Ch. 5:1-5. Faith in Jesus as the Christ, the New Birth, Brotherly Love, Keeping Gospel Commands, and Overcoming the World, all Vitally Connected, and Involved in each other.

These principles, obediences, victories, belong to one life, as much so as the branches of one family, root and stalk, flower and fruit. The divine anatomy, the heavenly philosophy, of the new life, is still pursued. There is sweetness, as well as depth, in the subject. It makes the mind work; it also makes the heart warm and glow. Here is the kind of study that will make heaven the happier. Here reasoning and knowledge are also spiritual repast. Blessed are they whose hearts kindle with such themes.

1. Whosoever believeth (from the heart, from the centre of being, with a faith that is a part of one's self) that Jesus is the Christ (the one prophesied, and anointed of God) is born (or begotten) of God. From, or out of (ἐκ), God's nature, by the Holy Spirit, and so has become a child in the family. The apostle is setting forth the object to be loved, in the light of its true nature. And every one that loveth him that begat (that is God), loveth him also that is begotten of him — that is, God's child, of one nature with him. The apostle lays it down as a fact, if we do love God, we also love all that is of his nature, hence we love our brethren who have his nature. It is an argument implied in 4:20, but here put in unmistakable words, that we may certainly know who the brother to be loved is, and the divine reason of the love to him. Note how much is believed when one believes that Jesus is the Anointed of God, by tracing out the deep truths and facts involved in that wonderful epithet as applied to him. Note also the importance of this verse as a proof-text, bearing upon the relation of regeneration to faith. Shining is the action of the sun; believing is the action of the regenerate heart. Where, then, you see the action of belief, know that regeneration is already, its source.

2. By (or in) this — namely, in loving God and doing his commands. We know that we love the children of God. Those begotten by him, the same spoken of in the preceding verse. How may we know that we love those who have partaken of the divine nature. We may have a kind of love for Christians from various motives, as that they are of our church, sect, or party; are our friends, or are naturally amiable; but we must love them also, and chiefly, because they are the children of God and reflect his nature, and for this reason we must love all Christians, and not a select part. But how shall we know if we have this love to God's children as such? When (in whatever instance) we love God, who is of one spiritual nature with his children, then we may know that our love is spiritual and exercised for spiritual reasons. In 4:20 love to the brethren proves our love to God. Here the converse proposition emerges. The final reason of loving God's people is in God himself, on a principle that leads us to love them all. And keep (literally, do, ποιῶμεν, not τηρῶμεν) his commandments. Gospel commands; obeyed because they are God's commands. They include belief, confession, baptism, observing the Supper, meeting together, giving, enduring, and the like. He who does these truly, does them from a principle of obedience; has a heart to obey. This man may know that he loves the brethren. For he can discover that his love to the brethren, which is a duty and an obedience, belongs to a general principle of obedience in his heart. Regard for one command is regard for the many.! The apostle here, as elsewhere, emphasizes! the principle of obedience in the new life, j Our love is not all sentiment, but has the | strong vigor of duty and obedience. The Christian is an obeying person Or, the connection between doing the commands and loving the brethren may be as follows: He who loves the brethren, loves God; and if he loves God, he regards his will or commands, and does them. So that the doing of the commands becomes an evidence of loving the brethren. This may indicate more truly John's process of thought.

3. For (γάρ) explains the putting together of the two preceding things; loving God and commandment-keeping. This is the love of God. This is its nature; its natural working. That we keep his commandments. To love another, and be indifferent to his will, is an impossibility, in divine or human relations. So vital is the connection, that it may be said, that to love is to obey. Love prompts obedience, as the life of the vine takes the form of fruit. Let those who profess the love of God, and yet are careless of his commands, be admonished. They are denying the very instinct of the love-nature. The conjunction "that' (ἴνα), with its verb, anticipates a usage of the modern Greek, and is in place of the infinitive. See Godet, "Com. on John," 1:27. And his commandments are not grievous. 'Are not grievous,' heavy, difficult, to those within the sphere of spiritual life and divine love, as the causal bearing of the next verse implies. See Matt. 11:30; Gen. 29:20. Love makes easy and blessed those commands which are crossing to the old nature. In the doing of them difficulties melt away, and there is a sense of freedom and delight. The love that prompts to the command, makes the soul work easily through it. (Ps. 119:32, 45.) The new nature is, as it were, its own spring and help in all that is required of it, and divine commands are fitted to it, as opportunity is fitted to man.

4. For introduces a reason why the commands are not grievous; it is because in the new birth we come into a state of victory, actually begun, and ideally complete. It is assumed that any difficulty of obedience is caused by the world — that is, by worldly feeling within, or worldly opposition without. The lust of the world and the pride of life in us impart a burdensome aspect to the divine commands; and the world sometimes opposes from without, by tempting, persecution, or otherwise. It is a foe to spiritual obedience. But whatsoever is born of God, overcomes the world; goes on to do so. It has a conquering principle in it, and hence must sweep difficulties out of the way. The conflict will be great sometimes, and the world is not subdued at once; nevertheless, the new nature goes on to victory, and overcomes wholly in the end. For it is like God. Whatsoever is born (or, has been begotten) of God. Whatever; whether it be man, or man's nature, or anything else. "The neuter affirms the universality of the idea more strongly than the masculine." (Hackett.) Compare John 3:6; 6:87, 39; 17: 2. The world. "Whatever is adverse to God's Spirit. So the depravity of our nature is a part of the world." (Calvin.) And this is the victory that overcometh (or, overcame). The indefinite past (aorist) tense is used. The victory that has overcome in each instance is meant. In every such instance, the victory is looked upon as accomplished, already finished, with the exertion of faith; hence the past tense. Our faith. "The identifying of the victory with the faith which gained it is a concise and emphatic way of linking the two inseparably together, so that wheiever there is faith there is victory." (Alford.) Faith is the action or means by which the new nature overcomes. And why? Because it appropriates Christ the Conquering One, and identifies us with him. "We thus enter into his strength, which is the secret of victory. (John 15:5; Phil. 4:13; 1 John 4:4; also Rom. 7:24, 25; 1 Cor. 15:57.) It is, then, faith taking Christ's strength that conquers the world, and every difficulty. Once when McCheyne was feeling almost overcome by the world and sin, these words of John came lo him. His faith realized a conquering Christ. He was conscious of relief and victory, and exclaimed, " A wonderful passage! "

5. This verse defines the overcoming faith more expressly, and declares victory impossible without it. As to the faith, it must (1) centre in the personal Christ, (2) take him for what he is. Son of God and Son of man in one true abiding person. Then does he unite himself with the soul, and become its life and its victory. The new nature, then, does not overcome by inaction, but by acting through a definite faith. In the action, the Spirit is received and the power given. But our verse also declares that the world can be overcome in no other way. John challenges his readers to produce a single instance of such victory except by this faith in Christ. "Who is the man," he says, "where is he, who ever saw him, that conquers the world but by this gospel faith"? The man does not exist. There is no other principle or means of victory. One might as well think of rising from earth against gravitation, as to think of putting the world under his feet, save by faith in Christ. Without it, the man is a part of the very world he would overcome. But with it, he is united to another sphere, and is lifted above his old self, where he can meet the world at an advantage. Two grave lessons in reform present themselves: (1) One may break off an evil habit, or association, and yet, without gospel faith, have the world reign supreme in him. (2) Mere resolutions, or self-respect, or human religion, or asceticism, or monastic seclusion, will not subdue the world.

6-12. The Witness Without and Within THAT Jesus is THE Son OF God AND THE Container of Life.

The overcoming faith of the former section leads the apostle here to confirm to his readers the object of this faith in his true historical personality as being the source of the eternal life which faith receives.

6. This is he that came (in his earthly manifestation) by (διά, through) water and blood, even Jesus Christ. Both true man and the anointed, prophesied, one of God. This is he, this is the very one, who camp through (by way of) water and blood, and is witnessed to, in his true life-power, thereby. There has been boundless dispute as to what is meant by the water and the blood, which, connected with our Lord's earthly history, were witnesses of him as the Messiah and the Life. As to the water, some have understood it to be the water that came from the Saviour's pierced side, noted in John 19:34; some, the baptism enjoined on believers in the Great Commission; some, the word of God. (interpreting the term in John 3:5 of the same!); some, his own baptism in Jordan. And there are other explanations that need not be mentioned. A careful weighing of the entire section and its purpose leaves hardly a doubt that 'water' refers to our Lord's baptism, a most important event of his earthly manifestation, and pointing, as John 1:31, 33 shows, to Jesus as the Possessor and Giver of life, and hence the Christ. John calls it by the name of 'water,' because it is the element, rather than the act, of baptism, which is thought of as the witness, The ' water ' of his baptism symbolized the life which he had without measure, or the Spirit of life belonging to him, and hence was a witness that he was truly the Son of God. Is not this the very point John is aiming to establish on various testimonies, that Christ is the Fountain of life? See ver. 11. And if Fountain of life, he is Son of God. And 'blood' is another witness. By the 'blood,' not the Lord's Supper (that is far-fetched, without parallel, and hardly pertinent to the particular point being proved), but the death of Christ is referred to. And John uses the term 'blood ' because it is not the dying itself which is in mind, but the life poured out, of which blood is the symbol. See Lev. 17:11, 14. Christ's blood of sacrifice pointed to the life he gave for men, and hence bore witness to him as the Possessor and Giver of life. Our life was in the blood. And the Author of life is the Christ. Not by water only, but by water and blood. Literally, Not in (ἐν) the water only, but in the water and in the blood. The article 'the' and preposition 'in' are prefixed to 'water' and 'blood' in each case, and point out the objects as those named before; also as weighty and significant; and as they are used with each term, they mark the independence of the water and blood as witnesses. The use of ' in ' shows that its objects are now recalled as elements in which, rather than means by which, Christ manifested himself. The general purpose of this part of the verse is to show that Christ is proved by his witnesses to be, not only the life of the world, but such life by death. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness. The Spirit, given in connection with Christ's coming, both at Pentecost and as a permanent blessing in the Church, is the most direct witness (John 15:26) to the same fact that Christ is the Source and Giver of life, and therefore the Son of God. Because the Spirit is (the) truth. Not the symbol (as water, or blood), but the truth itself, directly uttering God's nature; and for that reason a witness to be at once acknowledged, and speaking directly what the others utter indirectly. Before taking up the next verses, observe that all after the words " bear record" (μρτυροῦντες) in ver. 7, extending to the words "the Spirit" (τὸ πνεῦμα) in ver. 8, should be blotted out of the Epistle. It is found in no New Testament manuscript before the sixteenth century. No determination of modern criticism is more certain than the spurious character of this part of the text. And it seems utterly foreign to the argument John is evolving. We take up the genuine part.

7, 8. For. Reason for citing the Spirit as a witness with the 'water' and the 'blood.' There are three that bear witness in earth. They are all viewed as if personal witnesses, taking that character from the leading, interpreting witness, the Holy Spirit. And they are three; the rule for testimony did not require more. (2 Cor. 13:1.) The Spirit, and the water, and the blood. By the repeated connectives and articles, they are made as distinct as possible. The Spirit here leads. His testimony is the more direct and immediate, and takes up into itself that of the other two. And these (the) three agree in (the) one. The one thing, the one purport. They all bear in one direction, speak to one truth, that Jesus is the Source of life, and hence the Son of God. That life, life, belongs pre-eminently to him, is their one voice, their one evidence. If so, he is the one anointed with the Spirit, who is life; and if thus Anointed, he is the Christ, the Son of God. And the water of baptism, the blood of atonement, and, most directly, the Holy Spirit in his renewing work, are now still speaking of him who is the Life, and asserting his divine nature before us. Must we not believe with the highest faith?

9. If we receive (as we do; 'if with the indicative) the witness of men, the witness of God (whatever it is) is greater. And therefore (argument from the less to the greater) ought even more readily to be received. For this is the witness of God, etc. Better, as in the Revised Version: "For the witness of God is (pre-eminently) this." In the warmth of writing, John becomes compressed, elliptical. "And why," he silently says, "do I speak of the testimony of God? This is the reason, because this consentient testimony of the water, the blood, and the Spirit, is nothing short of being the testimony of God himself." Which— rather, that (ὁτι not ἅν, according to א A B and most versions). He hath (an admitted and well-known fact) testified of (concerning) his Son. That testimony is still (perfect tense) extant, and calls for the implicit faith of men.

10. He that believeth on (literally, into; the faith reaching into and lodging in a personal object) the Son of God hath the witness in himself. The testimony of God concerning his Son, that he is his true Son, and the Giver of life. By believing in Christ, this divine testimony becomes a part of one's self, a self-evidencing experience. The believer has a joyful, firm conviction, from which nothing can move him, that Christ is a living reality, the very Fountain of life. He that believes has the testimony in himself; he that believes not, has the testimony, but it is outside of him. The passage before us has been regarded as parallel with Rom. 8:16. The two passages are alike in this, that they both speak of an inward witness of the Spirit in experience; but they differ in this, that in the one case, the Spirit testifies and assures of our own sonship, while in the other case he testifies and assures of Christ's Sonship. Both passages are, at their root, related to Psalm 25:14. It is the experimental knowledge of spiritual facts possessed by the regenerate. He that believeth not (μὴ), a supposed case) God (his word, or testimony) hath made (and his abiding unbelief continues to make; perfect tense) him a liar. If God were a liar, he could not treat his testimony differently. He who receives not God's testimony made to the reason of all, by the water, the blood, and the Spirit, treats him just as if he could not be believed. And unbelief is a serious responsibility, when it is tantamount to treating God as a liar, John, in his negative putting of the subject, brings out the impressive fact that the unbeliever not only fails of the inward witness of the truth, but positively arraigns the veracity of God. Because, etc., introduces a further statement, confirming the appalling truth just uttered. O unbelief, boasting thy rationalism, thou art the most irrational! The least conscious of fault, or sin, thou art the most sinful! Thou puttest thy God with liars, and his gospel with fables! [On the change of negative (to οὐ) in this clause Winer remarks: "In the last words, the apostle passes quickly from the mere conception to the fact; for there were such in reality, and the apostle now brings to mind an actual unbeliever." See §69, 1. — A. H.]

11. And this is the record (testimony, witness). The contents, purport, of the testimony of God, through the water, the blood, and the Spirit. That (namely, that) God hath given (literally, gave) to us eternal life. The water, pointing to the water of life, the blood signifying the vital principle, the Spirit, who was the very element of life itself, all said, and continue to say, that God gave to us, who believe and when we believed, the true, the eternal, life. "This eternal life is not directly the state of future blessedness, described as already given because it is certain, but the spiritual life in the soul commenced already on earth, and destined to survive the death of the body and be eternal. True believers enter upon the eternal life in this world." (Hackett.) For fuller definition of eternal life, see note on 2:25. Observe that this life is something 'given'; in the fullest sense a grace. "We do not earn it, or deserve it; we only receive it, a pure gift. And this life is (abidingly) in his Son. We must regard this statement as a part of the unfolding or purport of the testimony (μαρτυρία), and co-ordinate in construction with the latter part of the immediately preceding sentence. The water, the blood, and the Spirit declared not only the gift of life, but also that he who came by way of them (ver. 6) had it absolutely and fully in himself. Christ is the eternal vessel of the living water. It is all in him. It is not in angels, or in systems, but in the Son. Only in and through him is life communicated to a lost world. (4:9; John 10:10.)

12. If eternal life is conveyed to the world as a deposit in Christ, then the double statement of this verse is the most obvious inference. If Christ and the life are inseparable, we cannot have one without the other. He that hath the Son hath (the) life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not (the) life. The Revised Version properly translates the article before 'life': 'Hath not the life.' And yet he has natural life, proving wholly another sort of life to be meant by John. It is only as we touch Christ that we live. Our regeneration is in connection with Christ. (Eph. 2:10.) To live is Christ (Gal. 2:20 Phil. 1:21); and Christ is our life (Col.3:4); and we have life more abundantly as we have more of Christ. He who rejects Christ, of necessity cuts himself off from the true life.

13-17. Spiritual Confidence and Effectual Praying the Mark and Privilege OF New Life.

13. These things. Those especially in the preceding section, relating to the fontal life and divine Sonship of Christ, which are wonderfully adapted to deepen the faith and increase the confidence of Christians. Have I written — literally, I wrote. Aorist. Imagine a pause, or interruption, between the preceding section and the present one, and the tense becomes natural. Unto you. The Christian circle, for which John wrote. That believe on the name of the Son of God. These words, given in the Common Version, are omitted in the Revised and Bible Union Versions, as they do not belong to the pure text. That (ἴνα) ye may know (the certainty of the fact) that ye have (as a present abiding possession) eternal life. What the apostle had just written concerning this life, and its testimony through the water, the blood, and the Spirit, was calculated to deepen and certify this very knowledge. It is the privilege of Christians to 'know' that they have eternal life — are converted, and saved. With many the consciousness is as assured as that of existence itself. Our Epistle attaches much importance to such knowledge. Our present verse indicates a way to this full assurance. We get into life by believing in Christ; but we know that we are in this life by enlarging our view of Christ as the great and only Fountain of our life. To the true Christian the fuller view of the doctrine of life is a means of knowing that he has the life. And that ye may believe — literally, even to you that believe. Defining 'to you' in the early part of the verse, and showing that believers are the persons whose privilege the writer is setting forth. Awkward as this delayed insertion of the defining clause may seem, nevertheless the critical text compels its approval in place of the 'and that ye may believe' of the Common Version. On (into, είς; see on ver. 10) the name of the Son of God — that is, believing Christ, as he is revealed under the name of 'the Son of God.' See John 20:31.

14. And this is the confidence (or boldness). Springing from the sense of union with Christ the life, and from the certain knowledge that we have eternal life. This boldness, or 'confidence,' is the same in nature with the boldness spoken of in 2:28; 3:21; 4:17. See Notes. That we have in (towards) him. Towards God, as in 3:21, where also holy boldness before God and effectual praying are connected, as indeed in Heb. 4:16. In the full consciousness of spiritual life (ver. 13) there is no feeling of shame or condemnation, and hence the fullest freedom in God's presence. And in that felt freedom there is ready asking. Besides, in this complete spiritual life, God and his will are much in the soul, so that our will in what we ask is likely to be his will. That, if we ask anything (temporal or spiritual, for ourselves or for others) according to his will (adjunct of the asking, as the Greek shows), he heareth us. 'Us' in the genitive suggests that the hearing is with sympathy, and is affected with a moving influence from the Christian or his cause. But what is the relation of this dependent sentence to the boldness before God, just spoken of? The answer may be given by the following paraphrase: "And this is the kind of boldness, the degree of boldness, which, in the full realization of eternal life, we have before God, that if we ask anything," etc. It is that kind of boldness that is accompanied with effectual praying, and is proved by it. It is not exactly confidence that we shall be heard, but a free boldnesss of such a kind that it meets acceptance before God, and makes this acceptance a thing to be expected. Compare once more 3:21; Heb. 4:16. When one is full of spiritual life and filial boldness, his will in praying is likely to be according to God's will, so that his praying is as welcome as his person. When one prays in full union with Christ, it is also Christ praying; it is praying in his name, and the prayer is accepted. (John t5:7, le.) It is the very will of God. So when the Spirit prays in us, it is the will of God. Evidently a great spiritual life is at the foundation of efficacious prayer. James 5:16 involves the same principle. "To repeat a holy name may be an easy thing; but to attain that holy abiding, in which there is such a perfect community of life with our true vine, that it is as impossible for us to ask amiss as for the branch of the fig-tree to put forth the buds and flower of the thorn, this is to reach the very ideal of discipleship." (A. J. Gordon. D. D.)

15. And if we know (as we do, so asking) that he hear (heareth) us (as to) whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions (things prayed for) that we desired of him (or have asked from him). If God gives us favoring audience, he goes further, and gives us our requests. As certain as it is that he hears, so certain is it that he bestows. And note the tenses. We now have what we have asked for. " The perfect reaches through all our past prayers to this moment. All these we have; not one of them is lost. He has heard, he has answered them all. We know that we have them in the truest sense, in possession." (Alford.) The prophetic word of Isa. 65:24 (compare Dan. 9:21) is fulfilled.

16. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death. The 'any man' is a praying person, a Christian. The 'brother,' according to the analogy of our Epistle, is a brother in the kinship of the new birth. In the case supposed, the intercessor must 'see,' be personally cognizant, of the brother's offense, so as to know its true nature; it is not enough to learn of it through others. And he must see the brother actually sinning (present participle) the sin, or in the guilt of it (for one still does a sin till he repents of it). And the sin must not be unto death! it must not be the sin to which death is remedilessly affixed, which hath never forgiveness. What this sin is will be noticed farther on. Having spoken of the efficacy of Christian prayer in general, as the proper fruit of the life of God in us, the apostle proceeds to speak of the efficacy in a particular direction — namely, when it takes the form of intercession in behalf of other brethren, others particularly who have lapsed into sin. Here is a priestly office of the Christian, analogous to that of Christ in the Gospel of John, chapter 17. Paul testifies how much he himself bore this fruit of intercession, and be besought the intercession of the churches for himself. Jonathan Edwards begged such help, even from brethren far away. The extraordinary religious interest in Scotland, in 1840, seems to have been begun and sustained largely by mutually intercessory praying among the laborers. He shall ask. He is bound to do it, and he will do it. In this asking (αἰτέω, not ἑρωτάω), as in ver. 14, 16, there is the meaning of beseeching, the most earnest entreaty, as of one who feels his utter dependence. And he shall give him life. The intercessor, receiving divine answer, does this — this marvelous thing — does it for the sinning brother. By his intercession he brings to the sinning one the grace of repentance and confession, the blessing of pardon, and the fresh restored manifestation of the Holy Spirit of life. The intercessor is said to give all this, because his petition has caused the blessing to come. The praying man is actually a beneficent force to his erring brother; under God, a fountain of good to him. (That is) for them that sin not (μὴ, subjective, implies a judgment of the intercessor in the matter) unto death. Repeats, for sake of preventing mistake, the definition of the party or parties for whom the intercessor's office is effectual, to whom the fresh life may be given. The limit is evidently an important one in John's view. That sin unto death frowns down upon him, denying all hope, and he must except it again and again. There is a sin unto death. There is, then, this exception to effectual praying. An important exception, as the repeated notice of the matter shows. What is this sin which results in certain and hopeless death? which is absolutely unto death? It is a sin that John has terribly marked again and again in our Epistle, that of willfully rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit as to the true nature and Messiahship of Jesus, the denying of Christ in his true nature. That it is a sin which connects itself with one's treatment of Christ is a fair inference from the doctrine of ver. 12. That it was the particular sin we have pointed out would naturally be suggested to the minds of the readers of the whole Epistle. The unpardonable sin of Matt. 12:32; Mark 3:29, 30; Heb. 6:4, 6; 10:29, is of the same tenor and character essentially; the doing of despite to the light of the Spirit as to Christ. Finally, if to confess Christ with mouth and heart is salvation unto life (Rom. 10:10), so denial of Christ with mouth and heart, as the antichrists did, must be the sin that is unto remediless death. It denies, and so far as it can do, annihilates the only means of life, and therefore must be unto death. And to pray for its remission is to pray for an impossibility: it is to pray against an absolute decree. (Mark 3:29.) It is to pray for a salvation outside of Christ and the Holy Spirit. In fact, there can be no spirit of prayer in that behalf. [It is noteworthy that John here uses the weaker word, " to ask " (ἐρωτάω), and not the stronger, "to beseech" " claim" (αἰτέω):" I do not Say that he should ask" (much less, entreat) "concerning that sin." See Huther on the passage. The Revised Version translates very exactly, following the order of the original text: Not concerning this do I say that he should make request. — A. H.] The 'death,' of course, would be understood as the state that is destitute of the new life, which John has so fully marked in the context.

17. All (or, every) unrighteousness is sin. The apostle is speaking of definite acts, noticeable by the intercessor, and pardonable or unpardonable. Because an offense in not unto death and the person committing it may be prayed for with hope of life, it must not therefore be concluded that it is not properly a sin, violating God's law, and offensive to holy nature, (3:4) It is a sin, though it may be called only unrighteousness, and therefore needs forgiveness. It is a sin, a grievous sin, whether committed by believer or unbeliever. And there is a sin not (οὐ, marking an objective fact, not dependent on any one's judgment) unto death. Though it be a sin, a violation of God's holy law, yet it may be one that God can forgive, because it does not do utter despite to the Spirit of Grace, does not deny the very nature of Christ.

18-21. The Sinless Nature, the High Relation, the Spiritual Knowledge, AND the Divine Union of the Children OF God. The Standing of such a People IS Inconsistent with Every Kind or Idolatry.

In this closing portion of his Epistle, the apostle briefly resumes or summarizes the chief facts belonging to the new life. The great matter to which he would conduct his readers in all this deep writing is the realization of their union with God in Christ, and the holiness it involves. It is fitting, therefore, that some of the last words of his letter of love and righteousness should touch this cardinal truth of the Christian position.

18. We know (as a fact) that whosoever is born (or, begotten) of (ἐκ, out of) God sinneth not. Does not sin as the law, tendency, ideal, of his regenerate nature. He belongs to the sphere of light. Sinning is not the on-going and ultimate of his nature; but something temporary, to be dropped away in the fulfilling of the new nature. The characterizing, fulfilling, conquering, nature of the Christian is holy as God is holy. For further explanation of this case, see especially notes on 3:6, 9. The doctrine is inserted again here, not only as a chief and concluding point in the Johannean faith, but to save his readers from inferring that because a brother sins (ver. 16), and needs brotherly intercession, he therefore is under a law and continuous tendency to sin, or his new and ultimate nature is otherwise than perfectly holy and utterly apart from Satan. It is a notable illustration of the complemental and mutually balancing relation of parts of Scripture, to be remembered by interpreter, student, and teacher. But he that is (was) begotten of God keepeth himself. The Revised Version gives not 'himself but "him " as the critical text requires. And as far as the structure of the sentence is concerned, the most natural reference of 'him ' is to God; and the thought is, that the regenerate man keeps God — that is, preserves him in vital union with himself. The new nature holds God in itself, and, beginning in union with him, abides one with him. Here is the true secret and reason of the "perseverance of the saints"; and the assertion of the fact is beyond gainsaying. Alford makes 'him' refer to the man who is begotten again, and, in order to this, construes the first part of the sentence as one of those not unusual cases in which the words do not follow each other in a strictly grammatical order. He forcibly inserts the word it (the divine birth pointed at in the preceding verbal expression) before the word "keepeth." [So remarkable is the thought found in this clause by the author that a few words may properly be added. "We are sometimes said to apprehend (or lay hold of) God spiritually, and there seems to be as good reason for saying that we retain him in the grasp of our spiritual affection. So Jacob said to the angel of God who wrestled with him, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." (Gen. 32:26.) In so far as manuscripts and early versions are concerned, the weight of evidence (owing especially to the authority of A' B) is in favor of "him," rather than 'himself.' Besides, if the original text was ' himself,' we cannot account for the change to "him" — a far more difficult reading — while a change from the latter to the former would be very likely to occur. Scrivener appears to favor the reading "him " (which is given by Tregelles, Tischendorf, "Westcott and Hort, and the Revised Version), but assumes that if "him" is the true reading, "he that was begotten of God" "can be none other than the Only-begotten Son who keepeth the sons of God, agreeably to his own declaration in John 17:12." Yet he admits that "we have no other example in Scripture or ecclesiastical writers of 'he that was begotten' (ὁ γεωηθεις) being used absolutely for the Divine Son, though the contrast here suggested is somewhat countenanced b3' that between ' he that sanctifieth' and 'they that are sanctified' in Heb. 2:11." He might have referred to the Nicene Creed as using almost exactly the form of expression found here — namely, "he that was begotten of the Father" (τὴν ἐπ τοῦ πατρός γεννηθέντα) instead of " he that was begotten of God (ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ). — A. H.] And that (literally, the) wicked one (Satan, 2:13; 3:12; Matt. 13:19; Luke 8:12; Eph. 6:16) toucheth him not. ' Him ' may refer to God, with the meaning that if Satan does not touch God, he does not touch him who receives God's nature in the new birth; or, it may refer directly to the child of the new birth, who keeps God. Satan, who is the evil one par eminence, may tempt and beset and disturb the Christian, but he cannot hurt or even touch him in his vital part. He has no power over the new nature. (John  14:30.) [The latter view is better than the former, and is somewhat against the reference of ' him ' in the preceding clause to God. — A. H.]

19. And is to be omitted. We know that we are of God. Born of him, and hence bearing his spiritual nature. A matter of certain and blessed knowledge through previous teaching (4:4, 5.), and through the witnessing Spirit. (Rom.8:16.) " Never rest till you can say this," said McCheyne. In this verse the apostle applies to himself and his readers the general truth asserted in the foregoing verse, and sharply contrasts their standing with that of the unregenerate world, so that there is evident progress in the thought, and growth in the strength of it. And the whole world (in its natural unregenerate state) lieth in wickedness (rather, the wicked one). Not merely is touched by the wicked one (ver. 18), but even ' lieth in ' the wicked one, in entire union with him; willingly, unresistingly given up to him, completely within his sphere. That the wicked one here is not an abstract principle of evil, but a very person, is indicated by the contrasted personal God, by the unmistakable termination of the nominative form in the preceding verse, by the analogy of John's diction, and by the references adduced under ver. 18.

20. And — (δὲ; here as a concluding, summing up, particle, as in 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thess. 3:16; Heb. 13:20) we know. The same 'we know' (οἵδαμεν), beginning each of verses 18, 19, 20, gives them "almost the appearance of a confession or summary of faith." (Hackett.) Alford calls them "three solemn maxims." That the Son of God is come. Into the world, in the flesh; literally so. Our Epistle has again and again emphasized this cardinal matter, especially against the perversion of the antichrists; and it was a comforting, satisfying fact, at the very basis of atonement and redemption, and the consternation of him (ver. 19) who held the world in his wickedness. And hath given us an understanding. This 'understanding' (διάνοια) is "the divinely empowered inner sense," or spiritual faculty, which is given us by Christ, in the effectual action of his Spirit on our minds, making us capable of spiritual knowledge, and in order to (ἵνα) it, as the following clause shows. For the same doctrine, see Eph. 1:18. The natural man needs this spiritual action upon his understanding that he may know spiritual things. And Christ has come, and has given the Spirit for this creative work. That (ἵνα) we may know or, as in Revised Version " we know" (the indicative; declaring the object of the understanding and the fact that we already have the object, in one statement) him that is true (or the True One). The 'True One ' is God (John 17:3), as the pronoun in the expression 'his Son,' that follows, demonstrates. And he is called the True One (ἀληθινον, and not ἀληθῆ), the real, genuine, God, to assert his distinction from all fictitious or false gods having the world's heart, whether the devil (god of this world) or images. It is, then, one privilege of the gospel to know God; to know him, not merely by the reason or conscience, not merely through theological propositions, but with the knowledge of personal experience, as one knows the odor of flowers, the sweetness of music, or the refreshment of the morning dew, attaining that sensible satisfying appreciation of God, marked in words of Eliphaz, "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace." (Job 22:21.) And we are in him that is true (the True One). In union with him; and thus distinguished from those who are in union with the false and ' wicked one.' We not only know God in spiritual experience, but we are in him, in the life element of God the Spirit, in a union of nature with him. In his Son Jesus Christ. Yes, in his Son, Jesus Christ.! Not even a copulative separates this clause from the preceding one, as if it were so involved in it as to be very nearly a restatement in another form. To be in union with the True One is also to be in union with his Son. The two facts cannot be separated. In fact, we come into union with the Father through union with the Son. (John 14:6. 20:17:23.) This Same Spiritual union with the Father and the Son stood before the mind at the opening of the Epistle; appropriately it comes out sublimely to view at the close. For it is the ultimatum and glory of the Christian life. In it the river has flowed out into the ocean; the heart is swallowed up in the divine light and love. The new life is filled out when it comes to conscious union with the Father and the Son. This is the true God, and eternal life. To whom does the word 'this' refer; to the remote True One, or to his Son, Jesus Christ? With the ancient interpreters, and against many of the modern ones, we must decide for the latter reference. Because, 1. Christ the Son is the nearer and more obvious antecedent, apart from all theologizing. 2. The connection calls for it. John had, in effect, said that to be in the Father was to be in the Son. "How so?" the mind queries. Because Christ himself is the true God, not less than the Father. 3. It does not advance the thought, and seems like a tautology, or repetition, after the Father has been twice designated as the True One, to say, This (true one) is the true God. What object is gained by saying so? 4. Christ is not only the immediate antecedent, but, whatever may be said to the contrary, he is the principal subject of the preceding part of the verse. One has but to read it carefully from the beginning to be convinced of this. 5. Life eternal is the predicate, not of the Father, but of the Son; and especially in the writing of John. See 1:1, 2; 6:11, 12, 13. It is the Scripture thought, that the Father hath life, but that the Son is life. To call Christ the life eternal is to unite the closing of the Epistle with its beginning. 6. To call Christ, the Son, the true God harmonizes with statements in both the Gospel and Revelation of John. We may add, that Ebrard, Braune, Schultze, Weiss, Thomasius, and others definitely maintain the view here unfolded.

21. Little children. John takes leave of his readers, and gives them his parting precept, with tender loving address; with a title that reminded them of their relation at once to God and to him, inspired them with Christian confidence, and laid the basis for strong admonition and appeal. Keep (guard, as in a garrison) yourselves from (the) idols. 'The idols' worshiped by the world round about you, whether spiritual or material in their nature. Separate, guard, yourselves from all the spirit and form of idolatry. The allegiance of your worship and love is due to him who is the True God and Life Eternal, and not to be turned or divided to any object or system of human creation or finiteness. Christ and idolatry are mutually exclusive alternatives in the hearts of men.