Ver. 17. An explanation, especially of ἡ ἁλαζονία τοῦ βίου. Το set one’s affection on the things in the world is ‘‘braggart boasting”; for they are not ours, they are transient. Cf. Moham- med: ‘‘ What have I to do with the
πσ- 15,
J 18. ἵ Παιδία, " ἐσχάτη ” dpa ἐστί : καὶ καθὼς " ἠκούσατε ὅτι a , τίχριστος 7 ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ γεγόνασιν -
162 x gy.t Ver. 13 FEM) | Ζ0θεν Ὁ John vi.
30, 40, 445 94, αἰ, 24 ACES! 11, της χα. Cor. αν. 5ο: ο Lim.) 1. 25) Jamesiv. 25a ‘Peter i. 6» 2 Peter iti. 3. ~ John ν. 28. w Matt. xxiv. 5, 24. x Ver. 22, iv. 3; 3 John 7. y John iv. 25. z Acts xxvi.
τος Heb, il, 17, iii. I, vil. 25,,1x. 18.
1οτι NBCKP, Syrvg ph, Vg., Cop., Aug., edd.; om. AL, several minusc.
20 WcCAKL; om. S*BC, Arm., edd.
comforts of this life? The world and I —what connection is there between us ? Verily the world is no otherwise than as a tree unto me: when the traveller hath rested under its shade, he passeth on.” Aug. on iv. 4: ‘Mundus iste omnibus fidelibus quzrentibus. patriam sic est, quomodo fuit eremus populo Israel”. αὐτοῦ, subjective genitive like σαρκός and ὀφθαλμῶν. τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, alone permanent amid the flux of tran- sitory things. Cf. Aug.: ‘‘ Rerum tem- poralium fluvius trahit: sed tanquam circa fluvium arbor nata est Dominus noster Jesus Christus. Assumpsit car- nem, mortuus est, resurrexit, ascendit in celum. Voluit se quodammodo circa fluvium temporalium plantare. Raperis in praeceps? tene lignum. Volvit te amor mundi? tene Christum.”
Vv. 18-29. A Warning against Here- tical Teaching. ‘‘ Little ones, it is the last hour; and, as ye heard that Anti- christ is coming, even now have many antichrists arisen; whence we recognise that it is the last hour. From our com- pany they went out, but they were not of our company; for. if they had been of our company, they would have abode in our fellowship; but the purpose of it was that it may be manifested that they all are not of ourcompany. And ye havea chrism from the Holy One, and ye all know. I did not write to you because ye did not know the Truth, but because ye know it and because every lie is not of the Truth. Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ ? This is the Antichrist—he that denieth the Father and the Son. Every one that denieth the Son neither hath he the Father; he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also. As for you, that which ye heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning, ye also in the Son and in the Father will abide. And this is the promise which He Himself promised us—the Life, the Eternal Life. These things I wrote to you regarding them that would lead you astray. And as for you, the chrism which ye received from Him abideth in you, and ye have no need that any one should teach you; but, as His chrism is teaching you re-
garding all things, and is true and is not a lie, and even as it taught you, abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, that, if He be manifested, we may have boldness and not be shamed away from Him at His advent. If ve know that He is righteous, recog- nise that every one also that doeth righteousness hath been begotten of Him.”
A heresy had arisen in the bosom of the Church (see Introd. pp. 156 f.). It was a fatal heresy, a denial of the possibility of the Incarnation, and therefore of the relation of fatherhood and sonship Ῥε- tween God and man. St. John’s empha- tic condemnation of it was justified, but his apprehension was groundless. He shared the prevailing expectation of the imminence of the Second Advent (cf. © (Cor ixs tty αν. ος Phill ivi5/ x Thess: σι εν ση.» Περ x. 255 Jamesrv. Ss) x Peter iv. 7; Rev. 1. I, 3, 11. 1, xxii. 7. το, 12, 20), and saw in the heresy an evidence that the end was at hand. It was rather an evidence that the Gospel was winning its way. The era of simple and unquestioning faith in the apostolic testimony was past, and men were be- ginning to enquire and reason. A heresy has the same use in theology as a mis- taken hypothesis in science: it provokes thought and leads to a deeper under- standing. What seemed to the Apostle the pangs of dissolution were in reality “ growing pains”.