No new commandment (ov« évtodnv Kawvnv). The Rey., properly, places these words first in the sentence as emphatic, the point of the verse lying in the antithesis between the new and the old. On new, see on Matt. xxvi. 29.
Old (madaiav). Four words are used in the New Testament for old or elder. Of these yépwy and mpecBitepos refer merely to the age of men, or, the latter, to official position based pri- marily upon age. Hence the official term elder. Between the two others, apxaitos and sradatos, the distinction is not sharply maintained. ’Apyaios emphasizes the reaching back to a be- ginning (a4pxn). Thus Satan is “ that old (apyaios) serpent,” whose evil work was coeval with the beginning of time (Apoc. xii. 9; xx. 2). The world before the flood is ‘“ the old (apyaios) world” (2 Pet. ii. 5). Mnason was “ an old (apyaios) disciple ; ” not aged, but having been a disciple from the beginning (Acts xxi. 16). Sophocles, in ‘ Trachiniz,” 555, gives both words. “Thad an old (adavov) gift,” ze, received long ago, “ from the old (4pxyaiov) Centaur.” The Centaur is conceived as an old-world creature, belonging to a state of things which has passed away. It carries, therefore, the idea of old-fashioned : peculiar to an obsolete state of things.
ITaXauos carries the sense of worn out by time, injury, sorrow, or other causes. Thus the old garment (Matt. ix. 16) is wanavov. So the old wine-skins (Matt. ix. 17). The old men of a living generation compared with the young of the same generation are maxatol. In madasos the simple conception of time dom- inates. In dpyatos there is often a suggestion of a character answering to the remote age.
The commandment is here called old because it belonged to the first stage of the Christian church. Believers had had it from the beginning of their Christian faith.
Commandment. The commandment of love. Compare John xiii. 34. This commandment is fulfilled in walking as Christ walked. Compare Eph. v. 1, 2.
8. New commandment. The commandment of love is both old and new. Old, because John’s readers have had it
FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. ool
from the beginning of their Christian experience. ew, be- cause, in the unfolding of Christian experience, it has developed new power, meaning, and obligation, and closer correspondence ‘“‘ with the facts of Christ’s life, with the crowning mystery of His passion, and with the facts of the Christian life.”
Which thing is true (6 éoruw ady3és). The expression which thing, or that which, refers either to the commandment of love, or to the fact stated, viz., that the old commandment is new. The fact that the old commandment is new is true in Him and in us. On the whole I prefer this.
In Him and in us. For us, read you. The fact that the old commandment is new, is true in Hm (Christ), since He gave it as a new commandment, and illustrated it by His word and example. It is true in yow, since you did not receive it until Christ gave it, and since the person and life of Christ are appealing to you in new lights and with fresh power as your Christian life develops. Zn Him, points back to as He walked.
Because. Explaining the apparent paradox.
The darkness (% cxotia). See on Johni.5. God is light ; and whatever is not in fellowship with God is therefore dark- ness. In all cases where the word is not used of physical dark- ness, it means moral insensibility to the divine light; moral blindness or obtuseness. Compare John viii. 12; xii. 35, 46; 1 John ii. 9, 11.
Is past (wapayerar). Wrong. The passing is not represented as accomplished, but as in progress. Rev., rightly rendering the present tense, 7s passing away.
The true light (7d das To dAnIwov). Lit., the light, the true (light). See on that eternal life (i. 2). True, not as dis- tinguished from false, but as answering to the true ideal. See on Johni.9. The true light is the revelation of God in Christ. See on 1 John i. 5.