"keeping
God's commands"; of the man who in the
former
instance "lies" and "does not the truth," it is
now
said that "he is a liar and the truth is not in him"
his
false act has grown into a fixed state. In the
“walk”
of Jesus Christ (ver. 6), the ideal of "walking
1 English idiom, with
only He to employ for au]to<j and e]kei?noj alike,
lends
itself to an ambiguity which embarrasses the interpretation of
1
John repeatedly.
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 135
in
the light" (1. 7) is realized in historical fact and seen
in
its loftiness and beauty.
The general connexion of thought is
unmistakable.
Verses
3-6 do not continue the strain of verses 1, 2,
which
carried on the thought of chap. 1 to the climax
reached
in peri> o!lou tou? ko<smou; the "and" of verse 3
looks
beyond the foregoing context to the fundamental
saying
of 1. 5, "that God is light," of which the writer
has
now to make a practical and searching application.
The
links of association in
curiously
crossed and interlaced. The more simple his
language
and obvious the grammatical relation of his
sentences,
so much the more difficult to trace in its
finer
movements is the interplay of his thought.
One has to bear in mind that there
are two parties to
a
letter; an epistle is a dialogue. We have to put our-
selves
in the place of writer and readers alternately,
and
to imagine at each step of the argument or appeal
what
the latter would think or say, while we listen
to
what the former is saying; we must endeavour to
read
their rejoinders, and possible misunderstandings,
between
the lines and to see how the writer anticipates
and
deals with them as he proceeds. From the side of
this
other party to the letter, a line of connexion is
apparent
between verses 1, 2, and 3-6, which is wrought
in
with the main and substantial association binding
the
latter paragraph to chap. 1. 5. The Apostle has
admitted
the possibility of a lapse from grace in one or
other
of his "little children"; he has shown that for
this
lamentable case relief is afforded by the inter-
cession
of Christ (vers. 1, 2). But this is a provision of
which
the antinomianism of the human heart may take
base
advantage. The tempted Christian, on hearing
what
"There
is hope for the backslider; then I am not lost if
I
backslide! God is a merciful Father; Christ died to
expiate
all sin, and is my Intercessor. If under the
storm
and press of evil I should yield, His hand will be
stretched
out to save me. I may stumble, but I shall
136 THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE. OF GOD
not
utterly fall." How natural, and how perilous, such
a
reflexion would be. It was the like inference that
disciples
(
grace
may abound"; God delights in forgiveness, since
the
propitiation for sin has been offered by Jesus Christ
—a little more to forgive can make no
difference to Him!
This
danger attaching to the gospel of free pardon for
sinners—a
liability especially great in the case of half-
trained
converts from heathenism—led the Church to
surround
with so much terror, and to prevent by the
strongest
fence of discipline, the contingency of relapse
after
baptism. The possibility of such abuse of his
message
of sin-cleansing through the blood of Jesus
was
doubtless present to
For this reason his doctrine of
obedience and practi-
cal
holiness follows, with keen insistence, upon that of
the
remission of sin. As
the
concomitant of justification and works of love the
proof
of a saving faith, so with
keeping
is the test of knowledge of a sin-pardoning
God.
A penitent backslider, like Peter, will be forgiven
but
Peter was not a calculating backslider. He did not
argue
to himself, "Jesus is infinitely kind; God is an
indulgent
Father, who will not be implacable toward a
weak
man so fearfully tried; I may risk the sin!"—and
then
rap out the denial and the shameful oath. Such
an
offence would have been immeasurably worse than
that
committed, and quite unlikely to be followed by a
speedy,
sincere repentance. Deliberate transgression,
on
the part of one who presumes on God's mercy and
discounts
the guilt of sin by the value of the Atonement,
is
an act that shows the man to be ignorant of God and
to
have no true will to keep His commands. There is
more
hope of a reckless, prodigal transgressor than of
him.
1. Here then is the sign that sin is
forgiven and
cleansed
away; here the manifestation of a changed
heart
dwelling in fellowship with God. The
keeping of
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 137
His commandments is the
test and pledge of an abiding
knowledge of the Father. "This is the love
of God,"
the
Apostle virtually writes in verse 5 (as in chap. 5.
3),
"that we keep His commandments," and in verse 3,
"This
is the knowledge of God, that we keep His com-
mandments"
(comp., for
13;
8. 4). A sentimental love and a theoretic know-
ledge
are equally vain, because they are both without
obedience,
like the "faith without works" which St
James
rejected "barren" and "dead in itself "
(2.
14-26). The equation of knowledge, love,
and com-
mandment-keeping is completed when we
add to the
two
propositions just quoted a third, which is found
in
chap. 4. 7, "Every one that loveth . . . knoweth
God."
The "keeping" that is
meant is the habit and rule of
the
man's life. This is indicated by the (continuous)
present tense in the forms of thre<w that are used (comp.
3.
24, 5. 3, 18) in distinction from the Greek aorist ("if
any
one fall into sin") of verse 1 above, which suggested
a
single and, it might be, incidental wrong-doing. For
example,
confession of Christ was the bent of St Peter's
whole
life, to which the denial in Caiaphas' hall was
the
lamentable exception. Moreover, "keeping God's
commandments"
is not simply doing what they pre-
scribe,
as men will obey perforce rules with which
they
have no conformity of will; it signifies observant
care,
as of one keeping a safe path or a cherished trust.
So
Christ "kept His Father's commandments, abiding
in
His love," and "kept in the Father's name His own
which
were in the world" (John 15. 10, 17. 12); so the
Apostle
Paul would have the Ephesians (4. 3) "keep
the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Such
heedful
observance pays honour to the command,
holding
it sacred for its own sake and for the Giver's,
and
"esteeming all His precepts concerning all things
to
be right." A rational fellowship with God includes
harmony
with His law; for this is no string of
arbitrary
enactments, but the expression of God's
138 THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
own
nature, as that bears on human conduct and
looks
to see itself imaged in the character of men.
It
is impossible for the man who really knows God—
His
awful holiness, His all-encompassing and all-
searching
presence, His infinite bounty and tender
fatherliness—to
behave as a commandment-breaker.
"How
can I do this great wickedness, and sin
against
God?" the tempted man
exclaims, who has set the Lord
always
before him. Knowing God, men cannot at the
same
time practise sin, any more than with open eyes
in
the daylight a seeing man can stumble as if in
darkness.
If it be asked what were the
commandments of God
whose
keeping the Apostle expects from his disciples,
they
must be found in the moral law of
was
expounded by Jesus Christ and reduced to its
spiritual
principles. The majority of the readers were
converts
from Paganism of the first or second genera-
tion,
who had made acquaintance with Divine law
through
the Scriptures of the Old Testament. The
Apostles
used the Ten Commandments as the basis
of
ethical instruction to catechumens and to children
(see
Rom. 13. 9, Eph. 6. 2, &c.). So the
Church has
wisely
done ever since. But the Commandments of
Moses
were comprehended and glorified in the two
precepts
of Jesus (comp.
He
declared, "hang all the law and the prophets"; for
in
love to God and man they find their centre and
vital
spring.
Such settled, steadfast obedience to
God's rule in
human
life is evidence to the obedient man that he
has
gained a knowledge of God, and has tasted of
eternal
life: "Hereby (to use the language
of chap. 3.
19),
we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall
assure
our heart before God"; and so it stands in this
passage
"Hereby we know that we know
Him." The
same
evidence
he
wrote, "If by the Spirit you are mortifying the
deeds
of the body, you shall live; for as many as are
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 139
led
by the Spirit of God, these are God's sons" (
8.
13, 14). The Christian obedience of love is a token
to
the world—to "all men" (John 13. 34, 35)—of a true
discipleship;
but it is proof to the disciple himself first
of
all, and he has full right to the comfort afforded by
this
witness of the Spirit of Christ in him. "Hereby
we
know," says
He
abideth in us, by the Spirit which He gave us."
The
Lord Jesus alone possessed this assurance without
defect
or interruption; He could say, "I have kept my
Father's
commandments, and abide in His love"; "I do
always
the things that please Him."
The reader of the Greek will note
the play upon the
verb ginw<skw in verse 3, which has no exact parallel in
the
New Testament1: ginw<skomen o!ti e]gnw<kamen au]to<n. The
continuous,
or inceptive, present in the governing verb
(recurring
in verse 5) is followed in the dependent
sentence—so
again in the fourth verse—by the perfect
tense
signifying a knowledge won and abiding (cog-
novimus, Vulgate)—"a result
of the past realized in
the
present" (Westcott: see his note ad
loc., and comp.
vers.
13, 14, 3. 6, 16; 2 John 1; John 8. 55, 14. 9,
17.
7, for this emphatic tense-form). The Authorized
Version,
in rendering the sentence "We do know that
we
know Him," almost reverses the relation of the two
tenses,
while the Revised Version leaves the difference
unmarked
and distinguishable only by the stress of the
voice
to be placed upon the second know.
meaning
is, "We perceive (we are finding out and
getting
to know) that we have known God,—that we
exist
in God" (ver. 5). There is a growing discern-
ment
by the Christian believer of his own estate and
of
the Divine knowledge imparted to him through
Christ,
a sounding of the depths of God within himself
and
a "knowing of the things given us by God in His
grace"
(1 Cor. 2. 12), which brings to him, as his faith
1 A doubling of oi#da occurs in John 16. 30
("Now we know that thou
knowest
all things"); but in this sentence there is no variation of tense,
and
the repetition has no special significance.
140 THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
ripens,
a profound thankfulness and security. In this
peace
of God, whose tranquillity the Apostle knows,
he
would have his readers at rest and satisfied.
Doubtless
professors
of the knowledge of God, had in view the
Gnostics
of his day, the men of the "knowledge falsely-
named
" (1 Tim. 6. 20), who when he wrote had become
numerous
and formidable (comp. pp. 61-64). These
teachers
resolved the knowledge of God into meta-
physical
ideas; they made communion with God a
matter
of abstract contemplation and methodized
symbolic
observances, to which moral principles and the
authority
of revealed truth were made subordinate in
their
systems. They claimed on the ground of their
speculative
insight, and the "mysteries" reserved for
their
initiates, to be exclusive possessors of "the truth."
They
vaunted themselves the enlightened and eman-
cipated,
raised by their superior knowledge above the
simple
Christian who walks by faith and knows not
"the
deeps" (Rev. 2. 24) of Divine wisdom. With such
pretenders
confronting him and seducing his flock—the
"antichrists"
and "false prophets" whom he bans in
verse
18 and chap. 4. 1—the Apostle sets up this mark—
the
same that his Lord prescribed for the detection of
their
like, "By their fruits ye shall know them": "He
that
says, I know God, and keeps not His commands, is
a liar, and the truth is not in
him." A low morale, due
to
the subtlety that confounds moral distinctions or the
cleverness
that trifles with them, is the nemesis of
intellectual
pride.
"In him the truth is not"—in the man claiming ac-
quaintance
with God while he lives as a violator of
His
law. "The truth" lies remote
from those who
"profess
that they know God, but by their deeds deny
Him"
(Tit. 1. 16). Truth consorts with men of lowly
heart,
such as make no boast of their knowledge but
in
love to God "keep His word" (ver. 5). Of two
sorts
of men the Apostle declares that "the truth (of
Christ,
of the Gospel) is not in" them—the Pharisaic
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 141
moralist
who declines all confession of sin (1. 8, 9), and
the
immoral religionist who would make communion
with
God compatible with sin. These hypocrites the
Apostle
of love denounces in language recalling that,
quoted
by himself, which our Lord used of "the devil":
"In
the truth he standeth not, because there is no truth
in
him. When he speaketh the lie, he speaketh out of
his
own; for he is a liar, and the father thereof" (John
8.
44). So near does this self-conceit lie to the source
and
beginning of all falsehood; so fatally does a re-
ligious
profession without the ruling sense of right
and
duty undermine the innermost truth of a man's
being.
2. Passing from verse 4 to verse 5,
we find knowledge
transformed
by a sudden turn into love. Since the
latter
verse is the formal antithesis of its predecessor,
and
the clause "but whoso keepeth His word" takes
up
again the former protasis "he that keepeth His
commands,"
one expects the parallel apodosis to run
"in
him is the knowledge of God."
But the writer
is
not content with this logical continuation of the
sentence;
for "knowledge" he substitutes "love of
God,"
and the bare "is" (e]sti<n) he replaces by the
richer
predicate "hath been perfected" (tetelei<wtai).
From
this it appears that while commandment-keeping,
is
the test of a genuine knowledge of God, love
is its
characteristic mode. The man who truly
knows God,
does
not make much of his knowledge; he is not in
the
habit of saying, like the Gnostic, "I have found
out
God," "I know all mysteries and all knowledge,"
"I
have fathomed the depths of Deity"; he shows his
love
to God by steadfast obedience to command, and
in
this obedience love has its full sway and reaches
its
mark.
In this quiet exchange of a]ga<ph for gnw?sij
assumes
all that
in
1 Corinthians 8 and 13, concerning the emptiness
of
a loveless knowledge. Knowledge must be steeped
in
love, the science of Divine things transfused with
142 THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
charity,
or it loses its own virtue of truth; it becomes
purblind
and colour-blind, it stumbles and misguides
others.
While
powers,
and in writing to the Corinthians, who were
affecters
of philosophy, appears to belittle knowledge
in
magnifying love,
he
exalts knowledge by making it one with love, and
in
fact uses the rival terms as interchangeable. He can
conceive
no knowledge of God without apprehension
of
His love (see 3. 1, 4. 7-16), and no love toward God
to
compare with that awakened by the knowledge of
His
love revealed in Jesus His Son. To say that one
knows
God (such a God as the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ)
and that one loves God, is in effect
one and the
same
thing; and the man who says the former without
demonstrating
the latter by obedience, betrays his own
falsehood.
That love to God means keeping His commands, goes
almost
without saying. For, indeed, the first and great
commandment
is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God."
All
other commands depend on this, and presume in
man
this disposition of love to his Maker and Lawgiver.
Love
to God is the sum of religion, as the love of God is
its
source. This affection can, therefore, admit of no
divided
and partial sway—it demands "all the heart, and
all
the mind, and all the soul, and all the strength"; it
cannot
acquiesce in any arrested development, in any
crooked
or stunted growth of our moral nature. It
makes
for perfection; and it works to this
end along the
lines
of commandment-keeping. "Whosoever keeps His
word,
in him the love of God has been perfected;" it is
brought
to its ripe growth and due accomplishment in
character
and life. "Truly"—verily and veritably—this
is
so with him who is faithful to God's word; while the
disloyal
man "is a liar" when he pretends to seek per-
fection,
or professes communion with the God whom he
does
not serve in love.
evaded
nor softened down. Here, and in chap. 4. 12
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 143
("His
love is in us, made perfect"), he enunciates
a
doctrine of "perfect love," of full sanctification—a
devotion
to God that is complete as it covers the man's
whole-
nature and brings him to the realization of his
proper
ends as a man, a love that is regnant in the soul
and
suppresses every alien motive and desire. The state-
ment,
it should be observed, is hypothetical; it is one of
principle,
and stands clear of all defeats of experience
and
defects in the individual. The point of the Apostle's
assertion
is not that love to God "has been,
perfected"
in
this or that Christian saint—though in himself and
in
others like him this condition was, to all intents and
purposes,
attained; but that wherever "God's word" is
verily
"kept"—is apprehended, cherished, and held fast
in
its living import—there, and there only, "the love of
God is perfected." No more perfect love to God can be
imagined,
none that reaches a higher range and a
richer
development than that which comes of the
keeping
of God's word, than that which is fed on
Scripture
and finds there its root and nourishment.1
Obedience is the school of love's
perfecting. For love's
sake
we obey rule, and by obeying learn to love better.
Love
reaches no height of perfectness in any family
without
commands to keep and tasks to do; where all
is
ease and indulgence, selfishness grows rank. There
is
a kind of strictness fatal to love; but there is another
kind,
which is its guardian and nurse. The most
1
in
St James' perfecting of faith by works: e]k
tw?n e@rgwn h[ pi<stij e]teleiw<qh,
2.
22. The verb teleio<w in these instances has
much the same force as
when
it is said, h[ grafh> e]teleiw<qh (John 19. 28; more
commonly,
e]plhrw<qh, peplh<rwtai, in a case where some
word of Scripture comes to
its
furthest realization and attains the ne
plus ultra of its significance.
Teleio<w has a further
connotation, pointed out by Westcott, in this
passage: "Both teleiou?n and e]pitelei?n are used of Christian
action
(Phil.
3. 12, Gal. 3. 3). But in teleiou?n there is the idea of a
continuous
growth,
a vital development, an advance to maturity (teleio<thj, Heb. 5.
14,
6. 1). In e]pitelei?n the notion is rather that of attaining a definite
end
(te<loj): contrast James 2. 22 (e]teleiw<qh) with 2 Cor. 7. 1, e]pitelou?ntej
a[giwsu<nhn, and Acts 20. 24 (teleiw?sai
to>n dro<mon)
with 2 Tim. 4. 7, to>n
dro<mon tete<leka."
141 THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
orderly
households are, in general, the most affec-
tionate,
while the ill-governed teem with bickering
and
spite.
Very significantly, the keeping of
God's command-
ments"
(of verses 3 and 4) has now become the "keeping
of His word." The former are
concentred, and yet
broadened
out, in the latter. The e]ntolai< are a part of
the
Divine lo<goj, of that whole utterance in which God
has
declared Himself to men. It is because they come
as
"God's word," the expression of His gracious will,
and
in the shape of His word articulate through human
lips,
that the commandments are effective and execu-
tive;
under this form they come to possess the soul,
they
seat themselves by a resident and congenial power
within
the nature of the child of God. Six times in
this
Epistle the phrase "keeping His commandments"
is
repeated; only in this instance do we read of
"keeping
His word."
In John's Gospel, and on the lips of
Jesus, the latter
expression
predominates; He speaks habitually of "the
word,"
or message, that He brings from God; the term
"commandment(s)"
our Lord uses only in His final
charge
(John 13. 34; 14. 15, 21; 15. 10), in giving specific,
new
injunctions to His disciples. In the intercessory
prayer
of the Saviour (John 17. 6 ff.), commending His
disciples
to the Father's protection, He describes them
as
those who “have kept thy word” and in consequence
“have
now come to know that all things whatsoever
thou
hast given me are from thee.” For the saving
knowledge
of the things of God conveyed by Christ is
contingent
on, and of a piece with, the cherishing and
practising
of God's word.
We have assumed that "the love
of God" (h[ a]ga<ph tou?
qeou?) signifies the love that the keeper of
His word has
for
God—not contrariwise, the love which God has for
him.
The drift of the context carries us to this reading
of
the phrase; the same relationship of the noun to its
genitive
appears in chap. 2. 15, and 5. 3; John 14. 15, 31
illustrate
from the words of Jesus the inevitable
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 145
sequence
by which the Christian keeping of commands
follows
upon love toward the Commandment-giver.
In
chap. 4. 9 of the Epistle the context points just as
decisively
the other way; there "the love of God" is
that
which God manifested in the sending of His Son
to
save us; with
"of
Christ") qualifying "love" is always a subjective
genitive.
Nothing is gained by forcing the latter sense
upon
this passage; nor in 4. 12 ("His love"), where the
same
ambiguity arises, and is decided by the same con-
siderations.
The middle course adopted by Haupt and
Westcott,
who try to balance the subjective and objec-
tive
constructions against each other, does not commend
itself
in either text. To paraphrase "the love of God"
as
"Divine love, love such as God feels"—not distinctly
either
that felt by God or toward God—is to introduce
a
vague and confused, as well as exceptional rendering
of
a familiar phrase, and to drop the link of transition
from
the knowledge ("I have known
Him," ver. 4), to
the love of God (ver. 5), in which the
force of the argu-
ment
lies.1 The
"perfecting" of our love to God by
"love
to one another," described in chap. 4. 11-14, is
tantamount
to its "perfecting" by the "keeping of
God's
word"; for the message which
received
and constantly repeats, culminates in this,
"Beloved,
let us love one another" (see Chaps. XI and
XX).
3. In both the above passages of the
Epistle (2. 5,
6,
and 4. 11-14), to the love of God which fulfils itself
in
the keeping of His word, a great and immediate
reward
is assigned: abiding in God is the result of
the true knowledge of
Him,—of
the knowledge, that is,
which
is one with love and approves itself by obedience
to
command. " In this we know that we are
in
Him" (ver. 5b)—namely,
in the consciousness that
1 On this and other
points of grammatical interpretation Lucke, whose
Commentar uber die
Briefe des Evangelisten Johannes is too little
known,
shows a firmer grasp and a clearer judgement than either of the
two
great exegetes just mentioned.
Life
Eternal 11
146 THE
TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
we
lovingly "keep His word" and "know Him" in
very
deed (vers. 3, 5a); by the like token, it is said in
chap.
4. 13, that "we know that we abide
in Him."
This
constitutes the "communion" of man with God
at
which the whole Gospel aims (1. 3, 5). Nay, it
is
more than communion, it is union.
This Divine
koinwni<a is not the intercourse
of two separate per-
sonalities
external to each other, but of the finite
knowledge
and love with the infinite, that is at once
immanent
to it and transcendent, the fellowship of
the
seeing eye with the light that fills the universe,
of
the spark of kindled being with the eternal Source,
of
the floating atom with the limitless sea and sum of
life,
which is pervaded and enfolded by the loving
will
of God. The soul finds itself, in the conscious-
ness
of self-surrendering love toward God, occupied,
encircled,
and upheld by Him.
And in this recognition the human
heart for the
first
time enters into and properly feels its own
existence: "In this we perceive that in Him we
exist"1 (comp. Acts 17. 28). "Existing in
Him" (ver.
5)
becomes in verse 6 (comp. 4. 13) "abiding in Him"
"abiding
in God" is existence in God perpetuated; it
is
union made restful and secure. Abiding is one of
his
Master (John 8. 31, 14. 10, 15. 4 ff.); in this idea
the
aged Apostle's experience and disposition of mind
show
their stamp.2 His life has
long been hid with
Christ
in God. His thoughts never move out of God,
nor
fix on any object in which God is not seen and
His
presence and direction realized. God is at the
centre
of every desire, at the spring of every impulse;
God
fills the circumference of outlook and of aim.
1 Ginw<skomen—"we perceive, come to know, recognize,
that we are in
Him."
The inversion, by e]n au]t&? e]sme<n, emphasizes the verbum essentice.
2 The verb me<nw occurs oftener in
John's Gospel and Epistles than in
all
the N.T. besides. The phrase me<nein e]n applied to spiritual
objects
(Christ, God, love, &c.), so
conspicuously Johannine, is only found in
1
Tim. 2. 15 and 2 Tim. 3. 14 elsewhere.
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 147
God
is "all things and in all" to the soul that loves
Him
wholly, that lives in the atmosphere and walks
by
the light of His word.
As it comes to this conclusion, at
the end of
verse
5
repeat,
in amended and ampler form, the statement
of
verse 3. "Herein we know"—not simply (ver. 3)
"that
we have known God" (as the
Gnostic loved to
say),
nor "that we love God" (as the Christian
prefers
to and as the former part of verse 5
leads
one to expect the Apostle's saying)—but "that
we are in Him." The writer's
mind moves in ever-
widening
circles, giving to the same substance in-
cessantly
new shapes and colours. Knowledge of
God
(vers. 3, 4) is restated as "love of God" in verse 5a;
and
where "love of God" might have been repeated,
this
gives place in turn to the idea of "being" and
"abiding
in God." The "fellowship" of chap. 1. 3
divided
itself into knowledge and love (2. 3, 4), and
these
recombine in the enriched conception of a
union
through which the human spirit finds its
home,
its ground and sphere of being in the Divine.
The thought of man's abiding in God
is com-
plemented
in the parallel context by that of God's
abiding
in him (4. 13, 16); for God tenants the
believing
and loving soul, while He enfolds it. The
bird
is in the air; but the air too is in the bird,
filling
breast and wings and lifting it to soar in the
kindred
element. This correlative truth of God's
fellowship
with men does not here come into view,
since
religious
knowledge, is concerned with the marks of
the
Christian state as these appear from the human
and
experimental side. Of this state there are three
tokens: obedience and love toward God, resulting in
A
conscious being and dwelling in God; and these
three
are one.1
1 Bengel analyses vers.
3-6a somewhat differently, finding in them
three stages of progress: the e]gnwke<nai
au]to<n, ei#nai e]n au]t&?, me<nein
e]n au]t&?,—"cognitio,
communio, constantia."
148 THE
TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
4. Finally, verse 6 sets up the standard of the life
of Divine fellowship
furnished to mankind in Jesus
Christ. That knowledge of God
by which the soul
dwells
in Him, belonged to one amongst men in
perfect
measure. In Him, if in no other, "the love
of
God has been perfected" by the constant keeping
of
His word: "I have kept my Father's
command-
ments,"
said Jesus, "and abide in His love" (John
15.
10). Hence Jesus claimed in His debate with "the
Jews"
to possess the knowledge of the Father
lacking
to them, the want of which made all their
professions
futile. "It is my Father," He protested,
that
glorifieth me, of whom you say that He is
your
God, and you have not known Him" (comp.
vers.
3, 4 above). "But I know Him; and
if I should
say,
‘I know Him not,’ I shall be like you, a liar;
but
I do know Him, and I keep His word" (John
8.
54, 55). The secret of the Lord was with Jesus,
when
the spiritual guides of His people had altogether
lost
it. A gracious, loving temper, lowly purity of
heart,
calm, clear insight into the will of God—
these
were evidence in Him, signally wanting in His
impugners,
of the intimacy with the Father in which
He
lived and wrought. If He was in this respect
a
true witness, the Jewish leaders who challenged
Him
were liars.
Now
of
his later days, sees the situation of Jesus and the
Rabbis
of
"say"
of God, "I have known Him" (ver. 4); they
"say
that they abide in Him" (ver. 6); their aspect
of
wisdom and authority impose on simple minds.
"But
look at their lives," the Apostle says: "do they
walk as He walked?"
It is a formidable criterion that
the Gospel supplies
to
prove the title of those who come in. Christ's
name;
its application they cannot escape. "I have
left
you an example," our Master said, "that you
should
do as I have done unto you,"—"by this shall
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 149
all
men know that you are my disciples": if this
example
be not followed and the trend of our life
bears
in a direction other than that of His, men are
justified
in drawing the opposite inference. The
example
may be misapplied through narrowness or
ill-will
a formal and mechanical construction is put
upon
it, when the imitation of Jesus is made to
consist
in the reproduction of circumstantial details
and
traits of the Blessed Life determined by His
social
environment and His personal mission. The
essential
character of the "walk of Jesus" and it's-
exemplary
power are often missed in the attempt
to
realize its superficial features. But with all the
difficulties
and limitations attaching to the use of
this
model, it remains the perfect pattern of a holy
humanity,
the creed rendered into flesh and blood,
—breathing,
walking, living, dying, rising again. In
this
actualized form the true life stamps itself upon
the
disciples of Jesus Christ; they cannot hold His
faith
as notional believers, by way of mere mental
assent
and conventional observance, if indeed they
believe
in the Word made flesh, in the life of God
lived
out through the soul and body of a man! It is
impossible
for a sane and sincere mind to accept the
doctrine
of Jesus without the responsibility of follow-
ing
the walk of Jesus. By this touchstone
exposed
the grandiose pretensions of contemporary
Gnosticism;
by it the true and the false Gospel are
normally
to be distinguished. That type of faith is
nearest
the faith of Jesus, which produces in the
greatest
number and of the finest quality men who
"walk
even as He walked."
The subject of the sentence "He walked" (e]kei?noj)
is,
in grammatical propriety, another person from
that
just named (e]n au]t&?, "in Him"). The argument
is
not that if one dwells in Christ one
must walk in
Christ
(as, for instance, in Gal. 5. 25), but that if
one
dwells in God, one will walk like Jesus. Jesus
Christ
is the pattern of the true life in God. It is
150 THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
not
consistency with ourselves, conformity of practice
and
profession, that the Apostle enjoins, but con-
formity
of both to Jesus Christ. If you abide in
God,
you will love God and keep His word, just as
the
Lord Jesus did; your knowledge will thus prove
itself
to be of the same order and to have the like
contents
with the human knowledge of the Father
that
Jesus possessed, out of which He lived His life
amongst
men. As He held His earthly existence
consciously
in God and for God, so it should be with
those
who profess His faith, who present to the
world
His Gospel and represent Him on its behalf.
At
later turns in the Epistle the writer commends
two
features of the walk of Jesus in particular to the
imitation
of his readers. In chap. 3. 3 its purity—
the
chastity of soul in the Holy One, that shrank from
contamination
with a delicate and instinctive repug-
nance.
This positive purity, which goes beyond the
mere
cleansing from sin, this richer and finer strain
of
goodness, shone throughout the walk of Jesus
Christ;
and He breathes it, with His Spirit, into those
who
walk with Him.
Again, in chap. 3. 16 the crowning
act of the
earthly
course of Jesus is adduced for imitation: "In
this
we have come to know love, in that He for us laid
down
His life; and we ought for the brethren to lay
down
our lives." Both here and there obligation is laid
upon
us (o]fei<lei, o]fei<lomen); the duty is something that
we owe (see Luke 17. 10); it is our
personal clue to God
and
to our brethren, under the relations in which we
are
placed to both by Jesus Christ. There is more
incumbent
on us in the following of Jesus than the
copying
of an example; it is the discharge of a debt.
We
do not simply see the beauty of Christ's self-
devotion,
the ideal purity of His spirit and life, and set
ourselves
for our own sake, out of admiration and
aspiration,
to the task of reproducing His lineaments.
We
are no volunteers, or amateurs, in the quest; neces-
sity
is laid upon us, and we are not free to act otherwise.
THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 151
Every step of that lovely
"walk" of Jesus was taken
toward
the goal of man's redemption by His blood;
those
who walk in His way aim at His end and mark.
By
treading this pathway to the end—a continuous
course
of self-sacrifice, self-inanition—Jesus Christ has
established
His claims upon us and become "our Lord";
we
are not our own any more—we "were bought with
a
price" (1 Cor. 6. 20). To state the same principle in
no
longer live to themselves, but to Him who for their
sakes
died and rose again"—to this kind of walk "the
love
of Christ constraineth us" (2 Cor. 5. 14, 15). The
career
of Jesus Christ does not afford His brethren
merely
an exterior copy, but an interior compulsive
and
assimilative force. Christ is to be "formed in" us,
and
till this is accomplished the Apostles "travail in
birth"
over their children (Gal. 4. 19). Only through
experience
of the cross are genuine Christians fashioned
and
made; when we are "conformed to the image of
God's
Son," we truly "keep the word of God," and "love
is
made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in
the
day of judgement, because as He is we
too are in
this
world" (4. 17).
The true knowledge of God is seen in
the love of
God;
and the true love of God is seen in the obedient
walk
of His Son Jesus Christ, in His perfect purity and
self-devotion
to God and men. Let those who profess
Divine
knowledge, demonstrate it by such a life. This
is
the sum of the paragraph we have considered.
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
Teaching
of last Paragraph familiar to Readers—"The Commandment"
Christ's
Law of Brother-love—
Breaker
of the Christian Rule—The Sin of Hatred—Its Course and
Issue—The
Scandal it Creates—Life in the Light—The Commandment
of
Love Old as the Gospel—Old as Revelation—Old as the Being of
God—New
as the Incarnation and the Cross—"New in Him, and in
You"—The
Novelty of Christian Brotherhood—Dawn of the World's
New
Day.
"Beloved,
it is no new commandment that I write to you,
But an old commandment which you had from the
beginning;
The old commandment is the word
which you heard.
Again, it is a new commandment that I write
to you:
Which thing is true in Him,—and in
you;
Because the darkness is passing, and
the true light now shineth.
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth
his brother, is in the dark-
ness even till now;
He that loveth his brother, abideth in the
light,
And no occasion of stumbling is in
him;
But he that hateth his brother, is in the
darkness,
And he walketh in the darkness, and
knoweth not where he is going;
Because the darkness hath blinded
his eyes."
1
JOHN 2. 7-11.
CHAPTER XI
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
THE
keeping of God's commands, it was shown in
the
last paragraph, is the test of a real knowledge
of
Him; this criterion distinguishes the true from the
false
"gnostic," or man of knowledge. In "the word "
of
God His commandments have their recognized ex-
pression,
and in "the love of God" their sovereign
principle.
The example of Jesus Christ is the pattern
of
obedience to them, which we Christians are bound to
copy.
All this is perfectly familiar; the Apostle almost
apologizes
for the reiteration of these elementary
matters,
which Gnostic sophistry had rendered necessary.
"In
this insistence upon practical obedience as the proof
of
your knowledge of God, and on the centring of all
duty
in love, I am setting before you nothing new; I am
telling
the old story, and repeating the old command-
ment
from the lips of Jesus. You heard it when the
Gospel
first reached you long ago; it has been sounding
in
your ears ever since."
"The commandment" here
intended can be none
other
than Christ's law of love for His disciples—that
which
our Lord singled out amongst the Divine pre-
cepts
to stamp it for His own by saying, "This is my
commandment,
that you love one another, as I loved
you
(John 15. 12); this ordinance is the touchstone
of
all the rest. It is the commandment
of our Epistle,
and
recurs six times in its five chapters; verses 9-11 of
155
156 THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
this
paragraph are occupied with it. To the duty of
love
the writer challenges his "beloved"
(comp. 4. 7, 11),
—so
addressing the readers for the first time in his
letter.
Some interpreters find the e]ntolh< of verses 7, 8,
in
the command to follow Jesus, gathered
from verse 6.
They
argue that the foregoing rather than the following
context
supplies the basis of this sentence; if it were
merely
a question of contextual sequence, their prefer-
ence
would be justified. But the point of St John's
appeal
lies in the fact that the commandment he means
is
a well-known rule, the ever-sounding order of the
day
for those to whom he writes; it is a precept which
will
occur of itself to the readers, needing no definition
or
preamble. There was but one law of the Christian
life
of which this could be assumed; and this was, not
the
general obligation to copy the pattern of Jesus, but
the
express direction coming from His lips, that those
who
believe in Him should love one another. The
obli-
gation
"to walk as He walked," enforced in the last
verse,
suggests and leads up to "the old" and "new
commandment"
of verses 7 and 8, which is argued upon
in
verses 9-11.
"Love one another" was,
moreover, the watchword
of
and
which gained him his title of "the Apostle of
Love,"—"no
new commandment" certainly to those
reared
upon his teaching. The story goes that in age
and
feebleness, when no longer equal to his public
ministry,
the Apostle John would have himself carried
in
his chair by the young men into the assembly, and
while
all listened reverently, he would look round on
them
and breathe out the words, "Little children, love
one
another!" After this had occurred repeatedly,
some
one asked him, "Why, father, do you always
say
this to us, and nothing more?" "Because," he
replied,
"it is the commandment of the Lord; and
because
when this is done, all is done." The great
commandment
of the Gospel—old and not new, old
and
yet new—the alpha and omega of the rule of
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 157
Christ,
could be none other than the Christian law
of
brother-love.
It may be convenient to reverse the
order of
exposition
in this passage, and to fix our attention first
on
the contrasted positions of the breaker
and the keeper
of Christ's commandment outlined in verses 9-11,
and
then
on the contrasted aspects of the law itself—its
antiquity and its
novelty—signified
in verses 7 and 8.
By
this means we may throw into greater relief the
salient
features of the paragraph.
I. The man that breaks the Christian rule is "he
who
. . . hates his brother" (vers. 9, 11), as the man
that keeps the Christian
rule is
"he who loves his
brother"
(ver. 10). Of the former it is declared that
he
"is in the darkness," even while he "says that he
is
in the light," so that "he walks in the darkness," and
consequently
"knows not where he is going" (vers. 9,
11):
the way and the end of life, the path he is taking
and
the goal he is making for, are both hidden from
him;
and while he misses his own way, he hinders
others
by setting offences in the road for them (ska<ndalon
. . . e]sti>n e]n au]t&?, ver. 8). Of
the latter—of him who obeys
and
copies Christ in serving God and man by love—the
counter-assertions
are made, explicitly or implicitly, at
each
point: "he dwells in the
light," and nothing in
him
makes others stumble (ver. 10); he walks on a
lighted
pathway, to a visible and assured goal (ver. 11).
and
darkness, love and hate, righteousness and lawless-
ness,
eternal life and death. He knows nothing of the
nuances
and intermediate shades, in which modern
thought
with its analytical subtlety and critical irreso-
lution
habitually works (comp. p. 52). His ideas are
severe
and massive; they exhibit in their construction
the
classical purity of line and directness of movement.
There
burns under the calm surface of his speech a
lambent
fire too intense for passion, and a flood swells
in
him too deep for turbulence. His "lover" and
hater (a]gapw?n, misw?n) are the child of God and of
158 THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
the
Devil respectively (3. 8-11), the embodiments of
heaven
and hell upon this earth; they represent the
two
fundamental parties of mankind, the elementary
factors
to which the Apostle would reduce all the
antagonisms
existing in the soul and in society (comp.
Chap.
XVII).
But the character defined in verse 9
is no abstract
type,
no mere impersonation of the bad element in
humanity.
—the
sort of man confronting him in the schismatics
of
the day, whom discerning readers will identify by
the
description: "he that says he is in
the light, and
hates
his brother." This is the boaster of verse 4 over
again: “he that says, ‘I have known God,’ and
does
not
keep His commands” (see p. 140). The first part
of
the previous definition is generalized (by way of
recalling
the great axiom of verse 5), while the second
part
of it is specialized: to "have
known God" is to
be
in the light"; to "hate one's brother" is to break
all
"the commandments of God" in one. The bitter,
prating
religionist, who would serve God with a busy
intellect
and unquiet tongue out of a cold heart, knows
not
his own sin; in his vaunted knowledge he is the
most
deceived of men (see chap. i. 8, 9). "Vain
talkers
and deceivers" of this kind, who deemed them-
selves
the "progressives" of the day (2 John 9),
swarmed
about the Churches of Asia, men puffed up
with
the pride of religious culture and full of scorn
toward
those who kept to the ways of a plain, old-
fashioned
faith. Their contempt for fellow-believers
proved
them to be "in the darkness" though they
deemed
themselves possessors of a higher light. God,
who
"is light," in being so "is love" (1. 5, 4. 8). To
walking
in the light, or knowing God, and hating a
brother;
for hatred is spiritual darkness, and "blinds
the
eyes "of those walking in it. Not from above but
from
beneath comes the message that the new teachers
bring,
since they set at naught "the old command-
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 159
ment"
of love; not out of a clearer light, but out of
a
miserable darkness do the voices speak that are
charged
with so much arrogance and anger.
The verb mise<w, is broader than our
word "hate,"
covering,
in
feeling
opposed to "love" (a]ga<ph). Neutrality, a poise
of
mere indifference, is impossible, as the Apostle
conceives
things; one likes or dislikes, one is moved
to
sympathy or antagonism toward every personality
one
meets. And to be in contact with a Christian
brother,
a child of God, and yet to cherish ill-will
towards
him, is to show the lack of a Christian heart:
not
to love "the brother whom one has seen" is to
fail
in love to God the Unseen (4. 20 f.), whose Spirit
dwells
in that rejected child of His.
The term "brother" has a
strict significance in
in
the New Testament, does o[ a]delfo<j signify "the
brother-man"—though
the doctrine of human brother-
hood
is rooted in the New Testament; nor is it synony-
mous
with o[ plhsi<on (the neighbour) of our Lord's story
"of
the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. The affinity of
character
that links the Christian brother to God his
Father
(3. 1, 2, 9, 24; 4. 13, 20; 5. 2, &c.), is the under-
lying
assumption which justifies this test of a spurious
Christian
knowledge (comp. 5. 4). The phrase e!wj a@rti
(till this moment: usque adhuc, Vulgate),1 coming at
the
close of the verse, describes, with a touch of
reproachful
surprise, the darkness in which these mis-
likers
of their brethren are, as continuing unbroken
though
"the true light" is shining around them
(ver.
8) and while they congratulate themselves on
being
the most enlightened! Throughout they have
remained
in the darkness of sin, and are so at this
moment,
since their heart is untouched by the love of
God
or man. Such were the "false prophets," whom St
1 In 1 Cor. 4. 11-13, e!wj
a@rti (until now) at the end of the sentence
repeats a@xri th?j a@rti w!raj (even
until this present hour) at the
beginning.
Comp.
John 2. 10, 5. 17, 16. 24; also Matt. 11. 12, 1 Cor. 15. 6.
160 THE
OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
John
will shortly denounce (in vers. 18 ff., and 4. 1-6),
who
"went out from us because they were not of
us";
the root of the matter was never in them.
The three clauses of verse 11
indicate, beside the state
of
the cold-hearted professor of Christianity, the course
and the issue of his life: he "is in
darkness, and he
walks
in the darkness, and he knows not whither he
goes."1 If he "walks in the darkness,"
it is because
he
"is in the darkness": his
conduct matches his
character;
he cannot act otherwise than he is, or walk
in
any region other than that where his habitation
lies.
His acts of hostility and expressions of repug-
nance
toward Christian brethren reveal the gloom of
his
spirit, the alienation from God and goodness in
which
he dwells. And with all his knowledge, he sees
nothing
of the doom coming upon him; he has no idea
whither
his self-conceit, and the animosity that he
indulges
toward men better than himself, are leading
him.
Such lack of foresight comes of living "in the
darkness"
of sin against God. He thinks himself on
the
highway to perfection. He affects to rise by
ambitious
speculations and communion with exalted
minds
above the common herd of men to the infinite
source
of light and being. But while he seems to
mount,
he is morally sinking. His sails are filled with
the
breeze of heaven, but the malignant hand upon
the
rudder steers him to the shores of perdition. Amid
Christian
enlightenment and rich in privilege and talent,
one
thing he lacks—a loving Christian heart; for want
of
the one thing needful, the best that he possesses is
turned
to its meanest and worst.
The Apostle writes in chap. 3. 15,
"Every one
who
hates his brother is a murderer"; and Jesus had
declared,
"He who says to his brother, ‘Thou fool!’
is
liable up to the measure of hell-fire!" (Matt. 5. 22).
1 The verb u[pa<gw, "to go
away," implies destination,
future destiny,
since
it denotes leaving the present scene. It occurs frequently in the
Fourth
Gospel as applied to the departure of Jesus; see John 8. 14,
21
f.; 13. 3, 33; 14. 28, &c.
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 161
The
man supposed by
or
misses their bearing on himself; he does not in the
least
perceive whither his evil heart tends, with what
ruin
for himself and mischief for others, the seeds of
malice
in his soul are charged. No man is in greater
spiritual
peril than the self-complacent intellectualist,
the
Pharisee of culture; and no man, commonly, is
less
open to reproof.
"Because the darkness has
blinded his eyes"1 the
fumes
of pride, the dust of conflict, the mists of specu-
lation
and opinionativeness obfuscate the conscience;
they
will shut out from minds otherwise strong and
clear
the elementary truths of religion, and the plain
distinctions
of right and wrong.
recalls
the words spoken by Jesus in His last appeal to
the
Jews (John 12. 35): "Walk as you
have the light,
lest
the darkness overtake you; and he that walks in
the
darkness, knows not whither he goes."
Little did the
Jewish
people dream of the sequel to their rejection
of
Jesus Christ, of the downfall to which their self-
righteousness
and "odium humani generis" were hurry-
ing
them.
nesses
to the result, which stands as history's severest
rebuke
to religious pride and inhumanity. Let them
read
the lesson of the ruins of
There lies in verse 10 another
accusation against the
unloving
Christian professor. While he hastens to his
own
fall, he strews hindrances in the path of others;
it
is by way of contrast that
of
his brethren, ska<ndalon ou]k e@stin e]n
au]t&?,—"Not
in
him,"
but in the other, "there is offence." Every schism
is
a scandal. Every ill-tempered or cynical professor of
religion,
every irritable, churlish man who bears the
1 2 Cor. 4. 4 affords a
striking parallel to the thought of
"The
God of this world (ai]w<n) hath blinded the thoughts of the
unbelievers,"
&c. (comp. also John 12. 40 f.). There the blinding is that
of
an unbelief, which forbids from the
outset the reception of the
Christian
light; here of a misbelief, which
perverts the light when it
has
been intellectually received and makes a darkness of it.
Life
Eternal 12
162 THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
name
of Christ, blocks the path of life for those who
would
enter. The spiteful story or base insinuation,
the
hasty and unjust reproach, the look of aversion or
cold
indifference, the explosion of anger, the act of
retaliation,
the mean advantage taken of a neighbour,
is
another stone of stumbling thrown into the much-
hindered
way of God's salvation. The unbeliever finds
excuse
to say, "If this is your Christian, I prefer men
of
the world. If conversion produces characters like
that—better
remain unconverted!" "Offences," Jesus
once
said, "must needs come; but woe to him through
whom
they come!" To remove them, and to combat
their
pernicious effect, is amongst the Church's con-
stant,
and her hardest tasks.
All that has been said of the
"hater" holds in the
inverse
sense of "the lover of his brother." Not only
"is
he in the light," he "abides in" it (ver. 10), making
his
domicile there and growing into familiar and con-
genial
relations with it. The light that "now shines"
(ver.
8) about him, pervades his soul and conforms him
to
its nature; it illuminates for him life and death,
things
present and to come, with the meaning and the
glory
which the manifestation of God incarnate has
given
to man's finite existence. Safe himself, by the
daily
services of love the Christian makes the way of life
safer
and easier for his fellow-travellers, not treading
it
alone but drawing others after him. He keeps step
in
his march with the great brotherhood of those who
in
the love of Christ and the Father have evermore
"one
heart and one way."
II. Now we return to verses 7 and 8,
to the double
aspect
of the law itself, whose operation we have
viewed
in the contrasted types of character that are
produced
under it. The commandment of love is not
new, but old; again, it is new while it is old.
1. "Beloved, I am writing to
you an old commandment"
(ver.
7)—how old? The rule of Christian
love is at
least
as old to the readers as their first hearing of the
Gospel: "the old commandment is the word
which you
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 163
heard."
It is part of "the message which we [Apostles]
heard
from Him and report unto you" (1. 5). The
essence
of the Gospel was breathed into the law of
brotherly
love; this constitutes, in substance, "the word"
which
the first heralds of Christ proclaimed.
is
an aged man, and has been at
a
generation; the Church in his province had a history
before
his coming. Many of the readers of his letter
had
been brought up within the Christian fold, and
under
the Apostle's pastorate; the image of Christ and
the
thought of “the brotherhood” blended with their
earliest
memories. Christianity and its law of love
were
no untried novelty, no fresh invention, like the
Gnostic
rules and speculations that were coming into
vogue;
they were of long standing in this region by
the
end of the first century, and in the circle where
this
late-surviving Apostle of Jesus Christ presides.
He
has nothing to impart to his readers, or to impose
upon
them, other than that they have known and held
from
the beginning. Naturally, as it is with old men,
ground
of the Church's settled faith and practice, he
challenges
innovators, and lays a stern arrest on men
who,
as he puts it in his short letter to the Lady Elect,
"go
forward and abide not in the teaching of Christ"
(2
John 9).
To ourselves also his precept sounds
as "the old
commandment"
which we "had from the beginning,"
"the
word" which we "heard" at a mother's knee or
from
a father's reverend lips. With the command,
"Little
children, love one another," the grace and truth
that
came by Jesus Christ visited our childish hearts at
life's
morning hour. But to us the old command comes
with
an antiquity vastly extended and enhanced. For
the
older of the Apostle's readers, the commencement
of
the Gospel and the commencement of their own
Christian
experience were conterminous; they "had it
from
the beginning," and "heard it" so soon as it was
spoken. In our case a wide interval exists
between the
164 THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
two.
Christianity has behind it now the tradition, not
of
two, but of sixty generations; its origin carries us
back
to a remote beginning. "The law of the Spirit of
life
in Christ Jesus" is the chain which runs through
twenty
centuries and binds the modern to the ancient
world;
it has knit the peoples and the ages into brother-
hood.
The corporate life of Christendom—flawed and
imperfect,
yet real and deeply working—supplies the
surest
bond of humanity; this commandment is its
central
cord. The love of Christ is the focus of history.
The train of blessing that has
constantly followed on
obedience
to this rule, the peace and progress and moral
order
it secures, the spiritual treasures of a Christianly
governed
home and commonwealth, accumulating as
they
descend, are witness that the law of Christ is the
guarantee
of human happiness; it has laid down the
ultimate,
and only possible, basis for the federation and
socialization
of mankind. "Other foundation can no
man
lay than that which is laid." Christ's principle of
brotherly
love may be traced working age after age in
the
ascent of man, through the growth of knowledge
and
the spread of freedom and the widening of human
intercourse.
It has provoked to war against it, for
rebuke
and overthrow, the powers of darkness—pride,
sensuality,
greed, the treachery and cruelty and im-
measurable
selfishness of the carnal mind that is enmity
against
God. In the diffusion of Christ's Spirit, in the
proclamation
and practice of His simple law illustrated
by
His divine example, the light "shines" more and
more
widely "in the darkness," and the darkness
resents
and repels it in vain (John 1. 5).
But if the commandment is so old as
this, if it comes
from
the fountain-head of the Gospel and is operative
wherever
the life of Christ is known among men, it must
be
older still. Christianity was a revelation, not an in-
vention.
Nothing that is of its essence was really new
and
unprepared. Its roots are in the Old Testament; its
principles
were "hidden in God who created all things"
(Eph.
3. 9). The Only-begotten issued "from the bosom
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 165
of
the Father" (John 1. 18), bringing this law for God's
children. He came to show what God eternally is, and
what
in His eternal purpose men are bound to be.
"Before
the mountains were brought forth or ever the
earth
and the world were framed," God was wisdom,
and
God was love. The commandment is
grounded in
His
changeless being. God could not create, could not
conceive,
such creatures as ourselves otherwise than as
designed
to love Him and each other. Creation and
redemption
are, parts of one order, and animated by
one
soul. The commandment, in its absolute basis and
beginning,
is old as the creation of the race, old as the
Love
and fatherhood of God. Jesus rested it upon this
foundation,
when in bidding His disciples be "kind to
the
evil and unthankful" He said, "Ye shall be perfect,
as
your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5. 48, Luke
6.
35). The relation of the child of God to its eternal
Father
imposes on it this consummate ideal.
When the Apostle reminds his
children that they
"had"
this commandment "from the beginning," his
backward
gaze penetrates to the absolute starting-
point.
"That
which was from the beginning" is the title of
his
Epistle; it is the "eternal life
" manifested in Jesus
Christ
and communicated through Him to men, of
which
he thinks and writes throughout (comp. 1. 2 and
5.
20). "From the beginning" (a]p
] a]rxh?j)
might, to be
sure,
have a limited reference given by the context,
as, e.g., in verse 24 below and in 3. 11
and 2 John 6,
where
it qualifies "you heard."1 But with no such
limitation
in the sentence, one presumes that
is
reaching back to the unconditioned "beginning";
this
presumption is strengthened by the recurrence of
a]p ] a]rxh?j in the absolute sense
in verses 13, 14 below.
1 The erroneous reading
of the T.R. "you heard (from the
beginning)"
—instead
of "had" (h]kou<sate for ei@xete)--is doubtless due to
these
parallels,
and is an example of the copyists' errors due to conscious
or
unconscious "harmonistic correction." Its effect has been to identify
the
clauses "you had from the beginning" and "you heard," which
are
in
point of fact antithetical.
166 THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
It is with a meaning therefore, and
by way of
distinction,
that the Apostle attaches to "the com-
mandment
which you had from the beginning" a
parallel
definition, "the word which you heard." The
second
statement brings the readers down to the
historical
and subjective origin of the commandment
which,
in respect of its objective and absolute point
of
departure, they "had1 from
the beginning" (comp.
2
John 5). Rothe's comment on the sentence goes
more
deeply into St John's thought than Westeott's :
“’From
the beginning’ points us back to the first
clause
of the Epistle—‘you had from the
beginning'
that
which was from the beginning.’” When the
Apostle
says later, in explaining the newness of the
command,
that "the darkness is passing by and
the
true light now shines," manifestly its oldness is
the
antiquity of that which existed long ago: the light
was
there, the command existed in principle; only the
darkness
eclipsed it and made it to be as though it
were
not. Of Christ's great e]ntolh<, as of Himself
(John
1. 10, 11), it may be said: "It was
in the world,
and
the world knew it not; it came unto its own, and
its
own received it not."
2. Verse 8 turns the other side of
the shield: "Again,
it
is a new commandment that I write to
you."
The
old Apostle has still the eyes of youth. New
buddings
and unfoldings, the fresh aspects of primitive
and
well-worn truth, he is quick to recognize. The
teaching
of his Gospel, so marvellous in its philosophic
scope
and adaptation to the Hellenic mind when con-
sidered
as the work of a Galilean Jewish author, is
evidence
of this. He knows how not merely to vindicate
the
old against the new, when the new shows itself
impatient
and irreverent, but how to translate the old
1 If ei@xete (had) shared in the historical sense of h]kou<sate, we should
have
expected to find it in the historical tense, viz. the aorist e@sxete, instead
of
the imperfect; or the present, e@xete, might have been used
of a con-
tinuous
possession, "from the first day until now." The imperfect
expresses
a tentative, growing realization of that which is eternal
its
source.
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 167
into
the new, and to discern the old in the new under
its
altered face. This is, after all, the proper way to
guard
the old; it is the genuine conservatism. If St
John
lives out of the past, he lives in the present, and
for
the future.
To say "I write no new but an
old commandment,"
could
not be the Apostle's last word about Christ's law
of
love. He had seen so many new creations born of
the
word which "was from the beginning"; a world
of
young and eager life was in the Churches that
stretched
east and west before his eyes, and were filling
the
face of the world with new fruit of the Kingdom.
To
him change was even more in evidence
than identity;
the
progress was as manifest as the persistence of the
truth.
revolution
which the world has experienced. A new
heaven
and earth were in the making for mankind;
and
the law that governed this creation, though old in
its
origin as the being of God, was new in its operation
as
the character of Jesus Christ—old as the thought of
the
Eternal, new as the cross of Jesus, or as the latest
sacrifice
of a life laid down for His love's sake. That
which
is old as one looks up the stream of time and
travels
backward to the springs, is new at each point
as
one goes down the current. The commandment is
old
as that out of which the present has grown, new
as
that by which the past is done away and in which
the
future is germinally hidden; old to the eyes of
memory
and faith, new to the eyes of prophecy and
hope;
old as a potential, new as a dynamic energy; old
in
its intrinsic nature, new in its gradual and incom-
plete
developments; old as the ever-shining sun, new
as
the daybreak; old as creation, new as individual
birth.
The antiquity of the law of love
for
itself; its novelty he explains in the second clause of
verse
8. "Which thing is true (o! e]stin a]lhqe<j) in Him
and
in you"—where the neuter relative pronoun refers
not
to the e]ntolh< (which would have required in Greek
168 THE
OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
a
feminine, as in verse 7), but to the principal sentence
as
a whole, to the fact that the old commandment is,
notwithstanding, new. And its newness is twofold;
in
the Head and in the members of the Body of Christ,
in
the Vine-stock and in the branches.
(1) "New in Him": for the coming of God's Son in
our
flesh gave to love a scope and compelling force
unknown
before. The personality of Jesus Christ, His
character,
doctrine, works, above all His sacrificial death,
revealed
the love of God to man, and revealed at the same
time
a capacity of love and obligation to love in man, of
which
the world had no previous conception, and that
were
beyond measure astonishing in the given moral
conditions
and under the circumstances of Christ's
advent.
"Herein is love," writes
the
Incarnation and the Cross, "herein have we known
love"
(3. 16, 4. 10)—as though one had never known or
heard
of love before! so completely did this demonstra-
tion
surpass antecedent notions on the subject and
antiquate
earlier examples. The commandment was
put
upon another footing, and was clothed with a fresh
and
irresistible power.
In His teaching Jesus had recast the
ancient law of
external
precepts the golden rule and the two-fold duty
of
love to God and man; He appealed by all He said
upon
men's obligations to each other, to the primeval
law
of humanity "written in the heart," retracing its
effaced
characters and re-awakening the affections
native
to man as the offspring of the Father in heaven.
His
life and walk restored to the race its lost ideal, and
presented
to all eyes "the new man" reconstituted
after
the image of God. His death crowned His life's
work,
and perfected His own filial character. But the
death
of the cross accomplished more than this; it gave
to
the law of love an authority new in its kind, a
vicarious and redeeming efficacy. "Born under" this
"law"
and yielding it a perfect obedience, Jesus Christ
reconciled
the world to God; in so doing He generated
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 169
a
force which enables and constrains sinful men, now
released
from condemnation, to "keep the command-
ments"
of God and to "fulfil the just demand of the
law"
(
example
by the virtue of His atonement; they "walk
in
love as Christ also loved them, and gave Himself up
for
them, an offering and sacrifice to God for an odour
of
fragrance." It was the cross that sent them forth to
breathe
Christ's love into the world, and "to lay down
their
lives for the brethren." "He
died for all," writes
the
other theological Apostle, "in order that the living
no
longer to themselves should live, but to Him who
for
them died and was raised" (2 Cor. 5. 15); and living
to
Christ means living for the brethren on whose behalf
He
died, for the body of which Christ is Head (see, e.g.,
1
Cor. 8. 9-13, 12. 12 ff.). The cross of Christ reconciles
Gentile
and Jew "in one body" to God; the fire of His
passion
fuses together natures the most hostile and
remote
(see Eph. 2. 11-22, Col. 3. 9-14). "The
new
covenant
in His blood" is a covenant of amity and
alliance
for all who enter its bonds and share the peace
with
God which it secures.
This was "true in Christ,"
in point of fact as well as
principle.
The peace on earth heralded by the angels'
song
at the Nativity was realized in a multitude of
Christian
societies now planted through the Roman
Empire
and spreading from the Mediterranean shores--
each
of them the centre of forces of goodwill and
charity,
new-leavening a world where men had been
"slaves
to manifold lusts and pleasures, living in malice
and
envy, hating one another" (Tit. 3. 3). The phila-
delphia of the followers of the
Crucified was the most
noticeable
thing about the new movement; this was
the
outstanding characteristic dwelt upon both by its
apologists
and critics. "See," they said, "how these
Christians
love one another! "It was the
peculiar
mark
fixed by the Master for His society: "In this shall
all
men know that you are my disciples (John 13. 35).
In
the oldest Christian document, the letter of
170 THE
OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
to
the infant
the
young community is noted with the liveliest satis-
faction: "Concerning brotherly love you have
no need
that
one write unto you; for indeed you do it toward
all
the brethren which are in all
4.
9 f.); in the second Epistle he thanks God, in the first
place,
"for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and
the
love of each one of you all toward one another
aboundeth"
(2 Thess. 1. 3). It behoves all Christian
teachers
to put this foremost among the "notes of
the
Church and the tokens of apostolical descent.
(2) "Which is true," the Apostle
testifies to his dis-
ciples,
"in Him, and in you"! The fact that God's law
of
love is kept, that a new bond of affection is formed
amongst
men and a new gravitation draws the scattered
elements
of life together, is evident in the case of these
Christian
men as it had been in Christ Himself. It
means
much that
"you"
in this sentence and put the pronouns into the
same
construction. How many amongst ourselves,
Christ's
present servants, could bear to be put in this
juxtaposition?
of what Church could it be affirmed with-
out
qualification, concerning the law of love to the
brethren,
"Which is true in Him, and in you"?
In this double truth there is a deep
distinction—as
between
the root and the branches, the full fountain
and
the broken streams, which need constant replenish-
ment.
But in principle the identity holds good for all
who
are in Christ. The law that ruled His being rules
theirs.
The fires of His passion have thrown a spark
into
each of their souls, kindling them to something of
the
same glow. The prayer of Jesus Christ for His
discipleship,
as it should endure and witness unto the
world's
end, is fulfilled by such participation: "that they
may
all be one, even as thou, Father, art in me and I
in
thee," and "that the love wherewith thou lovedst
me
may be in them, and I in them" (John 17. 23, 26).
Just
so far as this affirmation respecting
little
children "is true" in Christians, the true Chris-
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 171
tianity
propagates itself and bears its healing fruit
throughout
the world.
The coming of this new love, that
had given bright
evidence
of its efficacy in the Christian society, St
John
explains in verse 8b; he refers it to "the message"
which
Christ brought from God, and which His Apostles
are
announcing everywhere (1. 5). The true life springs
from
"the true light" (to> fw?j to>
a]lhqino<n1 h@dh fai<nei).
the
light of the Gospel the new way of love is revealed
and
made practicable.
gave
another turn to the same thought; he affirmed the
social
results of the Gospel to be the outgrowth of its
religious
conceptions, when he wrote, "The fruit of the
light
is in all goodness and righteousness and truth"
(Eph.
5. 9). The ethical and theological are insepar-
able
as life and light, as fruit and root (comp. pp. 63, 64).
The
morals of Paganism were the product of its
idolatry
(see
purity
and charity of the
from
the ideas of God and of His relations to men
derived
from Jesus Christ.
"Already shineth" (h@dh fai<nei) is a questionable
1 The double
"true"of the E.V. in verse 8 represents two distinct Greek
adjectives, a]lhqe<j and a]lhqino<n. The former signifies
truth of statement,
viz.,
of the statement made by the writer in ver. 8a, which is verified by
fact;
the latter signifies truth of conception,
the correspondence of the
reality
to the idea that is expressed. A "true light" as a]lhqino<n, is that
which
is light indeed and worthy of the name; a "true light" as a]lhqe<j,
would
be light that does not deceive or mislead. Comp. the use of
a]lhqino<j (a favourite epithet
with
15.
1; also in 1 Thess. 1. 9.
2 Para<getai, passive voice, again
in verse 17; more literally, "passes
by."
Elsewhere the active voice bears this (neuter) sense: so in the
Pauline
parallel of 1 Cor. 7. 31, para<gei to> sxh?ma tou?
ko<smou tou<tou (comp.
Ps.
143. 4, in LXX), and (in the literal sense) John 9. 1, Matt. 9. 9. The
verb
conveys the idea not of a mere vanishing or cessation, but of a
visible
movement from the scene, as when clouds are sailing off and the
sky
clears. Possibly, there is a touch of distinction in the use of the
passive,
which does not occur in the same sense outside of these two
verses.
Not of its own motion is "the darkness" passing; it is "borne
away"
by the flood of incoming light.
172 THE
OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT
emendation
by the Revisers of the older rendering
"now." "Already" marks, in English
usage, a present
antithetical
to some future—so soon as this; as
though
the
Apostle meant; "The true light
shines even now,
while
the darkness still strives against it; a brighter
day
is coming, when its light will flood the world and
the
whole sky will be aflame with the glory of God.
‘It
is beginning to have its course’" (Westcott). This
thought,
however true, and the predictive connotation
this
rendering reads into h@dh1 are out of place in the
given
connexion. @Hdh looks back as readily
as for-
ward;
it denotes a present contrasted either with future
or
past2; in the latter reference it signifies by this time,
now at length. This may be the rarer
sense of the
adverb,
but it is a perfectly legitimate sense, and is
imported
here by the contrast of "old and new" domi-
nating
the paragraph. A new day is dawning for the
world. At
last the darkness lifts, the clouds break and
scatter;
"the true light shines" out in the sky; the
sons
of light can now walk with clear vision, toward a
sure
end.
Once besides the Apostle John has
employed this
phrase;
where he writes in the prologue to his Gospel,
"There
was the true light (to> fw?j to> a]lhqino<n) . . . com-
ing
into the world." There, as here, his gaze is retro-
spective;
and he describes the advent of the Word as
that
of a light long veiled (existing ages before the
Baptist's
day) but now piercing through all obstruction.
Now at last! "The mystery hidden from the ages and
generations—hidden
away from the ages in God, who
created
all things" (Col. 1. 26, Eph. 3. 9--comes to
birth.
The hour of the new creation has struck; the
Voice
has sounded, "Behold, I make all things new!"
To what splendour the great day may
grow,
does
not suggest, or speculate. "The Son of God is
come;
we have eternal life in Him" (5. 11-13, 20): this
conviction
fills his mind and brings him perfect satis-
1 As, e.g., in 4. 3, John
4. 35, 2 Thess. 2. 7, 2 Tim. 2. 18, &c.
2 For the latter, comp.
John 7. 14, 11. 17, 19. 28,
THE OLD AND NEW COMMANDMENT 173
faction. He has lived through a day of new
creation;
he
has "seen the
(Mark
9. 1). The religious world of his childhood and
that
of his age—what a gulf lies between them, a
contrast
between the old and the new within his life-
time
the more marvellous the more he reflects upon it.
Enough
for him that the darkness passes and the true
light
mounts the sky. He is as one who descries the
morn
in the east, after a long tempestuous night; he
has
seen the sun climb the horizon, and is sure of day.
The
old Apostle is ready to say with Simeon, "Lord,
now
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according
to
thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
Pause
in the Letter—"I write," "I have written"—Little children,
Fathers,
Young Men—All knowing the Father
through Forgiveness—
The
"Fathers" deep in knowledge of Christ—Christology the Crown
of
Christian Thinking—"Young Men" and their Strength—Violence of
Passion—Allurements
of Novelty—Beacon Light of Scripture—The
Militant
Strength of Young Men.
"I write to you, little
children, because your sins have been forgiven
you,
for His name's sake:
I write to you, fathers, because you
have known Him that is from
the beginning;
I write to you, young men, because
you have overcome the Evil
One.
I have written to you, little ones, because
you have known the Father:
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have known Him that is
from the beginning;
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong and the
word of God abideth in
you, and you have overcome the Evil
One." -- 1 JOHN 2.
12-14.
CHAPTER XII
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
HERE
we come to a pause, and almost a new
beginning,
in
the
outset that he was writing for the purpose of
declaring
anew the message he had received from
Christ
and testifying to the facts about Christ of
which
he and others had been witnesses. On the
basis
of this testimony, he reminded the readers, there
is
set up a holy fellowship of men with God, in which
they
too are partakers. To give this witness and to
promote
this fellowship is for
panions
in the testimony a perfect joy (1. 3, 4). Thus
the
ground of the Epistle was stated on its subjective
side
and as regards the intent of the author. But the
letter
assumes a corresponding disposition and attitude
on
the part of its receivers; it is grounded, objectively,
upon their consciousness of the new life
in Christ and
the
salvation from sin which it effects. To this side
of
the case the Apostle turns in verse 12, and appeals
to
the experience of Divine grace in those addressed
by
the Epistle: "I write to you,
little children, because
your
sins are forgiven . . . because you have known
the
Father" (ver. 14). In the preface
what
moved him to write on his own account; here he
tells
what led him to write on the readers' account,—to
write
particularly to them, and in this particular strain.
This
letter is meant for Christian people, for men de-
livered
from sin and acquainted with God (see p. 59);
Life
Eternal 13 17
178 RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
for
old men advanced in Christian knowledge, for young
men
who have used their strength to conquer evil.
In making the pause and change of
attitude we
observe,
still
pursues the thread that has been followed from
chap.
1. 3 onwards; the thought of fellowship with
God
is dominant in this and the two succeeding para-
graphs,
as much as in those preceding them. "Forgive-
ness"
is admission to such fellowship; "knowledge of
the
Father" is its continuance; "victory over the Evil
One"
is its counterpart and the condition of its main-
tenance;
"love of the world" would be its negation
(vers.
15-17); the "antichrists" are those who have
departed
from the Church's fellowship with God in
Christ,
whose teaching means its dissolution (vers. 18-27).
The emendation of the received text,
and the right
arrangement
of the clauses, go far to expound the
meaning
of the section of the Epistle before us. We
must
certainly read, with the Revisers, "I have written"
(e@graya), not "I write
" (gra<fw), in the last sentence of
verse
13. The six statements of verses 12-14 are then
seen
to fall into two balanced sections of three clauses
each—not
into unequal parts of four and two clauses
respectively—which
are prefaced in the first half by the
present
tense, "I write," and in the second by the past,
"I
have written." In both sections "little children"
("or
little ones") are first addressed, then "fathers"
and
"young men" in turn. By the former name St
John
habitually accosts his readers—as tekni<a in verses
1,
28, 3. 7, 5. 21, and paidi<a in verse 18 below; they
were
all of them the old Apostle's "little ones" (see
p.
163). Accordingly, the content of the first and fourth
clauses
is of a comprehensive nature and applies to
Christian
believers generally. It is therefore a mistake,
though
a natural one, to discriminate the children of
this
passage from the fathers and young men, and to
suppose
that "little children," or "little ones,"1 is
1 There is a shade of
difference between tekni<a (ver. 12) and paidi<a
(ver.
13) which is not indicated in the E.V., for it renders both by
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH 179
employed
by the Apostle, like these other terms, as a
definition
of age. The order of the three classes—
children, fathers, young
men—speaks
against this dis-
tinction.
The Apostle, who was now ninety years old,
out
of his patriarchal dignity and affection thinks of all
his
flock as "little children," while he distinguishes the
elder
and younger amongst them, to whom he writes
as
"fathers" and "young men" in terms appropriate to
their
several conditions. The duplication of the three-
fold
statement, under the verbs "I write" and "I have
written,"
is curious. It is
himself;
his mind hovers upon and plays round its
cherished
thoughts, bringing out at each turn fresh
aspects
of the same truth. Nowhere else in the Epistle
is
the repetition so formal and (as one may say) so
barefaced
as in this instance. The fourth clause is
parallel
to the first, but quite different; the sixth (the
young men's clause) enlarges upon
the third; the fifth
clause
repeats the second unchanged.
But what does the device of
repetition mean? It
is
to be noted that the present tense, "I write,"
which
heads each statement in the first half of the
passage,
was used in chap. 1. 4 and 2. 1, preceding this
paragraph,
while the past tense, "I wrote" or "have
written,"
displaces this in the later passages—viz.
verses
21, 26 below and chap. 5. 13. This change of
tense
in the verb as between earlier and later parts of
the
Epistle goes to account for the variation made in
this
place. There is no need to suppose that some
previous
writing is meant, when
written";
such reference is out of the question in
verses
21, 26, and is very improbable here. The Apostle
"little
children." The former is a word of endearment and tenderness,
connoting
attachment in the persons concerned. The latter is a word
of
encouragement and appeal, implying dependence on the part of those
addressed
and help or direction to be given them. Pai?dej, paidi<a was in
everyday
use in Greek (like "lads" in Northern English) by way of
familiar
address to servants or work-people of all ages; comp. John
21.
5, Luke 12. 45; the Servant of Jehovah in the Deutero-Isaiah is
o[ pai?j (comp. Acts 3. 13, &c.).
180 RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
has
reached an advanced point in his letter. He has
restated
the message committed to him by Christ, and
drawn
out its import; he will appeal to his children on
the
strength of this declaration (vers. 15-17). By way
of
supporting his appeal, he reminds them of their
own
knowledge of the things of God; this experience
common
to them all, this varied experience of old and
young,
furnishes the reason for which he thus writes,
and
sustains his warning against the friendship of the
world.
But as, in making this entreaty and after thrice
reiterating
"I write to you," his eye glances over the
manuscript
in hand, he reminds himself that he had
already written to this effect, and
that the previous
paragraphs
imply in the readers the knowledge of God
and
the victory over sin of which he now speaks.
Upon
this suggestion he resumes his explanation, and
states
a second time, with added fulness, the reasons
that
justify him in using words of appeal so intimate
and
confident. What the Apostle has in mind to write,
what
he has written, —all is written as to
men forgiven
for
Christ's sake and knowing God their Father—not
to
those who are ignorant of the Gospel or disobedient
to
it. These are the cleansed and enlightened, the good
soldiers
of Jesus Christ, the deep students of eternal
truth.
With this high opinion of his children in Christ,
have
an anointing from the Holy One and know,—all
of
you: I have not written unto you because you know
not
the truth, but because you know it." It is an
Apostolic
lesson, to be learnt both from
those
one has to teach and give them credit for every-
thing
they know, that further instruction should be
built
on past attainment.
Some of our best interpreters,
including Bengel and
Rothe,
read the six o!ti‘s of verses 12-14 as that instead
of because,—as though the Apostle would
give in these
duplicated
statements the content or substance of what
he
writes, rather than the reasons for writing as he
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH 181
does.
That the ordinary rendering of the conjunction
is
correct seems to be evident from verse 21 just quoted.
satisfaction
in the character of his readers, his certainty
that
the entreaty he is making will not be in vain. It is
the
same man who writes in the Third Epistle, "I have
no
greater joy than that I hear of my children walking
in
the truth (ver. 4).
Now it is time to look at the
experience of
Christian
flock and to compare it with our own.
1. Two things the Apostle says of
his little children
collectively;
two features mark in common all those
who
have believed the Gospel and entered the fold
of
Christ: their "sins are forgiven for His name's
sake";
they "have come to know the Father." These
are
concomitant gifts of grace, and correspond to the
justification and adoption of
are
pictured in their relation to each other by Christ's
parable
of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). Through for-
giveness
the sinner comes for the first time to know
his
father, whom in blindness of heart he had most
shamefully
wronged and wounded. His pitiful confes-
sion
is smothered in the embrace and kiss of pardon;
his
rags are replaced by "the best robe"; the feast of
reconciliation
is spread for him; he is called "my son,"
who
had been a rebel and an outcast. In all this the
love
of the father's heart, hitherto unguessed as it was
undeserved,
reveals itself to the humbled prodigal.
In
estrangement he had broken the ties of home, and
carried
with him into exile a false image of the father,
measuring
him out of his perverse and vitiated nature;
but
from this moment misunderstandings are gone,
mistrust
and bitterness are swept away. Above all
the
happiness of the wanderer's reinstatement is this,
that
now the son knows his father; he
feels, as never
before,
the infinite pity, tenderness, patience, generosity
of
a father's heart. It is as "Father" that God forgives
the
sins of men, accepting the Advocate's plea on their
behalf,
and is ready to do so for "the whole world"
182 RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
(chap.
2. 2); only by forgiving can God prove His Father-
hood
to the sinful. Verses 1, 2 of this chapter and
verse
7 of chap. 1 have shown these two elements to be
fundamental
and inseparable in
"We have an Advocate with the
Father," he has told
us,
"Jesus Christ the righteous," who "is the propitia-
tion
for our sins," and "the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanseth
us from all sin." The Son of God
who has
interposed
with His propitiation, is the brother of those
whose
part He takes, and reveals His Father to them as
also
theirs; by His advocacy He wins their restoration
to
the forfeited estate of sonship toward God. "The
name"
on account of which
have
had their "sins forgiven," is that of Jesus, God's
Son.
His "name" signifies His person and achieve-
ments,
His rights and standing with God, His relation-
ship
to mankind—all that prompted Him and qualified
Him
to sue with such effect for the forgiveness of a
world
of sinners (see p. 118). All the intercessory power
that
is in the name of Jesus Christ accrued to Him
as
the Son of God, and therefore goes to reveal the
Father whom the world had not
known (see John 17.
25,
26). Jesus has "shown us the Father" in Himself
(John
14. 7-11)—in His incarnate person exhibiting the
Father's
nature, in His atonement accomplishing the
Father's
will, and in His words of forgiveness conveying
the
Father's grace to men. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
since
it brings about a perfect remission of sins (comp.
Heb.
10. 1-18), has made it possible for men enstranged
by
sin for the first time to realize the Fatherhood of
Almighty
God. Jesus Christ has "brought us nigh"
to
God "through the cross" (see Eph. 2. 13-18; 1 Peter
3.
18),—so near that we can see Him as He is, and
know
that He is light and love (1. 5, 4. 8-10). All who
have
received and kept the word of Christ, "have
known
the Father."
of
forgiveness bestowed by the Father for Christ's sake.
Here is the source of the
distinctive Christian ex-
perience,
the ground of all specifically Christian teaching
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH 183
and
appeal, for young and old alike. None of us can
ever
outgrow this stage of knowledge. The sense of
forgiveness
through Christ, the right to call God
"Father"
through the Spirit of His love, the temper
of
a little child toward God, are confirmed in the
Christian
believer as life goes on; he becomes ever
more
childlike in heart, more humble in the remem-
brance
of pardoned sin, as his fellowship with God
grows
deeper. Other truths are important; this is all-
important.
The Gospel has nothing to say except to
sinful
men; it can do nothing for those who will not
confess
their sins. Its countless benefits for the race of
mankind
rest upon this one boon of personal forgiveness
by
God and reception into His family. Men belong to
two
categories—the saved and the unsaved: to
the latter
the
messenger of the Gospel has to say, "Confess your
sin;
know the truth, be reconciled to God"; to the
former,"
Your sins are forgiven you; you know the
Father.
Walk worthily, henceforth, of your calling;
conquer
the Evil One; grow in the knowledge of God,
till
you are filled with His fulness."
Among
and
juniors; some he calls "fathers," others are
addressed,
as "young men." To both
classes he gives
warm
commendation. Knowledge is the
excellence of
the
elder, strength of the younger
amongst the Apostle's
approved
disciples—the wisdom of age, and the vigour
of
youth. For the most part, these contrasted qualities
are
the properties of the two stages of life; but this
broad
distinction is crossed by varieties of temperament,
vocation,
and personal history. There is the difference
between
the sanguine and phlegmatic, between the
active
and. meditative disposition, between manual and
intellectual
occupation, between the life of town and
country.
One man is always keen to know;
knowledge
appears
to him in itself the end and the treasure
of
life,—a pondering, probing, speculative mind; he
wears
"an old man's head upon a young man's
shoulders." To another knowledge is useless but as
184 RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
a
means to action, as a tool to work
with or a weapon
with
which to strike,--a scheming, contriving, restless
brain;
into old age such a man carries the eagerness and
combativeness
of his youth. St Peter represents the
latter
type,
from
the first by quick speech and bold initiative, the
other
by brooding thought and reflective insight; the
second
was a "father" amongst young men, the first a
young
man "amongst the fathers. In
two
factors were blended to a rare degree; we find him
in
contrary moods—keen, vehement, practical, as in the
Epistle
to the Galatians, or wrapt in heavenly com-
munion,
as in the Epistle to the Ephesians—now at the
pole
of action and now of contemplation. This union
is
complete in Jesus Christ, whom we scarcely think
of
either as young or old; for knowledge of the
Father
and strength to overcome the Evil One were
combined
to perfection in the Son of man.
2. The "fathers" are those
who "have known1 Him
that
is from the beginning." The Apostle reaffirms in
verse
14 the ground of satisfaction respecting the older
men
of his Churches which he stated in verse 13. "That
which
was from the beginning" (chap. 1. 1) is the subject
of
the whole letter and the matter of the Apostle's
preaching;
he bears witness of "the eternal life" that
"has
been manifested" to mankind in Jesus Christ and
"was
with the Father" before the worlds were. The
eternity
of the life brought by Christ into the world
inheres
in the Bringer; it is "from the
beginning" inas-
much
as He is "from the
beginning." For, as
has
said, Christ "is our life" (Col. 1. 4);
affirms
this identity in the words of chap. 5. 12: "He
that
hath the Son of God hath the life." To be "in the
Son"
(2. 24)--"in Christ," as
be
one's mere self no longer but a very branch of the
trues
Vine, this is "the life indeed," for which death is
abolished.
Now the fathers of St John's Churches
"have
known" this; they have entered intelligently,
1 For the force of e]gnw<kate, see p. 139.
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH 185
through
mature experience, into the mystery of the life
that
is hid with Christ in God.
Christ is undoubtedly meant by "Him that is from
the
beginning," in verses 13 and 14. To say of God the
Father
that He "is from the beginning" would have
been
a platitude; but that this is true of Jesus Christ—
that
He is "the Word" who "was with God" and so
"was
in the beginning," the primordial source of life
and
light for men—is a matter of supreme importance
for
the writer to declare and for his disciples to realize,
especially
the senior and more responsible amongst
them.
This is the whole doctrine of the Prologue to
Christ)
was the object of this same verb ("we have
known,"
"I have known Him": see p. 133); but there
the
context was very different (see pp. 134-6). In this
place Christ is before our thoughts as He
"for whose
name's
sake" His people's "sins have been forgiven"
(ver.
12). Such forgiveness is the fundamental ex-
perience
of all believers: those of deeper knowledge
discern
in their Sin-bearer the eternal Word; they
identify
"the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of
the world" with "the Son of God" coming "from the
bosom"
of the Father (see John 1. 18, 29-34).
This sublime Christology belonged to
the advanced
Apostolic
teaching; it is not contained explicitly in
the
Sermon on the Mount, nor in the message of the
day
of Pentecost; but it is conspicuous in.
Epistles
to
and
Gospel. This is meat for strong men, rather than
milk
for babes. For the Apostles themselves, their
Master's
Deity was the last lesson to be learnt from
Him.
God,"
signalized the culmination of discipleship. The
truths
that are first in the nature of things come
last
in the order of acquisition. Christ is known
as
Saviour first, then as Lord; the death of the cross
that
wins pardon for human sin, leads to His enthrone-
ment
as bearer of the name that is above every name
186 RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
and
partner of the everlasting throne. This profounder
apprehension
of Christ, which had been more slowly
gained,
supplied (as we shall see in verses 22-24)1 the
test
of the Church's faith at the close of the Apostolic
age;
and in the mastery of it lay the proof of ripeness
and
stability in the Christian life, and the qualification
of
those whom
The case is much the same amongst
ourselves. The
Christological
question is the crucial problem of the
The
due knowledge of Christ in His Headship
of
the Church and Lordship over the universe, the
acknowledgement
of God in Christ and the consequent
recognition,
in the light of modern thought, of our
Lord's
eternal attributes and sovereign relations to
nature
and to humanity, form the chief desideratum
of
theology at the beginning of the twentieth century,
a
they did at the close of the first century of our era.
In the history of the soul, just as
in that of the
Church,
"to know Him" is the supreme quest. Both
the
great thinkers amongst the Apostles, in their old
age,
set this down as the crown of knowledge.
counted
every other prize as vanity beside this—"that
I
may know Him, and the power of His resurrection
and
the fellowship of His sufferings"; for the sake of
this
he had "suffered the loss of all things, and counted
them
dross" (Phil. 3. 7-11). He represents the mark of
the
Christian calling in a different light from that in
which
it is set by our Apostle, for he sought the know-
ledge
of his Master as it lay in the path of his ministry
and
came by the way of cross-bearing and self-emptying.
objective
side, as it concerns what the Redeemer is, not
in
His servants and the members of His body, but in
Himself,
in His absolute relations to God and the world.
The
experimental question possessed the mind of the
one
Apostle, the theological question that of the other.
But
Jesus Christ is the centre of both problems. "To
lnow
Him" is the goal alike of life and thought, whether
1 See Chap. XIV; also
Chap. XIX, and chap. 4. 1-6.
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH 187
one
would sink by fellowship into the depth of His
sufferings
or rise in contemplation to the heights of
His
glory. As time goes on, this becomes with each
of
these great men the supreme pre-occupation of life;
to
them "Christ is all things and in all." What He was
to
mind,
Jesus Christ must increasingly become to the
world's
deeper thought. It is for the fathers—for
those
who
have learnt most and proved most of life's needs—
that
the knowledge of Jesus Christ has the greatest
wealth
of interest.
3. The "young men" are
congratulated on that they
"have
overcome the Evil One" (ver. 13); and again,
more
explicitly, "because" they "are strong, and the
word
of God abideth in" them, and they "have over-
come
the Evil One." A victory is
recorded, and the
forces
are noted by virtue of which it is gained.
In the years of early manhood, for
the most part, the
decisive
battles of life are fought out. The paths open
before
the youth as he steps on from the shelter of
home
and the bounds of school into the untried world-
"the
narrow gate and the strait way that lead to life,"
"the
wide gate and the broad way that lead to destruc-
tion."
God or Mammon, Christ or Belial, offer them-
selves
for his choice; by the choice that he makes at
the
outset, he is likely to abide. The bent of a man's
mind
and character, the groove in which his life's course
will
run, in most cases are settled by the time he is
twenty-five
or thirty. If he does not "overcome the
Evil
One" before he has reached that point, it is too
probable
that he never will. With God nothing is
impossible;
but it lies in the laws of our nature that
the
practices of youth become the habits of age, that
in
our later days we are limited to building on the
foundations
earlier laid, and have little choice but to
work
out the plans and realize the ideas that were
conceived
in the prime of manhood.
In young manhood the inward conflict
between the
spirit
and the flesh springs up, when the passions are
188 RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
in
their first heat, and when the conscience and heart,
with
their manifold susceptibilities, are most impres-
sionable.
For many this means a secret and severe
struggle.
Personal chastity, a manly self-respect and
self-mastery,
are gained at adolescence or are forfeited.
To
win a clean heart—an imagination pure and sweet,
affections
unsullied, a soul to which love is altogether
high
and sacred—is a great prize of victory. "The Evil
One"
assails Christ's young soldier with insidious and
searching
temptations; the world spreads snares at
each
step for the unwary feet. On the outcome of the
conflict
for youth's crown of purity the hope depends
of
an honourable and happy future; wholesomeness of
mind,
integrity of conscience, and the moral vigour and
purpose
of the man's work through life, the soundness
of
his relations to society as well as to the laws of God,
turn
on the delicate issues that are here involved.
If evil is strong in its assault on
the young man when
this
battle rages, the powers of good are also strong
within
him and about him; he may feel their might,
and
ally his unspent force to them, as at no other age.
How
beautiful is holiness to the ingenuous youthful
heart;
how keen the shame of sin; how glorious the
fight
of faith, and how inspiring the examples of its
heroes;
how dear the love of Christ; how sovereign
he
authority of truth; how splendid to his eyes are
he
shining walls of the city of
cries
and
glad in the strength of a consecrated youth."
At the same blossoming-time of life,
along with
the
passions the intellect and will assert them-
selves.
The young man has his own notions and im-
pulses,
which are bound to differ from those of his
elders.
New fancies, schemes, ambitions pour in upon
him;
they catch his imagination and take hold of his
reason
at the plastic stage, while the mind is unpre-
judiced
and open to every generous impression. The
world's
progress from one generation to another depends
upon
the susceptibility of young men's minds, upon the
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH 189
responsiveness
to fresh ideas, the power of entertaining
and
working out new conceptions, which is the priceless
gift
of youth. But this brings with it a grave peril.
The
young man is apt to embrace new principles
because they are new, because
he can make them his
own
and air his independence on the strength of them.
There
is no vanity more foolish or treacherous than
the
vanity of thinking for oneself; contentiousness,
irreverence,
frivolity are bound up in this conceit.
Humility,
patient discipline, thoroughness in labour,
are
the price at which truth is won; to this yoke the
pride
of youth and talent will not bend its neck. Eager
and
sympathetic young men, but of volatile, unbalanced
temper,
unschooled in mental effort, unseasoned by
experience,
form the natural prey of plausible theorists
and
clever talkers. Having no anchored faith, no grasp
on
the deeper verities of life, they drift with the currents;
they
are swept along now by this gust, now by that, of
the
"winds of doctrine." The
lessons taught by the
"fathers"
who "have known Him that is from the
beginning,"
the long-tested wisdom of God in Scripture,
count
for nothing with such minds as against the latest
novelties
of unsifted modern thought.
It is by a hazardous fight, and
often through much
tribulation,
that the thoughtful young man, in times
of
change and distraction such as those in which the
Apostle
wrote, attains a stable faith and a reasoned
persuasion
of Christian truth. This will not come to
him
without much prayer to the Father of lights, nor
without
the aid of the Spirit who "guides" Christ's
disciples
"into all the truth" (John 16. 13). Hard indeed
it
seems to win a footing on the Rock of Ages, round
which
the storms beat and surge on every side; but the
Captain
of Salvation is there Himself to grasp the
outstretched
hand and to raise the sinking head. Once
more
He says, "Peace, be still! "when the waves
mount
high against His trembling Church. Shaken in
mind
and sick at heart, Christ's servants hear Him cry,
out
of the midnight of His passion and from the black-
190 RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH
ness
of the tempest, "Be of good cheer; I have over-
come
the world!" and the winds are hushed and there
is
a great calm. An hour ago discomfited and beaten
down,
now they are more than conquerors through
Him
that loved them. In His will is our
peace, and
in
His word our strength. The Apostle holds a
guarantee
for the safety of his young men, surer than
their
own strength and courage: "The word of God
abideth in you, and you have overcome
the Evil One."
Holy Scripture holds the lamp for
the path of each
new
generation; its light has guided the leaders of
mankind
for ages past. In the Bible, to say the
least
of
it, is treasured the best spiritual experience of sixty
generations
of our race, and the young man who scoffs
at
that is ignorant and vain beyond all other folly. As
safely
might the mariner, crossing unknown waters,
leave
his chart upon the shelf and mock at the familiar
beacons,
as may the new voyager on the sea of life
discard
the word of God, or the men of the coming
generation
attempt to steer by other lights.
For that word to "dwell
in" us, it must become
familiar
by daily consultation, by devout and ponder-
ing
use. It will not do for the young man to take the
word
of Christ and the Apostles upon credit as from
the
faith of others, to adopt at second-hand what
minister
or church may tell him about Scripture, and
to
let his judgement of its worth and of its meaning
be
determined by the popular notions of to-day or
yesterday
concerning it. He must come to the Bible
and
deal with it, under all the light available, for him-
self
and upon his own part, listening to hear through it
“the
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Within
the general word, there is laid up "the word of
God"
for himself in particular, which will meet him
when
he seeks it, to awaken, enlighten, cleanse, and
save
him. Thus becoming his personal possession, it
will
"abide in" him, making itself the tenant of the
house,
the garrison that keeps the fortress of his soul
for
God and beats back the assault of evil. By this
RELIGION IN AGE AND YOUTH 191
aid
Jesus Christ foiled the Tempter, when, as a young
man
on the threshold of His life's work, He found
in
the indwelling word of God the shield to quench
Satan's
fiery darts, the sword with whose thrust He
drove
back the malignant foe. Recalling that great
encounter,
and thinking of conflicts that he had him-
self
passed through in youth, when the word of God
brought
deliverance in hours of extreme peril, St
John
testifies, "The word of God abideth in you, and
you
have overcome the Evil One."
The inward and personal conflict
opens out into the
universal
warfare between Christ and the Prince of
this
world, which still pursues its course. The Church
of
God counts now, as she did in
her young men. Young men form the
strength of
every
militant and progressive cause. Forward move-
ments,
in all fields of action, depend upon their
sympathy.
The sacred optimism and heaven-kindled
fire
of youth, its unspent, incalculable energy and
ingenuity,
its high daring and capacity for self-sacrifice,
its
readiness to follow heroic leading, carry the day
wherever
victory is gained on the world's battlefields.
Christian
young men swell the tide of each successive
advance
in the
new
assault on evil its impetus. "We
are strong," says
himself
had been when he and his comrades followed
Jesus
sixty years before; and the Church is strong, and
the
ministry, that know how to enlist such men while
"the
dew of youth" is upon them, and to use for the
warfare
of God's kingdom their fresh ardour and un-
wasted
vigour,—men of pure heart and resolute will,
men
in whose soul there burns as a deep fire the word
of
the Living God.
THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
The
Rival Loves—"The World" in
loathed—The
Church and the World—"All that is in the World"—The
Temptations
in the Garden and in the Desert—Physical Appetite—Sub-
jection
of the Body—AEsthetic Sensibility—The Worlds of Fashion and
of
Art—Life's Vainglory—Intellectual Ambition—Pride of Wealth—The
Essence
of Worldliness—Transience of the Evil World—Of the Roman
Empire—Of
the
"Love
not the world, nor the things that are in the world;
If any one love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world
The
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of
life—
Is not of the Father,
but it is of the world.
And the world is passing
away, and the lust thereof;
But he that doeth the
will of God, abideth for ever."
1
JOHN 2. 15-17.
CHAPTER XIII
THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
“LOVE
the Father" (ver. 5), love the brethren"
(vers.
9-11), is the sum of
tions;
"love not the world" is the key-note of his
warnings
and dehortations. This is what he has to
write
to all his "little children," who "know the
Father"
by His forgiving love—to the old men who
have
learnt the mystery of the eternal Son and sounded
the
depths of the hidden life, to the young men strong
in
their loyalty to the word of God, who have con-
quered
the world's evil Prince (vers. 12-14). By heed-
ing
this warning the Apostle's readers will abide in the
Divine
fellowship upon which they have entered, and
will
hold fast the treasure of eternal life (chap. 1. 2, 3);
they
will escape "the darkness blinding the eyes" of
worldly
men and the peril of relapse into the old sins
which
have been forgiven them, and will make good
the
victories, over the Evil One already gained.
In this forbidding of love to the
world, and in the
warning
against Anti-christian teaching that follows
it
in verses 18-27, the leading thought with which the
letter
began arrives at its conclusion. Fellowship in
the
eternal life is forfeited by attachment to this pre-
sent
evil world; "the love of the world" and "the love
of
the Father" are mutually exclusive affections—to
love
the one is to hate the other, to hold to one is to
despise
the other (Matt. 6. 24). And in the struggle the
latter
of these two is bound to prevail: nothing can
Life
Eternal 195
196 THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
persist
that defies "the will of God" and that puts
itself
outside the circle of the Father's love.
We may study this paragraph by
considering in turn
the nature of the world whose love
the Apostle condemns,
its characteristic passions, and the transience of all that
belongs
to it in comparison with the permanence of the
life
of love to God.
1. What then is "the world
which God's children
must
not love? This is an important but difficult
question
for the interpreter of
employs
the term ko<smoj oftener than all the other
New
Testament writers put together—over twenty
times
in this Epistle, nearly eighty times in his Gospel;
in
the Apocalypse it is commonly replaced by [ gh<
("the
earth")—a word very frequent there.
We are not, to understand by
"the world" the natural
universe,
as many of the Gnostics did. Scripture is
full
of admiration of the works of the Creator; at
their
making He pronounced them "very good," and
His
Son Jesus Christ found in them a pure and high
delight.
Nor is it the natural system of human existence
that
the Apostle denounces, the world of sense and
physical
activity, the daily work by which men secure
"the
means of life in the world" (3. 17), the engage-
ments
of home and friendship, of business and art and
civil
government.
teachers
throw no disparagement upon the material
and
secular order of society; the Apostle Paul has,
indeed,
expressed himself in the opposite sense and
vindicates
the sacredness of the natural constitution of
man's
life in this world (
4.
Tim. 2. 3, 4. 1-5). The cosmos
the
world as God made it and rules it by His providence,
but
the world "lying in the power of the Evil One"
(5.
19, John 14. 30, &c.), the world that is filled with
lust
and vanity, whose desires are the contrary to those
born
"of the Father," the world that knows not God,
and
therefore "crucified the Lord of glory" and laid on
Him
the burden of its sin (1 Cor. 2. 8; John 1. 29, 17. 25).
THE LOVE THAT PERISHES 197
The
Apostle views the world of men around him in its
relationship
to God; he has few thoughts for any aspect
of
life but this. The cosmos means to
him the prevail-
ing
spiritual and moral order of human affairs; and
this
system of things is hostile to God and alien from
His
love, and therefore radically evil and doomed to
perish.
It is in this character that the Apostle, as a
son
of God and a servant and witness of Christ, has to
deal
with the world. He speaks of it as he finds it.
But there are expressions of
opposite strain in
verse
of this chapter we read of Christ the Advocate as
"the
propitiation for the sins of the world"; again, in
chap.
4. 14, "the Father hath sent the Son as Saviour
of
the world"; we see a reason for this mission in the
wonderful
fact disclosed to us, that "the world was
made
through" Christ, the eternal Word (John 1. 10).
How
dear, then, the world is to God! He "so loved
the
world, that He gave" for its salvation "His Son,
the
Only-begotten." With strong emphasis the Apostle
represents
"the whole world"—nothing else and
nothing
less—as the object of the Father's redeeming
grace,
as the
and
conquest. The entire race of mankind, and of
mankind
in its actual life and present sphere of
existence,
is embraced and dealt with in the plans of
Divine
redemption. "The cosmos" signifies man not
abstractly
considered and apart from nature, but man
and
nature as a single complex of being, along with the
sin
and misery in which man is entangled. The sinful
and
lost world, which Jesus Christ has come into and
finds
in its ill plight, is the world that God in His love
is
resolved to save through Him.
But while the world has become the
object of the
pitying
loves of God, it is, because of its blind hatred
towards
Him, the foe of His children. "The world
hates"
them, as Cain hated Abel, as it hated Jesus to
the
death (3. 12, 13, John 15. 18-24, &c.). Out of it
come
the Antichrists who seduce them (vers. 18-26,
198 THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
4.
1-6); its persecution harasses them; its corruptions
and
idolatries would destroy them. They have to
conquer
it; and they can do so by virtue of the
Mightier
Spirit in themselves (4. 4)—they have already
vanquished
the Evil One who holds sway over it.
The Tempter vauntingly displayed to
Jesus “all the
kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them,” saying,
"All
this is delivered unto me"; and well might Satan
say
so (comp. pp. 208, 430). The world in which our Lord
passed
the days of His flesh was wicked to an extreme
degree.
Human society, as most of us know it, is in a far
better
and cleaner condition than in
worldliest
men of to-day would be nauseated if taken
back
1800 years and set down in one of those imposing
Greek
or Roman cities in which the Apostles preached.
We
owe the change to Christ and His servants. The
Church
of the Redeemer has not toiled and suffered
through
these centuries without raising the moral
standard
and softening the temper of civilized man-
kind.
But the bad old world of
its
vices and cruelties flourish, in the most horrible
form,
amongst heathen peoples. Though combated and
checked,
it propagates itself in the midst of Christendom,
hiding
in haunts of shame, poisoning our literature and
art,
debasing our politics and trade, wearing sometimes
the
mask of religion and with fine moral phrases and
airs
of virtue deceiving the very elect. It is still the
same
enemy of God and destroyer of men,—the world
of
the carnal mind and the selfish spirit, of the bitter
tongue
and the evil heart of unbelief; it is a world no
less
hateful, no less fascinating, than that which plied
and
its enchantments.
The world is a bewildering paradox;
each man bears
in
his own breast the mirror of the contradiction, its
counterpart
in little. It is the sphere at once of light
and
darkness, heaven and hell the Divine and the
Satanic
wrestle there for mastery, and their forms are
confused
in the struggle. The world is at once to be
THE LOVE THAT PERISHES 199
loved
and to be loathed: to be loved, as God made it
and
Christ redeemed it; to be loathed and feared, as
sin
has marred it, as the serpent has drawn over it his
trail
and charged it with his venom.
"The world" is practically
defined by its opposition,
to
"the love of the Father."
for
his people whether this or that avocation is allow-
able;
he nowhere "draws the line" for them between
the
permissible and the forbidden in employments and
recreations.
He makes the decision one of spiritual
instinct
and conscience for the individual case. Every-
thing
is prohibited, is marked as evil for the Christian
believer,
which comes into competition with the love of
God;
any and every such thing, though innocent to
appearance
and though safe and lawful under other
conditions,
is wrong for him, since it chills his heart
toward
God; such a pursuit, such an affection, proves
by
its tendency to be "not of the Father but of the
world."
sin"
(
ever
is not of the love of God is sin." Whatever puts God
out
of one's thoughts, whatever weakens the power of
religion
over the soul, whatever hinders one from doing
God's
will in the ordering of his life, whatever sets itself
up
to rival the love of God in one's heart—be it even
the
love of father or mother—this belongs to what St
John
understands by "the world." The
world has a
separate
being for each man; it may meet him in the
cloister
ads well as in the theatre, it follows him
into
the sanctuary from the exchange. "The
world"
is
not made up of so many outward objects that can be
specified;
it is the sum of those influences emanating
from
met and things around us, which draw us away
from
God. It is the awful down-dragging current in
life. "The spirit of the world" is
the atmosphere, laden
with
germs of disease, which constantly exhales from
the
moral corruption and ungodliness of mankind, and
it
penetrates everywhere.
"The world" being thus
ubiquitous, evidently mere
200 THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
exclusion
and prohibition are ineffectual defences. Jesus
would
not have His disciples "taken out of the world,"
in
order to be "kept from its evil" (John 17. 15). There
must
of course be separation from manifest wrong, and
"no
fellowship" admitted "with the works of darkness"
(Eph.
5. 11). But antipathy is not salvation; local
distance
gives no security. It is not enough to mark
off
certain places, certain pursuits and associations, and
to
say, "Now these belong to the world: I will hold
aloof
from them, and I shall be safe"—though there
are
things with which a Christian man can no more
identify
himself than Christ with Belial. Nor will it
suffice
to say, "Such and such persons are worldly
people;
I will keep clear of them, and I shall escape
the
contamination of the world"—though, to be sure,
there
are those with whom a religious man will as
little
consort as light with darkness. But this kind
of
protection is quite inadequate, and may be fatally
deceptive.
For the world has secret allies within us,
and
the love of it is native to our hearts. There is no
way
of conquering its affections and casting out its
lusts
but by the power of a stronger passion. Nothing
will
save ourselves, nothing will save our modern
Churches,
from the engulfing tide of worldliness, but
"the
expulsive power of a new affection"; the “pouring
out
of the love of God in our hearts through the Holy
Spirit
that was given unto us,” is the one safeguard
(
Spiritual
religion is the only antidote to idolatry, and
the
baptism of the Holy Ghost the cure for worldliness
in
the Church. God must fill the man's being and
occupy
it for Himself; nothing else wilt expel the world,
with
its vain desires and its sordid and slavish cares,
from
the temple of the soul.
2. The unlovely features of the
world should repel the
children
of God, and make friendship between them and
it
impossible;
that
are in the world,"—the passions which animate it
and
the pursuits which occupy it. These are "the lust
THE LOVE THAT PERISHES 201
of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of
this
life," which make up, in the Apostle's view, "all
that
is in the world": who can love things like these?
The
three categories of moral evil named must be
understood
in their widest sense, for they embrace the
characteristics
of the world's ungodliness as a whole.
They are defined as "not of the
Father"—they form
no
part of God's creation and spring from no seed of His
sowing—"but
of the world," being "tares" that were
later
sow by an enemy's hand, diseases of the blood
that
had their rise within the frame of man's existence.1
The
dispositions named are corruptions, and not of
"that
which was from the beginning"; sin is finite and
creaturely
in origin, and will be transient in its reign;
"the
world and its lust are passing." Sin is not pri-
mordial
and essential to humanity; its development is a
dark
episode in the history of the universe.
In this trinity of evil, there are two lusts and one
vaunt, two forms of
depravation arising from our needs
and
one from our possessions,—unholy desire for
things
one has not, and unholy pride in things one has.
The
three correspond, broadly speaking, to the three
attractions
of the forbidden fruit which overcame our
mother
Eve in the garden, and to the three temptations
overcome
by the Seed of the Woman in the desert.
(1) Under the lust of the flesh are included all corrupt
bodily
desires. "The woman saw that the tree was
good
for food" (Gen. 3. 6); the Tempter said to Jesus,
after
His 1ong fast, "Command that these stones become
bread"
(Mat. 4. 3). Such is the appeal which
sin makes
to
our poor hungry bodies. The primitive temptation,
the
imperious craving of physical need under circum-
stances
orally prohibiting gratification, assails with
more
or less of violence and frequency every
child of
man.
The body has its claims, its legitimate and
appointed
appetites; the force of the temptation lies in
1 It is
existence,
an the operation of every principle, to its origin; nature is,
strictly, birth and birth determines potency
and scope of being.
202 THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
this
fact—the attraction is not merely that of pleasure
and
self-indulgence, it is that of fitness and seeming
necessity:
as "food" the fruit offers itself, and it
is
"good for food"; yet there
is a veto! Unless the
tempted
man knows the heavenly Father, as Jesus did,
and
has tasted in His word "the true bread from heaven,"
unless
a spiritual hunger has been awakened that is
keener
than the fleshly, he will naturally consult for his
appetites
and "make provision for the flesh to fulfil the
lusts
thereof"; he will make food, in
some shape or
other,
the end of his labour and the regulative neces-
sity
of his life. To the earthly man and from the mere
physical
standpoint, food is the prime criterion of value.
This order of desire holds an
immense place, and a
necessary
place, in the economy of life. Jesus Christ
perfectly
recognized in His teaching, and His works
of
mercy, man's earthly wants; He made them the
province
of God's daily providence; He told His dis-
ciples
that "their heavenly Father knoweth that they
have
need of all these things" and will see that they are
“added”
to those who "seek first His kingdom and
righteousness"
(Matt. 6. 24-34). But to put these things
first
is, He showed, to subordinate life to the means of
living
and to become a slave of Mammon instead of a
child
of God. When bodily desire of any sort breaks
through
its limits, when it absorbs the mind and fills the
heart
and masters the man, then it has swollen into a
lust, which darkens the soul
and disorders the whole
frame
of life.
Every species of disordered appetite
is included under
"the
lust of the flesh" in the phraseology of Scripture,—
every
form of licence, every longing that looks beyond
the
fences of temperance and chastity. Beside fleshly
desires
that have a natural basis, there are a multitude
of
adventitious and injurious appetites, which habit and
fashion
have engendered; such is the lust for strong drink
in
our English population. In New Testament times
sexual
vice was the most conspicuous and ruinous form
of
animalism, and is marked out specifically as "the lust
THE LOVE THAT PERISHES 203
of
the flesh"; it became the occasion of the severest
rebukes
and warnings, particularly in some of
Epistles.
Modern worldly society appears to be gravi-
tating
towards the same condition; and "the corruption
that
is in the world through lust" needs to be put to
shame
in many quarters, with Apostolic plainness and
sternness
of reproof. It is eating into the vitals of
manhood
and national life, and threatening to under-
mine
our Western civilization, as it did in the case of
ancient
is
out of the reach of sensual seduction, while he is in the
flesh.
No matter how refined or spiritual he has be-
come,
he has a body, and must watch and rule it. When
the
baits of physical pleasure lose their grossness, they
become
so much the more insidious, and the more ener-
vating
and depraving in their effects. "I keep my body
under,"
writes
Corinthians—"I
make it my slave and not my master,
lest
after that I have preached to others, I should
become
myself a castaway" (1 Cor. 9. 27). If the holy
Apostle
needed such vigilance and strictness in bodily
regimen,
who does not?
Great as the subjection of the poor
to bodily condi-
tions
may seem to be, they are not in the greatest
danger
in this respect. It is the affluent who are beset
above
others by the temptations of sense. Luxury and
indolence
are more ruinous to the moral nature than
crushing
poverty. For this reason, amongst others,
it
is hard for rich men to "enter into
the kingdom
of
heaven." Neither rich nor poor will break the
bondage
of the flesh except as our Master did, by
faith
in the better bread, in the "word that pro-
ceedeth
out of the mouth of God." In that
strength
one
is "able to bridle the whole body"; but scarcely
otherwise.
(2) The lust of the eyes denotes an order of tempta-
tion
different from the last; it is concerned with taste as
distinguished
from appetite. The esthetic sensibilities
are
generated at the juncture of flesh and spirit; these
204 THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
give
rise to pleasures of soul superior to those of sense
and
mere physical existence; they come into play along
with
the elementary cravings, where the latter allow
them
room. "The woman saw that the tree was a
delight to the eyes"—a perception
showing that the
pains
of hunger were not severe; she observed that the
forbidden
fruit was goodly to behold, as well as good
to
eat. Eve was the mother of all the painters and
poets,
no less than of all the famishing children of
mankind. "The Devil taketh Jesus up into an
ex-
ceeding
high mountain, and sheweth Him all the
kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them." Both
these
representative temptations appealed to the sense
of
beauty and glory in the soul; their range lay beyond
the
material and utilitarian interests of life. "The
lust
of the flesh" is excited through the eyes; but it
is
not properly "the lust of the eyes." These create
a
world of their own full of wealth and enjoyment,
which
has its peculiar perils and corruptions, its
glamour
and witchery. Neighbouring to the realm
of
form
and colour ruled by the eye, is that of tone and
measure
belonging to the ear: the two constitute one
chief
province of life, the domain of art and beauty; in
this
sphere, we may take it, the Apostle's "lust of the
eyes"
found its place.
There is the world of dress and
fashion, which exists
for
the eyes alone. What excitements, temptations,
heart-burnings,
follies, extravagances it contains!
How
large a part of human life—of the exercise of
thought
and skill, of the manifestation and the testing
of
character—revolves about the question, "Where-
withal
shall we be clothed?" The exercise of taste, the
sense
of fitness and beauty, in matters of personal
appearance
and social intercourse, of expression and
handiwork,
are inborn faculties. These sensibilities
belong
to our God-given nature; in the higher forms of
genius,
they bespeak an inspiration of the Almighty;
but
they have their diseases and excesses. The crav-
ing
for adornment, and for the luxuries of beauty,
LOVE THAT PERISHES 205
grows
by indulgence into a veritable lust,
that may
be
as lawless and wasteful as any sensual appetite.
There
is nothing which makes a human being more
frivolous
and heartless, which eats away more com-
pletely
the spiritual capacities, than the unbridled
passion
for dress and display.
Beyond the world of fashion rises
the grander and
enduring
realm of plastic and poetic art, the product
of
powers the loftiest that man possesses. The world
in
which the Apostle John moved had reached a high
level
of achievement in this direction. No other people
has
been endowed with such an eye and sense for beauty
as
the ancient Greeks; the broken relics of their work
are
the models and the despair of our artists to-day. The
finest
modern cities would look mean and ugly beside
the
creations of the ancient architects and sculptors.
But
a deadly taint of corruption ran through that
wondrous
activity of genius. The world of art has
its
idolatries, its revolts, its meretricious elements. St
James
was a Hebrew puritan,—the last man in the world
to
appreciate Hellenic art; but he has written the
history
of its fall: "Lust, when it hath
conceived,
bringeth
forth sin; and sin, when arrived at full growth,
bringeth
forth death" (James 1. 15). God's
curse fell
in
blight and defacement and shameful ruin on all that
magnificent
classic civilization. Restraint, reverence, is
half
the secret of noble craftsmanship. "When it grows
blind
to the beauty of holiness, when it forgets its
spiritual
ideal and gives the rein to licence, art loses
its
vigour in losing its purity; its loveliness allies itself
to
foulness, and becomes a horror. The
motto, "Art for
art's
sake," if this signifies indifference to the religious
interests
of life and repudiation of ethical motives, is
sheer
idolatry; it means the enthronement of pleasure
in
the place of duty. Sterility is the doom
of such
isolation,
in any field of human work. Impotence
comes
on every faculty that severs itself from the
glory.
206 THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
(3) It was the vainglory of life to which our blessed
Lord
was tempted, when the Evil One said to Him on
the
temple-pinnacle, "Cast thyself down from hence;
for
it is written, He shall give His angels charge con-
cerning
thee"—as though Jesus should have paraded
His
trust in the Father, and His supernatural powers, to
win
the applause of the multitude and a ready credence
for
His Messiahship. "Ye shall be as gods, knowing
good
and evil": so the Serpent promised, and stirred in
the
soul of the woman the deep craving for knowledge,
the
pride and ambition of the intellect. Eve was the
mother
of all the thinkers, of the philosophers and
scientists,
along with the poets and artists of the race;
their
faculties slumbered in her breast. Granted the
story
of the Fall to be a poem, its inspired author has
struck
his finest note in adding this attraction to the
charm
of the forbidden fruit of
The "knowledge of good and
evil" promised to Eve,
the
Tempter appears already to possess; this emanci-
pate
him from fears and scruples, and gives him the
"subtlety"
which astonishes the mother's simple mind
and
excites her envy; she "saw that the tree was to
be
desired to make one wise." Conceit
of knowledge
is
the especial sin of Satan, which set itself by direct
intent
against the ordinance of God; he claimed to see
behind
the Divine law, to judge it and despise its
threatenings
in virtue of his own godlike insight.
"Knowledge
is power"; but that is a surface know-
ledge,
however extensive and minute, which discerns
not
the "eternal power and Godhead" in the works of
the
Creator; it is a spurious and treacherous know-
ledge
that deems itself wiser than conscience and that
asks
the sceptic question, "Yea, hath God said?" when
His
Voice sounds in the soul's ear. There is nothing
more
daring, and more intoxicating to our human
nature,
than the arrogance of knowledge. How puny
its
pretensions, how narrow its farthest range, in the
presence
of the All-wise and Infinite God!
The words employed by
THE LOVE THAT PERISHES 207
“vainglory”
and for "life" are notable. Life in this
passage
is bi<oj, not zwh<--the bi<oj of chap. 3. 17
("If any
one
has the livelihood of this
world"), not the zwh< of
chap.
1. 1, 2 ("The life was
manifested," &c.); it is the
bi<oj (“living’) which the father of the
prodigal, in the
parable
of Luke 15 (ver. 12), divided to his sons. The
pride here in question is a]lazonei<a, which in earlier Greek
meant
“swagger" or "braggadocio." The only other
example
of the term in the New Testament is in James 4.
16:
the travelling Jewish trader boastfully tells of his
schemes,--how
he will visit this town and that, and
make
so much gain in each; "So," writes the inspired
satirist,
“you glory in your vauntings!"
Such a]lazo<nej,
“braggarts,”
2
Timothy 3. 2, distinguishing them from the "over-
weening”
(u[perh<fanoi). The "vainglory of life" that St
John
ascribes to "the world," is therefore an ostentation
of
worldly possessions or advantages, the disposition
to
“show off” and to make other people look small.
In its crudest form this temper
manifests itself
in
the vulgar rich man, proud of his money, of his
house,
his table and his wines, of his pictures or his
horses;
in the vain woman, proud of her beauty and
its
admirers, proud of her jewels and dresses, of her
fashionable
style and fashionable friends. The like
“vainglory”
is seen in the criminal relating his daring
exploits
and clever rogueries; in the actor puffed up by
his
triumphs on the stage, or the artist vaunting his
genius
and fame, and the prices that his work com-
mands;
in the preacher who, while he gives the glory
to
God, speaks of his crowded congregations and re-
counts
his conversions with a self-complacent air; in
the
sectarian, who magnifies his own communion, its
numbers
and wealth and men of talent and the place it
fills
in the public eye, or its national glory and anti-
quity,
disparaging other bodies of his Master's servants
because
they cannot boast these distinctions. All
pluming
of oneself upon outward things, all conceit of
them
as though they added worth and importance to one-
208 THE LOVE THAT PERISHES
self,
is essential worldliness; it is a part of "the vain-
glory
of this life," and is "not of the Father but of the
world."
Filled with such desires and vanities, though
the
objects with which they are concerned should be
ever
so innocent in themselves and good and fitting in
their
degree, we are like children who should spend all
their
thoughts in plots and quarrels about cakes and
toys,
having no wish for their parents' company and no
sense
of their parents' love, shown to them in these
gifts
and in better things besides. The boons of the
world
and of temporal livelihood are trash and frippery,
compared
to the Father's love and the wealth of His
eternal
kingdom.
3. Finally,
passions
and possessions: "the world is
passing away,
and
the lust of it." In saying this,
the Apostle is not
thinking
of the destruction of the visible universe; he
foretells
the abolition of the existing moral economy of
human
life, of "the present evil world." "The dark-
ness"
of rebellion towards God and of hatred amongst
risen
"is passing away"—so he wrote in verse 8; with
"the
world," filled with this darkness and dominated
by
it, is in course of dissolution. The seer of the
Apocalypse
had witnessed the fall of
great
city, which is called spiritually
where
their Lord was crucified" (Rev. 11. 8). He fore-
saw
in the Spirit at
For the Empire of Rome had declared
war against
Christ;
she had proscribed Christianity. Doing this,
she
passed sentence of death upon herself. That
inightiest
of world-kingdoms the Apostle looked upon
as
a gigantic iniquity, a domain overshadowed and
dominated
by Satan. Like the old empires that had
trampled
upon
oblivion.
Foul lust and demonic pride possessed it,
and
were conspicuous in its rulers. It was
which
chapter
of the Apocalypse "On her forehead is a name
THE LOVE THAT PERISHES 209
written: Mystery,
harlots and of the
abominations of the earth." On the
"scarlet-coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy,"
he
sees her riding to perdition.
was
justified in due time; the
fell
under the stroke of God's judgements. But her
abominations
(survived, to propagate themselves under
new
forms. The present evil world descends from that
of
Satan,
as in that of God. Yet the dominion of darkness
wanes
from age to age; slowly and surely the light
gains
upon it (comp. p. 172). With that vile world of
Paganism,
its passions are decaying. Lust must lose its
hold
of human life. The Son of God is fulfilling the end
for
which He vas manifested, "to destroy the works of
the
Devil" (chap. 3. 8). Higher ambitions, more serious
thoughts,
more spiritual cravings, will displace the
frivolity
and animalism of our times.
Through the ruin of empires and the
fall of human
pride,
through the overthrow of worldly systems decayed
with
evil, God's will remains, the enduring foundation
of
truth and right; the purpose of His grace toward
men
moves onward to its accomplishment. He who
"does
the will of God" making it his own, whose life
is
yielded to its service and is spent in its furtherance,
partakes
of its eternity. He also, with the Holy Will
to
which he has yoked himself, "abideth for ever."
"Leave me, 0 Love which
reachest but to dust,
And thou, my mind, aspire
to higher things;
Grow rich in that which never taketh
rust;
Whatever fades, but
fading pleasure brings.
Draw in thy beams, and humble all
thy might
To that sweet yoke where
lasting freedoms be;
Which breaks the clouds, and opens
forth the light
That cloth both shine
and give us sight to see.
0 take fast hold; let that light be
thy guide
In this small course
which birth draws out to death;
And think how ill beseemeth him to
slide,
Who seeketh heaven, and
comes of heavenly breath.
Then farewell, world; thy uttermost
I see;
Eternal Love, maintain
Thy life in me."
—PHILIP
SIDNEY.
Life
Eternal 15
THE LAST HOUR
Church—"Last
Hour" of the Apostolic Age—Ignorance of Times and
Seasons—Cyclical
Course of History—Etymology of "Antichrist"—
Gnostic
Denial of the Son of God—Separation of "Jesus" from
"Christ"—Axiom
of Gnosticism—Safeguards of Faith—The Chrism of
the
Spirit—The Witness of the Apostles—The Promise of Christ.
"My little ones, it is the last
hour.
And
as you know that Antichrist cometh, even now many Antichrists
have arisen;
Whence we perceive that
it is the last hour.
From us they went out, but they were
not of us;
For if they had been of us, they
would have remained with us;
But it was so, that they might be
made manifest, all of them, to be
not of us.
And you have an anointing from the
Holy One, and you all know:
I
have not written to you because you know not the truth, but because
you know it,
And that no lie is of
the truth.
Who
is the liar, except he who denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
This is the Antichrist—he who
denieth the Father and the Son.
Every one who denieth the Son, hath
not the Father either:
He that confesseth the Son, hath the
Father also.
As for you, let that
which you heard from the beginning abide
in you;
If that abide in you
which you heard from the beginning,
You too in the Son, and
in the Father, shall abide;
And
this is the promise which He Himself made to us—the eternal life.
These things I have written to you
about them that mislead you.
And
as for you, the anointing you received from Him abideth in you;
And you have no need that any one be
teaching you;
But
as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true and
is no lie—even as it hath taught you
Abide in Him. 1 JOHN 2.
18-27.
CHAPTER XIV
THE LAST HOUR
THE
Apostle John is an old man; he has lived through
a
long day. The way of the Lord that he teaches
is
by this time a well-marked path, trodden by the
feet
of two generations. Amongst his "little children"
he
counts many grey-headed "fathers" in Christ. In
his
lifetime and since the hour when he heard the elder
John
say on the banks of
God!"
centuries seem to have passed; the cumulative
effect
of ages—what the Gentile Apostle called "the
ends
of the world"—has been accomplished and a
thousand
years transacted in one day.
Though new in aspect and surpassing
all that heart
of
man conceived, there is nothing of raw invention,
nothing
fugitive or tentative in the things of which
new
(vers. 7, 8); they belong to the universal Divine
order;
they reveal "the eternal life, which was with
the
Father" (1. 1) and lies beyond the range of time.
Swiftly
laid, the foundation of the Apostles is surely
laid.
While "the world is passing away and the lust
thereof
" (ver. 17), while it rocks in the paroxysms of
moral
dissolution, while threatenings from without and
apostasies
within their ranks frighten infirm believers
who
do not "know that they have
eternal life" (5.
13),
the note sounded by this Epistle is that of serene
assurance;
an absolute stability attaches to the Apostolic
witness
concerning Jesus Christ. The veteran leader
213
214 THE LAST HOUR
whose
eye has long watched and his voice guided the
battle
proclaims the victory already won. "Our faith"
has
proved the temper of its weapons upon the world's
stoutest
armour (5. 5; see Chap. XXII). Its "young men
have
overcome the Evil One" (ver. 13); its martyrs
"have
overcome him because of the blood of the Lamb,
and
because of the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12. 11).
The
Christian brotherhood has shown itself to possess
"an
unction" which "teaches it about all things," and
holds
it safe from poisonous error. In
example, faulty as the Church there was, it has
"tried
them
which call themselves apostles, and they are not,"
and
has "found them false" (Rev. 2. 2, 3, 6). Whatever
trials
yet remain, whatever conflicts are preparing for
the
had
read in the isle of
prophecy,
the faith that he and his companions have
delivered
to the saints is secure in the keeping of the
Spirit
of truth. It has no foes to meet more dangerous
than
those already foiled.
Time has vindicated the inference
that the aged
Apostle
drew from his experience. The disciples of
Jesus
"have known the truth, which abideth in us and
shall
be with us for ever" (2 John 2). The Apostolic
era
was a rehearsal of the Church's entire history; and
the
New Testament, into which the era condensed itself,
contains
the principles and forces that are destined to
subjugate
the world to Jesus Christ.
one
thing to say to his successors: "Abide in Him."
The
allurements of the heathen world which his con-
verts
had once loved (vers. 15-17), and the seductions of
false
prophets arising amongst themselves (ver. 26), are
alike
powerless to move those who build upon this rock.
They
have chosen the good part, which shall not be
taken
from them.
As for the recent seceders from the
Apostolic com-
munion,
their departure is a gain and not a loss; for
that
is manifest in them which was before concealed
(vers.
18, 19). They bore the name of Christ falsely;
THE LAST HOUR 215
antichrist is their proper title;
and that there are
"many"
such, who stand in imposing array against His
servants,
proves that God's word is doing its judicial
work,
that the Divine life within the body of Christ
is
casting off dead limbs and foreign elements (see
John
15. 6) and that the age is coming to its ripeness
and
its crisis: "Whence we perceive
that it is the
last
hour."
We may best expound the paragraph
before us by
considering
in order the crisis to which the Apostle
refers,
the danger which he denounces, and the safe-
guards
on which he relies—in other words, the
last hour,
the many antichrists,
and the chrism from the Holy One.
1. "My little ones, it is the
last hour—we perceive
that
it is the last hour." Westcott, in
his profound
and
learned Commentary on this Epistle, calls our
attention
to the absence of the Greek article: "A
last
hour it is (e]sxa<th
w!ra e]sti<n)"—so
the Apostle literally
puts
it; the anarthrous combination is peculiar here.
Lord is coming," resembles the
expression. The phrase
"seems
to mark the general character of the period,
and
not its specific relation to 'the end.' It
was a
period
of critical change." The hour is a term
repeatedly
used in the Gospel of John for the crisis of
the
earthly course of Jesus, the supreme epoch of His
death
and return to the Father. This guides us to St
John's
meaning here. He is looking backward, not
forward,
and speaking the language of memory more
than
of prophecy (comp. p. 172). The "last hour" closes
a
succession of hours; it is the end of an expiring day.
The venerable Apostle stands on the
border of the
first
Christian age. He is nearing the horizon, the
outmost
verge of that great "day of the Lord" which
began
with the birth of the first John, the forerunner,
and
would terminate with his own departure—himself
the
solitary survivor of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
The
shadows are closing upon John; everything is
altered
about him. The world he knew had passed, or
216 THE LAST HOUR
was
passing, quite away.
had
seen in vision the overthrow of mighty
and
the Empire is shaken with rumours and fears of
change.
The work of revelation, he felt, was all but
complete.
Those deadly opposers of the truth had
risen
who were foretold in the words of Jesus, and in
the
teachings of Paul so well remembered at
the
Satanic apostasy within the Church, foreboding the
last
judgement, had reared its head. The finished
truth
of the revelation of the Father in the Son is
confronted
by the consummate lie of heresy, which
denies
them both (ver. 22).
A last hour it certainly was; and it
might be (who
could
tell?) the last hour of all. The Master had said
concerning
John, "If I will that he tarry till I come!"
(John
21. 22). Many deemed this to signify that the
beloved
disciple would live on earth until the Lord's
return
in glory. He relates the incident in the appen-
dix
to his Gospel without giving his opinion for or
against
this notion; he only states the exact words
of
Jesus, and intimates that so much was never
promised.
But this saying might well excite the desire
for
such a favour. And why was John kept waiting
for
so long, when all the rest had been summoned
away?
It may seem strange to us that the
inspired Apostles
should
have known almost nothing of the duration of
future
history; but even from Himself, in the days
of
His flesh, our Lord confesses that such knowledge
was
veiled: "Of that day or hour
knoweth no man,
not
even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but the
Father
only." Christ left His disciples in all matters
of
the times and seasons, and leaves them still, to wish
and
hope, but not to know. So the wise
Apostle writes
humbly
and with guarded caution, keeping the hour
of
the advent an open question. He was not permitted
to
see into the next century. He presided over the
completion
of the great creative age, and he felt that
its
end was come. Clearly it was his last
hour; and
THE LAST HOUR 217
for
aught, he knew it might be the world's last,—the
sun
of time setting to rise no more, the crash of doom
breaking
upon his dying ears.
History passes through great cycles,
each of which
has
its last hour anticipating the absolute conclusion.
The
year with its seasons changing from spring to
winter,
the day revolving from dawn to dark, image
the
total course of time. You have watched the sun
set
on a still summer evening, yielding yourself to the
influences
of the hour—the light slowly waning and
the
shadows creeping stealthily from their ambush, the
colours
dying out of earth and sky, the sounds of life
ceasing
one by one, the night wind striking chill on
your
cheek and whispering amongst the trees the
riddle
that no man reads—and you have had the
strange
sense that all was over! a foretaste of life's
and
the world's last hour; you came away doubting
if
that sun will rise again! The great epochs and
"days"
of human history have a similar finality. Each
of
these periods in turn sensibly anticipates the end
of
all things. The world is seen sweeping in its orbit
towards
the gulf; it grazes the edge, to escape it for
that
time, and to set forth upon a wider circuit which
must
bring it to the final plunge. Like the moth wheel-
ing
round the taper's flame and flitting by with singed
wings,
to fall at last consumed, like some huge creature
of
heavy flight powerless to soar to the mark of its
desire,
but that circles in ascending spires passing its
goal
again and again, till it lands spent upon the
summit—such
appears to be the destined course of
the
world toward judgement. Many great and notable
days
of the Lord there have been, and perhaps will be—
many
last hours before the last of all. The earth is
a
mausoleum of dead worlds; in its grave-mounds, tier
above
tier, extinct creations and civilizations lie orderly
interred.
Eschatology, like everything else in Scrip-
ture,
has its laws of development—"the blade, the ear,
and
the full corn in the ear." Each "day" of history,
with
its last hour, is a moment in that "age of the
218 THE LAST HOUR
ages"
which circumscribes the measureless orbit of
time.
2. The Apostle John saw the proof of
the end of the
age
in the appearance of many antichrists.
He could
not
say that "the Antichrist" had come, whom the
Church
looked for to herald the second coming of the
Lord
Jesus; but "even now" there were many who
deserved
this name. Their appearance was the signal
of
a crisis which, for aught one could say, might be
the
prelude of the final judgement.
The word "antichrist" has,
by etymology, a double
meaning.
The Antichrist of whose coming
readers
had "heard," if identical, as one presumes,
With
the awful figure of 2 Thessalonians 2, is a mock-
christ,
a Satanic caricature of the Lord Jesus; the
"many
antichrists" were not that, but deniers of Christ
and
destroyers of the true faith concerning Him. This
the
epithet may equally well signify. There is no real
disagreement
in the matter between
John.
The heretic oppugners of Christ who started up
before
runners,
whether at a greater or less distance, of the
supreme
antagonist (2 Thess. 2. 4), messengers who pre-
pare
his way. They are of the same breed and likeness,
and
set forth principles that will find in Antichrist
their
full impersonation.
The Antichrists of St John's last
hour, the opponents
then
most to be dreaded by the Church, were teachers
of
false doctrine. They "deny that Jesus is the Christ"
(ver.
22). This denial is other than that which the same
words
had denoted fifty years before. It is not the
denial
of Jewish unbelief, a refusal accept Jesus of
terror,
the refusal to admit the Divine Sonship of Jesus
and
the revelation of the Godhead in manhood through
His
person (see Chap. XIX). Such a refusal makes the
knowledge
of both impossible; neither is God under-
stood
as Father, nor Jesus Christ as Son, by these mis-
believers.
To "confess" or "deny the Son" is in effect
THE LAST HOUR 219
to
"hold" or "not to hold" the Father (ver. 23). The
man
who in this way "denies the Father and the Son,"
he
is "the antichrist" and "the liar" (ver. 22). His
denial
negatives the central truth of Christianity, as
unity
and force to the entire new covenant, and nullifies
the
Gospel absolutely. The nature of the person of
Christ,
in
scendental
dogma or theological speculation; there lay
in
it the vital point of an experimental and working
Christian
belief. "Who is he," the
Apostle cries, "that
overcomes
the world, except he that believes that
Jesus
is the Son of God?" (5. 5); and again, "Every
one
that believes that Jesus is the Christ, is begotten
of
God" (5. 1). The one saving and conquering
faith
is that which beholds in the crucified Nazarene
the
Son of God seated at the right hand of power
(see
Chap. XXII).
The traditions of the rise of heresy
point to the
attempts
made about this time, and especially in St
John's
province of
Messianic
title had by this time become His proper
name)
into the human Jesus on the one hand,
mortal
and
imperfect as other men, and the Christ,
a Divine
on
or emanation, that descended upon Jesus and was
associated
with Him from His baptism till the hour of
His
death. This was to make of Jesus Christ two
beings,
to break up His Divine-human person, as the
disciples
had known Him, into shadowy and discrepant
fragments
(comp. Chap. XIX). Those who taught this,
denied
that "Jesus is the Son of God." They denied
"Jesus
Christ come in flesh" (4. 2, 3); they renounced
the
Incarnation, and thereby abandoned the basis laid
by
Christianity for fellowship between God and man;
they
closed the way of access to the Father given us
in
the Son of His love.
This error, which beset the Church
for generations
and
deeply affected its development, grew from the
philosophical
notion of the incompatibility of the finite
220 THE LAST HOUR
and
infinite and the absolute separation of God from the
world
(see pp. 88, 363). With this axiom were involved
the
postulates of the illusive nature of phenomena and
the
intrinsic evil of matter—assumptions that implicate
in
their fatal coil every truth of religion, doctrinal and
practical,
and that struck at the root of Apostolic faith.
To
this.
Those who brought such maxims with them into
the
Church, could never have been Christians. Christ
Jesus
the Lord was, from the outset, to them a non-
reality;
the critique of their philosophy dissolved the
facts
about Him into a play of the senses, a Doketic
spectacle.
The manifestation of the Godhead in Jesus,
upon
this theory, was a train of symbols, grander and
fairer
it might be than others,—a shadow still of the
heavenly
things and not their "very image," a parable
of
ideal truth that each man must unriddle as he could.
To
maintain this was to take away all certainty from
the
Gospel, and all fellowship from the Church.
In proceeding from
atonement
to the incarnation, from the work to
the
nature of Christ, from Calvary
to
it
culminates. Religious truth could reach no higher
than
the affirmation, error could proceed no further
than
the contradiction, of the completed doctrine of the
Person
of Christ inculcated by
teaching
of revelation is countered by the "antichrists."
The
Apostle justly specifies this as the conclusive
issue.
For Christ is all and in all to His own system.
"What
think ye of the Christ?" is His crucial question
to
every age. The two answers—that of the world
with
its false prophets and seducers (ver. 19; 4. 5),
and
that of the Christian brotherhood one with its
Divine
Head—are now delivered in categorical asser-
tion
and negation. Faith and unfaith have each said
its
last word. Subsequent debates of Christ with
Antichrist
will be only the repetition, upon an
ever-enlarging
scale, of what is contained, and in
THE LAST HOUR 221
principle
settled and disposed of, by the word of the
Apostles
of the Lord and within the pages of the
New
Testament (comp. Chap. XIX).
3. While the Apostle John insists on
the radical nature
of
the assaults made in his last days upon the Church's
Christological
belief, he points with confidence to the
safeguards by which that belief is
guaranteed.
(1) In the first place, "you (emphatic u[mei?j—in contrast
with
the Antichrists) have a chrism from the Holy One
(i.e. Christ); all of you know" the
truth and can discern
its
verity (vers. 20, 21). Again, in verse 27, "The chrism
that
you received from Him abides in you, and you
have
no need that any one be teaching you. But
as
His chrism teaches you about all things, and is
true
and is no lie, and as it did teach you, abide in Him."
Xri<sma is
"anointing," as xristo<j is
"anointed"; the
argument
lies in this verb connexion. The chrism
makes Christians, and is wanting to
Antichrists. It
is
the constitutive element common to Christ and His
people;
it pervades members and Head alike.
We soon perceive wherein this “chrism”
consists.
What
the Apostle says of the chrism he says of the
Spirit afterwards in chap. 5.
7: "It is the Spirit that
beareth
witness, because the Spirit is the truth." And
iii
chap. 4. 6 he contrasts the influences working in
Apostolic
and heretical circles respectively as "the
spirit
of
truth" and "of error." The
bestowal of the Spirit
on
Jesus of Nazareth was described under the figure
of unction by St Peter in Acts 10. 38,
telling "how
God
anointed (christened) Him—made Him
officially
the
Christ—with the Holy Spirit and power."1 It was
1 In the
of
Unction, along with the Imposition of Hands, followed immediately
upon
Baptism and formed a part of the same Sacrament. It was not till
the
thirteenth century that the Roman Church separated the two latter
acts
from Baptism, making them a distinct Sacrament of Confirmation.
Before
this time, the chrism appears for a while to have been used in the
West
both at Baptism and the Imposition of Hands. The impartation
of
the Holy Ghost was specifically connected with the latter act, reserved
for
the bishop, while any priest baptizes.
222 THE LAST HOUR
the
possession without limit of "the Spirit of truth"
which
gave to the words of Christ their unlimited
authority;
"He whom God sent speaketh the words of
God,
for He giveth Him not the Spirit by measure"
(John
3. 34, 35). Out of the self-same Spirit which He
possessed
infinitely in His Divine fashion, and which
His
presence and teaching continually breathed, "the
Holy
One" gave to His disciples. All members of His
body
receive, according to their capacity, "the Spirit
of
truth, which the world cannot receive," but "whom"
He
"sends" unto His own "from the Father" (John 14.
17.
15. 26, &c.). The Spirit of the Head is the vital
principle
of the Church, resident in every limb; by His
inhabitation
and operation the Body of Christ subsists.
The
communion of the Holy Ghost is the inner side
of
all that is outwardly visible in Church activity and
fellowship.
It is the life of God within the society
of
men.
This Divine principle of life in
Christ possesses an
antiseptic power. It affords the
real security for the
Church's
preservation from corruption and decay. The
Spirit
of God is the only, and the sufficient, Infallibility
on
earth. He is our pledged protector against mortal
sin
and deadly error; for He is the Holy Spirit and
the
Spirit of truth,—who "abideth
with you," said
Christ
to His people, "and He shall be in you." It
is
His office to teach, no less than to sanctify (John
14.
26, 16. 13). To the true believer and faithful seeker
after
the knowledge of God He gives an instinct for
truth,
a sense for the Divine in knowledge and in
doctrine,
which works through the reason and yet
above
the reason, and which works collectively in
the
communion of saints. For this gift
prayed
long ago, on behalf of the Ephesian and Asian
Christians: "that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ,
the
Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom
and
revelation in the knowledge of Him—the eyes of
your
heart enlightened to know" the great things of
God
(Eph. 1. 17-23). This prayer had been answered.
THE LAST HOUR 223
Paul's
and John's children in the faith were endowed
with
a discernment that enabled them to detect the
sophistries
and resist the blandishments of Gnostic
error. This Spirit of wisdom and revelation has
never
deserted
the Church. Through centuries rife with all
kinds
of ignorance and perversion the Apostolic truth
has
been preserved to this day, and Scripture retains
its
unique authority, its light shining more brightly
for
every eclipse.
“You know, all of you," the
Apostle says in verse 20.1
This
is the most remarkable thing in the passage. "I
have
not written unto you," he continues, "because
you
know not the truth, but because you know it, and
because
no lie is of the truth."
judgement
of the enlightened lay commonalty of the
Church,
just as
to
men of sense; judge ye what I say" (1 Cor. 10. 15).
We
look in spiritual matters too much to the opinion of
the
few—to experts and specialists, priests, Councils,
Congresses;
we have too little faith in the Holy Spirit
filling
the Church, in the communis senses of
the body
of
Christ avid the general suffrage of the citizens of
the
Divine commonwealth. Yet, however we disguise
the
fact, it is with this grand jury that the verdict
ultimately
lies.
agreement
in every point of doctrine and practice;
covers
essential truth, such as that of the Godhead
of
the Redeemer here in question. Much less does the
witness
of the Spirit warrant individual men, whose
hearts
are touched with His grace, in setting up to be
oracles
of God. In that case the Holy Spirit must con-
tradict
Himself endlessly, and God becomes the author
of
confusion and not of peace. But there is in matters
of
collective faith a spiritual common sense, a Christian
public
opinion in the communion of saints, behind the
extravagances
of individuals and the party cries of the
1 Oi@date
pa<ntej not pa<nta, is decidedly the best-attested reading. See
R.V. margin, and Westcott's Additional Note on 2. 20.
224 THE LAST HOUR
hour,
which acts informally by a silent and impalpable
pressure,
but all the more effectually, after the manner
of
the Spirit. The motto of Vincent of Lerinum, which
John
H. Newman so sadly misapplied, is after all true
and indispensable: "Quod ubique, quod semper, quod
ab omnibus."
(2) To this inward and cumulative
witness there
corresponds
an outward witness, defined once for all:
You
know the truth . . . that no lie is of the truth.
. . . That which you
heard from the beginning,---let it
abide
in you" (vers. 21, 24).
So we have an objective criterion
given in the truth
about
Christ and the Father, as
it
from the Apostles at the first and as we find it
written
in their books. Believing that to be true,
the
Church rejected promptly what did not square with
it.
In the most downright and peremptory fashion St
John
asserts the Apostolic witness to be a test of
religious
truth: "We are of God: he that knows God
hears
us; he that is not of God hears us not. By this
we
recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of
error"
(4. 6; see Chap. XIX). His words echo those of
Christ
addressed to the first disciples: "As the Father
sent
me, even so send I you. . . . He that receiveth
you,
receiveth me" (Matt. 10. 40; John 20. 21). And St
Paul
made the like claim when he said, "If any man
thinketh
himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him
take
knowledge of the things that I write unto you,
that
they are a commandment of the Lord" (1 Cor.
14.
37). This touchstone, however contested, is equally
valid
to-day.
Here is the exterior test of the inner
light. The
witness
of the Spirit in the living Church, and in the
abiding
Apostolic word, authenticate and guard each
other.
This must be so, if one and the self-same Spirit
testifies
in both. Experience and Scripture coincide.
Neither
will suffice for us apart from the other.
Without
experience, Scripture becomes a dead letter;
without
the norm of Scripture, experience becomes a
speculation,
a fanaticism, or a conceit.
THE LAST HOUR 225
(3) The third guarantee cited by
ourselves
and the Church. Behind the chrism that
rests
upon all Christians, and the Apostolic message
deposited
with the Church in the beginning, there
abides the faithfulness of our promise-giving
Lord. His
fidelity
is our ultimate dependence; it is involved in
the
two safeguards previously described.
Accordingly, when the Apostle has
said, in verse 24,
"If
that abide in you which ye heard from the begin-
ning,
you too shall abide in the Son and in the Father,"
he
adds in the next verse, to make all sure: "And this
is
the promise which He made to us,—the eternal life!"
It
is our Lord's own assurance over again: "Abide in
me,
and I will abide in you. . . . Verily, verily, I say
unto
you, If any one keep my word, death he will
never
see" (John 8. 51, 15. 4). The life of fellowship
with
the Father in the Son, which the Antichrist would
destroy
at its root by denying the Son, the Son of God
pledges
Himself to maintain amongst those who are
loyal
to His word. On this rock He builds the Church;
"the
gates of death will not prevail against it," while it
stands
upon the true confession of His name. To the
soul
and to the Church, the individual believer and the
community
of faith, the same promise of life and incor-
ruption
is made. So long as we hold His word, Christ
holds
by us for ever.
"He has promised us" this (care is au]to>j
e]phggei<lato)1—He
who
says,
"I am the resurrection and the life." No brief, no
transient
existence is that secured to His people, but
"the
eternal life." Now eternal life
means with St
John
not a prize to be won (as
represent
it), but a foundation on which to rest, a
fountain
from which to draw; not a future attainment
so
much as a Divine, and therefore abiding, possession
in
the present. It is the life which came into the
world
from God with Jesus Christ (1. 1, 2), and in
which
every soul lives that is grafted into Him.
Understanding
this, we see that the "promise of life
1 Compare the au]to>j
i[lasmo<j e]stin of 2. 2.
Life Eternal 16
226 THE LAST HOUR
eternal,"
in verse 25, is not brought in as an incitement
to
hope, but as a re-assurance to faith. "These things
have
I written unto you," the Apostle says, "concerning
those
that mislead you" (ver. 26). Christ's word is set
against
theirs. His promise stands fast, the unchang-
ing
rock amidst the tides of opinion and the winds
of
doctrine, unshaken by the storms that break up one
after
another the strongest fabrics of human thought
and
policy. Our little "systems have their day"; but
the
fellowship of souls which rests upon the founda-
tion
of the Apostles, has within it the power of an
indissoluble
life.
Such are the three guarantees of the
permanence of
Christian
doctrine and the Christian life, as they were
asserted
by
of
persecution and of sceptical error were on all sides
let
loose against the Church. They are the witness
of
the Spirit in the soul, of the word on the lips of the
Apostles
transmitted by their pen, and of the living
Christ,
the pledged executor of His own promise of
eternal
life.
DIVISION II
SONSHIP TOWARD GOD
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
Main
Division of the Letter—Comparison of its two Halves—
awaiting
Christ's Coming—New Testament Horizon—Confidence or
Shame
at the Judgement-seat—Pauline and Johannine Eschatology
—"Begotten
of God"—Doing the Vital
Thing—The Righteous Father
and
Righteous Sons—"Look, what Love!"—To be, and to be called,
God's
Children—Veiling of the Sons of God—The Hope of Glory
—Internal
and External Likeness to Christ—Vision presumes Assimi-
lation—Purification
by Hope.
“And now, little children, abide in
Him;
So
that if He should be manifested, we may have confidence,
And not shrink with shame from Him
in His coming.
If
you know that He is righteous,
You
perceive that every one doing righteousness is begotten of Him.
See
what manner of love the Father hath given to us,
Purposing that we should be called
children of God;
And so we are!
For
this reason the world knoweth us not, inasmuch as it knew not Him.
Beloved, we are now children of God;
And
it hath not yet been manifested what we shall be
We
know that, if He should be manifested, we shall be like Him;
Because we shall see Him as He is.
And
every one who hath this hope set upon Him,
Purifieth
himself, according as He is pure."
1
JOHN 2. 28-3. 3.
CHAPTER XV
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
HAUPT1 is right in attaching verses 28 and 29 of
the
second chapter to the third, and in marking
at
this point a main division in the structure of the
Epistle.
"With the exception of me<nein at the beginning
Of
the two verses," he observes, "all the ideas in them
are
new and enter the Epistle for the first time"; and
these
"special ideas, touched here for the first time, are
the
ever recurring constitutive elements" of its second
half. "Fanerou?sqai is taken up again in 3.
2-5; parrhsi<an
e@xein is elucidated in 3. 19-22, 4. 17 f., 5.
13 ff.; poiei?n th>n
dikaiosu<nhn forms the fundamental
thought of the first
ten
verses of chap. 3; e]c au]tou? gegennh?sqai is not only
repeated
in te<kna Qeou?, 3. 1 f., but also from 3. 24
onwards
is more closely considered. The thought an-
nounced
in 2. 28 is precisely in the same sense the theme
of
the next part of the Letter, as 1. 5 was of that which
has
just closed." The abrupt opening of 3. 1 suggested
to
the chapter-dividers the break they have made there;
but
one has only to read on into verses 2 and 3 to find
that
the writer's mind is following closely the vein
struck
at the close of the previous chapter; he is full
of
the thought of the Lord's approaching "manifesta-
tion,"
which excites solicitude for the state in which
His
people may then be found. The exclamatory i@dete
of
3. 1 is the sign not of logical discontinuity, but of
emotional
disturbance. Striking for the first time in
1 See his Commentary (
229
230 THE
FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
his
letter on the idea of the believer's sonship toward
God
(gege<nnhtai e]c au]tou?), 2.29),
ment
at the love thus disclosed in God, at the fact
that
God cares to be our Father and deigns to give us
the
name and status of His children. But he quickly
comes
round again, in the e]a>n fanerwq^? of verse 2, to
the
point of view assumed in 2. 28; the "hope" which
is
held out in verse 3, of "seeing Christ as He is" (ver.
2)
is one with the hope of standing before Him with
“boldness
in" that "coming" which the readers were
led
to expect in 2. 28.
The introductory words of address,
"And now, little
children,"1 call attention to the prospect rising before
the
writer's mind. With the watchword "abide in
Him"
closed
with it his former protestation in the last words
of
verse 27. "Abiding in God" by retaining "the
chrism"
of the Spirit, who "teaches about all things"
(ver.
27), the readers will not be led astray by the Anti-
christs
and false prophets appearing in this "last hour"
(verses
18-26). But more than that, by so abiding--by
loyalty
to the Apostolic message and to their own con-
victions
of spiritual truth--they will prepare for Christ's
coming
and will be able to meet Him without fear or
same.
They will thus make good their title to be the
children
of God, and will realize the Divine wealth
of
their inheritance, the glory of which is as yet ma-
revealed;
for they have in God's fatherly love, and in
the
purity of Jesus reproduced in themselves, a pledge
of
the loftiest hopes. Such is the gist of the paragraph
we
are dealing with; and such appears to be its con-
nexion
with the foregoing context, to which it is linked
not
only by the double "abide in Him," but also by the
foreboding
"last hour" of verse 18 and "the promise of
eternal
life " in verse 25, which led the way to the
“coming”
announced in verse 28.
1 Comp. 2 John 5, Acts 3.
17, 10. 5, 13. 11, for kai> nu?n as a rhetorical
form
of transition, continuative and resumptive; for tekni<a, introducing a
fresh
topic, comp. 2. 1, 12, 3. 7.
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 231
At this point it is possible to take
a wider survey of
the
course of the Epistle. From 1. 5 onwards
to 2. 27
ception
of the fellowship with God, and in God, that is
realized
through the message brought by Jesus Christ,
under
the conception of dwelling and walking "in the
light." Over against the true light was set
"the
darkness"
of sin, which combats it under every form
of
contradiction and deceit — in the individual soul
(1.
6-2. 11) in the world (2. 15-17), and in the Anti-
christian
moitofnent that has developed within the
Church
(2. 18-27). But from this paragraph forwards
the
fellowship of the soul and God takes on a more inti-
mate
character, a more vivid colour and a warmer tone,
as
it opens out into sonship toward God and brother-
hood
toward men. We no longer read of "light" and
"darkness,"
“the truth” and "the lie," of those who
"walk
in the light" or "the darkness," who are "of
the
truth" or "who lie and do not the truth," who
profess
truly or falsely to "have known God," but of
"the
children of God" and "of the Devil" respectively,
of
those who "have confidence toward God and do the
things
pleasing in His sight" or who "shrink away in
shame
before" Christ and suffer "the fear that has
punishment,"
because they "are of God " or "are not of
God"
in either case. Thus in the progress of the Epistle
the
general gives place to the particular, the meta-
physical
to the psychological; the doctrine heard from the
beginning,
and the light shining evermore in the dark-
ness,
are represented now as a "seed" of God's Spirit
germinating
amid the world's evil growths and over-
powering
them, as a holy love and will working for
salvation
and winning their victory over hate and false-
hood.
This second half of the Epistle, like the first,
sets
out from the thought of the (fane<rwsij of Christ1
—there
His past, here His future manifestation; the
first
is that from which faith springs, the second is that
to
which hope looks; the first that which begins, the
1 Comp. h[
zwh> e]fanerw<qh,
1. 2, and e]a>n fanerwq^?, 2. 28, 3. 2.
232 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
second
that which completes the victory of God's light
and
love over human sin.
The stress of verse 28 lies not on
the imperative, "abide
in
Him," which is carried over from verse 27, but on the
reason
therefore—"that, if He should be manifested," &c.
"Christ
is to be manifested in His promised advent,—
when we know not, but it may
be soon; and we must
appear
before Him, with shame or confidence. Abiding
in
Him, we shall be prepared whenever He may come.
If
the present should prove to be the world's last hour
and
the Lord should appear from heaven while we are
yet
on earth,1 how welcome His appearing to those who
love
Him and who keep His word!" So the aged Apostle
wistfully
explores the future. His hypothetic "if He
should
be manifested," echoes the "If I will that he
tarry
till I come!" of the Lord's enigmatical saying
about
himself (John 21. 22). After those words of
Jesus,
the possibility of His coming within the Apostolic
era
and while
to
be entertained; and the prolongation of the Apostle's
life
to the verge of human age might well encourage
the
hope of an early advent,—delayed indeed but to be
expected
before the veteran Apostle's departure, and
now
therefore, possibly, quite imminent.
That such an impression existed in
the Church, in
some
minds amounting to a certain expectation, the
reference
in the appendix of
indicate.
The preceding paragraphs have brought the
Apostle's
readers to the verge of the last things. They
see
"the world passing away," the Antichrists arrived,
precursors
of the great Antichrist who was predicted
to
arise before Christ's return. Unbelief seems to have
reached
its limit, and faith to have attained its climax
in
the teaching of
perhaps
the closing hour of the Church's trials. "The
1 Comp. 1 Thess. 4. 15,
17, 1 Cor. 15. 51, for
the
subject at a much earlier date, when he classed himself, provisionally,
amongst
"those that are left unto the coming of the Lord." But no
such
expression recurs in his later Epistles.
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 233
Judge
is at the door"; Christ stands waiting to return.
At
any moment the heavens may open and He "may
be
manifested," who is all the while so near us, walking
unseen
amongst His Churches.1 The
conditions of the
time
have revived the prospect of the Lord's glorious
return,
and bring it near to men's imaginations. The
Christian
man, susceptible to these impressions, will
surely
ask himself, "What if my Lord should now
appear?
how should I meet Him, if He came to-day:
with
joy or grief; with shame or rapture?" This is a
test
that Christ's servants might often with advantage
put
to themselves. Not for His first disciples alone did
the
Lord say, "Let your loins be girt about and your
lamps
burning, and yourselves like unto men that look
for
their Lord, when He shall return from the wedding"
(Luke
12. 35 ff.). If suddenly the clouds should part
and
the unseen Saviour and Judge stood revealed, if the
day
of the Lord should instantly break on the world
"as
a thief is the night," or if we should ourselves with-
out
further notice or preparation be summoned to His
presence,
amid the vast surprise could we then turn to
Him
a glad and eager face?
In this one instance
as
anticipation
of a definitive return of the Lord Jesus.
The
fact that he does speak of it in this way, though
but
once, and that he lays a solemn stress on the ex-
pectation,
proves his agreement with the prevalent
eschatology
of the Church. The saying of our Lord
respecting
the beloved disciple with which his Gospel con-
cludes
(21. 22 f.), implies an actual "coming": such words
the
subject of them could neither forget nor explain
away;
even supposing the Apostle were not himself the
1 Comp. Rev. 1. 12 ff.,
2. 1; John 14. 18; Matt. 28. 20. It is notice-
able
that the Apostle John uses fanero<w, as
alike
of Christ's first sand second coming. He conceives the eternal
Word,
the only Life and Light of men, as always present in creation
and
in humanity, but manifested--shining
forth and made cognizable
—at
these two great epochs; comp. John 1. 10.
234 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
writer
of the above chapter, it embodies a genuine
Johannine
tradition.
This isolated allusion supplies a
caution against the in-
ferences
frequently drawn from the presence or absence
of
this expression or that in a particular book, as to
supposed
variations of doctrine in the New Testament.
It
is said that
of
Christ and a moral and inward judgement effected
by
His word amongst men, so that the external Parousia
and
the great judgement-scene sketched in the Synoptic
prophecies
and in the preaching of St Paul were tran-
scended
in his doctrine and became superfluous. This
passage
and the kindred saying of chap. 4. 17 f. suffice
to
show that the Apostle drew no such consequence
from
his principles, that he felt no contradiction
between
the thought of Christ's spiritual action upon
mankind,
with the gradual process of sifting effected
thereby,
and that of His eventual return in glory as the
universal
Judge, between this constant visiting and
judging
of the world and that ultimate "manifestation"
and
supreme "crisis" at the "consummation of the
age,"
which dominates the New Testament horizon
generally.
Here the Apostle John contemplates the
coming
of the glorified Jesus to the world in judgement,
just
as explicitly and formally as did the Apostle Paul
when
he declared, "We must all be manifested before
the
judgement-seat of Christ" (2 Cor. 5. 10). There is a
difference,
but it is that of emphasis and prevailing
standpoint:
others
on the issue—he on the evolution, they on the
denouement of the great drama of
Christ and the World
(comp.
pp. 67, 68). The Gospel of John, in contrast with
the
others, spends itself in working out the develop-
ment
of principles and character. He traces the cata-
strophe
of our Lord's incarnate manifestation back to
its
antecedents eternal and temporal, showing how it
was
brought about by the moral forces operative in the
world,
as these collided with the character and the
purposes
of God disclosed by the coming of His Son;
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 235
the
tremendous issue, in many of its features, he rather
indicates
and takes for granted than draws out in
detail.
The Parousia and the Day of the Lord take in
the
theodicy of the Apostle John much the same
relative
position that the scenes of the Passion occupy
in
his Gospel narrative. They are held, so to speak, in
solution
throughout, and are presented in their latent
preparations
and prelude more than in their patent
consummation,
in root and growth more than in the
ripened
fruit.
Assuming in common with all who
relied on the word
of
Jesus His return as the King and Judge of mankind,
and
contemplating the possibility of His near approach,
the
Apostle calls his readers to consider how they will
face
the advent; they must desire to meet their Lord
with confidence of
bearing (parrhsi<a)1 and without
the
shrinking of shame. If found, when the Lord
comes, out
of
Christ instead of "abiding in Him"—suddenly con-
fronted
by the dread Presence which John saw in the
must
be overwhelmed with confusion and struck dumb
with
shame. The great "appearing"—the goal of
Christian
hope and satisfaction—brings to the unpre-
pared
inconceivable dismay. This admonition is brief
as
it is affecting, and stands alone in
(see
however 4. 17, 18); but it recalls the purport of our
1 Using the word parrhsi<a (=pan-rh?sij, saying everything; then frank-
ness of speech,
unreservedness, publicity, confidence or courage
of
bearing), as also) in 3. 21, 4.
17, 5. 14,
drawing
again on the Pauline vocabulary; comp. 2 Cor. 3. 12, Eph.
3.
12, 1 Tim. 3. 13. The aorist sxw?men (not present, e@xwmen, as in the
other
places) after Iva seems to imply the gaining rather than the con-
tinued
possession of courage, and points to the testing occasion of the
Advent;
"that we may take courage, and
not be put to shame (aorist,
ai]sxunqw?men), shrinking from Him in
His coming." Comp. for the aorist
of e@xw,
Rom. 1. 13, 2 Cor. 1. 15, 2. 3; 2 Pet. 2. 16; in each of these
instances
it signifies not a continued state of mind, but an experience
associated
with some particular occurrence. For the pregnant a]po< (of
separation)
in this connexion, comp. 1. 7;
and
after; ai]sxu<nomai, Sir. 21. 22, 41. 17 ff., in the Septuagint. In
Isa. 1.
29,
Jer. 2. 36, 12. 18, ai]sxu<nesqai a]po< means "to be
ashamed of."
236 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
Lord's
prophetic warnings given at length in the
Synoptic
discourses on the Last Judgement; and the
words
echo the frequent appeals of
effect.
In prospect of this august and
heart-shaking event,
such
as must dash all self-complacency and trust in
human
judgement, what is
self
and for his children? This appears in the sentences
that
follow, in verse 29 and verses 1 and 2 of chap. 3.
The
ground of assurance lies in the filial
consciousness.
Here
is the spring of Christian happiness and courage
in
view of death and judgement, and of the eternal
issues
of human destiny.
We note at this place again how
completely
and
round,
by different paths, to the same central points
of
experience and of theology.
the
Christian salvation culminates in his doctrine of
the
believer's "adoption," in Romans 8; "if children,
also
heirs," is the argument that reassures him against
the
counter-forces and measureless possibilities of evil
looming
in the future. "Beloved, now we are children
of
God!" is the ground on which
the
same joyous certainty of a life eternal already
won,
that is rich as the love of God and sure as
His
almighty will.
But the sonship in question, which
is to supply the
key-note
of the Epistle from chap. 3. 1 onwards, is
not
affirmed at once; it is inferred, in 2. 29, from the
correspondence
of character that unites the Christian
with
his God: "If you know that He is
righteous, you
are
aware that every one who does righteousness has
been
begotten of Him." God, and not
Christ, is the
subject
of the assertion "He is righteous"; for God
is,
in all consistency, the antecedent of e]c au[tou? ("of
Him")
in the subsequent clause. Of "the Father" one
"is
begotten" (comp. 3. 1, 9 ff., 4. 4 ff., 5. 1, 4, 18 f.): this
goes
so much without saying, that in passing from verse
28
to 29, having in his mind the final and emphatic
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 237
gege<nnhtai, the writer makes the
transition of subject
unconsciously;
he does not observe that the "of Him"
of
the second sentence is referred, without explanation,
to
a person other than that denoted by the "from Him"
of
verse 28 foregoing. For grammatical clearness,
"God"
should have been expressed as the subject of
the
new predicate "is righteous" in verse 29. The
righteousness
of God (1. 9) and of Christ (2. 1) is, how-
ever,
so identical that di<kaio<j e]stin ("He is
righteous")
supplies
by itself a link of transition; the subjects
are
practically identified in the writer's mind; the
idea
of Christ in this connexion melts into that of God.
In
Him God "is righteous," to our knowledge. But if
the
assertion "is righteous" does not, "hath been be-
gotten
of Him" does involve distinction of Father and
Son;
one cannot extend the saying of John 10. 30, "I
and
the Father are one," to the point of making Christ
also
the begetter; when believers are said
to be "born
of
the Spirit" (John 3. 6, 8), spirit is opposed to flesh and
being
"begotten of the Spirit" is tantamount to being
"begotten
of God" (John 1. 13). The latter predicate,
as
it is here used, finds its interpretation immediately
in
the next verse: "Begotten of Him, I say; for look
at the Father's love to us!"
1. The first ground of confidence on
which the Apostle
would
have his little children rest—a ground derived
from
the vindication he has now made of the Christian
character—lies
in the practice of righteousness.
This
proves
a Divine filiation in the Christian man: "The
doer
of righteousness hath been begotten of Him"
(2.
29).
readers.
The prospect of Christ's coming as Judge of
mankind
is naturally fearful to the soul, calling up
images
such as those with which the Apocalypse clothes
the
Redeemer's person. The Apostle knows that his
children
are leading worthy lives, and that most of
them
have no need for fear in this event. He bids
them
"take courage" (2. 28), since their conduct
shows
that God's Spirit is in them and their "doing"
238 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND, HOPE
is
such as Christ must approve. Under similar terms--
dwelling
now on disposition, now on conduct—
has
previously described the filial life; he holds up the
same
ideal throughout the letter: he who "walks in the
light"
(1. 7), who "keeps God's commandments" (2. 3, 5),
who
"loves his brother" (2. 10), who "does the will of
God"
(2. 17), becomes now the man "who does (executes)
righteousness"
and who thus approves himself as "be-
gotten
of God," in contrast with "the doer of sin" who
is
"of the Devil" (3. 7-9). On
the same principle, in
chap.
5. 2, the one evidence of brotherhood that St
John
will allow is that of "loving God and doing His
commandments." Doing is the vital thing: sentiments,
big
notions, pious talk, go for nothing without perfor-
mance.
Not "word and tongue," but "deed and truth"
are
what God demands in Christian men (3. 18).
That God "is righteous,"
dealing justly and fairly by
all
is creatures in all His relations with them and
responsibilities
to them, is an axiom of revelation.1 The
principle
is laid down hypothetically ("if you know"),
for
he sake of the consequence to be deduced from it
and
not because of any real doubt (comp. 4. 12, John 14.
15,
for the form of expression),—though indeed our
knowledge
of the surest certainties of Divine truth is
subjectively
contingent, and clouds may cross the sun-
niest
skies of faith. From this axiom the consequence
follows,
which the readers are bound to recognize, that
"every
man of righteous life is God's offspring." In this
argumentative
form of statement ginw<skete is better
read
in the indicative (you know, perceive)
than the
imperative;2 the Apostle is making explicit what is
already
implicit in his children's knowledge of God and
of
themselves.3
1 See in particular Psa.
11. 7, 116. 5, 145. 17; Isa. 59. 17; John 17. 25;
Rom
1. 17, 3. 26; 1 John 1. 9; Rev. 16.5.
2 See R.V. margin: the
difference is practically very slight.
3 Ginw<skete in the
apodosis—the verb proper to truth of acquisition
(comp.
vers. 5, 18, 3..19, 24, 4. 6); ei]dh?te (oi#da) in the protasis,
"If you
know,”
indicating a truth of intuition, or
established conviction, belonging
to
one's realized stock of knowledge (comp. vers. 20 f., 5. 13, 18 ff.).
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 239
Not only is God righteous, but He
alone is righteous
originally
and absolutely. "None is good save One,"
said
Jesus, "that is God" (Luke 18. 19). Human excel-
lence
in every instance is derivative—is "begotten of
God." Unrighteousness (a]diki<a, 1. 9) is the
characteristic
of
humanity apart from God; "the whole world lieth in
the
Evil One" (5. 19). God is the source of all right-
being
and right-doing; apart from the Father of Jesus
Christ,
there is no righteousness in any child of man.
It
follows that the presence of a living, operative
righteousness
is the sign of a Divine sonship, of that
pure
filial spirit which breeds heart-peace and guaran-
tees
final victory. "Other tests of adoption are offered
in
the Epistle: ‘love’ (4. 7) and belief that ‘Jesus is the
Christ’
(5. 1). Each one, it will be found, includes the
others"
(Westcott ad loc.).
May we take this reasoning of
breadth
of its application? Can we say that every
righteous
man is born of God—even if he be palpably
heterodox,
if he be an unbeliver, or a heathen? We are
bound
to do so. But we must understand "righteous-
ness"
and "unbelief" in the strict Christian sense. St
John
writes "the righteousness"
(o[ poiw?n th>n dikaiosu<nhn,
not dikaiosu<nhn)—that which deserves the name and has
in
it the genuine stuff, which "exceeds the righteous-
ness
of the scribes and Pharisees" (Matt. 5. 20) and
differs
in quality and flavour from morality of that
stamp;
it means doing right by God Himself, first of
all.
When
the
law doing by nature the things of the law" and
"showing
the work of the law written in their hearts,"
of
"the uncircumcision keeping the righteous demands
of
the law" and being thus "accounted for circum-
cision,"
when he describes a type of man who is "a Jew
in
secret" and has a "circumcision of spirit" that is "in
heart,
not in letter," and "whose praise is not of men
but
of God" (Rom. 2. 14 f., 26-29), he asserts the
existence
in certain cases of a righteousness availing
before
God that cannot be labelled or authenticated,
240 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
that
extends beyond the pale of orthodoxy and refuses
to
answer to any of the stated and necessary tests of
religious
communion. There are moral paradoxes in the
connexion
between faith and practice—cases of men
who
rise quite above their ostensible creed—that are
baffling
to our superficial knowledge, secrets of the
heart
inscrutable except to its Maker; their solution
stands
over to the Judgement-day. Certain we may be
of
this, that whatever righteousness shows itself in any
man
comes from God his Father, whether the channel
of
its derivation be traceable or not; that whatever
light
shines in a human soul has radiated from "the
true
light that lighteth every man," whether the
recipient
knows the Sun of righteousness that has
risen
upon him, or the clouds conceal its form.
2. Behind the first encouragement
lies a second. If
the
Christian believer's right-doing evidences God's
paternal
relation to him, this proves again God's
fatherly love bestowed upon the man.
Over this the
Apostle—here
alone in his letter—breaks into exclama-
tion;
argument passes into wonder. "Look,1 what
a
love the Father hath given to us!" The soul's rock
of
assurance is God's manifested love. If the final
crash
should come, if the ground should crumble
beneath
our feet and the graves open and heaven and
earth
pass away like a scroll that is rolled together,—
in
the thought of this shattering convulsion, to which
our
Lord's prophecies led the Church to look forward
and
which a moment ago (2. 28) was called up to the
imagination,
the heart finds refuge here. This anchor
of
the soul holds, through the wreck of nature. St
John's
saying is
maketh
not ashamed, because the love of God hath
been
poured out in our hearts" (
"I
am persuaded that neither death nor life . . . nor
1 He uses 1(i@dete, however, the proper imperative
governing an accusa-
tiv
object—not the interjectional i]dou< or i]de<, the latter of which is
common
in
what
they had not adequately realized; comp. Rom, 11. 22.
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 241
things
present nor things to come . . . will be able
to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus
our Lord" (
The sense and emphasis of the words
demand a pause
at
the end of verse 1a (after o[ path<r and before the
continuing i!na).
Let the readers for a moment con-
template,
as it stands alone in its wonder and glory,
"the
love that the Father has given" them! The clause
that
follows is not one of definition or explanation--as
though
God's love consisted in giving us the name of
"children." How God loves men—to what length,
and
in what fashion—will be shown later; the potaph>
a]ga<ph finds its exegesis in
chap. 4. 9-14. Here we
ponder
the bare fact, put in the briefest words and
brought
home to experience1—God's bestowed and
all-inclusive
gift to us of His fatherly love in Jesus
Christ.
Now the love of God, where it is
lodged in the
heart
and its bearing fruit in a righteous life that
mirrors
God's own righteousness (2. 29), tends toward
a
certain mark for those who possess it: "that we
should
be called God's children."
Unless we are to rob
i!na of its purposive force, this clause imports a
vocation
still
to be realized, an intention on God's part, the
aim of His love2 reaching beyond actual
experience.
He
has given His love; but that love
means more
than
it can now give. "That we should be
called"
must
be read in the light of the "coming" of 2. 28,
and
by contrast with the words "and we are so" (of
the
true text), immediately interjected, and "now we
are
God's children" in verse 2. "We are children of
God"—the
Father's love has made us actually such
already;
we are to be called so3—pronounced
and
1 De<dwken, " hath given
us," the perfect of abiding result; comp. for
the
tense, and for the experimental bearing of di<dwmi, 4. 13, 5. 20; also
the
perfects in 1. lf., 4. 14.
2 Comp Eph. 1. 4, 5: e]n
a]ga<p^ proori<ssaj k.t.l., “having in love fore-
ordained
us unto filial adoption to Himself.”
3 Kale<w implies, beyond the
mere naming or designating, an entitling,
instating.
Life
Eternal 17
242 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
acknowledged
as His sons and on this title summoned
to
the heritage. "If He should be manifested," and
"at
His coming" (2. 28, 3. 2), are the tacit adjuncts
of
"called children." This declaration is identical with
what
of
God," the event for which creation waits with
strained
expectancy (
the
Son of man, according to His own words, "will
say
to those on His right hand, Come, ye blessed
of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from
the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25. 34).
These
the Son of God will not be ashamed to own as
brethren,
"when He comes in the glory of His Father
with
the holy angels" (Mark 8. 38); the
owning of the
sons
of God by Christ and the Father before the
universe
admits them to the full rank and rights of
children.
This is the goal to which all the bestowments
of
the Father's love look onward.
That we shall be "called
children of God," being
addressed
as such and invited to the children's place
in
His house, is a hope that maketh not ashamed
(2.
28). "Boldness," indeed, will be theirs in the dread
day
who hear the Judge pronounce, "Come, ye blessed
ones
of my Father!" That sentence,
however, will but
declare
the fact which already holds good. The words
kai> e]sme<n, abruptly thrown out,
correct the mistaken
implication
that might be drawn from the previous
clause,
as though the Divine sonship of Christians
would
be constituted at the Parousia. When the true
bearing
of the purpose-clause, "that we should be
called,"
&c., was lost and it was referred, as by most
interpreters,
to the present adoption of the saints
(to
the "adoption" of Gal. 4. 5 instead of that of
in
the Gospel (but see Rev. 19. 9). For this pregnant sense of kale<w,
comp.
Matt. 5. 9, ui[oi> qeou? klhqh<sontai (parallel to to>n
qeo<n o@yontai,
ver. 8,
and
to au]tw?n e]stin h[ basilei<a t. ou]ranw?n, vers. 3, 10, 22. 45),
Luke 1. 35, John
1.
42,
fi<louj in John 15. 15. With
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 243
naturally
dropped from the text; it appeared otiose
and
superfluous. But when
understood,
this kai> e]sme<n of the present fact stands out
in
relief against the purpose of future acknowledgement
and
investiture. What we shall then be called,
already
we are! "These are my sons,"
God will say of His
pilgrims
coming home; they are His sons even now,
but
in exile and obscurity.
"For this reason,"1 the Apostle remarks, "the world
knows
us not." The sons of God are at
present under
a
veil, and their "life is hid" (
things
are not seen in the true light, nor called by their
right
names. How should the world recognize us—"it
did
not know Him!" God was unknown
to men—to
the
wisest and deepest in research (1 Cor. 1. 21)—and
this
was proved to the world's shame by its treatment
of
Him in whom God was: "You
know," Jesus said,
"neither
me nor my Father" (John 8. 19). "The
rulers
of
this world,—none of them knew the Lord of glory"
(1
Cor. 2. 8) beneath the servant's garb; they had no
eye
for the moral beauty and dignity of Jesus, for the
Godhead
in Him. For the same reasons the world
ignores
or despises His companions; they treat His
Apostles,
God's messengers to them, as "the filth of
the
world, the offscouring of all things" (1 Cor. 4. 13).
The
more Christians were like Christ, the less the
world
appreciated them. They must not be surprised
at
this, nor take the world's scoffs amiss; nay, Jesus
bade
them "rejoice and be exceeding glad," counting
this
contempt their beatitude (Matt. 5. 11 f.) and a
pledge
that as sufferers with their Lord they shall
share
His glory. Thus the whole of verse 1 goes to
sustain
the confidence of
shrank
needlessly from the thought of Christ's near and
sudden
advent.
3. The assurance which the Apostle
gives his readers
1 Dia>
tou?to, as
regularly with St John, rests upon the foregoing con-
text,
and receives its confirmation and further explanation in the
following o!ti clause; comp. John 5. 18, 8. 47, 12. 18, 39.
244 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
is
carried to its height, and their fears receive a full
reproof,
in the words of verse 2. Crowning the
active
righteousness of sons of God and
their conscious experi-
ence of the Father's
love,
they have, springing out of all
this, the hope of sharing the Redeemer's state
of glory:
"We
know that, if He should be manifested, we shall
be
like Him." This central clause of verse 2 is its vital
statement.
The first two clauses resume and interpret
verse
1: "Beloved, we are now God's
children, and it
has
not yet been manifested what we shall be"—we
are
children away from home, wearing other names
and
the garb of exiles, awaiting our "manifestation"
as
the Son of God awaits His; our "call" to the filial
estate,
our full "adoption" and enfeoffment, is matter
of
promise not of attainment; it is a "hope not seen"
(
it
will come about, as we "know the love that God hath
to
and us" (4. 16) and the fidelity of His promises
(2.
25); our guarantee is in the character of God,
whom
"the world knew not"—but "you know Him,"
said
Jesus to His disciples, "and have seen Him"
(John
14. 7; comp. 2. 14 f. above).
While the subject of "it has
not yet been manifested"
is
given in the following "what we shall be,"
fanerwq^ is pointedly resumed from 2. 28, the
verse in
which
this train of thought took its commencement:
"If
He should be manifested"—the hidden but ever
present
Son of God and Judge of men—"we shall not
view
Him with guilty dread; nay, we shall be like
Him!"2 The awkwardness of referring, within the
compass
of seven words, the all but identical forms of
fanero<omai ("to be
manifested") to distinct subjects is
relieved
by the consideration that the two subjects are
closely
kindred and identified in the writer's thought:
hat
we shall be "and what He is—the glory of the
redeemed
and the Redeemer—are one in nature and
1 Oi@damen: see note 3 on p. 238.
2 Note the unconscious
transition of the pronoun from God to Christ,
in
vers. 1, 2, the reverse of that made in 2. 28, 29 (see pp. 236, 237).
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 245
coincident,
in manifestation, since "we shall be like to
Him"
(comp. 2 Thess. 2. 14, 1 Cor. 15. 48 f.,
Phil.
3. 21).
This future likeness of Christians
to Christ, along
with
their future call to the state and place of God's
sons,
is for the present a mystery; it involves an un-
imaginable
change in the conditions of human existence
(1
Cor. 15. 51). "Not yet was it
manifested what we
shall
be."
referring
to the great historical manifestation of "the
life,"
which he has summed up at the beginning of this
letter
(1. 1 ff.), the revelation of the Incarnate Son.
But
through all this great disclosure the life of the
hereafter
remained under the veil; many wondrous
secrets
of God were made plain, but not this. The
form
of Christ's risen body, and His appearances in
glory
to the dying Stephen, to Saul of Tarsus, and to
John
himself in the Apocalypse, might give hints and
prompt
speculations touching the state of the glorified;
but
they supplied no more. One thing "we know "
surely
it is enough: "We shall be like Him." This
stands
amongst the certainties of Christian faith.
Ignorant though we are of the future
state, how
much
we know if we are sure of this. Such final
resemblance
of Christians to their Lord appears to be
involved
in the Incarnation and in our Lord's chosen
title
"Son of man,"—in the fact that He was "made in
all
things like to His brethren" (Heb. 2. 17). Christ has
embarked
Himself with humanity, has identified Him-
self
heartily and abidingly with our lot, so that what
was
ours became His and what is His becomes ours.
If
He has left His brethren, it was "to prepare a place"
for
them, that they may be where He is (John 14. 2, 3).
He
has not gone to the Father by way of separating
Himself
from mankind, but has passed "within the veil"
as
"a forerunner on our behalf" (Heb. 6. 20). Jesus
rose
from the dead as "the First-begotten" and "first-
fruit
of them that fell asleep," the "first-born amongst
many
brethren," who will be assimilated to His ex-
246 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
ternal,
as they are already to His internal and spiritual
character,
who will put off "the body of humiliation"
for
a worthier frame, a "body spiritual" and "celestial"
and
"of the same form with His body of glory" (1 Cor.
15.
20-57,
Paul's
teaching upon the mystery of the heavenly life
of
the saints explains this allusion of
substance
and content to the "likeness" anticipated
here.
This cannot be a merely interior and moral
affinity;
for the latter, as
tained
and "as He is"—in respect of love and righteous-
ness—"so
we are in this world" (vers. 3, 22, 24, 4. 17, 19,
5.
18). "Now are we children of God"—that is one
thing;
"what we shall be," is something further and
distinct
from this.
The nature of the hidden likeness is
indicated by the
reason
given for expecting it, in the last clause of verse
2:
"because we shall see Him as He is." The double
Him
of verse 2 must be Christ, who has
been reintro-
duced
by the clause, "if He should be manifested,"
and
not God whom "none hath beheld at any time"
(4.
12; comp. John 1. 18; 1 Tim. 6. 16, &c.). Manifesta-
tion and vision are correlatives; "if" and when the
Lord
Jesus "is manifested," His saints " will see Him
as
He is." But for vision there must be correspondence
—new
organs for a new revelation, eyes to behold the
sulibtliaal
light of the Advent-day. Like sees like; so
the
pure in heart shall see God" (Matt. 5. 8). Such is
disciples,
as He prayed and promised (John 17. 5, 24,
12.
26, 13. 31-14. 3), are to behold the glory which
the
Father has given Him and which was His eternally;
but
to be capable of this, they must be transformed into
a
state as yet undisclosed and endowed with powers
like
His own, with faculties of apprehension incom-
parably
higher than those they now possess. "Then
shall
I see face to face" (to<te pro<swpon pro>j
pro<swpon,
1
Cor. 13. 12), says
meeting
eye. The transient foretaste of our Lord's
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 247
celestial
glory which Peter and James and John
enjoyed
with Him in the Holy Mount, was over-
powering
to their natural senses; and if the vision
prefacing
the Book of Revelation was a veritable
experience
of the writer, he was well convinced that
one
must pass into a very different mode of being if
one
is to realize the present glory of Jesus Christ and
to
bear the weight of His manifestation. Accordingly
4.
16 f. (comp. 1 Cor. 15. 50 and 2 Cor. 5. 1-3),
implies
that a miraculous change, simultaneous with
the
raising of the dead, will supervene upon the living
saints
to prepare them to meet their Lord. There is
nothing
that gives the Christian so exalted a con-
ception
of future blessedness as the thought of being
in
the Saviour's company, admitted to the sight of
His
face and taking part in His heavenly service.
Such
approximation presupposes an environment and
faculties
incalculably enlarged and ennobled. "In
treating
of this final transfiguration the Greek Fathers
did
not scruple to speak of men as being deified'
(qeopoiei?sqai), though the phrase
sounds strange to our
ears
" (Wescott, quoting Athanasius, de
Incarn. Verbi,
iv.
22). As the Son of God humbled Himself to share
our
estate, so in turn He will glorify men that they
may
take their part in His.
The other interpretation of o!ti, which regards assimi-
lation
as the effect of vision ("we
shall resemble Him,
for
to see Him as He is will make us such"), instead of
the
precondition for the sight of the glorified Redeemer,
contains
a true idea, but one unsuitable to the context.
Westcott's
attempt to combine the two renderings
makes
confusion of the sense. Moreover, as he him-
self
points out, genhso<meqa (we shall become), not e]so<meqa,
(we
shall be, ver. 2), would be the proper
verb to express
a
consequent assimilation to Christ in the future estate
of
the saints, the growing effect of
companionship with
Him
(comp. John 15. 8, 2 Cor. 5. 21, Heb. 3. 14, &c.).
4. The future identification of
state is prepared for by
248 THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE
the
present assimilation of character;
and the hope of
the
former is a keen incentive to the latter. This is the
purport
of verse 3, which brings us round again to the
ground
of assurance laid down in chap. 2. 29. "Every
one
that has this hope set on Him" (e]p ] au]t&?:1 on Christ,
in
continuation of verse 2; the hope of seeing Him "as
He
is," of witnessing and taking part in His manifesta-
tion),
"purifies himself as He is pure." Moral likeness of
spirit
is the precondition of the likeness to their Lord
in
body and faculty which constitutes "the glory which
shall
be revealed to usward" (
formation
works from within outwards, according to
the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The future
body
of the redeemed, as
spiritual
body," fitted to the spirit that it clothes, whose
organism
and expression it is designed to be (1 Cor. 15.
42-49).
Those who are like the Heavenly One in temper
and
disposition, will be like Him at last in frame and
function.
The ethical rules the material, which has no
other
use or significance but to be its vehicle. Place
and
state wait upon character and conduct "If any
man
serve me," said Jesus, "let him follow me; and
where
I am, there shall also my servant be" (John
12.
26).
This imitation was enjoined in chap.
2. 6: "He that
saith
he abideth in Him (in God), ought himself so to
walk
even as That One walked"—words pointing to the
earthly
course of Jesus. What was there imposed as
matter
of plain duty and consistency, is here urged on
the
ground of hope and preparation. The vivid demon-
1 ]Elpi<da e@xein, as distinguished from e]lpi<zw, is to hold, possess a hope,
thus
regarded as a characteristic, or cherished belonging, of the man; comp.
parrhsi<an e@xein, 2. 28, koinwni<an
e@xein, 1.
3; also Acts 24. 15, Eph. 2. 12.
]Elpi<j (e]li<zw) e]pi< with dative occurs here
only and in 1 Tim. 4. 10, 6. 17,
in
the N.T.; and with accusative, in 1 Tim. 5. 5,
The
force of the preposition is the same that it has with pisteu<w,
pe<poiqa,
and
other verbs denoting mental direction; it signifies a leaning against,
a reliance upon the object. Our Lord's
promises on this subject were
the
specific occasion and warrant of the hope in question. This e]pi<
construction
is common enough in the LXX.
THE FILIAL CHARACTER AND HOPE 249
strative
is again employed—"that one is pure"; while
e]p ] au]t&? and ei]kei?noj in this sentence relate
to the same
person
(Christ), there is this difference: using e]kei?noj
one
looks away ("that one yonder"),—not to the present
Christ waiting to be
manifested, but to the historical
Jesus, whose pure image
stands before us an abiding
pattern
of all that man should be (see pp. 149-151).1
The broad moral term dikaiosu<nh (righteousness), which
defined
in chap. 2. 29 the practical Christian character
with
its basis in God, is now substituted by the fine
and
delicate a[gno<thj (purity)
exemplified in Jesus. Both
adjective
and noun are rare in the New Testament; this
is
the only example afforded by
does
not signify a negative purity, the "cleanness"
(kaqaro<thj) of one from whom
defilement is removed (as
in
1. 7, John 15. 3, Matt. 5. 8, &c.)—which would never
be
ascribed to Jesus; this is a positive, chaste purity
(comp.
2 Cor. 11. 2, Phil. 4. 8, James 3. 17), the whiteness
of
virgin thought and an uncontaminated mind (comp.
p.
150). The purity of the a[gno<j imports not the mere
absence
of corrupt passion, a deliverance from baseness
of
desire and feeling, but repugnance thereto, a moral
incompatibility
with any foulness, a spirit that resents
the
touch and breath of evil. The man who hopes to
be
like Him as He is, must be thus like Him as He was.
To see Jesus, we must follow in His
train; we must
catch
His temper and acquire His habit of mind, if we
are
to breathe the atmosphere in which He dwells.
The
heavenly glory of the Lord Jesus that He shares
with
His saints, is but the shining forth in Him, and
in
them, of he purity intrinsic to Him and veiled in
the
earthly state of discipline. If this character is
hereafter
to be revealed, it must first be possessed;
and
to be possessed by us, it must be learnt of Him.
1 Hence the present e]sti<n.—"as He is (not was) pure," since the
example
has become perpetual and holds good for ever; comp. 4. 17.
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
Hope
awakens Fear—Five Reasons against Sin in
Believers—Sin
Ruinous—Sin
Illegal—Deepening of Sense of Sin in Scripture—The
Constitutional
Objection to Sin—Sin Unchristian—Bearing and Remov-
ing
Sin—Sinlessness of Sin's Abolisher—Sin and Christ incompatibles
—Paradox
of a Sinning Christian—Sin Diabolical—Extra-human Origin
of
Sin—The Dominion of Satan—Its coming Dissolution—"Children
of
the Devil"—Sin Unnatural in God's Child—The Facts of Saintship
—The
Source of Saintship—The Christian non
possumus—
High
Doctrine of Holiness.
"Every
one that doeth sin, doeth also lawlessness;
Indeed sin is lawlessness.
And
you know that He was manifested, that He might take away sins;
And sin in Him there is
not.
Every one that abideth in Him,
sinneth not:
Every one that sinneth, hath not
seen Him nor come to know Him.
Little children, let no
one deceive you:
He
that doeth righteousness is righteous, according as He is
righteous:
He
that doeth sin is of the Devil,—for from the beginning the Devil
sinneth;
For
this end the Son of God was manifested, that He might undo the
works of the Devil.
Every one that is begotten of God,
doeth no sin,
Because His seed abideth
in him:
Indeed he cannot sin, because he
hath been begotten of God."
1
JOHN iii. 4-9.
CHAPTER XVI
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
THE
Church of the first age lived in expectation
of the return of the Lord Jesus from heaven.
At
any hour He might "be manifested" (2. 28, 3. 2),
to
the shame or glory of His servants. This
a]pokaradoki<a as the Apostle Paul
called it (Rom. 8.
19)—the
uplifted head and the wistful look of the
Bride
waiting for her Lord—was the attitude still
maintained
by the Christian communities amongst
which
first
century. The expectation was less vivid and
absorbing
than it had been at an earlier time—the
strain
was too intense for continuance—but it re-
mained,
and supplied the motives for fidelity and
aspiration
to which the Apostle John appealed in
the
previous paragraph of the Epistle. For one who
believes
in Jesus Christ the Lord of glory, the hope
of
acceptance at His coming furnishes an incentive
as
powerful and honourable as any that the mind
can
entertain. This motive
well-grounded,
and as indispensable for his "little
children,"
though he seldom appeals to it.
The hope of the Christian man, based
on his Lord's
promise,
is to see Him in His state of heavenly
glory.
Now that implies, the Apostle had asserted,
a
moral congruity, a harmony of character between
the
see-er and the Seen. Vision, in the spiritual
sphere,
turns upon affinity and moral sympathy.
253
254 THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
There
is a pre-adjustment between the eye and the
light;
the sun finds itself mirrored in the optic
instrument.
Those who expect to "see Christ as He
is,"
make their account therefore with "being like
Him"
and aim at this; he who seeks Christ as his
goal,
takes Him for his way and studies to "walk
even
as He walked:" so the Apostle has just been
arguing
(3. 2, 3; comp. 2. 6). But the "confidence"
of
the Christian at the Parousia may, on the other
hand,
be turned to confusion (2. 28); his "hope"
awakens
a fear lest he should be found unlike his
Saviour,
and so debarred from a sight of His glory:
this,
fear is the other side of his hope, the hope
translated
into negative terms. In this association
of
ideas the tacit connexion lies between verses 3
and
4, between the paragraph of encouragement in
prospect
of Christ's coming (2. 28-3. 3) and that of
warning
against the deceitfulness of sin, which is its
sequel
(3. 4-9). That connexion is aptly expressed
by
the language of 2 Peter 3. 14: "Wherefore,
beloved,
as you expect these things, give diligence
to
be found in peace, without spot and without
reproach
before Him."
1. Viewed in this light, the passage
before us supplies
a
strong deterrent against moral declension, in the
fact
that such relapse will rob the servant of
Christ
of his dear reward, and defeat his hope
of
entrance into the eternal kingdom. In a word,
sin is ruinous; it destroys the
Christian man's
future,
and turns the salvation he had looked for
into
perdition.
This is the first of five reasons
why they should
not
sin, which the Apostle gives his little children
in
this paragraph. The other four follow in the
verses
before us,—which are so many "Checks to
Antinomianism,"1 so many darts aimed by
powerful
hand at sin in believers. The whole passage
1 The title of Fletcher
of Madeley's polemic on the subject of Holiness,
one
of the classics of Methodism.
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN 255
is
a keen, concise demonstration of the inadmissibility
of
sin. In the first sentence of chap. 2 ("My little
children,
these things I am writing to you so that
you
may not sin") the Apostle acknowledged his
fear
on this account, and indicated one chief intention
governing
the Epistle. The present section of the
letter
shows how deeply this purpose entered into
his
thoughts (comp. pp. 63, 64), and how grave the
danger
was lest the Church, infected with Gnostic
errors
of doctrine, should be tainted at the same time
with
antinomian corruptions of life. He makes out
that
on every ground it is impossible for the followers
of
Jesus Christ and children of God to acquiesce in
sin,—in
any kind or degree thereof.
2. If the first reason against a
Christian's sinning,
implicitly
contained in verse 3, was that the act is
ruinous
to his eternal prospects, the second, explicitly
stated
in verse 4, is that sin is illegal:
"Every one
who
commits sin, commits also lawlessness; indeed,
sin
is lawlessness."
To ourselves this is a commonplace;
the predicate
adds
nothing to the content of the subject in the
sentence h[ a[marti<a e]sti>n h[ a]nomi<a, nor to its dehortatory
force.
The word "sin" carries, to our conscience,
a
fuller and more pregnant sense than "illegality" or
mere
"breach of law." Not so for
the original readers.
[Amarti<a, i.e., "missing the mark," did not convey in
common
speech a uniform nor very strong moral
significance;
it might mean no more than a mistake,
a
fault of ignorance, or ill-luck. This is one of the
many
Greek Christian words which had contracted
a
new religious stamp and depth of intension from
the
Septuagint. As the rendering of the Hebrew
chatta'th, a[marti<a became something graver
than
before—more
serious in the degree in which the faith
of
Greek
humanism. "Sin," it is said,
"is a creation of
the
Bible." Etymologically, this is
perfectly true. For
the
Bible has given voice to the stifled conscience of
256 THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
mankind.
Paralysed and half-articulate, the moral
consciousness
could not even name the evil that
crushed
it. "The knowledge of sin," which, as St
Paul
says, "came through the law," was a condition
precedent
to its removal. Sin must be known, to
be
hated; defined, so that it may be denounced and
done
away. It had to be identified, to be distinguished
from
the Man himself, to be recognized in its ab-
normal
character and traced to its alien origin. And
this
was a first necessity of revelation; the task required
the
supernatural aid of the Spirit of truth and of God.
The Apostle in saying "Sin is
lawlessness" virtually
affirms
that "Lawlessness is sin." His proposition is
convertible;
the predicate (h[ a]nomi<a) as well as the
subject
(h[ a[marti<a), is written with the Greek article of
definition:
the two terms cover the same ground, since
they
denote the same thing, defining it from different
sides.
The Bible knows of no boundary line between
the
religious and the ethical. Since man was created in
the
image of God and the end of his life is determined
by
God, every lapse from that end, every moral aber-
ration
(a[marti<a), is an act of rebellion, a violation of
the
constitutional laws of human nature (a]nomi<a).
The equation is fixed by the
intrinsic affinity of our
being
to the Divine. The heathen regarded the gods as,
like
earthly potentates, beings external to themselves,
possessing
certain rights over men and dictating certain
duties
for men as it might please them. So long as
men
give them their dues, observing the ceremonies of
religion
and conforming to the laws of the State im-
posed
under their sanction, they are content. With
private
morals and the inner condition of the soul they
have
nothing to do: that is the man's own affair. In-
dividual
thinkers—Sophocles, for example, or Socrates—
might
rise above this level of belief; but Pagan thought
tended
in general to externalize religion in forms of
custom,
and to divorce morality and piety. From the
ethical
side the same severance was maintained. The
moral
philosophy of the Greeks was developed mainly
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN 257
upon
naturalistic and political lines, apart from religion;
it
suffers still from this deficiency. The attempts are
constantly
renewed to frame a self-contained ethical
theory,
resting on materialistic assumptions and histori-
cal
induction in disregard of the religious implications
of
morality, to shape an ideal of human character and
a
norm of human duty wherein God the Creator has
no
place. This is to build without a foundation upon
the
sand.
In quite another sense, the same
artificial separation
was
made by Jewish Pharisaism. Formal
transgres-
sions
of God's written law, constituting indictable
offences,
were eschewed by men who contrived to
commit
notwithstanding many kinds of wrong and
vileness.
With wonderful ingenuity, they evaded the
spirit
and intent of the law whose letter they puncti-
liously
observed and fenced round with regulations
of
their own, designed to ward off the most distant
possibility
of infraction. A man might sin, as it was
supposed,
might be morally culpable and contemp-
tible,
while he broke no law of God; or he might escape
Divine
chastisement by rendering a legal satisfaction,
which
had no ethical value and in no way touched the
heart.
The law of
of
technical jurisprudence, with which "righteousness,
mercy,
and faith" had little to do.
These sophistications, whether
Jewish or Pagan in
their
conception,
the
web of error when he writes: "Whosoever doeth
sin,
doeth also lawlessness." The
teaching of the New
Testament
deepens the conception of sin, by
treating it
as
a lapse from man's true end posited in God; it
broadens
the conception of law, by regarding
it as
the
norm for man's action fixed by his relation-
ship
to God.
Both the end of man's existence
defeated by "sin,"
and
its rule violated by "lawlessness," are grounded on
the
nature of God, in whose image man was made.
This
image is seen in Jesus Christ, "through whom are
Life
Eternal 18
258 THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
all
things, and we through Him" (1 Cor. 8. 6). He pre-
sents
to mankind the ideal, of which written codes are
no
more than the approximate expression. Thus
Christianity
brings the two conceptions into the same
plane,
and makes them coincide. Every deviation from
the
right (a[marti<a), every moral error and flaw, is
opposed
to the sovereignty of God and to the revealed
law
of our nature as men (a]nomi<a). Here lies the
fundamental
and constitutional objection to sin. It
is
condemned by the laws of the universe.
3. In verses 5-7
unchristian. Here, again, we must
put ourselves at the
standpoint
of the readers, if we are not to make the
Apostle
write mere truisms. They had things to learn
which
we have been learning for centuries, and to
unlearn
evil presumptions that were their second
nature.
The current religions rested on non-ethical
conceptions;
their gods and prophets were not dis-
tinguished
by much severity against sin or aloofness
from
it. To the Paganism of the day it was a startling
message,
to be told of a God who "is light," in whom
"there
is no darkness at all" (Chap. VIII). The same
thing
is virtually said, by the emphatic and precise
declarations
of verses 5 and 7, respecting the messenger,
the
Word and Son of God (see 1. 1, 7), through whom
the
eternal Father was made known. The channel of
the
new life is as pure as its source. All Christians
"know"
this to be so; by their knowledge they
are
bound to abjure sin. "You know that He was
manifested1 to take away sins."
said,
"if He should be manifested," thinking of Christ's
expected
revelation in that body of glory to which the
children
of God are to be conformed (2. 28, 3. 2); but
"He has been manifested"—a signal
appearance of the
Divine
in our flesh has taken place, which was God's
demonstration
against sin. God's Son was sent to rid
1 ]Ekie?noj e]fanerw<qh: the distinctive
pronoun points, as it did in verse
3
and in chap. 2. 6, again in verse 7 below, to the historical Jesus;
comp.
2. 6, 3. 3, and p. 134.
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN 259
the
human race of it—to take the world's manifold
"sins"
clean away (i[na ta> a[marti<aj a@r^). Christ and sin
are
utter contraries; each meant the death of the
other.
For "taking away (ai@rein) sins "signifies
more than
the
sacrificial bearing of sins; it adds
to this the idea of
removal. The Sin-bearer lifts
the load and takes its
weight
upon Him, not to let the burden fall again upon
its
victims, but to carry it right off and make an end of
it.
"He hath been manifested," as another writer puts
it,
"once for all at the consummation of the ages, for
the abolition of sins through His
sacrifice" (Heb. 9. 26).
According
to the double use of the Hebrew nasa',
with
chet' or ‘avon, ai@rw in such connexion has
this twofold
sense.
Herein lies the completeness of Christ's redemp-
tion.
The cross destroys both the guilt and power of
sin;
righteousness is imputed and implanted in one act.
fice
of
revelation;
for the verb e]fanerw<qh is unqualified, and
recalls
the saying of chap. 1. 2, "the life was mani-
fested."
The whole appearance, character, and action
of
the Incarnate Son went to counter-work and over-
throw
the world's sins. This manifestation of God
against
sin culminated in the "propitiation for sins"
effected
by lour Lord's sacrificial death (2. 2; see pp. 126-
130);
all that Jesus was and did wrought toward this
end,
which He pursued with a single mind. We hear
another
echo (see p. 130) of the Baptist's saying, which
in
the first instance led the Apostle to Jesus and sup-
plied
him afterwards with the key to his Master's
mission: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world."
The qualifying "our" of
the Received Text, before
"sins,"
is due to the copyists: the Apostle is speaking
broadly
of that which is true not "for our sins" only,
but
"for the whole world" (2. 2). Writing ta>j
a[marti<aj
(plural)
instead of th>n a[marti<an (as in John 1. 29), he is
thinking
of the abolition of sin as this is to be realized
260 THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
in
detail, and realized without limit: similarly it was
said
in chap. 1. 9, that God "is faithful and righteous,
that
He should forgive us our sins and
cleanse us from
all
unrighteousness." We speak too often, vaguely, of
"sin,"
as a general principle and power, too little of
definite,
actual "sins." Yet an abstract confession of
the
former may cover an obstinate adherence to
the
latter.
The Remover of sin is, to be sure,
Himself without it.
“And
in Him there is no sin” sums up what has been
said
of Jesus in chap. 2. 2, in verse 3 above, what will
be
said in verse 7 below, and in chap. 5. 20 at the end
of
the letter. He is "righteous," "pure," "true." He is
"the
Son of God," "the Only-begotten"; "the eternal
life"
is His, and was manifested in His earthly course.
These
predicates altogether exclude the notion of sin
from
our conception of Christ. This goes so much
without
saying, and the negation of sin in Him is so
obvious,
that it would be superfluous to state it here,
but
for the sake of the inference forthwith to be drawn:
since
"in Him there is no sin,"
no one "who abides in
Him" can practise sin (ver.
6). The union of sin and
Christ
in the same breast is impossible. The man in
Christ
inhabits a sinless region; he sees a light un-
sullied,
he breathes an air untainted. Sin has no foot-
hold
or lodgement, where the redeemed walk with the
risen
Christ; it forms no part or parcel of the life that
is
hid with Christ in God.
Verses 6 and 7 deduce, with a fine
combination of
mysticism
and blunt simplicity, the consequences for
Christians
of what
If
He is sinless and came for the express purpose of
abolishing
sin, if Christ and sin are incompatible, then
to
harbour sin is to dissociate oneself from Him. Here-
in
is the saying true: "He that is not
with me, is against
me." Not only is the practiser of sin ipso facto out of
Christ;
his life argues that he always has been so,
and
that his Christian profession was never genuine.
"Every
one that sins has not seen Him nor known
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN 261
Him."1 The same thing
antichrists,"
extruded from the Church and seducing its
membership: "they went out from us, but they
were
not
of us" (2. 19). Their outer
severance and overt
rebellion
against the law of Christ disclose a radical
difference
of spirit in them. Men of religious profession
living
in deceit or impurity or lovelessness, who reconcile
themselves
to sinful practice and yet deem themselves
Christians,
had from the beginning (the Apostle sup-
poses)
no proper knowledge of the Lord they profess to
serve.
They have never truly seen what Jesus Christ is
like
nor come to any real acquaintance with Him, or
they
would recognize the absurdity of their position.
For
his own part, the writer felt that once to have
known
the Lord makes any other ideal impossible;
once
and for all, the love of sin was killed in the disciple
by
the companionship of Jesus. He would no more
think
of returning to it now, than the civilized man of
reverting
to the tastes of the savage, or the philosopher
to
the babblings of the child. "Mine
eyes have seen
the
King, the Lord of hosts!" cries the young prophet
Isaiah;
his purged lips could not after this return to
their
uncleanness (Isa. 6. 5-7). "The time past may
suffice"
to have wrought folly, to have lived in envy
and
malice. The sun is up! who that sees it can longer
walk
as in darkness?
The contradiction, lying on the
surface, between
verse
6, with its total exclusion of sin from the life of
a
Christian man, and chap. 2. 1 f. which provides for
the
case of a Christian brother falling into sin, was
noticed
in the consideration of the former passage
(p.
114). There the aorist subjunctive suggested the
possibility
of such an occurrence (e]a<n
tij a[mart^?): here
the
present participle (o[ a[marta<nwn, o[ poiw?n th>n
a[marti<an)
presumes a habit and character. "Every
one that sin-
1 The perfects ou]x
e[w<raken, ou]de> e@gnwken, connote facts that have taken
effect,
the settled results of action, the state into which one has passed
thereby;
comp. 1. 10 (h[marth<kamen), 2. 3 (see p. 139),
and the perfect
tense-forms
in 2. 12, 13.
262 THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
neth,
that doeth sin," is as much as to say, "Every
sinner,
every one whose life yields sin for its product,"
—or
in the words of chap. 1. 6, "who walks in the
darkness."
The Apostle is not dealing in casuistry.
He
has not before his mind the dubious cases—doubtful
to
human judgement—that lie on the border-line of
Christian
assurance, where a man with a sincere faith
and
love has acted inconsistently or has been "over-
taken
in some trespass" (Gal. 6. 1). There are two
broadly
contrasted classes of men in view (comp. p. 273),
each
claiming the Christian name,—those who follow
the
example of Jesus and those who do not. He is
dealing
with the latter sort, with pretenders to Chris-
tianity
who excuse wrong-doing and make provision
for
the flesh to fulfil its lusts, who justify sin as allow-
able
and even normal in the Christian man (since he
lives
in the body and under material conditions), and
who
see no necessity that the disciple should be as his
Lord.
Against these vain talkers and deceivers, against
all
abettors and apologists of laxity,
in
verse 7 the axiom of moral common sense and of
every
honest Christian conscience: "Little
children,
let
no one deceive you: he who does
righteousness is
righteous,
even as He (the sinless Christ) is righteous."
His
doctrine equally disposes of the modern antinomi-
anism
that goes about under an evangelical cloak, and
would
make the blood-stained robe of Christ's righteous-
ness
the cover for a loose morality,—as though the Lord
had
said to the absolved adulteress, "Go in peace, and
sin
again"!
4. Being, negatively, an
un-Christian anti-Christian
thing,
verse 8 affirms that sin is positively diabolical.
The
righteous Son of God stands forth as the leader of
the
sons of God, cleansed by His blood and abiding in
His
righteousness. For the doers of sin there is another
leader;
they choose another patron and pattern: "He
that
commits sin is of the Devil." The reason
gives
for ascribing this shameful complicity to sinners
is
that "from the beginning the Devil sins." There
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN 263
sin,
so far as revelation indicates and according to the
Apostle's
theory of evil, took its rise,—from that most
wretched
and wicked being whom Scripture names "the
Devil"
("the slanderer"), and "Satan" ("the enemy" of
God
and man). Satan was the first to lapse from God;
and
he has continued to sin all along—he "sinneth from
the
beginning." From this personal source the law of
sin
and death first proceeded and "the darkness" spread
over
the world, even as Christ's law of love and all the
light
of the Gospel were "from the beginning" in God
the
Father (1. 1, 2. 7, 13). Sin is Satan's domain, his
sphere,
his work; and every sinner is his ally and in-
strument.
The committer of sin makes himself of the
Devil's
party, of the Devil's spirit, and finally—accord-
ing
to the fearful words of Jesus (Matt. 25. 41)—of the
Devil's
doom. He is engaged in building up those
"works
of the Devil," which "the Son of God came
that
He might destroy."1 Every such man is abetting
the
enemies of God and goodness; he aids the captain
of
rebellion to maintain that fortress of evil, that huge
rampart
erected in the universe against the holy and
almighty
will of God, which we call "sin."
To follow such a leader is as futile
a course as it is
evil.
It is to resist the design of the mission of Jesus
Christ
and thereby to fight against God, opposing the
central
stream of His purposes toward mankind. To
espouse
the cause of Satan against Christ is to embark
on
a sinking vessel, to enlist under the flag of despair.
With
triumphant certainty
end
the Son of God was manifested—to undo the works
of
the Devil"! Unless the Son of God
has come in
vain,
unless He has stepped into the arena to be van-
quished,
the mischief wrought by Satan in this world is
to
be undone; the entire confederacy, the compacted
1 !Ina lu<s^, ut dissolvat (Vulgate), "that He might take to
pieces" or
"pull
down." "The works of the Devil
are represented as having a
certain
consistency and coherence. They show a kind of solid front.
Christ
has undone the seeming bonds by which they were held together"
(Westcott),
264 THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
forces
of evil, will be dissolved (comp. Mark 3. 27, 28).
The
empire of "the god of this world" is in course of
dissolution.
Included in "the works of the
Devil," the life-work of
every
man who has served upon his side and stood for
sin
and the world against Christ, is marked for destruc-
tion.
The sentence "the Son of God was manifested,
that
He might destroy the Devil's works," is parallel to
"He
was manifested, that He might take away sins"
(ver.
5): men's "sins" are "the Devil's works"—there
is
a superhuman potency and direction behind them; in
"taking"
these "away," Christ breaks up the fabric of
evil
and brings Satan's kingdom to an end.
"Children of the Devil" (ta>
te<kna tou? diabo<lou) at last
neither
"do righteousness" nor "love their brethren"
(ver.
10). He had the warrant for this epithet in the
words
with which the Lord Jesus stigmatized the Jewish
party
who sought His life, who hated the light that
shone
in Him because their deeds were evil: "You
are
of
your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father it
is
your will to do. He was a man-slayer from the be-
ginning,
and in the truth he standeth not. . . . He is a
liar,
and the father thereof" (John 8. 44). Those who
claimed
Abraham, and even God, for their father, are
referred
to this dreadful paternity, since they have
Satan's
disposition and work his will against the Son of
God.
Their moral affinity proved their spiritual descent;
their
features betrayed their family. On the same prin-
ciple,
Elymas the sorcerer was in the eyes of the Apostle
Paul,
a "son of the Devil," being "full of all guile and
all
villany, an enemy of all righteousness, a perverter of
the
ways of the Lord" (Acts 13. 9 f.). It gives an added
odiousness
and horror to our sins to consider that they
are
no detached and casual misdoings, beginning and
ending
with ourselves. They are threads in a great
web
of iniquity, cogs in the huge machinery and system
of
evil extending through this world and reaching, it
would
seem, beyond it; they implicate us—each sinful
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN 265
act
so far as it goes—in that monstrous conspiracy
against
the government of God, which is represented
in
the teaching of Christ and Scripture under the name
of
“the kingdom of darkness" and "of Satan."
5. In his impeachment of sin in
believers,
comes
round in the end to what, under other words,
he
had said at the beginning: Sin is unnatural in the
child of God: it is contradictory–to
the very subsistence
of
the regenerate life and constitutes the denial of its
reality.
Sin as foreign to the character of the re-
deemed
man himself, as it is alien to the Christ in whom
he
dwells, and as it is congenial and connatural to the
Evil
One who tempts him.
The two sentences of verse 9 amount
to the above
position:
as a matter of fact, the child of God "does
not
do sin" (a[marti<an ou] poiei?)—the produce of his
life is
not
of that kind; and as a matter of principle, "he can-
not
sin." In the former of these statements
appealing
to the facts: they are
"manifest" (ver. 10);
the
evidence is plain to any one who cares to look.
"We
know," he writes in verse 14 below, "that we have
passed
from death into life, because we love the
brethren";
so in chap. 2. 13 f. he said, "You young men
are
strong, and have overcome the Evil One"; in chap.
5.
4, "This is the victory that has overcome the world,—
it
is our faith"; finally, in chap. 5. 18, "We know that
every
one that is begotten of God does not sin." This
was
the witness of the Apostolic Christian consciousness
to
the moral efficacy of the Christian spirit.
faithful
readers know how widely different their life is
from
what it had been before conversion, from the daily
life
of the heathen around them,—and, as he seems to
imply,
from the life of the Antichrists and false pro-
phets,
who are thrusting on them their arrogant claims
to
a higher knowledge of God than that reached through
faith.
There are the grapes and figs on the one side
—"the
fruit of the Spirit," in love and joy and peace;
and
the thorns and thistles giving their inevitable yield in
"the
works of the flesh," upon the other. The contrast
266 THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
was
patent, in the actual condition of society; Christ's
true
disciples could not but know that they were
"abiding
in Him, from the Spirit He had given" them,
in
crying contrast as that was with the spirit of the
world.
Each believer had in himself the witness, open
to
be known and read by all men, of his new birth from
God;
his freedom from sin, the changed temper and
tenor
of his life, showed him to be a changed man. To
many
a one in his beloved flock the Apostle could point
and
say: "There is a man begotten of
God; for, look!
he
lives a life unstained by sin."
While behind all sin a Satanic
inspiration and pater-
nity
are operative, the righteousness of the Christian is
due
to "a seed of God abiding in him " (ver. 9). There
is
a hidden master-force governing the man's behaviour,
a
mystic influence about him, a principle of Divine
sonship
in his nature counteracting "the spirit of the
world"
and rendering him immune from its infection
(4.
4; comp. 1 Con 2. 12 ; Eph. 5. 8, 9), a seed which
bears
the fruit of righteousness where evil fruits once
grew
rankly. That "seed of God" dwelling in the
believer
in Christ is the power of the Holy
Spirit, con-
cerning
whom
know
that He abideth in us, from the Spirit that He
gave
us." The "seed" of this passage is the "chrism"
of
chap. 2. 27: it invests the Christian with knowledge
and
power; it inspires him with purity and goodness.
tions
to individual Christian men agrees with that of
Father
at once the seal of the adoption of the sons of
God
and the seed of all Christian growth and fruitage
in
them. There are, it appears, two lines of spiritual
heredity
and propagation, diametrically opposed: the
filiation
from God and from the Devil respectively,--
"the
Spirit" with His "fruit" and "the flesh" with its
"works,"
each "lusting against" the other (see Gal. 5.
16-24). Each desires what its opposite abhors.
To be
"led
by the Spirit" is "to mortify the deeds of the
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN 267
body"
(Rona. 8. 5, 13); the man Spirit-born and Spirit-
led
works the works of God and counterworks, in and
around
himself, "the works of the Devil."
Thus sin is got rid of not by
repression, but by pre-
occupation.
The man is possessed by another generative
principle.
As in land full of good seed actively germi-
nating,
weeds want the room to grow; so in a soul in
which
the Holy Spirit "abides "—where He dwells at the
sources
of feeling and impulse touching all the springs
of
action and breathing on all the issues of life, where
this
God-planted "seed" sends its roots into the depths
and
its branches into the heights and breadths of the
man's
nature—what place is there left for sin? "He
cannot sin," cries the
Apostle: "he has been begotten of
God!"
The children of God can no more live in sin
than
the children of the Devil out of it. To the Christian
man,
in the integrity of his regenerate nature and the
consciousness
of his fellowship with Jesus Christ and
his
filial relationship to God, sin becomes a moral im-
possibility.
Could
could
he hate his fellow-man, or deny the Lord that
bought
him? Such delinquency was inconceivable, in
such
a man. When the act of transgression is proposed
to
the child of God, however strong the inducements or
fascinating
the allurements it presents, he simply cannot
do
it. It is against his nature; to commit the offence
he
must deny himself, and violate not merely his con-
science
and personal honour, but the instincts of the
being
received in his new and better birth from God.
There is obviously a certain
idealism in the Apostle's
sweeping
assertions. His dictum in verse 9 applies in
its
absolute truth to the "perfect man" in Christ
Jesus.
Principle must be wrought into habit, before it
has
full play and sway. Ignorance and surprise will
betray
the unpractised believer, turning aside his true
purpose;
through the mechanical force of old practice,
or
the pressure of hostile circumstance acting upon him
unawares,
the man who is yet weak in faith may
stumble
or yield ground. He is bewildered, against his
268 THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN
settled
judgement, by some glamour of temptation or
sophistry
of error.
in
Christ so suffering as reprobate, nor be hasty to take
that
for a deadly sin which was not deliberately chosen
by
the will and did not proceed out of his heart.
"There
is," he writes in chap. 5. 16 f., "a sin unto
death";
and "there is a sin not unto death." Acts of
"wrong-doing"
(a]diki<ai, 5. 17) are committed by Christian
men,
which call for prayer on their behalf—prayer that
will
be answered by God's "giving life" to those that
have
so sinned. In all such instances—and charity will
extend
the limit of them widely—the intercession of the
sinner's
Advocate is hopefully invoked (2. 1 f.). Yet the
sin
itself in every case, so far as its scope extends and
so
long as it continues, makes for death: it clouds
the
soul's light; it involves a forfeiture of sonship, a
severance
of some one or other of the bonds that unite
the
soul to God, a grieving of the Holy Spirit and a
chilling
of His fire within the breast; it calls for the
special
intercession of Christ, and a further cleansing by
His
blood (1. 7). A deeper planting of the seed of the
Spirit
must take place, if the effect of the lapse from
grace
is to be undone. The hand of God must again
be
reached out, or ale man who has tripped will
stumble
into an utter fall; by such help he may
become
through his stumbling, like Peter after his
denial
of the Lord, the stronger and warier for the
time
to come.
Such qualifications of the maxim of
these verses the
Apostle
does virtually make elsewhere. They do not
militate
against its vital truth, nor detract from the
reasonableness
and consistency of
Sanctification.
Sin is that which has no right to be,
which
therefore must not be; and the Son of God has
declared
that it shall not be. In the offspring of God,
the
new man fashioned after Christ, sin has no place
whatever;
it is banned and barred out at every point,
since
it is the abominable thing which God hates, vile in
itself
and ruinous to His creatures. Sin is against law
THE INADMISSIBILITY OF SIN 269
and
against nature; it is un-Christian and devilish; it
blights
every virtue and every aspiration of our being.
It
is disorder and disease and disfeaturement; it is
a
shameful bondage, and a most miserable death. Sin
is
dehumanizing to ourselves, because it is the dethrone-
ment
of God within us—unmanly, since it is ungodly;
the
perdition of the individual, and the dissolution of
society.
Such, in effect, is
he
warns and arms his readers on all sides against
this
one deadly mischief, which besets men from first
to
last in the present evil world. From sin no salva-
tion
has been found save in the love of God, which
is
in Christ Jesus our Lord; but in His love there is
a
free salvation, and a salvation without limit either
in
duration or degree.
LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS
Divine
or Diabolic Sonship "manifest"—Two Sorts of Men—Personality
of
the Evil One—Marks of Spiritual Parentage—Love the Burden of the
Gospel—Diligo, ergo sum—The Master of Love, and
His Lesson—
Testing
of Love by Material Needs—Cain a Prototype—Evil must
hate
Good—Implicit Murder—Misanthropy.
“In
this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the Devil;
Whosoever doth not do righteousness is not of
God, and he that doth
not love his brother;
For
this is the message which you heard from the beginning,—that we
should love one another.
Not as Cain was of the Evil One, and
slew his brother.
And for what cause did
he slay him?
Because his works were evil, and his
brother's righteous:
Do not wonder, brothers, that the
world hateth you.
As
for us, we know that we have passed out of death into life, in that
we love the brethren.
He that doth not love, abideth in
death;
Every one who hateth his brother, is
a murderer;
And
you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him!
In
this have we known love,—in that He for us laid down His life;
And we ought, for the brethren, to
lay down our lives.
But
where any one hath worldly means, and beholdeth his brother in
want, and shutteth up his heart from him,
How doth the love of God abide in
him?
Little
children, let us not love in word nor with the tongue, but in deed
and truth."
1
JOHN 3. 10-18.
CHAPTER XVII
LOVE AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS
THE
previous paragraph of the Epistle (3. 4-9) ended
with
the strong declaration concerning the child
of
God, "He cannot continue in sin (a[marta<nein), because
he
has been begotten of God." The argument of that
passage
went to show that the filial relation to God is,
on
every account, incompatible with a life of sin. The
two
states are mutually exclusive; they are ethical
contradictories,
just as, in
are
the dominion of the Spirit and of the flesh. And
just
as
once
draws its consequences in the sphere of practical
and
visible life saying, "The works of the flesh are
manifest,
which are these," and then in turn describes
the
opposite "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5. 16-24); so St
John,
in his concise and positive fashion, proceeds here:
"In
this are manifest the children of
God, and the
children
of the Devil: every one who does not do
righteousness
is not of God, and he who does not love
his
brother." On this antithetic statement the para-
graph
is based. Two families are set in contrast with
each
other—the two races who occupy the moral world,
the
two forces that contest the field of human life—
which
have God and Satan for their fathers, Christ and
Cain
for their respective prototypes.
How simple are the Apostle's views
of life! The
complexities
of human nature, the baffling mixtures
and
contradictions of character, for him scarcely exist.
Life
Eternal 19 273
274 LOVE AND HATRED, AND THEIR
PATTERNS
Men
are parted, as they will be at the judgement-seat
of
Christ, when the ultimate analysis is reached, into
two
classes and no more—the sheep and the goats. We
are
the subjects of two warring kingdoms, the offspring
of
two opposed progenitors; no third category exists.
The
undecided must and will decide. The universe
resolves
itself into heaven or hell. Right or wrong,
love
or hate, God or Satan, eternal life or death—these
Are
the alternatives that
upon
us. Through the whole Epistle the duel goes on
between
these master-powers; at each turn the light of
God's
love and the night of Satanic hate confront each
other;
the former chases the latter from verse to verse
of
this paragraph (comp. p. 52).
"Children of the Devil" is
a frightful designation.
It
was suggested by verse 8: "He that
committeth sin
is
of the Devil, for the Devil sinneth from the begin-
ning"
(see p. 264). Jesus Christ had first said to the
Jews
who hated Him, "You have the Devil for your
father.
. . . He was a murderer from the beginning"
(John
8. 37-44). The Apostle generalizes this impeach-
ment,
and applies it to all habitual sinners. The Evil
One
is the author and father of sin; sinners therefore
are
of his kindred. Especially do the more violent and
shameless
forms of wickedness suggest such paternity;
the
intensity of the evil, and its furious resistance to
the
Divine will, point to an infernal origin. Similarly
our
Lord described the tares sown amongst the wheat
in
God's field as "the sons of the Evil One"; for they
spring
from seed sown by him, even as there is a "seed
of
God abiding" in His children (ver. 9).
Such expressions are nowadays commonly
regarded
as
metaphors and personifications of moral influences;
and
our Lord in employing this form of statement is
supposed
to be adopting, as a part of His incarnation
under
the given environment, the modes of speech and
the
mental concepts belonging to His time, or accommo-
dating
Himself for didactic purposes to the current
superstitions.
For it is assumed that physical science
LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS 275
and
psychology have explained away the phenomena of
demonism,
reducing its symptoms to mere cases of
brain-disturbance
and nervous derangement. But the
explanation
is not so complete as might be desired.
The
same physical antecedents result in effects widely
different
in different instances, and varying in accord-
ance
with the spiritual condition and affinities of the
patient.
Moreover, if Jesus Christ had a real insight,
such
as He decidedly claims, into the powers and move-
ments
of the supersensible world, the sayings which
attest
His recognition of unseen evil wills affecting the
lives
of men and hostile to Himself, are a witness to
the
affirmative that must not lightly be set aside. The
hypothesis
appears to be supported by a considerable
amount
of personal experience and evidence, more
easily
ridiculed than explained away. The force of this
testimony
will be variously estimated according to the
nature
of our faith in His word, and our reliance upon
the
fidelity of the Evangelic record.
Two conjoint marks distinguish the
children of the
opposed
spiritual parents—righteousness and
brotherly
love on the one side, unrighteousness and hatred upon the
other
(ver. 10). The latter tendencies have reached their
goal
in murder (ver. 12), the former in
the supreme
self-sacrifice (ver. 16).
The Apostle at this point combines
the separate tests
of
the Christian character which he laid down in
chap.
2. 9-11 and 29. "Righteousness,"
the first of
these
signs, is obviously in agreement with Divine law;
the
expression "to do righteousness," in fact, sums up
the
performance of all that God's will and
law require
from
men, alike in their relations to Him and to each
other.
righteousness
is no less derived from God's nature,
and
proves
a Divine filiation in him who exhibits it (3. 7).
The
second quality, viz. "love to the brethren," while it
is
an assimilation to the nature of God (4. 7-14), is at
the
same time matter of obedience to God's command
(2.
7, 8, and 3. 23). The two demands, therefore, cover
276 LOVE AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS
the
same ground, for " love is the fulfilling of the law";
the
same acts which in the language of the will, when
regarded
objectively and in relation to the order of the
universe,
are deeds of "righteousness," in the language
of
the heart and viewed in the light of their motive, as
matters
of character and temper, are deeds of "love."
Man's
righteousness is loyalty to God, and consequent
harmony
with His nature; man's love is affinity to God,
and
consequent obedience to His In the Lord
Jesus
we see the perfect unity of these all-embracing
virtues;
in Him who said at the beginning, "Thus it
becometh
us to fulfil all righteousness," and at the end,
"Greater
love hath no man than this, that one lay
down
his life for his friends" (Matt. 3. 15, John 15. 13).
Their
combination in this text corrects the one-sided-
ness
into which we are apt to fall. Firm and strong
men
are so often harsh; tender, sympathetic men, so
often
weak. Conscience and heart, duty and affection,
strictness
and gentleness, are the right foot and the left
foot
of Christian progress, and must keep equal step.
So
righteousness and love mount to heaven, while
wrong
and hate march down to hell.
Righteousness had its due in the
previous section of
the
letter; the rest of what the writer has here to say
concerns love, along with hate, its deadly counterpart.
Through
the whole passage love and hatred alternate
like
day and night; the Apostle's thought swings to
and
fro between them. Let us untwine his interlaced
sentences,
and pursue love to the end of this section,
then
taking up hate in turn.
I. Verses 11, 14, 16 stand out in
the sunshine; they
speak
for the nature and offices of Christian love.
1. Love is, to begin with, the burden of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. This was introduced in
chap. 2. 7, 8, as
the
"commandment, old and new," which "you had
from
the beginning " (see Chap. XL; now it appears as
"the message which you heard from the
beginning."
For
love is both the sum of all God would have us do,
and
the end of all He would have us know. That men
LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS 277
should
"love one another"—that God meant this in the
original
shaping of human life, and aimed at this in
the
mission of His Son and the work of redemption—
was
news to the world, "glad tidings of great joy."
When
the angels sang at
earth,"
they sounded the note of this message "from
the
beginning." Commencing his letter,
"This
is the message, that God is light" (1. 5); but now,
"This
is the message, that we should love one another"
—the
first an announcement of the supreme certainty,
the
second an announcement of the sovereign duty.
The
two thats of chapter 1. 5 and 3.11
are grammatically
different—o!ti and i!na. They signify
respectively, the
content
and the purport of the Divine message, the
chief
fact and the chief effect of revelation; they show
us
what God is, and what consequently men should be.
The
sum of the Gospel of Christ, in its intention and
its
issue, is comprised in this, "that we should love
one
another"—this is the message! The verb for
"love"
(a]gapw?men) is, to be sure, the characteristic New
Testament
word which fills this letter, denoting a
spiritual,
godlike affection; and it stands, as did the
verb
for "sin" throughout verses 6-9, in the Greek
continuous
present tense, for it signifies the habit and
rule
of life—"that we should be lovers one of another."
Now this "message," ever
sounding in the Gospel,
has
not fallen upon deaf ears, and the "new com-
mandment"
is no expression of a high-flown unpractical
ideal
the design of God's grace is realized in the ex-
perience
of writer and readers. "As for us"—in con-
trast
with the Cain-like world that is ignorant of our
secret—"we
know that we have passed out of death
into
life, because we love the brethren" (ver. 14). The
mutual
love which bound together the first Christian
communities
and marked them off conspicuously from
surrounding
society, proved that a new life was born
amongst
them. Such love was the light and the
atmosphere
of
flame,
which the Apostle had caught from the breast
278 LOVE AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS
of
his Master and conveyed to so many souls, the human
spirit
lies dormant and is dead while it seems to live:
"he
that loveth not, abideth in death" (ver. 14). As
one
recovered from drowning or from the numbness
of
frost, or as Lazarus waking up in his tomb when
his
heart began to beat and the warm blood swelled
his
veins and his body felt once more its kinship with
the
breathing world, so the Christian heart knows itself
alive
by the sense of a spiritual love. Cogito,
ergo
sum, is the axiom of
philosophical reason; Diligo, ergo
sum, is the axiom of the
Christian consciousness. Love
proves
life. The witness of the Spirit to which
appealed
(
"In
this we know,"
"that
we abide in Him [in God], and He in us, in that
He
hath given us of His Spirit"; and a glance at the
foregoing
sentence shows that the Apostle means by
"His
Spirit" the Spirit of a God-like love.
We must consider well how high and
pure an emotion
is
"love" in Christian speech, how free from the turbid-
ness
of passion and the sordidness of self-interest.
We
must understand, besides, that its object is "the
brethren"—not
those of my own sect or set, my par-
ticular
coterie or party in the Church, those who accept
"our
views" or attend "our meetings," but the children
of
God that are scattered abroad, the lovers and friends
of
my Lord Jesus Christ, all whom He in any wise owns
and
who bear marks of His image. To turn zeal for
God
into bigotry and to spoil piety by the sour leaven
of
censoriousness, is the familiar device of Satan. "Ye
know
not what spirit ye are of,” says Christ to the
angry
and contemptuous vindicators of the gospel of
charity,
who make bitter words their arrows and whet
their
tongue like a sharp sword in the fight of faith;
to
the stiff, unreasoning maintainers of prejudice; to
the
ready suspecters of their opponents, and denouncers
of
those who "follow not us." Against such combatants
tested: "The servant of the Lord must not
fight; but
LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS 279
must
be gentle toward all, apt to teach, ready to endure
evil,
in meekness correcting them that oppose them-
selves
" (2 Tim. 2. 24, 25).
2. In the next place, love has its pattern in Jesus
Christ.
The Authorized Version has misread
ver. 16,—"Here-
by
know we the love of God." That is
in
chap. 4. 7-14: what he means to say just now is,
"Herein
we have got to know love"; we
have learnt
what
love is—its reach and capability, its very self
discovered
in Jesus Christ. Other notions of love and
attainments
in the way of love are meagre compared to
this,
and hardly deserve the name. Robert Browning
speaks
somewhere of the present life as man's "one
chance
of learning love": that chance had come to the
writer
and his friends in the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
and
they had seized it. They had found the life of life,
the
thing for which "if a man would give all the sub-
stance
of his house, it would be utterly contemned."
Love's
mystery lies open to them, brought from the
bosom
of the eternal Father and wrought into His own
life
and death by Him who said, "Greater love hath
none
than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends"
(John 15. 13).
For all this, the Apostle's
downright inference, in
verse
16, brings a certain surprise. The sacrificial
death
of Jesus was solitary and all-sufficing. He is
the
"one" who "died for all,"—the Holy "Lamb of
God"
carrying alone upon His innocent shoulders and
in
His mighty heart "the sin of the world" (John 1.
29,
2 Cor. 5. 14, Heb. 2. 9). God forbid that we should
even
ourselves to Him, who "by Himself bare our sins
in
His body upon the tree"; as "the Lamb that hath
been
slain," Jesus Christ shares for ever the blessing
and
honour and glory and dominion of "Him that
sitteth
upon the throne" (Rev. 5. 12, 7. 10).
would
be the last to imagine that his own death or
sufferings
partook in any degree of the expiatory
virtue
that attaches to the one sacrifice for sins. "He,"
280 LOVE AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS
the
Apostle declared, "is the propitiation for our sins,
and
for the whole world" (chap. 2. 2). Nevertheless the
"one
sacrifice" has its moral sequel in many sacrifices,
that
seal and supplement it: "'We too
ought to lay
down
our lives (or souls, yuxa<j) for the
brethren."
Unique
in its merit and redemptive effect, our Lord's
death
was as far as possible from being isolated in its
causes
or in the spirit in which it was undertaken
and
endured. The Apostle Paul regarded his whole
Christian
life as a "being conformed to" his Master's
"death"
(Phil. 3. 10); this is the noblest ambition of
every
Christian man. The cross is stamped on that
"image
of God's Son" to which the "many brethren"
of
"the Firstborn" are "conformed" (Rom. 8. 29).
Hard
as it is to bear the cross after Christ, His yoke
grows
easy and His burden light to those who "know
love."
The imitation is complete in him who daily
"offers
his body," under the constraint of God's
mercies,
"a living sacrifice" upon the altar that
God's
will and man's need are ever building for him
(
In the first days the duty stated in
this passage was
no
ideal requirement, no stretch of an heroic fancy.
Every
Christian held himself at the disposal of the
community.
At any time martyrdom might be called
for;
already many a dear life had been laid down for
the
brethren's sake. When we excuse ourselves from
demands
that involve the surrender of cherished
earthly
good, or when Christ's service in dangerous
lands
calls for reinforcements that are not sent, the
Church
is holding back what belong to Him and
shows
herself unworthy of the Lord that bought her,
and
untrue to her own history. We are condemned
by
the love to which we owe ourselves, if we are
not
such as can hazard their lives for the name of
the
Lord Jesus, if we have not the heart to die for
those
whom Christ purchased by His blood.
3. Further,
its practical test in
things of common need. Verse 17
LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS 281
speaks
bluntly to this effect. Too easily, in dreaming
of
unrequired heroisms, one misses the humble sacrifices
of
ease and luxury, of self-will and social pride, await-
ing
him in the daily occasions of life. In many a
Church
the man is found singing with unction,
"Were the whole realm of nature
mine,
That were a present far too small!"
for
whose shrunken soul the smallest coin out of a full
purse
proves large enough to meet Christ's loud appeal.
uses
in describing the unfeeling Christian; he “beholds
his
brother having need,—beholds as a spectacle on
which
he causes his eyes to rest” (Westcott); he sees
the
need in its distressful circumstances—and then
deliberately
bars his heart against its entreaty and
turns
away without a sign of sympathy. You say
with
him?" St James' words on the same subject (2.
16)
show
that such conduct was not unheard of in the
Apostolic
Church. And when alms were lavishly
given,
this might be done from ostentation or with
the
notion of earning merit (see Matt. 6. 2-4, 1 Cor.
13.
3), out of a cold and self-engrossed heart.
Christian charity was then new in
the world; and
habits
of neglect and callousness, especially when they
have
become engrained and traditional, are slowly
overcome.
The beneficence so renowned in the early
Church
was the outcome of an acquired disposition,
that
did not spring into activity at once as the
immediate
consequence of the new love to God felt
by
Christian men. Like all practical virtues, the grace
of
charity required inculcation, discipline, habituation,
to
bring it to proper exercise; the spirit of brotherly
love
grew by use into the temper of brotherly love
and
the aptitude for its expression. To this end
much
of the ethical teaching of the New Testament
is
devoted.
282 LOVE AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS
upon
it, though it be a thing so plain, "that he who
loves
God should love also his brother" (4. 21). The
Apostle's
last word here, in verse 18, warns his readers
against
making philanthropic talk and social theory
a
substitute for personal deeds of compassion. "My
little
children," he says—pleading with those whom
he
loves and values as true-born Christians, but in
whom
this fruit of Christ's Spirit is still unripe—"let
us
not love in word nor with the tongue, but in deed
and
truth."
II. Hate throws its gloom across the
light of Christ's
love
newly shining in the world. Cain afforded the
pattern
upon this side, as Jesus upon that—each a
representative
"son of man" and firstborn among
many
brethren. Cain is the model and the forerunner
of
enviers and destroyers, as Jesus is of lovers of their
kind.
"We are not," the Apostle writes, "as Cain,
who
slew his brother."
1. The evil and good mingled in
Adam, the earthly
progenitor,
were parcelled out in the two elder-born
sons
which the sacred story assigns to him. Cain was
the
eldest of the Devil's brood amongst mankind. The
Palestinian
Targum on Genesis ascribes Cain's concep-
tion
to the influence of Samael, the Angel of Death, while
Abel
is described as Adam's proper son. Whether this
representation
was current in
know;
it gave a legendary expression to the Jewish idea
of
the Cainite nature, of which he makes use. A radical
divergence
of character showed itself in the bosom of
the
first human family; and this contrast, engendering
strife
and death, pervades the history of our race. "The
way
of Cain" alluded to in Jude 11, takes there a wider
range,
including rebellion against God in any form.
Cain is still slaying Abel, and
Abel's blood is crying
to
God from the ground, in every act of unscru-
pulous
rivalry and extortion from the necessity of
others,
in every encroachment of strong nations upon
the
weak, in every advantage gained by cunning over
honesty,
in every angry blow and slanderous word. All
LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS 283
such
sins are murderous, preying upon life itself; they
weaken
and impoverish human existence, and when
finished
bring forth death. "He slaughtered him," says
St
John of Cain's homicide, as a man cuts the throat of
an
ox. The gladiators of the platform and the Press,
and
the purveyors of intemperance and vice, display in
many
instances as little feeling for their victims.
2. And why? "Because his works
were evil, but his
brother's
righteous." Reason enough, as the world goes!
This is the standing quarrel between
the children of
God
and the children of the Devil: "They loved dark-
ness
rather than light," said Christ of His traducers,
"because
their deeds were evil" (John 3. 19). Men
scorn
and vilify the goodness that condemns them.
We
may detect this diabolic spirit in ourselves, if there
starts
in our mind a misliking toward those whose
greater
zeal and success, or whose stricter walk and
loftier
tone, reprove our own behaviour. Since such
wicked
enmity showed itself in the world's beginning,
then
"marvel not, my brethren," cries the Apostle, "if
the
world hates you." This is an old fashion—a war
pursued
incessantly from the day that sin entered into
the
world. The strife of the primeval brothers had but
just
now culminated in the tragedy of
pecting
this end, Jesus said to His disciples concerning
the
Jewish world, "They have hated me before you"
(John
15. 18-20, Matt. 10. 24, 25). His servants must
count
on faring like their Master; they should not
expect
nor wish to be popular with such as do not love
God
nor honour His laws. If that world admires and
likes
them, they may be sure that it sees something in
them
of itself: "the world loves its
own." The war
between
the kingdoms of God and Satan is internecine.
No compromise or arrangement of
terms is possible:
"the
friendship of the world is enmity with God "
(James
4. 4). The grey of the twilight merges into
sunrise
or black night; it is that of morning, or of
evening.
But, for the sons of God, "the night is far
spent";
Christ's heralds descry the dawn of a universal
284 LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS
and
everlasting day: "The darkness is
passing," our
Apostle
has reported, "and the true light already
shines;
the world passeth away, and the lust thereof"
(2.
8, 17). Cain belongs to the bygone times; the future
is
with Jesus, the true "woman's seed" and Son of man.
3. The climax of hatred is in murder; and the crown-
ing
Murder was the slaying of "the Prince of life."
Hate
is the principle of death, as love is the principle
a
life. The Rabbinical story of Cain's genesis, father-
ing
him upon the Angel of Death, contained a true
parable. "You know that no murderer hath
eternal
life
abiding in him" (ver. 15): the
destroyer acts after
his
kind; he kills, because death is in him. And though
no
lethal act be committed, the venom and animus
are
there in the malignant soul. As the lustful look
counts
in God's sight for adultery, so the malicious
thought
counts for homicide. "Every one that hates
his
brother, is a murderer": put the weapon in his
hand,
promise immunity, and he would kill him! At
that
rate, many a manslayer walks the streets un-
accused,--guiltier
perchance before the great Judge
than
that other who expiates his crime upon the
scaffold.
Nor is positive and active hatred
alone in this con-
demnation.
The absence of love tends to the same
issue,
for "he that loveth not abideth in death"
(ver.
14). Indifference to our fellows is, in truth, im-
possible.
Selfishness, cynicism, lovelessness, however
dull
and apathetic, are never merely negative. There
is
a sullen, brooding misanthropy worse than explosive
violence;
it is the reservoir of hate stored the breast,
ready
when the occasion comes to burst in Satanic fury.
Moroseness,
contempt towards our kind, may be
more
evil than concentrated hatred. Such passions
nurse
themselves, hiding and festering in those recesses
of
the mind which are "the depths of Satan," till they
make
the soul one mass of resentment and antipathies.
They
grow with a frightful embitterment, into imagin-
ings
like that of the tyrant who wished that mankind
LOVE
AND HATRED, AND THEIR PATTERNS 285
had
a single neck for his axe to strike! This cruel
spirit
exists more widely, under the smooth surface of
civilized
life, than one likes to think; it is the standing
menace
of society.
He who loves Christ, cannot hate
men. He who has
not
"known love" as Christ teaches it, may go far in
hatred.
Most of us have to do with some persons whom
we
are liable to hate, if we do not love them for God's
sake.
These are the test of our genuine temper,—the
people
who thwart us, irritate us, despise us. "Love
ye
your enemies, said Jesus; the very brutes can
love
their friends.
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
Probing
of the Uneasy Conscience—Double Ground of Re-assurance-
Love,
Faith's Saviour—Love, the Touchstone of Knowledge—"We shall
persuade
our Hearts"—The Scrutiny of God—Assurance by the Spirit's
Witness—Peril
of Mysticism—Grammatical Ambiguity in verses 19, 20
—The
Apostle warning, not soothing—Grounds for Self-reproach—
Christian
Assurance and Prevailing Prayer—God's Favour toward Lovers
of
their Brethren.
"Herein we shall know that we
are of the truth,
And before Him shall assure our
hearts;
Because,
if our heart condemn us—because God is greater than our
heart, and knoweth all!
Beloved,
if our heart condemn us not, we have confidence toward God,
And whatsoever we may ask, we
receive from Him;
Because we keep His commands, and do
the things pleasing in
His sight.
And this is His command:
That we believe the name of His Son
Jesus Christ,
And love one another as He gave us
command.
And
he that keepeth His commands, dwelleth in Him, and He in him.
And
herein we know that He dwelleth in us,—from the Spirit that
He gave us."
I
JOHN 3. 19-24.
CHAPTER XVIII
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
THE
test laid down in verse 17 above was such as
to
show whether a man's Christianity is matter
of
talk and sentiment or of heart-reality; whether he
"loves
in word and tongue" or "in deed and truth"
(ver.
18). Having thus set his readers on
self-examina-
tion,
the Apostle knows that misgivings will arise in
the
minds of some of them—a suspicion as to the truth
and
depth of their life in Christ, that is not altogether
ungrounded.
He goes on to probe the uneasy con-
science,
framing his words in verses 19-21 in a manner
calculated
at once to encourage the self-distrustful
whose
heart could not accuse them of callousness, and
to
alarm the vain and self-complacent (such as the
Laodiceans
sternly rebuked in the Apocalypse), who
were
wrapped up in their wealth of knowledge and of
material
goods, while in miserable destitution of the
true
riches. The grounds of Christian
assurance form,
therefore,
the topic of this section of the Epistle.
While
stating the grounds of assurance in the first
and
last clauses of the paragraph (vers. 19, 24b),
on his relations to God
of the absence or presence of heart
assurance;
the effect of the former is intimated in
verse
20, and that of the latter is more largely dwelt
upon
in verses 21-24a.
I. It is
the
outset, and to resume it in some altered and
Life
Eternal 20 289
290 CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
enriched
form at the conclusion of each passage. The
"Herein"
(e]n tou<tw ginw<skomen) of verse 24b, accordingly,
takes
up the "Herein" of verse 19 (e]n tou<t&
gnwso<meqa):1
here
lies the double basis of the settled believer's
confidence
towards God. This is found (1) in the
con-
sciousness of an
unfeigned brotherly love shown in
generous
self-forgetting acts—the former e]n tou<t&
gathering
up the sense of verses 16-18; and (2) in the
well-remembered and
abiding gift of the Holy Spirit—the
latter e]n tou<t& being explained by the definition which
follows,
"from the Spirit that He gave us." Our
Apostle
thus affirms the essential two-fold fact of the
Christian
consciousness, that inner conviction of the
child
of God concerning his sonship which the Apostle
Paul
described in the classic words of Romans 8. 15:
"The
Spirit Himself beareth joint witness with our
spirit,
that we are children of God."
two
testimonies in the reverse order, proceeding from
the
outward to the inward, from the ethical to the
spiritual,
from effect to cause and fruit to seed (comp.
ver.
9 above). First, the practical and human
evidence
of
loving deeds; next there is discovered, lying behind
this
activity, the mystical and Divine evidence sup-
plied
by the indwelling of the holy Spirit of Jesus
Christ.
1. There is in the loyal believer a reassuring discern-
ment of his own state of
heart,
the honest self-conscious-
ness
of Christian love.
"Lord, thou knowest all
things—thou knowest that
I
love thee": thus the chastened and sore heart of
Peter
"assured" itself beneath the searching eye and
under
the testing challenge of his Lord (John 21. 17).
In
some matters St Peter's self-knowledge had been
wofully
at fault; but he was sure of this as of his
own
existence, that he loved Jesus Christ, and he was
sure
that the Lord knew it. There was comfort and
restoration
in the fact that Jesus questioned him on
this,
and not on other points where his answer must
1 Comp. the almost
identical repetition in verses 3 and 5b of chap. 2.
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 291
have
been that of silence or bitter shame. So every
Christian
man who faithfully loves Christ and His
people
and lays himself out for their service, may
gather
a store of arguments against doubt, a fund of
cheerful
satisfaction in his faith, which no intellectual
furnishing
will supply.
"Love never faileth"—never
makes shipwreck of the
faith
that embarks on her adventures. When
after
years
of Christian profession scepticism takes hold of a
believer,
it will often be found that his heart had grown
cold
to his brethren; he has forsaken their assemblies,
he
has turned his eyes away from their needs; he has
been
oblivious of the claims of his Church and his
human
fellows. If he "loveth not the
brother whom
he
hath seen, he cannot love God whom he hath not
seen"
(4. 20); and he has probably ceased to love God,
before
he ceased with assurance to believe in Him.
When
the reason is harassed with doubt or the con-
science
troubled for old sin now seen in its darker
meaning,
it is time for the heart to go out afresh in
works
of pity toward the needy and "to visit the
fatherless
and widows in their affliction." Let the
distressed
man strengthen and draw closer the ties that
link
him to his kind, and his heart will come home to
itself
fraught with a new joy and peace in believing.
Of the difficulties of the Christian
intellect it may
often
be said, Solvitur amando. "We know that we are
of the truth," not because we
have struck down in the
sword-play
of debate the weapons of unbelief, or
entrenched
ourselves behind the artillery of a power-
ful
dogmatism or within the bulwarks of an infallible
Church,
but when we "love in deed and truth." A
true
love will scarcely spring from a false faith. If
faith works by love, it lives! There may be
a degree
of
error, of confusion of thought, defect of knowledge,
infirmity
of character attending such a faith; it may
know
little how to assert itself in argument, how to
conceive
and express itself in terms of reason, but if it
loves
much there is the core and heart of truth in it.
292 CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
The
Church's martyrdoms and charities have been at
all
times and everywhere the practical evidence of her
Divine
character, and the clearest mark of her unity
underlying
so many divisions; they supply a legitimate
and
needed reassurance to herself. The Apostle writes
"We shall know,"---setting up his
fortress against the
future
assaults of doubt in the continued fight of faith.
This line of evidence was calculated
to bring comfort
to
many of the first readers. False prophets were
abroad
amongst them, men who boasted a greater
knowledge
and a finer spiritual insight than themselves
(chap.
4. 1). They raised subtle questions of religious
philosophy,
baffling to simple-minded folk. They
threw
doubt on the ordinary assumptions of faith;
they
insinuated distrust of the Apostle's competence
to
guide the movements and the researches on which the
Church
was called to enter by the progress of the times
(see
4. 6, 2 John 9; and Chaps. XI, XIX). It required,
they
said, profounder reasoning and a larger intellectual
grasp
than most Christians had imagined, to under-
stand
God and the world and to "know" indeed that
one
is "of the truth." New
prophets had been raised
up
for the new age; "knowledge," and not "faith," is
the
watchword of the future; the simple Gospel of
Peter
and John must be wedded to the metaphysic of
the
great thinkers and restated in terms of pure reason,
if
it is to satisfy man's higher nature and to command
universal
homage.
All this, pronounced by men of
philosophic garb and
prestige,
who yet named the name of Christ and posed as
interpreters
of His doctrine and mission, was calculated
to
make a powerful impression upon Greek Christianity.
Already
rival Gnostic communities were in existence
outside
the
hold
the rational theory of Christianity and to re-
present
the true mind of the Lord. The prophets of
this
movement found their hearers amongst catholic
believers,
and strove incessantly to "draw away the
disciples
after them."
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 293
retort
to the intellectualists of
have
knowledge'? Very possibly: knowledge
puffs up;
it
is love that builds up. If any man
presumes on his
knowledge in the things of God,
he shows his ignorance;
he
has everything to learn. But if he loves
God, God
knows
him for His own" (1 Cor. 8. 1-3). From the
same
standpoint
is
begotten of God, and knows God. . . . He that abides
in
love abides in God, and God abides in him" (4. 7, 16).
The
emphasis with which the Apostle applies this
criterion
and the manner in which from beginning
to
end he rings the changes upon this one idea, in the
light
of the polemical and defensive aim of the letter,
can
only be understood on the assumption that the
class
of teachers whom he opposes were wanting in
Christian
qualities of heart, while they abounded in
dialectical
ability and theosophical speculation (see
p.
63). It was an alien spirit and ethos that they
would
have brought into the Church; their temper
vitiated
equally their doctrine and their life. This
section
of the Epistle, chapter 4. 1-6.
The expression "that we are of the truth" (e]k
th?j
a]lhqei<aj),
that
those who "have the anointing from the Holy
One"
(see Chap. XIV) and "know the truth," know also
that
"no lie is of the truth." Truth—not lies—is the
offspring
of truth. Real love to God and man in us—
for
"in this we know that we are of
the truth"—is
the
product of its reality in God; its genuineness of
character
proves its legitimacy of birth. Behind this
wondrous
new creation of human kindness and ten-
derness,
of unbounded self-surrender and unwearied
service
to humanity, which the Apostolic Churches
exhibited,
there is a vera causa. Only the
recognition
of
a true Father-God, so loving men and making
sacrifice
for them as the Gospel declares, could
account
for the moral phenomenon to which the
294 CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
Apostle
points and of which the readers themselves
form
a living part. The love that had awakened and
sustained
in hearts once cold, selfish, impure, a response
so
powerful, is no illusion. This response should prove,
even
to those who had not directly heard the summons
of
the Gospel, the existence of the Voice of grace to
which
it made reply.
The grand example of this phrase is
the declaration
of
Jesus before Pilate: "Every one
that is of the truth
heareth
my voice" (John 18. 37). As much as
to say,
"The
true heart knows its King when He speaks."
There
was something deep in the heart of Pilate,
though
he stifled it, that answered to this challenge;
it
would hardly have been given to a man wholly callous
and
insusceptible. The two tests of true-hearted-
ness—John's
test and his Master's—coincide; to love
our
brethren, and to honour and trust the Lord Jesus
Christ,
are things concomitant: nowhere is such love
to
men found as in the circle of Christ's obedience.
Behind
both lies the truth—the true being of
the Father
who
sent His Son to win our faith, and who gives
the
Spirit of whom souls are born into the love of
God
and man. "This,"
crown
his witness,—"this is the true God and eternal
life"
(5. 20).
The Christian certainty, as it faces
hostile specula-
tion,
is a conviction of the truth of God revealed in
the
message and person of Jesus Christ; but it
has
another side and aspect. Looking inward, it con-
fronts
conscience and the accusations of past sin. True
love
can meet the scrutiny of God, as well as the
questionings
of men. Turning this way
"And
we shall assure our hearts before Him (before
God)"— kai> e@mprosqen au]tou? pei<somen ta>j kardi<aj h[mw?n. The
rendering
of this sentence has been disputed; but the
conflict
of interpretation is now fairly decided. The
verb
the
fact, or belief, of which one is persuaded. Such an
object
is wanting here; for "that God is greater than
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 295
our
hearts" (the clause which follows, verse 20), is not
a
truth brought home to us by loving our brethren
and
relieving their wants (vers. 16-18). There is nothing
in
that to prove God's superiority to "our hearts,"—nor
is
this a fact that needs proof. The o!ti of verse 20 is the
because
of reason, not that of statement;
verse 20 does
not
supply the content or matter of persuasion, but
gives
the reason why such persuasion (or assurance)
of
the heart is needful. The words "we shall persuade
our
heart," in this connexion, contain a complete sense
by
themselves; or, to put the same thing in other words,
the
object of the thing required by
and
goes without saying—it is suggested by the words
e@mprosqen au]tou? (before Him), which
bring the soul
trembling
into the presence of the Searcher of hearts:
"We
shall, on each occasion when the heart is assailed
by
accusing thoughts, convince ourselves on this
ground
that we are approved in His sight; thus we
shall
overcome our fears, and approach God with the
lowly
confidence of children accepted in His Son." The
parrhsi<a with which faithful and
loving Christians will
meet
Christ at His future coming (see 2. 28, 4. 17),
may
be entertained now before God the ever-present
Judge;
the one confidence is cherished on the same
ground
as the other, and is in effect identical with it.
Such
a "persuasion" the Apostle Paul argues in
Romans
5. 1, 2, 8. 14-17, and Ephesians 3. 12, when
he
seeks to inspire Christians with filial trust toward
God
and urges them to "boldness of access" in coming
to
the Father's presence.
The above-defined elliptical use of
meaning
"soothe" or "reassure," is rare but well-
established
in Greek literature. An instance parallel to
this
occurs in Matthew 28. 14: the Jewish rulers say
to
the soldiers who had watched at the grave of Jesus
and
dreaded the consequences of His escape, " If this
come
to the Governor's ears, we will persuade (satisfy)
him (scil. that you are not to blame), and rid you of
care."
296 CHRISTIAN
HEART ASSURANCE
judgement,
but on the constant scrutiny of the heart by
the
Omniscient (o[ qeo>j . . . ginw<skei
pa<nta),
before whom
our
sin testifies against us; thinking of His perfect
knowledge
and unerring judgement, each man is com-
pelled
in shame and fear to say, "My sin is ever before
me."
"Love out of a pure heart" makes reply to this
accusing
voice, and restores to us "a good conscience" in
the
sight of God (comp. 1 Tim. 1. 5). In
this consciousness
the
Apostle Paul could write to the Philippians, living
habitually
as he did in the light of the Judgement-
throne: "God is my witness, how I long
after you all
in
the yearnings of Christ Jesus" (1. 8). The man who
could
thus speak, who lived daily under the constraint
of
the love of Christ, needed no other proof that lie is
in
Christ. Doubt of this would never cross his mind,
any
more than one doubts from waking to sleeping
whether
one is alive.
2. But the confidence toward God
cherished by the
believer
who walks in love, is not self-generated nor
acquired
by any process of reflexion. The facts on
which
it rests had a beginning external to the soul.
The
"well of water springing up" within the Christian
heart
and the Christian Church and pouring out in so
many
streams of mercy and good fruits, has a source
of
replenishment lying deeper than man's own nature.
The
Apostle completes the Christian assurance, and
traces
it to its spring in the testimony of the Holy
Spirit,
when he adds: "And in this we know
that He
(God)
dwells in us, from the Spirit which He
gave us"
(ver.
24). Since the Holy Spirit is of God, and is
God
indeed, to have Him in the hears to have God
dwelling
in us—the Spirit is God immanent (me<nei e]n
h[mi?n); and to possess Him is surely to "know that God
dwells
in us," forasmuch as "the Spirit witnesseth,"
as
the
Apostles Paul and John both say (5. 6 f.,
He
is no abstract influence or effluence from God,—a
voiceless
Breath; but He "searches the deeps of God"
(1
Cor. 2. 10), and the deeps of the heart that He visits.
He
"teaches," He "declares" things present and to
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 297
come—the
things of Christ and the things of the
conscience
(John 14. 26, 15. 26, 16. 13); He "speaketh
expressly"
(1 Tim. 4. 1); He "testifies" as He finds and
knows.
"The Spirit that is of God" knows whence He
comes
and whither He goes, and He witnesseth of
each
to the other: He "cries" sometimes (as
experienced)
"in groanings unspeakable," yet heard by
the
Heart-searcher, from the depths of the soul to God
(
entering
and tenanting the heart He makes it known
that
God is there.
The abstract statement of the former
ground of
assurance,
"we are of the truth"—a form of assertion
common
to all schools of thought claiming philosophic
or
religious certainty—is now exchanged for a more
specific
conception, by which truth translates
itself into
life: "we know that God dwells in us."
Thus intellectual
conviction
unfolds into a personal appropriation of
the
Divine by the human. The two make acquaint-
ance
and hold communion in the recesses of the heart,
where
God finds man and man knows God; for the
believer
in Jesus Christ and lover of his kind "dwells in
God,
and God in him" (vers. 23, 24).
disciplinary
element in Christian experience; he never
allows
us, for many paragraphs, to get away from the
plain
ethical conditions of fellowship with God: "he
that keeps His
commandments (comp. 2. 3-5, 7 ff., 29; 3.
4
ff.; 5. 2 f., 18), dwells in God and God in him."
between
God and the creature is possible only on terms
of
the latter's obedience; and the path
of obedience is
marked
by the fence of "the commandments."
knew
the perils of mysticism; his own temperament
would
put him on his guard against this. Here lay,
to
many minds, the fascination of the Gnostic theory:
this
system promised an absorption in the Divine, to be
gained
otherwise than in the hard way of self-denial
and
practical service and by attention to the trouble-
some
details of "the commandments." The latter were
298 CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
identified
by the new teaching with a coarse Judaism,
with
the realm of perishing matter and "the carpenter
God"
of the Hebrew Scriptures and the superseded
covenant
of works. Men who held themselves, as those
emancipated
by knowledge and enjoying the freedom
of
sons of God, to be above the level of commandment-
keeping,
fell far below it into carnal sin; and the
raptures
of a mystic love were not unfrequently
associated
with antinomian licence. Such symptoms
were
marks, to
truth
that God gave His people through Jesus Christ,
who
is a "spirit of discipline" (2 Tim. 1. 7), but of
"the
spirit of Antichrist" and "error" (4. 3, 6). This
spirit
the Apostle detected in the pseudo-prophecies and
immoral
propaganda of Gnosticism.
"From the Spirit" (e]k
tou? pneu<matoj)
that God "gave
us”—rather
than “by the Spirit” (t&? pneu<mati: so in
8.
13 f., Gal. 5. 16, 18)—"we know" all this, as
puts
it; for the assurance of the Christian believer rises
from
this source and begins from this time. Its origin
was
on the day of Pentecost. In the case of Christ's
first
disciples, the gift could be traced, more exactly,
to
the hour when at His first appearance after the
resurrection
the Lord Jesus "breathed on them, and
said
unto them, Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20. 22).
In
writing e@dwken ("He gave"), the Apostle points to
the
definitive bestowment of the Holy Spirit on the
Church
(comp. Luke 24. 49, Acts 2. 33, 38, 15. 8 f.,
19.
2 ff.; Gal. 3. 2 f., &c.), the birth-hour of Christen-
dom;
he does not say di<dwsin ("gives"), as
though
describing
a continuous gift (comp. John 3. 34,
1
Thess. 4. 8). It was then that the exalted Christ
"baptized"
His people "in the Holy Spirit and fire."
This
was the nativity of the Christian consciousness;
and
it can have no repetition, since the life then
originated
knows no decease. It is rehearsed when-
ever
any man or people is "baptized into Christ Jesus."
The
Lord repeats in dispatching His disciples, one or
many,
on their life-mission the command, "Receive the
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 299
Holy
Spirit: as the Father hath sent me, I also send
you."
Such a specific new birth, such a
"giving" and
"receiving"
of the Holy Spirit, takes place in every
instance
of spiritual life, whether the occurrence be
distinctly
realized or not. From this moment onwards,
"the
Spirit witnesseth along with our spirit"—each
witness
living for and in the other. The Holy Spirit
constitutes
the universal consciousness of the sons of
God.
Our sense of the Divine indwelling, and all the
assuring
signs and works of grace, issue from Him
who
is the supreme gift of the Father, crowning the
gift
of His grace in the Son; and the Spirit's fruit
is
known in every gracious temper and kindly act and
patient
endurance of a Christian life.
II. The central part of the
paragraph in verses 20-23,
lying
between the two grounds of assurance we have
considered,
remains to be discussed. It presents the
contrasted
cases arising under
assurance: "if our heart be condemning
us"
(ver.
20),—the contingency of self-accusation;
and "if
our
heart be not condemning us" (ver. 21),—the con-
tingency
of self-acquittal. The consequences
of each
condition
are drawn out—in the former instance in
broken
and obscure words, by way of hint rather than
clear
statement (ver. 20); on the other hand, the happy
effects
of a good conscience toward God are freely set
forth
in the language of verses 21-23.
1. The connexion of verses 19 and 20
affords one of
the
few grammatical ambiguities of this Epistle. It is
an
open question as to whether the first o!ti of verse 20
is
the conjunction that or because (for A.V.), or is the
relative
pronoun, neuter of o!stij (o! ti, complemented by
e]a<n (for a@n) of contingency1 (o! ti e]a<n = whereinsoever
R.V.);
and whether the verses should be divided, re-
spectively,
by a full stop as in the Authorized Version,
1 Comp. 13 o{
e]a>n ai]tw?men in ver. 22 below, and ai]tw<meqa in 5. 15;
o{ e]a>n e]rga<s^ in 3 John 5; o!
ti a}n le<g^ u[mi?n, John 2. 5; o!
ti a}n ai]th<shte,
14.
13, &c.
300 CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
or
by a comma as in the Revised. This as to the point
of
verbal form. In point of matter, the question is
Does
the Apostle say "God is greater than our heart
and
knows all "by way of warning to
the over-
confident
and self-excusing, to those tempted to dis-
regard
their secret migivings; or by way of comfort
to
the over-scrupulous and self-tormenting, to those
tempted
to brood over and magnify their misgivings?
This
is a nice problem of exegesis; and the displace-
ment
of the first of these alternatives by the second
(R.V.)
without a recognition of the other view in the
margin,
does not represent the balance of critical
opinion.
We retain the construction adopted by the
older
translators, without much hesitation. The stumb-
ling-block
of this interpretation is the second o!ti, which
on
this view is grammatically superfluous (and is
accordingly
ignored by the A.V.); there is no occasion
to
repeat the particle after so short an interval.1 More-
over,
while other conjunctions are apt to be resump-
tively
doubled in a complex sentence, no other example
is
forthcoming of such repetition in the case of o!ti
("that"
or "because"). If this has actually happened
here,
it must be supposed that the duplication of o!ti
(because
God is greater, &c.) is due either to a primitive
error
of the copyists lying behind the oldest text, or to
an
inadvertence of the author, who thus betrays the
mental
perturbation caused by the painful supposition
he
is making. In writing, as in speaking, it happens
now
and then that under the weight of some solemn
or
anxious thought the pen hesitates, and a word
is
unintentionally repeated in the pause and reluctance
with
which the sentence is delivered.
On the other hand it must be
insisted, as against
the
construction adopted by the Revisers, that the
grammatical
subordination of verse 20 to verse 19
makes
up an involved sentence, awkward in itself
1 The case is different
in 1 Thess. 4. 1, for example, where i!na (in the
true
text) is reinserted to pick up the thread of the main sentence, after
the
long parenthesis extending from the first kaqw<j to peripatei?te.
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 301
and
of a type unusual with the writer; a sentence, too,
that
leaves much to be read between the lines in order
to
bring a connected sense out of its entanglements.
The
fact of God's superiority to the heart and His
perfect
knowledge thereof does not, on the face of it,
explain
why love to the brethren should reassure the
anxious
Christian against self-accusation. Westcott's
paraphrase,
in quoting which we will bracket the
words
read into
struction),
shows how lamely the writer (ex hypothesi)
has
expressed his meaning, and that he has left the
essential
points to be supplied by the interpreter;
"The
sense within us of a sincere love of the brethren,
which
is the sign of God's presence within us, will
enable
us to stay the accusations of our conscience,
whatever
they may be, because God [who gives us this
love,
and so blesses us with His fellowship] is greater
than
our heart; [and He], having perfect knowledge,
[forgives
all on which our heart sadly dwells]." This
exposition
is subtle, and contains a precious truth.
But
a real peril lies in the method of self-assurance
which
the Apostle is thus supposed to suggest—the
tendency
to set sentiment against conscience. One
may
say: "I know I have done wrong.
This act of
deceit,
this bitter temper or unholy imagination, my
heart
condemns. But I have many good and kind
feelings,
that surely come from God. My sin is but a
drop
in the ocean of His mercy, which I feel flowing
into
my heart. Why should I vex myself about
these
faults of a weak nature, which God, who
knows
the worst, compassionates and pardons! "The
danger
of extracting this anodyne from the text is
one
that, if it existed, the Apostle must have
felt
at once, and would have been careful in the
context
to guard against.
On the other view, when we identify
the two o!ti's
and
separate the first from e]a<n, the grammatical con-
struction
is simple and obvious and the connexion
of
ideas sufficiently clear. The e]a>n kataginw<sk^ of verse
302 CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
20
and the e]a>n mh> kataginw<sk^ of verse 21 present,
pre-
cisely
in
theses
involved in the situation—that of our
heart
condemning or not
condemning us in respect of love
to
the brethren. The former of these suppositions
he
supposed in verses 17, 18, above, that of a pretender
to
the love of God wanting in human compassion, was
not
imaginary (see 4. 20; comp. 1. 6). In several places
the
Apostle shows himself apprehensive of a vain
assurance
in some of his readers that would reconcile
the
heart with sin, of a light and superficial satisfying
of
the conscience. That any one should "persuade his
heart"
in this way, is the last thing he
would desire or
permit.
At each step he balances encouragement with
caution;
he cheers and humbles alternately. The
condition
of the Church indicated by the Epistle, is a
troubled
one; we see love and hatred, light and dark-
ness,
in conflict even within its pale. Real ground
existed
for self-condemnation on the part of some
amongst
ground
for rejoicing in most of them.
And when he supposes "our heart
condemning us,"
the tense of the verb (e]a>n
kataginw<sk^)
makes the
supposition
the more alarming: it is put in the Greek
present of continuity, and
implies not a passing cloud
but
a persistent shadow, a repeated or sustained
protest
of conscience. This is no mere misgiving of
a
sensitive nature jealous of itself, to be justly dis-
pelled
by the reassuring consciousness of a cordial
love
to the brethren. Nay, it is the opposite of such
assurance;
it is condemnation upon the vital, testing
point.
The man aimed at in verse 20, if we read the
passage
aright, is one who does not "know" by St
John's
token that he is "of the truth"; his heart
cannot
give him such testimony, but "keeps accusing"
him
on this very account. He knows that he has
1 Comp. the double e]a<n-clauses of 1. 6, 7, and
again of vers. 8-10;
similarly
in John 15, 4, 6, 7, &c.
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 303
"loved
in word and tongue" more than "in deed and
truth"
(ver. 18) and "shut up his compassions" from
brethren
in distress (ver. 17), if he has not positively
indulged
the hate which brands men as murderers in
the
sight of God (ver. 15). Since his own ignorant
and
partial heart condemns him, let him consider what
must
be the verdict of the all-searching and all-holy
Judge.
The argument is a minori ad majus,
from the
echo
to the voice echoed, from the forebodings of
conscience
to the Supreme Tribunal and the sentence
of
the Great Day. Even when a man's heart absolves
him,
he may not for this reason presume on God's
approval: "I know nothing against
myself," writes
He
that trieth me is the Lord" (1 Cor. 4. 4). How
much
more must one fear, when conscience holds him
guilty!
Little or nothing is read into the passage,
when
it is thus construed under the light of the fore-
going
context. The stern discrimination made in
verses
15-18 between the lover of his brethren who
has
passed into life and the hater who abides in death,
was
bound to come to a head in some such conclusion
as
this, by which the latter is virtually cited to God's
judgement-seat.
The principle applied is that set forth
by
our Lord Himself in the great Judgement-scene of
Matthew
25,—viz. that deeds of true human charity
warrant
the hope of admittance into God's eternal
kingdom,
while the absence of them awakens the
darkest
fears.
2. The relief with which
supposition
"if our heart condemn us" to its opposite,
is
shown by the compellation "Beloved" (used before
in
chaps. 2. 7, 3. 2: both passages of high feeling),
with
which he turns to address the body of his readers.
The
sentence "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not,"
marks
the glad escape from the thought of condemna-
tion
clouding verse 20; we pass from shadow into
sunlight.
After the brief warning in verse 20 against
a
false peace—against soothing and doctoring the
304 CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
conscience,
when it warns us that our hearts are not
right
with our brethren—the Apostle returns with
emphasis
to the reassuring strain of verse 19, to expand
it
into the exultant testimony of verses 21 and 22.
In
almost any other writer the transition would have
been
marked by the conjunction de< (but); to
Hebrew
idiom is more natural, which simply apposes
its
contrasts without link-words.1
While self-reproach for heartlessness
toward men
raises
fear of God's displeasure, self-acquittal on this
ground,
if justified, reflects in the heart God's approv-
ing
smile. This approval, the logical complement of
"If
our heart condemn us not," is stated, not directly
but
by its two manifest consequences, in verses 21b,
22a
"We have confidence (or freedom)
toward God,
and
whatsoever we ask we receive from Him." The
reasons
given in verse 22b for this confidence and
assurance
of answers to prayer, recall us to the great
condition
of commandment-keeping, on which
loses
no opportunity of insisting; they lie in the fact
that
"we keep His commandments, and do the things
pleasing
in His sight." The loyal, loving
heart is
sensible
of God's approbation, and has experience of
His
gracious response to its petitions. Once more,
the
commandments are summarized in brotherly love
(ver.
23; comp. 2. 1-11); but to this is prefixed the duty,
in
the fulfilment of which love to one's brethren has
its
beginning and best incentive "that we should
believe
the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love
one
another as He gave us commandment." We thus
find a twofold sign of God's' favour Award
the true
Christian
man (vers. 21b, 22a), and a twofold ground
for
this continued favour in the man himself (ver. 23).
(1) There accrues to the heart that
loves its brethren
an
habitual parrhsi<a pro>j to>n qeo<n,2 the
earnest of at
which
the faithful servant of Christ will realize at His
glorious
coming (2. 28). This "confidence toward God"
1 See e.g., chaps.
1.8-10, 3. 2, 13 f., 4. 4-6, &c.; but de< in 1. 6 f., 2. 10 f.
2 For parrhsi<a, see the references on
p. 235.
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 305
is
the reflexion from the soul of God's abiding peace
(comp.
who
have access always to the Father, speaking to
Him
with a trustful heart and no longer checked and
chided
in His presence.
(2) Here lies the secret of successful prayer,1 which
was
revealed by our Lord to His disciples (John 15. 7):
"If
you abide in me and my words abide in you,
whatever
you will, ask, and it will be done for you."
The
prayers are always heard of those who have the
mind
of Christ, who love the Lord's work and are
one
with Him in spirit. They ask the things He means
to
give (see p. 401). The Spirit of Christ prays in them;
they
cannot ask amiss or fruitlessly. They plead truly
in
Christ's "name" (comp. John 15. 16),—in His cha-
racter
and on His behalf, who has no interests but
those
prompted by God's good-will to men.
"The secret of Jehovah,"
the Old Testament said,
"is
with them that fear Him."
that
this secret also rests with those who love their
brethren.
No veil hangs between them and the
Father's
face. Their prayers are prophecies of what
God
will do; for "every one that loveth is begotten of
God,
and knoweth God" (4. 7). "Whatsoever
we ask
we
receive of Him"—the Apostle is not formulating
a
theological principle, but telling his experience-
"because
we keep His commands and do the things
pleasing before Him." Now there is
nothing which
better
pleases God, who is love, than to see His
children
live in love toward each other. And nothing
more
quickly clouds one's acceptance with the Father,
and
more effectually hinders his prayers, than churl-
1 The immediate
connexion, which lies in the nature of things, and is
directly
asserted in John 15. 7, between confident
address to God and
successful petition, is destroyed by the
stop interposed in the English
Version
(A.V. or R.V.) between verses 21 and 22. The division of
verses
makes an unreal interruption of sense. The double on clause
of
verse 22b ("because we keep . . . and do," &c.,) goes to support both
the
above sentences together—parrhsi<an e@xomen pro>j to>n
qeo>n kai> o{ e]a>n
ai]tw?men lamba<nomen a]p ] au]tou?.
Life
Eternal 21
306 CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE
ishness
and strife. When our hearts condemn us on
this
score (ver. 20), we have much to fear from God;
when
they condemn us not; we have everything to
hope.
"The Father Himself loveth you," said Jesus
once
to His disciples, "because you have loved me
and
have believed that I came out from the Father"
(John
16. 27). The terms on which the Apostle guaran-
tees
to his readers God's abiding favour—viz. faith in
Christ's
name, and mutual love,—are tantamount to
the
above; for true love to, Christ, and love to His
own
in the world, are the same affection; He and His
Church
are one to the love born of faith, as they are
one
to the hate born of unbelief (John 15. 18-25).
In laying down the e]ntolai< of God, the keeping of
which
keeps us in the way of His good pleasure, St
John
gives to the idea of "commandment" a sur-
prising
turn, anticipated in the bold saying of John 6.
29: "This is the work of God, that you
believe on Him
whom
He sent." Can faith then be commanded?
is
this,
after all, a work of law? In
"faith"
and "works" are radically opposed, and serve
to
represent the true and false ways of salvation.
Right
and just "work" or "works," as he views the
matter,
are the consequence of faith and by no means
identical
with it (1 Thess. 1. 3, 2 Thess. 1. 11, Tit. 3. 8).
legalist
controversy, in which "works" done under
command
meant self-wrought and would-be meritorious
human
doings. For
indeed
he had never made it his own, as the Apostle
of
the Gentiles was compelled to do.
That God requires men to believe was a common-
place
with both Apostles;
is
not essentially different from
(calling),—the summons sent to mankind in
the Gospel,
demanding
from all nations the "obedience of faith "
(
opened
His commission, when He "came into
preaching
the good news of God, and saying, Repent,
CHRISTIAN HEART ASSURANCE 307
and
believe in the good news." Faith cannot be
commanded
as a mechanical work, a thing of con-
straint;
it is commanded as the dutiful response of
man's
will to the appeal of God's truth and love.
Hence
"the commandments" resolve themselves into
"the
commandment" (ai[ e]ntolai< of verse 22=h[
e]ntolh<,
verse
23: two in one), "that we believe the name of
His
Son Jesus Christ and love one another." The
phrase
is not "believe in," or "on, the name" (ei]j,
e]n,
e]pi<), as commonly, but "believe the name:1 the Name
has
something to say; it bespeaks the nature and
claims
of Him who bears it, and utters God's testi-
mony
concerning His Son. God asks our credence
for
the record that is affirmed when He designates
Jesus
Christ "My Son." He bids all
men yield assent
to
the royal titles of Jesus and set His name above
every
other in their esteem and confidence. Such
faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ always works by love,
and
carries with it of necessity the result already
described—the
specific matter of Christian law: "that
we
love one another, as He gave us command" (see
John
13. 34, &c.).
The verbs "believe" and
"love" are here, according
to
the preferable reading2 (pisteu<swmen,
a]gapw?men),
in
different
tenses—the former in the aorist pointing to
an
event, the latter in the present tense signifying
a
practice. As Westcott puts it, "The decisive act
of
faith is the foundation of the abiding work of
love."
The keeping of this double law, of faith and
love,
ensures that mutual indwelling of God and the
soul
which is the essence of religion, for "The man
that
keeps His command dwells in God, and God in
him"
(ver. 24a). Faith, as Christ and all His Apostles
teach,
is the channel of this intercourse; it forms the
link
of an eternal attachment between the soul and
its
Maker.
1 Pisteu<w takes a dative of the person believed; to>
o@noma is
virtually
personified
by the use of this construction.
Pisteu<wmen is, however, the
reading of some good MSS. and editors.
THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
False
Spirits Abroad in the World—A Critical Epoch—Spurious Inspi-
ration—Some
Popular Prophets—The Criteria of True and False
Christianity—The
Doctrinal Test: the Person of Christ—
fessional
Watchword, and
of
Believers—The Historical Test: the Authority of the Apostles—
Papal
Claims versus the New
Testament—Modernism on its Trial.
"Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they
are of God;
Because many false prophets have
gone out into the world.
Herein discern the
Spirit of God:
Every
spirit which confesseth Jesus Christ as come in flesh, is of God;
And
every spirit which doth not confess Jesus, is not of God.
And this is the spirit of
Antichrist,
Of
which you have heard that it is coming, and it is now in the world
already.
You are of God, little children, and
have overcome them;
Because
He that is in you, is greater than he that is in the world.
They are of the world;
Therefore
speak they from the world, and the world heareth them.
We are of God:
He that knoweth God, heareth us;
He that is not of God, heareth us
not.
From
this we discern the Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."
1
JOHN 4. 1-6.
CHAPTER XIX
TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
basis
of a true sonship to God and the ultimate
ground
of a Christian man's assurance, as consisting
in
two things—faith in Jesus Christ the Son
of God,
and mutual love such as He
enjoined.
Verses 1-6 of
Chapter
4 serve to set forth and guard the first of
these
foundation principles, and verses 7-21 to en-
force
the second.
In the last sentence of chapter 3
the faith and love
which
make a Christian were traced to "the Spirit
which"
God "gave us." From this reference the
paragraph
before us takes its start: "I have
said,
beloved,
that we are assured of our sonship towards
God
through the Spirit He has given us. But you
are
not to believe every spirit. There are false as
well
as true spirits—spirits from above and from
beneath; put them all to proof."
To identify the supernatural and the
Divine is a
perilous
mistake. It seems that in this world there
is
no truth without its counterfeit, nor good wheat
of
God unmixed with tares. Christ is mimicked by
Antichrist;
the Spirit of God is mocked by lying
spirits,
and the prophets of truth are counter-worked
by
"many false prophets" which "have gone out into
the
world." Indeed, the more active is religious
thought
at any given period, so much the more
1 See Chap. XVIII.
311
312 THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
numerous
and plausible are likely to be the forms of
heretical
error. We are tempted to think that in
our
own days amid the storm of conflicting voices,
when
every principle of revealed religion is challenged,
the
difficulties of faith are unprecedented, and that
religious
certainty is hardly consistent with an open-
minded
intelligence. But we are under much the
same
conditions with believers of the early times.
In
vain we should sigh for "the ages of faith," for
the
time when the dogma of a Church Council or
the
letter of a Bible text was enough to silence
controversy.
The fact is that we have great illusions
about
those halcyon days; the differences amongst
Christians
in former centuries were often deeper,
and
the contentions far more bitter, than those of
the
present, except indeed when freedom of thought
was
stifled by arbitrary power. But for that stifling,
many
questions which vex us still might have been
fought
out and disposed of long ago. Already in St
John's
time and before the Apostolic age had passed,
"many
false prophets" had arisen in the Church,
and
Christian faith was distracted by a swarm of
troublesome
speculations.
The writer returns in this paragraph
to the subject
of
chap. 2. 18-27, which formed a chief motive of his
letter,
viz. the rise of false prophecy, the spread of
religious
delusions affecting Christian people. This
phenomenon
was viewed in chapter 2 as evidence of
the
coming of a crisis—possibly a final crisis—in the
progress
of God's kingdom, in the age-long warfare
between
"the darkness" and "the light"; the advent
of
Antichrist in this shape signalized the long-pre-
dicted
"last hour." Here the question
is approached
from
the more practical side, and treated in a more
personal
sense (comp. p. 231); the warring spirits are
severally
described.
an
inevitable development of the antagonism between
God
and the world; it is the reaction arising within
1 See Chap. XIV.
THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS 313
the
Church of the worldly mind and temper against
the
spirit of Jesus. The two sections are closely
parallel:
in both paragraphs the conflict is represented
as
a test of the genuine and the pretended Christianity,
resulting
in the expulsion of the latter element; in
both
the safeguard of the Church is found in the
indwelling
"Spirit of truth," whose "anointing" re-
ceived
"from the Holy One" gives an insight that
pierces
the mask of falsehood; in both passages the
person
of Christ supplies the decisive touchstone.
a
nature approaching to that here implied, and
attended
by prophetical manifestations contradictory to
Apostolic
teaching. With reference to this he speaks,
in
1 Corinthians 12. 10, of the "discerning," or "di-
judication,
of spirits"—the power to distinguish the
real
from the unreal inspiration—as a supernatural
grace
bestowed upon certain members of the Church.
On
the same point he wrote to the Thessalonians
earlier
(1 Thess. 5. 19, 20): "Quench not
the Spirit,
despise
not prophesyings; but test everything." From
this
carefully balanced warning we gather that the
false
fire mingled with the true caused the more
sceptical
minds in the
prophetic
gifts, while the ardent and credulous fell
into
the opposite mistake,—the uncritical acceptance
of
anything that looked like prophecy. Our Lord
foretold
the coming of "false Christs and false pro-
phets,"
specious enough to deceive "the elect," at the
time
of the approaching judgement (Matt. 24. 11, 24).
His
predictions
days
of
complishment
of them at the close of the Apostolic
era. "The false prophet" figures
side by side with
"the
wild beast" in the visions of the Apocalypse,
representing,
as it would seem, religious imposture
abetting
a cruel and persecuting world-power. Elymas,
the
Jewish sorcerer at Paphos, was a specimen of
this
kind of trader in the supernatural (Acts 13. 6-8).
314 THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
In
the later Old Testament times such upstarts had been
numerous—men
claiming to speak in Jehovah's name
(in
some cases, doubtless, believing themselves inspired),
who
brought a more popular message than the true
prophets
and flattered rulers and people to their ruin.
This last feature reappears in
prophets:
"they are of the world"—animated by its
spirit
and tastes; "therefore speak they from the
world"—uttering
what it prompts and reflecting its
notions
and imaginings; "and the world listens to
them." For, as Jesus said, the world loves its
own—
the
world described in chap. 2. 16 as governed by
“the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the
vainglory of life.” It appears from this
that the
Antichristian
teachers who "had gone out from" the
Johannine
Churches (2. 19; comp. 4. 4), were enjoying
much
popularity. They were winning probably, for
the
time, more converts from heathenism than the
orthodox
Church; their doctrine, accommodated as it
was
to the philosophical taste of the age and blending
Pagan
with Christian ideas, supplied an agreeable sub-
stitute
for the simple and severe Apostolic faith.
Along with their worldly and
self-seeking temper, it
was
false doctrine, rather than spurious miracles or
lying
predictions, that furnished the chief mark of the
class
of men denounced by our Apostle. Their errors
sprang
from, or ran up into, an erroneous conception of
Jesus
Christ. For He is central to His religion; the
view
that men take of Him, and the attitude they
assume
towards Him, determine the trend of their
faith
and life. The question that our Lord put to the
Jewish
Rabbis, "What think ye of the Christ?" He
has
been propounding to every school of religious
thought
from that day forwards; by his response each
answerer
gives judgement on himself. So the Person
of
Christ becomes the "stone of stumbling and rock of
offence,"
or the "sure foundation-stone," to one genera-
tion
after another. As the tenor of this Epistle shows
—particularly
the language of chap. 2. 18-27 (comp.
THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS 315
p.
219)—the pivot of the controversy then shaking
the
Churches of Asia Minor and which was to disturb
them
for a hundred years to come, was found in the
nature of Jesus Christ--in His relationship to
God and
His
place in the order of being, in the compatibility of
His
bodily life with His birth from God, and in the
mode
of His redemption as determined by His nature.
The
authoritative answer to these questions the Apostle
John
is able to give, partly through his conversance
with
the Lord in the days of His flesh (1. 1-3), but partly
also
through the illumination of the Spirit of God, in
which
all those participate who have received the Apos-
tolic
message concerning Him (1. 3; 2. 20, 21, 27; 3. 21;
4.
6, 13; 5. 6). Whatever contradicts
"the Spirit of
truth"
operating in this testimony, the Apostle ascribes
to
"the spirit of Antichrist" (ver. 3).
these
profound problems (comp. p. 52). Subterfuge and
compromise
are alien from his nature: His intercourse
with
Christ, and his observation of the working of
Christ's
Spirit amongst men, have given him positive
facts
and definite experiences to stand upon; and he
will
not have these great actualities dissolved in the
mists
of Gnostical theory. To him "the Spirit of
truth"
and "the spirit of error" stand out sharply
opposed
as day and night. Christ and Antichrist, "He
who
is in" the
world,"
form oppugnant forces which admit of no
mixture
or middle term; white and black must not be
allowed
to shade off into each other and melt into a
neutral
tint. Christ—the whole, undivided Christ of
the
united Apostolic confession—or nothing, is
alternative.
1. The crucial test of Christian
belief lies, then, in the
true confession of
Christ Himself. "By this" the Apostle
bids
his readers "know1 the Spirit of God: every spirit
1 Ginw<skete must be read as
imperative in verse 2, in the strain of verse 1.
The
Apostle is not appealing to what his readers do know, but supplying
a
test by which they may or should know the true Spirit of God.
316 THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
which
confesseth Jesus Christ come in flesh, is of God
and
every spirit which confesseth not1 Jesus, is not of
God."
Examining the content of this terse
confession, we
observe,
first, that the participle "come" stands in the
Greek
perfect (e]lhluqo<ta), signifying determinate posi-
tion
or character: "confesseth . . . as One who came in
flesh
and who is what He is in virtue of His so coming."
The
phrase conveys the notion of a decisive, constitutive
advent—a
coming that marks an era and a settled order
of
things. In the second place, the predicate "come in
flesh"
speaks of One who has entered man's life from
elsewhere,
who arrives from a spiritual sphere outside
1 The Latin rendering qui solvit Jesum, which dissolveth (destroyeth)
Jesus, presents a critical
problem of extreme interest, both in textual and
doctrinal
history. Though o{ mh> o[mologei? stands in all the
extant Greek
codices,
earlier and later, o{ lu<ei to>n ]Ihsou?n is vouched for by Irenaeus and
Origen
(in Latin translations), by Tertullian, Lucifer, and Augustine.
The
patristic Socrates, in his Hist.
Ecclesiae, vii. 32, approves the read-
ing lu<ei, stating that "it had been so written in the old
copies," and
argues
from it against the Nestorians; he even asserts, on the testimony
of
"the old interpreters," that the disappearance of lu<ei from the current
text
was due to its depravation by heretics! This is strong evidence for
the
actuality of the Greek reading lu<ei; the other witnesses
might be all
of
them, possibly, accounted for by the Latin Version; but a Greek Father
like
Socrates—dealing, moreover, with an Eastern heresy—would hardly
have
spoken in the terms quoted, as Westcott suggests, about what he
supposed
to be a mere Latin rendering. Nor is it likely that the first
Latin
translators would have introduced this bold variant on their own
account.
Its internal character bespeaks for the reading in question an
Eastern
origin, on the battlefield of the Gnostic controversy. On the
other
hand, its un-Johannine turn of expression and the incongruity of the
verb dissolve with the single name Jesus (Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus,
were
"dissolved" by Gnostics into two beings), together with the array
of
external evidence for o{ mh> o[mo<logei?, sufficiently condemn
the reading of
Socrates,
which is in reality a typical "Western" paraphrase or gloss of
the
second century. It becomes more and more clear that the so-called
"Western"
text was Eastern in its provenance. The addition of the
clause
"come in flesh" to the negative sentence (so in T.R. and A.V.) is
not
strongly attested; this is an obvious completion of the parallelism.
The
article to<n before ]Ihsou?n is well-established, and gives point to the
shorter
reading: "Every spirit which does
not confess the Jesus" in
question—the Jesus of the Church's faith and the
Apostle's testimony.
THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS 317
of
"flesh" to participate in physical experience (comp.
Gal.
4. 4), One who—to use His own words as given in
John
16. 28 (comp. 3. 13, 6. 33, &c.)—"came down from
the
Father, and is come into the world." Other men
do
not "come in flesh," they
are "begotten of flesh"
(John
3. 6), and are, therefore, "of earth, earthy," while
He
is "from heaven" (1 Cor. 15. 47).
But further, the participial clause
of this testing
declaration
does not supply its whole predicate, and
"Jesus"
stands alone as the subject of confession in the
complementary
negative clause. To say that "Jesus
Christ
is come in flesh," merging the title in the proper
name,
would be to designate the Lord as "Jesus Christ"
before
His coming1—a theological anachronism which
"Jesus
Christ" now that He has come and because He
has
come. Our Lord's official designation had not by
this
date so far coalesced with His personal name, that
it
would be natural to read the two as a single subject
of
definition; it was still matter of controversy whether,
and
in what sense, "Jesus" is "Christ." The words
"Jesus
Christ," as here collocated, form a condensed
confession
by themselves—no longer in the primary
sense
of John 9. 22 (where "confessing Him as Christ"
meant
acknowledging the Jewish Messiahship of Jesus),
but
in the deeper signification now attaching to "Christ,"
upon
which the Gnostic controversies turned, as a term
connoting
Divine status or relationship synonymous
with
"the Word" and "the Son of God." Accordingly, to
confess
or deny "that Jesus is the Christ," or is "Christ
come
in flesh," was tantamount, for
1 Verses 10 and 14, like
Gal. 4. 4, represent "God," or "the Father,"
as
"sending the Son"; in John
1. 1-18 it is "the Word," or "Only-
begotten,"
who "became flesh." In the prayer of John 17. 1 "Jesus"
indeed
recalls His preincarnate "glory" and claims from the Father its
restoration,
but in the character of "thy Son"; and when in verse 3
"Jesus
Christ" appears—a combination exceptional and indeed anoma-
lous
in the Gospels—this expression describes Him whom the Father
"has
sent," who acquired this name by His mission,
as in the passage
above
by His coming.
318 THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
opponents,
to confessing or denying that Jesus is "the
Son,"
"the Son of God (for the equivalence, comp.
with
this passage 2. 18 and 22, 23, also 5. 5). "Jesus," as
we
take it, is the grammatical subject of the formula of
confession,
"Christ" and " come in flesh "being its suc-
cessive
appositional predicates: each word must be read
with
its distinct accent and emphasis—"Every spirit
that
confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh"—that
acknow-
ledges
the Divine origin and rights of Jesus, and His
advent
in this capacity into human bodily life—"is of
God." In the negative counter-statement (ver.
3),
the
entire creed is reduced to the word "Jesus"
(comp.
reading,
"the Jesus" who has just
been described.
The gloss put upon verse 3 by
second-century readers
—"dissolves"
for "confesses not" (p. 316)—was a just
paraphrase
of
xwri<zontej (dividers), who parted "Jesus Christ" into
two
beings—the earthly son of Mary and the heavenly
essence
joined to Him for a while, which, as many
supposed,
came upon Jesus spiritually at His baptism
to
quit Him on the cross. But "the Jesus" whom St
John
had known, was one from first to last—the Son
of
God born into the human state, who returned to the
Father
and lives for ever as the Lord Jesus Christ, the
same
yesterday and to-day.
is Lord (see 1 Cor. 12.
3)—belonged to the primary
stage
of conflict with the original Jewish unbelief. As
the
Nazarene was proclaimed God's Messiah, the spirit
of
evil cried out—and St Paul was often thus inter-
rupted
when preaching in the Synagogue—"Jesus is
anathema,—He is accursed of God,
and was justly
crucified;
He is the abhorred, and not the elect of
and
subtle kind of error, partly bred within the Church,
that
Messianic
attributes of Jesus are hardly in question;
THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS 319
He
would readily be acknowledged as the heir of
prophecy
and the king of
to
the Godhead and His rank in the spiritual realm are
in
dispute. "Jesus" and "Christ" were being separated
anew,
by metaphysical analysis instead of historical
distinction.
The prophets of Antichrist recoiled not
from
a crucified Messiah, but from a humanized
God.
misbelief
of his own sphere—to the spirit of Gnostical
speculation—as
spirit
of Jewish contumacy.
In both cases, Jesus Christ is the
storm-centre; the
battle
sways this way and that about the person of the
King.
Now at one point, now at another, "the spirit
of
error" assails His many-sided being. Every kind of
antipathy
that Christianity excites, in the modern as
in
the ancient world, impinges on our Lord's name and
person;
its shafts strike on the great shield of the
Captain
of Salvation, from whatever quarter they are
aimed.
Behind other problems of life and religion,
since
Christ has stepped into the arena, there always
emerges
this: "Whom do men say that I, the Son
of
man,
am?" "Dost thou believe on the
Son of God?"
This
is our Lord's accost to the world, and to each soul
He
meets; He gives this challenge distinctly to the age
in
which we live. It is a question that searches the
inmost
of the mind, and probes each man to the quick.
As
one thinks of Jesus Christ and feels towards Him,
so
in his very self he is.
"Herein," says
of
God." Sound knowledge in matters of
this kind is
based
upon spiritual facts and acquired by a spiritual
perception.
One may repeat the creed with reasoned
assent,
and yet come short of "confessing Jesus Christ."
The
apprehension of a person, not the acknowledge-
1 The testimony of John
the Baptist had been adopted at an early
date
in a small Jewish community of
evidence
of the persistence of this group of followers of the Baptist into
Post-apostolic
times.
320 THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
ment
of a dogma, is in requisition. To reach and lay
hold
of Christ in His living personality, requires an aid
above
intellect and nature. "No man can say Jesus
is
Lord," declared the
other theological Apostle, "except
in
the Holy Ghost" (1 Con 12. 3). "Blessed
art thou,
Simon
Bar-Jonah," exclaimed Jesus to His first con-
fessor;
"flesh and blood did not reveal it unto thee,
but
my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 16. 17). The
adoring,
self-surrendering faith in Jesus Christ, which
cries
out in His presence, "My Lord and my God!" is an
inspiration,
never a mere attainment; it is the gift of
God,
meeting the soul's effort and yearning toward
its
Redeemer. To this confession the individual witness,
along
with the whole living Body of Christ, is enabled
and
compelled by the Spirit "which we have from
God."
That Spirit is in fact the Supreme Confessor;
and
the proof of the Saviourship and Godhead of Jesus
rests
essentially upon the testimony of the Holy Ghost
to
the consciousness of the Church, and through the
Church
to the world at its successive epochs. "He
shall
testify
of me," said our Lord concerning the coming
Paraclete,
"and you also shall testify" (John 15. 26, 27).
2. There are two further and
supplementary tests
applied
by
first
of these—a criterion arising immediately from the
witness
of the Holy Spirit—is found in the
general
consent of Christian
believers.
The teaching the Apostle
denounces
was repudiated by the Church, while it found
large
acceptance outside—"the world heareth them"
(the
false prophets). The seductions of the spirit of
Antichrist
are "overcome" by the Apostle's "little
children,"
children though they be, because they are
born
"of God"; in them resides a Spirit "greater than"
that
which "is in the world." Plausible
as the new
doctrine
was, and powerful through its accord with
the
currents of the time, the readers of this letter, as
a
body, have already rejected it (comp. p. 223). They
felt
that it could not be true. They had broken through
the
network of error cast about them, and had flung
THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS 321
it
aside. The stronger spirit in themselves is proof
against
its strong delusions. They had received an
"anointing
from the Holy One," in virtue of which
they
"know the truth"; and they detect as by an
instinctive
sense the "lie" that counterfeits it (2. 20).
This test, one must admit, is
difficult to apply. The
orthodoxy
dominant in a particular Church, or at a
given
moment, may be something widely removed
from
the orthodoxy of the Holy Ghost. One must
survey
a sufficiently large area to get the consensus
of
Christian faith; and one must limit the Apostle's
maxim
to the central and primary truths of the Gospel,
to
the sort of principles that he had in view; it is
illegitimate
to extend it to questions such as that of
"the
three orders" in Church government or the refine-
ments
of the Quinquarticular controversy. As regards
catholic
doctrine of the Redeemer's Person shaped itself
from
the earliest times into authoritative form, and
has
been accepted by the Church in its several branches
with
overwhelming unanimity ever since. Here, above
all,
the concert of Christian testimony is clear and full;
each
succeeding generation has made its acknowledge-
ment
of God in Christ; and we can anticipate the
acclamation
which the Seer of the Apocalypse heard
arising
from all created things,--
"Unto
Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,
Be
the blessing and the honour, and the glory and the dominion,
For ever and ever!"
3. Verse 6 adds to the two previous
tests of the
true
and the false spirits a third, in which they are
combined,
viz. that of agreement with the Apostolic
testimony. "You are of God,"
his
readers in verse 4, while "they are of the world"
(ver.
5); now he continues, speaking for himself and his
brother
witnesses, who had "seen and handled the word
of
life" (1. 1-3), "We are of God, and men are shown to
be
of God or not of God by the fact of their hearing or
refusing
us."
Life
Eternal 22
322 THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
This was an immense assumption to
make—a piece of
boundless
arrogance, if it were not simple truth. Lofty
as
it is, the assumption has now the endorsement of
eighteen
centuries behind it. Men could hardly say less
for
themselves to whom the Son of God had testified,
"He
that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that
receiveth
me receiveth Him that sent me."
The claim which John the Apostle
makes in verse 6,
has
been appropriated by the Roman Pope, who asserts
himself
the successor of the Apostles as being the
occupier
of St Peter's Chair. Of its pronouncements,
therefore,
the Papacy dares to say, "He that is of
God,
heareth us; he that is not of God, heareth us not,
By
this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit
of
error." The history of the Roman decrees and
anathemas,
and the comparison of them with the word
of
God in Scripture, sufficiently expose this enormous
pretension.
The collection of the Bulls of the Bishops
of
a
melancholy exhibition of human ignorance, pride,
and
passion. Others beside the Romanists wrest to the
attestation
of their distinctive creeds this canon, which
belongs
only to the Apostolic word, and thus narrow
the
Pointing
to Conciliar decrees and patristic texts, or to
the
historical Confessions, they say, "Hereby know we
the
Spirit of truth and the spirit of error!" In
guarding
against such intolerance in others, one
needs
to beware lest the schismatic and anti-catholic
temper
be provoked in himself. Men have denounced
bigotry
with equal bigotry and matched shibboleth
against
shibboleth, till Christ has been pitifully divided
and
His seamless robe torn into shreds to serve for the
ensigns
of contending sects.
"He that knows God," in
the language of verse 6
(o[
ginw<skwn to>n qeo<n), is strictly "He who is getting to
know God"—the learner
about God, the true disciple.
Is
it not to the teaching of the New Testament that such
men,
all the world over, are irresistibly drawn, when
THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS 323
it
comes within their knowledge? They follow
its
sound,
they listen to the Gospels and the Epistles,
as
the eye follows the dawning light and the intent
ear
the breaking of sweet music and the famished
appetite
the scent of wholesome food. The soul that
seeks
God, from whatever distance, knows, when it
hears
the word of this salvation, that its quest is not
in
vain; it is getting what it wants! The
self-styled
"Vicar
of Jesus Christ" calls Christ's flock to obedience,
deeming
himself the universal bishop, of souls, and
men
"flee from him" on all hands as freedom and
intelligence
advance; his Allocutions sound as "the
voice
of a stranger," without the shepherd's accent.
But
they will hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and
of
those in whom the Spirit of His love and wisdom
speaks.
Peter and John and Paul may still say, to this
modern
age of vastly increased knowledge and keen
research,
"He that is of God heareth us!" We have
found
out nothing truer or deeper about God than that
which
these men have taught us; still "no other name
is
given amongst men, whereby we must be saved,"
than
the Name which they preached to mankind.
Reverence
for Jesus Christ's Apostles is to-day the
common
badge of earnest and religious souls.
"From this," then,
"we know,"—starting from this
test;
for the other criteria are reduced and traced
up
to this. Here is found their historical spring and
practical
resort. The Church's confession of her Lord,
and
the faith that carries this confession to victory
within
the heart and intellect of the individual believer,
both
of them originate from the witness given to their
fellows
by the chosen disciples of Jesus Christ, which
has
been set down for all time in the record of Scripture.
We
believe on Him, as Jesus said,
through their word
(John
17. 20). The spiritual consciousness of the
Church
is inseparable from its historical ground in
the
New Testament.
The spirit of the present age is
vaunting and over-
weening
in its judgements; it has high qualities, and is
324 THE TRIAL OF THE SPIRITS
charged
with mighty influences gathered from the past
But
it is mutable and fleeting, like the spirit of every
age
before it; there are things superior to its verdict,
and
that will not wither under its adverse breath. The
Eternal
Spirit spoke in the words of Jesus and His
witnesses;
the time-spirits, one after another, receive
sentence
from His mouth to whom all judgement
is
committed. The history of human thought is, in
effect,
a continued "trying of the spirits" as to "whether
they
are of God." The Gnosticism of St John's day,
which
attempted to weigh the Gospel and Christ and
the
Apostolic doctrine in its critical scales and to give
the
law to our Lord's Person, was in due time judged
at
His bar and passed into oblivion. Every subsequent
encounter
between the Spirit of Christ and of Anti-
christ
has had the like issue. Our Lord's incarnate
Godhead
is the test of every creed and system. His
word
is the stone of foundation on which "whoso
falleth
shall be broken to pieces," and that which is
built
standeth fast for ever.
THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
Solidarity
of Love in the Universe—Love of, not only from God—Love
the
"One Thing needful"—Lovelessness of Man—Love and other
Attributes
of the Godhead--The Incarnation the Outcome of God's
Fatherhood—
the
Son by the Father for Man's sake—The Conquests of God's
Father-love—Divine
Love "perfected" in Good Men—Thwarted in
Selfish
Men.
"Beloved, let us
love one another;
For
love is of God, and every one that loveth hath been begotten of God,
and knoweth God.
He
that doth not love, hath not known God; for God is love.
Herein was manifested the love of
God for us,
In
that God hath sent His Son, the Only-begotten, into the world,
To the end that we may live through
Him.
Herein is love:
Not in that we loved God, but in
that He loved us,
And sent His Son to be a
propitiation for our sins.
Beloved,
if God so loved us, we too are bound to love one another.
God no one hath at any time beheld:
If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us,
And His love, consummated, is in us.
Herein we know that we
abide in Him, and He in us,—
In that He hath given us of His
Spirit;
And we have beheld, and do bear
witness,
That
the Father hath sent the Son to be Saviour of the world."
1
JOHN 4. 7-14.
CHAPTER XX
THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
ALL
all
his appeals have one intent: "Beloved,
let
us
love one another." Heaven and
earth, nature and
grace,
the old times and the new, sound to his ears one
strain: "Little children, love one
another!" This is
the
gist of the Epistle, and formed the burden of the
aged
Apostle's ministry (see pp. 19, 195). Twice already
has
he enlarged on the command of love,—urging it
in
chap. 2. 7-11 as the law of a true life for man,
and
in chap. 3. 10-18 as the sign of a new birth from
God.1 He has now to ground these positions by
showing
that love is of the essence of God
Himself. The
pure
affection glowing in human hearts comes from
the
bosom of the Father; the spark of brotherly love
cherished
under the chills and obstructions of earthly
fellowship,
has been kindled from the fires that burn
everlastingly
in the being of the All-holy. The
solidarity
of love—our love one with that dwelling
in
the infinite God, all love centring in one Divine
communion
and commonwealth: this thought possesses
the
writer's mind for the rest of chapter 4. He holds
it
up as a jewel to the sun; each turn of expression,
like
another facet, flashes out some new ray of heavenly
light.
The paragraph before us is hortatory
and ethical
rather
than theological. The Apostle is commending
1 See Chaps. XI and XVII.
327
328 THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
love,
not defining or explaining God. To the three
tests
laid down in verses 1-6 of the true and false
spirits
abroad in the world, viz. the confession of the
incarnate
God in Christ, the verdict of the Christian
consciousness,
and the sentence of the Apostolic word
(see
Chap. XIX), a fourth is now virtually added.
Faith
in the incarnate, redeeming Son of God works
by
love, like no other power that has touched mankind;
by
this outcome Christian doctrine verifies itself and
vindicates
its origin. The spirit of love coincides with
"the
Spirit of truth" (ver. 60,--
"That mind and soul according
well,
May make one music."
Their
identity constitutes the reality of life. Here
the
Apostle John's inmost convictions are rooted—in
the
experience of the life hid with Christ in God.
"God
is light" at once and "love"; "grace and truth
came"—elements
one and indivisible—"through Jesus
Christ"
(John 1. 17). The best is always the truest
and
surest. At the core of the universe, in the inner-
most
substance of things, there is found a pure good-
will. Love furnishes, therefore, the practical
guarantee
of
religious truth: "He that loveth is
born of God,
and
knoweth God" (ver. 7). The two requirements
that
were prescribed to us in chap. 3. 23—"that we
should
believe the name of God's Son Jesus Christ"
(in
other words, should hold fast the truth about
Him),
and "should love another"—on which the fourth
chapter
turns, are complementary demands. The love
of
the Christian is born of and fed from his faith; his
faith
blossoms out and fructifies in his love.
Three main ideas respecting the love
revealed in
Christ
emerge from this section of the letter: love's
source
in the nature of God, love's
manifestation in the
mission
of Christ, and love's consummation in
the
Christian
brotherhood. These steps of thought are
marked
by the three leading sentences, "God is love,"
"He
sent His Son a propitiation," and "If we love
THE DIVINITY OF LOVE 329
one
another, His love hath been perfected in us." We
trace,
then, in the course of these verses the fountain,
the
stream, and the issue of redeeming love.
1. "Love is of God,"
"God is love" (vers. 7, 8). The
former
apophthegm bottoms itself upon the latter.
They
serve severally to justify the two assertions made
about
the lover of his brethren, "that he is begotten of
God"—his
new nature springs from the Eternal Fount
of
love; and that "he knows God"—since he knows
love,
and that is just what God is.
God sends us many blessings from
outside Himself;
"every
good gift is from above" (James 1. 17). Health
of
body, friendship and natural kindness, rain and sun-
shine,
flowers and springtide--these are from God,
being
His creatures bestowed on us. We cannot say,
without
a pantheistic confusion of ideas, that they are
of God, for God's own
nature is not in any or all of
such
bounties. Men enjoy them richly apart from the
Bestower;
they do not serve of themselves to bring
God
to the mind; it is by inference rather than
intuition
that we connect Him with them. It is other-
wise
with the "love" that
spiritual
gravitation drawing soul to soul, the profound
emotion
uniting the children of God which fills Christian
assemblies
and burns in the hearth-fires of the house-
hold
of faith. This flame is fanned by the breath of
the
Holy Spirit; its heat and life are drawn from no
other
source than the heart of the Eternal.
"Herein is love": here is
the sun which shines
through
all love's heavens, here the fountain-head from
which
its thousand streams derive; "herein have we
known
love" (3. 16). In this disclosure a clue to crea-
tion
is given us; the secret mind of God toward His
universe
comes to light, in the revelation of the Father
made
by Jesus Christ; for, as the Apostle teaches else-
where,
"all things were made through" Christ, the
eternal
Word and Will of the Father. The discovery
brings
peace; it gives to our souls the rest vainly
sought
elsewhere. The heart craves affection, as the
330 THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
understanding
craves knowledge. The poetry of the
human
race, the romantic flights of fancy, the delights
of
home, the sacrifices of friendship and patriotism, all
testify
to this deep hunger which springs up afresh
in
every young soul, to the immense capacity for love
in
our common nature. In callousness men
conceal,
or
beat down within them, this instinct; folly and
depravity
tempt them to slake the thirst at poisoned
springs,
or they "hew out for themselves broken
cisterns
that can hold no water." Their very sins point
to
the need and the capability for better things. At
the
bottom of our restless passions lies the aching of
the
human heart for the love of God. Through the
weary
generations the children of men have groped
and
famished for a perfect sympathy, for some endur-
ing
and adequate affection. It is found at last, and the
Apostle
shouts the great eureka, "Herein
is love!"
are
developed by deep shadows (comp. 3. 10-12). He
reminds
us where love is not, that we may better
realize
where indeed it is: "Not that we
loved God"
—if
there be love between ourselves and the Creator,
it
did not begin with us. In human affections it is
often
hard to tell upon whose part the attraction
commenced;
there is no difficulty in deciding here.
We
ought to have loved God; we were made for this.
We
could love; many objects won and held our regard,
while
the heart was cold toward its Maker. We
feared
Him and worshipped Him from a distance—
the
Unknown and Undesired; we did not love
Him.
Thus many of
must
confess. The things we hankered for and
dreamed
over, the prizes that glittered in our eyes
—alas,
God was not in them; we desired, we admired
everything,
anything, rather than Him who is the
centre
and glory of all. From the Father of spirits
love
originates, not from His erring children. The
heart
of man—selfish, vain, impure—could never have
given
birth to aught that resembles the gospel of Jesus
THE DIVINITY OF LOVE 331
Christ.
God "loved us when we were dead in tres-
passes
and sins," and "reconciled us to Himself when
we
were enemies " (Rom. 5. 8, 10). He loved us then,
as
Jesus saw; for His rain moistened our fields, His
sun
shone along our pathway; His Spirit gave strength
to
our frame and light to our reason, even while we
used
strength and reason against the Giver. On His
part
forbearance, pity, forgiveness, love—a goodness
ever
leading to repentance; on man's part coldness,
pride,
unbelief rebellion the carnal mind "that" is
enmity
against God" (
We spoke just now of love as being a
necessity for
man,
a demand supplied by the Gospel of Christ. But
this
is a one-sided view; such modes of statement put
ourselves
in the first place rather than God. The
Gospel
was in truth a necessity for God's own love.
"God
is love," and love must bless. It is a communica-
tive
principle, and looks for reciprocity; it consumes
the
heart till it finds vent. The Gospel of Jesus Christ
is
nothing else than God's love taking voice and shape,
God's
love rending the veil and looking forth. Long
time
had it refrained itself: now it will be
held back no
longer;
it will stop at no sacrifice, and be affronted by
no
rejection; at any cost the Father's love must win
back
man's rebel heart and save the doomed race. One
is
overwhelmed to think of the infinite depth and force,
the
awful passion and the iron restraints, of that love
for
man in the being of the Almighty which sent His
Son
upon the work of redemption.
In asserting that "God is
love," the Apostle does not
mean
that He is love and nothing more; this attribute
does
not make up the sum of the Infinite (see p. 98).
Other
predicates hold equally of Him; God is
reason,
God is will, God is
conscience, is righteousness. When
"Jesus
Christ the righteous" was said, in dying, to
have
been "a propitiation for our sins" (ver. 10; 2. 2),
this
implied, unless
i[lasmo<j from its accepted
meaning, a high and just
resentment
in God against transgression, beside the
332 THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
love
He bears to the transgressors (see pp. 120-129).
But
when we ascribe to the Supreme those other
attributes,
we do it with a certain reservation or even
misgiving,
and remembering that His thoughts are not
our
thoughts. We feel the danger of limiting the
Godhead
in the directions indicated, by our defective
finite
categories. When we say "God is love," we
declare
a truth the hardest of all to believe, but a
truth
that, once realized, can be believed utterly and
brings
with it none of the embarrassment attaching
to
other definitions. For love (a]ga<ph)—that is, self-
devotion
to other rational and moral beings, a pure
good-will
that goes out to all whom it can reach—
is
a notion simple and complete, and capable of
indefinite
expansion. It posits only a universe of
personal
being, and a mind that can embrace the
whole.
In love the contradictions of finite and infinite
vanish.
In its purity, love is the same in man and in
God—in
the drop and in the ocean; the compatibility
of
the Divine with the human in Jesus Christ raises
no
difficulty on this point. It is love that makes
the
union of the two natures in one person conceivable,
and
meets the problems of the incarnation. This, then,
is
the focus of the Christian revelation of God; around
it
all the lights play, all the forces work; about this
centre
the ideas and images of the New Testament
group
themselves and take their measure and com-
plexion.
When we are taught that "God is light"
(1.
5), this of course means more than love; but it
does
signify love in the first instance. Love is the
ground-colour
of the New Testament picture of God;
other
attributes blend with this and melt themselves,
as
one may say, into love to make the perfect
splendour
of the Godhead.
2. This chief glory of God was
veiled from men until
Christ
came: "In this was manifested the love of
God—in
that He sent His Son."
In our Lord's person there shone,
according to
THE DIVINITY OF LOVE 333
begotten
from the Father (John 1. 14)—of One reflect-
ing
by immediate derivation and in unshared fulness
the
being of the Eternal; and love was the glory of
His
glory. No other religion gained more than glimpses
of
this mystery. Judaism was taught the righteousness
of
God; Greek thought apprehended Him as wisdom;
modern
science posits God as force; Jesus
Christ
displays
Him as love—not denying nor ignoring
other
aspects
of the Divine, but centring and co-ordinating
them
in this. The perfect glory of the invisible God
is
seen only where
Jesus
Christ" (2 Cor. 4. 6).
There are three statements in this
paragraph about
the
love of God which was displayed in the mission
of
Jesus Christ: first, "God has sent His Son, the
Only-begotten,
into the world, that we might live
through
Him"; secondly, "He sent His Son a pro-
pitiation
for our sins"; thirdly, "the Father has sent
the
Son as Saviour of the world." The
first sentence
declares
the design of Christ's incarnation; the second
the
fact of Christ's atonement. The second makes
a
climax to the first: in the sending of the Only-
begotten
love "was manifested" (ver.
9); but the
Apostle
writes "Herein is love," when he points to the
sending
of the Son as "a propitiation for our sins"
(ver.
10). The broad and final issue of both, as ac-
knowledged
in the faith of the Church, is declared in
verse
14, assuring us that not "we" alone, but "the
world"
is the object of the mission of the Son of God.
The
sacrifice of the Cross forms the crowning moment
of
the manifestation; "God was in
Christ," wrote
Himself.” The entire scope of the manifestation—a
human
incarnation and a world-atonement—is embraced
in
the great saying of John 3. 16, "God so loved the
world
that He gave His Son, the Only-begotten, that
whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish, but
have
eternal life."
(1) Every syllable in verse 9 is
charged with meaning.
334 THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
His Son God has sent—no
servant, or created angel—
but
the Only One, His perfect image, the object of His
unmeasured
love, His other self. Hath sent (a]pe<stalken)
—no
transient, but a permanent commission; the
coming
of Christ is a historic fact, but it is also an
enduring
power, a fixed and effectual certainty; in
going
away, the Lord Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you
always!" Into
the world—that means, with
the
present evil world, the enemy's country ruled by
"the
prince of the world," who sits in possession as a
"strong
man armed," to be overpowered only at the
cost
of death (see Chap. XIII). That we might
live
(zh<swmen, come to life) through Him—for
without Christ
our
life was mere guilt and death.
We must venture on the comparison
which the
Apostle's
words plainly imply—"the Father sent the
Son"; our Lord taught
us to read the paternal heart
of
God by the affections that move in ourselves,
though
evil, toward our children. We know perhaps
what
it costs a father or mother to let the heart's
child
go at the call of duty and for the love of souls
into
some perilous climate, to a life of manifold hard-
ship
and disgust. Some parents refuse the sacrifice;
they
are not "imitators of God." Are
we not to under-
stand
that there was a real surrender and a parting,
in
some sense, on the side of God—an eclipse of "the
brightness
of the Father's glory," an impoverishment
of
heaven--when the Only-begotten "went into the
world?" When the eternal Son took on Himself the
nature
of flesh and blood and shut Himself within
its
walls, when He submitted to the infirmities and
temptations
of frail, suffering humanity—when He
thus
"came forth from the Father and came into the
world"—if
words mean anything, and if it be permitted
us
to think in any positive way about the relations
of
the incarnate Son to the Godhead, there was a
veritable
yielding and putting Himself to cost on the
part
of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; He
"spared
not His own Son, but gave Him up for
us all"
THE DIVINITY OF LOVE 335
(
if
you like, it is speaking war kat ] a@nqrwpon; but the incarna-
tion
is itself a mighty utterance of God in human
terms,
and we cannot conceive of the Eternal to
definite
purpose in any other fashion, nor except on
the
assumption that our nature by all that is deepest
and
best in it mirrors the Divine.
(2) If this had been all and the
sacrifice had stopped
at
the incarnation, how signal a proof of God's love
to
mankind, that "He has sent His only Son into the
world"
to give us life through Him! But there is
more—wonder
succeeding wonder, the birth in Beth-
lehem,
the life at
and
teaching, followed by the death of
incarnation
culminating in the atonement: God "sent
His
Son to be a propitiation for our sins." "Herein
is
love," here the conclusive evidence that "God
loved
us" who "had not loved Him" (ver. 10). The
Only-begotten
of the Father steps down at the Father's
behest
from the throne of heaven to the life of an
afflicted
and despised man,—downward again at the
same
command to crucifixion and the grave (see His
words
in John 10. 18). The Divine Teacher and Master
of
men becomes their sin-bearer; "the Good Shepherd"
must
fulfil His shepherding by "giving His life for
the
sheep."
The Church makes much of the love of Jesus in all
this.
Perhaps she does not always please Him in the
manner
of her praise. Our gratitude should not stop
short
at Jesus Christ. He was jealous upon this point,
wishful
above everything that men should recognize
the love of the Father. "I came," He
always said, "not
to
do a will of mine, but the will of Him that sent me"
(John
6. 38, &c.); Christ would not allow us to regard
Him
as our Saviour in distinction from God, but
only
as acting for God, with God the Father im-
pelling
and approving Him. Jesus Christ is the full
and
proportioned image of the invisible God. Our sins
are
no less intolerable to the Son than to the Father.
336 THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
This
repugnance caused the constant distress of His
life;
it gave the sting to His death, that He should be
"numbered
with the transgressors." On the other
hand,
the pity that the Lord Jesus felt for human
suffering,
and the delight He had in saving sinners,
came
from the bosom of the Father. His heart was
full
of the love that sent Him.
Shall we not think, then, with a
trembling amaze-
ment
of the love of God to our race, which carried out,
as
it had prepared, the awful sacrifice? The Father
heard
the Son of His love when He cried in agony,
"If
it be possible, let this cup pass"--and He did not
take
it away. The Almighty Father saw Him, the
Well-beloved
in whom there was no spot of blame,
led
as a lamb to the slaughter; saw Him stretched
out
with naked limbs and nailed upon His cross and
lifted
up before the mocking crowd, and hanging in His
blood
for those long hours, insulted, tortured, aban-
doned,
till the Patient One must cry, "My God, why
hast
Thou forsaken me?" and still no hand reached
forth
to save, no arrows of vengeance launched against
the
murderers of the Son of God; the dreadful scene
went
on undisturbed to its close, till the Sufferer
Himself
should say "It is finished." God would not
save
His Son, until that Son had saved us.
All this the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ
witnessed
and (must we not say?) endured; the whole
event
was, in fact, controlled by His determinate
counsel
and foreknowledge. God is not glorified by
the
crediting of Him with an infinite stoicism, an
"impassivity"
that makes no response to the delight
or
anguish of His universe. Not so does Jesus teach us,
when
he tells that "there is joy in the presence of
the
angels of God over one sinner that repenteth!"
The
love we ascribe to the Father as His highest praise
would
mean nothing intelligible to us, if we were to
suppose
that the experience of the Only-begotten
left
it unaffected, that the distress of our Lord cast
no
shadow on the bliss of heaven and sent no thrill
THE DIVINITY OF LOVE 337
of
sympathetic pain to the heart of the Divine, which is
for
ever one in Son and Father.
"God commendeth His own love to us," says
"in
that Christ died for us" (
lies
in the cost of the sacrifice to Him who "spared
not
His own Son." Granting Jesus Christ to be the
very
Son of God, here on the Father's business and
under
His direction, no other explanation of the event
of
His death is possible. From love to men and with
the
purpose of redeeming them from sin, God sent His
Son
to suffer and die, and contemplated the sacrifice
from
eternity. Indeed, our Lord seems to say that God
loved Him for this very reason—not for His
own sake
merely,
but for His devotion to us: "Therefore doth the
Father
love me, because I lay down my life" (John 10.
17).
as
in the cross of his Lord, because the propitiation
that
it makes for sin displays the love of God in its
uttermost
reach, and reveals a grace that overmatches
man's
abounding guilt. When one knows this love,
he
knows God. The universe has no greater secret
to
tell him; heaven and eternity will be but the un-
folding
of "the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our
Lord."
Now this manifestation has proved no
idle display,
no
spectacle for mere wonder and delight, but a
transforming
energy—a light to lighten the nations,
a
leaven to leaven the lump of humanity. The revela-
tion
of God in Christ and His cross has prevailed
against
bitter estrangement and determined unbelief
and
rooted antipathy; it has reached the conscience
of
the world, it has gone to the heart of mankind.
Witnesses
to the long succession of the Gospel's
triumphs
through the centuries since the Apostolic
age,
we adopt with a richer meaning than his own
that
the Father hath sent the Son as Saviour of the
world"
(ver. 14). "I saw, and lo, a great
multitude,"
cries
the Seer of the Apocalypse, "which none could
Life
Eternal 23
338 THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
number,
out of every nation, and of all tribes and
peoples
and tongues, standing before the throne and
before
the Lamb; and they cry with a loud voice, say-
ing,
Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the throne,
and
to the Lamb!" (Rev. 7. 9, 10). What
the
spirit of prophecy, is becoming accomplished fact.
The
manifestation of God's love in the offering of
it
will be recognized by the reverent and grateful spirit
of
mankind.
3. The unique thought of the
paragraph lies, however,
in
verses 11 and 12, in the conception here given of the
effect
of God's love upon men, culminating in the daring
words,
"His love hath been perfected in us,"
or (to
render
the sentence more exactly) "exists in us,—a
love
made perfect."
The Divine love, when first
manifested, found us
dead,
for God "sent His Son into the world, that we
might
come to life through Him" (ver. 9); it found us
loveless. When the Apostle goes
on to say (in ver. 10),
"It
was not that we loved God," there is a sad litotes
here;
as
enmity
against God," "we were living in malice and
envy,
hateful, hating one another" (
and
is
to "have passed out of death into life" (3. 14). Life,
in
the Christian sense, subsists by love and knows itself
in
the consciousness of love. Now the love Divine
came
in Jesus Christ to communicate itself, to form
itself
in us; so, to use His own words, "He came that
we
might have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10.
10).
of
their abounding brotherly love are rich possessors
of
the new life which touched the world in Christ.
When the Apostle writes, "If
God so loved us, we
ought
also to love one another," what is his argument?
where
does the obligation lie? Does he mean,
"We
must
pay the great Lover back in kind; we must love
the
children for the Father's sake"? It
is a loftier and
THE DIVINITY OF LOVE 339
directer
appeal that he really makes; the logic is that
of
imitation, not of bare gratitude: "Being God's chil-
dren
(3. 1) and knowing His love in Christ (see ver. 16),
we
must be like Him; the Father's own love to men
beats
in our breast; for He is in us, He has given us
of
His Spirit" (vers. 13, 16). We are reminded of the
saying
of Jesus, which extends this superhuman affec-
tion
to infinite lengths, "Love ye your enemies, that
ye
may be children of your Father who is in heaven.
Ye
shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"
(Matt.
5. 45-48); and of
imitators
of God as beloved children, and walk in love
as
Christ also loved us." "Who was I?" says St Peter
in
justifying before strait-laced Jewish believers his
consorting
with Gentiles in the house of Cornelius-
"was
I able to withstand God?" (Acts 11. 17). Since
He
has called these aliens into His household and
bestowed
on them His Spirit, "giving them the like
gift
as to us," His love to them may not be gainsaid;
we
must give it free course. This man or that may
be
antipathetic to myself, his temper averse from mine,
his
style and habits of mind uncongenial,—naturally,
I
should mislike and avoid him; but God loves and
owns
the man—how can I oppose His gracious will or
despise
what God esteems? This is the argument that
beats
down pride, and makes coldness of heart amongst
Christians
a mean and miserable thing.
But, in the Apostle's sense of the
matter, there is
something
deeper than imitation in this conforming
of
human love to the Divine; God's own Father-love
is
in the brother-love of His children, and is
consum-
mated in theirs,--teteleiwme<nh
e]n h[mi?n e]stin.
The eternal
love
that sent Christ on His errand, attains its full
sway
and development, and realizes itself to perfection,
only
when men love one another in Christ's fashion.
"For
God can do nothing greater in His love than to
realize
in us His innermost nature, which is love, and so
to
make within us His fixed dwelling-place" (B. Weiss).
Till
we are brought to this, till perfect love has cast
340 THE DIVINITY OF LOVE
out
in God's children all bitterness, meanness, self-will
and
self-seeking, the love of the Father finds itself
wanting
and imperfect, since it misses its due effect
and
full display, and is robbed of its crown of beauty.
Despite
its grand revelation in the person and the
cross
of Christ, the infinite love of God still manifests
itself
to the world a maimed and half-impotent thing,
because
of the sour spirit, the envious and contentious
temper,
of so many of those who represent it to their
fellows.
As Christ the Author of faith "could not
do
many mighty works" where unbelief stood in His
way,
so God the Father of love cannot be known in
His
proper character nor accomplish His perfect work,
where
His human instruments are flawed with sin
and
His witnesses by their lovelessness gainsay love's
message
sent through them.
"The name of God is blasphemed
because of you,"
said
"because
of you the love of God is denied," he would
have
said to unlovely Christians. They thwart the
love
of the Almighty. They reduce it, so far as in
them
lies, to a broken force, a great endeavour that
has
failed to reach its mark. Happy is it for the man
from
whose heart and life all obstruction to the good
pleasure
of God's saving will has passed away; "in
him
verily is the love of God perfected."
SALVATION BY LOVE
love
Him for sending His Son—Chilling Effect of a Minimizing
Christology—Faith
reproduces the Love it apprehends—Love removes
Fear
of Judgement—Confidence of the Christ-like—Fear a Salutary
Punishment—Learning
Love from God--The Lie of loving God alone—
Orthodoxy
without Charity—God no Monopolist.
"Whosoever should confess that
Jesus is the Son of God,
God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
And
we have come to know, and have believed, the love that God hath
in regard to us.
God is love;
And
he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.
Herein
hath love been perfected in us, that we may have confidence in
the day of judgement,
Because as That Other is, so we also
are in this world.
There
is no fear in love, but the perfect love driveth out fear;
Because fear hath punishment, but he
that feareth hath not been
perfected in love.
We love, because He
first loved us.
If
any one should say, "I love God," and hate his brother, he is a liar;
For he that doth not love his
brother, whom he hath seen,
Cannot love God, whom he hath not
seen.
And this commandment we
have from Him,
That he who loveth God, should love
also his brother."
1
JOHN 4. 15-21.
CHAPTER XXI
SALVATION BY LOVE
VERSES
7-21 of this chapter form the longest
paragraph
in the Epistle. There is no inter-
ruption
in the current of thought, and our sectional
division
at this point may appear artificial.
is
pursuing the same theme—to him a never-ceasing
wonder
and entrancement—the thought of the eternal
Father's
love, that flows through Christ into human
souls
and draws them into blissful union with itself
and
with each other. To think that "God so loved
the
world!" We traced redeeming love,
in verses 7-14,
from
its source in the being of God to its consummation
in
the brotherhood of the Church. It seems as though
there
were nothing more to be said upon this line;
when
the Apostle has shown that "the love of God has
been
perfected" in Christian men who are true to their
calling
(ver. 12), and that by such manifestation of God's
goodness
made in their lives they are assured of His
indwelling
(ver. 13) and verify to the world the truth
of
the Redeemer's mission (ver. 14), the Apostle has
surely
exhausted the subject; he has said the last
possible
word upon it. There is, in fact, scarcely a
single
new word, or new item of thought, in the last
seven
verses of the chapter. These sentences are for
the
most part a rehearsal of ideas that we have already
met
in the letter; but the combination gives them fresh
import
and significance. They are brought into rela-
tion
with the love manifest in the character of Jesus,
343
344 SALVATION BY LOVE
where
all Christian truth is focussed by
are
thus made to shine with new light, and to yield
applications
not apparent before.
The ideas of this section are
accessory and supple-
mental
to the governing conception of the last section;
it
is difficult to present them in a clear analysis. The
teaching
of verses 15-21 may be reduced, however, to
the
following topics: the connexion of Christian love
and
faith (vers. 15, 16), the relation of love to judgement
(vers.
17, 18), the identity of love to God and love to
men
(vers. 19-21); in other words, love lives
by faith,
love casts out fear,
love unites God and man within one
breast.
1. The conception that we have just
elicited from
verses
15 and 16 is only apparent upon reading these
sentences
in the light of the earlier context. At the
end
of chapter 3, as we remember (pp. 306, 307), St
John
laid down two things as the tokens of a genuine
Christianity--"that
we should believe the name of the
Son
of God, and that we should love one another." The
false
teachers of the day were discredited upon both
points:
they did not believe what this name affirms
—that Jesus and Christ are one, and that He is
the
Son of God; and they were wanting in brotherly
love
and practical benevolence. At the same time,
the
Gnostics assumed to be “dwelling in God,” to be
spiritually
united with the Deity, in a manner beyond
that
of ordinary Christian believers, by virtue of their
deeper
knowledge of God's being. The Apostle, there-
fore,
brought to bear upon their pretensions a two-fold
test:
in the first paragraph of chapter 14 (vers. 1-6) he
applied
to the spirit of error the touchstone of a sound
faith
in the person of Christ; and in the second para-
graph,
which we last discussed, he opposed to it the law
of
Divine love operative in the mission of Christ. Now
he
proceeds to draw these two principles together, and
he
finds that they are one. Verses 1-6 and verses 7-14
are
fused together and brought to a single point in
verses
15, 16. To say that "if any one confesses that
SALVATION BY LOVE 345
Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, God dwells in him," is
to
reaffirm in experimental language what was declared
more
abstractly in verse 2, that "every spirit which
confesseth
Jesus Christ as come in flesh is of God";
the
same criterion was given, for the detecting of Anti-
christ,
in chap. 2. 22, 23; once more this challenge
will
ring out (chap. 5. 1) in the words, "Every one
that
believes that Jesus is the Christ, has been begotten
of
God."
But why should the assertion of the
Godhead of Christ
be
made just here? how does the confession of this
determine
God's dwelling in men? "That Jesus
is the
Son
of God" is a theological dogma, a metaphysical
article
of the creed: what has this to do with ethical
Christianity?
Much every way. The great doctrinal
affirmation
of verse 15 comes in between the state-
ments
of experimental religion made in verses 14 and 16,
and
is the link connecting them; it supplies the key
to
them both. "We (h[mei?j)," the Apostle
writes in
verse
14, opposing himself and his readers to men who
profess
a different doctrine—"we have
beheld and do
bear
witness that the Father hath sent the Son as
Saviour
of the world" (ver. 14); and again, with the
same
emphasis, "We (h[mei?j)"—not those
others—"have
known
and have believed the love that God hath toward
us."
For it is those only who discern in Jesus the Son
of
God, who see in His coming the mission of the Son
sent
by the Father for the world's
salvation, who appre-
hend
the scope of the Christian redemption and can
testify
with effect thereto; to others it must seem a lesser
and
lower thing. Understanding as these do—as they
alone
can do—the transcendent greatness of the Saviour
and
His infinite preciousness to God, they realize the love
of
God which gave Him to the world. The man who
gives
this testimony is of the Father's mind concern-
ing
Christ; he has heard the Voice which said from
heaven,
"This is my Son, in whom I am well-pleased";
he
is one with God in regard to Jesus Christ and the
purposes
of grace disclosed in Him. So "God dwells in"
346 SALVATION BY LOVE
the
confessor of this truth and he "dwells in God," since
the
Father who sent His Son, and the believing soul
that
receives Him, have come to agreement about Him
and
are at peace in Him (p. 91). The acknowledgement
of
the Divinity of Christ is necessary for a proper sense
of
the love of God. It was no inferior messenger, no
creature-angel,
no effluence or emanation, or single ray
of
His glory out of many; it was the Only-begotten,
"the
fulness of the Godhead," the Word that was God
with
God in the beginning, whom "God sent into the
world,
that we might live through Him." By
the
Divine
glory of Christ we estimate the love of the God
who
gave Him to our race. The largeness of His salva-
tion
is measured by the majesty of the Saviour's person.
Any
theory, whether of the ancient Gnostic or the
modern
Unitarian type, which makes Christ's nature
less
than Divine, makes God's love less than perfect
in
the same proportion. The theology which robs
Christ
of His Godhead, robs God of the glory of His
love,
and robs man of the one belief that generates
a
perfect love within him. To weaken faith is to
deaden
love. Faith in the Divine Sonship and mission
of
Jesus Christ is the channel along which God's
redeeming
love is flowing into the world. Obstruct
that
channel, and you arrest the work of salvation;
you
impoverish the world of the love of God, which
beats
with all its strength in the hearts of those who
know
God's own Son for their Saviour.
Faith begets love in the children of
God, because it is
faith
in love: "we have known and have believed the
love1 that God has in us." Faith's issue is love, for its
1 [Hmei?j e]gnw<kamen kai>
pepisteu<kamen th>n a]ga<phn k.t.l. (ver. 16). "The
two
verbs form a compound verb, in which the idea of belief qualifies
and
explains what is, in this case, the primary and predominant idea of
knowledge" (Westcott),
repeated from verse 14. This accounts for the
accusative
following pepisteu<kamen, under the regimen of the dominant
e]gnw<kamen; otherwise, pisteu<w, with the accusative
means to "entrust."
The
perfect tense indicates the settled, effective character of the faith
signified.
On the form e@gnwka, see p. 139. The expression "the
love
which
God hath in us" (e]n h[mi?n)—not "for
us," "toward us" (h[mi?n, u[pe>r
SALVATION BY LOVE 347
object
is love; it lays hold of the love that is in God,
and
reproduces that love in its own working. Faith is
the
channel by which God's love imparts itself and finds
passage
through the world, pouring from heart to heart.
Faith
is the gaze by which, as men look on the Divine
glory
in the face of Jesus Christ, they are "transformed
into
the same image" (2 Cor. 3. 18). We understand
therefore
how the Apostle can say in the two succeeding
verses
(15 and 16), using identical terms but reversing
the
order of the clauses, first, that "God dwells in him
and
he in God," who "confesses Jesus as God's Son";
then,
that "he dwells in God and God in him," who
"dwells
in love." For thus to confess Jesus is to realize
God's
love to men; and he who realizes God's love in
this
way becomes possessed by it, and is thus, in effect,
possessed
by God Himself. He "dwells in love" as one
surrounded
by its atmosphere, bathed in its light—and
so
"dwells in God"; his soul is filled with its fragrance,
inspired
by its effluence, swayed by its motions—and so
"God
dwells in him."
For "God is love." A second time this equation is
made;
it is repeated in verse 16 from verse 8. This is
the
watchword of the Apostle John; it is not the whole
message
of his Gospel (see p. 331), but it is the distinc-
tive
note of it; in these three words lies all that he
has
most at heart to say. God the Father has put His
very
self into the gift of Jesus Christ, sending His Son
from
His bosom; and such a gift demonstrates, as no
other
boon could, that He is love toward
man. Had
the
Eternal spent on saving man the whole finite
creation,
this would have cost little, and proved but
little
in the way of love, compared to the sacrifice of
the
Only-begotten. Thus in verses 15 and 16 the
Apostle
finds in the Divine Sonship of Jesus, the world's
Saviour,
the evidence that "God is love," as in verse 8
he
found in the answering love of the believer the sign
h[mw?n, or pro>j or ei]j
h[ma?j)—points
to Christian believers as those in whom
God's
love is lodged, invested; in whom it finds its sphere and the object
on
which it rests; comp. verse 12 (pp. 339, 340).
348 SALVATION BY LOVE
that
he has received this evidence and knows God
as
love. Jesus Christ, coming from the open heart of
the
Godhead, reveals the love that burns there; and
men
who catch the flame from Him, kindle its fire
all
through the world.
2. From the dwelling-place of the
soul in God, the
Apostle
looks on toward "the day of judgement" and
the
fears that it excites (vers. 17, 18). More than once
he
has directed our thoughts this way. In chap. 2. 28
he
urged the readers to "abide in God, that if Christ
should
be manifested, we may have confidence and not
be
ashamed before Him at His coming." This
antici-
pation
lay behind the words of chap. 3. 3, "Every
one
who
has this hope set on Him, purifies himself as He
(Christ)
is pure"; and of verse 19 in the same chapter,
"Herein
we shall know that we are of the truth, and
shall
assure our hearts before Him." In the self-
accusation
of the heart wanting in brotherly love, that
was
intimated in verses 20, 21 following the sentence
last
quoted, we felt a foreshadowing of the condemna-
tion
awaiting uncharitable Christian professors at their
Master's
judgement-seat (see vers. 14-18 of chap. 3, and
Chap.
XVIII above; comp. Matt. 25. 31-46).
It is incorrect to say that
Parousia
and has no place in his doctrine for the Judge-
ment-day,
on which other New Testament teachers
insist.
To him, as truly as to St Matthew or
"the
coming of the Lord" is the supreme crisis for the
soul
and for the Church. All human character and
doings
await the ultimate sentence of "that day"; in
which
will not approve themselves in the final test.
"Confidence1 in the day of judgement" (ver. 17) is a
mode
in which
self
the end of the Christian life; this is the future
aspect
and outcome of "perfect love"; it is the crown
of
blessing awaiting those who "are as Jesus is in this
world"
(comp. pp. 67, 68, and 231-235).
1 For parrhsi<a, the
"confidence" already spoken of in chap. 2. 28 and
again
in 5. 14, see note to p. 235.
SALVATION BY LOVE 349
"Herein hath love been
perfected with us"—that is,
with
those who hold the confession of Jesus Christ,
who
have this faith about Him and enter into the truth
that
He is the Son of God, allowing it to take effect
upon
them.
other
quarters; love gets full play and reaches its
height
only amongst those of whom he has spoken in
the
sentences foregoing,—the men who "love one
another"
in the consciousness that "God dwells in
them"
through the mediation of His Son, who see
Christ
in their fellows, and God in Christ. He assures
his
readers that the Divine love which has thus far
attained
its purpose and realized itself in their case,
will
bear them on to the final goal. "The
love of
God
poured out in their hearts" and wrought out in
their
lives will sustain their hope (comp. Rom. 5. 5 ff.)
and
vindicate them before the Judgement-seat. The
"confidence"
thus inspired—the boldest and loftiest the
human
spirit can entertain—rests on a ground of
present
fact; it is no abstract theological inference,
but
is warranted by the change already effected in the
life
of Christian believers: "because as He1 is, so also
are
we in this world."
Now what is He?—"Jesus Christ
the righteous" (2, 2,
3.
7), the "pure" (3. 3); "Jesus Christ come in flesh"
(4.
2); "the Lamb of God that takes away the world's
sin,"
in whom "there is no sin" (3. 5),—the clear, radiant
embodiment
of the love and holiness of God in human
form.
And the Apostle who wrote this knew, in all
humility,
that "in this world" which has "the Evil One"
for
its lord, with its "many antichrists," amid a society
full
of unrighteousness, uncleanness, and lovelessness,
he
and his companions mirrored in themselves the glory
of
Christ who is the image of God; they reproduced
the
character of their Master, and maintained the
Christian
ideal unimpaired. Having this consciousness
of
unbroken fellowship with the Lord and unqualified
loyalty
to Him, it was impossible for him to feel any
1 ]Ekei?noj, i.e. the historical Jesus, comp. pp. 134,
249.
350 SALVATION BY LOVE
misgiving
in regard to the coming judgement, or to dread
the
sentence which Christ's lips may then pronounce.
We may falter in the appropriation
of
words;
but we must not minimize the emphasis with
which
he used them. Till we can adopt this testimony,
till
our faith in Christ is so complete that it brings us a
full
revelation of the love of God and in consequence
a
full conformity thereto, till we possess
"A heart in every thought
renewed,
And full of love Divine,"
there
must remain a lingering of condemnation, a rem-
nant
of fear; "he that feareth hath not been perfected
in
love"—his fear goes to prove this.
And this "fear,"1 as
ment." The premonition of judgement falling
upon
hearts
that must condemn themselves for defects in
love
and for disobedience to the law of Christ (comp.
3.
18-21), the presentiment of the conscience that it
may
go ill with us on such accounts when we stand
before
our Lord at the last, is a chastening that should
both
humble and alarm the soul. This is no "torment"
(as
the older Version misrendered the Greek noun); it
is
a tender, gracious "punishment," under the infliction
of
which, as
"we
are chastened by the Lord, so that we may not be
condemned
with the world" (1 Cor. 11. 32).
word
for "punishment" in verse 18 (ko<lasij) is found in
the
New Testament but once besides,—where our Lord
speaks
of the "eternal punishment" (ko<lasij
ai]w<nioj)
that
is to fall at the end on those banished from "the
kingdom
prepared" for "the blessed children of His
Father." Heartlessness is the crime that incurs this
doom,
according to Christ's prophetic words (Matt. 25.
1 [O fo<boj, with the definite article, means
"the fear" in question,—
that
which seizes a man when he remembers that "we must all appear
before
the judgement-seat of Christ." The
article can scarcely have its
generic
force in this passage;
laying
down abstract propositions, in verse 18.
SALVATION BY LOVE 351
34-40).
"The fear" which
defects
in Christian love points the same way; such
quaking
of heart is a salutary earnest of the fate that
must
overtake those who disregard Christ's need in His
suffering
members; it is a danger-signal, to be ignored
at
our peril—a punishment blest to the sufferer if it
prove
corrective, but growing into an "eternal punish-
ment"
when the heart hardens under it.
3.
Supreme
Love given in verses 14-16 to its working
upon
those who respond to it—first, as it operates nega-
tively by casting out fear
(vers. 17, 18), then as it works
positively by fostering love in
man to man (vers. 19-21).
This
last is the mark at which the Apostle's reasonings
and
appeals are always aimed.
The Apostle has reaffirmed that
"God is love"; he
dares
to connect human love directly with the eternal
and
Divine: "We1 love,
because He first loved us." He
does
not say "We love Him" (that
is the copyist's
mistake);
but "we love"—we have
caught the spirit, we
have
learnt the art of love from God's love to ourselves
in
Christ (comp. p. 279). It is the same love, existing
in
manifold forms, which glows in the heart of the
child
of God toward the Father and toward the
brethren;
the Apostle is thinking of the source and
quality,
not of the particular object of Christian love,
when
he writes as he does in verse 19. The sense of
God's
forgiving love, of His adopting grace—so pitiful,
so
benignant, so self-devoting and self-imparting, and
so
undeserved—smites the heart into tenderness and
gratitude,
opening in it springs of emotion, depths of
holy
passion, of which heretofore it knew nothing.
"Behold,"
cried the Apostle, "what manner of love
the
Father bestowed upon us, that we should be called
1 Again the emphatic we (h[mei?j), which we noted in
verses 14 and 16
(see
p. 345). In a loveless age, a world full of men "hateful and hating
one
another,"
of
love shining; within the home of the Church a warm and clear hearth-
fire
is burning, outside is darkness and cold hatred (2. 10, 11, 3. 13).
352 SALVATION BY LOVE
children
of God"! (3. 1). Who can behold
this sight and
hear
in his heart the witness of the Spirit bidding him
call
God "Father," without a heaven of love and joy
being
born within him? All his sensibilities are touched
and
elevated; the whole range of his feelings is en-
larged
and his moral nature charged with new potenti-
alities,
when the love of God comes into his soul. It is
not
God alone that he learns to love; all his loves and
sympathies,
every relationship in which he stands to his
fellow-men
and to the creatures about him, is pene-
trated
by the new influence. He has learnt, for the
first
time, to love with heart and mind,
with soul and
strength,
to pour himself out in affection and service
upon
others. He casts from himself, with the old fear,
the
old self-seeking and the old pride.
The fountain of love is in
God—"He first loved us."
The
initiative in the great reconciliation and affiance
lay
entirely with Him, as the Apostle said in verse 10
(see
p. 330): "It was not that we loved
God, but that
He
loved us, and sent His Son a propitiation for our
sins." The love began there—no affection worthy of
the
name existed upon our part; love was dead in
many
hearts, fevered and spotted with corruption in
many
others. A fresh stream of life and love must
be
poured from the primal source into the shrunken
veins
and disordered frame of humanity, that it might
know
health and joy again. And this renewal has
come
to the world in the coming of the Son of God.
God
"first loved us"; after
that, we learn to love Him
and
each other.
The exchange of love began with Him;
but it does
not end there. The love which the Father
spends on
us,
does not merely return to Him: the sun's light
shining
on each planet is reflected not to the source
alone,
but to every space around the reflector where
there
are eyes to catch it. If the light and fire of heaven
burn
in one heart, every other heart within its range
is
touched by the glow; the radiance of the indwelling
Godhead
by its mere presence radiates from the life
SALVATION BY LOVE 353
that
holds it. If one has God's love, one cannot help
but
return it; and in the nature of things, one cannot
return
it to Himself alone. There is no stopping at
the
First Commandment of Jesus—one must needs
go
on to keep the Second; when the heart is in the
full
course and stream of the love of God that pours
upon
the world in Christ, it is borne along through all
the
channels of service and affection. The very mo-
mentum
of the current, the whole bent of the Divine
love
and the eternal Will which supply its impetus,
carry
him whom it has caught into the work of human
salvation
and involve him in the countless obligations
of
brotherly love; these demands he has no moral right,
and
should have no will or desire, to escape.
Such is the logic of redeeming love,
which lies behind
the
Apostle's denunciation in verse 20—the warmth of
expression
shows that he has actual hypocrites of
the
sort indicated in his view: "Should
a man say I
love
God, while he hates his brother, he is a liar." The
form
of expression recalls vers. 6, 8, and 10 of chap. 1 (see
p.
104). Here is another of the things which men say,
but
which can never be,—sayings in which the essence
of
sin's deceitfulness is contained, and which reveal a
deep
falsity of character, a rent running through the
whole
tissue of life. There is but one way by which
our
love to God can be tested and certified. If it be
God that a man really
loves, he will love His image
in
other men. Our Lord said to those who assailed
Him,
"If God were your Father, you would love me"
(John
8. 42). The Jewish Scribes feared and despised
the
Nazarene; they saw in Him what was most con-
trary
and condemning to their own disposition—it was
the
Spirit of God in Him against which they fought;
the
mind and purposes of God expressed in Jesus,
roused
the evil in them and brought out the sin of their
hearts
in furious antagonism. "They have
both seen
and
hated both me and my Father" (John 15. 21-24):
such
was His final verdict against His people.
Life
Eternal 21
354 SALVATION BY LOVE
"For
he who loves not his brother whom he hath seen,
cannot
love God whom he has not seen." There is some-
thing
of God to be seen in every child of God, in every
"brother"
of the household of faith; if seeing that
specimen
of God, the "seed" of the Divine (3. 9) within
the
man, you do not love him for it, then it is plain you
do
not love God, however much you may say or think
so. "He that hath seen me, hath seen
the Father,"
said
Jesus to Philip (John 14. 8, 9), and what was to
be
seen perfectly in Jesus Christ is visible less per-
fectly,
but no less truly, in all who "are as He is in
this
world" (ver. 17). God is, manifest in good men.
Infirm
and faulty men they may be, "broken lights" of
the
Father's glory and far from being full of grace
and
truth--those "brothers whom you have seen"--
but
they are the one object in which God is manifest
before
your eyes on earth. His image shines there for
every
man to behold, who has a sense for the Divine;
and
those who will not recognize it, fail to see God.
If
you do not like the visible sample, it is idle to say
that
you approve the invisible bulk. Orthodoxy with-
out
charity, religious zeal barren of human affection,
a
love to God which leaves a man bitter and cynical
or
cold and full of selfish calculation toward his
brethren,
is amongst the most false and baneful
things
that can exist, amongst the things most blight-
ing
to faith and goodness and most hateful in the
sight
of God. This is the cardinal hypocrisy, the
feigning of love toward God.
The mind of God has been plainly
shown in this
all-important
matter. The duty is not, left to infer-
ence;
nor does it stand on bare grounds of reason
and
propriety; it is put into solemn and distinct
injunction: "This commandment we have from Him,
that
he who loves God should love also his brother."
This
is the sum of "the commandments," that was
illustrated
by the perfect life of Jesus (2. 4-6), the
"old
and new commandment'' (2. 7-11) which governs
God's
whole will for men from first to last; it is the
SALVATION BY LOVE 355
command
which attends the movements of faith at
every
step (3. 23, 24); it is enforced by every obligation
under
which we are placed to God, and every relation-
ship
that associates us with our brethren in the Church
of
Christ. God forbids us to love Him, unless we
love
our brethren: all narrower love He rejects as
spurious
and vain. The Father will not give His love
to
unbrotherly any more than to unfilial men. The
Head
of the Church spurns the affection that pretends
to
be fixed upon Himself, and does not seek His lowly
brethren.
To offer God an exclusive love is to impute
our
own selfishness to Him and to make Him a
monopolist
within His universe,—the Father whose
name
is Love and whose nature it is to "give liberally
unto
all without upbraiding." Clearly, the man who
proffers
this sort of homage to his Maker, "has not
seen
Him nor known Him" (3. 6).
As Rothe finely says upon this
passage, "Just because
God
is love, He would not absorb the love of His
creatures,
nor thrust His children aside in the claims
He
makes upon us. All love to Him He will have
divided
and shared with men. But this division is only
a
division in appearance." God is so truly one with
mankind
in Christ, that there is no room for opposing
claims
and divided interests in love's empire. To
impute
to the Father jealousy of the love we cherish
toward
His children, is to belittle and to wrong Him
strangely.
Every new access of love to God deepens
the
heart and makes it more capable of generous and
pure
affection to our own kind.
THE CONQUERING FAITH
The
Centre of the
A
Real Incarnation and Atonement—Love and Discipline—Loving the
Begetter
in the Begotten—Depth and Breadth of Christian Love—
The
Anvil of Character—Failure of Undisciplined Churches—"His
Commandments
not grievous."
"Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is begotten of God;
And
whosoever loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten
of Him.
In this we perceive that we love the
children of God,—
When we love God and do His
commandments;
For this is the love of God, that we
keep His commandments;
And His commandments are not
grievous!
For
whatsoever is begotten of God, overcometh the world;
And
this is the victory that hath overcome the world,—even our faith:
Who
is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God?"
1
JOHN 5. 1-5.
CHAPTER XXII
THE CONQUERING FAITH
wars,
standing now on the verge of the Apostolic
age.
The sixty years of his ministry have witnessed
all
that God had wrought by St Peter and
for
Jew and Gentile; they have been illuminated by
the
judgement-fires of
martyr-fires
of Nero's persecution. The Christian faith
has
encountered, under one shape or other, most of
the
world-powers hostile to it. By this time
the
Church
is firmly planted in the cities of the Mediter-
ranean
shores; Christ's fishers have spread their nets
and
are plying their craft along all the currents of
life
that flow through the
back
on his Christian course so nearly finished,
remembering
the triumph of the Captain of Salvation
which
has been repeated by His followers in life and
death
upon so many fields and looking forward with
the
eye of prophecy to the advent of the new heaven
and
earth, the old Apostle is able to say, in no
presumptuous
assurance, "This is the victory which
hath
overcome the world,—it is our faith!"
It was a dismal world
which
had Domitian for its emperor, Juvenal for its
poet,
and Tacitus for its historian. In all directions
men
lay crushed beneath the tyrannies and evils of
the
age. He and his comrades alone upon that wide
arena
stand erect and free; nowhere but in the
359
360 THE CONQUERING FAITH
Christian
camp are there found confidence and re-
sourcefulness: "Who is he that overcometh the world,"
the
Apostle cries, "save he that believeth that Jesus
is
the Son of God?" Victory is the word in which,
at
this threatening hour, the last of the Apostles
sums
up his personal experience (h[ ni<kh h[ nikh<sasa) and
records
the issue of the first grand campaign of Christ's
kingdom,
during which its future course and history
had
been rehearsed. He sees "the darkness passing
away,
and the true light already shining." So Jesus
had
been bold to say, with Gethsemane and
awaiting
Him, "Be of good cheer: I have overcome
the
world!" (John 16. 33.)
We
have witnessed the end of the nineteenth; and
still
the fight goes on,--a weary warfare! As one
crisis
after another passes, the war of the ages opens
into
larger proportions; it sweeps over a wider area
and
draws into its compass more completely the forces
of
humanity,--this immense combat between the sin
of
man and the grace of God in Christ. The end is
not
yet. The powers of evil recover from defeat; one
and
another of the heads of "the wild beast" are
"smitten
unto death," and "his death-stroke is healed,
and
the whole earth wonders after" him again (Rev.
13.
3). The advance of Christ's kingdom calls into
the
field at every stage new opposers; treasons and
schisms,
and collusions and compromises with the
enemy,
have caused innumerable repulses and indefinite
delays
in the subjugation of the world to the rule
of
Christ, which seemed imminent to the fervent hope
of
His early followers. Still their faith remains—
our
faith—after this long testing, the rallying centre
of
the spiritual forces, the fountain of hope and
refreshment
for all that is best in mankind. Every-
thing
else has changed; empires, civilizations, social
systems,
religions and philosophies, have gone down
into
the gates of Hades; but the
Christ
survives and spreads, the imperishable institu-
THE CONQUERING FAITH 361
tion
of our race. Still the Gospel shines out over
the
storm-swept shores, the one lighthouse for the
labouring
ship of human destiny. The Christian faith,
as
thing
in the world, the most active and ameliorative
factor
of modern history. "Neither is there salvation
in
any other"; up to this date, "no other name has
been
given under heaven amongst men, whereby we
must
be saved." Nothing since its coming has touched
human
nature to the like saving effect; nothing else
at
the present time takes hold of it so freshly, and
with
an influence so powerful for good, and for good
so
manifold, as the doctrine which
"our
faith."
The struggle in which John the
Apostle was engaged
as
a foremost combatant, while it has swelled into
world-wide
dimensions, has assumed features outwardly
far
different from those of his times. But the identity
of
principle is profound. And the conflict of faith in
the
twentieth century, in some of its conditions, repeats
the
experience of the first century more closely than
has
been the case at any intervening epoch. Now,
as
then, the contest centres in the primary facts of
the
Gospel-record, and in the nature and authority
of
Jesus Christ as thereby authenticated; other issues
are
brushed aside. Once more we "have the same
conflict
which" we "saw to be in"
Present-day
discussions are going to the root of things
in
Christianity; and Christians may rejoice in the fact,
since
a conflict so radical should be the more decisive.
The
testimony of the Apostles to Jesus Christ the Son
of
God, and the living work of His Spirit amongst
men:
these two demonstrations, just as at the
beginning,
supply the ground on which faith and
unbelief
are now contending. Here lie the burning
questions
of the hour; other debates, momentous as
they
have been and still may be—concerning the
authority
of Church or Bible, the validity of Orders
and
Sacraments, or the doctrines of Election and Free
362 THE CONQUERING FAITH
Will—have
fallen into abeyance in comparison of these.
Who was Jesus Christ?
Does He live and work in the
world, since His death
on
how? This is what men are wanting to know; and
who
of those that have known Him can tell us better,
with
more intimate knowledge and transparent sin-
cerity,
than His servant John?
Let us endeavour to get behind the
Apostle's words
in
this passage, asking from them two things: First,
what
was the specific object of the world-conquering
faith,
as
triumphs?
and in the second place, what were its
characteristic
marks and the methods of its working?
I. The answer to our first inquiry
lies close at hand.
"Every
one who believes that Jesus is the Christ,
is
begotten
of God; . . . and whatever is begotten of
God,
overcomes the world." Again, "Who is it that
overcomes
the world, but he that believes that
Jesus is
the Son of God?" A little further
down (vers. 9, 10)
we
read: "This is the witness of God,
viz. that He has
borne
witness about His Son. . . . He that
does not
believe
God, has made Him a liar, in that he has
not
believed in the witness that God has borne about
His Son." Further back, in chap. 4. 14, 15: "We have
beheld
and do bear witness, that the Father has
sent the
Son as Saviour of the
world. Whoso confesses that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and
he
in
God." The assertion of the Divine
Sonship of Jesus
was
the Apostle John's battle-cry. It is enunciated not
as
the stereotyped and conventional article of a long-
accepted
creed, but as the utterance of a passionate
conviction,
the condensed record of a profound and
vivid
life-experience,—a belief shared by the writer
with
numerous companions, which had proved no less
fruitful
in the salvation of others than it was real
and
commanding to the consciousness of the first con-
fessors.
That "Jesus is the Son of God," that "the
blood
of Jesus, God's Son, cleanses from sin,"—these
facts
were the life of life to the fellowship which the
THE CONQUERING FAITH 363
old
Apostle had gathered round him; in these two
certainties
lay the kernel and essence of the faith
which
the testimony of the Church has sustained in
the
world until now.
The Apostle, in making these
emphatic and repeated
statements
about his Master, is denying as well
as
affirming.
By the time that he wrote this letter, it
is
likely that most intelligent and candid men who had
acquainted
themselves with the facts were persuaded
that
Jesus was in some sense a Saviour and Divine.
But
then differences began. To people of philosophical
training
and ways of thinking, the Godhead appeared
so
remote from material nature that to accept Jesus
of
of
God" was for them extremely difficult; it ran
counter
to all their accepted principles. To think of
a
Divine person being born of a woman and subject to
the
mean and offensive conditions of physical existence
—this
was monstrous! The idea revolted their sensi-
bilities;
it was an outrage upon reason, to be classed
with
the Pagan myths of the birth of Athena or
Dionysos.
For the visible data of the history of Jesus
Christ
His disciples were competent witnesses, and
should
be listened to respectfully; but the interpreta-
tion was a different matter,
and required a philosophy
beyond
the fishermen of
wedded
to reason, the revelation of Christ adapted
to
the mind of the age.
With this purpose of rationalizing
Christianity on
a
Hellenistic theosophic basis, and of reconciling the
incompatible
attributes of Deity and manhood in
the
Redeemer, the Doketists (the "men of seeming")
broached
their theory, probably before the close of
the
first century. This hypothesis explained our Lord's
human
and earthly career as being phenomenal, an
illusion
of the senses, an edifying spectacle and
parable,
a kind of Divine play-acting, behind which
there
lay a spiritual reality wholly different from
the
ostensible and carnal (comp. pp. 88, 318); to this
364 THE CONQUERING FAITH
deeper
content of the Gospel, hidden from a vulgar
"faith,"
the men of advanced "knowledge" (comp.
2
John 9; also 1 Tim. 6. 20) held the clue. The writer
traverses
the Doketic doctrine specifically in chap. 4. 2 ff.:
"In
this perceive the Spirit of God: every
spirit which
confesses Jesus Christ come in flesh, is of
God; every
spirit
that confesses not Jesus, is not of God. And this
is
the spirit of the Antichrist" (comp. 2 John 7; John
1.
14, &c.; also 1 Cor. 12. 3). The
emergence of the con-
troversy
so early shows how strict and high a doctrine
of
the Godhead of Jesus Christ was held in the primitive
Church;
this doctrine is its datum and background.
To a humanistic and positive age
like the present,
the
offence of the Person of Jesus Christ lies on the
other
side. Our aversion is to the transcendental.
We
are sure that Jesus Christ was man; how can He
have
been at the same time the very God? The problem
of
our Doketism is to explain His seeming Deity.
It
has become the fashion to say that Jesus Christ
"has the value of God for us"—a
subtle phrase capable
of
more meanings than one, but which serves in the
case
of many who use it to eliminate from the God-
man
all real Godhead. Let us begin to suspect that
Jesus
Christ is God simply in human estimate, and we
have
ceased to esteem Him so. If the face-value of our
Lord's
name has no solid ascertainable capital behind
it,
the Christian currency is indefinitely depreciated;
all
the contents of our faith are depleted, and the entire
stock
becomes a nominal asset. To say that our Lord
has
"the value of God" though He is not God, is to
take
from Him all distinctive value.
Other Gnostic theorists of
have
it that Jesus Christ consisted of two persons tem-
porarily
allied or amalgamated: their views we have
stated
in Chaps. X and XIX (see especially pp. 219, 220).
The
notion of a double personality in the Lord Jesus
Christ,
worked out with numberless variations in detail,
was
a general tenet of early Christian Gnosticism. The
Apostle
gives in this letter to all such evasions a point-
THE CONQUERING FAITH 365
blank
contradiction "Jesus is the
Christ—Jesus is the
Son
of God.—God loved us, and sent His Son a propitia-
tion
for our sins.—The blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanseth
us
from every sin." As much as to say, "Jesus Christ
is
not two persons but One—the God-man,
the sinless
Sin-bearer!
We have a real incarnation, a real atone-
ment;
and not a system of phantasms and dissolving
views,
of make-believes and value-judgements."
By delivering this witness—"the
testimony of God,"
the
Apostle call, it, "concerning His Son"—
has
preserved Christianity from dissolution in the
mists
of Gnostical speculation. He has kept for us
the
faith which saves men universally and subdues
the
world—"to wit," as
in
Christ, reconciling the world to Himself " (2 Cor.
5.
19). Our human nature is a paltry thing enough,
in
many of its aspects; but when one sees how it has
required,
and how all over the world it responds to,
the
manifestation of God in Christ, it becomes a grand
and
awful thing to consider. Nothing less, it seems,
than
the very God made man suffices to fill and satisfy,
and
thoroughly to save, the soul of a man; no cheaper
blood
than that of "Jesus, God's Son," would avail to
wash
out the turpitude of man's offence and to cleanse
his
conscience from dead works for service to the living
God.
These assertions of the New Testament anti-
cipated
the experience of nineteen Christian centuries.
To
say that the old controversies about the nature of
Christ,
or the modern discussions in which they are
revived,
are metaphysical subtleties of no importance
for
practical life, is to say a thing about as mistaken
and
superficial as could be put into words. By so much
as
any one has subtracted from the human reality
of
the character and life of Jesus Christ on the one
hand,
or from His Divine glory and authority upon the
other,
by so much he has diminished the efficiency of
the
Gospel, its power to win and awe the general spirit
of
mankind and to save the people from their sins.
If Jesus Christ be in point of fact
what His Apostles
366 THE CONQUERING FAITH
said,
if the infinite God has in Him stooped to our flesh
and
lodged Himself there for our salvation, then the
grace
of God and the nearness of God to men are
brought
home to us indeed. Let me grasp for myself
the
fact that God so loved the world," that the man
who
lived the life of Jesus and died the atoning
death
upon the cross, is one with the Almighty and
is
His own and only-begotten Son, the effect on my
nature
is instantaneous and immense; life and the
world
are changed to me from that hour. This faith
becomes,
in those who truly have it, a spring of moral
energy
such as rises from no other source, a fountain
of
hope and resolution which nothing can overpower;
its
source is "the bosom of the Father" (John 1. 18).
To
have such inward life is, in
"begotten
of God"; it is to become the child of God
through
faith in His Son's name.
II. The second question, as to the
distinctive marks
of
the conquering faith and the methods of its working,
is
not answered here so categorically as the former;
but
its answer is implicitly contained in these verses
and
occupies a great part of the Epistle. The answer
turns
on the two main points of feeling and doing, of
temper
and conduct. The conquering faith, the faith
that
will meet human nature and needs, that takes
effectual
hold both of the individual man and of society,
must
teach us first how to love and then how to behave.
Now,
faith in the Son of God incarnate does these two
things,
like no other principle. It inculcates love
and
discipline; it kindles a holy fire
in the heart, it puts-
a
strong yoke about the neck. The Christian faith,
where
it is truly and rightly held, teaches men to
work
by love and to walk by rule.
1. For the former of these two marks
verse 19 of
chapter
4 has spoken: "We love, because He first loved
us."
Love is the primary fruit and palmary evidence
of
the Spirit of Christ (comp. Gal. 5. 22). "Herein,''
says
our Apostle, "have we cone to know love, in that
He
(Jesus, the Son of God) for us laid down His life"
THE CONQUERING FAITH 367
(3.
16); it was as if the world had never known love
before.
Alike in quality and quantity, love has won-
derfully
grown amongst mankind since; the Christian
era;
it is reinforced, like some feeble stream that was
dwindling
in the sands, by a new and vast reservoir
gathered
high in the mountains of God. In its noblest,
tenderest,
and most fruitful manifestations the love
that
prevails in the world can be traced back to the
coming
of the Son of God and dates historically from
the
Incarnation.
That God the Father should have the
love of our
whole
being, was "the first and great command-
ment"
of Jesus; His gospel secures the keeping of this
law.
Let any man believe in his soul that God was
in
Christ, let him behold, as Saul of Tarsus did on the
way
to
of
Jesus, and a boundless love is awakened in his heart
towards
the Great Being who has thus sought his
salvation.
He begins from this time to serve God as
a
beloved and trustful child obeys the father; he counts
himself
a son amongst the many brethren of whom
Jesus
is the firstborn. That faith in Jesus as the Son
of
God generates an adoring devotion to the Father
who
sent Him, the Apostle assumes as a matter of
course,
and of every-day experience amongst his little
children.
It is the further consequence,
touching the second
law
of Jesus, that
he
returns to this subject again and again (2. 6-11,
3.
10-24, 4. 7-21). For it was here that the difficulty
was
found in the working of the new faith, as our Lord
had
predicted (see, e.g., Matt. 24.
10-12). Just upon this
point
the victory within the Christian heart, and within
the
Church, was stubbornly disputed; and for the same
reason
the conquering faith has suffered most of its
rebuffs
and the long delays of its march through the
world.
The love toward God to which faith in Christ
gives
birth, is calculated to give rise to all sorts and
forms
of beneficent love to men. Thus it was to yield its
368 THE CONQUERING FAITH
manifold
remedial fruit; from this spring were destined
to
flow the streams of mercy and bounty that should
renovate
human society and turn the barren earth into
the
garden of the Lord.
The Incarnation is the basis of the
loftiest and most
powerful
human affections. Love to God and to man
are,
according to
the
same love toward kindred natures—kindred, how-
ever
distant, since they are one in the person of the Son
of
God and since men are made sons of God through
Him;
for "whosoever loveth Him that begat, loveth
him
also that is begotten of Him" (ver. 1; comp. p. 354).
It
is the nature of God that one loves
in His children;
and
if one does not love that nature here, one does not
love
it there. The pious man who is not brotherly, is
a
gross self-contradiction.
people
of this class: "If a man say, I
love God, and
hateth
his brother, he is a liar!" (4. 20; see Chap. XXI).
Either
he is a hypocrite, wilfully deceiving others; or
else
he still more completely deceives himself. "He
that
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot
love
God whom he hath not seen": there
is something
of
God in every good man, and if one does not see and
love
that something, it is because the eyes of love are
wanting.
It is not in reality the God and Father of
our
Lord Jesus Christ that the selfish and suspicious
Christian
professor loves, but a theological figment
of
his own brain. According to the doctrine
has
just taught in the closing verses of chapter 4, one
cannot
love God truly without embracing in the same
love
men who are His image.
On the same principle of the
solidarity of God with
men
in Jesus Christ, one cannot love men rightly
without
loving God who is their original: such is the
argument
contained in verse 2. If love to men proves
the
truth of our love to God, love to God proves the
worth
of our love to men. Love to God is impossible
without
love to man; love to man is possible indeed,
but
imperfect and unsure without love to God. While
THE CONQUERING FAITH 369
the
human affection reveals the existence and employs
the
energy of the Divine, the Divine affection guards
the
purity and sustains the constancy of the human.
There
are those, indeed, who love their fellow-men
without
any manifest regard to God—amiable, generous,
philanthropic
men who are not religious. But if the
Apostle
John was right, there is a grave anomaly,
there
is some great mistake or misunderstanding, in
such
instances as these. Some men have more religion
than
they will admit, or are fairly aware of, as others
certainly
have very much less. "Herein,"
writes,
"we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God and do His
commandments."
We must, to be sure, take the word
"love" in its
Christian
sense. We have nothing to do here with the
love
which is animal passion; nor with the love that
is
corporate selfishness--the devotion of a man to his
family,
his friends, his clan, which is consistent with
harshness
and injustice towards those outside of the
narrow
circle,—a love without humanity. There is,
again,
much humane affection which looks to the
physical
well-being of its objects, but without thought
for
the true ends and the inner wealth of human life.
The
higher love includes this lower, which touches
bodily
need and natural welfare (to>n bi<on tou?
ko<smou,
chap.
3. 17; comp. James 2. 15-17); but the lower is often
found
without the higher—a philanthropy that sees in
the
man only the more sensitive and necessitous animal,
and
knows nothing of his hunger for the bread which
came
down from heaven. That love alone is worthy
of
a human being which embraces his whole nature,
and
strives to reach through the flesh the depths of
his
spirit, as the compassions of Jesus did. The charity
which
supplies the body's needs must be instinct with
a
sense of that which lies behind them in the sufferer's
soul,
or it degrades instead of blessing. When we love
in
our offspring not our own so much as God's children,
we
love them wisely and well. When it is not their
wealth
nor their wit, nor the charms of person and
Life
Eternal 25
370 THE CONQUERING FAITH
manner,
for which we prize our friends and cleave to
them,
but character—purity, courage, reverence, good-
ness,
the God-given and God-born; when it is this, in
man
or woman, that our affection seizes on and that
we
treasure as great spoil, then we "love in deed and
in
truth"; then we know what this great word means,
for
"we love the children of God."
All deep human love strikes down
somewhere into
the
Divine, though it may strike darkly and with a
dim
feeling after Him who is not far from any one.
"Every
good gift and perfect boon cometh down from
the
Father: love is the best of all His gifts; coming
from
Him, it leads to Him. If that leading be resisted,
both
God is missed and love is lost. It is a daring word
of
our Apostle, but we may trust it, if we esteem love
worthily: "Love is of God; and every one that
loveth is
begotten
of God, and knoweth God. . . . He that abideth
in
love abideth in God, and God in him" (4. 7, 10),
Here lies the secret of "the
victory which hath over-
come
the world." Love is ever conqueror.
There is
no
refuge for the heart, no fortress in temptation but
this.
There is nothing that so lifts a man above the
sordid
and base, which so arms him for the battle of
life,
as a pure and noble passion of the heart. Where
kindled
and fed from above, it burns through life a
steady
fire, consuming lust and vanity and the evil
self
in us, melting out earth's dross from heaven's pure
gold.
Of all such love working through the world's
mighty
frame, the love of God the Father who created
and
redeemed mankind in His eternal Son, is the central
pulse;
and the Christian faith creates the main channels
and
arteries by which it is to reach mankind.
2. To the first characteristic of
"our faith," viewed
in
its operative force, we have to add a second—the
discipline into which the Divine
love translates itself:
"For
this is the love of God, that we keep His com-
mandments
" (ver. 3).
In Jesus the Son of God mankind has
found its
Master.
We have in Him a King to obey, a law to
THE CONQUERING FAITH 371
fulfil,
a pattern to follow, a work to do, a Church,
which
is His body, to serve as its limbs and organs.
Discipleship
spells discipline. Antinomianism is the
most
shocking and deadly of heresies. Free Churches
in
which the adjective of their proud title overshadows
the
substantive, where combativeness and self-assertion
have
free play and men will not "submit themselves
one
to another in fear of Christ," are doomed to sterility
and
disintegration. Without rules and bounds, love
spends
itself 14, emotional effusion, it exhales in vapid
sentiment.
Let the stream be banked and channelled
along
the natural lines of its course, and it turns a
thousand
busy wheels, and spreads health, fruitfulness,
beauty
over the plain which, if left unbridled and un-
guided,
it converts into a stagnant marsh. There is
nothing
that sustains and deepens true feeling like
wise
restraint and the harness of well-ordered labour.
What
becomes of the love of man and woman without
the
Seventh Commandment? of the endearments of
home
without toil for daily bread, without household
laws
and the bonds of mutual duty? Where those
once
touched with the love of God and the fire of the
new
life are not taught, or refuse to learn, the right
ways
of the Lord, where they will not endure "for
the
Lord's sake ordinances of men" and the "hardship"
that
makes good soldiers (1 Peter 2. 13; Rom. 13. 1-7;
2
Tim. 2. 3-5), there religious zeal proves evanescent
or
turns to a wild and hurtful fanaticism. Wholesome,
honest
love always means commandment-keeping.
"The world" on which the
commandments of Love's
law
directly bear is the sphere of each man's personal
lot,
the homely, circumstantial world of his daily call-
ing.
There "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and
the vainglory of life—all that is in the world
(2.
16)--beset him in continual siege. In that small
arena,
watched closely by the eyes of God, and perhaps
of
two or three besides, is waged the unceasing conflict
with
appetite and pride and passion, with mean cir-
cumstances
and petty provocations and saddening
372 THE CONQUERING FAITH
disappointments,
with languor and indecision, with
restlessness
and discontent. On this secret battlefield
character
stroke by stroke is beaten into shape, through
the
hourly choice and acting out of good or ill amid
the
countless forgotten details of home relationship
and
business avocation. There the crown of life is lost
or
won. Of this near and more intimate ko<smoj
was
thinking, rather than of the great world of history
and
of empires, when he assured his readers of victory;
for
it was in their personal habits, in the family system
and
social environment of the times, that the field of
their
severest struggles lay.
Any achievements gained, whether by
the individual
Christian
or the Church collectively, in the greater
world
outside depend upon success here in the first
place,
on the trained fidelity of Christ's servants in
their
private walks of life. Practised in that gymna-
sium—in
the household, in the school, in the
punctual
and honourable discharge of daily business—
Christian
men will know how to behave themselves
in
the
as
men "led by the Spirit" and "living by the Spirit"
(Gal.
5. 18, 25), keeping step and time with their fellows.
That
love of order, that instinct for unity of feeling
and
action, will possess them which our Lord prayed
for
in His disciples when he asked "that they all may
be
one, as thou Father art in me and I in thee "
(John
17. 21).
But where professedly religious men
are undiscip-
lined
and self-indulgent in their private habits, loose
in
talk amongst men of the world, unscrupulous in
business,
irregular in worship both at home and Church,
ready
to turn their shoulder from the heavier burdens
of
Christ's service, no one can wonder that discords
break
up Christian communion or that "our Gospel
is
hid" and "our faith" in many quarters is flouted by
the
world, since it is so cruelly wounded in the house of
its
friends. It is hard to say whether poverty of love
or
neglect of discipline forms the greater occasion of
THE CONQUERING FAITH 373
stumbling
and cause of delay in the Church's advance
to
conquest. In these defects it is certain our hin-
drances
lie, far more than in any intellectual difficulties
or
sceptical prepossessions of the time. This is our
Master's
first and last complaint, "Why call ye me
Lord,
Lord, and do not the things that I say?"
To the Apostle John's experience,
love and discipline
were
one, as love to God and to men are one. Love,
in
practice, is keeping the commandments; obedience,
in
spirit, is simply love. "But the
law of Christ," some
one
says, "is stern and strict; it requires a righteous-
ness
exceeding that of the Scribes and Pharisees."
Certainly
it does.—"I must be always giving and for-
giving,
always bearing and forbearing." Indeed you
must;
who could think of following Jesus in any other
way?—This
reluctance means simply a cold heart
towards
Christ. Do our soldiers think it a monstrous
thing
that they must bear rigid discipline and bitter
hardship,
that they must shed their blood for King and
country?
The cruel thing would be to prevent them
doing
it. Or does the mother count it hard to stint her-
self
for the babe at her breast? If mothers once began
to
reason thus, the race would perish. "His command-
ments
are not grievous," says the heart which knows
the
love that God hath toward us, "because
they are
His—because I love Him and
His lightest word is law
to
me."
After all, the God-man is the Master
of men; His
"spirit
of power and love and discipline" is bound to
prevail
with those who bear His name. However long
a
task it may prove, as men count time, the Lord Jesus
will
yet have His yoke fitted to the world's neck; and
the
Father's will shall be done on earth as in heaven.
He
must reign.
THE THREE WITNESSES, AND THE ONE
TESTIMONY
Transcendental
and Experimental in
biography—The
Three Heavenly Witnesses—One Jesus
Christ-
"Through
Water and Blood"—The Lord's
Baptism and Crucifixion—
Crises
of
Witnesses
merged in One—"Making God a
Liar"—Witness of the
Christian
Consciousness.
“This
is He who came by the way of water and blood,—Jesus Christ:
Not
in the water only, but in the water and in the blood,
And
it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the
truth.
For three are they that bear witness
The Spirit, and the water, and the
blood;
And the three amount to the one.
If
we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater;
For
the witness of God is this,--that He hath borne witness concern-
ing His Son.
He that believeth on the Son of God,
bath the witness in him;
He that believeth not God, hath made
Him a liar,
Because
he hath not believed the witness that God hath witnessed
concerning His Son.
And the witness is this,
That
God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son:
He
that hath the Son, hath the life; and he that hath not the Son of
God, hath not the life."
1
JOHN 5. 6-12.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE
THREE WITNESSES, AND THE ONE TESTIMONY
the
experimental Gospel. Volat avis sine meta;
but
as the eagle bears you with him, you feel the
measured
beat of his pinions and the warm pulse
of
his heart. In his loftiest soarings his eye is still
upon
the earth. There is nothing rapt and over-
wrought,
nothing occult or mythopoeic, about the
writer
of the Fourth Gospel. Not for a moment does
he
lose himself, or wander off into the allegorizing,
Gnostical
abstractions so common in his time. What-
ever
he writes—in Gospel or Epistle—is written by
way
of "witness," with the verified facts of experience
and
the necessities of the situation held steadily in
view.
While his writings are comparatively sparing
in
description and personal detail, and the Apostle
John
ranks among the most metaphysical and absorbed
of
thinkers, closer acquaintance with him shows a
mind
observant no less than introspective, that for
all
its stillness of attitude is quite alive to its sur-
roundings,
and which reflects in a peculiarly sensitive
and
delicate way the influences playing upon it
(comp.
pp. 52, 53). The Apostle rises on the wings of
the
spirit above the world of sense, but it is to
survey
that world with more penetrating gaze; and
he
notices a hundred things which others overlook—
the
singular turns of the conversation with the woman
of
377
378 THE THREE WITNESSES
two
fishes among the famished multitude reported
by
Andrew, Mary's "sitting in the house" when
Martha's
quick ear and busy foot brought her to meet
the
Lord as He approached
in
which Caiaphas determined on the death of Jesus,
the
"blood and water" issuing at the soldier's spear-
thrust
from the Saviour's side, the share of Nicodemus
in
the burying of Jesus and the mixture and weight
of
the spices brought by him for embalming His body,
the
meaning of the grave-clothes left in the tomb of
Jesus
and their careful folding. Such particulars, trivial
as
they might seem to a hasty reader, arrest
attention
and linger in his mind, to reveal afterwards
their
significance.1
These and many circumstantials in
his narrative
show
in
eye,
a memory on which scene and incident, and
feature
of character and turn of phrase that had once
impressed
it, photographed themselves with sharp
distinctness.
Hence, while it is a work of supreme
theological
value,
historical
moment. It has supplied the chronological
framework
of the ministry of Jesus; and it corrects
and
supplements repeatedly, sometimes designedly, the
inferences
otherwise drawn from the more loosely
framed
Synoptic narrative. The opening words of this
Epistle
("That which was from the beginning: which
we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, &c.")
indicate
the double character of this Apostle's mind—
its
union of speculation and simplicity, its sublime
mysticism
and its open-eyed practical sense, its perfect
fusion
of the temporal and the eternal. In this
combination
of qualities apparently disparate lies the
unique
gift of the author of the Fourth Gospel, his
power
to see and to represent God manifest in the
flesh.2
This twofold sensibility, equally
true to the natural
1 See John 4. 4-26; 6. 8,
9; 11. 20, 49-53; 19. 31-37, 39; 20. 6-8.
2 See further, on
AND THE ONE TESTIMONY 379
and
spiritual, which in some form or other distinguishes
all
the greatest and sanest minds, is the key to the
symbolism
which pervades
imaginative
method differed essentially from the
popular
allegorism of the day; it is more poetical
than
philosophical in nature, and was the expression
of
the writer's genius and cast of mind, rather than
of
any prevalent school, Alexandrian or Palestinian.
The Gospel of John is in effect,
though unconsciously
for
the most part, a spiritual autobiography. The
writer
discloses himself silently, in the most naive
and
intimate manner possible, as "the disciple whom
Jesus
loved." After he has told the story
of the first
miracle,
he writes, "This beginning of His signs did
Jesus
in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory;
and His disciples
believed on Him"
(John 2. 11); and
at
the end (chap. 20. 30) he sums up all he has recorded
as
"the signs which Jesus did in the
presence of His
disciples." As we read and re-read his Gospel, we
become
gradually aware that we are retracing a great
inward
experience; we are following the drama of
a
soul's awakening, the growth of a mighty faith and
love
in the heart of the man who wrote this tale. The
Fourth
Gospel is the record of
acquaintance
with Jesus. While this book has a
commanding
objective unity, and is the history of
Christ's
self-revelation, of the Father's revelation in
Him
to the world, moving on to its climax through
the
contrasted developments of faith and unbelief
amongst
men, it has no less an interior unity lying
in
the breast of the author, as it relates the rise and
progress
of his knowledge of the Son of God. It is the
story
of the manifestation of the life eternal through
the
Incarnate Word to the soul of
movements
and crises of the narrative, as he unfolds
it,
were points of vital moment and of crisis in his
own
discipleship; these supplied him with a mirror
to
reflect and a key to unlock the mystery of the
relations
of Jesus to the world. Of this personal and
380 THE THREE WITNESSES
subjective
aspect of his record, of its autobiographical
nature,
the Apostle indeed advertized us, when he said
in
referring to his testimony about Christ, "The life
was
manifested, and we have, seen it; and
we bear
witness
and report to you the life, the eternal life,
which
was with the Father, and was manifested
to us"
(1
John 1. 2).
We dismiss, without misgiving or
regret, the clause
respecting
the heavenly Trinity from verses 7 and 8
of
the received text. The rejected sentence is a
striking
statement of the Trinitarian creed of the
early
Church, to which
in
due place and form; but it is irrelevant to this
context,
and foreign to the Apostle's mode of concep-
tion.
What the writer here asserts and seeks to
vindicate
against the world (5. 1-5), is the Church's
victorious
faith in the Son of God. To invoke witnesses
for
this "in heaven" would be nothing to the purpose.
The
contrast present to his thought is not that between
"heaven"
and "earth" as spheres of testimony, but
only
between the various elements of the testimony
itself
(6-10).1 The passage of the
Three Heavenly
Witnesses
is now on all hands admitted to be a
theological
gloss. It first appears in two obscure Latin
writings
of the fifth century, and made its way prob-
ably
from the margin into the text of the Latin
Version;
no Greek codex of the New Testament
exhibits
it earlier than the fifteenth century.2
"This," the Apostle writes
in verse 6—this "Son of
God,"
as we hold Jesus to be (ver. 5)—"is He that came
through
water and blood,—Jesus Christ.” By this
time
"Jesus
Christ" and "Jesus the Son of God" had become
terms
synonymous in Christian speech (see pp. 317, 318
above).
The great Church controversy of the age turned
1 For this manner of combining witnesses, comp. John 5.
31-47;
8.
13-18; 10. 25-38; 14. 8-13; 15. 26, 27.
2 See the Notes on Select
Westcott
and Hort's New Testament in Greek; or
Tischendorf's Novum
Testamentum Graece (8va editio major), ad loc.
AND THE ONE TESTIMONY 381
upon
their association (see Chaps. XIV, XIX).
insists
at every turn upon the oneness of Jesus Christ;
the
belief that "Jesus is the Christ" he makes the test
of
a genuine Christianity (5. 1; comp. 2. 22; 3. 23;
4.
2, 3, 15). The name thus appended to verse 6 is no
idle
repetition; it is a solemn reassertion and summa-
tion
of the Christian creed in two words—Jesus
Christ.
And He is Jesus Christ, inasmuch as
He "came
through
water and blood—not in the water only."
This
passage brings to a point the polemical aim
towards
which the whole Epistle, in one way or other,
has
been directed (see pp. 61-64, 363): "These
things
I
have written,"
"concerning
those that lead you into error"—viz. the
"antichrists"
and "false prophets" of chaps. 2. 18-26
and
4. 1-6. The heretics whom the Apostle opposes
allowed,
and maintained in their own way, that Jesus
Christ
"came by water,"1 when He received His
Messianic
anointing at John's baptism and the man
Jesus
thus became the Christ; but the "coming through
blood" they abhorred.
They regarded the death of the
cross,
befalling the human Jesus, as a punishment of
shame
inflicted on the flesh, in which the Divine or Dei-
form
Christ could have no part. Upon this Cerinthian
view,
the Christ who "came through water," went away
rather
than came "through blood";
the Doketists saw
1 Is it possible that the
expression "came through water" was borrowed
from
traverse
its Gnostic use? This might account for what seems otherwise
a
forced and awkward phrasing. cc with the genitive is rare in
(chap.
4. 9 gives the only other example in this Epistle; comp. Heb. 9. 12),
whereas
the e]n with dative substituted for this in the next sentence, is ex-
ceedingly
frequent and characteristic. In such uses of dia< the instrumental
is
grafted on a quasi-local force; see Winer-Moulton's Grammar of N.T.
Greek, pp. 473-475. There may
be a reminiscence, at the same time, of
Psalm
66 (65, LXX) 12: dih<lqomen dia> puro>j kai>
u!datoj k.t.l. "We came
through
fire and water; and thou broughtest us out into abundance" (ei]j
a]nayuxh<n, LXX, "unto
refreshing"). Psalm 66 is Messianic, as it relates
of
this Psalm seem to be recalled, along with Psalm 22, in Heb. 2. 12 and
5.
7; and verse 18 is certainly echoed in John 9. 31.
382 THE THREE WITNESSES
in
the death upon the cross nothing that witnessed of
the
Godhead in Jesus Christ, nothing that spoke of
Divine
forgiveness and cleansing (see 1. 7, 9), but an
eclipse
and abandonment by God, a surrender of the
earthly
Jesus to the powers of darkness. This error
revived
in a new form what the Apostle Paul had called
"the
scandal of the cross." As the
crucifixion had
seemed
to him, in his Jewish unbelief, a disproof of
the
Messiahship of Jesus, so to these later misbelievers
it
was evidence that Jesus, who had been one with the
Christ,
was a helpless, forsaken man. But
had
found in the shedding of His blood a grander
evidence
of His Sonship to God, the demonstration of
His
perfect harmony with and understanding of the
Divine
will and love to men (4. 9, 10).
The simple words "that
came" are of marked signifi-
cance
in this context; for "the coming One"1 was a
standing
name for the Messiah, now recognized as the
Son
of God. "He that came," therefore, signifies "He
who
appeared on earth as the Divine Messiah"; and
disclosed
Himself through the two signs of
blood and
water.
These emblems signalize two great stages in
the
Messianic path of Jesus: the baptism of water at
the
hands of John, who proclaimed Him the Lamb of
God
bearing the world's sin and at the same time the
Son
of God (John 1. 29-34), while the descent of the
Holy
Spirit and the Father's voice heard from heaven
designated
Him in this double character of Christhood
and
Sonship; and the baptism of blood (see Luke 12.
49,
50)—His own blood—which instead of contradicting
consummated
the water-baptism. For in this blood-
shedding
Jesus Christ fulfilled His noblest office, He
accomplished
the universal expiation (ch. 2. 1; Rev. 1.
5,
5. 9, 7. 14). So through the dark gateway of
and
the grave He passed to the throne of universal
Lordship,
and by this passage "came" to His Church
1 [O e]rxo<menoj, Matt. 11. 3; John 1.
15, 27; 11. 27; Heb. 10. 37; Rev.
1.
4. 8, &c.
AND THE ONE TESTIMONY 383
in
the sovereign power of the Spirit bestowed as the
fruit
of His redeeming death (see John 14. 18, 7. 39,
13.
31, 32; Luke 24. 26).
Thus the inauguration and
consummation of our
Lord's
ministry were marked by the two supreme
manifestations
of His Messiahship; of both events this
Apostle
had been a near and deeply interested witness.
Under
the sign of "the water" he gathers up all the
testimony
to Jesus Christ, from man and from God,
that
attended His baptism; under the sign of the
"blood,"
all that centres in the cross. When he speaks
of
the Lord as "coming through (traversing) water and
blood,"
these are viewed historically as steps in His
march
of humiliation, suffering, and victory, as signal
epochs
in the continuous disclosure of Himself to men
and
crises in His past relations to the world; when he
says
"in the water and in the blood," they are appre-
hended
as abiding facts, each making its distinct and
living
appeal to our faith and together serving to mark
out
the ground upon which Christianity stands.
In the above interpretation of verse
6 the opinions of
the
best expositors concur. And this is precisely the
line
of thought which corresponds to
experience,
and harmonizes with the tenor and spirit
of
the Fourth Gospel. The Evangelist was a pupil of
the
Baptist John. It was the testimony of his former
master,
and the words and scenes connected with the
baptism
of Jesus, that led this young and ardent disciple
to
the knowledge of Christ; so first he was taught—
imperfectly
at the beginning, and more clearly as the
course
of events threw light on his first experiences—
to
discern in Jesus the Christ and Son of God (John 1.
19-51).
There followed three years of education in this
truth
under the Master Himself; then another crisis,
which
for the moment discomfited, but in the end
reinforced
and perfected, his faith, when, standing at
the
foot of the cross, the disciple whom Jesus loved
watched
his Lord die a death of blood and horror. The
witness
of "the blood" which was to the world's eyes,
384 THE THREE WITNESSES
as
it was designed by His Jewish judges to be, a complete
disproof
of the claims of Jesus, had in God's amazing
wisdom
and mercy become the means of enhancing
those
claims in the highest degree and of giving them
eternal
validity (Rev. 1. 5, 6 ; 5. 9-14). As He said, so
it
had proved, that His blood was "shed for many for
the
remission of sins" (Matt. 26. 28). Through the virtue
of
His cross Christ Jesus, as His Spirit and Church
together
testified, had "come and
preached peace to
the
far off and peace to the nigh," granting "access to
both
in one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph. 2. 16-18).
The
offence of the cross had shown itself already in
many
lands God's power unto salvation; and
triumphant
saying, "Not in the water only, but in the
water and in1 the blood!"
echoes
"Far
be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our
Lord
Jesus Christ!" (Gal. 6. 14).
The Apostle John, standing beneath
the cross and
waiting
for a sign of its meaning, had seen the blood
and
water together stream from the pierced heart of
Jesus
at the thrust of the soldier's spear (John 19.
34,
35); the union became in his eyes emblematic of
the
double efficacy of Christ's salvation. It united the
beginning
and the end in the testimony of Jesus, the
new
birth of water and Spirit and the redemption.
through
blood experienced by His people (John 3. 5;
Rev.
1. 5, 7. 14)—the water of purification and consecra-
tion,
enriched and vitalized by the blood of propitiation.
So
the whole mission of Jesus was summed up, and
expressed
itself, in that strange mingled current, which
gushed
from the heart of the slain Christ to give life
and
cleansing to the world.
This verse stands in much the same
relation to the
Christian
Sacraments as the related teaching of chaps.
1 Observe the repeated e]n of the critical text.
For the emphasis of
this
double e]n,
comp. chap. 2. 8; and for the force of e]n with a verb of
coming, where it denotes the
defective accompaniment—that which
makes
the coming valid and authentic—comp. Luke 1. 17;
Heb.
9. 25.
AND THE ONE TESTIMONY 385
3
and 6 in the Fourth Gospel. Neither here nor there
is
any direct allusion made upon the writer's part
to
the ritual ordinances; in both instances there is
a
clear analogy of meaning, such as could hardly
fail
to be present to the thoughts of the Apostle and
his
first readers. The two sacraments symbolize the
facts
and truths assumed by
Observing
them in the obedience of faith, we associate
ourselves
visibly with "the water and the blood,"—with
Christ
baptized and crucified, living and dying for us.
But
to see in those observances the veritable water and
blood that were here
intended—to make the Apostle
mean
that the water of Baptism and the cup of the
Lord's
Supper are the primary witnesses to Him and
the
essential instruments of salvation, and that the
former
sacrament is unavailing without the addition
of
the latter (as though he had written "Not in Baptism
only,
but also in the Eucharist")—is to trifle with his
declaration
and to empty out its historical content.
The
sacramentarian paraphrase substitutes the signs
for
the things signified, and puts the sacraments into
the
place which belongs to Christ alone.1
Nearer to
Christ
is our anointed Priest as well as Prophet, making
sacrifice
for our sin while He is our guide and light
of
life. To the virtue of His life and teaching must
be
added the virtue of His passion and death. Had
He
come "in the water" only, had Jesus Christ
stopped
short of
blood-baptism,
there had been no cleansing from sin
for
us, no witness to the chief function of His Christ-
hood. "The man who thinks to find Him in,
the water
1 As Th. Zahn points out
in his Einleitung in das N.T., § 70,
Anm. 7,
the
Sacramental interpretation would require o[ e]rxo<menoj instead of
o[ e]lqw<n, to describe "a
repeated coming in the Sacraments," whereas
the
aorist can only signify the historical "coming" of the Redeemer
along
His appointed path. Zahn takes e@rxesqai dia< in this passage to be
equivalent
to die<rxesqai, with the sense to go through, experience, submit
to; but lexical support is
wanting for such a rendering of the com-
bination.
Life
Eternal 26
386 THE THREE WITNESSES
alone
‘has not the Son,’ and therefore ‘has neither the
Father,’
nor ‘the life’" (ver. 12; 2. 23: so Th. Zahn).
The
Lord Jesus was "straitened till" His final "bap-
tism
was accomplished," for His mission up to that
point
remained unfulfilled (Luke 12. 50); the "fire" that
He
"came to cast on the earth" was kindled from the
flame
which rose heaven-high upon the altar of
A third crisis came in
Christian
believer with the descent of the Spirit on
the
day of Pentecost. How much this event imported
to
him is manifest from the length at which he relates
our
Lord's preparatory words on the matter in his
Gospel.
This third manifestation of the Son of God—
the
baptism of the Spirit following on
that of water and
of blood, a baptism in which
Jesus Christ was agent
and
no longer subject—verified and made good the other
two.
"And the Spirit," he says, "is that which beareth
witness"
(to> marturou?n, "the witnessing power"): the
water
and the blood, though they have so much to say,
must
have spoken in vain and become mere voices of
past
history but for this abiding Witness and Advocate
(see
John 14. 16, 15. 26, 16. 7-15). "He
shall testify
concerning
me," said Jesus; "He, the Spirit of truth,
shall
glorify me, for He will receive of what is mine, and
declare
it to you." "The Spirit," whose witness comes
last
in the order of distinct manifestation, is first in
principle;
His breath animated the whole testimony;
hence
He takes the lead in the final enumeration of
verse
8. The witness of the water had the Spirit's
attestation
by act, in place of word; the Baptist "testi-
fied,
saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a
dove
out of heaven; and it abode upon Him. And I
had
not known Him; but He who sent me to baptize
1 In the next verse the
witnesses are personified: "Three they are that
bear
witness" (trei?j ei]si>n oi[ marturou?ntej,
to> pneu?ma, k.t.l.). For the definite
article
with participial predicate, indicating that the activity in question
is
the proper function of those concerned, comp. John 5. 32, 39; 14. 21;
AND THE ONE TESTIMONY 387
in
water, He said to me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt
see
the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, that is
He
that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit" (John 1. 32, 33).
The
first human witness to Jesus was "full of the Holy
Spirit"
(Luke 1. 15); his first public attestation was
sealed
by the Spirit. The three witnesses of this
passage
are all latent in the testimony of
earlier
master: the Baptist declared, "I
baptize you
in
water, He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost
and
fire" (the first and third witness); he said again,
"Behold,
the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin
of
the world" (the second witness—of "the blood").
The
testimony of the Holy Spirit, which on the day
of
Pentecost burst forth in flame cast down to the
earth,
shoots its hidden fires through the entire his-
torical
gospel; and it is that same gospel—the record
of
the life and death of Jesus—which the Holy Spirit
perpetually
"takes and declares" to men (John 16. 15).
He
transfuses it with His life and heat, and age after
age
burns it anew into the conscience and spirit of
mankind.
"It is the Spirit,"
therefore, "that bears witness";
in
all true witness He is operative, and there is no
testifying
without Him. "For the Spirit is
truth,"
is
"the truth"1—Jesus
called Him repeatedly "the Spirit
of
the truth." Truth in its substance
and vital power
is
lodged with Him; in this element He works; this
effluence
He ever breathes forth: He is "the
truth,"
as
Christ for whom He speaks is "the truth" (John 14.
9). "The truth" is the sole object
and content of
genuine
witness-bearing. The testimony which men give
to
Christian verities, however formally correct in his-
torical
fact or theoretical doctrine, is untrue for them-
selves
and unconvincing to others—unless the indwelling
Spirit
of Christ animates it and testifies through them.
Practically,
"the Spirit is the truth";
whatever is
stated
in Christian matters without His attestation,
is
something less or other than the truth. A still larger
1 See John 14. 17 ; 15.
26; 1 John 4. 6; comp. John 4. 23, 24.
388 THE THREE WITNESSES
meaning
is implicit in
and
perfect "truth" lies in the realm of "the Spirit,"
in
the region of the eternal, the Divine, behind all the
things
of time and sense (comp. Heb. 11. 1, 3; 2 Cor. 4.
18;
1 Cor. 13. 12, 13).
Such, then, are the "three
witnesses" which were
gathered
"into one" in the Apostle John's experience, as
testifying
to the truth about Christ and His salvation:
"the
three," he says, "agree in one,"1 or more strictly,
"amount
to the one thing" (kai> oi[ trei?j ei]j to> e!n
ei]sin,
ver.
8); they converge to this single point. The
banks,
Calvary, the upper chamber in
beginning,
the end of Jesus Christ's earthly course,
and
the new beginning which knows no end; His
Divine
life and words and works, His propitiatory
death,
the promised and perpetual gift of the Spirit
to
His Church—these three cohere into one solid,
imperishable
witness, which is the demonstration alike
of
history and personal experience and the Spirit of
God.
They have one outcome, as they have one pur-
pose;
and it is this—viz. "that God gave us eternal
life,
and this life is in His Son" (ver. 11). The revelation
of
Jesus as the Son of God is complete from the day
of
Pentecost onwards; and the Church from that day
repeats
unfalteringly the witness of the Baptist and
the
Evangelist, with an ever-multiplying concert of
voices,
through the whole earth: "I have
seen, we have
seen,
and borne witness that this is the Son of God,
that
the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of
the
world" (John 1. 34, 1 John 4. 14).
The Apostle has told us in verses
6-8 what are, to
his
mind, the proofs of the testimony of Jesus—evi-
dences
that must in the end convince and “overcome
the
world” (ver. 5). So far as the general
cause of
Christianity
is concerned, this is enough. But it con-
1 "The idea is not
that of simple unanimity in the witness; but of
their focussing (so to speak) on the one
gospel of Christ come in the
flesh,
to know which is eternal life " (Westcott). For ei]j with this sense,
comp.
John 11 52, 17. 23.
AND THE ONE TESTIMONY 289
cerns
each man to whom this evidence comes to realize
for
himself the weight and seriousness of the testimony
meeting
him.
verses
9 and 10 to the Author of the
threefold mani-
festation.
"If we receive the witness of men"—if
credible
human testimony wins our ready assent—"the
witness of God is greater." The
declaration of the
Gospel
brings every man that hears it face to face with
God
(comp. 1 Thess. 2. 13). And of all subjects on
which
God might speak to men, of all revelations that
He
has made or might conceivably make, this,
feels,
is the supreme and critical matter—"the testimony
of
God, viz. the fact that He has testified1 concerning
His Son." The Gospel is,
in
good
news about His Son " (Rom. 1. 2, 3). God insists
upon
our believing this witness; it is that in which He
is
supremely concerned, which He asserts and com-
mends
to men above all else. Concerning this God
the
Father spoke audibly from heaven, saying at the
anointing
and again at the transfiguration of Jesus,
"This
is my Son, the beloved: hear Him."
had
listened to those mysterious voices, and they had
taught
him the infinite importance of a true faith in
the
Sonship of Jesus. His resurrection was a crowning
vindication
of Jesus by the Eternal Father, who thus
declared
by act and deed that in spite of—nay, because
of—His
death, He was more than ever the Son of His
good
pleasure (Acts 13. 32-35, Rom. 1. 4). And finally,
the
descent of the Holy Spirit, bestowed at the request
of
the exalted Jesus (John 14. 16, Luke 24. 49), was a
glorious
and demonstrative witness of God's mind con-
cerning
His Son Jesus, as St. Peter forthwith argued
on
the day of Pentecost (Acts 2. 32-36).
Let the man, therefore, who with
this evidence before
him
remains unbelieving, understand what he is about;
let
him know whom he is rejecting and
contradicting.
"He
has made God a liar"—he has given the lie to
1 Observe the Greek perfect tenses in the verbs of
verses 9 and 10, im-
plying
a decisive and settled fact.
390 THE THREE WITNESSES
the
All-holy and Almighty One, the Lord God of truth.
This
Apostle said the same terrible thing about the
impenitent
denier of his own sin (chap. 1. 10); the two
denials
are cognate, and run up into the same condition
of
defiance toward God. "He that
honoureth not the
Son,"
Jesus said, "honoureth not the Father who sent
Him";
"they have both seen and hated both me and
my
Father" (John 5. 23, 15. 23). Such, the Apostle
urges,
is the consequence of disbelief in Jesus Christ;
it
brings men into diametrical opposition to God, and
that
upon the point which touches most nearly the,
Divine
truth and honour, viz. the witness that He has
given
to His own Son.
On the other hand, "he who
believes on1 the Son of
God," "who has
heard from the Father, and comes" to
Christ
accordingly (John 6. 45), finds "within himself"
the
confirmation of the witness he received (ver. 10a).
His
inner consciousness and the fruits of faith in his life2
verify
the witness of God about Christ which he has
accepted.
The testimony of "the Spirit and the water
and
the blood" forms no mere historical, objective
proof;
it enters the man's own nature, and becomes the
regnant
principle, the creative factor of his new life.
The Apostle might have added the
subjective con-
firmation
affirmed in verses 10, 11 as a fourth,
experi-
mental
witness to the other three; but, to his conception,
the
sense of inward life and power attained by Christian
faith
is itself the witness of the Spirit translated into
terms
of experience, realized and made operative in
1 Here we note
Christian
believer by giving credence to God's word concerning Christ,
attaches
himself to Christ and is united with Him ; while the unbeliever
(o[ mh> pisteu<wn t&?
qe&?)
refuses to God's testimony about His Son that bare
credence
which men commonly give to the word of their fellows (ver. 9).
There
is the like graduation of meaning between pisteu<w with the dative
and pisteu<w ei]j in John 6. 29, 30 and 8. 30, 31. See also for
the dative,
John
4. 21, 50; 5. 24, 46, 47; 10. 38; 14. 11; for ei]j and accusative,
John
1. 12; 2. 11; 3. 16, 18; 6. 29, 35, 40; 7. 38, 39; 9. 35, 36; 11. 25,
26;
12. 36, 37; 14. 12; 16. 9, &c.
2 See 2. 5; 3. 10, 19,
24; 4. 17; 5. 2, 4, 18; comp. John 7. 38, 14. 12.
AND THE ONE TESTIMONY 391
personal
consciousness. "The water that I will give,"
said
Jesus, "will be within him a fountain of water,
springing
up unto life eternal" (John 4. 14). It is thus
that
the believer on the Son of God "puts his seal to it
that
God is true." His testimony is not to the general
fact
that there is life and truth in Christ; but "this
is
the witness that God gave to us life
eternal, and this
life
is in his Son" (ver. 11). This witness of God
concerning
His Son is not merely a truth to be
believed
or
denied, it is a life to be chosen or
refused. On this
choice
turns the eternal life or death of all to whom
Christ
offers Himself: "He that hath the
Son, hath
life;
he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life"
(ver.
12).
"Life" appears everywhere
in
an
acquisition. Faith accordingly is a grace rather, than
a
virtue; it is a yielding to God's power, rather than
the
exerting of our own. It is not so much that we
apprehend
Christ; He apprehends us,—our souls are
laid
hold of and possessed by the truth concerning Him.
Our
part is but to receive God's bounty pressed upon
us
in Christ; it is merely to consent to the strong
purpose
of His love, to allow Him (as
to
"work in us to will and to work, on behalf of His
good
pleasure" (Phil. 2. 13). As this operation proceeds
and
the truth concerning Christ takes practical posses-
sion
of our nature, the conviction that we have eternal
life
in Him becomes increasingly settled and firm.
Rothe
aptly says upon this passage: "Faith is not a
mere
witness on the man's part to the Object of his
faith;
it is a witness which the man receives from
that
Object. . . . In its first beginnings
faith is, no
doubt,
mainly the acceptance of testimony from with-
out;
but the element of trust involved in this accept-
ance
includes the beginning of an inner experience of
that
which is believed. This trust arises from the
attraction
which the Object of our faith has exercised
upon
us; it rests on the consciousness of a vital con-
nexion
between ourselves and that Object. In the
392 THE THREE WITNESSES
measure
in which we accept the Divine witness, our
inner
susceptibility to its working increases, and thus
there
is formed in us a certainty of faith which rises
unassailably
above all scepticism."
The language of
Epistle
breathes the force of spiritual conviction raised
to
its highest potency. For him perfect love has now
cast
out fear, and perfect faith has banished every
shadow
of doubt. "Believing on the name of the
Son
of God," he "knows that he has eternal life"
(ver.
13). With him the transcendental has become
the
experimental, and no breach is left any more
between
them.
THE
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER V. 13-21
THE ETERNAL LIFE, AND THE SIN UNTO
DEATH
Postscript
to the Letter—Purpose of Gospel and Epistle—Faith and
Assurance
of Faith—The Certainty of Life Eternal—Practical Use of
Christian
Assurance—"Asking according to His Will"—The Possibilities
of
Intercessory Prayer—A Limit to Prayer—What is the "Sin unto
Death"?—Mortal
and Venial Sins—The Case of Jeremiah and his People
--The
Mystery of Inhibited Prayer.
"These
things I have written unto you, that you may know that you
have eternal life,
Unto you that believe on the name of
the Son of God.
And this is the
confidence which we have toward Him,
That if we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us;
And if we know that He
heareth us in whatever we ask,
We know that we have the
requests which we have asked
from Him.
If
any one see his brother sinning a sin not unto death,
He
shall ask, and He will give him life, in the case of those who sin
not unto death:
There
is sin unto death; not for that sin do I say that he should ask.
All
unrighteousness is sin;
And there is
sin not unto death."
1
JOHN 5. 13-17.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE
ETERNAL LIFE, AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH
appears
to be dictating his last words. He glances
over
the course of the letter, and states its purpose in
the
past tense at the end, as he stated it in the present
tense
at the beginning (1. 4): then it was, "These
things
we write to you, that our joy may be made full,"
—to
satisfy our own hearts; now, "These things I
have
written to you, that you may know that you have
eternal
life,"—to fortify your faith. The retrospective
"I
have written " has thrice occurred before—in
chap.
2. 13-14, 21, 26, where the Apostle was reflecting
on
the preceding context (see pp. 178-180); now his sur-
vey
covers the whole writing. He set out to deliver once
more
the message of "the eternal life that was mani-
fested"
in Jesus Christ. He has unfolded the nature
of
that life, as it brings those receiving it into fellow-
ship
with God, as it, moulds the spirit and character
of
men, and meets the reaction against it of the world's
sin
within the heart and within the Church. In all this
of
his children, that they recognize in what they read
the
things they have heard from the beginning; he is
telling
no new story, inculcating no new principles, but
making
clearer to them what they already hold, and
arming
them to repel the errors that perplex their
understanding
and tend to pervert their conscience and
cloud
the serenity of their faith. The letter has been
written
therefore, that those "who believe on the name
395
396 THE ETERNAL LIFE
of
the Son of God may know that eternal life" is theirs,
—that
their faith by its full apprehension of the truth
concerning
Christ may bring them a perfect assurance,
a
settled consciousness of their glorious possession in
Him.
The object of the First Epistle concurs with that
of
the Gospel of John, expressed at the end of the
20th
chapter, where it concluded in the original draft:
"These
things are written, that you may believe that
Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing,
you
may have life in His name."1 The aim of the
Gospel
is more comprehensive, for this was designed
both
to convince unbelievers and to confirm and enrich
the
faith of believers. The Epistle is directed strictly
to
the latter purpose (comp. pp. 72, 73).
1.
pastor
knows who is exercised in the care of Christian
souls,
between faith and the assurance of faith.
He
has
had it in mind all along. We met with the
distinction
in chap. 3. 19-24; that paragraph turned
on
the same practical point. "Herein," the Apostle
wrote,
"we shall know that we are of the truth, and
shall
assure our hearts before God,"—viz. in the con-
sciousness
of sincere love to our brethren; again,
"Herein
we know that God abideth in us,—from the
Spirit
which He gave us." On such grounds
of heart
assurance
(see Chap. XVIII) he encouraged his little
children
to build. The whole letter is written to deepen
the
sense of security in the hearts of faithful Christian
men,
to promote the inward peace and firm confidence
toward
God which are essential to vigorous growth
and
sustained activity in the spiritual life. Such assur-
ance
belongs of right to all those "who believe on the
name
of the Son of God." But they do not all possess
it.
Writing to the intent his readers "may know2 that
1 The second
purpose-clause of the T.R. and A.V. in 1 John 5. 13,
"and
that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (i!na
pisteu<hte
k.t.l..), probably crept in as a marginal
gloss, suggested by John 20. 31.
2 !Ina ei]dh?te: for the force of oi#da, see p. 238, note 3. It
signifies an
abiding
conviction, resting on known facts; comp. oi#damen, verses 18-20.
AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH 397
they
have eternal life," he supposed that some of them,
though
they have eternal life in virtue of their faith,
do
not certainly know this: they are not sure of their
salvation;
they fail to realize their possessions in
Christ,
and entertain some needless misgiving or un-
worthy
fear; they have a true faith, but not "the full
assurance
of faith." Theirs is a restless, disquieted
faith,
shadowed with doubt and disturbed by alarms,
sensitive
to the atmosphere of the unbelieving world
around
them. The case of doubting Thomas amongst
the
Apostles, in whom
in
his Gospel, illustrates the turn of mind.
The condition the Apostle indicates
is one familiar
now
as then; there is no better tonic for it than
buoyant
natures mistake this hesitant disposition; they
are
always sure of themselves (whether right or wrong),
and
know exactly what they believe and intend. But
faith
once beat high and strong; he has marked the
downcast
face and troubled look of men daunted by
persecution
or browbeaten by loud argument; he
knows
that some of his readers, in spite of themselves,
are
bewildered in the mazes of theosophy and the
flashing
sword-play of dialectic. We should be mis-
taken
to suppose that the souls of the martyrs never
quaked,
that the confessors of Jesus in the first ages
were
always clear in their convictions and courageous
in
their testimony, and their reasonings at all times
as
simple and sure as those that in some classic instance
have
been transmitted to us. "Out of
weakness they
were
made strong," and they "waxed valiant in the
fight"
on which they entered oftentimes with fearful
hearts.
Those who prove the bravest might confess to
moods
of despondency and moments when panic seized
them;
their worst battle had been with their own
cowardice.
The firmest believers may have been on
occasion
forgetful of things they well knew, and
tempted
to abandon positions of which, in their right
398 THE ETERNAL LIFE
minds,
they were perfectly assured. Such dangers
were
incessant amidst the turmoil and stress of the
Church's
warfare in the Apostolic times. How needful
that
it should hear, sounding on from one generation
to
another, the mighty cry of Jesus out of the midst of
the
struggle, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world!"
Through the force of untoward circumstances,
and
for
want of strong teaching like
of
Christian souls "go mourning all their days"; they
dare
not taste the freedom and joy of God's salvation,
though
they show by fruits of repentance, by a self-
denial
and strictness of conscience such as might put
to
shame many happier Christians, that Christ is formed
in
them. For these tender, self-distrustful spirits the
Lord
has a more abundant life and delight in store:
"Blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be com-
forted."
But if we have eternal life, it is
certainly well
that
we should know it; that is the normal
and fitting
experience
of those who are in Christ. The zest and
energy
of the Christian life, and its power to influence
others,
depend on the certainty with which personal
salvation
is realized, on the confidence with which His
servants
follow the heavenly Master, as men walking
in
the sunshine of God's favour and having the joy of
their
Lord fulfilled in them. Such "light is sown for
the
righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart."
The
purpose of
all
teaching addressed to Christian believers—is the
perfecting in them of
the assurance of life eternal.
Here then the Epistle fairly ends, for
the writer's
thought
has come round in full circle to its starting-
point;
that the Church should be in conscious and
satisfied
possession through its faith of the eternal
life
revealed in Jesus Christ, has been the aim
of
the Apostle's labours and prayers through a pro-
tracted
ministry. The two remaining paragraphs are
a
supplement, like chapter 21 added to John's Gospel,
and
come in by way of afterthought. Verses 14-17
AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH 399
we
entitled, in the analysis made of the Epistle in
Chap.
VI, the postscript. Though an
addendum to
the
letter and not a continuation of its main line
of
thought, these sentences are no superfluity; they
arise
out of the conclusion of the Epistle in verse 13.
The
"confidence toward God" which they describe
is
a consequence and a needful expression of the faith
"on
the name of the Son of God" of which the Apostle
has
just spoken, the faith that makes a Christian man.
The
confidence which inspires prevailing prayer (vers.
14-16),
springs from the assurance of faith that
has
laboured all along to infuse into his readers; it
presupposes
the consciousness of eternal life in the
soul
(ver. 13). He who prays so as to win "life" for
an
erring brother, must have life in himself; he must
possess
such a knowledge of God and certainty of
His
good-will to men in Christ as will warrant the
boldest
intercession on behalf of sinners (ver. 16);
this
knowledge of the Father is eternal life (see
John
17. 3). The postscript is closely attached to the
letter,
and needs no interval of time to account for
its
addition.
2. Verses 14 and 15 convey the
second lesson of
the
paragraph, viz., that Christian assurance
takes
effect in a life of
prevailing prayer:
"the confidence"
"of
the steadfast and instructed Christian is "that, if
we
be asking anything according to His will, God
heareth
us; and if we know that He heareth us, we
know
that we have the requests we have asked of Him"
(ver.
14).
There is something deeply
characteristic in the
transition
from verse 13 to the sequel, and of the
greatest
practical importance. It is so natural and
easy
to rest in the quiet assurance of salvation, to
luxuriate
in the comfort of a settled faith and a clear
sense
of the Divine grace in Christ. But the Apostle
will
not allow this. The Christian believer's confidence
must
be put to use and yoked to service; the strength
of
his faith must be applied to the tasks of inter-
400 THE ETERNAL LIFE
cession.
If indeed he be a restored son of God,
standing
in the light of His countenance, the duty
of
supplication for those outside the gate falls
at
once upon him; he must take part with the
Advocate,
"Jesus Christ the righteous," who has
turned
all His knowledge and authority and the
Father's
favour toward Him to account in pleading
for
sinners (chap. 2. 2; see pp. 117, 118). In chap. 3. 17
the
Apostle rebuked the heartlessness of Christians
who
see the physical need of their brethren and have
means
at command, but make no sacrifice for its relief.
They
deserve no less reproach, who profess the en-
joyment
of God's favour and claim access to the throne
of
grace, and yet fail to exert themselves in prayer
for
the spiritual needs of others. Men are struggling
and
suffering all around them; they are battling with
fierce
temptation, enduring agonies of doubt; they
are
caught in the storms of passion, or lost in the
mists
of error: you see the light and know the will
of
God, you have access to the Father by the Spirit
of
His love and truth, then surely you will speak to
Him
on their behalf and your whole strength of faith
will
be put forth in sympathetic intercession; if you
have
indeed the mind of Christ and are "joined to the
Lord
in one Spirit," this work of the Mediator has
become
your occupation. Knowledge of God is power
with
God; and power with God is prevalency in prayer.
Christian
assurance, after all, is not an end in itself;
it
is just so much strength and liberty granted for
believing
prayer. The knowledge of eternal life
translates
itself into that confidence towards God
which
asks and receives for the and for a
sin-stricken
world, the great gifts of redeeming
grace.
once
given by Jesus to His Church. He remembers the
great
promise, the charter of Christian prayer, "Ask,
and
it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock,
and it shall be opened unto you." He recalls
AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH 401
more
distinctly the specific pledges given by the Lord
to
His disciples at parting from them: "Whatsoever
you
ask in my name, that will I do"; and again, "If
you
abide in me and my words abide in you, you
shall
ask whatsoever you will, and it shall be done
for
you" (John 14. 13, 14 ; 15. 7). Abiding fellowship
with
Jesus Christ, as of "the branches" with "the
Vine,"
was to bring His people into such a knowledge
of
God and accordance with His will, into such access to
the
springs of power in the being of the Godhead, that
strength
for Christ's service would never fail them;
all
they ask will be given, since they will ask nothing
but
what their Master's work requires, nothing but
what
is needed for His purposes and to carry out the
commission
He has laid upon them. Now such requests
concern
the objects dearest to God the Father, the
end
to which His great and precious promises look
forward,—the
establishment of the kingdom of His
Son.
Praying thus, those who know God "know that
they
are asking according to His will"; their prayers
move
in the line of God's own working and
accord
entirely with "the will of Him that sent”
His
Son upon the errand of redemption,1 with the
sovereign
counsel of Grace that is behind the mission
of
Jesus Christ. "We know," if we know anything
of
God through Christ, that He is an interested listener
to
every petition offered in the interest of men's salva-
tion
through Christ, that such petitions are in tune
with
the Father's will and touch the matters He has
most
at heart.
To know all this, in making prayer
to God, is surely
to
"know that we have the petitions we have asked
from
Him." For in so entreating, we are suing for
the
things which God designs to give, and is on the
way
to give. Prevailing prayers meet the purposes
of
God upon their march. They are inspired by the
Holy
Spirit, the Divine prompter of intercession2
1 See John 4. 34, 5. 30,
6. 38-40.
2 See
Life Eternal 27
402 THE ETERNAL LIFE
who
"searches all things, even the depths of God
(1
Cor. 2. 10). The supplications of men who "pray in
the
Holy Ghost" are virtual prophecies; those who
utter
them know that they are heard, as Jesus
habitually
did;1 and the tone of their utterance not
unfrequently
brings this certainty to other minds.
Petitioners
enabled thus to ask, can leave their desires
with
God, satisfied "that they have the petitions they
have
asked of Him"—the claim of their faith is
admitted,
and the boon is already marked as theirs.
To "ask according to" the
Father's "will" signifies
the
submission of the suitor's wish and judgement to
the
Giver's,—such submission as the Lord Jesus made
when
He said, in the anguish of
my
will, but thine be done." This is the beginning
and
the end of all prayer offered in filial confidence;
boldness
toward God untempered by humility, and
without
the sense of the ignorance and unworthiness
cleaving
to the petitions of sinful men addressed to
the
All-wise and All-holy, is a shocking presumption,
sometimes
a blasphemous dictation.
This is the fourth time that the
Apostle has spoken
in
his letter of "confidence" under the word parrhsi<a,
—the
"free speech" of him who expresses his mind
or
presents himself to another without misgiving and
embarrassment.2 In chaps. 2. 28 and 4. 17 he was
thinking
of the expectancy with which faithful men
await
the coming of Christ in judgement; in chap.
3.
21, as in this place, of the expectancy with which
they
themselves come to God in intercession. In
the
last-named passage (3. 21, 22) he sets forth the sub-
jective
warrant of confidence in prayer, found in the
consciousness
of obedience to God's "commands"—the
loyal
man is sure of a hearing from the King; here its
objective
ground is seen, viz. the knowledge of the
Divine
will—the enlightened man is sure of God's
assent
to what he asks. His request falls in with the
plans
and ways of the Father, as these were revealed
1 See John 11. 41,
42. 2 Comp. note on p. 235.
AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH 403
in
Christ. It is the same "confidence" of the sincere
believer
in Christ and the acknowledged child of God,
which
meets these different emergencies—which sup-
ports
the soul in coming now to the throne of grace,
and
will support it hereafter in coming to the throne
of
judgement (2. 28). Christian assurance, with the
peace
and strength of heart it brings, is built on faith
in
the Son of God as Saviour from sin; it rests on the
knowledge
of God the Father, and is a filial trust. The
confidence
of hope in the Redeemer's coming has an
earnest
and test in the confidence of accepted prayer
before
the Father's footstool. Our daily prayers
breathe
the essence of our religion; their spirit is
the
spirit that shapes our character and determines
the
trend of our lives. As we pray now, so we are
likely
to appear at last in the day of the manifestation
of
the sons of God.
3. There is one special matter of
prayer that weighs
on
the Apostle's mind; in it probably the motive of
the
postscript lies. The case of erring
brethren calls for
the intervention of
Christian prayer: "If any one should
see
his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall
ask
. . ." (ver. 16). "If any one sin,"
at
the beginning, "we have an Advocate with the
Father"
(chap. 2. 1; see Chap. IX); the powers and
merit
of the great Advocate are to be enlisted on his
behalf.
But Christ is not the only Advocate. He
shares
this office with His redeemed brethren; He
has
"loosed us from our sins, and made us priests to
God,
even His Father" (Rev. 1. 6). We are reminded
of
overtaken
in any trespass, you that are spiritual
restore
such an one." The restoration is in
many
cases
effected rather by the pleading of intercession
with
God than by the pleading of expostulation with
the
offender. But the prayer must be definite and
personal,
prompted by what one has seen and actually
feels
about the given case, or it is not likely to carry
weight.
404 THE ETERNAL LIFE
This is to be the Christian man's
resort, when he
is
disturbed by fault and wrong-doing that meet his
eyes
in the Church. "If any man see his brother sin"
—what
should he do? Is he to go round
whispering
about
it and tale-bearing? or to rush with the story
into
print, and gird at the Churches in the newspapers
or
on the platform? These are not our instructions;
but
two plain directions are given us: first, by the
Master,
"Go, and tell him his fault between thee and
him
alone" (Matt. 18. 15); then, by the beloved disciple,
"Lay
the trouble before God in prayer." This is the
proper
way to take up the case. By so acting the
man
concerned will not only win blessing for
the
offender, but he will come to see the offence in
a
different light, and will be saved from the heat and
aggravation
engendered by other modes of proceeding.
Intercessory
prayer is the antidote for scandal in the
Church.
St James, like
his
Epistle on this painful topic; his observation
supplements
our Apostle's advice: "He that
turneth
a
sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul
from
death, and shall hide a multitude of sins"
(James
5. 20).
"He shall ask, and He (or he) will give him life,
for
those who sin not unto death." Grammatically,
it
is easier to understand the same subject with the
two
verbs "ask" and "give": so read, the sentence
means
that the praying man, by successful intercession,
virtually
"gives life" to the restored backslider (who,
on
that construction, is the "him" of the second
clause).
There is, to be sure, a truth expressed by this
rendering,
which has been adopted in the margin of
the
Revised Version and by many interpreters. But
the
other construction is surely that which
intended: God is the great Life-giver,—He who
"gave
us
eternal life in His Son."1 "Ask, and it shall be
given
you," is the promise of Jesus made in the
Father's
name, which this text recalls to every one's
1 Verse 11; comp. John 5.
21, 6. 32-35, 10. 28.
AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH 405
mind,
and in the last verse the writer described the
offerer
of prayer as one who "knows that he has
the
petitions he has asked of Him." God "gives" at
the
supplication of the distressed and interceding
brother—that
is to say, "gives to him" (to his request:
on
this view, the "him" of the second clause is the
accepted
intercessor)—"life for those who sin." Spiritual
death
is averted, miracles of resurrection are wrought,
through
the virtue of intercessory prayer. What our
Lord
accomplished, upon the dead body of His friend
Lazarus,
when "He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and
said,
Father, I thank thee that thou heardest me"
(John
11. 41), is realized again and again in answer
to
the entreaty of Christian men, who are God's priests,
for
souls dead in trespasses and sins. "When
Jesus
saw their faith," the faith of those
who brought to Him,
with
desperate earnestness of effort, the paralytic of
the
story of Mark 2. 3-12, "He saith to the sick of the
palsy,
Child, thy sins are forgiven thee." In a thousand
ways
faith works vicariously for blessing; none of us
can
tell how much of the life that is his in Christ has
come
through the channel of his own faith, and how
much
he owes to the intercession of others. There
is
a profound solidarity in the co-operation of believing
prayer;
this communion is of the inmost life and
mystery
of the Body of Christ.
4. A limitation is, however, set by
the Apostle to the
possibilities
of intercessory prayer: "There is sin unto
death; I do not say that he
should pray for that."
in
such case.
This awful exception has been
discussed, with extreme
solicitude
and care, from the earliest times, but with
little
approach to unanimity. Amongst the Fathers
who
have treated of the passage, some found the
fatal
sin in wickedness of a gross and extreme
nature,
such as blasphemy, murder, adultery—in one
or
more of those that came to be called in later times
"the
seven deadly sins"; others identified it with hatred
406 THE ETERNAL LIFE
and
bitter antipathy to the Church, with sin directed
against
Christ in His "body." Some,
again, defined it
as
obstinate, impenitent sin, by reading the phrase
"sin
unto death" as meaning sin persisted in till death;
while
others saw in it not so much a moral offence, as
unbelief
in its darkest form of wilful and total rejection
of
Christ, amounting to the "blasphemy against the
Holy
Spirit," which he who commits "hath never
forgiveness,"
being "guilty of an eternal sin" (Mark 3.
29). The deadly offence against which the
writer to
the
Hebrews gave warning, in chap. 6. 4-6 of his
Epistle—where
he speaks of apostates who "crucify
for
themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to
open
shame"—appears to be kindred to this last. It
is
possible that in some instances the heretical denial
of
the Lord which St John encountered, went to the
like
degree of malignity. Cold-heartedness toward
their
brethren, and disbelief in the Divine-human
person
of Jesus Christ, are the two associated forms of
evil
(see pp. 63, 64) stigmatized by
christs
who infested the Churches of his province.
These
men he has condemned with unsparing severity:1
there
were those amongst them whom he regarded as
withered
branches, quite severed from "the true Vine."
If a definite reply must be given to
the question,
What
is the "sin unto death" of this passage? the
answer
should be sought in the above direction. Jesus
warned
His impugners, "For judgement I came into
this
world," and again, "If you believe not that I am
(of
God), you will die in your sins " (John 8. 24, 9. 39);
it
is probably
of
our Lord that we find in chap. 3. 18, 19 of his Gospel:
"He
that believeth not hath been judged already,
because
he bath not believed in the name of the Only-
begotten
Son of God. And this is the judgement, that
the
light bath come into the world, and men loved the
darkness
rather than the light; for their works were
evil."
Upon certain of his opponents and the deniers
1 See chap. 2. 22, 23; 4. 1-6; comp. 2 John 7,
3 John 10.
AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH 407
of
Christian truth, men of bitter spirit and evil life, the
holy
Apostle was compelled to pronounce in the way
of
unqualified and hopeless condemnation. The whole
New
Testament implies that full and deliberate unbelief
in
Jesus Christ, due to moral antipathy, is fatal to the
soul.
Such unbelief Christ Himself has called "sin,"—
where
the sin of our nature concentrates itself into this
antagonism
and comes to a head in its resistance of
Him: "The Holy Spirit," He
promised, shall "convict
the
world of sin, because they believe not on me "
(John
16. 8, 9).
Intrinsically, and as regards its
nature and tendency,
all
sin is "unto death;" it looks and makes that way,
being
a disease of the soul and a deviation from the
true
end of man's life; any and every sin, so far as it
goes
and so long as it lasts, severs the committer from
fellowship
with God in whom our life is hid. Accord-
ing
to the saying of James 1. 15, Sin is the daughter of
Lust
and the mother of Death. "Sin and
death" are
bound
in one as cause and effect, as bud and fruit, by
universal
and immutable law.1 The
Apostle is not
setting
up the perilous distinction between "mortal"
and
"venial sins,"2 when he writes of a "sin unto
death"
and a "sin not unto death." The
"sin not
unto
death" is that for which, in answer to the suppli-
cation
of a Christian brother, God "will give life"; and
the
"sin unto death" is that for which He will not do
so;
for which, therefore,
to
pray. The difference is defined by the result; the
malady
proves remediable in the one case, fatal in
the
other. So far as the indications of the passage
go,
there is no material for diagnosis other than in
the
issue; the grounds of discrimination lie in the deep
of
God's judgements.
When the Apostle says, "All
unrighteousness is sin "
1 See
2 This classification,
which has played so large a part in ecclesiastical
ethics
and discipline, had already been made by the Jewish rabbis and
legists,
and was developed with great minuteness by them.
408 THE ETERNAL LIFE
(ver.
17), he guards his readers against narrowing the
idea
of "sin" to what may be called religious offences,
to
transgressions overtly committed against God. The
strain
of his letter, which bears so sternly against
dishonour
done to Christ and condemns the rejection
of
His mission as defiance to the Almighty Father who
sent
Him (vers. 9, 10), might appear to identify sin with
mere
unbelief and the wrong done thereby to God, with
transgressions
only of the first of the two great Com-
mandments
of Jesus. Hence it is observed by the way,
and
to guard against misconception, that "every un-
righteousness"—every
social injustice and unkindness,
every
failure to deal with another as one would wish to
be
dealt with, every moral offence, "is sin"; one cannot
injure
a fellow man or withhold a social due without
that
resistance to the will of God and transgression
of
the rule of man's being which constitutes "sin."1
In chap. 3. 4 "sin" was
branded as "lawlessness";
now,
further, "all unrighteousness" is brought under
the
conception of "sin." The two
propositions are
complementary;
and each of them is reversible. They
affirm
that unity of the spiritual and ethical, of god-
liness
and manliness, which is a distinctive mark of
the
teaching of Scripture. The rights of man, with the
constitution
of society and the laws of nature on which
they
are based, spring from the rights of God, from the
fundamental
relations in which He has placed mankind
to
Himself. Duty to our neighbour is part of our
duty
to God; duty to God is fulfilled in service to
humanity.
Religion is one with sound morals (3. 4);
morals
are one with true religion (5. 17). God
is "all
things,
and in all"; conscience is His throne, and in the
domain
of right and wrong He is law-giver, adminis-
trator,
and judge.
But we come back to the "sin
unto death." The ex-
pression
comes from the Old Testament. In Numbers 18.
22
it seems to denote a capital offence,—in that instance,
an
act of sacrilege. Similar transgressions are described
1 Comp. Chap. XVI.
AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH 409
as
being committed "with a high hand,"—wanton and
outrageous
acts of wickedness, for which the legal
sacrifices
and purifications were unvailing; such was
the
sin of Eli's sons, referred to in 1 Samuel 2. 25, 3. 14,
and
such the guilt of
account
of which Jehovah said to His prophet, "Pray
not
thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer
for
them, neither make intercession unto me; for I
will
not hear thee" (Jer. 7. 16, 14. 10-12). The time
came
when Jesus turned His back on the Jewish rulers
and
temple, with the words, "Behold, your house is
left
unto you desolate!" when He wept over
"0
that thou hadst known in this thy day the things
that
belong unto thy peace; but now they are hid
from
thine eyes!" Judaism had sinned unto death.
The case of Jeremiah and apostate
Judah supplies
a
distinct analogy to the situation before us; not im-
probably
it was in the Apostle's mind in attaching
the
qualification that he does to the promise made in
verse
16, that God " will give life " at the loving inter-
cession
of brother for brother. If so, there is no
definite
category, no specific description of trans-
gression
intended by the phrase "sin unto death";
but
the general possibility of such sin being committed is
affirmed.
tij) unto death"—a kind of sin, or degree of
sin, with
this
inevitable issue, a sort of sin that lies beyond
redemption,
from which even the blood of Christ
cannot
cleanse the soul—did he not write, "The blood of
Jesus,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin"? (1. 7).
But
he says, "There is sin (e@stin
a[marti<a)
unto death"--
such
a thing exists; sin has, in point of fact, this fatal
outcome
in certain cases. There may come, and some-
times
does come, in the present life a crisis at which the
soul's
doom is practically fixed and after which it proves
"impossible
to renew" the sinner "again unto repent-
ance"
(Heb. 6. 6). When that point is reached, when
the
sin has been committed which closes the heart
against
the visitings of compunction and plunges the
410 THE ETERNAL LIFE
guilty
man beyond saving help, or what shape the
decisive
sin may take, God alone can judge. We
might
have thought, for example, David's notorious sin
more
mortal than Saul's disobedience. The import of
any
particular act of wrong-doing depends on the whole
constitution
and history of the man who commits it.
Where
any degree of self-reproach and of wish for
a
better state is found in a sinner, there is evidence
that
he is not forsaken by the Spirit of God. The man
who
dreads that he has committed the unpardonable
sin,
by his very distress shows himself to be within the
reach
of mercy.
sinner;
in that case, they would have to know exactly
what
the unpardonable sin is, and where to draw the
line
between this and other sins. He says, "I do not
tell
you to pray for such a case"—one cannot urge
prayer
for what one deems to be impossible and against
the
will of God. But the bar is subjective, and personal
to
the given case; it is not an obstacle that lies in any
general
principle, or is capable of definition. God may
reveal
to saints in close fellowship with Him that this
or
that prayer is out of harmony with His will. He may
arrest
the petitioner, as He did Jeremiah, with the veto,
"Pray
not for this people for their good"; there may
have
been some amongst the apostates from
Churches
concerning whom the holy Apostle had the
like
impression. One has heard of men living near
to
God, who have felt themselves for some objects and
some
persons sorely hindered, or even silenced, when
they
strove to pray, while in speaking for others they
were
allowed the largest liberty; and these permissions
or
prohibitions they could not account for, nor reduce
to
any rule. If one should for any reason, rightly
or
wrongly, believe that the sin in question is unto
death,
one cannot pray for it, any more than for the
physical
life of a man with a bullet through his brain.
And
if the great Hearer and Prompter of prayer should
convey
to the mind of the intercessor who stands in
AND THE SIN UNTO DEATH 411
His
counsel, the conviction that such is the case, his
faith
in that particular is paralysed. "If we ask any-
thing according to His will, He heareth
us"; it is pos-
sible,
in some instances rare and infinitely sad, that God
may
not hear the petition for an erring brother's
restoration.
The Apostle has made here the exception
to the
gracious
rule "Ask, and it shall be given you," which
truth
requires,—an exception which probably his own
deep
experience of life of prayer had compelled him
to
admit. But he gives us no criterion of the sin
that
is beyond forgiveness; he leaves it wrapped in
the
mysteries which surround the throne of eternal
judgement.
THE APOSTOLIC CREED
The
three-fold "We know"—
Creed—"
I believe in Holiness "—The Blight of Cynicism—The Son of
God
Keeper of God's Sons--The Question of Entire Sanctification—" I
believe
in Regeneration "—A "World lying in the Evil One"—Mystery
of
New Births—The Christian Noblesse oblige—"I
believe in the
of
the Son of God"—Come to stay—Christian
Use of the Understanding
—The
True God and the Idols—Christ come to conquer.
“We
know that whosoever is begotten of God doth not sin;
But He that was begotten of God
keepeth him,
And the Evil One doth not touch him.
We
know that we are of God;
And the whole world lieth in the
Evil One.
But
we know that the Son of God is come;
And He hath given us an
understanding, that we may know the
True One.
And we are in the True One,—in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, and eternal
life;
Little children, guard yourselves from the idols."
1
JOHN 5. 18-21.
CHAPTER XXV
THE APOSTOLIC CREED
THE
concluding paragraph of the Epistle is the seal
of
the Apostle John set upon the work of his life,
now
drawing to a close; it is, in effect, a seal set upon
the
entire fabric of the Apostolic doctrine and testimony
by
this last survivor of the Twelve and the nearest to
the
heart of Jesus. Extracting the essential part of
the
confession, the three short sentences introduced
by
the thrice repeated We know, we have
briefly St
John's
creed, in three articles :—
"We know that whosoever is begotten of God doth not
sin.
We know that we are of God.
We know that the Son of God is come."
In
other words, "I believe in holiness"; "I believe in
regeneration";
"I believe in the mission of the Son of
God."
Here we find the triple mark of our Christian
profession,
the standard of the Apostolic faith and life
within
the Church—in the recognition of our sinless
calling,
of our Divine birth, and of the revelation of the
true
God in Jesus Christ His Son. These are great
things
for any man to affirm. It is a grand confession
that
we make, who endorse the manifesto of the Apostle
John;
and it requires a noble style of living to sustain
the
declaration, and to prove oneself worthy of the high
calling
it presumes.
Observe the manner in which these
assertions are
made.
Not, We suppose, We hope, We should like
to
415
416 THE APOSTOLIC CREED
believe—in the speculative,
wistful tone common in
these
days of clouded faith; but We know, we
know, we
know! Here is the genuine Apostolic note, the ring
of
a
clear and steady and serene conviction, the plhrofori<a
and parrhsi<a of Christian faith.
man
sure of his ground, who has set his foot upon the
rock
and feels it firm beneath his tread. He has seen
and
heard, and handled at every point, the things of
which
he writes (see 1.1-4, and Chap. VI), and he knows
that
they are as the report avouches. This is the kind
of
faith that, with just right, conquers the world,—the
faith
that derives its testimony immediately from God,
and
carries its verification within itself. To such effect
the
Apostle has written in verses 4-13. The faith
behind
the creed of
experimental
and wasoned certainty; it is the trust
and
affiance of the whole man—heart, intelligence,
will—by
a living process directly and apprehensively
grounded
upon and built into the realities of God and
of
Christ.
Observe, moreover, the order in
which the three
avouchments
run. They succeed in the regressive or
analytic
order—the opposite to that of our dogmatic
creeds—the
order of experience and not of systematic
doctrine,
of practice not of theory, the order of life and
nature
rather than of science or theological reflexion.
human
to the Divine, from the present knowledge
of
salvation to the eternal counsels and character of
God,
out of which our being and salvation sprang.
This
is the line of reasoning which, in a majority of
cases,
religious conversion follows: the tree is known by
its
fruits; the moral demonstrates the metaphysical;
supernatural
lives vindicate supernatural beliefs ; the
image
of God in godlike men attests, against all the
force
of prejudice and preconception, the existence of
its
Father and Begetter. Thus the argument of the
Epistle
mounts to the summit from which it first
descended,
and concludes with "that which was from
THE APOSTOLIC CREED 417
the
beginning." In its system of thought, "the true
God"
and the "eternal life" are the beginning and the
ending,
the fountain at once and the sea of finite being.
The
possibility of a sinless state for the believer is
rooted
in the certainty that he is a child of God (see
chap.
3. 1-3, 9); and this certainty is derived in turn
from
the sure knowledge that "the Son of God is come
in
human flesh, that the very God, the Life of life, is
made
known in Him and brought into fatherly, and
saving
relations with mankind (chap. 4. 9-14).
Let us consider these three
Christian axioms in their
relative
bearing, and under the light in which the
Apostle
sets them and the purpose to which he applies
them
in this place.
1. The first article, then, in
creed
is this: "We know that every one
who has been
begotten
of God, does not sin." It is as much as to say,
"I
believe in holiness; in its reality, in its possibility, in
its
necessity for a Christian man."
Considered from the practical side,
this is the first of
all
our religious beliefs in its importance. It is the vital
issue
of all the creeds, and the test of their reality to us.
The
whole Nicene Confession is worth nothing to a man
who
does not believe in holiness. Intellectually, his-
torically,
he may understand every phrase and syllable
of
that majestic document, he may recite it from alpha
to
omega without misgiving; but it is all a dead-letter
to
his mind, the expression of a purely abstract and dis-
interested
and inoperative persuasion,—like his convic-
tion,
for instance, that the moon is uninhabited. What
the
man does not believe in, he will not worship, he
cannot
admire nor seek after. There is no unbelief that
cuts
quite so deep as this, that disables one so utterly
from
every spiritual exercise and attainment. The
cynic,
the scorner, the sceptic as to moral excellence,
the
man who tells you that saints are hypocrites and
religion
is cant—there is no man farther from grace
than
he; there is none more narrow-minded and self-
deceived,
and miserable in his ignorance, than the
Life
Eternal 28
418 THE APOSTOLIC CREED
denier
of the Divine in human character. Such a man
is
the ally and abettor of him who is named "the
accuser
of the brethren," whose triumph it is to blight
all
upward aspirations, to destroy that faith in goodness
and
longing after purity which find in Jesus Christ
their
refuge and strength. Alas for him who can see
only
the tares in God's vast wheat-field! who has no
eye
but to count the spots and wrinkles and such-like
things
upon the face of the Church which is his mother!
With
such an ideal as ours, nothing is easier than to
play
the censor and to mock at failure. It is ignoble
to
plead the defeat of others, who at least have made
some
struggle, in excuse for our own passive surrender
to
evil. The one effectual reproof for inconsistent
profession
of the Christian faith is a profession more
consistent.
Those who know anything practically
about the
Christian
religion, know that it means holiness in
sinful
men, that it makes for goodness and righteous-
ness
and truth in every possible way, that the Gospel
assimilates
us to its Author just so far as we obey it.
And
with the moral history of the world behind us, we
know
that no other force has wrought for the cleansing
and
uplifting of our common nature like this. No other
agency
or system that can be named, has produced the
high
and thorough goodness, the love to God and man,
the
purity of heart, the generosity, the humbleness and
patience,
the moral energy and courage, which "our
faith"
can summon into court on its behalf. Under no
other
order of life have these excellences been forth-
coming
in anything to compare with the quantity and
the
quality in which they have been found amongst the
disciples
of Jesus Christ. Its host of saints, of all lands
and
times, are the testimonial of the Gospel,—its cre-
dentials
"written not with ink" nor "on tables of
stone,"
but "on hearts of flesh" and "by the Spirit of
The
living God" (2 Cor. 3. 1-3). This
is the evidence
which
Christ Himself proposed to give of the truth
of
His doctrine; by it He invites the world to judge
THE APOSTOLIC CREED 419
concerning
His claims. The verdict will be awaited in
confidence
by those who have the earnest of it in them-
selves. Sin is the great problem of the age, and of all
ages—the
heart-problem, the race-problem; and Jesus
Christ
has shown Himself competent to deal with it,
under
the most various and the most extreme con-
ditions.
After these nineteen centuries of Christian
experiment,
despite the failures and blots upon the
Church's
record, we can say with a confidence in some
sense
greater than that of the Apostolic age, "We
believe
in holiness; we know that for the children of
God
there is victory over sin."
The Epistle is, in great part, a
reasoning out of this
position,
an argument upon the necessary connexion
between
faith in the Son of God and an unsinning
life
in the believer: "These things
write we unto you,
that
ye sin not" (2. 1). At the outset the Apostle, in
asserting
that "God is light, having in Him no darkness
at
all," drew from this definition the sharp conclusion
that
"if we say that we have fellowship with Him
and
walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth."
In
chapter 3. 1-9, the necessity of sinlessness in
Christians
was categorically laid down, and its grounds
and
motives were explained. The Apostle went so far
as
to say that the child of God "cannot sin, because
he
is begotten of God,--because His seed abideth in
him."
This is the subjective ground, the intrinsic
reason,
for a life of freedom from sin: in the soul is
lodged
a germinal principle charged with the life of
God
Himself, to which sin is impossible. This "seed,"
planted
in the Christian man, communicates to him
also
a relative non posse peccare,—a
potency that is
identified
in chap. 3. 24 with the Spirit possessed
by
Christ, "which God hath given us."
But in the text before us, another
objective ground is
alleged
for the same necessity, a reason kindred to the
former: "He that was begotten of God
keepeth him
(the
one begotten of God), and the Evil One toucheth
him
not (ou]x a!ptetai au]tou?, layeth
not hold of him)." The
420 THE APOSTOLIC CREED
expression
"begotten of God" (gennhqei>j e]k tou? qeou?) is
unique,
in this precise form, as applied to Jesus Christ;
unless,
to be sure, we should follow Blass1 and Resch in
reading,
after Irenceus, Tertullian, Ambrose, Augustine
(qui . . . natus
est), and the Sinaitic Syriac palimpsest,
the singular in John 1. 13,— o{j (scil. o[
lo<goj)
. . . e]k qeou?
e]gennh<qh, i.e. "(on His name) who was begotten not of
blood
. . . but of God." Au]to<n, not e[auto<n (him not him-
self), is clearly the true
pronoun in the second clause of
verse
18 ("keepeth him"—an object
distinct from the
subject);
and the antithesis of perfect and aorist par-
ticiples (gegennhme<noj, gennhqei<j)2 unmistakably marks
out two contrasted persons in the keeper and the kept.
His
alliance with Jesus Christ, the incarnate sinless One
(John
1. 14, Luke 1. 35, Matt. 1. 18, 2 Cor. 5. 21), brings to
the
redeemed man this marvellous security: "I
give,"
He
said, "to my sheep a life eternal; and they shall never
perish;
and none shall snatch them out of my hand"
(John
10. 28).
The warfare with wrong possessed for
the Lord
Jesus
the glow and passion, and concrete reality, of
a
personal encounter "He keeps them, and the Evil
One
does not touch them." The conflict between
the
Divine and the sinful, between the Spirit and the
flesh
within the man, is at the same time a contest
over
the man between Christ and Satan, between the
Good
Shepherd and "the wolf" who "snatcheth and
Scattereth"
God's flock. Our safety, as
ceives
it, lies in the watchful eye, the strong arm and
prompt
succour, of Him who, while He was with His
disciples,
"guarded them in the Father’s name" and
1 Philology of the Gospels, pp. 234 ff. The saying, addressed to
Joseph
by " the Angel of the Lord,"; to> ga>r e]n
aut]^? gennhqe>n e]k pneu<mato<j
e]stin a[gi<ou (Matt. 1. 20), is
really parallel to 1 John 5. 18 (and to John
1.
13, upon the reading of Blass), since it ascribes the origin of Jesus to
no
human but to a Divine begetting.
2 The aorist participle
must be understood of the historical
birth of
our
Lord (comp. to> gennw<menon a!gion . . .
ui[o>j qeou?),
Luke 1. 35; and to>n
ui[o>n au]tou?, genome<non e]k
gunaiko<j,
Gal. 4. 4); also the aorist e]lqw<n, verse 6
above,
and the aorist e]fanerw<qh of 3. 5, 8, &c.
THE APOSTOLIC CREED 421
who,
all unseen, is still the Keeper of
with
the flock, the Shepherd and Bishop of souls
"alway,
unto the world's end."1
It is God's specific property in men
that Christ is set
to
"guard"; on that, while Jesus Christ liveth, the
enemy
shall lay no hand. "Satan asked to have you,
that
he might sift you," said Jesus to Peter before his
temptation
(Luke 22. 31, 32)—yes, sift you he shall, but
"as
wheat," which comes out of the sifting without one
grain
of the good corn lost! The God-begotten keeps
the
God-begotten,—the Firstborn His many brethren;
and
none may limit or qualify the integrity of that
preservation.
"I ascend unto my Father and your
Father": what a oneness
of family interest, a pledge
of
fellowship and championship, lies in that identifica-
tion!
Christ guarantees to the faith of His brethren
by
all the resources of His spiritual kingdom, by the
blood
of His passion and by the rod of His strength,
a
full defence and quittance from sin. To "touch
them,"
the enemy must first break through the shield
of
Christ's omnipotence.
But is the Apostle John quite clear
and firm upon
this
point of the sinlessness of Christian believers?
The
offspring of God, he says in verse 18, as earlier in
3.
9, "sins not"; and yet a moment ago he had written
(ver.
16), "If any man see his brother [manifestly, a
Christian
brother] sin a sin not unto
death," making
provision
for this very lapse and opening to the de-
linquent
the door of restoration. The same paradox
startled
us in the first verse of chapter 2: "I write,
that
ye may not sin"—as though with better instruction
and
a proper understanding of the Christian's calling,
sin
would be out of the question; and yet in the same
breath,
"and if any man should sin!" What can be
more
trenchant, more peremptory in its logic, than the
dictum
of chap. 3. 6, "Whosoever abideth in Him
sinneth
not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him,
neither
knoweth Him"? If this maxim is to
be applied
1 John 17. 12, Matt. 28.
20, 1 Peter 2. 25.
422 THE APOSTOLIC CREED
with
dialectical rigour, then the Christian is supposed to
be
from the moment of his regeneration and onwards,
without
faltering or exception, a sinless and blameless
man,
and he who is found otherwise is proved unre-
generate.
This kind of hard and fast logic has played
havoc
in theology; it is not at all to the Apostle's taste.
He
throws out his paradox, and leaves it; he thrusts
upon
us the discrepancy, which any tyro who chooses
may
ride to death. The contradiction is in the tangled
facts
of life, in the unsolved antinomies of everyday
Christian
experience. The verbal incongruity is softened
by
the fact that here and in verses 6, 9 of chapter 3
(as
compared with 2. 1: see pp. 114, 261) the Greek verbs
asserting
sinlessness imply use and wont, while those
admitting
the contingency of sin in the believer indi-
cated
an occurrence or isolated fact—an incident, not a
character.
But the inconsistency of statement is still
there,
and has its counterpart, only too obviously, in
the
life of the soul and the Church.
The principle is not surrendered,
because it is con-
tradicted
by unworthy facts; it is only by the true
principle
that the contradictory can be corrected and
overcome.
The law of Christian holiness is no in-
duction
from experience; it is a deduction from the
cross
and the Spirit of Christ.
deals
with the abnormal fact of conscious and post-
regenerate
sin in a child of God; he does not for a
moment allow it. All sin, even the least, is
unnatural
and
monstrous in a child of God, and must be regarded
with
a corresponding shame and grief; it excites an
invincible
repugnance in the Holy Spirit; which he has
from
God. However grievously practice may belie our
moral
ideal, that ideal may on no consideration be
lowered
in accommodation to the flesh. We dare not
put
up with the necessity of sin; the
instant we do
so
we are lost. Christianity can make no conces-
sion
to or compromise with the abominable thing,
without
stultifying itself and denying its sinless,
suffering
Lord. Sin is that which has no right to
THE APOSTOLIC CREED 423
be,
and Christ's mission is God's assertion that it
shall
not be.
2. We come to the second article of
implicit
in the first--his doctrine of the new
birth. It is
the
man who "is begotten of God"
that "sinneth not."
Those
who "know that they are of God"
have learnt
the
secret of holiness, and hold the clue to its hidden
paths
of righteousness and peace. The Apostle virtu-
ally
says, "I believe in regeneration."
Taking human nature as it is and
reading human
history
as it was and must have continued to be apart
from
the coming of Christ, the assurance of our text is
altogether
irrational. One cannot bring a clean thing
out
of an unclean, nor make saints out of the men de-
scribed
in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.
"The
whole world lieth in the Evil One." Knowing
myself
as I do (the au]to>j e]gw< of Rom. 7. 25), the
resurrec-
tion
of the dead is less incredible than that I should live
an
unsinning life. Every one who has measured his
own
moral strength against the law of sin in his
members,
has groaned with Saul of Tarsus, "0 wretched
man
that I am! who shall deliver me?" But then St
Paul
was able to add, "I thank God [it is done], through
Jesus
Christ our Lord! . . . The law of the Spirit of
life
in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin
and death" (Rom. 7. 25-8. 4). We "must," as Jesus
said,
"be born anew" (John 3. 7)—born over again, from
the
Divine spring and original of our being.
When this was said to Nicodemus, the
Jewish scholar
and
experienced man of the world, he took it for a use-
less
apophthegm, a figurative way of saying that the
thing
was impossible. You cannot recall to its pure
fountain
the stream that is turbid with the filth of a
hundred
shores; you cannot restore the human race to
its
cradle of innocence in
and
world-worn man back to his mother's womb. To
declare
that we "must be born anew," that reform,
amendment
is useless, and only regeneration will save,
is
to bid us despair. The message of Jesus was not
424 THE APOSTOLIC CREED
simply
that men must, but that they can be
born over
again.
"We know" the fact; the
process is hidden in the
workings
of God. It is mysterious in the same sense in
which
all the deepest things of life, and the nature of
the
human spirit, are so. Every man is, at the bottom,
an
enigma to himself; the most the critical movements of
his
soul are those he is least-able to explain. When
psychology
has taught us everything, it has really
settled
very little. How a man is "born of the Spirit,"
"begotten
of God" and transformed by the renewing of
his
mind—sometimes quite suddenly—from a doubter
into
a full believer, from a lover of sin into a lover of
holiness,
from a worldling into a conscious child of the
Eternal,
is an inscrutable secret. We shall never
arrive
at a perfect science of salvation, nor formulate
the
ultimate rationale of a man's conversion to God.
But
the event itself, and its moral and material effects,
are
plain to observation. Such new births of men and
of
peoples are the master-facts of biography and
history. "The manifestation of the
Spirit" and His
"fruit,"
the outcome of the interior, spiritual action of
Christ
upon human society, is visible enough for those
who
care to see. "Thou hearest the voice thereof"
(John
3. 8)—as you know the wind is astir by the
thunder
of the waves on the beach, by the crashing of
the
forest trees, though your own face be shielded from
the
blast. In those great seasons when the winds of
God
are blowing, only the deaf can doubt the coming
on
the human spirit of some fresh afflatus, some breath
from
the eternal shores; a throb stirs the general heart,
an
ocean tide swells the seas and a mighty rushing
fills
the spiritual atmosphere, that pulsate from some
vast
and unseen source. At such times multitudes of
men,
who lay morally dead as the bones in Ezekiel's
valley,
stand up a living army of the Lord. Whole
communities
at certain epochs have been inspired with
a
sudden heroism of faith, that shines through history
with
a superhuman light; the secret of their courage
THE APOSTOLIC CREED 425
and
their victory lay in the conviction, "Deus vult,"
"The
Lord is on our side." But "whence" this wind
"comes"
or "whither it goes"—in what treasuries it is
gathered,
how, or where, or upon whom it may next
descend—"thou
knowest not."
The Apostle would have all Christian
men cherish
habitually
the thought that they "are of God," and live
in
its strength. They must dare to vindicate their
celestial
birth and destiny; they must learn to believe
in
the supernatural within them, in their own redeemed,
Christ-given
manhood, and to assert its moral rights.
The
old lofty motto, Noblesse oblige,
stands on their
escutcheon.
High birth demands high bearing. The
son
of God, the brother and fellow-heir of Jesus Christ,
why
should he dabble in the mire of sin? He
"cannot
sin,
because he is born of God"; what have God's
priests
and kings to do with the shabby tricks and
mean
expedients of a mercenary ambition, with the
compliances
and servilities of those who crook the knee
to
the god of this world? Remember whose sons you
are,
and by the Spirit of the Father that is in you
maintain
the honour of your name and house, amidst a
world
that "lies in the power of the Evil One." Such
is
the application that
concerning
the New Birth.1
It is a splendid, but it is an awful
thing to say, "We
know
that we are of God." It is to be conscious that
the
hand of God has been laid upon us, to have felt the
breath
of the Eternal pass over our spirit to awaken
and
renew. It is to know that there is a power
working
within us each, at the root of our nature, that
is
infinitely wiser and stronger and better than our-
selves,–“a
Spirit planted in our hearts which comes
directly
from the being and the will of the Father-God
and
links us individually to Him. To know this is to
hold
a distinction immeasurably above earthly glory,
and
to be superior to all the lures of ambition. It is to
1 Trace again the
connexion of thought in chap. 3. 1-10; comp.
Chaps.
XV, XVI.
426 THE APOSTOLIC CREED.
be
charged with a principle of righteousness that can
dissolve
every bond of iniquity, that breaks the power
of
worldly fear and pleasure and will make us, living or
dying,
more than conquerors.
3. The third is the fundamental
article of
belief
it is the all in all of his life and of his world
of
thought: "I believe in the mission
of the Son of
God." This last is not, like the other two
articles, the
declaration
of a personal experience, but of a grand
historical
and cosmic event: "We know that the Son
of God is come! "Perfect holiness and conscious
sonship
to God date from the advent of the Son of
God,
whose "blood cleanses from all sin,"—"the
Son"
who "makes us free" that we may be "free
indeed"
(1. 7; John 8. 36). If the sum of this letter, in
its
practical aim, is "that you sin not," the sum of its
theology
is "that Jesus is the Son of God" (ver. 5); its
Christology
and its ethics blend in the experience that
Christians
are in Christ Jesus themselves sons of God.
Within
this circle lies the secret of the new life and the
new
world of Christianity.
Faith in the filial Godhead of Jesus
was no fruit of
doctrinal
reflexion, no late developed theologumenon
of
some Johannine school. The writer learnt his first
lesson
in the mystery, unless his memory deceives him,
at
the time of his earliest acquaintance with Jesus, from
the
Baptist, the master of his youth, on the banks of
the
Jordan (John 1. 29-34). From that day to this he
has
known, with an ever-growing apprehension of
the
fact, that "the Son of God is
come," that He has
arrived
and is here1 in this world of men. And though
the
Lord returned to the Father and is lost to sight and
1 The Greek verb is h!kw (adsum), which is used nowhere else in the
Epistle,
but in John 2. 4, 4. 47, 6. 37, 8. 42. The last of these passages is
instructive: "I came forth from God, and am come"—as much as to say,
"and
here I am!" Jesus confronts His enemies
with the Divine fact of
His
presence, of His works and character. In h!kw "the stress is laid
wholly
on the present" (Westcott); whereas under the perfect tense
(e]lh<luqa) of chap. 4. 2, John
16. 28, 18. 37, the present is viewed as
springing
out of the past.
THE APOSTOLIC CREED 427
earthly
contact, those who know Him know that He is
with
us always, that He has come to stay (John 14.
18,
28; Matt. 28. 20); the Apostle does not say, "We
know
that the Son of God did come,"
or "has come,"
but
that He "is come"—once and for all.
He has come into the world and mixed
among men,
"and
the world knew Him not, His own received Him
not";
its "princes crucified the Lord of glory" (John
1.
11; 1 Cor. 2. 8); for all His coming, "the world" still
"lies
in the Evil One." That we, out of
all mankind,
should
know of His coming is no merit of ours, but a
grace: "He hath given us understanding (dia<noian) that
we
should know" Him, and God in Him.1 "This is the
only
place in which dia<noia occurs in
and
generally nouns which express intellectual powers
are
rare in them " (Westcott).2 The phrase is most
significant.
The Apostle does not write," He hath given
us
a heart to love Him"—that goes without saying
but
"an understanding to know."
It is a right com-
prehension
of the advent that is implied, the power
to
realize what is behind the phenomenal fact, the
discernment
of the veritable God (to>n a]lhqino<n) in the
Son
whom He sent. This knowledge of God in Christ
is
the bed-rock of Christianity.
of
the sound intellect, as well as of the simple heart. It
claims
the homage of our intelligence, our studious and
discriminating
thought, without which it cannot win
our
deepest love.
dia<noia, no less than pneu?ma and a]ga<ph, is the gift of
Christ
(comp. 3. 1, 24). His truth calls for
the service
of
the understanding, while His love elicits and kindles
the
affections.
The object of the knowledge which
the Son of God
1 Here the verb is ginw<skwmen, not the oi@damen of the three great
assertions,
for our knowledge of God is in the making. This is not the
ascertainment
of a definite fact, but the apprehension of an infinite
reality;
comp. the note on p. 238.
2 For the use of dia<noia (mind), see Matt. 22. 37,
1.
13, 2 Peter 3. 1.
428 THE APOSTOLIC CREED
brings
is "the True1 One,"—i.e. God Himself, the Real,
the
Living, in contrast with dead, false "idols" (comp.
1
Thess. 1. 10), whom Jesus has shown to the world. To
glorify
the Father, not Himself, was the end of Christ's
coming,
pursued with unswerving loyalty (see p. 335);
the
Apostle would have misinterpreted his Master had
he
stated things otherwise, or given the name of "the
True"
in such a connexion to any other than Him to
whom
the Son Himself ascribed it—"the only true
God"
(John 17. 3). He repeats the confession
of Jesus,
for
his own last sentence of testimony: "This is the
true
God, and (here, in this knowledge, is) eternal life."
The supreme knowledge comes from
without to our-
selves;
it is truth shown to us, not evolved within us
nor
reflected from our own ideas. But the knowledge
of
God does not stop there, and terminate in the
objective
perception. If we truly apprehend it, then
it
apprehends us in turn and absorbs us into itself, into
Him
whom it reveals; so that "we are in the True
One,"
since we are–and so far as we are—"in His Son
Jesus
Christ."
Dogmatic theology, too eager for
proof-texts, has
made
out of the last clause of verse 20 an affirmation,
superfluous
after all that the Apostle has said and
foreign
to this passage, of the proper Deity of Christ.
What
the
assurance to his once pagan readers, that they have
found
and grasped the very God in Christ,
and are no
longer
mocked with idols and phantoms of blessedness;
they
are no more, as in heathen days, "men without
hope,
and godless in the world" (Eph. 2. 12). In this
faith
well may they, as they surely can, guard
them-
1 To>n
a]lhqino<n is a phrase distinctive of
in
his Gospel, thrice in this Epistle, and ten times in the Apocalypse
five
times only in the rest of the New Testament. It signifies truth of
being, verity; while a]lhqh<j; signifies truth of
statement, veracity. "The
true
light" of 2. 8 above and John 1. 9, the "true worshippers" of
John
4.
23, "the true vine" of John 15. 1, and "true tabernacle" of
Heb. 8. 2,
are
all a]lhqina<—things that verify their names, realities behind the
appearance.
See also note on p. 171.
THE APOSTOLIC CREED 429
selves front the idols (ver. 21). Old habit
and the
pressure
of heathen society around them, and the
enchantments
and sorceries which the ancient cults
possessed,
made the danger of yielding to idolatry
constant
with
well-nigh
irresistible. They were as men subject to
an
incessant siege, marked at intervals by violent
assaults,
who have to stand day and night upon their
guard.
No other, no slighter faith will
save pagan or
Christian,
the plain man or the theologian, from the
idols
of his own imagining.
know
that the Son of God is come by "the witness in"
them,
by "the Spirit He has given" (ver. 10, 3. 24, &c.),
by
their "anointing from the Holy One," by their own
changed
life and character, by "the true light" that
"shines"
on all things for them;1 and in this knowledge
their
security is found. The Son of God has not come
to
"the world" as to some material cosmos,
a mere
foothold
in space and time; but in truth to that temple
and
inner centre of the world, the individual mind.
When
Christ comes to "dwell in the heart by faith,"
He
has come indeed; then at last the Son of man has
where
to lay His head, and to build His throne. Those
know that He has come who
have "received Him as
Saviour
and Son of God," to whom accordingly He "has
given
right to become children of God,—those that
believe
in His name" (John 1. 12, Eph. 3. 17, 19).
The man thus redeemed by the Son of
God carries
in
his heart the pledge of his Redeemer's world-wide
victory.
It is no limited, personal salvation that St
John
conceives in these large outlines. He has just
spoken
of "the whole world"—o[ ko<smoj o!loj, the world
as a whole, in its collective
capacity and prevailing
character,
as "lying in the Evil One" (ver. 19), in
the
domain and under the hand of Satan.2 The ex-
1 Chap. 2. 5-8, 20; 3.
14, 19; 4. 16f.; John 1. 9.
2 ]En t&? ponhr&? kei?tai: "The phrase answers to the ei#nai
e]n t&? a]lhqin&?
that
follows, and to the characteristic Pauline e]n Xrist&?; comp. 3. 24,
430 THE APOSTOLIC CREED
pression
recalls the scene of the Third Temptation
of
our Lord (Matt. 4. 8-11; Luke 4. 5-8), when the Devil
showed
to Jesus from an exceeding high mountain
"all
the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them"
—in
the midst of it, holding the imperial throne at
heart,
the ostensible lord of the nations. The great
Usurper
dared to say, "All this is delivered unto me,
and
to whomsoever I will I give it!" But listen to
Jesus,
and He shall speak: "All things
were delivered
unto me of my Father," "All
authority is given unto
me,
in heaven and upon earth!" (Matt. 11. 27, 28. 18).
Which,
pray, of the two counter-claims is legitimate?
which
of those rival masters is finally to dominate the
earth?
"The world lieth in the Evil
One": so it was, beyond
question,
in the Apostle's day, under the empire of
Tiberius,
of Nero, and Domitian; and such is the case
to
a very large extent at this modern date. "But (de<)1
the
Son of God is come!" Against all
the evils and
miseries
of the time, against the crimes and ruin of the
ages
as against our personal guilt and impotence, there
is
that one fact to set; but it is sufficient. He has come
to
"destroy the works of the Devil," to "root out every
plant
which our heavenly Father had not planted";
and
Christ is doing this, through the hands of His
servants,
upon a wider scale and with more fruitful
and
visible results than ever before. He will not fail
nor
be discouraged until the work of uprooting and
4.
15. The connexion shows that t&? ponhr&? is masculine, and the
con-
verse
of kei?sqai e]n t&? ponhr&? is given in John 17.
15 i!na thrh<s^j
e]k tou?
ponhrou?. A close parallel to this expression is
found in Sophocles, OEd.
Col.
247, e]n u[mi?n w[j qe&? kei<meqa tla<monej" (Westcott).
1 How is it that the
Revisers failed to restore this antithesis ? West-
cott,
of course, notes it, and makes much of it: "The third affirmation
is
introduced by the adversative particle (oi@damen de<). There is—this
seems
to be the line of thought—a startling antithesis in life of good and
evil.
We have been made to feel it in all its intensity. But, at the same
time,
we can face it in faith."
with kai<, and never without distinctive meaning; comp. p. 304.
THE APOSTOLIC CREED 431
replanting
is complete. "The strong man armed
keepeth
his goods in peace," till there arrives "the
stronger
than he"; then the house is spoiled, and the
captives
are set free. The Son of God has not come into
our
world to be defeated. He did not set forth upon a
random
and uncalculated mission, nor sit down to the
siege
without first counting the cost. He has set His
imperial
foot down upon this earth, and He will not
draw
it back. Its soil has been stained and stamped
with
the blood of His redemption; the purchase-mark
is
ineffaceable. Jesus Christ has lifted up before the
nations
the banner of His cross, which floats a victorious
ensign
over seas and continents; and to Him shall the
gathering
of the peoples be.
Please
report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt: ted.hildebrandt@gordon.edu