In the Ep., e.g., Christ's appearance on earth is pre.senteif, aa wo have seen, in the broad light of a vmnifrstittii'ti. The specilic functiim of niivocnry OT intercession is ascribed to Him. The qualities oi fnilhfulnas and righleviisnets on the side of (iod, and the grace of conftMion on tb«
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JOHN, EPISTLES OF
JOHN, EPISTLES OF
side of man, are {,'iven in a particular connexion witli tlie forj;ivenuss anil tlie cleaiisiiig of sin ; and faith appears iu the delinite cliaiaetur of a power of overconiinj; In tlie ease of certain ideas of tlio Ep., the atlinities are rather with the teaching of^ the "jreat I'auline Epp. than with the Fourth Gospel. This is true, not only of what is said of tiod or of Christ as Suoios {cf; V 2= with Ko 3="), but also of the description of Christ as Waanot (cf. 2= 4"' with Ro :{==), the desi^'iiation of His Second Coming as a irapovvla (cf. 2'^ with 1 Co 15-^, I Th •_"» etc.), etc. But, besides this, the Ep. has not a few ideas which it does not share with the Gospel. Such ideas are those, e.g., of a 'fellow- ship (koij-wi'io) with the Father and with Hia Son Jesus Christ,' a 'love perfected' (dydwjj T-rreXfiw- fU^);) an 'Antichrist' and 'Antichrists,' a 'sin unto death' (d^iopria irpis Sifarof), a ' Divine seed' (attipim oi'roD), an ' unction from the Holy One ' (Xp'<^A'a airJ tov dylou). Such terms as a'77e\(a and TrXdi'os, such phrases as ^inOi'fila tuiv dtpOaX^Qv, i-m- Oufila T^5 aapKis, iv capKl (pxiffOai, iv rtp (puni Trepi- n-txTuv, TToifiv T^v avop-lav, iroietc rfji' SLKoioavvtjv, belong to the Ep. and not to the Gospel. Such ideas, again, as those of the ' wrath of God ' {-q 6pyri toS 6ioO), to ' be from above ' (eli-ai ix tuv dvu), ' to be from beneath ' {etfat (k tCiv k6.tui), and such desig- nations as 'the Hi)ly Spirit' (t6 wevna rb dyiov), which are in the Gospel (3^ 8^ \^ etc.), do not recur in the Epistle. And to these things others might be added. Where the Gospel, e.g., declares God to be ' Spirit ' (iri-f C/io, 4^), the Ep. declares Him to be 'love' (dyivri, 4'°); where the Gospel speaks of the Son being ' in the Father ' and the 'Father in the Son' (U'"'" etc.), the Ep. speaks of us as being 'in God' and God 'in us (Vf's tv TV 9fV 2' 4S i eV V'" 2' 4^).
There are also certain minuter differences in usage, as in the preference of the Ep. for the preposition ctiri after such verbs as alre^v, inoveiv, Xa/ifidfeiv, where the Gospel has irapd. To which must be added the fact that no clear reference to the (Jospel is discovered in the Epistle. There is enough, therefore, to sliow that the Ep. is not de|)endent on the Gospel, not a second part of it, nor a remodelling of its contents, whetner for practical or for polemical purposes, but an inde- pendent composition having its own particular occasion, purpose, and character.
6. Purpose and Occasiori. — Its purpose is that the readers may have fellowship with the waiter and his associates who have been eye-witnesses of the Word of life, and whose fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ ; that the joy which the writer and his brethren have in them may be made complete by seeing that fellowship realized in their case ; and that those addressed may have the comfortable conscions- ne.ss of possessing eternal life (1'--' 5"). The WTiter's object, therefore, is to be taken in the breadth which he himself gives it. It is not to be limited to the combating of certain errors, the refutation of certain false teachers, or the reproof of certain shortcomings. The Ep. does deal with certain faults in life, certain errorists and defective doctrines. But its primary purpose is to help these Christians to be partakers with the writer and his fellow-witnesses in the com-
fleteness and satisfactisn of the Christian life. t is with a view to this that other subjects are introduced, that certain instructions are ^ven, and that counsels are offered against certain in- firmities and perils.
The Ep., nevertheless, may have had a particular occasiim. That is found iij' some in a certain critical condition of the Church or Churches ad- dressed (Liicke, etc.); and there are, no doubt, things in the Ep. whicli point to shortcomings,