manifesting His glory. In the Epistle the manifestation of the glory is assumed as the basis of the exhortation to believ- ers to manifest it in their life. The doctrine of propitiation, which is unfolded to Nicodemus, is applied in 1 John iii. 1. The promise of the Paraclete in the Gospel is assumed in the Epistle as fulfilled (ii. 20). The Epistle deals with the fruits of that love which is commanded in the Gospel. (Compare Gospel xiii. 34; xv. 12, and Epistle iii. 11 ; iv. 7, 11; iii. 143 iv. 12, 20, 21.) In the Gospel the divine glory is prominent; in the Epistle, Christ’s humanity. The doctrine of propitiation and cleansing is more fully treated in the Epistle (ii. 2 ; iii. 165 PVALOK 1 nT. 9):
The epistolary character does not appear in the form. It is without address or subscription, and bears no direct trace of its author or of its destination. But it is instinct with personal feeling (i. 4; ii. 12), personal experience (i. 1), and appreciation of the circumstances of the persons addressed (ii. 12, 22, 27; ited, 136 sive 18),
The Second and Third Epistles contain no direct indication of the time or the place at which they were written. They were probably composed at Ephesus. That the two are the work of the same author is apparent from their agreement in style and spirit. As related to the First Epistle, the resemblance between the second and first in language and thought is closer than be- tween the first and third.