The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 79

you. Here only does St. John use the St John to guard it with npostolic chivalry; a.cldrrss. "brethren," which is appropriate but 11lso this revelation of the heo.rt of God to the subject of brolh<'rly love. :Elsewhere melts him into tenderness townrds tllo rnco his rea,lcrs nre "children" or "beloved." which Jesus has loved so well. To St, Jollu '.!.'he "ii'" (,i with indiootive) expresses no a l11ck of love for men seems slleer dishouour doubl as to the fact, but states it gently and to the Jove of Christ" (Liddon). conditionalh·. Ver. lG.-In this (ver. 10; eh. ii. 8) we Yer. H,_:We know that we have passed have oome to know (have acquired 11nd pos- over out of dea.th into life (John v. 24), sess tile knowledge of) love (who.t love is), beoause, etc. "We" is emphatic; whatever in that he laid down his life for us. This the world may feel about us, we ha"l'e certain is better than "We have come to know b.7low ledge (not -ywd,tT1<0,,.,.,,, bat .;,µ.,ir oroa- love as consisting in this, that he le.id down µ,v ). The love of the brethren is the cause, his life for us," which would have been lv not of the pas,;ing over, but of our knowing -roor'f' oOtTav. Cain is the type of ho.te; it. It proves that we have passed. And this Christ, of love. Cain took his brother's life test ~rnry one can apply to himself; "Do I, to benefit himself; Christ laid down his or do I not, find the love of the brethren own life to benefit his enemies (see on witl1in me?" A Christian co.n no more John x. 12). This realized ideo.l of love . live without lo"l'e than a plant can live we must imitate; reo.dy to so.orifice our- without growth. :e:e Ulat loveth not abideth selves, and even our lives, for the good of in death : he has not made the passage others. The effacement of another's rights over. There is no e.ocueative after" loveth," and perhaps existence for one's own se.ke .,.,w aoeA</>Ov being a gloss. The statement is the essence of hatred; the effa.cement is quite general; absence of love implies an of oue's self for another's sake is the essence atmosp!Jere of death. of love. Christ .died for those who bated° Yer. J5.-As in eh. iv. 20, St. John him; e.nd the Christie.a must confront the passes at once from not loving to hating, hatred of the world with e. love that is ready treatiug the two as equivaknt, He takes e~en to die for the haters. 'l'his shows that no account of the neutral ground of indif- the "brethren" here e.nd in ver. H, though ference. He that is not for his brother is used primarily of Christians, does not ex- ago.inst him. Indifference is hate quiescent, clude unbelievers; otherwise the parallel there being nothing to excite it. Love is with Christ would be spoiled (see on ver. 10). the only security agaim,t hate. And ea Ver. 17.-" But (11,) if e. me.n not only every oue who does not Ion, is potentially fails to do this, but even steadily contem• e. hater, so every hater id poteutially e. plates (B""PU) ~other's distress, and forth•, murderer. A murderer is a hater who ex- V(ith (aorist, KAdtTfl) closes his heo.rt. ago.inst presses his hatred in the most P-mphe.tic we.y. him, although he has the means of relievjug A hater who does not murder abstains for him, how can he have any love for God?" various reasons from this extreme way of The meaning is not, "How can God love expre.;aing his hate, But the temper of him?" ae is plain from oh. iv. 20. But the two men is the same ; and it is ob- possibly "Jove such e.s God has shown to, • vious (o~ ....... "ye know what needs no evi- wards us" maybe mee.nt(ch.iv.10). "The dence") that every murderer is incapable world's goods" ( .-b11 fJ{o11 'Tov 1<otTµ.ov) is of pos~essing eternal. life. It is the mur- literally "the world's means of life" (see on derous teJnper, not the act of homicide, tho.t eh. ii. 16, and Trench on 'New Testament excludes from eterue.l life. St. John, of Synonyma,' for the difference between fJlos course, does not mean tl.Ja.t murder is an and (w-h). (For .,. .. tT,r>..d.,,x11a as the seat of Wlpardonable ain; but he shows that hate the affections, comp. Luke i. 78; 2 Cor. vi. and death go together, aa love and life, and 12; vii 15; Phil. i. 8; ii. 1; Philem. 7, 12.) that the two pairs a.re mutually exclusive. The 12,r' a.~rojj is graphic ; closes his heart How can life and the desire to extinguish and turns away from him (eh. ii. 28), life be compatible? It is very forced to in- Vera. 18-24.-As in eh. ii. 28, St. John terpret a.v8punro1<-ro11os as either " destroyer bursts out into pe1·soual exhortation ( comp. of his own sool," or "destroyer of the ver. 13; eh. iv. 1, 7), be.sed upon the pre- hated man's soul," by provoking him to ceding statements. He then restates the return hate for hate. motive in a new form both positively and Vers.16, 17.-The nature oflove as shown ne:,?;atively. by UhriBt, and its obligation on Christians. Ver. 18.-Little children ( 'TEK11la, the µ.ou Love he.e been declared the criterion for dis- being spurious). This address, as in cb,. ii. tinguishing the children of God from the 28, introduces the summing up of the section, children of the devil. It remains to show It ma.y be doubted whether the absence what love is ; aud this is bP..st seen in e. of l11 with the firtit pair (11.&,,'f' µ.116• "P !"'ncrete example. "The Eternal Word, ·1>..c.6tTtT!J) e.nd its presence with the second lllcarnate ~d dying for the truth, inspires (l11 fp"Yff 1<al i,J,.71Bd'f) indicates o.ny marked OU. llI. 1--24.) 'rHE Fms·r EPISTLE GENERAL OF ,JoHN. 75