10ο
g ]οῦπ xvi. -ὁ κ ἐστὶν 4 ὡς τῷ κόσµῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη. h John xiv. iii, 16 τεβ. 5. Αὐτοὶ ͵ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου εἰσί ' k John iii. A Ἡ vase ε , νι ρε 3 , 31, Vill. ὁ κοσμος αυτων ἄκουει. 44. 1 John viii. 43, 47: 2 . mi.Sreff; Ex τούτου Matt. XXVii. 64; ™ πλάνης. Eph. iv.
iV:
3 a“ - - , ‘ 4. ὙΥμεις ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστε, τεκνία, καὶ =e > Pia. εἰ /. Δ - a , Σγενικήκατε adtous*! ὅτι µείζων ἐστὶν 6 ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ 3" ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσµω.
διὰ τοῦτο * ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου λαλοῦσι, καὶ
6. ἡμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐσμεν ᾽ 6 γινώσκων a , 5 , ς - . λα > ” 3 - - 3 > , cia τὸν Θεόν, ἀκούει ἡμῶν ΄ ᾿ ὃς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐκ ἀκούει ἡμῶν. γινώσκοµεν τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς
2 , A 9 a 7. Ayatrntot, " ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους ΄ ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη ἐκ τοῦ
ον tae | ‘ ~ ας τα a ο 5 a A / ‘ ’ 14; James Θεοῦ ἐστι, και TAS ὁ ἀγαπῶν, ἐκ του Θεού γεγεννηται, και γινώσκει
ν. 20.
Ώ ii. 7, ili. 11: ο ii. 29, ili. 9.
lautous Aug. eum., 1.6., Antichristum.
colligere, tu venis solvere. Distringere vis membra Christi. Quomodo non negas Christum in carne venisse, qui disrumpis Ecclesiam Dei, quam ille congregavit ?” On the Antichrist see note on ii. 18. ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται, '' which ye have heard that it is coming”—the regular Greek idiom. Cf. Luke iv. 34: ot8a σε τίς el.
Ver. 4. tpets emphatic (cf. ii. 20, 27, iii. 14), aS contrasted with the deluded world. The faithtul are God’s delegates (ἐκ), bearing their Master’s commission and continuing His warfare (John xx. 21), and they have shared His victory (νενικήκατε). αὐτοὺς, 1.6., the false pro- phets (ver. 1). Eum (Vulg.); “Quem nisi Antichristum?” (Aug.). 6 ἐν ὑμῖν, i.e., God (cf. iil. 24); 6 ἐν τῷ Kécpa, 7.¢., 6 ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (John xii. 31 xiv. 30).
Ver. 5. αὐτοὶ (as opposed to ὑμεῖς) ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου εἰσίν, as its delegates, mes- sengers, representatives, and as such ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου λαλοῦσιν. λαλεῖν, not “speak” (λέγειν), ut “Stalk,” with a suggestion of prating (cf. John iv. 42). ἀκούειν takes accus. of the thing heard, genit. of the person from whom it is heard. Cf. Luke v. 1; Acts i. 4 (where both are combined). The world listens to those who sreak its own language.
Ver. 6. Conversely, those who are get- ting to know God, understand the lan- guage of His messengers and listen to it. ἐκ τούτου, {.ε, from their hearkening or not hearkening. Men’s attitude to the message of the Incarnate Saviour ranks them on this side or on that—on God’s side or the world’s. Of course St. John does not ignore St. Paul’s ἀληθεύοντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ (Eph. iv. 15). The message may he the truth and be rejected, not be- cause of the hearers’ worldliness, but because it is wrongly delivered—not graciously and winsomely. Cf. Rowland Hill’s anecdote of the preaching barber who had made a wig for one of his
hearers—badly made and nearly double the usual price. When anything parti- cularly profitable escaped the lips of the preacher, the hearer would observe to himselt: “ Excellent! This should touch my heart; but oh, the wig!’ τῆς ἀληθείας, see note on i. 8. τὸ πν. τῆς
πλάνης, ‘the spirit that leadeth astray”,
Vv. 7-21. The Blessedness of Love. ‘« Beloved, let us love one another, be- cause love is of God, and every one that loveth of God hath teen begotten and is. getting to know God. He that loveth not did not get to know God, because God is love. Herein was manifested the love of God in us, because His Son, His only-begotten, hath God commissioned into the world, that we may get life through Him. Herein is the love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and commissioned His Son as a. propitiation for our sins.