1 John 1
Vincent's Word Studies
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
I have not written (οὐκ ἔγραψα)

Or, I wrote not. See on 1 John 2:13.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
A liar (ὁ ψεύστης)

Rev., correctly, "the liar." For a similar interrogative phrase see 1 John 5:5. It marks the lively feeling with which the apostle writes. By the definite article, the liar, the lie is set forth in its concrete personality: the one who impersonates all that is false, as antichrist represents every form of hostility and opposition to Christ. The denial that Jesus is the Christ is the representative falsehood. He that denies is the representative liar.

He that denieth (ὁ ἀρνούμενος)

The article with the participle denotes the habitual denial. Lit., the one denying, the one who habitually represents this attitude towards Christ. The words are aimed at the heresy of Cerinthus, a man of Jewish decent and educated at Alexandria. He denied the miraculous conception of Jesus, and taught that, after His baptism, the Christ descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and that He then announced the unknown Father and wrought miracles; but that, towards the end of His ministry, the Christ departed again from Jesus, and Jesus suffered and rose from the dead, while the Christ remained impassible (incapable of suffering) as a spiritual being.

The Father

The title the Father occurs always in its simple form in the Epistle. Never his or our Father, or the Father in heaven.

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
Hath not the Father (οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα ἔχει)

Properly, "hath not even the Father," though he professes to reverence the Father while rejecting the Son. Compare John 8:42.

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
As for you (ὑμεῖς)

This is the rendering of the Rev. The force of the emphatic you at the beginning of the sentence is utterly lost in the A.V., which takes the pronoun simply as nominative to ye have heard. You is emphatic by way of contrast with the false teachers (1 John 2:22).

From the beginning

See on 1 John 1:1. Notice the change in the order of the repeated sentence, that which ye heard from the beginning: ὃ ἠκούσατε ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, that which ye heard; the emphasis being on their reception of the message: ὃ ἀπ ἀρχῆς ἠκούσατε, that which ye heard from the beginning; emphasizing the time of the reception as coincident with the origin of their faith.

In the Son and in the Father

Compare the reverse order in 1 John 2:22. "Here the thought is that of rising through the confession of the Son to the knowledge of the Father; there the thought is of the issue of denial culminating in the denial of the Father" (Westcott).

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
The promise (ἡ ἐπαγγελία)

See on Acts 1:4.

Eternal life (τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον)

Lit., the life, the eternal (life).

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Seduce (πλανώντων)

See on 1 John 1:8. Rev., lead astray.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
As for you (ὑμεῖς)

Emphatic, as in 1 John 2:24.

Of Him (ἀπ' αὐτοῦ)

See on 1 John 1:5.

The same anointing (τὸ αὐτὸ χρίσμα)

The best texts read αὐτοῦ, His anointing.

Is truth, and is no lie

The characteristic combination of positive and negative statement. See on 1 John 1:5.

Ye shall abide (μενεῖτε)

Wrong. The best tests read μένετε, which may be taken either as imperative, abide ye, or as indicative, ye abide. The indicative is preferable, as answering to μένει abideth.

In Him

Christ.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
When He shall appear (ὅταν φανερωθῇ)

The best texts read ἐὰν if, for when. So Rev., which gives also the proper passive force of φανερωθῇ, if He shall be manifested. Not expressing a doubt of the fact, but uncertainty as to the circumstances. On φανερόω to make manifest, see on John 21:1. John never uses ἀποκαλύπτω to reveal, of the revelation of Christ. Indeed, neither the verb nor the kindred noun, ἀποκάλυψις, occurs in his writings except in John 12:38, which is a citation from Isaiah, and in Revelation 1:1.

We may have

Thus identifying himself with his children in the faith. Teacher and pupil must alike abide in Him.

We may have confidence (σχῶμεν παῤῥησίαν)

Rev., boldness. For the phrase have boldness, see 1 John 3:21; 1 John 4:17; 1 John 5:14; Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 10:19; Plm 1:8. For the word παῤῥησία boldness, see on John 7:13; see on Acts 2:29. It is opposed, as here, to αἰσχύνομαι to be ashamed, in Proverbs 13:5, where the Septuagint reads "a wicked man is ashamed (αἰσχύνεται) and shall not have boldness (παῤῥησίαν). Also in Philippians 1:20. Compare 2 Corinthians 3:12. The idea of free, open speech lies at the bottom of the word: coming before God's bar with nothing to conceal. The thought is embodied in the general confession of the Book of Common Prayer: "That we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our Heavenly Father, but confess them." So John Wesley's Hymn:

"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness

My beauty are, my glorious dress:

'Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in Thy great day,

For who aught to my charge shall lay?

Fully absolved through these I am, -

From sin and fear, from guilt and shame."

continued...

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
If ye know - ye know (ἐὰν εἰδῆτε - γινώσκετε)

If ye know absolutely that He is righteous, ye perceive that every one, etc. See on John 2:24. Ye perceive may be taken as imperative: perceive or know ye.

Is born of Him (ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγέννηται)

The interpreters differ as to the reference of Him; some referring it to God, and others to Christ. Against the latter is the fact that men are not said to be born of Christ, but of God; and that to be born of God is a characteristic phrase of John, while to be born of Christ is a phrase which occurs nowhere. On the other hand, the undoubted reference to Christ in 1 John 2:28, would seem to demand a similar reference here. Men are said to abide in Christ as well as in God, and to be born of the Spirit. Westcott's remark is pertinent. "When John thinks of God in relation to men, he never thinks of Him apart from Christ (see 1 John 5:20); and again, he never thinks of Christ in His human nature without adding the thought of His divine nature. Thus a rapid transition is possible from the one aspect of the Lord's divine-human person to the other."

Righteous (δίκαιος)

Used by John both of God and of Christ. Of God, 1 John 1:9; John 17:25; Revelation 16:5; of Christ, 1 John 2:1; 1 John 3:7. Compare Acts 3:14; Acts 7:52; Acts 22:14.

Is born of Him (ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγέννηται)

Rev., begotten. The first occurrence of the phrase in the Epistle.

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886].
Text Courtesy of Internet Sacred Texts Archive.

Bible Apps.com
2 Peter 3
Top of Page
Top of Page




Bible Apps.com