ink. It is 1Lstonishing th1Lt any one 11hould 4, to which J)Rlls&ge the &postle mlly here ho suppnse that interconree on p&per is here consciously referring. 'fhe.t we.e ever one oppr,sed to spiritual interconree : obviously me.in purpoPe of his tellohing-the perfect• it is opposed to eon!lef'sation. The elder ing of ChristiAn joy. ,inst writes what is of urgent import&nce to Ver. 18.-The ohildren of thine eleot Bi1ter prevent f&tlll mistakes dming the present IIILl.nte thee. Why the change from "you" tim!', and leR vee everything else until he c&n (rpor ~µii,) in ver.12 to'' thee" (11'<) here, if talk mattere over with her. Xdp'T'l)r ie men- the letter is &ddreeeed to e. community? The tioned nowhere else in the New Testnment, change is very intelligible if "you" mee.ne bnt is found in the Septuagint (Jt:1r. xxxvi. "thee and thy family," nnd "thee" means 23); it probably me&ns "pnpyrus." Mi.\uv "thee in p&rticule.r." The elect sister herself occurs in the parallel passa.ge 8 John 18, sends no greeting, because she docs not Ii ve, and in 2 Cor. iii. 8; it W&S commonly made as these children of hers do, ne.ar the npostle; of lnmpblack or other l!OOt, and hence the perhe.pe she is dead. This message to the name. lint I hope to oome 'D.llto yon; lite- elect lady from her sister's children is, per- rally, I hopt to come to be (-r•v•tT8aJ) at your he.ps, intended es a delicate intimation the.t 1umse. Tipin /,µii.r is here very much the same they know why the elder is writing, e.nd R6 the French chez t1ou.B. So e.lso Tpor 71µiis, join in hie affectionate warning. " The lest Me.tt. xitl. 56 (comp. I Cor. xvi. 7; Gsl i. sentences of this letter to the elect lady 18; l Thess. iii. 4; Phil em. 18). "Fe.ea to remind us the.t it is whe.t it professes to be- face " ( n6µ,,. 7rpbs trr6µ,,.) is exe.ctly the e. letter to a friend; the.t the friendship we.s French bouche a bouch& The phrase oocnrs the more natural and human beoouse it we.a only here e.nd 8 John H in the New Teet&- grounded on the truth ; and that other ment. In l Cor. xiii.12 we have rp6tT,,,1ro11 ..-por )&dies also elect were, like this one, not .-pl,11',,,,,.,,,,; but tbere the emphatio thing is nnns, but mothers" (Maurice). The con- tbe.t the two shonld Bee one e.nother. Here cluding" Amen" at the end of this Epistle, the specie.I point is tbet they should cont1erBe as e.t the end of most of the Epistles, is with one e.nother: e.nd thie is more cle1Lrly spurious. Gsle.tians, e.nd perhe.ps 2 Peter, expressed by "mouth to mouth" th&n by seem to be the only instances in which the " fe.ce to fe.ce." For the ph.rase, "that your "Amen" ia genuine. joy me.y be fulfilled," see note on 1 John i.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-13.-.An apostolic pastoral, to a Christian fami1y. Thie Epistle is written by the Apostle John to a Christian family. He, like the Apostle Peter had done before him (1 Pet. v. 1), styles himself a presbyter. His .l:<'irst Epistle was written to a Church or to the Churches. In this, the Second Epistle, we have a priceless fragment of early Christian history, showing us the relation which subsisted between the apostle and e. Christian family, and also to how large an extent the new Christian faith was in some instances moulding family life, by leavening it with the truth of God. It is to us &lllJlrising to find how many difficulties have seemed to gather round the question- Was the Epistle written to a society or to &n individual? The former conclusion was drawn by some owing to the form of address being the second person plural; the latter, owing to the phrase, "to the elect lady." 1 We do not adopt either hypothesis, but regard the phrase, "to the elect lady and her children," as a sufficient indication that the letter was writteu to a Christian family. With this supposition every phrase in the Jetter harmonize~. We do not know, indeed, the name of the surviving head of tLe family; but so many particulars concerning the family may be gathered from the letter, that we can retain, after studying it, a fairly clear and distinct impression of Cl,ristiau family life in the first century. Tbere are several features about it, which one by one may be su.ggesti ,·e of much instruction. I. IT WAS A FAMILY WHERE "THE TRUTH" WAS RECEIVED A.ND EMBODIED. (Vera. 1, 2.) What the apostle meant by "the truth" none can doubt who know his writings. Nor can any one who has enthroned the Saviour in his heart as the Son of God and the King of men, have any misgiving as to whether he has the truth or no. 'l'o him, the life he has in Jesus, and the love of him and from him which are shed abroad in bis heart by the Holy Ghost, forbid him going any further in search of the trnth, ~ reasons given by CanOII We11tcott, et al., age.jnet taking K6p"f to be a proper ne.m!l 1
UI', in our judgruent, d"1Jiai"' 1-13.] 'l'HE SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN. 5