The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 134

Vers. 7-21.-Threefold recomm1mdation of the duty of loving one another. I. Tmi: DUTY RECOMMENDED, FROM LOVE HAVING ITS ORIGIN IN Goo. The duty en;'oined, '' Beloved, let us love one another." John has a winning way of urging duty addressing his readers as objects of his affection, and desiring himself to be stirred up t; duty. Ilo has in viC'w the" absolute type of love" (Westcott) in the Christian circle. There nro cons~demtions adduce~ ~·hich go beyond brotherly love, which suggest rnther com- pa.ss1011nle love. But 1t 1s to be remembered that love to child, to friend, to sinner, is int<·ndcd to have its outcome and complete sntisfaction within the Christian circle. 1. Dfri11e 01·igfr1 of love. (1) Po.<itive. "!<'or love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God." It is true of all physical force that there is in the world, that it is of God, in this sense-that it came originally from the creative energy of God. In the same way, love is of God, inasmuch as we have been created with a capacity of loving. But that will not meet the requirement of the thought here, Love is of God iu tbe sense that, as an actual spiritual force, it has come from a fountain of love in God. Every one that loveth, then, is begotten of God, i.e. has had a nature imparted to him like God's, and so that he is a child of God. He also knoweth God, i.e. has daily and growing acquaintance with God, through which there is com- municated to him more of the force of Divine love. (2) Negative. Statement. "He that lo,·eth not knoweth not God." There is not derivation in this case; but there is tbe singling out of a person in whom love is not II force, and it is said of him (passing over nature) that he knoweth not God. The difference of tense, which is not brought out in the translation, seems to be aimed at apparent knowledge. When he said, at his baptism or at any other time, that he knew God, looking to the absence of love as a force in bis life, John is confident that he never knew him. Reason. "For God is Love." This is the way in which the most sublime statement of Scriptnre is the first time introduced. One of the most striking introductions to a sermon is that by the late M. Mono<l of Paris, in which be supposes an almost effaced bit of paper to have been found among ibe ruins of Herculaneum. After great difficulty, the assembled men of letters succeed in deciphering the first two words," God is --." There is dreadful suspense, while they labour to decipher the third word. Vvbat is God? is a question upon the answer to which human destiny very much depends. There is a glow of satisfaction when, at last, they make out letter by letter 1-o-v-e. God is Love. It was left to the disciple of love to make this late, but fully satisfying, announcement about God, if from his own consciowmess, also from the spirit of inspiration. God is a Spirit-that is a state- ment of our Lord's recorded by John, describing the Divine nature as above all limita- tions of i;pace and time. God is Light-that is a statement already made in this Epistle, describing the Divine nature as purity with no limit to its diffusiveness. God is Love- that is a statement the excellence of which lies in its bringing out the personal element in the Divine nature. This God is essentmlly, apart from all thought of creation. But how are we to think of him as love in the depths of his own being? " Love involves a subject and an object, and that which unites both" (Westcott). "We must not, therefore think merely of the love of God to the creature, but also of the inner Divine Trinitari~n love in God" (Ebrard). There is the outgoing of infinite love in the Father which finds an infinite response in the Son, and this is maintained through the Spirit. 'l'hat language is vague; but it_ may serve to mark th? loving i_ntercommu~ication t~at there is within Godhead. It IB because God essentially realizes love, without gomg outside of his own being, that he is Self-blessed. 2. The love of Uod was =ifested in the lr.carnatum. "Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." There is ~he full satisfaction of love within Godhead; and yet there was a movement of love with an object "beyond Godhead. It was love that moved God to create-the desire to com- municate of the riches of bis own Being. It can be said that, eve □ from eternity, we lay in the thoughts of God, with the clearness of the Divine intentions and the kindling of the Divine affection a.round us. And so ihe place of all beings and of all things in his world OH, 1v. 1-21.] 'rHE FIRB'l' EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. 131