1 John 2

1Jo 2:1-29.

THE

ADVOCACY OF

CHRIST

IS

OUR

ANTIDOTE TO

SIN

WHILE

WALKING IN THE

LIGHT; FOR TO

KNOW

GOD,

WE

MUST

KEEP

HIS

COMMANDMENTS AND

LOVE THE

BRETHREN, AND

NOT

LOVE THE

WORLD,

NOR

GIVE

HEED TO

ANTICHRISTS, AGAINST

WHOM

OUR

SAFETY

IS THROUGH THE

INWARD

ANOINTING OF

GOD TO

ABIDE IN

GOD:

SO AT

CHRIST'S

COMING

WE

SHALL

NOT

BE

ASHAMED.

1.

(1Jo 5:18.)

My little children--The diminutive expresses the tender

affection of an aged pastor and spiritual father. My own dear

children, that is, sons and daughters (see on

1Jo 2:12).

these things--

(1Jo 1:6-10).

My purpose in writing what I have just written is not that you should

abuse them as giving a license to sin but, on the contrary, "in order

that ye may not sin at all" (the Greek aorist, implying the

absence not only of the habit, but of single acts of sin [ALFORD]). In order to "walk in the light"

(1Jo 1:5, 7),

the first step is confession of sin

(1Jo 1:9),

the next

(1Jo 2:1)

is that we should forsake all sin. The divine purpose has for

its aim, either to prevent the commission of, or to destroy sin [BENGEL].

And, &c.--connected with the former; Furthermore, "if any

man sin," let him, while loathing and condemning it, not fear to go at

once to God, the Judge, confessing it, for "we have an Advocate with

Him." He is speaking of a BELIEVER'S

occasional sins of infirmity through Satan's fraud and malice.

The use of "we" immediately afterwards implies that we all are

liable to this, though not necessarily constrained to sin.

we have an advocate--Advocacy is God's family blessing; other

blessings He grants to good and bad alike, but justification,

sanctification, continued intercession, and peace, He grants to His

children alone.

advocate--Greek, "paraclete," the same term as is

applied to the Holy Ghost, as the "other Comforter"; showing the unity

of the Second and Third Persons of the Trinity. Christ is the

Intercessor for us above; and, in His absence, here below the

Holy Ghost is the other Intercessor in us. Christ's

advocacy is inseparable from the Holy Spirit's comfort

and working in us, as the spirit of intercessory prayer.

righteous--As our "advocate," Christ is not a mere suppliant

petitioner. He pleads for us on the ground of justice, or

righteousness, as well as mercy. Though He can say nothing good

of us, He can say much for us. It is His

righteousness, or obedience to the law, and endurance of its

full penalty for us, on which He grounds His claim for our acquittal.

The sense therefore is, "in that He is righteous"; in contrast

to our sin ("if any man sin"). The Father, by raising

Him from the dead, and setting Him at His own right, has once for all

accepted Christ's claim for us. Therefore the accuser's charges against

God's children are vain. "The righteousness of Christ stands on our

side; for God's righteousness is, in Jesus Christ, ours" [LUTHER].

2. And he--Greek, "And Himself." He is our

all-prevailing Advocate, because He is Himself "the

propitiation"; abstract, as in

1Co 1:30:

He is to us all that is needed for propitiation "in behalf of

our sins"; the propitiatory sacrifice, provided by the Father's

love, removing the estrangement, and appeasing the righteous wrath, on

God's part, against the sinner. "There is no incongruity that a father

should be offended with that son whom he loveth, and at that

time offended with him when he loveth him" [BISHOP PEARSON]. The only other

place in the New Testament where Greek "propitiation" occurs, is

1Jo 4:10;

it answers in the Septuagint to Hebrew, "caphar,"

to effect an atonement or reconciliation with God; and in

Eze 44:29,

to the sin offering. In

Ro 3:25,

Greek, it is "propitiatory," that is, the mercy seat, or lid of

the ark whereon God, represented by the Shekinah glory above it, met

His people, represented by the high priest who sprinkled the blood of

the sacrifice on it.

and--Greek, "yet."

ours--believers: not Jews, in contrast to Gentiles; for

he is not writing to Jews

(1Jo 5:21).

also for the sins of the whole world--Christ's "advocacy" is

limited to believers

(1Jo 2:1;

1Jo 1:7):

His propitiation extends as widely as sin extends: see on

2Pe 2:1,

"denying the Lord that bought them." "The whole world" cannot be

restricted to the believing portion of the world (compare

1Jo 4:14;

and "the whole world,"

1Jo 5:19).

"Thou, too, art part of the world, so that thine heart cannot deceive

itself and think, The Lord died for Peter and Paul, but not for me"

[LUTHER].

3. hereby--Greek, "in this." "It is herein," and

herein only, that we know (present tense) that we have knowledge of

(perfect tense, once-for-all obtained and continuing knowledge

of) Him"

(1Jo 2:4, 13, 14).

Tokens whereby to discern grace are frequently given in this Epistle.

The Gnostics, by the Spirit's prescient forewarning, are refuted, who

boasted of knowledge, but set aside obedience. "Know

Him," namely, as "the righteous"

(1Jo 2:1, 29);

our "Advocate and Intercessor."

keep--John's favorite word, instead of "do," literally, "watch,"

"guard," and "keep safe" as a precious thing; observing so as to keep.

So Christ Himself. Not faultless conformity, but hearty acceptance of,

and willing subjection to, God's whole revealed will, is meant.

commandments--injunctions of faith, love, and obedience.

John never uses "the law" to express the rule of Christian obedience:

he uses it as the Mosaic law.

4. I know--Greek, "I have knowledge of (perfect)

Him." Compare with this verse

1Jo 1:8.

5. Not merely repeating the proposition,

1Jo 2:3,

or asserting the merely opposite alternative to

1Jo 2:4,

but expanding the "know Him" of

1Jo 2:3,

into "in Him, verily (not as a matter of vain boasting) is the love of

(that is towards) God perfected," and "we are in Him." Love here

answers to knowledge in

1Jo 2:3.

In proportion as we love God, in that same proportion we know

Him, and vice versa, until our love and knowledge shall attain

their full maturity of perfection.

his word--His word is one (see on

1Jo 1:5),

and comprises His "commandments," which are many

(1Jo 2:3).

hereby--in our progressing towards this ideal of perfected love

and obedience. There is a gradation:

1Jo 2:3,

"know Him";

1Jo 2:5,

"we are in Him";

1Jo 2:6,

"abideth in Him"; respectively, knowledge, fellowship,

abiding constancy. [BENGEL].

6. abideth--implying a condition lasting, without intermission,

and without end.

He that saith . . . ought--so that his deeds may be

consistent with his words.

even as he--Believers readily supply the name, their hearts

being full of Him (compare

Joh 20:15).

"Even as He walked" when on earth, especially in respect to

love. John delights in referring to Christ as the model man,

with the words, "Even as He," &c. "It is not Christ's walking on the

sea, but His ordinary walk, that we are called on to imitate" [LUTHER].

7. Brethren--The oldest manuscripts and versions read instead,

"Beloved," appropriate to the subject here, love.

no new commandment--namely, love, the main principle of

walking as Christ walked

(1Jo 2:6),

and that commandment, of which one exemplification is presently given,

1Jo 2:9, 10,

the love of brethren.

ye had from the beginning--from the time that ye first heard the

Gospel word preached.

8. a new commandment--It was "old," in that Christians as

such had heard it from the first; but "new" (Greek,

"kaine," not "nea": new and different from the

old legal precept) in that it was first clearly

promulgated with Christianity; though the inner spirit of the

law was love even to enemies, yet it was enveloped in some

bitter precepts which caused it to be temporarily almost unrecognized,

till the Gospel came. Christianity first put love to brethren on

the new and highest MOTIVE, instinctive

love to Him who first loved us, constraining us to love all, even

enemies, thereby walking in the steps of Him who loved us when enemies.

So Jesus calls it "new,"

Joh 13:34, 35,

"Love one another as I have loved you" (the new motive);

Joh 15:12.

which thing is true in him and in you--"In Christ all

things are always true, and were so from the beginning; but in

Christ and in us conjointly the commandment [the love of

brethren] is then true when we acknowledge the truth which is

in Him, and have the same flourishing in us" [BENGEL]. ALFORD explains, "Which

thing (the fact that the commandment is a new one) is true in

Him and in you because the darkness is passing away, and the

true light is now shining; that is, the commandment is a new

one, and this is true both in the case of Christ and in the case of

you; because in you the darkness is passing away, and in

Him the true light is shining; therefore, on both accounts, the

command is a new one: new as regards you, because you are newly

come from darkness into light; new as regards Him, because He uttered

it when He came into the world to lighten every man, and began that

shining which even now continues." I prefer, as BENGEL, to explain, The new commandment finds its

truth in its practical realization in the walk of

Christians in union with Christ. Compare the use of "verily,"

1Jo 2:5.

Joh 4:42,

"indeed";

Joh 6:55.

The repetition of "in" before "you," "in Him and in you," not "in Him

and you" implies that the love commandment finds its realization

separately: first it did so "in Him," and then it does so

"in us," in so far as we now "also walk even as He walked"; and yet it

finds its realization also conjointly, by the two being united

in one sentence, even as it is by virtue of the love commandment having

been first fulfilled in Him, that it is also now fulfilled in

us, through His Spirit in us: compare a similar case,

Joh 20:17,

"My Father and your Father"; by virtue of His being

"My Father," He is also your Father.

darkness is past--rather, as in

1Jo 2:17,

"is passing away." It shall not be wholly "past" until "the Sun of

righteousness" shall arise visibly; "the light is now shining"

already, though but partially until the day bursts forth.

9-11. There is no mean between light and darkness, love

and hatred, life and death, God and the world:

wherever spiritual life is, however weak, there darkness

and death no longer reign, and love supplants

hatred; and

Lu 9:50

holds good: wherever life is not, there death, darkness,

the flesh, the world, and hatred, however glossed over

and hidden from man's observation, prevail; and

Lu 11:23

holds good. "Where love is not, there hatred is; for the heart cannot

remain a void" [BENGEL].

in the light--as his proper element.

his brother--his neighbor, and especially those of the Christian

brotherhood. The very title "brother" is a reason why love should be

exercised.

even until now--notwithstanding that "the true light already has

begun to shine"

(1Jo 2:8).

10. Abiding in love is abiding in the

light; for the Gospel light not only illumines the understanding,

but warms the heart into love.

none occasion of stumbling--In contrast to, "He that hateth his

brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not

whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes." "In him

who loves there is neither blindness nor occasion of stumbling

[to himself]: in him who does not love, there is both blindness

and occasion of stumbling. He who hates his brother, is both a

stumbling-block to himself, and stumbles against himself and everything

within and without; he who loves has an unimpeded path" [BENGEL]. John has in mind Jesus' words,

Joh 11:9, 10.

ALFORD well says, "The light and the darkness are

within ourselves; admitted into us by the eye, whose singleness fills

the whole body with light."

11. is in darkness . . . walketh--"is" marks his

continuing STATE: he has never come out of "the darkness" (so

Greek); "walketh" marks his OUTWARD WALK

and acts.

whither--Greek, "where"; including not only the

destination to which, but the way whereby.

hath blinded--rather, as Greek aorist, "blinded" of old.

Darkness not only surrounds, but blinds him, and that a blindness of

long standing.

12. little children--Greek, "little sons," or

"dear sons and daughters"; not the same Greek as in

1Jo 2:13,

"little children," "infants" (in age and standing). He calls

ALL to whom he writes, "little sons"

(1Jo 2:1,

Greek;

1Jo 2:28; 3:18; 4:4; 5:21);

but only in

1Jo 2:13, 18

he uses the term "little children," or "infants." Our Lord, whose

Spirit John so deeply drank into, used to His disciples

(Joh 13:33)

the term "little sons," or dear sons and daughters; but in

Joh 21:5,

"little children." It is an undesigned coincidence with the Epistle

here, that in John's Gospel somewhat similarly the classification,

"lambs, sheep, sheep," occurs.

are forgiven--"have been, and are forgiven you":

ALL God's sons and daughters alike enjoy

this privilege.

13, 14. All three classes are first addressed in the present. "I

write"; then in the past (aorist) tense, "I wrote" (not "I have

written"; moreover, in the oldest manuscripts and versions, in the end

of

1Jo 2:13,

it is past, "I wrote," not as English Version, "I write"). Two

classes, "fathers" and "young men," are addressed with the same words

each time (except that the address to the young men has an

addition expressing the source and means of their victory); but the

"little sons" and "little children" are differently addressed.

have known--and do know: so the Greek perfect means. The

"I wrote" refers not to a former Epistle, but to this Epistle. It was

an idiom to put the past tense, regarding the time from the

reader's point of view; when he should receive the Epistle the

writing would be past. When he uses "I write," he speaks from

his own point of view.

him that is from the beginning--Christ: "that which was

from the beginning."

overcome--The fathers, appropriately to their age, are

characterized by knowledge. The young men, appropriately

to theirs, by activity in conflict. The fathers, too,

have conquered; but now their active service is past, and they

and the children alike are characterized by knowing (the

fathers know Christ, "Him that was from the beginning";

the children know the Father). The first thing that the

little children realize is that God is their Father;

answering in the parallel clause to "little sons . . . your

sins are forgiven you for His name's sake," the universal first

privilege of all those really-dear sons of God. Thus

this latter clause includes all, whereas the former clause

refers to those more especially who are in the first stage of

spiritual life, "little children." Of course, these can only know

the Father as theirs through the Son

(Mt 11:27).

It is beautiful to see how the fathers are characterized as

reverting back to the first great truths of spiritual childhood, and

the sum and ripest fruit of advanced experience, the knowledge of

Him that was from the beginning (twice repeated,

1Jo 2:13, 14).

Many of them had probably known Jesus in person, as well as by

faith.

14. young men . . . strong--made so out

of natural weakness, hence enabled to overcome "the

strong man armed" through Him that is "stronger." Faith is the victory

that overcomes the world. This term "overcome" is peculiarly John's,

adopted from his loved Lord. It occurs sixteen times in the Apocalypse,

six times in the First Epistle, only thrice in the rest of the New

Testament. In order to overcome the world on the ground, and in the

strength, of the blood of the Saviour, we must be willing, like Christ,

to part with whatever of the world belongs to us: whence immediately

after "ye have overcome the wicked one (the prince of the world)," it

is added, "Love not the world, neither the things . . . in

the world."

and, &c.--the secret of the young men's strength: the

Gospel word, clothed with living power by the Spirit who

abideth permanently in them; this is "the sword of the Spirit"

wielded in prayerful waiting on God. Contrast the mere physical

strength of young men,

Isa 40:30, 31.

Oral teaching prepared these youths for the profitable use of

the word when written. "Antichrist cannot endanger you

(1Jo 2:18),

nor Satan tear from you the word of God."

the wicked one--who, as "prince of this world," enthrals "the

world"

(1Jo 2:15-17; 5:19,

Greek, "the wicked one"), especially the young. Christ came to

destroy this "prince of the world." Believers achieve the first grand

conquest over him when they pass from darkness to light, but afterwards

they need to maintain a continual keeping of themselves from his

assaults, looking to God by whom alone they are kept safe.

BENGEL thinks John refers specially to the

remarkable constancy exhibited by youths in Domitian's persecution.

Also to the young man whom John, after his return from Patmos, led with

gentle, loving persuasion to repentance. This youth had been commended

to the overseers of the Church by John, in one of his tours of

superintendency, as a promising disciple; he had been, therefore,

carefully watched up to baptism. But afterwards relying too much on

baptismal grace, he joined evil associates, and fell from step to step

down, till he became a captain of robbers. When John, some years after,

revisited that Church and heard of the youth's sad fall, he hastened to

the retreat of the robbers, suffered himself to be seized and taken

into the captain's presence. The youth, stung by conscience and the

remembrance of former years, fled away from the venerable apostle. Full

of love the aged father ran after him, called on him to take courage,

and announced to him forgiveness of his sins in the name of Christ. The

youth was recovered to the paths of Christianity, and was the means of

inducing many of his bad associates to repent and believe [CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, Who Is the

Rich Man Who Shall Be Saved? 4.2; EUSEBIUS,

Ecclesiastical History, 3.20; CHRYSOSTOM,

First Exhortation to Theodore, 11].

15. Love not the world--that lieth in the wicked one

(1Jo 5:19),

whom ye young men have overcome. Having once for all, through

faith, overcome the world

(1Jo 4:4; 5:4),

carry forward the conquest by not loving it. "The world" here means

"man, and man's world" [ALFORD], in his and its

state as fallen from God. "God loved [with the love of

compassion] the world," and we should feel the same kind of love

for the fallen world; but we are not to love the world

with congeniality and sympathy in its alienation from

God; we cannot have this latter kind of love for the God-estranged

world, and yet have also "the love of the Father in" us.

neither--Greek, "nor yet." A man might deny in general

that he loved the world, while keenly following some one of

THE THINGS IN IT: its riches, honors, or

pleasures; this clause prevents him escaping from conviction.

any man--therefore the warning, though primarily addressed to

the young, applies to all.

love of--that is, towards "the Father." The two, God and

the (sinful) world, are so opposed, that both cannot be congenially

loved at once.

16. all that is in the world--can be classed under one or other

of the three; the world contains these and no more.

lust of the flesh--that is, the lust which has its seat and

source in our lower animal nature. Satan tried this temptation the

first on Christ:

Lu 4:3,

"Command this stone that it be made bread." Youth is especially

liable to fleshly lusts.

lust of the eyes--the avenue through which outward things of the

world, riches, pomp, and beauty, inflame us. Satan tried this

temptation on Christ when he showed Him the kingdoms of the world in a

moment. By the lust of the eyes David

(2Sa 11:2)

and Achan fell

(Jos 7:21).

Compare David's prayer,

Ps 119:37;

Job's resolve,

Ps 31:1;

Mt 5:28.

The only good of worldly riches to the possessor is the beholding them

with the eyes. Compare

Lu 14:18,

"I must go and SEE it."

pride of life--literally, "arrogant assumption": vainglorious

display. Pride was Satan's sin whereby he fell and forms the

link between the two foes of man, the world (answering to "the

lust of the eyes") and the devil (as "the lust of the flesh" is

the third foe). Satan tried this temptation on Christ in setting Him on

the temple pinnacle that, in spiritual pride and

presumption, on the ground of His Father's care, He should cast

Himself down. The same three foes appear in the three classes of soil

on which the divine seed falls: the wayside hearers, the devil;

the thorns, the world; the rocky undersoil, the flesh

(Mt 13:18-23;

Mr 4:3-8).

The world's awful antitrinity, the "lust of the flesh, the lust

of the eyes, and the pride of life," similarly is presented in Satan's

temptation of Eve: "When she saw that the tree was good for

food, pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to

make one wise,"

Ge 3:6

(one manifestation of "the pride of life," the desire to know above

what God has revealed,

Col 2:8,

the pride of unsanctified knowledge).

of--does not spring from "the Father" (used in relation

to the preceding "little children,"

1Jo 2:12,

or "little sons"). He who is born of God alone turns to

God; he who is of the world turns to the world; the sources of love to

God and love to the world, are irreconcilably distinct.

17. the world--with all who are of the world worldly.

passeth away--Greek, "is passing away" even now.

the lust thereof--in its threefold manifestation

(1Jo 2:16).

he that doeth the will of God--not his own fleshly will,

or the will of the world, but that of God

(1Jo 2:3, 6),

especially in respect to love.

abideth for ever--"even as God also abideth for ever" (with whom

the godly is one; compare

Ps 55:19,

"God, even He that abideth of old): a true comment, which

CYPRIAN and LUCIFER have

added to the text without support of Greek manuscripts.

In contrast to the three passing lusts of the world, the doer of

God's will has three abiding goods, "riches, honor, and life"

(Pr 22:4).

18. Little children--same Greek as

1Jo 2:13;

children in age. After the fathers and young men

were gone, "the last time" with its "many Antichrists" was about to

come suddenly on the children. "In this last hour we all

even still live" [BENGEL]. Each successive age

has had in it some of the signs of "the last time" which precedes

Christ's coming, in order to keep the Church in continual waiting for

the Lord. The connection with

1Jo 2:15-17

is: There are coming those seducers who are of the world

(1Jo 4:5),

and would tempt you to go out from us

(1Jo 2:19)

and deny Christ

(1Jo 2:22).

as ye have heard--from the apostles, preachers of the Gospel

(for example,

2Th 2:3-10;

and in the region of Ephesus,

Ac 20:29, 30).

shall come--Greek, "cometh," namely, out of his own

place. Antichrist is interpreted in two ways: a false Christ

(Mt 24:5, 24),

literally, "instead of Christ"; or an adversary of

Christ, literally, "against Christ." As John never uses

pseudo-Christ, or "false Christ," for Antichrist, it is

plain he means an adversary of Christ, claiming to himself what

belongs to Christ, and wishing to substitute himself for Christ as the

supreme object of worship. He denies the Son, not merely, like

the pope, acts in the name of the Son,

2Th 2:4,

"Who opposeth himself (Greek, "

ANTI-keimenos") [to] all that is called

God," decides this. For God's great truth, "God is man," he would

substitute his own lie, "man is God" [TRENCH].

are there--Greek, "there have begun to be"; there have

arisen. These "many Antichrists" answer to "the spirit of lawlessness

(Greek) doth already work." The Antichristian principle appeared

then, as now, in evil men and evil teachings and writings; but still

"THE Antichrist" means a hostile person,

even as "THE Christ" is a personal Saviour. As

"cometh" is used of Christ, so here of Antichrist, the

embodiment in his own person of all the Antichristian features and

spirit of those "many Antichrists" which have been, and are, his

forerunners. John uses the singular of him. No other New Testament

writer uses the term. He probably answers to "the little horn having

the eyes of a man, and speaking great things"

(Da 7:8, 20);

"the man of sin, son of perdition"

(2Th 2:3);

"the beast ascending out of the bottomless pit"

(Re 11:7; 17:8),

or rather, "the false prophet," the same as "the second beast coming up

out of the earth"

(Re 13:11-18; 16:13).

19. out from us--from our Christian communion. Not necessarily a

formal secession or going out: thus Rome has spiritually gone

out, though formally still of the Christian Church.

not of us--by spiritual fellowship

(1Jo 1:3).

"They are like bad humors in the body of Christ, the Church: when they

are vomited out, then the body is relieved; the body of Christ is now

still under treatment, and has not yet attained the perfect soundness

which it shall have only at the resurrection" [AUGUSTINE, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of

John, Homily 3.4].

they would . . . have continued--implying the

indefectibility of grace in the elect. "Where God's call is effectual,

there will be sure perseverance" [CALVIN]. Still,

it is no fatal necessity, but a "voluntary necessity" [DIDYMUS], which causes men to remain, or else go from the

body of Christ. "We are either among the members, or else among the bad

humors. It is of his own will that each is either an Antichrist, or in

Christ" [AUGUSTINE]. Still God's actings in

eternal election harmonize in a way inexplicable to us, with

man's free agency and responsibility. It is men's own evil will that

chooses the way to hell; it is God's free and sovereign grace that

draws any to Himself and to heaven. To God the latter shall ascribe

wholly their salvation from first to last: the former shall reproach

themselves alone, and not God's decree, with their condemnation

(1Jo 3:9; 5:18).

that they were not all of us--This translation would imply

that some of the Antichrists are of us! Translate, therefore,

"that all (who are for a time among us) are not of us." Compare

1Co 11:19,

"There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be

made manifest among you." For "were" some of the oldest manuscripts

read "are." Such occasions test who are, and who are not, the Lord's

people.

20. But--Greek, "And." He here states the means which

they as believers have wherewith to withstand. Antichrists

(1Jo 2:18),

namely, the chrism (so the Greek: a play upon similar

sounds), or "anointing unguent," namely, the Holy Spirit (more plainly

mentioned further on, as in John's style,

1Jo 3:24; 4:13; 5:6),

which they ("ye" is emphatical in contrast to those apostates,

1Jo 2:19)

have "from the Holy One, Christ"

(Joh 1:33; 3:34; 15:26; 16:14):

"the righteous"

(1Jo 2:1),

"pure"

(1Jo 3:3),

"the Holy One"

(Ac 3:14)

"of God";

Mr 1:24.

Those anointed of God in Christ alone can resist those anointed

with the spirit of Satan, Antichrists, who would sever them from

the Father and from the Son. Believers have the anointing Spirit from

the Father also, as well as from the Son; even as the Son is

anointed therewith by the Father. Hence the Spirit is the token that we

are in the Father and in the Son; without it a man is none of Christ.

The material unguent of costliest ingredients, poured on the head of

priests and kings, typified this spiritual unguent, derived from

Christ, the Head, to us, His members. We can have no share in Him as

Jesus, except we become truly Christians, and so be in

Him as Christ, anointed with that unction from the Holy One. The

Spirit poured on Christ, the Head, is by Him diffused through all the

members. "It appears that we all are the body of Christ, because

we all are anointed: and we all in Him are both Christ's and

Christ, because in some measure the whole Christ is Head

and body."

and--therefore.

ye know all things--needful for acting aright against

Antichrist's seductions, and for Christian life and godliness. In the

same measure as one hath the Spirit, in that measure (no more

and no less) he knows all these things.

21. but because ye know it, and that, &c.--Ye not only

know what is the truth (concerning the Son and the Father,

1Jo 2:13),

but also are able to detect a lie as a thing opposed to the truth. For

right (a straight line) is the index of itself and of what is crooked

[ESTIUS]. The Greek is susceptible of

ALFORD'S translation, "Because ye know it, and

because no lie is of the truth" (literally, "every lie is

excluded from being of the truth"). I therefore wrote (in this Epistle)

to point out what the lie is, and who the liars are.

22. a liar--Greek, "Who is the liar?" namely, guilty of

the lie just mentioned

(1Jo 2:21).

that Jesus is the Christ--the grand central truth.

He is Antichrist--Greek, "the Antichrist"; not

however here personal, but in the abstract; the ideal of

Antichrist is "he that denieth the Father and the Son." To deny the

latter is virtually to deny the former. Again, the truth as to the Son

must be held in its integrity; to deny that Jesus is the Christ, or

that He is the Son of God, or that He came in the flesh, invalidates

the whole

(Mt 11:27).

23. Greek, "Every one who denieth the Son, hath not the

Father either"

(1Jo 4:2, 3):

"inasmuch as God hath given Himself to us wholly to be enjoyed in

Christ" [CALVIN].

he--that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

These words ought not to be in italics, as though they were not in the

original: for the oldest Greek manuscripts have them.

hath--namely, in his abiding possession as his "portion"; by

living personal "fellowship."

acknowledgeth--by open confession of Christ.

24. Let that--truth respecting the Father and the Son, regarded

as a seed not merely dropped in, but having taken root

(1Jo 3:9).

ye--in the Greek standing emphatically at the beginning

of the sentence. YE, therefore, acknowledge the Son, and so

shall ye have the Father also

(1Jo 2:23).

from the beginning--from the time of your first hearing the

Gospel.

remain--Translate as before, "abide."

ye also--in your turn, as distinguished from "that which ye have

heard," the seed abiding in you. Compare

1Jo 2:27,

"the anointing abideth in you . . . ye shall abide

in Him." Having taken into us the living seed of the truth

concerning the Father and the Son, we become transformed into the

likeness of Him whose seed we have taken into us.

25. this is the promise--Eternal life shall be the

permanent consummation of thus abiding in the Son and in the

Father

(1Jo 2:24).

he--Greek, "Himself," Christ, "the Son" (compare

1Jo 1:1).

promised--

(Joh 3:15, 36;

6:40, 47, 57; 17:2, 3).

26. These things--

(1Jo 2:18-25).

have I written--resumed from

1Jo 2:21

and 1Jo 2:14.

seduce you--that is, are trying to seduce or lead you into

error.

27. But--Greek, "And you (contrasting the believing

readers with the seducers; the words 'and you' stand prominent,

the construction of the sentence following being altered, and no verb

agreeing with 'and you' until 'need not') . . . the

anointing," &c. (resumed from

1Jo 2:20).

received of him--

(Joh 1:16).

So we "are unto God a sweet savor of Christ."

abideth in you--He tacitly thus admonishes them to say, when

tempted by seducers, "The anointing abideth in us; we do not need a

teacher [for we have the Holy Spirit as our teacher,

Jer 31:34;

Joh 6:45; 16:13];

it teaches us the truth; in that teaching we will abide"

[BENGEL].

and--and therefore. God is sufficient for them who are taught of

Him; they are independent of all others, though, of course, not

declining the Christian counsel of faithful ministers. "Mutual

communication is not set aside, but approved of, in the case of those

who are partakers of the anointing in one body" [BENGEL].

the same anointing--which ye once for all received, and which

now still abides in you.

of--"concerning."

all things--essential to salvation; the point under discussion.

Not that the believer is made infallible, for no believer here receives

the Spirit in all its fulness, but only the measure needful for keeping

him from soul-destroying error. So the Church, though having the Spirit

in her, is not infallible (for many fallible members can never make an

infallible whole), but is kept from ever wholly losing the saving

truth.

no lie--as Antichristian teaching.

ye shall abide in him--

(1Jo 2:24,

end); even as "the anointing abideth in you." The oldest manuscripts

read the imperative, "abide in Him."

28. little children--Greek, "little sons," as in

1Jo 2:12;

believers of every stage and age.

abide in him--Christ. John repeats his monition with a loving

appellation, as a father addressing dear children.

when--literally, "if"; the uncertainty is not as to the fact,

but the time.

appear--Greek, "be manifested."

we--both writer and readers.

ashamed before him--literally, "from Him"; shrink back

from Him ashamed. Contrast "boldness in the day of judgment,"

1Jo 4:17;

compare

1Jo 3:21; 5:14.

In the Apocalypse (written, therefore, BENGEL

thinks, subsequently), Christ's coming is represented as put off to a

greater distance.

29. The heading of the second division of the Epistle:

"God is righteous; therefore, every one that doeth righteousness is

born of Him." Love is the grand feature and principle of

"righteousness" selected for discussion,

1Jo 2:29-3:3.

If ye know . . . ye know--distinct Greek verbs:

"if ye are aware (are in possession of the knowledge)

. . . ye discern or apprehend also that," &c. Ye are

already aware that God ("He" includes both "the Father,"

of whom the believer is born (end of this verse, and

1Jo 3:1),

and "the Son,"

1Jo 2:1, 23)

is righteous, ye must necessarily, thereby, perceive also the

consequence of that truth, namely, "that everyone that doeth

righteousness (and he alone; literally, the righteousness such

as the righteous God approves) is born of Him." The righteous produceth

the righteous. We are never said to be born again of

Christ, but of God, with whom Christ is one. HOLLAZ in ALFORD defines the

righteousness of God, "It is the divine energy by whose power God

wills and does all things which are conformable to His eternal law,

prescribes suitable laws to His creatures, fulfils His promises to men,

rewards the good, and punishes the ungodly."

doeth--"For the graces (virtues) are practical, and have their

being in being produced (in being exercised); for when they have ceased

to act, or are only about to act, they have not even being"

[ŒCUMENIUS]. "God is righteous, and

therefore the source of righteousness; when then a man doeth

righteousness, we know that the source of his righteousness is God,

that consequently he has acquired by new birth from God that

righteousness which he had not by nature. We argue from his doing

righteousness, to his being born of God. The error of

Pelagians is to conclude that doing righteousness is a condition

of becoming a child of God" [ALFORD most

truly]. Compare

Lu 7:47, 50:

Her much love evinced that her sins were already

forgiven; not, were the condition of her sins being

forgiven.