Compare we lie, 1 John 1:6.

In him (ἐν τούτῳ)

Emphatic. Lit., in this one the truth is not. See on 1 John 1:8.

Note the changed phrase: word for commandments. The word is the revelation regarded as a whole, which includes all the separate commandments or injunctions. See the use of λόγος word, and ἐντολή precept, in John 14:21-24.

Is the love of God perfected (ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ τετελείωται)

Rev., rendering the perfect tense more closely, hath the love of God been perfected. The change in the form of this antithetic clause is striking. He who claims to know God, yet lives in disobedience, is a liar. We should expect as an offset to this: He that keepeth His commandments is of the truth; or, the truth is in him. Instead we have, "In him has the love of God been perfected." In other words, the obedient child of God is characterized, not by any representative trait or quality of his own personality, but merely as the subject of the work of divine love: as the sphere in which that love accomplishes its perfect work.

The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ the love of God, may mean either the love which God shows, or the love of which God is the object, or the love which is characteristic of God whether manifested by Himself or by His obedient child through His Spirit. John's usage is not decisive like Paul's, according to which the love of God habitually means the love which proceeds from and is manifested by God. The exact phrase, the love of God or the love of the Father, is found in 1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:9, in the undoubted sense of the love of God to men. The same sense is intended in 1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 3:16, though differently expressed. The sense is doubtful in 1 John 2:5; 1 John 3:17; 1 John 4:12. Men's love to God is clearly meant in 1 John 2:15; 1 John 5:3. The phrase occurs only twice in the Gospels (Luke 6:42; John 5:42), and in both cases the sense is doubtful. Some, as Ebrard, combine the two, and explain the love of God as the mutual relation of love between God and men.

It is not possible to settle the point decisively, but I incline to the view that the fundamental idea of the love of God as expounded by John is the love which God has made known and which answers to His nature. In favor of this is the general usage of ἀγάπη love, in the New Testament, with the subjective genitive. The object is more commonly expressed by εἰς towards, or to. See 1 Thessalonians 3:12; Colossians 1:4; 1 Peter 4:8. Still stronger is John's treatment of the subject in ch. 4. Here we have, 1 John 4:9, the manifestation of the love of God in us (ἐν ἡμῖν) By our life in Christ and our love to God we are a manifestation of God's love. Directly following this is a definition of the essential nature of love. "In this is love; i.e., herein consists love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us" (1 John 4:10). Our mutual love is a proof that God dwells in us. God dwelling in us, His love is perfected in us (1 John 4:12). The latter clause, it would seem, must be explained according to 1 John 4:10. Then (1 John 4:16), "We have known and believed the love that God hath in us" (see on John 16:22, on the phrase have love). "God is love;" that is His nature, and He imparts this nature to be the sphere in which His children dwell. "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God." Finally, our love is engendered by His love to us. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

In harmony with this is John 15:9. "As the Father loved me, I also loved you. Continue ye in my love." My love must be explained by I loved you. This is the same idea of divine love as the sphere or element of renewed being; and this idea is placed, as in the passage we are considering, in direct connection with the keeping of the divine commandments. "If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love."

This interpretation does not exclude man's love to God. On the contrary, it includes it. The love which God has, is revealed as the love of God in the love of His children towards Him, no less than in His manifestations of love to them. The idea of divine love is thus complex. Love, in its very essence, is reciprocal. Its perfect ideal requires two parties. It is not enough to tell us, as a bare, abstract truth, that God is love. The truth must be rounded and filled out for us by the appreciable exertion of divine love upon an object, and by the response of the object. The love of God is perfected or completed by the perfect establishment of the relation of love between God and man. When man loves perfectly, his love is the love of God shed abroad in his heart. His love owes both its origin and its nature to the love of God.

The word verily (ἀληθῶς) is never used by John as a mere formula of affirmation, but has the meaning of a qualitative adverb, expressing not merely the actual existence of a thing, but its existence in a manner most absolutely corresponding to ἀλήθεια truth. Compare John 1:48; John 8:31. Hath been perfected. John is presenting the ideal of life in God. "This is the love of God that we keep His commandments." Therefore whosoever keepeth God's word, His message in its entirety, realizes the perfect relation of love.

We are in Him

Compare Acts 17:28. See note on 1 John 2:15.

To abide in God is a more common expression with John than to be in God, and marks an advance in thought. The phrase is a favorite one with John. See John 15:4 sqq.; John 6:56; 1 John 2:24, 1 John 2:27, 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:12 sq.; 1 John 4:15 sq. Bengel notes the gradation in the three phrases "to know Him, to be in Him, to abide in Him; knowledge, fellowship, constancy."

Ought (ὀφείλει)

An obligation, put as a debt. See Luke 17:10, and on debts, Matthew 6:12. The word expresses a special, personal obligation, and not as δεῖ must, an obligation in the nature of things. See John 20:9, and compare 1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:11; 3 John 1:8.

He (ἐκεῖνος)

Always of Christ in the Epistles of John. See ἐκείνης, referring to ἁμαρτία sin, 1 John 5:16.

The correct reading is ἀγαπηοί beloved. The first occurrence of this title, which is suggested by the previous words concerning the relation of love.

No new commandment (οὐκ ἐντολὴν καινὴν)

The Rev., properly, places these words first in the sentence as emphatic, the point of the verse lying in the antithesis between the new and the old. On new, see on Matthew 26:29.

Old (παλαιὰν)

Four words are used in the New Testament for old or elder. Of these γέρων and πρεσβύτερος refer merely to the age of men, or, the latter, to official position based primarily upon age. Hence the official term elder. Between the two others, ἀρχαῖος and παλαιός, the distinction is not sharply maintained. Ἁρχαῖος emphasizes the reaching back to a beginning (ἀρχή) Thus Satan is "that old (ἀρχαῖος) serpent," whose evil work was coeval with the beginning of time (Revelation 7:9; Revelation 20:2). The world before the flood is "the old (ἀρχαῖος) world" (2 Peter 2:5). Mnason was "an old (ἀρχαῖος) disciple;" not aged, but having been a disciple from the beginning (Acts 21:16). Sophocles, in "Trachiniae," 555, gives both words. "I had an old (παλαιὸν) gift," i.e., received long ago, "from the old (ἀρχαίου) Centaur." The Centaur is conceived as an old-world creature, belonging to a state of things which has passed away. It carries, therefore, the idea of old fashioned: peculiar to an obsolete state of things.

Παλαιός carries the sense of worn out by time, injury, sorrow, or other causes. Thus the old garment (Matthew 9:16) is παλαιόν. So the old wine-skins (Matthew 9:17). The old men of a living generation compared with the young of the same generation are παλαιοί. In παλαιός the simple conception of time dominates. In ἀρχαῖος there is often a suggestion of a character answering to the remote age.

The commandment is here called old because it belonged to the first stage of the Christian church. Believers had had it from the beginning of their Christian faith.

Commandment

The commandment of love. Compare John 13:34. This commandment is fulfilled in walking as Christ walked. Compare Ephesians 5:1, Ephesians 5:2.

The commandment of love is both old and new. Old, because John's readers have had it from the beginning of their Christian experience. New, because, in the unfolding of Christian experience, it has developed new power, meaning, and obligation, and closer correspondence "with the facts of Christ's life, with the crowning mystery of His passion, and with the facts of the Christian life."

Which thing is true (ὅ ἐστιν ἀληθὲς)

The expression which thing, or that which, refers either to the commandment of love, or to the fact stated, viz., that the old commandment is new. The fact that the old commandment is new is true in Him and in us. On the whole I prefer this.

In Him and in us

For us, read you. The fact that the old commandment is new, is true in Him (Christ), since He gave it as a new commandment, and illustrated it by His word and example. It is true in you, since you did not receive it until Christ gave it, and since the person and life of Christ are appealing to you in new lights and with fresh power as your Christian life develops. In Him, points back to as He walked.

Because

Explaining the apparent paradox.

The darkness (ἡ σκοτία)

See on John 1:5. God is light; and whatever is not in fellowship with God is therefore darkness. In all cases where the word is not used of physical darkness, it means moral insensibility to the divine light; moral blindness or obtuseness. Compare John 8:12; John 12:35, John 12:46; 1 John 2:9, 1 John 2:11.

Is past (παράγεται)

Wrong. The passing is not represented as accomplished, but as in progress. Rev., rightly rendering the present tense, is passing away.

The true light (τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν)

Lit., the light, the true (light). See on that eternal life (1 John 1:2). True, not as distinguished from false, but as answering to the true ideal. See on John 1:9. The true light is the revelation of God in Christ. See on 1 John 1:5.

continued...

The sharp issue is maintained here as in Christ's words, "He that is not with me is against me" (Luke 11:23). Men fall into two classes, those who are in fellowship with God, and therefore walk in light and love, and those who are not in fellowship with God, and therefore walk in darkness and hatred. "A direct opposition," says Bengel; where love is not, there is hatred. "The heart is not empty." See John 3:20; John 7:7; John 15:18 sqq.; John 17:14. The word hate is opposed both to the love of natural affection (φιλεῖν), and to the more discriminating sentiment - love founded on a just estimate (ἀγαπᾶν). For the former see John 12:25; John 15:18, John 15:19; compare Luke 14:26. For the latter, 1 John 3:14, 1 John 3:15; 1 John 4:20, Matthew 5:43; Matthew 6:24; Ephesians 5:28, Ephesians 5:29. "In the former case, hatred, which may become a moral duty, involves the subjection of an instinct. In the latter case it expresses a general determination of character" (Westcott).

His brother (τὸν ἀδελφόν)

His fellow-Christian. The singular, brother, is characteristic of this Epistle. See 1 John 2:10, 1 John 2:11; 1 John 3:10, 1 John 3:15, 1 John 3:17; 1 John 4:20, 1 John 4:21; 1 John 5:16. Christians are called in the New Testament, Christians (Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16), mainly by those outside of the Christian circle. Disciples, applied to all followers of Christ (John 2:11; John 6:61) and strictly to the twelve (John 13:5 sqq.). In Acts 19:1, to those who had received only John's baptism. Not found in John's Epistles nor in Revelation. Brethren. The first title given to the body of believers after the Ascension (Acts 1:15, where the true reading is ἀδελφῶν brethren, for μαθητῶν disciples). See Acts 9:30; Acts 10:23; Acts 11:29; 1 Thessalonians 4:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 John 3:14; 3 John 1:5, 3 John 1:10; John 21:23. Peter has ἡ ἀδελφότης the brotherhood (1 Peter 2:17; 1 Peter 5:9). The believers. Under three forms: The believers (οἱ πιστοί; Acts 10:45; 1 Timothy 4:12); they that believe (οἱ πιστεύοντες; 1 Peter 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:7; Ephesians 1:19); they that believed (οἱ πιστεύσαντες; Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; Hebrews 4:3). The saints (οἱ ἅγιοι); characteristic of Paul and Revelation. Four times in the Acts (Acts 9:13, Acts 9:32, Acts 9:41; Acts 26:10), and once in Jude (Jde 1:3). Also Hebrews 6:10; Hebrews 13:24. In Paul, 1 Corinthians 6:1; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Ephesians 1:1, Ephesians 1:15, etc. In Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3, Revelation 8:4; Revelation 11:18, etc.

Until now (ἕως ἄρτι)

Though the light has been increasing, and though he may claim that he has been in the light from the first. The phrase occurs in John 2:10; John 5:17; John 16:24; and is used by Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Corinthians 15:6.

See on 1 John 2:6. Compare 1 John 2:9, is in.

Occasion of stumbling (σκάνδαλον)

See on offend, Matthew 5:29. For the image in John, see John 6:61; John 11:9; John 16:1; Revelation 2:14. The meaning is not that he gives no occasion of stumbling to others, but that there is none in his own way. See John 11:9, John 11:10.

The condition of him who hates is viewed as related to being, action, and tendency.

He goeth (ὑπάγει)

Or, is going. See on John 6:21; see on John 8:21.

Hath blinded (ἐτύφλωσεν)

For the image see Isaiah 6:10. See on closed, Matthew 13:15. Compare John 1:5, and see note on κατέλαβεν, overtook; John 11:35, John 11:40. The aorist tense, blinded, indicates a past, definite, decisive act. When the darkness overtook, it blinded. The blindness is no new state into which he has come.

See on 1 John 2:1, and John 1:12. Not children in age, but addressed to the readers generally.

Name

See on John 1:12; see on John 2:23.

Indicating age and authority.

Have known (ἐγνώκατε)

Rev., correctly, ye know. Knowledge is the characteristic of fathers; knowledge as the fruit of experience. Ye have perceived, therefore ye know.

Have overcome (νενικήκατε)

Compare John 16:33. The image is characteristic of Revelation and First Epistle. See Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:26; Revelation 12:11; Revelation 21:7; 1 John 2:14; 1 John 4:4; 1 John 5:4, 1 John 5:5.

The evil one (τὸν πονηρόν)

See on wickedness, Mark 7:22; see on evils, Luke 3:19; see on evil spirits, Luke 7:21. The prince of darkness is styled by John ὁ διάβολος the false accuser (John 8:44; John 13:2; 1 John 3:8, 1 John 3:10. See on Matthew 4:1): ὁ Σατανᾶς Satan, the adversary (John 13:27; compare ὁ κατήγωρ the accuser, properly, in court, Revelation 12:10): ὁ πονηρός the evil one (John 17:15; 1 John 2:13, 1 John 2:14; 1 John 3:12; 1 John 5:18, 1 John 5:19): ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου the ruler of this world (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11). Note the abrupt introduction of the word here, as indicating something familiar.

I have written (ἔγραψα)

Or, strictly, I wrote. Compare I write (1 John 2:12, 1 John 2:13), and note the change of tense. The past tense, I wrote, does not refer to some previous writing, as the Gospel, but, like the present, to this Epistle. The present, I write, refers to the immediate act of writing: the aorist is the epistolary aorist, by which the writer places himself at the reader's stand-point, regarding the writing as past. See on 1 Peter 5:12. I write, therefore, refers to the Apostle's immediate act of writing; I have written, or I wrote, to the reader's act of reading the completed writing.

Little children (παιδία)

Compare τεκνία little children (1 John 2:1), which emphasizes the idea of kinship, while this word emphasizes the idea of subordination and consequent discipline. Hence it is the more appropriate word when spoken from the stand-point of authority rather than of affection.

Ye have known (ἐγνώκατε)

Rev., correctly, ye known.

continued...

The eternal, pre-existent Christ, who was from the beginning (John 1:1). The eternal Son, through whom men are brought into the relation of children of God, and learn to know the

Father

The knowledge of God involves, on the part of both fathers and children, the knowledge of Christ.

Strong (ἰσχυροί)

See on was not able, Luke 14:30; see on I cannot, Luke 16:3.

See on John 1:9.

The love of the Father (ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ πατρὸς)

The phrase occurs only here in the New Testament. It means love towards the Father, yet as generated by the Father's love to man. Compare 1 John 3:1. See on love of God, 1 John 2:5.

Is not in him

This means more than that he does not love God: rather that the love of God does not dwell in him as the ruling principle of his life. Westcott cites a parallel from Philo: "It is impossible for love to the world to coexist with love to God, as it is impossible for light and darkness to coexist." Compare Plato. "Evils, Theodorus, can never pass away; for there must always remain something which is antagonist to good. Having no place among the gods in heaven, of necessity they hover around the earthly nature, and this mortal sphere. Wherefore we ought to fly away from earth to heaven as quickly as we can; and to fly away is to become like God, as far as this is possible; and to become like Him is to become holy and just and wise" ("Theaetetus," 176).

Not all things severally, but all that is in the world collectively, regarded as a unit.

The lust (ἡ ἐπιθυμία)

See on Mark 4:19.

Of the flesh

Sensual appetite. The desire which resides in the flesh, not the desire for the flesh. For this subjective usage of the genitive with lust, see John 8:44; Romans 1:24; Revelation 18:14. Compare 1 Peter 2:11; Titus 2:12. The lust of the flesh involves the appropriation of the desired object. On the flesh, see on John 1:14.

The lust of the eyes

This is included in the lust of the flesh, as a specific manifestation. All merely sensual desires belong to the economy which "is not of the Father." The desire of the eyes does not involve appropriation. It is satisfied with contemplating. It represents a higher type of desire than the desire of the flesh, in that it seeks mental pleasure where the other seeks physical gratification. There is thus a significant hint in this passage that even high artistic gratification may have no fellowship with God.

The pride of life (ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου)

Rev., vainglory. The word occurs only here and James 4:16, on which see note. It means, originally, empty, braggart talk or display; swagger; and thence an insolent and vain assurance in one's own resources, or in the stability of earthly things, which issues in a contempt of divine laws. The vainglory of life is the vainglory which belongs to the present life. On βίος life, as distinguished from ζωη. life, see on John 1:4.

Of the Father (ἐκ τοῦ πατρός)

Do not spring forth from the Father. On the expression εἶναι ἐκ to be of, see on John 1:46. "He, therefore, who is always occupied with the cravings of desire and ambition, and is eagerly striving after them, must have all his opinions mortal, and, as far as man can be, must be all of him mortal, because he has cherished his mortal part. But he who has been earnest in the love of knowledge and true wisdom, and has been trained to think that these are the immortal and divine things of a man, if he attain truth, must of necessity, as far as human nature is capable of attaining immortality, be all immortal, for he is ever attending on the divine power, and having the divinity within him in perfect order, he has a life perfect and divine" (Plato, "Timsaeus," 90).

The only form in which αἰῶν age, life, occurs in the Gospel and Epistles of John, except ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος since the world began (John 9:32). Some old versions add, "as God abideth forever."

See on 1 John 2:13.

The last hour (ἐσχάτη ὥρα)

The phrase only here in the New Testament. On John's use of ὥρα hour, as marking a critical season, see John 2:4; John 4:21, John 4:23; John 5:25, John 5:28; John 7:30; John 8:20; John 11:23, John 11:27; John 16:2, John 16:4, John 16:25, John 16:32. The dominant sense of the expression last days, in the New Testament, is that of a period of suffering and struggle preceding a divine victory. See Acts 2:17; James 5:3; 1 Peter 1:20. Hence the phrase here does not refer to the end of the world, but to the period preceding a crisis in the advance of Christ's kingdom, a changeful and troublous period, marked by the appearance of "many antichrists."

Antichrist

Peculiar to John in the New Testament. The absence of the article shows its currency as a proper name. It may mean one who stands against Christ, or one who stands instead of Christ; just as ἀντιστράτηγος may mean either one who stands in the place of a στρατηγός praetor, a propraetor (see Introd. to Luke, vol. 1, p. 246, and note on Acts 16:20), or an opposing general. John never uses the word ψευδόχριστος false Christ (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22). While the false Christ is merely a pretender to the Messianic office, the Antichrist "assails Christ by proposing to do or to preserve what he did, while denying Him." Antichrist, then, is one who opposes Christ in the guise of Christ. Westcott's remark is very important, that John's sense of Antichrist is determined by the full Christian conception of Christ, and not by the Jewish conception of the promised Savior.

Cometh (ἔρχεται)

The prophetic present, equivalent to is about to come. The same term is used of Christ (John 14:3; John 21:22; Revelation 22:20).

Are there (γεγόνασιν)

Rev., more correctly, have there arisen.

Whereby (ὅθεν)

Lit., whence. Only here in John. It is found in Matthew and Luke, and frequently in Hebrews, and not elsewhere.

The phrase went out from, may mean either removal (Revelation 18:4; John 8:59) or origin (Revelation 9:3; Revelation 14:13, Revelation 14:15, Revelation 14:17; Revelation 19:5, Revelation 19:21). Here the latter, as appears from the following clause. Compare Acts 20:30.

Were not of

See on John 1:46.

No doubt

A needless addition of the A.V.

With us (μεθ' ἡμῶν)

Ἑν ἡμῖν, among us, would be more according to John's ordinary usage; but his thought rests here rather on fellowship than on the unity of believers as one body.

They might be made manifest (φανερωθῶσιν)

See on John 21:1.

They were not all (οὐκ εἰσὶν πάντες)

Rev., more correctly, they all are not.

The word means that with which the anointing is performed - the unguent or ointment. In the New Testament only here and 1 John 2:27. Rev., an anointing. The root of this word and of Χριστός, Christ, is the same. See on Matthew 1:1. The anointing is from the Anointed.

The Holy One

Christ. See John 6:69; Acts 3:14; Acts 4:27, Acts 4:30; Revelation 3:7.

Ye know all things (οἴδατε πα.ντα)

The best texts read πάντες, ye all know; in which case the connection is with the following clause: "I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it."