189
b Ver. 2-6. Cf.comm.
2. ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκετε] τὸ Πνεῦμα ¢ Matt. z Vii. 15,
τὰ πνεύματα, εἰ Ὁ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστιν ' ὅτι πολλοὶ 5 ψευδοπροφῆται
“ἐξεληλύθασιν εἰς τὸν κόσμον.
τοῦ Θεοῦ ΄ way πνεῦμα ὃ ° ὁμολογεῖ ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυ- xxiv. 11, Odra,” ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ο. Ni at et ον ὃ μὴ case: sae 26 a ο t , Acts xiii. Incotv Χριστὸν ΄ ἐν σαρκὶ edpuddta,® ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστι " καὶ, ο. ‘TOUTS ἐστι τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἵ ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἐν 3 John 73 xiii. 3, xvi. 27, 28, 30, xvii. 8; 1 Cor. xiv. 36. e John ix. 22; 2 John 7. fii 8 reff,
1 ywooKete NCABCL, Syrph, Cop., Sah., Aeth., edd. ; γινωσκεται K, Syrvg, Vg., Aug.—an itacism.
*eAnAv9oTa ΜΝΑΟΚΙ,, edd. ; εληλυθεναι Β, Vg., WH (marg.).
3m οµολογει all Gk. MSS. and all versions except Vg.; Aver Socr. H. E. vii. 32 (of Nestorius) : αὐτίκα you 7 ἠγνόησεν ὅτι ἐν τῇ «καθολικῇ Ἰωάννου ἐ ἐγέγραπτο ἐν τοῖς παλαιοῖς ἀντιγράφοις ¢ ὅτι way πνεῦμα ὃ Aver τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστι. ταύτην γὰρ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐκ τῶν παλαιῶν «ἀντιγράφων περιεῖλον ot χωρίζειν ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς οἰκονομίας ἀνθρώπου βουλόμενοι τὴν θεότητα " διὸ καὶ of παλαιοὶ ἑ ἑρμηγεῖς «αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐπεσημῄναντο, ὥς τινες εἷεν ῥάδιουργήσαντες τὴν ἐπιστολήν, λύειν ἀπὸ
τοῦ θεσοῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον θέλοντες. Iren. Tesum, non est ex Deo.
omnis spiritus qui solvit Iesum. Aug.:
Orig. in Matth. Comm. Ser. 65 (Lomm. iv. p. 360).
III. xvii. 8: e¢ omnis spiritus qui solvit
Vg.: omnis spiritus qut solvit Christum (after
quoting omnis spiritus qui non confitetur Fesus Christum in carne ventsse).
3Χριστον om. AB, Syrvgph, Vg., Cop., Aeth., Arm.,
κυριον RY.
Iren., Orig., Socr., edd. ;
5 2y σαρκι εληλυθοτα om. AB, Vg., Cop., Sah., Aeth., edd.
God; he that is getting to know God hearkeneth to us; one who is not from God, hearkeneth not to us. From this νε get to know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.”
1. The Apostle has just said that the Spirit begets in us the assurance that God abidethin us. And this suggests a warning. The Cerinthian heresy also had much to say about “the spirit”. It boasted a larger spirituality. Starting “with the philosophical postulate of an irreconcilable antagonism between mat- ter and spirit, it denied the possibility of the Incarnation and drew a distinction between Jesus and the Christ (see Introd., Ῥ. 157). Its spirit was not ‘‘the Spirit of Truth” but ‘‘a spirit of error,” and thus ‘the necessity arises of ‘‘ proving the spirits”. δοκιµάζειν, of “proving” or “testing” a coin (νόμισμα). If it stood the test, it was δόκιµον (cf. 2 Cor. x. 18) ; if it was found counterfeit (κίβδηλον), it τς ἀδόκιμον (cf. 1 Cor. ix. 27 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 5-7). Cf. Jer. vi. 30 LXX: ἀργύριον ei ο ης .» + ὅτι ἀπεδοκί- µασεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος. ἐκ, here of commis- sion, not parentage ; ‘‘ from God,” as His messengers. Cf. John i. 24; xviii. 3; Soph., O.C., 735-737: amweordAnv... οὐκ ἐξ ἑνὸς στείλαντος. πολλοί: Cer- inthus had a large following. ἐξεληλ. -eis τ. κόσµ., a monstrous reversal of John xvii. 18. They went forth from the
Church into the world not to win but to deceive it.
2. The Test of the Spirits. γινώσκετε, as in ii. 29, may be either indicat. («γε recognise”) or, like πιστεύετε, δοκιμάζετε, imp -rat. (“recognise”). The former seems preferable. ὁμολογεῖ ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα, ‘“confesseth Jesus as Christ come in flesh,” an accurate defini- tion of the doctrine which the Cerinthian heresy denied. The argument is destroyed by the false variant ἐληλυθέναι, “con- fesseth that Jesus Christ hath come,” con- jitetur Fesum Christum in carne venisse (Vulg.)
Ver. 3. The Test negatively expressed. Omit Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα. τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν, "πε aforementioned Jesus,” “ Jesus as thus described”. py makes the statement hypothetical: “every spirit, if such there be, which doth not confess” The variant Aver τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν. solvit Fesum (Vulg., Aug.), “dissolveth” or “severeth Jesus,” {.ε., separates the dr vinity and the humanity, aptly defines the Cerinthian heresy. It was much appealed to in later days against Nesto- tius. The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (see crit. note) says it was the primitive reading, and was altered by “those who wished to separate the deity from the man of the Incarnation”. St. Augustine, defining heresy as schism due to lack of brotherly love, comments: “Το venit