The Pulpit Commentary — 2 John — Section 2

J obn, " the apostle of Io,•e;" it also occurs Ver. 6.-And thia ill love; l.e. the love repeatedly in this short letter. Truth and which the commandment enjoins consists Jo.-e ore noble and natural oompanions. in this-active and unremitting obedience. They must not be severed on earth any Just as in the sphere of thought t1·u1.h must m!1re than in hPa.-en. In the Godhcnd tho be combined with love (see on ver. 3), so in two RT<' essentially united: '' God is Light" the sphere of emotion lovo must be com• and "God is Love." In human society they bincd with obcdionco. Warm feelings, ought to be united: truth without love be- whether towards God or towards man, a.re c-.omes cold, 8t,em, and even cruel; lo.-e worse than vnluclcss if they nro not united, without truth beoomes unstable and capri- on the ono hnnd with obedienco, on the cious. other with truth. This was the olect lady's Ver. 4.-1 rejoioe greatly that I have danger; in the exuberance of her ohurity found (carte.ill.) of thy ohildren walking in she was forgetting her obligations to the truth. The Revised Version is certainly truth aud the oomm!luclment. right in rendering ~~p711ea. "I have found" Ver. 7.-For. These a.re no mere gene- rather than "I found;" and it is probably ralities, nnd it is not without renson that right in rendering lx&p7111 "I rejoice" rather these facts are insisted upon. The dangers than "I rejoiced." It looks like the idio- which they suggest are not imaginary. matic "epistolary aorist," of which we have Mischief has alrcndy been done by neglect- had probable instances in I John ii. 21 and ing them. "Deceiver" (,rAttvos) here means 26. In this idiom the point of view of the "seducer," one who causes others to go recipient of the letter is taken instead of astray. The cognate verb ('1TAa.vijv) is fre- that of the writer. In Latin the imperfect is quent in St. John, especially in the Revela- used in a similar way-scribebam, dabamus; tion (ii. 20 ; xii. 9; xiii. 14; xix. 20; :u. and sometimes the perfect, scr1"psi, misi, and 3, 8, 10), and commonly iu<lioates seduction the like (comp. Acts ::aiii. 30; Phil. ii. 25, into grave error (comp. I John i. 8; ii. 26; 28; Philem. 11, 19, 21. See M:oulton's iii. 7). 'l.'he true reading (liijABov) gives Winer, p. 347). We are probably to under- "are gone forth," not "a.re entered" ( ,lcr- stand this verse as a gentle intimation on ijABov). We cannot be sure that "are gone the part of the elder that he has reason to forth" refers to their leaving the true know tliat oertain others of her children are Church; althongh 1 John ii. 18 inclines us not walking in truth. Through the elect to think so : it may mean no more than that lady's too indiscriminate hospitality, some they have gone abroad spreading their of her children have been seduced by the erroneous tenets. Just as " love not" in deceivers who have come to her bringing I John iii. 10, 14, 15 and iv. 20 is equivalent other doctrine than that of Christ. to "hate," eo "confess not" here is equi- valent to "deny." These seducers deny Vere. 5-11.-2. MAIN DITISION. Ezhor- "Jesus Christ as comin.g in the flesh," or tatum. Having thus stated what has led (as the Greek may possibly mean) they to his writing, the apostle pllSSes on to the deny" JesUB as Christ coming in the flesh." central portion of the letter (vers. 5-11), The present participle (lpx6µ.evov) seems to which consists of three exhortations: to indicate exactly the position of some of the Gnostic teachers. The Jew denied that the lo..-e and obedience (vers. 5, 6); age.inst Incarnation had taken place-the Messiah false doctrine (vem. 7-9); against false ha.d not yet come. The Gnostic denied that charity (vem. 10, 11). The transition to the Incarnation could take place : no such this practical part of the Epistle is indicated Person as the Christ coming in the flesh by the opening particles, "And now." was possible; that the Infinite should bi;- come finite, that the Divine Word should Ver. 5.-1 beseech thee, lady. The verb become flesh, wns inoonceivable. The has, perhaps, a tinge of peremptoriness about teacher who brings such doctrine as this it (,porri;): "This is a request which I have "is the dccei ver ailll the nntichrist" a.bout a right to mnk,,." Respecting the "new w horn the eider's children hacl been so fre- cou,mandmeut" and "from the beginning," quently warnecl. In the strong langunge 600 notes on I John ii 7. We may reason- which St. John here and elsewhere (1 John ably suppose that St. John is here remind- ii. 22, 26; iv. 1) uses respecting those who ing her of the contents of hie First Epistle. deny or pervert the truth, we hear the voice The parallels between this Epietle and the of the "son of tlrnilllor," ever jealous about First are so numerous and so close, that we whatever touched the honour of his Lord. cau scarcely doubt that some of th~m are Such hatred of error was the outcome of a consciollilly mo.<le. There are at least eight firm grasp, and profound love, of the truth. such in these thirteen verses, as may be It is easy to imitate !lnd to exceed suoh IIE>lln from the margin of a good reference strength of language; but let us bewo.re of Bible. doing so without having first attained le o.n 1-13.J THE SECOND EPit:!'i'LE 01'' JOHN. a