Il,
[ο ~~ , . ὑμῖν > ὅτι "ἡ σκοτία "παράγεται, καὶ "τὸ has τὸ ἀληθινὸν ἤδη "ϕαίνει. 1Cor. vii. g, 7 ὅ λέγων ἐν τῷ φωτὶ εἶναι, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ μισῶν, ἐν τῇ
w John i. 9. σκοτίᾳ ἐστὶν ἕως ἄρτι. 10. ” ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, ἐν τῷ φωτὶ
x John i. 5, ν. 35 } Rev. i. 16, viii. 12, xviii. 23, ΧΧΙ. 23.
y iv. 20.
Zi. 5-7; Ps. xxxvi. 9.
b John iii. 8, viii. 14, xii. 35, xiii. 36, xiv. 5, xvi. 5. X11. 40).
4 - µένει, καὶ " σκάνδαλον ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν.] πτο ο
ες
δὲ μισῶν τὸν
a ~ ~ - ‘ ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, ” ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστί, καὶ ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ περιπατεῖ, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε ° ποῦ ὑπάγει, ὅτι ἡ σκοτία ἐτύφλωσε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ.
a Johann. only here and Rev. ii. 14; σκανδαλίζειν John vi. 61, xvi. I.
ο John xi. g, 10, xiv. 35, 36; Is. vi. το (John
lev αυτω ουκ εστιν BKLP, WH, Nest.; ουκ εστιν εν αντω ΑΟ, Tisch., WH
(marg).
necessity of Love. This truth, though unperceived, is contained in the revela- tion of Jesus Christ (ἐν αὐτῷ) and proved in the experience of believers (ἐν ὑμῖν). It is a fact that hatred of one’s brother clouds the soul and shuts out the light. ΣΙ know this,” says the Apostle, ‘‘ be- cause the darkness is passing away and the light, the true light, is already shin- ing,” 1.6. my eyes are getting accustomed to the light of the Gospel-revelation, and I have seen this truth which at first was hidden from me. Adjectives in -ινγός denote the material of which the thing is made; and ἀληθινός is used of the real as opposed either to the type (cf. John vi. 32, xv. 1; Heb. viii. 2, ix. 24) or to the counterfeit (cf. Symb. Nic. : Θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ “ very God of very God,” i.e. the real God as opposed to false gods, idols, which were “things of naught”). The opposite of τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν is, on the one hand, the dim light of the Jewish Law (the type) and, on the other, the false light of human speculation (the counterfeit).
Ver. 9. He says and perhaps thinks he is in the light, but he has never seen the light; it has never shone on him. ἀδελφόν, on the lips of Jesus a fellow- man (cf. Matt. v. 45; Luke xv. 30, 32), in the apostolic writings a fellow-Chris- tian (cf. v. 1-2, 16)—one of the apostolic narrowings of the Lord’s teaching. Cf. ‘neighbour ”—with the Rabbis, a fellow- Jew; with Jesus, a fellow-man (cf. Luke x. 25-37). There is no contradiction be- tween this passage and Luke xiv. 26. The best commentary on the latter is John xii. 25.
Ver. το. ἐν τῷ φωτὶ péver: he does not merely catch glimpses of the light but ‘‘abideth in it,” being of one mind with God, the common Father, who ‘‘is light” (i. 5). σκάνδαλον οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ, ‘ there is no occasion of stumbling, nothing to trip him up and make him fall, in his case ’—an echo of John xi. 9,10. Another interpretation, less agree- able to the context but more consonant
with the common use of σκάνδαλον (cf. Matt. xiii. 41, xvili. 7; Rom. xiv. 13), is: Because he is winsome and gracious, there is in him no stumbling-block to others, nothing to deter them from accepting the Gospel. The love of the primitive Christians impressed the heathen. Cf. Tert. Apol. 39: “ Vide, inquiunt, ut invicem se diligant: ipsi enim invicem oderunt ; et ut pro alterutro mori sint parati: ipsi enim ad occidendum alterutrum paratiores erunt”. Ep. ad Diogn. 1: καὶ τίνα Φιλοστοργίαν ἔχ- ουσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους. This spirit disap- peared, and in view of the bitter contro- versies of the 4th century the Pagan historian Ammianus avowed that ‘the enmity of the Christians toward each other surpassed the fury of savage beasts against man”. Another interpretation takes αὐτῷ as neuter: ‘There is no occasion of stumbling in it,” z.e., in the light. Cf. John xi. 9.