lettihe-' Oi( (continued)
JesiiK. the Son of God, able to Serve m«, 1 JOHN V. and !o Hear nur Prayers for Ourselve$.
hlgl.esl credibility, because grounded upon the testimony of God, which is iiilu Uilile." [1'eakkon on Creed.] "Tlie anthorit,y on whicli we believe is Divine; the doctrine which we follow Is Divine." [Lko.] gave— (Vreet, " iialh death." "Shall give life," I say, to, i. ?., obtain life "for (in the case of) them that sin not unto death." I do not say (liat 1mshall pray for it— TinGreek for "pray" nieans'a KEm'Ksr as ot one on an f(]Mality, or at least on terms of faniiliaiify, with liiin fiiiiu \i hom the favour is testified, and now teslilles." of—concerniii";. 11. Iiatli gl-rvn— Greek aorist : "Gave" once for all. Not only " pi oyiiised" it. life Is In Ills Son—essentially (.John l.J; n. 25; U. 6); bodily (Colosslans 2.9); operatively (2 Tinisoiisjlit. "Tlie Cli'-istian iiilercessm- !(ir his brethren, .St. John declares, shall not assume lln' authority which would be Implied in making re(inest lor a sinner whohas sinned the sin unto death (1 Samuel !").;«; 16. i ; Mark 3.
otl)y 1. 10). [Lanoe in Alford.] It is in the second Adam, the Son of God, that this ii/e is secured to us, whicli, if
29), that it might be forgiven him." [Tkench, Sj/nonyms of New Testament.] Cf. Deuteronomy 3. 26. Greek "ask" implies the humble petition of an interior; so that our Lord never uses it, but always uses {Greek) "request." Martha, from ignorance, once uses "ask" in His case (John 11.22). "Asking" for a brother sinning not unto death, isa humble petition in consonance with God's will. To "request" for a sin unto death [intercede, as it were, aiithnritativcly for it, as though we were more merciful than God] would savour of presumption; prescribing to God in a matter which lies out of the bounds of our brotherly yearning (because one sinning unto death would thereby be demonstrated not to be, nor ever to have been, truly a brother, ch.'2. 19), how He shall inflict and withhold His righteous judgments. Jesus Himself intercedes, not for the world which hardens itself in unbelief, but for tliose given to Him out of the world. 17. " Every unrighteousness (even that of believers, cf. ch.l. 9; 3.4. Every coming short oSright) is sin ;" (but) not every sin Is the sin unto death, and there is a sin not unto death in the case of which, therefore, believers may intercede. Death and life stand in correlative opposition {v. 11-13). The sin unto death must be one tending " towards" (so the Greek), and so resulting In, death. Ai.ford makes it to' be an appreciable act of s\n, viz., the denying Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God (in contrast to confess this truth, left to depend on us, we should lose, like the first Adam, la. the Son . . . Ufc— Greek, "thk life." Bengel remarks, The verse has two clauses : in the former the Son
Is mentioned without the addition " of God," for believers know the Son.- In the second clause the addition " of God"
Is made, that unbelievers may know thereby what a serious thing it is not to have Him. In tlie former clause "has" bears the emphasis; in the second, life. To have the Son is to be able to say as the bride, " I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine." Faith is tlie mean whereby the regenerate have Christ as a present possession, and In having Him have life in its germ and reality now, and shall have life in its fully-developed manifestation hereafter. £Sema? ///e hereis (1.) ini Yicii, and is an earnestof that wliicli is to follow ; In the intermediate state (2.) partial, belonging but to a part of a man, though that is his nobler part, the soul separated from the body; at and after the resurrection (S.) per/ectional. This life is not only natural, consisting of the union of the soul and tlie liody
(as that of the reprobate in eternal pain, which ought to be termed death eternal, not life), but also spiritual, the union of the soul to God, and supremely blessed for ever
(for life is another term for happines.i). [Pearson on Creed.] 13. These things—This Epistle. He, towards tiie close of his Gospel (John 20.30, 31), wrote similarly, stating his purpose in having written. In ch. 1.4 he states the object of his writing this Epistle to be, " that j'our joy may be full." To "know that we have eternal life" is the sure way to "joy In God." 13. The oldest MSS. and versions read, "These things have I written unto you [omitting
V. 1, 5), ch. 2. 19, 22; 4. 2, 3; 5. 10. Such wilful deniers of Christ are not to be received into one's house, or wished "God speed." Still, I think with Bengei, not merely the act, but also the state of apostasy accompanying tlio oe<, is included—a "state of soul In which faith, love, and hope, in short, the new life, is extinguished. The chief commandment Is faith and love. Therefore, the chief sin l?iat believe on the name of the So7i of God] that ye may know that ye have eternal life (cf. v. 11), those (of you I mean) WHO believe (not as English Version reads, and that ye may is that by which faith and love are destroyed. In the former case Is Jt/e ,• In the latter, dere^/i. As long as it is not evident (Note, 'see,' v. 16) that it is a sin unto death, it believe) on the name of the Son of God." English Version, In the latter clause, will mean, " that ye may continue to believe," &c. (cf. v. 12). 14. the conll«lencc—"Ijoldness" is lawful to pray. But when it is deliberate rejeclion of grace, and the man puts from him life thereby, how can others procure for him life?" Contrast .lames 5. 14-IX. Cf. Matthew 12. 31, 32 as to the wilful reject ion of (Christ, and resistance to the Holy Ghost's plain testimony to Him as the Divine Messiah. Jesus, on the cross, pleaded only for those who knew not what they ivere doing in crucifying Him, not for tho.se wilfully resisting grace and linowledge. If we pray for tlie impenitent, it must be with humble reference of the matter to God's will, not with the Intercessory request wliicli we should offer for a bro/Aer when erring. 18. (Ch.3.9.) We know—Thrice repeated emphatically, to enforce the three truths which the words preface, as matters of the brethren's joint e.\i)crlniental knowledge. This r. 18 warns against aiinsiiig v,
(ch. 4. 17) in prayer, which results from knowing that ive have eternal life (v. 13 ; ch. 3. 19-22). according to his tvlH —which is the believer's will, and which is therefore no restraint to his prayers. In so far as God's will is not our will, we are not abiding In faith, and our prayers are not accepted. Alford well says, If we kneiu God's will thoroughly, and submitted to It heartily, it would be impossible for us to ask anything for the spirit or for the body which He should not perform ; it is this Ideal state which the apostle has in view. It Is the Spirit who teaches us inwardly, and Himself In us asks according to the will of God. 15. hear Greek, " that He heareth us." we have the petitions that we desired of him—we have, as present possessions, everything whatsoever we desired (a.'<ked)from Him. Not one of ourpasi prayers ofl'ered in faitli, according to His will, is lost. Like Hannah, we can rejoice over them as granted even before the event ; and can ri'cognize the event when it comes to pass, as not from chance, l)ut obtained by our past prayers. Cf. also .Tehoshaphat's believing confidence In the Issue of ills prayers, so much so that he appointed singers to praise the Lord beforeli Miid. 16. If any . . . see—on any particular occasion; Greek aorist, his brother—a fellow-Christian, sinningIn tlie act of sinning, and continuing In the sin: present, not unto death—provided that It Is not unto death, he shall give—The asker shall be the means, by his intercessory prayer, of God jivmi; life to the sinning brother. Kindly reproof ought to accompany his Intercessions. Life was In process of being forfeited by the sinning lirother, when the believer's Intercession obtained its restoration, for them—Resuming the proviso put forth In the beginning of the verse. "Provided that the sin Is not unto
16, 17, as warranting carnal security, witosnever— Greek, "every one who," <fec. Not only advanced believers, but ei'eri/ one who Is born again, " sinnetli not." he lliat is begotten6'reeA; aorist, "has been (once for all in past time) begotten of God ;" In the beginning of the verse it is perfect. "Is begotten," or "born," as a ron/i'/iKi'jK/ state, keepeth himself— The Vulgate transtiilcs, "The liaving been begotten of God keepeth him" (so one of the oldest MS.S. reads): so Ai,foko. Lit., "He having been begot ten of God (nominative pendent), it (the Divine generation implied in the nominative) keepetli him." So cli. .). 9, "His .seed remalnerh In him." Still, In English Vernion reading, God's working by His Spirit Inwardly, and man's working under the power of that Spirit as a responsible agent, Is what often occurs elsewhere. That God must keep us. If we are to keep ourselves from evil, is certain. CL .lohn 17. 15 especially with this verse, that wicked oum toucheth him not—so as to hurt him. In so far as he