* We usume the ominion of the Ute Wettem gloM oonoeming khe Three HeATenljr wltnr VOU II. — 44
Father and the Son (Jn 15'- ">), and flie inity ^f the Father and the Son (17")> including in this those wlio shall believe through the preaching of the apostles (17""- "•"). In this true correspondence between God and man, especially in the free inter- course through prayer, the Father is glorified in the Son (14").
This intimate union determines the character of the Church in its relation to the world. Tlio apostles are sent into the world as Chri.st Himself was sent there (17'") ; they are His representatives, so that they who receive them receive Him (13'-") ; and they will meet with the same hatred and per- secution from the world as He did (15"-'). Among themselves, they will keep His commandments (14"- »»■ «•• M 1510^ ct. 1 Jn 2»), and especially the new commandment to love one another (13** 15"-"). This is emphasized in the Epistles when St. John is writing to the Church already constituted and at work (1 Jn 3"-2S4", 2Jn''). And St. John in his usual manner continually contrasts this prinoijile of love, which is of God (1 Jn 4'), with the opposing principle of hatred. This has the essence of nmrdiT in it, as the example of Cain shows (1 Jn 3'-'", cf. Jn 8", where the rising desire to kill Christ is connected with the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning) ; and this hatred is inconsistent with eternal life (1 Jn 3"), or with the love of God (4-'"). Their power to overcome the world, in which by Christ's wish and God's ordinance (Jn 17") they are placed, is their faith that Jesus is the Son of God (1 Jn 5*- ') — a faith which in St. John's own case and that of his fellow-apostles rested on ex- perience (1 Jn !'•*, Jn 1"), tut belongs also to those who have not seen but yet have believed (Jn 2(P).
At His departure, the Lord gave to His Church the power to forgive sins, saying, ' Whose so- ever sins ye shall remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained ' (20=^). To St. Peter also He gave the charge to tend and feed the flock (21"- '«■ "). There are signs in the Epistles of the exercise of some discipline. It is made abundantly clear that sin is inconsistent with the Church altofjether (1 Jn 1* 01 38. > 518) ; to do sin is to relapse into the dark- ness from which the light has freed us (2*- ', cf. !'■ ''). Still if a man does commit a sin {iiv nt ifiapT^) we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (2') ; the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. For certain sins, not unto death, St. John enjoins the prayer of intercession (1 Jn 5"'") ; for heresy, he forbids all intercourse or salutation (2 Jn "•). In one church Diotrephes i tpiKorpwreiuv requires to be deprived of his unde- served eminence, and reduced to order (3 Jn •• ").
(7) It would be impossible to close an account of the Theolojjy of St. John's Gospel and Epistles without reference to the three great phrases in which the nature of God is described : ' God is Spirit' (Jn 4"), 'God is Light' (1 Jn 1»), and 'God is Love'(l Jn 4'- '"). These three phrases form the crown, and, at the same time, a summarj of his Theology. It is important to consider them in close connexion \vith their content.
The first is ascribed to our Lord Himself in His dialogue with the woman of Samaria. She, find- ing herself in presence of a prophet, brings before Hun the question that had long been at issue between the .Jews and the Sainaritam. ' Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, but ye say that in Jerusalem men ought to worship. ' Jesus answers her implied question compreiiensively. For the past ages, the Jews were right: they worshipped with some knowledge, and not blindly, looking forward to salvation : they had so much certainty about God. But for tiio future, both are alike wrong ; the day of local worships is over;
(590
JOHN, APOSTLE
JOHN, APOSTLE
God no longer chooses a particular place where men should ap}>roach Him : * He is Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and truth.' Thus this phrase marks the transition from tlie old to the new order. It e.xcludes all limitations of space and time and matter from God, and, at the same time, the context preserves the truth wliich the Jewish religion had enslirined.
In the second of tliose plirases we go further : it bears on the moral nature of God. Throughout these books the contrast of Light and Darkness is used met«])horically to express Good and Evil. In the immediate context of this phrase an in- stance occurs. God is Light, and therefore all who walk in darkness are not in communion with Him. Darkness means hatred (1 Jn 2") and lilindness («6.), and is passing away (2"). The true light was manifested; and 'this is the message which we have heard of Him, and report to you, that God b light.' This phrase, whicli cannot be altogether separated from the thought of revelation, is really the correlative of the OT doctrine of the Holiness of the Lord. It conveys the assurance of theundimnied purity of God, and the need of purity to man, if he would have fellowship with God.*