The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 64

the Iloly One, and ye know all things. , , , But the anointing which ye har& received," etc. I. THE NATUilE OF THIS BLESSING. "Ye have an anointing from the Holy One." The" unction," or" anointing," does not signify the act of anointing, but the material which is used in the anointing-the oil, or ointment, or unguent. Hern it denotes the Holy Spirit, whom the Christians to whom St. John was writing had received. Prophets, priests, e.nd kings were anointed, and Christians are spoken of in the New Testament as "kings and priests" (Rev. i. 6); but we cannot see in our text any reference to either of these aspects of Christian character and life. The apostle is rather contrasting his readers, who had received the anointing from the Holy One, with the antichrists, who were opposed to the Anointed. As Alford expresses it, "The apostle Hets his readers, as xp11no6r, anointed of God, over against the avT!xp1<TT01." They possessed the Holy Spirit. He was within them as their Teacher, Comforte~, Sanctifier. This blessing is of unspeakable and inestimable worth. II. THE SOURCE OF Tms BLESSING. "Ye have an anointin:s from the Holy One;" i.e. Jesus Christ. In ver. 1 St. John speaks of him as "the Righteous." In eh. iii. 3 he says that "he is pure." St. Peter said to him, " We know that thou art the Holy One of God" (John vi. 69). And he afterwards spake of him as "the Holy and Righteous One" (Acts iii. 14). And he spake of himself to "his servant John" as "he that is holy, he that is true" (Rev. iii. 7). He baptizes with the Holy Spirit (John i. 33). He sends the Holy Spirit (John xv. 26). The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is ascribed to him (Acts ii. 33). Therefore we conclude that he, our Lord and Saviour, iij the Holy One from whom Christians receive the 11nointing; i.e. the Holy Spirit. III. THE EFFECT OF THIS DLESSING. "Ye know all things . . . . And ye need not that any one teach you." The " all things" cannot, of course, mean all things in science and art, in history and philosophy. An examination of the context will lea.cl. us to the true meaning. In ver. 20 St. John says, "Ye know all things; " in ver. 21 and the next sentence he says, "Ye know the truth;" and in the following verse and the next sentence he shows what the truth of which he had spoken is, viz. " that Jesus is the Christ." By the "all things," then, the apostle means "the truth . . . that Jesus is the Christ." All things in the Christian system are comprised in that one great fact. "He who knows this one thing," says Ebrard, "that Jesus is the Christ, knows already in that one thing all; there is no most distant height or depth of truth which is not contained or involved in that simple propo~ition." This interpretation includes other interpretations which are not so clearly drawn from the context; e.g. Alford, "All things needful for right action in the matter under considerntion;" Barnes, "All things which it is essential that you 8hould know on the subject of religion; " and others, " All things necessary to salvation." These and others are comprised in the knowledge "that Jesus is the Christ." This knowledge they attained by means of "an unction from the Holy Ont>." We do not understand that the Holy Spirit had co=unicated unto them new truths, or directly revealed any truth to them. But by reason of his influence they saw the truths which they had received, more clearly, and grasped them more firmly. This is well illustrated by Dr. Chalmers: The Spirit "does not tell us anything that is out of the reconl; but all that is within it he sends home with clearness and effect upon the mind. When a telescope is directed to some distant landscape, it enables us to see what we could not otherwise have seen; but it does not enable us to see anything which bas not a real existence in the prospect before us. The natural eye saw nothing but blue land stretching along the distant horizon. By the a.id of the glass thero bursls upon it a charming variety of fields, and woods, and spires, and villages. Yet who would say that the glass added one feature to this assemblage? And so of the Spirit. lie does not add a single truth or a single character to the b9ok of revelation. He enables the spiritual man to see what the natural man cannot sec ; but the spectacle which he Jays open is uniform and immutable. It is the Word of God which is ever the same." So the Holy Spirit had brought into clear and impressive light the things which they to whom this letter is addressed had learned from the sacred Scriptures and from St. John and other Christian teachers, and hail enabled them to realize their importance and power. And as a matter of fact, in unr own day we see persons whose educational  60 THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JvHN. [en. 11, 1-20.