Commentary on 1 John

Commentary on 1 John

COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

1:1 " W ^ 7 7

H A T W A S FROM the beginning, what we %jL/ heard, what we saw with our eyes. The blessed

™ ™ apostle John wrote this Letter about the per fection of faith and charity, praising the faithfulness o f those who were persevering in the unity of the Church, demonstrat ing moreover the wickedness of those who were disturbing the peace of the Church with their wild doctrines, particularly the followers of Cerinthus and Marcion who argued that Christ did not exist before Mary. On their account, too, he wrote his Gospel. There, indeed, he declared in his own and in the Lord's very words that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, but here he brought forward what he learned from the Lord by his own utterances and refuted the foolishness of the heretics by his apostolic authority. Hence he quickly points at the outset of the Letter to the divinity and to the true humanity of the same God and our Lord Jesus Christ, saying, What was from the beginning, what we heard, what we saw. For the Son of God was from the beginning,

1 but the disciples heard the same Son o f God when he appeared as a human being and saw him with their eyes, a fact which he explained more fully in his Gospel. For what he says here. What was from the beginning, is what he says in his Gospel, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, this was in the beginning with God,

and what he appends here, what we heard, what we saw with our eyes, is what he appends there more fully,

And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we 1. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 1.1; PL 35:1978

2. Jn 1:1-2

Commentary on 1 John 1:1—1:2 saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father.

And lest he might appear to say too little in what he said, what we saw with our eyes, he added, What we observed, and our hands touched concerning the word of life.

In truth, they not only saw the Lord with their bodily eyes, just as the rest did, but they also observed him and beheld his divine power with spiritual eyes, particularly those who saw him glorified on the mountain, among whom John him self was one.

4 For what he says, And our hands touched concerning the word of life, overcomes the madness of the Manicheans who deny that the Lord took to himself a true body. The apostles could not doubt that this was a true body, inasmuch as they proved its genuineness not only by seeing but also by touching it, particularly John himself who, being accustomed to recline on his lap at supper,

touched his members more freely as he was nearer. But also after his resurrection from the dead their hands touched concerning the word o f life when they knew without doubt that he had received a true body, although now incor ruptible, hearing from him in person, Feel and see that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.

It is well said, however, And our hands touched concerning the word of life, because when they proved the genuineness of his body raised from the dead by examining it even with their hands, they knew for certain that he was the word of life, that is, true God. Hence Thomas, 7 who more especially was ordered to feel him, also confessed as soon as he felt his body, saying, My Lord and my God* 1:2

And the life was made manifest, and we saw it and bear witness. He is speaking about that life which says in the Gospel, / am the resurrection and the life,

9 which was made 3.Jnl:14

4. Mt 17:1-2 5. Jn 13:23

6. Lk 24:39

7. Aug., In loh. ep. 1:3; PL 35:1980

8.Jn 20:28

9.Jn 11:25

Commentary on 1 John 1:2—1:3

manifest, being revealed by the divine miracles [that he worked while] in the body. And the disciples, being present, saw that to which they bore witness with unquestionable veracity to later generations, when, as the same John wrote, as he was performing signs, he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

And because the apostle John bears witness that along with his fellow apostles he saw the life made manifest, let the heretic Apelles, who argued that the same life, that is, the Lord and Saviour, showed him self to the world not as God in truth but as a man in appear ance, be put to shame together with his followers. And we make known to you the eternal life which was with the Father and showed itself to us. He was with the Father in his eternal divinity, he showed himself to the world in time in his humanity.

1:3

What we saw and heard we make known also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and that our fellowship may be with the Father and with his Son, Jesus

Christ. Blessed John shows clearly that all those who desire to have fellowship with God ought first to be united to the fellowship of the Church and in addition to learn that faith and to receive its sacraments, which the disciples received from the truth himself while he was living in the body. Nor do they who believe through the teaching of the apostles belong less to God in any way than those who believed through the Lord himself while he was preaching in the world, except insofar as the quality of their faith or works sets them apart. Hence the Son himself, also entreating the Father for this fellowship of the saints which they have in the Father and the Son, says, Holy Father, keep those whom you have given me in your name, that they may be one, even

and a little bit further on, But not for these only do I ask but for those also who will believe in me through their as we; 10. Jn 2:11

11. Jn 17:11

Commentary on 1 John 1:3—1:6 word, that they all may be one, even as you, Father [are] in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us.

1:4

And we have written these things to you that our joy may be full. The joy o f teachers becomes full when by preach ing they lead many to the fellowship of the holy Church and to the fellowship of him through whom the Church is strengthened and increases, God the Father and his Son,

Jesus Christ. Hence Paul also says to those whom he was instructing in the faith, Make my joy full, that you may savor the same thing, having the same charity, being of one mind, savoring together.

1:5

And this is the message which we have heard from him and make known to you, that God is light, and there is no darkness in him. By this statement blessed John both shows the excellence o f the divine purity which we also are ordered to imitate when he says, Be holy, because I also, the Lord your God, am holy,

and demonstrates the mad teach ing of the Manicheans which claimed that the nature of God was overcome in war by the prince of darkness and was corrupted.

1:6

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we are lying and not telling the truth. He is calling sins heresies and hatred darkness. Therefore, the con fession o f faith alone is not at all sufficient for salvation when it lacks the witness of good works. But neither is the up rightness o f works o f any avail without faith and the sim plicity of love. For whoever is beset in any way by darkness cannot have fellowship with him in whom no iniquity exists.

For what fellowship does light have with darkness?

12. Jn 17:20-21 13. Ph 2:2

14. Lv 19:2

15. 2 Co 6:14

Commentary on 1 John 1:7

1:7

But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. The difference in words should be noted, because he says that God is in the light but we ought to walk in the light. For the righteous walk in the light, when observing the works of the virtues, they advance to better things; whereas the divine holiness, to which there is said, But you are the same,

properly is recalled as being in the light, because full goodness, always existing, does not find [a place] where it can advance. For to the faithful is said, Walk as sons of the light, for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,

but God, without any advancing, is always good, righteous, true. Therefore, if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. In this, namely, he gives clear evidence that we advance by walking in the way of the light, if we rejoice in the tie of fraternal fellowship with which we equally may reach the true light. But even if we are seen to do the works of light, to keep undefiled the rights of mutual love, yet not even thus ought we to consider that we can be cleansed from our sins completely by our own advance or effort, for there follows: And the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. For the sacrament of the Lord's passion has equally both freed us from all sins in baptism and the grace of our same redeemer forgives what ever we have committed through daily frailty after baptism, particularly when in the midst of the works of light which we do with humility we daily confess our errors to him, when we receive the sacraments o f his blood, when after forgiving our debtors we entreat that our debts be forgiven us, 1 8 when, mindful of his passion, we gladly put up with all adversities. Wonderfully, however, when he speaks of God does he say, And the blood of Jesus his Son. In truth, the Son of God could not have blood in the nature o f his divinity, but because the same Son of God also became the 16. Ps 102:27 (101:28) 17. Eph 5:8-9 18. Mt 6:12

Commentary on 1 John 1:7—1:9 son of man, properly, on account of the unity o f his person, he calls it the blood of the Son of God, that he may show that He took on a true body, truly shed his blood for us, and may refute the heretics who deny either that a true body was taken by the Son of God or that the Lord Jesus truly suf fered in the body which he took on. What Paul says is similar to this, The Holy Spirit has set you, the bishops, to rule the Church of God which he acquired by his blood.

1:8

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. This statement prevails over the heresy of Pelagius which claimed both that all children are born without sin and that the elect, as they be without sin, are able to advance in this life. But let him say also with the prophet, For see, I have been conceived in iniquities and my mother has borne me in profligacy.

We who have come into the world with fault cannot exist in the world without fault, but the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin, that our sins may not keep us under the authority of the enemy for the reason that the mediator between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ

2 1 gave up for our sake what he did not owe. For he who for our sake gave the death of his body, which he did not owe, freed us from the death of the soul, which we owed.

1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Because we cannot be without sin

2 2 in this life, the first hope of salvation is confession, lest anyone consider himself righteous and rear up stiff-necked before the eyes of God; then [comes] love, Because charity covers a multitude of sins.

Wherefore, in the following parts of this Letter he recommends [love] to us with manifold praise. He admirably links both together, however, because

19. Ac 20:28

20. Ps 51:5 (50:7) 22. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 1:6; PL 35:1982

21. 1 Tm 2:5

23. 1 P4:8

Commentary on 1 John 1:9—1:10

we both ought to ask God's pardon for our sins and succeed in obtaining his pardon when we do ask. Therefore, he said that the Lord is also faithful in forgiving sins and keeps faith with his promise, because he who taught us to pray for our debts 2 4 and sins promised that his fatherly mercy and pardon would follow. He also maintains that he is righteous, because he righteously grants forgiveness for a true confession.

To forgive us our sins, he says, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. In this life he forgives the elect their daily and trivial sins, without which we cannot live in this life; after they are freed from the body he cleanses them from all ini quity, bringing them into that life in which they neither wish to sin further nor can. Now those who pray he forgives greater temptations, so that these may not overcome them, he forgives the smallest ones, so that these may not harm them, then he cleanses them from everything, so that no further iniquity may exist for the blessed in the everlasting kingdom.

1:10

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. For he himself said through a man filled with his spirit, There is not a righteous person on earth who does good and does not sin, 2S and he himself also taught that we cannot be free from profligacy when he ad monished us to pray, And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.

Let no one, therefore, believe, as Pelagius teaches, that he can live without sins and debts, when he sees the apostles praying earnestly for their own transgres sions, as the Lord teaches. And there is also written else where, The righteous falls seven times and rises again

2 1 For it is impossible that some of the saints do not occasionally incur guilt in very small sins which are committed through talk, thought, ignorance, forgetfulness, necessity, will, sur prise. But still they do not cease being righteous, because

24. Mt 6:12

25. Qo 7:21

26. Mt 6:12

27. Pr 24:16

Commentary on 1 John 1:10—2:1 with the Lord's assistance they rise again more quickly from their guilty act.

2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. He is not contradicting himself when, having proposed that we cannot live without sin, he now says that he is writing to us that we may not sin. But there he warned us of necessity, with foresight, for our salvation, of our weakness, lest anyone congratulate himself as if he were innocent and, by praising himself for his deserts, perish all the more; here he consequently urges that if we are unable to be without all fault, we nonetheless do our best not to abet the weakness of our condition by acting carelessly but strive vigorously and watchfully against all vices, particularly the more serious and open ones which we can more easily over come or be wary of with the Lord's help, that, according to what Paul says, No temptation may lay hold of us, except that which is human,

that is, the one alone which human weakness is completely unable to avoid. But even if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. See to what an extent John himself observes the humility he teaches.

Surely he was a righteous and great man, who drank in the secrets of the mysteries at the breast o f the Lord.

2 9 And yet he did not say, 'You have me as an advocate with the Father,' but he said, 'we have an advocate'; and he said,

(we have', not, 'you have'. He preferred to place himself among the number of sinners, that he might have Christ as an advocate, rather than place himself as an advocate instead of Christ and be found among the con demned proud.

3 0 (And yet it must not be said that) 28. 1 Co 10:13

29. Cf. Jn 13:23-5 30. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 1.8; PL 35:1983-4 • Words in parentheses have been added by Bede to Augustine's text.

Commentary on 1 John 2:1—2:2

bishops and officials do not make requests for the people. (For) the apostle prays for the people, the people pray for the apostle (who says), 'Praying at the same time also for us, that God may open for us the door of the word 9.

The Church prayed also for Peter when Peter was in chains and it was heard, 3 2 just as Peter too prayed for the Church, because all the members pray for each other. The head intercedes for all, concerning whom it has been written,

Who is also at the right hand of God and who also intercedes for us.

For the only-begotten Son's interceding for humankind is his showing himself as a human being in the sight of his co-eternal Father, and his having asked on behalf of human nature is his having undertaken the same nature in the elevated rank of his divinity. Therefore, the Lord inter cedes for us not with his voice but by having mercy, because what he was unwilling to have condemned in the elect he saved by undertaking. And when he said that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, he did well to add, the righteous.

For a righteous advocate does not undertake unrighteous cases, but he defends us who are righteous at the judgment if we both perceive and accuse ourselves as unrighteous. For why is he not righteous who already rages against his un righteousness by his tears?

2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins. He who through his humanity intercedes for us with the Father is the same one who through his divinity makes propitiation for us with the Father. Not, however, for our sins only, but also for those of the whole world. The Lord is the propitiation not only for those to whom John was writing and who were then living in the body but also for the whole Church which is spread abroad throughout the whole breadth of the world,

3 4 31. Col 4:3

32. Cf. Ac 12:5

33. Rm 8:23

34. Greg., Moral. 17.29.43; PL 76:30D

Commentary on 1 John 2:2—2:5 extending from the first elect, undoubtedly, 'to the last person to be born at the end of time'.

3 5 By these words he condemns the schism of the Donatists who said that the Church of Christ was enclosed within the boundaries of Africa alone. The Lord, therefore, intercedes for the sins of the whole world, because the Church which he procured with his blood 3 6 exists throughout the whole world. Nor does this contradict what he says further on, And the whole world is under the power of the evil one,

because throughout the whole world there are also those who serve the evil one, that is, the ancient enemy.

2:3

And in this we know that we have perceived him, if we keep his commandments. 'Which commandments'

3 8 he may be talking about he discloses further on; it is charity.

3 9 2:4

He who says that he knows him and does not observe his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Christ is called the truth. He says, / am the way and the

In vain, therefore, do we applaud him whose commandments we do not keep. Nor should we consi der it a big thing to know the one God, when the demons also believe and tremble. truth and the life.

4 1 But he shows what is truly to know God in what follows, saying:

2:5-6 He, however, who keeps his word, truly in him the charity of God has been made perfect. He truly knows God then who proves that he has his charity by keeping his com mandments. For this is what it is to know God, to love. For anyone who does not love him shows clearly that he does not know how lovable he is, that he has not learned to taste and see how gentle and sweet the Lord is, 4 2 when he does not 35. Greg., Horn. ev. 1.19.1; PL 76.1154B

36. Ac 20:28

37. 1 Jn 5:19

38. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 1.9; PL 35:1984-5 39. I j n 2 : 5

40. Jn 14:6

41. Jm 2:19

42. Ps 34:8 (33:9)

Commentary on 1 John 2:6—2:9

strive to be pleasing in his sight by continual exertion.

And in this we know that we are in him. He who says that he remains in him ought himself also to walk as he walked, that is, through a love as full as possible to pray even for one's enemies, saying, Father, forgive them,

but also to despise all the prosperous things of the world, to put up with mockery and insults gladly, as he himself also says, //anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

4 4 2:7-8 Dearly beloved, I am not writing you a new com mandment but an old commandment which you had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you heard. Again I am writing you a new commandment. The same charity is both an old commandment, because it was ordained from the beginning, and a new commandment, because after the darkness has been driven away it infused a desire for the new light. Hence there is properly appended:

Which is true both in him and in you, since the darkness has passed away and the true light now shines. See whence it is new, because the darkness pertains to the old man but the light to the new man. Accordingly, the apostle Paul says,

Put off from yourselves the old man and put on the new;

and again, You were once darkness but now light in the Lord.

2:9

He who says that he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. The Lord admonishes us to love our enemies.

4 7 Therefore, he who says that he is a Christian and hates his brother is still in sin. And he did well to add, still, because surely all human beings are born in the darkness of vices, they all remain in darkness until they are enlightened by Christ in the grace of baptism. But anyone who comes

43. Lk 23:34

44. Lk 9:23

45. Eph 4:22,24, Cor3:9-10 46. Eph 5:8

47. Mt 5:44

Commentary on 1 John 2:9—2:12 hating his brother to the font o f life where he is to be re born, to the cup of that precious blood whereby he is to be redeemed, even though he may think he is enlightened by the Lord, is still in darkness and cannot in any way have put off the darkness of his sins when he did not take care to put on the fundamentals 4 8 of charity. For this is the reason that Simon, even though just bathed with the water of baptism, heard from him who had the keys of heaven,

4 9 You have no part or lot in this utterance,

for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity,

because namely he neglected the covenant of brotherly relationship and wished to buy with money the gift of the spirit by which the unity of the Church is preserved, and to have it for himself.

2:10 He who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is in him no stumbling block, that is, offensiveness.

For 'he who loves his brother puts up with everything for the sake of the unity'

5 2 of charity. For there is great peace for those who love your law, that is, [love] charity, and in

And Paul says, Bearing with one another in charity, being eager to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. them there is no stumbling block.

2:11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, since the darkness has blinded his eyes. For he is going unawares into the lower world, being unwitting and blind he is being thrown to punishment, withdrawing namely from the light of Christ who advises and says, I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

2:12 I am writing to you, little children, since your sins 48. Col 3:12: uiscera caritatis 49. Cf. Mt 16:19

50. Ac 8:21

51. Ac 8:23

52. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 1.12; PL 35:1987

53. Ps 119 (118):165

54. Eph 4:2-3 55. Jn 8:12

Commentary on 1 John 2:12—2:14

will be forgiven for his name's sake. He honors all his hearers whom he had gone before in Christ with the name children, because namely they had been reborn of water and the spirit 5 6 and had received forgiveness of their sins. And that you may not doubt that all the faithful can properly be called children of the fathers gone before, hear the prophet singing about the Church, All the glory of that daughter of kings is from within,

and likewise to the same, In place of your fathers sons have been born to you 5* 2:13 I am writing to you, fathers, for you have perceived him who is from the beginning. He calls them fathers not because of age but as being greater and mature in wisdom.

For a venerable old age is not length of time nor reckoned by the number of years; but the understanding of a person is grey hair and a stainless life the time of old age

For it is the duty of fathers to recall and know the past to reveal it to the younger generation. Hence it has been written, Ask your fathers, and they will make it known to you.

And therefore he properly calls those fathers who learned to know him who is from the beginning, that is, the Lord Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and to preach him faithfully to their hearers. I am writing to you, young men, since you have overcome the evil one. The time of young manhood is difficult to control on account of the urgings of the body and also contentions on account of the energy of this age-group. Hence John is writing to those young men who have overcome the temptations of bodily urgings through love of the word of God. He is writing also to those who, when faced with persecution on account of the word of God, because of their greater perfection have bravely rejected all the tricks of the malicious enemy.

2:14 I am writing to you, children, since you have 56. Jn 3:5

57. Ps 45:13 (44:14) 58. Ps 45:16 (44:17) 59. Ws 4:8-9 60. Dt 32:7

Commentary on 1 John 2:14—2:15 perceived the Father. He calls the humble in spirit children, who, the more they assent to being humbled beneath the mighty hand of God, 6 1 the more deeply do they perceive the hidden things of his eternity, as the Son says of such as these to the same Father, You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to the little ones.

I am writing to you, fathers, since you have perceived him who is from the beginning.

He hands on and repeats this. Remember that you are fathers, if you forget him who is from the beginning, you have lost your right to be called a father.

6 3 I am writing to you, youths, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Advert again and again to the fact that you are youths, fight that you may overcome, overcome that you may be crowned, be humble lest you fall in the fight.

6 4 2:15 Do not love the world or those things that are in the world. He is writing this generally to all the children of the Church, both to those, namely, who are fathers through the maturity of prudence and teaching, and to those who are children through their devotion to humility, and to those who are young men or youths because they have overcome the conflicts of temptations. All of these he commands equally to use the world, indeed, for what they need but not to love it for what they want over and above that; as Paul also says, And do not have concern for the body to fulfil its desires

If anyone loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. Let no one deceive himself. One heart does not contain two loves so opposed to each other. Hence

61. IP 5:6

62. Lk 10:21 63. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 2.7; PL 35:1993

64. Ibid.

65. Rm 13:14

Commentary on 1 John 2:15—2:16

the Lord also says, No one can serve two masters;

and again, You cannot serve God and mammon

6 1 But as the charity of the Father is the source and beginning of all the virtues, so love of the world is the root and tinder of all the vices. Hence there follows:

2:16 Since all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the body and the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of life. When he says, All that is in the world, he means all who live in the world in mind, who dwell in the world

6 8 in love, as those who have their way o f life in the heavens, 6 9 whose hearts are above, live in heaven although in their bodies they walk on earth. Therefore, all that is in the world, that is, all the lovers of the world, have only the concupiscence o f the body, the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of life. In truth, in these names for the vices he includes all the kinds of vice. For concupiscence of the body is everything that belongs with yearnings and delights of the body, among which are particularly food, drink and sleeping together, about which Solomon says, The leech has two daughters who say, 'Come on, come on'.

Concupiscence o f the eyes is all the curiosity which comes about in learning abominable practices, in be holding base and useless shows, in acquiring temporal things, in picking out and even picking up the vices o f one's neighbors.

The pride of life occurs when one is puffed up by honors. Yet by these three things human cupidity is tempted.

7 1 By these Adam was tempted and overcome; by concupiscence o f the body, namely, when the enemy showed him the forbidden food of the tree and persuaded him to eat it,

7 2 by concu piscence o f the eyes when he said, 'You will know good and evil',

and, 'Your eyes will be opened', by the pride of life when he said, 'You will be like gods'.

By these the 66. Mt 6:24

67. Lk 16:13

68. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 2.12-14; PL 35:1996

69. Ph 3:20

70. Pr 30:15

71. Cf. Greg., Horn ev. 1.16.2: PL 76:1136AB 72. Gn 3:1-7 73. Gn 3:5

74. Ibid.

Commentary on 1 John 2:16-2:17

Lord was tempted and overcame; by the concupiscence of the body, that is food, when it was suggested to him, 'Command

by the concu piscence of the eyes, that is, curiosity, when he was advised to cast himself down from the height of the temple in order to test whether he would be taken up by angels, these stones to become loaves of bread', 7 6 by the pride of life, that is, empty boasting, when he was set upon a mountain and all the kingdoms of this earth were shown him and promised him if he would adore [the enemy].

7 7 Which is not from the Father but from the world. Our strug gle against the vices has not been naturally implanted in us by God our Father and creator but is proved to have befallen us from our love of this world, which we preferred to our creator. For God made human beings upright, and they have involved themselves in endless questions,

7 8 as Solomon bears witness. Hence James also says, Let no one, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not the instigator of evil, for he himself tempts no one. Each one, in fact, is tempted, drawn on and lured by his own concu piscence

1 9 2:17

And the world and its concupiscence will pass away; but he who does the will of the Lord remains for ever.

The world will pass away when on the day of judgment it will be changed into a better shape by fire, 8 0 so that there may be a new heaven and a new earth.

8 1 Its concupiscence will also pass away, because there will be no further time for pamper ing self-indulgences or committing any other sin. For,

On that day all their thoughts will pass away , 8 2 those cer tainly by which they were intent on the desires of this world.

But as for him who does the will of the Lord, his thoughts do not pass away at all when the world does but because he

77. Mt 4:8-9 79. Jm 1:13-14 82. Ps 146 (145):2

75. Mt4:3

76. Mt 4:5-6 78. Qo 7:29 (Vulg. 30) 80. 2 Pt 3:7,10 81. 2Pt3:13

Commentary on 1 John 2:17—2:18

desired heavenly and eternal things they remain for ever unchangeable, because he attains from on high the rewards he had wished for. Hence the Lord also says about the faithful woman, nay rather about every soul which perfectly follows his will, Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Therefore, he who desires to remain unshaken and quiet for ever should embrace those things that do not know how to pass away, he should follow the will of the God who is for ever.

2:18 Little children, it is the last hour. He calls the last age of the world which is now in progress the last hour, accord ing to that parable of the Lord in which he tells of the workers having been hired at the first, third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours.

8 4 For those who served the will of their Creator either by teaching or living properly from the begin ning of the world cultivated the vineyard of the Lord from the first hour; those who lived from the time of Noah did so from the third hour; those who lived from the time of Abraham did so from the sixth hour; those who lived from the time o f the giving of the law did so from the ninth hour; those who obey the heavenly commands from the time of the Lord's incarnation to the end of the world do so from the eleventh hour.!

1] In this [eleventh] hour, namely, it was foretold by the prediction of the prophets that there would be both the coming of the saviour in the flesh and that there would follow the plague o f the antichrist, which would assail the heralds of salvation. Hence there follows:

And as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, now many antichrists have appeared.

85 He is calling the heretics antichrists. But those who by their wrongful actions destroy the faith of Christ which they profess are also justifiably called antichrists, that is, opposed to Christ. All these give

83. Lk 10:42

84. Mt 20:1-7 85. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 3.4; PL 35:1999

Commentary on 1 John 2:18-2:19 witness to that greatest antichrist who will come at the end of the world as to their head. Hence Paul also says o f him that the mystery of iniquity is already at work

From this we know that it is the last hour. From what? From the fact that many antichrists have appeared. What he says about it being even then the last hour can also be understood thus, however, that the persecution which was being waged at that time by the heretics had great similarity to that final persecution which is to come just before the day of judgment, although the former smote the Church only with savage tongues, the latter will also smite it with injurious swords.

2:19 They went out from us but they were not from among us. It appeared that we should weep as for a loss when we heard, They went out from us, but quickly consolation is offered us when there is appended, But they were not from us. For it is clear that only the antichrists are able to go forth, whereas those who are not opposed to Christ are not able to go forth, for the one who is not opposed to Christ stays in his body. (But) there are those like this who are within, in the body o f Christ when his body is being cured, and there will be perfect health only at the resurrection o f the dead; they are in the body o f Christ in the same way as evil humors, and when they are vomited out then the body is relieved. So also when the evil go out then the Church is relieved.

8 7 They went out from us, he says, but do not be sad, they were not from among us.

From what do you prove this? For if they had been from among us certainly they would have remained with us. (It must be seen) from this, therefore, that many who are not from among us

86. 2Th 2:7

87. Aug., In loh. ep. 3.4-5; PL 35:1999

Commentary on 1 John 2:19—2:20

receive the sacraments (of Christ. But) temptation proves that they are not from among us. When temptation comes upon them as if by the conse quence of a wind, they fly forth, because they were not grains. But all will then fly away when the Lord's threshing-floor begins to be winnowed on the day of judgment.

8 8 If any went out by sinning but return by repenting, surely they are proved to be not antichrists but in Christ if the end of their present life finds them remaining in the Church.

But that it may be clear that they are not all from among us.

With the Lord's permission, certain persons go out from the Church even before the final dismissal, showing that they were not members o f the Church and did not belong to the body of Christ; this is so that by this it may become clearly obvious that all are not from among us who are set with us within and receive the sacraments of Christ, but only those who perform works worthy of the same sacraments in the unity of the Church of Christ.

2:20

But you have the anointing from the holy one and know all things.

The spiritual anointing is the Holy Spirit himself, whose sacrament is in a visible anointing. He says that all who have this anointing of Christ perceive good and evil and do not need to be taught, be cause the anointing itself teaches them.

8 9 And he did well, when he was speaking about heretics, to turn abruptly to his hearers and say that they have an anointing from the holy one, in order to show them that heretics and all antichrists on the contrary are deprived of the gift of spiritual grace and do not belong to the Lord who is accustomed to be called holy by the prophets; nay rather, they hold a place of perdition among the ministers of Satan,

88. Ibid. 3.5; 2000 89. Ibid.

Commentary on 1 John 2:20-2:22 who has no trace of holiness.

2:21 We have not written to you as to those who are ignorant of the truth but as to those who know it. For you know the truth of the faith and of life, having been taught by the anointing of the spirit, and you do not need to be taught, except so that you may carry through what you have begun. And that no lie is from the truth. This verse belongs with the preceding one, and the meaning is, We have not written to you as to those who are ignorant of the truth but as to those who know it, and to those who know this also, that no lie is from the truth. But see, we have been advised how to perceive the antichrist. Christ said, T am the truth'.

But no lie is from the truth. Therefore, all who lie are not yet from Christ. He did not say, 'Some lie is from the truth and some lie is not from the truth'.

9 1 Let no one deceive himself, let no one delude himself.

No lie is from the truth.

2:22 Who is the liar but he who claims that Jesus is not the Christ? He had just said that no lie is from the truth. But because there are many kinds of lies differing greatly from each other, now he puts the lie of the denial o f Christ as if in the singular, because surely this is so abominable and detestable a lie that in comparison to it the rest seem either small or nonexistent, just as it was said to Jerusalem when she was sinning. Sodom has been made righteous in your place.

This denial is characteristic of the Jews, so that they say that Jesus is not the Christ. / 9 3 But the heretics who believe wrongly about Christ also claim that Jesus is not the Christ, because they do not have a correct sense o f Christ

90. Jn 14:6

91. Aug., In loh. ep. 3.6; PL 35:2000

92. Ezk 16:25

93. / Cf. Aug., In loh. ep. 3.7-8; PL 35:2001-2. /

Commentary on 1 John 2:22-2:24

and they confess him to be not such as divine truth teaches but as their superficiality invents. Bad Catholics as well, who scorn to obey the commands o f Christ, deny that Jesus is the Christ, for they do not pay the service they owe o f fear and love to Christ as Son of God but according to their own wishes they are not afraid to contradict him as a man o f no power. And therefore all these are proven heretics and anti christs, that is, adversaries o f Christ, the apostle bearing wit ness that They confess that they know God but deny him by their deeds.

/ This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. With this statement he strikes at both the heretics and particularly the Jews who denied that Jesus was the Christ, the Son o f God, and yet said that they had God as their Father, showing that those who deny the Son in vain confess

God as their Father. Hence even the Lord himself disowns them when he says, / / God were your Father, you would certainly love me; for I have proceeded and come from God.

2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father also. He is here searching for the sort of confession of heart, voice, and deed that Paul sought for when he said, And no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord', except in the Holy Spirit

9 6 which is to say clearly, 'No one can serve Christ the Lord with perfect profession and action save by the gift of grace of the Holy Spirit.'

2:24

Let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you; if what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.

Follow with all your heart, he says, that faith, those teach ings which you received from the earliest time when the Church was being born by the voice of the apostles. For 94. Tt 1:16

95. Jn 8:42

96. 1 Co 12:3

Commentary on 1 John 2:24—2:27 these alone are the things that make you sharers in the divine grace. And if anyone says to you, 'See, here is the Christ, see he is there,' do not believe him; for there will arise false christs and false prophets.

You also, he says, will remain in the Son and in the Father, putting the Son first, because as the Son himself says, No one comes to the Father except through the Son,

no one will see the glory o f the divine eminence save he who has been reborn through the sacra ments of the humanity which the Son undertook. Or at least he named the Son first and then the Father so that the Arians might not say that the Son must be believed to be less than the Father for the reason that he is never found named before the Father.

2:25 And this is the promise which he has made to us, eternal life. As if you were to ask about the reward and say,

'See, in my case, I keep and obey what I have heard from the beginning, I bear with dangers, labors, temptations, for that dwelling place; what fruit, what reward, what will he give me later?' he says, And this is the promise which he has made to us, eternal life. 'Let the remembrance of the promised reward cause you to persevere in the work.'

9 9 2:26 I have written these things to you about those who deceive you. The deceivers whom he names are to be under stood as being not only the heretics who seek to turn people aside from the faith by their perverse teaching but also those who by the allurements and adversities of the world with draw the minds of the weak from the promise of eternal life by wrongly coddling or terrifying them.

2:27 And let the anointing which you have received from him remain in you, and you have no need for anyone to 97. Mk 13:21-22 98. Jn 14:6

99. Aug., In loh. ep. 3:11; PL 35:2003

Commentary on 1 John 2:27

teach you. See to it, he says, with the Lord's help that you keep the grace of the Holy Spirit which you obtained in baptism unblemished in your heart and body, according to that saying o f the apostle Paul, Do not suppress the Spirit

And so it comes about that with the Spirit teaching you inwardly you have less need of the external instruction of men. The anointing of which he speaks can be understood of charity of God which is poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us,

and which very quickly sets the heart it fills on fire to observe the commandments of God. But as his anointing teaches you about everything. He rightly adds, about everything, in the same way as the Lord, speaking in the Gospel about the same Spirit, says to his disciples, He will teach you everything.

because unless the same Spirit is present in the heart of the hearer, the utterance of the teacher is worthless. Therefore, let no one attribute to the person teaching what he understands from the mouth of the teacher, because unless the one who is teaching is within, the tongue of the teacher toils externally in vain.'

1 0 3 Yet a teacher ought not cease from doing what he can, according to what Paul says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

And it is true and not a lie. He very carefully emphasizes with frequent repetition that the things which he preaches are true and quite clean of all stain of untruth, that he might restrain those who had presumed to teach otherwise and might also earnestly advise us that we cannot find everlasting life otherwise than by following that purity of faith and work which was given to the early

Church by the apostles and by remaining to the end of this life in following and keeping the same [purity]. Similar to this is that saying of the apostle Paul, Let no one deceive you

100. ITh 5:19

101. Rm 5:5

102. Jn 14:26

103. Greg., Horn, in ev. 2.30.3; PL 76:1222A. 104. 1 Co 3:6

Commentary on 1 John 2:27-2:29 with empty words; for it was on this account that the anger of God came upon the children of unbelief

But what is said in another translation, 'And he is truthful and not a liar/ belongs with the previous verse where it is said,

But as his anointing teaches you about everything, meaning that the same anointing is truthful, 'that is, the Spirit him self who teaches men cannot lie.

1 0 6 And as he has taught you, remain in him. Do not be led astray by various and out landish teachings; by that faith, by that observance which he taught, remain in him. For the person who perseveres to the end will be saved.

2:28 And now, little children, remain in him, that when he shows himself we may have confidence and not be discon certed by him at his coming. He who in the midst o f perse cutions by unbelievers and mockery by his sensual neighbors remains with the Lord has confidence in his coming, know ing that the patience of the poor will not perish to the end.

But anyone who is ashamed or afraid to offer the other cheek to the one who strikes him 1 0 9 or to endure patiently the reproach given by his neighbor or the other things o f this sort which the Lord has ordered us to observe, or at least in a time o f persecution to profess publicly that he is a Christian, he surely cannot have confidence in the coming of the Lord, because he has neglected to preserve confidence in his profession [of faith] in this life. Yea, rather, he will be disconcerted by him at his coming. For in this matter he says, He who is ashamed of me and my utterances, this one will the son of man put to shame when he comes in his majesty and that of his Father and of his holy angels.

2:29 If you know that he is righteous, know that everyone 105. Eph 5:6

106. Aug., In loh. ev. 4.2; PL 35:2005

107. Mt 10:22

108. Ps 9:18 (9:19) 109. Lk 6:29 110. Lk 9:26

Commentary on 1 John 2:29—3:1

who behaves righteously is born of him.

Our righteousness now comes from faith. Perfect righteousness exists only in the angels, and scarcely in the angels, if they are compared to God. Yet, if there is any perfect righteousness in souls and spirits and those whom God created, it is in the holy, righteous, good angels driven away by no pride but always remaining in attentive regard to the word of God and holding nothing else sweet except him by whom they are created. Perfect righteousness is in these. But in us it began to exist according to the Spirit in faith. (Hence the psalmist says,) Make a beginning[ 2] for the Lord by confessing.

Make a beginning, he says. The beginning of our righteousness is the confession of our sins. You have begun not to defend your sin, you have already started [on the path] towards righteousness. It will be perfected in you, however, when it will delight you to do nothing else, when

1 1 2 when no concupiscence will appeal to you, when there will be no struggle against flesh and b l o o d , death will be swallowed up in victory, 1 1 3 when there will be the crown of victory and triumph over the enemy, then there will be perfect right eousness. (Therefore) / / you know that he is righteous, he says, know that everyone who behaves righteously is born of him, of God, of Christ. And because he said, he is born of him, he is encourag ing us. Therefore, because we have already been born of him, we are perfect.

1 1 4 Accordingly, listen to what follows:

3:1

See what kind of charity the Father has given us, that 111. Ps 147:7 (146:7) 112. 1 Co 15:54

113. Eph 6:12

114. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 4.3; PL 35:2006-7

Commentary on 1 John 3:1 we are called and are the children of God. The grace that our

Creator has given us is great, so that we both know how and are able to love him, and to love him as children love their father, when it would have been a great thing if we were able to love him in the way faithful servants love their masters, in the way lowly, faithful hired servants love their masters. But the same John bears witness in his Gospel how we ought to be made children o f God, saying, He came to his own place, and his own people did not receive him; but he gave power to as many as received him, who believe in his name, to become children of God.

By joining both witnesses, therefore, it becomes clear that we are made children of God through faith and love. But the teachings of both Pelagius and Arius are condemned by this. The heresy of Pelagius, indeed, who had dared to say that human beings can be saved without the grace o f God, is condemned in that it is said that the char ity and the power by which we receive the adoption o f sons

1 1 6 is given to us by God. Arius, moreover, who said that the Son is less than the Father and unlike him, is refuted from what the same John says both here to the effect that charity by which we are called and are the children of God is given to us by the Father and also in his Gospel through the Lord our Saviour says that the power to become children of God is given to those who believe. For it is clear that they have one substance and the same power who bestow heavenly gifts on men equally and without distinction.

It is for this reason that the world does not know us, that it does not know him. By the world in this place he means the lovers of the world. And this is why at the judgment, when these same persons have seen the glory of the saints whose faith they had despised, they will say to one another, groan ing and repenting, 'These are they whom we once held in derision and, as it were, a byword for taunts; witless we judged their life madness and their end without honor. How

115. Jn 1:11-12 116. Ga4:5

Commentary on 1 John 3:1—3:2

have they been numbered among the children of God, and is their lot among the saints?'

3:2 Dearly beloved, we are now children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. Paul also says, For you have died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God, lls died, namely, by snuffing out your former life which was in sins, and having a new life in Christ through faith, whose depth has not yet visibly appeared to us. We know that when he appears we shall be like him. And Paul also ex plains this in other words, saying, When Christ, your life, appears, they you also will appear with him in glory.

We shall be like him, he says, because when we shall enjoy with attentive regard 1 2 0 his unchangeable and eternal divinity, we also shall be immortal and like him indeed, because we shall be happy. And yet, we shall not be like our Creator, because we are creatures. For, Who among the children of God shall be like God?

Although this can also seem to be said about the immortality o f the body and in this we shall indeed be like God, but [in fact we will be] only like the Son who alone among the persons of the Trinity received a body, in which he died, rose and brought it to the heavenly heights.

For we shall see him as he is. For God to be means to be eternal and to remain unchangeable. Hence he says to Moses,

/ am who am, and, You shall say to the children of Israel,

Therefore, we shall see him as he is when we regard him attentively in the very substance of his deity, a thing which is granted to absolutely none of the elect in this life, when even the lawgiver himself entreated the Lord, whom he was accustomed to regard attentively in his appearance as an angel, and said, Lord, show me yourself that I may see you, 'He who is sent me to you.'

and heard from the same Lord, No one shall see my face and live.

Still, in 117. Ws 5:3-5 118. Col 3:3

119. Col 3:4

120. contemplatio 121. Ps 89:6 (88:7) 122. Ex 3:14

123. Ex 33:13

124. Ex 33:20

Commentary on 1 John 3:2—3:3 return for the merit of his great holiness, he said to him,

I shall show you all goodness.

Hence Paul also says, Now we see in a mirror in obscurity, but then face to face.

Hence the reply that Moses received is true, because no one can see the face of God and live, that is, no one living in this life can see him as he is. For many have seen, but what the will (of God) chose, not what his nature presented. And this is what John says, For we shall see him as he is, not as human beings have seen him, when he wished, in the appearance that he chose, not in that nature in which he is hidden within himself even when he was seen, but as he is. This was what was being requested from him (by Moses) when it was said to him, 'Show me yourself' by him who spoke with him face to face, for no one has ever grasped the fullness of God with the eyes of his body let alone with the mind. For it is one thing to see, another to comprehend by seeing, because a thing is seen whenever it is sensed as present, but it is comprehended totally by sight because it is seen in such a way that none of it is hidden from the one seeing it or a complete view o f its outline can be made out, as nothing of your present intention is hidden from you but you can have a complete view of the outline of your ring. I have included two things as examples, one pertaining to the gaze o f the mind, the other to the physical eyes, for sight must be referred to both, that is, both to the eyes and to the mind.'

1 2 7 3:3

And everyone who has this hope in him makes himself holy, as he also is holy. Many say that they have hope of the 125. Ex 33:19

126. 1 Co 13:12

127. Aug., ep. 20-21; CSEL 44:294,9-295,9

Commentary on 1 John 3:3—3:4

heavenly life in Christ but they make this confession ineffec tive by living carelessly. He who is eager to strive vigorously to perform good actions gives clear evidence in his case o f his hope from on high, being convinced that no one will arrive at the likeness o f God in the future except by making himself holy with the holiness of God in the present, that is, unless he imitate [this holiness] by rejecting wickedness and worldly desires, however, and by living soberly and right eously and faithfully.

12* For thus are we ordered to imitate the purity of divine holiness in accord with the capacity of our nature, as we are admonished to hope for the glory of the divine likeness in accord with our own, that is, created, measure. For the teaching o f Pelagius which says about human beings, 'They make themselves holy as if someone can make himself holy by his own free choice without divine help,' must not be believed to be o f assistance. But he who has hope in the Lord makes himself holy, as far as he can, by striving himself and in everything requiring the grace of him who says, Without me you can do nothing,

and by saying to him, Be my helper, do not forsake me.

3:4 Everyone who commits sin also commits iniquity.

Let no one say, 'Sin is one thing, iniquity an other.' Let no one say, 'I am a sinner but I am not wicked.' (For,) Everyone who commits sin also commits iniquity, and sin is iniquity.

The force of this thought is grasped more easily in the Greek language in which this Letter is written, since in that language iniquity is called hmfiia, which implies something done, as it were, against the law or without the law, since in Greek wi/zoc means law. When John says therefore,

Everyone who commits sin also commits iniquity, that is, 128. Tt 2:12

129. Jn 15:5

130. Ps 27:9 (26:9) 131. Aug.,InIok ep. 4.8; PL 35:2010

Commentary on 1 John 3:4—3:5 hvoyiCav, and sin is iniquity, he clearly suggests that by every single sin we commit we act against the law o f God, accord ing to that saying of the psalmist, J have counted all sinners on earth as transgressors.

For all who commit sin are guilty of transgression, that is, not only those who reject the known precepts of the written law which have been given them but also those who whether through weakness or negligence or even ignorance destroy the innocence of the natural law which we all received in the first-created man. But the Latin word is also in agreement with this same explanation, for iniquity means 'what is opposed, as it were, to equity'.[

3] And he who commits sin also commits iniquity, and sin is iniquity, because whoever commits sin surely becomes op posed, by sinning, to the equity of the divine law. Nonethe less, lest we who are entirely unable to be without sins and iniquities should absolutely lose hope about salvation, let us see what follows about the Lord:

3:5

And you know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and there is no sin in him. John the Baptist also bears this witness concerning the Lord, saying, Look, the lamb of God, look, he takes away the sins of the world.

But the Lord was able to take away sins because there is no sin in him. Many great and perfect persons have come into the world, but none of them was able to take away the sins of the world, because none was able to be in the world without sin. Therefore let not Pelagius glory, let not Julian,[

4] his follower, exalt himself when he hears, Everyone who has hope in the Lord makes himself holy. For no one takes away sin, because not even the law, although holy and righteous and g o o d , 1 3 4 was able to remove it, no one [can] except he in whom there is no sin. He takes them away, however, both by forgiving those that have been committed and by helping that they may not be repeated and by bringing us to the life

132. Ps 119 (118):119 133. Jn 1:29

134. Rm7:12

Commentary on 1 John 3:5—3:7

where they are completely unable to be committed.

3:6 Everyone who remains in him does not commit sin.

'Insofar as one remains in him, to that extent one does not commit sin.'

1 3 5 And everyone who commits sin has not seen him or perceived him. He is speaking of the vision and percep tion of faith by which the righteous even if this life take pleasure in seeing God, until they come to that view of clear vision of him to come of which it is said above, For we shall see him as he is. Therefore, Everyone who commits sin has not seen him or perceived him. For if he had tasted and seen that the Lord is sweet 1 3 6 he would never by sinning separate himself from seeing his glory. And insofar as the righteous call up the memory of the abundance of his sweetness and spring up in his righteousness, 1 3 7 to that extent do they strive by keeping themselves free from sins to be in harmony with his unchangeable and incomparable righteousness.

3:7

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who acts righteously is righteous, as he also is righteous. He is righteous, he says, as he also is righteous, and above, he makes himself holy, as he also is holy, not that our righteous ness and holiness can be equal to the divine righteousness or holiness, since it is written, There is no one holy as is the Lord.

But as there is a great difference between the face of a person and his image in a mirror—because the image is an imitation, the body the truth, and yet as the eyes are here, so also are they there, as the ears are here, so also are they there, the reality is different. But as it is (related) to the likeness, (so indeed) we also bear the image of God, but not that which the Son, equal to the Father, has. (For) we also, if we were not as he is, according to our

135. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 4:8; PL 35:2010

136. Ps 34:8 (33:9) 137. Ps 145 (144):7

138. 1 S 2:2

Commentary on 1 John 3:7—3:8 limited capacity, would not be said to be like him.

Therefore (he makes) us (holy,) as he also is (holy,) but he is (holy) from eternity, we are (holy) by faith; we are righteous, as he also is righteous, but he in unchangeable duration, we are righteous by believing in him whom we do not see, that we may someday see.

1 3 9 3:8

He who commits sin is of the devil, not by deriving the origin of his body from the devil, as Manicheus believes most wickedly about all human beings, but by taking the example and suggestion of sinning from him, just as we also have become children of Abraham by imitating the faith o f Abra ham, and on the contrary the Jews have not become the children o f Abraham by abandoning the faith of Abraham, as the Lord said to them, You are of your father, the devil.

Since the devil sins from the beginning. Although he began by saying, from the beginning, he added a verb in the present tense, he sins, because from the time when in the beginning the devil began to sin he has never ceased, being deterred namely, neither by the immensity of his present punish ments nor by fear of future ones. Hence anyone neglecting to turn away from sinning is justifiably said to be o f him.

But from the beginning the devil sins, from that time cer tainly from which he was made, from which also he was the beginning of all created things. Now, it should not be doubted that the angels were formed among the first created beings, but while the rest [of them] referred the glory of their condition to the praise of their Creator, he who was formed first, as soon as he beheld the height of his honor, puffed up proudly with his followers against the Creator and sinning because of the same pride from the beginning was changed from an archangel into the devil.

The Son of God appeared for this reason, that he might 139. Aug., In loh. ep. 4.9; PL 35:2010

140. Jn8:44

Commentary on 1 John 3:8—3:9

destroy the works of the devil.

All sinners, to the extent that they are sinners, are born of the devil. Adam was made by God, but when he consented to the devil he was born of the devil and begot all his progeny to be as he was.

That birth cast down to death, the second birth, (that is, of baptism,) raised up to life; that birth drags sin along with it, the second birth liberates from sin. For Christ came as a human being to take away the sins of the human race.

1 4 1 About this taking away there is properly appended:

3:9 Everyone who is born of God commits not sin since His seed remains in him and he is not able to commit sin since he is born of God. But he says this, not about every sin—for,

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves

-but about the violation o f charity which he who has within himself the seed o f God, that is, the word of God by which he is reborn, cannot commit.

1 4 3 For he makes this clear in what follows by saying:

3:10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are clear. Everyone who is not righteous and does not love his brother is not of God. Love alone, therefore, dis tinguishes between the children of God and the children of the devil. Those who have charity are born of God; those who do not have it are not born of G o d .

1 4 4 Have whatever you wish, if you do not have this alone 1 4 5 nothing is of any good to you; if you do not have other things, have this and you have ful filled the law. For he who loves another has ful filled the law,

and the: fullness of the law is charity.

141. Aug., Inlok ep. 4.11; PL 35:2011

142. 1 Jn 1:8

143. Aug., Jn Ioh. ep. 5:3; 2013-14 144. Ibid. 5.6; 2015 145. Ibid., 5.7; 2016 146. Rm 13:8

147. Rm 13:10

Commentary on 1 John 3:11—3:14

3:11

For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, as the Lord says,

This is my commandment, that you should love one an other.

1** 3:12 Not like Cain who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his works were evil but his brother's righteous. He explains how Cain was of the evil one, because namely he also did evil deeds. There fore, where there is envy there cannot be brotherly love.'

1 4 9 But the sin of the evil one, that is, the devil, is in the heart of such a person, because the devil also cast man out through envy.

Therefore, in speaking of the righteous works of Abel he means only charity, in speaking of the evil works of Cain he means only hatred of one's brother. It was not enough for him to hate his brother, he also envied his good works. (There fore) it is by this that persons are distinguished.

Let no one pay attention to words but to deeds. If a person's heart does not prompt him to do good for his brothers he shows what is within him.

People are put to the test by temptations.

1 5 0 3:13 Do not wonder, brothers, if the world hates you.

The world means 'those who love the world'. Nor should we wonder that those who love the world are not able to love their brother who is separated from the love of the world and attentive only to heavenly desires. For religion is abomination to the sinner, as scripture bears witness.[

5] 3:14 We know that we have been brought over from death to life because we love our brothers. Let no one falsely exalt

148. Jn 15:12

149. Aug., In loh. ep. 5.8; PL 35:2016

ISO. Ibid., 2017

Commentary on 1 John 3:14—3:15

himself because of his virtues, let no one needlessly be afraid of his lack of strength; anyone who is filled with love for his brother gives clear evidence that he belongs to the lot of the elect, because he has deserved to have his portion in the land o f the living.

1 5 1 He who does not love remains in death. He is speaking o f the death o f the soul. For, The soul

The life, in truth, of the flesh is the soul, the life of the soul is God; the death of the body is to lose its [life-giving] spirit, the death o f the soul is to lose God. Hence it is clear that we are all born into this light [of life] dead in soul, deriving original sin from Adam, but by the grace of Christ to the faithful in giving them new life it is brought about that they can be alive in soul. Truly, the mystery of baptism and of faith is the only thing of advantage to them; this brings those who love their brothers with a sincere mind from death to life. And there fore it must be noted that he does not say, 'He who does not love will come to death', as though he were speaking of the everlasting punishment that awaits sinners in the future, but he says, He who does not love remains in death, in that death surely from which he could arise even in this life if he would love his brothers perfectly. For indeed from this it is said in the Apocalypse, Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection; the second death has no power that commits sin is the one that will die} over these.

3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.

If someone makes light of hating his brother, isn't he going to make light o f murder in his heart, too? Even though he does not lift a hand to slay someone he is already held by God to be a murderer. The one is alive, and the other is already an adjudged killer. And you know that no murderer has life remaining in him. Although such a person is perceived to live by faith among the saints, he does not have

151. Ps 142:5 (141:6) 152. Ezk 18:20

153. Rv 20:6

Commentary on 1 John 3:15—3:17 everlasting life remaining in him. For when the time o f retri bution comes near, even he who is held in thrall by this kind of murder, that he is at discord and variance and does not keep peace with his brothers, will be condemned with Cain who was of the evil one.

For it must be noted that he does not say unconditionally, 'A murderer does not have life remaining in him', but he says, no murderer, namely, not only he who attacks his brother with a sword but also he who attacks him with hatred.

3:16 In this we have come to know his charity, that he laid down his life 1 5 5 for us. What sort of perfect charity ought to be in us we have learned from the Lord's passion. For,

Greater love than this no one has, that someone should lay down his life for his friends.

Hence Paul also says, But God manifests his charity for us, since when we were still sinners Christ died for us.

Blessed Peter was advised to have this [kind of love] when the Lord said, Peter, do you love me? feed my sheep; he answered that he did love him and immediately he heard, But when you grow old, you will reach out your hands and another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish; but he said this, says the evangelist, implying the kind of death with which he was going to honor

God.

For he was teaching him to whom, as he was con fessing his love, he had handed over his sheep to lay down his life for these same sheep in witness of his perfect love.

He laid down his life for us, he says, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. But perhaps someone says:

And 'when' am I able 'to have that kind of charity; Do not quickly despair about yourself, perhaps [charity] is born but has not yet been made perfect; foster it, lest it be choked out.' And 'by what,' you say, 'do I know' that the charity which I may foster is born in m e ?

1 5 9 Listen to what follows:

154. l j n 3:12

155. anima 156. Jn 15:13

157. Rm 5:8

158. Jn 21:17-19 159. Cf. Aug., In loh. ep. 5.12; PL 35:2018

Commentary on 1 John 3:17-3:19

3:17 He who has worldly substance and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the charity of God remain in him? 'See from what charity begins. If you are not yet able to die for your brother, be able to give your brother of your possessions.'

1 6 0 For if you will not share the suffering of your brother who is suffering difficulty, cer tainly the charity of the Father from whom you have both been reborn does not remain in you.

3:18 Little children, let us love not in word or with the tongue but in deed 1 6 1 and truth, in deed, namely, that when our brother and sister are naked and need daily food we may give them the things necessary for their bodies; likewise when we behold them in need of spiritual gifts we may provide for their necessity as far as we can; in truth, however, that we may bestow these benefits on them with a simple intention and not for the sake of human praise, not through vainglory, not to the prejudice o f others who, though endowed with greater means, do not do anything o f this sort. For the purity of truth cannot dwell in any mind tainted like this with flaws, although it appears to perform the deeds of love for its neighbors.

3:19

By this we know that we are of the truth, that is, when we perform the works of devotion in truth, it is evident that we are o f the truth which God is, inasmuch as we imitate his perfection according to our capacity. And we convince our hearts in his sight. This thought follows from what precedes, because when we love our neighbor in deed and truth we clearly perceive that we persuade our hearts in the sight of the highest truth. All persons, when they decide to do some thing, persuade their hearts to turn themselves to a considera tion of the deed. But those who plot evils would like to con ceal these from God if they could, as he bears witness when

160. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 5.12; PL 35:2018

161. opera

Commentary on 1 John 3:18—3:21 he says, For everyone who commits evil hates the light and does not come to light, so that his deeds may not be made manifest.

But in fact those who consider doing good most easily persuade their hearts so that they desire to be open to the sight of the godhead, a thing that is usually evidence of the highest perfection, when each one rejoices to have his deeds and thoughts seen by God. Hence he says in what follows, But anyone who acts according to the truth comes to light, that his works

may be made manifest, because they have been wrought in God.

Therefore, through true love we perceive that we are from the truth and that we per suade our hearts in the sight of the same truth, that is, we persuade our hearts to have the kinds of thoughts which may be worthy of divine sight.

3:20 But if our heart accuses us God is greater than our heart and knows everything. If our conscience accuses us within because we have not performed our good deeds with that spirit in which they ought to have been performed, how can we be hidden from the knowledge of him to whom it is sung, Behold you, O Lord, know everything,

and, Because the darkness will not be concealed from you, and the night will be illumined as the day.

3:21 Dearly beloved, if our heart does not accuse us, if it truly answers us that we love and that in us is brotherly love, not feigned but sincere, seeking the salvation o f our brothers, expecting no advantage from one's brother except his salvation, likewise if our heart does not accuse us, namely, when we say in prayer, Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our 162. Jn 3:20

163. opera 164. Jn 3:21

165. Ps 139:4 (138:5) 166. Ps 139 (138):12

Commentary on 1 John 3:21—3:22

debtors,

we have confidence before God, not in the sight of men but where God himself sees, in the heart.

1 6 8 3:22 And we shall receive from him whatever we ask, since we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. This great and desirable promise has been given to the faithful. But if anyone is so senseless and foolish as not to be delighted by the heavenly promises let him at least take fright at what wisdom on the contrary thunders, saying, The prayer of someone who turns away his ear so as not to hear the law will be detestable.

The fact that / Paul asked the Lord three times that the angel of Satan might depart from him and was not able to obtain his request, but instead it was said to him, My grace is sufficient for you, for virtue is perfected in weakness,

ought not to appear contrary to this thought o f blessed John. / 1 7 1 For although we do not always receive what we wish when we pray, nonetheless we receive for our salvation the reward of our faithfulness, as the same Paul, when he prayed to the Lord, received not what he sought but what he held to be useful. But on the other hand the condemned are often listened to for their wishes, they are not listened to for wishes, they are not listened to for their salvation. Hence even their head, 'the devil,' in order that he might tempt blessed J o b , 1 7 2 'was listened to for what he wished but for what was for his condemnation. For it was granted that that man was to be tempted for the reason that when the latter had been tested the former was to be torture.' /

1 7 3 Therefore, when John had said, We shall receive from him whatever we ask, since we keep his commandments, as if you had asked, 'What commandments,' he immediately appended:

167. Mt 6:12

168. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 6.4; PL 135:2021

169. Pr 28:9

170. 2 Co 12:9

171. Cf. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 6.6; 2023 172. Jb 1:12

173. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 6.7; 2023.

Commentary on 1 John 3:23—3:24

3:23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another.

At first he wrote commandment in the singular and then subsequently added two commandments, namely, faith and love, because undoubtedly these cannot be separated from one another. For without faith in Christ we are not able to love one another properly nor can we truly believe in the name of Jesus Christ without brotherly love. And that we love one another, he says, as he gave us commandment, that is, with an irreproachable love, not as thieves and as perpetra tors of any other type of crimes, who certainly love one another but not purely. For thus he gave us his command ment when he said, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

For what is, as I have loved you, if not, 'Love for the reason that I have loved you, namely, that you may reach the heavenly kingdom'? And what is the reward for keeping these commandments o f faith and love? There follows:

3:24 And anyone who keeps his commandments remains in him and he in him. Therefore, 'Let God be your house and you be the house of God; abide in God and let God abide in you. God abides in you that he may surround you, you abide in God that you may not fall.'

1 7 5 Keep his commandments, hold on to charity, do not be separated from faith in him, that you may glory in his presence, and you will abide secure in him now through faith, then through sight. And he will abide in you always, according to what the psalmist chants to him, They will exult for ever, and you will dwell in them.

And by this we know that he abides in us, by the spirit which he has given us. In the earliest times the Holy Spirit fell upon believers and they spoke in tongues which they had never studied.

1 7 7 But nowadays, because the holy Church does not 174. Jn 15:12

175. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 9.1; PL 35:2045

176. Ps 5:11 (12) 177. Ac 2:1-4

Commentary on 1 John 3:24—4:2

need external signs, whoever believes in the name of Jesus Christ and has love for his brother gives witness to the Holy

Spirit abiding in him. For the Holy Spirit brings it about that charity may be in man, for charity has been poured in our hearts, Paul says, by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

But because many do not have charity and destroy the unity of the Church by their perverse teaching and neverthe less argue that they have the Holy Spirit in them, properly there is appended:

4:1

Dearly beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits [to see] if they are of God, since many false prophets have gone forth into the world. And who it is that tests the spirits and how they can be tested the Lord teaches in the Gospel where he foretold that such things would come to pass as John related had already come in his time. He said,

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's cloth ing but inwardly are greedy wolves; you will recognize them by their fruits. Do people gather graves from thorns or figs from thistles?

Therefore, these are fruits by which the evil spirits who speak in false prophets can be discerned, namely, the thorns of schism and the dreadful thistles of heresies by which, by wounding their faith, they defile those who approach them heedlessly, just as on the contrary the fruits of good [works], namely, charity, joy, peace in the Holy

Spirit, are appropriately signified by the pleasant odor of grapes and the sweetness of figs.

4:2

By this is the Spirit of God perceived: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. In this place he is demanding a confession not only of the catholic faith but also of good action which is brought about through charity. Otherwise, quite a few heretics, many schismatics, many false catholics confess that Jesus Christ has

178. Rm 5:5

179. Mt 7:15-16

Commentary on 1 John 4:2-4:3 come in the flesh but they negate their confession by their deeds, by not having charity. In truth, charity brought (the Son of God [to take]) a body, (and therefore) whoever does not have char ity denies that (he) has come in the body (and such a one is proven conclusively not to have the Spirit of God. But) that is the Spirit of God which says that Jesus (Christ) has come in the body, which says this not with the tongue but by deeds, not by speaking but by loving.

1 8 0 4:3 And every spirit which rejects Jesus is not of God.

He rejects Jesus who denies either his divinity or his soul or his flesh, which the catholic faith truly teaches that he had. He also rejects Jesus who falsifies the commandments and words of Jesus either by living perversely or by more perversely interpreting them. But he also strives to reject

Jesus as hard as he can who upsets the unity of the holy Church which Jesus came to bring together. Nor is it to be wondered at that such are not of God when they nullify the works and words and sacraments of God. For they are so far from being of God that certain of them, who wished by their warped teaching to separate the divinity of Christ from his appearance as a human being also eradicated this verse in which it is said, And every spirit which rejects Jesus is not of God, from this Epistle, lest their errors, namely, be proven conclusively [to be wrong] by the authority of blessed John. Accordingly, Nestorius put for ward that he did not know that this statement was contained in genuine copies and therefore he did not fear to reject

Jesus and by this to make himself a stranger to God, saying that the blessed Virgin Mary was the begetter only of a 180. Aug., In loh. ep. 6.13; PL 35:2028

Commentary on 1 John 4:3—4:4

human being, not of God, so that he made one person of the man, another of his divinity. He did not believe that Christ was one in the word of God and in his body and soul but preached that he was separately one [being] as Son of God, another as son of man. And this is the antichrist, of whom you have heard that he is coming and even now is in the world. He is coming as the day of judgment draws near, since that one, the son of iniquity, far more wicked than the rest, has been born into the world, and he is even now in the world in the minds of those who fight against Christ, by thendeclaration or by their work, without the remedy of repentance.

4:4

Little children, you are of God and you have overcome him. You have overcome the antichrist by confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that is, by having the charity which Jesus Christ taught when he came in the flesh, which he also recommends in the Gospel, saying, Greater love than this no one has, that someone should lay down his life for his friends.

For how was the Son of God able to lay down his life for us except by clothing himself with flesh in which he could die? Therefore, anyone who vio lates charity, whatever he may say in words, by his life denies that Christ has come in the flesh, and he is an antichrist. 'And you have overcome him,'

(he says. But) how have they overcome him?

1 8 2 Is it by the power of their free will? Certainly not. Let Pelagius be silent, let John himself say, Since he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. He teaches them therefore to maintain their humility, lest they credit their victory to their own strength and be overcome by the arro gance of pride. He teaches them always to have confidence and the hope of overcoming in the midst of adversities, keep181. Jn 15:13

182. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 7.2; PL 35:2030

Commentary on 1 John 4:4—4:5 ing in mind that the Lord is stronger in protecting them than the devil in attacking them.

4:5 They are of the world; so they speak of the world, and the world hears them. The antichrists, that is, the heretics, although they invoke the name of Christ and make the sign of Christ on themselves, are nevertheless o f the world, that is, of the number of those who savor worldly things, who seek the lowest, who ignore the heavenly, and thereby speak of the world, namely, by reason of their worldly wisdom.

They oppose the christian faith by saying that it cannot be that the Son is coeternal with the Father, that the chaste virgin brings forth a child, that flesh rises immortal from the dust, that man sprung from the earth receives a dwelling place in heaven, that a newly-born small child is held bound by the guilt of the first man unless he is reborn in Christ by the water of baptism and set free. And the world hears them, because they are not able to call the hearts of the spiritual back from the simplicity of faith to worldly and bodily senses. But also all catholics who hear that statement of the Lord, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who persecute and slander you,

and again, / / you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your transgressions, but if you do not forgive other people, your heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins,

and say that in no way can they forgive unavenged injuries, these surely are proven conclusively to be of the world and therefore to speak o f the world. And because they do not have fundamentals of charity, in vain do they keep the mysteries of the faith inviolate. But those also who are proven to oppose the commandments of Christ are to be included under the name of antichrists.

183. Mt 5:44

184. Mt 6:14-15

Commentary on 1 John 4:6—4:8

4:6 We are of God; anyone who knows God hears us, any one who is not of God does not hear us. For, physical man does not comprehend the things which are of the spirit of God, for to him they are foolishness.

Therefore, someone who does not wish to hear the preachers of charity is clearly perceived as one who does not know God or is not of God, because he has neglected to imitate the charity which God practised towards men. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, by this, surely, because he who hears us has the spirit of truth, he who does not hear us has the spirit of error. And this is the discernment o f spirits about which he advised above, saying, Test the spirits [to see] if they are of God.

But Let us see what he is going to advise, on which we ought to hear him:

1 8 7 4:7—8 Dearly beloved, let us love one another, since charity is of God.

He greatly recommended charity, because he said, 'It is of God'. He is going to say more; let us listen attentively:

And everyone who loves is born of God and perceives God, he who does not love does not know God, because God is charity.

What could he have said more? 'God is charity.'

(Therefore) to act against (charity) is to act against God. Let no one say, 'I am sinning against a human being when I do not love my brother, and a sin against a human being is unimportant; only let me not sin against God.' How do you not sin against God when you sin against (charity? God is charity.')

185. 1 Co 2:14

186. 1 Jn4:l 187. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 7.4-5; PL 35:2031

Commentary on 1 John 4:9—4:10

4:9

By this has the charity of God appeared among us, that he sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

As the Lord himself says, 'Greater love than this no one has, that someone should lay down his life for his friends.' iss And there the love of Christ for us was proven, because he died for us. Whereby was the love o f the Father for us proven? Because he sent his only Son to die for us, as the apostle Paul also says, 'He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how did he not also give us everything with him?'

4:10

And in this is charity, not that we loved him, but that he loved us. 'We did not love him first; for it was for this that he loved us: that we might love him.'

1 9 0 Grace, in truth, pre cedes man, that he might love God with that love by which he might do what is good. Hence the psalmist says, His mercy will precede me.

And he sent his Son as an expiation for our sins. And this is the greatest evidence of the divine charity towards us, because when we ourselves did not know how to entreat him for our sins, he sent us his Son who might gratuitously give pardon to us who believed in him and call us to the fellowship of the Father's glory. This verse in certain manuscripts is read thus, 'And he sent his Son as an accept able offering for our sins.'

1 9 2 But one who makes an accept able offering 1 9 3 is one who makes a sacrifice.

1 9 4 For the Son of God for our sins made a sacrifice by offering, not victims from flocks, but himself. Hence Paul well advises us by say ing, Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly beloved children and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and handed over for us as an offering and victim to God in the odor of sweetness.

With this statement there also agrees what John 188. Jn 15:13

189. Rm 8:32, Aug., In loh. ep. 7.7; 2032 190. Aug., In loh. ep. 7.9; 2033 191. Ps 59:10 (58:11) 192. Aug., In loh. ep. 7.9; 2033 193. litator 194. sacrificator 195. Eph 5:1-2

Commentary on 1 John 4:10—4:11

adds here by way of exhortation, saying:

4:11 Dearly beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. But what follows, 4:12 No one has ever seen God, needs further discussion, since the Lord both promises that God is to be seen by per sons who are pure of heart 1 9 6 and says of the saints that their angels in heaven always see the face of the Father.

1 9 7 But the same John also has this statement in his Gospel where he goes on to add, saying, The only-begotten

Son who is in the bosom of the Father has himself described [him].

Blessed father Ambrose has explained this thus:

And no one has even seen God for the reason that no one has beheld that fullness of divinity in which God dwells, 1 9 9 no one has grasped him with his mind or eyes; for, has seen, must be referred to both. Accordingly, when there is added, The onlybegotten

Son who is in the bosom of the Father has himself described [him], a sight is being as serted of the mind rather than of the eyes, for an appearance is seen but power is described; the former is grasped with the eyes, the latter with the mind.

2 0 0 Likewise blessed Augustine, discussing the same question, says in his book on seeing God, Therefore, when the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father describes him in an unutterable description, the pure and holy ra tional creature is filled with an unutterable sight of God which we shall then obtain when we have been made like the angels; 2 0 1 because no one has ever seen God in his distinctive quality, as the 196. Mt 5:9

Mt 18:10

198. Jn 1:18

199. Col 2:9

200. Ambr., Exp Luc. 1.25; CC 14:19, 396/403 201. Lk 20:36

Commentary on 1 John 4:12 visible things of the body, known by the senses, are seen—since if he was ever seen in this way he was not seen, as it were, in his own nature but by his will he was seen under the appearance that he wished, appearing with his own nature hidden and remaining unchangeable within himself. But in that way in which he is seen as he i s ,

2 0 2 he is seen now, perhaps, by certain of (his holy) angels; yet he will then be seen thus by us when we have been made like them.

2 0 3 And after a little bit, explaining the thought of Saint Am brose, he says, For, No one has ever seen God, either in this life as he is or even in the life of the angels, as those visible things which are beheld by bodily sight, because the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has himself described [him].

Hence what he describes is said to belong to the sight not of the eyes but to that of the mind.

2 0 5 Likewise after quite a gap he says, 2 0 6 He has reminded us that our hearts must be puri fied 1 9 8 for that sight by which we shall see God as he is. For because bodies in our manner of speak ing are called visible, God is accordingly said to be invisible, lest he be believed to be a body; not that he will deprive pure hearts of the attentive regard of his substance, since this great and highest reward is promised to those who worship and love the Lord, as the Lord himself said when he appeared visibly to bodily eyes and promised that he was to be beheld invisibly by pure hearts:

He who loves me is loved by my Father, and I will love him and show myself to him.

In truth, his 202. 1 Jn 3:2

203. Aug., Ep. 147.22; CSEL 44:296,17-297,2 204. Jn 1:18

205. Aug., Ep. 147.28; CSEL 303,4/9 206. Ep. 147.48; 323, 8/20 207. Jn 14:21

Commentary on 1 John 4:12

nature is equally invisible as the Father, just as it is equally incorruptible. This the apostle immediately declared, saying, 2 0 8 But to the invisible, incorrupt ible king of the ages,

manifesting the divine substance to men in what preaching he was able.

God, therefore, in a thing invisible and must not be sought after by the eye (but by the* mind). But in the same way, if we wish to see the sun, we should cleanse the eye of the body by which light can be seen, let us who wish to see God cleanse the eye

(of the heart) by which God can be seen. For, Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God.

But because this vision is hoped for in the future, what must we do while, still existing in the body, we are at a distance from the Lord, what consolation must we make use of when we are not yet allowed to enjoy the divine sight? He says,

If we love one another, God remains in us. But let no one consider that this love by which God remains is kept by a kind of languid and slothful meek ness, nay rather, not meeknes.s but half-heartednessand negligence. That is not charity but laziness.

Let charity be eager to correct, to emend. And if there are good habits, let them please you, if there evil ones, let them be emended, cor rected.

2 1 1 Therefore, if we love one another with a sincere and intelli gent charity, God remains in us, manifested by the works of that charity, although not yet visibly appearing. And his charity has been perfected in us. We must ask, however, how he says that the perfection of divine charity

2 1 2 consists in 208. Aug., Ep. 147:37; CSEL 44:311, 11/12 209. 1 Tm 1:17

210. Aug., In. loh. ep. 7.10; PL 135:2033-34, citing Mt 5:8

211. Aug., In loh. ep. 7.11; 2034 212. Aug., In loh. ep. 8.4,10; 2037-38, 2042

Commentary on 1 John 4:12—4:15 mutual love, when the Lord proclaims in the Gospel that it is no great thing if we love those who love us unless the same love also reaches to our enemies, 2 1 3 about whom he seems here to be almost entirely silent, unless perhaps [he means] we ought also to love our enemies within the compass of our brotherly love, namely, so that they may not always remain enemies but may come to their senses and be allied to us in a fraternal compact. / / we love one another, he says,

God remains in us, and his charity has been perfected in us.

Begin to love, you will become perfect. You have begun to love, God has begun to dwell in you, that by dwelling more perfectly he may make you perfect.

2 1 4 4:13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his spirit.

From what do you perceive this very thing, that he has given you of his spirit? Question your heart, if it is full of charity you have the spirit of God, (Paul bearing witness when he says,) Because the charity of God has been poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given us.

4:14 And we have seen and bear witness that the Father sent his Son the saviour of the world. Let no one despair of salvation, because although there are great diseases of crimes which oppress us, the physician who may save is omnitent. Only let everyone remember that the same Son of God who came as a meek person to save is going to come as a very strict one to judge.

4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. He is speaking of the perfect

213. Mt 5:44-46 214. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 8.12; PL 35:2043

215. Rm 5:5, cited by Aug., ibid.

Commentary on 1 John 4:15—4:16

confession of the heart which can neither be corrupted by the deceit of evilly persuasive heretics nor shaken by the tortures of persecutive pagans nor waver by the example of sensual brothers nor by the sloth of one's own frailty. Indeed there are those who even deny by words that Jesus is the Son of God, such as the many who are alleged to have existed at the very time when John was writing these words; there are like wise those who 'confess him in words (and) deny him by their deeds.'

2 1 6 Hence he does well to say now, Whoever con fesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God, when he just previously said, If we love one another, God remains in us,

suggesting indeed that every one who has love for his brothers truly bears witness that Jesus is the Son of God.

4:16 And we have perceived and we believe in the charity which God has for us. We know that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Father sent him as the saviour of the world and we believe in the charity which God has for us, because, namely, when he had but one Son, he was unwilling that he be his only one, and, that he might have brothers, he adopted for him those who might possess eternal life with him.

God is charity.

2 1 8 see, he says it again. (Charity) could not be recommended to you more highly than that it should be said to be God.

Perhaps you were going to reject the gift of God.

Do you also reject God?

And he who remains in charity remains in God and God in him.

He already said that previously; They dwell together, he who surrounds and he who is surrounded. You dwell in God, but that you may be surrounded; God dwells in you, but 216. Aug., In loh. ep. 8.14; PL 35:2044

218. 1 Jn 4:8

217. 1 Jn 4:12

Commentary on 1 John 4:16 that he may surround you lest you fall, because the apostle speaks thus about this very charity,

Charity never falls.

How does he fall whom God surrounds?

4:17 By this has charity been perfected with us, that we may have confidence on the day of judgment.

He tells how everyone may prove to himself how much he has become perfect in Him. Anyone who has confidence in the day of judgment, charity has been perfected in him. What is it to have confi dence in the day of judgment? Not to fear that the day of judgment is coming.

2 2 0 For when someone has first turned away from his evil actions to repent, he begins to fear the day of judgment, namely, that when the righteous judge appears he may himself be condemned as unrighteous. But when he is enlivened by his progress in a good way of life, he will learn not to fear what he did fear but rather to wish for the com ing of him who is the desired of all nations

hoping that he will be crowned with the saints because of the merit of his good actions. But on what basis we can have confidence in the day o f judgment he shows clearly by appending more fully: Because as he is, so also are we in this world. But can a human being be as God?' (But we should recall what was also said previously) that 'as' is not always said [to imply] equality but it is said [to imply] a certain likeness, as when you say, 'As I have ears, so my image has them, too'. Is this entirely true? But still you say, 'as'. If, therefore, we have been made to the image of God, why are we not as God, not to [the point] of equality but according to our capacity? By this, therefore,

219. 1 Co 13:8

220 Aug., In Ioh. ep. 8.14, 9.1-2; PL 35:2044-45 221. Hag 2:8

Commentary on 1 John 4:17—4:18

is confidence given us on the day o f judgment, Because as he is, so also are we in this world.

by imitating, namely, the perfection o f love in the world of which he daily provides us an example from heaven. Of this the Saviour says in the Gospel, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the good and evil and rains on the righteous and the unrighteous

2 2 3 4:18 There is no fear in charity, in such charity, namely, which knows how to do good even to enemies and love them in imitation of divine goodness. But perfect charity casts out fear, that fear, namely, of which it is said, The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord,

by which everyone under taking the works of righteousness fears that the very strict judge may come and, finding him insufficiently chastened, condemn him. That charity banishes fear which provides confidence in the day of judgment as a reward for righteous ness. But perfect charity also drives out the fear of present adversities from the soul. This is what he was seeking to have who besought the Lord and said, Rescue my soul from fear of the enemy

2 2 5 He had this who said, Who will separate us from the charity of Christ? Tribulation or difficulty or perse cution or hunger or nakedness or danger or the sword? and so o n .

2 2 6 For fear involves punishment.

The consciousness of sins torments the heart; righteousness has not yet been attained. There fore, in the psalm about that very perfection of righteousness, (it says) You have changed my weeping into joy, you have torn off my sackcloth and girded me with happiness, that my glory may sing to you and that I may not be pierced,

222. Aug., In loh. ep. 9.3; PL 35:2047

223. Mt 5:44-45 224. Ps 111 (110):10, Si 1:16

225. Ps 64:1 (63:2) 226. Rm 8:35

227. Ps 30:11-12 (29:12-13)

Commentary on 1 John 4:18—4:19

(that is), let there be nothing which may disturb my consciousness. Fear disturbs, but do not fear; charity enters and cures what fear wounds.

2 2 8 For anyone who is afraid has not been perfected in charity, because, surely, fear involves punishment, in the way in which surgery by a physician involves punishment, although just as the health wished-for follows upon the surgery by a physician, so the desired charity follows upon fear. What the psalmist says, The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever,

ought not to be considered contrary to these words of blessed John. For there are two kinds of fear, one by which people fear God in order not to be cast into hell; this is that fear which leads on to charity, but it comes only to depart. For if you still fear God on account o f punishment, you do not yet love him whom you thus fear, you do not desire good but avoid evil. But from the fact that you avoid evil, you are correcting yourself and beginning to desire good. When you begin to desire good, there will be in you (that holy) fear, (namely,) that you may lose that good itself (not) that you may be cast into hell (but) that the presence (of the Lord which) you are embracing, (which) you desire to enjoy (for ever) may desert y o u .

2 3 0 4:19 Therefore, let us love, for God first loved us. Let us love, because he first loved us. T o r from what might we love, unless he had first loved u s ? '

2 3 1 For from this he himself says in the Gospel, You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you

For thus will we be perfect in charity, if, just as he first loved us for the sake of nothing else than our salvation, we shall also love him for no other reason than his love for 228. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 9.4; PL 35:2048

230. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 9.5; PL 35:2049

231. Aug., In Ioh. ep. 9.9; 2050 229. Psl9:9 (18:10) 232. Jn 15:16

Commentary on 1 John 4:19—5:1

us. But because there are those who love God in word only, advisedly there is added:

4:20 If anyone says, 'I love God', and hates his brother, he is a liar. By what do you prove that he is a liar? Listen.

For he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?

What then? He who loves his brother loves God. It is necessary that he love God in order to love love itself.

2 3 3 2 3 4 And lest someone dare say, 'And what stands in the way of my loving God even if I do not love my brother?' he properly appended:

For, God is love.

4:21

And we have this commandment from God, that he who loves God should also love his brother. For,

How do you love him whose (commandment) you hate? Who is there who may say, 'I love the em peror but I hate his laws?'

2 3 5 It is not thus with the true lover of God, but he says, See how I have loved your commandments, Lord, and therefore he adds confidently, In your mercy give me life.

5:1

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.

Who is it that believes that Jesus is the Christ?

H e 2 3 7 who lives in the way that Christ com manded. Let no heretic, (let no schismatic) say,

'We also believe (that Jesus is the Christ).' For, 23* and, as we read in the Gospel, they confessed, and they knew that he was the Christ 'The demons also believe and tremble,'

2 3 9 But because they do not have love and the works of the truth, they are not of God.

233. Aug., In loh. ep. 9.10; PL 35:2052

234. 1 Jn 4:8,16 235. Aug., In loh. ep. 9.11; 2053 236. Ps 119 (118):159

237. Aug., In loh. ep. 10.1; 2053-54 238. Jm 2:19

239. Lk4:41

Commentary on 1 John 5:1—5:3

And everyone who loves him who begot him loves him who is born of him. By his admirable skill in preaching blessed

John has taken care to enflame us to love of our neighbor, first by reminding [us] that everyone who believes perfectly is born of God, then by suggesting that it is right for some one who loves God also to love him who is born of God. For if anyone is so slow-witted that he has neglected to love a human being because he is a human being, because he is undergoing the same straggling journey with him on earth, he must be advised that he should love him at least for this reason: that he is born of God, that he has been made a sharer with him o f divine grace, that with him he looks for ward to the same rewards of the heavenly life. This exhorta tion pertains especially to those who have been made brothers to us not only by their participation in our human nature but also by their profession of faith. But because there are some who love their neighbors only on account of blood relationship or on account of some temporal advan tage, the holy evangelist properly makes clear who is the true lover of his neighbor by appending:

5:2 By this we perceive that we love those born of God, when we love God and keep his commandments. He alone, therefore, is proven properly to love his neighbor who is perceived also to burn with love of his Creator. And lest any one deceive himself about his love of his Creator by profess ing by word only that he loves him, when he had said,

By this we perceive that we love those born of God, when we love God, he did well to add, and keep his commandments.

5:3

For this is the charity of God, that we keep his com mandments. The Lord himself also says this, //anyone loves me he will keep my word.

The proof of love, therefore, is its manifestation in 240. Jn 14:23

Commentary on 1 John 5:3—5:4

deed. For we truly love if, according to his com mandments, we keep our self-wills in check, for he who still wanders away through unlawful desires does not truly love God, because he is speaking against him in his willfulness.

2 4 1 And his commandments are not burdensome. And he him self says, My yoke is sweet and my burden is light.

But it ought not to appear contradictory to these words either of the Lord or of blessed John that the Lord himself also says elsewhere, How narrow the gate and straight is the way that leads to life

and that the prophet says to him, On account of the words of your lips I have kept hard ways,

and the apostle, It is fitting for us to enter into the kingdom of God

2 4 5 For the hope of heavenly rewards and the love of Christ makes light those things which of their own nature are hard and rough. by many tribulations 2 4 6 For it is hard to suf fer persecution for righteousness' sake,

2 4 7 but the fact that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who suffer this makes even this sweet. Hence it is well that there is appended:

5:4

Since everything that is born of God overcomes the world. The divine commandments are not difficult because all those who devote themselves to them with true faithful ness reject both the adversities of this world and its allure ments, with a placid mind, loving death itself also as the entry into the heavenly fatherland. And lest anyone trust in his own strength in being able to overcome either the debauchery or deeds of the world, he advisedly adds,

This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith, that faith surely that works through love,

that faith by which we humbly request the help of him who says, In the world you will have persecution, but have confidence, 241. Greg., Horn. ev. 2.30.1; PL 76:1220C

242. Mt 11:30

243. Mt 7:14

244. Ps 17 (16):4

245. Ac 14:22

246. RB 58:8; CSEL75

2:147

247. Mt 5:10

248. Gal 5:6

Commentary on 1 John 5:4—5:6

I have overcome the world}

5:5 Who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? He overcomes the world who joins works worthy o f the same faith to his belief in Jesus as the Son of God. But are faith in and con fession of his divinity alone enough for salvation? See what follows:

5:6 This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, he who was the eternal Son o f God became a human being in time, that he who had created us by the power of his divinity might recreate us by the weakness of his humility. He who came by water and blood, the water, namely, of his baptismal cleansing and the blood of his pas sion. Not in water only but in water and blood. Not only did he deign to be baptized for the sake o f our cleansing, that he might consecrate and pass on to us the sacrament of bap tism, but he also gave his blood for us, he redeemed us by his passion, that being always restored to health by his sacra ments we might be nourished for salvation.[

6] And it is the Spirit who bears witness that Jesus Christ is the truth.

When the Lord was baptized in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit came down upon him in the appearance of a dove,

2 5 0 giving witness that he is the truth, that is, the true Son of God, the true mediator between God and men,

the true redeemer and reconciler o f the human race, himself truly clean from all stain of sin, truly able to take away the sins of the world.

2 5 2 The baptizer himself also understood this when he saw the coming of the same Spirit and said, He who sent me to bap tize in water said to me, 'Him upon whom you see the Spirit coming down and remaining is he who baptizes in the Holy

Spirit} And I saw and have given witness that this is the Son of God.

Therefore, because the Spirit bears witness 249. Jn 16:33

250. Mt 3:16-17 251. 1 Tm 2:5

252. Jn 1:29

253. Jn 1:33-34

Commentary on 1 John 5:6—5:8

2 5 4 the baptizer proclaims him as truth, the son of thunder that Jesus Christ is the truth, he calls himself truth,

2 5 5 spreads the good news about truth, let blasphemers who teach that he was a phantom be silent, let the memory of those who deny that he was either God or true man perish from the earth.

2 5 6 5:7-8 Because there are three who bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood. The Spirit bore witness that Jesus is the truth when it came down upon him as he was baptized. For if he were not the true Son of God, the Holy

Spirit would never have come upon him so manifestly. The water and the blood also bore witness that Jesus is the truth when they issued from his side as he was dead upon the cross.

2 5 7 This would never have been possible if he had not had the true nature of flesh. But also the fact that when he was praying before his passion his sweat became like drops of blood running down on the ground

bears witness to the truth of the flesh he had taken on. Nor must we remain silent about the water and the blood also having borne witness to him when they poured out of his side in so lifelike a manner when he was dead. This was contrary to the nature of bodies and on that account appropriate to the mysteries and apt for the witness of the truth, implying namely both that the very body of the Lord would be better [able to be] victorious after death, when he was raised in glory, and that his very death would give us life. That his blood also ran down on the ground like drops of blood by a holiest mystery bore witness to him that he cleansed the Church throughout the whole world by his blood. Therefore, There are three who give witness to the truth, and the three, he says, are one. These remain distinct, then, and none o f them is severed from its connection with the other, because it must not be believed

254. Jn 14:6

255. Mk 3:17

256. Jb 18:17, Ps 34:16 (33:17) 257. Jn 19:34

258. Lk 22:44

Commentary on 1 John 5:8—5:9 that his humanity existed without his true divinity or his divinity without his true humanity. But these are also one in us, not by the substance of the same nature but by the opera tion of the same mystery. Now, as blessed Ambrose, says,

The Spirit renews the mind, the water is o f avail for [baptismal] cleansing, the blood points to the cost.

For the Spirit made us children of God by adop tion, the water of the sacred font washed us, the blood of the Lord redeemed us. The one an in visible witness, therefore, the other a visible, results from the spiritual sacrament.

2 5 9 5:9

If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater, since this is the witness of God which is greater, that he bore witness to his Son. Great is the witness of man which he bears o f the Son of God, when he says, The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand';

and from the person of the Son himself, The Lord said to me, 'You are my Son'-

and likewise from the person of the Father speaking o f the Son, He called upon me, 'You are my Father, my God and the one who undertakes my salvation'

2 6 2 my Father, because I am the Son of God, my God, because I am a hu man being, the one who undertakes my salvation, because I am going to suffer and be saved from death. And I shall place him, my first-born, he says, high above the kings of the earth

Great is this witness of [Christ as] man of the Son of God and it is true and entirely worthy o f being received. But much greater is the witness of God that he him self bore o f his Son when he addressed him from heaven and said, 'You are my beloved Son, I am well pleased with you',

Great is the witness o f the precursor which he bore to the Son of God when he said, / have baptized you with 259. Ambr., De spir. 3.10.68; CSEL 44:178, 83-179, 88

260. Ps 110 (109):1

261. Ps 2:7

262. Ps 89:26 (88:27) 263. Ps 89:27 (88:28) 264. Lk 3:22

Commentary on 1 John 5:9—5:10

Great er is the witness o f the Father by which he sent upon him the Holy Spirit, with which he was always filled, even visibly. water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

5:10

Anyone who believes in the Son of God has the wit ness of God in himself. Anyone who so believes in the Son of God that he carries out in deed what he believes has the wit ness of God in himself, [the witness] certainly that he is also justifiably numbered among the sons of God, since the only

Son of God himself promised his faithful ones that, If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him.

But if you deserve to have the testimony of God, if you have God as witness of your inviolate faith, how does the ignominy of men harm you, how does even persecution harm you? For, If God is on our side, who is against us?

Anyone who does not believe in the Son makes him a liar, since he does not believe in the witness which God bore concerning his Son. In vain do the Jews, in vain do the heretics think they believe in and rever ence the Father as long as they reject Christ and refuse to be lieve in him. For anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Those who do not believe in the Son—who said, The Father and I are one,

and when Caiphas interrogated him and said, Are you the Christ, the Son of the blessed one? answered, / am 2 6 9 —but argue that he is not the Son of God or that he is not like the Father, actually make the Father a liar, because they do not believe in the tes timony which God bore concerning his Son, in that testimony namely which I have also recalled above, 'You are my beloved Son, I am well pleased with you \

But neither do they believe in that testimony which he gave to him as the hour of his passion drew near, as he prayed and said,

Father, save me from this hour, but it is for this I have come 266. Jn 12:26

268. Jn 10:30

270. Lk3:22

265. Mkl:8

267. Rm 8:31

269. Mk 14:61-62

Commentary on 1 John 5:10—5:12 to this hour. Father, glorify your name, and he answered from heaven even in the hearing of the crowd, / have both glorified it and I will again glorify it,

meaning that he was the true God, the Father in heaven of him who was about to suffer death on earth as true man.

5:11

And this is the testimony, that God has given us eter nal life. He has given us eternal life, he says, and he who was speaking was still living his temporal life and in his flesh and susceptible to death. But he gave us eternal life just as he gave us who believe in his name the power to become sons of G o d .

2 7 2 For that you may know that the power to have eternal life has been given you by God, hear the prophet,

Who is the person who wishes life and desires to see good days? Restrain your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceitfully,

and so on, to the end o f the psalm.

He has given us eternal life, therefore, but while we are still struggling along on earth in hope, [it is the] life which he is going to give us in heaven when we arrive before him in reality. And this is life in his Son, namely, in faith and the confession of his name, in the reception of his sacraments, in keeping his commandments. Hence he himself also says,

No one comes to the Father except through me,

and Peter says concerning him, For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which it is fitting for us to be saved

5:12 Anyone who has the Son has life; anyone who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Lest he appear to say too little when he says that life is in the Son, he adds that the Son himself is life. The same Son also shows this in glorifying the Father when he says, For just as the Father has

271. Jn 12:27-28 272. Jn 1:12

273. Ps 34:12-13 (33:13-14) 274. Jn 14:6

275. Ac 4:12

Commentary on 1 John 5:12—5:14

life in himself so has he granted it to the Son also to have life in himself

For in what way the same life which is common to the Son and the Father enlightens believers as well, the same Son implies when, praying to the Father elsewhere, he says, As you have given him power over all flesh, that all that you have given him he may give them eternal life. For this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ

5:13

I am writing these things to you, that you who believe in the name of the Son of God may know that you have eternal life. That you may know, he says, that you who be lieve in Christ may be sure of your future happiness, that you may not be led astray by the deception of those who deny that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore maintain that there will be no advantage for those who have believed in his name. And the madness of the heretics is astonishing, for even though he is called the Son of God so often throughout this entire Letter, they contrarily affirm that the Christ of God is not his Son but a created being—some thing they read absolutely nowhere except where reference to his humanity is being emphasized.

5:14

And this is the confidence which we have in him, that no matter what we request according to his will, he hears us.

He provides us with great confidence for hoping for heavenly goods from the Lord, because whatever we request from him even in this life concerning salvation we obtain, according to what he also promises in the Gospel to those who believe, saying, I say to you, 'Believe that you will receive everything which you request when you pray, and it will come to you'

21* It must be noted, however, that when we pray we are listened to by the Lord only if we request what he has

276. Jn 5:26

277. Jn 17:2-3 278. Mk 11:24

Commentary on 1 John 5:14—5:16 ordered. For he himself says, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

279 Hence when even John had said that we are listened to no matter what we request, he did well to insert, according to his will. Therefore, he ordered us to have full and unhesitating confidence in being listened to for those things which are linked, not to our own advantage and temporal consolation, but to the will of God. We are ad monished to include this even in the Lord's prayer,

Your will be done, 2*

namely, not our own. For if we remember as well that saying o f the apostle, We do not know what we should pray for, according to what is fitting,

we under stand that we sometimes beg for things opposed to our salva tion and are very appropriately denied those things which we ask for earnestly by him who discerns what is useful for us more properly than we do. There is no doubt that this happened also to the teacher of the gentiles himself.

2 8 2 5:15

And we know that he hears us whatever we request, we know that we have requests that we beg from him.

In many ways he impresses upon us the things which he had just finished saying, that he may stir us up more quickly to prayer. But there remains the addition which he made, that we request according to the will of our Creator. This can be taken in two ways, namely, that we both ask for what he wills and that we come to ask being as he desires us to be.

This is to have faith which works through love

and above all to remember that Gospel commandment, And when you stand up to pray, forgive if you have anything against any one, that your father who is in heaven may also forgive you your sins.

5:16

Let anyone who knows that his brother is committing 280. Mt 6:10

282. 2 Co 12:7-9 284. Mk 11:25

279. Mt 6:33

281. Rm 8:26

283. Ga5:5

Commentary on 1 John 5:16

a sin-not-to-death ask, and life will be given to him who is sinning not to death. These and things o f this sort which have to do with the duty of love of our brothers are requested according to the Lord's will. For he is speaking about daily and trivial sins which, as they are difficult to avoid, so also are they easily cured. But James implies more openly in what order this request for one another's sins is to be carried out when he says, Confess your sins to one an other and pray for each other, that you may be saved.

If perhaps you have transgressed by speech or thought or forgetfulness or ignorance, therefore, go to your brother, con fess to him, beg for his intercession. If he by confessing simply makes you aware of your own weakness, you by interceding devoutly also wipe away his wrongdoing. But what has been said applies to trivial sins. But if you have committed something more serious bring in the elders of the Church 2 8 6 and be chastened at their investigation. There is a sin to death; I do not say that anyone should ask for it.

An important question arises here, because blessed John shows clearly that there are some brothers for whom we are admonished not to pray, although the Lord orders us to pray even for our persecutors. This cannot be resolved otherwise than by admitting that there are certain sins among our brothers which are more serious than persecution of enemies.

The sin of a brother to death, therefore, occurs when any one, after the recognition of God which has been given through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, opposes the brotherhood and is aroused by the torches of envy against that very grace by which he has been reconciled to God. The sin not to death, however, occurs if someone does not with draw love from his brother but through some weakness of mind does not practise the duties of the brotherhood which he should. Wherefore even the Lord on the cross said,

Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they 285. Rm 5:16

286. Jm 5:14

Commentary on 1 John 5:16—5:17 are doing.

Not yet had they been made sharers of the grace of the Holy Spirit and entered the company of the fellowship of the holy brotherhood. And blessed Stephen prayed for those by whom he was being stoned, 2 8 8 because they had not yet believed in Christ and were not contending against that shared grace. And the apostle Paul, accordingly, did not pray for Alexander, I believe, because he was still a brother and had sinned to death, that is, by opposing the brother hood through envy. But he did pray that those be pardoned who had not sundered their love but had succumbed to fear.

For he spoke thus, Alexander the metalworker has shown many evils towards me; the Lord will repay him according to his works. You also avoid him, for he has greatly resisted our utterances.

Then he added those for whom he did pray, speaking as follows, In my first defence no one was there to help me, but all abandoned me; may it not be reckoned against them.

But the sin to death can be consi dered as the sin up to [the time of] death. He forbids anyone to ask [pardon] for this, because, namely, pardon for a sin that is not corrected in this life is begged for in vain after death. But if we look carefully at what follows the former explanation appears more closely linked to the general import of this lesson, for there is appended:

5:17 All iniquity is sin and it is a sin to death. There is such a variety o f sins, he says, that everything which is discordant with reasonable moral standards is to be counted as a sin, although slight sins cannot at all take away from or lessen for the righteous the reward of their righteousness, least of all those without which they can in no way pass through this life; and likewise certain sins are so far from any portion of righteousness; they are committed with such iniquity that without any contradiction they plunge the person who 287. Lk 23:34

289. 2 Tm 4:14-15 288. Ac 7:60

290. 2 Tm 4:16

Commentary on 1 John 5:17—5:18

commits them, if they are not corrected, into eternal punish ment. It has been written about them, The soul which sins shall itself die.

The absurd discussion. of the Stoics is clearly rejected by this statement of blessed John. They have dared to say and to maintain against every sensibility of humankind that all sins are equal, saying that it makes no difference whether a person has stolen an ox or a chicken, because it is not the beast but the brain

2 9 2 that has consti tuted the crime. The heretic Jovinian has followed them, rationalizing that there is no difference between marriage and virginity, that in any grant of retribution those who do not abstain are to be preferred to those who eat frugally.

Therefore, everything that is committed or thought of iniquitously must be related to sin. But there are certain sins to death o f which the apostle says, Since those who do these things shall not attain the kingdom of God.

5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not [commit] sin, namely, the sin to death. This can be understood o f every capital crime and particularly of that by which the brotherhood is violated, as we have explained above. But I have also said that the sin to death can properly be understood as the sin persisted in up to the time of death, because, Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin. Accordingly, David committed a mortal crime.

For who does not know that adultery and murder deserve everlasting death?

2 9 4 But David nonetheless, because he was born of God, because he belonged to the company of the children of God, did not sin up to [the time of] death, because by repenting quickly he won pardon for his guilt.

2 9 5 But being of the generation of God preserves him, and the evil one does not touch him. The grace of Christ by which we have been reborn preserves the faithful who according to his

291. Ezk 18:4

292. non animal. .. sed animus 293. Ga 5:21

294, 2 S 11:2-17

295. 2 S 12:13-17

Commentary on 1 John 5:18—5:19 purpose have been called to be saints

from committing the sin to death and, if because of the frailty of the human condition they have offended in any matters at all, it defends them, so that they cannot be touched by the evil enemy. It must likewise be said that we remain in the state of being of the generation of God as long as we do not commit sin, indeed those who persevere in being of the generation of God cannot commit sin or be touched by the evil one. For what do light and darkness have in common, or Christ and Belial?

In the same way as day and night cannot be mingled, he says, so [cannot] righteousness and iniquity, sin and good works, Christ and antichrist, the evil one and those who are the generation of God [are incompatible].

5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. We are of God by his grace and we have been reborn in baptism through faith and kept that we may remain for a long time in faith. But the lovers of the world are subject to the malicious enemy either because they have never been freed from his sovereignty by the waters of rebirth or because by sinning again after the grace of rebirth they have been brought again under his sovereignty. And not only the lovers of the world, but also those newly born who do not yet possess the power of discerning good and evil belong to the kingdom of the malicious enemy on account of the guilt o f that first transgression, unless they are delivered from the power of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Son o f his charity 2 9 8 through the grace of a benevolent Creator. Hence he does not say simply that the world is under the power of the evil one but with one addition, The whole world, he says, is under the power of the evil one. For, as blessed Ambrose says, 'We human beings are all born under sin, and our very

296. Rm 8:28

298. Col 1:13

297. 2 Co 6:14-15

Commentary on 1 John 5:19-5:20

2 9 9 And in vain does Pelagius strive to assert that small, new-born children have no need of being reborn by the grace of baptism because they are born as clean of all filth of sin as Adam was when he was created in paradise, deriving, namely, from him no stain of original fault, being guilty of nothing until they begin to sin o f their own free will.

But as for us, having put aside the poisons of the antichrists which he who drank from the source o f life, the breast o f the origin is in vice'.

Lord, condemns throughout the whole o f this Letter and drives from the Church, let us hear in the summary the good word of salvation that he calls up for us;

3 0 0 let us pay attention to the works of the supreme king that he is speak ing of. There follows:

5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding that we may perceive the true God and may be in his true Son. Could anything clearer than these words have been said, anything sweeter, anything stronger against all heresies? Christ is the true Son o f God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, the eternal Son of God who was in the world and through whom the world was made 3 0 1 has come for a time into the world and for no other reason than our salvation, that is, that he might give us the understanding to perceive the true God. For no one was able to come to life without perception of the divinity, no one was able to perceive God unless he himself taught us, as he himself also says, And no one knows the Son except the Father nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and he to whom

there is understood, both the Fa ther and the Son; for the Son who appeared visibly in the flesh and deigned to make known the hidden mysteries of the godhead to the world through his Gospel revealed both.

This is the true God and eternal life. He had said that the Son the Son wishes to reveal, 299. Ambr., De paen. 1.13.3; CSEL 73:126,44/45

300. Ps 45:1 (44:2) 301. Jn 1:10

302. Lk 10:22

Commentary on 1 John 5:20-5:21 was true God, he repeats that he is true God again and again, he says that he is eternal life, but definitely not the eternal life which is promised to us in such a way that it will so take us up away from time that it will never remove from us the end of living happily. But the Son is life without temporal beginning, forever remaining, and forever going to remain without end.

5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. You who perceive the true God, in whom you have eternal life, keep yourselves from the teachings of heretics which lead to ever lasting death, because like those who fabricate idols in place of God, they by their wicked teachings change the glory of the imperishable God into the likeness of perishable things.

3 0 3 Keep yourselves also from covetousness, which is the service of idols,

be on guard lest you prefer the allurements o f the world to the love of the Creator. For this also will be reckoned among the idols, that insofar as we have a concern with and an inclination for the truth alone we deserve to be gladdened without end at our vision of the world. For,

The world and its cravings will pass away; but anyone who does the will of the Lord abides forever

3 0 5 303. Rm 1:23

304, Col 3:5

305. 1 Jn 2:17

NOTES TO COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

Bede has borrowed this enumeration of the different ages of the world from Saint Gregory the Great (Horn. ev. 1. 19. 1; PL 76:

1154 C). See note 5 on 2 Peter.

Latin incipite. Saint Augustine in this passage quotes the reading of what is commonly called the Roman psalter, from its usage in the Latin offices of the churches in Rome during the early centuries. The so-called Gallican psalter found in the Latin Vulgate version of the scriptures here has the variant reading praecinite, 'sing in the presence of, and the Latin translation made by Saint Jerome according to the Hebrew has canite, 'sing'. This is a good place to note that when Bede quotes the psalms he almost invariably does so from the Roman psalter, indicating that this was probably the version in use during the seventh and eighth centuries in the north of England at his twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow.

Latin iniquitas and aequitas, where in the former the prefix inmeans 'not', as it frequently does in English.

Julian of Eclanum, a bishop during the fifth century in Italy who had Pelagian leanings. Bede mentions his writings more fully in the first book of his Commentary on the Song of Songs (CC 1198:167-80), where he is at pains to refute Julian's teachings in detail. It has been suggested by the editors of the Clavis Patrum Latinorum (Bruges,

Belgium: K. Beyaert, 1961), nos. 751-2, that two of the works which Bede quotes from there and which he thought he had written by Julian—De amore and De bono constantiae—were actually works of Pelagius himself; a third work—Epistula ad Demetriadem—is definitely from the hand of Pelagius.

I have not been able to verify this as a quotation from the scriptures. It is possible that Bede borrowed it from an earlier writer and that it is a Latin translation of some verse from the Greek

Septuagint.

Latin salus. Bede here is aware of the meaning of the word in later, Church Latin, (spiritual) 'salvation', and of its meaning in classical times, 'health'.

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