1 John · Chapter 2

V. 1. My beloved children-So the apostle frequently addresses the whole body of Christians. It is a term of tenderness and endearment, used by our Lord himself to his disciples, John 13:33. And perhaps many to whom St. John now wrote were converted by his ministry. It is a different word from that which is translated "little children," in several parts of the epistle, to distinguish it from which, it is here rendered beloved children. I write these things to you, that ye may not sin-Thus he guards them beforehand against abusing the doctrine of reconciliation. All the words, institutions, and judgments of God are levelled against sin, either that it may not be committed, or that it may be abolished.

But if any one sin-Let him not lie in sin, despairing of help. We have an advocate-We have for our advocate, not a mean person, but him of whom it was said, "This is my beloved son." Not a guilty person, who stands in need of pardon for himself; but Jesus Christ the righteous; not a mere petitioner, who relies purely upon liberality, but one that has merited, fully merited, whatever he asks.

Verse 1. My little children] teknia mou. My beloved children; the address of an affectionate father to children whom he tenderly loves. The term also refers to the apostle’s authority as their spiritual father, and their obligation to obey as his spiritual children.

That ye sin not.] This is the language of the whole Scripture; of every dispensation, ordinance, institution, doctrine, and word of God. Sin not-do not run into ruin; live not so as to promote your own misery; be happy, for it is the will of God that ye should be so; therefore he wills that ye should be holy: holiness and happiness are inseparable; sin and misery are equally so.

And if any man sin] If, through ignorance, inexperience, the violence of temptation, unwatchfulness, &c., ye have fallen into sin, and grieved the Spirit of God, do not continue in the sin, nor under the guilt; do not despair of being again restored to the favour of God; your case, it is true, is deeply deplorable, but not desperate; there is still hope, for—

We have an advocate with the Father] We still have him before the throne who died for our offences, and rose again for our justification; and there he makes intercession for us. He is the righteous; he who suffered, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Do not, therefore, despair, but have immediate recourse to God through him.

Verses 1, 2. My little children — So the apostle frequently addresses the whole body of Christians, and so our Lord himself addressed his disciples, John 13:33. It is a tender and affectionate appellation, denoting paternal authority, love, and concern, which, in the character of an apostle, St. John might have used in any period of his life; but as used in this epistle, it seems to imply, together with apostolical authority, the apostle’s advanced age. It is a different word from that which is translated little children, in several parts of the epistle, to distinguish it from which, it may here be rendered beloved children. These things write I unto you, that ye sin not — Thus he guards them beforehand against abusing the doctrine of reconciliation. All the words, institutions, and judgments of God, are levelled against sin, either that it may not be committed, or that it may be abolished. And if any man sin — Let him not lie in sin, despairing of help; for we have an Advocate — We have for our Advocate not a mean person, but Him of whom it was said, This is my beloved Son; not a guilty person, who stands in need of pardon for himself; but Jesus Christ the righteous — Not a mere petitioner, who relies purely upon liberality, but one that has merited, fully merited, whatever he asks. And he is the propitiation — The atoning sacrifice, through the merit of which our sins are pardoned when we repent and believe in him. The word ilasmov, here rendered propitiation, is nowhere found in the New Testament, but in this passage, and 1 John 4:10. But it occurs often in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, where it signifies a sacrifice of atonement. Thus, Leviticus 6:6, 7; Numbers 5:8, kriov ilasmou, is a ram for a sin-offering. And Ezekiel 44:27, prodferein iladmon, is, to offer a sin-offering. “In considering the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin, St. John, like the other apostles, followed his Master, who, in the institution of his supper, directed his disciples to consider it as designed to bring to their remembrance his blood shed for many for the remission of sins.” For our sins — Who believe; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world — Just as wide as sin extends, the propitiation extends also.

TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IN SIN IS A FALSE PRETENDER, 1-29.

1. For the Christian’s sin of infirmity Christ is a universal propitiation, 1, 2.

1. My little children—This is John’s opening appellative for his entire audience on rising to speak; or, rather, commencing to write. Though a coelebs, (but see note on 2 John 1:13,) as tradition generally affirms, he is a paternal model. To the venerable age of our apostle his audience at Ephesus, although fathers, young men, and children (verse 13) in comparison with each other, were all children, little children, grandchildren. Hence the tradition that his last preaching words in old age were, “Little children, love one another.” See our vol. ii, p. 225. These things—Bengel refers these things to what follows, Grotius to the preceding, while most commentators refer it to the last verses, 8-10. But as we view 5-10 to be a summary of all the epistle following, we refer it to both the past and the following, both being the same. Sin not—The main aim of the epistle being to show the incompatibility of sinning as an actual practice, or sin as a permanent state, with the divine fellowship or communion. And—Rather, yet. If—So liable is even the Christian to transgression that provision must be made for its occurrence. Any man— Among you; and so, inferentially, among mankind. Sin—In spite of his general purpose and rule of life to live above sin. The difference between the sin of the Christian and that of the Gnostic is, that the former is struggled against, condemned, and repented of by the man, while the latter is freely indulged, and maintained as right and suitable to be practised in the future. An advocate—An attorney, or responsible speaker for us in court. The term implies that the man is now a culprit on trial before the Father for his sin, and Christ is his lawyer to plead for him. The image is borrowed from Roman law, no such officer as an advocate being known to the Old Testament. When brought under the Romans, the Jews and other conquered peoples were obliged to engage Roman lawyers to plead their cases. Such an advocate was Tertullus, in Acts 24:1, where see notes. The Greek word here for advocate is paraklhtov, paraclete, a word applied, in its original sense of consoler or “comforter,” to the Holy Spirit. The righteous—The sinless One, who, having no transgressions of his own, is able to plead with just influence before the court of the Most Holy, where we dare not ourselves appear.

V. 2. And he is the propitiation-The atoning sacrifice by which the wrath of God is appeased.

For our sins-Who believe.

And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world-Just as wide as sin extends, the propitiation extends also.

Verse 2. And he is the propitiation] iJlasmov. The atoning sacrifice for our sins. This is the proper sense of the word as used in the Septuagint, where it often occurs; and is the translation of אשם asham, an oblation for sin, Amos 8:14. tacj chattath, a sacrifice for sin, Ezekiel 44:27. rwpk kippur, an atonement, Numbers 5:8. See Clarke’s note on “Romans 3:25”, and particularly see Clarke’s note on “Luke 18:13”. The word is used only here and in 1 John 4:10. And not for ours only] It is not for us apostles that he has died, nor exclusively for the Jewish people, but peri olou tou kosmou, for the whole world, Gentiles as well as Jews, all the descendants of Adam. The apostle does not say that he died for any select part of the inhabitants of the earth, or for some out of every nation, tribe, or kindred; but for ALL MANKIND; and the attempt to limit this is a violent outrage against God and his word.

For the meaning of the word paraklhtov, which we here translate advocate, see Clarke’s note on “John 14:16”.

From these verses we learn that a poor backslider need not despair of again finding mercy; this passage holds out sufficient encouragement for his hope. There is scarcely another such in the Bible, and why? That sinners might not presume on the mercy of God. And why this one? That no backslider might utterly despair. Here, then, is a guard against presumption on the one hand, and despondency on the other.

Verses 1, 2. My little children — So the apostle frequently addresses the whole body of Christians, and so our Lord himself addressed his disciples, John 13:33. It is a tender and affectionate appellation, denoting paternal authority, love, and concern, which, in the character of an apostle, St. John might have used in any period of his life; but as used in this epistle, it seems to imply, together with apostolical authority, the apostle’s advanced age. It is a different word from that which is translated little children, in several parts of the epistle, to distinguish it from which, it may here be rendered beloved children. These things write I unto you, that ye sin not — Thus he guards them beforehand against abusing the doctrine of reconciliation. All the words, institutions, and judgments of God, are levelled against sin, either that it may not be committed, or that it may be abolished. And if any man sin — Let him not lie in sin, despairing of help; for we have an Advocate — We have for our Advocate not a mean person, but Him of whom it was said, This is my beloved Son; not a guilty person, who stands in need of pardon for himself; but Jesus Christ the righteous — Not a mere petitioner, who relies purely upon liberality, but one that has merited, fully merited, whatever he asks. And he is the propitiation — The atoning sacrifice, through the merit of which our sins are pardoned when we repent and believe in him. The word ilasmov, here rendered propitiation, is nowhere found in the New Testament, but in this passage, and 1 John 4:10. But it occurs often in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, where it signifies a sacrifice of atonement. Thus, Leviticus 6:6, 7; Numbers 5:8, kriov ilasmou, is a ram for a sin-offering. And Ezekiel 44:27, prodferein iladmon, is, to offer a sin-offering. “In considering the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin, St. John, like the other apostles, followed his Master, who, in the institution of his supper, directed his disciples to consider it as designed to bring to their remembrance his blood shed for many for the remission of sins.” For our sins — Who believe; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world — Just as wide as sin extends, the propitiation extends also.

Verse 2. He is the propitiation for our sin: ilasmov, a ram, or other victim offered as an atoning sacrifice for sin. On Genesis 15:9, the rabbins make a distinction between the heifer, the she goat, and the ram, yet all the three are offered as atoning victims. The reference here is to Christ, our Ilasterion. Romans 3:25. Hebrews 9:5. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In him we draw near to God, through his blood; so that if any man do sin in the church, he ought immediately to return to God with true contrition of spirit, for the Redeemer is enthroned on the mercyseat with aspects of grace to the contrite; and not to them alone, but also to the whole world, whoever may return with broken and contrite hearts for past sins. He proclaims the Lord God, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.

2. Ours only… whole world—The heart of our apostle is too expansive to limit the grace of the Redeemer to a select number. Christ is a race Redeemer, a world-Saviour. The interpretation that strives against language so rich to force a limit upon it, dishonours Christ and dishonours itself. Such is the perversity of Calvin’s words quoted disapprovingly by Alford: “Under all he does not comprehend reprobates; but designates those who are yet to believe and who are scattered through the various regions of the world.” Such a meaning of the word world has no instance in Scripture; for the Word is more apt to be used, especially by John, to signify the world of unbelievers. In fact, the very purpose of John here is, to deny and repudiate a limited atonement. Beautiful and true are the words of Bengel: “So wide as sin extends does the propitiation extend.”

2. Yet for the claimant of the divine purity the test is abstinence from all sinning, 3-14.

It might at first be supposed that a ready advocate and propitiation for the believer’s sins might furnish easy license for sin. And separating that fact from its proper conditions, one may abuse it for antinomianism. St. Paul met the same objection, that we may abound in sin that the grace of propitiation may abound, in the same way as John does here. Romans 6:1, where see notes. Our adherence to Christ is incompatible with a purpose to abound in sin.

V. 3. And hereby we know that we truly and savingly know him-As he is the advocate, the righteous, the propitiation.

If we keep his commandments-Particularly those of faith and love.

Verse 3. And hereby we do know that we know him] If we keep the commandments of God, loving him with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves, we have the fullest proof that we have the true saving knowledge of God and his Christ. The Gnostics pretended to much knowledge, but their knowledge left them in possession of all their bad passions and unholy habits; they, therefore, gave no proof that they had known either God or his Son Jesus-nor is any man properly acquainted with God, who is still under the power of his sins.

Verses 3-6. Hereby we do know that we, truly and savingly, know him — As he is the Advocate, the righteous One, the Propitiation; if we keep his commandments — Particularly those of faith and love. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar — “The Nicolaitans and Gnostics, notwithstanding they lived in an habitual course of the most criminal sensual indulgences, boasted that they were the objects of God’s love, and sure of obtaining eternal life, merely because they possessed the knowledge of the true God, and of his mercy in forgiving men’s sins. In this boasting the apostle declared them liars, either because they spake what they knew to be false, or at least what was in itself most false.” But whoso keepeth his word — Sincerely endeavours to live in obedience to all his commands; in him verily is the love of God — Reconciled to us through Christ; perfected — Perfectly known, or shows itself to be sincere. See on 1 John 4:12. Hereby — By our keeping his word; know we that we are in him — Truly united to him by a lively faith, and have communion with him. So is the tree known by its fruits. To know him, to be in him, to abide in him, are nearly synonymous terms; only with a gradation: knowledge, communion, constancy. He that saith he abideth in him — An expression which implies a durable state; a constant, lasting knowledge of and communion with him; ought himself — Otherwise they are vain words; so to walk, even as he walked — In the world. As he are words that frequently occur in this epistle. Believers, having their hearts full of him, easily supply his name.

3. We know him—The Gnostics claimed to know God, and thereby to be free to all bodily sin. See note on 2 Thessalonians 2:7. But the criterion of a true Christian Gnostic is his keeping God’s commandments. The character of the other sort of Gnostic is sharply pronounced in next verse. This knowing him is deeper than a mere historical perception of him. It requires that we should know that we know him, by knowing that it makes us keep his commandments. It is a knowledge which descends from the head into the heart, and runs along the nerves and muscles, making us think, and feel, and act rightly. Bengel notices the climax in the three verses 4-6 expressed in know, in him, and abide in him. These three he designates beautifully as cognition, communion, and constancy. No other know him has any saving value—but the contrary. The more we know him without this test, the more our condemnation. In the verses previous to the first interlude (verse 7) the sinlessness of the true Gnostic is designated as keeping commandments; in verses before the second interlude (verse 12) under the images of love and light.

Verse 4. He that saith, I know him] This is a severe blow against those false teachers, and against all pretenders to religious knowledge, who live under the power of their sins; and against all Antinomians, and false boasters in the righteousness of Christ as a covering for their personal unholiness. They are all liars, and no truth of God is in them.

Verses 3-6. Hereby we do know that we, truly and savingly, know him — As he is the Advocate, the righteous One, the Propitiation; if we keep his commandments — Particularly those of faith and love. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar — “The Nicolaitans and Gnostics, notwithstanding they lived in an habitual course of the most criminal sensual indulgences, boasted that they were the objects of God’s love, and sure of obtaining eternal life, merely because they possessed the knowledge of the true God, and of his mercy in forgiving men’s sins. In this boasting the apostle declared them liars, either because they spake what they knew to be false, or at least what was in itself most false.” But whoso keepeth his word — Sincerely endeavours to live in obedience to all his commands; in him verily is the love of God — Reconciled to us through Christ; perfected — Perfectly known, or shows itself to be sincere. See on 1 John 4:12. Hereby — By our keeping his word; know we that we are in him — Truly united to him by a lively faith, and have communion with him. So is the tree known by its fruits. To know him, to be in him, to abide in him, are nearly synonymous terms; only with a gradation: knowledge, communion, constancy. He that saith he abideth in him — An expression which implies a durable state; a constant, lasting knowledge of and communion with him; ought himself — Otherwise they are vain words; so to walk, even as he walked — In the world. As he are words that frequently occur in this epistle. Believers, having their hearts full of him, easily supply his name.

4. He that saith—Note on 1 John 1:6. John has the antagonist, as usual, in view. He affirms the positive truth, and negatives the counter untruth. I know him—And know that I am safe in transgression either through him or without him. A liar—A guilty falsifier of the very foundation of redemption, that he may indulge in breaking the divine commandments. The truth—Note on 1 John 1:8.

V. 5. But whoso keepeth his word-His commandments. Verily in him the love of God-Reconciled to us through Christ. Is perfected-Is perfectly known.

Hereby-By our keeping his word.

We know that we are in him-So is the tree known by its fruits. To "know him," to be "in him," to "abide in him," are nearly synonymous terms; only with a gradation,-knowledge, communion, constancy.

Verse 5. But whoso keepeth his word] Conscientiously observes his doctrine, the spirit and letter of the religion of Christ. Is the love of God perfected] The design of God’s love in sending Jesus Christ into the world to die for the sin of man teteleiwtai, is accomplished, in that man who receives the doctrine, and applies for the salvation provided for him. This seems to be the meaning of the apostle. That we are in him.] That we have entered into his spirit and views, received his salvation, have been enabled to walk in the light, and have communion with him by the Holy Spirit.

Verses 3-6. Hereby we do know that we, truly and savingly, know him — As he is the Advocate, the righteous One, the Propitiation; if we keep his commandments — Particularly those of faith and love. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar — “The Nicolaitans and Gnostics, notwithstanding they lived in an habitual course of the most criminal sensual indulgences, boasted that they were the objects of God’s love, and sure of obtaining eternal life, merely because they possessed the knowledge of the true God, and of his mercy in forgiving men’s sins. In this boasting the apostle declared them liars, either because they spake what they knew to be false, or at least what was in itself most false.” But whoso keepeth his word — Sincerely endeavours to live in obedience to all his commands; in him verily is the love of God — Reconciled to us through Christ; perfected — Perfectly known, or shows itself to be sincere. See on 1 John 4:12. Hereby — By our keeping his word; know we that we are in him — Truly united to him by a lively faith, and have communion with him. So is the tree known by its fruits. To know him, to be in him, to abide in him, are nearly synonymous terms; only with a gradation: knowledge, communion, constancy. He that saith he abideth in him — An expression which implies a durable state; a constant, lasting knowledge of and communion with him; ought himself — Otherwise they are vain words; so to walk, even as he walked — In the world. As he are words that frequently occur in this epistle. Believers, having their hearts full of him, easily supply his name.

5. But—Returning to the affirmative in earnest repetition, with emphasis on verily and know. Keepeth—By not only remembering, but obeying. Love of God perfected—By being brought into full force and action. Perfected—In the same degree that it is effective in making us keep his word. Hereby—Referring to keepeth his word. Know we—We do most completely know that we know… him, or (what is the same thing, and more) are in him. In him—In Christ, by communion, and thereby in God.

V. 6. He that saith he abideth in him-which implies a durable state; a constant, lasting knowledge of, and communion with, him. Ought himself-Otherwise they are vain words. So to walk, even as he walked-In the world. As he, are words that frequently occur in this epistle. Believers having their hearts full of him, easily supply his name.

Verse 6. Abideth in him] He who not only professes to have known Christ, but also that he has communion with him, and abides in his favour, should prove the truth of his profession by walking as Christ walked; living a life of devotion and obedience to God, and of benevolence and beneficence to his neighbour. Thus Christ walked; and he has left us an example that we should follow his steps.

To be in Christ, 1 John 2:5, is to be converted to the Christian faith, and to have received the remission of sins. To abide in Christ, 1 John 2:6, is to continue in that state of salvation, growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verses 3-6. Hereby we do know that we, truly and savingly, know him — As he is the Advocate, the righteous One, the Propitiation; if we keep his commandments — Particularly those of faith and love. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar — “The Nicolaitans and Gnostics, notwithstanding they lived in an habitual course of the most criminal sensual indulgences, boasted that they were the objects of God’s love, and sure of obtaining eternal life, merely because they possessed the knowledge of the true God, and of his mercy in forgiving men’s sins. In this boasting the apostle declared them liars, either because they spake what they knew to be false, or at least what was in itself most false.” But whoso keepeth his word — Sincerely endeavours to live in obedience to all his commands; in him verily is the love of God — Reconciled to us through Christ; perfected — Perfectly known, or shows itself to be sincere. See on 1 John 4:12. Hereby — By our keeping his word; know we that we are in him — Truly united to him by a lively faith, and have communion with him. So is the tree known by its fruits. To know him, to be in him, to abide in him, are nearly synonymous terms; only with a gradation: knowledge, communion, constancy. He that saith he abideth in him — An expression which implies a durable state; a constant, lasting knowledge of and communion with him; ought himself — Otherwise they are vain words; so to walk, even as he walked — In the world. As he are words that frequently occur in this epistle. Believers, having their hearts full of him, easily supply his name.

6. Abideth—The summit of the grades, know him, in him, and abideth in him. This abiding is Christian perseverance—reverse of apostasy. He walked—The word he has thus far in the paragraph been the Greek autov; here it is ekeinov. From this change Alford infers that the first refers to God, (note on verse 3,) and this last to Christ. But both refer to Christ; the former as our divine advocate and propitiation before the Father in heaven, (verses 1, 2,) the latter to the man Jesus as he walked on earth for our example.

V. 7. When I speak of keeping his word, I write not a new commandment-I do not speak of any new one.

But the old commandment, which ye had-Even from your forefathers.

Verse 7. Brethren, I write no new commandment] There seems a contradiction between this and the next verse. But the apostle appears to speak, not so much of any difference in the essence of the precept itself, as in reference to the degrees of light and grace belonging to the Mosaic and Christian dispensations. It was ever the command of God that men should receive his light, walk by that light, and love him and one another. But this commandment was renewed by Christ with much latitude and spirituality of meaning; and also with much additional light to see its extent, and grace to observe it. It may therefore be called the OLD commandment, which was from the beginning; and also a NEW commandment revealed afresh and illustrated by Christ, with the important addition to the meaning of Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye shall love the brethren so as to lay down your lives for each other. See Clarke’s note on “John 13:34”. Instead of adelfoi, brethren, ABC, thirteen others, with both the Syriac, Erpen’s Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonic, and Vulgate, with several of the fathers, have agaphtoi, beloved. This is without doubt the true reading.

Verses 7, 8. I write no new commandment — Ministers must avoid all suspicion and affectation of novelty in their doctrine. But an old commandment — Concerning holiness of life, and loving one another. Which ye had from the beginning — Which was given to your fathers at the first forming of your commonwealth, Leviticus 19:18. The old commandment is the word — The doctrine of the gospel also; which ye have heard from the beginning — Which was delivered at the first publication thereof, and has been insisted upon ever since, Matthew 5:43; John 15:12. Again, a new commandment I write unto you — Namely, with regard to your loving one another; a commandment which is true in him and in you — It was exemplified in him, and is now fulfilled by you, in such a manner as it never was before. “The new commandment,” says Macknight, “of which the apostle speaks, is that contained in verse 6. That Christ’s disciples ought to walk even as he walked; and in particular that, as Christ laid down his life for his people, they ought to lay down their lives for one another, chap. 3:16. Thus, to walk as Christ walked, St. John, with great propriety, termed a new commandment, because, notwithstanding the precept to love one another was strongly enjoined in the law of Moses, consequently was not a new commandment, the precept to love one another as Christ loved us, was certainly a new commandment, and so is termed by Christ himself, (John 13:34,) and is thus explained and inculcated 1 John 3:16: He laid down his life for us, therefore we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Which thing is true — This translation is exact; for the word alhqev, being in the neuter gender, cannot agree with entolh, commandment, which is feminine; we must “therefore supply pragm, (action or thing,) or some such general word, expressive of the subject of the command. By saying that the thing enjoined in the new commandment was true, concerning the persons to whom the apostle wrote, he perhaps meant that some of them had already hazarded their lives in assisting their brethren.” Because the darkness is past, &c. — The apostle not only means the darkness of heathenism, but that of the Mosaic dispensation, together with the corrupt doctrines and practices of the Jews under that dispensation; and particularly the impious notion that they were commanded in the law to hate the Gentiles, Matthew 5:43. This darkness was gradually passing away by means of the shining of the light which was true; that is, by the publication of Christ’s doctrine and example in the gospel. The Mosaic law, with its obscure types, was likewise ready to vanish, in consequence of the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish nation; which events were soon to take place.

7. First interlude. Twice in this chapter St. John interrupts the current of thought in order to express the personal purpose and feeling of his writing. Other writers would have done this at the introduction; but he has begun with the full propounding of his subject, and his personal references come in parenthetically by the way. This interlude meets the objection that his doctrine is a novelty. The commandment is not, as some think, simply the law of brotherly love, (though verses 10, 11 show that to be included,) but the entire preceding injunction of 3-6, requiring our knowing and abiding in our great propitiation—that is, in the divine fellowship and perfect love summarized in 1 John 1:6, 7. This was no new commandment; indeed, they had heard it from the beginning; that is, from the first announcement of Christ’s gospel to them. This newly delivered injunction is the same old word they had ever heard, even from the beginning of their Christian knowledge,

V. 8. Again, I do write a new commandment to you-Namely, with regard to loving one another. A commandment which, though it also was given long ago, yet is truly new in him and in you. It was exemplified in him, and is now fulfilled by you, in such a manner as it never was before. For there is no comparison between the state of the Old Testament believers, and that which ye now enjoy: the darkness of that dispensation is passed away; and Christ the true light now shineth in your hearts.

Verse 8. Which thing is true in him and in you] It is true that Christ loved the world so well as to lay down his life for it; and it was true in them, in all his faithful followers at that time, who were ready to lay down their lives for the testimony of Jesus. There is a saying in Synopsis Sohar, p. 94, n. 51, that may cast some light on this passage: That way in which the just have walked, although it be OLD, yet may be said to be NEW in the love of the righteous. The love that the righteous bear to God and to each other is a renewal of the commandment.

The darkness is past] The total thick darkness of the heathen world, and the comparative darkness of the Mosaic dispensation, are now passing away; and the pure and superior light of Christianity is now diffusing its beams everywhere. He does not say that the darkness was all gone by, but paragetai, it is passing away; he does not say that the fulness of the light had appeared, but hdh fainei, it is now shining and will shine more and more to the perfect day; for the darkness passes away in proportion as the light shines and increases.

Verses 7, 8. I write no new commandment — Ministers must avoid all suspicion and affectation of novelty in their doctrine. But an old commandment — Concerning holiness of life, and loving one another. Which ye had from the beginning — Which was given to your fathers at the first forming of your commonwealth, Leviticus 19:18. The old commandment is the word — The doctrine of the gospel also; which ye have heard from the beginning — Which was delivered at the first publication thereof, and has been insisted upon ever since, Matthew 5:43; John 15:12. Again, a new commandment I write unto you — Namely, with regard to your loving one another; a commandment which is true in him and in you — It was exemplified in him, and is now fulfilled by you, in such a manner as it never was before. “The new commandment,” says Macknight, “of which the apostle speaks, is that contained in verse 6. That Christ’s disciples ought to walk even as he walked; and in particular that, as Christ laid down his life for his people, they ought to lay down their lives for one another, chap. 3:16. Thus, to walk as Christ walked, St. John, with great propriety, termed a new commandment, because, notwithstanding the precept to love one another was strongly enjoined in the law of Moses, consequently was not a new commandment, the precept to love one another as Christ loved us, was certainly a new commandment, and so is termed by Christ himself, (John 13:34,) and is thus explained and inculcated 1 John 3:16: He laid down his life for us, therefore we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Which thing is true — This translation is exact; for the word alhqev, being in the neuter gender, cannot agree with entolh, commandment, which is feminine; we must “therefore supply pragm, (action or thing,) or some such general word, expressive of the subject of the command. By saying that the thing enjoined in the new commandment was true, concerning the persons to whom the apostle wrote, he perhaps meant that some of them had already hazarded their lives in assisting their brethren.” Because the darkness is past, &c. — The apostle not only means the darkness of heathenism, but that of the Mosaic dispensation, together with the corrupt doctrines and practices of the Jews under that dispensation; and particularly the impious notion that they were commanded in the law to hate the Gentiles, Matthew 5:43. This darkness was gradually passing away by means of the shining of the light which was true; that is, by the publication of Christ’s doctrine and example in the gospel. The Mosaic law, with its obscure types, was likewise ready to vanish, in consequence of the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish nation; which events were soon to take place.

Ver. 8. A new commandment I write unto you. The ancient precept is enforced by an example altogether new, arising from the love of God to fallen man, who gave his only-begotten Son to die for our sins. Therefore the darkness is past, the old shadows of the law, and love, divine love, blazes out in new forms, and in all the exuberance of grace in the new covenant.

8. Again—That is, under another view of the subject, the commandment is new. It is, on opposite sides, at the same time both old and new. Even when first preached through Christ it was old, both as a natural and eternal divine obligation, and as a record in the Hebrew revelation; and it was new by the revelation of our example, propitiation, and advocate, Jesus Christ; and this newness is a true thing both in the Christ and in the believer—in him and in you. It is true in Christ as unfolding a new force in the law of love; it is true in you as being pledged by your interest in the propitiation (verse 2) to perfect obedience to, and oneness with Christ. The darkness once shading that law of love is past by this revelation of Christ; and the true light now shineth by which the force of that law, or commandment, is made luminous. The old commandment is, therefore, a new one.

V. 9. He that saith he is in the light-In Christ, united to him. And hateth his brother-The very name shows the love due to him. Is in darkness until now-Void of Christ, and of all true light.

Verse 9. He that saith he is in the light] He that professes to be a convert to Christianity, even in the lowest degree; and hateth his brother-not only does not love him, but wills and does him evil, as the Jews did the Gentiles; is in darkness-has received no saving knowledge of the truth; and, whatever he may pretend, is in heathen ignorance, or even worse than heathen ignorance, to the present time, notwithstanding the clear shining of the light of the Gospel.

Verses 9-11. He that saith he is in the light — In Christ; united to him, and truly enlightened by the gospel and the grace of God; and yet hateth his brother — (The very name shows the love due to him;) is in darkness until now — Void of Christ, and of all true light. He that loveth his brother — See 1 John 3:14; abideth in the light — Thereby shows that he possesses the saving knowledge of God and of Christ, and that he is truly enlightened with the doctrine of the gospel. And there is none occasion of stumbling in him — He walks so as neither to give nor take offence. The apostle alludes here to Christ’s words, (John 11:9,) If any one walk in the day he doth not stumble, &c. By expelling ill-will, pride, anger, immoderate selfishness, and all other evil passions, which are occasions of sin, love removes every stumbling-block lying in our way, and enables us to do our duty to our brethren in Christ, or to mankind in general, with ease and pleasure. But he that hateth his brother — And he must hate if he does not love him; there is no medium; is in darkness — In a state of spiritual blindness, of sin, perplexity, and entanglement. For his malevolence blinds his reason to such a degree that he does not see what is right, and it extinguishes every virtuous inclination which would lead him to practise what in right, and puts him wholly under the power of bad passions; so that, in this darkness, he is in danger not only of stumbling, but of destroying himself; not knowing whither he goeth — Whether to heaven or hell, or how near he is to destruction; while he that loves his brother has a free, disencumbered journey.

9. The verses 9-11 are a resumption of the thread of thought from verse 6, after the parenthetic 7, 8. In the light—Namely, the true light of the last verse, Jesus the propitiator. It is under the imagery of light and darkness, now, (in 9-11,) that the antithesis between the Christian and the errorist is presented. The light is the emblem of truth and purity blended in one; the darkness is the unity of error and sin. Hateth his brother—His brother, in the various degrees in which that title can be applied to his fellow-man. Love of various degrees and kinds is due to the brother in each sense, as fellow-believer, as child of the same human parent, as child of the same all-Father. As John is expounding the fellowship of the believer with Christ and God, it is in the first sense that the word brother is here primarily used. In darkness—Destitute of the divine light and love. He is spiritually dark and cold. Until now—How much soever he may have professed to be in the light.

V. 10. He that loveth his brother-For Christ's sake.

Abideth in the light-Of God.

And there is no occasion of stumbling in him-Whereas he that hates his brother is an occasion of stumbling to himself. He stumbles against himself, and against all things within and without; while he that loves his brother, has a free, disencumbered journey.

Verse 10. He that loveth his brother] That is, his neighbour, his fellow creature, whether Jew or Gentile, so as to bear him continual good will, and to be ready to do him every kind office; abideth in the light-not only gives proof that he has received Christ Jesus the Lord, but that he walks in him, that he retains the grace of his justification, and grows therein. And there is none occasion of stumbling in him.] kai skandalon en autw ouk estin And there is no stumbling block in him; he neither gives nor receives offence: love prevents him from giving any to his neighbour; and love prevents him from receiving any from his neighbour, because it leads him to put the best construction on every thing. Besides, as he walks in the light, he sees the stumbling blocks that are in the way, and avoids them; every part of his path being illuminated. Many fall into sin because they do not see the snares that are in the way; and they do not see the snares because they either have not received, or do not abide in, the light.

Verses 9-11. He that saith he is in the light — In Christ; united to him, and truly enlightened by the gospel and the grace of God; and yet hateth his brother — (The very name shows the love due to him;) is in darkness until now — Void of Christ, and of all true light. He that loveth his brother — See 1 John 3:14; abideth in the light — Thereby shows that he possesses the saving knowledge of God and of Christ, and that he is truly enlightened with the doctrine of the gospel. And there is none occasion of stumbling in him — He walks so as neither to give nor take offence. The apostle alludes here to Christ’s words, (John 11:9,) If any one walk in the day he doth not stumble, &c. By expelling ill-will, pride, anger, immoderate selfishness, and all other evil passions, which are occasions of sin, love removes every stumbling-block lying in our way, and enables us to do our duty to our brethren in Christ, or to mankind in general, with ease and pleasure. But he that hateth his brother — And he must hate if he does not love him; there is no medium; is in darkness — In a state of spiritual blindness, of sin, perplexity, and entanglement. For his malevolence blinds his reason to such a degree that he does not see what is right, and it extinguishes every virtuous inclination which would lead him to practise what in right, and puts him wholly under the power of bad passions; so that, in this darkness, he is in danger not only of stumbling, but of destroying himself; not knowing whither he goeth — Whether to heaven or hell, or how near he is to destruction; while he that loves his brother has a free, disencumbered journey.

10, 11, restate strongly the antithesis between fraternal love and hatred; presenting it as the prominent test of our moral condition.

V. 11. He that hateth his brother-And he must hate, if he does not love him: there is no medium.

Is in darkness-In sin, perplexity, entanglement. He walketh in darkness, and knoweth not that he is in the high road to hell.

Verse 11. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness] He is still in his heathen or unconverted state; and walketh in darkness, his conduct being a proof of that state; and knoweth not whither he goeth-having no proper knowledge of God or eternal things; and cannot tell whether he is going to heaven or hell, because that darkness has blinded his eyes-darkened his whole soul, mind, and heart.

Verses 9-11. He that saith he is in the light — In Christ; united to him, and truly enlightened by the gospel and the grace of God; and yet hateth his brother — (The very name shows the love due to him;) is in darkness until now — Void of Christ, and of all true light. He that loveth his brother — See 1 John 3:14; abideth in the light — Thereby shows that he possesses the saving knowledge of God and of Christ, and that he is truly enlightened with the doctrine of the gospel. And there is none occasion of stumbling in him — He walks so as neither to give nor take offence. The apostle alludes here to Christ’s words, (John 11:9,) If any one walk in the day he doth not stumble, &c. By expelling ill-will, pride, anger, immoderate selfishness, and all other evil passions, which are occasions of sin, love removes every stumbling-block lying in our way, and enables us to do our duty to our brethren in Christ, or to mankind in general, with ease and pleasure. But he that hateth his brother — And he must hate if he does not love him; there is no medium; is in darkness — In a state of spiritual blindness, of sin, perplexity, and entanglement. For his malevolence blinds his reason to such a degree that he does not see what is right, and it extinguishes every virtuous inclination which would lead him to practise what in right, and puts him wholly under the power of bad passions; so that, in this darkness, he is in danger not only of stumbling, but of destroying himself; not knowing whither he goeth — Whether to heaven or hell, or how near he is to destruction; while he that loves his brother has a free, disencumbered journey.

10, 11, restate strongly the antithesis between fraternal love and hatred; presenting it as the prominent test of our moral condition.

V. 12. I have written to you, beloved children-Thus St. John bespeaks all to whom he writes. But from the thirteenth to the twenty-seventh verse, 1 John 2:13-27, he divides them particularly into "fathers," "young men," and "little children."

Because your sins are forgiven you-As if he had said, This is the sum of what I have now written. He then proceeds to other things, which are built upon this foundation.

Verse 12. I write unto you, little children] teknia. Beloved children, (see Clarke on “1 John 2:1”,) those who were probably the apostle’s own converts, and members of the Church over which he presided. But it may be applied to young converts in general; those who can call God Abba, Father, by the Holy Spirit: therefore he says of them, that their sins were forgiven them for his name’s sake: i.e. on account of Jesus, the Saviour, who had died for them, and was now their Mediator at the right hand of God.

Verse 12. I write unto you, little, or beloved, children — Because this appellation is used (verse 1) to denote Christians of all ages and characters. Beza, and many other critics, suppose that St. John here addresses the whole body of Christ’s disciples, as their common instructer, (see on verse 1,) whom he afterward divides into three classes. In support of this opinion, it may be observed, 1st, That the word by which, in the distribution, he expresses young Christians, is paidia, which properly means young children, and not teknia, which, it seems, should be here rendered dear, or beloved children; 2d, That the reason which St. John assigns for writing to those to whom he gives the latter appellation, namely, that their sins were forgiven them, through Christ, is applicable to the whole body of believers; and was a strong reason, for such of them as John addressed, not to love the world, &c.

Ver. 12-14. I write unto you, little children, not yet established in grace. To you, fathers — and young men. Our Saviour makes a triple distinction in the work of grace. The seed sown, grew, first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear, maturing for the harvest. This reminds us that youth is a growing time, and age a ripening time for the advent of the Lord.

12. I write—I am writing. While I write, my mind surveys your different ages of natural and Christian life blended in one. Sins are forgiven—The entire Church is addressed on the common basis of being justified Christians,

V. 13. The address to spiritual fathers, young men, and little children is first proposed in this verse, wherein he says, I write to you, fathers: I write to you, young men: I write to you, little children: and then enlarged upon; in doing which he says, "I have written to you, fathers," 1 John 2:14. "I have written to you, young men," 1 John 2:14-17. "I have written to you, little children," 1 John 2:18-27. Having finished his address to each, he returns to all together, whom he again terms, (as 1 John 2:12,) "beloved children."

Fathers, ye have known him that is from the beginning-We have known the eternal God, in a manner wherein no other, even true believers, know him.

Young men, ye have overcome the wicked one-In many battles, by the power of faith.

Little children, ye have known the Father-As your Father, though ye have not yet overcome, by the Spirit witnessing with your Spirit, that ye are the children of God.

Verse 13. I write unto you, fathers] By fathers it is very likely that the apostle means persons who had embraced Christianity on its first promulgation in Judea and in the Lesser Asia, some of them had probably seen Christ in the flesh; for this appears to be what is meant by, Ye have known him from the beginning. These were the elders and eye witnesses, who were of the longest standing in the Church, and well established in the truths of the Gospel, and in Christian experience. But ton apJ archv, him who is from the beginning, may mean Jesus Christ in the eternity of his nature, see John 1:1, 2; but the sense is the same. I write unto you, young men] These were confirmed disciples of Christ; persons who were well-grounded in the truth, had been thoroughly exercised in the Christian warfare, were no longer agitated by doubts and fears, but had arrived at the abiding testimony of the Spirit of God in their consciences; hence they are said to have overcome the wicked one, 1 John 2:14. They were persons in the prime of life, and in the zenith of their faith and love.

I write unto you, little children] paidia, a very different term from that used in the 12th verse {1 John 2:12}, teknia, which means beloved children, as we have already seen. This is another class, and their state is differently described: Ye have known the Father. If the apostle does not use these two words indifferently, four states instead of three, are here described:—

1. FATHERS, paterev. those who had been converted at the very commencement of Christianity, and had seen the eternal Word manifested in the flesh.

2. YOUNG MEN, neaniskoi. youths in the prime of their spiritual life, valiant soldiers, fighting under the banner of Christ, who had confounded Satan in his wiles, and overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.

3. LITTLE CHILDREN, paidia. disciples of Christ, not of very long standing in the Church, nor of much experience, but who had known the Father; i.e. persons who had been made sons: God had sent the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, whereby they cried Abba, Father!

4. BELOVED CHILDREN, teknia. the most recent converts, and particularly those among young men and women who, from their youth, simplicity, openheartedness, and affectionate attachment to God and his cause, were peculiarly dear to this aged apostle of Jesus Christ. These are represented as having their sins forgiven them on account of his name, dia to onoma autou, that is, for the sake of Jesus, or on account of his merit or worthiness.

These four classes constituted the household or family of God; each class, in ascending gradation, seems to have had more light, experience, and holiness than the other. 1. The teknia, beloved children, or infants, are those who are just born into the heavenly family. 2. The paidia, little children, are those who are able to walk and speak; they know their heavenly Father, and can call him by that name. 3. The neaniskoi, young men, are such as are grown up to man’s estate; these perform the most difficult part of the labour, and are called to fight the battles of the Lord. 4. The paterev, fathers, are those who are at the foundation of the spiritual family, and have known the whole economy of the work of God in themselves and in others. These have the largest stock of spiritual wisdom and religious experience. All these answer to the component members of a perfect human family. 1. There is the beloved infant dandled on the knees of its parents. 2. There are the little children that can speak a little, run about, answer to their own names, distinguish and call on their father and mother, and are now put under instruction. 3. There are the youths, those who are grown up to man’s estate, are strong to labour, retain the instructions they have received, act upon them, and are occasionally called upon to defend their family, property, and country, against spoilers and oppressors. 4. There are the parents, the father and mother, from whom the family sprang, and who are the governors and directors of the household. To these four classes, in a perfect family, the apostle appears to allude; and we see, considered in this light, with what delicacy and propriety he uses these images.

Verse 13. Here he distributes the whole body of Christians into three classes, according to their different standings in the faith, and their proficiency in Christian knowledge and holiness; namely, fathers, young men, and young children. The fathers were the most ancient believers, who had made the greatest progress in the knowledge, experience, and practice of true religion. Young men were those in the greatest vigour of the spiritual life, and who were considered by the apostle as soldiers fighting under Christ against the powers of darkness. Little or young children were the newly converted, who, being under instruction, were called in the first age catechumens. Fathers, ye have known him that is from the beginning — You have attained to a more perfect and intimate acquaintance with the Ancient of Days, (Daniel 7:9,) the eternal God, than others, though true believers, and with Christ, who is from the beginning, 1 John 1:1; and therefore you should more diligently keep his commandments, (verses 3, 4,) and this particularly of loving one another. Instead of, Ye have known him, who is from the beginning, Macknight reads, Ye have known him from the beginning, and paraphrases the clause thus: “Old Christians, I write to you what follows, (verse 15,) because you have known Christ, his doctrine, and precepts, and manner of life, from the beginning, and must know that what I am going to write is his precept.” I write unto you, young men — Who are in the flower of your spiritual age, and are strong in grace, vigorous Christians, verse 14; because ye have already overcome the wicked one — Have resisted his strongest temptations to apostacy; or, more at large, you have manifested your spiritual strength in your conflicts with, and conquests over the devil, and his associates, the world and the flesh; and therefore take heed you be not hereafter foiled by them. I write the same precept unto you, young children — Or new converts; of short standing in grace, and of little knowledge, strength and experience in divine things; because ye have known the Father — As your Father, (though ye have not yet overcome,) by the Spirit witnessing with your spirits that you are the children of God. In other words, As children in the first place learn to know their parents, so you have attained to some saving knowledge of God your heavenly Father, and of his willingness and power to support and strengthen you, and therefore you must take care to conduct yourselves at all times as his loving and obedient children.

Ver. 12-14. I write unto you, little children, not yet established in grace. To you, fathers — and young men. Our Saviour makes a triple distinction in the work of grace. The seed sown, grew, first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear, maturing for the harvest. This reminds us that youth is a growing time, and age a ripening time for the advent of the Lord.

13. Fathers—Some of them, perhaps, remembered when Paul and Apollos first preached in Ephesus. Known… beginning—When Ephesus first received the Gospel. As if this were of itself enough, he repeats precisely the same words to the fathers in the second triad in the next verse. Young men—Thus the three ages must be held to cover the whole of life. The Greek word extends to forty years of life and over. But an old man, like our apostle, makes his youngers younger than they are, and these young men were doubtless young until they became old. The term would be rightly understood of middle-age. Because—To each age he gives its suited motto. In next triad the young men have a fuller certificate. They are strong, are firm and permanent, have overcome the devil. They may not be reposing in their laurels, like the fathers, but they are robust, and are in fact victors in their still enduring battle. Little children—Youths would seem to be too old a term to be equivalent to the Greek, unless we remember the above-named habit of the aged man. The word is plainly intended to cover all less than the young, or rather middle-aged, men. And both here and in ver. 18 the knowledge imputed to them is too high for a mere child. Known the Father—Namely, the divine Father of all; who is truly known through Jesus Christ. They were the true Gnostics.

V. 14. I have written to you, fathers-As if he had said, Observe well what I but now wrote. He speaks very briefly and modestly to these, who needed not much to be said to them, as having that deep acquaintance with God which comprises all necessary knowledge.

Young men, ye are strong-In faith.

And the word of God abideth in you-Deeply rooted in your hearts, whereby ye have often foiled your great adversary.

Verse 14. The word of God abideth in you] Ye have not only thoroughly known and digested the Divine doctrine, but your hearts are moulded into it; ye know it to be the truth of God from the power and happiness with which it inspires you, and from the constant abiding testimony of the Spirit of that truth which lives and witnesses wherever that truth lives and predominates.

Verse 14. I have written, &c. — He repeats almost the same words, in order that they might the more regard them. As if he had said, Observe well what I now write. He speaks very briefly and modestly to those who needed not much to be said to them, as having that deep acquaintance with God, which comprises all necessary knowledge; young men, ye are strong — In God and his grace, Ephesians 6:10; in faith, hope, love, and in prayer; and the word of God abideth in you — Deeply rooted in your hearts, whereby you have often foiled your great adversary. Macknight thus paraphrases the verse: “Old Christians, I have written to you to walk even as Christ walked, (verse 6,) by loving your brethren as he loved you, verse 8; because ye have known him from the beginning, and have been deeply affected with the knowledge of his love. Vigorous Christians, I have written the same precept to you, (verse 8,) because ye are strong in all the Christian virtues, through the word of God abiding in you, and ye have already overcome the devil.”

Ver. 12-14. I write unto you, little children, not yet established in grace. To you, fathers — and young men. Our Saviour makes a triple distinction in the work of grace. The seed sown, grew, first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear, maturing for the harvest. This reminds us that youth is a growing time, and age a ripening time for the advent of the Lord.

14. Have written—Rather, I wrote. A change of tense from the I write of the last verse. Yet the meaning is probably about the same. The epistolary aorist tense assumed the standpoint of the reading of the epistle, as if saying, while you read this, know that I wrote thus and so. Nevertheless this past tense may be more emphatic than the present. The third address of this triad little children occurs in ver. 18, where suitable matter occurring reminds the apostle that they should be addressed.

3. So that we must not love a godless and evanescent world, 15-17. This self-purification revolves a withdrawal of our fellowship from the world in its impure conditions.

V. 15. To you all, whether fathers, young men, or little children, I say, Love not the world-Pursue your victory by overcoming the world. If any man love the world-Seek happiness in visible things, he does not love God.

Verse 15. Love not the world] Though these several classes were so well acquainted with Divine things, and had all tasted the powers of the world to come: yet so apt are men to be drawn aside by sensible things, that the Holy Spirit saw it necessary to caution these against the love of the world, the inordinate desire of earthly things. Covetousness is the predominant vice of old age: Ye fathers, love not the world. The things which are in the world, its profits, pleasures, and honours, have the strongest allurements for youth; therefore, ye young men, little children, and babes, love not the things of this world. Let those hearts abide faithful to God who have taken him for their portion.

The love of the Father is not in him.] The love of God and the love of earthly things are incompatible. If you give place to the love of the world, the love of God cannot dwell in you; and if you have not his love, you can have no peace, no holiness, no heaven.

Verses 15-17. To you all, whether fathers, young men, or little children, I say, Love not the world — Pursue your victory by overcoming the world, and all the temptations which may assault you from it, whether from prosperity or adversity, from riches or poverty, honour or reproach, pleasure or pain, life or death; from the persons of the world, or from the things that are in the world — Whether they assault you through the medium of your senses, or your appetites and passions. If any man love the world — Esteem, desire, or pursue it, or any thing in it, inordinately, so as to place his happiness in the enjoyment of it; the love of the Father is not in him — There being a real inconsistency between the love of the world and the love of God; between being carnally minded, esteeming, desiring, and pursuing immoderately visible and temporal things, which is death, and being spiritually minded, having our thoughts and affections set on invisible and heavenly things, which is life and peace, Romans 8:6. For all that is in the world — That is tempting and alluring; the lust — Epiqumia, the desire; of the flesh — The pleasure arising from gratifying the outward senses, whether of the taste, smell, or touch, or the bodily appetites; the desire of the eyes — Those things, which, being seen by the eyes, are earnestly desired and sought after, and which they take pleasure in beholding, especially riches, including also the pleasures of imagination, (to which the eye chiefly is subservient,) of that internal sense whereby we relish whatever is grand, new, or beautiful; and the pride of life — Those things wherein men are wont to take the greatest pride, and which chiefly feed pride of heart; all that pomp in clothes, houses, furniture, equipage, manner of living, things which generally procure honour from the bulk of mankind, and so gratify pride and vanity. It therefore directly includes the desire of praise, and, remotely, covetousness. All these desires are not of the Father, but of the world — That is, from the prince of this world, or from that corruption of nature that prevails in worldly men. And the world passeth away — Namely, all the enjoyments of the world; and the desire thereof — All that appears desirable in it, and causes it to be so much sought after; or all that can gratify the above-mentioned desires, passeth away with it; but he that doeth the will of God — That loves him, and not the world, and seeks happiness in him, and not in worldly things, abideth in the enjoyment of what he loves, and makes the object of his pursuit, for ever.

Ver. 15-17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, which all pass away, while he who doeth the will of God abideth for ever. All beguiling objects, the concupiscence of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, perish and vanish away, while the love of God remains in every age the same. This is the wisdom which cometh from above.

15. Love—Resumption of the topic of love from verse 11. To that verse John had impressively taught us to love our brother; he will now teach us what not to love. The world—There are aspects in which the world should be loved. 1. With a love of affection which desires its well-being not only as a whole, but for the beings that inhabit it. Even “God so loved the world;” and so requires us to love; and this includes the love of our brother in verses 3-14. 2. We are to love in due degree the enjoyments which God has provided for our rational natures. We may enjoy life as a scene of duties, mercies, and gracious gifts of God. Yet are we so to enjoy as to not love it in any superiority over, or competition with, that better world for which it is our preparatory. He who enjoys this world in accordance with a constant faith in a higher and holy world to come “makes the best of both worlds.” A two-fold happiness makes him both fearless and doubly cheerful. But there are three aspects in which the world is not to be loved.

1. As a material solid residence it is under divine reprobation, and is vanishing and doomed, and if we bury ourselves in its materialities we are liable to be doomed with it. 2. As a mass of unregenerate beings, to whom, however we may wish well, yet we know that it “lieth in wickedness,” and must not sympathize with its unregeneracy. 3. As a mass of depravities and errors, of immoralities and false doctrines, there is a world of thought and character for which we must have no moral approving love. These are unfolded in the triad of the next verse. In these aspects the love of the world is incompatible with the love of the Father. The errorist may believe that his lawless appetites for the world are at one with the Father; the Christian knows better. Of these three the first is most properly the world. Love of the Father—The word Father here, as in verse 1, designates God the Father in his relation to the Son, and so as head of the system of salvation. The love of the Father is, then, our love for God as the prime source of our salvation, the author of the blessed heaven, the Father of Christ. It is the love inspired by the Spirit in consequence of our faith in Christ.

V. 16. The desire of the flesh-Of the pleasure of the outward senses, whether of the taste, smell, or touch.

The desire of the eye-Of the pleasures of imagination, to which the eye chiefly is subservient; of that internal sense whereby we relish whatever is grand, new, or beautiful.

The pride of life-All that pomp in clothes, houses, furniture, equipage, manner of living, which generally procure honour from the bulk of mankind, and so gratify pride and vanity. It therefore directly includes the desire of praise, and, remotely, covetousness. All these desires are not from God, but from the prince of this world.

Verse 16. For all that is in the world] All that it can boast of, all that it can promise, is only sensual, transient gratification, and even this promise it cannot fulfil; so that its warmest votaries can complain loudest of their disappointment.

The lust of the flesh] Sensual and impure desires which seek their gratification in women, strong drink, delicious viands, and the like. Lust of the eyes] Inordinate desires after finery of every kind, gaudy dress, splendid houses, superb furniture, expensive equipage, trappings, and decorations of all sorts.

Pride of life] Hunting after honours, titles, and pedigrees; boasting of ancestry, family connections, great offices, honourable acquaintance, and the like.

Is not of the Father] Nothing of these inordinate attachments either comes from or leads to God. They are of this world; here they begin, flourish, and end. They deprave the mind, divert it from Divine pursuits, and render it utterly incapable of spiritual enjoyments.

Verses 15-17. To you all, whether fathers, young men, or little children, I say, Love not the world — Pursue your victory by overcoming the world, and all the temptations which may assault you from it, whether from prosperity or adversity, from riches or poverty, honour or reproach, pleasure or pain, life or death; from the persons of the world, or from the things that are in the world — Whether they assault you through the medium of your senses, or your appetites and passions. If any man love the world — Esteem, desire, or pursue it, or any thing in it, inordinately, so as to place his happiness in the enjoyment of it; the love of the Father is not in him — There being a real inconsistency between the love of the world and the love of God; between being carnally minded, esteeming, desiring, and pursuing immoderately visible and temporal things, which is death, and being spiritually minded, having our thoughts and affections set on invisible and heavenly things, which is life and peace, Romans 8:6. For all that is in the world — That is tempting and alluring; the lust — Epiqumia, the desire; of the flesh — The pleasure arising from gratifying the outward senses, whether of the taste, smell, or touch, or the bodily appetites; the desire of the eyes — Those things, which, being seen by the eyes, are earnestly desired and sought after, and which they take pleasure in beholding, especially riches, including also the pleasures of imagination, (to which the eye chiefly is subservient,) of that internal sense whereby we relish whatever is grand, new, or beautiful; and the pride of life — Those things wherein men are wont to take the greatest pride, and which chiefly feed pride of heart; all that pomp in clothes, houses, furniture, equipage, manner of living, things which generally procure honour from the bulk of mankind, and so gratify pride and vanity. It therefore directly includes the desire of praise, and, remotely, covetousness. All these desires are not of the Father, but of the world — That is, from the prince of this world, or from that corruption of nature that prevails in worldly men. And the world passeth away — Namely, all the enjoyments of the world; and the desire thereof — All that appears desirable in it, and causes it to be so much sought after; or all that can gratify the above-mentioned desires, passeth away with it; but he that doeth the will of God — That loves him, and not the world, and seeks happiness in him, and not in worldly things, abideth in the enjoyment of what he loves, and makes the object of his pursuit, for ever.

Ver. 15-17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, which all pass away, while he who doeth the will of God abideth for ever. All beguiling objects, the concupiscence of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, perish and vanish away, while the love of God remains in every age the same. This is the wisdom which cometh from above.

16. All that is in the world—In this world, as beheld by faith in the light of the better world, the following three classes of things comprehend all. Lust—In the Greek the term is capable of designating a good desire; but it derives from the context a bad sense. Our desires are all good when fixed in the right degree on the right thing. When fixed upon wrong objects, or in excessive degree on right objects, our desires become lust. Lust of the flesh—That is, lust proceeding from our animal appetites, alimentary and sexual. Rightly regulated, these appetites are right; unregulated, they are lusts. Of the eyes—Inordinate desires for getting all our eyes can see; the lawless indulgence of the possessory desires; greed for wealth, prompting to overreaching, to breach of trust, to gambling, plunder, and robbery. Pride of life—Tawdry love of display, selfish ambition for rank, power, and governmental conquest. To draw the line where the proper use of worldly things is divided from its abuse is a most important office of Christian ethics. Not of the Father—Who has made a better world for us, and makes it ours through his Son. Of the world—In contrast with his high and holy world, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

V. 17. The world passeth away, and the desire thereof-That is, all that can gratify those desires passeth away with it. But he that doeth the will of God-That loves God, not the world. Abideth-In the enjoyment of what he loves, for ever.

Verse 17. The world passeth away] All these things are continually fading and perishing; and the very state in which they are possessed is changing perpetually, and the earth and its works will be shortly burnt up. And the lust thereof] The men of this world, their vain pursuits, and delusive pleasures, are passing away in their successive generations, and their very memory perishes; but he that doeth the will of God-that seeks the pleasure, profit, and honour that comes from above, shall abide for ever, always happy through time and eternity, because God, the unchangeable source of felicity, is his portion.

Verses 15-17. To you all, whether fathers, young men, or little children, I say, Love not the world — Pursue your victory by overcoming the world, and all the temptations which may assault you from it, whether from prosperity or adversity, from riches or poverty, honour or reproach, pleasure or pain, life or death; from the persons of the world, or from the things that are in the world — Whether they assault you through the medium of your senses, or your appetites and passions. If any man love the world — Esteem, desire, or pursue it, or any thing in it, inordinately, so as to place his happiness in the enjoyment of it; the love of the Father is not in him — There being a real inconsistency between the love of the world and the love of God; between being carnally minded, esteeming, desiring, and pursuing immoderately visible and temporal things, which is death, and being spiritually minded, having our thoughts and affections set on invisible and heavenly things, which is life and peace, Romans 8:6. For all that is in the world — That is tempting and alluring; the lust — Epiqumia, the desire; of the flesh — The pleasure arising from gratifying the outward senses, whether of the taste, smell, or touch, or the bodily appetites; the desire of the eyes — Those things, which, being seen by the eyes, are earnestly desired and sought after, and which they take pleasure in beholding, especially riches, including also the pleasures of imagination, (to which the eye chiefly is subservient,) of that internal sense whereby we relish whatever is grand, new, or beautiful; and the pride of life — Those things wherein men are wont to take the greatest pride, and which chiefly feed pride of heart; all that pomp in clothes, houses, furniture, equipage, manner of living, things which generally procure honour from the bulk of mankind, and so gratify pride and vanity. It therefore directly includes the desire of praise, and, remotely, covetousness. All these desires are not of the Father, but of the world — That is, from the prince of this world, or from that corruption of nature that prevails in worldly men. And the world passeth away — Namely, all the enjoyments of the world; and the desire thereof — All that appears desirable in it, and causes it to be so much sought after; or all that can gratify the above-mentioned desires, passeth away with it; but he that doeth the will of God — That loves him, and not the world, and seeks happiness in him, and not in worldly things, abideth in the enjoyment of what he loves, and makes the object of his pursuit, for ever.

Ver. 15-17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, which all pass away, while he who doeth the will of God abideth for ever. All beguiling objects, the concupiscence of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, perish and vanish away, while the love of God remains in every age the same. This is the wisdom which cometh from above.

17. Passeth away—It is transitory. It passeth away from the grasp of earth’s successive and dying generations. Its fashions and phases, its crises and epochs, are perpetually undergoing changes and revolutions. Lust thereof—Our pursuits and passions are as transitory as the world— neither is worthy so much excitement. Tranquil Christian life, fixing its eye on a heavenly future, ready for suffering or duty or enjoyments as this brief scene requires, and just as ready to leave at any moment, is safest and far the happiest. It is thus we can make the best of both worlds. Abideth forever—In this changing state of things every thing goes under save the man of God. The wicked go down to everlasting death; the objects of human lust perish and go into other forms; the earth will dissolve, the sun be extinguished, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Most ample reason is here against love of the world.

4. Nor must we accept the many antichrists whose coming marks the closing age, 18, 19.

V. 18. My little children, it is the last time-The last dispensation of grace, that which is to continue to the end of time, is begun. Ye have heard that antichrist cometh-Under the term antichrist, or the spirit of antichrist, he includes all false teachers and enemies to the truth; yea, whatever doctrines or men are contrary to Christ. It seems to have been long after this that the name of antichrist was appropriated to that grand adversary of Christ, "the man of sin," 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Antichrist, in St. John's sense, that is, antichristianism, has been spreading from his time till now; and will do so, till that great adversary arises, and is destroyed by Christ's coming.

Verse 18. Little children, it is the last time] This place is variously understood. This is the last dispensation of grace and mercy to mankind; the present age is the conclusion of the Jewish state, as the temple and holy city are shortly to be destroyed. But as there are many who suppose that this epistle was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, consequently the words cannot, on that supposition, refer to this. Others think that escath wra should be translated, a most difficult, perilous, and wretched time; a time in which all kinds of vices, heresies, and pollutions shall have their full reign; that time which out Lord predicted, Matthew 7:15, when he said, Beware of false prophets. And Matthew 24:11, 12: Many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many; and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And Matthew 24:24: There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders. And Matthew 24:25: Behold, I have told you before. Now the apostle may allude to these predictions of our Lord; but all these refer to a time antecedent to the destruction of Jerusalem. I am therefore inclined to think, whatever may be here the precise meaning of the last time, that the epistle before us was written while Jerusalem yet stood. See what is said in the preface on this head.

Antichrist shall come] Who is this anticristov antichrist? Is he the Emperor Domitian, the Gnostics, Nicolaitans, Nazareans, Cerinthians, Romish pontiffs, &c., &c.! Ans. Any person, thing, doctrine, system of religion, polity, &c., which is opposed to Christ, and to the spirit and spread of his Gospel, is antichrist. We need not look for this imaginary being in any of the above exclusively. Even Protestantism may have its antichrist as well as Popery. Every man who opposes the spirit of the Gospel, and every teacher and writer who endeavours to lower the Gospel standard to the spirit and taste of the world, is a genuine antichrist, no matter where or among whom he is found. The heresies which sprang up in the days of St. John were the antichrist of that time. As there has been a succession of oppositions to Christianity in its spirit and spread through every age since its promulgation in the world, so there has been a succession of antichrists. We may bring this matter much lower; every enemy of Christ, every one who opposes his reign in the world, in others, or in himself, is an antichrist; and consequently every wicked man is an antichrist. But the name has been generally applied to whatever person or thing systematically opposes Christ and his religion.

Many antichrists] Many false prophets, false Messiahs, heretics, and corrupters of the truth.

Whereby we know that it is the last time.] That time which our Lord has predicted, and of which he has warned us.

Verse 18. Little, or young, children — The former caution against the love of the world belongs chiefly to old experienced Christians, or those who have attained some considerable knowledge and experience in divine things, because they are most apt to offend in that particular; this against seducers belongs chiefly to younger Christians, who are less established, and therefore more liable to be seduced. It is the last time — Greek, escath wra esti, it is the last hour, namely, as some understand it, of the duration of the Jewish Church and state, a sense of the expression which is favoured by the consideration that it was the period in which our Lord had foretold the rise of many false Christs. And therefore the apostle here cautions them against such deceivers, intimating, at the same time, for their encouragement and comfort, that the power of their persecutors, the Jews, would speedily be broken. Doddridge, however, Wesley, and many others, by the last hour, or last time, here understand the last dispensation of grace. As if the apostle had said, “The last dispensation that God will ever give to the world is now promulgated, and it is no wonder if Satan endeavour, to the utmost, to adulterate a system from which his kingdom has so much to fear.” And as ye have heard that antichrist shall come — Ercketai, cometh. “The word anticristov, antichrist, is nowhere found but in John’s first and second epistle. It may have two meanings. For if the preposition anti, in anticristov, denotes in place of, the name will signify one who puts himself in the place of Christ: consequently antichrist is a false Christ. But if the preposition denotes oppositions, antichrist is one who opposeth Christ. The persons to whom this epistle was written had heard of the coming of antichrist in both senses of the name. For the first sort of antichrists were foretold by our Lord, Matthew 24:5: Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. The second sort were foretold Matthew 24:11, Many false prophets will arise and deceive many. From what John hath written, verse 22 of this chapter, and chap. 4:3, and 2 Epist. verse 7, there is reason to think that by antichrist he meant those false prophets, or teachers, who were foretold by our Lord to rise about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and who were now gone abroad. Some of these denied the humanity of Jesus Christ, others of them denied his divinity; and as both sorts opposed Christ, by denying the redemption of the world through his death, it is probably of them chiefly that John speaks in his epistles. When the apostle mentions these false teachers collectively, he calls them the antichrist in the singular number, as St. Paul called the false teachers collectively, of whom he prophesied, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, the man of sin. But when John speaks of these teachers as individuals, he calls them many antichrists, in the plural number.” — Macknight. Thus also Mr. Wesley: “Under the term antichrist, or the spirit of antichrist, he includes all false teachers as enemies to the truth; yea, whatever doctrines or men are contrary to Christ. It seems to have been long after this that the name of antichrist was appropriated to that grand adversary of Christ, the man of sin, 2 Thessalonians 2:3.” Even now are there many antichrists — Many seducers revolted from Christianity, (verse 19,) who were actuated by an antichristian spirit, and do secretly undermine the interest of Christ, and so make way for the grand antichrist. The preterit tense, gegonasi, is here used to signify, not only the existence of many antichrists at that time, but also that there had been many antichrists who had gone off the stage; whereby we know that it is the last time — The last hour of the Jewish state, namely, by Christ’s prediction, Matthew 24:24.

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

18. Little children—The third in the second triad of ages, commenced but unfinished in verse 14. It now occurs because our apostle is about to mention a last time through which the younger portion of his audience will have passed and beheld its results. The last time—Literally, a last hour. It is in the Greek without the definite article, like similar phrases in 1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 3:1, (where see notes,) which indicate a closing period, (namely, of the apostolic age,) rather than the close of earthly time. The absence of the article does not, apart from the context, fully prove that the reference is not to the second advent; for in 1 Peter 1:5 the second advent is unquestionably designated as a final period, and in Jude 18, it is called a last time. The second advent is of course a last hour, but a last hour is with no certainty the second advent. See note on 2 Peter 3:3. It is by the context that the phrase here is fixed to mean a last hour rather than the last hour. A last hour bears the same relation to the last hour that the many elemental antichrists bear to the antichrist. Just as these many antichrists were typical of our final antichrist, of whom the readers had heard, so this last hour was typical of that last day of which they had learned. To make St. John say the close of the world is attested by the presence of the antichrist because there are now many antichrists is to make him reason inconsequently. These typical antichrists can only be adduced to prove a typical last hour. Huther incorrectly makes the apostle intimate that the many antichrists preceded the antichrist as immediate forerunner; but there is no reference in any word of the apostle to time, but to the relative character. Just so St. Paul declares that “the mystery of iniquity doth already work;” that is, the moral elements of the “man of sin” were now seminally existing in secret. Important on the antichrist and his time are our notes on Acts 8:9; 6:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; 1 Timothy 4:1-4. The error of Huther, Alford, and many others, in applying this last time to the second advent ought, we should suppose, to have been prevented by Paul’s express warning to the Thessalonians that such language did not imply Christ’s near approach; as well as St. Peter’s caution in 2 Peter 3:8. See our Supplementary Note at close of Matthew 25. At the approaching close of his life our apostle saw that the withdrawal of his fellow apostles from this scene of things was the close of a historical cycle, and the development of the errorists foretold by Saint Paul had already approached; so that the hour was typical of that last period before the rise of antichrist, who precedes the last advent. It was just equivalent to St. Paul’s predictive phrase, addressed to this same Ephesus, “after my departure,” where these very many antichrists are foretold. To this we may perhaps add Grotius’s solution, that the last hour indicated the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish state. For although the destruction of Jerusalem was no organic part of the framework of the kingdom of God, and probably had past at the time this was written, yet it did, as predicted by Christ, coincide with and characterize as one element the closing apostolic cycle. See quotation from Hegesippus in note on 1 Timothy 4:1. Ye have heard—St. Paul early “told” the Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2:5. Antichrist—An epithet used by St. John alone, here and 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7. The word is rightly interpreted by Huther as “not simply the enemy of Christ, but the opposition-Christ; that is, the enemy of Christ who, under the lying guise of Christ, endeavours to destroy the work of Christ.” The fundamental mark of this antichrist St. John twice declares to be the denial that Christ was “flesh,” 1 John 4:3, and 2 John 1:7. And this was based on that assumption of the inherent evil of matter, which forbade marriage among the Gnostics, and which appears at the present day in the celibacy of the pope and his immense army of priests throughout the world, and in the promulgation of the dogma of the immaculate conception of Mary. Huther is clear as to the identity of John’s antichrist with Saint Paul’s. “Rightly have almost all commentators understood that John understands under this enemy the same as Paul describes, 2 Thessalonians 2:3, etc. The points which appear in the picture of Paul, and those in the explanations of John, so coincide and answer to each other that there need be no doubt about it. According to both, the manifestation discloses itself in the Church by an exodus from it; for John says, (verse 19,) the antichrists went out from us, and Paul (verse 3) speaks of a revealed, and a falling away. Both describe him as a God-opposing evil nature. Paul figures him as the man of sin, the lawless: John as the spirit of antichrist, in antithesis to the spirit of God; and says of the antichrists who are animated by him that they are of the world. Both characterize him as a liar who strives to make the lie victorious over the truth. Both represent that he appears in the last time before the second advent of Christ. Then, also, if the name antichrist, ‘anticristov, is not strictly synonymous with the anti-lying, o antikeimonov, yet even this point in Paul’s picture is so significant as to show how striking John’s naming of the enemy is. And when Paul describes the man of sin as showing himself that he is God, he clearly implies that spurious incarnation of God which the very name of antichrist implies.” And we may add, as Huther does not, that as St. Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:2) expressly writes to show that he does not mean that either the man of sin or the day of Christ is really near at hand, so St. John does not mean by his last time and many antichrists that the second advent will be in his day. Many antichrists—last time—As the antichrist identifies THE last time, so the many antichrists identify A last time.

V. 19. They were not of us-When they went; their hearts were before departed from God, otherwise, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest-That is, this was made manifest by their going out.

Verse 19. They went out from us] These heretics had belonged to our Christian assemblies, they professed Christianity, and do so still; but we apostles did not commission them to preach to you, for they have disgraced the Divine doctrine with the most pernicious opinions; they have given up or explained away its most essential principles; they have mingled the rest with heathenish rites and Jewish glosses. While, therefore, we acknowledge that they once belonged to us, we assert that they are not of us. They are not Christians; we abhor their conduct and their creed. We never sent them to teach.

They were not of us] For a considerable time before they left our assemblies they gave proofs that they had departed from the faith; for if they had been of us-if they had been apostles, and continued in the firm belief of the Christian doctrines, they would not have departed from us to form a sect of themselves.

That they were not all of us.] They were not expelled from the Christian Church; they were not sent out by us; but they separated from it and us. None of them had been inspired as we apostles were, though they pretended to a very high teaching; but their separating from us manifested that they were not taught, as we were, by the Spirit of God. These false teachers probably drew many sincere souls away with them; and to this it is probable the apostle alludes when he says, they were not ALL of us. Some were; others were not.

Verse 19. They went out from us — Separated themselves from the communion of the true church of Christ. Hence it is one of the marks of antichrist, that he had been once in the Christian Church, and a teacher by profession, but had left it or apostatized; but they were not of us — When they went, their hearts were before departed from God; for if they had been of us — Had been inspired by the same spirit wherewith we are inspired; they would, no doubt, have continued with us — For upright men, of a pure intention, would never have seen any cause to leave us, and divine grace would have preserved such from being overcome by the temptations of these artful deceivers; but they went out — They were permitted to apostatize outwardly; that they might be made manifest — See 1 Corinthians 11:19. (This was made manifest by their going out;) that they were not all of us — Sound members of our body, really believing the same truths which we believe, and partaking of the same grace which we partake of.

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

19. St. John now proceeds to declare that these Nicolaitans, or Gnostics, were not so much apostates as original heretics, at heart discordant with the Church from the very first. So Simon Magus, an original juggler and false doctrinary, entered the Christian body without ever being a Christian; and though he went out formally from the Christian body, he did not apostatize from Christ, for he was never a Christian. They—The antichrists. Went out from us—They made open exodus from the Christian body. Not of us—Not of the true body of Christ in doctrine or heart. They were Maguses, who inserted themselves in the Church, yet holding Christ to be a phantasm. If they had been—If they had truly known and loved Christ. Have continued with us—The cause of their secession could not then have existed. Loving God and loving the brethren, they would have loved the communion of the Church, and rejoiced to remain in the Christian body. But—Their exodus was no loss to the Church, but a good providence. That—It was graciously designed. Manifest—Their exposure would relieve the Church of all responsibility for their false doctrines and unbecoming lives. They were not all of us— Truer rendering, that not all (among us) are (truly) of us. It becomes a clear case that there are some among us for whose principles and conduct the true gospel is irresponsible. Alford, following Dusterdieck, has an elaborate dissertation on the passage, as if it had some bearing on the question of the necessary final perseverance of all true believers. He writes as if the apostle assumed a universal law in the kingdom of God, that a man once converted always continues a saved man. But St. John’s word continued refers not to continuing a Christian, but to the remaining in the Church if you are a Christian. It does not say, or assume, that all Christians will forever stay Christians; but that it may be assumed, when we know nothing to the contrary, that these men would have remained in the Church if they had been, and as long as they were, Christians. Why not?

5. The purifying unction will preserve you from uniting with the antichristic revolt, 20-29.

V. 20. But ye have an anointing-A chrism; perhaps so termed in opposition to the name of antichrist; an inward teaching from the Holy Ghost, whereby ye know all things-Necessary for your preservation from these seducers, and for your eternal salvation. St. John here but just touches upon the Holy Ghost, of whom he speaks more largely, 1 John 3:24; 4:13; 5:6.

Verse 20. But ye have an unction] The word crisma signifies not an unction, but an ointment, the very thing itself by which anointing is effected; and so it was properly rendered in our former translations. Probably this is an allusion to the holy anointing oil of the law, and to Psalm 14:7: God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness-he hath given thee the plenitude of the Spirit, which none of thy fellows-none of the prophets, ever received in such abundance. By this it is evident that not only the gifts of the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit himself, is intended. This Spirit dwelt at that time in a peculiar manner in the Church, to teach apostles, teachers, and all the primitive believers, every thing requisite for their salvation; and to make them the instruments of handing down to posterity that glorious system of truth which is contained in the New Testament. As oil was used among the Asiatics for the inauguration of persons into important offices, and this oil was acknowledged to be an emblem of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, without which the duties of those offices could not be discharged; so it is put here for the Spirit himself, who presided in the Church, and from which all gifts and graces flowed. The crisma, chrism or ointment here mentioned is also an allusion to the holy anointing ointment prescribed by God himself, Exodus 30:23-25, which was composed of fine myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, cassia lignea, and olive oil. This was an emblem of the gifts and graces of the Divine Spirit. See the notes on the above place. And for the reason of this anointing see Clarke’s note on “Exodus 29:7”. Ye know all things.] Every truth Of God necessary to your salvation and the salvation of man in general, and have no need of that knowledge of which the Gnostics boast.

But although the above is the sense in which this verse is generally understood, yet there is reason to doubt its accuracy. The adjective panta, which we translate all things, is most probably in the accusative case singular, having anqrwpon, man, or some such substantive, understood. The verse therefore should be translated: Ye have an ointment from the Holy One, and ye know or discern EVERY MAN. This interpretation appears to be confirmed by twn planwntwn in 1 John 2:26, those who are deceiving or misleading you; and in the same sense should pantwn, 1 John 2:27, be understood: But as the same anointing teacheth you pantwn, not of all things, but of ALL MEN. It is plain, from the whole tenor of the epistle, that St. John is guarding the Christians against seducers and deceivers, who were even then disturbing and striving to corrupt the Church. In consequence of this he desires them to try the spirits whether they were of God, 1 John 4:1. But how were they to try them? Principally by that anointing-that spiritual light and discernment which they had received from God; and also by comparing the doctrine of these men with what they had heard from the beginning. The anointing here mentioned seems to mean the spirit of illumination, or great knowledge and discernment in spiritual things. By this they could readily distinguish the false apostles from the true.

Verse 20. But ye have an unction — Crisma, a chrism, (perhaps so termed in opposition to the name of antichrist,) an inward teaching from the Holy Ghost, whereby ye know all things — Necessary for your preservation from these seducers, and for your eternal salvation. There seems to be no proof that the apostle here, as some suppose, was addressing those of the primitive Christians only who were endowed with extraordinary gifts, especially the gift of discerning spirits. It rather appears, that through the whole epistle he is addressing true Christians in general, that is, divinely illuminated, justified, and regenerated persons, all of whom are represented in this very epistle as dwelling in God, and God in them, and as knowing that he dwelt in them by the Spirit which he had given them, 1 John 3:24; 4:16; which is perfectly agreeable to the doctrine of the other apostles, particularly of St. Paul, who represents believers in general as the temple of God, having the Spirit of God dwelling in them, 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:22: and who declares positively, that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his, Romans 8:9; and that only they who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God, Romans 8:14. Now, this Spirit, which all true believers possess, at least in his ordinary graces, as a Spirit of light and life, of love, peace, and joy, of holiness and happiness, is a Spirit of truth as well of grace, and leads those on whom he is conferred into at least all essential truth; all the grand leading doctrines of the gospel, which would sufficiently secure those to whom the apostle wrote against the seducing teachers, the antichrists here referred to.

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

20. But—Rather, kai, and. It connects with continued, and proceeds to show how his readers may continue in the catholic body; namely, by unction of the Spirit; by using their perfect knowledge of the true apostolic doctrine; and by a firm determination of the will to abide. Unction—A chrism or anointing oil. The anointing with oil in the dry climate of the east is a means of bodily health and comfort. Hence the anointing-oil became a symbol of divine benediction. In this view, not only in ancient Israel, but even in ancient Egypt, the anointing ceremony was used in inducting kings and priests into their sacred office. Compare Exodus 40:15; Numbers 3:3; Judges 9:8, 15; 1 Samuel 9:16; 10:1; 1 Kings 1:34, 39. “The Lord’s anointed” was, indeed, the king’s title. The word Christ signifies anointed, as chrism signifies the oil or the anointment. Note on Matthew 1:1. And here the unction, or chrism, is used in contrast to the antichrists, who left Christ and became antichrists, because they had no such sanctifying chrism. Know all things—All, the whole doctrine of Christ; missing which the antichrists revolted.

V. 21. I have written-Namely, 1 John 2:13. To you because ye know the truth-That is, to confirm you in the knowledge ye have already.

Ye know that no lie is of the truth-That all the doctrines of these antichrists are irreconcilable to it.

Verse 21. I have not written, &c.] It is not because ye are ignorant of these things that I write to you, but because you know them, and can by these judge of the doctrines of those false teachers, and clearly perceive that they are liars; for they contradict the truth which ye have already received, and consequently their doctrine is a lie, and no lie can be of the truth, i.e. consistent with Christianity.

Verses 21-23. I have not written unto you — In the manner I have done; because ye know not the truth — In which case I must have entered largely into the discussion of this matter; but, on the contrary, I have contented myself with these short intimations; because ye know it — Approve of and embrace it, and I am desirous to confirm you in the knowledge of it; and because no lie is of the truth — No false doctrine can proceed from, or agree with, that gospel which you have embraced; in other words, that all the doctrines of these antichrists are irreconcilable to it. Or perhaps the doctrine, contrary to that which was taught by the apostles, may be called a lie, because the teachers who propagated such doctrines knew them to be false, especially the doctrines which they propagated concerning the person and actions of Christ. They, therefore, in particular are called o yeusthv, the liar, as in the next clause. Who is the liar — The false teacher foretold to come before the destruction of Jerusalem; but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ — Who is guilty of that lying but he who denies the truth which is the sum of all Christianity? That Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, that he came in the flesh, is one undivided truth; and he that denies one part, in effect denies the whole. He is antichrist — He deservedly bears that name; that denieth the Father and the Son — Denies God to be the Father of Christ, by denying Christ to be his Son. Or who, in denying the Son, denies the Father also. He denies the Son directly, and by consequence denies the Father, who testified by a voice from heaven that Jesus was his Son, and by all the miracles which Christ wrought. Whosoever denieth the Son — Even the only-begotten and eternal Son of God, either in his person, his natures, offices, or merits. The same hath not the Father — Has no interest in him as his Father, since that is obtained only through Christ; and, consequently, he hath not communion with the Father. But he that truly and believingly acknowledgeth the Son, hath communion with the Father also — The last clause of this verse, in our English Bible, is printed in italic letters, to show that it is not in the common Greek copies. Beza, however, hath inserted it in his edition of the Greek Testament, on the authority of some ancient MSS., and of the Syriac and Vulgate versions. Mill also, on this verse, mentions a number of MSS. which have this clause. Estius reckoned it genuine, as did Doddridge, who says, “It is to be found in so many good MSS. that I cannot but believe it made a part of the original, by whatever accident it was omitted in some early copy, to which, as it seems, too much regard has been paid.”

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

21. Not written—His epistle does not presuppose any doubt of their knowledge, but is an expression of his confidence in their adherence. No lie—Like the denial of the reality of Christ’s person, and the claim to be pure while wallowing in sin. John had none of the modern delicacy that hesitates to call a lie a lie, any more than to call a murder a murder. Is of the system of apostolic truth. From his own knowledge (note 1 John 1:1) our apostle knew that to deny our Lord’s flesh and body was a historic fiction, to which Christian truth was absolutely opposite.

V. 22. Who is that liar-Who is guilty of that lying, but he who denies that truth which is the sum of all Christianity? That Jesus is the Christ; that he is the Son of God; that he came in the flesh, is one undivided truth; and he that denies any part of this, in effect denies the whole.

He is antichrist-And the spirit of antichrist, who in denying the Son denies the Father also.

Verse 22. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?] Here we see some of the false doctrines which were then propagated in the world. There were certain persons who, while they acknowledged Jesus to be a Divine teacher, denied him to be the Christ, i.e. the MESSIAH. He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son,] He is antichrist who denies the supernatural and miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, who denies Jesus to be the Son of God, and who denies God to be the Father of the Lord Jesus; thus he denies the Father and the Son. The Jews in general, and the Gnostics in particular, denied the miraculous conception of Jesus; with both he was accounted no more than a common man, the son of Joseph and Mary. But the Gnostics held that a Divine person, Æon, or angelical being, dwelt in him; but all things else relative to his miraculous generation and Divinity they rejected. These were antichrists, who denied Jesus to be the Christ.

Verses 21-23. I have not written unto you — In the manner I have done; because ye know not the truth — In which case I must have entered largely into the discussion of this matter; but, on the contrary, I have contented myself with these short intimations; because ye know it — Approve of and embrace it, and I am desirous to confirm you in the knowledge of it; and because no lie is of the truth — No false doctrine can proceed from, or agree with, that gospel which you have embraced; in other words, that all the doctrines of these antichrists are irreconcilable to it. Or perhaps the doctrine, contrary to that which was taught by the apostles, may be called a lie, because the teachers who propagated such doctrines knew them to be false, especially the doctrines which they propagated concerning the person and actions of Christ. They, therefore, in particular are called o yeusthv, the liar, as in the next clause. Who is the liar — The false teacher foretold to come before the destruction of Jerusalem; but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ — Who is guilty of that lying but he who denies the truth which is the sum of all Christianity? That Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, that he came in the flesh, is one undivided truth; and he that denies one part, in effect denies the whole. He is antichrist — He deservedly bears that name; that denieth the Father and the Son — Denies God to be the Father of Christ, by denying Christ to be his Son. Or who, in denying the Son, denies the Father also. He denies the Son directly, and by consequence denies the Father, who testified by a voice from heaven that Jesus was his Son, and by all the miracles which Christ wrought. Whosoever denieth the Son — Even the only-begotten and eternal Son of God, either in his person, his natures, offices, or merits. The same hath not the Father — Has no interest in him as his Father, since that is obtained only through Christ; and, consequently, he hath not communion with the Father. But he that truly and believingly acknowledgeth the Son, hath communion with the Father also — The last clause of this verse, in our English Bible, is printed in italic letters, to show that it is not in the common Greek copies. Beza, however, hath inserted it in his edition of the Greek Testament, on the authority of some ancient MSS., and of the Syriac and Vulgate versions. Mill also, on this verse, mentions a number of MSS. which have this clause. Estius reckoned it genuine, as did Doddridge, who says, “It is to be found in so many good MSS. that I cannot but believe it made a part of the original, by whatever accident it was omitted in some early copy, to which, as it seems, too much regard has been paid.”

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

22. A liar—Rather, the liar; or, as Wesley, more pointedly, that liar. Jesus is the Christ—The errorists, who believed matter the source of all evil, denied that the material bodily Jesus was the real Christ, and affirmed that the Christ descended upon him at baptism. Hence the trinity was doctrinally disorganized. The antichrist of that last time, therefore, really denied the Father and the Son.

V. 23. Whosoever denieth the eternal Son of God, he hath not communion with the Father; but he that truly and believingly acknowledgeth the Son, hath communion with the Father also.

Verse 23. Whosoever denieth the Son] He who denies Jesus to be the Son of God, and consequently the Christ or Messiah, he hath not the Father-he can have no birth from above, he cannot be enrolled among the children of God, because none can be a child of God but by faith in Christ Jesus.

He that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.] This clause is printed by our translators in Italics to show it to be of doubtful authority, as it was probably wanting in the chief of those MSS. which they consulted, as it was in Coverdale’s Bible, printed 1535; Tindall’s Text, printed 1548; and in all the early printed editions (which I have seen) previously to 1566; the Bible of Richard Cardmarden, printed in English at Rouen, where this clause is inserted in a different letter between brackets. But that the clause is genuine, and should be restored to the text without any mark of spuriousness, as I have done in the text of this work, is evident from the authorities by which it is supported. It is found in ABC, and in between twenty and thirty others of the best authority; as also in both the Syriac, Erpen’s Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, and Vulgate. It is also quoted as a part of the text by Origen, Meletius, Athanesius, both the Cyrils, Theophylact, Vigilius of Tapsum, Pelagius, Cerealis, Cassian; and in substance by Euthalius, Epiphanius, Cyprian, Hilary, Faustinus, Lucifer of Cagliari, Augustine, and Bede. It is wanting in the Arabic, in the Polyglot, in a MSS. in the Harleian library, and in some few others. It is doubtless genuine, and Griesbach has with propriety restored it to the text, from which it never should have been separated.

Verses 21-23. I have not written unto you — In the manner I have done; because ye know not the truth — In which case I must have entered largely into the discussion of this matter; but, on the contrary, I have contented myself with these short intimations; because ye know it — Approve of and embrace it, and I am desirous to confirm you in the knowledge of it; and because no lie is of the truth — No false doctrine can proceed from, or agree with, that gospel which you have embraced; in other words, that all the doctrines of these antichrists are irreconcilable to it. Or perhaps the doctrine, contrary to that which was taught by the apostles, may be called a lie, because the teachers who propagated such doctrines knew them to be false, especially the doctrines which they propagated concerning the person and actions of Christ. They, therefore, in particular are called o yeusthv, the liar, as in the next clause. Who is the liar — The false teacher foretold to come before the destruction of Jerusalem; but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ — Who is guilty of that lying but he who denies the truth which is the sum of all Christianity? That Jesus is the Christ, that he is the Son of God, that he came in the flesh, is one undivided truth; and he that denies one part, in effect denies the whole. He is antichrist — He deservedly bears that name; that denieth the Father and the Son — Denies God to be the Father of Christ, by denying Christ to be his Son. Or who, in denying the Son, denies the Father also. He denies the Son directly, and by consequence denies the Father, who testified by a voice from heaven that Jesus was his Son, and by all the miracles which Christ wrought. Whosoever denieth the Son — Even the only-begotten and eternal Son of God, either in his person, his natures, offices, or merits. The same hath not the Father — Has no interest in him as his Father, since that is obtained only through Christ; and, consequently, he hath not communion with the Father. But he that truly and believingly acknowledgeth the Son, hath communion with the Father also — The last clause of this verse, in our English Bible, is printed in italic letters, to show that it is not in the common Greek copies. Beza, however, hath inserted it in his edition of the Greek Testament, on the authority of some ancient MSS., and of the Syriac and Vulgate versions. Mill also, on this verse, mentions a number of MSS. which have this clause. Estius reckoned it genuine, as did Doddridge, who says, “It is to be found in so many good MSS. that I cannot but believe it made a part of the original, by whatever accident it was omitted in some early copy, to which, as it seems, too much regard has been paid.”

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

23. Hath not the Father—The medium of our divine approach to the Father, namely, the Son, is by them removed, and they, alas! have not the Father. All the blessings of the gracious system, pardon of sin, the chrism from the Holy One, and the assurance of salvation descending from the Father by the Son upon us, are forfeited.

V. 24. If that truth concerning the Father and the Son, which ye have heard from the beginning, abide fixed and rooted in you, ye also shall abide in that happy communion with the Son and the Father.

Verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you] Continue in the doctrines concerning the incarnation, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of the Lord Jesus, which you have heard preached from the beginning by us his apostles.

Ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.] Ye who are preachers shall not only be acknowledged as ministers of the Church of Christ, but be genuine children of God, by faith in the Son of his love; and ye all, thus continuing, shall have fellowship with the Father and with the Son.

Verses 24, 25. Let that therefore abide in you — Namely, that doctrine concerning the Father and the Son; which ye have heard from the beginning — Of the preaching of the gospel: retain a firm belief of it, and let your minds be so impressed with a sense of its certain truth and infinite importance, that it may have the desired influence on your spirit and conduct. If that which ye have heard, &c., shall remain fixed and rooted in you — If you persevere in the faith of the gospel, and show that you do so by your life and conversation; ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father — Genuine members of Christ’s mystical body, and consequently in the love of God, and in communion with him. And, to encourage you in this, remember the promise, that he, the Son, hath made to us, if we abide in him, even eternal life.

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

24. Let that—The sure apostolic tradition. Note on 1 John 1:1. The true historic doctrine of the real, genuine Jesus Christ you have heard from us, the apostles, who were his chosen witnesses. You have that truth enriched by the chrism of the Holy One. Let it… abide in you— Otherwise you will become antichrists, and abandon the apostolic body. Heard from the beginning—It came from Christ himself; whereas the Nicolaitan dogma came from Simon Magus or from Nicholas the deacon. Note on Acts 6:5. If—Here is the dread alternative of perseverance or apostasy; which, your own free will must decide.

V. 25. He-The Son.

Hath promised us-If we abide in him.

Verse 25. This is the promise] God has promised eternal life to all who believe on Christ Jesus. So they who receive his doctrine, and continue in communion with the Father and the Son, shall have this eternal life.

Verses 24, 25. Let that therefore abide in you — Namely, that doctrine concerning the Father and the Son; which ye have heard from the beginning — Of the preaching of the gospel: retain a firm belief of it, and let your minds be so impressed with a sense of its certain truth and infinite importance, that it may have the desired influence on your spirit and conduct. If that which ye have heard, &c., shall remain fixed and rooted in you — If you persevere in the faith of the gospel, and show that you do so by your life and conversation; ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father — Genuine members of Christ’s mystical body, and consequently in the love of God, and in communion with him. And, to encourage you in this, remember the promise, that he, the Son, hath made to us, if we abide in him, even eternal life.

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

25. Eternal life—The final and endless blessing coming down upon the faithful from the Father through the Son. Their attaining it depends upon the abide, verse 24.

V. 26. These things-From 1 John 2:21.

I have written to you-St. John, according to his custom, begins and ends with the same form, and having finished a kind of parenthesis, 1 John 2:20-26, continues, 1 John 2:27, what he said in the twentieth verse, concerning them that would seduce you.

Verse 26. These things have I written] Either meaning the whole epistle, or what is contained in the preceding verses, from the beginning of the 18th to the end of the 25th. {1 John 2:18-25} Them that seduce you.] peri twn planwntwn umav. That is, the deceivers that were among them, and who were labouring to pervert the followers of Christ.

Verses 26, 27. These things — From verse 21; have I written unto you — St. John, according to his custom, begins and ends with the same form, and having finished a kind of parenthesis, (verses 21-26,) continues (verse 27) what he said verse 20; concerning them that would seduce you — That is, I say it to arm you against the solicitations of those who endeavour to draw you from the truth and grace of the gospel; from the experience and practice of real Christianity. But the anointing — The spirit of illumination; which ye have received of him — Who hath given you the promise of eternal life; abideth in you — Continually and powerfully; and — In consequence thereof; ye need not that any man teach you — Namely, the principles of Christ’s religion, and things necessary to salvation; (see on Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:11;) but as the same anointing teacheth you — Which is always the same, always consistent with itself. See on verse 20. But this does not exclude men’s need of being taught by them that partake of the same anointing, much less their need of being put in remembrance of the things they already know, and being confirmed therein. Teacheth you of all things — Which it is necessary for you to know; and is truth — Certain and infallible; and is no lie — Like that which antichrist teaches. And as it — The truth I speak of; hath taught you, ye shall abide in him — In Christ, and in the belief and profession of his truth. The whole discourse, from verse 18 to this, is peculiarly adapted to young Christians, whom he terms little children.

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

26. These… written—Reviewing from verse 20. Them that seduce you—The deniers of the bodily Jesus.

V. 27. Ye need not that any should teach you, save as that anointing teacheth you-Which is always the same, always consistent with itself. But this does not exclude our need of being taught by them who partake of the same anointing.

Of all things-Which it is necessary for you to know.

And is no lie-Like that which antichrist teaches.

Ye shall abide in him-This is added both by way of comfort and of exhortation. The whole discourse, 1 John 2:18-27, is peculiarly adapted to little children.

Verse 27. But the anointing which ye have received] That ointment, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, mentioned 1 John 2:20, where see the note. Ye need not that any man teach you] The Gnostics, who pretended to the highest illumination, could bring no proof that they were divinely taught, nor had they any thing in their teaching worthy the acceptance of the meanest Christian; therefore they had no need of that, nor of any other teaching but that which the same anointing teacheth, the same Spirit from whom they had already received the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. Whatever that taught, they needed; and whatever those taught whose teaching was according to this Spirit, they needed. St. John does not say that those who had once received the teaching of the Divine Spirit had no farther need of the ministry of the Gospel; no, but he says they had no need of such teaching as their false teachers proposed to them; nor of any other teaching that was different from that anointing, i.e. the teaching of the Spirit of God. No man, howsoever holy, wise, or pure, can ever be in such a state as to have no need of the Gospel ministry: they who think so give the highest proof that they have never yet learned of Christ or his Spirit.

And is truth] Because it is the Spirit of truth John 16:13. And is no lie] It has nothing like the fables of the Gnostics. It can neither deceive, nor be deceived.

Verses 26, 27. These things — From verse 21; have I written unto you — St. John, according to his custom, begins and ends with the same form, and having finished a kind of parenthesis, (verses 21-26,) continues (verse 27) what he said verse 20; concerning them that would seduce you — That is, I say it to arm you against the solicitations of those who endeavour to draw you from the truth and grace of the gospel; from the experience and practice of real Christianity. But the anointing — The spirit of illumination; which ye have received of him — Who hath given you the promise of eternal life; abideth in you — Continually and powerfully; and — In consequence thereof; ye need not that any man teach you — Namely, the principles of Christ’s religion, and things necessary to salvation; (see on Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:11;) but as the same anointing teacheth you — Which is always the same, always consistent with itself. See on verse 20. But this does not exclude men’s need of being taught by them that partake of the same anointing, much less their need of being put in remembrance of the things they already know, and being confirmed therein. Teacheth you of all things — Which it is necessary for you to know; and is truth — Certain and infallible; and is no lie — Like that which antichrist teaches. And as it — The truth I speak of; hath taught you, ye shall abide in him — In Christ, and in the belief and profession of his truth. The whole discourse, from verse 18 to this, is peculiarly adapted to young Christians, whom he terms little children.

Ver. 18-27. Little children, it is the last time — antichrist is already come. His influence may be seen in jewish sects that went out from us, because they were not of us. They deny the Lord that bought them; and whoever denies the Son, the same hath not the Father. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which teaches you, little children, to know the truth, and to feel its power: whereas the antichrist is a lie, because he who denies Jesus to be the Christ, hath not the Father. One grand point of this unction is to know that Christ hath promised eternal life, which is the consummation of all our hope, and the grand cement of constancy and unity in the church of God. 2 Corinthians 1:21.

27. But every thing depends upon our retaining this chrism, this true anointing. As long as we possess the holy chrism we will adhere to the holy Christ. It is the rich assurance of the testifying and sanctifying Spirit that insures against apostatizing to the fellowship of them that seduce you. It gives you a reality of assurance that ye need no teachers. According as you firmly retain that ye shall (rather, will, the simple future) abide in him.

V. 28. And now, beloved children-Having finished his address to each, he now returns to all in general.

Abide in him, that we-A modest expression.

May not be ashamed before him at his coming-O how will ye, Jews, Socinians, nominal Christians, be ashamed in that day!

Verse 28. And now, little children] teknia, Beloved children, abide in him-in Christ Jesus. Let his word and spirit continually abide in you, and have communion with the Father and the Son.

That when he shall appear] To judge the world, we may have confidence, parrhsian, freedom of speech, liberty of access, boldness, from a conviction that our cause is good, and that we have had proper ground for exultation; and not be ashamed-confounded, when it appears that those who were brought to Christ Jesus, have apostatized, and are no longer found in the congregation of the saints, and consequently are not our crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus. Abide in him, that this may not be the case.

Verses 28, 29. And now, little — Or rather, beloved, children, (for, having finished his address to each, he now returns to all in general,) abide in him — Maintain your union with and interest in him, by living a life of faith, love, and new obedience; of prayer, watchfulness, and self-denial; that when he shall appear — As he assuredly will, in his own glory and in that of his Father, with all his holy angels; we may have confidence, (a modest expression,) and not be ashamed before him at his coming — And put to confusion. O how will you, ye Jews, Deists, and nominal Christians, and especially ye apostates from the faith, and all who, having begun in the Spirit, end in the flesh, be ashamed before him in that day! But how certainly may all, who approve their fidelity to him, expect from his mercy and love a gracious reception, and an abundant reward! If ye know — That is, as certainly as you know; that he is righteous, so surely ye know also that every one — And none else; that doeth — That practiseth; righteousness — From a believing, loving heart; is born of him — Is regenerated and made a new creature by the power of God’s Spirit, (John 1:13,) and so is made like him by partaking of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1:4. For all his children are like himself.

28. Abide in him—Earnest and repeated exhortation to that determination of their own free will which God will not overrule to their perseverance, and without which they will apostatize. When he shall (will) appear— Literally, If he will appear. Expressing no doubt of his own, though doubted and contradicted by the errorists. At his coming—Whenever that unknown event shall take place.

V. 29. Every one-And none else.

Who practiseth righteousness-From a believing, loving heart. Is born of him-For all his children are like himself.

Verse 29. If ye know that he is righteous] That God is a holy God, ye know also, that every one who doeth righteousness-who lives a holy life, following the commandments of God, is born of him, BEGOTTEN of him-is made a partaker of the Divine nature, without which he could neither have a holy heart, nor live a holy life.

This verse properly belongs to the following chapter, and should not be separated from it. The subject is the same, and does not stand in any strict relation to that with which the 28th verse concludes.

THE titles bestowed on Christians in the New Testament have been misunderstood by many. What belongs, strictly speaking, to the PURE and HOLY, is often applied to those who, though bound by their PROFESSION to be such, were very far from it. This has been strongly denied by writers who should have known better. Dr. Taylor has handled this point well in his Key to the Apostolic Writings, from which I have given a copious extract in my preface to the Epistle to the Romans, from the conviction that the subject had been most dangerously misapprehended; and that several of the worst heresies which disgrace religion had sprung from this misapprehension. With some, Dr. Taylor’s being an Arian was sufficient to invalidate any testimony he might offer; but it is no discovery of Dr. Taylor; it is what every attentive, unprejudiced reader finds on reading the Old Testament in connection with the New. Perhaps the testimony of a judicious Calvinist may be better received, not that this truth needs the testimony of either, because it everywhere speaks for itself, but because those who have too little grace, sense, and candour to search for themselves, may be pleased that Dr. Macknight saves them the trouble. After having remarked that the words born of him, ex autou gegennhtai, should be translated hath been BEGOTTEN of him, which is the literal signification of the word, from gennaw, genero, gigno, I beget, (BORN of God being nowhere found in the Scripture,) he goes on to say:— “To understand the import of the high titles which in the New Testament are given to the disciples of Christ, viz.: the begotten of God, as here; children of God, as in the next chapter; heirs of God, Romans 8:17; elect of God-adopted of God-saints-a royal priesthood-a holy nation-a peculiar people, 1 Peter 2:9; the following observations may be of use. “1. These high titles were anciently given to the Israelites as a nation, because they were separated from mankind to be God’s visible Church, for the purpose of preserving the knowledge and worship of him in the world, as the only true God.

“This appears from God’s own words, Exodus 19:3-6, &c.: Tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. Deuteronomy 14:1-2, &c.: Ye are the children of the Lord your God-for thou art a holy people to the Lord thy God. In particular, the title of God’s Son, even his first-born, was given to the whole Israelitish nation by God himself, Exodus 4:22, chiefly because they were the descendants of Isaac, who was supernaturally begotten by Abraham, through the power which accompanied the promise, Genesis 18:10: Lo, Sarah shall have a son. So St. Paul informs us, Romans 9:7: Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; (namely of God;) but in Isaac shall a seed be to thee-the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of promise are counted for the seed. The apostle’s meaning is, that Ishmael and his posterity, whom Abraham procreated by his own natural strength, being children of the flesh, were not children of God; that is, they were not made the visible Church and people of God. But Isaac and his descendants, whom Abraham procreated through the strength which accompanied the promise, being more properly procreated by GOD than by Abraham, were the children of God, i.e. were made the visible Church and people of God, because, by their supernatural generation and title to inherit Canaan, they were a fit image to represent the catholic invisible Church of God, consisting of believers of all ages and nations, who, being regenerated by the Spirit of God, are the true children of God, and heirs of the heavenly country of which Canaan was a type.

“2. As the promise, Lo, Sarah shall have a son, which was given to Abraham when he was a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety, implied that that son was to be supernaturally procreated; so the promise given to Abraham, Genesis 17:5, A father of many nations have I constituted thee, implied that the many nations of believers who, by this promise, were given to Abraham for a seed, were to be generated by the operation of the Spirit of God, producing in them faith and obedience, similar to those for which Abraham was constituted the father of all believers. This higher generation, by which believers have the moral image of God communicated to them, is well described, John 1:12: As many as received him, to them gave he power to be called the sons of God, even to them who believe on his name; oi egennhqhsan, who were BEGOTTEN, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That is: Men become the true sons of God, not by their being naturally descended from this or that father, nor by their being called the sons of God by men like themselves, but by God’s bestowing on them that high appellation on account of their faith and holiness,” (which were produced in them by their regeneration through the Spirit of God.)

“3. If the Israelites, of whom the ancient visible Church and people of God were composed, were all called the sons of God because Isaac, from whom they were descended, was supernaturally begotten by the power of God; certainly the believers of all ages and nations, of whom the visible Church is composed, may with much greater propriety be called the sons of God, since they are begotten of God, and possess his moral nature. “4. Thus it appears that the high titles above mentioned, namely, the sons of God, the children of God, the elect of God, the adoption of sons, the election, saints, holy nation, royal priesthood, peculiar people, were anciently given to the Israelites AS A NATION, merely on account of their being the visible Church and people of God, without any regard to the personal character of the individuals of whom that nation was composed. It appears, also, that under the Gospel the same high titles were bestowed on whole Churches, merely on account of their profession of Christianity, without any regard to the personal character of the individuals who composed these Churches. But these high titles, with some others of greater importance, such as the begotten of God, the heirs of God, the adoption, were given in an appropriated sense to individuals likewise, on account of their faith and holiness. When given to whole Churches, these titles imported nothing more than that the society to which they were given was a Church of Christ, (i.e. professed Christianity,) and that the individuals of which that society was composed were entitled to all the privileges belonging to the visible Church of God. But when appropriated to individuals, these titles implied that the persons to whom they were given were really partakers of the nature of God; and that they were the objects of his paternal love, and heirs of his glory.

“Wherefore, in reading the Scriptures, by attending to the different foundations of these titles, and by considering whether they are applied to Churches or individuals, we shall easily understand their true import. Thus, when St. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says, 1 Thessalonians 1:4, Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election, he could not mean their election to eternal life, since many of them were living disorderly, 2 Thessalonians 3:11, but their election to be the visible Church of God under the Gospel; whereas, when John, in the verse before us, says, Every one who doeth righteousness hath been begotten of God, by restricting the title to a specific character he teaches us that the persons of whom he speaks are the sons of God in the highest sense, and heirs of eternal glory.” How forcible are right words! See also the introduction to the Epistle to the Romans.

I JOHN

Verses 28, 29. And now, little — Or rather, beloved, children, (for, having finished his address to each, he now returns to all in general,) abide in him — Maintain your union with and interest in him, by living a life of faith, love, and new obedience; of prayer, watchfulness, and self-denial; that when he shall appear — As he assuredly will, in his own glory and in that of his Father, with all his holy angels; we may have confidence, (a modest expression,) and not be ashamed before him at his coming — And put to confusion. O how will you, ye Jews, Deists, and nominal Christians, and especially ye apostates from the faith, and all who, having begun in the Spirit, end in the flesh, be ashamed before him in that day! But how certainly may all, who approve their fidelity to him, expect from his mercy and love a gracious reception, and an abundant reward! If ye know — That is, as certainly as you know; that he is righteous, so surely ye know also that every one — And none else; that doeth — That practiseth; righteousness — From a believing, loving heart; is born of him — Is regenerated and made a new creature by the power of God’s Spirit, (John 1:13,) and so is made like him by partaking of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1:4. For all his children are like himself.

29. He—The Holy One of ver. 20, God the Father. Born of him—Is, by the chrism of the Holy One, so conformed to his image as to become his son, the younger brother of Christ. This verse properly belongs to the next chapter.