1 John 1:1-4.
1898 10 The apostle John was preserved to minister to the children of God after the other apostles had finished their labours, and when feebleness became more and more apparent in the churches, and enemies without and within increased — "many anti-Christs," "many deceivers," and "many false prophets." To meet this state of things the Holy Spirit brought forth more prominently the truth of "life" — "eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began" (Titus 1:2). It was in His mind from all eternity, and, in His grace He would, by this aged apostle, set it more fully in the minds of His children. The word "life" (zoe) occurs in his Gospel thirty-six times and in the Epistle thirteen times: while in Matt. it is found seven times, in Mark four times, and in Luke six times.
The expressed object of writing this Epistle to us is, "that ye may know that ye have eternal life, unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13, R.V.); and, that possessing it, we may be in the enjoyment of its holy and blessed fellowship, realise its divine affections, and display here on earth, whatever the state of the church, its moral excellencies; looking forward to the perfection of all in heavenly glory. In a word it is "that our joy may be full."
We may observe an arrangement of parts in it, so perfect that every device of the enemy to darken the Christian's path is frustrated. After the first four verses we have "a message" to be kept in mind at all times (ver. 5). How can we, conscious of proneness to evil, and of failure, stand in the presence of, and walk with, so holy a God? This occupies the first part, 1:5 to 2:2. Then, with connecting verses, we are in company with the whole family of God — 1 John 2:12 to 28; and it is not difficult to find one's place among them, and the truth suited to us. In 1 John 3 the world is in view, its moral state is exposed, and the contrast between the children of God and the children of the wicked one is forcibly drawn. In 1 John 4:1-6, spiritual dangers are set forth. Many false prophets are at work, and we must "try the spirits" and "take heed what we hear." Finally, in 1 John 5 the important question of brotherly love is taken up, and receives important elucidation. The remaining verses certify to those who believe on the Name of the Son of God the fulness of their blessing, and the whole ends with the thrice repeated words, "we know"; and "children, keep yourselves from idols," a needed warning.
The writer of this inspired Epistle has not given his name, but scarcely any one questions that the author is John, the son of Zebedee. The fourth Gospel was also written by him, but no name is either prefixed or added: he hides himself under the happy description — "that disciple whom Jesus loved."
In this Epistle, or Address, he enters at once on his theme, the eternal life; "that which he had heard, and seen with his eyes, had contemplated, and his hands had handled (ver. 1). He is absorbed with what he had witnessed of the perfections of Him who had suffered him to recline on His bosom, "God manifested in the flesh." Every inlet of his soul is engaged in receiving more and more of Him, Who, under the guidance of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, was his life-study, the spring of his fellowship, his service, everything; and his heart was filled to overflowing in the enjoyment of His love. He intimates in ver. 4 that his joy was full, and unselfishly longs that the joy of others should be so too.
What an answer to the infidel, who represents Christianity as a system of incomprehensible abstractions for the mind to work upon, and embittering many a spirit with endless controversies: and to the mere philanthropist, who gives it a cold welcome as an aid in the service of humanity, and useful as an auxiliary in the conflict with vice. Not so with this beloved apostle. The knowledge of "eternal life" he gained by beholding its excellencies and perfections in a Person, and that person Jesus Christ. "He is the true God and eternal life." Are we surprised that John hides himself, and is nameless? How could it be otherwise in the presence of Him — "the eternal life who was with the Father and was manifested to us" (ver. 2). He is declaring Him, and Him only. And his object in writing is, that we may have fellowship with him, even with him who was one of the first disciples of the Lord, was with Him on the holy mount, stood by His cross, entered into His tomb, beheld His hands and His side in resurrection, saw Him taken up into heaven, and received the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Who brought all Jesus had said to his remembrance. "Fellowship! "
What a profound meaning the word had for him, as he added, "yea (or truly) with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ" (ver. 3). It was his own experience, and he longed that others should share in it. This longing was a mighty incentive to apostolic work (see the first mention of the word "fellowship" in Acts. 2:42). Every convert was their care, who ever had been used in their conversion (Acts 11:22-26, Col. 2:1). They were not cruel, like the ostrich, "who leaveth her eggs in the earth, … and forgetteth that the foot may crush them" (Job 39:14, Lam: 4:3). John wrote to all believers. Our souls need time to dwell, by the Spirit, on the exalted character of the fellow ship here presented, its unreserved fulness of blessing, going back in memory to when we were without God. Did we then think of this fellowship? Did we connect fulness of joy with it?
Did the younger son, even when he came to himself, anticipate what awaited him, the love of his father, the time of rejoicing, and, (marvellous to say it) of mutual gladness of heart? Shame on us if, when brought to God at the cost of the sufferings of His Son, we ever allow anything to hinder a life of communion with Him. Have we really tasted its joy? It was when the father was on the neck of the prodigal, and kissing him, that he said, "Father, I have sinned." The sense of the past did not hinder the joy of the present. It deepened it. He was not worthy, but he, nevertheless, had such a father. So in the case of Paul.
It was at the moment of intensest realisation of the rebelliousness of his heart and ways in the past, that, he, the chief of sinners, burst forth in that grand doxology, "Now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen" (1 Tim. 1:15-17).
1 John 1:5-10.
1898 24 Seeing that the purpose of John's writings is that we should have this fellowship to the completing of our joy, even if we know experimentally but little of it, we are encouraged to study them. And surely we may, while doing so, plead with God that in our case he may not have written in vain. But let us remember that it is an individual thing. Not until verse 7 do we get communion with saints; and though many have been the attempts to invert this order, and to bring about communion with saints without the individual communion of the saints, such attempts have failed and worn out; for the communion exists only in name if it exist at all.
And, after all, we are individuals. "The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger Both not intermeddle with his joy" (Prov. 14:10). Mr. Bellett tells of a young lady who, when suffering from disease and drawing near to death, said, "that at times she found such joy in the thought of Christ that she was compelled to leave off thinking of Him." Doubtless she was physically too weak to bear it. It is probable that those who visited her knew neither what she suffered, nor the extent of her joy; yet how real were both to her! And we may surely say that this individual fellowship has cheered a countless Multitude of prisoners of Jesus Christ in lengthened captivity, and of martyrs in view of torture and death. And though our lot in England is cast in easy times, there are many true saints in isolation and profound distress: the tears of God's dear children have not ceased to flow.
Blessed be God, then, for lengthening out the days of His servant, that he might minister to us that which filled his own heart with joy and delight, though the state of the churches might well fill him with distress and alarm. Great changes he had seen in the world, but he gave them not the tribute of a thought; all his concern was for his "little children."
The truth in verse 5 should be pondered and cherished in our hearts. It is the foundation of all that follows, and is at once laid — deep, solid, immovable. The extreme malignity of the poison which the serpent instilled into Eve, his detestable wickedness and cruelty, are seen in separating her from God, and awakening in her the love of darkness rather than light; and the human race has never overcome this fatal preference. Some have fought hard to triumph over its results, and even to get out of the darkness. "Light, more light," was the pathetic dying cry of a modern philosopher; and the touching story of the young ruler in Mark 10, whom Jesus looking on loved, are among the many evidences of its impossibility with men. But, oh! to His eternal praise, it is said, "not with God." Paul said of himself and of all true Christians: "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).
Our estimate of the value of "the message that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (notice the force of the reiteration, so common with John), will increase as we go on. We shall learn that we are safe and happy as we consciously abide in His presence. Thoughts and intents of the heart that hinder communion are there detected and nipped in the bud, and the innumerable inconsistencies are avoided of those who are Christians merely in profession. In verse 6 is supposed the case of mere profession, "If we say," etc. The broad principle is affirmed, whoever may be the speaker, and the need of it is only too evident when unreality in the things of God prevails, saying and not doing; singing hymns expressive of fresh, bright, heart-enjoyment of the love of God and of Christ, while there is not a trace of it in the life. The word to meet this is very sharp. "If we say that we have fellowship with God and walk in darkness" (that is, as if there had been no revelation of God in Christ), "we lie, and do not the truth." "Doing the truth" is a weighty word (see John 3:21). The force of it becomes more and more distinct to the mind, as we are more filled with the knowledge of the will of God, and patiently continue in doing it; confiding in Him, as to everything and in everything, for needed grace and timely help to do it.
In scripture "the walk" is a person's course of life, in effect what he is and in verse 7 this is supposed to be in the presence of God fully revealed. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John. 1:18), that is, hath made Him known, as He knew Him. The partial light of past dispensations is over: Judaism is left; the way into the holiest is made manifest. "He that hath seen" Jesus "hath seen the Father." The first question for a Christian is, therefore, not how he walks, all important as it is, but where — Is he in the full peace of the finished work of Christ, the peace of His blood "which cleanseth us from all sin?" His walk may be slow and feeble; he may stumble, as indeed we all do (James 3:2); but God, who has called him to walk in His presence, knows his need, and will supply all to meet it. In this path he will not be alone, others by grace are walking in it; and nearness to God will bring such near to each other. This principle of true Christian fellowship is unfolded here. It is in the presence of God without a veil, distance over for ever,
"More happy, but not more secure,
The spirits departed to heaven."
Another saying is supposed in verse 8 in order to give a full and final decision upon it. If cleansed from every sin by the blood of Christ, has the root of evil, the sin in which we were conceived, and that dwelleth in us, been eradicated, so that we are justified in saying "that we have no sin?" We deceive ourselves if we do, and the truth is not in us; a very serious word indeed. It is said of the devil, only more emphatically, "There is no truth in him" (John 8:44). The question is not as to personal acceptance. This is declared in the fullest and most absolute terms in 1 John 4:17. Neither is it a question whether sin, though in us, has dominion over us; whether we are its slaves. No! a true Christian "is the Lord's freedman." In the death of Christ he has died to every claim but His. He is Christ's servant, and God has given the Holy Spirit to them who obey His rule (1 Cor. 7:22; Acts 5:32). His body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in him, which he has of God, and he is not his own, he therefore keeps it under (1 Cor. 6:19, and 1 Cor. 9:27).
1 John 1:9 — 2:11.
1898 40 Paul had to do it, and did it with delight. One has but to face the difficulty in the strength of the Lord, and it is gone. When the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (Jordan), it fled (Joshua 3:15). But what if we yield (ver. 9)? An act or word, which would not trouble a natural man, will break the heart of a true child of God. What then shall he do? Sit down, like Lot in Sodom with a vexed soul, or rise up, like Abraham in Egypt and get back to the Lord (Gen. 13)? Jonah-like "he has forsaken his own mercies;" but "salvation is of Jehovah" (Jonah 3). God is God, let sin bring even a prophet into the lowest depths. "He is faithful and righteous" in His estimate of the work of His Son to forgive His returning child (see further in 1 John 2:1-2): then why not return speedily? The light which convicts us, reveals God thus waiting to be gracious, waiting for our confession, for the pouring out of our hearts before Him; waiting to reassure those hearts, and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness: i.e. inward cleansing, a fresh, sweet, powerful sense of grace which fills the soul with peace, and makes the light beautiful, and welcome, and loved; an ever increasing joy to abide in it, and walk in it.
The last case supposed is, "If we say we have not sinned (10)." This is the expression of self-satisfaction which sets aside the word of God, the need of atonement, and the ground of all God's dealings with men in judgment. The first expression of human religiousness, recorded in the scriptures, was based on this assumption of righteousness. Cain's offering was no acknowledgment of sin, but a display of what he had wrought in the earth; and "the way of Cain" is approved of, and taken, by many a professor of Christianity who mistakes it for the path of life; and it is often coupled with hatred of those who, like Abel, confess themselves sinners, and trust only in the blood of Jesus. Solemn beyond conception will be the time when God shall deal in truth with those who have given Him the lie. "If we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar, and His word is not in us."
Thus then the apostle opens his address. He treats profession seriously, encouraging truth, but setting all who make a profession in the full light of the unveiled presence of God, where what men say, whether in creed, in formularies of devotion, in hymns, or in religious services, is put to the test. "The very basis of communion with God is reality." "Be not deceived, God is not mocked" (Gal. 6:7).
The second chapter of the Epistle opens with a title of affectionate endearment, "My children." All the household of God are before the apostle's mind; yet he sees them in their various stages of spiritual growth, "fathers," "young men" and "little children" (1 John 2:13-14, 18), each needing a special word to encourage, or warn, in the various details of life. But his great concern as to all is, "that they may not sin." He uses plain words, never softening down what is so hateful in the sight of God. Still He adds, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous." The eye has wandered from Him, and the heart has followed it; the attractions of present things have overcome the man, and he has yielded to them. Grace must first, then, turn the eye back to Christ. Where would Peter have gone, had not his eye thus met the Lord's (Luke 22. 61)? The love of Jesus is as real to each of His own as to Peter, and now that He is on the Father's throne, as when He was bound a prisoner in the high priest's palace. He is ever the same, yesterday and today and for ever: our one necessity, and our perfect sufficiency. And when we have no defence and can say nothing in our own behalf, He is our "Advocate with the Father;" and our cause is safe and must succeed, for it is in His hands.
Yet there must be exercise of soul in the one who has sinned. It is one thing to acknowledge that we have sin (1 John 1:8); it is another thing to watch and pray lest we fall into temptation and get drawn away by it. When a child of God sins, it is against light and love, known love, the lose of the Father and of the Son; and all fellowship is forfeited. There is no change in the Father and the Son; the whole change is in the child. How profound then is the wisdom! how rich the grace! that begins the work of restoration by recalling the sufferings and death of Christ for sins. Truly in the short sentence, "He is the propitiation for our sins," we have a volume of truth, the most peace-speaking, the most precious to a wounded conscience. Would that it were ever before us, engraved on our hearts! In the forsaking of Jesus and His death, our sins, each and all, met with full and final judgment; and, while it is unmingled grace to us, it is righteousness to Him, that not only should our standing in Him before God be perfect (see 2 Cor. 5:21), but that His advocacy should avail if, in our walk, we fall and sin. Indeed, there is infinite worth in the propitiation. It would meet the need of the whole world, if believed in. Hence Mark 16:15.
Thus we learn that, while provision is made in the rich mercy of God, if His child disobey, for his restoration to communion, and that in a way which thoroughly condemns his sin, yet to preserve him from such a fall is surely of the first importance. How this may be is declared in 1 John 2:3-11. The commandments of God by Jesus Christ are set before us for the direction of our every step in life. We are not left to the pious thoughts of pious men. The authority of God is supreme, and all that is esteemed to be morally right or wrong by even good men must be tested by His word. And above and beyond all, we have set before us the perfect walk of Christ, His obedience even to death, the death of the cross (Phil. 2); and this is to rule our obedience. "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (ver. 6). In immediate view of the cross, Jesus said, "That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do" (John 14:31).
Love therefore, we next see, is to be with us the motive, as the commandments are the guide, or we cannot walk as He walked. What a "light of life" we have in Jesus! And how it brings into view our limited fellowship with Him, and the deep need every day of such prayer as in Col. 1:9-11! May God keep us in the sense of it.
1 John 2:4 sets in a solemn light the moral condition of Christendom, boasting in its knowledge of God, yet wanting in obedience to His declared will. Where the essential characteristic of eternal life (the new nature) is wholly wanting, every one who makes this boast is a liar. In ver. 5 we have the contrast to this, the true Christian giving to the word of God its place and authority: "a doer of the word, and not a hearer only, deceiving himself." "In him verily is the love of God perfected," its end and purpose is attained. Obedience to the word keeps him from going with the world, and casts him more and more on the love of God to bless him in spite of the world's opposition; and he proves His love to be perfect, and realises his nearness also. He knows that he is "in Him." The fulness of this blessing is so great that the soul needs time to apprehend it "in Him, even in His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 5:20). "IN HIM" is the inexhaustible fountain of all blessedness, of all that is holy and good; and the effectual resource against every evil, and affliction. If we dwelt on these words as written, how it would enlarge our interest in them! They are not "light food."
In 1 John 2:7 we should read "Beloved," not "Brethren;" for the writer's heart was warmly engaged in those whom he addressed, and he would have them as warmly interested in each other. It is true that our experience and walk are lower than our "standing," but our standard is not to be lowered. Confess this, and all difficulty as to the meaning of vers. 7, 8 disappears. "The old commandment which we had from the beginning" is found early in the New Testament. The first word of our Lord, recorded in the Gospel, is "Follow me" (John 1:43), and the last is the same but more emphatic, "Follow thou Me" (John 21:22). The characteristic of His sheep, each and all, is that they hear His voice and follow Him (John 10).
1 John 2:8-27.
1898 55 We are one Spirit with Him; and we are loved by the Father even as He was loved. Let us then, since these things are really so, as true today as at the beginning, welcome the keen edge of the word. It is aimed at the heart where self struggles hard to be considered (see Heb. 4:12), but self is not Christ. It is the enemy of God, as Amalek against His people (Ex. 17:8-16). Can we then wonder at the severity of verses 9-11? They need no comment. To boast advanced light while the heart is without brotherly-kindness is a proof that, however high the doctrine, it is self that rules: there is nothing of the divine nature (see 1 Cor. 13:1-3). We should read (ver. 8) "because the darkness is passing away," not "is past." Every child of God was once darkness, but is now "light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8). Once he comprehended not the light (John 1:5); now he loves it. It is Jesus, the true light ever shining on him, guiding, cheering, and blessing him (John 14:19-20). Yet the joy of this, real as it is, is not complete. There is a difference between the saint and his Saviour. All-glorious is He, "the true light now shineth;" not so the truest saint until He come. It can be said of the holiest and the best only this — "the darkness is passing away;" there are spots in the brightest Christian; some words to recall, some steps to retrace.
In verse 12 all difficulty as to whom the apostle writes is removed. There are startling things said in the Epistle; and the question might arise, Are these things really true of me? But this verse furnishes a complete answer to those who will receive it. It is to such as the woman in Luke 7:48 that John writes; those he calls "little children" (see John 13:33). He will carefully notice the different traits which distinguish their spiritual condition; but from "the babe" to "the father," they are alike objects of mercy: "their sins are forgiven them for his name's sake." Dwell on these words, for there is a tendency to legality in every one of us.
Alas! this is not at all the only danger. The assurance of salvation by grace, through faith, has lulled some souls into a subtle kind of antinomianism, and their testimony has been terribly marred; but there is, in the verses that follow, a word for each conscience according to the holy principle in Ps. 130:4. To "the fathers" (ver, 13). little is said, but what a volume there is in that little! "I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning" (see John 1:1-14). This knowledge of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, of His person, His grace, His glories, stands at the head of all knowledge; and the fathers have so counted it. Paul ranks as "a father" in Phil. 2:3; and it is the end and purpose of all true ministry (Eph. 4:13).
Such may not be"teachers"; nevertheless they do teach by their lives. They may not understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but they know the glory due to Him, and it is dear to them. They will suffer no dishonour to Him, or question or debate about Him. The "understanding" given to them is cultivated, and is fruitful with choicest fruit (see ver. 20).
The few words addressed to the "young men" (vers. 14-17) have an importance that cannot be over-rated. The personality of the devil, and the fact that he is the determined and ceaseless foe to be overcome by all who belong to Christ, are plainly intimated. From other scriptures we know that his kingdom is now commensurate with the whole unbelieving world, and that he is not acting alone but by means of subordinate spirits, "his angels." When Christ was here, he incited the world's hatred against Him, and directed it how to rid itself, by unparalleled violence and wickedness, from Him Who sought on the part of God to reconcile it. Such is the "wicked one" to be overcome, and the present evil world under his rule. We have to pass through it, but are not to participate with it.
"Young men" are specially liable to fail in this. With ardent minds they would be "benefactors," and the world offers them share in authority that they may be so (see Luke 22:24-25). But no. We have Christ's mind. He sanctifies Himself, sets Himself apart from all here, that in heavenly glory He might attract our hearts (John 17:19). He will soon give to us the glory given to Him (John 17:22), and, what is more, give us to be with Him where He is that we may behold His glory (ver. 24). This is our proper portion and place. But the devil seeks to excite desires in the unwary in this world, at least to improve it; and even Demas, who had the advantage of Paul's example and teaching, was ensnared (2 Tim. 4:10). The apostle warns against lust, but adds, "the pride (lit. boasting) of life."
This is to be observed, as so in harmony with what prevails in the world; boasting of one's capabilities, development, resources, energies, success, work accomplished in the world, good done — and all by the natural life and for its delight. Yet all to perish! All to pass away, even the world itself (ver. 17)! Nothing abides for the unbeliever but the wrath of God (John 3:36). Solemn truth! The contrast is great in him that doeth the will of God, however obscure; "he abideth for ever." What will he be doing in heaven, in eternity? The will of God. The thought is precious, and will check self-will now. Let the "young men" cherish it, for even Samson's strength went from him (Judges 16). The world has proved to be a Delilah to many a promising Christian. She was a closer enemy to Samson than all the Philistine host.
Next we are given to hear of the "little children" (a different word to that in vers. 12, 28 where "little" might be left out with advantage). They are characterised by child-like confidence in God; they "know the Father" (ver. 13), and they "have the anointing from the Holy One," which anointing, received from Him, abideth in them (vers. 20-27). That is, they have the Holy Spirit from Jesus glorified, according to Acts 2:33-39. This fulness of blessing is at once the portion of the soul, old or young, who, hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of salvation, believes in Christ (Eph. 1:13).
We see the immediate fruits of it in the converts in the Acts (compare also Col. 1:6, and for the preachers, 1 Peter 1:12), and their simplicity and freshness of heart are delightful. They need instruction, of course, and are eager for it; and it is striking to witness the earnest care of the apostle as to this. By the word which they "heard from the beginning" God quickened them and blessed them; and nothing else will keep them; not the words of "the fathers" of the church (so called), nor of the church, nor of man at all. All living affections to Christ, all fellowship with the Father and the Son are maintained by the word as we have it in the N. T. scriptures, and not by the gleanings of others but by our own. The rain will fill pools, but we must dig our own wells. "The Anointing" which dwelt in them dictated the instructions, warnings and encouragements which the apostles ministered to them, a truth never to be lost sight of by the youngest when reading the word, and a safeguard for all when, as we here learn, "there are many anti-christs," and "it is the last time (or hour)." Verses 18, 20, 24, 27, are all-important.
The world, having crucified Christ and resisted the Holy Ghost, will not walk in the light, as God is in the light, and gross darkness is coming on it. The boasted enlightenment of Christendom will not escape. Isaiah 60:1-3 reveals that Israel will emerge from it by grace, the children of God being first caught up to meet the Lord in the air before that (1 Thess. 4:16 — 5:11). This was a line of truth set before the youngest saint by the apostles: and they were preserved from the delusion that the world would receive the gospel which they had received. "Ye have heard that Antichrist cometh" and he will be received. How little the world thinks of it! That Jesus is the Christ, in Whom all the promises of God from Gen. 3. to Rev. 21. are certain (see 2 Cor. 1:20), has brought comfort to a vast multitude of saints from an otherwise intolerable load of suffering, cares, and anxieties. "The liar" will deny this in toto (ver. 22). And yet more, as "the Anti-Christ" he will deny the revelation of the Father in and by the Son. Every ray of hope, or of blessing, that poor guilty man can possibly have in God for earth or heaven, for time or eternity, whether revealed by the prophets or by Christ Himself, will be excluded; that this man of sin may exalt himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped (2 Thess. 2:3-4). It will not be piecemeal work then, as it is now by the many antichrists, though they work on the same lines and for the same end. Few, however, feel as this aged servant of Christ; hence his intense interest in these young, bright souls, so inapprehensive of danger. As Rebecca had Eliezer only to conduct her from her home to Canaan and to Isaac, to tell of him and assure her of her destined portion when she should meet him, so have we the HOLY SPIRIT. But there is nothing "the wicked one" will not do to put us under another guidance.
1 John 2:2: 28 — 3:11.
1898 73 If faith in the leading of the Spirit is lost, and we desire to be led, there is nothing flatters and pleases some men more than to lead us; to be religious "superiors," with an usurped authority which practically sets aside that of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. In verse 28 observe that the apostle does not say "you" but "we." It is the same in his second Epistle, (ver. 8). He felt his responsibility for the sheep (so Paul in 1 Thess. 5:23 R.V. and Peter, 1 Peter 5:1-4). In 1 Thess. 2:19, we see the joy of Paul in the hope of meeting in glory those to whom he had ministered here.
John looks seriously at another possibility, and touchingly says, "And now, my children, abide in Him that when He shall appear we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." What true pastors the apostles were! (Read Rom. 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Cor. 5:10.) The thought of that supreme moment when the Lord Himself will give to every saint the fullest light on the things in his course that have been acceptable to Him, and on those that have not been acceptable, — His final judgment on the good and the evil which each hath done, and about which there is hesitancy now, — this thought leads to the third great subject of this Epistle, a very full and clear description of the two "seeds" that now are in the world and of their doings. There are those who are of God, and there are those who are of the devil (3:8-9); and the issues of life can be only of the same nature as their source, an oft-forgotten truth.
God is righteous; the devil sinneth from the beginning, that is, from the moment of his fall he has done nothing but evil. Now "if ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that does righteousness, is born of him." Man by nature does unrighteousness, cover it over as he may. (See from Gen. 6:5 to Eph. 2:3 and the final and eternal judgment of the lost, Rev. 20:15.) Then let the child of God in taking a step, in doing a deed, yea in speaking a word, keep in mind that he is "born of God." He is not indebted to "blood" (that is natural generation, however godly his parents) "nor to the will of the flesh, nor to the will of man." For this endearing relationship to God (John 1:12-13) is the work of God alone, and the spring of love that was in His heart, when He begat His child, is as full for that child all the way through as at first. Hence the rapturous joy with which the third chapter of our Epistle begins; surely, written by one who knew it well.
1 John 3:1. With holy delight and admiration the greatness of the love of God is set before the new affections of the quickened soul. "Behold what love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God." The personal ministry of the Lord when here was ever to this end, that His disciples should know and enjoy this manner of love (John 17:6-26); and in His absence the Holy Spirit continues the work in every believer (Rom. 8:15-16). The disciples were not only taught the truth of it, but witnessed it livingly in Him. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father" (John 1:14), and of "the only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father" (John 1:18). They thus affirm His eternity, but equally declare that they beheld Him in the relationship and the affection which they were called to share. "My Father, and your Father" (John 20:17). With reverence we feel and own His pre-eminence: He — infinite, divine, eternal: we — begotten in time, who were once children of wrath even as others (Eph. 2:3); and are prepared to read the remainder of our verse in the heart-cheering light of this beginning — "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." All His goodness, His innumerable acts of mercy, did not shield Him from the world's hatred (John 15:24). He who was the well-beloved of the Father was despised and rejected of men. Can we not see the fitness of the "therefore" to follow such a "because?"
Again in 1 John 3:2 the apostle says "Beloved," addressing those whom the world knows not, many of them suffering from its hatred. He sees them in all the dignity of their relationship to God, his own enjoyed relationship far more to him than his apostleship. "Beloved, now are we children of God;" not a question, not a doubt about it. There is more than this. He looks at what we shall be when Jesus is manifested (or appears). Then all that is unlovely in us will for ever pass away, "we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is;" or, as expressed by Paul, we shall be "conformed to the image of His Son, that He may be the first-born among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). This divine way of regarding those who believe in Jesus is important, and a study of John 17:20 to 24 will greatly help to an understanding of the verses we are considering. The desires of the Lord are, by the Spirit, very present with the apostle.
In 1 John 3:3 our practical condition is brought powerfully home to the conscience, "Every one that hath this hope (set) on Him purifieth himself even as He is pure." How feebly have we estimated His perfect purity (see John 17:19), and sought in the light of it to be separated to God from all that is evil! He was, is, and ever will be pure. As in Him, there is no spot on us (1 Cor. 6:11); but as to walk here, though clean every whit, we have need continually to have the feet washed. Contact with the world, unless cleansed as to our ways by the word, defiles us. A study of John 13:1-10 will throw much light on this, and check the proneness to rest in present attainment as well as self-complacency. When Stephen was wholly occupied with the Lord Jesus as He is, looking up steadfastly into heaven," how closely he resembled Him when here in grace (see Luke 23:34, 46 and Acts 7:60), and how the world, yea the most religiously enlightened in it, knew him not, even as they knew not his Lord and Saviour. He was full of the Holy Ghost Whom they always resisted; and while he was praying for them, they were stoning him.
Now (1 John 3:4), it is doing sin that defileth men, and sin is — what? Not as in the A.V., "the transgression of the law" for sin was in the world when there was no law (Rom. 5:13-14), but "sin is lawlessness" (see R.V.), and we are conceived in it. Rebelliousness is natural to us. As Paul, looking at man as man, says, "the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7).
John on the other hand, looking only on the life bestowed on the believer, says, "the seed of God abideth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God" (ver. 9). He, in this important statement, leaves aside the flesh which Paul affirms never does anything but sin. The Christian as a Christian, does not live after the flesh, although exposed to being drawn aside by it. These first principles of our most holy faith must be apprehended to follow the teaching of this chapter. For it deals with the fact, solemn to realise, that God sets His children in the presence of the children of the devil as a testimony for His glory, and for their blessing (see Phil. 2:15-16); God loved the world, and sent His Son, not to judge it, but that it might be saved (John 3:17); and He is the propitiation for the whole world (1 John 2:2).
The difficulty therefore in the case of the sinner lies not in the fact of his fallen state, nor in the hopelessness of making the flesh better, nor in the powerlessness of nature to overcome the wicked one. It lies wholly in his unwillingness to look to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, for salvation from it all. When the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, the difficulty was not with the fiery serpents, however numerous; nor was it in the deadly character of the poison instilled by their bite; but whether or not the bitten would look to the serpent which Moses by God's command had lifted up, and realise in the new life given the undoing of the work of the serpents. So here in 1 John 3:5, "the Son of God was manifested to take away our sins," and in 1 John 3:8, "to destroy" (lit. undo) "the works of the devil," the latter as truly as the former. We are not only to rejoice in full and everlasting forgiveness — for if He shall have taken away our sins, who shall bring them back? — but the works of the devil, and all his untiring energy of evil, are overcome, and in the believer undone. The prey is taken from the mighty, the lawful captive is delivered (Isa. 49:24), and
"He owns himself the Saviour's prize,
Mercy from first to last."
Hence the ninth verse is all-important. The seed of God is not only communicated to, but remaineth in, every one that is born of Him. There is no such seed in the unbeliever. He may be accredited as having it by those who assume to be the church, but to rest on that is to build on sand. The seed of God is the new life from God by which a man becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and joys in God. Can the receiver of it lose it? Never. "It remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God." Faith, strong in its simplicity, will do this word of God justice, and say with Paul, "I have been crucified (perfect tense) with Christ, yet I live; no longer I, but Christ liveth in me," and will add, conscious of need, "that life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith (the faith), which is in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20, R.V.).
Beyond cavil the blessing of such teaching is great, its moral power most precious, and for testimony in the world — where neither divine righteousness nor divine love exists — it is of supreme value. To manifest both, Christians are left in it (1 John 3:10), not righteousness without love, nor love apart from righteousness. A further "message" from the Lord is given in 1 John 3:11, (for this compare John 15:12-17): a "message" from Him Whose love passeth knowledge and never fails; and it is only by learning of Him the truth of divine righteousness and love that the learner can become a doer (see ver. 16).
1 John 3:12 – 4:6.
1898 90 To go back to Cain, as in ver. 12, speaks volumes. Is the contrast between the two seeds still so great? and does the professed Christian need to be warned by the course of Cain? He does (Jude 11). However an unbeliever may adopt christian language, assume christian forms as a member of a professedly christian body, and even admire intellectually christian truth; if he be not born of God, if he thus have not the seed of God in him, he is in the way of religious Cain. It is of such an one that the apostle says, "he is in darkness even until now" (1 John 2:9); "he abideth in death" (1 John 3:14), "he is a murderer" (1 John 3:15). Solemn language! This is the state of the world (1 John 3:13); and of every professor who is not a partaker of divine love, even when it is tempered and subdued, the fire of the world's hatred still burns. Persecution once permitted, the progress of the flames will be marvellous.
Have we a doubt of it as we read those verses! How suddenly some in 1555 were called to meet martyrdom and welcomed it! Ver. 16 reveals the secret of this grace. "Hereby we perceive (come to know) love, because he laid down his life for us." The apostles never lost sight of the cross, and in serving the saints could rejoice in laying down their lives for them (Phil. 2:17). But how many there are who have not learned Christ thus, and yet are not wanting "in word and tongue" (1 John 3:18)!
Sentiment is valueless and worse, and the soul suffers grievous loss whenever practical sympathy is withheld from a brother in need by one able to render help. The heart itself secretly protests against such unreality, and condemns the selfishness it has manifested: the contrast to the love of Christ is felt, and the conscience will be heard. Confidence in the succour of God in its need is shaken, and prayer is hindered. How can the hands be lifted up to God in supplication that have been closed to a brother's necessities? "For if our heart condemn us (1 John 3:20), God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things." It is but little we can know of the deceit that lurks within us, but God is light, light that makes everything manifest; and the thought of pleasing Him, and the sweet assurance that He hears our prayers and will fulfil the holy desires of our hearts, how it exceeds in worth the possession of earthly riches, yea of the whole world! Let us never for a moment lose sight of Christ Who did always those things that pleased the Father, and was always heard by Him (John 8:29, 11:42). If He be not before us, like Israel when Moses was absent, we must have some object; and what object nearer than self, "the golden calf" that is sure to "come out" (Ex. 32:24), whatever excuses we, like Aaron, may put forth!
To every simple and true Christian, desirous to do the things that are pleasing in the sight of God, there is wonderful encouragement in the explicit statement of His holy will in ver. 23; and in ver. 24 of His gift of the Spirit to be the power of obedience. His one commandment is, "that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ" and, as flowing from this, "love one another as He gave us commandment." Beautiful indeed is the action of the soul as here commanded — unceasing dependence, unfaltering faith on the Son of God, first for eternal salvation, and then for present, timely salvation, looking (as Jude expresses it) for His mercy all through, the tenderness of His compassion, truly divine, yet as truly human. (Jude 21; Heb. 4:15, with 7:25). "With exercises of soul under the discovery of corruptions, the accusings of Satan, from the tendencies of nature, and from the wear and tear of Christian warfare," we can never stand if our faith fail; but, as the Lord prayed, for Peter, so He intercedes for us. And here we have the secret of power to love our brethren, to long after them all in the bowels of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:8), because we have experienced the tenderest affection from Him, meeting our every need and sympathizing in our every sorrow (see as to ver. 24, John 14:15-16; Acts 5:32).
How vain to hope for love from a brother who is not consciously experiencing this love of Christ; feeling the unspeakable honour done to him, and the exceeding sweetness of the comfort given to him, by that love, he being what he was, and in himself, still is! He must drink for himself before he can refresh others (John 7:37-39).
Further, let us observe in ver. 24 how near God is to us and the manner of it. "We know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us." All that is not under His guidance is not obedience. The importance of the faith of the Holy Ghost dwelling in us will be more evident as the counter working of the devil comes before us.
1 John 4.
The fourth chapter begins with exposing the subtlety of the present ways of the devil as regards what is religious. God, in giving the Spirit, has provided ministry under Christ for men (Eph. 4:7, 11-16). But here we learn that there are many false prophets who speak in the power of the spirit of error (lit. deceit). In all affection we are consequently exhorted to try the spirits. Of course we must believe that there are spirits, and that men who preach by them are in the sight of God identified with them, a fact of appalling solemnity. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).
Tests are therefore supplied, and the trial is thus not difficult. First, as to the Person of Christ. We see from Matt. 16:16-17, that a true confession of Him is not the expression of human opinion, but in every case flows from the revelation made by the Father, which is the foundation truth of Christianity and specially dear to the true Christian. A true prophet seeks in every way to exalt Him, to manifest Him, to magnify Him, presenting Him as the food of God for the soul. His theme is "Jesus Christ come in flesh."
"Our whole resource along the road,
Nothing but Christ — the Christ of God."
The doctrine of the Epistle is that Jesus Christ is God (see 1 John 4:20, and the many verses where the antecedent to "he" and "him," is "God," as 1 John 3:2); but here His coming in flesh, His holy humanity, is affirmed. He is God and man. The false prophets will not thus confess Him (ver. 3, RV.). Their theme is the world for man, and man for the world; and how from the first, by industry and skill, he has improved it! "A whole city was built before Eden had time to wither"; and the remarkable progress of modern times may well stimulate to further exertion. This is put religiously, and "the world hears them" (1 John 4:5). Of future judgments corning on the world they are silent. Indeed they do not acknowledge the inspiration of the apostles. "He that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us" (1 John 4:6). Paul, also writing to Timothy, warns against "seducing spirits," leading some to depart from the faith, and to hold doctrines of demons (1 Tim. 4). How all this will end, is told in Rev. 18:2.
The goodness of God in uncovering this method of religiously alluring souls is great indeed. Let us never forget that there are many false prophets, many deceivers, many antichrists; and the whole heart of the aged apostle," our brother, and companion in tribulation," is in this warning, "Beloved, believe not every spirit."
1 John 4:7-14.
1898 Having exposed these devices of the devil, working with untiring energy through his ministers, "deceitful workers" after his own type (see 2 Cor. 11:13 15), he resumes the subject of love still further to guard us against any counterfeit; for natural affection may express itself in heroic deeds, but natural affection is not love. Though the word may be applied to it, a holy and an exclusive use is claimed for it here — "Love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." Adam, though created by God, and placed in circumstances and a position calculated to draw out his gratitude and affections to God, revolted from Him, and hearkened to the voice of his wife. Morally his affections were ruined. When called to account, hoping to shield himself, he became her accuser, reflecting on his Maker and hers for giving her to him (Gen. 3). It is a repulsive scene, the earliest exhibition of the human heart when ruined by sin, its deceitfulness, and its weakness. Natural affection, however, in one born of God, and directed of Him, is a tender solace in a world where so many are sinking under a load of sorrow; it is then neither deceitful nor weak, but a lovely trait of character, holier, purer, more devoted, patient and enduring, because divine love is supreme. With adoring hearts we may contemplate it to perfection in the Son of God (John 19:26-27). In Him all is perfect.
The gift of life, and the sacrifice such a gift entailed, are then set before us as the manifestation of the love of God in the case of sinners, that is, in our case (1 John 4:9); an amazing gift had it been bestowed on a sinless being, for it is eternal life, indefectible, and endowed with the most exalted capacities for fellowship with the Father and the Son now and throughout eternity. Adam innocent had not this, still less Adam guilty, and his race. Life being thus a sovereign gift of love, it is evident that we were without it, and a meaning is given to "death" as found in scripture (as applied to the state of men) which it is important to grasp. With the outward aspect of physical death we are painfully familiar; the separations it makes we in some small degree understand. Have we attempted to realize what separation "death," as found in scripture, expresses? When wasting his substance in riotous living, the prodigal was dead (Luke 15:24). The woman living in pleasure is dead while she liveth (1 Tim. 5:6). How countless then the multitude of the living who are dead, some even professing to be of the Christian brotherhood (1 John 3:14)! Do we thus view them? Truly even single words in scripture are volumes, but we glide over them too quickly.
The very early experience of eternal life in the receiver is the love that gave it, and it is the sweetest. "God sent His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON into the world that we might live through Him." 1 John 4:10 intensifies this. "Not that we loved God." This puts our case in a positive form: not the absence of good, but the presence of evil, a state of alienation and enmity; and propitiation for our sins was needed. There will be "the day of judgment," "the judgment to come"; for "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." But, before the day of judgment, God has sent His Son to bear our sins, to take our place in judgment. He having finished the work which God, His Father, gave Him to do, we take, as given righteously to us, His place now in blessing; and before He comes to judge, we shall be raised in glory (cf. 1 John 4:17 and 1 John 3:2), as we "shall not come into judgment" (John 5:24, R.V.). If God has thus manifested His love to us, even to us who did not love Him, what have we to do but to behold it, and drive away every thought or suggestion that at any time would obscure it? Let every earthly refuge fail us, the love of God will not fail. As He is from everlasting to everlasting, so is His love; it is as enduring as eternity. Let us boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:11), for well we may.
In 1 John 4:11 our service to our brethren, little or much, is to be in the consciousness of the love of God to us, a pure and powerful motive; and in 1 John 4:12 such manifestation of love on our part is a testimony that God Himself "dwelleth in us": a wonderful expression! but compare 1 John 3:24. Surely we know that we have not strength to bear with What is contrary to us in our brethren, or they with us. The realized presence of God alone will give strength, and 1 John 4:13 explains how this can be in the weakest. "He hath given us of His Spirit" — "of His Spirit" speaks of an inexhaustible supply, for "God giveth not the Spirit by measure." Thus as a vessel, however weak and small, we dwell in God and God in us. Amazing truth! (see 1 John 4:15).
In 1 John 4:14, by virtue of the indwelling Spirit our testimony goes out to the world. "We," must not be confined to the gifted only (see Acts 8:4). It is indeed a great wrong to the unsaved to make evangelizing the work of a few. Neither office, nor gift is indispensable for this, but the Holy Spirit. There are gifts (Eph. 4:11) but all who are saved, and thus know the Saviour, are (each in his or her sphere) to bear testimony — "that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." The principle is expressed in 2 Cor. 4:13, "We believe, and therefore speak."
1 John 4:15 — 5:5.
1898 122 We have then the truly blessed place of witnesses to the world of the love of the Father in the gift of His Son; would that we occupied it more faithfully. Ver. 15 follows with yet fuller light to guard us against being betrayed into any irreverent familiarity in preaching or speaking. The name of Jesus is not to be used lightly. Though, when sent of the Father into the world, He endured from men every indignity and hid not His face from shame and spitting, though He was reviled by the basest and foulest, He was then, and always, the Son of God. Hence the solemn question for the witness is — Am I confessing that Jesus is the Son of God? Meeting man's need is right and blessed, but we cannot be trusted, we cannot trust ourselves, save as we have in view the Person Whom we preach, and exalt Him. As Paul in Gal. 1:15-16 says, "When it pleased God … to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles." No professed love for souls can palliate failure here, for the power of God is present. "God dwelleth in him" who thus, and at all times, confesses Jesus, "and he in God." This is to dwell in love knowing and believing (note the order) the love that God hath to (in) us (1 John 4:16). It is not eloquence we want, but the happy realization, like the returned prodigal, that all is love at home, and God Himself is our dwelling-place. It is this that makes good, if unpopular, witnesses (whether in private or public) of a "good confession"; nothing else will. Finally, the perfection and unchanging continuance of the love of God is declared (1 John 4:17 R.V.) so that, in view of the coming day of judgment we may have boldness, and not fear; utterly lost as we are by nature and conduct, if God should enter into judgment with us, no man living would be justified (Ps. 143:2). Therefore the perfect love of God has taken us off that ground altogether, and by redemption has put us before Him "in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph. 1:6-7). Not a fear is to torment our soul, not a timid or doubting thought to disturb our mind, "because as He is, even so are we in this world." This is sure ground for confidence, the boldness of faith in God's word, faith in the blood of Christ, faith in accomplished salvation, in being before God as He is in glory, even while we are still here in this world in weakness and failure.
Faith, then, discovering this perfect unchanging love of God revealed in His Son, draws the affections to Him. "We love (him), because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19) and loving Him we love those who are dear to Him. The motive is both pure and powerful; indeed, it is His commandment (1 John 4:21). It is not only happy fellowship with Him in His love, but obedience to His will, to love our brother. The ways of some may grieve us, but it is genuine love that feels the sorrow. Abraham loved Lot, and gave proof of it, but he could have no fellowship with him. The severity of 1 John 4:20 is righteous; God would guard us against all hypocrites and all hypocrisy. It is a crushing rebuke where needed, and put in a form that challenges the conscience. "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" If that which is of God be seen in a brother and awakens no sympathy, no love, how can there be any for God?
The first and imperishable element of true abiding fellowship with one another is formed and found in the faith once for all delivered unto the saints, "faith in Jesus." "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him (1 John 5:1)." When the woman of Samaria received this truth, her first action commends itself to all who have obtained like precious faith (John 4:21-29). She at once left her water-pitcher to testify of Him to others. We think no longer of her race, her rudeness, or her past immorality. Our hearts are drawn to her more than to the timid hesitating ruler of the Jews (John 7:50-51). But now that Jesus is glorified, and the truth that He is "the Christ" is connected with heavenly glory and power, our faith in Him enlarges our understanding by the Spirit of truth, and fellowship with each other increases. The secret of lack of fellowship in modern times is the result of woeful decline of first faith, first love, and first works (Rev. 2:4-5). Thus all that believe are not together, and are not of one heart and of one soul, as at the beginning. Alas! this state of division finds apologists, and to go on with one or another of the religious systems, which have established themselves in Christendom, is defended. Solemn and forcible is the protest of the Spirit
against this in 1 John 5:2-3. It is not the fruit of love to God, or to the children of God. "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments." Plans and systems of man's devising are not the commandments of God, but the actings out of human will, and the giving up of the spirit of obedience. What a rebuke to this is the walk of Jesus!
"If we say that we abide in him, we ought ourselves so to walk, even as he walked" (1 John 2:6); and sanctification of the Spirit is "to obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:2). Self-will is not obedience, and is not consistent with the blood of Jesus Christ. "He was obedient to death, even the death of the cross." It is thus "the blood of his cross."
The change in 1 John 5:4 from "whosoever" to "whatsoever" is peculiar and to be observed. The life given of God, whoever may be the recipent of it, is looked at abstractedly, as in John 3:6. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit," in contrast with that which is born of the flesh. And each nature seeks its own things: the flesh, the things of the flesh; and the spirit, the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5). The desires of the two natures, being opposed, are never in agreement; and the power of the Spirit is on the side of the "spirit." The world is a system ordered by "the prince of the world" to suit the flesh (11-16). "Whatsoever is born of God" — the life given of Him — "overcometh the world," acting on His judgment of even its best; for "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). Practically and experimentally the victory is gained by faith, and here pointedly called "our faith," not the faith of the most eminent saint before the cross. There the world was finally judged morally (John 12:31-32), as it will be judicially on the appointed day, by Him Who was hanged on it (Acts 17:31).
The mind of man is set on having the world without God. The apostle grasped this fact firmly, and continually impresses it on us. "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God" (1 John 5:5)? For His confession of this before His judges, He was condemned to death; and the Jews, led by their rulers, insisted on His crucifixion; and Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required (Mark 14:61-62, Luke 22:70, Luke 23:24, John 19:7). John was an eye-witness of this, a competent and faithful witness, and (while seeking to maintain us in communion with the Son now risen and victorious, with the Father and on His throne) He would have us, while on earth, in spirit take our place with Him when standing by the cross (John 19:26). Spiritually our history begins there. There God begins with us personally. It is there that we see the love that Christ has for us personally. There we, too, begin to see clearly that our very self, that which is expressed by "I" and "me" was before and on the heart of Christ when He delivered Himself up for us (Gal. 2:20). All vagueness, all uncertainty, all that is confused and mystical, vanishes. Gazing by faith — "our faith" — on the Son of God on the cross, the most sinful can truly say — "He loved ME, and gave Himself for ME." To use the cross, as it is too often used in Christendom, as a symbol of the Divine sanction of worldly splendour, must be a dreadful outrage, in the sight of God, on the cross of Christ (see Phil. 3:18-19).
1 John 5:6-19.
1898 138 There is an apparent abruptness in the way in which the final scene on the cross is brought prominently forward in ver. 6. After saying in ver. 5, that Jesus is the Son of God, it is added, "This is he that came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood."
The chapter is full of the truth of the new life given of God to those who believe on the name of His Son. But if a sinner is to receive life from God, His Son must die for that sinner. The testimony of the Lord to Nicodemus was clear and definite as to this (John 3:14), and (in John 19:34) the fact that blood and water flowed after death from the pierced side of Jesus is related with special emphasis. The moral necessity for cleansing the sinner and making propitiation for his sins arises from his condition. He is unclean, and he is guilty: God has met both in judgment on His Son; and He sets before us (believers) these remarkable signs as abiding witnesses, with the Spirit, that He has given us eternal life in His Son.
For 1 John 5:7 there is no sufficient authority. Read — "For they that bear witness are three: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three agree in one" (1 John 5:8).
The Spirit, received from Christ in glory, bears witness that Christ's death cleanses the believer from the defilement of his nature: "sin in the flesh" is condemned (Rom. 8:3). He is, in the sight of God counted as having died under judgment. He died with Christ, and is so to reckon himself, to count with God as to himself (Rom. 6) The flesh is not cleansed, but he is cleansed from it; and this, when seen in the clear light of the Spirit's witness in the Epistles, is exceedingly cheering and strengthening to the true but timid Christian. This is the meaning of the sign "water," as interpreted by the Spirit in connection with the blood.
The blood testifies to justification from all the doings of the flesh. "Being now justified by His blood we shall be saved from wrath through Him" (Rom. 5:9). God, the Judge of all, has set forth Jesus Christ (before the day of judgment) as a propitiation (mercy-seat) through faith in His blood (Rom 3:23-26), and declares His righteousness in justifying him who believes in Jesus. "Christ our passover hath been sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7), and God is saying still, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Ex. 12:13). The combined testimony of the water and the blood, with the Spirit also witnessing, is most powerful, and deeply affecting too: the voice from the Cross and from the Throne.
In the presence of such testimony, not to believe God is to make Him a liar. How grave, how solemn, how wicked, thus to dishonour Him! seeing that in far less important matters we receive the witness of men. Is not His witness greater? And this the more so, since he that believeth receiveth in the Son what is witnessed; the cleansing, the justification, and the life are his (1 John 5:9-10). Unbelief dishonours God and robs man beyond measure.
The apostle presses this. Much that he had written before might be misused to lead sincere souls to look to themselves, their experience and their walk, for full assurance of having eternal life. Surely the fruits of life are to be theirs, as well as the life itself. Hence such passages as 1 John 2:5-29, 1 John 3:7-14, 18, 19, 24, 1 John 5:4. But he would not close the Epistle without making the clearest statement that the one sure ground of assurance is faith in God's testimony, not making light of the comfort flowing from other assurances. "These things have I written unto you that ye may know that ye have eternal life, (even) you that believe on the name of the Son of God." And remark, that here the verb "know" means conscious knowledge (chap. 5:13, R.V.). Divinely assured of the possession of eternal life, our thoughts are led to that which is proper to it — confidence in God (1 John 5:14). This is remarkably beautiful, because *blessedly practical. We are still in the body, still in the world where we have tribulation (John 16:33); but the relationship of children to God is known, and is proper to eternal life (John 17:3). The Spirit of His Son in our hearts cries, "Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6), and our very groanings are heard (Rom. 8:26-27); so that in the depths, as to circumstances, we have all the resources of God. When we think of all He has done for us, how can we limit Him? He has a delight in our prayers (Prov. 15:8), and would secure to us exceeding quietness and rest of spirit, whatever the turmoil and distractions around us.
There is an "if" in ver. 14. "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us," but an "if" we need not fear. It conveys a warning against self-confidence, as if, in any of our matters, we knew what was best. No: faith leaves all to God. It is enough to know how He careth for us (1 Peter 5:7).
"So will He by His Spirit lead
In ways unknown to us indeed,
And, our well-ordered conflicts o'er,
Bring us where sorrows are no more."
1 John 5:15 will check all impatience, as ver. 14 all self-confidence. The answer may not come at once; "but we know (are inwardly conscious) that we have the petitions which we have desired of Him," petitions for ourselves, petitions for others. 1 John 5:16 shows clearly that in our petitions we must not lose sight of the direct government of the Father in the family (according to 1 Peter 1:17); and, while soul prosperity is ever to be the first consideration, the health of the body is of account also (3 John 2). There is to be no prying into evil, nor suspecting it; "but if any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and (God) will give him life for them that sin not unto death." What an honour to put upon one, perhaps of no account in the church, but one with a tender heart that enters into a brother's affliction, yet jealous for the glory of God! Precious grace! precious in the sight of Him Who is the alone witness of it. To be in haste to deal with evil in another has often made matters worse. To be brought on our knees before God for a brother is to love him with a pure heart.
"There is a sin unto death I do not say that he shall pray for it." Cases of extreme heinousness, as some in Corinth (1 Cor. 11:30) and Ananias and Sapphira are in point. It is a very solemn view of sickness in the family of God; and therefore the responsibility is put upon us (seeing how many of the children of God are sick) to be exercised as to what is fitting to pray for in certain cases. "I do not say that he shall pray for it" — that is, for the forgiveness of it. The apostle is clearly writing about physical death, and the Father's dealings in discipline, not the final judgment of the last day. In all this, His glory and our brother's blessing should be very dear to us.
Now, in the sight of God "all (or every) unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death" (1 John 5:17), that is, not calling for that severe discipline. There is much need to be reminded of this. Every unrighteousness toward God or man is sin. We own to failures, inconsistencies, slips and mistakes; but to drop these euphemisms and to substitute "sin," would quicken the moral sense. In how many things, even religious things, do we need to have our senses exercised to discern good and evil (Heb. 5:14)!
It is quite true that all discipline is not for sin, and also, as one in sore affliction said — "The Father does not send the rod, He brings it;" but there is always a cause. The real state of the soul in the sight of God is the point. The case of Job is most instructive. The truth is, the flesh often escapes detection and must be discovered and kept down. When this was accomplished in Job, he prayed for his friends, not they for him. If the flesh escapes our observance, the wicked one is not blind to any movement of it in us; hence the truth in 1 John 5:18, A.V.
"We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." In Jesus he had nothing to touch. He came to Him and found sinless perfection, infinite love, absolute obedience (John 14:30-31). But if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). As born of God, we enter on a life of conflict. While on earth, we are in the field of warfare. Armour and weapons are provided, the wiles of our enemy are exposed (Eph. 6:2; 1 Thess. 5:8; Rom. 13:12), and we are called to fight (1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7). Happy it is to serve others; but let us not forget that there is oneself to keep watch and guard over, and to see to it that, by the word of God and in His strength, the wicked one shall do us no hurt. In God our Saviour there is power to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24, 25), "So fight I," said Paul in a passage full of energy (1 Cor. 9:26-27). All this (and more might be added) leads one to think that in this ver. 18 — "keepeth himself" is the inspired reading, and not "keepeth him," as in the R.V. The next verse discloses the power of the enemy and his success in the world. "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness (or, the wicked one)."
1 John 5:19-21.
1898 154 What must the world be in the sight of God! Jesus, born of Mary, was the display of His love for it, and in it. — He sent His Son into it to be its Saviour — trusted it, so to speak, with One so precious to Him, His delight, His well-beloved; and the world crucified Him! So powerful was serpent subtlety then over the wisdom of the princes of the world. Now, God displays His love to those who believe, by drawing and redeeming them out of it to His Son in heaven; and the world lies in the power of the deceiver, still boasting of its wisdom! We think of Noah and still more of Enoch. They were not of the world in their day. They were of God, and yet how few! The skill of men had advanced the world, and the arts flourished in the family of Cain. All seemed so well (Luke 17:26-27). And all seems well now to millions; and the flock of God that will receive the kingdom, how little it is (Luke 12:32)! Do we belong to it? If there be a thought delightful to those who do, it is, that they are of God. His almighty grace has triumphed over all the blinding powers of darkness, and all the want of heart and power in them, and, however they may differ in attainments, they are confident that "He who hath begun a good work in them will perform (perfect) it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6) "God is faithful" (see 1 Cor. 1:9: 10:13; 2 Thess. 3:3; 2 Tim. 2:13).
As the Epistle opens, so it appropriately closes. At the beginning John wrote, "truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." This, doubtless, is the apostolic "we;" but all who believed are addressed, in order that they may have their part in this eternal blessedness (1 John 1:3-4). Now in a few words — the fulness of their meaning being truly inexhaustible — he expresses what every believer should for himself consciously know of God, and what His infinite grace has accomplished, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, (even) in His Son Jesus Christ. This ("He," or the "same") is the true God, and eternal life" (1 John 5:20).
The mercy bestowed upon us reveals our need. This is strikingly exhibited here. Sin has not affected our bodies only, the evil has reached, and is deeply seated in, the understanding. It is darkened (Eph. 4:18), and, naturally, "there is none that understandeth: there is none that seeketh after God." "The world by wisdom knew not God;" and no greater proof of this can there be than its ignorance of Christ. "O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee;" for had they known Him, they would have known His Father also (Rom. 3:11; 1 Cor. 1:21; John 17:25; John 8:19). Men are not innocent, they are not pure in heart; therefore their understanding is incapable of holding a true balance. Alienated from God and enemies in their mind by wicked works, how can they know Him?
But the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and thus deliver us from the intricate system of deceit which in one way or another has caused all our race to wander from Him. Eve's innocent mind was deceived by the serpent, the devil who deceiveth the whole world (Rev. 12:9), and blinds in Christendom the minds of them which believe not the gospel (2 Cor. 4:4). Sin, too, is deceitful, lusts are deceitful, riches are deceitful, the heart is deceitful. There are those who handle the word of God deceitfully, and false teachers by good words and fair speeches deceive the simple. Innocence was no safeguard; the ablest intellects have not escaped; minds stored with knowledge have proved no protection. The abounding privileges of Nicodemus and pre-eminence in the outward service of God availed him nothing. His questions show what the natural understanding makes of divine truth (John 3). He must be born again, must have a new nature and thus a new understanding; and the Son of God was come to give it him.
But thus to know God, to have spiritual understanding to see that in Him, Jesus Christ, dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9); and not to have faith in our place in Him (ver. 10) will rob us of that full joy which God would have abound in our hearts. "We are in Him that is true, (even) in His Son Jesus Christ." He would have His joy made ours, and this could not be if we were separated from Him for a moment. His joy is our present portion, and His glory will be ours soon: "we are complete in Him."
But the warning of 1 John 5:21 is needed, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." It is a warning against seeking satisfaction elsewhere than in Christ. "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:37).
In N.T. language much more is meant by "idol" than the image of a god. "A covetous man is an idolater" (Eph. 5:5). "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24).
An esteemed brother has written — "The true God being now revealed, let no thought of Him, no reasoning about Him, no conclusions of our own wisdom and theology arise independently in the heart. All this will but end in idolatry — refined, it may be, speculative and philosophic; but still idolatry." W. B.