or even spiritual activity. If there is less apparent power to enter into the minds and hearts of men of different temperament and education, less ability to become all things to all men, than there is in St. Paul, there is a perfection of another kind. The image mirrored in his soul is that of the Son of man, who is also the Son of God. He is the Apostle of Love, not because he starts from the easy temper of a general benevolence, nor again as being of a character soft, yielding, feminine; but because he has grown ever more and more into the likeness of Him whom he loved so truly. Nowhere is the vision of the Eternal Word, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, so unclouded; nowhere are there such distinctive personal reminiscences of the Christ karà σápka,, in His most distinctively human characteristics. It was this union of the two aspects of the truth which made him so truly the 'Theologus ' of the whole company of the apostles, the instinctive opponent of all forms of a mystical, or logical, or Docetic gnosticism." 1

1 See Smith's Dictionary of Bible, Art. John the Apostle.

CHAPTER XV.

ANALYSES OF THE EPISTLES, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES.

THEME OF THE FIRST EPISTLE.-FELLOWSHIP.-I. ITS NATURE, AS EFFECTED BY THE INCARNATION AND SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.-AS AFFORDING NO GROUND FOR THE DENIAL OF SINFULNESS.-AS THE ONLY SUFFICIENT BASIS OF BROTHERLY LOVE.-GREAT IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT TO ALL CHRISTIANS.-NON-FELLOWSHIP WITH THE WORLD. NON-FELLOWSHIP WITH ANTICHRISTIAN ERROR.-ITS RELATION TO SONSHIP AND FUTURE GLORY.-II. FRUIT OF FELLOWSHIP. -HOLINESS.-BROTHERLY LOVE.OTHER FRUITS.-III. LAW OF FELLOWSHIP, TRUTH.-IV. LIFE OF FELLOWSHIP, LOVE.-V. ROOT OF FELLOWSHIP, FAITH.-EFFICACY OF FAITH. -THREE WITNESSES TO THE SUFFICIENCY OF FAITH.-FAITH IN INTERCESSORY PRAYER.-CONCLUSION OF FIRST EPISTLE.-THEME OF SECOND EPISTLE-BROTHERLY LOVE AND WARNING AGAINST FELLOWSHIP WITH FALSE TEACHERS.-TO WHOM THE EPISTLE IS ADDRESSED.-THE INCIDENT WHICH LED TO THE WRITING OF IT.-GREETINGS.-THEME OF THIRD EPISTLE.-THREE PORTRAITS.-CHARACTER OF GAIUS. CHARACTER OF DIOTREPHES.-CHARACTER OF DEMETRIUS.-FINAL GREETINGS.

THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN.

SUBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.-Christian Fellowship in its twofold aspect; the union of believers with God and His Son Jesus Christ, and their union with one another.

I. Fellowship, its Nature.-Chapter I. to III. 2.

1. The nature of fellowship presented as effected by the incarnation and death of Christ.

I.]

[Ver. 1-7.

1 THAT which was from the beginning,1 which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,

1 A comparison of the opening of this Epistle with that of the Gospel by the same writer shows a striking similarity. It is addressed to no particular place, person, or body of Christians; and while it was originally addressed to the churches of

2 and our hands have handled,1 of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and 3 was manifested unto us ;) 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 4 Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your 5 joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in 6 Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth : 7 but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have

4

Asia Minor, it may be regarded as a circular letter to the people of God generally. What has been said of the writings of St. John at large may be applied with peculiar emphasis to this portion of them: " They are still waters, which run deep; flowing along with the easiest words, but the most profound meaning." (Herder.)

1 One of the earliest forms of heresy did not relate to the Divinity, but to the humanity of Christ. There were those already who denied the reality of His incarnation, the true union of a human and Divine nature in His one person. His incarnation they held was but an appearance or seeming. The apostle, without entering into a formal argument like St. Paul, contents himself with setting forth in his emphatic manner the positive truth, that the only way in which we can have fellowship with the Father must be through the incarnation and mediation of His Son. The analysis herewith presented contemplates this as the one topic, and the exposition indicated will be readily seen to justify the statement that it is the true subject. It is comparatively recently that there has been any attempt at an analysis of this Epistle. The Lutheran expositors held that the Epistle was without method. Calvin, after describing it as containing doctrine mixed with exhortations, says: "Verum nihil horum continua serie facit; nam sparsim docendo et exhortando varius est: præsertim vero multus est in urgenda fraterna intellectione. Alia quoque breviter attingit."

2 Ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς κοινωνίαν, κ.τ.λ. This fellowship is effected through our having fellowship with the Father. Besides the Father, His Son Jesus Christ is mentioned, and their identity or oneness recognised. It was in and through His Son that He came near to man that man might come near to God, and the broken fellowship be restored. Those who denied the incarnation and humanity of Christ perfectly obscured the plan by which sinful men could be restored to fellowship with God. The apostle means that fellowship or communion which extends to the whole redeemed church of God, which does not depend on personal contact or association of the individuals, but is consistent with their personal remoteness from one another.

3 There may be a contrast designed here with the λpwua of the Gnostics.

4 The subject of this Epistle being communion with God, it became of the highest importance that its readers should have right conceptions of Him with whom, through the incarnation of Christ, we may be brought into such intimate fellowship. The figure expresses the purity and perfection of the Being with whom believers are brought into fellowship, ἔστὶν αὕτη ἡ ἀγγελία ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς φῶς ἐστι.

fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.2

2. Fellowship as affording no ground for the denial of our sinfulness.

I. 8.]

8

[II. 5.

If we say that we have no sin,3 we deceive ourselves, and 9 the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 10 unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

II.]

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin And if any man sin, we have an advocate 6 with the

not.

1 Μετ ̓ αὐτου is substituted chiefy by the Latin Codd. for μετ ̓ ἀλλήλων, making the sense to be that we have fellowship with God. But it is better to understand the apostle as saying here that our fellowship with God leads to fellowship with Christian brethren. It is a fellowship that first unites earth and heaven, and then binds the discordant materials of earth together.

2 The Sinaitic MS. reads ȧuaprías huŵv; "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all our sin."

3 The apostle having shown that believers are brought into fellowship with God guards this glorious truth against antinomian abuse, and self righteous pride. He affirms that the man, whoever he may be, though he has been, or hopes he has been, exalted to the highest honour possible to a creature on earth, even that of fellowship with God, and who says he has no sin, plays the part of a deceiver on himself, and attempts that towards himself which he would find it difficult to forgive should the attempt be made by another. He becomes a liar to and about himself. Matthew Henry in one of his pregnant sentences says, "The Christian religion is the religion of sinners." The man who is not ready to own himself a sinner finds nothing in this religion suited to his case.

4 Confession is the duty of Christians, even those most favoured with the privileges of grace. Instead of any of them ever saying, elated with a conceit of their own goodness, that they have no sin, that, as God has taken them into fellowship with Himself, they have become as holy in heart and life as the law of God requires, it becomes them all to cry out before the mercy-seat, "Have pity upon us, for we are miserable sinners."

5 It is not only a deception practised on ourselves when we say we are not sinners, it is a falsehood which contradicts what God has most solemnly and emphatically declared in His word, and which therefore makes Him a liar. Shall they who have been brought into fellowship with God, and whom God requires continually to own their sinfulness, reply that they have no sin? Shall they ever say that they have arrived at a state in which they do not daily need pardon?

• The inspired writers preach that salvation is wholly of grace, without giving any patronage to sin; that we are saved through faith, without the works of the law, and yet without any disparagement of works. We have an advocate, таpáxλŋтоv. An advocate is one who pleads or vindicates the cause of another; specifically one who performs this service before a judicial tribunal. The term used in the original, in

2 Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation1 for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the 3 whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him, if 4 we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and

keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not 5 in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him.

6

3. Fellowship as the only sufficient basis of brotherly love.

[Ver. 6-11.

He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to 7 walk, even as He walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had

this place, has nothing perhaps fully answering to it in English. It sometimes means a comforter, as when it was applied by our Saviour, in His valedictory address to His disciples, to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it may be regarded as meaning an intercessor, one who frames and offers petitions in behalf of another. And sometimes, as here, where it has been judiciously rendered an advocate, one who appears before a tribunal of justice in the cause of an accused person; but in this case not a tribunal for the trial, i.e., to prove the guilt, or to secure the acquittal of the accused. There are courts among men before which advocates may appear for men found guilty and condemned to imprisonment or death, to plead for the removal or mitigation of the sentence. The office they perform more nearly corresponds to that which the great Advocate in heaven fills for those who entrust their cause with Him. He pleads that they may be pardoned, and in being delivered from the guilt may be delivered from the power of sin.

1 The Greek word Maoμós, translated propitiation, is found nowhere else in the N. T. but in chap. iv. 10 of this Epistle. It occurs often in the Greek version of the O. T., where it means a sacrifice of atonement. In the fact that Christ offered Himself as such a sacrifice is found His chief qualification to be our Advocate with the Father.

2 Jesus Christ is the only, the all-sufficient, the universal atonement and propitiation for sin.

3 Obedience is the highest test of our having any real interest in Christ. The great and good President Edwards called this the very sign of signs, the evidence of evidences. If such obedience does not characterize us, our very life confutes and gives the lie to our pretensions and professions. "Those who have attained," says Bengel, "through the power of the gospel to faith in Jesus Christ, serve God in a new and willing spirit; and this is called keeping the commandments."

Christ appeared in bodily, palpable form and shape here on earth; could be heard, seen, and handled; He "walked," mingled with men in the realities of life, was no mere shadowy appearance or vision passing before the eyes of men. He came into actual contact with men, and discharged all the duties belonging to Him as a man. There must be in His followers something just as positive and visible, a walk among men, like His, in keeping the commandments of God, if they would abide in love and fellowship with Him.