He is. The present tense is very significant. Compare iii. 7, “is righteous even as He 7s righteous.” The essence of our being as He is lies in perfected love; and Christ is eternally love. ‘He that abideth in love abideth in God and God in him.” Compare iii. 2.
In this world. This present economy, physical and moral. The phrase limits the conception of likeness.
18. There is no fear in love (fo8os ove éctw év TH aya). Lit., fear is not. It has no existence. The fear is that spoken of inl Pet. i. 17; Heb. xii. 28; godly fear; filcal reverence: not slavish fear, as Rom. viii. 15. Jn love, lit., the love, that perfected love of which John has been speaking.
Perfect (redeia). Not perfected, as ver. 17, but perfect as the result of having been perfected. Compare Heb. v. 14; Jas. i. 4; iii. 2.
Casteth out (é Bddr«). A strong expression: turneth out of doors. Fear is cast out of the sphere of the fellowship of love. See the phrase in John vi. 37; ix. 34, 385; xii. 31; xv. 6.
Hath torment (xoAracw éye). Torment is a faulty transla- tion. The word means punishment, penalty. It occurs in the New Testament only here and Matt. xxv. 46. The kindred verb, corAdlouar to punish, is found Acts iv. 21; 2 Pet. ii. 9. Note the present tense, hath. The punishment is present. Fear by anticipating punishment has it even now. The phrase hath punishment (see on John xvi. 22) indicates that the punish- ment is inherent in the fear. Fear carries its own punish- ment. Augustine, commenting on the expulsion of fear by love, says: “ As in sewing, we see the thread passed through by the needle. The needle is first pushed in, but the thread eannot be introduced until the needle is brought out. So fear first occupies the mind, but does not remain permanently, be- cause it entered for the purpose of introducing love.” The words because fear hath punishment are parenthetical.