The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 9

light; for the Ao,-o, is the Rc,·elntiou oft.he (John viii. I?.; xi. 9, 10; xii. 35; xxi. 18: l'Hlher's nature. Thnt God is, in his very Uov. xxi. 24); this activity will inevitably nat.ure, lig-ht, is l\n nnnounoement peculfar express tJ10 ,cowowla in which we live. To to St. John. Others tell us that he is the have communion with him who is Light, nnd Father of lights (Jas. i. 17), the Possessor be continually-exhibiting e. life of darkness, of light (1 Pet. ii. 9), dwelling in light is impossible. The Cnrpocrntio.ns and other (1 Tim. vi. 16); but not that he is light. Gnoslics, who taught that to the enlightened To the heutben God is I\ God of d,nkness, all action is indifferent, becnusa neither an u11known Being; a Power to be blindly purity nor filth can change the ne.tura or propitiated, not a Person to be known l\nd pure gold, e.re perhaps here aimed nt (Man- love<l. To the philosopher he is an ab- sel,' Gnostic Heresies,' pp. 117-121). We straction, an ille,i, not directly cognizable lie, and do not the truth. As in ver. 5, St. h· nian. To the Jews he is a God who John eufor<'es a statement by denying the h1det.h himself; not light, but a consuming opposite. But the negative is not a mare fire. To tbe Christian alone he is revealed equivalent of the positive; the two together as light, absolutely free from everything im- mean, "we are fnlsa both in word nnd deed." pure. material, obscure, and gloomy. Light Truth with St. John is not confined to was the first product of the Divine crcati,·o language; it is exhibited iu conduct also energy, the earnest and condition of or<ler, (or. ,ro«i'v 1/,•v~os, Rev, xxi. 27; xxii. 15). beauty, life, growth, and joy. Of all phe- Ver. 7.-The contrary hypothesis is now nomena it b~st represents the elements of stated, and the thought is carried a stage Rll perfection. "This word 'liglit • is at further (of. ver. 9). He again speaks con• once tLe simplest and the fullest and tht1 ditiunally (/dv), and does so until oh. ii. 3: deepest which can be used in human dis- after which the participial substantive (6 course. It is addressed to every man who >..rywv, o a")'a,rolv, o µ111olv) represents the con- has eyes and who has e,er looked on the ditional clause. The change of verbs i.11 sun." H tells not only " of a Goodness and significant: we wallc, God is, in the light. Truth without flaw; it tells of a Goodness We move through time: he is in eternity. ,nd Truth that are al ways seeking to spread Our activity involves change; his does not. themselves, to send forth rays that shall Like the sun, he both is Light and dwells penetrate everywhere, and scatter the dark-. in the light; o.ud if we walk in the light, ness which opposes them" (Maurice). In which is his o.tmosphere, we have fellowship like manner, darkness sums up tLe elements one with another. Darkness is an unsocial of evil-foulness, secrecy, repulsiveness, and condition, and this the light expels. From gloom. In all but the lowest forn,s of ex- ver. 6 we might have expected, " we have istence it inevitably produces decay and fellowship with him;" and some inferior death. Everything of the kind is excluded authorities read µer' a/rroil. But St. John's from the nature of God. And lience St. repetitions are not mere repetitions : tho John, i.n his characteristic manner, imme- thought is al ways recut or reset to carry us diately emphasizes the great announcement a step further (cf. vers. 3, 4). ·Having fel- with an equivalent negative statement: lowship with one another is a sure result of Darkness in him there is not any at all that fellowship with God which is involved (comp. ver. 8; eh. ii. 4, 23, 27; iii. 6; iv. 2, in walking in the light. "Here is a reply 3, 6-8 ; v. 12). He does not say, " in his to those who would restrain Catholic com- presence," but "i.n hirn." Darkness exists, munion to their own sect" (Wordsworth). physical, intellectual, moral, nnd spiritual; Another result of walking in the light is there is abundauce of obscurity, error, de- that the blood of Jesus (his sacrificio.l death) pravity, sin, and its consequence, death. cleanses us day by day continually (present But not a shade of these is "in him." The tense) from our frequent sins of frailty. This Divine Light is subject to no spots, no cleansing is not the same as forgivenesij of eclipse, no twilight, no night; as a Source sins (ver. 9). The latter is the case of o of light it cannot in any degree fail. >..,llovµ.lvos, the man that is bathed (John Ver. 6.-A corollary from ,er. 5. If God xiii. 10); the former is the frequent washing is Liglit to the exclusion of all darknees, of the feet ( cf. Rev. vii. 14 ; xxii. 14 ). The tlien fellowship with darkness excludes fel- expression, the blood of Jesus, in Christian lowship with him. If we say ('a:v ,fowµ.ev); theology, "is dogma with pathos . . . . It "if any of us, no matter who he be, at any implies, as no other word could do, the time se.y." The construction marks the reality (1) of the human body of Jesus, (2) supposed action as one likely to occur. The of his sufferings, (3) of his se.crifice." By upostle includes himself in the possibility, his blood new life-blood is infused into e.nd of C(Jurse lie and his readers did say tl,at liuman nature. they had communion with God. By" walk- Yer. 8.-Aftor the great message," God is ~g" (repnran'Zv, vi;r•an) is meant our daily Light" (ver. 5) and its application to our- life, our movement and activi 1 y in the wnld selvea (ver11. 6, 7), we are llOW told whe,t 0B, I. 1-10.) 'l'HE FIRST EPJ8TLF. GENERAL OF ,JOHN. 6