The supposition that Christians may sin; the provision of grace-the Advocate to restore communion
That which he wrote according to the revelation of the nature of God, which he had received from Him who was the life from heaven, was in order that they should not sin. But to say this is to suppose that they might sin. Not that it is necessary they should do so; for the presence of sin in the flesh by no means obliges us to walk after the flesh. But if it should take place, there is provision made by grace, in order that grace may act, and that we may be neither condemned nor brought again under the law.
We have an Advocate with the Father, One who carries on our cause for us on high. Now this is not in order to obtain righteousness, nor again to wash our sins away. All that has been done. Divine righteousness has placed us in the light, even as God Himself is in the light. But communion is interrupted, if even levity of thought finds place in our heart; for it is of the flesh, and the flesh has no communion with God. When communion is interrupted, when we have sinned (not when we have repented; for it is His intercession that leads to repentance), Christ intercedes for us. Righteousness is always present—our righteousness—“Jesus Christ the righteous.” Therefore, neither the righteousness nor the value of the propitiation for sin being changed, grace acts (one may say, acts necessarily) in virtue of that righteousness, and of that blood which is before God-acts, on the intercession of Christ who never forgets us, in order to bring us back to communion by means of repentance. Thus, while yet on earth, before Peter had committed the sin, He prayed for him; at the given moment He looks on him, and Peter repents and weeps bitterly for his offense. Afterwards the Lord does all that is necessary to make Peter judge the root itself of the sin; but all is grace.
It is the same in our case. Divine righteousness abides-the immutable foundation of our relationships with God, established on the blood of Christ. When communion, which exists only in the light, is interrupted, the intercession of Christ, available by virtue of His blood (for propitiation for the sin has also been made), restores the soul that it may still again enjoy communion with God according to the light, into which righteousness has introduced it.1 This propitiation is made for the whole world, not for the Jews only, nor to the exclusion of anyone at all; but for the whole world, God in His moral nature having been fully glorified by the death of Christ.
(1. Here the subject is communion, and hence actual failure is spoken of; in the Hebrews, we have seen, it is access to God and we are “perfected forever,” and priesthood is for mercy and help, not for sins, save the great act of atonement.)
The doctrine of the epistle and its experimental application
These three capital points-or, if you will, two capital points, and the third, namely, advocacy, which is supplementary-form the introduction, the doctrine of the epistle. All the rest is an experimental application of that which this part contains: namely, first (life being given), communion with the Father and the Son; second, the nature of God, light, which manifests the falsehood of all pretension to communion with the light, if the walk be in darkness; and third, seeing that sin is in us and that we may fail although we are cleansed before God so as to enjoy the light, the advocacy which Jesus Christ the righteous can always exercise before God, on the ground of the righteousness which is ever in His presence, and the blood which is shed for our sins, in order to restore our communion, when we have lost it by our guilty negligence.
Sanctified unto the obedience of Jesus Christ; the two forms of practical life: to obey and walk as He walked
The Spirit now proceeds to develop the characteristics of this divine life.
Now we are sanctified unto the obedience of Jesus Christ, that is to say, to obey on the same principles as those on which He obeyed; where His Father’s will was the motive as well as the rule of action. It is the obedience of a life to which it was meat and drink to do the will of God: not as under the law, in order to obtain life. The life of Jesus Christ was a life of obedience, in which He enjoyed the love of His Father perfectly, tested in all things and so proved perfect. His words, His commandments, were the expression of that life; they direct that life in us, and ought to exercise all the authority over us of Him who pronounced them.
The law promised life to those who obeyed it. Christ is the life. This life has been imparted to us-to believers. Therefore, the words which were the expression of that life, in its perfection in Jesus, direct and guide it in us according to that perfection. Besides this, it has authority over us. His commandments are its expression. We have, therefore, to obey, and to walk as He walked- the two forms of practical life. It is not enough to walk well: we must obey, for there is authority. This is the essential principle of a right walk. On the other hand, the obedience of the Christian- as is evident by that of Christ Himself-is not that which we often think. We call a child obedient, who, having a will of his own, submits himself at once when the authority of the parent intervenes to prevent his accomplishing it. But Christ never obeyed in this way. He came to do the will of God. Obedience was His mode of being. His Father’s will was the motive, and, with the love that was never separate from it, the only motive of His every act and every impulse. This is obedience properly called Christian. It is a new life which delights in doing the will of Christ, acknowledging His entire authority over it. We reckon ourselves to be dead to everything else; we are alive unto God, we are not our own. We only know Christ inasmuch as we are living by His life; for the flesh does not know Him and cannot understand His life.
True obedience
Now, that life is obedience: therefore, he who says, “I know him,” and does not observe His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. It does not say here, “He deceives himself,” for it is very possible that he is not self-deceived, as in the other case of fancied communion; for here the will is in action, and a man knows it, if he will confess it. But the reality is not there; he is a liar, and the truth in the knowledge of Jesus, which he professes, is not in him.
The Apostle’s statement of things in an abstract way, reasoning from a great inward principle
There are two remarks to be made here. First, that the Apostle takes things always as they are in themselves in an abstract way, without the modifications that are occasioned by other things, in the midst of which, or in relation with which, the former are found. Second, that the chain of consequences which the Apostle deduces is not that of outward reasoning, the force of which is consequently on the surface of the argument itself. He reasons from a great inward principle, so that one does not see the force of the argument unless one knows the fact, and even the scope, of that principle; and, in particular, that which the life of God is in its nature, in its character and in its action. But, without possessing it, we do not and cannot understand anything about it. There is, indeed, the authority of the Apostle and of the Word to tell us that the thing is so, and that is sufficient. But the links of his discourse will not be understood without the possession of the life which interprets what he says, and which is itself interpreted by that which he says.
“His word” and “His commandments”: the love of God realized
I return to the text. “Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” It is in this way that we are conscious that we know Him. His “word” has rather a wider sense than His “commandments.” That is to say, while it equally implies obedience, the Word is less outward. “Commandments” are here details of the divine life. His “word” contains its whole expression-the spirit of that life.1 It is universal and absolute. Now this life is the divine life manifested in Jesus, and which is imparted to us. Have we seen it in Christ? Do we doubt that this is love; that the love of God has been manifested in it? If then I keep His Word; if the scope and meaning of the life which that Word expresses is thus understood and realized, the love of God is perfect in me. The Apostle, as we have seen, always speaks abstractedly. If, in fact, at any given moment I do not observe the Word, in that point I do not realize His love; happy communion with God is interrupted. But so far as I am moved and governed absolutely by His Word, His love is completely realized in me; for His Word expresses what He is, and I am keeping it. This is the intelligent communion with His nature in its fullness, a nature in which I participate; so that I know that He is perfect love, I am filled with it, and this shows itself in my ways: for that Word is the perfect expression of Himself.1
(1. Fundamentally they are not different. This is affirmed in verse 7: “The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.” One might say with perfect truth that the commandment is the Word of Christ; but I question if it could be said that the Word is the commandment. And this makes one conscious of the difference. The contrast of verses 4 and 5 is remarkable, and has its source in the possession, and the intelligent and complete consciousness of the possession, of the divine life, according to the Word, or its non-possession. He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; for this truth is only that which the Word reveals. And if we live of the nature of which the Word of Christ is the expression, and thus by the Word know Him, we obey that Word. In another aspect, if we are in possession of this life, partakers of the divine nature, the love of God is in us; we have the commandments of Christ, His Word, the perfect love of God, a walk according to the walk of Christ, the communication of the life of Christ so that the commandment is true in Him and in us, the walk in the light, the love of our brother. How rich a chain of blessings! The pretensions here spoken of are-to know Christ, to abide in Him, to be in the light. The proof that the first pretension is justified is obedience. Then, if we abide in Christ (which we know by keeping His Word), we ought to walk as He walked. That the last pretension is a true one is proved by love to our brother. In the second, the walk is maintained at all the height of the walk of Christ, as our duty: this walk is not presented as a proof that we abide in Him, that we keep His Word. Observe that it is not said, “We know that we believe”-this is not the question here; but, “We know that we are in him.”
Let me add here that the Apostle never uses these proofs, as they are so commonly used, to say, “Hereby we doubt.” It is quite certain from verses 12-13 that he treats them as all forgiven or he would not have written, and as having the Spirit of adoption-even the youngest and feeblest. Others sought to make them doubt; and he writes that their hearts might be assured before God, that they might not be seduced into doubting, as if they had not a full Christ and a full Christianity-eternal life. It was the means of keeping and holding fast assurance when they had it, when they might have been shaken, not of obtaining it. They were forgiven, they were sons. When others would make them doubt, he writes that they may be fully assured that they have no reason to doubt.)
(1. This, I doubt not, is the true meaning of John 8:2525Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. (John 8:25). “In the principle of my nature, in my being, that which I am saying to you.” That which He said was essentially and completely that which He was. That which He was is that which He said. Now it is this life which is imparted to us; but it was the love of God among men and in man. And this life being our life, and the Word of Christ giving us the knowledge of it, and this Word being kept, His love is realized in us in all its extent.)
Our walk the practical expression of our life- Christ known in His Word, the expression of His life
Consequently, we know thus that we are in Him, for we realize that which He is in the communion of His nature. Now if we say that we abide in Him, it is evident, from what we have now seen in the instruction the Apostle gives us, that we ought to walk as He walked. Our walk is the practical expression of our life; and this life is Christ known in His Word. And since it is by His Word, we who possess this life are under an intelligent responsibility to follow it; that is to say, to walk as He walked. For that Word is the expression of His life.
Obedience the proof that we are in Him; knowing and enjoying the fact
Obedience, then, as obedience, is thus far the moral characteristic of the life of Christ in us. But it is proof of that which, in Christianity, is inseparable from the life of Christ in us: we are in Him (compare John 14:2929And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. (John 14:29)). We know, not merely that we know Him, but that we are in Him. The enjoyment of the perfect love of God in the path of obedience gives us by the Holy Spirit the consciousness that we are in Him. But if I am in Him, I cannot indeed be what He was, for He was without sin; but I ought to walk as He walked. Thus I know I am in Him. But if I make profession to abide in Him, my heart and spirit to be wholly there, I ought to walk as He walked. Obedience as a principle, and through keeping His Word, and so the love of God perfected in me, knowing that I am in Him, are the formative principles and character of our life.
The old commandment, the Word of Christ from the beginning
In verses 7-8 the two forms of the rule of this life are presented-forms which, moreover, answer to the two principles which we have just announced. It is not a new commandment which the Apostle writes unto them but an old one; it is the Word of Christ from the beginning. Were it not so, were it in this sense new, so much the worse for him who set it forth, for it would no longer be the expression of the perfect life of Christ Himself, but some other thing, or a falsification of that which Christ had set forth. This corresponds with the first principle, that is, obedience to commandments, to the commandments of Christ. What He said was the expression of what He was. He could command that they should love one another as He had loved them. Compare the beatitudes.
The new commandment; the true light shining
In another sense, it was a new commandment; for (by the power of the Spirit of Christ, being united to Him and drawing our life from Him) the Spirit of God manifested the effect of this life by revealing a glorified Christ in a new way. And now it was not only a commandment, but as the thing itself was true in Christ, it was so in His own as partakers of His nature and in Him; He also in them.
By this revelation, and by the presence of the Holy Spirit, the darkness disappeared,1 passed away, and, in fact, the true light shone. There will be no different light in heaven: only then the light will be publicly displayed in glory without a cloud.
(1. The force of the word is not “has disappeared, passed away.” There is much darkness yet in the world. As to the light, it has actually shone.)
The life as the light of men; love as one of the proofs of the possession of the divine nature; abiding and walking in the light
Verse 9. The life, as in John 1:44In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4), is now found to be the light of men, only the brighter for faith that Christ is gone, for it is through the rent veil it shines most brightly. We have had the pretension to know Him discussed-to be in Him; now that of being in the light, and this before the Spirit of God applies in detail the qualities of this life, as a proof of its existence to the heart, in answer to seducers who sought to terrify them by new notions, as though Christians were not really in possession of life, and, with life, of the Father and the Son. The true light now shines. And this light is God; it is the divine nature; and, as that which was a means of judging the seducers themselves, he brings out another quality connected with our being in the light, that is with God fully revealed. Christ was it in the world. We are set to be it, in that we are born of God. And one who has this nature loves his brother; for is not God love? Has not Christ loved us, not being ashamed to call us brethren? Can I have His life and His nature, if I do not love the brethren? No. I am then walking in darkness; I have no light on my path. He who loves his brother dwells in the light; the nature of God acts in him; and he dwells in the bright spiritual intelligence of that life, in the presence and in the communion of God. If anyone hates, it is evident that he has not divine light. With feelings according to a nature opposed to God, how can it be pretended that he is in the light?
Moreover, there is no occasion of stumbling in one who loves, for he walks according to divine light. There is nothing in him which causes another to stumble, for the revelation of the nature of God in grace will assuredly not do so: and it is this which is manifested in him who loves his brother.1
(1. The reader may compare here, with much instruction, what is said in Ephesians 4:17-5:1217This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20But ye have not so learned Christ; 21If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another. 26Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27Neither give place to the devil. 28Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor. 3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. (Ephesians 4:17‑5:12), where these two names of God, the only ones used to reveal His nature, are also used to show our path and the true character of the Christian; only according to that which the Holy Spirit gives by Paul-the counsels and work of God in Christ. In John it is more the nature.)
Summary of chapters 1:1-2:11
This closes as an introductory statement the first part of the epistle. It contains in the former half, the privileged place of Christians, the message giving us the truth of our state here, and the provision for failure: that ends with chapter 2:2; in the second half, the proofs the Christian has of the true possession of the privilege according to the message: obedience, and love of the brethren, knowing Christ, being in Christ, enjoying the perfect love of God, abiding in Him, being in the light, forming the condition which is thus proved.
Christians personally addressed; the Apostle’s affectionate name for all of them
Having established the two great principles, obedience and love, as proofs of the possession of the divine nature, of Christ known as life, and of our abiding in Him, the Apostle goes on to address Christians personally and to show us the position, on the ground of grace, in three different degrees of ripeness. This parenthetical but most important address we will now consider.
He begins by calling all the Christians to whom he was writing “children,” a term of affection in the loving and aged Apostle. And as he writes to them (ch. 2:1) in order that they should not sin, so he writes also because all their sins were forgiven for Jesus’ name’s sake. This was the assured condition of all Christians: that which God had granted them in giving them faith, that they might glorify Him. He allows no doubt as to the fact of their being pardoned. He writes to them because they are so.
Three classes of Christians
We next find three classes of Christians: fathers, young men, and babes. He addresses them each twice, fathers, young men, babes (vs. 13): fathers, in the first half of verse 14; young men from the second half to the end of verse 17; and babes from verse 18 to the end of verse 27. In verse 28 he returns to all Christians under the name of “children.”
The character of “fathers” in Christ
That which characterizes fathers in Christ is that they have known Him who is from the beginning, that is, Christ. This is all that he has to say about them. All had resulted in that. He only repeats the same thing again, when, changing his form of expression, he begins anew with these three classes. The fathers have known Christ. This is the result of all Christian experience. The flesh is judged, discerned, wherever it has mixed itself with Christ in our feelings: it is recognized, experimentally, as having no value; and, as the result of experience, Christ stands alone, free from all alloy. They have learned to distinguish that which has only the appearance of good. They are not occupied with experience—that would be being occupied with self, with one’s own heart. All that has passed away; and Christ alone remains as our portion, unmingled with aught besides, even as He gave Himself to us. Moreover, He is much better known; they have experienced what He is in so many details, whether of joy in communion with Him, or in the consciousness of weakness, or in the realization of His faithfulness, of the riches of His grace, of His adaptation to our need, of His love, and in the revelation of His own fullness; so that they are able now to say, “I know whom I have believed.” Attachment to Himself characterizes them. Such is the character of “fathers” in Christ.
The distinguishing mark of “young men”
“Young men” are the second class. They are distinguished by spiritual strength in conflict: the energy of faith. They have overcome the wicked one. For he speaks of what their character is as in Christ. Conflict they have as such, but the strength of Christ manifested in them.
The distinguishing mark of “babes,” of beginners
The third class is “babes.” These know the Father. We see here that the Spirit of adoption and of liberty characterizes the youngest child in the faith of Christ, that it is not the result of progress. It is the commencement. We possess it because we are Christians; and it is ever the distinguishing mark of beginners. The others do not lose it, but other things distinguish them.
The repetition of what was first said to the fathers, for all Christian experience had resulted in that: Christ stands alone
In again addressing these three classes of Christians, the Apostle, as we have seen, has only to repeat that which he at first said with regard to the fathers. It is the result of Christian life.
Added exhortations for the young men: the sword of the Spirit to overcome the wicked one and his weapon, the world; the world in opposition with the Father
In the case of the young men he develops his idea and adds some exhortations. “Ye are strong,” he says, “and the word of God abideth in you”-an important characteristic. The Word is the revelation of God, and the application of Christ, to the heart, so that we have thus the motives which form and govern it, and a testimony founded on the state of the heart, and on convictions which have a divine power in us. It is the sword of the Spirit in our relations with the world. We have been ourselves formed by those things to which we bear testimony in our relations with the world, and those things are in us according to the power of the Word of God. The wicked one is thus overcome; for he has only the world to present to our lusts: and the Word abiding in us keeps us in an altogether different sphere of thought in which a different nature is enlightened and strengthened by divine communications. The tendency of the young man is toward the world: the ardor of his nature, and the vigor of his age, tend to draw him away on that side. He has to guard against this by separating himself entirely from the world and the things that are in it; because, if anyone love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for those things do not come from the Father. He has a world of His own, of which Christ is the center and glory. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-these are the things that are in the world and that characterize it. There are really no other motives besides these in the world. Now these things are not of the Father.
The Father is the source of all that is according to His own heart-every grace, every spiritual gift, the glory, the heavenly holiness of all that was manifested in Christ Jesus, and that will be-all the world of glory to come, of which Christ is the center. And all this had only the cross for its portion here below. But the Apostle is speaking here of the source; and assuredly the Father is not the source of those other things.
The world’s transitory character; the everlasting character of the nature and will of God and of him who has followed after it
Now the world passes away; but he who does the will of God, he who, in going through this world, takes for his guide, not the desires of nature, but the will of God-a will which is according to His nature and which expresses it-such a one shall abide forever according to the nature and the will that he has followed after.
Good and evil in opposition without any uncertainty as to the issue of the conflict
We shall find that the world and the Father with all that is of Him, the flesh and the Spirit, the Son and the devil, are put respectively in opposition. Things are spoken of in their source and moral nature, the principles that act in us and that characterize our existence and our position, and the two agents in good and evil that are opposed to each other, without (thanks be to God!) any uncertainty as to the issue of the conflict; for the weakness of Christ, in death, is stronger than the strength of Satan. He has no power against that which is perfect. Christ came that He might destroy the works of the devil.
“Babes” warned of dangers from seducers and reminded of their sources of intelligence and strength; “the last time”; the true character of Antichrist
To the babes the Apostle speaks principally of the dangers to which they were exposed from seducers. He warns them with tender affection, reminding them at the same time that all the sources of intelligence and strength were open to them and belonged to them. “It is the last time”; not exactly the last days, but the season which had the final character that belonged to the dealings of God with this world. The Antichrist was to come, and already there were many antichrists: by this it might be known it was the last time. It was not merely sin, nor the transgression of the law; but, Christ having already been manifested, and being now absent and hidden from the world, there was a formal opposition to the special revelation that had been made. It was not a vague and ignorant unbelief; it took a definite shape as having a will directed against Jesus. They might, for instance, believe all that a Jew believed, as it was revealed in the Word; but as to the testimony of God by Jesus Christ they opposed it. They would not own Him to be the Christ; they denied the Father and the Son. This, as to religious profession, is the true character of the Antichrist. He may indeed believe or pretend to believe that there shall be a Christ; yea, set himself up to be it. But the two aspects of Christianity (that which, on the one hand, regards the accomplishment in the Person of Jesus of the promises made to the Jew; and, on the other hand, the heavenly and eternal blessings presented in the revelation of the Father by the Son), this the Antichrist does not accept. That which characterizes him as Antichrist is that he denies the Father and the Son. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is indeed the Jewish disbelief that forms part of his character. That which gives him the character of Antichrist is that he denies the foundation of Christianity. He is a liar in that he denies Jesus to be the Christ; consequently, it is the work of the father of lies. But all the unbelieving Jews had done as much without being Antichrist. To deny the Father and the Son characterizes him.
Apostasy among Christians; the two means of confirming the faith of “babes” in Christ: the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the truth received
But there is something more. These antichrists came out from among the Christians. There was apostasy. Not that they were really Christians, but they had been among the Christians and had come out from them. (How instructive for our days also is this epistle!) It was thus made manifest that they were not truly of the flock of Christ. All this had a tendency to shake the faith of babes in Christ. The Apostle endeavors to strengthen them. There were two means of confirming their faith, which also inspired the Apostle with confidence. First, they had the unction of the Holy One; second, that which was from the beginning was the touchstone for all new doctrine, and they already possessed that which was from the beginning.
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit as an unction and spiritual intelligence in them, and the truth which they had received at the beginning-the perfect revelation of Christ-these were the safeguards against seducers and seductions. All heresy and all error and corruption will be found to strike at the first and divine revelation of the truth, if the unction of the Holy One is in us to judge them. Now this unction is the portion of even the youngest babes in Christ, and they ought to be encouraged to realize it, however tenderly they may be cared for as they were here by the Apostle.
What important truths we discover here for ourselves! The last time already manifested, so that we have to be on our guard against seducers-persons, moreover, issuing from the bosom of Christianity.
The character of this Antichrist; the Christian’s security against seductions; no so-called development of the truth which has been heard from the beginning
The character of this Antichrist is that he denies the Father and the Son. Unbelief in its Jewish form is also again manifested- owning that there is a Christ, but denying that Jesus is He. Our security against these seductions is the unction from the Holy One-the Holy Spirit, but in special connection with the holiness of God, which enables us to see clearly into the truth (another characteristic of the Spirit); and, second, that that abide in us which we have heard from the beginning. It is this evidently which we have in the written Word. “Development,” note it well, is not that which we have from the beginning. By its very name it sins radically against the safeguard pointed out by the Apostle. That which the church has taught, as development of the truth, whencesoever she may have received it, is not that which has been heard from the beginning.
The Father not possessed without the Son
There is another point indicated here by the Apostle that ought to be noticed. People might pretend, by giving God in a vague way the name of Father, that they possessed Him without the true possession of the Son, Jesus Christ. This cannot be. He who has not the Son has not the Father. It is by Him that the Father is revealed, in Him that the Father is known.
The truth is the revelation of the Son and by Him:
possessing it, we possess the Son and the Father
If the truth that we have received from the beginning abides in us, we abide in the Son and in the Father; for this truth is the revelation of the Son, and is revealed by the Son, who is the truth. It is living truth if it abides in us; thus, by possessing it, we possess the Son, and in the Son, the Father also. We abide in it, and thereby we have eternal life (compare John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)).
The Holy Spirit acting in the Word; the truth abiding in them and they in Him
Now the Apostle had happy confidence that the unction which they had received of Him abode in them, so that they needed not to be taught of others, for this same unction taught them with respect to all things. It was the truth, for it was the Holy Spirit Himself acting in the Word, which was the revelation of the truth of Jesus Himself, and there was no lie in it. Thus should they abide in Him according to that which it had taught them.
The twofold effect of the teaching by the unction from on high as to discernment of the truth
Observe also, here, that the effect of this teaching by the unction from on high is twofold with regard to the discernment of the truth. They knew that no lie was of the truth; possessing this truth from God, that which was not it was a lie. They knew that this unction which taught them of all things was the truth, and that there was no lie in it. The unction taught them all things, that is to say, all the truth, as truth of God. Therefore, that which was not it was a lie, and there was no lie in the unction. Thus the sheep hear the voice of the Good Shepherd; if another calls them, it is not His voice, and that is enough. They fear it and fly from it, because they do not know it.
The whole body of Christians again addressed; the test of those who claim to be Christians for the rejection of what is false; three proofs of divine life
With verse 27 ends the second series of exhortations to the three classes. The Apostle begins again with the whole body of Christians (vs. 28). This verse appears to me to correspond with verse 8 of the second epistle, and with chapter 3 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
The Apostle, having ended his address to those who were all in the communion of the Father, applies the essential principles of the divine life, of the divine nature as manifested in Christ, to test those who claimed participation in it; not in order to make the believer doubt, but for the rejection of that which was false. I say “not to make the believer doubt,” for the Apostle speaks of his position, and of the position of those to whom he was writing, with the most perfect assurance (ch. 3:1-2).1 He had spoken, in recommencement at verse 28, of the appearing of Jesus. This introduces the Lord in the full revelation of His character and gives rise to the scrutiny of the pretensions of those who called themselves by His name. There are two proofs which belong essentially to the divine life, and a third which is accessory as privilege: righteousness or obedience, and love, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
(1. I have noticed, farther on, the striking way in which God and Christ are spoken of as one being or Person, not as doctrine as to the two natures, but Christ is before the Apostle’s mind, and He is spoken of in the same sentence, now as God, now as appearing as man. Thus in chapter 2:28 He comes. In verse 29 the righteous man is born of Him, and we are children of God. But the world did not know Him. Now it is Christ on earth. Chapter 3:2, we are children of God, but in the same verse He appears and we are like Him. But what makes this yet more wonderful is that we are identified with Him too. We are called children because that is His title and relationship. The world does not know us, for it did not know Him. We know we shall be like Him when He appears. We are given the same place here and there. (Compare chapter 5:20.))
Righteousness the first proof of life
Righteousness is not in the flesh. If, therefore, it is really found in anyone, he is born of Him, he derives his nature from God in Christ. We may remark that it is righteousness as it was manifested in Jesus; for it is because we know that He is righteous that we know that “he who doeth righteousness is born of him.” It is the same nature demonstrated by the same fruits.