The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 30

worlcl nncl the lovo of the }'nther ore obso- Rpply to all those n,cldresserl in the Epistle; lutcly incompntible, which must we choose? and this helps to fix the meaning in ver. !B. Not the former, for its object is a.lrea<ly It is the last hour. What does this mean ·1 pnssing nwny; while not only cloes the There is scarcely ~oom for doubt. The Father o.bicle for ever, but he who loves him periehe.bleness of the world has suggested e.ml cloes his will obicles for ever also. The the thought of its end, and St. John goes on antithesis, a.s usual, is o. progress; it carries to warn his readers that this thouaht0 is full us beyoncl the limits of the original state- of meaning to them; for they may recognize ment. The world is passing away like a the timo in which they are living e.s the dissolving view. It has its sentence of <leo.th last hour by the many e.ntichrists that have in itself; its decay has begun. And even arisen. "The last hour" can only mean if it were not passing away, our capacity for the last hour be/Me the second eoming of enjoying it would none the less certainly Christ. Nothing but the unwillingness of come to an end. "The sensualist does not Christie.ns to admit that an apostle, and espe- know what the delights of sense are; he is cially the Apostle St. J oho, could seem to out of temper when he is denied them; he be much in error e.bout the nearness of the is out of temper when he possesses them" day of jnclgment, could have raised :a (Maurice). To love the world is to loae question e.hout le.nguage so plain. All everything, incl ucling the thing loved. 'fo explanations about its signifying the love God is to gain him and his kingdom. Christian dispensation, or the nearness of Some men would have it that the external St. John's death, or the nearness of the world is the one thing that is certain and destruction of Jemsalem, must be firmly eet permanent,_while religion is based on a mere aside. How could the rising of antichriste hypothesis, and is ever changing its form. show that the Christian dispensation had St. John assures us that the very reverse is begun? It was Christ, not antfrhrist, that the case. The world is waning : it is God showed that? What had antichrists to <lo afone and his faithful servants who abide. with St. John's death? or with the fall of As St. Augustine says," What can the world Jeruealem, which, moreover, had fallen promise? Let it promise what you will, it many years before this Epistle was written? makes the promise, perhaps, to ono who to- Just as the apostles, even after the Resur- morrow will die." The will of God is the rection (Acts i. 6), remained grossly ignorant exact antithesis of" all that is in the world." of the mture of Christ's kingdom on earth, The one is the good power "that makes for so to the last they remained ignorant of its 11.ghteousness; " tho other is the sum of the duration. The primitive Church had not evil powe1·s which make for sin. Abideth yet found its trne perspective, and, in for ever is literally, abideth unto the age (µlv<1 common with all Christians of the first age, •ls -rov a.,i.>va.). The notion of endlessness is, the apostles believed that Christ would perhaps, not distinctly included; for that we return soon, possibly within the lifetime of should rather have had •ls -roos a.ii.>vas -ri.>v some then living. " Yea, I come quickly " a.l~vow (Rev. i. 18; xi. 15; xxii. 5). The con- (Rev. :uii. 20) was by them understood in trast is not between "passing a.way" nnd the most literal sense of -ra.x6, But it will "lasting for ever," but between " passing not surprise those who remember Christ's away " and abiding till " the age" comes. very strong declaration (Mo.rk xiii. 32), to But e.e " the age" ie tho 11ge of eternity as find even au apostle in ignorance as to the distinguished from this age of time, the ren- time of the second advent of Christ. But dering "11.bitleth for ever" is justified. The it ruay very rensone.bly and reverently Jew e used" this age " and" the age to come " be o.skecl, What becomes of the inspiro.tion to distinguish the periods before e.nd after the of Scripture if e.n inspired writer tells the coming of the Messiah. Christians adopted Church the.t the end of the world is near, the same phrases to indicn.te the periods when it is not near? 'l'he question of bP.fore nnd after Christ's second coming; inspiration must follow tho.t of interprete.- e.g. o a.iwv o~-ros (Luke xvi. 8; Rom. xii. 2; I tion, not lead it. Let us patiently e::.amine Cor. i. 20), 6 vvv al~v (1 Tim. vi. 17; 2 Tim. the foets, and then try to frame a theory of iv. 10; Titus ii. 12), e.s opposed to d a.iwv inspiration that will cover them; not first E/CE!VOS (Luke xx:. 35), 6 aiwv 6 tpx&µ•vos frame our theory, and then force the facts (Luke xviii. 30), 6 µ,Mow (Eph. i. 21), and to o.gree with it. But the question in its vc1·y frequently, ns here nnd lhi'Oughout St. proper pie.ea requires an answer. T!J.e Ohl John's Goepel and Epistles, simply 6 a.l~v. 'l'csto.ment prophets were often guided to In Revelation the invariable expression is utter language the Divine meaning of which Eis ToOs cilWvas- TWv al~vc.,v, tho -r~v being they did not themselves understand. They omitted in Rev. xiv. 11. 'l'he exact weo.niug uttered the words in one sense, and the here, therefore, is "abideth unto the nge," words were t.1:ue in a far hil(her sense, of i.e. the cowing of Christ's eternal kingdom. which they sce.rcely dreamed. The same Ver. 18.-Children (1ra1Bla) here inuBt thing is true of the New Testrunent. prophets, 26 'l'HE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. [en. n. 1-29,