The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 77

Yer. 6.-Every one that abideth in Christ B1ai1'1ere1·, asin Job i. an<l ii. (comp. John xiii. ips<' facto sinneth not; for, if he sins, he 2; Rev. ii. 10; xii. 9, 12; xx. 2, 10). The ce1toes to abide in him. Just in so far as he devil sinneth from the begiD.D.ing ( ,i,r' abides, be does not sin. Or it may mean aexiis). From the beginning of what? th1tt he who abides in Christ cannot de- ]< rom the beginniug of sin. 'l'he devil wne liberntR!y 1tnd habitm1.lly sin. But then the first sinner, and has never ceased to sin. would not St. John have written," He thnt Other ansv.,,TS 11.re: from the beginning (1) abideth in Clnist abideth not in sin"? But of the devil, (2) of the oreation, (3) of the main difficulty is in the second half. human history. Some of these are eca1-coly In what sense is it true that every one that in harmony with Scripture; none, perhaps, Binneth bath not seen Christ 1 In the main fit the cou text so well as the explo.no.tion two explanations are given. (1) The Greek adopted. If the deYil committed the first perfect exprc.sses the present and permanent sin, and ha.a sinned unoeaeingly ever since, result of a pnst action, oud is often equiva- then whoever sins is akin to him, ie morally lent to a present. No doubt; and all would hie offspring (John viii. 44 ). There is the be easy if we had only to deal with f-yvo,1<,, kingdom of God and the kingdom of the which means, •• he bath come to know," evil one, and man cannot find or make e. equimlent to "he lmoweth." But does third domain; if he is not in the one he is i<!,pC1K• ever mean "he se6th," as Alford in the other, This verse, like John viii. 44, suggests as the best rendering for a version? seems to be conclusive ae to the personal If St. John simply means that whoever sins existence of the devil. 'EK -rov 6,u/30>..ou thereby ceases to see and know Christ, he balances iK Tov 0•oii: if the one is a mere would hardly express himself thus. (2) personification of a tendency, why not the The fact of the man's sinning proves that other? Both should be personal 01· neither. his perception and lmowledge have been "It is not true that St. John speaks eo con- imperfect, if not superficial, or even imagi- fidently of a devil because he was a Jew and nary; just as the fact of Christians leaving was filled with Hebrew opinions. For once the Church pmves that they never were that the devil ie introduced in the Law, rea.Jly members of it (eh. ii. 19). This expla- the Psalms, and the Prophets, he is spoken nation is prefera hie. In ver. 2 we were told of twenty times in any Gospel or Epistle" that seeing God will make us like God ; and (Maurice), and not least in the Gentile similarly, to see and know Christ make us Lulre. With the latter half of ver. 8. like Christ. Whoever is unlike Christ, to comp. ver. 5. Christ's act in.removing our that ext.ent b&s not seen nor come io know sins from us destroys the devil's works; for him. The best of ue, it may be, have seen by the manifestation of the Light (John i. 5) but the hem of his garment. the darkness ie dispersed and destroyed. Ver. 7.-St. John repeats his declnration Oar sins are the evil one's works: what is with emphasis and fresh considerations; sin in ue ie hie natural occupation. (Fo1· hence the repetition of the tender address >..o,win the sense of unbinding or dissolving, ( eh. ii. 1), " Little children, let no one ever and therefore destroying-a use specially fre- seduce yon int.o the belief that character quent in St.John-comp.'Jobn il, 19; v.18; and practice can be sepa.ra.ted. He that vii. 23 ; x. 35.) The </Jcvlpo,'1'1s includes the doeth righteousness ie righteous; for a whole work of Christ on earth. righteous man inevitably practises righ- Vere. 9-12.-Sin ie absolutely incom- teousness." There are always persons who patible with being born of God, as ie shown endeavour to reconcile religion with moral by the presence or absence of brotherly Jove. laxity; and in St. ,Tohn'e day some Gnostics Ver. 9.-Having stated that every one that definitely taught that conduct we.a imma- doeth sin ie of the devil, St. John now states terial to the spiritue,1 man, for no external the opposite truth, but from the othel' side; acts could defile such. " The external acts," not "every one that doeth no sin ie of says St. John, "prove the man's spiritual God," which hardly needs to be stated ; but character and origin. He that doeth righ- every one the.t ie begotten of God doeth no teousness is righteous and is of God: be that sin, which is startling. Who, then, can be doeth sin is of the devil." Note the differ- begotten of God? But the statement is ence between "even ae" in vers. 3 and 7. similar to that in ver. 6, and is to be simi- There ,,aJ),I,s introduces a pattern ns a fresh larly understood. So far ue e.ny man sine, motive for self-purification; here it intro- his regeneration ie incomplete. If the new duces a comparison. Christ is righteous, birth from God were perfect, sin would be and his che.xacter produces nothing but morally impossible (ob 36vu'l'u1 dµap-rav,iv). rigbteonsoeee; so also is it with the righ- The new principle of life abides and grows teous Christian. in him, and, under perfect conditions, it en- Ver. 8.-The contrary position given to tirely prevents the old unregenerate nature ma.ke the statement clear and emphatic. from 1·ebelling. Nc,te the.t St. John does ".rhe devil <o 6<Ci.{3o>..os) is the great accu,er or not say o~ 6011,mu aµq.pniv," cannot commit a en. m" 1-24.J Tf.IE FiltST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. 73