Vv.
> , ‘ , > ~ / A, c LA x Α, αἰτήσει, καὶ δώσει αὐτῷ ζωήν, τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι μὴ πρὸς
»” f , Ν η A 3 ΜΑΙ , , eg
ἔστιν ΄ ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον ' οὗ περὶ ἐκείνης λέγω ἵνα > η 3 g A > 5 , Π , > Rie a’ ae η , > ἐρωτήσῃ ' 17. "πᾶσα ἀδικία ἁμαρτία ἐστί ' καὶ €otw ἁμαρτία οὗ 19. Οἴδαμεν ὅτι "was 6 γεγεννηµένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ΚΙ. 13 reff. οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει ' ἀλλ᾽ 6 γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ! τηρεῖ ἑαυτόν,!
καὶ *6
1αντον A*B, Vg. (generatio Dei conservat eum), edd.
that prayer is always heard, never un- answered, the Apostle specifies one kind of prayer, viz., Intercession, in the par- ticular case of a “' brother,” i.e. a fellow- believer, who has sinned. Prayer will avail for his restoration, with one reserva- tion—that his sin be ‘‘not unto death”. The reference is to those who had been led astray by the heresy, moral and intel- lectual, which had invaded the churches of Asia Minor (see Introd. pp. 156 f.) They had closed their ears to the voice of Con- science and their eyes to the light of the Truth, and they were exposed to the operation of that law of Degeneration which obtains in the physical, moral, in- tellectual, and spiritual domains. Ε.σ., a bodily faculty, if neglected, atrophics (cf. note on ii. 11). Soin the moral do- raain disregard ot truth destroys veracity. Acts make habits, habits character. So also in the intellectual domain. Cf. Darwin to Sir J. D. Hooker, June 17, 1868: “I am glad you were at the Messiah, it is the one thing that I should like to hear again, but I daresay I should find my soul too dried up to appreciate it as in old days; and then I should feel very flat, for it is a horrid bore to feel as I consiantly do, that I am a withered leaf for every subject except Science”’, And so in the spiritual domain. There are two ways of killing the soul : (1) The benumbing and hardening practice of disregarding spiritual appeals and stifling spiritual impulses. Cf. Relig. Baxter, I. i. 29: ‘‘ Bridgnorth had made me resolve that I would never go among a People that had been hardened in unprofitable- ness under an awakening Ministry; but either to such as had never had any convincing Preacher, or to such as had profited by him”. (2) Α decisive apos- .asy, a deliberate rejection. This was the case of those heretics. They had ab ured Christ and followed Antichrist. This is what Jesus calls ἡ τοῦ Πνεύ- patos βλασφημία (Matt. xii. 31-32 = Mark iti. 28-30). It inflicts a mortal wound onthe man’s spiritual nature. He can never be forgiven because he can never repent. He is ‘“‘in the grip ofan
eternal sn (ἔνοχος αἰωνίου ἁμαρτήμα- τος)”. Cf. Heb. vi. 4-6. This is “ sin unto death”. Observe how tenderly St. John speaks: There is a fearful possi- bility of a man putting himself beyond the hope of restoration; but we can never tell when he has crossed the bound- ary. If we were sure that it was a case of ‘sin unto dea h,”’ then we should for- bear praying ; but, since we can never be sure, we should always keep on praying. So long as a man is capable of repent- ance, he has not sinned unto death. **Quamdiu enim venie relinquitur locus, mors prorsus imperium nondum occupat” (Calv.). δώσει, either (1) “ he (the inter- cessor) will give to him (the brother),” τοῖς ἁμαρτ. being in apposition to αὐτῷ, ‘“to him, 2.6. to them that, etc.” ; or (2) ‘* He (God) will give to him (the inter- cessor) life for them that, etc.” The former avoids an abrupt change of sub- ject, and the attribution to the intercessor of what God does through him is paral- leled by James v. 20.
Ver. 17. A gentle warning. “ Princi- piis obsta.” Alsoa reassurance. ‘ You have sinned, but not necessarily ‘ unto death’.”