The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 58

etornnl, that they should kr.ow thee the only trne God," etc. Again, this knowlerlge is intimately nnd vitally related to Jove. "Every one that loveth is begotten nf God, 11nd knoweth God. lie that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God i~ love." It is by love that we know him. Without love we cannot know him; the more we know him the more we shaJJ love him, and the more we love him the more clearly and fully shall we know him. Yet, fully and perfectly, we can never know him. The ocean cannot be contained in a tea-cup. The finite cannot comprehend the Infinite. To the most advanced and holy of created intelligences God must ever remain incomprehensible. But we may know him truly, savingly, progressively, blessedly. II. THE PROOF OF THIS EXALTED ATTAINMENT. "Hereby we know ilaat we know him, ifwe keep his commandments," etc. The sure evidence that we know him is" keep- ing his commandments" and" keeping bis Word." The idea of the word ( ivTo;,,.f,) which St. John uses here is "that of a charge laid upon us by one whom we ought to obey, a charge which love and duty urge us to fulfil, instead of the old idea of a law enforced by penalties, under which the slightest rlereliction of duty constituted us transgressors. In short, he regards the Christian's duty as of personal rather than legal oblig~t.ion "(Pro- fessor Lias, M.A.). It is certain, as Ebrard says, that "his Word" (ver. 5) means essen- tially the same as" his commandments." "Nevertheless,' bis Word' is not perfectly synonymous with the' commandments,' but rlenotes the revelation of the Divine will as one whole." The word translated" to keep" (-r11peiv) will repay notice. It means" to watch, to guard, to watch over protectively"-" guarding as some precious thing." Thus it comes on to signify" to observe practically"-" observing to keep." When it is used to express obedience, it is obedience because the commandments and the Word are esteemed as precious, and a.re regarded as treasures not to be broken. "The Law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good." 1. This keeping is habitual. 'l'his is indicated by the use of the present tense in ver. 3: "if we keep." It does not denote the perfect keeping of the commandments without any omission or defect, but their habitual observance. It does not mean sinlessness, but that he who knows God, as a rule obeys him; he does not "walk in the darkness," bnt "in the light." 2. This keeping is the development of love. "Whoso keepeth his Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected." There has been much discussion of the question whether the love of God to man or the love of man to God is here meant. 'l'he discussion seems to us unnecessary. God is the great Fountain of love. All love flows from him. "We love, because he first loved us." Our love to him and our love to each other are effects of his love to us. If, therefore, we say that the love of God in this verse is our love to him, we speak of his own love in one of its effects. The love of God has been perfected in him who keeps his Word. This cannot mean that the love to God of that man who keeps his Word is so perfected as not to admit of further growth or progress. We may get at the meaning :thus: love aims at obedience, delights in obedience. Our Lord demands obedience as an evidence of our love to him (John xiv. 15, 21, 23, 24; xv. 10). If we take "perfected" as meaning that which is appropriately developed, that which has attained its end, then we see how love is perfected in keeping his Word. Our love to him is the effect of bis love to us, and his will is that we should express our love to him by keeping his commandments, and when we do so his love attains its design- it is perfected. 3. This keeping is ;'oyous. It is the keeping, not of that of which we wonld fain be rid, but (as the verb implies) of a prized treasure in which we delight. It is joyous, too, because it springs from love. Obedience to those we love is delightful. God's "service is perfect freedom." Where this obedience is not, the profession of the knowledge of God is false. "He that sa.ith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." A man may be well versed in theology, may hold an orthodox creed, may be a member of a Christian Church, and may profess that he knows God, but if he does not heartily keep his com- mandments he "is a liar." "They profess that they know God; but by their works they deny him" (Titus i. 16). Let us examine ourselves by these inspired tests. Aro we vindicating our Christian confession by our obedience to Divine cornman,ls? Are we expressing our love to God by a life conformed to his holy will? If we arc, let us rejoice that we have in this n well-fo~nrlcd ass_urnnco "that we kn?w him." .And let no one dishonour Gorl and delude himself with the false pro[css\On that he knows him.-W.J. 54: THE FinST EP[STLE GENERAL OF JOHN. [en. n. 1-20.