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7j ayuffri rou 0soO) that is, love towards God: ch. iv. 20. — /xeve/, abides) Pie said that he loved God : but he does not now love : ver. 18.
18. A 6yf) in idle word: it is opposed to in deed. — yXdjosy) by a pretending tongue : it is opposed to in truth.
19. ’Ei/ rovrw, in this) Hence depends we know and shall tranquil- ize ; and to this refers, since He is greater , ver. 20. — ex rrjg uXriQefag, of the truth) Of expresses the beginning or origin : Rom. ii. 8. For the truth makes love also true : ver. 18. — i/xnpofffov ubrov) before Him who knows all things in truth, we shall tranquilize our hearts in prayer : ver. 22. — cre/Vo^sv, we shall tranquilize) so that they shall cease to condemn. The same word is used, Matt, xxviii. 14. — rug xupdlug Ti/xuv, our hearts) The wTord <fvvejd7i<rigy conscience , is used by Peter and Paul alone of the sacred writers : nor is it used in the Septuagint more than once, and that in another sense, Eccles. x. 20. For the Hebrew J? is rendered xupdta, the heart , for instance, 1 Kings ii. 44, viii. 38. And so John nowhere uses the w'ord <ruvs/- driffig, conscience ; but here he implies it, in making mention of the heart : for it is the conscience which is tranquilized , and which condemns. Comp. Apparatus,1 p. 588.
20. *On suv) whatever : Col. iii. 23, note : nearly equivalent to o iav,
afterwards in ver. 22. Whatever, or in whatever things, our heart shall condemn us, that we shall be able to tranquilize. Or rather, if you prefer to take on and £av separately, you will have to repeat because after the sentence, understanding I say , as is very often done. — xurayivuxizYi, condemn) not respecting our entire condition, but respecting one or two failures or errors. This word is to be pronounced with emphasis : but in the following verse the emphasis falls upon the word heart. — on because greater) Conscience is
weak, and knows something of ourselves only, not without trem- bling ; nor has it the ability to pardon : but God is great, knows all our affairs, present, past, and future, and those of all men ; and has the right and the will of pardoning. This by itself does not yet tranquilize our hearts ; but while the righteous acknowledge this very thing, and confess their faults, and appeal from conscience to God, who is greater than it, and endeavour in no matter to with- draw themselves from the omniscience of God, they attain to tran- quility, ch. i. 9. See examples, Ps. Ii. 8, with the context ; Ps.
1 Laclim. reads yi >uo6pt,i0a., with ABC ; Tisch. and Rec. Text. yiuaoKoptsv, with Vulg. alone of the oldest authorities. C Vulg. have roig Hctplixg : so Tisch. and Rec. Text. B and corrected A Sjr. and Theb. have t»j v Kotpllotv : so Laclim. — E.