It snbjectivcly in man. H is tbe last-named act which is specified here. 1. The Spirit of God comes within man,freely. "Given." The gift of the S1,irit witl,in id ns gratuitous on God's part BR the gift of his clear Son. lie is bcstowe•l by the ;:ion, as the Gift of the FRthcr'e love (Luke xi. 13; John i. 33; xiv. 16, 17). 2. The Spi,it of God, when within us, controls us. We are "led by the Spirit;" we "live i.n t-he Spirit;" we "walk in the Spirit;" and the entire direction of the new life is in his gracioua hands. 3. '1.'he Spirit of God, by controlling us, traniforms vs. We come to love as God loves. We come to be, in our measure, as the governing force of our spirits is. And since that is love, we love; we catch the holy impulse of the self- sacrificing zeal; and yearn to lay ourselves out for those around us. II. 'l'ms TRANSFORMATION TO THE DIVINE LIKENESS IS THE PROOF AND SEAL OF A DivmE INDWELLING. 'l'bis may be set in two ways. 1. Positively. (1) Thi~ dwelling of God in the heart is what is promised (John xiv. 23). (2) This is the conscious experience (Rom. v. 5). (3) This is the actual power (Gal. ii. 20). The living on another, drawing our life, joy, love, might, all from another, is as real to us as the air we breathe. AnJ if we have any likeness to God, it is to Go,l himself we owe it, and by fellowship with him it is nourished and increased. 2. Negatively. 'l'his lire of love cannot be attributed to any other cause; for: (1) It is not natural to us. (2) We did not get it from man. (a) Not from the world; for there man turneth "every one to his own way." (b) Not from tbe Church; for no one has power to impart the grace of love. (3) We never caught sight of such love till it was shown us in Christ. (4) Even then we never shared it till he who died for us breathed the new life within. Oh, if we have come to love like God, it can only be through the gracious indwelling of the God of love! III. 'l'HE FACT, BO ACCOUNTED FOB, HAS IN IT :MANIFOLD TEACHINGS. 1. For the unregenerate. They should learn what it is they need. Life, life within them! 2. For the inconsistent pi·ofessors. '!'hey want reality, not a sham life. 3. For those who do not know where they are in religion. Let them not waste time in "feeling their pulse;" let them open their hearts to receive God; they will soon know their state then. 4. For those seeking after the evidences of ahristianity. They will find them in men filled with the Spirit of God. 5. For the students of history. They will fiud a new world of love, slowly yet surely forming, under the power of the cross and of the Spirit of our God.
Ver. 14.-Tlie historic basis of the (Jh1·istian testimony. Connecting link: The mutuatindwelling of God in us and of our spirits in God is the result of a Divine revelation of love made to us on God's part, and of the reception of that love on our part. That love, which has been and is still the object of our adoring contemplation, -and to speak it out amoug the people is the business of our lives. "We have seen," etc. We may be permitted here to quote in full a note of unusual value from the 'Speaker's Commentary' upon this verse: "' We have seen with adoring wonder, and the impression of the sight abhles with us ( TE8edµ.e8u), and are bearing witness V,.<&fJTV- povµ.,v), that the Father hath sent [perfect] the Son as the Saviour of the word.' One of the numerous loops that bind the Epistle to the Gospel" (comp. John i. 32, 34; eh. i. 1-3; John xix. 35). J. 'l'HE RECORD DEFORE US IS THAT OF THOSE WHO WERE EYE-WITNESSES OF THE FA0TS OF THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIS'l'. (John i. 16; xix. 35.) In this Epistle (and in the Gospel by the same apostle) we have the history of our Lord's life given us by one who had followed with him, and who understood the meaning of that life at least as well as any other of the apostles. But we note- II. THAT THE EYE-WITNF.SSES OF THE EXTERNAL FACTS OF THE LIFE OF CHRJS'r LOOKED ALSO BENEATH THE SURFACE, AND BEHELD THE BIGNIFICA.NCE OF THE FAC"fS. Four distinct and lending features thereof are given here. 1. That Jesus Christ was "the Son" of God. Not merely a Son. Not a Son merely in the same sense that others may become. llut the only begotten Son; of the same nature with the Father. 2. That he was "1;cut" by the Father. 3. That he was ser.t to save-to save from ein. 4. '!'hat his mission was for the race. "The Saviour of the world." Ill. THAT TO BEAR WITNESS TO THESE FACTS WAS THE GREAT BUSINESS 01!' Tm:m J.lVES. "We do testify." They lived for this. They suffered for this. If ueed be, 112 THE FIUST EPISTLE GE!\ERAL OF JOHN. [cu. xv. 1-21.
the.v were prepared to die for it. To assert it over and over again they ga,•e up all thnt enrth cRl!s dear; they encountered opposition And fiery persecution; they counted not their Jives dear unto them. So that their testimony was of such I\ kind as could ,101 'P?ssi~ly be false. We say_ this, well weighing our words, and fully assured that the sment1fic vnlue of the testimony to the facts of our Lord's life, death, and resur- rection cannot be overestimafod, and that it is a question which demands more careful study from the unbeliever than many will consent to give to it. 'l'he testimony shmds thus: 1. It rests on & clear aud distinct historical basis. 2. It is given by mm who were eye-witnesses of the main facts they rclnte. 8. The meaning of the facts was directly opposed to their national expectations and prepossessions, nnd such ns they could only have been induced to give when all their prejudices were overborne by a Power from on high. 4. In such a life and work, so full of Divine meaning, there was a message presented to the people for them to believe (Johu xx. 31). The recep- tion of the message was intended to lead up to & living faith in Jesus as the Saviour of the lost (comp. John iv. 42). 5. Such faith in Jesus would ensure the privileges of $Omhip (John i. 12). With sonship would come fellowship, with fellowship knowledge of God. In this knowledge would be the eternal life (eh. v. 9-12). }Y, To RA\'E SUCH TESTIMONY BEFORE US I!IVOLVES US IN GREAT RESPONSIBILITY, S11ch a testimony, so given, with such a purpose, cannot leave us where it found us, We arc responsible to God for the use we make of such a message as this. We are bound (1) to bear de'l'outly and thoughtfully; (2) to receive it believingly and lovingly; (3) to use it (a) for the purpose of being saved by him who has come that he might sa,·e, and (b) for the purpose of joining in the witness-bearing, and so co-operating with Jesus in sa'l'iug others. His name is called "Jesus," for he saves his people from their sins,