[153] Observe in the Greek the μη ἁμαρτητε, which refers to single acts, not to a continuous state--"that _ye may not sin_."
[154] 1 John ii. 2. As a translation, "towards" seems too pedantic; yet προς is _ad-versus_ rather than _apud_, and with the accusative signifies either the direction of motion, or the relation between two objects. (Donaldson, _Greek Grammar_, 524). We may fittingly call the preposition here προς _pictorial_.
[155] The various meanings of κοσμος are fully traced below on 1 John ii. 17. There is one point in which the notions of κοσμος and αιων intersect. But they may be thus distinguished. The first signifies the world projected in _space_, the second in _time_. The supposition that the form of expression at the close of our verse is elliptical, and to be filled up by the repetition of "for the sins of the whole world" "is not justified by usage, and weakens the force of the passage." (_Epistles of St. John_, Westcott, p. 44.)
[156] As to doctrine. There are three "grand circles" or "families of images" whereby Scripture approaches from different quarters, or surveys from different sides, the benefits of our Lord's meritorious death. These are represented by, are summed up in, three words--απολυτρωσις, καταλλαγη, ιλασμος. The last is found in the text and in iv. 10; nowhere else precisely in that form in the New Testament. "Ιλασμος (expiation or propitiation) and απολυτρωσις (redemption) is fundamentally one single benefit, _i.e._, the restitution of the lost sinner. Απολυτρωσις is in respect of _enemies_; καταλλαγη in respect of _God_. And here again the words ἱλασμ. and καταλλ. differ. _Propitiation_ takes away offences as against _God_. _Reconciliation_ has two sides. It takes away (_a_) God's _indignation_ against _us_, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19; (_b_) _our alienation_ from _God_, 2 Cor. v. 20." (Bengel on Rom. iii. 24. Whoever would rightly understand all that we can know on these great words must study _New Testament Synonyms, Archbp. Trench_, pp. 276-82.)