‘* Beloved, if it was thus that God loved us, we a.so are bound to love one another. God—no one hath ever yet beheld Him: if we love one another, God abideth in us and His love is perfected in_us Herein we get to know that we abide in Him and He in us, because of Hls Spirit He hath given us. And we have beheld and testify that the Father hath commis- sioned the Son as Saviour of the world. Whosoever confesseth that Jesus is the Son of God, God in him abideth and he in God. And we have got to know and have believed the love which God hath in us.
‘“*God is love, and he that abideth in love in God abideth, and God in him abideth. Herein hath love been per- fected with us—so that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment— because, even as He is, we also are in this world. Fear there is not in love, but the perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth hath not been perfected inlove. We love because He first loved us. If one say,
4---τΙ.
τὸν Θεόν ᾿ 3 / ἐστίν. εν > ~ ‘ υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν , > Β a {ήσωμεν δι αὐτοῦ.
ἠγαπήσαμεν }
τειλε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ᾿ ἱλασμὸν περὶ τῶν ἁμορας ἡμῶν.
ΙΩΑΝΟΥ Α 8. 6 μὴ ἀγαπῶν, ’ οὐκ ἔγνω τὸν Θεόν ᾿
~ , ΓΣ µονογενῆ "ἀπέσταλκεν 6 Θεὸς εἰς τὸν μή ἵνα
ΤΟ. ἐν τούτω ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, "
19!
ὅτι 16 Θεὸς ἀγάπη P Fe ον
0. Ἐν τούτω ἐφανερώθη ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅτι τὸν 4 ἵν. 16.
r Johni. 14, 18, ili. 16, 18,
6 ι τ ον x. οὐχ ὅτι ἡμεῖς μας
τὸν Θεόν, GAN ὅτι αὐτὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἀπέσ- hi. 17, XX.
τπτ. ἀγαπη- t John iii.
τοί, εἰ “ οὕτως 6 Θεὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, "καὶ ἡμεῖς 5 ὀφείλομεν ἀλλήλους u Ver. το.
w John iii. 16.
x Rom. xiii. 8; Matt. xviii. 33; Rom. xv. 7; Eph. iv. 32; Col. iii. 13.
ν ii. 2 reff. y ii. 6 reff.
1ηγαπησαμεν ΜΕΚΙ,, Tisch., WH (marg.)—an assimilation to the other 4018. ;
ὐηγαπηκαµεν B, WH, Nest.
‘I love God,’ and hate his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, God whom he hath not seen, he cannot love. And this com- mandment have we from Him, that he that loveth God love also his brother.”
Ver. 7. St. John reiterates the “old commandment” (ii. 7-11). It is so all- important that he cares not though his readers be tired of hearing it. Cf. the anecdote which St. Jerome relates on Gal. vi. 10: “ Beatus Joannes Evangelista cum Ephesi moraretur usque ad ultimam senectutem, et vix inter discipulorum manus ad Ecclesiam deferretur, nec posset in plura vocem verba contexere, nihil aliud per singulas solebat proferre collectas nisi hoc: Filioli, diligite alterutrum. Tandem discipuli et fratres qui aderant, teedio affecti quod eadem semper audi- rent, dixerunt: Magister, quare semper hoc loqueris? Qui respondit dignam Joanne sententiam: Quia preceptum Domini est, et si solum fiat, sufficit.” Love is the divine nature, and those who love have been made partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter i. 4); and by the practice of love they “‘ get to know God” more and more.
Ver. 8. Conversely, a stranger to love is a stranger to God. οὐκ ἔγνω, “did not get to know,” 2.6., at the initial crisis of conversion. On μὴ see note on ii. 4.
Ver. 9. The Incarnation is a manifes- tation of the love of God because it is a manifestation of the divine nature, and the divine nature is love. ἐν ἡμῖν, “in our souls”—an inward experience. Cf. Gal. i. 16: ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν vidvy αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοί. μονογενῆ, cf. Luke vii. 12, viii. 42, ix. 38. St. John applies the term ex- clusively to Jesus. It carries the idea of preciousness; cf. LXX Pss. xxiii 20,