The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 141

How very strong, how very affecting, the expression of borne feeling and experience- t~-~ Fath,•r delighting in the Son, and the Son rejoicing in the Father's works (Prov. vm,) I How true to human nature, we should say, looking from our standpoint, or, rather, bow very like the human and the Divine, the seen and the unseen! We :find, fnrther, such words as these, "God so lover\ the world, that he gave bis only begotten Son;" "Herein is love, not that we loved Gorl, but that he loved ns;" " He who sparet.l not bis Son, but delivered him up for us all." There was sacrifice, then, on the part of God-the sacrifice of the Son of his love; anrl, in thinking of it, away with all callousness. It is a sacred theme, and is not to be approached with common feeling. There was no cessation, no diminution of affection-no, not for a moment. But what shall we say? We must, indeed, beware of ascribing to God human imperfection; but are we to think of him as an uninterested on- looker at Calvary? Would not the~e words, "God so loved the world," and other kindred words, be emptied of their vast meaning if, in our way of thinking, we arc not allowed to take into account the strong paternal affection? It is because the relation between Father and Son was so very close, so very intimate, that the straining of it for a time, in a human atoning life and death, was so very high and so very mysterious a manifestation of Divine love. And how shall we understand ho,v God felt in contemplating the cross? How shall we understand the meaning of his no~ sparing his Son, his not holding him back even from the altar of sacrifice, better than by such an experience as that of Abraham, or that of David when he uttered the lamentation, "0 my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom ! would God I had died for thee, 0 Absalom, my son, my son "? To gain this high end, viz. to enter into sympathy with God in the highest act and manifestation of his Godhead, is it not :fitting that the family relations are made so close and tender, and should we not be willing to bear the dismemberment of the family with all its hallowed associations? He in whose hands all these arrangements are is not severe or austere, as some say; he is the God of families, very tender and very compassionate; and in every home there should be an altar erected for his worship. (2) The brotherly feelings as con- nected with excellence in others. It is in this line that the apostle's thought chiefly moves. How are we helped to the conception of the Divine excellence? Partly by what of excellence we find in ourselves; but, beyond that, by what of excellence we find in others. It is in the Christian circle that true excellence is to be found. Friendship is not placed on a proper basis unless it is associated with Christian elements. Our conception of excellence is enriched from the past. We are greatly helped in this respect by the excellence exhibited by those two men-Paul and John. But there is additional help when we have actual experience of excellence in our own circle. We feel it to be more of a reality, we can lay more definite hold upon it, and our love is called forth into actual operation in all befitting forms. Divine excellence is the varied excellence apprehended in a wide circle, infinitely purified and heightened. And our love to God is more real, more definite, and flows forth more naturally, when we rise from excellence that is seen to excellence that is unseen. Let us, then, love our brethren sincerely, with appreciation, and within no nan·ow circle, that our love to God may have reality, definiteness, richness. "If ye love not the seen," says the apostle, " how can ye love the unseen?" (3) The missicmary feelings. "\Ve mean those feelings which we are to cherish toward a sinner, or toward a follow-Christian who has fallen into sin. It is the element of sin in thtir ob;'ect that broadly distin- guishes them from those feelings with which we regard kindred or friends. Here, too, as formerly, it holds true that the love of our brother-man, whom we see, is a medium through which we are helped to rise into the love of our Father-God, whom we do not see. What are the feelings with which we are to regard the sinner? 'l'here are some -and the thought of it is saddening-there are some who actually rejoice in the existence and prevalence of sin. A second class look upon sin as a weakness, or, what is the same thing, lay the blame upon circumstances. A third class treat it with utter indifference. 'l'he dust they tread uuder their feet gives them a.s little concern. A fowrth class, strange to say, find in it occasion for bitter, irreconcilable hatred. 'l'he man who has fallen from respectability is to be branded and cast ont, never to be received back. If we belong to any of these four cla~ses, then we are not true Christiane. For the Christian, by all holy memories, by all sacred associatio11,;, 138 l'HE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. [ou. 1v. 1-21,